Astronomicon 1: Inception Point (Finished)

32 - A Problem Shared

The convoy of buggies made short work of the low hills a couple of kilometres beyond the mountains and heading down the gentle slope towards the dry riverbed. Less than a kilometre further on stood the shiny, vertical cylinder of Supply Module 3.

Fletcher, by default, ended up supervising the loading of supplies onto the buggies. They loaded crates onto the cargo trays of the flatbed buggy, four-seater and two-seater. They used a combination of ropes and cargo straps to secure everything in place.

"Why aren't we using the flyer from the nosecone of this module?" asked Kate as Chris helped her lower a sack of food sachets into the front passenger footwell of the four-seater buggy.

"We can't get it out until the module is completely emptied out and lowered onto its side," he replied.

"We can't just winch the flyer down like the buggies?"

"I think it's the weight of them," he explained. "Each flier is a lot heavier than any of the buggies."

Fletcher overheard the conversation and could not resist adding some more detail to Chris's answer. "The buggies only weigh between 450 and 570 kilos each. A small winch can lower them down the side of the module without tipping it. Each flyer weighs almost three and a half tonnes. Try winching that over the side and you'll send the whole lot over."

"That's pretty poor design," she tutted.

"No, it's physics!" Fletcher chuckled and went back to supervising the last few items being loaded.

Chris sent Lucy back into the module to search for more cargo straps. After briefly making a show of checking the crates on the back of the buggy were secure, he headed directly to the supply module and followed Lucy inside.

She heard him sprint up the access ramp behind and looked puzzled.

"I wanted a quick word alone with you," he explained, glancing out through open doors to see if anyone had noticed.

"I didn't realise you were interested!" she laughed.

"Sorry, this isn't a crappy attempt to chat you up," he laughed. "I'm going to have to keep this brief as I don't know how long we've got alone."

"This sounds very mysterious," she chuckled nervously.

He explained about the brief message from C.P.C. informing him about the agent operating undercover amongst the crew. Her eyes grew wide as he relayed what little he knew.

"With all the stuff we knew we'd be up against when we arrived here, I didn't expect anyone to be working against us. Hang on, how do you know I'm not the agent?" she asked.

"To be honest? I don't!" he replied. "But I figured it was better to share the information. Otherwise, if the agent gets me somehow, no-one at all will know about them."

"Good thinking," she nodded. "How do we know the agent wasn't amongst the dead in Supply Module 2?"

"We don't, but there have been some odd things going on. The heaters failing a few nights ago, for instance. One going is not unlikely, but four? No way."

"Any ideas on who it might be?" she asked.

"They haven't given themselves away yet, but they'll slip up at some point."

"And what do we do then?"

"I haven't got that far yet, but we can't let them put our mission and lives in jeopardy."

"We have to stop them. So, what do we do?"

"Look out for anyone acting suspiciously, for now," he replied. "Now I should get back to my buggy before anyone thinks I'm acting suspiciously myself."