Go See Body

After leaving the ambassador, you trot back to your quarters, retrieve your chip lab, down a blue AcuWake capsule (Rohyamar was right; it was needed after cryo), and then follow the directions on your overlays toward wherever Umesh’s body lies waiting.

Apprehension creeps up your back as you make your way through the station. Along with the Caretakers, you spot several Jellies in the main concourse. They’re smaller ones, with lobster-like bodies—bodies better suited for the station’s artificial gravity. No tentacles.

You keep your distance and again wish for your pistol. It’s not that you hate Jellies, but after the shit they pulled during the war, you can’t help but view each and every one of the aliens as a potential killer. It’s going to take a lot for any sort of trust to build up between humans and Jellies, and if they really did off Umesh . . .

An alert pops up in your overlay: a text from the ambassador.

Here’s what the station mind said. If you can make sense of it, you’re smarter than we are. – Rohyamar