"Survey Says" (Part 2)

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Leonard was standing outside the craft as it refueled at the spaceport, inhaling through a pen-sized device and letting out a cloud of steam. Why did they always seem to object? It’s not like this was anything but water vapor, and it helped keep him calm. It was probably John’s problem with Leonard ‘not taking this seriously’, as though there was any reason not to. He noticed one of the spaceport crew setting up the refueling system, and gave a vague wave. "Yes?"

"So, why are you here? I mean, there's nothin' on this planet. Just farms."

"Not true." Leonard inhaled again. "But I can't tell you about it."

The crew member folded his arms. "Come on! I won't tell nobody."

Leonard drew in another breath, holding the warm air in a little longer this time before breathing out the vapor cloud. "We're on the track of a potential Star League cache and think we tracked it to two kilometers north of the city limits."

"Really?!"

"No." Anthony said, climbing out of the ship at that moment, and scowling at Leonard. "Mineral surveys." As the ground crew member walked away he glared up at Leonard. "Why?"

"Because it is fun to mess with them, and they might actually believe it for a day until someone convinces him we were just messing with him. That means nobody will believe the truth. It's perfect." Leonard sighed. "And you had to ruin it."

"Good plan, except anyone who actually knows there could be a cache here on the planet would realize we almost found it." Anthony shook his head. "Everyone's waiting, put that thing away before you come inside."

Leonard smirked to himself, and clicked off the power cell in the unit before letting it cool. Inside everyone was present, including Ivan and Miles. The first of the two was the alternate shift for running the scanner with Leonard compiling the data, while Miles was the ship owner and pilot. Ivan had a caffeinated drink in hand and was drinking it in big gulps as Jonathan was reading his noteputer. Miles was leaning back in his seat, arms behind his head.

Then he saw Leonard come in, waiting for the hatch to be sealed before speaking up. "So if we're ready, what is this meeting for? And why did you have me run a comm diagnostic, we'll be unable to transmit or receive for hours."

"That is the point." Jonathan said firmly. "This discussion is about the data we all took down from the orbital scan. Ivan, your scans were fairly benign except for a few veins and clusters which are already being slated for use by local folks."

"So no bonus for me?" Ivan sighed.

"It's a team bonus. Not an individual one." Belle said softly.

"Yeah, but then I could claim it was because of me we got a bonus!"

"Quiet." Anthony said firmly. "The problem is this." He touched his own noteputer, an electronic screech coming from it at a low volume. He let it play five seconds, then stopped. "We were able to pick it up, and it's a repeating signal being sent out. We don't know for what, and we don't know who put it there."

"My bet is aliens." Miles said, eyes still shut.

"There's no such thing."

"That we know of. Who knows, we could have found our first evidence since those days of listening to stellar noise and trying to work out repeating themes in it." He said wistfully. "It could finally be the sign all the true believers were waiting for."

The five team members stared at him for ten seconds before Ivan pointed a thumb at him. "If he's high, I want whatever he had. If he's serious, let me know what drugs he needs to stop being delusional. I'll find it."

"Delusional." Miles snorted, and opened his eyes. "You are convinced this close to Terra there's a cache left behind which nobody could find during the First Succession War, let alone the Second. This isn't the Periphery, you know, where it's possible some base got left behind and sealed up."

"Yeah, yeah, the Periphery dwellers always think they'll find one." Ivan puts in. "That's like finding an intact Jumpship somewhere out there, huh? Or maybe a couple dozen ’Mechs forgotten about and still able to function."

"Focus, gentlemen?" Jonathan said between them. "This is not some ghost signal. This is active. Add to that the structures we discovered which appeared to be industrial complexes, and I would say there is evidence we may be looking at an old Star League Defense Force storage site."

"Except those buildings were located on the different continents, not in a cluster, and none near the signal source." Anthony put in, pointing. "And there's no evidence the source is connected to those buildings. They could be leftover from the Federation of Skye before it merged into the Commonwealth for all we know."

"Or they could be something set up just before the Second Succession War." Belle added. "He's right, we don't know anything unless we go take a look ourselves."

"And that's not the mandate of the contract you gave me." Miles put in, pushing himself to stand. "I'm not supposed to ferry you on wild goose chases. You're not supposed to be wasting time doing this, this already has been a year-long trip I regret. If I knew it would take this long-"

"But you're being paid." Leonard said mildly. "At this rate you could retire to Chaffee and open up a pub or something."

"God willing." Miles muttered, and sat down. "But that's a ways off, and I really would rather just finish this job. Three more systems, and we can call this survey done, I can take off and never have to worry about this sort of thing."

"We're getting sidetracked." Belle said, stretching her arms out in front of her. "First we need to investigate the signal, determine what's there. If anything is there, we can decide what to do then."

"Until then, perhaps we should avoid filing a report." Anthony added, everyone else looking to him. "What?"

"There is no reason to file a report." Jonathan said slowly. "We haven't even finished the system. So until we finish with this system, the question is not on us yet."

"What are we supposed to do, sit on this for several weeks?" Leonard asked, frowning. "What if someone else finds it?"

"Then we be very glad it's not our problem and they've got to deal with it." Ivan chimed in, chuckling. "Personally, I'd just leave the report at this about finding an unusual signal, call it a wrap and move on to the next planet outwards."

"We would be leaving an unknown then for the cost-benefit analysis for this planet." Jonathan frowned over at him. "And we would most likely wind up not being paid in full, because we would not have done the job asked of us."

"So, tomorrow morning we're heading there?" Miles asked, and stood up. "Fine, make it before dawn, we'll start system checks and you have until then to get any equipment you want ready. Get plenty of sleep." He sighed, muttering as he walked off. "Damned scientists."

"Right, so usual division of labor? I get the gear ready, you all do the easy work?" Ivan stood up too. "I'll go check to see what else we need, okay? Okay." He headed back to the cargo hold, the silence between the other three hanging in the air.

Anthony was the first one to speak up. "It probably isn't anything. Just some old geological survey station or something still transmitting."

"I really hope you're right." Leonard muttered. "The alternative is not pleasant to consider."

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"I hate you being wrong." Leonard said, the K-1 landed near a mountain cliff. Belle was quietly checking the portable equipment, as Anthony shook his head slowly. Jonathan was stone-faced, sitting near the ship's sensor controls while Ivan scowled at him. "So, anyone want to take bets?"

"Leonard." Jonathan warned quietly.

"You don't get a say in this, you volunteered to stay behind." Ivan shot at the taller man. "Someone has to stay behind, right?" He grabbed a climbing pick and a crowbar, shaking his head. "We'll be back in a couple hours if everything is alright."

Belle sighed. "Quiet. We need to focus on this, and we can't get it wrong. The signal strength is erratic, so I don't know what that means."

"It means whatever is transmitting probably was damaged, or the power plant of the facility has stopped functioning." Anthony said slowly. "Hopefully we can still access something to tell us what we're finding here."

"Trouble." Ivan zipped up his cold weather jacket and pulled the hood up. "Let's get this over with." He climbed to the airlock, Leonard behind him. Anthony hesitated, Belle gently squeezing his hand before nodding.

After he left, Belle turned to Jonathan. "You know the rules. If we are not back and you can't contact us, lift off and get an emergency crew here. As quick as you can."

"I understand. Are you certain you don't want-"

"Leonard and Ivan are nervous. Anthony is harder to read but I know this isn't easy for him to handle." She smiled. "Someone has to keep them from going at each other's' throats."

Jonathan nodded slowly. "Be careful."

Belle climbed out, heading out into the cold air and finding the others already following the signal. The area had a strange quality to the rocks under the frost, like they'd fallen into place and then settled over time. She stopped at one point and knelt to poke. "I swear there's something under here."

"Leave it." Anthony's voice crackled in her ear. "I found what looks like an access point. Probably a maintenance tunnel." She looked around and headed towards where they stood thirty meters away. Her fingers traced a shape of sorts and Anthony nodded. "If this place was leveled out, you could land a Mule or a Union here." They ducked down under, where a round tunnel ended out into open air and a heavy metal door was pitted by wind and rain.

"The lock's shorted out." Ivan was using some tools poking at an open panel. "I think there may be an emergency release of some kind I can find. Should be." They stood around, the round tunnel cracked in places; Leonard nudged Anthony and pointed to a part where a crack had opened and parted ten centimeters to expose dirt and rock. "Oh, got it, now... someone hand me a battery or something."

Leonard fished in his pockets, pulling out a light and quickly removing the power cell. Ivan cracked off the safety top which made it easy to connect, wiring it into the door before there was a spark and the door whined. "There, should swing freely."

Of course, it turned out to be a different matter entirely, the three men leaning on the door with their full weight. After they managed to swing it open, Belle shone a light down the hall."That was not swinging free!" Leonard panted, groaning.

"Well it must have corroded, big surprise there!" Ivan added, pointing at the ceiling. “I say next time she pushes with us.”

"Knock it off." Anthony shone his light inside. "The air didn't hiss when we opened it so this place wasn't sealed. Still, if you smell anything or feel light headed, we trace our way back to the entrance. Ivan, wedge it open just in case."

"Got it."

"Jonathan? We're heading inside. We may not be able to be heard after we get in there so remember the procedure." Anthony shone his light down the hall. "It looks like it goes in ten meters, then turns into a downward slope."

"Ivan, Anthony?" Jonathan's voice came over their earpieces. "Be careful."

"What, you don't care about me?" Leonard asked jokingly. "Or is this because you owe me money?"

"If you come back, I will certainly be willing to discuss how you should thank me for holding onto it for you."

"Joking around at a time like this?" Ivan muttered and started walking ahead. "No wonder this team is a mess."

"Come on." Belle followed, and the four took the sloped passage. "Someone write down these-"

"Time enough later." Anthony interrupted. "We should be entering a maintenance supply area if we take a left."

"Better idea." Leonard pointed to a door, and shone the light over it. "See what that says? Hangar access. Wild guess, guys, but I think this place was an outpost. I think if we walk down, it will connect back to the halls."

"And with the cameras which aren't working, wouldn't expect it to be low security." Ivan pointed. Belle looked up and frowned, as the others continued. "It's weird there's no power, places like this should have a power plant and redundancies which run almost on their own."

Leonard shook his head. "I didn't see solar collectors or wind turbines out there. If they had alternative power, it was lost because this place was abandoned. Or they removed them when they left."

"So who are they, and why would they see the need to abandon it?" Anthony put in, as they turned a corner and continued descending. "What was this place for?"

"I'm going to have to go out on a limb and say it's a long time since someone worried about it." Ivan stopped, and worked on a sealed door in the wall - it swung open easily enough once he cracked the seal. "Ladder goes down about thirty meters, you say?"

"No, only twenty. I don't want to trust the ladder though. That means there is something below us though." Anthony stopped and picked out a marker out of his pocket to write on the floor. "Let's move on."

The corridor eventually reached an end with another set of doors. "Guys I don't think this was a maintenance tunnel." Leonard squinted at the door. "This is heavy duty. And the tunnel is a little too wide for this. It's access, but not maintenance."

"So what's behind here? Let's see." Ivan moved to a panel in the wall, and used a tool to crack the panel off. "Well, this one has power." He pointed, and then traced with his finger. "A manual switch too. Let's see." He began working, checking things and following wires while Leonard and Anthony checked along the tunnel.

"I'm nervous." Leonard muttered after a point, looking back at the door. "We shouldn't be able to get in this easily if there was anything valuable in here. If it wasn't valuable, then there shouldn't be security of any kind. And if it still has a lock on this side of it Ivan can open, what was supposed to keep looters out?"

"Not knowing about this place?"

"We found it."

"We were looking." Anthony retorted, shining the light upwards. "Something's bothering me, though. This isn't SLDF."

"How do you know?"

Anthony paused, then smirked. "Well, if Ivan can crack their security then I doubt this was humanity's best and brightest." Leonard stared at him for a minute, then just started chuckling. "Seriously, though, this just doesn't feel right for a SLDF outpost."

"Hey, guys?" Ivan called over a shoulder. "I think I tricked it into unlocking the emergency override. Belle, hold that light here?" A few heartbeats later, the door parted in the middle and slid open about half a meter. "Okay, now let's see what we have." He slid through the crack, then they heard his voice echo. "Wide open chamber, now hold on-" Light bloomed, and the door groaned as it slid further open. "Think I just activated a sensor to turn the lights on."

Anthony and Leonard followed, waiting to help Belle through. Ivan was standing completely still, staring into the dimly lit chamber. Leonard was about to remark how quiet it was, before he fell silent as well.

Belle was the first one to speak. "This can't be here."

"It is." Leonard said, weakly, licking his lips and blinking a few times.

"This shouldn't be here." She turned to look at Anthony.

"Yeah." He said. "Want to explain why it is?"

"We're in trouble." Ivan said, turning around, and then pointing his light off at the distance where the motionless object sat. "We are so much in trouble, guys. I say we try very hard to forget we found this place."

"What is it?" Belle finally asked Ivan, stepping forward. "I never thought to study so I could recognize anything like this, either of you two?" Ivan just began wandering forward, hands on head and muttering about needing a big crate of drink to start forgetting now.

"Well, it's a BattleMech." Leonard said slowly. "And it's not falling apart from being forgotten. I wouldn't trust it, but I would hope maybe some techs could-"

"Why is there a BattleMech here?"

"Correction. You are asking the wrong question." Ivan called and pointed. "Why are there BattleMechs here?" They hurried over to where he was pointing, which looked like a map showing this as one of a dozen similar bays in the area, leading to some other chambers. "We came through the emergency evacuation route, it looks like. But this place was built to hold about eleven more of those things."

"If these were here, someone should have taken them. Anyone would have." Leonard said, pacing away.

"Not necessarily." Anthony was looking at the motionless war machine. "This one looks lightly armed and not suitable for heavy combat. They probably left it behind because they didn't need it. We probably will find the other bays empty, or with similar units inside. Or maybe just piles of broken parts."

"Do we want to really investigate?" Belle asked after a moment. "Or do we want to turn back now?"

"I want to drink myself stupid." Ivan said, raising his hand. "But if we're going to report, it should be full. Jonathan would say it, and I'm not going to have him get upset when we turn around before really looking into this place."

"All right then, let's start investigating."

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