Carus sighed, caught up in his boredom, **as he looked over the books in front of him once again.** For some reason, Matter has asked him to research ghosts. He wasn't sure what this was all about- the Tark'ee had just asked him, and when he initially declined, had pointed out how he hadn't put any work towards helping the colony out with the bunker yet. He decided it would be better not to point out that this had been on purpose. **He groaned, rolling his eyes and shoving the book to Morgain, who was sitting across from him reading a book of his own.** "Are you seeing this? it's ridiculous, they're grasping at straws *and* wasting my time with it. I don't know why *I* got saddled up with this." Morgain chuckled, taking a loot at the notebook. "Seems pretty silly to me. Did she say why? Matter wouldn't have made you do this without a reason." Carus groaned. "No, she didn’t give me a reason. Just showed up this morning, dumped a stack of books on me, and said, ‘Research ghosts.’" He made air quotes with his fingers, his face twisted into a grimace. "I mean, _ghosts_, Morgain.

What are we, five?" Morgain shrugged, flipping through the notebook casually. "Maybe she’s onto something. You know how Matter is-there's no way she would waste time if it wasn’t important. Or maybe it’s some kind of metaphor. I doubt she things that literal ghosts could be the answer." Carus sighed, rubbing his temples. "A metaphor for what? Lost spirits haunting our colony? What does this have to do with the bunker?" He laughed to himself, feeling the whole idea was ridiculous. "Who knows?" Morgain replied, still flipping through the book. "Maybe there’s something in these stories that might help us. You’ve got a better idea?" "Yeah," Carus said flatly, "how about I get back to doing something that _actually_ matters, like working on the schematics for the bunker door?" Morgain laughed. "Come on, don’t be so grumpy. Maybe there’s something hidden in here, some old clue we’re overlooking. What if ghosts are real?" Carus snorted. "I’ll believe that when I see one." "Maybe she was just hoping to give you a task so you wouldn't get bored. I haven't seen you focused on anything recently." Morgain sighed. "Plus- they could really use the help with the bunker. Maybe she was

hoping this would spur you on to put your thinking powers to use productively." "I suppose. I don't know why she hadn't just asked me in that case." He sighed. "I suppose this really was useless." **flipping trough his notes again, he found a schematic of the bunker. Sighing, he took a closer look at it- and just then, raindrops started falling from the sky, small wet circles appearing on the paper.** Carus swore under his breath, quickly collecting his papers. "Can you help me get these inside please, Morgain?" Morgain quickly jumped up, gathering the papers up. "Sure! Just lead the way."