In reply to StarMaster (msg # 266):

"Nothing but a mining operation, nothing really valuable."

Forge looked around in the room. "Strange, while I do not know much of mining operations, why would they have a hanger here? I would think they would have the ore transferred to the surface and pick it up there. We can check the other door." he suggested

Harry continues to look around the large room, using his lights to see what he can.







ooc - oxygen atmosphere throughout or are we suited tight on our own air supply?

In reply to Harry McStubbin (msg # 269):

Roland goes right using his lights to explore that side a bit. What do I see? Anything?

Once you went through the last airlock, your suits' enviro gauges all showed a breathable atmosphere... pressure, temperature and oxygen levels within 3% of norm, nothing harmful in the air, slightly higher nitrogen content and the remainder difference made of inert gasses--argon and xenon.

Crossing over the hangar bay space on the left to the other door, it is another hatch, and it shows the air on the other side is the same as the hangar. Opening the hatch, you find a hallway going left and right. It is dimly lit by what you'd normally think of as emergency lighting. To the left, it dead ends about 8 meters away. To the right, it goes about 25 meters before ending in another hatch.

Roland moves to the right and examines the ore processing equipment. While it more or less appears like any type of processor he's seen before--ore goes in one end and slag and metal comes out the other end. It's not a small processor, nor is it all that large... it's somewhere in between.

What he finds odd, however, is that the controls are made in a circular pattern. He also can't read the symbols, which are all lines and small circles... clearly some kind of alien font.

On the other side of the processor, though, he find another room/chamber that contains an array of electronic control panels. While the symbols are similar to the processor, some of the gauges look like they are for sensors. This room appears to be the same size as the hangar bay--18 x 25 meters.

There's another door on the far wall.

Arc tagged along on the expedition into this alien facility. At least, they all assumed it was alien. Nothing they'd seen from outside really confirmed that, and it wasn't until they found the alien font that things started to look that way.

"It looks like a hangar bay," Arc comments as he surveys the large room to the left, "but how would a ship get out?"

"It's clearly a mining operation, but that wall of windows makes me think that the miners lived here. It also seems like there's more to this place than we're seeing so far."

"Then again, we are talking about aliens... at least, we think we are. If they were a race of intelligent badgers, for instance, this might mean something completely different to them."

"Just saying."

He waited for Forge or Harry to open the next door.

Looking at the enviro gauges and frowned. "Let's hold off on popping our tops until we fully explore it. For all we know there could be a busted can of oil that is toxic to us." Forge said as he made his way to open the far door.

Harry and Roland followed Forge.

In the next room, Harry looked to the left, Roland to the right.

00C - What do we see Rob?

When Forge opens the door, beyond is a hallway going left and right that appears to mirror the hallway pas the hangar. To the right, the hallway goes only about 8 meters and appears to dead end. It looks like it was built for future expansion, but never got added on to.

To the left, the hallway goes 25 meters and ends in a hatch. It is lit by 'emergency' lighting.

Waiting for the others to enter the hallway, Forge then headed to check out the hatch.

In reply to 'Forge' Harris (msg # 277):

Harry and Roland stay close to Forge as they approach the hatch, not sure if it is safe or not.

In reply to Harry McStubbin (msg # 278):

Roland inspects the hatch to see if this one works the same as the other.

In reply to Roland Steel (msg # 279):

Harry opens the hatch and looks through!
This message was last edited by the player at 13:56, Mon 22 Feb 2021.

Yes, all the hatches seem to work the same way. You haven't seen any that are different. In this case, because the facility is on a moon with no atmosphere, it makes sense that all hatches/doorways are meant to be air tight. The design is a little more sophisticated than the hatches used on ships to keep water out.

Opening this hatch reveals... another hallway... going off to the left. In the dim light, you can see at least a dozen doors lining both sides of the hallway. The closest one doesn't look like a hatch-style door, though. Also, the hallway is different in other ways. It's a bit wider and it appears to be have some sort of covering on the floor. It's not carpet, but may be some sort of cushioning material like rubber.

Harry steps through the hatch. "Well Arlo, here's your discovery, an old mining operation. we'll see if there is any value in it."

In reply to Harry McStubbin (msg # 282):

Harry checks out the area wondering if there was any value in an old mining operation. Maybe a little, good hideout for pirates maybe, maybe not.

"Looks like this hallway goes down to that other hallway on the other side of the hangar," he comments.

He follows Harry down the hallway to the first door and examines it for any markings.

"I don't see any doorknob or handle. Wonder how it opens?"

"No markings, not even in an alien script. I suppose it was too much to ask for it to say 'Captain's Quarters' or 'Super-Science Lab'."

He taps on the door with his knuckles to see if he can tell if it's metal.

"Not a mining expert, so I'm struggling to think of something valuable enough that an obviously expensive, long-term mining operation would have been set up. Drawing a blank. Lanthanum, maybe. Doesn't it usually occur with other rare earths? So, maybe several of them together made it worthwhile."

"Oh, here's a thought--what if there are markings on the door but just not visible to normal light? Anyone bring a black light?"

In reply to Arc Tangent (msg # 284):

Roland shook his head no, as did Harry. Roland inspects the door with Arc. Feeling all around the seal looking for a button of some kind anywhere.

You weren't able to see any markings on the doors from the end of the hallway, and even standing in front of one of the doors now, no marking are visible. The doors are perfectly smooth so not even something like braille is there.

No doorknobs or handles for sure, so it's always possible that the doors opened by way of sensors that detected someone standing in front of it or holding the proper electronic card or device.

The door doesn't look particularly outsized; it has typical width and could conceivably be a bit higher than it needs to be for humans, but humans have a tendency to make doors higher than necessary as a sign of importance. There are no hinges visible, so it might be a sliding door.

Arc does spot three tiny holes on one side of the door, possibly where a doorknob might be. The three holes form a triangle and are about 3 centimeters apart. It could easily be a keyhole.

Harry, on the other hand, examines the door, looks down at the next one to make sure they are all the same, and notices a slight different. In fact, as he looks down the hallway again, he realizes that each door is a slightly different color... shade, actually. It's a subtle difference, one that's not only hard to detect but could easily be misconstrued as an effect of the lighting.

Arc's knuckle rap on the door produces a dull *thud* sound. It doesn't sound like metal, nor does it sound like wood or plastic or glass or ceramic. Barring some otherwise unknown material, it's probably some type of polycarbonate. You can't really get a sense of how thick the door is or whether it's hollow or solid.


On the other hand, after Roland looks it over, he decides that it might be flexible. There's no curve to it that he can detect, but it could bend slightly when it opens... however that might be.

"We got anything to mark the doors or such so we do not get lost in here?" Forge asked, looked at the various options for the doors and where they might lead them.

"Adriannah says we may not be alone, signs of activity from the power readings."

"I'm an engineer," Arlo answers Forge. "We're always marking stuff."

"There's always the old standby of using a knife to scratch something, but even if it'd mark these doors, I'd be reluctant to deface the door. But, I've got chalk, grease pencil, and even glow-in-the-dark spray paint."

"Watcha wanta mark on the doors? Just numbers?"

"An "X" is fine as long as we can find our way back out of here. With all these doors, I am not sure what we will find on the other side." Forge said.

"Not everyone makes doors that open automatically," Arc comments, "so I wouldn't assume that these door are inoperable."

"If something was chasing you, you wouldn't want all the doors to open as  you ran by."

"Those little holes are probably the equivalent of keyholes and maybe even the doorknob... assuming that one is needed. Could be like a security elevator... slide the card and the elevator doors open."

"Anyone think of anything we might be carrying that could fit in those holes?"