Pilot

Hello, this is A-24 — reporting log zero-zero-zero for pre-deployment preparation.

Echo, is there a format for this report?

Okay. You format the report.

Roger. I will just give status.

The briefing was at the start of Alpha shift. I waited outside the room for nearly two Slices — three other antroes ahead of me in priority. I recognized the room. I have delivered schedule updates there twice this Terminer. Secondary assignment room.

Sector K. Outer periphery. The duty officer pulled up the sector file without much comment. Low probability, he said. No special notations. Standard first assignment.

I asked what the previous surveys had found. He pulled up a summary — seven of the sixteen planets had returned inconclusive resource data. The remaining five were unvisited. He mentioned that the outer sectors had not received updated survey passes in over 31 Terminer — the anthropologist program had been deprioritized under the last budget review.

The equipment that ran those surveys is two generations behind current standard.

The mission is revision and confirmation. For some planets there is nothing to revise. I will be the first assignee.

My first cataloguing assignment.

Before I was dismissed, the duty officer confirmed the standard pre-deployment document requirements — mission brief, astromap, resource prioritization, deployment checklist, and several additional items I noted down. He went through them without pausing.

Echo, can you confirm those documents are loaded and show me the inventory?

I went to Equipment Bay 3 to collect the unit. The release forms were pre-filled when I arrived. The Quartermaster went through the handover checklist — case number, serial designation, condition on receipt — and then spent some time on the specifications. The Series IV carries a number of upgrades over the Series III units we used in training simulations. Navigation integration, environmental monitoring, expanded protocol sets. He went through them in order.

I did not mention that most of my practical experience is on Series II. The production units. They run shift rosters.

There were a lot of upgrades.

He handed me the access card for Hub 17. Transit Section, Level 4. He said that as of transfer to the anthropologist program, production hub assignment releases automatically. The team needs the slot to meet shift targets.

Before leaving, he said there was a function for full orientation on primary systems. All I had to do was activate walkthrough mode —

— stop. Cancel. Stop that — pause, pause mode — nav cancel — hold —

Walkthrough standby.

I will continue the status report.

The production hubs on Level 2 run in clusters — six bunks to a unit, same rotation, same people every shift. I have lived in the same cluster for four Terminer.

Hub 17 has two bunks. The one by the door had a name tag I did not recognise. An OoS marker below it — Out of Station. The bunk was made. No personal items on the shelf.

Ventilation behind the wall panel. Low sound, constant.

I set the case down.

Echo, continue walkthrough.

Confirmed.

Echo, have you been previously assigned to another anthropologist?

Echo, can you operate outside your standard protocol set?

Echo, which planets are missing from the resource prioritization index?

It gave me four designations. K-09. K-11. K-14. K-16.

I asked again. It gave me the same four.

Echo, where is the charging socket for this unit?

The Echo unit is at 6 percent power. That is the most urgent practical matter before shift change. Briefing materials state that there are employment consequences if the unit is without power for half a shift. The specific consequences are not listed. The wording was not a suggestion.

Echo, what are the employment consequences for unit power failure?