The following morning, James sat up in his bunk bed, groaning as every muscle in his body ached, strained and pained.

'My goodness,' he muttered.

Still, maybe it was better than hitting his head in The Coffin every day? Having a purpose, no matter how harsh and unforgiving this job was. At least he wasn't bored, he figured.

'About time you wake up,' a gruff voice muttered. Bill. James got up and stretched. Rebecca was up, and stood watching the large computer screen. Reading something. Dakarai sat on the floor, munching on something from a can. The previous evening they'd eaten canned food as well. He supposed it was what they got here. No fridge or anything, no heaters, no bathrooms, no nothing. They apparently had to order everything, and do business on the moons. Or in the facilities, if they dared. James ran a hand though his hair, a mess after last day's work.

'Looking fabulous,' Rebecca said as she turned.

'Like all of us, yeah,' Dakarai agreed. 'Hey, this stuff ain't too bad, all things considered.'

'So, everyone ready?' Bill asked.

'Uh, I just got up. How about no?' James said, trying to keep the sourness out of his voice.

'We've got a limited time, guys. Let's move.'

'Right, right. 'Can I eat first?' James grabbed a can and pulled the lid open. Some kind of meat and pasta drowned in sauce. It'd do.

Bill paced impatiently the whole time he and Dakarai finished up.

'The hygroderes, they're-' Rebecca began.

'The what?' Dakarai asked, swallowing his last piece of food.

'The slime,' she explained. ' They're drawn to heat and oxygen, they are hard to kill and keep growing. But, they can't climb very well. So the best way to avoid them is to jump up on something. Also, they're slow, as I think we all noticed.'

'Good to know,' James said. 'did you read that on the computer?'

'Yeah, Dak scanned it. Would have been nice to have known about it beforehand.' She looked at Bill. 'Any reason you didn't tell us about it?'

He shrugged. 'They're not very dangerous. You lived, didn't you?'

'Could have lost my entire leg, man!' Dakarai pointed out. 'Would be hard to hunt for scrap on one leg. Like...' He got up and pretended to only have one leg, jumping about. 'Very inefficient.'

Bill snorted.

'Are you okay?' James asked, noting only now that he had taped the hole in the suit and his shoe shut. 'Will that be sufficient?'

Dakarai shrugged. 'We'll find out, won't we.' He grinned.

At least he's positive. James nodded, then tossed the empty can in the pile of other scrap. 'I'm ready. Where are we going?'

'Back to the same place,' Rebecca filled him in.

'Really?'

'We didn't exactly empty the building,' Bill said. 'There's much more to get in there. We might need to find another entrance though, or go through the places we're already looted.'

'But won't the slime still be there?'

'Sure,' Bill agreed. 'But they're harmless.'

'Not quite. Do we need to remind you of Dak?' James said, irritated. 'We're not used to this, you might wanna show some compassion to our view of things here.'

'Why?' Bill turned on him, scowling. 'I've been here long enough to learn that people don't listen, and the best way to learn is to experience it directly. And if you live, that's great. If you don't, well, that sucks. Deal with it. It's a dangerous job.'

James bit back a retort, but took a short walk around the interior of the ship to calm down. It didn't really help.

'Gear up, we're landing,' Bill commanded.

James and the others grabbed their helmets and suits and got dressed. Somehow, the smell of the suit seemed worse. James almost gagged, but refrained from commenting on it.

Deal with it. You can do this. It's just the smell of fear and death, he tried to joke to himself. It wasn't very uplifting.

The ship shuddered and roared, then settled down. As the doors flew open they saw it had landed in the exact same spot as the day before.

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'How do you fly the ship?' James asked as they exited.

'It's on auto-pilot,' Bill explained. 'All you need to do is give it instructions of which moon to go to. It'll do the rest by itself.'

'Really? Neat.'

'What if it doesn't take you to a good place then?' Rebecca said.

'It seems to know where to go. The Company claims they've got a top of the line auto-pilot that's specifically made to take us to the best locations.'

'I don't trust them,' James muttered.

'You'd be stupid to,' Bill snorted.

They cautiously entered the complex through a side-door, Dakarai leading despite his injury. Though it wasn't as bad as James had thought at first. He only limped a bit. The lights shone here and there, were the lamps were still intact.

'Is there more than one power-cell in these buildings?' James asked.

'Probably, since there's light,' Rebecca pointed out.

'What are they, anyway? Do they work forever? How long's this been abandoned?'

'Ages. Now keep your eyes and ears peeled. And try to be effective,' Bill said, moving behind Dakarai down the dusty corridor. The dust of Experimentation seemed to get in everywhere, mixing on the floor with peeling paint and rubble from breaking walls and ceiling.

'Woah, look out here. There's a gap in the railing ahead,' Dakarai shouted. 'It's a long way down.'

As they passed it, James stopped to peer down. It was indeed a far drop. He shuddered. At least there were no slimes in sight, and he didn't see any tracks on the floor after one either. Maybe they'd have a calm day this time?

'Found stuff!' Dakarai shouted ahead, reminding James to keep up with the rest. Glancing back over his shoulder, to make sure nothing was there, he jogged forward and entered a large open space with machines, railings, and a large open hole in the middle of the floor. Some carts and a wide conveyor belt led further into the dark.

'Oh, what's this?' Dak, opened a small central electrical module.

'Oh no,' Rebecca said, standing by a few shelves, but looking towards Dakarai.

'What's it do?' Dakarai asked even as his hand moved towards the buttons.

'Don't touch it, for the love of God,' Bill snapped. 'It'll probably turn off the power, stranding us in the dark again. Use your head.'

For once, James agreed. 'Yes, please leave it!'

'Alright, alright, jeez, calm down guys. I was only asking.' He held up his hands and walked away from it. Rebecca laughed and continued looking for scrap.

James got to it as well, remembering to use his scanner. He found metal pieces and machine-parts, cramming what he could into his pockets. Dust flew up from the old shelves and carts as he rummaged about. Then a noise behind him made the hairs on his neck stand on end. Just a small scraping noise. Nothing really. He wasn't even sure he'd heard it. He spun around regardless. Something glinted in a far doorway and vanished.

'Did you see that?' James swallowed, his throat dry.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked.

'What did you see,' Bill demanded to know.

'Uh, not sure. A light? Something glinted, but it vanished.'

Bill stared at the doorway James pointed to. Then he picked up a piece of machinery and beckoned for them all to come.

'You, keep your eyes behind us at all times,' he told James. 'We go, now.'

The serious tone in Bill's voice had James shiver. What was it? He'd ask later.

They moved out of the room like a practiced swat-team, Bill leading and James covering their rear, unusually silent, listening for any noises. But nothing happened, and after some time, Bill told them they could probably relax and get on with the looting.

'What did you see,' Dak whispered and leaned in close, as close as their hazmat suits would allow, his helmet lightly tapping into James'.

'I don't know. Something moved. I thought maybe they were eyes. But I didn't get a good look.'

'Woah, creepy. Hope it was just a reflection or something.'

'Yeah, it could be.'

Dakarai patted his shoulder. 'I'm sure it was nothing. Bill is just too paranoid.'

'I hope so. But something made him that paranoid in the first place, so I'm not sure,' James whispered back.

They moved on through the dark corridors and many, many empty rooms. Eventually, Bill said, 'I think we might have to jump.'

'Jump,' they all asked in unison.

He nodded. 'Let's go back to where the railing was broken. If you recall.'

'Wait, hold up,' Rebecca held up both hands. 'Are you trying to tell me,' she laughed, 'that we should jump.'

Bill nodded.

'Over the gap! The large hole we passed earlier?'

Bill nodded again.

'Are you insane?' She crossed her arms, and shook her head.

'For real?' James agreed with her. It was suicide. Wasn't it? He hadn't really looked across, only down. But it had been a very long way down.

'There's nothing here. We have to find more things,' Bill said as if that was enough of an argument.

'Wait a moment, we can't just risk our lives like that. We can keep looking along these corridors.'

'It's already emptied, haven't you noticed?'

He had noticed. Every shelf, every room, everything was empty, just filled with dust. Apart from that room where he'd seen... something. He didn't feel like going back there.

'I'll jump, if you guys don't dare,' Dakarai said. 'No offence or anything. Just, if you don't want to, I can go first and check it out.'

'You shouldn't risk dying for us, or for The Company either,' James said. 'It's not worth it.'

'Do you realize what happens...' Bill shook his head. 'Never mind. It's a good suggestion, Dak. Let's go.'

Dakarai made a face, as if to say; I don't know, and followed.