Conflicting Objectives XXIII

- If we are going to do that, let's at least come up with some ideas as to which tiles we should try to activate first - Alina suggested after listening to John's plan requiring trial and error approach - Maybe draw one of these symbols we used before, or maybe a path to power up the walls surrounding our target?

Marlow nodded, visibly liking what Boskovitch just said.

- I totally agree on that topic - he said in response - Personally, I think that creating a kind of transmission bridge to provide energy to the wall panels may be the way to go, and it's something I wanted to suggest from the moment I started getting a clearer picture of how activation of the panels works. Before, sensors in my PEC picked up some weak energy signatures in several spots within this area, yet I thought these are too weak to be relevant, but now I believe we may actually require to enhance them by connecting proper tiles.

Martin sighed and stood up.

- Okay then, I guess there's nothing else we can do. I will be able to move around again, at least.

John gave him a serious look.

- Well, about that. It's not really the case.

Johnson was visibly confused.

- What do you mean? Aren't we expected to create a connection between the tiles?

Marlow nodded.

- Yes, and that's why some of us may need to stay in one spot for a longer period of time to keep the tile active.

Martin immediately understood, and was not happy about the situation.

- Can't Andy take my place here?

Andy shrugged.

- I don't really mind - sarge spoke with a "whatever" tone - If major tells me to, I will stand guard from this spot.

John sighed.

- As long as someone keeps activated tiles alive, it doesn't matter to me who it is. Just be sure to monitor the state of the floor and immediately respond to orders.

- Ok, so can I count on you to take this over, Andy? - Martin spoke to sarge, who agreed with a nod - Then, John, tell me what should I help you with?

- Sure, follow me. Alina, you too, of course - Marlow pointed at Boskovitch.

They walked towards the corner, where the panels shielding the room connected to outside wall of the area.

- We will start from here - John started explaining - We will check if it is at all possible to activate the tiles touching the wall directly, and - if so - what's going to happen of course. Obviously, we don't know for how long we can keep a single tile lighted so this will also help us in determining what's the duration of a single panel's activation.

- Okay, tell us how we roll then - said Martin - I'm all ready to go.

- Likewise, say what should be done - Alina confirmed.

Major nodded and first he stood between the two aligned tiles on his own, touching each of these respectively with his right hand until reaching the moment where tiles got lighted up. Afterwards, he took a measure of the time needed for the tiles to lose all the light - it turned out to be around two minutes, which was not much, given amount of tiles he expected they would need to connect, unless there was something that could keep them alive for a bit longer.

- I wonder if we maybe should connect these to the source somehow - he spoke to others, while looking at the positions where he picked up some weak energy signatures - The closest is there, around fifteen meters from here, but let us first see how does it work for the tiles around that spot - John led other two to the location he marked with his PEC - Now, we have one tile directly above the energy signature and four tiles around it. I will stand in the middle one, and activate it, then you guys activate two on each side so we can measure how long would the activation work.

A moment later, they had a lighted up shape similar to a flower appearing on the ground, and Marlow was checking how much time passes until it disappears. However, minutes were passing and barely any change was visible.

- Doesn't it mean this weak energy signatures, as you called them, are indeed connectors as you said before? - Alina asked John after they passed ten minutes mark - Such a long time we see already should be enough to create a path connecting multiple tiles, right?

Major was happy by seeing results, though not exactly with the kind of result they got.

- It's indeed the case - he agreed with Boskovitch - We should be able to do that, but now I see another problem - others looked at him with eyes full of questions - We will connect many more tiles now, though it's going to complicate things for us if the way we do that won't be what is required to activate any terminal or open the path. After all, we don't know how to deactivate tiles on our own since, so far, they would deactivate over time.

- Then, I guess we improvize and hope the first try is the correct one? - Johnson said that with uncertainty - Though, If it doesn't, that means we end up in quite a predicament. Still, we don't have much of a choice to begin with...

Ultimately, it was what kind of circumstances they ended up in, and everyone agreed to proceed with the original idea Marlow had, and that was drawing a specific connection on the ground - major shared with Martin and Alina the positions of the tiles he wanted to connect, also assigning to them the exact sets of tiles, to activate in order, so they had enough time before the activation expired and they would have to set them up again.

However, after they managed to activate all of the required tiles and reach the spot where Andy was standing, nothing really happened.

With everyone together, John was looking around, checking his PEC and scratching his head, trying to figure out what could have been done differently.

Honestly, major was pretty much at loss - with the help of colleagues, he did connect the spots where energy signatures were located and activated tiles around the closed area they wanted to enter, yet there was absolutely no reaction from any of the systems of this underground facility.

In such a situation, Marlow was desperate enough to try and contact the stranger, whose voice he already heard in his head, but not only there was no reply, the alien app that appeared on his PEC was not doing a thing, being completely useless in this particular case.

Only clues John had at this point were related to the data on his PEC, so he kept looking through it and - when he thought he cannot find anything useful anymore - major created a map showing positions of highlighted tiles from aerial view, which allowed Marlow to see the shape this made, and it was a shape that felt somehow familiar to him, though he could not immediately tell where he remembered it for. As such, he started browsing through materials he had, specifically focusing on pieces of alien writing, and he finally hit a jackpot.

- It's close to this one - John said that aloud, making others turn heads in his direction - I just noticed something - he told them after noticing their looks - I believe we not only need to connect the tiles, but also to recreate a specific shape, and I found one symbol which is close to what we created. From what I see, we are missing a few tiles to have the same shape lighted up.

- Ok, so what are we waiting for, John? - Martin asked immediately - Let's just try and see.

- While I would love to do that already, I need a moment to further review - Marlow explained - It may be that there is more similar symbols, or that I may be wrong here. There is also a topic of the symbol's meaning, and this one being one of the possibilities.

- Can't you share the data with us then? - Alina suggested - We could help you out with browsing through the info, unless there is something stopping you from giving us the access.

Boskovitch was not far from truth - of course, John already shared a lot of data with various people he met on expedition so far, yet there was always some information he not necessarily wanted for others to be aware of, or just did not want to share for safety reasons. In this particular case, the symbol was taken from the alien app, deciphered as they were passing through subsequent rooms, and only now remembered by Marlow - if he were to share the data here, he could not provide them with entries having any connections to said app, which also meant he could not share results that relied on pulling the data from there, as it could be considered suspicious, making John a subject to interrogation. Obviously, major did not want such a sensitive data to be disclosed since not everyone was authorized to see it. In order for what John had to be shareable, he needed to first transcribe the data between depositories, so there is no case of someone noticing the origin of the entries, especially associations with the alien app he wanted to keep a secret.

- No, I just need to re-organize the data as I created quite a bit of chaos on my PEC - he said in the end - It would be too troublesome for you to try and use it as it is, so give me a moment before I can share with you.

Alina's look was showing slight suspicion, yet she only nodded in the end and waited patiently for John to take care of doing a cleanup to share information with them. Once he did, he assigned others to focus on comparing the symbol shapes with usage of Keira's app and footage they had for various pieces of writing, giving himself additional time to browse through the data from alien app.

To begin with, by using AI he did not expect for the whole process to take way more than one hour if he were to do that all by himself, but with three people having the workload split, lower time loss was an obvious gain, especially because he could do additional checks that would not be possible if he did everything on his own.

In the end, their research proved that the symbol John associated with the shape they created with highlighted tiles was the closest match, but - at the same time - they narrowed down a list of seven different symbols from pieces of alien writing that could overlap with energy signatures.

- To sum it up, completing the closest shape makes the most sense - Marlow concluded their review of findings so far - We could potentially reach the shape of one more symbol, but it requires more tiles to be activated, which would mean more work in case we fail and need to figure out a way to deactivate lighted tiles.

- There is nothing to argue about here - Boskovitch agreed - Let's go with that and see what's going to happen, though I would also like to think about securing ourselves in case there is an abrupt reaction of the system. I say each of us should be placed in different section of the room. That way we technically have a much higher survival chance.

- Strangely, I feel that's a reasonable thing to do - Johnson concured.

- I obey orders, so I'll go what major says - Krawczak said.

John sighed, but ultimately nodded and clasped his hands.

- Okay then, I will assign you positions related to filling in the shape of the symbol - he started talking - At the same time, each of you will be obliged to set all defense systems in your F-suits, including impact safety. Since it requires a few seconds to activate and renders your movements limited, I will be last to activate my assigned tiles, to give you enough time for activation.

- Wait, but what about you then? - Martin asked that with an unhappy tone - John, if something happens indeed...

- I know, it's a risk, but someone needs to take it and I won't force any of you. After all, I'm responsible for this mission.

Others looked as if they still wanted to complain, but major made it clear it is the final decision. With that, once they received instructions, everyone took their assigned position.

When the time came, John gave an order for others to activate their sections, and then - once his PEC confirmed the status of his team's F-suits, he activated the remaining portion, then got ready for whatever was going to happen next.

All tiles they lighted up by connecting energy signatures started blinking in regular interstices, yet nothing seemed to happen, to the point that Marlow managed to initiate the same safeties as others set for their F-suits.

Still, they could not tell what could happen next, so everyone waited in suspense, expecting reaction any moment. However, the time was passing by, and the only thing they noticed was that frequency of interstices changed.