LEVEL 2: ARLO AND ARC

Like the others have been reporting on the lower levels, the machines in here are all turned off. Both walls are lined with an assortment of cabinets presumably filled with electronics based on the dials and meters and switches and keyboard controllers on them. The only odd machine in here is one in the middle of the far wall. It's clearly some sort of chamber about 4 feet cubed, with an assortment of cables feeding into the bottom and the top of it. The four sides of this chamber are transparent, look like glass, but probably aren't.

With the image Forge recorded about the on-switch, you two can find the same symbol on all of these panels.


LEVEL 3: ROLAND AND STEVE

Steve is able to work out that these machines are 'pill dispensers', and that, probably, there is an array of chemicals stored within each cabinet that can be directed to dispense predetermined amounts into a mixer that then combines the chemicals into an 'experimental' drug combo that is pressed into a pill and deposited at the bottom.

Based on the empty bottles, either any success was taken with them when the aliens left, or else they never quite got a successful result.

The seat at the end of the room doesn't look like it's meant to do something to the person sitting in it but to extract something... such as brainwave activity. He's not prepared to say it can read minds, but given the alien technology, it's not an impossibility.

He doesn't recognize any of the displays as being appropriate for combat drugs, though.


LEVEL 4: ADRIANNAH, HARRY and FORGE

Since the 'on' switch isn't a rocker switch and there are no other switches nearby, it's reasonable to assume that it's an efficient toggle switch--press it once to turn it on, press it again to turn it off. That's the way it turns out--pushing the same button again turns it off.

Seeing the out-of-place looking machine on the other side of the room, Arlo makes his way over to it and tries to see if he can see what is inside the chamber.

In reply to Arlo Thresh (msg # 443):

Harry just looks around, trying to protect Adriannah from unseen enemies more than searching. He wasn't sure what they were looking for.

"Well now, it looks like the equipment still works. If we can figure out what it does, so much the better." Forge said after tinkering with the equipment.  "Unless this place has a nursery with kids books so we can try to figure out the language, it might end up that we will have to take everything that is not bolted to the floor and figure it out later."

Positioned in the elevator doors; Adriannah covered, Forge and Harry as they investigated the room.

LEVEL 3: ROLAND AND STEVE

Ya Roland, after a closer look, it does seem to be just a pharmaceutical lab.  Lets move on for now.  There isn't anything here of interest

He leads Roland out into the hall and to the next door on the right which he opens and peers in.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:21, Wed 15 Dec 2021.

In reply to Steve Cable (msg # 447):

"What do you see Steve?" Roland asked.

LEVEL 2: ARLO AND ARC

Arlo heads to the other end of the room to examine the chamber more closely. All four sides are transparent, but he's not sure they are made of glass. It stands off from the wall about 6 inches, and there appear to be an array of cameras pointed at the chamber from the back.

The bottom of the chamber appears to be a grid, and there's a ring around the edge of what appear to be vents alternating with heating elements. The inside top of the chamber has an array of devices, most of which have an unknown purpose. Only one of them is obviously a light.


LEVEL 3: STEVE AND ROLAND

'Unlocking' the door with the makeshift three-pronged wire key, it slides aside just as easily as the others.

The lighted ceiling comes on just as the door opens.

This room looks just like the previous room; that is, it's another pharmaceutical production facility. It is clearly a different set-up, though. The first thing that's different is that the two seats at the end with the headgear aren't present here.

The machines and cabinets and consoles are similar but clearly different. The other thing that is different is the pills. While the pills in the first lab were all round pills in different pastel colors. These pills are oblong and in brighter colors.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:51, Thu 16 Dec 2021.

"That's pretty much what we had decided on, Harry," Luise says over the comms. "We don't have the equipment or skill set to really do this place justice. Additionally, I don't really want to take the time."

"You're supposed to be tagging anything that we're going to take, but you're also looking for something that is identifiable. Also, a Rosetta Stone would be nice."

LEVEL 2: ARC and ARLO


"We're not finding anything easily removable up here," Arc adds to the conversation via comms. "We've found another lab so far. Arlo is trying to figure out what it does. I'm leaning towards sea monkeys myself."

"It just occurred to me that there must be safety features built into all this equipment. I doubt if we could cause it to blow up or something if we started pressing switches and stuff. Though... it does also occur to me that there might need to be a computer hooked up to these units. I didn't see any sort of keyboard to control it. I suppose a computer could tell you which buttons to push."

LEVEL 4: ADRIANNAH, HARRY and FORGE

Felling a little frustrated by the fellows slight hesitation. Have you guys fallen to sleep on the job. What's taking you?

In reply to Adriannah Orilliah (msg # 452):

Harry kept going, trying to figure what the rooms were for, he moved to the second and the third after he cleared the first!

He was a little irritated at Adriannah, but said nothing, she is pretty after all.

LEVEL 3: Steve and Roland

They go through all five labs on this level, and find that they are all some sort of pill lab. The pills that are in each lab(?) are all different, though, and there's nothing obvious helps identify them. Each lab is slightly different, as well.

Again, other than picking up a few pill bottles with some pills in them, there's nothing portable that can be taken away. Some of the electronic cabinets probably would, but they aren't exactly portable.


LEVEL 4: Adriannah, Harry and Forge

Harry and Forge have the same results... more or less. As they quickly zip through the other 4 labs on this level, the cabinets are considerably different, but there's still nothing about them that gives a hint as to what was being researched or constructed here. There's also nothing portable to be found.

Not until they hit the fourth lab. Under one of the counters, apparently overlooked when the base was abandoned, is some sort of backpack. Pulling it out, you can see that sitting atop it is a second device. After a moment of examining it, it seems to be some sort of bracer-like item that you'd put on your wrist. In fact, it has a significant resemblance to one of your comm units.


LEVEL 2: Arc and Arlo

Arc and Arlo find a similar condition on Level 2. More labs whose purpose isn't readily apparent. There are no items laying around that can be easily removed.

To a certain extent, there seems to be a similarity to each of these labs, but they are also clearly different from each other.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 454):

Harry grabs the backpack and the Bracer/comm device. "Finally found something! A backpack and what looks like a comm device!"

Arlo took some extra time examining each lab and trying to figure out how each relates to the others.  Was it some unified purpose that was being explored through experimentation, or are is there no link to their purpose?

---

Can Arlo posit that each lab is designed to research a different aspect that would be important in the terraforming process? and if not, is he able to posit any of the other lab's functions?

Harry delivers the items found to Adriannah and goes back to exploring.

Forge snickered at the bracer. "Hope it works, but I will guess that the batteries are long dead." he said. "Might as well test it out, maybe we can get lucky. Can I check it out?" he asked Harry.

Base roll and whatever skill/stat is needed.
15:09, Today: 'Forge' Harris rolled 8 using 2d6 with rolls of 4,4.  Check out device.

LEVEL 2: Arc and Arlo

After a bit of intuitive consideration, Arlo is able to 'guess' that the first two labs might be related to terraforming, but after that, it starts to get a bit tenuous. The third lab seems to be concerned with genetics based on display on the walls behind the equipment. Nothing you haven't seen before but this is annotated in alien writing.

The fourth lab looks to be concerned with cybernetics, so possibly related to terraforming.

The fifth and final lab on this level has to do with life support. This is based on the five different types of space suits on display here. Each is connected up to a bunch of apparatus apparently meant to test the various abilities of each suit.

Just a close physical examination of the suits shows that each one seems to be a step up from the previous one.

This is the first indication you've seen of what these aliens might have looked like as the suits are all intended for a two-legged-, two-armed, one-headed humanoid form. You can't really tell from the helmets if their heads were bigger or not. The torso seems to be a bit bulkier than a human torso, though.


LEVEL 4: Adriannah, Forge and Harry

Forge examines the 'wrist-comm', and quickly realizes that there are no raised buttons or anything of a similar nature, meaning that it couldn't be activated accidentally. That means the buttons are probably touch sensitive and embedded just beneath the surface. The question now becomes is it a smart device that only recognizes the 'fingerprint' of the 'owner'. He decides that's not particularly sensible in the current location. If there were two or three researchers, why would they need to keep it restricted?

As would be normal for a Human device of this nature, there's only one button that would do anything, and that would be the 'ON' button. He spots where the buttons are as a slight discoloration of the material, but there are only three of them... about what you'd find on a normal comm. One by one, he 'presses' them. With the 3rd button, the device lights up! What he expected might be some sort of display screen rather than just a blank section of material turns out to be just that. The dark blue area is the screen that's, of course, back lit.

What is displayed is probably the alien equivalent of a 'keyboard'. It's clearly not arranged like any standard Imperial device. The symbols are arranged in rows of four in two stacks--one on the left, one on the right. Each row is inset one character from the row above, so that the two stack together form the letter 'V'. There are two additional symbols in each of the lower two corners.

ooc Adriannah is unaware of what's happening. Image of the forearm device in Predator spring to mind.

OOC: Harry said he brought the two portable items back to Adriannah, so you can be aware of them if you want as Forge could be examining the device back at the elevator. Otherwise, it's happening before Harry brings them back.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 461):

ooc Doh silly me.



Adrian glances at the device wearily. please be careful there Forge it may be booby trapped.

He's a bit disappointed in finding yet another pill factory... and another... and another. Still, he scoops up the various bottles of pills and dumps them into the net bag on the outside of his suit.

"A few years ago, I'd have given up my right arm to find an alien place like this," Steve says over the comms. "Now that we've found it, it doesn't seem like such a big deal."

"I think, in my mind, I'd always thought that it'd be full of loot... you know, the stuff of tri-V shows--gold and gems and super-tech and blasters and... well, stuff like that. This stuff all seems rather prosaic."

"If all that cool stuff is here, we're going to have to work for it, I guess."

"I can certainly understand that," Luise replies. "While I probably saw some of the same Tri-V shows that you did, it all seemed rather unreal to me. Guess I was a bit more pragmatic."

"The pills could be some of that, but I'm worried that they may no longer be viable. Drugs don't tend to last forever. At a rough guess, I'm estimating this base has been abandoned for over a hundred years, probably much longer."

"Those symbols on the wrist-comm, Forge, look like they may be a Base-8 system. Don't know if that helps, but if a symbol represents a sound, like our alphabet, and you take into account numbers, then their alphabet is 24 characters long."

"Anyway, without some sort of Rosetta Stone, it may very well be impossible to translate it. Even if we can, it could take years."

"If you are still looking for something to make money off of, art and relics from the living quarters are our best bet."

Miranda edged further back into the elevator which provided a partial direct line of flight barrier against possible shrapnel, in the off chance it was trapped
This message was last edited by the player at 02:46, Mon 17 Jan 2022.

"Maybe it's just me, but have any of you run across the engineering area yet?" Arlo asks the others.

"Power and life support should be pretty extensive. Okay, let me rephrase that. This is alien tech, so power could be the size of a coffee mug... and look like a paperweight. I suppose life support could be the same thing, or else it could be totally decentralized, but based on what we've seen so far, I'm guessing there's an engineering area somewhere that we haven't found the access to, yet."