Act I: Mercurian Underground

[Carthrat]

Arkian closes his eyes, and extends his *other* senses, using his magic to pinpoint the location of a hole or shaft, particularly one that may be covered by a thin sheet of rock.

[Halbarad]

Code Select Expand

[08:33] * Hatbot --> "C-Rat rolls 2d8 and gets 14."

Unfortunately, Arkian's landing apparently jarred him enough that he can't collect his thoughts, at least for the moment.

Rowan finally manages to catch up to the geomancer; as she stops her bounding across the surface, she too notices the ground seem to vibrate very slightly, although it stops after just a few seconds.

[Ebiris]

"The ground just vibrated... I think I'm on the... door?" Rowan guesses. "This is probably the entrance to an underground hangar," she adds, sweeping her flashlight around the vicinity, hoping to catch sight of a glint of metal underneath the debris of ten thousand years that has settled in the area.

[Halbarad]

Rowan is in luck, it seems; after several minutes of searching the area with her flashlight, she comes across a keypad, just at the junction between the vibrating area (the door?) and solid ground. As she leans down to investigate it further, the pad lights up, illuminating a pad of the ten digits written in a rather stylized form of Lunarian script.

[Ebiris]

"Goodness!" Rowan gasps, leaning over the keypad. "I've found a keypad, and it still seems to have power! Chris, you might want to get over here."

[Carthrat]

Arkian trails after Rowan, feeling suitably embarrased from his little stunt.

[thepanda]

“Eh, I thought it was better than ‘I claim this land in the name of Lunar! Bow peons, bow!” Chris jests. “Though it would have looked better if we’d remembered to bring the flag out. I just know they’re going to bust our buts for that one.”

He follows the leading two members as they head away, taking his time to let the significance sink into mind. The first steps on Mercury belonged to him. He’d probably be put in a history book somewhere. That would most certainly be very cool.

Coming to the edge of the crater, Chris responds to Rowan’s call, instinctively casting his mind through his data jack to enter whatever system was still operating, going on the assumption that the doors would probably be remote controlled normally (as he’s yet to see anything resembling a guardhouse on the outside) and that the keypad was a redundant system in case of malfunction.

He does, however, take the time to read the Lunarian script.

OOC: I’m using my computer scanning attribute to get into the system.

[Halbarad]

It's a fairly simple matter to jack into the datapad; it's just a simple security lock to secure the hatch from outside. You DO notice the input line for a remote entry keycode while you're in the system, but it's quiet at the moment - unsurprisingly. You do note the radio frequency it uses, though.

Code Select Expand

[14:57] * Hatbot --> "Thepanda rolls 2d8 for Mind and gets 9."

A few minutes of work and the code is in your hands; a few seconds more, and the system accepts the direct entry of the code, a rumbling in the real world announcing the opening of the massive steel doors. According to the system timer, you have about fifteen minutes before the hatch will close again automatically,

All: About three minutes after Chris arrives, the ground shakes, and a wide rift appears in the ground about a hundred meters away, widening slowly as the massive doors grind open with a groan that comes up through your feet.

[Ebiris]

"Still working after ten thousand years... those Mercurians really knew quality construction..."

Very carefully, Rowan approaches the lip of the hatch, shining her flashlight down to see how deep it goes, and if (as she expects) there is another door to be negotiated at the bottom.

[Halbarad]

The bottom of the shaft isn't visible in the beam from your flashlight; all you see is a massive, smooth-walled bore leading down into blackness.

[Ebiris]

Turning away, Rowan bunny-hops back towards the others. "Looks like we'll have to fly the ship down there... I can't see the bottom, but I expect it functions like an airlock - we'll have to get in and close the outer door before the inner door will open."

[thepanda]

“And the ground did split open and the abyss did beckon them onward,” Chris announces, only giving the hole a minute’s inspection. Instead, his attention is focused on a different level entirely, his mind floating through the Mercurian system. “We have about fifteen minutes before the doors close automatically, so we need to make a decision.”

“We can do an exploratory expedition first to make sure everything in here is in working order, at least so far as docking is concerned, before bringing the ship in. Or we can go with option number two and go ahead and move it in now. I can’t think that there is too much damage down there, at least in this area, but I don’t really see any need to take chances either.”

“Give me a moment. I think I might be able to find some guiding lights or something,” he says, turning back to the task at hand.

[Halbarad]

Chris notes that this system isn't linked with much else, beyond the docking systems - and those themselves are isolated. There USED to be an automated ship docking procedure, but you have no idea how well it would link up with the Star's guidance systems. Tunnel lights are easily enough activated, though, and you do note that there's another door further down the tunnel leading into the docking area - that one linked to a proximity sensor, although the sensor seems to be lacking power at the moment. A few moments of work corrects that, thankfully.

All: About a minute later, a few scattered blue lights wink into existence along the sides of the tunnel, roughly every twenty meters or so - it's hard to tell, as half or more of them are burned out. The twin rows of lights disappear into the darkness of the tunnel, revealing that this bore is far, far deeper than it looks.

[Carthrat]

"We're not really going to be able able to look down there easily," comments Arkian, shrugging. "Chris, do you think we could take the ship down?"

[Jon]

Michael trails along after the others, glancing occasionally at his hand. As he approaches the portal, he sits down on the ground and stares at the keypad, tuning out the debate for a few minutes. He examines the keypad a little more carefully, trying to see if he can get an idea of how the Mercurians made it able to withstand the daytime heat and still operate 1000 years later. It seems to be a science that the Moon has lost, after all.