Conversation descended into technical matters and broke apart by topic, before they saw a general return to work and research. The two newcomers were permitted to wander the archaeological camp, provided they didn't stray into hazardous areas like the thermal bore site, nor interfere with archaeology. And if they hung about too long, they would soon be recruited into the scientific grunt-work of processing data, cutting through ice, and setting up equipment.

It wasn't long before Borys was ready to fire up the Yermak Maru's engines. Everyone outside had to wear protective goggles against the glare, and stay away from the aft end of the ship. Inclined toward the ice-sheet, the rocket thrusters unleashed a searing gout of fire and superheated gas. The whole ship strained and groaned, its landing gear bolted to the ice, not designed to fly like this anyway. But she was a tough ship, and she held.

The thermal bore drilled through the frozen atmosphere like, well, a blowtorch through an icecube. Ice flowed into liquid evaporated into gas, lost in the flame. They couldn't see the hole itself being bored, but knew it was descending in a matter of seconds.

After several seconds of this, Ortega called a halt, they waited a few long minutes, and Vax conducted some scans. At Ortega's word, Borys fired up the engines again, and so they steadily crept closer down to the buried and frozen alien city they'd all glimpsed through the ice.

Eventually, Vax and Ortega deemed they were close enough, the engines were shut down altogether to cool in the chilly air. A perfectly round shaft had been cut into the ice, the angle steep but enough to walk on. It descended into the earth, first in the weak daylight, then shadowed eerily by light refracted through the ice, before disappearing into an blackness. Misty vapours rose out of the hole, and icy stalactites had begun to reform on the top lip, for all the world like the gaping mouth of some buried behemoth.

Now they waited for the ice walls of the borehole to refreeze, forming their own structural supports.



Now it was time for the workers to set up plasma torches. Without firing up the thrusters, heat from the ship's engines would be channelled down insulated tubes to the plasma torches, which would be used for finer cutting through the ice. They would also need to set up heaters to warm up and expand ice caves beneath the surface. Those who would go down the hole hauled on protective suits, pulled on sturdy friction boots, and helmets with mounted cameras.

Vax Kent and Hali Plim were to be the first to go down the borehole, though anyone could choose to accompany them, whether for technical work, scientific consultation, or just the thrill of being among the first to enter a lost alien city. Professor Ortega had, at great reluctance, elected to stay topside and supervise the initial foray via communicator, watching what would take place over the helmet-mounted cameras. He'd emphasised that the newcomers would be most
useful if they put on protective suits and help Vax and Plim tunnel.

And, after all, who wouldn't want to squeeze into a cramped, heavy suit, then wriggle down through nearly two kilometres of narrow icy tunnel, dragging a metal tube behind you all the way, and then finally stand there blasting plasma energy at a wall of ice, completely surrounded by roaring jets of high-pressure gas? It's for archaeology!

As they waited, Vax waved Trace and Sky Light and whoever cared to join them to a pool of clear liquid nearby, the run-off from the borehole. Misty vapours rose off the softly bubbling liquid. 'Hey, look at this. Liquid nitrogen, mostly. Boils at minus 196 degrees C. Cold enough to burn.' He dipped his sonic trowel into the pool, provoking furious bubbling and a gust of vapour.

'Icehot!' Sky Light declared.

'Icehot, yep. What would happen if you stuck your hand in there?' Vax wiggled his gloved hand over the surface, apparently making a safety demonstration.

When Ortega calls for volunteers, Tarys gives Axander a meaningful look.  "I'd be happy to assist.  Unless you think we should both stay out of harm's way, sir."

In point of fact, she's thinking that it's an opportunity to make a closer inspection of the anomaly and the structures, away from quite so many prying eyes.  She's not quite sure how to open the subject of their real mission as yet, but if she can learn more, closer to the source, there's a far better chance that the Time Lords' specialized knowledge will lead to an opportunity.

When the time came to set up the "base camp" at the bottom of the shaft, Trace jumped at the chance. An opportunity to be among the first to explore a frozen alien city, sealed away for millenia? You bet he was going to volunteer for that!

Strange anomolies and the prospect of hard work in freezing temperatures momentarily forgotten. The young mechanic buttoned up his cold weather gear and made ready to join the others at the bottom of the icy shaft.

Axander was impressed at how much the group could accomplish in such a short time, and without even proper equipment. Jury-rigging a ship's thrusters to bore their tunnel was particularly exciting, and he complimented the crew on their ingenuity. Once it came time to decide who would accompany the team going down, Axander nodded his agreement to Tarys.

"I'm certain that city there has some connection to how we ended up here in the first place, as Farren suggested. Not only can we help these fellows out in return for giving us shelter, but maybe we can discover what brought us to this planet. Besides, it'll be exciting to be part of history being rediscovered, won't it?"

Farren knew that one often had to be bold when it came to intelligence gathering.  While the "safe" move would be to remain topside and allow others to brave the initial dangers, it would also mean that the initial impressions of the lost city would be "filtered" through the point team's POV.  There was nothing quite like getting a first hand, "eyes on" perspective of an initial find.  Also the further he was from the "action" the greater the chance that someone might "pocket" something without being observed and deny him the chance to study a piece of alien technology.

With this in mind, Farren readily volunteered to join the first wave point team to work on the tunnel and make their way to the lost city.  Farren seemed relatively unconcerned about the environmental hazards and, despite his usual discipline, Farren was hard pressed to conceal his enthusiastic piqued interest in the discovery.

For some reason, this ice bore made him think of another cave he'd been in once before... the memory was tugging at the back of his mind but he couldn't quite get a grasp on it.

"I'm going," he announced. It wasn't a request, nor was it quite a volunteering. He'd been hired just for this very thing. Well, that's what he thought at any rate.

He promptly geared up with any equipment he thought he might need... rope, pitons, hammer, torch, etc.

When it looked like everyone was ready, he took the lead.

Hali had joined him, but Vax was a bit disappointed that no one else had taken up interest in his demonstration. He carried on explaining to Sky Light. 'Freezy-peasy.' she decided knowingly.

'Uh, yes. That's right. I think. Watch.' He dripped a stretchy rubber gromit in, to the same bubbling effect, then removed it a few seconds later. He demonstrated it was frozen hard, then shattered it into pieces with a good whack from his trowel. Sky Light laughed in delight.

That much was well known from horror-vids and such. But Vax pulled his glove off and held his bare hand over the bubbling liquid nitrogen – then dipped his hand right in!

Hali squealed in shock and Sky Light gasped, as Vax removed his hand moments later, holding it quite still. Then he wiggled his fingers, showing he was completely unharmed. 'Leidenfrost effect. Your body is so hot in comparison that the nitrogen just boils off on contact, and you're protected by a sheath of gas. For a second or two, anyway. Gets very cold very quick though, and you don't want it pooling in your clothes or fur. Remember that if you ever have to steal from a Proamonian.' Intrigued, Sky Light removed her glove and dipped each of her fingers in very fast, before they got too cold to risk it, and she hurried off back to work.

Soon after, the whole expedition team gathered at the mouth of the ice tunnel. Stirix would be accompanying as well, of course, as he was the team's cryologist, who would ascertain the safety of the ice structures and tunnels they encountered. Hali and Vax would examine and conduct archaeology, while Farren and Axander made initial xenoanthropological assessments. Bluetooth, Trace, and Tarys got to carry the heaters, lamps, heat-conduction tubes, plasma torches, and other equipment.

'Good luck, all of you. I'll be watching over the cameras, and will remain in constant contact over the communicators. Let's hope we find something glorious. History will be discovered and history will be made!' Ortega enthused.

That was it. Moving cautiously, Vax approached the mouth of the tunnel, finding a cool wind seemed to blow out of it, like a slumbering giant exhaling. Just evaporation, he told himself, but couldn't shake the feeling of trepidation. After a last look back at the ship and the sky, he stepped over the lip of the tunnel, pressing his boot to the ice, finding it still runny with liquid and flecked with loose snow. Suddenly he slipped, a alarming jerk backwards, but was caught by the others before he could fall and slide all the way down. Once they got their footing and moved further in, they found the floor more sturdy, the ridges left by the thermal bore providing friction that gave them good traction. And so, advancing two-by-two, they journeyed down the cool, dark tunnel, into the heart of the frozen world. 'The laser-measure reports a distance of two klicks to the end. Long way down.'

It also grew increasingly cramped as the tunnel narrowed slightly, and the curve didn't offer a lot of footing. The eight of them (perhaps a few too many) had to jostle shoulder to shoulder, but at least they could catch each other when they slipped. Behind them, Bluetooth and Trace unrolled the heavy metallic tubes that would conduct heat and power down the tunnel, always unrolling and laying out straight and trying not to get them tangled.

The walls changed gradually from a translucent blue to something too dark to see through, with shades of pink here and there, resulting from a different crystalline phase of solid oxygen, Stirix could report.

And the ice groaned and creaked constantly, occasionally dislodging small stinging chunks, reminding them that this planet, as a whole, was a slowly defrosting and coming back to some semblance of life.

Wearing a head mounted light, Trace slowly moved down the tunnel, digging his feet into the ice to steady himself. "Wouldn't want to go sliding down two kilometers of ice on my butt.."

Every 10 meters or so, he took a metal spike out of a bag and stabbed it into the ice. Slapping the end caused it to light up illuminating the tunnel.

Stab, slap, shuffle, unroll conduit, repeat.

Trace got in to a routine, operating almost on autopilot. Before he realised, it, he had reached the bottom of the shaft.

The shaft ended in a rounded-out wall of ice, too hazy and rough to see through. Vax consulted his archaeological scanner. 'There's an open space about two metres ahead. Looks to be an air cavity, or it could be part of a structure. We'll tunnel the rest of the way.'

They connected the heavy plasma torches up to the metallic conduction tubes. As the others moved back to make space, Vax and Hali (or whoever volunteered in her place, as furry Pakhars weren't the best for such hot and heavy industrial work) stood against the ice wall, lowered protective visors, and called for Borys to switch the engines on, channelling superheated plasma down the tubes. The cables grew warm, but were insulated and safe to touch with gloves. Finally, focused jets of plasma impacted the ice wall, causing instant evaporation.

For several minutes, they blasted at the wall, eroding the ice. Gusts of gases and water vapour rushed back at the team, turning the tunnel dangerously foggy and uncomfortably warm for the first time of this frozen world.

Then at last the ice cracked and quaked alarmingly, and suddenly the whole section of wall in front of the diggers gave way, collapsing back into an open space. With the plasma torches switched off, they saw a large cave in the ice. Torchlight cut through the inky darkness, revealing a sight theorised to have been hidden for untold millions of years: weird alien structures emerging from the slowly melting ice.

'Ha ha! I knew it! A lost alien city! We'll be on the lecture circuit forever!' Ortega whooped over the comms. Hali squeaked in glee, while Vax calmly stepped forth into the cavern, the rest of the team filing in afterward.

Stirix hissed.

"Be careful. Whilst -deliberate- freezing for preservation is still unheard of in my experience, I have first-hand knowledge that accidental ones, with the right circumstances, can happen. And do not forget what happened when humanity first thawed -my- people."

He gazed at the melting ice, conflicting feelings of exhiliration and concern. The Ice Warriors had made great strides in peace in the years since that first contact; but they were a proud warrior race, and things had been very tense for a while. Melting of ice was fraught with dangers; Stirix knew that better than most.

Bluetooth assisted Vax with the heavy plasma torches to cut through the ice to reach the ice cave beyond. The warmth from the ensuing steam was actually a relief from the bitter cold.

As the fog finally dissipated revealing the alien structures, he took a moment to look them over in more detail, trying to determine something about the people who built them.

"Not surprisingly, I can say with conviction that I've never seen that style of architecture before... though it does kind of resemble the architecture of the Ardanians' ancient god-city. This would appear to be much, much older, though, and I don't see how the two could be connected."

"Does anyone spot a doorway?"

Bluetooth looks for something that might be a door or other way into the inside of one of the structures.

'The Thousand Day War.' Vax supplied in answer to Stirix, his tone grim through the helmet. Numerous small groups of Martians had been defrosted over the centuries of early space exploration, most believing themselves to be the last of their kind and launching face-saving attacks on Earth, until being defeated or corrected. The Thousand Day War of the 2080s had been the greatest, bloodiest such conflict, ending in a humiliating defeat for the Ice Warriors and the full-scale human colonisation of Mars. So, there was that.

'Or the Cyber-Tombs on Telos.' Hali added helpfully.

'I said not to mention those.' Ortega hissed warningly down the line to the two archaeologists, perhaps missing that it wasn't a private channel.

The archaeologists moved further into the ice cave, panning their torches across the chamber. It seemed large enough to encompass much the city, the roof supported by

 The beam refracted through the ice, illuminating the still-entombed dark stone structures of the alien city, offering tantalising glimpses of spires and ziggurats, curious pictograms, and statues of disturbing outlines.

Vax felt a strange chill, one that had nothing to do with the kilometres of supercold ice all around him. A chill that went right down to his bones, and to his souls. A chill he'd not felt since... 'Set up the heaters, start defrosting this place. We'll look around, try to identify some structures, then begin excavations with plasma torches.'

Bluetooth saw numerous doors, albeit small, round holes only about a metre high. Only Hali could walk inside one with any comfort. Many seemed open, lacking even doors, but the buildings were full of ice, and dark inside. If he wanted in, he would have to tunnel in with a plasma torch.

Hali fell in beside Bluetooth. 'Ardanians? I didn't know you had an interest in archaeology?' she asked while scrutinising one frozen structure.


OOC: Roll skill checks and make scans as you explore the ice cavern to begin identifying structures. You can look for something specific seen in the scans earlier, or just see what you get lucky on. There are currently three structures that are close enough to study by eye through the ice.

Axander kept well away from the pair cutting through the ice. He went over similar situations in his head, wondering which civilization they'd be likely to find on this rogue world. It had to be someplace the Doctor had gone, or Elona wouldn't have brought them here. Was it one of the incidents discussed at the Academy? Something else altogether? When the wall gave way, the wave of heat suddenly stopped and turned back to cold, and Axander was pulled from inside his own head. The view was spectacular.

Stirix's warning gave him pause. He'd been thinking similar thoughts, but forgot that the people of Mars had been involved in similar situations. The reminder was a little uncomfortable. When Hali mentioned the Cyber-Tombs, Axander nodded and took a deep breath. Anything could be down there. Something about Ortega's chiding struck Axander as odd, but he rationalized it away as not wanting his team to demoralize each other in the face of potential danger.

The first order of business was to pull out a scanner and try to determine just where in the city they were. Closer to the center and they'd be likely to find libraries, hospitals, and political centers. Further out and they were more likely to find homes. Beyond that, centers of industry. He was hoping for libraries, naturally.

[Scanning with the Psychic Encyclopedia. Hopefully it'll give some good info here.

14:36, Today: Axander rolled 12 using 2d6+8 with rolls of 1,3.  Awa+Tech+Scan.

Heh. That's two games today in which the die roller has mocked me. I'm willing to spend Story Points to bring that up to a Success if necessary.]

Once she has finished helping the others get the gear into position -- doing her best to play at grunt labor, fitting her assumed "bodyguard" role -- Tarys gives the others a short time to distract themselves with their own investigations, and then she draws the Possible Knife.

She carefully slices it into the ice covering one of the circular portals, sinking it in hilt-deep as she cuts.  Closing her eyes, she focuses on the ripples that curl out around it and the pattern of vibrations leading back into the story frozen within the ice.  Perhaps this can help her glean some clue as to the nature or the proximity of the temporal anomaly's source.

21:07, Today: Tarys rolled 18 using 2d6+11 with rolls of 6,1.  Testing the ice with the Possible Knife: Awareness(4) + Ingenuity(5) + Scan(2).

Trace hopped from foot to foot. Not to keep warm in the chilled air, but from excitement. As soon burners melted their way through, Trace was eager to explore. He pulled back his sleeve and started to use his scanner gauntlet. "I wonder how far we are from that anomaly." Unconsciously, he began to wander further into the ruins as he swept the scanner from  side to side.

______
Awareness+Tech+Scan+2d6 = 15
22:29, Today: Trace rolled 15 using 2d6+8 ((3,4)).

OOC: Axander, for obtaining a map, the 12 is fine. You lot don't need to be too successful, let's keep mystery. ;)

Tarys, I included FtTotU and a hidden circumstance bonus. ;)

Axander:

The Psychic Encyclopaedia returned a decent map of the alien city, closely matching what the archaeologists' scans had revealed earlier, though perhaps more refined with proximity and Gallifreyan technology. The virtual shapes showed a collection of squat mounds (quite a lot of those, so they were probably residential), pyramidal shapes, and taller spires. Quite a lot seemed to have been crushed, likely under tonnes of ice. In fact, all the structures they could see and access here were only the upper levels; the lower levels and small buildings all still lay buried under the ice, beneath their feet.

But there was no sensible arrangement, no streets or quarters; they were scattered around at random. Perhaps it meant the aliens had a decentralised society or authority. But it meant Axander couldn't even guess at the purpose of any significant building, from either its shape or location.

The Psychic Encyclopaedia also tried to harvest information from the city, both written, digital, and mental, the same way the TARDIS learned local languages and idioms for the translation systems. Some of the buildings received weird pictogram labels: C-, S- and U-shaped squiggles with little protrusions around the sides in a range of colours, like beige and puce. Unfortunately, it was still too alien, too context-dependent, for the TARDIS to provide any kind of translation.

Tarys:

The Possible Knife cut in the hard-frozen ice better and faster than even the plasma torches could have managed. As Tarys sought out the temporal anomaly, the knife suddenly jerked hard, smacking her knuckles into the ice, until the blade pointed almost directly downward, pointing arrow-like to the temporal anomaly. It was buried deep, deep beneath the ice.

And almost all the time-lines in the city, all that she could sense, ran down there and ended at the anomaly. It was at the end of everything. And one line of continuity crept back up, and connected to her.

Trace:

Using his gauntlet, Trace discovered far beneath the ice what seemed to data conduits leading between various buildings. Periodically, very rarely, there was a flicker of data along them, and Trace recalled the faint signal that had drawn them here, so clearly something was still active, if dormant. All the conduits led to, or radiated from, a large dome. The electromagnetic field and frequencies from the place were too strong for it to be anything but some kind of computer centre.

He also detected a high level of radiation emanating from an imposing ziggurat, currently trapped behind a wall of ice.

"Cool!" Trace said watching the readouts on his gauntlet. "Ancient Alien Internet!" The network was quiet, only the odd flicker of data showed that it was still alive. Perhaps from automated systems periodically checking in or downloading status reports. The fact that these systems were still operating after millions upon millions of years was amazing.

He turned and looked at the ziggurat. "Probably want to be careful about that building," he yelled to others, pointing at the building, "there's a lot a rads coming from it. Maybe an ancient reactor's blown a seal?"

Trace returned his attention back to the dome. "I think there's, like, alien computers in there that are still working." Eagerly, he took off running towards the dome.

OOC: Sorry, Axander I missed some bits:

In addition to the random collection of buildings that formed the larger settlement, the map revealed another area adjoining it, forming a distinctly separate district. This other suburb was all angular buildings and flat walkways, all neatly arranged. Beyond that was the very, very deep circular hole that plunged deep into the heart of the planet. The Psychic Encyclopaedia found no labels for any of these.

Suddenly the TARDIS found a translation for one of the pictograms in the larger settlement, two squiggles under an chevron: Shelter. This corresponded to a large pyramid, quite close by.

*

'Or it could be a lab, hospital, weapons store, materials dump...' Vax suggested, coming over to check it out. He added warningly. 'Assumptions can be a killer.'

The archaeologist was more intrigued by Trace's other find. 'Computers? We may be able to hack into them if we can break in.'

The entrances to the dome were frozen over, however, and it would probably be a day's work melting their way in.


OOC: The excavation mechanic is as follows. Every structure defined in the module requires a certain number of Excavation Points, from 5 to 15. In one day's work, using the plasma torches to melt the ice (or something else with the right gadget), make a Strength + Technology check, Difficulty 12, to apply 1 to 3 EPs per day to a structure. Hali and Vax will average at 2 EP per day. General heating will add d6 EPs to each structure.

Currently known/accessible/interesting buildings/areas and their required EPs are:
Shelter: 5
Computer Core?: 5
Unidentified building #3: 5
Angular Quarter: 7
Radiation Source Building: 7
Deep Well: 15
Temporal Anomaly: 15
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:00, Mon 12 Oct 2015.

"Oh, it's only a passing interest," Bluetooth answers Hali. "In my youth, I went on a couple of looting raids. One of them was to Ardania. That's why I know about them. First hand experience."

"You kind of have to get to know the people that built these places in order to understand the buildings. Archaeology tends to work the other way--learn the structure and architecture to understand the people."

"So how did you get interested in archaeology?"

'Looting?' Hali repeated under her breath, suddenly concerned. Looters were the last thing archaeologists wanted in ruined cities, after all. She rubbed her paws together in nervousness. 'Oh, well, um, I guess I just always had an interest in history, and had a knack for it. I met Professor Ortega when he came to Pakhar seeking the ancient Diadem. He helped me win a scholarship to Luna University. It was that or the work-wheels for me. I owe him everything. He's a great man.' she ended in awe, with a clear case of hero worship.

As discussions begin about getting the excavation under way in earnest, Tarys finds a moment to pull Axander aside.

"You may have already guessed this," she says, "but I have discovered something fairly unsettling.  My Knife is able to trace flows of probabilistic potentional, and I was able to read a flux line leading to the source of the anomaly, far down there."  She indicates the direction of the source.  "It is far more than just a freak dilation source.  There's a trace pulling between it and us, to the mission.  I can't tell exactly what it is yet, but I believe it connects to the same convergence that destroyed the Doctor."

She glances around at the others.  "I don't want to tip our hand to who we are and why we're here just yet.  But I think that time is coming on soon.  Once we have something definite we can tell these people."

"Exactly what I was thinking," he said to Vas as he peered at the building through the ice."Time to melt us some ice!" Trace returned to the shaft to collect a plasma burner and immediately set about spraying the wall with liquid fire.

_______
18:39, Strength 2 + Technology 4 + 2d6 (4+2) = 12

'Stop him!' Ortega yelled over the comms.

'Wait a minute.' Vax followed wearily. Then shouted over the sound of the torches 'Stop! Be careful, slow down. Someone could get hurt, trust me.' His voice held regret, like he spoke from experience.

'While I appreciate your enthusiasm, boy, this is an archaeological expedition. We can't just go burning into things willy-nilly! We will carefully examine the site, choose appropriate locations for investigation, then cut neat trenches for systemic excavation. And I will decide where we dig!' the professor declared with all the superiority he could muster.

He softened, and added in more conciliatory, yet still patronising, tone 'An exciting  first job for the amateur archaeologist is the vital task of sifting through the spoil heap – in our case, melting snow and ice blocks under a heat lamp and sieving out debris, fragments, and trash.' Exciting!

'Now, first impressions of the site, everyone. What have you found?'

'There's a ziggurat over there, sir. It seems to be covered in pictographs, so it must have some cultural significance. Could be a a temple or archive or government building.' Hali suggested.

'And I think I saw a statue over there. It's toppled and broken, but perhaps could be reconstructed. It shouldn't take long to defrost.'

'Ah, excellent. And the rest of you?'
This message was last edited by the player at 02:02, Mon 28 Sept 2015.

Trace pouted and reluctantly switched off the plasma  burner. Sifting through dirt, exciting? He thought derisively. You and me have use a different spellchecker 'cos that ain't the definition of "exciting".

"These guys were slick with tech," he says look around, "I mean, they got data lines running between all these buildings and that dome. And its all still working."

"Except maybe that stepped pyramid place," he added pointing at the ziggurat, "that place is leaking rads like a leaky reactor. Then again, this place is like eon-ancient, surprised its still got enough juice to make rads."

Axander gave Vax a nod in understanding, and continued to make basic labels as best he could, including marking the pictograms for further study.



The news about Tarys's discovery put concern into Axander's voice, which he kept low.

"A connection between us and it could mean anything at this point. I wouldn't worry about it." Though he clearly was. "We may lose their trust if we make them think we've been lying, which we technically have been. I just hope we've been going about this the right way."



Axander cleared his throat and gave his own report.

"Ah, yes. I've managed a more detailed scan of the surrounding area, and put together a map. The only labels I've managed to place have been these strange pictograms, as it seems the city is built in an arrangement completely alien to my experience. Fortunately, we should be able to sort things out through context and further investigation. Also, there are two separate sections of this city, with one quite different from the other. That has been marked as well. Awaiting your direction, professor."