Commander Ava Munro - It Transforms
Ava Munro
((Underground River Station/Platform - Callis I))
Ava stepped inside the side compartment, which lit by the chemlight revealed itself to be a lever room, connected to large long dead machines.
It was clear almost immediately that the room had been altered and hybridised in some way. A mesh of metal machinery had been removed, and bricks with old cabling had been attached and lowered into the ceiling and the floor. Like chains.
Munro: The people had adapted this lever. Maybe it opens the door?
Imril: Counterweights! The heavy thing that got moved into the stairwell was a counterweight! But where was the other installed? And which lever do we pull first?
She noticed the symbol, and the cylinder.
Confidence. Desperation. Hunger.
She wasn't sure but whatever it was, she didn't hesitate to pull the middle of the levers. She waited and stepped back from it, half expecting nothing and … hoping for anything else.
Rattle came from below them, metal against stone and then…
Then the churling roar of moving water.
Oh no…
Munro: :: panic :: The others?!
Imril darted outside, followed closely by Ava only slowed by the awkward to carry board that she picked up. Imril tried the locked door, a thin tenuous hope that it would be open … a room filled with the answers they do desperately need. Yet, it was locked to them.
Ava began to move quickly towards the camp and it would seem Imril had the same thought.
Imril: The camp! Run! And hold onto that map!
Ava, from instinct, clutched the board to her chest. Imril passed her by in full sprint. Somewhere, deep inside of her. Muscle memory, or something more carnal. Thoughts to dwell on for her official reports maybe.
She longed for the the desire that came from normalcy. She picked up pace remembering the sensation of feet connecting with decks on the Artemis. Frontier Rock blaring in her ear, she could almost hear the ballads fill this damp, horror place. Bancroft huffing somewhere behind her, crew members dodging their way.
Laughter. Joy. Happiness.
It spurred or on. Each step was a step towards that life. Imril, and the light from the chemlight, was setting her own pace.
Then the hazy, dream-like glow from the ceiling crystals began to glow ahead. Her focus was so intense she wondered if she had fallen asleep.
Jaran: Ok, this is fascinating, and I'm sure you both want to go off and explore the surprise building in the alien lake on the death planet. But your injured doctor is very hungry, and is also fairly certain you're both hungry too. Can I at least convince you to let us cook and eat first? And maybe give time for others to get back?
It was the doctor. The automatic, adrenaline fuelled daze she found herself in was lifted. Reality had come back to her.
She heard screams. The things knew the water had been emptied … she wasn't sure if that was happiness or anger… but they were interested.
The water had been drained, which revealed a room, or a bunker, completely covered in algae and underwater flora.
Imril: ::Pointing at the water:: No time for dinner or we’ll be dinner!
Ava could hear the gradual rattle.
Munro: I don't think we have long! Trust us, that might have the answers!
Breys/Silviera/Jaran: responses
Ava and Imril ran past the others. She lowered herself from the platform carefully. There were several ways to get down to the room at the bottom of the now emptied body of water. The safest of which was slippery, broken stairs. Rather than rocks. She took them carefully, impressed by the speed in which Imril got to the bunker.
Imril had opened the door by the time she got there. It was filled with crystals that glowed. It was the same size as the other gutted room.
The door had been locked from the inside before but she wasn't sure if it had been left unopened deliberately but she was relieved that it seemed to be free of water damage.
Further inside, a series of storage cabinets and desks, some bearing intact if unkempt control consoles. Finally, an identical iteration of what had been in the ‘machine room’: Three levers set below the triple-image-symbol. Imril appeared to study this.
Imril: .oO(Cylinder, loops, cylinder. Counterweight, saferoom(?), counterweight.)Oo.
((OOC: I'm pushing things along quickly as we are at act end now so forgive me for making some leaps and some gentle restructuring for flow - forgive me))
Ava went outside to help the others, who had already gathered some of the supplies. The raft was now at the bottom of the lake. She moved towards it, and somewhere something flashed before her eyes.
Imril: ::talking to themself:: If the lever machinery is made to mirror itself, pulling that lever back up will make the one in the control room… go upwards… … And cause a reset!
Ava could only barely here Imril.
Munro: Get inside the box!
Ava rushed towards the doctor.
Munro: Silveira, Breys! Help me!!
Without asking for permission, Silveira's help lifted the injured doctor and rushed them towards the box, almost colliding with Imril as they entered.
Breys/Silviera/Jaran: responses
Imril: I think we have to lock the bunker door from the inside to reflood the chamber. And do it in a hurry, before the dark things can close the gap and reach the campground.
She heard screams closer and didn't see those shadows drawing closer. They scuttled across walls. She could hear them, the claws against stone. Their breaths, their screams… it was like they were in agony. The agony of constant hunger, or pain… whatever it was she didn't want to meet it.
Breys/Silviera/Jaran/Imril: responses
She slammed the door shut, found the bar that closed the door and threw it into position. It felt strange, subtle. The kind of thing they should have been used. The gentle rush of electromagnetic energy.
It made her hair stand on edge and tickled her skin. Then the commbadges chirped. A cacophony of shrill chirps from each of them. The range of emotions that swept through the room was a conflicted mess of desperate joy, concern and relief.
Still, by now they were in a box that they only had a slight idea of what it could do … surrounded by the things.
Munro: Don't get too excited. It only works inside this box. It's what ancient humans called a Faraday Cage. It shields us from the effects of the Maelstrom. But only when we're inside a sealed box. Like this one. Imril and I found what looks like a map with more crystals on it.
She indicated the map that she'd tossed on the floor when they first got here.
Breys/Silviera/Jaran/Imril: responses
She heard voices… not their own. Distant, familiar voices speaking federation standard…
Munro: Wait! :: hushed them all :: Can you hear that?
Breys/Silviera/Jaran/Imril: responses
Ava moved quickly and moved towards one of the consoles.
Munro: Jovenan! Is that you?!
Jovenan: Response
Munro: :: elated :: We can hear you?! I think we're in some kind of …
Jovenan: Response
That's when she noticed it, small semi circular compartments on the walls, they resembled stasis chambers.
Munro: I think I know what they mean… if I'm right this is some kind of crude transportation network.
Jovenan: Response
Ava turned to the others.
Munro: There's no guarantee this will work. We get into one of those we might not step back out again :: turned back to the communication console :: Commander, we're ready. Do what you need to do.
Ava and the others opened up and got inside the compartments. She closed the door over, and placed her hands on the handle bars that were present.
She closed her eyes…
… Pain.
It was the kind of pain that you couldn't put words too. A ripping, searing, boiling, maddening assault on every sense that she had. She screamed, she cried, she wailed, she pleased, she went mad…
She saw them… through the reddening, deep tear of pain. She saw the things but not as they would be… as they were …
… Travellers on the network …
Callisian: Beware the network … it transforms…
End Act 2 for Commander Ava Munro.
((OOC: hehehe))
First Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240004LL2