Network Video

[heypartner]

[ Cobb is outside the mines, leaning a shoulder against the wall. There is only pitch black darkness behind him. ]

Well, since Cayde gave us all an update on the other city I thought I'd do the same about the mines here. [ He points a thumb over his shoulder. ]

It's a fairly stable mine system. All side tunnels loop back to the main tunnel and there's a working ventilation system so we can navigate it without much need to be cautious about the air. Now, I'd still be cautious goin' down there. No one should go alone. There was a minor cave in recently so don't let your guard down.

[ And he's still kicking himself mentally for not noticing the weak ceiling before it fell in on him and Starling. They're both pretty much fine and healed up but it's a mistake that could've gone real bad real fast. ]

Now, the interesting bit about all this is that we found somethin'. No idea what it is but there's a tunnel down there. This mine is deep, by the way. There's an elevator that goes down a real long time.

Not important. This tunnel is a real tight squeeze. Gotta crawl the whole way through but at the end is this door. Door leads to a bunch of tech that's off. Now, we could turn it on. Just need some crystals to do that but... I ain't too keen on that.

We aren't sure what that stuff will do when we turn it on. And I don't want to go messing with unknown tech underground without more investigatin'. It'll be easier to do that if we widen that tunnel leading to it.

[ Now Cobb looks troubled. Uneasy. It's a vague hint of the emotion but it's a change from his usual casual confidence. ]

If we start to widen that tunnel we can't do it by much or we'll bring the thing down. It's gonna be slow and deliberate. Careful work. I know this from years of mining before Marshal-ing. I don't think we'll ever make it walk-able. We're always gonna be crawlin' through there but might be big enough to allow more people to come through and look at what's there.

We've mapped a lot of the tunnels, should ask Reeve about gettin' that up on this comm. [ The whole view shakes as Cobb shakes the comm to make his point. ] But that's the report. Ask questions if you've got 'em.

Comments

[heypartner]

Sixteen, if I remember correct.

[ And he does. ]

But again, no sign what this thing does. It's not like any mining equipment I know.

[demjiin]

Only way to find out what it does will be to turn it on. Well, I have four crystals already so that would still leave 12 I'd have to make.

[heypartner]

No, that's not the only way. We can look around town and see if there's anything else that looks like it. That's a lot smarter than just turnin' it on.

[demjiin]

Have you seen anything like it around Temba? Because a minute ago you also said it looked like no mining equipment that you'd ever seen before.

[heypartner]

Yeah, looks like no mining equipment I'm familiar with back home. That should worry folks a little bit.

[demjiin]

[ orly? Kaz was somewhat curious, but now that Cobb's said that, Kaz is far more intrigued. ]

Why do you think it should be more of a worry?

[heypartner]

They put it behind a wall. Not just a wall but a tunnel you gotta crawl through on your stomach for a long ways. You don't do that to useful equipment. You bury only what you don't want found.

[demjiin]

So you're saying it was buried on purpose. That makes the question of what it's supposed to do even more pressing because if you don't figure it out soon, then someone else will.

[heypartner]

[ Cobb is counting on the darkness and the danger of the mines in general to keep most people away. ]

If folks want to study it, we should widen and secure the tunnel leading to it. It'll make things slow but better in the long run.

[demjiin]

[ Sorry Cobb but it doesn't work that way. If a thing can be done then it will be. ]

Possibly. The question I have, then, is if the mines were dug just to bury that thing, or did they have another purpose already and it was just useful to bury it there.

[heypartner]

My guess? You bring something like that into the mine piece by piece and build it where you want it. A lot of big equipment is built like that back home.

[demjiin]

Okay but that still leaves the question of what the mines would have originally been meant for.

[heypartner]

That I can't tell you. I see stone but no recognizable minerals. They were after somethin' it's a fairly deep tunnel system.

[demjiin]

[ There's a beat as Kaz considers. ]

I don't suppose there are minerals down there that are like the ones in the beach caves that Temba power crystals are made out of? I found a very different kind of power crystal in Not-Temba, too, and I can't tell what it's made out of either.

[heypartner]

I haven't seen anything for making crystals. There's signs of metals, stones and minerals. It's damn hard to tell when there's no light down there and I'm lookin' by beam light.

[demjiin]

[ Well, it was worth a shot. ]

That still leaves the question of what was being mined for. It had to have been something that was worth all that time and effort it took to make them in the first place, wouldn't it?

[ Another beat of silence as Kaz considers. ]

Is it possible there's something down there that isn't being used in Temba very much at all? That would most likely make something rare and valuable. Look for anything down there that makes up the composition of, say, Datapoints or if there are anything else that might have value at all.

[heypartner]

Give me... [ Cobb pauses to consider for a minute. ] Three days. I'll look around and see what I can find in detail instead of guessin'. You got patience for that?

[demjiin]

[ He's worked for and waited to get vengeance for years. Kaz can have a disturbing amount of patience when he wants to. ]

I can wait for that.