Elite:Resurrection. Investigations
10 Oct 2021Rain Ocampo
[GPLC] Resurrection, Command Deck"Miss Shaw, something dangerous is going on down there. Already three of the guards assigned there have been admitted to sickbay with suspected brain hemorrhages. All guards have been withdrawn from that area and the section sealed. We have lost all contact. Not even the video surveillance is still working. I must strongly advise you not to go down there." Sir! There's that malfunction in the administrator software menu again!" The crewman's voice sounds concerned. The XO rushes to the man and takes a look at the console. "If this keeps up we're going to have to evacuate the carrier." He gives the young soldier a skeptical glance. "Do you really want to do that? I won't be able to give you anyone to take with you. The crew thinks the sector is spooky."
Kendra nods. "It's unavoidable, sir. I need to see this device.
Cargo section, lower decks, a little later.
With a dull rumble, the heavy bulkhead closes behind Kendra. The corridor ahead of her is dark. Only sporadically does the lighting flicker on, and for a short time the poor condition of the section is apparent. " Hazardous environment detected. Caution!" The suit's COVAS warns in a whisper, fading warning signals into the helmet display. Sighing, the young woman activates the shield of the Maverick suit and mutes the alarm.
As she approaches the cargo hold containing the device, damage to the wearer's structure becomes more apparent. The walls look acid burned. It's that thargoid stuff. "What the hell have you done here, Auntie!" Silently, Kendra curses to herself.
Sure enough, the bulkhead to the storage unit won't open. Kendra begins to cut open the maintenance panel with the arc cutter.... The glow of the cutting beam illuminates the entrance with a fitful blue light.
With an ugly screaming sound, the bulkhead opens.... just a narrow slice.... The suit's air conditioner works at full blast to absorb the sweat. Still, drops begin to condense on the visor of the helmet.... With a final effort, Kendra pries the door open at least enough to slip through.
"Oh, gods!"
The unearthly glow of the device dimly illuminates the surroundings. Eerie chattering soundsare picked up by the suit's external microphones.... Kendra's nerf ends begin to tingle. The feeling of great danger almost overwhelms her.
She recognizes the " tub," filled with a luminescent gel-like liquid. "Utopian resurrection technology!" She knows the plans of the, so far, only in theory existing machine. In this "tub" should lie the body of a clone, waiting for the upload of a human consciousness from the Sim Archive. But something is wrong. The gel should be shimmering white, not this toxic green.
Now Kendra examines the rest of the device. She recognizes several Guardian components. "Power cell, power conduit....
MOMENT! What is that?!"
She recognizes organic circuitry and biomechanical conduits connected to a toxic green glowing energy cell leading inside the device. The suit covas warns. "Shields at 50%. Please leave this environment as soon as possible."
Now she notices a flashing red display on the other side of the device. Attentively, Kendra watches the computer code scrolling through. The red flashing is from an error message. "Unknown interference detected. Data transfer interfered. Reestablishing connection... Retry 42..."
"I should download and analyze that.
While the download is in progress, the young woman cuts open another maintenance panel. It falls to the floor with a clatter.
"There's a component missing!" Astonished, Kendra shakes her head. "What the hell was she up to?" Some of the Guardian... and Thargoid power conduits end up in an empty module slot.
"Shields at 10%. Leave this environment immediately!"
Sighing, Kendra rises. The data download is complete and she should really get out of here now....