Sci-Fi Dogs: Episode 4.5

/note: howel keeps his research secret from the rest of the crew, they believe that howel and bernard went out to get ice alone.

##### Character Appearances

This episode features the characters Howel and Bernard. Howel asks Bernard to attend a personal private mission of his own.

##### Mission Briefing

After the Commander allows the crew to have a day off before they embark on their mission to Australia, Howel approaches Bernard's workshop and invites him to come on a mission of his own. He enlightens Bernard that he will require his company on an errand to a information archive where he plans to do some research on the Resistance.

##### Arrival

Howel leaves little note to the crew about their absence and as they are about to leave the Commander requests they pick up ice for the Cryopod. Howel and Bernard are then also urged to dress in civilian clothing as the Wolfenstein presence may cause unnecessary tension with the locals. Before they leave, Howel and Bernard dress into civilian clothing and leave their weaponry on the ship. They are confident that they will not run into any trouble on the planet or at the archive and if they do, Howel is already well equipped with his psychic abilities to dispel conflict. Howel and Bernard take a taxi to the planet and arrive courtly, left in one of the many skyscraper carparks. Before them sits a grand sprawling village all on the top of a single city-sized skyscraper. Bernard quickly gets distracted by the dozens of market stalls and ends up bargaining for some bizarre fruit he hadn't seen before called a Gango. The stall-keep says that it was 2 for 1 gango, and Bernard is confused as he doesn't know in what currency or if this is trade-based or what-not. Bernard tells him 1 for 2 and eventually after a back and forth about the price of 2 gangos, Bernard walks out not paying a single dime for 2 Gangos. Whilst Bernard spends time at the market, Howel makes his way to the archive and tells Bernard to meet with him when he is ready.

Bernard puts his Gangos in his pockets and makes sure to catch up with Howel at the archive. Bernard approaches the grand archive and Howel beckons him in, pulling him over to one of the primitive computers. The computers were so primitive it was unlike anything quite seen in human history. It appeared that they frequently printed new images on paper of the different website pages and put them on a rotating screen as you searched the web frame-by-frame. Howel stands over Bernard's shoulder as he has Bernard navigate the computer and tells him what he wants to search. The two search different articles about the most wanted of the Resistance that they had originally been tasked with seeking out. They started with Shane, finding out pieces of information about him and his involvement with the Resistance, and then later found Seban's youtube channel which Howel commanded for them to watch meticulously scouring for information. They find that Seban alone has an estimated kill count of 3 billion. After finding this out, Howel makes a personal note to do more research in his own time and thanks Bernard for his aid. Bernard enlightens Howel that he can do research on the database from his own room back at the ship and doesn't have to go to a physical archive to navigate the web. Howel is amazed however a little embarrassed as he knows that Bernard is right. Howel states that he wanted privacy for his initial search and always preferred going to physical archives rather than navigating the web from a terminal in his home, however, Howel notes this for future reference.

The two begin to leave the archive when Bernard stops Howel and asks if he has ever been to a hot spring. Howel says that he never been and Bernard invites him to come to one with him, since they still have a considerable amount of time off. Bernard jokes and says that the chemicals in the water are to die for and that he keeps wanting to come back, to which Howel is not amused. They take a taxi to the hot spring and enter accordingly.

##### HOT SPRING

When at the hot spring, the pair are met by a receptionist that asks them if they have a reservation. They do not have a reservation at the hot spring however Howel usefully takes out their Wolfenstein discount club card and flashes it to the receptionist. Bernard then does the same. The Wolfenstein get discounts at the hot spring and are given VIP passes into the larger mineral rich pools. Bernard and Howel are granted access to the springs and they put the expenses on their squad tab. The hot springs don't just have pools, there is also a sauna room, and other resort features. The boys are given keys to lockers in the locker room and begin to prepare themselves to enter the springs. On their way to the springs, Bernard remarks that Howel looks better out of uniform. Howel acknowledges his comment however chooses to not respond as he does not know what to say. They both go to submerge in one of the hot pools leaving their towels not to far from the pool.

In the pool, there are other combat-hardened veterans covered in a variety of battle scars. They all appear to be Wolfenstein. Bernard participates in idle chit-chat with the veterans, having a friendly back-and-forth whilst Howel basks in the pool in silence. The veterans ask Bernard what his designation is and he responds with saying that he is a combat engineer working for a new special forces unit. He chimes in with saying that Howel, the brooding young man in the pool, was also part of his special forces unit and served as its psychic. Howel is found to be laced with ferocious lightning scars up his left arm so the veterans do not argue this. Howel jumps at the mention of his name and offers to demonstrate a trick using his psychic ability. The veterans are entertained by the young soldier's agitated nature and implore him to do so. Howel conjures an illusion of a thingamajig which entertains the veterans greatly. Howel follows his demonstration with further silence, observing Bernard's behaviour with the veterans. Bernard continues to be chummy and exchanges contact information with the men before he sees a Knight out of suit in another pool across the spring room. He asks where he served, if he has been serving since the Nexus, and he says that he has however it happens to come up that the Knight program has come back into circulation. Bernard's stomach drops and his cheery nature struggles to maintain as he imagines this new age of horror. Soon after this, Bernard asks Howel if he has had enough time relaxing and the two disembark from the pool.

##### End

They pick up ice on the way home and once they return to the ship, Bernard goes to his workshop and Howel goes to his room. Once in their rooms, Bernard continues tampering with his data reader, and Howel begins to do his own personal research on the most wanted of the Resistance.