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The rest of the day is spent formulating a plan.
During your visit to Mulhouse, you will call yourself Phanuhl, in honour of the man slain by the Scrappers. You will be a simple chieftain accompanied by his shaman and a few of tribesmen, looking to trade for medicine. Karlee finds it to be a believable story, as plenty of travellers go to the Spitalians for that purpose.
You'll need something to trade, even if it's just a part of your cover story. In the end, you decide that you can part with some of those virus-infested tablets found in the lockers. Five should do, according to Karlee. They're not essential to your plans, they won't draw much attention and they're still worth enough that you should be able to sell them to the Chroniclers for a few Drafts – the de facto currency of Europe. If they ask where you got them from, you can simply say that your tribe pilfered them from some Bygone ruins.
Your disguise comes next. Abandoning the jumpsuit that fits you so well, you're given an outfit of animal hides by the Voss, skins and furs draped over your body and tied down with wool thread. It stinks, it itches and you have no idea how these savages are able to live like this. For the sake of the act though, you are willing to put up for it for the duration of your visit.
Finally, there is the matter of a last resort. If everything goes tits up, you don't want to be caught completely incapable of defending yourself. You don't have anything as subtle as a pistol – just your submachine gun. You dismantle it and hide the parts in the bottom of a sack, beneath the rations you are bringing along. Based on what the Scrappers have said, you don't expect to be extensively searched during your visit. If you end up needing a gun, you should be able to put it together within a few minutes.
During your absence, everyone else is still expected to do their part. All of the hunting, farming and gathering must continue. In addition, Blayz and Herrmann must work together to reinforce the bunker. The timber collected by the behemoth is to be used for barriers and palisades, in case of an attack. If the enemy force is overwhelming, then they are to retreat to the inner reaches of Dispenser 300-9 and barricade themselves in, for however long it takes to outlast the threat. One last batch of memes is planted in their brains, just to make sure that your orders will be followed.
When tomorrow becomes today, you depart soon after the sun rises. According to Karlee's estimate, you should arrive around noon on the following day. Unfortunately, the return journey will take a little longer, thanks to how steep the mountainside is in places. You'll just have to manage. You don't object to the Voss occasionally chattering among themselves, though their fears about the outside world make for a common topic. Every now and then, you have to step in and convince them that everything's going to be alright.
