Two humanoid silhouettes moved along the darkening horizon of the vast, violet plains of the planet Tuala-Ru. The vibrant landscape was peppered with small fuming vents, which the silhouettes serpentined through as the dusky flatness stretched behind them. Their pace was ominously swift.

“Well it’s no surprise to me that this district is deserted,” a voice echoed. “They could offer me ten figures to mine raw lethium and I wouldn’t consider it for a second.” 

A vent half a meter away screamed as sparkling plumes of fuschia vapor spewed out. Neither traveler flinched at the sudden outburst. The other figure responded, their body and head shielded by a dark cloak.

“Ah, to be a symbiot android unburdened by human vice," they mused, "Back before the environmentalists seized power, dwellings in this district had a five year waitlist. Eventually things got out of hand and the authorities had to shut it down - people were literally killing each other to climb higher in order." The shrouded humanoid snorted then added, "Two millennia of playing God with the human genome and humanity has bred itself out of almost every instinct except the love of money.”

Several distant vents screamed in unison. The so-called symbiot raised its hand and placed it over its weathered chest plate, feigning a sigh. “So much easier when your purpose is to be subservient, there’s no use for blind ambition.”

“There’ll be a software update for it sooner or later,” the companion retorted as they dodged a spewing vent directly below.

The symbiot clicked its tongue - or more rather spliced in an audio clip of a tongue clicking in disagreement, for it had no tongue to speak of. “Humans design technologies to support themselves. How would greed benefit anyone?”

“I’m sure someone will find a way,” the companion shrugged and added, “But maybe it doesn’t have to have a benefit, at this point they’d do it because they can. Humans have a great aversion to boredom, and so they must feed the beast.”

The symbiot offered no rebuttal, and the pair continued on in silence as they deftly picked their way through the dissonant field of shrieking vents. In the waning twilight, the growing vapor began to settle and collect along the ground, creating chest-high pools of pink mist.

“I sense our window here is shrinking,” said the symbiot as it inadvertently walked headfirst through a settling cloud. “My olfactory receptors are sensing an off-the-charts lethium concentration, which can mistakenly identify as sulfuric. I pity you organics, how can you stand it?” It made a gagging noise and flapped a hand fervently before its face plate, which like most symbiots was actually a smooth porcelain facade that had the basic blurred topography of a human face, but no distinguishing features like ears, eyes, or lips. Sprays of delicately painted blue flowers curled along the edges of its face plate.

“Off-the-charts seems about right, my eyes are burning in their sockets.” Though their face was covered, the cowled companion pressed their palms into their face as if to wipe tears from their eyes. “Can you see anything yet?”

The symbiot scanned the horizon. “From the planetary positioning system, we’re actually closer than I thought: the Ruen canyons are ten kilometers out. I can't see directly in front of us though, this cursed gas is shielding everything in between.” 

The companion reached into their cloak and pulled out a bulbous pistol, firing it directly into the thickening vapor ahead. The glowing plasma whistled as it pierced the air, quickly illuminating its trajectory over the pockmarked terrain. “See anything now?”

At this the symbiot folded its arms. “Really? Plasma and lethium gas? Was that necessary? I have a perfectly good sensor, it just takes a few minutes to set up-”

“-and you’re being a perfectly good pain in my ass. What did you see just now?”

Arms still folded, the symbiot cocked its head and drawled, “Ah, a new terrain interrupts the vast nothingness of the abysmal Tuala-Ruen flats at a kilometer’s distance west. Press ‘A’ to proceed blindly toward it, press ‘B’ to have your almost fully kitted-out symbiot perform a sweep using a high precision -”

Without another word, the cowled companion quickened to a slow jog and plunged forward into the slowly rising mist, calling over their shoulder, “This particular mining hub has been removed from the PPS and a sweep will take too long. As you said, our window is shrinking.”

“‘A’ it is,” the symbiot grumbled, then followed further into the opaque fuschia cloud. “Also did you notice I said almost fully kitted?”

The companion chuckled. “Not the time or place, Detrol. Once we finish the job, we’ll have some extra jingle to spend on upgrades.”

"Aye, Captain," the symbiot Detrol sighed.

After some time forging through the mist, Detrol signaled a sharp chirp. “I’m detecting an abandoned settlement directly ahead. That must be the bridge station,” the symbiot called, breathless.

Ahead of it, the companion Captain snorted as they quickened their stride. “Stop with the passive aggressive panting, you faker. Need I remind you that you don’t respirate?”

The symbiot gave a haughty sniff. “Well we've been practically sprinting for the last fifteen minutes, I’m going to burn through to my backup cell just to keep up at this rate.” Regardless, the panting audio abruptly stopped. 

When the last pink aura of light held the sky, they had arrived at their destination. Crumbled pieces of cement and rebar that were once part of the outer wall of the station ejected from the mist and outlined the building extents like a scaled three-dimensional blueprint. The pair carefully picked their way through rubble, searching until Detrol called, "This debris pile here - there's a stairwell below it. Should take us to the maintenance door at the base of the bridge chamber."

Captain nodded in agreement and began selectively clearing away rubble in the indicated area. The symbiot observed, assessing the fragile state of the debris-based structure and alerting its companion before they moved a fulcrum. In minutes, the pile of discarded beams and concrete debris was several meters high and indeed a flight of stairs descending below ground began to materialize from under the delicate structure. Sure enough, down at the bottom of the dark stairway appeared to be a panel of dimly flickering controls and a heavy metal door.