The Endeavour in Sector H

Chapter 6

It took them almost a week to reach the first moon, Mek. It had a thin atmosphere and scarce plant life. Insects and bigger animals were still not developed. The Empire decided a long time ago against introducing animals from other planets. It usually didn't end up well.

Colors were mostly orange and red with dark brown and dark purple which represented the plant life. Moon was being terraformed, trying to raise the levels of oxygen and nitrogen but for now the population of 7000 people lived under the dome. It was one of the few places in the H sector which had an indigenous life.

Lnar stepped out of the ship, he was in full battle armor which offered life support, including air filters. Hint, hint, smell wasn't so bad when in armor. Only problem was that it was a second skin and not a lot of room for comfort. Can't wait to loosen my balls.

He took off the helmet and inhaled the dome's air. Better than the stinky ship, but not as good as my suit. The station's food farms were based on algaes so their smell was mixed in the air and the government tried to counteract it by releasing pine forest fragrance, it was an odd mix, soothing at one instant, offending at the second. The light was at the minimum, implying it was a night time. Ghir stopped next to him. Lnar gave him a glance, Ghir was a little taller than him, his skin dark grey and hair a striking white, Ghir was a rarity among his kind which helped his family to be chosen as the next royal family. Their race usually had hair which was darker than skin. Getting an opposite combination led to a rich, comfortable life.

"Our contact is waiting for us. Follow me."

The four of them, Lnar, Ghir, Ana and Hor, took an inner transportation system to the address.

It was a huge sleeping complex. Each person or couple had a bedroom and bathroom, dining room and lounge/relax room were organized as a common space. Kitchen had a professional crew who cooked every day for the residents. This was for workers who came to earn money and then leave when nostalgia for their home planet became too big. Sleep, work, sleep, was the rhythm of their lives.

Hor took out an instrument to check if there were traps in the vicinity of room B102. He nodded to Ghir, giving him the green light to proceed. Ghir's code opened the door of the room. It was quiet and there were no life signs present. Hor and Ana were the first to enter. The room was stripped of all furniture. Grey walls begged for fresh paint.

Ana called them to come into the bathroom. It was also bare but there was one additional item - a terminal mounted on one of the walls. The terminal lightened up with simple instructions: "Take the pill." Hor reached for it.

"No, it's better that I take it. Maybe it's connected to the person who inserted the code." - Ghir moved past Hor and popped the pill in his mouth.

Three of them watched Ghir, looking for any signs of poisoning or bad reaction to the pill.

"How do you feel?" - Ana asked.

"Same as before. Like I haven't taken anything."

As nothing happened in the next few minutes, they did one more search around the premises. They haven't found any new clues and the terminal was now off.

"We're leaving, this was a waste of time. Someone obviously pranked you." - Lnar gave Ghir an irritated look.

"Maybe. I don't expect this to be an easy task." - Ghir shrugged.

They left the room and passed down the corridors. The group was silent, there was nothing to say, they've been played.

"Stop. Do you see that?" - Ghir's head was down, looking at the dirty floor under their shoes.