Dihydrogen Monoxide

Defia, unsurprisingly, had the answer to the question of what the water was all about. “Statement. I recommend we are careful with use of our firearms.” Her words were quick and precise, and before anyone could ask why she continued her explanation. “I am detecting increased levels of hydrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere, above what would be expected from natural evaporation. Hypothesis. The water ahead is being cracked into it’s component gasses for an unknown reason.”

The Uil’l team leader snorted at that. “Without a power plant? We’d have noticed the power drain if they’d tapped into any of the mains to be able to crack water on a scale that’d mean they’d need a lake like that.”

The rogue Fractal turned her face towards the speaker, her eyes glowing eerily in the low light of the tunnel. “Statement. We know they have Fractal technology. Molecular decomposition is not a particularly hard challenge for Fractal hardware where it is merely a case of breaking down into two base molecule types. Addendum-hypothesis-inquiry. What would they require large quantities of hydrogen and oxygen for?”

Rye answered that before the Uil’l could. “Undetectable explosives. Compress hydrogen enough and ignite it, ditto oxygen, and it’ll go bang. It’s not the neatest, or the most impressive pyrotechnic ya could use, but on the other hand, no-one looks at natural disasters and checks to see if they’re caused by artificially released gas. Certainly not oxygen or hydrogen, at any rate.”

Dustin exchanged glances with the rest of the team. “That’s a lot of water… and we don’t know how much they’ve already cracked. We need to get in there now - if they’ve figured out that we’re down here, they might be moving out whatever they’ve put together. I don’t want to let the kind of people that have been stirring up trouble get away with their hands on any kind of serious explosive.”

The assembled team nodded, then turned. “Remember - no firepower unless they fire first or Defia says it’s ok,” Dustin hissed as they began to move. “We can’t afford to set off any kind of detonation by accident down here.

Cold air hit them before they reached the corner; evaporation from the massive lake ahead of them chilling the atmosphere in the cavern that the team moved cautiously into. Ducking behind the crates nearest the entrance as the others filed in, seeking cover wherever they could find it, Dustin glanced cautiously around the edge and into the remainder of the chamber.

Dim blue-green lights dotted the walls; it was easy to see why the drone had struggled to make out anything as the glow threw odd shadows and made the entire chamber feel uncomfortably out of place compared to the time Dustin had spent in the warmly lit passageways of the Uil’l above. Initial observation (at least at a glance around the corner of his crate) let him see that there were at least two other routes out of the room on this side of the lake, both looking like they might head downward.

It also let him see that they were not alone. Some distance away and separated by the lake from his team, beyond what they’d been able to make out on the drone feed he could now clearly see a rocky outcropping rising from the water. Movement on the rocks drew his gaze, his eyes narrowing at the group of individuals who were working around some form of control consoles. Thick cables ran from the tall metal cabinets into the water, while racks of cylinders lined one wall of what Dustin’s initial glimpse looked like an island.

Fortunately, the workers on the island appeared to be the only other people in the cavern - although the presence of the massive pool of water gave Dustin pause. He knew that Fractals could survive in the vacuum of space or in the acid-rich atmosphere of Thif, so he was pretty sure that ten or twenty feet of water wouldn’t cause them any difficulty. Glancing over to where Defia was crouched behind a barrel, he gestured to the water and raised his hands in inquiry.

Defia’s gaze went distant for a moment, then she nodded. Tapping the micro-communicator attached to the collar of her cloak, she spoke softly. “Statement. I detect multiple Fractal signals below the water. Purpose unclear. Function unclear. They are not responding with standard signatures, and the water is making it hard to directly observe their conductivity to ascertain their design. Suggest we avoid immersion in the water for the time being.”

Being told they should avoid swimming complicated matters. There was no chance they could make it across the lake by boat without being spotted; equally, the risk of hitting one of the cylinders which Dustin had mentally flagged as probably being highly explosive meant opening fire at this range was unwise. Beckoning to the more high-ranked Uil’l, he ducked back into the tunnel with his senior officers close behind. Once he was sure they were at no risk of being overheard, Dustin crouched down and drew a quick map of the area in the dirt of the tunnel floor.

“We’ve got our team watching from here - so unless there’s other passages on the far side of the lake we’ve got covering fire over any possible exits for them. The issue is, I don’t see how we can get across the water without being spotted. Anyone have any ideas?” He glanced between each member of the team as he spoke, hoping someone would have some advice.

One of the Uil’l raised a clawed hand. “Some of our team are used to working their way over chasms. Specialist training, but it involves a lot of hanging from the ceiling. Not everyone’s fit enough to do it, but a few of us could probably climb out on the roof?”

Yril’k flexed her chitin blades and leaned forward intently. “I too’k can climb’k on the ceiling’k. A small strike’k **** then’k?”

The plan seemed sensible enough… Dustin turned to Defia. “Any issues with their idea?”

The rogue Fractal shook her head in reply. Clearly, the only threat to the team lay in the water at least as far as abnormal Fractals were concerned. With everything in hand, they returned to the main room - Dustin and Rye taking up covering positions while Defia monitored the lake. Yril’k and a handful of the security **** pulled back slightly from the crates behind which the main team were hiding, checked their equipment, and then scurried up the side of the cavern wall without any apparent difficulty.

Weapons dangling from straps on their backs, Dustin watched as the group began to move slowly towards the distant figures. He’d have held his breath if they hadn’t been moving so slowly, checking each foot and handhold to ensure nothing was displaced into the inky-black waters beneath them. Time seemed to stand still as the small team crawled their way over the gloomy lagoon, until they were practically on top of the workers manning the strange equipment.

For a heartbeat, nothing happened - and then Yril’k’s form dropped from the roof like a spider, slamming into a figure that Dustin could just about make out as holding a weapon. Around her, the Uil’l team launched themselves as well, landing, rolling and bringing their guns up to point at whoever was on that island.

His tablet pinged a moment later, Yril’k’s face appearing on the other end. Behind her, a mixed group of Uil’l and Durathisans knelt with their hands behind their heads, the Uil’l military officers watching them intently with their weapons at the ready. “Captain’k. They were largely technicians’k, and had limited’k firearms. We have secured’k the island, but there are’k unknown machines here. Can you’k ask Rye and Defia’k to talk me through’k disabling them?”

At the Vex’ess’s words, Dustin’s bunny girl practically snatched the tablet from his hands, Defia hovering close behind. Sighing and leaving them to it, Dustin turned and began to give orders to the remainder of the team to secure the shoreline and the tunnel entrances properly, and for one of them to run back to the surface to request more scouting drones to see where the other exits from the cavern led to.

With the team moving into position, Defia and Rye guided Yril’k’s movements carefully. “That looks like a phase-inverter. Don’t touch that… what’s that bottom right? Oh, ya, that’s an intake valve. Ya gotta leave that the hell alone until we figure out how to turn off whatever’s producing the inflow, or ya’ll blow the island up with pressure. Defia, what do ya make of that controller, that looks like Fractal matter hooked up to the outlet port?” The bunny girl’s words were a stream of thought and instruction as she remotely surveyed the equipment on the island.

For her part, Defia’s replies were clipped, precise, and only once did she overrule Rye. “Statement. Deactivate the power buffer to that console after the return pump, not before. It is generating the key-wave used to synchronize the units below - without it, they will begin to produce cracked gas out of sequence which could lead to overpressure in the intake chamber.” Beyond that, the two women worked as a team, and it was just a matter of time before the island’s machinery ground to a halt. As soon as it finished shutting down, Defia’s gaze dipped to the water and she frowned, before nodding. “Statement. All Fractal mass now registering as inert. It is safe to go in the water.”