SENJO<br/><br/><div class="quoteheader"><div class="topslice_quote">Quote</div></div><blockquote class="bbc_standard_quote">"The fuck if I know. Ain't you the one with all the fuckin' database and shit in your computer brain? Giz you're pretty whiz, what's your 'diagnosis'?"</blockquote><div class="quotefooter"><div class="botslice_quote"></div></div>I caught the emphasis of the SmartGunner's tone.<strong>"This is not a situation in which to become jumpy, Beneke,"</strong>I replied calmly, my eyes never leaving the shimmering haze layer.<strong>"I checked my tactical database and military records and there is no record of anything like this. Civilian files are clean too."</strong><br/><br/>I stared at the layer of moving shifting air ahead of us.<br/><br/>Then something clicked. It was so surprising that my eyes widened.<br/><br/><strong>"Wait."</strong>I flipped on the squad comms channel.<strong>"Leftenant. The visible air zone. I think it is a detection field. Salvage ship crews use a similar technique, though they use mobile systems; robotic scanners sent into derelict hulls and abandoned facilities. A passive laser field scans machinery spaces and cabins. It transmits back information that allows the salvage crews to build a 3D image of a ship's interior without risking a crewman going inside. I do not have a record of its military use, at least not in the visible spectrum but there is an equivalent in nature as well."</strong><br/><br/>I paused before saying what the data was I had uncovered, it sounded... stupid.<br/><br/><strong>"That would be... a spider's web."</strong><br/><br/><strong>"Furthermore,"</strong>I added,<strong>"My records indicate that Weyland-Yutani do not supply any passive or active laser scanning robotics in a standard terraforming colony inventory."</strong><br/><br/>My mind was running over the stripped vehicle maintenance shed, the apparent abandonment of this quadrant of the colony structure and the apparent need for the colonists to defend against an attacker. The numbers added up.<br/><br/><strong>"If it has been set up by the colonists as part of a defence layer, we should act on the expectation of the field to trigger a weapons system."</strong>