Many questions to ask.

How long has it been here? Did it land, or did it grow? Is it intended to leave to to stay?

Defnitely an artificial, designed organism. The scavengers perform maintenance, cleaning.

There are meta alloys here.

By God. The barnacles. If they're the baby version of these... then I was wrong. The meta alloys may not be a happy byproduct. They could be part of the construction process. The artifacts and probes don't destroy meta-alloy reinforced structures because they're meant to coexist. They have the same technological dna, the same origin, the same designer. Their tech isn't intended to corrode ours anymore than a goldfish's water is meant to drown us.

The meta-alloys may be key to the construction of these things. And we've been harvesting them.

The Barnards Loop symbol. It wasn't "hi, this is where i'm from." It was "Hey, this is who I am. Don't touch me." Like the bright colors of a venomous animal.

I want to be wrong.

The canyon is deep, dark. Thought i heard something for a minute, there, but its just the srv bumping the rocks, just the whirring of servomotors.

I traversed the length. The headlamps on the srv arent nearly large enough or bright enough... there should be an optional floodlight on the turret. Damn, i needed it.

But I made it through to the other side. No vents. It didn't feel right down there.

I'm calling it Red Hook Canyon. Howard Phillips would be proud.