4952 Delcia

You move from room to room, finding very little of interest, but in one relatively intact one, thanks to combined efforts of Mesec and Kandza, you find another 3 intact alien "data wafers"...

"Well, looks like we have a few other chances of learning about this place and its inhabitants... Should I try and read them again via the robot hooked to my portacomp?"

Kandza inserts jacks her portacomp to the robot and inserts the first wafer. You see the image of a rotund humanoid with a short trunk and brown-grew swarthy skin addressing itself to whatever recording device was used to make this data wafer in low, deep rumbling or loud trumpeting sounds. The video goes on for a while, and by the alien's demeanor, it seems to be the sort of video you'd make to send news to friends or family members or something similar... Aside from showing what the previous occupants of this place looked like, and to prove they indeed had complex social interactions and societal structures, this data wafer is of little interest...

Kandza than tries in the second wafer... and it seems to be blank.

She then tries the last wafer... and that's when you hit the jackpot! You see a familiar room, where you found your 5 carrier cases a few levels down. The carrier cases are on the table, each containing one of those weird crab creatures surrounded by other trunked aliens who seems to be observing their behaviors discussing among themselves and taking notes. The same trunked individual form the previous video, now wearing what could pass as a lab coat is addressing the camera, his tone of "voice" sounding more professional now, as he's probably discussing those new critters they've discovered. The crabs in the carrier cases look very aggressive, trying to spit their acid, but the carrier seems to resist it. That is until an order seems to be given, and one of the trunked creatures open one of the carriers, the crab jumps out and spits acid at his observers. Things become pandemonium, trunked aliens fall down burnt, others run around, the other carrier cases are knocked in the panic and open upon falling to the ground releasing more crabs, the camera is knocked down only to be picked up again b the same individual who seems to be running away while still attempting to calmly continue his report on those creatures... the whole place seems to be on alert now... then the video abruptly ends...

"W-wow... I think we know what happened to this place now..."

"I think with the people in stasis downstairs and what we've found on those data wafers, the original occupents of this place were collecting specimens from across the galaxy, and bringin them here to... I guess study? In a strange, morbid way, I guess they were scientists, curious about life on other planets. While I can't commend their methods, it did seem to have blown up in their face when they brought those crab-spider things here... I'm guessing they all died here, or perhaps abandoned the place and cut their loss, hard to say for certain either way."

You briskly make your way toward the last floor (with the small observation gallery above not really counting as it was full of computer consoles), the hangar where most of you had encountered the strange crab things and found the body of the Erakai medic. There are still a few doors you had not explored here... You also noticed that the front hangar doors have opened again, and you can even see the Dawn Star, your ticket out of this dump, in the distance.

You make your way to the "upper left" storage area, glad to find out that it's not locked. Your joy is short lived however, as you realize that it is completely empty after having opened it. If there ever was anything of interest here, it's been removed a long time ago...

The surprise awaiting Sorrack is the bitter irony of finding 6 enviro suits (albeit of alien design), the one thing which could have help protect you against those crabs' acid spit attack, in the very last room of this damed complex you opened, and yet so close to you all this time... The universe must be laughing at Sorrack right now... 4 of them looks to be in poor condition though, but perhaps one or two could be repaired by cannibalizing the other damaged suits. There seems to be a lot of high-tech stuff in there as well, probably stuff that could be used to replenish some kits, if you take the time to search for the right thing, that is. Other than that, there seems to be another magnetic box-moving thingie just like what Nero is wielding, though, one again, only one seems to be in working order, and once again, perhaps one of the broken ones could be repaired by scavenging the other.

Sorrack finds... 4 provisions for his techkit.