(45a) Addendum to (45)
The Misha Campaign (077 / 322)
Shark's Hike
077 / 322
Shark packs light. He has scanned
a map of the area into his hand computer. He is wearing his zack, and
is carrying food, something to sleep on, and his robodog. He also has
some PRIS binoculars to search for energy sources, and his gauss pistol that
he'd hidden in Boxer the robodog, a guide to local fauna and flora, and a
map and compass.
The only clues he has to go on to locate the site of the crash of the Anastasia (at that time still the Kinunir
, of course) is the information he got from a sleepy and hungover Mich this
morning. Nevertheless, he does spot the valley from the air easily.
There's nothing of significance visible from the air.
He gets the pilot to land in a clearing and examines the site. A
brief but effective search turns up nothing.
Shark spots the canyon that contained the octagon building
from the air, but there's nowhere nearby the pilot is comfortable landing
the airship. He therefore sets down on the snowfields, about a day's
hike from the valley. They arrange pickup for a few days time.
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The hike through snowfields is quite comfortable in his
zack. He arrives at the gorge, from which it's easy to see the building
he's looking for. It's an easy 2-3 km hike to the entrance to the valley,
where he finds a path leading up through the valley floor.
Along the way he's seen several signs of fauna -- mostly
grazers of various sizes. He takes the fact that there aren't too many
of them to mean that there must be some carnivores keeping them in check.
He makes camp near the building, and brings to bear his full skill in a thorough investigation of the site.
Apparently nothing has changed since the other group was
here several years ago. The box has clearly been removed, of course.
There are signs of their footprints (mostly battledress), along with
the footprints that they found too, all with an extra few years worth of
dust accumulation. There's no sign that anyone has been here since
their visit. The Imperial issue lantern is still shining on the top
floor. There is no serial number on the lantern, just a regular manufacturer's
mark, and there's no charge indicator to enable him to guess how long it
has been here.
It's clear that the previous group searched the building
thoroughly. Nevertheless, Shark searches himself, in case they missed
anything.
He does note one thing -- the equipment used to carve
the rock, clearly above the tech level of this world, was probably not standard
Imperial equipment.
Shark takes a sample of the wood used for the floors and so on, and plans to date it when he returns to the Nightshade. Chemistry, biology, and forensics will help him somewhat, but he also remembers that Jaek had claimed archeology skill.
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Shark leaves on his one-day hike to the rendezvous point.
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Back on the airship, and Shark returns to Allys Hollow.