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[DawningStar] The Great Unknown (Updated 11-5-07)
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<blockquote data-quote="Teneb" data-source="post: 3695814" data-attributes="member: 3572"><p>Entry 1 slowly advanced into the heart of Anomaly X19. The smooth metal walls and floor reminded engineering tech Henry Abraham of walking through the ductwork of a house. If the house were a giant rock. In space. Far away from anything approaching civilization. If you were stuck in a rock space house far away from anything else, wouldn’t you get really bored? And really, logistically such a house would be really difficult to live in – where would you get groceries? You wouldn’t be able to pick up much in the way of TV either, and…..</p><p></p><p>Henry snapped from his daydreaming abruptly. He had almost run into Dr. Duerber, the team’s spunky young doctor. She was apparently stopped because the rest of the team had ceased moving. It was hard to tell since the darkvision goggles only allowed about thirty feet of vision. He experimentally lifted his goggles and was immediately engulfed in all-encompassing darkness. Henry hurriedly lowered his eyewear back into place.</p><p></p><p>“Sanchez, report!” Walker’s voice– Dontun, the tech reminded himself, whispered over the comm. Sanchez was on point, with the rest of the team spread out over about one hundred feet. Presumably, Sanchez was the reason the team stopped.</p><p></p><p>“I thought I heard something sir.” Normally that revelation wouldn’t warrant an extraordinary amount of attention. However, after walking for almost an hour in total silence, total darkness, with no branching hallways or landmarks, <em>any </em> change was significant at this point.</p><p></p><p>“Visual contact?”</p><p></p><p>“Negative. It was high pitched, like metal on metal. Very brief.”</p><p></p><p>“Switch to infrared.” The goggles the team wore not only served as eye protection from debris, but had three vision-enhancing capabilities: darkvision, infrared, and glare protection. Darkvision was very effective, as the team was well aware, but had limited range. Infrared wasn’t very useful for navigating the metal hallway with its uniform-temperature walls, but would allow a user to detect heat signatures of an enemy at a significantly greater range.</p><p></p><p>“I might be picking up a little something, straight ahead. It doesn’t look like a definitive contact, more like heated air from a duct or something.”</p><p></p><p>“Understood. Team, advance. Be alert.”</p><p></p><p>Everyone started moving forward again, approximately ten feet between each member in a standard tactical pattern. Henry followed Amy, and heard the last trooper fall into line behind him. He toyed briefly with his holstered sidearm, his only weapon, and then hooked his thumbs through the straps of his pack. His mind once again began to wander to rocky space houses.</p><p></p><p>Suddenly, Bull shouted out in…..pain? Fear? Searing light blossomed in the hallway as a brief gout of super-heated plasma kissed the ceiling. His combat goggles mitigated most of it, but Henry was still momentarily blinded.</p><p></p><p>“Lights! Lights! Lights!” barked Dotun, forgoing the comm link. Immediately, a half-dozen spears of light pierced the darkness as other team members activated the mag-lights slung under their rifles. Henry pulled his own light out of its holster and also drew his sidearm. Glancing behind him, he was comforted by the sight of Kriegen covering their rear, kneeling on the floor with weapon raised.</p><p></p><p>A cacophy of shouted commands drew his attention forward once more. “Get down!” “Watch your firing lanes!” Back off!” “Get this frakking thing off of me!” This last was from Bull. Henry struggled to see past the six people in front of him and figure out what was going on. The scene was….surreal. A bipedal figure grappled with Bull, one articulated hand grasping the barrel of the EDF-35P, the other holding the big man’s left bicep. The thing was made up of metallic tubes and stood approximately five and a half feet tall. Exposed wires and cables were visible where a human’s joints would be, and, disconcertingly, there was a featureless sheet of metal or plastic where the thing’s face should be. It was obviously exceptionally strong, as it appeared to effortlessly control Bull’s movement despite his vigorous struggling. This fact may have saved their lives, as the thing held the plasma weapon pointed to the ceiling; if that first panicked blast had been directed down the hallway, most of the team would have been incinerated.</p><p></p><p> As the chaos continued and the two melee combatant did their slow, struggling dance, Henry mentally detatched himself from the situation. The figure was clearly a robot or android of some kind. It was far more advanced than anything he had seen before, and considering their location, it was affair bet it was of Ancient design. It didn’t have any obvious weapons beyond its great strength. Oddly, despite the straight, unbroken run of the hallway the robot had materialized in the middle of the team. It was unfathomable that Sanchez could have missed the robot in the twenty-foot wide hallway.</p><p></p><p>An emphatic “Shoot it!” from Bull cut through the babble of voices from the rest of the team. His massive shoulder muscles bulged with the effort of holding onto the 35P. Perspiration beaded Dotun’s brow as he watched the situation unfold. He couldn’t even bring himself to aim his rifle at the robot – the danger of shooting his own man was too great. “Can’t take the risk,” the former Ranger hissed under his breath, mentally scrambling to find a solution to the current problem. Other members of the team continued aiming at the automaton but were unable to get a clear shot. The stalemate seemed to stretch on forever.</p><p></p><p>Someone raced past Dotun, trailing the faint scent of lilacs. The team medic was running towards the unmoving pair, human and construct. The robot turned its featureless face towards Amy as Bull redoubled his efforts to pull away from it. With an inarticulate scream she raised her pistol and smashed the handgrip into the thing’s head. Its faceplate shattered, exposing intricate circuitry beneath. The robot released its grip on Bull’s arm, seeming to evaluate the damage to its face with a human-like hand. Still unable to free his weapon, Bull used the opportunity to head butt the machine fiercely.</p><p></p><p>With a sound like shattering glass, bits of metal and other debris erupted from the robot’s head. Bull slumped against the wall, dazed, his face a bloody mess. The robot stumbled backwards, strange clicking and whirring sounds coming from inside its chassis. Once it reached the middle of the hallway, a cacophy of shots rang out. Pieces of metal, wire, and plastic geysered from the robot as it fell to the floor and landed with a heavy thud.</p><p></p><p>Amy leaned down to tend Bull’s face. He had been cut in numerous places by the sharp edges of circuits, but thankfully most of the damage had been superficial. Dotun ordered a perimeter to be formed so the team could take stock and regroup. He gave a brief nod of respect to Amy before slowly approaching the downed machine. Not realizing he had been holding his breath, Henry gave a deep sigh of relief.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Teneb, post: 3695814, member: 3572"] Entry 1 slowly advanced into the heart of Anomaly X19. The smooth metal walls and floor reminded engineering tech Henry Abraham of walking through the ductwork of a house. If the house were a giant rock. In space. Far away from anything approaching civilization. If you were stuck in a rock space house far away from anything else, wouldn’t you get really bored? And really, logistically such a house would be really difficult to live in – where would you get groceries? You wouldn’t be able to pick up much in the way of TV either, and….. Henry snapped from his daydreaming abruptly. He had almost run into Dr. Duerber, the team’s spunky young doctor. She was apparently stopped because the rest of the team had ceased moving. It was hard to tell since the darkvision goggles only allowed about thirty feet of vision. He experimentally lifted his goggles and was immediately engulfed in all-encompassing darkness. Henry hurriedly lowered his eyewear back into place. “Sanchez, report!” Walker’s voice– Dontun, the tech reminded himself, whispered over the comm. Sanchez was on point, with the rest of the team spread out over about one hundred feet. Presumably, Sanchez was the reason the team stopped. “I thought I heard something sir.” Normally that revelation wouldn’t warrant an extraordinary amount of attention. However, after walking for almost an hour in total silence, total darkness, with no branching hallways or landmarks, [I]any [/I] change was significant at this point. “Visual contact?” “Negative. It was high pitched, like metal on metal. Very brief.” “Switch to infrared.” The goggles the team wore not only served as eye protection from debris, but had three vision-enhancing capabilities: darkvision, infrared, and glare protection. Darkvision was very effective, as the team was well aware, but had limited range. Infrared wasn’t very useful for navigating the metal hallway with its uniform-temperature walls, but would allow a user to detect heat signatures of an enemy at a significantly greater range. “I might be picking up a little something, straight ahead. It doesn’t look like a definitive contact, more like heated air from a duct or something.” “Understood. Team, advance. Be alert.” Everyone started moving forward again, approximately ten feet between each member in a standard tactical pattern. Henry followed Amy, and heard the last trooper fall into line behind him. He toyed briefly with his holstered sidearm, his only weapon, and then hooked his thumbs through the straps of his pack. His mind once again began to wander to rocky space houses. Suddenly, Bull shouted out in…..pain? Fear? Searing light blossomed in the hallway as a brief gout of super-heated plasma kissed the ceiling. His combat goggles mitigated most of it, but Henry was still momentarily blinded. “Lights! Lights! Lights!” barked Dotun, forgoing the comm link. Immediately, a half-dozen spears of light pierced the darkness as other team members activated the mag-lights slung under their rifles. Henry pulled his own light out of its holster and also drew his sidearm. Glancing behind him, he was comforted by the sight of Kriegen covering their rear, kneeling on the floor with weapon raised. A cacophy of shouted commands drew his attention forward once more. “Get down!” “Watch your firing lanes!” Back off!” “Get this frakking thing off of me!” This last was from Bull. Henry struggled to see past the six people in front of him and figure out what was going on. The scene was….surreal. A bipedal figure grappled with Bull, one articulated hand grasping the barrel of the EDF-35P, the other holding the big man’s left bicep. The thing was made up of metallic tubes and stood approximately five and a half feet tall. Exposed wires and cables were visible where a human’s joints would be, and, disconcertingly, there was a featureless sheet of metal or plastic where the thing’s face should be. It was obviously exceptionally strong, as it appeared to effortlessly control Bull’s movement despite his vigorous struggling. This fact may have saved their lives, as the thing held the plasma weapon pointed to the ceiling; if that first panicked blast had been directed down the hallway, most of the team would have been incinerated. As the chaos continued and the two melee combatant did their slow, struggling dance, Henry mentally detatched himself from the situation. The figure was clearly a robot or android of some kind. It was far more advanced than anything he had seen before, and considering their location, it was affair bet it was of Ancient design. It didn’t have any obvious weapons beyond its great strength. Oddly, despite the straight, unbroken run of the hallway the robot had materialized in the middle of the team. It was unfathomable that Sanchez could have missed the robot in the twenty-foot wide hallway. An emphatic “Shoot it!” from Bull cut through the babble of voices from the rest of the team. His massive shoulder muscles bulged with the effort of holding onto the 35P. Perspiration beaded Dotun’s brow as he watched the situation unfold. He couldn’t even bring himself to aim his rifle at the robot – the danger of shooting his own man was too great. “Can’t take the risk,” the former Ranger hissed under his breath, mentally scrambling to find a solution to the current problem. Other members of the team continued aiming at the automaton but were unable to get a clear shot. The stalemate seemed to stretch on forever. Someone raced past Dotun, trailing the faint scent of lilacs. The team medic was running towards the unmoving pair, human and construct. The robot turned its featureless face towards Amy as Bull redoubled his efforts to pull away from it. With an inarticulate scream she raised her pistol and smashed the handgrip into the thing’s head. Its faceplate shattered, exposing intricate circuitry beneath. The robot released its grip on Bull’s arm, seeming to evaluate the damage to its face with a human-like hand. Still unable to free his weapon, Bull used the opportunity to head butt the machine fiercely. With a sound like shattering glass, bits of metal and other debris erupted from the robot’s head. Bull slumped against the wall, dazed, his face a bloody mess. The robot stumbled backwards, strange clicking and whirring sounds coming from inside its chassis. Once it reached the middle of the hallway, a cacophy of shots rang out. Pieces of metal, wire, and plastic geysered from the robot as it fell to the floor and landed with a heavy thud. Amy leaned down to tend Bull’s face. He had been cut in numerous places by the sharp edges of circuits, but thankfully most of the damage had been superficial. Dotun ordered a perimeter to be formed so the team could take stock and regroup. He gave a brief nod of respect to Amy before slowly approaching the downed machine. Not realizing he had been holding his breath, Henry gave a deep sigh of relief. [/QUOTE]
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