Su Ming did not know whether Aphra had figured it out, but he was sure Little Sugar Bean had spotted the connection between the protective suit and the disappearances.
Looking back at the video logs, no one had worn a protective suit when Dr. Adams and his team first arrived. At most, they had put on masks to keep out the smell. They must have surveyed the planet beforehand and concluded that its air and water posed no danger to humans.
Apart from their lack of progress, the first ten days had brought no major problems. They had eaten poorly and slept badly, but that was all.
Then, on the tenth day, someone had put on a protective suit to inspect an underwater pump and disappeared.
That meant the trigger for his disappearance was something he had done differently. Su Ming made a note of it.
The team should have had more than one fully sealed Danger protective suit—or spacesuit. Explorations of hazardous areas and repairs in space were usually done in pairs or groups of three so people could watch each other's backs. They should have had enough suits for that.
Yet only the suit Dr. Adams had worn at the end remained at the campsite. Where had the others gone?
Su Ming had a theory. After the first person vanished, the doctor had sent others down the well to look for him, and those wearing protective suits had vanished too. The extra suits might have been swept away by the water, or they might still be down there. They would find out soon enough.
That would have left the camp with only the doctor's suit, which they took turns wearing whenever someone needed to enter a dangerous place.
Ordinarily, a protective suit would offer extra protection. In reality,