January 1st at 23:04pm
Taking a quick look around the dome, the group spreads around the giant mouth of the underground mine. It looks empty, but everybody can feel an uneasy feeling in the back of their necks.

Anya lifts her head and smells the air, then points at a small hill of reddish oxide dust.
-There is somebody there.-

Commissar Bryce makes hand sign and Thanatos covers the area with his rifle while she gets closer. A metallic shining reflects the light beam of the flashlight and the Commissar picks up a dog-tag from the dust. Heavy enough, the strong woman pulls from it and the chain breaks pulling a half decomposed human head out of the dust.

-What the?-

Doctor Bast clears part of the dust revealing the remains of a full corpse.

-It's been here for a while... Weeks or even months probably. It's difficult to tell. The oxide dust desiccated the body, but its still complete, although...- The doctor examines the middle torso, where big parts of flesh had been torn apart to the bone. -...This part here has been ripped off by some long scissoring tools like a pair of shears, The rib cage is displaced and the face is gone, but its difficult to say if it was ripped off too or braised due to the chemical dust. Also...- (She lifts the left arm a bit.) -These marks here are rodent teeth. I have seen them frequently in the slumps, but these are quite big and there are a lot. The arm has been chewed to the bone.-
-By the position of the body and its location, I'd say this man was wounded and half eaten while still alive and then crawled out of the mine hole and died because of the wounds.-

LIV reads the dog-tag and takes out a small portable touch-cogitator.
╙► -Corporal Halix. Assigned to the LXII of the Chagothian forces. Missing in combat. Report classified-

Thanatos spits with a grunt.
-Furth! The LXII was a fresh regiment, without any real combat experience. They were supposed to reinforce the troops in the Venisae Crusade.

-OK, soldiers. Gather together. We are going down.-

With a heavy screech, the giant elevator starts moving into the dark pit.