We were contacted by commander Kuno Kitt who was now the totem of the Go-nin group. She asked if we could meet with her. As we were doing nothing for firewall we took a courier to their habitat in lunar orbit. We were called as an unidentified signal had been intercepted from the pandoras gate on Eris. It was strange as it appeared to be traveling faster than light and contained a large amount of encrypted data. I fabricated half a dozen quantum computers, networked them and set them to decrypting the data. It originated from the exoplanet Rorty and was directed somewhere outside the solar system. The prof examined the decrypted data which had been augmented with a chemical signal and determined it was intended receiver would create a toxic chemical.

Rorty is an exoplanet which has a temperature range of -90 to -150 degrees Celsius with a thin hydrogen atmosphere. Go-nin offered to provide us a GEV (general exploration vehicle) and agreed a 50-50 splitof any technology recovered. We egocast to Eris. The prof chose a synthtaur morph while Nova chose a Futura. I took my normal arachnoid morph. We were also assigned three mercs to assist us. The gate chamber was in the bottom of a crater and heavily guarded.

We transited the gate to Rorty. There was a greyish quality to sky, and unknown labyrinthine structures nearby. They appeared to be made from a composite material of natural stone and metallic elements which had eroded over time. It looked like it was once a city and the signal was from the city somewhere. We followed the signal and detected unusual energy patterns from the origin of the signal which resolved to something the size of a small vessel. What looked like 5 humans in vac suits and a Fenrir combat morph were outside and were firing at the vessel which looked to be organic in nature. Nova contacted the figures and set up a simulspace meeting. The indivitual who joined appeared wearing a suit made of nanotech.

He said to address him as Rortyan which sounded to me like a clumsy attempt to make up a name considering we were on the planet Rorty. He said they were on a colonisation mission but would not say where they were from. He said they were firing on the object to remove an unstable element but agreed to withdraw while we investigated. The organic object was some sort of pod that was badly damaged and looked like it had been shot down. Our mesh went down when we went inside. A two metre long slime mold which looked a bit like a slug started to ooze forward. It reared up and emitted an oche mist which dissipated harmlessly. Prof touched a pseudopod that it extended and found his mesh came back online.

He experienced being in a cave with the creature. There was basic communication. The slugs called themselves factors and came from a factor colony. They wanted help and had been infected with an artificial disease. The prof was given coordinates where there was a cure. The signal was a distress call and they would shut it down temporarily. Rortyan contacted us and said they could not be trusted and that hey lied. Said they claimed to be creators of the pandora gates but attacked his colony. He said their tech was in advance of 'your transhuman tech' but agreed to keep a ceasefire while we investigated the location of the cure.

At the coordinates our sensors detected some structure below us but there was nothing visual. Nova thought the energy emissions were holographic so Nova descended and passed through the hologram. We found a hidden cavern with a ship inside. The ship used Transhuman technology and there were three more of the humanoid figures. The prof said we had talked to Rortyan. They looked a bit confused, confirming the name to be false, but showed the prof to a lab when he said he needed medical help.

The figures said they served the titans and would use titan technology to colonise the planet. The titans helped them and needed planets. They worshiped the titans and had been modified by them. The prof said he needed more equipment and talked them into taking him to another lab. There were some slugs in stasis tubes. Nova distracted the people supervising us while the prof tried to get samples to make an antidote. He analysed a sample he took from the slug and determined it was infected with an exergent virus engineered to attack the slugs.

We were able to leave after the prof made his antidote but found they had attached a tracking device to the GEV. We returned to the crashed bio pod to speak with the slugs. They said they were attacked because they were not adaptable to the titan colony and warned the titans would be coming for us. The prof administered the antidote. They wanted smart material to repair their pod. We agreed to return the GEV for them to use once we got to the gate. They said they would send another signal to us in the future. The trackers were removed from the GEV, we returned through the gate and the GEV was sent back for the factors to use. I took a backup of the GEVs AI back with us.

Kuno Kitt was not very happy that we had not brought back tech, and the prof had an argument with her over it, but I think Kitt will want us back when the slugs send another message. I provided recordings of what we had found on Rorty.