HOUR 3

His file says he was married, so I guess she'd know. I never look into the personal lives of my employees, too much -- unless I have to. The implication there is that he would if it would make him some money.

The trip up to the residential area is uneventful, but slow. Three changes of elevator packed with a mix of workers heading down to the mines and family members trying to live a normal existence a lifetime away from the rest of the galaxy. The elevators are a microcosm of minor suffering and not-so-slight inconvenience. Your feet are stepped on. You are cramped. The air is stale. But you eventually get to the fifth floor of the tower block Adam's family is on. You have to ask around for a bit before you're pointed in the right direction.

Adam's widow is a cafeteria worker, not quite making enough to make ends meet now that he's dead, and the apartment she and her child live in is testament to this. When the door open, there's several large square brown spots were furniture once stood that's been sold recently. The short brunette looks worn out, but she smiles at the child at her side when he says hello to you.

"What can I do for you, Mister...?"

Adam waits at the end of the hall, not wanting to disturb her, but not wanting to be too far away from her either. He was here when you arrived, but you didn't notice him until after you'd knocked. He may be worried about something else happening, or it could just be nostalgia. Either way, it's clear he knows he's disturbing. "Hall," he says, nearly inaudibly.

"It's Hall," she says, somewhat louder, not noticing her shadow. "And yeah, money'd be nice. That's why he put out that reward, though I don't know how likely it is to help. I don't know how I can help you, either. We work opposite shifts so we can always have one of us here with Rose. Leaves us with just enough time to be tired at each other and wake up grumpy the next morning. Better than what we had back on Tympanus, though."

You know the name. Tympanus is synonymous with failure. The terraforming didn't work. The artificial eco-hubs don't work. Every year, there's fewer colonists. They were lucky to get out when they did. Makes sense that they wouldn't mind being here; it's miles better than where they'd been. At least it had been until recently.

There's a coughing fit from behind her that sounds like it could rip up pavement. She holds a finger up as a wait gesture and moves back into the house. Most of the lights are off in an apparent energy/money-saving effort - it's clearly not for convenience. A little girl is standing at the corner of her room, peeking out at the front door. "You should be in bed sweetie." She reaches across the counter to fill a glass of water and drops a few SooperFrootJoose drops in it. "Drink this. It'll make your throat less dry. And try to get some sleep. Maybe we'll be able to get more medicine tomorrow."

She turns back to you after Rose heads back into her room. "Sorry, she's been sick a long time... Anyway, He must have died just as I was putting Rose to bed, so I'm not sure what I can tell you."

Amy Hall shrugs. There's no effort behind it. No struggle. It's like the last twitch of an old cat before it finally closes its eyes for the last time. Defeat. "I remember the power failure. For me, nothing much happened. I was home with Rose, so I just sat in the dark. I remember being worried that the power would be out so long the air would get stale in the apartment. It was out an awful long time, at least two hours, but it came back on before that happened. I don't know that Adam had any trouble with anyone, but... well... we'd needed money for Rose a couple weeks ago, and we couldn't afford it. But then all of a sudden, we had the money for it somehow. Adam never explained how. He might have borrowed it."

Amy shakes her head tiredly. "They happen. Who knows when. There's solar flares that mess with the systems. It never stays down long enough to cause problems, but these apartments aren't exactly the priority when it comes to comfort. AC goes out, no one cares. I could have opened the door manually, but with no lights... I guess he'd have had to go to the Lounge. Starfire that is. The owner supposedly offers credit. God knows the corp won't. I don't know much about it."

It's a sure bet that if Seth is back on station, you'll find him tending to his cat, and that is indeed where you find him. Sporting an extra set of armor no less. The EVA suits are built to stop radiation and blunt minor impacts, so they'll give you good protection against lasers and a fair bit against melee and a bit against kinetic weapons as well, though that might render the suit useless afterward.

After a short conversation to catch each other up on everything, it's time to head out again. This time, to the Starfire Lounge. Adam, as usual, is waiting in the hallway to accompany you, though when you come out, he's muttering to himself. "Stupid accident. That's where it all went wrong. We were fine before that..." Seeing you, he looks up and the thought seemingly erases from his mind. "Hello again! Have you found out who killed me yet?"

It'll take a bit to do that, and you haven't found all of them yet, but going through the packets you have, you find three. You carefully wash the fruit off the brain slices and lay them in the plastic discs, closing the covers, then insert them into the engram decrypter. You plug Adam into the machine as well, and activate them one by one.

"I am shouting. Lloyd is here. I feel his fists crack my nose and I taste blood. I tackle him and everything is a blur...."

"A young woman opens her apartment door and invites me inside. I hand her a bag of Perseus scrip. Thousands."

"I am arguing with my manager. He says repairs will be Tuesday but if I do not take my team down anyway I will lose my job."