Onward: Orange

[voidtreckermods]

A Stormy Night

The night of day six of Grasshopper begins to get blustery, and rain begins to fall shortly after the sun sets. Just after midnight they are facing a full-on storm. It’s quite interesting to watch, for those who need a break from investigating. Especially up on the top floor, where the glass roof gives a good view; all the instruments are set up to monitor weather patterns and are operating perfectly, a fascinating watch for those interested in such things.

It’s a little noisy, but not too bad for those that want to sleep; it’s just another distraction along with the perpetual light. Still it is, for the most part, a peaceful night.

Lights OUT

Peaceful, that is, until about an hour before dawn on day seven, their third day on-world. A large clap of thunder booms overhead, a massive flash of light brightens even the sky around the station… and something hits the facility so hard that it seems to rock. The lights go out.

Every single light and screen in the building go dark at once. 

It’s only a few moments before the machines whir back to life. Monitors and equipment rebooting, a cascade of beeps and whirrs and start-up tones. The lights, however, do not come back on. Clearly emergency lighting has never been a concern for a people that can see in the dark.

It’s a concern now. From across the facility, everywhere there was an orb, there are now monsters. A lot of monsters. Grey, long limbed and ready to attack.

Luckily for the Voidtreckers, the monsters on the very bottom floor have found something more interesting than hunting them. Within moments, they smash through the grates along the floor, and begin clambering downwards.

Downwards seems to be through some kind of service shaft, though easily big enough to fit a person in. They skitter down into the darkness, if any of Orange try and follow they can. It will be a steep, treacherous descent; they may need to break out that climbing gear to descend safely. 

Something Approaches

Back in the facility, the monsters that didn’t descend are instead attacking anyone they find with mindless savagery. A little while after the attack starts those near the top floor will hear a siren, ringing out into the darkness. It is not constant, rather it peaks and fades. Anyone who goes to investigate will find it comes from a black metal machine on the top floor, its screen showing a now constantly flashing, wavy green line and the words SIGNAL FOUND. As time passes, the green wave on-screen grows taller.
Luckily, they only have to last the remaining hour until dawn and when the sunlight shines through the glass of the facility the monsters shatter. In their place rise familiar orbs. Any monsters on the sub-levels remain active whilst the facility is in darkness.

The alarm subsides during the day. The machine’s wave remains the same size, pulsing only occasionally. Once night falls on the third day (Grasshopper 7), it shrills, and the wave continues to grow.

Comments

[iamnotgod]

Once he is free and the monster is down, Webmind aims his light right at the creature's eyes for good measure.

"I must thank you again, Curufin. While I cannot say for sure if these creatures could kill me, I do not wish to find out."

Which made that twice that Curufin came to his rescue, now.

"But yes, I am hale. Our work is not done yet, I fear; how many monsters have you had to deal with already?"

His projected screen does not have his usual smile; for now it is utterly blank.

[so_dark_a_road]

"You're welcome, and I wouldn't want to find out either! Besides, even if these monsters could not actually kill you, who knows what level of damage they might be able to do?" And who would have the level of knowledge, the skills, and the materials to repair Webmind's body, if it came to that? Curufin suspects that even Tony and his workroom would not be enough.

"I haven't been counting my kills, just running up and down the levels and dealing with whatever I find. Too many, though. I heard some talk on the comms -- actually a conversation that you were in -- suggesting there is a connection between the monsters and the orbs. Namely, that the monsters are the orbs."

[iamnotgod]

Webmind turns abruptly, spotting another burst of movement - and just as quickly, the oncoming monster is likewise subdued by a directed beam of light to the eyes.

"I would rather not think of it, but I do not have a say against my own mind."

With those ominous words, he turns around again.

"Yes; a more accurate way of putting it would be to say the orbs are seeds for the monsters, perhaps. Certainly it's not a one-to-one equivalent occurring here."

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin walks over to the subdued monster and stabs it through the thorax, just to make sure it can't revive and be a further danger to Webmind, himself, or anyone else.

Webmind's words are disquieting, but Curufin says, "Who does have a say against their own mind? A mind is an independent thing. It thinks of what it wants to think of, regardless of the feelings of its owner." It was certainly true that Curufin's mind acted like that.

"Seeds, huh? That makes sense to me. I didn't hear everything that was being said on the comms. Was there anything else I should know?"

[iamnotgod]

The philosophizing can only last them so long, alas; there are other matters to attend to, quite possibly of life and death.

"That there is talk of the Gry's god, a... 'Burrower', and that these monsters may be a threat to it if they are allowed to make their way far enough down in the tunnels. Had you heard already?"

Webmind can hear scurrying still in the base, but it is sourced nowhere near them at present.

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin is always up for philosophizing, but he also recognizes the need to deal with immediate dangers and other matters.

"I hadn't heard anything about this Burrower. But I am aware that some of the monsters are heading down to the lowest level of this lab and diving into the service tunnel at the bottom. Maybe that's why they're going? Because they hope to attack this Gry god?"

To keep this up, or keep it short? Up to you.

[iamnotgod]

"Or they are being summoned," Webmind proposes.

"We cannot afford to trap ourselves in considering the matter in only one way."

What could be sending a signal that this machine would pick up, is what Webmind's thinking.

"We also may not wish to stay in one spot for long; we must check on the others, and not only over the comms"

Being able to physically check in on people is one positive to having a body Webmind will readily admit to appreciating.

We can wrap it here, unless you have something else you think these two should do?

[so_dark_a_road]

"I wonder what power would be summoning them?" said Curufin. "If that's so, then we need to discover who or what it is. And I agree with you, we must look at the mysteries of this place from many angles."

That machine might well have been made to pick up signals, is Curufin's thought.

"Yes, we should keep moving. These creatures are all over the building, and we can't afford to leave anyone without backup."

He smiles at Webmind and then turns and heads for the stairwell.

This is fine! /goes to stockpile points for August AC...

[iamnotgod]

"Not a power that would be pleasant to meet," Webmind answered.

It wasn't really an answer, but it was still true.

"We also need different angles of attack, seeing as these monsters don't seem prone to conversation..."

And on the discussion - and planning, would go.

Me too! And it's a wrap.

[so_dark_a_road]

"I suppose not. I'd be willing to fight that power if we ever encounter it directly, but then, that's me. My purpose in life when I was in my own world was to fight a power that was stronger than any Elf, stronger than most of the Valar, the Elves' gods."

No answers possible without knowledge they didn't have right now!

He grinned. "We'll find ways of making them more prone to conversion."

And off they went to search the building.