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*The ship sits in space, slowly drifting.*

*Exemplar tentatively explores the ship, after helping the rest of the team out of the shuttle, and carefully lifting the frail looking lizard creature over the steps and debris.*

*the airlock is sealed, but seems to have been breached at some point. The access panel has been previously hot wired. The doors are not closed all the way, and a band of ice is present between them. Sensor scans of the airlock indicate two man sized shapes inside, and a device demonstrating electical activity, and signs that it may be live ordnance. This device is on the inner doors of the airlock.*

"Everyone might want to stand back... Ignac, can you fix this? If you can't, you may want to back everyone up to the shuttle and take off while I try to open it."

*rather specifically, there is no docking bay that you are in. You have brought your shuttle to directly dock with the airlock.*

* used my whiteboard to better represent what is going on, since I seem to have failed to illustrate the scene. I'll use a pro tool or something for future encounters, and preferably have it ready when you get there. The image below is intended to, with my limited drawing skills, illustrate the shape of the airlock, hopefully confusion will no longer ensue.*



*Black is the hull of the ship and the extending access port, green are the humanoid objects inside the access tunnel, red is the active device that may be live ordnance. Note the blue, which appears to be ice. Also, on several points on the hull, as I attempted to illustrate in the top left, are apparent breaches in the hull with a burst of ice extending out. You indicated that you were attempting to access the ship in some way. I need to know more specifically what you are doing. I am assuming that you and the boarding party have geared up in space suits and are using the airlock on board your shuttle to mate with the airlock on the derelict. let's go ahead an assume that you've done this. The residual atmosphere in your airlock, when you open your inner hatch and begin to access the derelict, raises the temperature of the ice wedged between the doors of the airlock. It begins to melt immediately, though is only about an inch wide. It is semi-transparent, and two black shapes roughly the size of men with semi-humanoid appearance can be seen suspended in the ice, which seems to completely fill the access port. The entire access passage is filled with ice, which has a pinkish color and is semi-transparent. A large black device can be seen through the ice on the far door, it has a blinking light on it and has extensions as shown, extending across the diameter of the access port in two directions. As the ice wedging open the nearer access door melts, the door closes completely, unless someone tries to wedge it open. Anyone with any level of skill in spacefaring would expect all shipboard systems on the derelict to be operating at half strength or lower, based on the decay of the reactor. A science or engineering roll would be needed to determine the age of the reactor, and having direct access to it would help with the accuracy of this determination. Please indicate if you're going to try to drive the door open with force, catching something in the melting ice gap, or if you deliberately did not fill your side of the airlock with atmosphere, in which case the ice did not melt.*

*Ignac, anticipating ice, does fill the hatch with atmosphere and begins looking for ship life-support systems. Shouting to Exemplar, to block the closing door, Ignac works at the control panel. He attempts to locate the reactor (rolls later when able) and works to route control systems to the nearby panel he has melted somewhat with a portable laser tool*

*the panel does not access internal systems, but does access the closing door. Little profound force is needed to pry it open. The use of a laser tool on the ice actually burns it, leaving a rubbery brown sludge. However, once the door is wedged open, and the surface area of the ice exposed to warmer atmosphere increases, the ice melts at a profound rate, rapidly filling the bottom of your shuttles airlock with a pink transparent fluid. The volume of the derelict's airlock is greater than the volume of your airlock; it will fill your airlock to nearly full.*

*Science roll to examine nature of ice, since it shouldn't burn to a leathery brown sludge... [Invis Castle roll, and limited memory of rolling rules while at work... [6,3,4] = (13) http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/1558488/]*

"What is this stuff?

*a mobile, hand held, analysis station is cheap in ultratech, and would provide a bonus necessary to make that roll successful, I'll assume you have one. Results come back immediately, keep in mind that the airlock is rapidly filling with liquid, the ice melts at an alarming rate*

Composition:
82% H2O
4% Unknown Protein
6% Unidentified Algae
1% Molecular O2

Properties:
This liquid has a specific range of temperatures in which it will behave normally. Below 10 C it will freeze almost instantly, expanding and generating sharp edges. Above 50 C it will rubberize, some of the unknown proteins forming a matrix and carbonizing. The algae give the liquid it's pink color, and are photosynthetic. They seem to be secreting the proteins, and oxygenating the liquid. They show obvious signs of genetic engineering. They maintain a chemotactic distance from each other, and only replicate when some of their number die of old age. The proteins in solution also provide a higher viscosity than water. This solution is non-toxic.

* With his bio-engineering skill, Ignac attempts to determine it's purpose while moving out of the hatch area. *

*The purpose of the algae seems to be to secrete the proteins that are found in solution. Your skill shows you that, if a person were immersed in this solution, as two figures appear to be that are still frozen in the airlock, they would have protection from heat based weapons (DR 50 vs Heat only) and kinetic projectiles, even if room temperature, would be slowed (DR10 vs kinetic). Beyond that, you will have to come to your own conclusions, which might become more obvious with more data.*

*The melting process is approaching completion. The two figures are freed from the ice. They are semi-humanoid, seem to be wearing space armor, and have four arms and two legs. Their heads, if the shape of their helmets indicates anything, are longer than they are wide. Their armor is black. One of them had a weapon drawn, and apparently attempted to fire it. A long irregular rubber mass articulates with his pistol. As the ice melts and the liquid level equilibrates, the device attached to the far door is exposed. It continues doing whatever it was doing before. A loud metallic groan can be heard, and additional liquid begins pouring in from a long thin vent above the door. The airlock of the derelict is not under gravity, but your is. This preserves your atmosphere in the top of your airlock. Whatever process is taking place comes to completion, and the airlock is filled with this strange fluid. Movement is slow. Your ship and your systems seem to be keeping the fluid warm. (space suits can handle immersion in water) Once the pressure of the liquid comes to 2 atmospheres, additional pressurization stops.*

* Ignac approaches the two figures, checking for life signs and energy signatures. The derelict ship's internal airlock hatach door is examined. Can I open it to gain access to the rest of the ship? *

*the figures seem to be deceased. Some kind of device has been planted on your side of the inner airlock door. Sensor scans indicate that this may be an explosive device of some kind. You do think you can rig the inner door to open, but whatever this device is intended to do will probably happen if you do that.*