An invitation to a party appears on various university billboards inviting people to the Kappa Alpha greek house located in the mostly finished Castle Commonwealth mall on the edge of town. The notice instructs people to follow the access road at 67 Lost Nation drive and enter through the back door and promises that signs will be posted to guide people to the party itself.
"Yeah, maybe." He taps on settings but after a minute of tapping around he gives up. "I hope so, it doesn't look like there's a way to configure this from here."
"If we're going back how many phones should we take?" asks Riley. "I think it makes sense to take at least a couple spares in case we lose one or more people show up considering how long a trip it is out here."
"Take like 9 of them? We still need to get food so we don't want to stack the trailer with phones."
"Sounds good." Riley stacks up some boxes and deposits them in one of the trailers. "So, now we go back. Actually, maybe we should grab a couple of those drones. It might help with surface exploration. Cases too. I don't think there are repair shops around here so these phones need to last."
Alex nods. "Having the drones is probably wise. Same for the cases, you forgot about screen protectors though." Putting action to the words he picks up some of each and adds them to their collection.
"Oooh good idea. Those drones will be super useful. Do they come with cameras or do you have to get those separately?"
Alex picks back up one of the boxes and scrutinizes it carefully. "It says it has a pair of cameras."
"Yeah, I think so, there are other accessories but nothing I expect we'll need. If anyone prefers using a headset to holding your phone up to your face you should get one now." says Riley.
Alex and Emily each grab one for themselves.
They have a long bike ride ahead of them, fourteen kilometers if they don't stop for breaks.
There are lots of options to choose from. Food shops, Ice Cream Parlours, Hardware stores, Grocery stores other than the one Emily picked, hobbyist stores, places stocking knick-knacks, furniture stores, specialty clothing stores, electronics stores, and at least one camping store.
"Maybe we should poke around in that camping store, see what's there? Might have useful things for exploring the surface when we decide to do that and I think it's time for a break."
Claire nods, breathing heavily. "That, sounds fantastic."
The inside of the store is pretty normal, there's tents and sleeping bags featured prominently. There are freeze dried meals (just add water), camp furniture, and any number of trinkets intended to make your camping experience that much better, if you don't overstuff your bag with them.
On the more immediately useful side there are backpacks large and small.
Riley walks around and ends up picking up a flashlight an electric lantern and an extra water bottle. "Everyone should probably grab a water bottle they like, if we're going to keep exploring it'll be important to stay hydrated."
Emily picks up a water bottle as recommended but also some rope, a couple emergency blankets and a towel. "Can't go wrong when you have your towel," she jokes.
Claire supplements her bottle with a nice pair of binoculars.
Alex just picks up a nice multitool and a bottle.
"Water bottles are an excellent idea."
Both girls grab nice sturdy bottles, after testing that the lids both close securely and are not a pain to open afterwards.
"This is definitely somewhere to keep in mind if we decide we need longer expeditions outside. Probably better to hold off on the camping gear for the moment though," notes Riley.
"Yeah, we don't have that much space on the trailer and we probably don't want to rush out on any overnight camping expeditions anytime soon. I've got a feeling they'll be plenty to keep us busy close by."
"Like the clinic. I can't wait to get back. Speaking of which is everyone feeling rested enough or should we find another store nearby to poke around in?"
Claire takes a deep breath. "I think I'm alright, I wouldn't turn down another couple minutes of downtime though."
"Think I'll be okay. We really should get back. There could be more people in the lobby by now and we still have to get food.."
"Okay," Claire gets back on her bike. The others join her and once more they're off. Six kilometers to the grocery.
If this becomes a regular event they're going to be in very good shape. Finally, they arrive at the grocery store. Almost everything is in cabinets, freezers, or cases of one sort or another. Some are labelled while others have windows to show the food within. The only exceptions are the various paper plates and other non-food items.