The arrival terminal at Carus was almost identical to the one Elias had seen on his departure. A circular room with gateways leading out to five docks and a larger gateway that formed one end of the corridor back to the centre of the orbital station. The more novel name of Porta was written across the corridor leading to the station proper. Since it was a new planet the orbital station only had the one terminal and then central concourse making the structure look like a lopsided dumbbell. Seeing that the dropships headed to the planet would be leaving from the central area directly Elias headed for a console to work out where he was meant to go next.

His search on the console was not forthcoming. The company that held his contract, Nidus, did not seem to have an office in Porta. That meant it was quite a small company. The only listing he could find for it showed its registration a mere six months ago, once you took into account the two months travel time that meant it was only four months old when he was hired. Given that he couldn't see any listings for holdings planetside Elias followed the only other lead he had and searched for an office for Prevail Inc. Seeing a listing in the concourse he decided to head that way.

The corridor opened out to a typical layout of a circular walkway ringed with offices and a central area containing a mixture of bars and restaurants. The main difference between Orbital and Porta was the lack of additional terminals. Instead a third of the outer area had a line of smaller corridors that led directly to docking stations designed for dropships and local travel. The other marked difference was the view of the planet below. Instead of a variation of the brown-yellow that was common for Crust covered planets Carus had streaks of green and blue marring the surface. There was more cloud cover than Elias was expecting too, suggesting a denser atmosphere. Turning his attention to his target Elias quickly worked out that the location of sixty referred to a degree of the circle with the arrival corridor starting at zero. He turned left, checking the numbers slowly ticking up until he found what he was looking for.

Prevail Inc. had a nice wide office front suggesting they were doing quite well on Carus. Elias watched the holodisplay that was trying to entice visitors to choose their settlement and advertisements for specific roles they were hoping to fill. He observed with interest like the newcomer he was, noting the proud and recurring message of how close they were to one of the planet's natural features. They had secured a Crystal and were already raising the height of the tower to thirty metres which would make it one of the three largest settlements on Carus. Elias chuckled at the marketing, that obviously meant there were two larger settlements but wording things that way would not be as attractive. As the display looped back round to the beginning Elias headed towards the doorway and headed in, smiling at the receptionist who waited for him to approach.

"Hello, can I help you?" She said politely.

"Yeah. Hi. Ummm..." Elias said as he worked out exactly what he was asking for. Before he could go on any further a hand grabbed him on the shoulder.

"Oh, hey buddy. There you are. You know better than trying to chat girls up when they are working." A big, broad shouldered man with a huge ginger moustache countering a bald head had his arm around Elias and was walking him towards the door at the same time as throwing an apologetic wink at the receptionist. Thrown out of his element, Elias just allowed himself to be ushered out before he thought to question the situation. The moustached man managed to guide Elias a couple of offices down from Prevail Inc and out of sight of the window, but not before a back door had opened revealing a slim, tall man who watched them leave; his eyes narrowed as if in recognition of Elias.

The big man stalled Elias once more; throwing his hand out and beaming broadly before he could speak.

"Elias, right? Gods you look just like Jed. Well younger, and taller, and maybe a bit wider." Said the man. Elias took his hand and shook it, trying to catch up with what had happened in the last minute or so.

"Sorry about the cloak and dagger there. Name's Mouse, well it's not really, but that's what they call me. Cos of this." Mouse said, tugging on one side of his moustache. "Come on, let's go to the office so we can talk in private."

Rather than heading for another office space Elias followed Mouse as he led about a quarter turn around the concourse before aiming towards one of the central bars that sat opposite the dropship terminals.

"Welcome to my office." He said with a flourishing bow. Mouse ignored the odd look from Elias as he continued past the bar itself, patting shoulders and passing out pleasantries as he wove his way deeper into the building. He eventually arrived at an enclosed booth with a reserved sign outside. Pushing the privacy curtain to one side revealed one occupant taking up the end of a circular cushioned bench.

"Mouse." The woman sat within said. She was small where Mouse was large and had features that spoke of an Asian heritage. She studied Elias as he took a seat making him feel weighed and judged by the cold eyes that held a hint of sorrow within.

"Found him." Mouse beamed, as if proud of his accomplishment.

"Obviously." The curt reply didn't affect his jolly demeanour as Mouse heaved himself onto the bench with a huff, his belly pressing against the table in front of him.

"Beer? We're going to need beer for this, right?" Mouse looked hopefully at the Asian lady and Elias sensed relief when she nodded.

Elias waited for someone to explain the strange scenario rather than speaking at this point. Mouse waved an arm out of the curtain and held up three fingers to the barman then all three waited for the drinks to appear.

"Elias, Slim. Slim, Elias." Mouse said finally after the drinks arrived, breaking the silence between the two. He picked up his beer hiding behind his glass from the glare Slim was throwing his way.

"Fine." Slim said eventually, when her glare did nothing more than make Mouse drink for longer. "This isn't easy for me either you know?" Elias held his silence as the interchange between the others played itself out. A moment longer and Slim finally turned her attention to him.

"Welcome to Carus, world of opportunity." She said with a sneer before taking a sip of her drink. "God you look like him, you know." Slim stared deeply into Elias' eyes.

"Jed?" He replied, since no one was being that forthcoming he tried to push the conversation forward.

"Yes, Jed. He spoke about you all the time. His favourite nephew. We know all about you from his stories but I didn't expect you to look so like he did." Slim replied.

Elias tried to fit this narrative with the uncle who he sent the odd communication to and had last seen when he was a kid. He knew Jed didn't have contact with the rest of the family and that he had no kids of his own, but being the favourite when there was only one option never really meant anything, did it?

"He was so proud of you. Loved you. Took us all out for dinner when you chose squad leader as your second class. Made us all listen as he read from your letter before we could start eating."

Elias saw how Jed might have felt this way but struggled to make it fit with the lack of warmth and feeling in his correspondence. He was going to say something but the words caught in his throat as he noticed the tense Slim was using as she spoke. He looked up to find her face turned down, eyes watching her drink as she swirled the glass in her hands.

"Yeah, you noticed." The mood in the booth dropped a notch at the tone of her voice. "About three months ago he filed a mission to explore one of the valleys near our settlement Rockpoint. Should have been two days out; a day exploring and then two days back. Nothing he hadn't done before, nothing special. Five days later he hadn't returned." She stopped to take a sip of her drink. "We sent drones to scout the area, paid to have the satellites sweep the zone. Nothing. No sign of any problems, no sign of the expedition. It took another couple of days to get a rescue team together and then took them two days to get to the valley. We found the remains of a camp but everything tidied up no signs of any problems. The valley was clear, we spent two more days looking before heading back."

"Sorry." Said Mouse, looking over at Elias.

He wasn't sure how to react. They obviously thought he would be devastated. He was definitely sad about the news, but for some reason he meant more to Jed than the other way around. That made him feel just as bad as learning Jed was dead. Had he not been observant enough in his communications, was he a cold bastard that just didn't recognise how important he had been to his uncle.

"To Jed." He said, raising his glass and then taking a long drink as the others did the same. They sat in silence as Mouse waved out the curtain for another round.

"You know, he told me once about this time when you were a kid. He had just been released from his second contract and was so excited to be home. He tried to surprise you at your birthday. He'd never been round kids before and spent hours picking out what he thought was the perfect present." Mouse said.

"Yeah, and turned up with an energy pistol." Finished Elias. "For my tenth birthday! Mum went balistic at him. She wouldn't let him near us with a gun." The memory came back as he heard the start of the story. The eccentric uncle appearing at his party waving a gun. His mum had told him Jed was drunk, with another perspective he could almost remember the enthusiatic smile on his uncle's face and the look of disappointment when he was turned away.

"He was even more excited when he heard you had taken on a contract to head to the colonies. I had met him by then. So proud that his nephew was following in his footsteps. I remember how nervous he was when he recorded the first communication to send to you, not sure whether you wanted his advice. The look on his face when you replied was priceless. Going old school with written message and saving him from another embarrassing vid when he wrote back." Reminisced Slim.

Elias thought back to that first video from his uncle. He had seemed so formal, like he was reading from a script. Now he saw a different take on why that might be. Not knowing what to say Elias had written rather than send a video in reply. This simple choice he had made twisted into a positive light by his uncle. They went on to tell more tales involving his uncle and some involving him, relayed to them via his letters and his uncle's story telling. Several more beers were ordered and drunk as they continued to celebrate Jed and his acheivements. As Elias listened and drank the aloof adventurer he had always imagined his uncle to be in his head came alive through the stories. He realised how similar they were in some respects and had an urge to re-read his correspondence over the years with this new image in his head. Knowing how the message was meant when written made all the difference to the interpretation.

As the day drew on talk turned to the near past, of what had been happening just before Jed's disappearance and death. To Nidus.