Reenneesuash (Ren to humans) daughter of veanamdarr

Ren was following them into the city, it was very much a spooky place. Everything was dead? Everyone was just plain gone yet the entire place was normal at the same time. Undamaged by war, bugs and nothing was causing an alarm on any sensors for air being toxic.

It was just like every single person had decided to up, leave and go off on holiday. They had no idea why and that was genuinely concerning. The concerns, dozens of potential options and has yet to narrow anything down.

“This is creepy, ive got no alarms, and no people… nothing too far out of spec.” Ren said with a confused tone to her voice. Scientists did not like things that had utterly no reasons for happening. Everything had cause and effect. Everything had a reason, however weird.

“You also never called out, you left the group doc?” She said with a little comment back but also pulled some gloves on, and popped a kit out her bag sat on a bench near the lobby area where oddly, the power was working.

“Samples, give me a bit il run it for you, got anything else interesting for me to play with?.” Ren said as she started working on the machine, popping a scrape and fragments of samples into test vials with a little chemical before working away on the machine. She looked up from behind the protective face mask she was still wearing and began to look even more confused to be honest the more she got answers.

“Not sure what you want to hear, but… “ she paused to double check, ran a sample of her own and typed away at buttons with a high degree of focus instead being…well Ren.

“Elvated levels in some things, but nothing that harm us, just variables. Nothing. It's different and not dangerous. Look…” she tapped and on the screen a chart compared lines with Eden basic and this planet. Variations but no signs of anything to cause the current situation. ”That’s us. That's here. No rads outside are safe, we are only a few % over Eden Prime. Nothing that could explain anything we experienced."

Standing up again and stretching before packing up. "Worst I can say, is pollen count higher than we used to."

Putting her gear back, she looked up scanning for noise, sound, anything. Nope. Nothing out of ordinary which was especially out of normal. “Anything, did they leave some coffee…” She looked at the apartment and rested a compact pistol in her hand, it would not stop anything heavy but felt far far more safe with it in her hand. "Heck, might be able to get a new dress or heals" Ren joked as she got up. End of world or not, she did want to look... respectable.

MENTIONS
@InfamousGuy101@Dyelli Beybi@Flarbinia

"So everything is fine... but no people?" Velia queried before adding, "Spooky."

She meandered into the kitchen, checking a few pots, "Tea, coffee."

She put a tea bag into a cup then picked up the kettle, filling it from the tap, "Well the water still works. Good pressure as well. Might have a shower later."

She put the kettle on to boil then stepped over to the fridge, "Milk... OJ... also looks fresh." She took an experimental sip from the milk, "Someone must have stocked the fridge recently."

The kettle was boiling so she made herself a cup of tea, stepping back out into the lounge, blowing on the cup for a few moments before taking a sip, "You know what's missing?" She asked the group at large, "Any sign someone actually lives here. There's no clothes on the floor, or dishes in the sink or any photos. It's like a show home but with fresh food for some reason. All very neatly laid out in the fridge, I might add. This us like..."

She took a sip of her tea, "Like someone from the film industry made a set of a house."

Reenneesuash (Ren to humans) daughter of veanamdarr

Ren nodded and looked, extremely curious at the apartment and especially when they had found that the place was.. well fully stocked? It had working lights, clean, food and drink present. Everything was present and everything seemed to be normal but the complete and utter lack of people who should live here.

Ren popped her mask free, apart from well… pollen, nothing on her tests showed as a danger. The test machines were some of the best portable gear she could carry, so if there was a danger, the test machine would know. “Let me just double check that before you start drinking ok.” Ren said seriously, dropping her lighter tone, science Ren.

Ren put some water into a sample tube, mixed some chosen chemical in from her kit and dropped a selected test strip into the mixture she made. It took a few minutes before she got a result from the test strip. “Nothing, its…water. Treated, a little high in chemical, but safe, it might make your tea taste a little different but that's it.” Ren finished comparing the colour lines across the test strip more confused than ever to be honest. Her voice told her confusion, like there was no evidence to explain the outcome.

She gestured to the other woman that the tea was safe to drink.

“Oh…” yeah. That was it. It was…that. Uncanny, it lacked the normal errors, mess and so of normal life. Not even the mugs were racked the wrong way round or there was anything out of place. Like a magazine photo shoot. “You're right, most of us leave a to-do list or shopping list etc in the kitchen. Or charge a holo phone…” Nothing. Uncanny. So right it was wrong.

Mark stepped in last, carbine raised as he gave the apartment a slow sweep. Nothing jumped out, hissed, screamed, or tried to make a meal out of him.

“Clear enough,” he muttered, though he didn’t sound completely convinced.

He lingered for another second, watching Velia casually make tea like they hadn’t just broken into the creepiest model home in the galaxy. Ren was testing water, the place had lights, pressure, fresh food, clean floors and absolutely no one else in it.

Mark stared at the nearby couch, it looked comfortable.

After a moment, he shrugged.

“Ah, fuck it. Might as well.”

He slung his carbine across his chest, stepped forward, and vaulted over the back of the couch with a tired grunt. He landed heavily into the cushions, sank in, and let himself slump for the first time since they touched down.

Then he lifted both armored boots onto a nearby stool.

“Yeah,” he said, looking around the spotless apartment he stretched his arms out and set his hands onto the back of his head, “This definitely beats guarding a dirty shuttle.”

He glanced toward the kitchen.

“You find any beer in there? Maybe cigars? If this place is gonna be haunted, least it could be hospitable...”

Reenneesuash (Ren to humans) daughter of veanamdarr

Ren decided she might as well join them if could not beat the crazy and started to make a cup of tea. Everything was showing as safe, and no tests showed any kind of elevated chemical or such levels. Bar the water tasting a bit over treated. Leaving her bag by the kitchen, she sighed without the weight, it was not super heavy but…nicer without.

She was returning with a cup when someone asked about a beer so turned around, and searched the fridge in the world's creepiest set. “Umm, theirs…Bud zero Gravity…ewww, some Sodas, Fosters Edenite original … Steel Reserve?… that's ok? Right?” Ren said as she placed the can on the coffee table and joined them sipping from a mug with a smiling moon on it.

Even post apocalypse no one deserved to drink Bud zero Gravity. Brewed on a space station, maybe the bugs would eat it and all die of mass despair.

“So, what next? We know it's not environmental? Maybe we head to city hall? Or some kind of government building?” Ren asked as they sat in the insane place and situation they found themselves in.

“Anyone else got an idea?” She asked honestly, confused as this expedition had no answers to an alarming number of questions. “I have no solid evidence, for anything, why there's no people.”

Velia took another sip from her cup of tea, "Government building sounds sensible. Do you think there's some kind of a map around here?" she asked, casually glancing at a few of the bare side boards, "Otherwise I guess we just head straight to the centre of town..." she trailed off as the sound of an electric engine echoed in from the street outside, "Umm... what's that?"

For anyone by the window they would see a tracked robotic vehicle approaching down the street. It was reasonably large with a big metal tank on the back, robotic as there was no place for a driver. A large illuminated sign on the polished steel side of the vehicle read 'Biological Containment Unit'. As it moved a cheerful, prerecorded voice announced: Citizens, please remain in your homes until the threat is contained. The sides of the vehicle were scored with the unmistakable heat marks of blaster fire, which seemed oddly out of place in this pristine neighborhood.

Before anyone had a chance to do more than spot the incoming vehicle a voice called from the doorway, "Don't shoot, I'm friendly."

The voice was female and, for anyone focusing on the language beneath the work of the translator microbes, was speaking the ancient 'English' language that was known from a few historic fragments from before the Machine War. After a brief pause a 20-something looking woman stepped out into the open. She was a pretty thing. Caucasian looking - probably human - with a square shaped face, high cheekbones and big green eyes. Brown hair was tied up in a particularly messy ponytail with stray strands falling about her shoulders. She seemed to be military of some sort, wearing a short-sleeved black uniform that had definitely seen better days, with rips and tears that she had tried to patch in places. Indecipherable blue rank insignia adorned the collar and epaulettes while a shoulder patch that looked like some kind of neon spider web presumably said something about whose service she was in. Her left bicep was wrapped in a dirty bandage, further suggestion that this place wasn't quite as safe as it seemed.

"Unless you are carrying military-grade gas masks, you'll want to be leaving before that clanker pumps this building full of gas," she beckoned for them to follow, "I know you don't know me, but I've been here a while. I know the routes that avoids the cameras those things use to find 'biological contaminants'." There was a slight pause, as she seemed to realise some in the group didn't quite get what she was saying, "You lot are the 'biological contaminant' it's here to 'contain'. Lets go!"

Mark had just reached for the can Ren had set on the table when the sound of roaring engines and tracjs outside had cut through the room. He lowered his boots from the stool and sat up. His hand went to the carbine across his chest before his eyes found the window.

Then the machine outside came into view.

Big tank, no driver, heat scoring along the sides. Biological Containment Unit written across it like that was supposed to make anyone feel better.

Mark’s eyes widened at the sight.

“Yeah. That ain’t the welcome wagon.”

Before he could say more, a woman’s voice had called from the doorway.

Mark turned fast, carbine raised but not fully shouldered. The woman looked human enough; Young, rough, with patched-up uniform and a bandage on one arm. She looked military or something close to it.

Mark's first thought was trap, but his second thought was that the giant contaminant machine outside didn’t look like it was in the mood to wait for them to debate the issue.

"Unless you are carrying military-grade gas masks, you'll want to be leaving before that clanker pumps this building full of gas," she beckoned for them to follow, "I know you don't know me, but I've been here a while. I know the routes that avoids the cameras those things use to find 'biological contaminants'." There was a slight pause, as she seemed to realise some in the group didn't quite get what she was saying, "You lot are the 'biological contaminant' it's here to 'contain'. Lets go!"

Mark glanced back toward the street as the prerecorded warning echoed through the neighborhood.

"Citizens, please remain in your homes until the threat is contained."

He looked at the others.

“I don’t know about you all,” he said, standing fully and pulling his tool bag back into place on his belt, “but I’m not interested in getting my entrails liquefied by whatever the hell that thing is.”

He kept the carbine ready, glancing back to the stranger.

“If this is a trap, congratulations, you picked a convincing one. Take the lead.”

Reenneesuash (Ren to humans) daughter of veanamdarr

Ren was passing over a beer and sipping from her mug of tea, the tea was…ok, the water was still a little chemically. The tea was a bit basic, everything was weird in this place.

The person who ran in was strange? Military gear, some signs of a field dressing and speaking a version of language she did not recognise, the accent and so did not match anything she knew or experienced.

“Your gonna have to explain…” She said before deciding that being here was better than being anything. “Fine. Fuck. I wanted that tea. I want answers later.” She jumped up and grabbed her pack glad it was all packed up. Reaching for her pistol, and grabbing it so it was close.

“I can always shoot you later” Ren said quietly as she followed them out the door.

"Forget that one," the woman nodded to the camera in the hall, "Already seen us."

She walked down the hall at a brisk pace as the armored robotic vehicle, without any apparent sense of urgency, trundled along the road, turning to face the main doors, which opened as it approached.

The woman though, seemed to know the password on the key pads. She tapped it into the back door pinpad, opening the door, holding it for everyone in the group until, just as a cloud of ominous gas began to seep in through the front doors, slamming it shut behind them.

"That toaster won't follow us, but if we get spotted others will get dispatched and some are... a bit more dangerous than that one, not that you want to get gassed," she explained as she led the way along the back garden, dropping to her stomach to crawl into the hedgerow... which had died back in the centre, leaving something like a secret avenue running down the rear of the properties. Presumably it went to the end of the row, though that was lost in the dim interior.

"Sorry for the lack of introduction. Lieutenant Nemain Early of the Lux Legio," she held out a hand to Mark, who she seemed to have assumed was in charge, "I had a bit of engine trouble and came down here, well... a few years ago, I think. Clankers have driven the locals out into the forest, where they have regressed into a primitive tribal society. There's obviously more to the story, that I can tell you, but I think it might be a good idea to head for your shuttle before it gets dragged into a hangar."

"Umm," she looked a bit sheepish, "I know we're just meeting each other and I haven't done much to earn your trust, but would you be okay taking me with you? I don't want to be marooned on this rock for the rest of my life and I promise I can earn my way on your ship."

Velia looked between the others in the group. Dithering a moment before saying, "Well you did just rescue us from that death-bot. I mean, we might have figured it out ourselves, but I figure we owe you at least a lift."

Nemain looked to the others, but didn't wait to see if the group concurred. She set off at a crouch, hurrying down the interior of the hedge, brushing away the occasional dead twig that grew into the path, though it looked fairly well trod for the most part. She'd been down here before, "We've got to move quickly. Follow this hedge, then move across the road, fast and low. There's a similar one opposite. We keep going till we hit the spaceport perimeter... as I'm sure you've noticed, all the buildings are the same. The gardens are as well. There are security cameras on the lampposts at crossroads, at the front doors of properties and within the entry foyers. Avoid those and the toasters won't come after us. It gets a bit trickier in a couple of hours, when they send out a swarm of drones to restock everything. Drones with guns," she clarified, lightly tapping her injured arm, "But we'll be long gone before that."

She paused as they reached a leafy wall where the hedgerow came to an end, dropping to her belly again to crawl out under the hedge and into the roadway. She darted a glance each way, then hurried across, ducking into another hedge where she waited for the others, "It's so good to see civilised people again!" She exclaimed as she waited for the group to reassemble. Despite the peril they were in, Nemain looked... elated. Like she was brimming with hope of finally escaping the planet. There must have been a bit of dhasath in her; she hadn't broken a sweat.

---

Meanwhile at the space port a couple of robotic vehicles rolled out onto the landing pad from one of the hangars. The first was a large flat-bed and crane construction that looked unmistakably like something designed to pick a shuttle like John's up and transport it elsewhere. Presumably the hangar.

The other was identical to the one encountered in the town, large with a big metal tank on the back. A large illuminated sign on the polished steel side of the vehicle read 'Biological Containment Unit' and just like the previous one there was the unmistakable signs that someone had tried to shoot it at some stage. This one wasn't broadcasting any public service announcements.

@Terrans