In reply to Adriannah Orilliah (msg # 491):

"I found engineering, maybe that will help us figure it all out."

In reply to Harry McStubbin (msg # 492):

Sounds promising Harry. encourages Adriannah giving him a wave as she headed off.

Having opened the 'secret' door, Harry walks down a corridor that's as long as the width of the adjoining lab room combined with the hidden store room behind it. There's no door at the end of this corridor so Harry has no problem actually reaching what is clearly the engineering area... it's HUGE!

At the end of the corridor, a mesh catwalk extends to the left and right for the entire length of the level, though there is no safety railing. Harry can see an assortment of pipes coming out of the wall below the catwalk as well as above him. They all head to the left before turning downward at the end of the catwalk, down to what looks to be the life support system.

Below him on the right is the power plant.

The area is one gigantic room, about 160 feet long, 100 feet across, and 60 feet below (and about 40 feet above). He does see that at each end of the catwalk there is a ladder down to the bottom.

================================================================

Meanwhile, Adriannah started going through the living quarters on this level.

The first one (on the left) seems a bit garish at first glance, even disorienting. The decor is all in multi-colored stripes--walls, floor, ceiling, furniture. The vertically-striped walls continue across the ceiling until they meet in the center. Of course, what stands out are the items that aren't striped.

Essentially, what she can find in each living area falls into four categories: artwork, bric-a-brac, devices and decor.

The first category is mostly framed images hanging on the wall, but there are a few smaller items propped up on tables. In here, the art on the walls is more stripes but in monochrome, two tone, or similar just horizontal. One art piece appears to just be a black square in a striped frame.

The second category are small wooden, ceramic or metal items sitting on the tables. If these have a function other than 'art', she can't fathom what it is.

The third category is small items that at least appear to be some sort of device. The only one she can readily identify appears to be a clock as it has a face with an array of circular stripes. The first seven stripes clockwise from the top appear to be backlit.

The fourth category includes pillows, small throw rugs, curtains, table runners, towels, place mats, and lamps.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 494):

"I have engineering here, it's huge! Follow me if you are interested or do you want me to come back for now and search here later."

Seeing the size of the place, Forge let out a gasp as he tried to take it into his mind. "Well now, looks like we are on to something. Now to figure how it works as I think that there is more than enough power here to run just the lights and electronics. Hum, that looks interesting." he said.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:57, Mon 20 June 2022.

Having followed Harry down the passage to the engineering section, Forge takes a few minutes to study the power plant from up on the catwalk.

At first, he thought it was some sort of core tap... until he remembered that they were on a moon and he was pretty sure that it had a solid core.

He started considering all the other possibilities he could think of, but, after eliminating all of them, he wound up back at the core tap. It wasn't a core tap, but it was something like that. For some reason, the set up made him think of an experiment back at school: perpetual motion. Of course, there was no such thing, which is what the experiment had demonstrated.

And then he got it! Precessional capture! It was harnessing the motion of the moon around the planet! If it was large enough, it would wind up slowing the revolution down. But for this facility, it would be barely noticeable. It could take a million years to make a difference.

"Harry! Come here please. I am not sure but it looks like this place might be powered by the orbital motion of the moon." Forge said as he pointed out what seems to be creating the power.  "If it is, the technology would be well worth trying how to figure it out. If we can get the engineering computer running, it might have the blueprints of the mechanism."

In reply to 'Forge' Harris (msg # 498):

Harry joins Forge to try to figure it out.

Further looking around finally reveals that the computer is along the wall you just came through, but down at the bottom level. Peering through the mesh, it looks like the computer runs the entire width of this room. Either that, or it's several computers linked together. You have no problem thinking that you've already seen three major devices that might each require its own computer: power, life support, and the holographic display.

With Adriannah going through the quarters on the lower level, Arc decides to do the same on the second level.

He starts at the opposite end, opens the first door and steps into the room, not in the least worried about encountering anything threatening.

Going on the 'form follows function' principle, there are certain factors of life support that need to be readily seen, and that's the section of the engineering console that is easiest to locate. Studying it for a few minutes gives you some idea of the way these aliens used numbers and displays. Chances are they didn't use the letter 'O' for oxygen or even the number '2', but a display might show the molecular image of O₂. And that's what you find. It also has symbols that you can now deduce what they mean... particularly their numbering system.


The first living quarters Arc checks out has a purple/orange/gray color scheme. It has all the usual furniture and furnishings. The walls are each a solid color and then the art and decor on or under that wall is the other two colors, with the occasional tone-on-tone item.

Continuing her search of the lower level Adriannah collected a few nic-nack's that appeared valuable.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:56, Sat 30 July 2022.

What it gets down to is how long you're going to spend trying to crack the alien computer. You're pretty sure you can crack it eventually, but it'll take at least days, maybe weeks. There doesn't seem to be any security to the system, so that's one hurdle you don't have to get over.


As far as collecting anything valuable from all the rooms... you can gather up 60-70 items that you might be able to sell for anywhere from 1,000 - 100,000 credits. It all depends on where you sell them and what kind of market you find. If you take them to Foreven Sector, you might not get as much... you just don't know enough about Foreven to say.


Getting the secret of the motion capture engine that powers the facility could be even more valuable. You're talking millions of credits. That would be from either a rich entrepreneur or a corporation. Maybe not as much as in Foreven, but probably close to it. For that matter, one of the power manufacturing corporations might pay you to suppress it!


If you sell your claim to this facility locally, you might get a million for it. Remember, this isn't a well developed area yet.

Also, you still don't know what all the labs were researching. Any of it could be worth ten times that price.

"We have a lot to talk about between us. A lot more exploration too."

"Certainly mapping the place might help boost the price. More so with video and some trinkets to back it up. Have we been keeping a record?" Forge asked Harry.

"I have of what I found, my comms camera. Not sure of the others."
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:49, Tue 25 Oct 2022.

"I have too, everyone else recording, start now if you haven't already."
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:49, Tue 25 Oct 2022.

"Relax everyone," Luise says over the comms. "You all were recording and transmitting since you entered the tunnel. It's all in the ship's computer."

"I've been watching it and monitoring you the whole time. I haven't said anything because... well, I didn't have anything to contribute. You've all been doing just fine without my interference."

"We've got enough fuel and supplies to stay here for a few weeks," Arc comments. "Arlo is the only one that has a deadline to worry about, but I suspect he's willing to quit his job if we get enough loot."

"The real question is: where are we going next? Are we continuing on to Foreven? Or do we want to head back from where we came?"

"Foreven is a big unknown. Yeah, there is civilization there, so it's not like we'll be explorers, but whether there are any friendly governments or decent corporations... well, that we don't know."

"On the other hand, we know that stuff is there if we go back. We'll have at least two options to sell the motion capture power source."

"To be honest, I'm good either way."

"Agreed." Harry replies.

"Just exactly what did you agree to?" Steve asked over the comms.

"Agree to stay and research the engineering here? Grab all the loot we can and leave?"

"Head for Foreven? Or go back to the Imperium?"

"I'm in favor of staying until we figure out the motion capture engine... or until we run out of supplies, whichever comes first."

"I started out running away from the war. As far as I'm concerned, I'm still running, so Foreven sounds like it might be far enough away. I can't imagine the Imperium invading Foreven anytime in the next 10 years. But, hey, if it does, I'll just run farther and faster!"

"I tend to live by the motto: 'Keep flying'."

In reply to Steve Cable (msg # 512):

He agreed on action which is in itself more than nothing. offered Adriannah as she moved about examining areas of the ship
This message was last edited by the player at 09:01, Fri 04 Nov 2022.

"Search for salvage and knowledge as long as we feel like it and can, then head to Foreven. We need to make money."

So it was agreed to stay a bit longer and try to crack the alien computer.

As it turns out, Steve has the best chance of doing it while Forge and Arlo can assist.

Steve almost makes a breakthrough on the first day, but it takes another full day before, with Arlo's assist, he manages to crack the alien language.

On Day Three, he is able to find and decipher the motion capture schematics. He is then able to download them.

It takes two more days before he and Arlo are able to find the schematics for the base and identify all the labs.


Steve is only about 85% sure that he's accurately translated the language. It's kind of like translating 'drinking vessel'--does that mean 'cup', 'mug', 'glass', 'bottle', etc. It's not like he found a dictionary or lexicon for the alien language.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 515):

"Uhhh, this is a ship? With Quantum Invisibility?"