There's no place like home

[Jazzi]

---

Ash falls from the tip of a cigarette, caught in a plastic cup below. Half-burnt through, the fingers pressed together at it's base shake with the hand that brings them up to Thallia's lips. A breath in. Eyes closed. Smoke rising from her mouth as she exhales. A sigh of relief. Her body felt coiled, stretched, taut. Like a spring both pressed and pulled. Her temple throbbed as if a chisel was pressed against her flesh, a hammer tapping every second second.

"Certain elements within slag or smog, can have certain dampening effect to certain elements. Certain elements of theirs, anyway."

Standing at the viewport of the observation deck, she gazes out towards the smothering darkness around them all as those words echo in her mind. It had not followed them through the Leed's smoke cloud just as it had not pursued her to Ames Research Station. Perhaps the location of their new project was fortuitous. With pockets of the dark matter field wrapping around them, would they provide some form of protection from this entity as much as it obscures them from human detection?

A glance to the right brought the activities of her compatriots into focus. Crates covered in bright yellow mesh and tethered into a long chain were being steadily winched across from the Dunlin's cargo hold towards the open hanger bay doors. A maw hungry for their resources and time. Having discovered the abandoned base empty, they'd clearered out the unnecessary clutter in the bay and began to fill it with the tools and materials needed to begin the next phase of work. Sealing and pressurising a small section of base and expanding as required was Douglas' recommendation, and whilst hitting the miminum viable there's still plenty to do to make it a reality. Picking up her suit's helmet and stubbing out the cigarette, Thallia makes her way out to the airlock. Time to get to work.

---