Synthetic acids are quite common and the components thereof are very plentiful. What makes this particular compound so unusual is that none of the components, at least with basic analysis, seem to be anything that is even readily identifiable let alone in common usage.
2 successes, do I know anything about the hair sample?
Frustrated at getting no leads with the acid for now, Kaylee will also take a look at the hair sample to see if she can at least help identify it.
It takes a bit of time to analyze the sample, but you are able to determine that the sample is likely to be fur of some sort. It isn't from any known species and from some of the material let at the roots you are able to determine that the lifeform is relatively complex. Again deeper analysis will require sending the sample to a genuine laboratory.
Marcus stops at the threshold of the Sheriff's office to kick off some of dust on the boots, futile considering the nature of Mar's surface. Really all he wanted was a few more seconds to collect his thoughts. Even though he hadn't been at the mining colony for more than 45 minutes he had gotten the stink eye from everyone he'd passed the moment he stepped of the shuttle. With a final sigh he once again checked that all of his paperwork was in hand and ready to go before he knocked sharply on the open door. "Er...hello?" he calls into the office, unsure of who exactly he should be talking too.
He steps inside, hauling a worn duffle bag on his shoulder that contained most of his gear. "My name is Marcus. They told me you were having some kind of equipment troubles, sent me down here to help out. Where would you like me to start?"
An unknown synthetic acid and an unknown organism. Send them up on the next shuttle. I think we've found what we're looking for.
He turns at the sound from the front.
Marcus? Nice to meet you. I'm Phineus Faeyd, currently here assisting the Sheriff. Phineus steps forward and holds out his hand. Equipment troubles, you say? Who did you say sent you?
Marcus hands the documents over to the outstretched hand:
"A Mr...uh, Shari? I'm not quite sure, I only actually spoke with his assistant."
Kaylee sighs at the fur sample. "Well, it doesn't look like this fur belongs to any dogs around here. In fact, it doesn't look like it belongs to any animal that I have ever seen before. Must be from something more exotic than your average pet. Guess we will have to send the fur off along with the synthetic acid to be analyzed in depth at the off world lab."
Kaylee finally looks up from her work to acknowledge the newcomer. "Welcome Marcus, my name is Kaylee Veridian. We have quite the little mystery going on around here."
Outside of your area there is the sound of the deputies changing shifts and the Sheriff, still visibly frustrated, grabs his coat and heads out of the building.
"What's your specialization? the last guy we had was a bit more....aggressive than we probably needed at this juncture."
Marcus side steps politely to let the sheriff pass, nodding as he does.
"Hazardous environment technical specialist, sir."
"Name's Quinton. I'm not a sir; I work for a living."
"Don't we all. Speaking of; where would you folks like me to start?"
Phineus looks around at the group, Let's fill you in on the details we've got so far and you can let us know what you can do. I've got to get some sleep, but you're welcome to look through my files. And, I don't suggest heading off alone. We've got a lot of disappearances on our hand, and we don't know what we're dealing with.
"I usually work with salvaged materials and equipment, stuff that's already past it's prime. I assumed that's why they sent me down here, they said some gear had gone missing and that it may need recovery before it could be used again."
After handing off his data files and giving a short rundown of the day, Phineus goes off to grab some sleep.
Good luck. Try to grab some rest after you go through those. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.
Quinton will grab some coffee and begin trying to get his tired brain to start working again, looking at the gathered information with bloodshot eyes.
"Right, thanks. I'll give these a look."
Casting an eye at the rest of the group he sees that they all seem tired and strained. Hesitating he says:
"You folks seem busy; I'm just gonna get out of your hair for now. I'll let you know if I find anything."
With that he excuses himself and heads over to the nearby cafeteria to look over the data.
The staff at the cafeteria will serve you, but they generally keep their distance. The people of Presidia that stop by seem to have facial expressions that are offput if not openly hostile, but don't bother you or even come near you.
- Many of the thefts involve thefts involve things used in traditional mining operations. Items of note include a batch of excavation explosives, shoring frames used to brace potentially unstable tunnels, sonic drills, a portable power generator, and mundane excavation tools.
- On two separate occasions, cases of portable batteries that would fit the sonic drills were reported as stolen.
- Two of the missing people are miners who specialized in excavation work. The rest of the of the miners range from rookies trying to strike out on their own to grizzled veterans with no detectable links beyond living in Presidia.
- There are no reports of grudges of any sort between any of the missing, and none of the missing are known noted for any suspicious behavior or habits beyond those normally associated with one who prefers living off the grid – as much as is possible in today’s world.
- The most recent thefts, with the most recent happening only the previous week, include things like high-tensile cables, pulleys, a large drive motor, and a large (12’ x 9’/4 m x 3 m) reinforced screen. Each was stolen at different times from different active mining sites. However, each one could potentially be used as a component for creating a high-capacity elevator.
The explosives went missing from a nearby excavation site. The batteries and generic mining equipment were taken from the general store at the edge of town. The large screen, iron bars, and high tensile cable were stored at a storage yard about a quarter of a mile outside of town. Finally the portable welding generator was taken from a construction site about four hours out of town near a new mine.
"...An illegal mine maybe?" Marcus muses to himself after looking over all of the data. There were large sections concerning bio-samples and related theories that he largely disregarded in favor of the equipment logs. Meanwhile the cold reception by the locals somewhat worries him, but he decides not to force himself into conversation. Frontier people always have their quirks after all.
With the hour growing late Marcus decides to return to the rest of the group for the night.
The deputies steer clear of all of you, but seem content to let you work (or rest) as you see fit. It does seem that the air of concern is almost palpable however and clearly the presence of Wardens has increased the sense of fear that the citizens of Presidia have.
Kit, while resting you get an inkling that something strange and otherworldly might be afoot. The sense comes in a dream-like feeling and when you awaken it is gone, though you remember it was present.
Uh, guys? I just had one of those weird dreams that tells me that something bad is here. Like bad, bad. Our kinda bad.
Phineus seems to be a morning person. He's already awake and brewing a pot of coffee. After a quick change of clothes, he starts working on his datapad.
Phineus smirks as he raises his coffee for another drink. You don't say? We have samples of something never before recorded. I think that ship has sailed.
He puts his dataslate down and stands. But if you're having dreams, perhaps it's closer than we thought? What do you think? Any ideas?
Quinton sips his coffee, wincing at the taste, and then says "My working theory is that something that can create acid is stealing supplies to build an elevator so that it can get off-world. If I had more evidence of this I would lock down the planet, but right now it's only a guess at best. I think that we should split into groups and check out the rest of the sites to confirm, but I would imagine that we'll find the same thing there: acid was used to create a 'door', and we'll probably find more hair samples. I may have missed it, but has anyone gone to any of the other sites?"
Kit grabs another soda. Before we even THINK about splitting up, how many of us can fight? I know that is my job, but there is only one of me.
Marcus hesitates as he speaks his own thoughts on the matter: "I'm not so sure...I mean an orbital elevator is a pretty big undertaking. It would take years alone to even build something like that, and even then why bother? If they were trying to get off planet wouldn't just be easier to stow away on a shuttle?"
The he replies to Kevin: "Why? Do you think they're desperate enough to do something violent? It's only a few miners after all."
Agreed. It seems like they're trying to get something down below up here, or something up here down below. We don't know enough yet to figure out which, but they're making another mining shaft for some reason.
They may not be violent, but people are disappearing. It's best not to take any chances. I suggest wherever you go, either get the sheriff or make him have a deputy take you. They know the are better. And, more importantly, have vehicles. Walking around in this atmosphere gets tough, fast.
"While we're on the subject: how do you think they're getting around? If it's a tunnel they're digging then the dirts gotta go somewhere. Beyond that they've got people to feed and house plus all this stolen equipment to haul around. That's quite a bit of logistics to take into account."
"sorry, I'm still a bit groggy so let me clarify what I'm saying: I think that whatever is controlling people is having them build a secondary elevator to get to the top of the cliff so that it can board a ship and get off-world."
To Kevin's question, Quinton replies "I have firearms training. I was a homicide detective long before I was a warden."
"Maybe, but if that was the case then why haven't they tried to hijack the normal elevator? They've already proven their ability to move about undetected and from what I saw it's not too well guarded besides."
Having suddenly thought of something Marcus takes out the data pad Phineus had given him and jumps back to the equipment manifest.
With the quantity of batteries stolen, you figure that they could run a standard tool for over a year. Multiple tools would obviously reduce the useful life accordingly, so the exact usage duration is difficult to predict. The two thefts so far were approximately two months apart and the most recent theft from the General Store was approximately one month ago.
"Either way, they've got enough stolen gear to keep themselves going for quite some time, especially if they've rigged a charger out of the power generator."
"I don't know if any of you have looked too deep into the circumstances under which these disappeared, maybe they found some reason to leave. Enough cash and there isn't much people 'round these parts wouldn't do."
"Now whether they've got the manpower is another question entirely. There's only been, what? A dozen people gone missing so far? Only two of them were specialists in excavation? Can't really open up a brand-new mine or build another elevator with so few bodies. I think we should be looking at some of the more established sites."
"Problem is we don't know for sure how they've been getting around up until this point. Man can't get too far on foot what with the atmosphere and all. Assuming they don't have some kind of hauler then their working area is gonna be limited to the immediate area outside of their hiding spot. We should try and find whoever it is that keeps the books on Presidias mines, otherwise we'll have to try and speak with each sites foreman individually. We're probably looking for a shaft that either shut-down or got suspended around the same time that everything started. Someone could have reported a site as dry so they wouldn't have to pay anything on what they were pulling up."
After he finishes speaking he gets a frustrated look and grabs his chin, muttering to himself: "But then they'd still need a way to move the material off-site. A cover as a legitimate operation...?"
They've taken enough people that they could have access to vehicles. There's no reason to think they don't. There are no books on the mines around here. No records. At least according to the locals. People go off, find their own spot and start mining.
Phineus sighs and leans back, This is the oddest small town I've ever visited. I get being loners, what I don't get is that no one seems to know anything about anyone else. Even if they didn't really know, I've never known small town people to *not* talk about their neighbors. But here, even partners don't know what their partner is doing in their free time. And how does a colony even work if people don't know where other people are going? Who decides who gets what spot? It's chaos.
And a dozen workers is more than enough for operations here. They apparently work in very small groups. As small as two so far.
"What I'm saying is that they don't got enough hands to go off and start a whole new dig. They're probably working from an already established site. And where-else could they have gotten a vehicle 'cept for stealing one? Sounds like most everyone walks around here."
"From what I've seen; folks 'round here just plain don't like you guys. So maybe you're right and nobody know nuthin, or maybe they don't wan't to tell you. It's something you'll have to get used to for as long as you stay here on Mars. Outside of the main habs strangers aren't treated too kindly."
I just had a horrible thought. I have heard of an intelligent parasite. What if this thing has infected everyone?
Phineus blinks in confusion. I know what you're saying. I'm saying that, with what we've seen so far, they have more then enough people to start a new dig. And while I agree that looking at established sites would be a good idea, there's no way to track them since the locals don't.
The Sheriff has a truck, and I expect that most people have transportation of some sort around here. I haven't noticed people walking everywhere except in town. How did you think people were bringing back what they mine?
And lastly, yes, you're absolutely right that the locals don't like or trust us. We've done a rather piss poor job of earning any trust. He smiles slightly as his tone eases, Hopefully you can help us out with that.
Still, this isn't my first rodeo on Mars. And I've been to more insular outposts than I can count. These people aren't acting normally. Either they're hiding something, or they're just the weirdest small town folk I've ever met. At this point, either is equally likely.
"I'll agree that they are fairly insular, and I definitely agree that they're playing their cards close to their vest, but I still think our best course of action would be to investigate the other worksites and get first-hand knowledge of the break-ins. We should probably also go check the dwellings of the missing people, as I don't think anyone has done that yet. Finally, we might want to see about getting a list of closed mines, in case they are building down, not up."
"Conjecture aside we at least know that they're at a pretty good sized site given the size of the elevator screen they took. Somewhere that didn't have an elevator before."
"So what do y'all want to do?"
"As I said, I still think we should split up into 2 groups: 1 that checks out the sites, and another that checks out the missing people's lodgings in town. We're already behind the clock, so to speak, so getting as much accomplished as quickly as possible seems to me to be the way to go."
Sounds like a plan to me. I suggest we rope the Sheriff into driving one of the groups around again and have him assign a deputy and their vehicle to another. They won't like it much, but we need to get around faster.
Unless we really need someone who may know the area, I can drive. Yes, I am better out of atmo, but I am no slouch behind the wheel.
"If that's the case then I can ride with Quinton while you two use the Sheriff's truck."