"Did you see that?" Fitz stared at the data coming back from the scanner in astonishment. "It's alive."
"You mean alive as in living and dying?" Skye asked nervously.
"It has a functioning energy source."
"Sleepyhead detected radioactive nuclide data," Simmons said, "but they don't match any known isotopes."
"I'm getting temporary matches here, but the data keeps changing. Is that possible?"
"That would depend on variations in transient radioactivity or something." Skye pretended to know what she was talking about, only to meet the looks Fitz and Simmons gave an idiot.
"Isn't that especially embarrassing?" Aaron rolled his eyes speechlessly. "If you don't know, you don't know! Why show off?"
"I don't know. Do you?"
"I don't either, but I don't need to."
"Haha! I'm going to find Coulson."
Just as she spoke, Ward walked in. "We've got company. The National Police are here."
"What? What are they doing here?" Fitz and Simmons asked.
"They heard about this object. They're probably here to protect it." Ward considered it for a moment. "There have been quite a few Rebel uprisings in this area."
"Yeah! The people are resisting the government's mining policies." Skye said excitedly. "That's awesome."
"Yeah! Violence like that is awesome."
"That's not what I meant."
"But that's what you wrote, alone and safe in your van." Ward said expressionlessly, then looked at Fitz and Simmons. "How much longer?"
"Why are you in such a hurry?"
"Are we in danger?"
"Yes." Aaron said with certainty. "If you don't want to die, pack up and leave immediately."
"Hey, hey, hey! It's not that serious, is it?" Skye said dismissively. "We're with the National Police."
"Heh. If the National Police are coming, the Rebels will naturally come too.
"Once the two sides start fighting, it'll be fine if we win.