Spire - 4. Survey

“There.” Daiandra pointed, getting right up against the holopane. She stabbed repeatedly at the holographic representation of Uvnaethe, her finger pressing into the force field. “That’s the source.”

“Polar.” Caeto observed.

“Yep.” Daiandra confirmed. “Too small to see from orbit, but I ran some algorithms over your data, and there’s definitely a hole there. That’s where the Yaevran radiation is originating from.”

“This is good work.” Caeto acknowledged.

“I know.” Daiandra smiled wanly. “Tanis? You’re uncharacteristically quiet?”

“Yeah.” He confirmed. “I’m just…I don’t think I’m up for this.”

“We were all in the same room. Deel made it pretty clear that we don't have a choice.”

“Could walk. That’s a choice.”

“And do what?”

“Dunno?” Tanis shrugged. His voice was shaky; defeated. Daiandra paused, softening her tone.

“Hey. What happened with you and Interstitial all those years ago that’s got you this rattled?”

“Never you mind.”

“Well I might have to mind, if it’s relevant?”

“Dee…”

“We’ve been doing this for years. I’ve seen a lot of different expressions on your face, but last night - ”

“ - This morning.” Caeto corrected.

“Whatever. That was new.”

“Let’s just say…this isn’t my first time with a High-Sec clearance. Deel made it look like they get thrown about like candy, but trust me. They do not.”

“I’m not following.” Daiandra glanced at Caeto: “You?”

“Inscrutable.” Caeto nodded.

“Yeah. That. Out with it.”

“You know I was born Corpo, right?”

“What the fuck? How did you end up a shit-kicker Consultant, then?” Tanis glanced at Daiandra. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh. It was bureaucracy, Dee. Just…gods damned bureaucracy. It was Leviathan. I was a company surveyor. The Corp was doing things they shouldn’t have been doing ‘cause Interstitual are toothless. Ar-Teth stepped in and…handed them some teeth. When Leviathan chose which of us were gonna get bitten…” He trailed off.

“So…exile?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, as born-and-raised Civic scum? Suck it up.” Tanis looked up at her with alarm. “There are worse things than not being Corpo. You’re a good man, Tanis, and a good Adjunct. You know me. I’m allergic to fucking authority, and I’m about to follow your lead down to some Ar-Teth sanctioned nightmare, so can you get your head in the game? Please?” Their eyes met briefly. Slowly, Tanis nodded.

“Thanks Dee. Take a seat.” He grunted, getting to his feet and stalking slowly over to the Holo-pane. He paused for several moments, raising his hand to rub at his chin. “It was a good glassing. Centred. Precise. Textbook stuff. That helps, tells us what we’re dealing with, here.”

“Hard to fuck up a glassing, I would have thought?” Daiandra queried.

“No.” Tanis and Caeto confirmed in unison, glancing at one another. Caeto motioned for Tanis to continue: “Off-centre beam. Too weak. Too strong, it could’ve destabilised the crust in all sorts of ways that’d make it complicated to work with.”

“By complicated you mean dangerous?”

“By complicated I mean lethal. But you saw it on the ground. It’s stable. Quiet. Like I said: textbook.” Tanis paused, thoughtfully raising a finger to where Daiandra’s had been; the northern Pole of the vitrified planet: “So what the fuck is this?”

“Well, like I said: a hole.” Daiandra reiterated. “Scans indicate it’s about twenty kilometres in length, fairly uniform width - about a hundred metres at its widest - and it goes down around a kilometre.”

“And that’s our only hole?”

“That’s what the scans tell me.”

“Seems off. Should be either more or none.” Tanis said quietly, rubbing at his chin again. “There’s nothing else for it. We need to go take a look.”

“Well I think we all knew that’s where this was going.” Daiandra acknowledged.

“Yaevran radiation is non-ionising. I have not detected any other vectors for concern.” Caeto contributed. “We can take a shuttle down within the hour if preferred.”

“Well let’s get to it then.” Tanis nodded. “Suit up.”