"No, I don't even know how a scan that old got down here or manages to work," Catherine says. "I'd heard things went crazy at Upsilon, though."

"They really really did. Oh, I just remembered--there was a little submarine outside the airlock I entered Lambda through, about van-sized, called itself an 'escape vessel'. Does that sound useful at all?" 

Also, what's in the "opinion poll" file? People's opinions on what the ARK environment should have in it?

It looks like tapes from three interviews, with a "Robin Bass," and "Ian Pederson,' and a "Mark Sarang." On the recording, Catherine asks them if they're excited about the ARK and what they think of the project. Robin seems slightly unconvinced that the ARK will save more than a part of what they are, but feels it's important even so. Ian offers the opinion that it's a great idea, if only to have something to do, and that there shouldn't be a problem building the spacecraft portion of the ARK. Sarang says the idea is just incredible, and makes him think about what it means to be human--and that the ARK represents "not just restricted to our digital progeny, but a means of actual survival" to go on living through the "reality of continuity".

"An escape vessel," Catherine muses. "I didn't think we had any assigned. They're also not deep-sea capable, but it might help us get to Theta and see about the DUNBAT."

"It was kind of banged-up looking, but I didn't stick around long enough to get a sense of how fixable it was. The computer was working, so I could go plug you into it, if you wanted."

"I guess it's worth a try. You should see if there's anything else salvageable here, and then we should check it out."

"Will do. Actually, one more thing," she says as she starts searching for useful-looking things to add to her toolkit. "Those places where tubes and gel are coming out of the walls--what's up with that? Did this place have some kind of gel plumbing system that exploded?"

"It's part of the WAU, the station's Warden Unit. The WAU is tasked with maintaining the station's systems and supporting the crew, and uses a kind of encodable hydrocarbon matrix gel which can carry and store power, and be converted by the instructions into a kind of polymer to serve as a temporary patch in the structure. It had been starting to spread, we thought due to the damage to the station systems caused by the impact."

"That's pretty cool. Almost like a liquid battery." Also it sort of explains why she felt better after compulsively sticking her arm in it one time, if she was drawing power from it somehow. "Should I bring you out to the submarine now? . . . Are you going to go unconscious when you're not plugged into a console?"

"Not really unconscious, I think. More just...nonexistent. I didn't feel anything between the robot body and the omnitool, the time just didn't exist. Just...remember to plug me back in, okay?"

"Of course." She doesn't seem to have the instinct to shiver, she notes, because she would have at the thought of being that vulnerable. Unable to move, never knowing when she was turned off whether she would wake up again. At least it's better than being Carl or Amy. At least there's something she can do to help.

"Before we go I should look through the rest of this area for anything useful, so we can go straight on to Theta if we can get the sub working. Can you hear me from anywhere in this area?"

"Yeah, the intercom microphones let me hear a lot," Catherine says.

"Oh good; I'll tell you if I spot anything useful." Off she goes to explore all the parts of Lambda she can get to from here with no omnitool.

The facility is cut off by debris, possibly from whenever the "tower" collapsed, but there's a dormitory/lounge area and a storage room Margaret can reach. The dorms look like they were occupied, cleared out partially, and then re-occupied with only a few beds taken. There's scatterings of personal possessions from the earlier group, but it seems like the second group were travelling light and with a goal--there's a diagram on one wall discussing equipment as "take," "leave," or "repair in place". From the look of it, things weren't nearly as bad off at the station when whoever made the list started making it. Tasks from a half-erased list are broken down by person, including "Reed," "Hart," "Golanski," "Rogers," "Holland," "Davis," "Fisher," and "Cronstedt". Other things are heart-breaking reminders of the world she's in, like a printed email which looks to have been taped inside a locker by some of the early crew, and left behind:

Another Munchprint is set up in the corner, and Margaret finds herself staring at it for a while with a dull sense that maybe it should be making her feel hungry. She's not even clear what it would mean to feel hungry in this body, or low on power, or whatever--a thought she's startled out of when what looks like the robot from outside in the water earlier slams into the glass window beside her facing out to sea. A couple cracks spread across it as the electronic interference feeling stabs into her brain, and then it lines up and tries again. There's more cracks this time, and then it tries a third times...and just when there's enough cracks Margaret might wonder about the window integrity, it appears to give up and motors away in a stream of bubbles.

Okay, so being visible from the windows for a long time is not a good idea, got it. Also she should really figure out how often she needs to do her (way, way worse and less pleasant) equivalent of eating. But first she should get to the storage room, because if anywhere is likely to have a good ratio of useful tools to unbearably sad emails it'd be there.

The storage room turns out to be heavy on mysterious electronics gear, cable spools, and Munchprint-branded shelf-stable canisters, and shy on much else...other than a large one of the bulb-shaped gel structures.

Margaret catches herself staring at the bulb, and then realizes she's feeling . . . not exactly hungry or tired or anything else she has a word for, but there's some way in which existing in her body is less pleasant than it was earlier.

She vaccilates an embarrassingly long time, and then she sticks her arm in the bulb and tries not to think about the fact that she'll never get to have chocolate or strawberries or pancakes with maple syrup ever again.

The bulb closes over her hand up to the wrist. Knowing what she's in for this time, she can almost feel waves in the bulb answered by waves of gel in the suit, and then her arm is a shooting but...bizarrely pleasant pins-and-needles sensation as her every sense begins to by washed by electromagnetic energy in time with the pulses. Everything in her vision goes brighter for a moment and her perception of the room around her almost overwhelms her before settling down to feeling remarkably energetic, like she just finished a good meal, as the bulb almost forces her hand out as it closes. As she staggers back ,the lights on the gel around the bulb have gone out, along with the room lights in that corner of the storage closet. Someplace far off, there's a clanking thud and a moan.

"Whatever you just did, Margaret, I think that brute's back. Watch out!"

"Oh crap." She yanks her hand out of the bulb and starts moving back toward the lab, prioritizing speed but also stealth--she doesn't know if the robot can track her by sound but does know she can't afford to let it/them get between her and Catherine. Fortunately she has a significant head start, and can move from one bit of cover to the next until she gets back to the lab.

"Sorry, Catherine, but I think we need to get out of here," she says as she scoops the broken omnitool into the repair kit and moves to disconnect the working one. "I'll see you in the sub."

"Be carefu..." Catherine says as her omnitool comes loose from the dock.

Margaret whispers "I will" even though that's extremely stupid, shoves Catherine into her securest available pocket, and makes a run for the exit. If the robot follows her out she really doubts the sub will be improved by a pounding, so better hope she's the only one here who can operate an airlock.

Sprinting to the airlock, Margaret can hear something in the hallway behind her. It doesn't sound robotic, unlike her pounding footsteps. Swiping the Omnitool at the door causes the door to start closing--too slowly, faster, faster...and for a moment at the end of the hallway behind her through the closing door she can see a shape, looking humanoid but almost completely covered in the gel and glowing structures, as she gets hit by a wave of the electromagnetic static. By the time she shakes it off, the water is already rising above her knees. The dull hush of the water fills the chamber and then the outer door opens.

Walking away from Lambda to the minisub parked outside, there's no sign of the...beast? Brute? Creature? Anyway, whatever it is doesn't seem to be able to use the pressure lock, and the sub is just how she left it.

Thank goodness for opposable thumbs. She plugs Catherine into the sub's omnitool port; now that there's a cortex chip present they should be able to get more out of the computers.

"..ul," Catherine says. "What?....Oh, huh. What's this. CURIE escape vessel four. Margaret, can you hear me?"

"I hear you. Can you tell what kind of shape the shuttle is in?"

"It's got power, and the computers look intact. Hard to say what the propulsion systems look like without trying them." The door swings shut and the cabin lights flicker to life. After a moment, there's a whine and a rumble, which becomes a rattle, which becomes the entire cabin shaking. The motor shuts off with a bang. "Sorry, it's dead," Catherine says. "This EV came from the CURIE, the supply vessel we used between Lambda and Lisbon. The EV computer thinks the wreck might be around here someplace. We might be able to find another shuttle like this one there."