The noise outside was eerie after the reassuring hum of the lab. The wind and snow howled, and a loud ‘ftftftftftfft’ sound swooped and ducked around them in the dark.

Keeping her cool, 595 jogged heavily to the cable housing, just off-centre from the rig’s vast front elevation. She put the spectrometer on the ground, unfurled a thick cable from one of the massive reels, firmly spun Vreta around so his backpack was facing her, then plugged the cable into his transit station. She then motioned for him to do the same to her, while she dealt with the spectrometer.

Once she’d received the green light from the bridge that all the equipment was working, 595 pulled out a thinner cable from the cable housing and handed it to Vreta. “This one goes in your butt.” She explained, before retrieving another cable which went into the small of her back, just underneath the transit station backpack.

595 had already created a sterile compartment for the video and sensory data to run through, taking out all metadata from her suit or biology. She gritted her teeth when the cable went in, with her suit fighting to reject it. “Enough!” She hissed under her breath, overriding its complex defense mechanisms. “Got to play nice with the friendly Doctor, haven’t we?”

Once everything looked functional, Dr Chanthara took the lead. “Ultrasonic package primed. Search lights?”

“Standing by.” Knossos confirmed, standing by an external control panel which gave him control of the rig’s large work lamps. He looked up the enormous swarm of flying creatures in the air around them.

“Ok. Deploying.”