- So, what are we going to do now, John? - Alina asked the leader of the group - You've mentioned before, this route seemed to be the best and safest to take, yet here we are, standing here in front of a thick, metal wall. Does it mean we should find a way back to the crossroad and go different way this time?
Marlow shrugged, and sighed.
- Yeah, given we actually can do that - he replied sneeringly, then quickly got back to his usual tone - Finding a different passage sounds tricky at this stage. We need to check what options do we have here.
- Well, what I see here is a closed path and no alternative - Martin looked seriously scared - And don't tell me it doesn't look like we got stuck here.
- Did I say everything is perfect and there is nothing to worry about? - John told his friend immediately - Yes, we are in a really troublesome spot, Martin, but we shouldn't give up without trying to find a way. I've been through a lot during this mission, and it's not the first time I need to figure out how to get out of trouble.
The way Johnson's face expression changed made it clear he felt ashamed of his behavior, and tried to pull himself together.
- So, what's the plan now? - he said that, looking at Marlow.
- Well, we were obviuously cut from going straight ahead - major started analyzing the situation - Which means, if there is anything that does not allow us to get to that spot, there should be some alternative ways as it was before, or there also exists a chance override is possible.
- But for the override, we need to have an access to the system, which is not the case.
- Of course, I'm well aware of that, just pointing out potential options. Obviously, the main idea I have now is to find any route we could use.
- Okay, so what should we be doing? - Alina asked after just listening for a while now - Do you want us to start checking specific panels or just leave it to you?
John still had the app that installed on his PEC and was showing him the way until now, and he had no doubts that in the current circumstances relying on it was the best shot at finding a way out. However, he wanted to keep this information to himself so no one calls him crazy for using some random code that came from whoever knows where, therefore allowing others to just wait when he does all the work could cause him only trouble.
- We will split sections among us three - he pointed at Alina, Martin and himself - Andy will continue to stand guard when we focus on investigating the area. Now, as for who will go where...
Marlow distributed the sections in a way that gave him focus on the panel that closed their way and two panels on each side of the blockage, while other two would proceed with the walls further in the back.
John started immediately with the app to see whether he can get any suggestions from it, the same way as it was before, but - quite surprisingly for him - he could not see any similar markings for the clear path as before. Then again, there were some differences between how specific panels were appearing within his interface - not with usage of colors, but having glyphs displayed instead.
Now, when he could see the pieces of alien symbols, Marlow launched the translation app from miss Evergate to be on alongside the alien app, allowing him to read the meaning behind the specific glyphs. However, it turned out that the way these were displayed made it hard for the app to properly read the symbols, resulting in a defective translation.
- Side... out... way... back... - major was reading the print from the app, but it was barely single words he was getting - The only thing that makes more or less sense is this 'danger' word for the panel that closed our way forward - he was thinking to himself, while analyzing the translation from the app - That would mean the passage got cut off for safety reasons or to not let unauthorized individuals going there. The left may be option to simple leave the facility, and the right could potentially lead to sections we already passed through.
At the same time John was reviewing the data he gathered so far, he heard Martin calling him out of a sudden.
- John, can you come here and have a look?
Johnson seemed excited, quite unlikely thing given his behavior moments ago, so Marlow figured it had to be something interesting.
- So, what is it you wanted me to see? - major asked, but immediately noticed an abnormality in the wall panel - Weird, I'm sure nothing like that was here when we were passing by. I wonder what is it used for.
At the base of the wall, there was a niche John did not see there previously as they went through the corridor, and some markings on the floor just next to it. The niche seemed to be deeper than one could tell from the outside since even using light was not allowing them to see the other end, while the markings looked more like some kind of a symmetrical metal carving serving an industrial purpose rather than any symbols or glyphs that they found in a number of places so far.
- Did you figure out anything? - Alina approached the other two, who were checking the new finding for several minutes now - There is nothing of the sort on my end, and I don't really see any reason to stay there for longer, so I thought you might need a hand here.
- I would love to tell you there is something specific to do - John spoke to her, while his PEC was running the analysis of the markings for him, as he found this to be an easier step to start with - but for now we can only think about what these could be used for. Obviously, I would like for it to be some mechanism opening a secret path, or at least something that could help us out in passing through, yet it can be anything at this point.
- Ok, let's do our best to figure this out - Martin clasped his hands, while saying that - At least, we can exclude this as potential way if it is not useful in the end.
Once Marlow's PEC was done with the analysis of the carvings, the data print he got proved his suspicion of this being a mechanism rather than some piece of writing or other marking. The symmetry, size parameters and distances between the carved elements suggested one of two options - something was hidden inside the floor and could be errected once triggered, or it could be used as a mechanism for moving some object. Looking at the size of the wall panel, John suspected, or rather - was hoping that path could be opened using it, though the problem was how to activate it.
As he was looking around, he attempted to use the alien app to look for any lead, but it was showing absolutely nothing for this section, as if intentionally not wanting him to look into that thing. Therefore, given he could not rely on it, John focused on the niche located by the wall.
Said niche was quite a big opening within the structure - not big enough for an adult human to fit in, but a small child would be potentially able to get through. Obviously, they were all adults in this group and no one was small enough for trying to squeeze in, thus looking into interior there was not possible physically. If they at least had a drone to spare...
When the idea about the drone came to his mind, Marlow remembered about his cybers having variety of functions, and - until now - he only managed to use a few. Since there were no other options at their disposal, major started to look through the technical documentation, hoping to find something appropriate for checking the insides of the niche. Then, after a few minutes of diving into the details, he found a setting that allows to change the shape of the arm, extending it considerably and turning into a type of a probe specifically aimed for getting to areas that are hard to reach, and capable of mapping its surroundings.
- This looks pretty damn crazy - Johnson commented as he saw his friend's cyber arm changing shape - Can it bend enough to get through?
- It has modular build in this setup - John replied, while pushing his arm inside - I hope it's going to work.
- Let's hope there's nothing dangerous inside to hurt you.
- Worst case scenario, I'm going to detach it.
Major was prepared for such circumstances, and already knew how to trigger emergency detachment of the arm just below the shoulder. Of course, this meant he would lose his hand, making his standard activities limited, but - at the same time - it could save his life in case of serious trouble.
- Ok, so how is it so far? - Alina asked after about a minute from the moment John inserted his arm into the niche - Anything interesting there?
- I've only managed to get half of the extension in - Marlow told her - Once it's on full reach, I'm going to turn on the sound waves and start mapping.
Relying on visuals only would not be very effective in such circumstances, therefore John made sure the setting he uses will aim for the highest output for data gathering by incorporating all the sensors the cyber had built-in. In a matter of quarter or so, he had a print of the niche's interior sent to his PEC.
With the data received, John withdrew his cyber arm and reverted its shape back to the original setting, then he proceeded with reviewing the print, and the very first thought that came to his mind was:
- It looks like a circuit.
Since it was just an initial observation, Marlow did not share this information immediately - rather than that, he wanted to further review before saying anything that could lead to an incorrect conclusion. However, others were bothering him with questions, therefore he ended up sharing the current details with them.
- Indeed, structure of the interior is similar to how circuits look like - Martin made the same connection as John did before - Still, why'd it be designed that way? I can't see what such a shape could be used for here.
- Yeah, it feels unlikely - John agreed with his friends opinion - Circuits like that are using electric current to function, but I've never used circuits of such a size. I can't imagine how much energy would be needed to power up something like that.
During the time those two were talking, Alina was listening to them and looking at the footage. When John and Martin seemed to be at loss about the purpose of this unusually shaped circuits, paths or whatever these were, it was her who noticed one thing that hey missed.
- What are these small channels? - she asked them.
Both Marlow and Johnson were confused for a moment, but once they looked closely, there were indeed smaller paths, lines carved in bottom, top and sides of much bigger space shaping in a form of a circuit.
John scratched his head - he was surprised his PEC did not mark these up after receiving data, even though the regular layout these had should be enough for PEC to see a pattern, it did not happen. It was hard for Marlow to believe his implant could malfuction such a big deal, therefore he started diagnostics, trying to understand what really happened there. After all, every PEC was set for finding patterns by default, and yet something like this - it was hard to believe, unless... Major turned off the alien app and detached it from everything he could within the implant's environment, then ran analysis yet again, this time getting a print that included not only the shape of the interior hidden behind the opening at the bottom of the wall, but also smaller channels carved within that Alina pointed out to be present.
- John, is it only me, or does it look like some time of a coil? - Martin mentioned something Marlow was just thinking about.
- Yeah, it seems so, but I cannot see where could there be a power source here - major said, looking at the print - Without it, it's hard to say how this connection actually works.
- What if we just powered it up anywhere?
- I'm not really sure. I mean, it may be worth a shot, but we cannot know what can it trigger.
- Do we have many more options though? - Alina jumped in with this question - Did we find anything else here so far?
John actually had other options, the two potential paths he did not tell others about, yet none of them seemed to lead towards their goal. Moreover, he was personally interested in this mechanism, and wanted to learn what it does, even though he was still worried about potential consequences.
- We could try doing that - he told the others - However, do you guys want to do it, if it may mean potential danger for everyone?
- Is it better than staying here and being unable to leave? - Martin asked him - If there was any other way out, then maybe, but since we have nothing so far...
Hearing that, Marlow felt bad about not disclosing what he found out next to the blockage, so before they made a decision about what to do, he told others about potential alternatives.
- Are you sure any of these could potentially lead outside though? - Boskovitch asked him immediately - Also, do you have a way of opening a path?
- Well, all we could do is try to activate it the same way as before - major replied to her.
- Then again, you mentioned that you could not see similar patches on these two - Johnson pointed out - Do we have any guarantees? It sounds we would either way need to investigate...
John shrugged.
- I cannot promise you anything, but I just didn't want you to agree on one option without being aware.
The rest of the group looked at each other.
- Yes, we get you wanted to be absolutely sure before telling us - Alina spoke - Still, we already found something that could potentially work, so why not give it a shot?
With that, they had a majority vote for attempting to activate the mechanism Martin found.
- Okay, then, let's give it a try - said Marlow as he approached the niche.