[PG-13] Expendable: Gamma Moon

[Ma1chbox]

Caine walked inside after all the others, his hand hovering around the grip of his revolver. His posture was straight and commanding, and his face was calm and stern, but underneath that layer of stoicism, he was incredibly wary of his surroundings. If anything unnatural so much as peeped its head out of the walls, it would be dead before it realized.

As soon as he neared the center, however, his attention drifted for a split second to the ancient structure. He'd gone tomb raiding plenty of times before as a pirate, but this... this place was nothing like he had ever seen before. Hell, he wasn't even sure if this was a damned tomb. There was just... something eerie and wrong about the place.

He made his way towards one of the strange pillars that towered above and into the ceiling, his heavy footsteps drawing minuscule clouds of dust as he went. The markings on it were definitely made by intelligent life, but it was completely unfamiliar, like everything else. One of his hands brushed across the writings as if in an attempt to read the strange language better.

By this point, a fear had taken root in Caine's thoughts. It was by no means the common fear. This one was quite unique. It was the kind that isn't outright noticed, as it would plant itself in the deepest recesses of the human psyche. Like a plague, it would spread, but slowly enough to go under the radar. It was the kind that veeery slowly eats at you and gradually fills you with dread, then before you know it, you're... not yourself anymore...

... But of course, Caine didn't know that yet.

Upon looking at his teammates, he found them a ways ahead already, standing near the strangely clean circle in the middle of the room. The Corporate System apparently already had its shiny metal mitts on a small bag of sunshine, as well as some extra rations and a medkit.

This sight caused Caine to smirk just a bit, but only for about half a second. The thought of already being guaranteed payment this early into the mission somewhat relaxed him. His hand moved away from the grip of his revolver as he began to walk casually towards the rest.

"I'm guessin' nobody else 'ere's got any ideas where the hell we are?" He mumbled half-jokingly to his fellow convicts. His eyes, however, stayed on the weird circle in front of him. It was completely and utterly empty. Not even a speck of dust on it, unlike pretty much everything else inside the pyramid-like structure.

A wave of curiosity washed over him, along with a bit of genius. After a short pause, he picked up one of the little plastic tags left on the floor and looked at the number for a second. Almost as if it was some cruel joke from the universe, the tag was numbered seven. "Lucky number seven, huh," he mumbled silently to himself and guffawed.

Caine then turned his eyes back to the clean circle. For a modicum of safety, he took three steps back and put his hand on his revolver's grip once more. With a short but firm flick of the wrist, he tossed the little plastic tag forward and into the middle of the circle. His bionic eye was now eagerly zooming around, anticipating what might happen.

[Potatrobot]

Max waited patiently as the drop pod descended to the moon's surface, tossing his locker about as it shuddered through the atmosphere. The moon itself looked nothing more than an abysmal backwater rock, though as his pod drew closer to the landing point, Max could start to make out the gigantic heat sink the CES had briefed him on.

"Beginning landing sequence," droned the screen. Max could hear the braking engines roaring from inside the locker, inside the pod, but with no choice but to remain still, he continued staring at the visual feed of the scene below. He started to make out a few large pods, with several smaller specks milling about them.

"There's the crew." Max muttered as the pod slowed down even more and came to a gentle stop on the moon's surface. The engines wound down as the pod cooled off, before the screen went dark. A few seconds of silence passed by before Max heard the pod door opening with a clunk. His restraints finally disengaged, and the locker door swung open, the cool, sulphuric air assaulting his olfactory sensors. The light of the day spilled into the locker, as Max grabbed the edges of its walls and stepped out.

The seven foot tall, matte black armature landed with an uncharacteristically soft thud, owing to the lower gravity. Clearly built for heavy lifting, the armature was so bulky that if it were organic, it would have been impossible for it to wipe its own arse if not for the second pair of arms it possessed, just as heavy-duty as the first. Each arm sported a massive, clamp-like hand with only three fingers, while his strong legs facilitated wide, heavy feet that had their own stabilisers to keep him balanced. His head was human-sized, but atop his massive body it looked like a toaster sitting on a fridge. His deep-set, red, glowing optics were already assessing each individual crew member in turn.

Who've we got here? Max mused to himself, as his optics passed over each crew member, trying to glean what they could through the visors on their ugly space-suits. Two of them were androids, but not like he was - proper androids. Artificial down to the kernel. One of them was standing right in front of him.

"Prisoner 49-8750, I am glad you were able to join us," CES Rand said. "Please collect your supplies, we will be leaving momentarily."

"Ah, brillian'." Max sneered. "It's you. Biggest wind-bag I've ever 'eard and ya don't even 'ave any lungs." He stepped past the CES, though having not acquainted himself with the reduced gravity, his first few strides threatened to topple him. His massive arms windmilled as he righted himself, but kept on walking without a backwards glance.

The others all looked the same under their suits, and he couldn't see through the visors well enough to take a gander at their faces either. He just continued to the supply pod where his gear was supposed to be kept. The others seemed to have pilfered most of the firearms and tools, but all the way at the back was a set of blades so large and heavy it would have been impractical for anyone other than Max to wield them. Two daggers, though machetes would be more appropriate given their size, and a single longsword that only the reduced gravity would allow a human to wield. Each weapon was composed entirely of industrial steel, with thick handles, square hilts, and segmented, trapezoidal blades.

"Ahh!" Max rasped, taking all three blades at once. He tossed the daggers into the air to test the affect of the gravity, and caught them with his upper pair of arms, whereupon he sheathed them into large slots built into his lower arms. The sword he kept out, practising some swings to get a feel for the balance. He kept at it for so long he didn't notice the rest of the crew leaving until he was the last one at the landing site. Once he noticed his tardiness, he quickly grabbed a large ditty box with his name on it from the pod and began lumbering after them.

[Enigma]

A wave of curiosity washed over him, along with a bit of genius. After a short pause, he picked up one of the little plastic tags left on the floor and looked at the number for a second. Almost as if it was some cruel joke from the universe, the tag was numbered seven. "Lucky number seven, huh," he mumbled silently to himself and guffawed.

Caine then turned his eyes back to the clean circle. For a modicum of safety, he took three steps back and put his hand on his revolver's grip once more. With a short but firm flick of the wrist, he tossed the little plastic tag forward and into the middle of the circle. His bionic eye was now eagerly zooming around, anticipating what might happen.

"What are you doing...?" CES Rand demanded, looking up from the coin, then the name tag flickered for a moment, then settled back to Spock as the plastic tag landed in the center of the clean circle - except it didn't. Just before the tip touched the surface, the tag vanished.

"Fascinating," CES Spock said, removing one of the gold coins from the bag, then tossed it into the circle as well. Once again, just before the coin could touch the surface, it too vanished. Or more accurately - it faded to thin air.

"I dinna think it were destroyed, I think it's some sorta transport," CES Scotty said, rubbing its chin. "Didya hafta toss in one of those circuits, Spock?"
"It was necessary to test my hypothesis," CES Spock replied as the android's name tag switched yet again. "By mapping the positions of the devices that were tagged by the Survey team, I believe almost all of them were tossed from inside the circle - by beings who just appeared in this room. I am uncertain as to why they would do so, unless having these devices had a different affect on this gate."

The CES unit walked over to one of the robotic pack-mules and fetched the other VLF Transceiver, then slipped one of the coins inside the robot's storage bags.

"As we cannot be sure what is below, I will go first, holding one of these coins. If the area is safe, I will signal 'AAA' and you will follow. If I signal 'XXX', return to the lander and you will get instructions from the orbiting ships. If you do not get a signal after twenty-four hours, return to the lander. This will earn you a stay of execution, but I cannot say you will avoid long term cryo-stassis."

He then handed the sample bag containing the gold coins to Sonia. "Please hold onto this, Prisoner 49-0849, as you have the other VLF Transceiver. Should I signal the follow-me code, please give one of these to some of the others. It's possible some of the survey team were separated, so those without a device should go to where the others went."

CES Spock then stepped inside the circle - and as soon as he raised his other foot from outside the circle, he vanished.


Five minutes later, the VLF transmitter beeped, displaying on its three-character display "AAA".

[Azazeal849]

Sonia instinctively put her back to the wall as she slung her shotgun and stopped to examine the dropped camera. Resting one exo-suited foot against the smooth basalt wall, she kept one eye on the others as she turned the camera over and thumbed the power button with her gloved hand. Nothing happened.

Fucked. Sonia surmised, Like all the other tech they sent in here.

She watched as Caine threw one of the abandoned marker tags into the dust-free circle, and couldn't help blinking in surprise as it disappeared.

"I dinna think it were destroyed, I think it's some sorta transport," CES Scotty said, rubbing its chin.

"Uh uh." Sonia said doubtfully. "Where's your proof of that?"

As far as any human knew, matter teleportation wasn't possible outside of stories. There were, however, plenty of things which could disintegrate people.

CES Spock replied as the android's name tag switched yet again. "By mapping the positions of the devices that were tagged by the Survey team, I believe almost all of them were tossed from inside the circle - by beings who just appeared in this room. I am uncertain as to why they would do so, unless having these devices had a different affect on this gate."

...

CES Spock then stepped inside the circle - and as soon as he raised his other foot from outside the circle, he vanished.

Sonia waited tensely with the others. As the seconds ticked by into minutes, she began to wonder if the God-damn robot really had been incinerated instead of transported elsewhere. Well fuck that shit!

Suddenly, the VLF transmitter beeped, displaying on its three-character display "AAA". Sonia clicked her tongue, not sure if she was relieved or simply raised to a new height of tension. A number of ugly questions flickered through her mind - What if we can't get back? What if it's safe for robots but not humans? What if those crazies who used to protest outside the research lab were right, and it does something like transport your body but leave your soul behind? Hell, what if it's one of those copying transporters that simply busts you into atoms, and some sort of clone steps out the other end and steals your life?

That last one almost made her chuckle.

Yeah, some life - locked up in cryo until some rich bastard decides he needs a replacement kidney.

She looked around at the others. It almost felt like a gang initiation - everyone waiting with baited breath to see who would be brave enough to make the first move.

Fuck it.

"Grab one if you're coming." she told the others, picking one of the gold coins out of the cloth back with the difficulty of gloved fingers, before dropping the bag onto the floor. She slid it through the dust in the general direction of the others with the side of her boot. The careless move was deliberate - the seconds it would take them to pick up the coins would stop one of the others coming out right on top of her, accidentally or otherwise.

She took a last wary breath, and stepped away from the wall and into the clear circle.

The ground fell away beneath her.

It was like the sick falling sensation of microgravity, only worse - she couldn't see, and she felt as if she were being dragged in all directions at once. Before the pressure could become pain, however, she found herself standing on a smooth disc in the middle of some cavernous chamber, suspended by four narrow bridges of featureless metal.

She pawed at her chest and arms for a moment, trying to reassure herself that she was all still there and hadn't been ripped into pieces and reassembled. She didn't feel any different.

The atmospheric monitor projected onto her visor still blinked green. Under her feet was a tiny tag etched with the number 7 - the tag that Caine had thrown. Then she looked up.

"Shit." Sonia murmured under her breath, struck dumb for a moment by the sheer size of the vaulted ceiling. She took a few steps towards the edge of the platform, the space swallowing the echoes of her footsteps. When she pulled out her torch and shone it upwards, the huge chamber did the same to the beam of light. Casting the light down the walkway she was facing, she saw it glint off a familiar silver shape.

"You made it then." she stated to the CES as she stepped out on to the walkway. The darkness hid the depth of the fall below, for which she was thankful. "Where are we? Underground?"

As she pocketed the gold token to free up a hand for her shotgun, she realised that the tiny coin had turned blood red.

[Potatrobot]

Max lagged behind the group on their way into the central structure. His gait was ponderous and slow at the best of times, and this wasn't helped by the reduced gravity. Each step was a test of balance as he hopped from one foot to the other, and then tried not to immediately fall over. His industrial longsword wasn't helping either, as it put a lot of weight onto his right side as he carried it. He marched past every building in the strange, city-like construction without stopping to look, and only paid more attention to his surroundings when he came to the bridge, should he fall off. He slowed to a walk and peered over the edge to assess the potential drop.

"Fuckin' 'ell." He muttered, raising the sword to his back, where a large clamp gripped it and held it in place. He continued along the bridge slowly, staying in the middle, and now looking around at the enormous structure before him, and now registering the heat radiating off everything.

"These wimps are gunna cook 'emselves soon." He observed, not quite aware of how loud he was talking. He chuckled as he imagined himself as the last surviving member of the crew, and the payout that would entail.

He eventually made it inside the structure and caught up to the rest of the group, who were crowded near a clean, circular area of the floor. The CES stepped onto the circle and disappeared. After a moment, one of the suited fleshies took a coin from a bag, challenging the group. "Grab one if you're coming." She seemed to have an attitude about her, which Max found amusing, and she shoved the bag of coins towards the group without much care for it. She then stepped onto the circle, and vanished like the CES.

Max looked around at the group, still unable to tell one suited gadabout from the other, and then at the bag of coins. Whoever this broad was, she was already taking charge of the situation, and there was no way Max would let himself fall down the pecking order.

"Outta my way." He announced, striding forwards without consideration for anything that happened to be in front of him as he did so. He reached down for the bag, but before his massive clamp of a hand could crush it, a pair of thin, black tendrils snaked out of his wrist and gingerly picked it up. With the bag sitting in his massive palm, the tendrils reached in and fished out one of the coins. Trinket acquired, he dropped the bag near one of the other prisoners, the thin, gangly one that didn't look quite human, even under the space suit. With that done, he reached behind his back and pulled his longsword off his back, and stepped into the circle.

The ensuing sensory cacophony was certainly registered by Max's sensors, but interpreted it was not. His accelerometers indicated falling for a brief moment, but that was the only detail he could glean from the experience. He didn't like this. Something could be ready to attack him and he'd be none the wiser. When he found himself standing on a solid, circular platform, he raised his sword and began turning as quick as his lumbering form could afford without falling over, checking every angle but up for potential dangers. When he found nothing but the four cardinal walkways, the CES and the woman who stepped through earlier, he hesitantly lowered his blade.

"Didn' figure you'd survive, Missy." He bluffed. He stood his blade on the ground and rested his upper-right hand on the enormous pommel, and looked around at the inside of the room.

"Streuth." He observed, looking up for the first time. His optics, though arguably better than a human eye, couldn't spot anything in the impenetrable darkness above. Without any warning, he formed his two lower hands into fists and slammed them together, producing an obnoxiously loud CLANG!! that echoed throughout the nebulous cave. He looked down again, and started towards Sonia and the CES, dragging his sword along the ground behind him.

"Better than the heat then, isn't it?" He prodded.

[Enigma]

First Sonia, then Max appeared. Both seemed startled by their transport.

"We appear to be 1.5 miles underground," CES Spock reported. "If it seems cooler, it is from the warmth of the temple above - this structure appears to be well ventilated and heated to a temperature suitable for most lifeforms - although that may be from our current depth. The gate however appears to be one way - stepping back onto the platform has no effect. These 'circuits' have been deactivated. If we can reactivate them, this gate should return us to the surface. Failing that, I can signal for the ships in orbit to begin drilling."

How long it would take them to drill down so far, the CES did not seem to want to speculate.

"There is one other thing," CES Spock said. Something moved in the darkness behind him, becoming what looked like a robotic shopping cart, its basket empty. It turned to avoid the three of them on the walkway, continuing on to the platform where a robotic tentacle extruded from the wheeled base to grab the tag lying forgotten on the platform, depositing it in the basket. It then turned, heading back towards them.

"This... token or circuit I believe identifies us to the system as an authorized visitor. Anyone else, all their possessions are stripped off and wind up here for collection. Where their owners go, I do not yet know."

[Azazeal849]

"Didn' figure you'd survive, Missy." Max bluffed. He stood his blade on the ground and rested his upper-right hand on the enormous pommel, and looked around at the inside of the room.

"Didn't hope you would, robot." Sonia returned, visibly sneering behind her helmet visor.

"We appear to be 1.5 miles underground," CES Spock reported. "If it seems cooler, it is from the warmth of the temple above - this structure appears to be well ventilated and heated to a temperature suitable for most lifeforms - although that may be from our current depth. The gate however appears to be one way - stepping back onto the platform has no effect. These 'circuits' have been deactivated. If we can reactivate them, this gate should return us to the surface. Failing that, I can signal for the ships in orbit to begin drilling."

"Better do that." Sonia agreed, casting her torch beam upwards a second time only to watch the light scatter and vanish in the sepulchral gloom. "I don't want to finish up and then be sat around for a week waiting for them to dig us out." She scissored her torch beam experimentally around the invisible dome of the cavern, and wondered vaguely why their gear hadn't crapped out like all the survey team's electronics. "You might want to warn them about the drop."

There was a soft hiss from the platform behind them, like air pressure equalising. Sonia turned, expecting to see the rest of their eclectic crew stepping off the platform, but instead only a pile of webbing and kit bundles greeted her eyes. The convict frowned, stepping warily around Max to get a better look at the new arrivals. By the time she had returned to the platform edge and begun playing the white circle of her torch light over the pile, a cold finger of unease was tracing up and down her spine.

"Shit." she murmured, stooping and laying her shotgun flat on the ground to pick up a battered wrist unit that lay among the supplies. "That's Mouse's calculator."

If the others were going to run, they wouldn't have thrown away all their supplies first. Had they all been stupid enough to try and step through without the coins? Had something inside the alien necropolis belatedly reacted to the first few teleports? Sonia snapped upright, racking the slide of her shotgun and panning it warily around. Nothing moved in the darkness, and there was no sound but the soft electric hum of the two androids. Oh great, Sonia thought, her jaw tensing, I'm the only survivor and I'm stuck down here with a pair of fucking robots.

"There is one other thing," CES Spock said. "This... token or circuit I believe identifies us to the system as an authorized visitor. Anyone else, all their possessions are stripped off and wind up here for collection. Where their owners go, I do not yet know."

"Well let us know when you fucking figure it out." Sonia replied, still tense with wary unease. Something told her not to hold out too much hope for Mouse, Lady Blue and the others. She couldn't decide if she was glad to have less guns aimed at her back, or sorry to now have Max's undivided attention. Looking at the hulking mechanoid, she was very aware that she probably couldn't take it in a straight fight. And I'll bet chrome-ass knows that, too.

Something moved in the darkness behind the CES. Sonia whiplashed round, aiming past the two robots, but hesitated as something boxy and silver emerged from the gloom, becoming what looked like a robotic shopping cart, its basket empty. It turned to avoid the three of them on the walkway, continuing on to the platform where a robotic tentacle extruded from the wheeled base to grab Caine's tag lying forgotten amongst the other supplies, depositing it in the basket. It then turned, heading back past Max.

Sonia followed the little machine with the nose of her shotgun, holding her torch against the barrel with her off hand. She paused to raise her eyebrows at Max. "Your turn to take point."

At the end of the suspended bridge, the cavern wall opened into a smooth tunnel. Sonia played her torch beam over the metal cladding on the walls. They revealed themselves to be dull and misted with age, but seemingly unmarked by rust. The little wheeled robot trundled ahead of them until the tunnel opened out into a second chamber, and the whir of its motors gave way to a louder chugging of conveyor belts. White lights flickered on one after the other, emanating from long glass strips that had been embedded in a spiral around the walls. In the centre of the room was a vast circular pit, marked on opposite sides by vertical conveyors that brought smooth glass boxes up from below before cresting and carrying them back down into the darkness of the pit. As Sonia watched, the wheeled robot snaked out its segmented tentacle once more and placed Caine's number 7 tag neatly inside one of the boxes as it reached its peak. The box curved over on its metal runners and began to descend back into the pit, as the little robot wheeled around on the spot and scooted back towards the tunnel - no doubt to fetch the rest of the team's abandoned gear. Looking around, Sonia saw that there was already a pile of recognisable items stacked in a corner of the room. It included cameras, portable lamp packs and what looked like the spare battery pack for a remote-control recon rover. That had to be the survey team's equipment. A second wheeled machine was zipping busily back and forth, depositing the items onto the second conveyor.

Sonia swore quietly as she clicked off her torch and clipped it back onto her webbing. Exploring further around the edges of the chamber, she found two angular alcoves that might have been doorframes, though each was blocked by a smooth metal panel that showed no obvious signs of a handle or control panel. She pushed experimentally against one of them, feeling the cold of the metal through her exo-suit glove.

"Locked." she surmised to the two robots.

[Potatrobot]

Max shrugged off Sonia's comment like a rock thrown at his impervious chassis. It meant that she was wary of Max and that's all that mattered to him. Her remark about drilling earlier to prevent a long wait underground did, however, catch his attention. He realised that it would serve as a perfect opportunity to let the group whittle down to just a few members, if it hadn't done that already by the time the mission was over.

There was a soft hiss behind Max. He spun around as fast as his momentum would allow and lifted his sword into an upright position. When nothing appeared except for a large bundle of equipment, he hesitantly lowered his weapon again. Sonia was already edging around Max to investigate the items.

"Shit." She murmured as she picked a single item out of the pile. "That's Mouse's calculator."

Max assumed that was the name of one of the team members, and at that one that needed a calculator on hand at all times. Looking at the rest of the equipment, Max was suddenly struck by a single, powerful revelation, and if he had a mouth he would be grinning from ear to ear, provided that he also had ears.

It was already down to him and Sonia.

Max slowly lifted his sword and stowed it on his back once again, and began to traipse towards Sonia.

"My deepest condolences, ma'am." He said sweetly, performing something reminiscent of a bow, though off-kilter, and while clasping his enormous hands together.

"There is one other thing," The CES started. Max turned around and saw the mechanical cart trundle past them him and the CES, take something from the platform, and head back the same way.

"This... token or circuit I believe identifies us to the system as an authorized visitor. Anyone else, all their possessions are stripped off and wind up here for collection. Where their owners go, I do not yet know."

Max didn't see Sonia following it until she passed him.

"Your turn to take point."

Max would have retorted if he wasn't already possessed by another concern.

"Hold on, you're tellin' me that this 'ere temple or whatever, sends the rubbish from the intruders to the same place as the authorised blokes? How the hell does tha' make any sense?"

He followed after Sonia and the wheeled robot.

"These people, they can separate a person from the shit on their backs, but they can't send it somewhere else? Unless this place is mean' ta be a rubbish tip to begin with, or some giant lost-n'-found."

He ducked through the doorway into the next chamber.

"A bit like that."

[Enigma]

"It's possible that visitors to this facility were of two types - those with admin rights, and those without. Any unauthorized visitors wind up somewhere else, while their gear arrives here for storage. The question is why separate someone from their possessions?" CES Spock mused, walking over to one of the robot shopping carts, waiting for its turn for the active conveyor. He pulled out a gun from its basket, and tossed it towards the door on the left where it bounced and skidded up to the door.

With an annoyed beep, the robot raced after the gun. The CES then grabbed a ration pack from another shopping cart and tossed it to the right side door, and watched as the robot went to retrieve it.

On the left, the robot cart slowed as it approached the door, stopping well away from it before unleashing a tentacle to collect the gun, then sped back towards the the conveyors.

On the right, the robot stopped next to the door, which opened as it unleashed a tentacle to grab the errant ration pack. The room beyond looked to be an automated repair bay, robotic arms working on a white, faceless android lying on a table. There looked to be storage niches along the wall of the repair chamber for the service robots.

"Looks ta be robots only," CES Scotty said in its thick, Scottish brogue as the repair bay door slid shut. Turning, the CES regarded the other door. "That wee beastie I think scared the robot. Best we avoid that one fer now."

"Our best course of action would be to check out one of the other passageways," CES Spock said, taking over. "Unless you'd like to try something else?"

As he spoke, two more shopping carts entered the store room from the pad, each with one of the robot mules in its basket.

[Azazeal849]

"It's possible that visitors to this facility were of two types." CES Spock mused. "Those with admin rights, and those without. Any unauthorized visitors wind up somewhere else, while their gear arrives here for storage. The question is why separate someone from their possessions?"

Sonia let out a harsh laugh. "Are you serious? A prison robot should know the answer to that one."

What she didn't say was how little confidence she had in the idea that her fellow convicts had been taken prisoner by whatever controlled this complex. Just as likely, they were dead.

She eyed the robots suspiciously as they zipped past. Something about their design, whether it was the segmented steel tentacles or the slightly imperfect angles of their rhomboid carrier baskets, didn't seem quite right. Not quite human-made.

She panned her shotgun around again, half expecting something to shift and dart away among the shadows of the tunnel.

...

"Our best course of action would be to check out one of the other passageways," CES Spock said, taking over. "Unless you'd like to try something else?"

As he spoke, two more shopping carts entered the store room from the pad, each with one of the robot mules in its basket.

"A'ight." Sonia agreed, pulling a handful of ration packs from the pack-mule's back as it was carried past. The others couldn't get to them now, and she didn't know how long they would be stuck down here. She tipped a mocking salute of thanks towards the cart robot as it hummed away.

"The one on the left work for you?" she suggested, picking an arbitrary clockwise circuit of the bridges as she stuffed the ration packs into a velcro pocket on her exo-suit.