Conflicting Objectives VIII

- Here we go, then - John was standing in front of the old gate located in the cave system, leading to lower levels of the abandoned alien settlement - Let's get the thing open - he communicated using his PEC.

Before proceeding with this move, they obviously made use of the drones they had at their disposal, but yet again - ultimately all remaining ones were damaged on the way due to variety of reasons. Variety was quite high, and not only related to how the facility was still showing some electromagnetic activity - safety measures designed by original owners of the place were well alive and kicking. With this type of equipment being quite limited right now, until they manage to set up proper assembly lines, the team going underground was not only supposed to proceed with investigation of the underground complex, and collecting remains of the drones was additional task they needed to complete.

- Listen, John, should anything happen, don't hesitate to back off - Keira told him - No matter what, everyone needs to get back here in one piece, you got it?

Marlow and others, who were with him, looked at each others and smiled.

- Loud and clear. We will stay in contact with you guys. Counting on your support.

Major took all of the necessary precautions for this mission, and that included not only more carefult preparations of the site and investigation of the routes and the alien language, but first of all - deployment of military grade F-suits.

The kind of suits everyone in his group was wearing was typical of Earth Army commando units, additionally reinforced and modified by John himself.

Generally speaking, in usual scenarios, only military personnel was allowed to use such type of equipment, and granting permissions for non-military people would be impossible according to standard procedures. However, taking into consideration the nature of their mission, the supervisor of military staff had a power to adjust standard procedures, or even disregard them if it was in the best interest of the mission - long story short, colonel Ryan McRae authorized major John Marlow to take all of the necessary actions as he saw it fit, meaning it was all up to John to make decisions about the equipment.

Marlow still remembered his previous, unprepared visit within underground facility, and - even though no one who tagged along died - it led to some serious injuries, which he did want to be the case again. More than that, he could not rule out the possibility that Jackie could have survived if he had a sturdy, military-grade F-suit on. After all, contrary to standard F-suit, the endurance and physical enhancement were on a completely different level, though at the cost of some other augmentations different jobs required - Martin actually complained about having to drop some of the tools he would usually never leave behind.

- It's really hard to get used to how this one feels - he continued to nag about the uniform - It feels stiff compared to the standard one I've been using so far.

- At least you won't get cut in half that easily - sarge Krawczak said that, hitting Johnson's back - See, this was five times augmented strength of my arm - he pointed at his thick hand - Did you feel anything?

- Now that you say it, it was as if you gave me a light pat - Martin confirmed - I guess it's one thing or the another in this case.

- Besides, we are not going in there to repair stuff, Martin - John reminded him - You should easily manage without them, and the equipment we are taking prioritizes keeping you alive, which I think is more important here.

- Ok, ok, I won't complain anymore, so please give me a break.

Everyone was smiling after this short exchange, which was quite an abstract thing given how dangerous upcoming hours may be.

The old doors opened, and the group entered led by major John Marlow.

Previously, they got inside abruptly, sliding down without control and having a soft landing only owing to some plants growing at the base of the slide. This time, it was much different case, because of the team learning a bit about the system and setting the route in a way that the slide was adjusted and more stair-like now - honestly speaking, they were wondering what was the reason why there were so many different options included in the alien interface, and while the scenario considered to be the most probable was simply security of the facility applied by aliens, no one could really confirm this for sure.

Either way, they were walking downwards slowly and thoroughly checking the surroundings. With that, they quickly noticed there is a lot of interesting markings on each side of the staircase, accompanying exposed pieces of some mechanisms - in most of the cases, they could easily tell these were related to operating the staircase and changing the layout, but there were also some additional parts of unknown application. For now, no one from the group touched anything, only gathering a proper footage that could be reviewed later on.

In a matter of minutes, they reached the first room through which John passed during his previous visit underground. While the doorway they entered from was adjusted to a different setup of the route downwards, the rest of the surroundings looked pretty much the same as last time - to Marlow, it was a bit confusing as he expected that all of the chaos he encountered in the biggest chamber would have likely affected the surroundings to some extent, and yet, at least this room looked pretty much untouched on the first look.

Due to circumstances back when he first ended up in this room, John did not really spend much time in this area despite a number of interesting appliances and devices lying around, as well as unusual lighting system with seemingly no connectors detectable by PEC's sensors. However, this time the group he was with had this mission precisely - to investigate and learn about the place.

- That's simply amazing - surprisingly, it was Rashid who made the first comment, examining the underground plants - Such growth and health with no natural light. These are not only the roots that we could expect underground, coming from big trees growing above. Rather than that, these are plants fully grown underneath the ground, and also blooming flowers. The species I can see here were not yet registered anywhere in our logs, so no one examined them before!

- Well, I'm happy for you, Rashid - Martin said it in tone as if he did not really care, but what he asked next actually showed some real interest - I just hope these are not dangerous as these awkward mushrooms?

Moussa looked at him with a serious face.

- I cannot really tell. We may have been exposed to some poison it emits, and already beyond any help. You never now.

Even in the artificial light, everyone could notice Johnson's face losing the natural color.

- Don't tease him, Rashid - John told the botanist - And you, Martin, please calm down - he then turned to the mechanic - If it was that dangerous, I've been here before, so I would be long dead by now.

- Fair point - Johnson nodded, and slapped his cheeks - Okay, I need to focus on the work.

- Glad to hear that - Marlow showed a slight smile - You take that corner with sarge, and I will go there. Alina, you can tag along, if you don't mind.

With some additional talks, they decided on assignments.

Nothing really changed in comparison to the last time John was here, and yet now he was finally able to see how little did he in fact noticed back then.

First important thing that he realized, a moment after going to section of the chamber he selected for himself, there was much less dust inside than he remembered.

- It seems as if there is some kind of system that cleans the place, to some extent at least - he mentioned to Alina, who was checking the ground a couple of meters away - The dust layer is much thinner than it was. I wonder why it is only a bit different though. Maybe whatever device is filtering the dust is malfunctioning?

- Isn't it quite obvious given how long it is operating without the maintenance? - Alina suggested without even moving her head away from what she was checking right now - Either way, it would be better if the dust was a bit thicker, because the footprints would be much clearer than thins - she pointed at some marks she was examinating.

Seeing the footprints, Marlow took a step towards her, but the very moment he did, she stopped him:

- Don't go like that, please. You may make it harder to create a simulation. I already told the others to use this plugin on their PECs. You should use it too.

Honestly, John was not really a big fan of installing additional apps for his implant not knowing the proper structure of the program. Even for translation app from Keira, he was actually the one making major adjustments, and - despite that - he still did a proper secure check before adding it.

- I need to review the app first - he told Alina - I'm rather careful about stuff that's connected to my head.

Hearing that, Alina shrugged.

- Suit yourself, I won't force you. Just make sure to not mess up any evidence that may be related to Jackie. Though, maybe use these as reference - she shared files with marked prints - It should help you create a grid for your PEC to highlight spots you shouldn't touch. That way, you can avoid touching the marks on your own.

Marlow ended up with the second option, making use of the data Alina shared, and programmed a dedicated app on his own. While doing that, he could not help but be impressed by the level of detail she could reach within such a short time.

When examinating the area with the data he just got, John noticed that his original idea about what happened with Jackie was off - originally, he thought the man went straight into corridor leading out of the room, deeper into the facility, but it seems that Jackie was walking around the place before he actually left. More than that, since they could not see any blood traces within the room, and only from the spot where corridor was starting, Jackie was either not seriously wounded from the very start or somehow the bleeding was initially stopped by F-suit, and only later the system could not manage - the latter would have been weird though.

While it was an important matter to explain, they had a number of tasks to complete, therefore Marlow left footprints and other marks left by Jackie to Alina, focusing on the devices and overall contents of the room himself.

The first thing was related to certain shapes sticking from the ground - there were both cuboid and cylindric objects placed in several spots within the area he was checking. At John's first look, these seemed to resemble pieces of different, much bigger objects that were destroyed and torn apart, but more he looked into these smaller objects, it was becoming more apparent his original thoughts were not that precise - his original idea could be partially the case, but a number of these items was actually stuck to the ground, basically as an integral part of the foundation, and not lying around as separate pieces.

However, what was an even more important discovery was the fact that these objects were made of material similar to programable metal present in the alien interfaces they encountered in specific situations. This meant that the objects could potentially have some additional traits, not visible at first glance.

Marlow was focusing mainly on gathering the data and subsequently analyzing it, but after noticing the special attributes objects were showing, he actually considered touching one of the objects to see the reaction. Nevertheless, he moved his hand back, not wanting to take this risk without consulting with and warning the rest of the group.

- Long story short, you are saying these objects on the ground may actually be separate interfaces? - Martin was the first one to react to John's words - If I'm to be honest, I find it hard to understand why would they overcomplicate things like that, especially with what we found in the other part of the room. Isn't it enough material to work on for now?

Johnson brought several different items, each having a distinctive shape and made of variety materials, though characteristic, black metal parts could be noticed.

John spent a moment looking through the objects Martin and others gathered.

- It seems only our section of the room did not have actual appliances that can be taken - he said to Alina, while lifting a tubular item with some circular and rectangular attachments - Seeing that, I'm even more curious why this spot is so different.

- Hard to say - the woman replied - but it seems Jackie was intrigued by these objects too. Not sure if the same as you, but it is a fact he spent at least a moment examining them, based on the footprints and other marks he left.

- Yeah, I already had a chance to see the simulation, using the model you shared - major recalled a sequence recreating Jackie's actions - and it clearly suggests that he touched some of these.

- But didn't Jackie get hurt somewhere in the area? - Rashid immediately asked, pointing at the entrance to the corridor leading further down - I mean, blood marks are hard to notice now, but still, he somehow got wounded and ultimately died. Don't you think repeating the same actions is too dangerous?

This caught John off guard - now that he thought of it, because of curiosity, he simply disregarded potential risks and almost did something that could cause problems to everyone around.

- You are right, I dropped my guard - he finally admitted - However, not checking this feels like a waste. I already skipped investigation last time, and now, when we have a chance...

- How about we make use of F-suit features? - the surprising suggestion came from Martin - There is this remote hand that can detach from the rest of uniform and be controlled from the distance. Worst case scenario, someone loses a piece of equipment.

Marlow hesitated since the F-suits were among limited gear they had at their disposal so any loss could be potentially problematic in a long run, until they manage to establish fully operational assembly lines.

The moment major was thinking what to do, Rashid spoke:

- It may sound weird for me to agree - he looked at Johnson - but I feel Martin is right. I think we should focus on gathering some samples and collecting whatever devices or appliances we can take safely away from here and right now, and go further inside. Ultimately, it's your call, John, but I really feel investigating rest of this facility is much more important than taking unnecessary risks at this point.

John sighed, and was almost ready to comply with Rashid's suggestion, when some unusual sound reached his ears.

- Can you hear this? - he asked others immediately, pointing towards the source - It's coming from below.

- I'm not really sure - sarge Krawczak, standing the closest to the objects Marlow was investigating before, was now looking around - There seems to be something indeed, though, I don't know how to say it...

- It feels more like a vibration than only a sound - Johnson pointed out - You didn't touch anything by chance, sarge?

Andy quickly shook his head.

- I don't think so. I was standing still all the time.

- Wait, and what's that on one of these cuboids? - Moussa made others look at the object sticking from the groun - Some kind of fluid?

- Ah, I didn't close the lid! - sarge quickly closed the container in which he had something to drink.

- It seems this is some kind of a device indeed - John used his PEC to run analysis of the object - Fascinating. The structure is changing, there are some processes ongoing inside, the temperature is rising in its core.

- Is this safe though? - asked Rashid - Do you see what exactly is this thing doing?

Marlow wanted to say something reassuring, but the truth was...

- I have no idea. Not immediately, at least.