Project Codename: PILLAR

[Thexare]

Several further excursions into the Pillar met with the same results. Empty rooms, no equipment, occasional pile of corpses. Though beyond unlikely, Evelynn couldn't completely convince herself that this wasn't simply an extremely large and ill-managed mortuary.

By now, though, exploration was done and a solution to the contamination had been devised. It was so simple, really. All stations use recycled air. To avoid stagnant odors, auxiliary fans are strategically placed in every room, and can be powered on to forcibly recirculate air. The air then runs through a filtering system. These filters can then be sealed off and disposed of, in case of airborne pathogens. Yet somehow, perhaps due to the stresses of their deep-space exodus, this had not occurred to the Octavarians investigating the Pillar. Instead, a Crayterian visiting Melbourne Station suggested it when Darren and Evelynn were brainstorming ideas.

ADSV Darebin, a Sunburst freighter, docked and deployed fifty semi-autonomous worker drones and ten remote cargo haulers, with each hauler loaded with airtight polymer coffins. Nothing fancy, just enough to keep the corpse-pile neat and orderly. The drones were programmed to properly package the deceased so the Aquila technicians aboard the nearby OLV Headlong Flight wouldn't have to observe the morbid work, only needing to direct the drones to each floor in sequence.

Headlong Flight was well-suited to the role. Originally a Bison-class cargo frigate, she served as the final prototype test platform for the Limelight-YYZ array before its implementation in the Huginn project. While the full array was removed, many of the internal components were kept, and the signal boosters were being put to use keeping all the remote drones orderly.

Cleanup proceeded with mechanical efficiency. Aquila technicians directed the drones, the drone AI took over to pack and sort the corpses, and then they proceeded to the next floor. As haulers filled, they returned to Darebin, where one remaining drone unloaded them and replaced their cargo with cases of nanoscale xenobiotic filters. While the polymer coffins were completely opaque, corpses are heavy.

The Pillar's vertical orientation sped work along as well, thanks to the existence of numerous elevators. Each of course had an emergency stairway nearby, in addition to several other stairways around the facility, but running a cargo drone up the stairs is a daunting task.

Over the course of approximately eight hours, 97 corpses were found, packed, and removed. The staff working on the operation slept aboard Headlong Flight, so they could begin the filter installation as soon as possible. Filter installation was a more tedious, time-consuming process, in part because the drones weren't programmed for that. Instead, Aquila technicians had to directly control the drones for the installation, adding a level of slow clumsiness to the affair that added literal days to the work.

The recycling systems were activated once all the filters were in place, and the Pillar was left to refresh its atmosphere for one day, with the drones left where they worked. Then, the process repeated - new filters, further atmospheric cycling. After a third cycle, when even dust was gone from the air, the filters were replaced one last time.

Scanners picked up no contamination within the installation. The Pillar was clean.