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Angel-09 approached the escape capsule in the standard V-Delta approach pattern. The squad maintained a clear field of fire, although there was litterally no place, other than the capsule itself, to hide along the plain where the pod had come to rest.
The pod's hatch was open to the atmosphere and no lights could be seen within. As the squad closed with the pod it became clear that there had been a fire within due to the blackened marks around the exterior of the hatch openeing.
[Quaid]
"Alright, Duff, Lutes, McIntyre and Kingsley - check out the body. Form a base of fire from that position." he ordered over the comm. The smell of the air in his helmet was stale and musky. He made a note to take a shower when he returned to the base.
Duff had precious little time for Marine drills and had already been on a bee-line for the body as the group approached the plateau. In fact, he had almost reached the body before the others were even directed towards him.
Duff knelt next to the inert body, the crunch of the sand and gravel under his feet hardley a notice. He rolled the body over. It was Skullet. Or at least the name badge on the e-suit stated that it was him. However, his helmet had been comprimised, or more like melted for it looked as if the outer sin-skin layer had been plyed back along with the high-density plastic that made up the face shield. However, there was some sort of thing covering his face. It looked as if it were a sickley looking crab or giant lobster.
The things skin was a translucent grey color with dark brown spots in places. What was exposed of the things seemed to be fleshy with no carapace. Duff instinctively pulled back from the shock and horror of the gruesome discovery.
[Duff]
"Sarge! Get over here NOW!" he yelled into his helmet mike. A few moments of contemplation fell on Duff while he waited for the arrival of Quaid. He tried not to look at the slowly heaving body of the creature. With furtive motions of his hands Duff checked Skullet's vitals. He reached for his neck, then pulled away quick remembering the suit as well as the creature. He unfastened one of the gloved hands. The fingers of the glove had worn, or more likely - melted, away. Most likely as Skullet clawed at the thing climbing through his helmet the agent had engulfed his gloved hands and burnt them away as easily as the face shield. Duff was brought back to his senses as Quaid stepped up.
[Quaid]
Looking around to be sure that his men had fanned out to form the necessary base of fire as well to be sure his conversation with Duff would be kept private. "What have you got Doc?" Quaid asked before looking down at the limp body.
Receiving no answer he looked down at Quaid, "What was so damn importa...", the last word trailing off as he looked over Skullet's helmet.
"What in the hell is that?" he managed to stammer out as his brain tried to comprehend what he was seeing.
[Duff]
"I won't know until we get him to where I can take of his helmet and this suit."
[Quaid]
"Ah, yeah. Right. Let's get him to your rover. Take him directly to the infirmary. We need to close things up out here first, then we will come in and file our report."
Duff produced his inflatable rigid back board. The tiny canisters inflated the board in only a few seconds. He and Quaid lifted Skullet's body onto the board with an involutary shudder Quaid opened his comm.
"Corporal Kingsley. Hold the area until I return." He muted the comm without waiting for a response and hefted the head end of the board. He returned to the escape capsule after he had watched Duff's ATV pass the ridge which they had come around to reach the plateau.
On his way back though, he called back to Sygnus for Leiutenant Cooper. He managed to make contact.
[Quaid]
"Leiutenant, Duff is on his way back with Johnson and Skullet. We have found the Johnson-Skullet hab all busted up. The prospector, Johnson, was found dead in the green house. Appearently killed by Skullet who was missing along with their ATV. We tracked the rover to a ridge of the Devil's Abyss where we have also found an EEV and Skullet's body. Skullet is...", his words trailed off while he thought about what his status actually was, "alive as far as we know at the moment. We will are checking the EEV, then we will be on our way back with a full report - double time."
[Cooper]
"Seargent, this makes no sense. I want to see you and your men first thing. You call me as soon as you start back, understood?"
[Quaid]
"Yes, sir." He switched to the Angel-09 operations channel.
He peered into the open hatch of the EEV. The innards were a ruin. Burnt, warped and melted plastic had fused most of the components into a congealed mass on the floor. Much of the interior had a black carbon soot covering everything. The fire most likely had not lasted long due to the low oxygen content of the atmosphere, but it was hot - probably fed by the O2 canisters of the EEV itself.
Quaid thought that the platoon's engineer specialist could ascertain more than he could. "Anderson, get over here and tell me what you think." Anderson come over quickly. "Get in there and tell me if Skullet had torched this, of if there is an other explanation."
[Anderson]
After crawling into the rather small portal Anderson rummaged around inside for anything that he could recognize as an excellerant. "Top, I think this was done by Skullet. There is glass over here and probably some lamp oil or something. Probably a molitov."
[Quaid]
"You see anything that can tell us where this thing came from, or any other bodies in this thing?"
[Anderson]
"There should be a registry plate on the outside. I'll try to get the 'box' out of here. That might help explain a few things."
With that, Quaid began to look around the outside of the vessel for any identification markings or serial numbers. He found none. Anderson managed to break open a fire safety box that contained the pod's computer core.
He looked around to see if there were any other bodies in the cramped confines - there were none. There was a blob of something on the floor under some of the melted plastic, but it was charred and still smoking slightly. 'Ah, just food packs melted in the fire.' he thought to himself. He climbed out. His e-suit was covered in a fine black powder that fluttered with the slight solar and ethereal winds of the planet.
"No bodies sir, but I did get the box out."
[Quaid]
"It's getting high-time for the light show. Let's get back to base. Angel-09 let's mount up."
"Angel-09 to Trinity Base. We are on EVAC. ETA 38 minutes." Quaid checked in as ordered.
The squad all clambered up into the rover. The ride back was quiet and remorseful. Johnson was everyone's friend and no one dared interrupt his thoughts at a time like that.
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