“Truthfully, I don’t think that’s it, Perri,” said Maqsud.

“It is!” Perri replied. “It 100% is!”

“That’s not at all what it looks like to me...”

“Excuse me, who is the vehicle girl here? Me. You are not the vehicle guy. You’re the book nerd/famous quotes guy. We’ll call for your expertise when we need to decipher some Shakespeare or something. I know what this part is and RTIFIS will tell us I’m right, or I give you my bonus from our next Wargame.”

“The AI should be done any second now,” said Nic. “Then we’ll know for sure.”

They were all gathered around the first waypoint set by RTIFIS, a site of interest to investigate in the location and recovery of Red Terraforming, Inc’s lost exploratory probe on Planet Nereus. The site of interest contained a piece of said probe, a silvery bar of metal that stood out starkly against a backdrop of dark rocks. Perri was certain of the part right away; Maqsud was skeptical, and the others waited in silence for RTIFIS to determine which of the two was correct.

Nic couldn’t decide if he wanted Perri or Maqsud to be right more—or which one would bode well for their recovery mission on Planet Nereus. It was impossible to tell. I just want to prove to Red Terraforming we’re a valuable squad, Nic thought. Our record is 1-1 right now. Not exactly stellar... yet. Maybe succeeding at this mission will earn us some respect.

said RTIFIS.

“Aha!” Perri exclaimed. “What did I tell you? It is from the landing gear! I was right!” She folded the arms of her proxybot. “I look forward to you paying me your next bonus.”

Maqsud scoffed. “I agreed to no such wager!”

“Part could have come off during entry,” Jarek contributed. I’m glad he’s taking the mission a bit more seriously than those two, Nic thought. “Maybe it was botched or somethin’? Rough landing?”

Perri took a break from teasing Maqsud to rejoin the conversation. “That’s the thing that stumped me,” she said with a vexed sigh. “There are no signs of a bad entry. This part is in perfect shape. No bends, no warping, no signs of scorching. It didn’t break off, it’s like it was... removed. Detached, or something. It’s too clean.”

“I think it goes without saying that landing gear doesn’t just detach spontaneously,” said Maqsud. “Am I right, Perri? The whole point of it is... well, so that the probe can set up shop on the planet, essentially. A properly functioning probe is going to want to hold onto that.”

“Yeah, you’re absolutely right about that. That’s why it’s so weird to see one out in the open like this, all on its own. It’s in pristine condition. And our Corvette is the second ship ever to visit this planet, so it’s not like it could have come from any other probe.” She shrugged, handing the part to Nic. “Dunno. It must just be a fluke, I guess.”

“Well, it at least puts us on the right track,” Nic said, stowing the part in the Centaur’s trunk. “Now we know the rest of the probe is probably in one piece somewhere.” Perri nodded.

“Wait, how did y’all get that from just a little metal bar?” Jarek asked.

“Well, it’s landing gear, so it doesn’t roll out until the propulsors kick in,” Perri explained matter-of-factly, “and it’s not damaged, so if we put two and two together...”

“...it means the probe probably landed successfully,” Nic finished for her, “and all we have to do is track it down and babysit it while RTIFIS flies the Corvette out to pick us up. Or...” He shook his head, frazzled. “...pick up our proxybots, I mean. We’re still in the Simnasium. I keep forgetting that.”

“Let’s cross our fingers that it proves to be that simple,” said Maqsud, about-facing and heading for the parked Centaur. “Shall we proceed to the next waypoint, then?”

“Stand down, Scarlet 4,” Nic replied. Max froze in his tracks. “We don’t go anywhere until I clear us for departure.”

“Oh, I’m... I apologize, Nic, but I had no intention of overstepping my—”

“Nah, I’m just messing with ya,” Nic laughed. “Let’s get out of here.”

Max threw some pretend punches in Nic’s direction and laughed along with him. “Ah, you really had me going there! The more you do that, the slower I’ll be to respond to a genuine order, you know!”

“Just couldn’t let you and Perri have all the fun,” Nic said with a wink, realizing a moment later that Max couldn’t see it. Nic, Jarek, Maqsud, and Shanti all reentered the Centaur and fastened their safety harnesses. Perri climbed into the cockpit of the Harpy and took to the sky, following behind them. “Okay, Team Scarlet, let’s roll out. Next waypoint’s 50 klicks that way.”

***

The waypoint was 50 kilometers ahead. At the rate they were traveling over the loose gravel and irregular hills, they were slated to reach their destination in about 45 minutes. Barely half an hour into the next leg of their trip, however, they’d already found their next clue. It was resting on the bank of a shallow, trickling stream of clear water.

“Not the probe,” Nic sighed, “but I think we’re getting closer. I’m not even sure what that is, though. Let’s check it out.”

It was a rover of some sort with two tank-like treads, a boxy frame with delicate gadgetry popping out of all sides, and several cameras positioned equidistantly across its surface. It lay in the stream motionless on its side.

“Looks like a repairbot, if I’m not mistaken,” Perri said from a sizeable distance, and when she was mere meters away from it, she added, “Yep, I’m sure of it!”

“What’s it doin’ all the way out here?” Jarek wondered aloud. “That ain’t ours, is it? Couldn’t be.”

“It must be from the probe,” Nic concluded. “Maybe it had a malfunction. Detached part of the landing gear and rolled away with it. Or maybe it was trying to fix the landing gear somehow... I don’t know.”

said RTIFIS,

“Um...” Nic shrugged. “Sure thing. Go for it.”

Before Nic could fully process the AI’s words, his proxybot’s limbs were moving with a mind of their own. Nic felt himself compelled to walk over to the downed repairbot, squat next to it, and pick it up, turning the machine over in his mechanical hands. His head cocked quizzically side to side like a bird in rapid succession.

“This is beyond freaky,” he muttered as he was being puppeteered. “I hope the intel is worth it!”

Nic’s hand undid a latch and opened a compartment at the back of the multi-tool rover.

“Hey, if the probe’s repairbot was on the move, why couldn’t it just return a beacon for Red Terraforming?” Jarek wondered aloud. “Probably could have explained a lot about what happened to the probe in the first place.”

“Repairbots aren’t equipped for precise FTL communications,” Perri answered, shaking her head. “Which is a major design flaw, I agree. That would have saved us the entire trip.”

{Repairbot Series XV now online.} A slightly lower-pitched, more synthetic, and less smooth AI voice played from the repairbot itself. {How may I be of assistance?}

“Showtime,” Nic said with a grin. “You, my lost little friend, are going to tell us everything we need to know.”