Turning Point (5)
Ddeudeudeuk—Kuuung...!
The thick ice wall was pushed aside. Some of it shattered from the impact, turning into small chunks that came tumbling down.
"Good job, Carry."
「⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝」
When I ruffled Carry's head, it delightedly celebrated, as if saying, 'I did it!'
While I pushed aside the chunks of ice on the ground with my foot, I gazed up at the side of the summit where the ice cave had formed.
Carry had adjusted the power output of its cutting laser to carve away at the wall, finally boring all the way through. Since it was deeper than I expected, it took quite a bit of time to get through.
'This is the right place.' I received a telepathic signal from Sprout, assuring me we'd arrived at our destination. I immediately sent in a report that I had discovered an unknown facility, since Licorice had instructed me to inform her right away if anything unusual came up.
- Found the building that Sprout reacted to.
- Can you get inside?
- That's what I'm about to check. We cut through the outside, but it's all covered in ice so I can't say for sure yet.
- Got it. Be careful.
While I attached a photo of the facility with "OB-3" written on it, Celestia cautiously knocked on a door that looked like it wouldn't open easily.
Tong—tong—. The sound resonated as if something was hollow inside. Celestia listened intently.
"It doesn't seem to be packed completely with ice. Maybe it's just this area, but from what I can see, the ice is covering it like a lid."
"If it's still sealed, then there might still be space for us to move around inside."
"That's right."
It was a relief that we wouldn't have to carve through ice for every step forward. After receiving confirmation from Licorice that the structure wasn't in the database, I focused on the scene in front of me.
"Carry, can you cut through this door too?"
「(´-﹏-`；)」
Carry made a troubled face. It seemed this would be too much for its current output. That meant my only option was to handle it myself. Bringing other equipment wasn't practical given the situation and the tight space.
"There's no separate authentication panel, and the door's really thick. Feels almost like it functions as an airlock. Maybe it was made before, or during, terraforming."
"Would it be alright if I pried it open by force?"
"Um... I don't think it would collapse. Except for the path you just cut, everything else is tightly gripped by the ice. Even after all this time, it should hold up as designed."
Celestia added that while nothing should go wrong, it would still be best to be careful.
"Alright, I'll give it a try."
I was about to just use brute force when another thought stopped me. Superhuman strength was certainly one of my advantages, but it wasn't the only one.
Now that Sprout had matured further, I was able to control my supernatural power even better than before. This time, I wanted to try using that power. I pressed my palm tightly against the frost-covered door.
Perhaps because it had been sealed in ice for decades, just touching it unleashed a biting cold that stabbed into my skin. I frowned unconsciously.
Without pulling back, I drew up my psionic energy. It felt like the energy was flowing through my blood vessels, and soon the power gathered in my hand began to seek out gaps in the closely packed ice. This was my first time doing such precise work, but I felt up to the task.
As I stood still, Celestia looked at me curiously, lowering the hand she'd reached out. She must have noticed that I was doing something.
Even though it was happening behind me, as the telekinetic power spread through the area, I could picture it in my mind as clearly as if I'd seen it with my own eyes. Before long, the telekinetic force extended, finer than a thread.
I instinctively understood the structure of the door—where and how to manipulate it so it could be opened. Once the border was traced, I gave my thread a little flick.
With a "pung" sound, the door, which had stood utterly immobile as if time had stopped, gave a huge shudder that belied its thickness.
Suddenly, the pressure and vibration turned the ice particles into powder that fell away in a cloud. Black rust particles came as a bonus. The outside air was sucked in with a rush.
I gripped the door to check if I'd succeeded. It was still stiff, but not immovable like before. I was able to open the door with relatively little effort.
"Phew..."
"Hyun-woo, you didn't strain yourself, did you?"
"Come on, this is nothing."
The truth was, my shoulders felt sore, but I couldn't admit it out of sheer pride. Celestia narrowed her eyes at me, but thankfully she didn't press further. Instead, Carry activated a scout drone that had been prepared in advance.
"Starting the mapping process. The building isn't very big, so it should only take about five minutes. Less, if most of it is still blocked off by ice."
Celestia launched the drone. The drone unfolded its cross-shaped blades, deploying its mini props, and as various sensors activated, it started scanning its surroundings.
Detached from Celestia's hand, the drone zipped inside, inspecting the interior. In the meantime, we shoved the waiting Beta Series unit inside. We could have just waited idly, but it seemed better to do something rather than nothing.
As soon as the Beta Series' visual sensors were synchronized with our bracelets, a hologram screen popped up midair. We appeared on it.
When I gave the command to enter, the Beta Series' eyes gleamed as it moved. The robot passed through the opened door. With no lights working inside, its headlamp switched on automatically.
Pat—The interior of the building came into view. The structure wasn't anything special. If anything, it had a very crude design. It felt ancient, as if I was looking at relics rather than something merely old.
A long, rectangular table, a set of iron stairs that seemed to connect up and down, a floor caked with ice, and what appeared to be a broken monitor.
Celestia raised an eyebrow. She let out a "hmm?" sound, then began manipulating her bracelet. Beta headed toward the broken monitor panel. The visual sensor zoomed in.
Behind the panel, circuit boards protruded. When zoomed further, you could barely make out the faded identification code on the board.
Celestia nodded as she transmitted the code to Albatross's bridge.
"Just as I thought..."
"Why?"
"Do you see this circuit structure? This kind of design's pretty much obsolete now. Actually, to be exact, it's been pushed out by new technology and just isn't used anymore. They used to be quite meticulously put together, but now it's just unnecessarily complicated."
"By new technology, do you mean...?"
I furrowed my brow, thinking of what new technology she was referring to. Based on her previous statements, there was only one possible answer.
"... Blue Crystal?"
"Exactly."
Current technology is divided into before and after the appearance of Blue Crystal. The difference is stark enough that we can confidently call it an advance.
"So this facility was built over 100 years ago?"
"We'll need to check more to be sure whether it was before Blue Crystal was discovered or during the transition period."
"Either way, that means it's been nearly a century."
I paid more attention to the interior structure displayed on the screen. As I considered what era this crude design might belong to, I felt as if I were touring a museum.
"Do you think there might still be any records left here?"
"Um... Probably not. Power's been cut for a long time, and unlike the metal shell, those circuits probably couldn't withstand the years. It's probably like ice that'd shatter at the slightest touch. No one's maintained it."
Celestia said that, while something from the old days might yield information if it wasn't too badly damaged, the current state here left no options.
"Ah..."
I couldn't hide my disappointment. I'd thought it might have something to do with why Sprout reacted to this forgotten building.
"It's too soon to say for sure. Since the interior isn't heavily corroded, it must have been sealed pretty well. I don't think it was just abandoned."
Celestia, having retrieved the returning drone, projected a hologram map of the building's internal layout. The facility had three floors in total.
The first floor had collapsed bed frames stacked double,
the second floor appeared to be a command or meeting room,
the third floor was topped by a dome ceiling and traces that something large had once been there.
We were presently on the second floor. No wonder there were so many monitors. It seemed this floor was used for reviewing and organizing collected data.
Licorice, receiving all the information in real time, opened a comm channel.
- Observation post, confirmed. Stability at 67% is pretty high. Unless you're trying to break stuff on purpose, it shouldn't collapse. Lee Hyun-woo, get inside and look for a generator.
"A generator? Would it still work?"
- Only one way to find out. If our guess is right, there should be an emergency generator on the same floor that you can power up by turning a lever. If the coil isn't broken, we might get a little electricity—just enough to snag the data.
Licorice said there might not be any data left, but we'd worry about that if and when the time came. She was right, so, after trading a glance with Celestia, I headed deeper into the observation post.
The floor was solid, showing no signs of giving way. Normally there'd be gaps that would make it wobble, but the ice had filled all the crevices, making it unexpectedly sturdy.
"Hyun-woo, I'll check this side."
"Okay."
Celestia and I split up to search for the emergency generator that Licorice had mentioned. Carry and Beta also divided up the area. Since the ice was unusual, scanning wasn't working properly.
Instead of storing energy separately, the system apparently depended on users generating power by hand, so if there was a generator, it would probably be in the floor or wall.
Though it was entombed in clear ice, layers of snow blocked out much of the light from outside, so the inside of the building was terribly dark. My suit's temperature control was working overtime against the bone-chilling cold.
I swept my flashlight over the crevices, carefully examining the gaps between the walls. Now and then, I tapped with my fist and listened to the sound.
Before long, Celestia called me over, saying she'd found something. When I reached her, she stepped aside.
"There's a groove here, but it seems locked."
"Carry, could you melt this for me? Gently, applying heat bit by bit."
「ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌ )」
Carry gave me a thumbs-up, as if to say this was a piece of cake, and started gently melting the ice around the groove, just as I'd asked.
While I could have forced open any door that didn't matter, if this was related to the generator, raw strength would not be ideal.
With its output cranked up, the cutting laser displaced the layer of frigid air pressed against the ground. The ambient air didn't exactly get warmer, but the ice directly exposed to the beam started dripping moisture.
Eventually, as the moisture between the cracks made it impossible for the ice to keep its shape, a chunk fell away. When I knocked around the groove, the remaining ice shards fell off.
Grabbing the indentation and prying it open like a panel, I was greeted by a metallic clang. When I peered into the wall cavity, I gave a bright smile.
The power gauge was broken, barely dangling by a thread; the lever had snapped clean in half. Still, a generator was a generator.
Honestly, those two issues were the least of my worries, since they were easy problems to fix.
"Licorice, can I just turn the lever?"
- Yup. Scan says the power cable's near the end of its life, but it should last for one use. Oh, and don't force the lever too much, the connection—actually, never mind, let Beta do it instead.
I stepped aside obediently in front of the generator. I could have done it myself, but I didn't want to hear an earful if something went wrong because I overdid it.
Beta simply detached—well, broke off—the lever. I wondered what it was doing, but then it made sense. Beta used its own finger in place of the lever, plugged it into the spot where the original had been, and began turning it.
Wiiing—
Seeing its machine hand spin so fast, I was glad I'd stepped back. No one ever went wrong following Licorice's advice.
Wooong—
The device's activation echoed inside, followed by a subtle vibration. Sparks shot from the areas with lights, and monitors flickered between on and off.
It was still dark inside, but we could feel a trickle of energy running through the facility.
- Lee Hyun-woo, take the cable from your bracelet. If you look closely at the back of the monitor you sent earlier, you'll see several holes. Plug it into the third one from the left.
"Oh, I found it."
I picked the monitor that looked most intact and plugged in the cable. The display, which seemed like it could die any moment, briefly returned to normal brightness.
- Wait, don't move it. It's an incompatible model. If anything goes weird, we'll lose everything.
Once more, I waited quietly. Celestia observed me from the side. Beta was still working the machine hand, while Carry was staring at a huge icicle on the ceiling.
After a little while, Licorice pinged us.
- All done. You can unplug now. Took out everything I could get.
"Was there any data left?"
- The server room was reset, but the hardware itself remained.
No matter how big the technology gap, you can't do anything if the devices storing the data are gone. You can't make something from nothing.
Licorice found that odd. Normally, when buildings like this are decommissioned, data is completely wiped to avoid information leaks.
- Weird, but... let's look at the data first. That's more important.
"Okay."
We all gathered round. A series of data files scrolled up on the hologram display.
「Knox's voice recording.」
「Third Observation Post supply report.」
「Internal facilities and major electronic component malfunction report.」
「Employee psychological instability resolution plan.」
「Survey and environmental analysis records for surrounding zone.」
......
「Extreme weather observation report.」
「Comprehensive underground vein survey report.」
「Mining base and colony construction plan.」
"... This is a lot more than I expected."
"Let's go through them one by one."
I clicked on the top voice recording. A heavily static-laden voice began to play.
「Phew... Earth date, February 18th, 9:23 am. Knox, first log. I've arrived at the base where I'll be living for a while. After entering the facility from the raging storm outside, I could finally catch my breath.
As soon as I shed my heavy suit, my colleague who arrived before me, already working on their task, told me what I had to do. I was told to send out reconnaissance robots to continuously monitor the surrounding environment.
Our mission was to, at this place......」
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**New Names, locations, skills, techniques**