Singularity: IC, Echoes of the Event Options

[Shadow]

05:05:26 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, inside the storm drains, offshore LA, CFS

It took Errand nearly ten minutes to unpack the underwater cutting gear. In the dark and in the tight enviroment it was nearly impossible. The clock in his eye told himn that time to infiltrate the building was running out, when the sun hit the water they would be lit up like the Macy's day parade.

[grendel]

05:27:14 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, inside the storm drains, offshore LA, CFS

The torch cuts with a brilliant blue-white flame, hissing loudly in the silence of the storm drain tunnel. Flare compensation automatically blacks out the intense light, but Errand worries that it will still be enough to alert surveillance on the corvette above. Although, at this point, he doesn't know what kind of reprisals a vessel like that has against subsurface action. Would they actually mount depth charges to deter infiltration? Or would they rely on swimmers of their own? The last of the hinges came free, and Errand caught the panel before it could fall to the bottom of the drain. Quickly he passed it back to Tron, who carefully set it aside. Mako raised his head out of the culvert to assess the situation. As much as Errand hated to admit it, only the two Awakened members of the team were adequately equipped to observe without risking counterdetection.

To Mako, the world was a dim, blue fog, lit from below by the mana energy seeping from mother earth. It flowed up through the cracks in the pavement, like a clear blue magma rising from the seafloor. It was enough to see perhaps twenty or thirty meters through the otherwise impenetrable gloom. Brighter motes of light danced within the hazy fog; solitary wanderers or groups of up to a hundred or more, darting and flashing as they cast back and forth through the ocean. Turning back, Mako flashed a thumbs up to his other two teammates.

[Shadow]

05:28:14 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, inside the storm drains, offshore LA, CFS


Errand nodded, waved his hands at Tron and signaled him to go first, Errand would go second, then Mako. He made sure nothing was dangling on him or impeding his legs. Once he was sure it was clear, he held up five fingers. Then four, three, two, one. Tron bolted like he was shot from a canon.

How that guy does that...

[grendel]

05:28:34 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, Ares SoCal Headquarters, offshore LA, CFS

Tron kicked strongly, aiming for the massive angular shadow of the Ares building. He tried to ignore the icy sweat that trickled down his spine, tried to ignore the knowledge of just how precise a tiger shark's senses were, or the fact that they were tuned to look for precisely the kind of target he presented. He kept his eyes out, glancing left and right, hating the way the dive mask cut down on his peripheral vision.

Just twenty meters more....

He pretended not to hear the theme music from Jaws.

Ten meters.

Five.

Tron exhaled explosively when he reached the relative safety of the alcove. It was still open to the ocean, but at least the twisting corridors and jagged wreckage gave him the illusion of cover, and options should the predator decide to pursue an engagement. He signaled to Errand and Mako

One down, two to go.

[Shadow]

05:33:34 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, Ares SoCal Headquarters, offshore LA, CFS

Errand waited for the signal, synthetic muscles posed to push him off. Nearly a minute ticked by... then the signal. He pushed off with his legs kicking in rythim as fast as possible. The vision of the shark killing the other team on the surface swam in his mind.

[grendel]

05:35:27 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, Ares SoCal Headquarters, offshore LA, CFS

The swim was worse for Errand, though. Barely two strokes away from the shelter of the storm drain, and the light from his chemlight had disappeared, leaving him alone in the silent darkness of the water. The only sound was the harsh exhalation of his own labored breathing. On he swam, desperately hoping that he was keeping a straight line. But he wasn't. Tron risked another signal, a quick series of three flashes and Errand cursed silently, correcting back to the left. Another series of flashes, another correction. He kicked harder, raw, animal fear at the back of his neck. Even the thick diving armor would be nothing against the jaws and teeth that could shear metal. A shape loomed out of the darkness and he recoiled, only realizing he'd arrived at his destination when Tron signalled Mako.

[Molljner]

05:35:27 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, Ares SoCal Headquarters, offshore LA, CFS

Tron's heart was pumping, adrenline running through his system...

What a rush!

Keeping a sharp eye out for the shark, Tron carefully searches while the others speed across the open expanse.

Hope those seals are keeping that thing at bay!

[Molljner]

05:37:21 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, Ares SoCal Headquarters, offshore LA, CFS

After signaling Mako, Tron turns to the task of getting into the building. As he is poking through the twist and turns, he looks for some place that will allow the team entrance.

Hopefully there is a way in where I don't have to light up the darkness! Well, at least I know that Errand's got my back.

Tron glance back and spots Errand waiting for Mako to cross, stand a vigilant watch.

[grendel]

05:38:13 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, Ares SoCal Headquarters, offshore LA, CFS

When the earthquake struck, the building weathered the initial shock well. It was the aftershocks, coupled with the subsidence that wrought the most damage. Two floors of the underground parking garage pancaked together, and the building dropped into the hole, coming to rest at a ten degree list to the south. Errand and Tron hover in what used to be ground floor service bay, the ramps which once sloped down now broken and jagged. The halls are twisted and clogged with debris, blocking entrance much past ten or fifteen meters. One set of elevator doors are accordioned shut, bowed outward slightly by the shear stresses placed on the shaft during the subsidence. The other set has a narrow crack in them that widens to about fifteen centimeters towards the top. It probably wouldn't take much work to pry them fully open. A sharp increase in the amount of ambient light brings Tron's head around in alarm. As he watches, a wave of blue/green energy surges across the ocean floor, striking highlights from the uneven urban wreckage. As the wave passes, two vast arcs shimmer into existence for a moment, neon blue light dancing along the edge of the frozen rock waves for a second before fading into darkness again.

[Shadow]

05:40:13 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, Ares SoCal Headquarters, offshore LA, CFS

The light, while frightening gave Errand enough light to see by. Spurred by the fear of being eaten alive he grabbed the edge of the elevator, braced his foot and exerted his strength to the breaking, struggling to pry the door open another 30 centimeters, enough for them to squeeze in.

[Molljner]

05:40:10 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, Ares SoCal Headquarters, offshore LA, CFS

Seeing the blue flash raises the hair on the back of Tron's neck. He immediately signals to Errand to open the elevator to get off the ocean floor and move into the "safety" of the building.

[WinterRat1]

05:35:27 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, Ares SoCal Headquarters, offshore LA, CFS

Seeing Tron's signal, Mako begins swimming as quickly as he can for the rest of the team, keeping an eye out for the sharks all the while, and glad his spirits are both concealing the team and helping them move faster than they'd otherwise be able to.

[grendel]

05:36:03 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, Ares SoCal Headquarters, offshore LA, CFS

The tiger shark's senses were perfectly tuned to hunt in the murky waters of the littoral environment, it's sense of smell incredibly sharp, honed by thousands of years to detect even the slightest hint of blood in the water. The spidery network of nerves that served as a vibration sensor was as pure a hunting device as ever been created. It easily described a three dimensional picture of a prey animal swimming strongly along the seafloor. With a steady beat, the shark's oversized tail drove it faster through the water, its airfoil like front fins steering it into a curving dive towards its prey.

Something else was moving through the water, though, another swift swimmer on an intercept course. Not as perfect a hunting machine as the tiger shark, the sea lion was none the less equipped for survival against the predator. It dove swiftly through the water, crossing Mako's wake at barely two meters before spiralling up and away. It could feel the hesitation in the great predator as primitive instincts overrode technological training. This was something that the shark understood an a basic, elemental level. To seal the deal, though, the sea lion bit down on a small plastic ampule it carried in its mouth. Blood clouded the water momentarily. It was all it the shark needed. It heeled over, body whipping through the turn to put it on a new intercept course, tail slashing back and forth. The sea lion fled.

And, forgotten, Mako crossed the last ten meters of open ocean and disappeared into the building.

[grendel]

05:43:29 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, Ares SoCal Headquarters, offshore LA, CFS

It takes a couple of tries before Errand finally gets himself set right to where he can use his leverage to open the doors wide enough to allow him to pass through. The reason that this elevator shaft survived where the other did not is immediately obvious: the car was at ground level, and acted as additional bracing for the shaft. It was not, however, watertight, much to the detriment of its occupant at the time.

Errand cracks a chemlight and tosses it inside, only to recoil in surprise. The corpse floats outward with silent majesty, the flesh stripped from the small bones of the hand as well as most of the face. It's jumpsuit, though, has protected the bulk of the body from the depredations of the scavengers, giving the corpse a strange, bloated look to it. By his dress, he was a maintenance clerk of some kind, a nobody really, a simple corporate drone executing his daily responsibilities when disaster struck. Errand grimaces at his reaction, although not even Tron or Mako could have warned him of the body's presence: without life, it has no aura, appearing the same unremarkable gray on the astral plane as any other piece of furniture.

Errand grabs a hold of the corpse's jumpsuit and steers it down one of the hallways before wiping his gloved hand on his wetsuit. Tron pokes his head through into the elevator, glancing around in the dim light cast by the chemlight before sighting the maintenance hatch on the roof of the elevator car. Pulling himself inside, he works the latch mechanism before pushing up on the hatch.

Once open, he slides through, careful not to let his tank scrape on the sides. It's going to be too tight for Errand, though. With a sigh, he unclips his tank harness, before pushing it through. Tron catches it, waiting for Errand to pull himself through he hatch before handing the tank and harness back. Mako is the last through, and closes the hatch behind them. Slowly, the three ascend vertically for another fifteen meters before they break the surface of the water.

[Shadow]

05:51:29 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Minus 80 meters, Ares SoCal Headquarters, offshore LA, CFS

Errand ressists the urge to plunge up to the suface like a man clawing for breath. Slowly he unharnesses his rifle and brings it up to rest on his shoulder. His head and the barrel of his Colt surface first. His eyes scaning the shaft for any sign of drone or other defense. Once his head is above the surface he peels of his face mask to better look around.

[grendel]

05:52:16 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, third floor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

Tron blinks, shifting his perception solely to the physical plane. Floating next to him, Errand covers the doors and corners with his assault rifle. By the dim green glow of the chemlight they can make out the walls and machinery of the elevator shaft. It appears to be intact for the most part, although some of the cross members are obviously twisted and damaged. Along one side is a maintenance ladder bolted to the concrete wall. A couple floors up they can see what appears to be some kind of moss or lichen growing along the inside of the walls.

[Molljner]

05:52:30 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, third floor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

Tron looks over the interior of the elevator shaft.

It has held up surprisingly well all things considered.

A couple of more glances, and he begins to get the two fly spys and the Hunter-Killer drones ready to release.

[Molljner]

05:52:45 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, third floor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

Tron releases the four drones and sends them up the elevator shaft to get a better look at the next phase of the insertion. Tron then looks over to Errand,
[Should we use the ladder or our own method?] via the commlink.
Tron then looks back at Mako to see how he is fairing.

[Shadow]

05:53:30 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, third floor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

Errand looked to Tron, pointed at the latter with his right hand. He lets his rifle slide down, gripped the ladder with his left hand and then proceeded to remove the bulky water survival equipment. After a minute he was just in his dive armor and weapons and extra gear. With the light from below providing enough illumintation for him to use his low light, Errand proceeded coatiosly up the latter. Stopping every few rungs to make sure the next one is secure.

[Shadow]

06:05:30 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, thirteenthfloor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

The chem light hanging from Errands back projected enough light for his hi-tech eyes to see with, and what he saw he did not like. They were 10 minutes into the climb and the ladder, while secure, was barealy big enough for Errand, so if they got into any trouble, they were in trouble. His arms started to ache with the stress of pullling his weight and gear up the narrow wrungs. He stopped in front of the large doors with the number "13" painted in faded white letters.

"30 seconds rest, check your drones" he whispered over the sub vocal comm's.

[Molljner]

06:05:30 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, thirteenthfloor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

Tron was climbing about 1 floor behind Errand. Tron was focused on climbing but was able to multitask and get what the Fly-Spy drones were feeding back.

I sure hope we rappel down. It will be quicker and we are running short on time.

As Errand pauses, Tron checks the area again for networks. Then he resumes his climb to the 27th floor.

[grendel]

06:06:08 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, thirteenth floor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

Nothing showed on any of Tron's scans. No networks, no solitary nodes, not a hint or a flicker of wireless transmissions. Although he knew from bitter experience that the absence of transmissions did not mean an absence of networks. They could be exceptionally well hidden, transmitting on high speed, frequency agile algorithms. This was, after all, an Ares headquarters. He would expect them to use nothing but the best. Not to mention the fact that they might have proofed each floor, including the elevator shaft, layering passive broadband EM transmission blocking paint on the walls and the floors. Again, it would make sense considering their location and the security setup. He would have to assume that any building designed to fail secure would have such security measures.

Above him, Errand signaled an end to the rest period, and they resumed their climb, carefully skirting another broad arc of moss. Although Tron had examined it carefully each time they encountered the growth, he could detect nothing alien about it. But its presence, let alone prolific growth, defied explanation. There wasn't any light down here to promote its survival, nor should it have progressed so rapidly in only eighteen months. Not to mention the strange, geometric patterns it seemed to grow in. Whatever the answer, Tron was looking forward to getting this job done with. The sooner they left this building behind, the better.

[Shadow]

06:10:028 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, twenty-seventh floor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

Errand stopped to catch his breath. He was in good shape, but a twenty four story vertical climb would strain anyone. He hooked his arm around the ladder wrung and fished out the portable torch. He had no idea how long it would take to burn through the door, but there was no time like the present.

[grendel]

06:18:04 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, twenty-seventh floor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

It took Errand only five minutes to cut through the hydraulic rams holding the doors shut. Luckily, Ares being the security conscious company that it was, they used non-flammable hydraulic fluid. Once both rams had been cut on the right hand door, Errand worked his way over to the opposite side of the shaft, clearing the way for Tron and Mako. Bracing himself as best he could, Errand hunkered down behind his assault rifle. Tron had his pistol out, covering the opposite angle. Once the two were set, Mako levered the door open. The armored portal thumped loudly against its stops, the sound echoing down the vast silent hollow of the elevator shaft. A puff of air escapes past them, carrying with it a slightly stale smell, like a car that's been kept closed all day in the heat.

The hallway revealed is spartan, with plain gray tiles on the floor, and sheets of white construction plastic for walls. A small placard on the opposite walls indicates that rooms one through fifty are to the left, while fifty one through eighty are on the right, and in case of fire, use the stairs.

[Molljner]

06:18:04 Tuesday, 14 October 2070 - Ares SoCal Headquarters, twenty-seventh floor, cargo elevator shaft #2, offshore LA, CFS

Tron immediately ordered the drones to recon the hall. The two fly-spys responded immediately, one to the left and the other to the right.

The faster we get this done, the better.