> > The dead beetle IS useful
>
> I'm pretty sure I have to give it to someone but I can't think of who. Not Kevin Johnson, not the laboratory in the medical facility. Who?
>

Where do they keep the various animals/plants on the station? Try around there.

> > Explore everywhere, talk to everybody, and above all investigate.
> > Keep going back to places you've been and people you've seen. What's you're inventory?
>
> I noticed Solomon Kepler is gone. I tried to break into his office through the maintenance doors but I didn't get far. Wonder where he went...
>
> > I'm assuming you've taken a ride off planet.....................
>
> Yeah, I've searched and searched through the mines. Am I at the point that I can get into the sandstone caverns now???

You can get into the sandstone caverns on your first trip into the mines -- you won't need to do anything or get anything outside of them to get all the way to the end. There's a miner who's pushing a cart west through a passage who mentions the sandstone (southeastern) caverns. If you ask him about them, the last bit of information he tells you will be a clue. Also, think about what hacking up the stalagmites in the area south of that miner might have accomplished.