Mission to the depths of the mine

They were led into the small group of structures that made up the camp. On both sides of them stood two copies of the exact same building, angled away from one another. The buildings were made of the same white and blue metals as the rest, looking a bit like a futuristic shelter rather than a hastily set up tent. Strangely, it reminded him of a capsule in shape, its edges rounded and the blue metal making up an inner layer that was wrapped by the white metal. One side of the structure was stuck into the ground as if it had slid into it, while the opposite end of it was sitting in the air, creating a diagonal line between both ends of the capsule. John and the group were brought to the entrance of the one closest to the mountain, which was the only part level to the ground. They entered the building they were brought to through metal doors which slid open as soon as they got near, and revealed a second set of doors. Those were open, however.

“We don’t need airlocks on this planet, but these pods come with them for more **** cases,” the scientist explained as he entered the main room on the other side.

It was a fairly open space, almost looking like a small apartment contained in one room. Most of the area was converted to serve as a headquarters of sorts, the dining table was full of maps, schematics and various notes. Every wall in the room had equipment, guns, or some unfamiliar tech hanging from it. The kitchen section was entirely deconstructed to serve as a tabletop for various seemingly normal food there. Everything from salads to cooked meat was on there, and seemingly in abundance.

“Let’s get right to business,” the scientist got to the dining table and pointed at one of the maps, “this is the map of the mine,” multiple levels were shown on the mine stacked on top of each other, and it was clearly drawn in the framework of the mountain. Only two things were marked on the map of the mine, a small workshop and hanger, which were located in the same place, and the main drilling point, “this is where the Gundam is,” he pointed to the hanger, “and the source of the spiders is down here,” he pointed to the main drilling area at the bottom of the mine. The workshop was on the highest level, “when we evacuated we didn’t know if the spiders had already reached the Gundam, but it’s entirely possible. Even with the physical distance, we can’t rule it out. All the security systems inside have gone dead since we left.”

“Let’s hope they didn’t get there. Do you mind if I grab this map for now? I can use my skills to allow me to view it from a distance,” John asked, any information they could have about the mine while down there would be valuable.

“Sure,” the scientist responded kindly. John also noticed a map right next to it showing the surrounding area, which was clearly collated from various photos of the surface, but there was no sign of the camp on there. Taking both of them, he quickly got a popup that his minimap was updated with the information.

“Something else you might like to know is how the Gundam looks,” he pointed to a picture that hung from one of the walls. A giant mecha was shown there, but one obviously designed for mining work. With the majority of it acting as a giant drill and various tubes and shafts extending across its body to move rock or other materials. It was colored in a very different way to everything else, being distinctly black and green.

“Thank you, for the maps and the information,” John put the maps back and turned to the rest of his team, “We need to be prepared for a fight, but as long as we can get in and out of there quickly we should be fine,” he tried to sound as confident as he could.

“We will be, boss,” Bass smiled at John.

A staircase made out of the same white metal that was dug into the mountain was the only open way into the mine, the scientist told them. That’s where all of them were escorted after the conversation ended. It wasn’t far from the camp, only a few minutes walk away. What was more relevant to John, however, was where it led. Looking at his minimap, John saw the stairs led to the second level from the top.

’Guess we might not have a choice about making this quick… Hopefully we won’t find too much trouble,’ John thought, concerned about the situation they might confront.

“My men will keep watch over this entrance. But I won’t send them in, you’re on your own beyond this point,” the scientist’s tone was grim.

“That’s fine, we can manage on our own,” Yan responded almost immediately.

“Yan’s right, now let’s get in there,” John said as he took a step onto the first stair. A strange feeling passed over him as he did, and he noticed a slight shimmer separating the staircase from the outside of the mountain. Some smell that had not been there earlier also appeared, it was metallic, almost like blood but had a hint of rot and decay. He passed his hand back through the entrance, curious as to what would happen, and his hand passed through the same unfamiliar texture. It was almost as if something was standing right there.

“Is there a forcefield here?” he asked the scientist, not sure if to be worried or intrigued.

“Yes, there is, it’s there in case the spiders decide to attack this place. But it will allow you through easily, credit for that goes to some of your Council magic,” for the last few words he looked to Ember. His tone was almost excited, and not serious at all.

“Indeed, our agreement has benefited both sides quite a bit,” Ember responded, flatly.

“Huh…” John mumbled faintly as the rest of his team passed through the forcefield. Just in the corner of his eye he caught Charlotte visibly shaking for a moment as she stood next to him.

“Hey boss, we should probably move as fast as we can now. We’re not safe on this side of the field,” Bass stated, her tone much more serious than usual.

“No time for daydreaming, you’re right,” John knew that very well. He pressed forwards, he had committed to this mission already, but he still had a bad feeling about it. Step after step they all walked down, and into the bowels of the mine itself.

The shiny white metal turned rustier and rustier as they walked. John noticed the air turned sour, and the putrid smell grew stronger. Small white lines glowed in the dimming light that still came from the surface, it was slowly replaced by an industrial light source; blinking orange lights whose glass was half shattered by an unknown entity.

“We need to be careful, they clearly got here already,” John warned the others, as quietly as he could. Yan had already gotten ready for an attack, her hand was replaced with a wolf’s paw, but now Bass drew her halo and Charlotte was grabbing at her glove gently. Ember was standing further back, almost silent, and her knife was in her hand. For the first time, John really looked at it. It was a dark blade with blue metallic material spiralling around it, almost as if a series of runes were written onto the blade with a carefully applied layer of metal.

They kept going as a unit, their movement almost silent. Stairs soon turned to a tight hallway, only letting two people pass. Given the walls and ceiling of stone it was clearly carved from the mountain, but everything was supported by the metal walls. The white metal now looked black, as if covered by a layer of goo. Bass was the only one curious enough to touch it when the staircase stopped.

“It’s blood, I think. Not sure from what…” she stated, her expression had turned more grim.

“From the spiders, I assume,” Yan walked over to Bass, “whoever it’s from, it is very likely to be dangerous,” she continued, trying to get the sound mage away from the walls. She went willingly, clearly not happy with her findings either.

That’s when John noticed it, a slight chattering and clicking noise he could hear from above them. Like something was crawling on the ceiling. He looked up, petrified he would see something, but he didn’t. All that was there was the exposed brown and gray rock of the mountain.

“I-it’s from the other side…” Charlotte almost whispered, her expression showing clearly that she was scared.

’Shit, that means the spiders did reach the upper level and the workshop… That makes this whole thing much more dangerous,’ a worried expression took over John’s face as he thought of the consequences.

“We need to hurry up, there’s even less time to waste if they’re up above us,” Bass said, breaking John out of the cycle of his own thoughts. She tried to return to a cheery expression as best she could.

“Yeah, you’re right Bass,” he did the same, panicking would only hurt them now. He kept pressing forwards, and the rest followed suit.

The corridor didn’t last for long before they reached another door, but it had changed slowly. The small threads had turned larger and more dense, and now they found themselves facing a giant web covering the door. According to John’s minimap it was the entrance to the main bridge section, which was located on this floor. The web hiding it was made of dense white threads which were dotted with black spots, of the same liquid as had been consistently on the walls.

“This didn’t happen during the struggle,” Ember said, John almost thought she was trying to reassure them after having stayed quiet for a while. She pointed to its connection with the ceiling, there were visible marks of wear there. Scratches that might have been made by claws or something scraping against the stone, “there’s no blood on those scratches,” she continued, her tone confident.

“I can take this down easily with my halo,” Bass suggested immediately, getting ready to do exactly that, but looking to John for approval.

Charlotte said something before he could, “t-they c-could be on t-the s-side,” her tone was somehow more terrified than before, but her expression had completely changed. It was surprisingly neutral.

’I wish I understood Charlotte well enough to tell her what she needs to hear…’ John thought to himself, hoping that what he could say would help them all, ’this is exactly what I was worried about. Us once again being thrown into some horror movie setup, at least this time we have Ember with us,’ he looked to his right where she stood close to the wall. Her stance was guarded but when he found her eyes he could swear they seemed curious.

“Charlotte is right, we need to know what’s past there before we make noise and breach it-” John started.

“Then you must be glad I came along, I’ll scout ahead with my invisibility. If they’re simple spiders as we were told they won’t be able to sense me,” Ember started, her tone for once containing a specific emotion, although one John couldn’t decipher.

“How long will it take you?” Bass asked Ember quickly, her tone direct.

“It should only take a few minutes,” the spy retorted.

“Do it Ember, please,” John asked her, “we need as much of your help as we can get.”

“I will John. I said I would help you,” she said, and a moment later her knife went through one of the threads at the side of the web. Bass looked at John’s expression for a moment before moving to help, cutting through the side with her halo, which slowly spun faster but still completely quietly. The moment enough threads were cut Ember disappeared to the naked eye, and a bodiless voice spoke to them.

“You should move away from the door in case there are spiders on the other side. Perhaps wait at the staircase?” it was clearly Ember speaking.

“Yeah, let’s move back,” he looked at the others and they went to move. But there was something else he had to do first. John focused on using Observe the same way he had with Ingrid, and he saw exactly what he hoped for. The spy’s silhouette appeared from him in a bright white light. Looking around, he didn’t see much out of the ordinary, but faint lines of blue and purple color lingered in the air. Bass touched John’s shoulder a moment later and pulled him back, out of the door’s line of sight.

Bass and John reached the staircase just after Yan and Charlotte, but they still heard the metal door slide open from the other side of the corridor. Then, silence, and all they could do was wait for Ember’s return.

“I don’t trust her John, she’s here to be Ingrid’s eyes and ears, not ours,” Bass whispered to him as they settled down.