Bishop, Anton, that's a good idea. Bishop, you and me are the only ones with rockets that aren't in exosuits, we're going to check the building. The rest of you, we still need this pit surveyed. Go down like I instructed unless anyone else has a better idea.
Go up with Bishop via rockets and check around the building to determine its structural integrity, ie. will it be collapsing anytime soon.
Take a moment to correctly set up the rappel systems for the guys going into the pit, doing it again and again until I get it right. Then head up with Simus and help her with checking integrity.
Bishop sets up the repel system, or at least the upper part of it, before he and Simus head up to the top levels of the building and begin inspecting. The upper levels are extremely unstable; so much so that even attempting to land has about a 50/50 chance of causing sections of the floor to collapse. The roof crumbles away as they try to stand on it and takes large pieces of the floors below with it. Going down into deeper sections might mean it's more stable, but there's always the chance that the exhaust might cause a collapse.
((Yay nuclear gold, very cool, very nice, very mine.))
collect a handful of gold dust and make a pile with it then melt it into a carryable nugget using a very low intensity laser beam. Pocket the nugget.
Follow Simus instructions and begin making my way down into the pit, take sample chunks of any other materials that look out of place and try to snag a diamond from simus' hallway if possible.
Continue assessing structural integrity, resist urge to push support beams.
I'm just gonna let you know that gold has no value here. After all, miyamoto can make bricks of it out of dirt.
[handi:5]
You melt the gold dust down into a nugget about the size of your thumb and pocket it.
You break a bit of the diamond in a hall and sample it. It's standard diamond, nothing special about it.
You make your way to the nuke pit, marking down anything that looks structurally iffy as you go. The middle levels seem to have fared quite well, all things considered. Sure, some are now made of things they really shouldn't be, but at least they weren't collapsing.
You make it to the Nuke pit without putting your foot through the ground anywhere.
"What do you even need that stuff for, Auron? Nobody in their right mind here will buy them, as much as 'right mind' applies to ARM, and you don't even have the tools to work them anyway. Just leave that stuff and come back later with a jackhammer and a vacuum.
In other news, I think I may have invented a prescient drone. It appears to stop working whenever it thinks I'm about to do something stupid. And according to it, that's all the damn time.
Makes me want to reconsider the mission, but... orders are orders."
Pack up the drones and start rappelling down, taking rad readings and other measurements. Keep a weather eye out for falling debris and possible anomalies that may have gotten here.
The Repair pit wasn't a straight hole downward, it was a stepped or tiered pit like an open-pit mine: distinct concentric layers which get smaller as they go down and form a circular, stairstep pattern. Despite the fact that the nuke has turned precise stone and metal edges and levels into rounded, irradiated cliffs, the tiered pattern still remains. It makes descent difficult, requiring a new anchor on each level.
You rappel down to the first tier and unhook yourself from the rope. The Geiger counter reads 10 RPH, though your internal monitors still read zero. This level, as with several of the upper ones is still somewhat intact. The areas near the edges of the level have been melted and worn smooth, but the area back nearer to the wall is still recognizable. There are machines, parts, even a ship or two that look salvageable, all pressed up against wall like metal dust bunnies. The attachment points for some of the raining and metal structure are still in place, and a good number of them still have parts of the cages and automated rail systems they used to hold stick to them. They form a strange sort of chaotic, half melted latice over parts of the level; like dadaist jungle gyms.
Survey the area. Look for anything that shouldn't be doing what it's doing.
((Is the stealth paint still active on the armor, except for the arm that came off? A floating arm, basically?))
Ah, we'll assume you had enough to spray paint the new robo arm.
You follow Anton down into the pit, sticking to him and scanning the area. You doubt that the survey team is gonna find survivors down here for you to "Debrief", but at least you can ply your gun skills protecting this techie. Assuming, of course, anything actually threatens him.
You don't like it down in the pit. Something deep seated in your merc instincts makes you fear anything that is invisible and can kill you. Especially when you don't quite understand it.
Wait until Bishop has properly set up the rapelling system thingy. Then rapel down, taking readings every so often and looking for weird things/survivors. If it goes awry and I fall, use my mass amp to make sure I don't fall to my death
You keep with the group, poking around through the debris and scanning. You find a couple bodies, badly burnt and damaged; clearly victims of the blast. Nothing alive though, and nothing that looks too out of the ordinary.
Author
Topic: Einsteinian Roulette (Missions 9a, 10, 11, and Heph post war survey team) (Read 435708 times)