(CLOSED)

[erbier]

CHARACTERS: Ilde & Lexa (some Angel)
WHERE: the Alkon Facility
WHEN: Day 161 - 163
SUMMARY: The ladies from a pair of hard-scrabble worlds have decided to go on a hard-scrabble mission beneath the earth to look for supplies and weapons data.
WARNINGS: Definitely death and some horror elements, will update as necessary.

Comments

[erbier]

[ Ilde has no idea about self-destruct mechanisms. The entire concept would astonish her. She presses another button and a red light turns on briefly... Startled, she hits the next.

The track starts in silence, playing back her brief recording before moving on to the next files, the log entry begins... ]

A piece of someone... locked inside?

[ She is thinking of seeing Angel's face on her datapad, not the girl herself but a little fragment of her will and her connection. She isn't even entirely wrong, just unable to express herself in terms of the technology. ]

[adamance]

[The red light makes her tense momentarily as she recalls the lights from just outside of Mount Weather, but she relaxes when the recording plays. Here, Lexa has a firmer grasp over what they've just found. She's heard the music in the tunnels leading to where the reapers are kept, and elsewhere as well. It's rare to experience it in a world where batteries and radios have gone unused, but she's seen it.

And she's seen a radio as well, though she knows this isn't the same.]

Not exactly, [she says, speaking with more confidence. That firmer grasp helps her. She's never seen something like this, but it's close enough.] It's a recording. Some people choose to keep them to pass messages. [Like Monty had from inside the Mountain to alert Clarke and the others.] Others communicate through live transmissions.

I don't understand precisely how it works. I've never seen anything like this. But it was left behind. Like a book. [She knows books more than anything else.]

[erbier]

[ Lexa's descriptions helps Ilde to pull up some of the information that the Hive possesses, that Angel has shared with her in bulk. Images pop into her head, different shapes and sizes of recording equipment, little snippets of classification: digital, analog. The physical demonstration is appreciated, stored into her memory along with the many things she has learned since leaving her miserable and comparably barbaric world of magic and death. ]

Very clever.

[ Now that she has essentially pulled up the correct manual from the wide library of the Hive, she more confidently presses a button on the recorder to start the track again, listening more closely. ]

Captain. Some kind of military group?

[adamance]

["Captain" is not a rank among her people, but she knows the term. She considers it, and then gives an uncertain shake of her head.]

It sounded almost like a name. We should consider that possibility, as well. [Lexa's usage of the English language is competent, and all the more strengthened since she's joined the Hive. For that reason, she definitely noticed the lack of "the" before "Captain.]

According to our surroundings, that seems likely. But not maintained. Who would risk leaving this information behind? [Unless they are risking something else here. She is not afraid, but she does mentally acknowledge the possibility.]

[erbier]

[ She nods, distracted. ]

Unless they did not intend to leave it?

[ It is not the first example they have seen, there was gear and other items everywhere in this cavernously empty place. ]

[adamance]

It's not impossible, but this is a land built upon trade. Wouldn't you think someone would locate it sooner? [They may have found the precise information to lead them there, but it is odd to think of themselves as the first. When she looks around, she sees numerous objects that could be valuable.

The device that plays the logs could be valuable all on its own.]

[erbier]

[ That idea sparks Ilde's nervousness, and she has to stomp it out quickly, ]

Perhaps they assumed there was nothing else to see, when they came across the damaged lift.

[ She doesn't want to let her imagination get hold of what might be down here that has stopped scavengers from taking anything. ]

[adamance]

It's not improbable. It just seems unlikely. Then again, we have no way of knowing how desperate these people are. Perhaps they also feared what lied ahead. [It could be risky when there were less dangerous areas available to pillage. Lexa could understand that judgment call.]

[erbier]

[ A sigh, uncertain. ]

It is like a tomb.

[ Could that alone have driven others away? ]

[adamance]

It may be, [she confirms.] There are many places like this where I come from. They were destroyed by bombs, but the deeper you go, the more intact they happen to be.

[They have decidedly ended up somewhere "deeper," though she doesn't know if the same types of decimating force ripped through here.]

[erbier]

[ A nod, somewhat distracted as she listens to the audio log once more. ]

It seems we will need a key to go deeper.

[ Perhaps not necessarily this man's, but there is some kind of access restriction in place. ]

[adamance]

Look for something similar, then. Any cards or rectangular-shaped objects.

[There's a pause as she hesitates, looking at the recording device.]

Let's pocket the key. It may prove useful later. We'll bring that with us for now.

[The device, she means, in the case that they require it later.]

[erbier]

[ She nods, and having now accessed enough of the Hive's information on this device, she follows its cord into a neat little socket, the bed frame stops her however. Cramped quarters affording only so many extra outlets. ]

This is in the way.

[ She'll take one end if Lexa takes the other. ]

[adamance]

[Her head tilts back after a moment as she eyes the bedframe. It's unusual to find something like this here, but she doesn't say as much. She has a feeling that Ilde will be able to sense that she's puzzled, but much of this place confuses her compared to what she's found at home.

Lexa strides forward, taking her half of the bed frame.]

At the same time? [she asks, and she knows that the Nest at least grants them the ability to act on that with ease.]

[erbier]

[ A nod, and they lift together on three. It doesn't need to be pulled far, just enough so that she can get her hand behind it and pull free the thin cord. When the bed moves, there is a clattering. Kneeling on the bed, Ilde fishes it out. ]

Another one.

[ She sits back and turns it over in her hands. ]

This one is different, there's no slotting along the edge.

[adamance]

[Lexa's head seems to lengthen (only seems) as she observes the card in Ilde's hands. Ah, that is much closer to what she had been expecting; that is what she had found on men from Mount Weather.]

It may be what we require. If the doors are activated. If not, then we'll find a dead end. [And they can't be trusted to build explosives to force their way in, which is the only way she knows they can.

But she also doesn't know how to build explosives, so that's a thing.]

[erbier]

[ She nods, she has seen enough of the automated doors within the Station. Either they will be able to continue into the Alkon site, or they won't. They will have to decide if it will be worth it to try to force open so many doors, or to simply leave it at that. Ilde offers the keycard to Lexa before, finally pulling free the thin cord to the little audio player. She wraps the word around her hand and then puts the player itself into her pack. ]

Yes, we'll see how far we get.

[adamance]

[With purpose, she turns. Lexa assumes Ilde will follow, and there is little more they can do here. As she moves, she pays attention to the markings their feet leave, signs that fire once ripped through this place long ago, burning nearly everything. If there is someone else to be found there, they are leaving a trail. Fortunately, she's alert enough to hear.

The first rooms they reach still contain the same soot on the ground, with very few markings or trails. She flashes her flashlight down to take note of the fact that it's barely been disturbed, and then she motions for Ilde to use the card reader outside of the room.

Just inside is the equipment area, though to Lexa, it looks like a place to gather scrap metal to create weapons. Her mind takes a moment to process it.]

Much of this could be traded. Used. Why hasn't it been? [She knows she's reiterating an earlier question, but there's a haunting sense of ... emptiness here.]

[erbier]

[ Ilde almost doesn't even notice the soot. She was so used to such things, her burned world was always raining with ash, and the continual fall would cover her tracks again like snow. But then again, if the tracks are not being covered over, that means no one else's would be either.

And theirs are the only ones. All the more reason it doesn't even enter her mind. Her tone is easy, not at all rejecting Lexa's uncertainty about this place. It was almost too easy, too good to be true, and such discoveries always came with a caveat. ]

If no one knows that this place is here...

[ Then no scavengers would come. As if they should be so lucky that that is the only explanation. ]

[adamance]

That may be so, [she allows, as it's a reiteration of an obvious point that's been present for a while. However, it's not as if they needed to go off planet to find it. They were able to travel there on their own, and they have a map assisting them. To some degree. Not entirely.]

Whatever we gather here, we will have to ask one of the senior Hosts what they think of it. [She has no other idea of what to call them, after all. "Senior" seems to do.]

[erbier]

In the note that Steven found, there was some mention of exploratory kits. Those seemed worthwhile to our group.

[ Easy to carry, with practical purpose to them. ]

Do you see anything else here you would take?

[adamance]

[What Lexa values and what their group would value are two different things. She recalls looking at the objects that would lead to the highest number of money. Things like that can be repurposed, especially if they've been protected inside these chambers.]

Anything that looks as if it might be on the inside of the devices we've been provided. If we can easily take it apart and retrieve it, we take it.

[They won't be very discerning themselves ... but thankfully, the datapad can meet them in the middle on it.]

[erbier]

[ She nods, accepting that logic. ]

It may be best to take full stock of what is available here, then decide how much can efficiently be carried.

[ In short, to keep poking around like the meddling kids they are. ]

[adamance]

It's a worthy idea. We may come across something that requires both of our strength. [Lexa can't begin to imagine how they'll get it out, but she's seen stranger things rigged up by her people. Perhaps they can simply ask for assistance if it comes to that.

But only then, because they're both so stubborn.]

[erbier]

[ They move through the rooms, sometimes one of them on each side of the hall, poking through desk drawers and cabinets and closets. Much of the inventory, the computers and lab equipment, is a bit beyond Ilde's understanding, all she can do is reference the datapad as Angel had modified it for her and compare it to what may be of use. Without knowing if they will have any success in trading, however, she is more inclined to what will be beneficial to the hosts themselves. In pulling open drawers after drawers, she comes across a few little audio logs, most of them recorded notes on the experiments, boring and mostly useless.

When she finds the pair of gossipy journal entries, however... ]

Lexa, these seem to be about some kind of... traitor?

[ Not exactly the word she wants, but she's not quite sure how else to describe it. ]