Freyr held onto a handhold by the cockpit door, watching through the toughened concave windows as the rig rolled over the snowladen mesa. She glanced back as Vreta approached her. “Dr Wetherall just said we have hours or days at our current power consumption - I expect he’ll have an exact time shortly. This must be down to all the energy efficiency upgrades we’ve made. At any rate, we have enough time to attempt contact.” 

Freyr gave Vreta a knowing look, then flicked her eyes over to 595. The Agent was engrossed in who was studying the holo-map in the centre of the room. “Nirann, turn us around, please, so we’re facing the ruins.” She instructed Nirann. She knew the lab’s strongest armour was in the front elevation - reactive plates would even roll over the cockpit in an emergency. 

“Dr Wetherall, prepare a groundmast for once we’ve stopped please. I want a full workup of the whole mountain and this complex in front of us ASAP. Dr Chanthara, is this field accepting a handshake?”

“Negative. Trying all frequencies and entry methods. Seems dead.”

Freyr pursed her lips. “Marae. Are you set up in the code lab yet? Can you put together a package to cut us a small hole in this field? See if we can get a message through.”

“Umm, have we tried just using a loudspeaker?” 595 offered, looking between them both.

Freyr paused, perplexed, before shrugging her shoulders, tapping Vreta with her knuckles and pointing to a console. “Mic is over there. Give it a go.”