Hi folks! It's been a awhile since we released Fragments from the Ostracon #2. These are pages from the Ostracon, an in-universe zine in Ostranauts and NEO Scavenger. We hope you enjoy reading.
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"Stop that."
"Stop what?"
"Tapping on the tank. Staring at it with your mouth open. You're fogging up the glass.
"Sorry. It's just...weird."
"Try to see it as any other cargo. Nothing but a payday, right?"
"It's not exactly a hot reactor, is it? It's like...well it's a fucking alien! That's an alien in there."
"So what?"
"So what!?"
"You remember six months ago we picked up that horse from the lab on Tharsis and delivered it to that Apogee exec on the Hangzhou orbital?"
"I remember when it took a massive dump in the galley, yes."
"Exactly. Because it was an animal. Exotic. Rare. Valuable. But still, just an animal. So that jellyfish thing in there? Think about it like that. It's just an animal."
"An animal from another planet."
"An animal that evolved in the thermal vents of Europa. There could be jellyfish just like it in the deepest oceans of Earth for all we know."
"Well forgive me for having a sense of wonder. Who bought this ugly little fella anyway?"
"Careful, it can understand English."
"It can?!"
"Fuck if I know. Just like. Relax. Get some racktime or something. You're making me nervous and I'm supposed to be scanning for interceptors. That's a ten year salary we're carrying right there."
"Cushy job if you ask me. You'd have to be crazy to come all the way out here past the blockade."
"Crazy is exactly what I'm worried about."
--END TRANSMISSION
