Maybe they took a ship and went home? Maybe it was a mission that came to an end and they simply left. Though it seems a waste of a research facility this large.

[he hasn't been here long enough to really know what might have happened, but this place clearly cost a lot of money so why is it sitting in disrepair?]

Yes, far away from Iceland I suppose.

[He has never encountered anyone who sounds so excited to know where Japan is.]

Illness? What illness? We closed our borders?

[He has no idea what Reynir is talking about anymore.]