The Room Beneath the Room

[SFX: Floor hatch. Metal ladder climbing]

NARRATOR: Vik found an obsolete maintenance void beneath the freezers, warm enough for pipes and large enough for a person. A smear of blood crossed its ladder. At the far end stood Pavel's boots.

VIK TORR: Boots explain why no prints left freezer seven.

KIRA SOL: They also explain why the body wore none.

NARRATOR: They found Pavel inside a decommissioned water tank, dead from a head injury. Jonah placed death before the tracker journey. The wound matched the corner of a cedar chest.

MATEO RUSK: My chest is in my office. Anyone could move it.

EDA LIN: Only you knew the void. It appears on station plans from your first winter.

[SFX: Fluorescent buzz. Generator shutdown]

NARRATOR: Fuel alarms began across Borealis. Their reserve had been drained into an unused bladder beneath the ice. Someone was forcing evacuation, knowing a storm would prevent investigators arriving.

KIRA SOL: We do not evacuate into whiteout. We recover fuel and preserve the samples.

MATEO RUSK: I command this station.

KIRA SOL: Then command it toward survival, not convenient loss.