Entry #23 - 1.22.5503

It's been a week since Mar left to help the Ecila and their allies -- The Disposer loaded down with defensive materiel for the besieged creatures and their friends -- and I can't help but worry still for her well-being on this journey, despite the fact that she's been successfully plying this 'trade' for quite a few centuries now. I think her last "close-call," when she first encountered the Ecila, (see Journal entry #3) has still got me spooked.

How the old woman came to be an arms dealer is still a mystery to me. Apparently, it has something to do with her past -- something that happened on her home world a long, long time ago when she was still a young woman; something that still doesn't sit too well with the old lady even all these centuries later. Whatever it is, Mar's not saying and Athena just claims ignorance. And while I know it's really none of my business -- somehow I feel that if I knew what led her down this road in the first place, then perhaps I wouldn't worry so much. If I understood why she felt so compelled to risk her skin this way, I'd feel better about her taking such chances. What can I say, I've grown kinda fond of the old bat.

Here in the den it's been pretty much "business as usual" -- the rats still attempting a survey of the crypts and getting lost much of the time; Athena and I rehabbing the various labs that make up the old Academy of Sciences complex. Sona, meanwhile, has been here and gone pretty regularly, journeying out to keep tabs on Mar and the Geckins, then checking back to make sure we haven't run afoul of Dr. Hershel and his evil hench-rats. And while these baddies haven't struck for quite a while now, I fear they've just been biding their time -- perhaps trying to lure us into a false sense of security. Lately, there've been indications that they're plotting another attack. Just last night, 3.14 and 50-50 spotted Hershel's rotten sewer rats, Richie and Gina, sneaking around in the wall spaces of the chemistry labs, looking majorly guilty and fleeing fast when they saw our rats coming. And it would be just Hershel's style to attempt something as evil as a chemical assault -- unfortunately, we've never had time to do a thorough inventory of the labs, so we've no way of knowing if anything's missing.

Tomorrow we're going to try and secure these labs a little better -- nail over the rat holes and fasten bolts to the doors. Hopefully our efforts won't prove to be too late.