NARRATOR: Aboard the Cynthetic Certainty...
VAAL: Trouble you a sec, Cap'n?
TAGON: What's on your mind, Bosun?
VAAL: That crater. We ain't going to find nav data in it.
TAGON: That's not good news.
How can you tell?
VAAL: Easier if I show.
VAAL: See that ring?
It's a density differential in the ice.
TAGON: Halo effect from a gravy gun?
VAAL: Halo yes, gun no.
It's perfectly circular. You only get that when the gravy's omnidirectional.
TAGON: So their primary annie gravied the ship before exploding?
VAAL: Old self-destruct trick. Pulps everything, including the black box array. The explosion afterward is just an insult cherry on a great big bowl of injury.
If I was a bettin' soph, I'd say they made extra-double sure, and torched the logs before rigging their primary.
TAGON: They didn't want us to know where they'd been.
VAAL: And they died making sure.
That crater is a cold, foggy cul-de-sac.
Oh, and that fog will eventually kill the ground-pounders. Might as well pick 'em up.
TAGON: How long is "eventually?"
VAAL: They're not in danger yet.
I figured we'd wait until the soup's done. They'll hate us less.