Captain Jose Chavez took command of a retired scout vessel, as yet unnamed, and mustered out from the service together with two friends he had met in his days in the field.  Deciding not to stop at Slough, the group jumped to Calvary, where they found ancient alien devices still functioning in orbit and were greeted by a deeply unprofessional and disinterested ground control.

After being instructed to land at Necropolis, the name given to the main colony plateau, and being told that landing elsewhere would result in immediate destruction of their ship, the company landed in the starbase which was itself the central cordoned area within a larger settlement which in turn was nestled among ancient and cyclopean alien ruins.  Ziggurats and pyramids which the crew were later informed constituted an ancient burial ground of the now extinct natives.

After shooing off the inevitable squeegee merchants, the company disembarked and sought out a local mechanic at Captain Chavez's request.  The mechanic, Azuka Dia, was asked to paint the ship and agreed to do so for a fee of 1,000 cr with a 200 cr bonus for an immediate start.  On asking the name to paint on the ship, the crew voted for the name Old Speckled Hen, Captain Chavez claiming this was as it was a name that would offend no clients and not because of any unnatural relationship he had formed with the ship poultry during his long months alone on the outskirts of human space.

On exploring the starbase, it was noticeable that although technically of routine quality there seemed to be little pride in its upkeep.  Discipline was plainly lax, structures prefabricated with little attempt to improve or beautify them.

Commander Diaz reentered the ship and logged into local datanets, scouring local news and hacking into the accounts (with little difficulty, in part due to his great skill and in part due to the poor local security) of Dr Myriam Querido, chief commercial negotiator for the colony.  Meanwhile Captain Chavez and Lt. Higson-Smith went to the Happy Landings bar, where Lt. Higson-Smith lost money gambling to local technicians so gaining their friendship while Captain Chavez came to know the bar owner, Oskar Chebile.  While in the bar, they met Constable Victor Gil, a young policeman who spoke of the absence of crime and a breath later told them to come to him should they wish to discuss criminality or should they encounter it.  He ordered drinks for himself and the crew, but was not charged for them.  Following this, and on learning that Dr Querido was a lonely woman with few professional or social outlets, the crew decided that The Marquis would seduce her, so as better to manage the process of arranging contacts for smuggling local artefacts.

On leaving the starbase, through a security gate which was manned but where no attempt to check credentials was made (though a tip was requested on learning that the Marquis was of the nobility), the crew entered the colony proper.  Swaggering through town, they noticed that the atmosphere in the colony was one of diligence and intense discussions, with groups of researchers moving about discussing theories and new discoveries.  Colony buildings were prefabricated, but simulated to appear in a range of styles from wood cabin to colonial and many others.  The central Cantina was located, where many colonists ate each day, as was an auditorium in which each evening researchers would make presentations freely to those attending.  Also discovered was a visitors exhibition centre, with the unusual fee of 100cr.

Paying to watch the show, the Marquis learned much of the colony's history, and more of the project to raise alien children using technology found on a separate plateau, named Acropolis by the colonists.  He also saw films of moving pictures found at certain alien sites, the aliens were crab shaped creatures, sometimes with a greyish-pinkish skin and sometimes with fur (often in pink but sometimes in purple).  The creatures had sensory clusters on stalks, and appeared to have evolved from a semi-acquatic species which would have lain in cover with its stalks protruding to spot predators (or possibly prey).  The pictures typically showed a creature run on screen, gabble in a high pitch and wave their frontal manipulators in the air, sometimes meet with one or two others who would act similarly, then they would all run off usually in different directions.  In one a creature ran on, screeched, ran off then returned wearing a utility belt.  The meaning of the pictures and their purpose remains unclear.

The crew staged a meeting with Dr Querido in the Cantina, where the Marquis made a great impact on her and repelled her unwanted admirer Frederico, who was then further deterred by menacing glares from Chavez.  The crew were warned by the Concordat Liaison Officer not to smuggle, and then departed. 

That evening, the Marquis met with Dr Querido for his dinner date, and on discovering she had brought friends hastily invited the others.  Chavez was paired with Luisa, a materials chemist, and Higson-Smith with Ramona, a physicist.  The evening passed well enough, with Diaz and Querido providing the social skills.  Higson-Smith impressed his date, but retreated on enquiries as to his long term plans.  Chavez repelled his, but nonetheless gained a quick fumble outside...

On leaving, the party learned from Dr Querido that they had raised four generations of aliens now at Acropolis, the first three having died, and that they had found what appeared to be a device for downloading stored alien minds into the children's brains.  They also learned that they had tried to socialise the alien young using videos of moving images found in the alien cities and teleoperated robot aliens controlled by humans.  Unsurprisingly, to date the aliens do not appear to have socialised and show little sign of social intelligence, there are concerns that they may be psychotic, and the researchers hope that future generations may eventually learn how not to be so.  Dr Querido promised to obtain passes for the crew to visit the Acropolis facility with her the next day so they could see the work for themselves, and possibly interact with the alien children via the robot alien.

Booking into the free hostel for travellers, with Higson-Smith taking the upgraded room available to members of the Traveller's Aid Society, the crew met Dr Luis Gasco, a local archeologist waiting in the bar who dropped broad hints about arranging artefact sales for them.

Finally, Captain Chavez went back to the Happy Landings bar, where he met fellow ex-scout and ship captain Badru Mbarga.  They drank long into the night, swapped scout stories and Captain Mbarga informed Chavez that both Oskar Chebile and Luis Gasco were smugglers, that on leaving the planet the concordat inspected the ship and then the police, and that Constable Gil on his inspection arranged for goods to be brought on board. Meanwhile, the Marquis hacks into the Acropolis computer system and arranges for himself to have admin-level computer access during his visit. 

And with that, all slept to wait for the next day, and the trip to Acropolis...