Play@YSDC

"The Company may try to kill us anyway," says Sam, "either in case we're infected or just to keep us quiet. This situation could be an embarrassment to them, if word got out."

“We may be on Company payroll but they don’t own our lives. And we don’t owe them anything either if they cast us off. Talk about caught between a rock and a hard place.” Nicole adds. “I don’t know what’s worse; aliens or the corporation.”

Eventually Isabella stops her searching and sinks down into a chair. 'This is so fucked up. I didn't see anything. No trees. Just the rover.' She makes her way over to the driving seats. 'You're right, we need to stick together. Figure out what's going on and find a way off this rock without the company icing us.' She starts jabbing at the rover controls, 'You're overrevving it, you'll blow the axle' she grumbles at Nicole.

The radio crackles, then goes silent, a few second later it crackles again and begins to resolve itself into a voice, echoey and distant. 'Mayday, mayday, come in Barnard's Rest, come in Barnard's Rest, do you read me?'

"Want me to answer it?" asks Sam.

“Yes, I think so. Can you track the origin? I hope it’s not Kiara- or a trap. But wherever it is, we can’t divert; we’ve got to get to Waystation as soon as we can.”
Nicole tries to avoid crunching the gears or over-revving.

Sam nods and tries to trace the transmission while she answers it: "We read you, who are you and what's the problem?"

'This is Sergeant David Montrose of the Colonial Security Service. In Copter 3 coming in hot from Pumping Station 6. Main engines damaged, tail rotor malfunctioning, low on fuel...'

Sam tries to locate the origin of the transmission but it is difficult, it seems to skip about between different frequencies and she can't get a fix on it.

Try a Computer Use roll to localise the transmission

"Can you give us your exact position and bearing?" asks Sam as she traces the transmission. When she finishes speaking, she turns off the microphone so the person on the other end cannot hear her. "The last I heard, Sergeant Montrose ate a shotgun. It's a trick."

Computer Use roll (55% skill) to track the transmission:
d%

“Well remembered, Sam. He sounds so human though, how are they doing it?” Nicole shakes her head in amazement.
“Look, when we see Kiara, we must somehow test her before we trust her; it’s awful to say it but we don’t know if she’s been got.”
Nicole steers the rover carefully over a natural bridge of rock and then continues.
“What do you suppose they expect our response to the mayday to be?”

"Probably with computers," says Sam. "There are all sorts of audio recordings of his voice available. It probably would be easy for a computer to imitate him, and we already know computers can be infected. I think they expect us to tell them we're on our way to help them, so we'll say that after they respond. We're heading toward Waystation anyway, if that's where the signal is truly coming from."

“So much for a surprise visit.” Nicole mutters. “Can we raise Kiara at all?”

"I'll try to raise her once I'm done with this conversation," says Sam.

"Why must we participate in this ruse?" Jojo says. "We know it can't be Montrose so we should just ignore this transmission as it will likely only put us in danger."

Back over the radio they hear, 'Transmitting my current position but I'm moving fast on a direct vector to the colony' and within a second or two Isabella notes, 'We've received a data packet - identifying now - it says it is from Sergeant Montrose, it gives a position over the middle of Ligeia Mare.'

By triangulating the different frequencies and using a learning algorithm to predict when it will skip around across the bandwidth, Sam is able to pin down the source of the voice transmission to somewhere in the area that they have identified as being Waystation

"The signal's coming from the area of Waystation," says Sam. "Should we reply and tell the voice we're heading toward it? Whoever it is might get suspicious if we just cut off communications."

Is the signal moving or stationary?

“You could just reply, ‘Crrrrch... losing signal crrrrch.’” And then don’t say anything else. As Jojo says.” Smiles Nicole.

"All right, I'll try that," says Sam, and proceeds to do so.

The signal continues to transmit from the coordinates of Waystation, but skipping between frequencies. The source of the transmission isn't moving.

Sam sends some vague static, and in response they hear, 'Hello, hello, can you still hear me. This is Sergeant David Montrose of the Colonial Security Service. I am in Copter 3 over Ligeia Mare coming in fast and hot from Pumping Station 6. Emergency landing protocols initiated, this is going to be a bumpy ride...' Then the signal goes dead.

While Nicole knows that voice simulation is pretty advanced, and she knows David Montrose is dead, it really does sound a lot like him. Like when she used to know him. Not that wreck of a man she met for the last time in Barnard's Rest

“I know you”ll think me mad, ha ha, but that really does sound like Montrose.”
She spins the wheel and puts her foot down on the direction of the signal at Waystation.
“Sam, tell him to hang on, we’re coming!”

"Like I said, a computer probably did it," says Sam. "Montrose is dead. But I'll do that." She gets back on the communicator. "Hang on, we're on our way," she says.