While the group consider Chiree's request they ask the little alien a few more questions but other than the fact that the humans on Vanejen call the creatures Chirpers very little meaningful information can be gained from the child-like being. While the group are still taking to Chiree, Bucky whips out a hand computer and begins looking up Chirpers. What he reads worries him enough to warn the group to watch out for any valuables they have, as Chirpers are known to steal shiny item. This upsets Chiree as he has never taken anything in his life without asking first, and he thinks that maybe some of these humans are no better than the others he has run into.
At about this time the bar owner catches sight of the group talking to Chiree and suddenly announces that he his shutting the bar early tonight and to drink up and get out, and looking directly at the group he tells them to make sure they take the Chirper with them. As they are leaving Vann catches sight of the bar owner talking hastily into a communicator.
The group and Chiree are about halfway back to their hotel when they are stopped by two peace enforcers who begin to question the group about their whereabouts that evening. the enforcers let it be known that they are looking for a group of thugs and a Chirper, and that the group fit the descriptions that they have been given but they do want to know what happened to the Chirper. It is then that the group suddenly realise that Chiree is not with them any more. Finally, the group convince the enforcers that they are not the thugs they are looking for, the enforcers move on and while the group are standing around wondering what happened to Chiree, the little alien suddenly appears by Olivers side. When the group ask him where he was Chiree just says that he was there with them and that maybe he was hidden by the shadows. Bucky though is not convinced and suddenly remembers something he read about Chirpers, he tells the others that it is said that Chirpers can move exceptionally quickly and that they are going to have to keep a close eye on Chiree.
Back in the hotel room the group begins to do some research on Chiree's story. Olivers search for 'Alien Prisons on Vanejen' and then just 'Prisons on Vanejen' produces the locations of several prisons scattered across the world, but there is not one specifically for aliens. Wilhelm provides a copy of his audit report on Vanejen, which leads Bucky on a vast research trip all about the Vilani and the roots of humaniti, but it ultimately fruitless in finding anything about where Chiree could have been held. With computer records not providing any information useful to saving Chiree's siblings Wilhelm suggests that they get some rest and begin anew in the morning/
The next morning the group splits into two teams with Bucky and Oliver going to check out any museums and science centres while Wilhelm and Tommy check out the docks and the starport. Oliver is the first one to get some information, the curator at a small science museum tells him that before he retired and became the curator he used to own a transport submersible and once made a delivery to the Imperial Research Station and that because the ice was bad that winter they had to deliver the supplies to an underwater dock at the station. Tommy and Wilhelm overhear a local radio report about a sailing ship being attacked by a multi-tentacled sea beast in the ice floes of the southern seas, but they cannot find any sailor that is willing to confirm the story.
The next day the group splits again to continue its hunt for specific information. Bucky and Oliver find nothing, though Bucky does eavesdrop on a couple having a conversation about the legend of Twilight's Peak and the cargo of drugs the convoy was carrying. Though, once back at his hotel room he realises that the couple have not added anything new to his notes on the legend. A drunken sailor in a bar at the docks tells Tommy about how he was almost sunk by pirates in the archipelago in the southern seas, but that he has never heard of the sea beast that was mentioned on the radio.
The third day of information gathering yields little for the teams with just talk about the excellent reputation of the local university and also how humans of Vilani extraction are superior to those of Solomani extraction.
The fourth day provides the group with a couple of nuggets of information. Firstly Wilhelm and Tommy discover that the old Imperial Navy Orbital Base used to be a research station but after several years it was moved down to the surface, in a dome on the bed of the southern sea. Meanwhile, Bucky and Oliver find a newspaper article about rumours of gold on the barren northern continent. The article concludes that the rumours are false like all stories about Chirpers and their hoards of gold. Back at the hotel, later that day, Bucky and Oliver take the story at face value and do not bother to question Chiree about it.
By day five the teams are running out of bars and institutions to visit. Bucky and Oliver pick up some interesting gossip that Zhodani agents frequently come to Vanejen and despite talking about trade and commerce they also spend a lot of time on the northern continent touring and studying the Chirper villages there. While Tommy and Wilhelm get talking to the owner of a tavern, who tells them of a down on his luck submersible captain who is likely to lose his ship, as despite having a lucrative contract he cannot get a crew because of the pirates. Deciding to follow up this rumour Wilhelm and Tommy make their way to the dockside.
Down on the docks Tommy and Wilhelm finally get pointed in the right direction and go to meet Captain Zoltan Hdratsky at his submersible, the Akula. The sea captain explains how he has a contract with the Desaix family to run supplies to various chemical factories, all owned by the Desaix family, on the planet. But, as he cannot get a crew to sail with him because of all the talk about pirates operating in the southern sea, he is likely to be found in breach of his contract and as a consequence the Desaix family will seize his vessel under Vanejen law. After further questioning the captain reveals that he knows the location of the Imperial Research Station as he has made several deliveries there, but he will only tell them the location if the group agrees to help him complete his delivery to Desaix Chemicals. Quickly Tommy and Wilhelm agree to the terms and return to the hotel to tell the others and to collect any gear they might need from the Aurora.
Whilst the others head of to the Aurora, Bucky heads down to the docks to wait for them. While he is waiting he has a rather unsavoury encounter with a desperate sailor, fresh in port after a long cruise. After refusing several cash offers for certain 'services' Bucky decides that violence is the only way to dissuade his admirer. The fight is very short and Bucky walks away leaving the sailor curled up in agony on the floor.
When the others arrive they all head over to the Akula and board the vessel, once in their assigned quarters Chiree pops out from beside a bunk and says that he will stay hidden in the compartment until they get to where his siblings are being held. The trip to the Desaix chemical factory takes eight days, in which the adventurers learn how the submersible operates. Zoltan is pleased that he has managed to fulfil his contract and with the way the group has worked in helping him to save his submersible. He points out on the chart the location of the Research Station and says that provided they pay the fuel costs he is willing to take them there in the Akula. The fuel bill comes to just under Cr6,500, a cost the group happily splits between themselves.
The trip to the research station is uneventful and takes just over two weeks. When they get there the problem of getting in starts, sailing close to the globes that spiral down the central shaft of the station reveals a hatch on the underside of each globe, with this in mind Captain Hdratsky positions the Akula underneath the globe nearest to the sea surface. Vann tries to reach the hatch from the top of the sail, but he slips and falls, the second time though he is able to climb higher which allows him to reach and unlock the hatch. Using brute strength he pulls himself up and on to the ladder in the hatchway and begins to climb. After about three meters though his way up is blocked by some form of machinery. After Vann returns to the Akula, Bucky decides he will go up and see what he can do about the machinery that is blocking the shaft, after leaping on to the ladder though, he finds he is not strong enough to pull himself up into the shaft. Dropping back to the sail of the submersible, Bucky returns to the group to report his failure and to decide what to do next.
As they are discussing what to do next, Zoltan suggests that they use the underwater dock, where he has delivered supplies before. Submerging the Akula, the ship spirals down until Hdratsky finds the docking module. The doors on the module open as the submersible moves closer and once it is inside the doors close around the Akula, holding it in place while the flooded module drains.
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