Location of contact
Our high-altitude KerBalloon team was embedded with a keological expedition out to the Great Desert to study a large area of uplifted terrain to begin to understand its origins. The balloon team was tasked with releasing two balloons and tracking their drift around the area to get an idea of the air currents. Both meandered around and came down within the interior regions. In an attempt to recover the second balloon the crew was attacked with stones that appeared to have been thrown or slung. They beat a hasty retreat to their airship and took flight, spotting their assailants as they flew off – a small group of kerbals clad in animal skins. They returned to the area some time later with a larger group and found the balloon payload was gone along with the group of unknown kerbals. A search of the area uncovered numerous cave openings and most of them displayed indications of regular use. The decision was made to not attempt to locate or further disturb the unknown tribe until a report could be made.
The Presider has already been briefed on the events and his office has made a statement that the government is currently deliberating whether or not any further attempts at contact should be made. The apparent level of primitive technology would imply these kerbals (of which it is assumed many more live underground) have been isolated since the asteroid impact and seem to have survived well enough on their own so far. At the same time, others have argued that the primitive display is a ruse and the kerbals can’t be all that less sophisticated than ourselves to have survived the period after the initial impact at all. In response to those claims yet another idea has been put forth that they may have had sufficient technology to survive the many generations of cold & unbreathable atmosphere only to have devolved once surface conditions improved and such technology was no longer needed.
Until a decision is reached on how to handle this discovery, the mountains surrounding the contact site have been placed under restricted access.
