[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-116601-en":3,"doc-seo-116601-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":20,"language":21,"language_code":22,"site_id":23,"html_lang":22,"table_of_contents":24,"faqs":25,"seo_title":26,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},116601,1099514067438,"River Wang","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/100002539ee87300030?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1780474512215547542",1,"Story & Novel","The Scent of Metal - Chapter 1","The story follows Lea Santorin during a remote expedition to Pluto, where a “Waiting Room” and an alien-built tunnel lead to a vast unknown base. Selected for a restricted mission, Lea anticipates answers about how alien structures were uncovered in Pluto’s ice and studies a recovered object she calls “the Gizmo.” Tensions with mission leadership and Dr. Vasili Adi build as docking and equipment setup begin, revealing intriguing environmental details and suggesting the object’s central importance to accessing or understanding the alien facility.","The Scent of Metal  \nAll rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form, with the exception of brief excerpts for the purpose of review.  \nCopyright ©2013 by Sabrina Chase  \n[http://www.chaseadventures.com](http://www.chaseadventures.com)  \nCover art by Les Petersen  \n[http://www.lespetersen.com.au/](http://www.lespetersen.com.au/)  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nTable of Contents  \nCopyright Page  \nThe Scent of Metal Chapter 1  \nChapter 2  \nChapter 3  \nChapter 4  \nChapter 5  \nChapter 6  \nChapter 7  \nChapter 8  \nChapter 9  \nChapter 10  \nChapter 11  \nChapter 12  \nChapter 13  \nChapter 14  \nChapter 15  \nChapter 17  \nEpilogue  \nAlso By  \nSabrina Chase  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nAcknowledgments  \nMany thanks to all who have given so generously of their time and advice during the writing of this book: the glorious members of STEW (Nisi Shawl, Michael Ehart, Mike Canfield, Doreen Mitchum, Robert Kruger, Victoria Garcia, Elizabeth Coleman, Kristen King, and Yang–Yang Wang), editor Deb Taber, proofreader Roger Ivie, and my mother, who liked it even with the missing chapter.  \nI’d also thank a few quiet gentlemen who were kind enough to entertain questions, but I didn’t get their names...  \nS. Chase  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nChapter 1  \nLea Santorin stood in the spartan, sterile structure known as the Waiting Room and tried not to grin like an idiot. She still wasn’t sure why she’d been picked for this expedition, but she wasn’t complaining. Even thoughthe decorating scheme was pretty much all Early Cargo Container. The Waiting Room did feature some windows with a view of what looked like a regular cave, just like on Earth but without stalagmites and stalactites and things. Boring. Except that the Waiting Room existed so shuttles could dock and people could enter the rest of what they’d come all the way to the edge of the solar system to study.  \nIf she looked closely, she could see the join. On one side it was human– made steel, and on the other a rough, fine–structured material they still had trouble making a dent in. Whoever had made it—and the rest of the huge structure discovered in the core of Pluto—was not human. That much they knew. What Lea wanted to know was how anyone had ever thought to drill down through hundreds of meters of Pluto’s ice to find the cave and the rest of the structure the cave connected to.  \nVagrant gleams of light reflected off the dark ice of the tunnel. The shuttle was coming, and it was carrying the one object they had successfully removed from the alien base. That fact, and its location in a niche in the big foyer–like area connected to the cave, meant it had to be important. For what, she didn’t know—but since the whole mission was focused on figuring out the alien base, Lea had persuaded the mission director that she should be allowed to study the object in its original setting. And so, the Gizmo, her name for the thing, was being taken from Kepler, the ship that had brought them from Luna Base to Pluto so she could do so. She wondered how long they would let her keep it.  \nThe expedition leaders had waited until Kepler was nearly halfway out from Luna Base to tell them what they were really going to investigate. All Lea had been told on Earth, under heavy security restrictions, was that they had found alien wreckage on Pluto. Which was not exactly true, but not completely false either. Pluto, under a coating of ice and rock, was an alien construction. Nobody was sure if it was wrecked or abandoned or what. No alien skeletons or equivalent had been found. At least that’s what they’d said.  \nThe shuttle slowly rotated and settled to the floor of the cave, and Lea fidgeted impatiently waiting for the docking collar to connect. Some military types in uniforms were first off the shuttle, but Lea paid no attention to them. Her focus was on Dr. Vasili Adi, who was carrying a bulky metal case.  \nShe reached for the case, but Dr. Adi frow","cbCaioZbU8f3y6KK","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaioZbU8f3y6KK","pdf",889081,226,"English","en",105,"# Chapter 1\n## Waiting Room and the alien structure\n## The recovered Gizmo and mission secrecy\n## Arrival at the niche and equipment setup","[{\"question\":\"Why is Lea Santorin chosen for the Pluto expedition?\",\"answer\":\"Lea is selected to join the mission despite uncertainty about the reason, and she later persuades the mission director to study the recovered object in its original setting.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the alien structure on Pluto like in Chapter 1?\",\"answer\":\"Lea observes a sterile waiting area with views of a cave-like environment and later describes rough, pale-gold textured corridors leading through cold, dry air toward a key niche location.\"},{\"question\":\"What is “the Gizmo” and why does Lea focus on it?\",\"answer\":\"The Gizmo is the only object successfully removed from the alien base. Its importance is implied by its placement within the large foyer-like area connected to the cave and by the mission’s focus on the alien base.\"}]","The Scent of Metal - Chapter 1 | PDF",1785660756,348,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":23,"language":22,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"the-scent-of-metal-chapter-1","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,53,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-scent-of-metal-chapter-1/116601/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":22,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-02",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"Why is Lea Santorin chosen for the Pluto expedition?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"Lea is selected to join the mission despite uncertainty about the reason, and she later persuades the mission director to study the recovered object in its original setting.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"What is the alien structure on Pluto like in Chapter 1?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"Lea observes a sterile waiting area with views of a cave-like environment and later describes rough, pale-gold textured corridors leading through cold, dry air toward a key niche location.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"What is “the Gizmo” and why does Lea focus on it?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"The Gizmo is the only object successfully removed from the alien base. 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