“If I knew, I wouldn’t be here. Hmpf.” Rei looked around, not particularly please to see - or not see as the case might be - that she had lost track of Peri and Rokzi.

Should she go now? Should she wait a bit? After a bit of hesitation, she decided to go: worst case scenario it would be too soon and they’d abort. Better than too late to achieve anything…

Still, cautious to do it properly, she looked around to find something - or someone - that could explain why her cart suddenly vomited all of its content on the ground.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 593):

Just to make sure...you are turning the cart over right?  Not just looking for someone to blame it on before you do?

Thanks

Well actually no, Rei does indeed look around to check what she could accused of turning the cart over, especially considering the constraint that she need to prevent anyone form seeing what’s at the bottom of it.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 595):

Okay.  So you are NOT turning over the cart right now.  Just looking around for someone to accuse of tripping the cart over then?

There seem to be three candidates.

You can rile up that guy who's been busting your chops.  If you poke him enough, he'll probably storm over.  Or you could just invite him over to inspect the cart.  Maybe tell him it's broken or you're too dainty to push it over to him.

There's a group of prospectors pushing through the door behind you.  They'll probably pass around you.  Just randomly picking a guy and accusing him would probably work as people are too busy in their own conversations to pay you much mind.

Or you can see a couple of techs walking this way. They should pass close by to you.  Maybe you'll get a better result if you accuse company personnel of tipping over your precious cart?

Indeed, look first, then drop the cart

Briefly, Rei considered her options. The merchant one she ignored pretty quickly: she didn’t want him angry at her even before she turned the cart over after all.

Of the other two options, she assumed that both were relatively equal in terms of actually doing it reasonably well in such a way that she wouldn’t be caught having been the one doing it, but the goal was to draw attention. And considering that she didn’t exactly have friends among the locals, she didn’t want to alienate a group of them. Who knew, they might be well liked and she’d find herself alone with everyone ignoring her cart. Most definitely not the result she was hoping for.

So instead, Rei picked the company technicians: among a rather…rough…crowd such as that one, it ought to give good results, and if she did it right, she might get a lot of prospectors taking that opportunity to…hmm…well, express themselves.

So as the technician approached, she pretended to cave in regarding the buyer’s demands. “Oh, alright.” But as she started pushing the cart in his direction, she discreetly put her foot in front of a back wheel, preventing it from rolling forward. “What the?” she pushed some more, looking baffled.

Then, when the technicians were close, she began to go around the cart to see if there was something in the front blocking her, stumbling on the man, ricocheting on the cart…and turning it over.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 597):

Just because I'm a right royal b, pick a number between 1 and 5

Uh… 4?

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 599):

BWAH HA HA HA HA!

You put your plan into effect.  You fake the stuck wheel with the skill of a stage actress...one of the good ones.  Not one of the B-Vid ones.  Your sashay around the side of the cart is probably a thing of beauty.

And as the first tech comes into view, you manage the stumble...

And his friend tries to catch you.

"Whoa.  You alright?"

But he doesn't quite grab you.  In fact, he inadvertantly trips you, and your fake fall becomes a real one.

You stumble back against the cart and

WHOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM

It turns over.  Rokzi wasn't kidding about that speaker.  It's so loud the clear plastic in the windows overhead vibrates.

You landed on cart, which has turned over onto one side.  And your right knee hurts something fierce.

On the plus side, Rei’s performance was going to be very convincing and not at all forced. On the most definitely minus side, that hurt like hell! A bit stunned by the way events had unfolded, Rei stayed on top of the cart for a couple of seconds clearly not quite sure where everything was, then grabbed her knee with a whine. Knees were thankfully pretty robust so at least nothing should be broken, but that did nothing as far as alleviating the pain went.

Then, suddenly, Rei shot up, looking panicked “Oh, crap!” Without losing any time, she began to shovel what she could back into the cart, though massaging her knee from time to time with a perfectly genuine wince. “My boss is going to kill me.” She whined, her eyes a bit wet without even glancing at her surroundings. Not that she had anything to fear from a fictional boss obviously, but… She most definitely wasn’t overstating how much that had hurt.

In fact, if it were up to her she would have just stayed lying where she was on top of the cart, but Rokzi had warned her: she had to at least put some of the ore back in the cart to hide the other stuff that was in there that she’d have troubles explaining. The rest, including looking around to assess the situation, could come later.

At least no one would be able to say she hadn’t made as much of a mess as possible…

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 601):

I wish you'd tell my knee that knees are strong. It doesn't agree

You begin shoveling ore chunks into the cart.  The tech who knocked you over stumbles forward.

"I am so sorry!  Are you alright?  Your knee okay?"

The other tech sighs and leans over to look at you.  "Miss.  If you'd like, I can take you to the medic station.  My associate here can clean up your cart."

It’s not me saying it, it’s Rei!
And it’s not her fault if the Avatar took your bending!

Rei winced, rubbing her knee between two handfuls of ore. “I think so.” At least she would be as soon as she’d be relatively sure the speaker was hidden from view once more. And once she’d have made sure her knee was really fine. Preferably under a layer or two of fresh ice too.

“Don’t worry about it. Once all this is back where it belongs. I’d rather not give my boss any reason to fire me…” She cringed a bit, then shook her head. While doing so, she took the opportunity to look for Peri and Rokzi. Because she realized just then that she had forgotten to ask another question: what was she supposed to be doing with the cart now?
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:31, Wed 01 Mar 2023.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 603):

May a flying Appa fall on your head.

And I was wondering what you were going to do with the cart.  Looking forward to your answer.

The second tech studies your leg and then kneels down.  "Let me take a look at it at least.  What if it damaged your suit?  Better you find out about a tear in your lining here then when you try to go airborne in your ship..."

He's referring to your uniform which doubles as a radiation suit

He points at your calf.  "Yeah.  See?  Looks like you got a tear right there.  C'mon. I'll take you to the Quartermaster and see if we can get you some new pants.  It's the least we can do."

“Uh…” Rei glanced at her calf, but she still didn’t look too convinced. Oh, it was certainly important, but…still…

She glanced at her cart. At least the speaker should be hidden by then, but she didn’t really want to leave it where it was for anyone to find. “Alright I guess, but…” she pointed at her cart, “I’ll have to bring that with me, I can’t leave it alone, my boss would kill me.”

In fact, she looked around, trying to see if she could spot Rokzi. She hadn’t heard about another commotion so she assumed things had gone fine on their side, but she’d feel much better if she could find him.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 605):

He frowns at your answer.  Like you just said something he wasn't expecting you to say.

"Your boss?  Why would-"

"Hey Jacksey!"  The one who'd knocked you over and was shoveling ore back into your cart gestures behind the two of you.  All you can see are more miners, buyers, security people, no Rokzi or Peri of course, a rather put out looking squat woman with yellow mustard stains all over her jumper which probably got there through circumstances that would make an amusing story if only you had time to hear it.  Alas. You do not.

The second tech frowns and glares at you.  Then shoves something into your hands.

"Get out.  Now."

Then he and the other one walk away quickly.

And you're left holding...a data stick.

This century's version of a thumb drive
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:42, Mon 06 Mar 2023.

“What?” Rei blinked in clear surprise, with a bit of a whiplash at the sudden change of behaviour of the tech she was talking to.

She glanced briefly at the data stick in her hand, clearly a bit lost: either she had missed a big part of the briefing - which she was pretty confident hadn’t happened - or this was completely new. Looking around for a moment, she decided she was going to wonder about it outside so she went back to her cart and started to push it back towards the exit, trying to not put too much weight on her injured knee.

“_{What the hell happened?}” she muttered as she looked around, wondering how and why that stick had ended in her hands.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 607):

"HALT!"

Several beefy looking security personnel come running out of the crowd right at you!

And then past you!

They barrel through the crowd, knocking over prospectors without the slightest show of remorse and seem to be chasing someone.

Huh.  Seems they might be chasing those two technicians you were just talking to.

Well isn't that kind of a crazy coincidence?

Oh well. Has nothing to do with you.  You resume your leisurely stroll towards the exit...good thing you don't have to rush with that ankle of yours.

You hear some shouts behind you.  Maybe those security guys caught those techs.  Who knows?

Hey!  Maybe you have time to stop for a soda!

Rei froze, her heart threatening to escape her chest. It took her a couple of seconds to breathe again when it finally registered that the guards hadn’t been after her. But considering that they were - apparently - after the technicians, from whom she had obtained a data stick which - and she was going to go out on a limb - was likely closely related to the guards’ presence…

Well, it didn’t take long for Rei to decide that the farther away she was from there, the better. Had her knee not hurt that bad, she may even have done so at a jog. But between it and that damn, now worse than useless, cart the best she could achieve was highly unlikely to draw suspicions.

While she did consider briefly to stop for a soda, she considered longer to take something quite a bit stronger than that, but in the end compromised with a coffee…while she tried to call Rokzi or Peri’s ’links.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 609):

You punch out your half caf-double decaf-with a twist of soy lemon order on the vending machine and check your comm line as the machine fills the cup.

Your call isn't going through.  It seems like signals are being scrambled.

Rei hesitated for a moment while drinking her coffee. What should she do right now?

Pretty soon however, she came to the conclusion that the best she could do was to get out to not complicate even more the situation for Rokzi and Peri. To that end, she simply stashed her cart not too far from nearby bathrooms, went in there for a couple of minutes - taking advantage of her presence in there to use them for what they were made for.

When she exited, she left her cart where it was and headed towards the shuttles to take one back to orbit.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 611):

What a great plan.

Wouldn't it be great if it was that easy?

There are all kinds of guards around the doors right now.  The prospectors and buyers are all clumped up in small groups, talking amongst themselves.

It seems no one is being allowed outside.

I certainly wouldn't have complained!

“Uh oh...” Muttered Rei.

The guards were - for some reason - more likely looking for the technicians and their accomplices than for her, but considering that she was the one with the data stick...

Gripped by indecision, Rei spent a moment to look around. Well, first things first, she discreetly tucked the data stick into her bra. Not the best hiding spot ever, but she refused to even consider putting it in other places.

Now... She might go wait with everyone else, but odds were the guards were going to check rather thoroughly everyone's IDs. Which was kind of a problem since Rokzi had told her hers wouldn't fool anything but a cursory inspection.

On the other hand, she didn't really know the place enough to formulate a plan. In fact... Well...

Her decision taken, Rei began to walk around, almost as a touris, trying to not look like anyone but a bored worker waiting for the all green to be given while looking for a way to get out of ghere.

Maybe she could find a good hiding spot for that data stick while she was at it... Put it in the mail? Was mail even available around there?

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 613):

Mail huh?

Pick a number 1 to 5 please

1 then.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 615):

Sadly, there's no bin marked Mail.

But you do see a large tray labeled Outbound.  There seem to be some packages with addresses off planet.  So it's possible you could throw it in there.

Now, if you only had an envelope.  Of course there isn't one just laying there, saying use me please!

You do see a couple of desks, one to the left and one straight ahead.  They might have some envelopes or a labeler you can use to make up a quick package.  But...you need to pick one.  Security is starting to corral people.

After a quick glance at the outgoing envelopes, Rei wondered if she couldn’t simply stick the stick in one of the packages without making it obvious. She decided to first take a look at the desk on the left though: if she found an envelope, she could send it somewhere safe-ish like the navy station or something without having to worry about intercepting some other parcel. But if she didn’t… Well, she was going to have to take that chance.