Intermission 1: The Darkness steps back

Declan buys his bags without issue and returns to his personal room that he and like the others, have and automatically paid for with their salary.As Declan bravely opens the lunchbox as if it could be some black mold bomb, it reveals itself to contain... clear tiny plastic pouches of various pills. It seems there is 6 of such pouches, each of different amount of pills and designs. Some are brown cubes and half disintegrating, some are yellow powder in capsules, and some have bits of red dye. The bags are labeled, but in single words with a black marker pen:
"Sleep. / Nightmares. / Energy. / Destress. / Muscle. / Escape."

---

Matsuki follows after the woman who hid the secret message. The written can is inaccessible as a little car, but tracking the woman's movement is easier. Her job appears to be an inspector of sorts. She occasionally notes down stuff on her tablet, and speaks with the workers in a formal and calm manner. She then checks out the room with the filter machine Matsuki went in before, where the sleeping worker/cultist was. As the woman opens up the cover to reveal the slots for filters, it appears that the missing filters from last time is now present. It looked like a CD case with an orange sponge inside, where tubes for unknown fluids pass through the casings.

Any further detail is hard to see from the camera angle, and the woman quickly shuts the cover and reapply the warning tape made by the machine's creator. The lady went on more rounds of regular work in the area, before she heads off to the break room nearby. There, she meets up with 2 other friends of hers.

Suspicious Lady: "Have you read my message?"
Bearded Man: "You left a message? I didn't find it."
SL: "You know how our cache locations can change, please look for it again later."
Bald Lady: "Sigh, I need a drink to deal with all this secrecy. I can't wait for the gang to be back together."
BM: "Yeah. We should have our own meeting spot. I heard that the Mining Site is less busy lately."
SL: "Let's not be stupid, Brandon. We don't need to take that risk yet. We can remain patient."
BL: "Pft. Not like we are doing anything much with our little club."
SL: "You know, you can always leave if you like to shit talk about our efforts this often."
BL: "That's been on my mind. I used to love the energy here, but maybe it's time to find some new friends who still have a fire inside."

They continue to chat and banter until they separate again. By now, the new week is here. Matsuki will have to decide her plan of investigation.

---

For Corvin and Abdullah:

The doctor frowned as he listened. Finally he puts up a hand as a stop sign, and speaks.

"I am not looking for students or anyone who can potentially steal my creation and distribute it to the world. Are you agents of the United Advancement or something? If so, I have already told you folks I don't appreciate your efforts to low ball me. Your boss should know better than anyone that the future of Darst is Mersk, and eventually the Advancement will offer me the true price of my baby. "

He then shuts his eyes for a moment and his expression softens.

"But... I do admit I need help. Especially now regarding that mold issue you speak of. But before I say more, I'll allow you to explain yourself again what do you plan on doing with my child. And also, no recordings please, I don't need anyone to know how to reverse engineer my discovery and rob me of my efforts. I may yet show you two through my work in the coming week."

---

Wolf enjoys his time with Connor, and Connor enjoyed Wolf's presence too. It is like he is an actual wolf; strong, clever, and mysterious. It is like having a werewolf guardian in the woods that is this colony station.

Connor may not think of himself as impressive as Nikolai, but he is also as clever as knowing how to handle himself as a lone wolf too. He is humble, honest, and contently open minded; an unassuming light in this colony that holds an invisible shadow over everyone. He doesn't experience the nightmares or hallucinations unlike several of his colleagues, and so he tries to be gentle with them. However, some of them become much more unfriendly living and working with their nightmares, and so Connor leave them space to handle it. With Wolf around, his week became lighter.

As he listens about Wolf's excursion to The Face, Connor do find it concerning, but he knows not what to do about the haunting things his boyfriend found that shares the planet they are on. He have heard passing phrases that followers of the Cult used before that seems to reference a stalking alien life. Things like "The Watchers have seen us from afar" or "We will meet the Angels of the Void". He never took it seriously other than mad ramblings, but knowing that black mold aliens are responsible for messing with local staff have finally put an unpleasant but clear face on the problem. He expressed that he appreciates Wolf in opening up to him about it and that he admires his courage to go through the horrors of The Face.
Eventually, as the day comes to a close, he offers that both of them could share a room together, so they can feel safer when they sleep. (Wink!)

Declan went out to see the dealer again. The Nurse is there on the same day and time. She was mildly confused about Declan being there, because there are no orders for collection yet. However, seeing as this new guy is eager to buy and learn more about the drugs, the Nurse was hesitant at first, but decides to bite.

"You are pretty eager. I don't normally talk about this much, but I suppose I can explain it to you.

Before you came here, we had sudden high levels of... how to put it, mental darkness. The management folks have no clue what to do about it, and so they didn't. And so we had a high demand for finding solutions to this mysterious pandemic. That is where I come in. I won't tell you how I got the medicine, but I am the main contact that the desperate will look for. So far I am not confronted by management or their guard dogs, likely that I am a necessary evil every agree on. However, now that the security dogs are sniffing and pissing about the place more frequently, we can't help it but raise the price and reduce production to continue business.

Now that I shared my little story with you, I got a job for you. You don't need to take it, and it's nothing related to the merchandise. However, do this little task, and you will earn a fee for your trouble. There is a package that needs delivering. Do not open it, the receiver can tell if you did. They will also be the one to pay you. If they don't for whatever reason, then there is nothing I will do about that. However, do this, and you will gain an ally even if the United Advancement is against you.

Other than that, if you do want to buy something, you better explain what your issue is. Me and The Doctor will not give you refunds if you are diagnosed wrongly."

Declan watch as The Nurse whips her clump hair back in thought.

"Realistic nightmares, birthday party themed, a presence... Alright, you're suffering with one of our classics. I got your diagnosis in my head, and you will receive your prescription by the end of the week. Do note that this medication will disrupt your reoccurring dreams with other kinds, so we can't guarantee your sleep remains completely stress free.

And as for the fee, I'll give you the special offer that it comes free with you performing this task for me. There is a carton of detergent left under the sinks of the Man's washroom, the one next to the along the northern corridor from the Cafeteria. Do not check it, just trust that it's the one. Carry it with you to the eastern resident blocks. There, you will find a man waiting. Give him the box and you may ask for your service tip."

For Corvin and Abdullah:Dr Wu gently shakes his head. However, it seems to be more pity than pure disagreement.

"I could have been happy about the respect I receive here, if it was done in a better way. My success have earned me daily paranoia, thanks to my lab partner betraying me with attempting to sell my design schematics to buyers at home. I caught his careless act in time, and it taught me the lesson that I can't trust my fellow colleagues too.

Maybe I am not as sharp as I was, but I don't sense greed from your eyes and voice. If the matter of the mold is a true weight on your heart, I will offer a little enlightenment. However, it might do the opposite instead."

He then leaned back on his chair and prepared to tell a story.

"In the early days of the colony, about 20 years ago, I was part of a team to study Mersk's air quality. We learnt that it have a near identical chemical composition to Darst's. The vanishing of our ancestor's presence here have done little to undo the terraforming efforts millenia ago. However, there is still the obvious concerns of the particles in the air. We thought it was ash, according to the descriptions of a reckless worker that tore off her helmet, but turns out it is something else... decayed matter.

Even now I don't fully understand the cause or the origins of this abundant particle. It made no sense to modern bio-chemistry. Protein molecules joined with rare-earth metals. Potentially signs of alien life, or some bizarre chemical reaction. I didn't think on it too much, as my goal was to find a method to remove it from the air. We were also told not to tell the truth to our less educated colleagues, not that they could understand it differently. It being burnt metal was the cause we went with.

Then eventually, I finally discovered it, a liquid medium of a unique recipe that can catch the proteins and break them down harmlessly. This success have given me not only the fear of losing ownership to my hard-fought invention, but also the fear of the consequences of the process. Don't misunderstand, the produced air is perfectly safe, but the liquid medium will accumulate the particles over time. I trust only myself to oversee the installation and maintainance of my device in the air system, as unknown consequences come from doing it improperly. However, it is too costly to keep everything secure, so I resort to legal threats to be my best defense.

Now, with the news of mold and bio-terrorists, my fear on that issue grew greater. If you intend to solve this mystery, I wish you the best, but unfortunately for you two, I won't give you a demonstration of the filtration system. Perhaps you will find another avenue of research. But for now, I must be on my way to work again. Goodbye."

He gets up to open the door out of the meeting room before taking a puff of e-cig. Any hand shakes he exchange is done impassionately.

Declan heads over the location that is mentioned: the male toilet near the Cafeteria.

There, he sees no one nearby, as it is near the construction sites and it is now time for work. Looking under the sink, he does indeed find the detergent box. And hurriedly move to the residential units.

Along the way, he heard someone calling out to him.
"Hey you! Wait a moment!"

Turns out it is a patrolling guard that is now walking up to him.

"Where are you going with your… box of detergent? Something about this feels suspicious. Allow me to inspect it for a moment."

---

Corvin and Abdullah:

Dr Wu may or may not have heard Corvin's remark. Either way he simply speed walk his way to lock himself in his lab.

Declan runs this way and that. Slowing just a moment to cross over a floor with a wet caution sign. As he enters the hallway to the residences, he listens out for any movement, hears none, and relaxes his pace a bit. There leaning against the wall between doors, is a man wearing sunglasses and a brimmed hat. He was chewing on a toothpick until he sees Declan approach him with the box in hand.

"You got the package? Let me have it."

He takes it and opens up the top, and what he sees causes his frown to grow deeper.

"Oh no. This is not good. You opened it didn't you? Or at least you seemed to have shook it too much on your way here. The signs of tampering makes you an untrustworthy agent. I'll still be taking it. I've got to tell her about this..."

He then makes his way to a door a couple paces away, taps his key card to it, and enters, leaving Declan with no further explanation or compensation. But definitely, something more suspicious than selling illegal drugs is going on.

Declan will see that his words gave the man pause.

"Alright, I see that you are new to this and possibly isn't someone else's spy. I'll give you something for this. 200 Credits. Maybe not as much as you may normally get from working, but it's better than nothing.

I'm honestly glad you didn't surrender this away... But I don't think I'm ready to trust you to know what is the product inside. Tell you what, I'll have another job for you if you can spare the whole of next week. Wait around at a bench at the indoor park, and you will be given your next task by The Nurse."

As he leaves to his sleeping unit, the box left a trail of a few scattered packing peanuts. Looking at a corner in the ceiling, a camera can be seen.

---

Corvin and Abdullah both find their way to access the air vents. It took some climbing, crawling, sneaking and navigating. With Abdullah's memorised map of the system, he directed the way to look for key locations such as Dr Wu's lab-workshop, and a couple maintainence rooms where the air filtration device is installed in. It takes several attempts throughout the week and a few close calls, but in the end, the inventor didn't notice Corvin spying his actions. It can get fairly dusty and claustrophobic, but impressively it didn't cause the journalist to mess up.

Normally, Mr Wu spends his days performing experiments and simply building new models of his filtering mechanism. Many small piles of machine parts; casings, tubes and fans, all lay about in corners of the room and tables. He will occasionally use a microscope to observe a yellow wafer, and replace it in the machine with a new one from a drawer full of it.

One the days he leave work from his workshop, he goes to perform checks on the machines. The machines have yellow tape wrapped around it, looking like police tape but not really. He opens a panel, poke around a bit before scribbling on his note pad. He looks the most nervous doing this as he looks around the room before he does this.

At one of such checks, he shows panic, pulling out a wafer. He looks at it over his gloved hands before calming down and inserting it back. This one happens to be located near the Cafeteria. Another interesting incident is one where while waiting at a vent with a machine near the southern ship dock house, a worker in uniform entered the room, carefully checking that no one is around, before opening the panel and swapping out one wafer with another. They are wearing a hardhead that shields most of their face from view from the vent opening.