They walk at a brisk pace towards engineering, noting several more ARMs parked around the colony, silent and brooding. Inside the Engineering Facility is less busy than when they last visited.
It remains a large open area but the usually cacophonous clanging and hissing is reduced to an occasional bang and crash. It is still hot and the smell is of combustible gases and a metallic tang. The air is hazy with smoke and condensing water vapour which glows a dull orange from the flickering lighting.
The floor is covered in patches of yellow hazard cross hatching and there are multiple red emergency stop buttons and flashing warning lights on the various workbenches around the space. These are scattered with tools; drills, hammers, etc
Piled against the walls are crates of different sizes along with stacks of rigid metal pipework and coils of flexible tubing. A few pieces of heavier machinery such as forklifts, heavy manipulators, large saws and drills, and a power loader are left standing around the floor.
Only a few engineers, all wearing large orange ear defenders, are tending to a few workstations. There is a metal walkway raised above the ground level with an office in one corner. Leaning on the railing outside the office is a figure that Sam and Kiara recognise, Chief Engineer Arnold White.
White looks down at the six of them with some interest but his face soon turns to anger as he stares at Jojo who still looks pretty beaten up, his clothing slick with blue hydrodynamic fluid which drips onto the floor. 'Get that thing out of here. Get it out of here now!' He gesticulates at Jojo and starts running down the metal staircase towards them. Some of the engineers look up to see what is going on. 'No fucking synths in my facility. Get out, take any equipment you need but you're not working on that...thing here.'
