Dr Wetherall peered up at the Datius like a bespectacled professor would to chastise a very tall, interrupting student. He was still plugged into the comms mast to speak with the real world team. “Well, we’ve made good progress with translation for synthetics. Nirann and I have narrowed the divergence in languages from about fifteen percent to around two percent. However, organics are proving to be a totally different kettle of fish.” 

He waved his holopad around dramatically as he explained. “While the simulation appears content with simply trying to take control of synthetic materials, it actually [i]assimilates[/i] organic matter while it’s in the simulation. So getting a pure translation back out again looks messy at this point. Freyr has told me poor Dr Dlamini will need therapy for a few weeks to recover. We’ll do what we can to separate us from the sim, and then it’s up to you whether it’s worth the risk of having more bodies in here.”

Dr Wetherall held up a hand, listening to something on a private channel. Then he clicked at Nirann to catch the droid’s attention. “They have everything. Power up for insert in two minutes, please.”

“I have movement down in the valley.” Athena reported soon after, laying down on the edge of the cliff with her railgun cradled in her arms. “Coming this way.” Thebes motioned for everyone to get down before quickly crawling over to where she lay. Athena marked targets for him. They were still very far away across the valley, but approaching fast.