>>187615
Crack the passwords on the computer. Then mess with the security bot.

Suggestion 2010/06/04(Fri)05:24 No. 187664 ID: 1177ca
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>>187625
>>187637
First, I accept the guard post job. It seems like a simple enough of a thing.

The Elder directs me outside, and we move a couple hallways backwards to the guard post, that ironically isn't guarded at all. It is rather close to the heart of the camp, which doesn't require much guarding: actually, it is used as a general store, its lockers filled with all kinds of stuff and more boxes and crates full of things brought in.

I get to the computer and mess around with it a little. It cracks open like an egg shell. "Marvelous job!", the Elder exclaims, filling me with pride: feels nice to be the only one in the entire complex who can do anything like this. Feels good man.

For the task of the security robot, I am directed to Jacob's workshop. This place is full of highest working technology I have so far seen in this place, some of which is currently used to make a new hand for me: it is quite a lot for what I think, but I guess it won't be much anymore, compared to what the outside world would have come up with in these last decades. Nonetheless, I investigate and mess up with it a little, borrowing some things as I move to the robot itself.

The machine is a good seven feet tall, silver coloured, with the MagiTech logo in its chest. It looks rather like a skeleton, being very thin and very lean, with long and flexible fingers for accurate and dextrous work. The only actual weapon I find for this thing is a laser rifle, mounted on its wrist and hidden under the armour plates, but I suspect it would not need that many weapons anyway: pure strength would do.

"This thing must have cost a fortune..."

"It did," the Elder says. "I worked here, remember? I was just an accountant, sure, but at least I saw the price tags that way."

I turn to the back of the machine, opening its platings to gain access inside its systems. It is then that the thought occurs to me:

>>187625
>just steal it's body.

Some parts of my mind have whispered about moving out from my current physical shell. What's left of it is in a pretty bad state, with mostly nothing working anymore, and whatever does work works really badly. Here I would have almost a perfect example: strong, durable, dextrous, and in a marvelous condition.

Of course, I would need the permission to do that, and even if I do, the process would probably take several weeks: determining if it really is as fit as it looks like, whether it is compatible with my mind, the transfer itself, etc. Furthermore, I still like the idea of restoring my own body one day - humans can do some really fun things robots can't - but I suppose I could save my original shell somewhere, and move back in it once an opportunity to fix it does rear its head.

On the other hand, simply fixing it to recognize this camp's inhabitants, along with myself, as friends, would take just about half an hour, which is significantly less time. Fixing my own body a bit would be relatively easy, too, considering nobody's messing up with the internal mechanics and compabilities and stuff, and could be done in less than a week.

Hmm, I'm not sure.

i said steal it if it can't be fixed. since it can be fixed then fix it.

>>187664
Fix the robot, and fix yourself.

It takes less time and you wind up getting more out of it.

>>187676
This.

>>187676
>>187705
Fair enough. I begin my duties in repairing the thing, adding the whole list of the city's inhabitants to its memory - normally this is done remotely from the main computer, for all the robots at once, which we obviously can't do right now: this means of course, that the remaining bots will remain hostile, which might be bad. I also make it follow the commands of humans here: in theory, it can obey everybody now, myself included, but some people's orders, such as the Elder, take priority.

The machine's eyes blink as it awakens, for the first time in two years. Everybody backs away, pointing their guns at it, but it doesn't attack. It simply looks at them, confused.

"Okay. Um...", the Elder begins. "How about... go to the floor 37 and see that no intruder can get past that point. Okay?"

Without a word, the machine leaves the room, presumably to handle its duty. I somehow think we're a bit more safe now.

My turn comes next. However, the hand is not finished for a couple more days, and every other thing I'm requesting - reinforced bones, some more strength and dexterity - takes a while to prepare. Look for parts and stuff, you know.

Therefore, I find myself with a couple days of free time, after which the operation will begin, and last for another five days. What should I do until then?

>>187728
This quest is now about getting laid with Jeb.
Go see what hes up to. Check out his sweet ass.

no, that's just.. ick.

>>187755
Um. I'll admit that he isn't that bad looking, but you do realize that I'm an undead cyborg skeleton with very slim chances of ever getting my body back? I don't think we could ever really do anything. Even my fingers are too cold and thing for... um. You know.

Still, I suppose I could visit him, now that I have the time. He's still at the infirmary, recovering from his wounds, the last I heard. It's right next to the general stores, which also keep most of the medical stuff in their special lockers and boxes.

I find Jeb from the only occupied sick bed. Half of his head is covered in bandages, and I'd presume there are some more under his shirt. He looks slightly surprised for seeing me, but also pleased. "Oh, hey."

"Hey."

"Sup?"

"Oh, you know, I've got some free time, so..." I tell him about the work I've been doing, hacking to the guard computer and fixing that robot. And about getting those fixes.

He nods. "Okay."

We need to get your skleton fixed up before we go there but still we could you know get to know Jeb and have some fun. Freindships are more important then just just sex. So build up your friendship with Jeb while he is recovering and start to do some reserach into getting your primary functioning systems online.

Also I want to ask where you were originally from and what memories you have of your past?

yeah, hangout with you buds sounds cool.

>>187871
>>187873
"Oh, hey, thanks for saving me back there."

"Eh, was the least I could do." He shrugs. "Only a douche would've left you."

I stay and chat with him for some time, about whatever pops up into our minds: all those monsters, the life inside this place, our respective childhoods... It's been a while since I've talked about anything in such a relaxed manner. A couple days before I came to this place - which was like, decades ago.

After a while, Jeb brings up another subject: "So hey."

"Hm?"

"Have you seen our forest yet?"

"Nope. I've been a bit busy and all lately."

"Okay, so. I'm getting out tomorrow morning: still a bit stiff all around, but I'm fine, more or less. Suppose I could show you around the place?"

>>188085
That would be great, thanks.
Lets head over to the Mechanics and see if we can pick up any repair/maintenance skills.

>>188085
Let's go take a bit of a walk in the forest.

Also consider doing some more work since we've got little to do.

>>188088
"Sure, that'd be nice. Thanks."

"Hey, it's okay. I've got to show the new guy around the place, no?"

I shrug, and stay with him for a while more, before finally getting up and leaving. Next, I head back over to the mechanics, where Jacob and the others are working with my hand still. They let me watch and see if I could pick up something useful of it.

I spend a good while watching them work, asking questions, letting them teach me some basic maintenance and repair skills, so that I might not need their services so often in the future. It is quite late when I leave, but I suppose there would still be a bit of time before I hit the sack.

>>188097
Do you even need to sleep?
Uhhh, lets go see what Namad is up to.

>>188098
Whether it's flesh or electric, a human mind requires a certain amount of sleep in order to remain effective. Otherwise sleep deprivation, insanity, and loss of humanity will ensue.

On that account, I have been told that there is well enough room available for me around here. There are four floors of the city proper, with much of the space reserved for working areas, but some rooms are inhabited: not too much room for one more occupant. Then there are two floors of the "suburb" area where most people live, with the upper of the two being much smaller due to approaching the top of the mountain, where there was less room to excavate. The lower suburb is under the main city, and has much more space. The final two human occupied floors, on the top and the bottom of all else, mostly contain just occupied guard posts and patrol areas: there is an occasional squabble fought there with an adventurous monster, but nothing else much.

Mostly there is only a single room per person, with small children living along with their mum or dad. Once they reach a certain age, six years or so, they get their own room somewhere near to their parents, which really doesn't count as "moving out", just that they've got more room for their toys. All families tend to live close together for the rest of their lives, in the same homes they got back in the day.

Whatever the case, there is more than enough space for me around the suburbs: all I need to do is to find an unoccupied room from the registers and declare it mine. The paperwork, I've been told, is extremely simple, with very little bureaucracy when compared to the outside world. Should I try the upper or the lower suburbs? I don't know, I'll think about that later.

For now, I fancy a visit to Namad's place. She has her workshop established in the middle of the city: I walk over, knock the door, and get inside upon the "Come on in".

Namad was, apparently, working on something complicated looking on her computer: there are a lot of numbers and images and terms that I don't understand, well outside my area of expertise. She seems pleased to see me, smiling as I come in. "Oh hey! I was just about to finish over here and go home to have a snooze. Did you have a good day? Checked out all the places?"

Ask her what she was working with. If there's anything either of you could do to help each other.

Also mention you saw Jeb.

>>188116
I was thinking of getting a place to sleep. Whats the difference to the upper and lower suburbs?

>>189618
We small-talk about various subjects. I tell her that I went to meet Jeb, and managed to get him show me around tomorrow. She, meanwhile, tells me that she's double-checking all the information abailable of that security robot I fixed earlier.

"You did a pretty good job with it," she says. "Everything would seem to be fine."

>>189692
Besides being smaller, the upper suburbs is rather more valued for such arbitrary reasons as being "on higher position", and further away from the majority of this mountain: I guess its inhabitants would like to think themselves to be better protected from the dangers of this place, being further away from it and having the rest of the city in between them. Yet, from what I've heard, the top areas of the mountain, above the city, have their dangers as well.

It is also to be noted that the Elder himself lives on the lower suburbs.

Namad herself, however, lives at the upper suburbs. According to her, this is because her whole family during their time here used to live at the top area. "My grandfather was a computer scientist, and had his living quarters in there," she says. "Actually, this place here, where I work, used to be his old workroom." Jeb lives next to her, too.

She offers to accompany me to the city hall, where the paperwork is made. "It probably doesn't matter where you'd like to live, but still, do you have any ideas?"

>>189711

Get a room near Namad and Jeb then. They're your buds, right?

Also, look into getting a mask and some clothes you can fill out with stuffing or something. You don't want to be more unsettling to look at than you need to be.

>>189738
The city hall is contained in the fourth floor of the camp, from the down (suburbs and the guarded floor not included), and it consists mainly of a few larger rooms piled together and picked for the purpose. These include the Elder's workroom: we pass him on a hallway heading there, talking to a tall, gaunt man with a lab coat. Namad looks at them rather oddly as we pass by, but we continue on.

The paperwork is painless indeed, at least to somebody used to the bureaucracy of the outside world. I fill a single form that asks me a few routine questions - name, marital status, any STDs, etc. - and I am told almost immediately afterwards that there is a room for me at the upper suburbs. I am now officially part of this community. I shake his hand and leave.

I do take notice that people around here tend to look at me strangely, presumably because of my skeletal appearance. Asking Namad about this, she explains that both herself and Jeb do have some spare clothing they could present me.

So, on my way to my new home, I pop by at their place to choose something for myself. Considering the situation we're all in, I don't have all that much to choose, but I do manage to find myself some jeans, long-sleeved shirt, and an old, greying trenchcoat. "Belonged to our dad, but Jeb never got used wearing it," Namad comments on the last one. "So I guess you could have it."

There are no spare pairs of shoes, however, which is rather a shame. Likewise, there are no masks to hide my skeletal face behind. Oh, well, beggars can't be choosers.

My new room is right next to theirs. It is empty of anything but dust, absolutely everything having been looted from it decades ago. I presume it should be my responsibility to fill it with something interesting: a bed comes to mind. But for now, I am too tired.

I huddle myself to the corner of the room and let the sleep come to me. It is a bit harder than expected to fall asleep when there is nothing fleshy left in my body anymore, not to mention the lack of anything soft under me, but... *Yawn*...

*Snooze*

REBOOTING...

My visuals come back online. I do not know how long I have slept, but I presume it is now morning. At least if my current body doesn't sleep significantly more or less than an average human being.

I get up from the floor, and let my senses adjust a little, waking up properly. Let's assume it's morning. What should I do?

It shouldn't be hard to make a hammock, if you want a cheap thing to sleep on. If there are no pre-made masks handy, you should make one. Or have one made for you. Even something as simple as a cloth balaclava would go a long way toward making you look less unsettling.

Did you bank any DNA before you took this mission? If you survive this and escape the mountain you will want to be able to have the option of having your flesh husk regrown. If you didn't bank any, do you think some of your bones would still have old bone marrow protected inside them?

You should read the guard journals when you get a chance, too.

>>189772
You still have teeth in your skull, right? Is so, hang on to them. Teeth can be a great source of DNA. And DNA means you might be able to one day get a new body! That is still far off, but be sure to save those teeth just in case. Also, I second getting a balaclava. Don't want to scare anyone.

>>189772
>>189787
I still have all my teeth, and I intend on keeping a good care of them. They could be used to restore my body, I'm sure, but I'm also almost entirely certain that there are no facilities for that anywhere here. I'll have to wait until I get out.

As for the guard journals, I left them at the computer station around here. I should go and ask about them at some point.

For now, I should go and find something to cover my face with. Along with a hammock or something to sleep on. So I get up from the cold, hard floor and walk to the door.

Jeb is on the other side, almost managing to knock my skull instead of my door as I open it suddenly. "Oh." "Oh."

"So, I see you're awake."

"Uh-huh... I see you got our from the hospital."

"Yeah. Heard you got your own place, so I thought I might come and take a look."

"It's... not really much yet. I'm working on it."

"Yeah. So... you wanted me to show you around the place, no?"

Thank him for borrowing the coat. Ask him to show you around the forest, especially.

Also ask if he'd have anything to cover your face with. Also hammock.

>>190282
I am informed that there is plenty of material for both a hammock to sleep in, and a balaclava to cover my skull with. Jeb was never the handiest man for the job, but he promises to find someone who could help me. Seems like a decent enough of a guy.

For now, we take a bit of a walk around, during which we chat and get to know each other a bit better. There is nothing too notable about Jeb's past, considering this place anyway, besides the story of how he witnessed his father's death in the hands of those monsters. It's quite a sad tale, really.

Anyway, he shows me around the single place in this city that actually has something worth seeing: the forest. It was originally a large recreational center, with a swimming pool that was turned into a reservoir (with fish!): half the floor right under this one was filled with earth and soil, trees were given a lot more room to grow by removing the ceiling to the floor above, and they're fed with artificial sunlight. It's all quite amazing, and I have hard time to believe how they could have managed this.

Many people are here, out of work, taking it easy. We sit under a tree to relax for a while. Questioning of the nature of this place, I hear of a group of heroes that came from the outside long ago, back when the surrounding mountain wasn't quite this hostile, and managed to carry all the seed and soil up here, somehow.

Jeb also lets me know that he'll probably return to duty in a few days, once his wounds have healed fully. "There's really no sense in longer sick leaves around this place. Everyone's got to do what they've got to do, you get it?"

"What is your job, anyway?"

"I'm a scavenger. I go down to the lower levels, at great personal risk mind you, and find whatever might be useful to the rest of the village, then haul it back here."

"Mm-hm..." Silence falls between us, again, and I sit here and think of things. I'm still not at shape, but within a week I will be: I should perhaps start to consider what I will do then.

For now, there is enough work as it is, once I manage to bugger myself to get up from here and find some.

>>190350
Well, work on some more of the tasks we got yesterday. Check those messages, and the computer you haven't cracked yet.

Find out how long this place has been cut off from the rest of the world, and how many people there are. It has been a generation since the disaster. Everyone here was left for dead, or are the descendants of those left.

You had a team you were working with when you penetrated the facility right? Were you the last of them alive, or is it possible one of them made it out and reported back to the corporations about what was here?

How far is the mountain from civilization?

>>190363
I ask Jeb about how long it has been, and he responds: "Sixty years."

"Sixty? Really?"

"Well, fifty-nine. But yeah. It's been a while."

I agree. That is rather a long time for me to nap, or for the rest of the world to not do absolutely anything for this place. I think they may just have forgotten about us, or cast the whole thing under the mat. Jeb agrees.

We are at the eastern mountains, surrounded by hundreds of miles of desert at all directions. The closest city, last I heard (things can change in six decades), was nearly two hundred miles northwest from our current location, and it really wasn't much of a city to speak of anyway.

I do not know what happened to my team: we were separated a couple hours after breaking in here, and never saw any of them again. Some of them could have survived back out, certainly: more likely, though, I would say that they all either were trapped here along with the rest of us, or just died. In fact, after all these years, they're probably dead anyway.

>>190355
After spending some time chillin', I figure I should probably get back to work. I get up, telling Jeb I will go to the main computer of this place, seeing if I could crack it open.

I am shown the way to the computer, which turns out to be rather a big thing in the middle of the floor of some big room. It's humming rather loudly, glowing in a faint green light around the room. I reach with my remaining hand and get to work.

Turns out to be a lot harder nut to crack than those security computers, which I guess makes sense. And I suppose it would be a lot faster with two fully-functional hands, too, anyway. It takes me several hours to get past all the protections and firewalls, to the delicious data in the computer core.

I am contemplating on whether I should check out some of it myself, or leave it to the others, when, almost immediately after cracking the thing open, a small message pops up on the screen:

All the more eyes to see you with.

>>190407
Dammit. Find the camera access and try to cut any outside permissions in any sensitive areas.

>>190407

60 years. That's bad. That's really bad, actually. If the community is tapping into the mountain facility's power mains, and if the survivors haven't been able to service the generators, they should be reaching the end of their expected operational lifetimes. Fission power sources aren't generally designed to last more than 20 years without servicing and refueling. Even expensive radiothermal back-up generators, a low wattage but very durable solution, should be nearing their first half-life depending on the material used. If the facility uses geothermal power instead the mechanical parts of the generator are probably still long overdue for servicing.

None of that accounts for the accelerating effects water damage, battle damage, and scavengers could have had on the generators and power grid.

What sort of power supply do you run on, anyway?

>>190409
I am very startled about this sudden intrusion. Indeed, the first idea popping up in my mind is, if he can see me, to block the sight. Hence, taking out the cameras. There are no further messages as I hack deep into the computer, finding the camera controls and immediately closing them down.

I wait for some minutes, if there would be any more messages, but there aren't.

>>190420
I'm not entirely certain what kind of a power source this place has, but I would have to guess either nuclear or cold fusion energy. In either case, this is a very good point: we should have run out of power decades ago, if not end up as a huge crater in the face of the earth. As far as anybody knows, there is nobody to maintain the reactors - or anything else around here, for that matter - and even if there were, they would need some supplies and replacement parts eventually anyway.

Suffice to say, though, as much as this confuses me, I am very happy ab-

What did you think that would accomplish? I am still here. But you won't be for long.

>>190465
Trace these messages. Find where they're being sent from. Then lock them out.

It's possible this other hacker hacked your eyes, and is just pretending to display on the screen. Shake your head in small quick movements, to see if only the message box jumps around trying to keep up with the rest of the screen.

wait... you said your bones are transceiver controlled correct? rip out whatever it is you transmit to them with.

>>190471
What? My eyes? How could it- oh god!

I begin shaking my head quickly, to see whether the screen would keep up, but it stays precisely at the same location. I mean, it's not moving around. I look close to it... then quickly move my hand right on top of it! It doesn't momentarily jump on top of my hand, before realizing its position and getting back under it... it just stays there passively.

Whew, I guess it wasn't my eyes after all. That would have been incredibly scary. It probably also would have meant a traitor among us, since you could only do such a thing manually, directly at my head, while I was sleeping...

>>190466
That is not going to help you, a message says as I frantically begin my work to trace its origin. I've done this kind of a work before: searching down hackers for the government, boosting up the defenses of their own computers... once. I was young and needed the money. Don't judge me.

Anyway, it is easy enough a job to find out where the transmit is coming from. A map of the whole complex is displayed, centering to the place of origin of the signal. The whole screen garbles a little, and I knock it to get it right. Then I knock it again, because I think there should be some kind of a mistake here. It's not coming from around the city, as I first thought it would...

Told you.

It is coming halfway below the whole mountain, from the floor 14. That's a good fifteen floors from my current location, or thirteen floors lower than there should be any humans left in.

Go ahead and block me, then. It will do you no good. Your kind will- At this point, blocking further contact is easy. I target it everywhere in the entire city, so that there would be no more hacking to any computer around here.

>>190479
That would only serve to cripple me.

it's ether not human or a guy with a god complex. let's run around and do as many hacking jobs as we can and set up several counter-intrusion algorithms.

>>190526

OK now set up a single channel of communication to floor 14. Tell them that you want to talk, but exploiting Windows Messenger Service to pop up windows is not the best way to do it. If they protest, tell them one of your many war stories about infinite popup cascades. As bizzare as it sounds, these things on floor 14 could in fact be our allies and we don't even know it.

Questions to ask

1) What are you?
2) What happened to the mountain?
3) What do you want?
4) Whose kind are you talking about? Hackers?

Even if they lie to you, or mock you, the information could prove useful.

>>190526
Consider setting up a secure line to communicate with the entity. Find out what it wants.

>>190526

There are no saints in the hacking business, and as useful as the meme of a white hacker is, it is only propaganda.

>>190532
Seeing how this here computer is linked to every other computer in the city, I can use it to protect the whole place from hackers with several nice algorithms I don't get to use too often. On the other hand, this other person does seem rather like an amateur: the initial block, rather flimsy as it was, was apparently enough to keep him, or her, away entirely. Still, it's never bad to be too sure, so I spend some time bolstering up the defenses.

>>190539
>>190540
Really, I'm not sure this thing ever expected to face an accomplished hacker in a duel. I'm not sure it even knew I was one. Anyway, with all the protection put up, I set up a private, secure channel to chat him on with. Or her. Whatever. Here we go:

You think you're the only one who can play this game? You messed up with the wrong person, amateur: I've got you by the nads now.

It takes a while for anyone to respond, but eventually they do:

Who is this?

Hmm. Doesn't seem like the kind of a response I expected. Thought there'd be more gloating. I ask it about who, or what, it is and what it wants.

What? What are you talking about? Who are you?

Yes, very confusing, this. Its attitude would seem to have changed completely during this half an hour or so since I last talked to it. How should I approach this?

>>190846
Explain to them the messages you've been receiving and that the network trail led to them.

>>190848
The person I am talking to now does indeed not seem like the one I spoke (wrote?) to just a while back. I explain the situation to him, telling him about the messages, how I have been tracking them down, and how the leads ended there. I do not tell him of my location, although I'm sure he can guess.

What, so this is where they come from? He seems to have some awareness of what I'm talking about.

Yes.

There is no answer for a moment. Then,

Could you get the Elder in there?

>>190902
Do it.

>>190905
There's no reason to disobey: the Elder is the one dealing with this stuff around here anyway. I tell him to wait and run over to find the old man.

As I thought, I discover him from his office. I explain him the situation, what I've done and what I've learned, and he follows me back to the computer in a relative hurry to his old age.

"Do you know who it is?", I ask as we get back to the computer center.

"No idea," he responds, and gets to the computer. "No peeking. Stick around until I know what's going on."

And so I move back and sit on the floor, waiting. Hours pass in boredom: my only pastime is to look at the Elder and try to figure out his mood from what he's seeing. He is switching from confused to excited, with scared somewhere in the middle. Evidently it's something big.

Eventually he just stares at the computer for a moment, then walks back to me. "So how long will it take till you're in some sort of shape?"

"Um, about a week. Why?"

"Because I've got a job for you outside. Better get ready."

Another two hours has passed since. The Elder has explained me relatively little about the whole thing, and I have, with his permission, passed on the same information to both Jeb and Namad. I have also finally managed to cover my head with some makeshift ski mask, which lets me look fairly approachable around here but probably won't matter outside.

All of sudden, I've been thrusted straight into an important and dangerous task, one that only I can apparently accomplish, and yet of which I don't even know all that much. I'm not sure what I should think about this.

I have a computer map of the mountain uploaded in my head, currently showing an optimal route to the floor 14 and my destination. It has been told that my hand is ready by tomorrow and can be installed immediately. Additional strength and durability fixes, along with whatever other upgrades I would like to have, will be done over the next week. I will also need to equip myself with anything I think I might need in the hostile world outside the village.

Well, at least I have time.

An anti-golem cannon on one shoulder and an anti-vangaurd bladelauncher on the other.

Also learn magnetomancy.

and change your name to Mordre

>>190924
What options do we have here? Obviously SOME kind of weapon is needed.

>>190929
>>190936
Suffice to say, I need some weaponry. It's a hostile world out there. My new arm comes with a similar laser than the one my old one had, which will work in a pinch, but probably won't work against anything too big or the like. Besides it, I can choose from some pistols, rifles, machineguns, and other standard weapons.

Sadly, there are no Bladelaunchers around here, and the largest cannon we have here probably wouldn't even put a dent on a golem. Let's hope there will not be golems.

That's for guns, then. I probably don't require anything to eat or drink, but there may be something else besides guns that I need nonetheless. Can't just strut in there without preparing. So, what else?

A crowbar would be nice

>>190944
A rifle should be good for stronger enemies. Your arm laser is best for small fry. I suppose you could carry a backup pistol too but it seems a bit redundant.

A rope and grapnel is always handy.

Well, shotguns are great at close range, have a lot of power. Submachine guns arn't super-powerful, but they're useful at close range and for putting a lot of bullets out. Assault rifles are your jack of all trades, and machine guns are heavier assault rifles. Sniper rifles are your go-to for long range.

So. The situation we're in is pretty much close range only, yes? Go with a shotgun, submachine gun (Silenced, if possible), and a pistol (Again, silenced if possible). ...If they'll allow you that much, at least.

For other stuff... Knife and/or a taser for melee, multitool, body armor if they have it, maybe a flashlight and/or some flares, a grenade or two, annnnnnnd a backpack. That's aobut it, off the top of my head.

Vic 2010/06/09(Wed)13:31 No. 191009 ID: 1177ca
File 127611549047.jpg - (58.39KB , 648x972 , Crowbar1.jpg )

NEW HARDWARE FOUND. SEEKING DRIVERS... DRIVER PATH?
C:\
DRIVERS FOUND. INSTALL DRIVERS? [Y/N] Y
INSTALLING... 22%... 41%... 68%... 100%... COMPLETE.

I sit up on the operation table, and flex my new fingers a bit. It tingles, the same way my first arm was installed. I check out all my equipment: my laser is still there, as are my hacking tools and wires. I shoot a couple targets with the laser, and find it pleasantly accurate.

It is the second day after the day I was given this new task. I am still doing inventory, packing, and receiving upgrades and maintenance. I should be ready in six more days.

>>190978
Ah, yes. Crowbar: useful for opening locked places, bashing in some heads, and it's stylish to boot! I feel pretty amazing when I wield one of these. It's like it did all the speaking for me, leaving me no need to ever open my mouth.

For some reason, it makes me feel a bit nerdy, too.

>>190983
>>190988
I add a shotgun and a SMG to my list, and a pistol for backup. There are no silencers, unfortunately, which may become a problem later on. I'll also pick myself a knife, some rope and a grappling hook, a multitool, a flashlight (can't be too sure: even my night vision could fail), some flares, a few granades, and some body armor to cover me with. And a backpack to carry those things in.

These items are all added to my list. Anything else I should pack, upgrade on myself, or otherwise take care of around here, before I go? I'll have a whole week for all that. But for now, excuse me, I have a hammock to install...

>>190465

Cold fusion devices use a durable crystalline matrix that facilitates dt-dt fusion. The crystals are hideously expensive to dope, and have to be grown in a zero-g environment for positive power generation (crystals grown in gravity are appropriate for neutrino generators but you won't ever be able to use them to get more power out than you put in). Aside from the expensive involved in manufacture, a cold fusion generator needs a source of deuterium fuel and all the machinery that goes with power generation.

Most cold fusion plants use the heat from the fusor to create steam, which drives a turbine in the traditional fashion. A few, notably ones for use in naval submarines, use solid-state thermoelectric differential devices to general electric power. These are expensive, slightly less efficient than steam, and difficult to repair if problems arise, but they're completely silent and very durable. The best-case scenario is that the corporation funding this effort went for broke on the generators and went with one of the military designs.

That still doesn't account for where the fuel is coming from though. There may be an automated dt refinery on-site. If there is, it's a wonder it hasn't failed yet. 60 years is a long time to not service the pumps required to move water for the Girdler process.

>>191046
Yes... it is weird, but it is also rather a lucky thing for us. If the power had failed when it should have, everyone here would have died a long time ago. But yeah, considering how low I'm going, I might as well check out the generator. It is at the very bottom, sure, but hey, I'd already be going a lot deeper than any human ever, so what'd a couple dozen more floors do?

Right?

>>191009
>Anything else?

Isn't it obvious? You need companions! You're going on a dangerous mission, and cannot survive alone.

Press-gang Jeb and Namad into joining you. They cannot refuse such an important job.

Six days later I rise up from the operating table, where finishing touches on me have just been completed. I flex my newly improved body.

My bones have been reinforced with some light yet durable metals, rendering me much more resistant for the wear and tear of regular daily strain, although I still could hardly take a bullet or even the claws of one of those beasties outside. I have an actual nervous system now, as well, backed up with crude but fuctional mechanical muscle, letting me work with quite some dexterity and strength. Not to the level of what a full physical body could do, but... well, closer. My central processing unit has been upgraded, my internal "organs" replaced for newer and less-used models, letting me function for quite a while now without a fear of crashes or shut-downs. My old system could have crashed at any minute and not ever turn back up again.

I take my new body on a bit of a test drive, jogging across the hallways and checking out the forest. I experience a certain amount of weariness, something I have not felt at all since dying, but it passes by very quickly, my cybernetics being quite good with this stuff.

Packing up my things and wearing my body armor and other stuff, I start to consider whether there would be anything else left I would like to do...

>>191394
Hmm. Some company would be nice, both helpful and so that I wouldn't go mad all alone in there. With this in my mind, I head over to Namad's workshop, finding her in front of her computer as usual. She smiles as I enter: "Hey, how's it going? Do you like your new stuff?"

"Yeah. It's good. Thanks."

"Don't thank me, I didn't do anything. So what can I do for you?"

I explain her the business I am in. Crazy as it might sound, I really wouldn't want to head in there all by myself. Namad frowns at my words. "Hey, I can understand if you're scared or whatnot, but I'm not of the fighting type at all. Couldn't do much there but be a burden and drop dead. Sorry."

Her words ring true, sadly. Guess I'm being silly about this. "Should I ask your brother, too?"

"Doubt he'd want to come. He can fight, sure, but we've never gone that deep before, and I wouldn't want to lose him there either. You're on your own on this one, lad."

Sigh. I wave my hand at her in goodbye and leave the room.

I head downstairs, to the lower guard station. It has been a relatively calm week, with not much sighting of any kind of an enemy during it, which is never a bad thing. The guard robot is there, vigilantly going around the floor, knowing no rest from the job. I guess it's pretty cool.

I... think I'm ready. At least, as ready as I could ever be. I have double-checked my equipment, I am (relatively) heavily armed, my cause I just (I think), my will is strong(ish). I am heading into hostile territory all by myself...

Give me an excuse to stay, brain.

>>191432

Ask if you can have the robot to help you.

You're going deeper than they have in the 60 years, you don't know why, you don't know what you're expected to do, and you don't know who you'll be meeting at the end.

Ask for the robot.

>>191432
Don't be a pussy. What about weapons? Did you get everything?

>>191433
This.

>>191433
>>191436
With this sudden, very last-minute idea, I rush back up and find the Elder, asking for his permission to take the machine with me. My logic is sound: it is relatively safe up here, humans alone can keep the city secure very well, while down there a whole new, dangerous world, awaits, where I can never be sure to expect, and I have an important task to do.

To my great relief, he agrees! The supreme command of the robot has been given to me. I should give him a name.

Mere minutes later, I stand at the very edge of human-controlled territory. Beyond this step, naught but danger and death await me. I have a map, but I must not expect it to be accurate or true, for even in the upper floors things have changed more than they would have any right to: who knows what awaits me in the lower reaches of this accursed place?

My map, more or less, tells me to always take the nearest stairs down. During the first five floors, it notes several blockades and collapses where I cannot go further but must find a different path, of which they suggest many as well. In other places, I could use holes in the floor or walls, perhaps even make my own. After the fifth floor (or floor 32, as it's called), however, all advice ends, and it's pretty much just red line going down across a commonly known staircase: everyone I spoke to admits that it's likely to have blocked at several places as well, but nobody really knows anything about it.

Well... no point angsting about that. Down we go...

I get almost to the second floor when the growling begins. My night vision sees nothing, although something clatters in the darkness. It begins.

So why ARE you being sent down? What's your mission?

inb4 IT'S A TRAP

Sounds like they discovered some survivors on the 14th floor, and you're being sent down to evacuate them from Hell.

heh... "discovered" "survivors"

>>191468
They didn't tell me. I'm not sure why: don't they trust me, or what? Do they think the enemy is going to catch me and torture the information out of me? Or that I will defect? What? I don't know!

>>191469
This would sound logical, although I have no idea how they could have survived for that long.

There is no more growling. I continue on forwards, and get to the next set of stairs before I see something jump at m-

>>191582
Vic? Vic! VIIIIC!

>>191582
Shoot it! Whatever it is!

Shake it off and shoot it!

>>191810
One of those big dog creatures again. As it knocks on to me, I lose my balance and fall towards the stairs, but manage to stop my fall by catching the railing. The thing is dislodged, falling to the staircase behind me, and I aim my arm laser and fire.

With a pleasant THWIP, the thing yelps one more time and falls to the ground. Another like that tries to get a jump on me, but it is stopped by my robot buddy, who simply catches it from the air and casually smashes it against the wall, again and again until it doesn't move.

I regain my footing and examine myself. My newly reinforced body withstood the assault much better than the last time. There are no real injuries, only a bit of an ache. The guard robot looks at me: if it had facial features, I could perhaps claim it looked worried. "I'm fine," I tell it, and it stops.

We carry on downstairs. The scenery around here is getting all the more shattered, the floor uneven, the hallways broken and collapsed in many places. I find a light switch, and try to turn it on, but only manage to produce a quick shower of sparks from the ceiling. There is some red on the walls, dried and rust coloured, which I assume to be blood. But there are no bodies anywhere, not even skeletons. It worries me a lot.

To my dismay, I soon find the pathway blocked: according to the map, this should be an open path, and the collapse does look quite recent. I do not know of its severity, nor whether we could together clear it up. There were several passageways and doorways going both left and right quite recently, and there is a door on my immediate left as well. I should hope one of them will lead me to the other side, so that I may continue.

>>191832
... Lets name him Mordre

>>191832
Go left!

Go right!

>>191832
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP3H_Tz8WXk

>>191939

I can't contest such a heavy argument, I'm changing my vote to left.

>>191859
>>191939
Well, no reason to try and go a long route, if there is a perfectly viable way here already. I head left: the door falls down on the floor with a loud clatter as I pass.

Judging from the old, torn posters on the wall depicting human anatomy, and the few very distinctive tools on the table, this was once a medical room, probably for routine inspection. No complicated heart surgeries done here. An old computer lies on the table, possibly functional. There is a crack on the right wall, large enough for a human like myself to enter.

From the glint of my eye, I almost see something glowing in the drawer, but when I look, there is nothing. Mordre (yup) walks in with me, and seems quite interested about the crack: he lurches close to it and looks to the other side for some moments, before straightening up again and looking at me.

There is a faint noise in the distance, from where I came from. It tells me I should not tarry around.

>>192004
If you think you don't have time, take the computer. Otherwise, fiddle with it. But fiddling with it seems like a bad idea, and I would probably hold off on that for now.

>>192004
Maybe it's radioactive?!

>>192011

Radioactive! That can't be good.

When we get back we need to put lasers in Mordre's eyes.
Ignore the computer, we need to press on.

>>192069
I wouldn't much like hanging around when all that clattering ald growling and howling gets until here, so yeah... one last glance on the computer, which probably wouldn't hold anything inportant anyway, and through the gap.

But it is a good thing I gave it a bit of a look before, or I would've been in for some surprise.

Much of the floor is gone. There is nothing but void, an endless fall to the seemingly black abyss. I look above, and spy a similar massive hole through the ceiling. Metal bars prod out of the remaining floor, wires and powerlines hang from then and rock gently in the air, giving an occasional burst of sparks. Apparently, whatever collapsed the hallway outside did some damage all around.

There is a bit of a floor right on the other side: I carefully get through the crack, and stand on it, taking support from the wall. I see a door on the right of me, leading back to the original path, and I think I can reach it with a couple easy jumps. I also consider using my rope and descending right into the black depths of this place, but then I would be hopelessly lost. It could even lead straight past my objective. Or on the way of whatever did this.

The voices following me approach swiftly. Mordre looks back to the door I came from for a moment, and if I didn't know better, I would say he looks rather anxious.

>>192524

Better take cover and get ready for a fight. If you can hear them already you don't have time to escape. Get yourself situated behind cover and then listen to them. If they're speaking a language you know and they seem non-threatening, call out to them and demand they identify themselves. If they speak a language you don't know, or they seem threatening in their speech, don't challenge them. Just kill them.

Jump into the gap.

FIND 105 HORSE POINTS

>>192524
Hop through the door to the original path. NOW.
If you can take Mordre with you, that is.

>>192814
I turn, I watch, and I wait for the whatever show up and enter the room. I can hear their footsteps now, as well, swiftly approaching my hiding place. Mordre is next to me, hiding behind the crack as well as I am, but getting increasingly agitated.

Soon enough, I see the creature follow me on the room. It seems vaguely human, although it has dirty, ragged clothes and dishevelled hair, is swooning around like a drunkard, and talking to itself: "It smells no delicious man-meat, but it sees something, it follows... it followed a guard? Where did guard go?"

Whatever creature this may be, it would seem to be out for blood. As it turns around ("It sees them!") and prepared to attack us, I raise my artificial arm and take aim. I think I can take it, but I need to be careful not to fall in the pit behind me or anything.

>>194058
Shoot it then try moving sideways so you're not in front of the pit anymore.

Do you have any hand to hand combat skills? You could try to toss it into the pit using its own momentum against it.

>>194079
Become an expert in CQC
Change name to Snake.

>>194079
>>194167
The thing swoons, then suddenly lurch towards us with unexpected speed! I open fire and hit the creature in the shoulder, but it barely flinches, instead jumping straight through the crack to our side. Although I manage to dodge the worst of it, it catches me on the side and takes me along with it as it falls down to the abyss...

Mordre, bless him, is right there to save me. He catches me by the arm and manages to stop me from falling down. My assailant grabs my leg in an attempt to stop itself from falling, or at least take me down along with it.

Think fast!

>>195289

Shoot its arm! Shoot its arm!

>>195289
KICK! KICK LIKE A MOTHERFUCKER!

>>195289

Scream like a frightened little girl!

>>195289
This is what we have the bullet-based guns for. Shoot the shit out of him.

>>195345
>>195587
>>195586
"Gah!" Instinctively, I draw my pistol and shoot the creature in the arm, but it manages to keep its grip of me. I need to shoot twice more before it finally releases me and falls, screaming, into the void. Some seconds later I can hear an echo of something clattering.

So much for that little episode, I think. Unless it can climb up walls or something.

Mordre pulls me back up, and I catch my breath for some seconds - figuratively speaking. There would not seem to be anyone else following us for now, so we can decide our next move in a relative peace.

Check the computer and plot several other possible routes in-case we run into another cave in.

That was a close call. Check the computer and then move on.

Also thank Mordre for saving your ass.

>>196397
Thanks, buddy.

>>195742
>>196196
The computer contains mainly medical details of this place, examination reports and such. They have all been signed more than sixty years ago, and seem to not contain too much of interest. I see no weird disease outbreaks or anything like that.

I do see, though, the very last report, from fifty-nine years ago: it consists of Doctor Alchrekt Kelm, his condition listed as deceased, and reason of death as massive blood loss and the missing of both lungs. That is disturbing.

With nothing else to find, I shut down the computer and consider my options. I still have the two routes: one down through the pits, the other jumping over them back to the main path.

>>197331
First, figure out how far you can jump. You should be pretty light on your feet, considering you're not much more than a skeleton at the moment. If you're confident in your ability to get across, do so.

Wait, can Mordre jump too? Depending on how stable the floor is and how heavy he is, him going first might be safer for you.

>>197341
Mordre could throw you, however if you don't think he can jump it he should just stay and guard our back.
I don't want to lose our bro. He's pretty chill.