ALL NOVEL Mission to the depths of the mine.
John and his team were led into the camp, by the group of soldiers and the scientist leading them. On both sides of the half paved road they walked on stood two copies of the exact same building, with their doors facing the road. They looked almost egg-shaped, with both having half resting on the ground and the other half slightly in the air. Each in the opposite direction than the other, with every pair on the same side of the road almost touching in the air. With the blue an white metals they were made of, and their strange construction, John would never have guessed they were tents. Most of the walls were made of the blue metal, while the white metal wrapped around them as a border of sorts.
John and the group were brought to the entrance of the shelter closest to the mountain. They entered the building through simple metal doors which slid open as soon as they got near, and revealed a second set of the same doors. It almost reminded the Gamer of an airlock, but the inner doors were wide open.
“We don’t need airlocks on this planet, but these pods come with them for more extreme cases,” the scientist explained as he entered the main room on the other side.
It was a fairly open space, designed like a small apartment but contained in one room. Most of the area had been converted to serve as a headquarters of sorts, the dining table was full of maps, schematics and various notes. Every wall had equipment, guns, or some unfamiliar tech hanging from it. The kitchen section had even been deconstructed to serve as a tabletop for various normal foodstuffs, with no cooking equipment in sight. Everything from salads to fresh meat was on the marble like surfaces, and clearly in abundance.
“Let’s get right to business, we were attacked by a group of giant spiders that came from the main drilling point of the mine. Some sort of hive or something we tapped into,” the scientist got to the dining table and pointed at one of the maps, “this is the map of the mine,” multiple levels were shown on the mine, each stacked on top of another, and it was clearly drawn in the framework of the mountain. Only two things were marked on the map of the mine, a small workshop and hanger, which were located in the same place, and the main drilling point, “this is where the Gundam is,” he pointed to the hanger, “and the source of the spiders is down here,” he pointed to the main drilling area at the bottom of the mine. The workshop was on the highest level, “when we evacuated we didn’t know if the spiders had already reached the Gundam, but it’s entirely possible. Even with the physical distance, we can’t rule it out. All the security systems inside have gone dead since we left,” he finished with an exasperated sigh.
“Let’s hope they didn’t get there,” John ignored his demeanor and instead moved to his questions, “do you mind if I grab this map for now? I can use my skills to allow me to know where I am in relation to the map if I absorb it,” John asked, any information they could have about the mine while down there would be valuable.
“Sure,” the scientist responded kindly. John also noticed a map right next to it showing the surrounding area in a satellite view, which was clearly collated from various photos of the surface. Strangely, there was no sign of the camp on it. Taking both of them, he quickly got a popup that his minimap was updated with the information, and the color in the maps soon faded.
“Something else you might like to know is how the Gundam looks. And be aware that while this is accurate, I believe it now has a flamethrower equipped on one of its hands,” he pointed to a picture that hung from one of the walls. A giant humanoid but clearly robotic suit was shown there, but one obviously designed for mining work. One diagram showed how it could transform its hands and feet into giant drills, and that the various opaque tubes wrapped around it carried the rock to a cylindrical tank on its back. Despite its similarity to Gundams he had seen, and the clear inspiration it took from the rest of the designs now around him, it was colored in a very different way. Being distinctly black and green, with yellow shadings.
“Thank you, for the maps and the information,” John put the maps back on the table and turned to the rest of his team, “all of us need to be prepared for a fight, but as long as we can get in and out of there quickly we should be fine, After all, we already dealt with something like this in the cave,” he tried to sound as confident as he could.
“You shouldn’t worry so much, boss,” Bass smiled at John, almost reading his mind.
They were escorted to a staircase made of the same white metal that had been dug into the mountainside. John had been informed it was the only clear entrance, but it didn’t bring them to an ideal spot, as according to his minimap, they led to the second level from the top. Still, it was quite convenient, as It wasn’t far from the camp, only a few minutes walk away.
*’Guess we might not be able to make this as quick as I would have liked… Hopefully we won’t find too much trouble,’* John thought, concerned about the situation they might confront.
“My men will keep watch over the entrance. But I won’t send them in until you’re done, beyond this point, you’re on your own,” the scientist’s tone was grim.
“That’s fine, we’re used to it,” Yan responded almost immediately.
“Yan’s right, now let’s get in there,” John said as he took a step onto the first stair. A strange feeling then passed over him, and he noticed a slight shimmer separating the staircase from the outside world. Some smell that had not been there earlier also appeared, it was metallic, almost like blood but with a hint of rot and decay. He passed his hand back through the entrance, curious as to what would happen, and his hand passed through the same unfamiliar texture. It was almost as if something was standing right there.
“Is there a forcefield here?” he asked the scientist, not sure if to be worried or intrigued.
“Yes, there is, it’s there in case the spiders decide to attack this place. But it will allow you through easily, credit for that goes to some of your Council magic,” for the last few words he looked to Ember. His tone was almost excited.
“Indeed, our agreement has benefited both sides quite a bit,” Ember responded flatly.
“Huh…” John mumbled faintly as the rest of his team passed through the forcefield. Just in the corner of his eye he caught Charlotte visibly shaking for a moment as she stood next to him. It made him worry about her again.
*’Is it fear, or anxiety, or something else?’*
“Hey boss, we should probably move as fast as we can now. We’re not safe on this side of the field,” Bass stated and snapped him out of thought, her tone much more serious than usual.
“No time for daydreaming, you’re right,” John knew that. He pressed forwards, he had to, they had committed to this mission already, but he still had a bad feeling about it. Step after step they all walked down the stairs, and into the bowels of the mine below.
The shiny white metal turned rustier and rustier as they walked. John felt the air turning sour, and the putrid smell grew stronger. Small white lines of the metal glowed in the dimming light that still came from the surface, which was slowly replaced by an industrial light source. Blinking orange lights whose glass was half shattered. John figured the spiders had done it, but he wasn’t sure why.
“We need to be careful, they clearly got here already,” John warned the others as quietly as he could. Yan had already gotten ready for an attack, her hand was replaced with a wolf’s paw, but now Bass drew her halo and Charlotte was grabbing at her glove gently as well. Ember was standing further back, almost silent, and her knife was in her hand. For the first time, John really looked at it. It was a dark blade with blue metallic material in bands around the handle and blade that imitated writing. Almost as if a series of runes were written onto the blade with a carefully applied layer of metal.
They kept going as a unit, their movement almost silent. Stairs soon turned to a tight hallway, only letting two people pass. Given the walls and ceiling of stone it was clearly carved from the mountain, but everything was supported by the metal walls. The white metal now looked black, and it was covered by a layer of hardened goo. Bass was the only one curious enough to touch it when the staircase stopped.
“It’s blood, I think. Not sure from what…” she stated, her expression had turned more grim.
“From the spiders, I assume,” Yan walked over to Bass, “but whoever it’s from, it is very likely to be dangerous,” she continued, trying to get the sound mage away from the walls. She went willingly, clearly not happy with her findings either.
That’s when John noticed it, a slight chattering and clicking noise he could hear from above them. Like something was crawling on the ceiling. He looked up, petrified that he would see something, but he didn’t. All that was there was the exposed brown and gray rock of the mountain.
“I-it’s from the o-other s-side…” Charlotte whispered with fear.
*’Shit, that means the spiders did reach the upper level and the workshop… That makes this whole thing a lot more dangerous,’* a worried expression took over John’s face as he thought of various possibilities of how screwed they were.
“We need to hurry up, there’s even less time to waste if they’re up above us,” Bass said, breaking John out of the cycle of his own thoughts again. She tried to return to a cheery expression as best she could.
“Yeah, you’re right Bass,” he did the same, panicking would only hurt them now. He kept moving forwards, and the rest followed suit.
The corridor didn’t last for long before they reached another door, but it had changed slowly. Small threads on the ceiling and floor had turned larger and more dense, and now they found themselves facing a giant web covering the metal door. It was made of dense white threads which were dotted with black spots, that John guessed were the same liquids as was on the walls. According to John’s minimap, it was the entrance to the main bridge section, which was located on this floor.
“This didn’t happen during the struggle,” Ember said, John almost thought she was trying to reassure them after having stayed quiet for a while. She pointed to its connection with the ceiling, there were visible marks of wear there. Scratches that might have been made by claws or something scraping against the stone, “there’s no blood on those scratches,” she continued, her tone confident. The rest weren’t sure how to respond, but John knew she was right, and it just worried him even more.
“I can take this down easily with my halo,” Bass suggested immediately, moving to action but looking to John for approval.
Charlotte said something before he could, “t-they c-could be on t-that s-side,” her tone was somehow more terrified than before, but her expression had more anger in it than fear.
*’I wish I understood Charlotte well enough to tell her what she needs to hear…’* John thought to himself, hoping that what he could say would help them all, *’this is exactly what I was worried about. Us once again being thrown into some horror movie setup, at least this time we have Ember with us,’* he looked to his right where she stood close to the wall. Her stance was guarded but when he found her eyes he could swear they told him she was curious.
“Charlotte is right, we need to know what’s past there before we make noise and breach it-” John started.
“Then you must be glad I came along, I’ll scout ahead with my invisibility. If they’re simply just normal spiders, as we were told, they won’t be able to sense me,” Ember started, her tone containing some emotion John couldn’t decipher.
“How long will it take you?” Bass asked Ember directly.
“It should only take a few minutes,” the spy retorted.
“Do it Ember, please,” John asked her, “we need as much of your help as we can get.“
“I will do whatever I can, John. I said I would help you, and I intend to keep my promise,” she said, and a second later her knife went through one of the threads at the side of the web, cutting it in one motion. Bass looked at John’s expression for a moment before moving to help, cutting through the other side with her halo, which slowly spun faster but still completely silently. Immediately when threads were cut Ember disappeared to the naked eye, and a bodiless voice spoke to them.
“You should move away from the door in case there are spiders on the other side. Perhaps wait at the staircase?” Ember spoke to them. It was strange to hear her without seeing her, but he guessed it wasn’t any stranger than everything else he had seen.
“Yeah, let’s move back,” he looked at the others and they nodded in agreement. But there was something else he had to do first. John focused on using **Observe** the same way he had with Ingrid, and he saw exactly what he hoped for. The spy’s silhouette appeared a couple meters from him in a bright white light. Looking around, he didn’t see much else out of the ordinary, but faint lines of blue and purple color lingered in the air. Bass touched John’s shoulder a bit later and pulled him back, out of the door’s line of sight.
Bass and John reached the staircase together just after Yan and Charlotte, but they still heard the metal door slide open from the other side of the corridor. Then, they only heard silence, and all they could do was wait for Ember’s return.
“I don’t trust her John, she’s here to be Ingrid’s eyes and ears, not ours,” Bass whispered to him as they settled down, clearly serious.
“Bass, I get it, but I trust her, so trust me, please.“
“Ok, boss,” she said in a louder voice.