"Jesus Christ!" Jonah's space suit was crawling across his skin even before Murphy had been entirely sucked out of the airlock. The panic in the mercenary's eyes was reflected in Jonah's own -- he was well aware that the void was the sword he lived and died by -- as he sprinted towards the airlock. Attar cut him off and said "It's too goddamn late for him, and as for you ..." he turned to face the flexbot.

The spacing dampened Jonah's excitement somewhat and he spent the flight somber. More so when Cornelius' message came through. Had they egocast, Esterly might not be so agitated and he never would have been yelled at by Attar. He was really tempted to abuse the bouncer morph's lungs with a cigarette, but these high oxygen environments didn't even allow that kind of venting.

Esterly vanished to talk to Three and Jonah, moments later, decided to follow to be on the safe side. He arrived to catch the end of pure nonsense and wait in, somewhat stunned, silence.

Doctor Esterly stared at Three for a moment, before responding to the nonsensical ramblings. "Yes, well, I'm sure by now he's been resleeved, and, erm, he just might consider you an enemy. He has chosen not to check in, in any case. " Just then, Jonah appears behind him, and Esterly does feel a little better. It is quite clear that something has come loose in Three's cyberbrain, and he was showing pretty obvious signs of mental instability. He was about to suggest that Three stay on the ship, while the rest of the team explored Renewal, but Attar's voice came on the intercom, and informed them that they would be escorting Three off of the ship. Oh well. Esterly couldn't blame them for not wanting to babysit their lunatic, either. He exchanged glances with Jonah and then the two of them headed out to make sure the team had everything before they left.

Esterly saved any questions or suggestions until after they all safely made it out of the airlock, and onto the habitat. He figured everyone's nerves would probably be on edge until they were safely on the ground.

"I don't' think we really need to worry about anyone becoming his lover." Jonah muttered to the doctor on his way out of the Hood. He practically skipped out of the airlock eager to be free of the lingering reminders of the spacing. He did halfheartedly tell the hominid pilot "Thanks for the ride, let's talk shop or do business sometime" as he power walked to the elevator, very eager to put a half-kilometer of rock between himself and space.

Because having your blood sucked out of your eyes was a rough way to go.

Once safely within the habitat, Doctor Esterly turned to the remaining team. Everyone had been kind of quiet since the "incident" aboard the transport, but now they needed to get the job done, and to do that, he needed to know what resources he could count on. He also needed to get people moving again, so he decided to step up to a leadership role. "We need information fast, so let's divide up some responsibilities and get right to work. Jonah, the last 5 people to go missing were part of the terraforming crew. You seem to know the most about mechanics and engineering, so I think you should look into the operation. Find out if they were working together, or on separate projects. Find out if they disappeared on the job, and if so which tunnels they were working in. See if you can figure out who they were working with, and talk to them. Ms. Mudlark, I believe your specialties would be best put to use talking to the families of the people who went missing. Start with the children first, but, as time permits, contact everyone. I would be interested to know if any of them showed any unusual behavior patterns before going missing. I think you might also be most qualified to talk to their backups, perhaps in simulation, and see if they can help us locate their predecessors. We have lost our bloodhound," he pauses a moment, glancing at Three, "but my morph has some of the same modifications, so if we can find something with the scent of these people on them, I may be able to track them and find out where they went missing - and that should probably be our first plan of action after we've done whatever recon we can. Before then, I think I will attempt to contact the scientists leading the terraforming, and to do some research, with their help, to get a picture of all reported TITAN or exsurgent encounters on Renewal since the initial expedition cleared it for rehabitation. If there isn't a connection there, we really have no business being here." Finally he turned to Three. "If you're up for the task, I think you might be suited to putting your ear to the street. Your morph is least likely to be recognized as an outsider, especially if you tone it down a bit. Explore the habitat and see what people are saying. This many disappearances, in this short of a time frame, should have people talking, and although I don't believe they are likely to know the true cause of the disappearances, their insights might come from connections they have made based on information we have not had an opportunity to observe."

He took a deep breath. "Any other ideas? or is that enough tasking to get us started? Use the mesh to stay in contact, and if anyone has any ideas of their own, do not hesitate to explore them. If one of us goes missing, try to report in with as much information as you can about whatever horrible TITAN monster is taking you." He cracked a smile, and then looked to see if there were any objections, or if they would split up and get to work.

Tone it down? [Allow me to help. He probably wants you go without dancing, joking, casual murder, acting like a complete zero and act serious for once.] Well, why didn't you say so?

As soon as Dr. Esterly has finished being a bossy little bitch, Three departs from the others and follows entoptics to the nearest bar.
[What. Are. You. Doing? You're supposed to be finding out what people are saying, not "getting your drink on", no matter how ridiculous that is.]
On the contrary, we both know I can't drink, but I can still get a round in. [That still doesn't help-] Then, well everyone's good and drunk, they'll be more likely to spill the beans. [Oh.] Yes. Oh.

On his way to the Burst Bubble, apparently a popular hangout for those who work in terraforming, Three instructs his muse All Business to search through mesh forums looking for mention of disappearances, as well as the usual TITAN conspiracy theories.

[OOC: Standard Muse Research Test, Skill 40, any modifiers, GM?]

Orders. Jonah could work with those.

"I'm on it Doc. Not much of a charmer, but I'll see if I can't talk some shop with the right people."

Sunshine, I don't suppose you have any insight on who to talk to? [On it. Good to see you motivated.]

Guided by his muse, Jonah discovered that he didn't have to stray far from the elevator before he found the terraforming operations center. He came as close as security would allow then stopped the first technical-looking person he could find.

"Hey, I'm a mechanic from Phelan's and I'm going to be here for a while. I'm interested in earning my place at the Maker and I was wondering if there's any technical work that you don't have wired up to automechs yet. Especially interested in terraforming in these habitats; just saw a really interesting exercise in low-g alternate ecosystems at Phelan's."

After a bit more technical rambling the mechanic wrapped up: "Any rate, I'd love to do some trouble shooting for you guys if you need it." He hoped that would elicit an informative response; a trained -- he used the term loosely given his viral encounters -- engineer with a gun seemed to him like exactly what this station needed.

(Jonah): The gentleman stops and listens to what Jonah says. He seems interested, but a little unsure. "It sounds like you know what you are talking about. Who did you say you were again?" After Jonah gives another explanation..."Umm...I'm probably not the best person to talk to. Send a message to Suzette Altura. She the head of Corridor 5 Terraforming project. She will probably be looking for some help. A lot of the workers are getting the spooks and a little apprehensive about working on the internal corridors of Renewal, so she might be needing some more help"

A private message provides Jonah the contact information for Suzette Altura.

(Dr. E): Finding a little place out of the way, Dr. E takes to the mesh, trying to pull as much information and contacts on Renewal as he can. It doesn't take long before a scientist, by the name of Theodore Banks, on Renewal contacts Dr. E. "Dr. Esterly, so glad to have you on Renewal. I really enjoy reading about your work. I understand you are looking into some information on the recent events here on Renewal. Please, come to my office."

A private message arrives providing you a layout or Renewal with a path to Theodore Banks' location.

Hi Suzette,

I'm a recent transfer from Phelan's and a tolerable habitat mechanic. [List of autonomist references]

I'm interested in earning my keep on Renewal and was hoping there were some terraforming projects I could help with. I was referred to you to find them [Video of referrer].

Let me know if there's any way I can be of help. Happy to meet in person if you'd prefer. Otherwise, I'll just try to find some a map and some food to start getting used to the place.

The message was sent even as Jonah was wracked by doubts. He looked at his hands wondering what they'd do if they actually had a habitat's life support system at their fingertips. A moment later he stopped fretting and began to search for his bearings.

Dr. Esterly responds, with a polite message confirming that he on his way to the office. As he went, he tried to dig up a little information on Theodore Banks's professional career - if nothing else, the effort might give them something to talk about before Esterly brought up the disappearances.

(Dr. E) - It doesn't take you long to pull up information on Dr.Banks. Dr. Bank's professional career shows:

* He's worked most of his career near Saturn
* A lot of his early study was focused on Faster-Then-Light travel.
* His writings include theories of FTL drives/engines, wormhole theories, and various other methods of potential FTL travel. Other writings include life (life forms, and how to live) outside our Solar System, and general papers on Physics and Astrophysics.
* After the Fall and discovery of the Pandora Gates, his research has switched dramatically and seems it is solely focused on the Gates.

As he continued to the man's office, Dr. Esterly scanned through the collected links he found during his quick mesh search, and was very interested in a lot of the research that Dr. Banks had been doing - particularly where it concerned the Pandora Gates. On any other day, he would have enjoyed looking forward to a long discussion with this man, but Dr. Esterly had to remind himself that he was here to investigate another matter. It was possible that Dr. Banks may have some information on TITAN activity in Renewal's past, but it was far more likely that the two of them just have overlapping professional interests that were completely unrelated to his current Firewall assignment. If that were the case, he would stay only as long as is polite, but would be sure to read up on Dr. Banks's latest work, and schedule a time where they could talk in more detail.

The team split up, each looking for some peice of information that might give a clue as to what is happening on Renewal. From listening on conversations at the Burst Bubble that there is mixed opinions as the what happened. On one side, people are saying the boys and the workers probably got trapped or lost in a cavern or trapped. Others are saying its the TITAN's all over again and they are thinking of packing and taking the next ship out of here.

Jonah had a good meeting with Suzette. It seems some of the workers are on edge and not to keen on the idea of heading back in the tunnels. Because of Jonah's willingness to help, and his background, she hires you on the spot, and provides you access to the terreforming tunnels. If Jonah asks about the missing boys, she is not sure how they made it in the tunnels without someone seeing them and getting into the restricted tunnels. "Damn kids always going where they aren't supposed to, and doing things they are told not to!"

Dr. E has a good chat with Dr. Banks, sometimes finding themselves off the matters at hand and talking about their work. Dr. E finds out that the intial clearing out of Renewal only dealt with TITAN machines and there was no mention of exsurgent threats.

After his meeting with Dr. Banks, which had gone a bit long (and only furthered the mission in that he had discovered that the reclamation team on Renewal hadn't encountered any exsurgent threats when clearing the area of leftover TITAN machinery), Dr. Esterly hoped that the rest of the team had had better luck. His new information was relevant, but not actionable. [Attached is an entoptic link to a location that I believe shares a minimum distance from each of our respective efforts. We should meet up there, when we have concluded our investigation, debrief one another, and discuss our next steps. If we have lost any further transhumanpower we may want to report back, in case our Router can resupply us.] He then proceeded to follow his own advice, and make for the building he had selected - which was a restaurant of some sort. The building wasn't fancy - probably the sort of place that the local terraformers would come to refuel their morphs before going into or after coming out of the mines. As the locals passed him along the way, he noticed a few side-long glances, but chalked them up to his morph being unrecognized by the relatively tight-knit habitat.

[Jack, Esterly wants to meet up to share what you've learned. I guess there's no time for a party now. Shame.] Awww, and I haven't even made a scene yet! [Time to leave. Now.]

Three thought for a moment about his muse. His memories were lost in the egocast from Earth, as well as various personality traits. Unfortunately, his muse was used to being 'all business', hence the name. It would take a few more years to adapt to the crazy persona he'd developed since. Til, then, she'd always be trying to discourage his insanity and kill his buzz. Then he started, as all this introspection was making his shell itch. He made his way to the restaurant.

[On my way, doc.]

The haggard woman would have lived in an attractive morph if it had slept recently. As it stood, Suzette Altura emanated a shabbiness and exhaustion that was palpable to Jonah.

"... and while your at it we need the recyclers we've got down there recalibrated and swapping the filter banks on them is a good idea." She paused for breath for the first time since she'd gleefully offered Jonah a job.

"Ummm ... yeah, I'll work on that." He hoped his instincts would remember what to do better than he did. "Quick note, I've got a bodyguard and an analytics guy I usually work with, is it cool if they come down too?"

"Whatever. Just keep an eye on them. Last thing I want is for shuttle traffic to dry up when someone else gets eaten."

Jonah nodded sharply and left following Sunshine's directions -- she'd quietly filtered his mail and set an appointment with her traditionally shining smily face in his agenda. [Meet E NOW. <map tag>]

Settling into the eatery next to his companions, Jonah ordered the rough equivalent of a hamburger. He had no doubt it would be uninspiring, but uninspring food was deeply familiar and eating something familiar before entering the abyss seemed appealing.

"I've got us access to the tunnels. I might have to do some repairs down there with ... tools. But other than that we should have the run of the place."

Dr. Esterly looked pleased. "Your investigation was considerably more fruitful than my own. If I can be of assistance with the repairs, let me know." Over their comms, so as not to spook the locals, he continued [I did learn, from one of the local scientists, that the teams sent to clear those mines originally did not encounter any exsurgent threats - only discarded machinery believed to be of TITAN origin. Although I would be interested to verify or dispute that hypothesis for myself, the machinery has long since been removed from the area - however, if the disappearances are somehow linked to Renewals unfortunate history, I may just get that opportunity.] He took a sip of whatever it was he was drinking when the other two arrived. [I have received no response from Agent Mudlark. My intention is not to alarm either of you, but Firewall protocol would have involved some sort of communication, if possible. I have looked up her ID on the local directory and was unable to locate her. She has either disabled physical tracking of her mesh inserts, or something is preventing her from accessing Renewals mesh. She may be among the newest batch of missing persons. I suggest we stick together from here on out.] He set his glass down on the table. [I will inform our router that our losses have reached 40%, request that he begin a countdown for Agent Mudlark's backup, and request additional reinforcements to be egocast, as available. In the meantime, do you two think we should proceed to the mines, or attempt to track down Agent Mudlark through other means?]

"Glad to be of service, doc." Jonah grinned and ran his head through across the stubble on his scalp. He'd need to shave again soon.

The hamburger arrived and he munched contemplatively on the gray meat as Esterly delivered alarming news.

[I don't think there's a lot I can do to track our lady companion -- much better at taking apart physical things than digital ones. Murphy mentioned that his sniffer might be of some use chasing people down before he got launched into orbit.] Jonah looked nervously over his shoulder before his conscious mind could get a handle on his behavior; Three was distinctly and dangerously unhinged. [If we could get some equipment or a morph with the right modifications then we might be able to track her from the ship to wherever she is now.]

[I guess that we should scout around to see if we can get the right equipment and pick up her trail. Failing that, nothing draws out predators like live bait and I do have a job to do in the tunnels.] He hoped his message sounded braver than he felt; the bottom of his stomach had caved slightly as he sent it.

Three arrived a few minutes after the others and shared what he'd learned.

[Shame about the head-doc, Space knows I could've used a check-up from the neck up.] At that, he called up an entoptic to see if his nanoware had finished repairing the break in his 'neck'. [It is fully repaired, Jack.] [Shiny.]
[I heard Doc Corny's egocasting some backup. Let's hope we don't come up with double 9's again, yeah?]

Dr. Cornelius receives an urgent message from Dr. E. Dr. C has a shiver down his spine. The loss of Murphy seemed to be an accident, and after speaking with him after resleeving, Murphy thinks Three purposely spaced him and seems to have quite a bit of anger towards him. As for Agent Mudlark’s loss, things are not looking good for the team. His next steps, find backup help for the team, and also knowing Mudlark was equipped with an emergency farcaster he needed to check the backup facility. If she also had an untimely death, hopefully she was able to trigger her emergency farcaster.

It didn’t take long before Dr. C. came across an agent that will be able to assist them team, especially if shit really hit the fan. He sent message to Ahmed al-Ahab, aka. Ahab


[Incoming Message. Source: Anonymous]
[Public Key Decryption Complete]
You assistance is needed ASAP. Please meet me at the Neato-Trino Facasting facilties. - Dr. Cornelius

On his way to the Neato-Trino facility Dr. C received confirmation that Mudlark’s ego had arrived. Dr C. quickly composed a response message to Dr. E


[Incoming Message. Source: Anonymous]
[Public Key Decryption Complete]
Mudlark’s is dead, received ego. Will work on resleeving and question Mudlark. Backup help will be in route soon. More details will arrive shortly - Dr. Cornelius

Doctor Esterly gestured vaguely at his own morph. [I have had this morph modified for exoplanet exploration. Those modifications include perception-enhancements, including enhanced hearing and vision across a number of spectrums. However, I do not possess the acute sense of smell that I believe Murphy had planned to put to use tracking missing persons. I do have an asynchronous sense that he did not possess, however, which may give me some insight into her whereabouts, and I also have a number of scout nanites and smart dust we could deploy once we think we are in the general area where she went missing. That said, although my strengths would lend themselves more towards investigation and tracking, I imagine yours would lend themselves to the caves and machinery, and I do not want us to split up - so I would be content with either decision, as long as we stick together.] After a moment, Doctor Cornelious's message came in. [With a backup ego incoming, we should hold off on the caves until we have it resleeved and ready to accompany us. However, Mudlark was able to farcast off-hab before she died, so if her ego can point us in the right direction, any investigation we do now might only serve to put us in unnecessary danger. Perhaps we should track down the nearest resleeving facility, and see what sort of morphs they have in stock. By the time our backup gets sleeved, we should know whether or not to both tracking Mudlark's remains, or to proceed to the cave system.]

[Unless, of course, Mudlark's ego is infected and chock full of nasty. Either way, getting to the body bank sounds good. Right behind you, Doc.]

"Yeah, I agree. Let's go." Jonah stood up leaving half of the sandwich unfinished. He was getting fidgety and waiting around wasn't going to make it any better. His hands had started twitching too. The only way to keep them in control was to walk it off.

A brief trip through Renewal's claustrophobic byways (the ceiling was low and still unfinished asteroid) brought the trio to an even smaller metal room lined with morphs in storage. Jonah had a weird stroked of deja vu, feeling that they were like a silent church congregation encased in glass. The altar of the ego bridge, probably for security reasons, was entirely out of sight.

Ahmed al-Ahab, aka Ahab noticed the incoming message of Dr. Cornelius. Sighting, he finished his morning exercises before he replied.

[Confirmed. Arrival in the facility in ten minutes.]

Dr. Esterly paced around the lobby of the room looking over the morphs on display, window-shopping quite literally, but he came to the conclusion that although some of the morphs had modifications, few of them really fit his needs or tastes - and the ones that did were "worth" far less than the morph he already had (which had 27,000 credits worth of augmentations in it). Still, if they had the time while they waited for their backup to egocast and resleeve, he wondered if it would be worthwhile for him to pick up a "throwaway" morph in case whatever gobbled up Agent Mudlark did the same with him. He could probably pull some favors with Dr. Banks, and arrange to have his Menton put on ice. One of the facilities "caregivers" (a saleswoman in a sylph) saw his interest and approached him, describing the various attributes and history of the morph on display behind the window in front of him.

Ahab floats his way through Phalen’s Recourse to the Neato-Trino Facasting facilties. On his way he receives a message from Dr. C.


[Incoming Message. Source: Anonymous]
[Public Key Decryption Complete]
Be there in 15 minutes, important information has come my way. Please, tell Joni to get you prepped for your backup and egocast to Renewal, but do not begin. I have a message that needs to be delivered with you to the team. - Dr. Cornelius

Ahab walks into the facility and see’s a lovely gal sitting behind a desk. After a brief conversation she begins setting Ahab up. While sitting and waiting an orangutan comes in.

“Hello Ahab, I am Dr. Cornelius. No time for chatter, let’s get you backed up and sent to Renewal. Also, here is the message I need delivered.”



“Any questions? And do not talk to anyone but the team about the contents of the message. And do not have the team contact me either about the message. I know our communications are secure, but I do not want to take any risks. They may contact me on anything else, like resources.”

"Whatever you say, Dr. C." Ahab smiled, probably the last time with his current morph for a while, "I'm just glad I can leave this place. If I can help you out, even better. So let's get ready, shall we?"

Dr. Esterly politely dismisses the saleswoman, having seen no morph on display that would be perfect enough for the mission to be worth a last-minute resleeving, and returns to the others. He sends a message to Dr. Banks over the mesh. [Dr. Banks, my associates and I are about to enter the mines, in an attempt to determine the cause of the recent disappearances here on Renwal. With your background and interest in the Pandora Gates, I was curious if you had a Spare morph I could take with me - or if you knew where I could find one, quickly, here on Renewal.]

[Ahh, yes. I actually have one here in my office. I wish you would have mentioned it when we were chatting, I could have given it to you then. If you like I can send my assistant over with it. - Dr. Banks]

While the group is looking around at the other morphs the sylph saleswomen comes in and retrieves a Remade morph and brings it to the back room, but before the door shuts she confirms with the group, “Are you waiting for someone to arrive from Phalen’s Recourse? If so, he is here and ready to resleeve. Please wait out here till he is comfortable in his new morph. It will probably be another hour or so.”

[Yes, that would be excellent. As for why I did not inquire earlier - without going into specifics - I have since received information that leads me to believe that pursuing our current line of inquiry will lead to the death of one or more of our morphs, with some degree of likelihood. I appreciate the favor, and hope for the opportunity to return it soon.]

After the saleswoman leaves, Dr. Esterly turns to the others. "I have a Spare being delivered. It should get here before our new friend is adjusted. Something killed Mudlark, and we're bound to be sniffing around the same area sooner or later, so I thought that it would be good for us to have a Spare we can slot into if we run into any more casualties before this is over."

Ahab blinked. No matter how often you resleeve, the first thirty seconds in a new morph are odd. Always. Look at this: perfect shape, musuclar, fit. Feels good to move it around. He stretches and flexes his muscles, while looking around in the room. Ah well, that is a fine body.

Ahab takes himself a few minutes to get used to his new morph, but no matter how hard he tries, he can't deny his uneasiness, buried deep into his mind. This morph felt good, but it didn't felt right.

Anyway. He looked around. I knew it would happen one day - and I will get over it. I will get over it. Repeating the mantra-ish phrase in his mind, he leaves the room to meet the others.

The powerfully muscled remade strode into the lobby while Jonah was agitatedly tapping his foot in rhythm. He'd become increasingly restless over the past hour: the first fiteen minutes he'd idly twiddled every piece of technology he could get near reflecting on the subconscious understanding of how it could be taken apart and put back together. The next fifteen he'd sat in a chair looking listless and irritated and stopping himself halfway up every time he tried to stand. The third quarter hour saw him clamping his head in his hands, close listeners heard him mutter "no, I won't, that's bad ..." as he killed time. Finally he'd stood and walked in tight circles and had just started the furious tapping.

Thus, his surprise and alarm at the large morph with evident combat training rapidly gave way to relief as he focused on the newcomer.

... and it can be taken apart in five ways with [small] different kinds of screwdrivers [/small] ...

"Ahab, I take it. I'm Jonah. I build stuff, er, nice to meet you. We need to go to the caves."

He turned to leave and then held up as the others didn't follow.

"I'm gonna say it. WHALES." Three looks around at the other sentinels. "You were all thinking it."

Dr. Esterly chimed in, after looking confused for a second. "I wasn't, but now it will be difficult not to." He resided in a Menton morph, dressed in a lab-coat - if it were not for the fact that he was waiting in the lobby with the other two Agents, he might have blended right in with the ego-technicians in this facility. He inclined his head towards the newcomer. "I am Doctor Mathew Esterly, my fields of study include mathematics, as well as the xenosciences, with a heavy emphasis on xenolinguistics." He offered a hand to Ahab, "... have you already been briefed on the mission?"

I bet he was. [I'm quite sure he wasn't.] Was. [I'm not playing your games.]

Ahab blinked in surprise when one of the others mentioned a whale. Was is it with whales? I've never seen one; don't care about 'em. Odd people. He shook hands with the one who introduced himself as Dr. Esterly. "It's a pleasure to meet you, as they say. I have been been aksded to help you out on very short notice and thus didn't get much information on what I am about to do exactly or what kind of mission I'm coming along. And..." He scratched his lower right arm "this is the first time I've sleeved into a Remade. Will need some time to get comfortable with it, I guess. Anyway. What are we going to do where and when?" He grinned.

Dr. Esterly nodded, "There are a couple avenues of progress.... Let's get moving, and we can discuss details along the way."

He then began to speak directly to the others (including Three and Jonah) through their mesh inserts, using standard encryption protocols in place by Firewall to allow discrete communication about mission-sensitive details.

[I will attempt to quickly get you up to speed. A number of people here on Renewal have gone missing, recently. This, in itself, does not concern Firewall. Renewal, however, has had contact with TITAN machines in its past. Although the mines have been cleared, Firewall has expressed concern that these missing transhumans might be linked to TITAN activity. It is our job to investigate, and determine the accuracy of this hypothesis. We have lost two members of the team, already, but only one of them to events pertaining to this mission. Agent Mudlark, who you are replacing, was sent to investigate the families and backup egos of those who had gone missing, because of her background in psychology. She dropped off of the local mesh, and never returned.]

[Therefore, our two ways forward are to either investigate the mines, themselves - which Jonah here has obtained permission to explore at our own risk - or to retrace Mudlark's steps through Renewal and uncover the cause of her death.]

As they exited the resleeving facility, Dr. Esterly came to an abrupt halt. [One more detail deserves mention, before we begin. In the interest of full disclosure, I would like you to understand that I have been exposed to the Watts-MacLeod strain of the Exsurgent nanovirus. This is understandably unsettling to some - particularly those who might work closely with me - but I would like to assure you that I pose no immediate threat, and remain in full control of my faculties. However, my condition, while it lends me a unique perspective on the universe which is useful in this line of work, causes my behavior and decisions to seem, at times, unintuitive to those who lack that same perspective.]

He began walking again, adding [However, in recent company, I don't believe my particular idiosyncrasies have been anyone's primary concern.]

[Dr. Cornelius informed me that Mudlark’s is dead, and Dr. C. received the ego. He works on resleeving and questioning Mudlark.]

Dr. Esterly nodded solemnly. [We were lucky she had a farcaster, I suppose - though, I had hoped we would hear from him by now. Does this suggest we should focus our attention on the caves, until he has narrowed down the scope of our investigation of Mudlark's disappearance?]

[There is more to that - I'll send you copy of the message]
[Incoming Message. Source: Anonymous]
[Public Key Decryption Complete]
Agent Mudlark has been resleeved. She visited the parents of Samuel Combs and was discussing their missing son. While in the middle of asking a question, both parents smiled (which she described as a very dark/devious smile), she felt a hand on her back, and then started to lose her mental and physical functions. Samuel Combs stepped out from behind her, laughing as he pulled out a 3-4 inch cylinder and released a nanoswarm. Not wanting to see what the effects might be, it took every ounce of focus and managed to trigger her emergency farcaster. Please, be careful and alert! - Dr. Cornelius

Dr. Esterly looked over the message with growing concern showing on his face. [The nature of the attack is most concerning. I have not encountered asynchronous slights this powerful, personally, but her description is consistent with other accounts of gamma or epsilon psi activity, that i have come across. Possible TITAN nanotechnology does not make the situation any more comfortable.] He looked to the others, gathering them around before they proceeded any further towards the cave. [Shall we continue to the caves, or proceed directly to the Combs residence? I suspect they may be expecting Firewatch reinforcements after Ms. Mudlark's dramatic exit, but it is our most promising lead, yet.]