“It’s cold outside…” - Private RP with Icefire

Ro nodded faintly, closing the door behind Dohnal so that more of Selnu's air wouldn't get in. He could still swear he smelled something. "You're welcome. I'm Romeo Accord, xenobiologist and botanist." he introduced themself, figuring that it was, after all, the polite thing to do. "You don't need the suit in here, you know." they added after a moment, taking a breath and shifting their weight to their normal leg. "The air is the same as it always has been." thankfully. None of the life support systems had suffered any major issues, though he had had to replace a secondary air filter at one point. It hadn't been that big a deal, and hadn't taken long to do.

At the question, Ro nodded a little. "My last station member left about a month ago." they replied. "He was going to go see if he could track down anyone else. I guess he failed, or he would have come back." Lindsey was probably dead; Ro knew that much. They didn't know how, or why, but Lindsey would have come back or sent someone if he had met anyone else. The fact that neither had happened meant that the man was likely dead. "It's…good to meet you, Dohnal." he wasn't sure what the proper protocol for this was. Bio decontamination?

Ro nodded. "It's been…not great." he agreed in a quiet, matter of fact voice. "I've kept myself busy, though. I'm alright." he didn't know how many books and audiobooks they had gone through, both fact and fiction. He had learned a lot more than he had thought he would, but they had still yearned for some human company. Their eyes flicked to the tank, and his brows furrowed faintly. "Why a tank? The filters in the normal suits would have been enough, there's been no changes to the air quality in the past few months."

He nodded faintly, taking in Dohnal's information. "I see. Which station were you at, and was there anyone else there?" if there were other people around, perhaps they could travel? Safety in numbers, and all that. He stepped forward, glancing around the hallway. "It might be more comfortable, too, if we moved elsewhere other than the door." he almost added "it smells", but realized it had to just be his imagination. Still. He wasn't sure. "Come on." they started walking down the hallway, limping faintly.

"What was their name?" perhaps they could look them up in the database and see what base Dohnal had been at. "Yes, I do, though no one's responded for…months." he was careful to say "I". Dohnal was still the outsider here, after all, and Ro knew better than to trust strange people who showed up or contacted out of nowhere. Knew better than to trust anyone, really. They were careful not to touch the taser, not wanting to draw Dohnal's attention to it. After a moment, he paused to give Dohnal a moment to catch up; having someone walk behind them gave them anxiety, made their hands begin to shake from too many memories building up.

Ro let out a quiet sigh at the second "I don't remember". It would have been nice to know, after all. He shook his head a little bit. "No." They did not, however, explain why. It wasn't Dohnal's business and he didn't need to know. "And you will not be touching my radio without me in the room." He added after taking a moment to gather himself. "I am not required to trust you, Dohnal. Please do not expect me to. I've been alone for a month and I'm quite capable of managing alone." Even with a limp, he could walk fast enough to function.

He bit back a more vicious response than Dohnal's words merited. Maybe I have been alone for too long. "I did not say you couldn't use the radio. Only that I had to be in the room. On that subject, I've locked many of the main functions, you won't be able to do more than the basics." They kept walking, not looking at Dohnal as they moved through the dimly lit halls. "And I'm leading you to the dining room. I figured you're hungry, and it's a good place to talk."

Ro was quiet as he led Dohnal into the dining room, turning on the lights and heading over to where the food was kept. "Here we are." He said, pulling out something for themself. "Most of these are dry packs, you can add water if you like. Later you can use the kitchens and actually cook something if you like, I don't care."

He glanced over at Dohnal, considering. "Why you're here, and what I should do now that you are." They replied, sitting down at one of the tables and beginning to eat. It had been a while since they'd had company. Of any sort. Maybe this hadn't been a good idea, though he didn't know.

"I see. Have you interacted with any other people? Seen anyone other than the person who saved you, whose name you can't remember, and me?" It had been seven months and he needed to know if there were any other people, if they had any hope at all of establishing contact with other people. He ate quietly, relieved to be off their feet and no longer walking.

He sat up a little. "What did they look like? Was there a working vehicle nearby? The closest station is…a few miles away, it's a long walk. Shorter if you take the tunnels, but then you risk cave-ins and such." They took another bite of food, studying Dohnal with interest in their gaze. The idea of there being another person was…a lot, but were they coming here? Who were they? What was going on?

They frowned, eyebrows pulling together. "What do you mean, they weren't like a person? There's no aliens here, we haven't found any evidence. I'm a xenobiologist, I've been kept in the loop about this sort of thing. There's some evidence in the deeper caves that there could have been something alive here at one point, but even if there still was, the odds of it being humanoid are…" They trailed off, thinking. "Astronomical. Humanoid shapes are not, in terms of evolution, the most…. convenient. Or strong. Even on Earth, humans were at a disadvantage in terms of our capabilities." He hadn't meant to say so much, but this was a topic he enjoyed talking about.

(gtg to bed soon, goodnight!)

"A zombie is not technically…scientifically possible." he said slowly, considering the things Dohnal had said, drumming their fingers on the tabletop for a moment. "As for parasitic life…it's possible, but only if there are larger things for them to feed off of. Parasites alone cannot survive. Plus, the category of "life" is a broad one; are we talking intelligent life, like you or I, or are we talking just…something living? Because microbes live, and if they are not of Earth origin they can be classified as alien life, but I don't think that's what you mean when you reference alien life. A parasite, again, requires something to feed off of, whether that's a plant, or another creature, or…or some other sort of growing thing. Parasites, by definition, cannot sustain themselves and must therefore be sustained. I don't know how parasites would have evolved on this planet, as thus far we haven't found the kind of things they would need to…to feed on, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible. Very small parasites, for instance, likely could survive in this sort of planet, but they still need some form of energy source, even if it were something as tiny as an Earth snail, or even an insect. Larger parasites, such as the kind on Earth that lived inside of humans or cows or other mammals, are less likely, since there isn't anything big enough to sustain them, not that we've found thus far." they gestured slightly with their hands as they spoke, eyes alight with interest. This was something they enjoyed talking about, the kind of what-ifs and "consider"'s that their mind thrived off of.

(thanks!)

Ro hummed for a moment. "Well, first that would depend on the size. Would it be a tiny parasite, perhaps, for argument's sake, the size of my thumb?" they held up their hand in demonstration. "Or are we talking about something the size of my forearm, instead?" he gestured vaguely at their forearm. "Because the responses would be very different for both. For a small one, some sort of medication would perhaps work best, just like we've used on Earth for centuries to get rid of tapeworms and the like. If that didn't work, then other things would have to be figured out that were as noninvasive as possible, since no one wants to go rooting through someone's brain in search of a parasite. If all other measures failed, surgery would be done to remove it. For a larger one, surgery would probably be the first thing done, since it would be easier to locate."

He considered that for a long moment, weighing the possibilities. "I'm not sure. I think it would depend on, ah, the host body? The human, I suppose, and whether or not they wanted it removed. I don't think that most people on Earth would welcome parasites, even symbiotic ones, with open arms." He replied slowly, tapping their finger idly as they considered the possibilities. "Assuming the life form is sentient and can communicate, I don't exactly know. Bodily autonomy and consent is important and I think that would play a role, but it would also then depend on politics and the government and what they chose to do about it."