We make our way past the the broken door, and into the dimly lit stone tunnel. The light from the sun stretches inwards, reaching beams as far in as it can, but as we progress farther and farther, shadows overtake the light. Before it gets too dark, Sarge lights what appears to be an LED lamp, casting the space in a bright, clinical white. The light of the lamp causes our shadows to dance against the walls; each divot and protrusion leading to endless movement by our 2D selves. The breeze from the outside follows us in as well, occasionally rushing down the hall, picking up notes of clay as it does so. The floor of the tunnel is relatively flat, but still needs some attention to avoid tripping over cracks and the like.

  Luckily, the train of hover carts has no issue, trailing behind us as we begin the long hike through the tunnels. It's only a few minutes into the hike that Ella, near the head of the group, let's out a squeak. My hands reach towards my gun, but the perpetrator scampers past only a moment later, causing me to relax. A small little rat thing scurry's past at mach 5, sprinting towards the entrance like it's life depends on it. We all stand there for a moment, motionless, as we watch the creature disappear around the bend. "Anyone know what the was?" I call out. "I-I do," responds Ella, her face a touch red. "It just... it caught me off guard, is all. I knew it was supposed to be fast, but it came out of the dark so quickly." We all start off once again, and she continues explaining, her voice echoing down the tunnel. "They're called conits, but most people call them sand pobbers. I don't think they're actually related to pobbers, they just sort of look like them. They spend their life sprinting out of the caves for food at night, then sprinting back inside for safety."

  Rease chuckles. "Someone should get the little guy a watch. It's not nighttime yet," says Rease, glancing back the way we came. "You a fan of the little guys or something?" Ella shrugs. "I was having a hard time falling asleep last night- wait, uhm... 2 night ago? 1 and half nights...?" she says, clearly trying to determine how much time it'd actually been since we took off. "Before we left. I knew we were going to Mars, and so I just did some extra research; I wanted to see what sort of flora and fauna was here. If there was anything we should be aware of." Ko-lee nods approvingly. "Good call, mouse," Ko-lee says to the smaller squad mate, eliciting a blush. Ko-lee doesn't seem to notice, and continues. "Is there anything else we should be aware of?"

  "Desert skates for sure," I mention offhandedly. While the game didn't feature conits, it did at least feature desert skates; a neutral, sting ray creature on the Martian tilesets. An enthusiastic nod from Ella confirms it. "They can swim through the sand, and they usually attack in groups of two to four. When they're underground, they can shoot bolt's from their tails," she says seriously. "The best way to deal with a skate is to get to high ground; somewhere solid. They can't dig through stone." I half listen to the words, my mind recalling every time I'd accidentally steamrolled over one of the creatures in game. They were so unthreatening, I hadn't even realized they could be aggressive at all; most of my desert skate kills were incidental in nature. "And that's all?" asks Ko-lee. Ella hums for a moment, before giving an embarrassed grin. "I actually fell asleep while I was doing research," she confesses. "There's probably more, but I don't know of any."

  "Yeah, I'd imagine," I respond. "Only two animals for a whole planet doesn't seem like quite enough for an ecosystem. Especially since the Orokin probably created a bunch to populate the planet or whatever." I'm about to ask Caz, but I get distracted as my gaze catches on a pile of newish Corpus gear piled up at an intersection in the tunnel. "Gear stolen by the operatives?" I wonder. "Or maybe the Corpus occupied these tunnels at some point." Caz, last in line, passes by the equipment, and points to it, speaking loudly to reach the four of us. "We have to pick that up on the way back," he says. There's murmured assent from the rest of us, and we continue further in, the sound of out feet echoing down the tunnel.

  Hours of hiking later, and after more than one break to switch who's pulling the supply carts (currently Rease), I shoot a question to Ella, who had effectively become our Martian guide. "So, are there still like, Martian people?" I ask. "Colonies, and what not?" The game only featured a few locations that had people; Fortuna and Cetus being the main two. There was also the Entrati on Deimos, but they were sort of a special case. Still technically people, but also 10 foot tall infested people, and also also, there was only the five of them. Except for Loid, down in the basement. The Zaramin had the Holdfast's, but they were ghosts, first and foremost, and also the Zaramin wasn't currently around. Duviri also had people puttering about, but they were storybook characters, and also in a different dimension.

  Regular, normal people is maybe the biggest difference between the games and real life, and experiencing that is fulfilling in a way I can't describe. "Maybe it's because the game always sort of felt like every single person existed just to contribute to the endless war. You were fighting for 'the solar system', but you only really got to see the solar system through a scope. Actually being able to interact with people and experience the culture makes it feel like there's something worth fighting for. Not just fighting for the nebulous good, but for something concrete. Something real," I consider. Ella nods, and I pull my focus back towards her. "Nowhere near here, of course, but there's settlements here and there. Less than Earth, as a lot of the original Orokin infrastructure was destroyed, or stripped for parts by the Grineer and the Corpus, but there's definitely a few holdouts."

  "Yeah," interjects Rease from the back of the group. "There's actually a pretty big city, near the north pole." A beam of light that had snuck it's way through a crack in the ceiling falls across his face as he passes underneath it. "There's an ocean up there. Lots of orange plants," he continues. "Orange plants?" I ask, confused and interested. He nods. "Yeah, it's something about the minerals, I think. They taste really good though. Oh, and the women-" A deep, reverberating growl, like the grinding of rocks, rolls through the air, bringing the six of us to a halt. I shoot a look at Caz, intent in my eyes, my hands hovering over my Braton. I'm not the only one prepared for some sort of combat, and I can tell from his rapid lip movements that he's subvocalizing a message to the FO.

  I glance at the Sarge, but find no tension, just bemusement. "That's probably a good sign," I think, the tension falling off my shoulders. "It's a lakotay," says Caz, after about 10 seconds or so. "Apparently it's a Martian creature that eats tunnels through the mountains. Big, scary looking, but mostly harmless." I look around at the tunnel we're in, maybe 8 or 10 feet in diameter, and imagine the worm from Dune digging it's way towards us. "What does 'mostly harmless' mean?" presses Ko-lee, her brows furrowed. "It means that they're blind. They won't eat you on purpose, but they will eat you on accident if you're standing in front of them. You're a lot easier to chew through than the rocks," he explains, clearly unhappy about the idea. "They navigate via sound. Vibration, to be specific. Hence, the groan."

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  "So, if I see one, I should yell at it?" questions Rease, a goofy grin on his face. Caz smiles, but shakes his head. "You won't be loud enough," Caz responds. "Besides, if you were, it might think you're a hot lady rock worm, and head straight towards you," he finishes with a smirk. We all start walking again, and as we continue the trek, he elaborates on the creature. "The groans are meant to vibrate through the earth as a way for them to communicate. Running equipment attracts them, 'cause apparently it can sound like other worms, and explosions scare them off." Rease nods sagely. "So what you're saying is, like most problems, it'll disappear if I throw a grenade at it."

  We all chuckle, as we slowly make our way down the twisting tunnels. "Yeah, well, if you're planning on trying that, use more than one," says Caz, eliciting another round of laughter. My eyes pass over markings carved into the tunnel wall; pictograms depicting spaceships, desert skates, people offering something to a deific figure, and more. I and the other's had seen them here and there over the course of the hike, but we didn't get the chance to really dig into them at the time. "Thoughts on the carvings?" I say, taking the opportunity to rectify that. "Well," says Ella, taking a few steps closer to the center of the group to avoid straining her voice, "this is just a guess, but I'd imagine that when the Orokin fell, the people here struggled to work with each other. There was miles and miles of hot dunes and cliffs and stuff making it hard to traverse back and forth on foot." She glances at the carvings before continuing.

  "I'd imagine that they were all isolated from each other, and the rest of the solar system, and then they sort of... forgot. History turned into myth, that sort of thing. I think that's what all that stuff is," she says, her expression thoughtful. I nod, the term "Cargo Cult" popping up in my mind. "I can see that," responds Ko-lee, behind Ella. "Back home, we had the Unum, but even then, it was years before I had any real info on the Orokin. Plus, Earth never really got cut off in the same way like Mars did, and even then, I think some of what I learned was like a bar tale. Stuff getting warped as it gets passed from person to person," she says. "I'll be honest, I learned more about them during training than I did back home."

  "Yup, same here," Rease adds. "I literally didn't know what they were at all until training. I knew they existed; Orokin ruins can be gold mines sometimes, but actual history? I mean, what's the point in learning about a bunch of people who've been dead for a thousand millennia?" he finishes, shrugging dismissively. "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it," I say in English, before translating. There's a few looks of consideration, and I catch an impressed glance from Sarge, causing my cheeks to flush. "Totally not my words, by the way," I clarify, feeling embarrassed by the attention. "But also," I continue, "beyond just fancy sayings, the Grineer and the Corpus and the Infested are literally direct lines from the Orokin. Even if they're not here any more, their stuff is, and it directly affects our day to day. The solar rails were Orokin transport, the terraformed planets and the ecosystems engineered by the Orokin. The warframes, Orokin soldiers. Literally so much of the tech we use is just their hand-me-downs."

  I get a few odds looks from the others. "The Orokin made the Infested?" asks Caz, interested but apprehensive. "What did you mean the warframes were Orokin soldiers?" asks Ella, nearly at the same time. I open my mouth to backtrack, but I'm caught off guard, as I take in the looks from everyone in the squad. Even the Sarge looks confused and interested. There's a brief moment where I consider just telling them everything I know. Then, the mechanical neutrality of the Lotus' words echo in my mind, and I get cold feet. "Actually, I don't... really think I'm supposed to talk about that. I don't know; can we just... rewind a few seconds, pretend I didn't say the last part?" I ask, hopefully.

  One part of my mind runs off screaming, listing all the different ways I'm going to end up eviscerated by the Lotus when I get back. Another part of me tries to assure me that it won't be that bad. "Don't get me wrong, a fuck up for sure," my mind says, with a cool confidence, "but there's no way that a Commander or an Imperator doesn't already know that sort of thing. This isn't a 'forbidden knowledge' type deal, more like a 'opsec' issue. I mean, don't get me wrong, there might be a stern talking to, but I imagine that everyone will just end up getting sworn to secrecy or whatever." It helps stave off the drop of panic that was beginning to worm it's way around my nervous system. "There she goes being mysterious again," says Rease, joking. And yet, I can read a touch of frustration in his body language. I try to lean into the bit, to defuse the tension.

  "Sorry, but if I told you, I'd have to kill you," I grin, shooting finger guns at him. His laugh bounces around in the rocky space, sounding like a crowd of three. I sigh, my smile faltering slightly. "No, but... seriously. I know that you know that there's stuff I'm just... avoiding, but I'm not trying to. When I got pulled away by the Lotus, before we left, she explained that I was sort of... pushing the bounds of what I was and wasn't allowed to talk about. But I would tell you, if I could," I finish lamely. "Can you at least tell us why you know that sort of stuff? Or is that off limits too?" asks Ella. "No to the first bit, and yes to the second, unfortunately. Why I know this stuff is honestly probably a bigger deal than what I know," I explain. There's silence, for a moment, before Caz speaks. "But Ko-lee knows," he says. It's not quite a question, not quite an accusation, but it's close to both. I nod. "Yeah, she does. Not because she's my girlfriend though. I told her before we got here; I think it's part of why the Lotus snatched us both up to begin with."

  "Well, there's that, plus whatever she felt in the Void, plus the fact that the Unum was moments away from executing me that forced her hand. There's a good chance that the Lotus would've just kept 'observing' me for a long time, if the Unum didn't flip her lid," I think to myself. I don't know if I can explain any of that, but I don't get the chance to follow up regardless, as a command comes from Sarge at the head of the group. "Hold," he says, one hand raised, causing the five of us to come to a halt. I look past him to see that we've reached a door inset into the tunnel itself.

  It's the same Grineer design as in the game (as well as the door at the very front of the tunnel); rounded and heavy duty, like industrial equipment, with the same sort of rusted wear and tear that denoted an older occupation. Oddly, though, it's wide open, the lights on it unpowered. Beyond the door, contrary to expectation, is darkness. No crew coming out meet us, no sound of busy work or movement or life. "Maybe we caught them sleeping," It think, before I catch the Sarge reaching for his weapon out of the corner of my eye. Every muscle tightens, and my mind starts pumping out adrenaline, pushing everything into yellow alert. The Sarge tosses a fosfor flare into the cave, and it lights up what is obviously base camp. The space is lousy with stuff, clearly lived in, filled with everything you'd expect a base camp to have, minus one, crucial item.

  People.

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