Harvey Mills:
Drone Pilot
Insight 3
clues: forgot 3 days, Steve is missing, Steve’s sub is missing with all hands lost, Dr Bright did something terrible to Steve in a dream
Mills found himself standing in the cantina, holding a tray of food. He didn’t remember coming here, doing this. He kept trying to recall the last thing he said to Steve. He couldn’t remember that either.
His face was wet. He wiped at it.
Watkins and Jens were at a table; they stopped talking when Mills walked up. Watkins, Mills now saw, looked exhausted, bags under her eyes. Jens looked distracted, kept glancing off towards the tiny porthole window in the commissary, his lips pressed together. Like he didn’t know what to say to Mills.
“Any news on the Cyclops 1? Where Ste - where it was headed?” Mills’ said hollowly.
They looked at each other.
(Investigation roll!)
M: 4
(Mills learns everything possible. Jens and Watkins must have privy to higher-up conversations or data taps or something)
“You... don’t recall?” Jens asked.
Mills sat down, shook his head.
“They were heading down the C11 shaft, one of the larger ones?” Jens screwed up his face as though remembering were an effort. “Your prior drone-mapping had shown it dead-ended, but it looks like that had changed. Something moved, probably during the last seismic event. So, it opened up, and some geologist figured seismic activity wasn’t going to happen again. Cyclops went down, everything was dull, regular. No seismic activity of note. Then we lost the signal.”
“That’s it.”
“Well, the transmission we’ve seen… Cuts a little too cleanly. If it was interference you’d expect a degradation of signal, rather than an abrupt halt. If the ship was hit or damaged suddenly, maybe the data cuts hard, but no evidence of such on the playback. It’s possible,” Jens glanced around, leaned in close to Mills, looking at him cautiously. “It’s possible what’s been released, what we’ve managed to see, was cut off early. Edited.”
“By whom?”
Jens opened his hands in a shrug. Watkins shook her head. “I’m just saying, Sally,” Jens said, defensively. “It’s possible."
“And what, nothing, no one sent down yet?”
“Seems like Bright and Lieutenant Dima are arguing about that. Dima doesn’t want to risk more personnel. ‘We don’t know what we don’t know.’ You know.”
Mills nodded. Jens stared at him and then looked away, clenching his jaw, blinking. Wanting to ask something, not doing it. Watkins leaned in.
“What - what happened to you, Mills?” Watkins asked.
“I don’t know. I’m, I mean,” Fine? Steve is gone, I’m not fucking fine. A tear welled up and Mills wiped it away, another. Jens glanced over at him. Watkins reached out and put a hand over Mills’. “I was asleep, I had… nightmares, about Steve. I don’t… I didn’t think I was in our room for three days. Lost track of time in there.”
“We’ve been having nightmares too.”
“You have,” Jens said, staring past them. “I haven’t had nightmares.”
Watkins ignored him. “It’s been awful. It’s… something to do with Bright. I saw her,” Watkins shook her head, rubbing her face. She had a worn, tiny New Testament clutched in her other hand, Mills saw. She rubbed the pages absently while she talked.
“I think something terrible is happening here. Maybe it’s what happened to the Argos 1.”
(You always want to imply that the horror happened before.)
Jens sighed wearily.
“You can believe what you want, Jens,” Watkins said, quiet with anger, letting go of Mills to hold the tiny book in both hands. “Something bad is happening here. Something we shouldn’t be around for.”
“Look, Sally, I’m sorry... I’m not trying to go at you. But nightmares... don’t make people disappear,” Jens said.
“Well, Steve is gone,” Mills said, almost whispering. “Disappeared into the Rift.”
Jens and Watkins just looked at him.
“We’re so sorry, Harvey,” Jens said, his eyes bloodshot, watering. Watkins nodded, biting her lip.
“Me too,” Mills murmured.
Harvey Mills:
Drone Pilot
Insight 3
clues: forgot 3 days, Steve is missing, Steve’s sub is missing with all hands lost, Dr Bright did something terrible to Steve in a dream. Others have had terrible dreams. Audio and video cut off really fast on the cyclops 1, not clear if it was edited by someone in the Argos II facility or if the vehicle was damaged. C11 shaft used to be closed off, opened by seismic activity is the guess.
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