Stanton Castillon's Story

The man in a fully kitted field research suit looked up at the ceiling and took another drink of his light beer. In his eyeline was an autumn-colored Gardener idly munching on a large cabbage. She gesticulated with one leg but nothing is heard with the RF quietus she broadcasted to Stanton's headpiece.

"Your planet might have a bunch of researchers on it, Sienna, but it doesn't have a whole lot practical hardware. I needed to stock up before our trip. Your cabana boys are still busy stocking our transport and you can't well get me drunk on the job, eh, Red?", he responded to the wordless question.

If the eight legged arachnid could roll her eyes she would but instead just rolled her head side to side. Pointing with one leg she responded a svelte english to stanton's headpiece, ((I might be a young thing but I can still order them to buy me alcohol, you know. Fine. I want something to eat before I have to breathe that horrible recycled air for months.))

Cryoface pushed the doors open and looks around. "Phew. So friggin' hot around here...more so than usual. Good to be back...but everything looks so damn different. Guess it's just like how glaciers constantly melt and shift." The mammoth snowman might have passed for a sweaty, pale man were it not for how his lower body tapered off into a serpentine tail. The outer ice armor served not only as protection during combat, but to delay the assault of the oppressive heat.

Stanton looked over the fellow that looked like he was melting. Cryoface caught a xenobiologist's twinkling eye, "Have you considered switching out that armor for something with air conditioning? It's really quite nice."

Stanton barely contained his glee from behind his glareless faceplate and raised a bottle toward the wet man while grinning as wide as one can.

Sienna rotated slightly to get a more central look and flicked her bright red head again, ((Don't antagonize the soldiers, Stanton.))

Stanton stood at the edge of the ground annex far below the heights of the precipice going through diagnostics before he was too far from the safety of pressurized airlocks. This world was weird, hazardous, and incredibly dangerous if one wasn't careful. Not that an unaided human couldn't breathe the atmosphere at ground level given some acclimation but the oxygen concentration was slightly higher than Terra at a higher pressure on the average at the surface. That put it uncomfortably close to the unlimited tolerance line for humans. Not to mention that the air pressure and gravity went up quicker while underground than it should for reasons not yet understood. You gained another 1g passing near 1km underground. He'd heard a recording of one poor sod whose cable broke in some deep subsurface cavern and gravity alarm audibly registered nearly 5.6G before nearing the bottom even without his considerable momentum. That is, just before his heavy exosuit hit the ground at nearly 500 kph. There wasn't much left of him and Matriarch Oculi had to send some high soldiers just to drag the exosuit out of the cavern to send the body home.

One of the benefits of having the matriarchs as a direct backer meant he had the benefit of an all-terrain expert to avoid such pitfalls. The redhead was making her way from the supply area with as much as she cared to carry down herself. He was busying himself testing the soil around the precipice exit finding la distinct lack of water. The atmosphere seemed low on humidity as well. He wondered at the salinity, acidity, and flourine levels of the sea nearby. Not to mention the low soldiers said that things lived in the hellish environment. The toxin cleansing systems in the creatures must be impressive.

As he read the data further he found the fluorine content of the soil was indeed off the charts. Nearly 20 ppm in the small samples here still fairly far from water. Humans definitely couldn't farm anything here and live let alone drink the water. They'd die from the toxicity in days. The organic horizon of the soil after he scanned a core, the size of the organic layer, turned out to be a lot deeper than he expected. Beyond that he even found a L layer indicating thick marine deposits. This was nearly 2 miles in altitude from the sea's current altitude. He made notes into the research tracker to log the soil samples and layers by location.

He'd have to take far wider measurements. The matriarchs sometime last year resorted to pulling in ice asteroids with seized pirate vessels and unlicensed salvage crews. Threw them at a rocky crater on the other side of the planet to raise atmospheric humidity. They broke it up before entering the atmosphere but that was teraliters of water and probably the only reason it rained here. Where in the blue hell was all the water going? He made also made a task note to see about the landing schedule from Oculi or get a reprieve to move to the landing zone for samples.

Out of the corner of his eye he spied a familiar red matriarch. Her demeanor was a plus on a heck of utility he sure as hell couldn't buy cheap especially as a robot. A large high-definition stereo camera hovered in place near her with a spherical gimbal attached. He could see the telltale corona of her telekinetics keeping the interior grips in control. Strong as hell, these Matriarchs, in two of her smooth red legs she towed a pallet on skids held just by their black setae tips. The front two held large bagged packages which were likely tents and clothes. What would the viewers say when the episode syopsis said he was riding the redhead with a six axis saddle? It was cheap but it got views and the Matriarchy appeared to appreciate Sienna marketed in that way as long as Sienna didn't object.

Her practiced silken voice with its telekinetically conferred affection was always rather soothing, ((Can't wait to get to work, dear Stanton? Always the dutiful sort! We'll have to stay within a few miles of the precipice ascent until Midas gets our things.))

Around the corner, a clean-shaven fellow with formal clothing and a simple frock coat looked into the door to see all the people inside. His hands while still quite young had the telltale callous of a well-seasoned explorer if not by chest muscles chiseled into stone by 3g. Despite his adaption, a field exobiologist required vacations out of the hardsuit every so often. His companion wanted somewhere green. This planet seemed of interest to her with all the fancy dress and relative forested space and wasn't too far from Sopitos given the gate in-system. Stanton was all for being suited up in something cotton and Sienna wanted something far more elegant. As their show made a fair bit of cash he bought local dress rather than carrying luggage too far. Thus they'd come from an obliging if initially nervous tailor possibly afraid of Sienna's morphology. They both wanted something to eat and a dessert shop was perfect for Sienna.

He looked to one side in view of the door at his bright red-haired companion, "Looks like it's pretty busy, Sienna! It must be good, eh? Looks like somebody just installed a new machine by the sign."

Sienna shifted into view her legs wrapped by a set of silk stockings on each tethered by a red bow underneath. Brushed red hair hid the segments though she didn't wear footwear. The matriarch's abdomen up to the front of her cephalothorax and between the legs had a deep blueberry frock atop it bearing small bells at the edge to weight it down. Each dangle from ends of a faint ivy pattern they hid the ribbon straps that went underneath to hold the dress straight. A Hepburn style hat of wide brim partly excused a ribbon to hold it on her head. the curve restricting her vision but kept the sun out of her eyes.

Stanton looked at the ribbon putting his hand to his mouth. Sienna stamped her front two legs against the street in a display of frustration.

"I'm sorry, Sienna, it's the ducks I just can't.", Stanton toothfully apologized.

Sienna's own voice was svelte and well-practiced with an odd exotic bent from extensive practice. It came from a nickel-plated brass speaker just below her jaw plate. Position for the comfort of speaking races that her voice in Eigengrau came from near the mouth hole where it was 'supposed to'. Her actual handbag was a more utilitarian heavy synthetic canvas strapped to the second-back pair of legs. It contained the battery for her transceiver.

She stamped her front legs again, "I like the little yellow duckies. I can have my ducky ribbon if I want. I do hope they have confections without eggs."

Stanton led the way pulling up at the back of the counter line, "Best get in line then and see, eh?"

Sienna carefully maneuvered the door as to not catch her tinkling bells or the dress. Looking to and fro to see the others in the shop as their Sopitos expedition show seemed like something these people might watch.