The next planetrise, she dragged herself out of her tent and drank half the Bosun’s first pot of coffee; the Engineer talked at her for what felt like an hour about scanners and photogrammetry and sampling methods; the Navigatrix handed her a compass-like device she’d built; the Stowaway packed her both a dehydrated lunch and dinner, and strapped a few bottles of water together for easier carrying.
The Captain had a growing suspicion that they’d all worked out this plan before the Engineer had even brought the data collection idea up with her.
It wasn’t a good feeling. That said, she figured it could join the fatigue headache, the stomach ache from the coffee, the lingering bad mood from a sleepless night being angry, and the constant piece of gravel in her boot in the competition for “why is the Captain Angry Today.”
And off she stomped, heading for high ground to do a long distance scan first, and then with explicit instructions to get underground if possible and see how far down into the soil the artificial structures went.