Following the conversation John had with the supervisors of the First Haven, he had his group gather in the quarters they were assigned with - they were instructed to stay with military personnel stationed in the settlement.
Given the complication that came to light after they reached the First Haven, Marlow ideally wanted to jump into the problem to find a solution, but he was well aware that the crew he travelled with was surely tired due to the distance they had to pass. Because of that, he allowed the team to take five hours of break before he would provide them with tasks to cover in relation to the plan he suggested to Jeanne and others.
While his team stayed back in their temporary quarters, John left the place on his own, though after having a short conversation with Stan, who wanted to accompany him. In other circumstances, Marlow would probably just let him tag along, but it was Sveta he was going to meet - he hoped to learn something about the recent events from her and presence of someone she was not familiar with could embarass her, making Glitter uneasy about sharing information.
In the end, sarge Szarak stayed behind and Marlow went on his own to meet Sveta in private.
Ursus was now located further away from the settlement's command center, making it around ten minutes walk for John to reach the destination. On his way, major was passing a number of various buildings local group managed to built during the time he was away - it was mainly housing colonists created, but there were also utility buildings and basic workshops, showing the growth of this settlement.
People here and there looked healthy and full of energy - adults and teenagers doing daily jobs and kids playing around in safe areas. Now that Marlow thought of it, he did not see kids for some time - after all, when selecting colonist candidates, the higher-ups were prioritizing those with older children that could contribute to the community sooner than later. Either way, this place was lively despite all of the concerns he learned about from Jeanne just a moment ago, though the way those people behaved suggested that not all the info was shared with everyone or, same as for many back on Earth, they were focusing on daily duties just to not think about all the problems they were in for everyone from the Future.
Still, the atmosphere John felt right now was strangely relaxing, like a stroll one could hardly get in only few places on humanity's home planet. And the air - despite this being a seed of a city, there was absolutely no pollution yet. After all, the few workshops they had operating relied only on replenishable, green energy or just personal skill of people working there.
Looking around, major was prety convinced colonits were going in the right direction. Of course, the settlement was still rough around the edges, but some additional facilities, getting more stable energy and resources, then starting assembly lines would be enough to get by in a much better environment than whatever was available to those stayin on Earth. If they could understand the way alien technology worked, it would mean safety and even higher comfort of life moving forward.
He could review and plan like that, hoping for the best, but - in the end - he got to this place with a different goal assigned. Due to that, this was only more of entertainment for him to think about such topics, and his real job was priority tight now.
Obviously, meeting with Glitter could be considered as fun event, yet he also had an ulterior motive of learning more about the situation in the First Haven. After all, Sveta was operating the main line of defense in this area and would usually be the one to spot anyone approaching the settlement. Therefore, she should have the most details about those visiting the First Haven.
Upon appoaching the legs of a colossal mecha, John turned on his PEC to contact Sveta. The woman replied only after a third try.
- Apologies, John, I was taking a quick shower - she said to him once PECs connected - Opening the right leg elevator.
Marlow walked to the door and got in. Moments later, he was inside the lower part of the mecha's torso, from where he had to walk for a moment before reaching the quarters Glitter was using.
Inside, she was walking around covered only in a towel. John was used to seeing naked women through his life and did not act awkward, especially since he expected Sveta was doing this intentionally to tease him.
- I did not expect you to get here that fast - she told him, standing behind a counter, next to a large screen monitoring the activity in the area, including visuals and other types of readings Ursus' sensors were picking up - I had no time to preper anything to welcome you, so...
- I appreciate that, but it's not necessary, I'm good - John told her, sitting on a chair on the other side of the counter - I was wondering why did you mention needing to meet me the way you did. You could have told me on a different channel.
Glitter poured him a drink and put it on the counter either way, then poured one for herself.
- I was just happy knowing you will be around, so I said that without thinking - she smiled at him - Remember the last time we spoke? It is all the same all around for me here. I'm rarely leaving this machine, so it's getting really boring and stressful.
- No one's visiting you? I bet people from the settlement are checking on you and communicating...
- Yeah, but that's not the same, John. They do provide me with food and other necessities, but conversations I'm having are all so formal, focusing mainly on the work. I mean, I know the purpose of this expedition and that was kinda expected, yet still, you have some of the guys you can speak with around and I'm here all alone. You can't blame me for wanting to hang out with someone I know.
Marlow could not argue with that - the way Glitter was speaking clearly showed that her staying indoors was not something she felt comfortable with. Surely, a standard apartment on Earth is nothing compared to Ursus' interior and living inside mecha could be considered a privilege on the New Gaia, but being forced into something inconvenient in a long run was a thing John understood well.
- I regret being unable to do anything to help you out here - he told her and took a sip of juice she gave him, accepting the drink in the end - Interesting taste, what's that?
- It's a type of lemonade made of a local fruit people in the settlement picked up and plan to grow - Sveta started explaining - They call them glemians or glem, named after one of the guys who first picked them up and found out these are like citrus fruits back on Earth. Obviously, the fruit itself looks nothing like orange, but the taste is similar - she took a sip too - And I appreciate the thought, John. However, it's still work, so as long as I'm geting money for it and my family's well-being is secured, I will do it, even though I may complain from time to time. I just hope we were not deemed lost after all these trouble...
Major remembered how her situation was back at home and understood her motivation well, yet...
- We cannot do much about what's happening back on Earth right now, nut what's more important to me is that you are a talented mechanic, Glitter - he praised her - You should be doing your main job and not some forced backup work. I wonder if there is no one else in the camp right now who could take a bit of this workload from you.
Sveta sighed.
- If it's only monitoring data coming from the sensors, anyone could do it - she said that with a nod - However, in case there was a need to move Ursus around, someone without experience could have damaged not only the mecha, but also surrounding area. Besides, it's not like I'm not doing mechanic-related work anymore. In fact, there is quite a bit of maintanance this thing requires on a regular basis. That's why I cannot really say I don't have much to do here, it's only that it tends to be lonely on my own. Still, having you around is a nice change of pace for me.
Sveta walked through the room, leaning on one of the reinforced walls and looking at the monitors showing what is happening outside.
- Say John, could you tell me more about what you've been doing during the time you were away? - Glitter looked really interested when she asked that - As I said, having to stay here means nothing relevant is ever happening for me, so I can't help it but feel bored. Some stories from outside of this settlement feel to me much more interesting than anything else I see here.
Marlow could clearly see how bad it is for someone to be kept away from most of the things happening now, therefore he decided to comply with the request, though keeping some information away from her and providing a condition:
- While I'm going to tell you about what I saw, I hope you could answer some questions for me.
- Why, of course, John. Ask anything you need after you are done sharing your story.
Major started talking about his travel which ultimately let his team reach the Industrial Caves and further meet Martin. He explained about venturing underground, though without providing any substantial details about the layout, their finding and absolutely no sharing about the voice he could here in his head.
Sveta listened to everything, asking some short questions on the way, but not really pushing for more information, which John greatly appreciated. However, at times it almost felt as if she understood a bit more than what he shared, the most specifically interfaces he vaguely mentioned were not met with any expressive reaction major expected from a person in a technical field.
Of course, Glitter was a peculiar person, having some quirks of her own and quite bit of a background, so it was not the first time an awkward air was surrounding her. Besides, she had times of behaving like an airhead sometimes, especially when focused on her mechanic work, so it might have been her interest in the story was just misinterpreted by him.
- It does seem there is more to this planet than megacity - she concluded after Marlow finished talking - The megacity is undoubtedly a center of this civilization, but listening to your story and seeing what I saw so far, it definitely encompassed the whole New Gaia rather than using only a chunk of it. It's just that the megacity stayed untouched by the forces of nature somehow, while the rest of the world was consumed. No wonder there are things we are not noticing if something is buried somewhere underneath. Maybe this electromagnetic activity that is so bothersome for us doesn't have the roots in nature?
This was only one of the speculations John had about his findings so far and Sveta's insight proved to him her high intelligence by connecting all the dots. However, it was not the time and place for expanding on the topic, especially since he had more pressing matters to deal with, and he was hoping to get some help from Glitter here.
- There is a lot more to investigate on this planet, Glitter - he replied to her - I cannot rule out some of the craziest ideas yet, so your point may be valid indeed. Either way, you said I can ask anything after I'm done with telling you my story, so how about you tell me how the First Haven changed recently? I heard some unsettling rumors about some newcomers and the general situation around is not perfect.
Sveta sighed loud, moving away from the wall and catching her towel midway as it started to fall. Blushing slightly, she cleared her throat trying to keep her composure despite this slight blunder - in fact, it was not the first time John saw her naked or half-naked, so the exposure was a bit less of a problem, but there was still a bit of uneasiness she showed before regaining the composure.
- Indeed, I cannot say this place doesn't have problems - she finally said - To be completely honest with you, there is quite a bit of reluctance people are still having despite establishing the settlement and securing the daily necessities. It was especially noticeable whenever someone new arrived here and the higher-ups were deciding on their assignment. From what I heard, colonists are the most tense among all of the people living in this area right now and that's because they made a decision to stay here, even though the original plan was to have everyone involved in the mission being located closer to the megacity. You can imagine that they want to have stability here, but for any settlement to operate properly, you simply need certain specialists to be available. However, there is more and more of those who appear in the area only temporarily just to move further, using local resources and not really contributing to colonists' community. I get it was their own choice to stay here so they shouldn't complain about having less resources, but I also understand them being unhappy about having to provide resources without gettin anything in return.
This was not exactly what John wanted to here about. Sure, Glitter provided some useful insight about the backstory of the settlement as what she said was not really visible to Marlow when he walked through the settlement earlier today, yet it was not enough to understand the circumstances he learned about from Jeanne and to find out a solution.
- I do get this kind of approach people around here may have - he nodded - Still, I heard there were some issues with specific newcomers which exceeded the notion of not being keen on providing resources. Supposedly, there were more problematic incidents happening here.
Sveta scratched her head, appearing a bit troubled.
- Nothing to hide from you, huh? - she gave him a smile, though it looked forced - I didn't want to touch such topics with you since these can easily ruin the atmosphere and I wanted to have a nice time with you, but what can I do, right? So yeah, some of people getting here end up causing problems. It's not something common, but there were nasty cases. I cannot say I really understand such behaviors, yet there are people who most likely went through hell to get here alive and personal experiences may cause you to change.
Finaly, they started moving towards conversation John wanted to have.
- Since you are usually the first person to get in touch with anyone approaching, I get you heard a lot of stories? - he followed up with questions - Those troublemakers you had here, did they have anything in common with each other?
- Not sure if anything I can tell will be useful, but I will do my best to help you out.