The mist was as thick and hot as ususal and Graham took a big drink of water from his water recycling unit built into his hot weather suit. It fed up from the cooling unit and allowed Graham to drink anytime he needed to which on this God forsaken planet was often. The cool liquid flowed down his throat and he could feel it replenishing his body. The only draw backs to living on Dione was the heat and the mist, but Dr. Graham Winegarden was a biologist and had come to Dione as a homesteader. He had built a floating research station that he used to develop a food source that would allow Dione to be colonized. He called his research station the Searcher For Utopia, it is 10 kilometers long and a ½ kilometer wide. The searcher was powered by 3 Mass reactors and had a top speed of about 10 kilometers an hour and everything could be controlled by the computer. Which was a good thing because Graham was alone on Utopia.

He was making his rounds and checking his experimental food sources. Everything was progressing on schedule and if all went well he could sell it to one of the Barons or the Sol Union. Who ever he sells it to will have a hole world at there disposal, they will also have a food source that could feed this system and maybe a couple more. At that moment his computer gauntlet beeped and a holographic image of an elderly Fraal appeared. It was the image that his AI (Artificial Intelligence) had chosen. His AI was a little weird as it spoke to him in a Fraal dialect. The reason he said it was weird was because Graham did not speak Fraal. Graham let his eyes roll back up into his head and he said,

"Utopia, you know I do not speak Fraal, why do you insist on talking to me in that language?" The holographic image looked up at him and said,

"I am hoping it will motivate you to learn the language." Graham gave him a disapproving look, so Utopia went on,

"There is an emergency beacon signal coming from about a kilometer to the east of Utopia, By the way why did you name the boat the same as me?" The two of them were both silent for a moment. Then utopia continued,

"Would you like me to scan the pod for life signs?" Graham thought about that, he did not like the idea of having people on Utopia, but then agin he could not let them just perish out there on the sea.

"Yes scan the pod and let me know what you find." The hologram faded and Graham went back to checking his data from his experiments. From the data he was collecting, his experiments were going better then he expected. He was going to the last one when all of a sudden his gauntlet projects Utopia's hologram and the Fraal says,

"I have just completed my scan of the pod. It seems there are two bodies but only one of them is still alive, but just barely. Do you want me to get the launch ready?"

Graham thought, 'who could be floating around on Dione, maybe it is someone who had been attacked by the pirates or it could be the pirates them selves.'

"Yes get the launch ready, I will take it out right away." He then headed right to the launch dock, not quite running but as quickly as possible. When he got to the docking bay he found the launch all ready to go. Getting in he told Utopia to set the auto pilot to take him to the pod. The launch then headed out of the bay and slowly speeded up as it headed in the direction of where the pod should be. Standing up on the bridge he kept a look out for the pod but with the mist as thick as it was he could only see about ten meters in front of the boat. After about ten minutes the pod came into sight. It looked to be the standard silver escape pod, but it appeared to be brand new. He took manual control of the launch and maneuvered it up beside the pod. He grabbed the pod with a grappling hook and pulled it up to the launch. Then he tied it on to the launch and once it was secure he made his way on to the pod. He had to climb up on the and make his way to the door on the top of the pod. Looking through the window on the hatch he could see into the pod. It was one of the most luxurious he had ever seen in his life. In the middle of that plush interior there was two bodies. Graham fumbled with the lock and finally got it open. He climbed in and checked the bodies for life signs.

The first bodied he checked was that of an elderly human man. The man with a white beard and hair was lying on the floor at an awkward and Graham at once thought he was dead. To confirm his belief he checked the mans life signs, he was dead. He said,

"Utopia is he dead?" The hologram came to life and said,

"He is beyond our ability to resuscitate." Graham then moved to the other person and found it to be a beautiful young woman. She was dressed in flowing silk, not that fake stuff this was real, and that told Graham she was very rich. Checking her for a pulse Graham smiled as he felt the beat of life under his fingers. Then he checked to see if she was physically hurt. There were no injuries, but he noticed she was dehydrated and hoped that was the only problem. He picked her up and carried her to his launch. Pitting her on a couch, she stirred and she said,

"Water." Graham nodded and made his way to get the water and a cloth. He thought she must have been out there for days, inclosed in that pod on the surface of Dione would be like being in an oven. Coming back with the water he wet the cloth down and moistened her lips. After he wet them a couple of times she licked her lips. This went on for about half an hour, until finally the woman waved him down so she could whisper something to him. In an almost non-excitant voice she said,

"Thank you." Then there was a pause while he put more water to her lips. Then she continued,

"Who are you and where am I?" Graham sat back and said,

"You are on Dione," a look of sheer panic came to her eyes and said,

"We must get out of here, they don't want anyone to know they are here. If they think you know you are dead."Graham looked at her, he thought, 'she must be delusional, there are no sentient life forms on Dione. The most developed is at about the stage of a trainable house pet. He said,

"Don't worry you are safe now just lie there and rest," he then told Utopia to take the launch back to there base.