Green Green
Lars stopped and surveyed the visually empty sector. "Brothers, we shall have to be careful here. Consider what the others have found- it is the unseen that is often the most dangerous. Algis, may your shielding hands cover us as we explore this area!
Send a drone to map the sector. Watch it until it is out of view to see if anything terrible happens to it. If not, start walking toward the center, employing the "throw a rock every little bit" trick to check for horrible anomalies.
((Let's hope this isn't the mindfuck zone))
The Drone wanders off and seems to be fine. It maps out the empty sector without running into anything that does damage to it. You take a few steps into the zone after carefully throwing rocks around. And then you hear something. A distant sort of sound. You check the atmosphere and find out there isn't one. The sound gets a little louder. A strange sort of giggling noise.
Blue team
"Ok, we wait for the drones to come back, and then we'll head back the way we came and go the opposite way. I think that green team can handle checking out this gooey crap by themselves."
Wait for the drones to return, then upload the new data back to base and then head back the way we came until we reach our starting point. Then head in the opposite way we originally went.
You and the rest of blue team traipse back around the towers to the edge of the visual anomaly zone. At this point you and the team have been walking or working for almost 20 hours straight and it's starting to wear on everyone.
"You know, these anomalies seem too regular. I mean, they all fit together in a nice interlocking hex pattern. All the same size. Most with clearly defined borders. It almost seems artificial. Like some alien species made a rock, filled it with deadly shit, and set it loose to troll future species exploring space. Fukken Xenos."
Take a quick peek in weirdvision, checking for the sillouettes, specifically the distance between me and them. Immediately close vision after a round distance has been judged. Follow Lars.
They're a few yards away, slightly closer then before. Hmm.
Follow rest of team. Be not very surprised.
"We need something fun to do."
You follow the team and are completely apathetic about the unholy giggling that lars and everyone else begins hearing.
"oh, this crap again."
Flint Westwood - Blue squad - Sector 18
"Hmm... interesting. This film seems almost... organic." said Flint as he played with the gel-sack, tossing it experimentally from hand to hand, enjoying the feeling of squeezing it. "Reminds me of a story I once read, of a planet that had its oceans turn to gel due to an off world bacteria that grew unrestrained with no natural predators. This however seems more... artificial."
Observe the sack. How large is it? What's its shape and colour? Anything strange I can see about it?
Squeeze the sack. How does it feel in my hand? (breast implant jokes acceptable) How long does it take for it to return to its original shape?
Toss the sack from hand to hand. How heavy does it feel?
Throw the sack to the ground. Does it bounce?
Try to cut a second sack. Store both sacks in sample containers. Mark the size of one with spraypaint so that I can tell whether or not it grows or otherwise changes overtime.
Consider possible uses for the gel-sea material. Would it make a good shock absorbent? Insulation? Self repairing armor? Anything else?
If the atmosphere here isn't flammable, shoot my laser to the sea and observe results. Does it burn or evaporate? Does it refract light? How resistant is it to heat and radiation?
"You know, these anomalies seem too regular. I mean, they all fit together in a nice interlocking hex pattern. All the same size. Most with clearly defined borders. It almost seems artificial. Like some alien species made a rock, filled it with deadly shit, and set it loose to troll future species exploring space. Fukken Xenos."
"Even though an old fool like me could never claim to be privy to the minds of the godlike beings that created this place, I'd like to believe this is like a museum and a beacon, like the Voyager probes of old. I believe they created this place and then set it loose upon this world so they could reach out and give knowledge to the inhabitants of this galaxy and attract them here. For what purpose though, I cannot tell. Do they show us those things because they want us to prosper or is this one giant flytrap, enticing us with sweet gifts so when the time comes for them to strike there will be nothing humanity can do to survive? Are they studying us right now, just as we are studying this place? Have they left this galaxy, were they destroyed or are they just waiting for the moment to harvest us and our technology like cattle, artifacts that one day may inhabit a planetoid not unlike this one? So many questions... Unfortunately unlikely to be answered during what little time an old man like me has left in this world. But perhaps our brief exploration of this place will add a small piece of knowledge for the future generations... Yes... that would be nice..."
About the size of your fist, a sort of purplish, greenish, bluish fluid trapped inside an thin, slightly opaque but mostly transparent film. Anything strange about it? Besides everything?
It's fairly firm, almost like trying to squeeze fine sand. But it deforms more if you squeeze it more slowly. It returns to it's original shape fairly fast, but doesn't "Spring" back.
It weighs a little more then water, you think.
It does not bounce.
You store another sample away, marking them before hand.
Shock absorber maybe.
You shoot the sea. It is scorched but doesn't burn or boil or evaporate. But it does cut through it like butter.
Drag only the two samples with different weight back to base and leave the other containers somewhere easily locatable
You drag and roll and lug the containers all the way back to base and into the lab, leaving them next to the door.
You are freaking exhausted after all that.
All right. Lukas, let's go catch some wildlife.
Get the box and go forth to collect a specimen for Mesk to torture.
'ah, lukas and simus, good you're here. Now, I suggest you two push the box more or less horizontally around the slug, into the ground a bit, so as not to disturb the specimen too much. The right and left lids come off, so it shouldn't be too hard.'
hand slugbox to our valiant bugcatchers.
Lukas, meet me and Miyamoto back at the base.
Head back to base and join up with Lukas and Miyamoto (if Miyamoto wants Gilgamesh back, give it to him and don the phase armor once again), then let's go rocklice hunting.
Team Red - Lukas
"Sure thing, boss"
Meet Simus back at the base
Simus and Lukas return to base, get themselves a big o' bug box and then head back out toward the volcanic zone. The question is, how do they actually want to go about catching one of these things? Just grab it and shove it in? Put the box in front of it and let it walk in? Smash it with a rock and scoop it in?
Map
http://i.imgur.com/cdggwCM.jpg