595 paused, but didn’t turn to look at Vreta. She didn’t want him to see the conflicted expression on her face, so she stared into the shaft of light before them instead. 

It would be a technical triumph to escort the ground team back to the rig with very little to show for their efforts. She could jumble the spectrometer, and return to her low-level sabotage of scientific data from on-board the mobile lab. Out here, she suspected they were in danger of making a discovery even bigger than in their last expedition. 

And yet, she still couldn’t bring herself to stop now. She could feel the Navigator calling to her. Even though the thought filled her with cold dread, the Agent had to know what it was saying. 

“You head back to the rig if you want - I’ll be right behind you. In and out, two minutes max.” 595 answered in the end. She looked at Vreta, her whole face tense, and nodded encouragingly. “It’s ok. I have my transit station. Just make [b]sure[/b] you get the civilians out of here if something happens.”

With that, 595 took a deep breath and began edging forward again, her chin resting on the stock of her raised gun. She understood if the death-averse Rothians wanted to retreat, but for the first time in a long time wouldn’t have objected to a bit of company.

[hr]Freyr bristled when Marae interjected, but held her tongue. They only had hours left to make contact with this thing - they couldn’t afford to be cautious anymore. As much as she hated herself for coming to this conclusion, Freyr was willing to risk the lives of everyone on the ground if it meant saving billions. But she was also beginning to realise how the Rothians operated. Despite appearing fully invested, they still believed they could survive this unscathed.

She watched Vreta and 595 talking to each other while her head worked on the new information they’d just received. Someone had been there before them. “Let me hear the voice clip.” Freyr asked. Soon after, an exchange of guttural clicks and growls assaulted her ears. She understood none of it. “So, we aren’t the first to tread this path. What were they doing here?” She murmured to herself, eyes still glued to the screens.