OutpostMayham: first storygame of OUF

[CK9]

{okay, before we begin, here's the rules:

1) keep the post with the story. It won't make any sence if everything were to suddenly change.

2) post a message that says poasting first, then edit it to have the actual post. This will prevent people from getting mad at eachother for messing up their post idea.

3) don't insult others because you think their posts didn't make any sence.

4) if someone posted something that could prematurly end the story, find a way around it. A popular use on me when I first started doing this type of thing was to make it be a dream

5) all side notes need to be encased in braces (these things-"{ }")

6) no double-posting unless it has been two days without any contributions from other posters

okay, here we go!}
=============================================

It was a late night in the OUF Comand Center.  The few mods and admins who were still in this section of the colony had been busy with the endless job of maintaining the forum.  It was a small colony, only 93 people, some of which never showed themselves.  It had been an hour since xfir had gone to the residence compound to get some sleep.  only Hacker, CK, and Philip were still up.  Hacker had been keeping an eye on the factories all day, checking on the progress of the many projects being worked on.  Philip, had been updating the history databanks, which had been hacked into for the third time.  CK was only in charge of building stats.  Sure he envied the others who had stuff like army control, but he knew his job was important to the stability of the colony.  An alarm went off at Beta's station, the perimeter control.  Philip ran over to check on it.  "Bad news guys, there seems to be a new alliance against us."  Hacker ran over to see what Philip ment.  "Oh geeze!  CK, go get x, he needs to see this.  Take the scout parked outside, it will be faster."  This was obviously not good.  CK quickly put on the control suit and jumped into the scout that Lev had modified.  Within seconds, he was outside the main residence.  x and beta were waiting for him outside.  "I got the alarm CK, get us there as fast as you can."  The scout moved quickly, but that didn't help when it came to manuvering.  The three heard an explosion from behind them.  "Woa, something just blew the trade center x!"  Beta looked with awe at the raging fire from the explosion.  "We have to hurry before the new defence grid is raised around the Command Center!"  It was no use, the sheilds were up the second the clony had been hit.  The computer screen came alive next to xfir.  "You three all right?"  "Philip, get us a way in the CC now!"  "sorry x, but I can't find a way, you guys are stuck out there."  "Wait," beta yelled, "what about the garage that is still being constructed?"  "Beta you insane genious, I haven't had prime put up the sheilding yet."  "CK, isn't it on the far edge of the colony?"  "Yes, so let's get moving."  "Philip, get as many people up as possible, we need as many defensive vehicls as possible at that garage!"  x paused and then added "Get some gaurds with the thro's hammer rifles at the tube to the trade center site.  I hope nobody was in there."  The sout raced off towards the incomplete structure.

{if you want an example of how these are ment t turn out, go to the Myst Hangout via the link I posted in the thread started by Kiler}

[BlackBox]

When the scout reached the garage, CK, beta and xfir jumped down from the scout. They walked into the dock on the garage past the signs that said "Sector 30-G under construction. No Vehicles Allowed."

They kept walking until they reached a scratched metal door labeled "DANGER: Machinery in operation." beta said, "careful, it might still be running."
CK said, "no chance. once the shielding is put up around the cc all non essential activities that consume power are stopped to give the force field as much power as possible." with that, CK threw the door open. Inside were several large metal canisters, and looking closer at them, he noticed that written on one was "Danger: liquid Oxygen", and on another one was written, "Combustible: Solid hydrogen". CK thought it was reasonable enough, the hydrogen was used to power the powerplant on the vehicles, which would make sense for the garage (vehicles needed more hydrogen sometimes.) But he couldn't understand why there was oxygen... The vehicles didn't require oxygen to run.

He pointed this out to the others.

xfir, being curious, looked underneath the tank, and found a small metal door... he opened it. there was a pipe labeled "X30 Precision oxygen regulator".
He touched the fitting where the pipe came into contact with the tank. It was loose and moved as he touched it. He said, "I think someone put this in here recently.. the fitting is loose on the regulator".
beta said, "hmm, bomb making perhaps?" They suddenly realized someone had gotten in and was using the oxygen to feed the explosions.... and fires needed oxygen....

CK said, "ok, get into the next room... we have to get into the tube system before the fire spreads and destroys other things"

They ran thru the next door labeled "maintenence system". It was a long metal tube, going both ways. the way to the right had a small pipe at the end. xfir had worked on the tube system before in the colony, and there would always be extra length on the tubes in case they got flooded with gas... the pipe would discharge the gas into the atmosphere.

So they ran down to the left.. There were many red doors labeled with numbers, but they couldn't open them, because they required a maintenence token, which none of them had.

Suddenly, beta's pocket savant rang. it said, "colony evacuation modules are being activated. all non essential structures will be isolated to prevent contamination in 10 minutes"

They looked at each other, and realized that they had made a horrible mistake. they would be trapped inside the tunnel in 10 minutes.

Then xfir said, "we have to get into the electrical and piping systems."
CK and beta both said, "why's that?"
xfir said, "that shaft is not isolated as well as the civilian tubes. It has seals on it, but you can punch through them from the inside to gain access into the tube infrastructure."

beta said, "How do we get there?"
x said, "get to the power transformer in this building, if they installed that yet. if it hasn't been installed, we have no way to get out. We'll have to find a door that gets into the transformer area of the building."

They said, "ok" and kept moving down the tube, looking for a door that would take them to the transformer.

[CK9]

{oh boy, posting in two stories at once.  Hacker, don't forget yourself, philip, and the members who need to get the thro's hammer rifles.}

This was not normal for CK, electrical systems were not what he worked in.  "x, I'm going to go to the scout real quick, there are three of the rifles in there."  What he didn't tell x was that he also had a bow in there.  Suddenly, he heard voices.

"Quickly, we have to get in this vehicle.  I have detected some powerful weaponry in it!"

CK slowly took out the welding lazer he kept with him.  He never understood why he kept it with him until now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the CC, Hacker and Philip were frantically assembling the security teams.  Both of them had two of the rifles in their hands.  they needed more people there to help lead the troops.

[BlackBox]

Phil and Hacker were quickly calling the people from the colony that were most fit for militia action. Outside you could hear the rumbling of the Evac transports rolling up to the CC.

Suddenly, the savant in the CC bleeped, and a message said, "5 minutes remaining to colony isolation."

Hacker was not paying attention when the first message had triggered, and thought, "oh no, if the isolation system triggers it will totally screw up our plans." Philip said, "We have enough people now... get the thor's hammers by that TC!"

Hacker reached over to the savant console and tapped several icons. He said, "The thor's hammers are en route from the RCC and will be there in 2 minutes."

Phil said, "ok.. I'll get these people out into the tube system..." Hacker said, "but the isolation system. if they're in there, the system will trigger and they'll be stuck."

Phil said, "Is there any way to disable the activation system?" Hacker replied, "No. the boptronics are hard wired to seal off the tubes in case of a problem."
 

[CK9]

"Is there at least a way to delay the isolation sequence?"  "Yes, but only by another ten minutes.  You'd have to make it all the way to the RCC."

Philip was out the door before Hacker could say any more.

[BlackBox]

Meanwhile, CK and the others were still deep in the maintenence tunnel, listening to the voices.

"What kind of weaponry is it?"

"It appears to be a Thor's Hammer, modified... The power transformer has had coils added to it... it appears this person was trying to increase the strength of the thor's hammer."

"Will our gasses be safe?"

CK immediately thought, oh no, they're talking about the oxygen and hydrogen in that room

"Yeah, as long as we get this vehicle out of here before the isolation triggers!"

Then, suddenly there was a whoosh, and a heavy rumbling that shook the whole facility.

The 1st voice said, "Oh crap! The detonator is going off! We're going to die!"

CK couldn't take it anymore.. He had to find a way back to the scout without being found by the men with the voices.

He whispered ever so silently to xfir and Beta, "Move back... I'm going to rip through this tunnel with the laser and see if we can get out thru a hole or something."

With that, he aimed the welder at the smooth metal wall, and pulled the trigger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hacker was frantic. He thought, If Phil doesn't get there in time, the isolation system will trap him in the tube complex!

Suddenly, a bell rang, and a mechanical voice said, "4 minutes remaining to isolation."

Hacker immediately grabbed the red telephone, connecting him to all the PA systems in the colony, and spoke, "This is an emergency. I repeat, this is an emergency. All civilians and non essential personnel please proceed to the nearest air lock to enter an evacuation transport. Please proceed immediately. Code 20-A3." He slammed the phone down.

Then he punched several icons on the computer, connecting him to Philip's savant, and typed: "Philip, I've called a 20-A3. Get to the RCC as fast as possible.. I'll open the bay so you can get inside. Once inside, get to the console and command the thor's hammers to attack the boptronics module in the center of the colony. This will bring the systems down, and it will take them extra time to repair themselves and continue the isolation procedure." He tapped the Send icon.

A few seconds later he got a message back. "Recipient not trackable. Message not delivered."
A bell rang again and the voice said, "3 minutes remaining until isolation."


Hacker screamed at the computer in rage.

[plymoth45]

In the mean time, the militia force led my philip was making good time to the RCC. Philip thought to himself "i hope hacker was able to override the isolation system, or else this whole thing will have been for nothing."Then his pocket savant said increadibly calmly "Message attempt has been initaited. Attempt has failed." "If that was from hacker, we can expect the worse for not recieving it." Then plymoth45 asks "sir, could i see that?" "well, since it isn't any use to me at the moment, here." Plymoth goes to work almost imediatly recalibrating the recieving mecanism, and then suddenly, the savant says, message recieved. "Let me see that plym." "yes sir, here."

Philip, I've called a 20-A3. Get to the RCC as fast as possible.. I'll open the bay so you can get inside. Once inside, get to the console and command the thor's hammers to attack the boptronics module in the center of the colony. This will bring the systems down, and it will take them extra time to repair themselves and continue the isolation procedure.

When the militia team got to the RCC, philip did exactly wht hacker had told him to do.

[BlackBox]

In the tunnel, CK, Beta, and xfir were making good time.. CK had finished ripping a "hole" with the laser into the heavy gauge metal, revealing the sub structure underneath the building.

They looked down into the hole, revealing the dimly-lit subfloor several meters below. Beta whispered, "We have to climb down THERE?"

Xfir and CK said, "yes." They had not heard the men for a while. CK figured it was safe to climb into the hole. They jumped down into the hole, making a dull thud on the shiny untouched metal below.
Once they were down safely, xfir and beta stuffed the metal piece that was cut from the wall back into the hole to cover their tracks. CK spot welded it back on.

Xfir then said, "ok.. We have to be very quiet, and move very slowly because the computers will detect if something has invaded the sub structure. This was because the designers of the system were afraid that bioagents or chemicals could be released into the subfloor, poisoning the whole sector. If the computers do detect us, it will start a procedure that will slowly desiccate, and eventually incinerate the subfloor. It will also pump all the air out to prevent further contamination."

Beta said, "will we be ok?" CK said, "if you don't make comments like those and just be careful you'll be perfectly fine."

Suddenly, the lights went out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the CC, the bell rang again, and the voice uttered, "2 minutes remaining until isolation."

Suddenly, a message popped up on hacker's computer that read: "Message DW9503: routed successfully. Recipient has acknowledged receipt of message."

Hacker finally relaxed. He was certain Philip had gotten the message.

Then immediately after the popup was closed, the computer screens went black and read, "Computer core compromised. NO FUNCTION."
Then the bell made a low growling, and the mechanical voice said, dying, "Isolation sequence---p-a-u-s---e----"
It never finished saying the words.

Hacker rejoiced, knowing Phil had shut the central module down.

 

[CK9]

CK started thinking about who it could be doing this.  "Hey, x, shouldn't we get to the CC?  sure if these guys get a hold of the rifles it could be deadly to the colony, but we can't fight the unknown."  "What are you suggesting?"  "I'm saying that you need to get to the CC.  Beta and I can catch up after we get the rifles."  "Wait, why should I risk my neck for a few rifles when the entire defense squad is going to be looking for us?"  "Because you'll have two for a while."  Beta's eyes widened.  No mod had been trusted with two of the rifles before.  Xfir pulled CK aside.  "Are you insane!"  "Listen, your safty is more imperative than ours right now.  That's the safest plan for you I came up with."  CK dropped the lazer welder into x's hand, grabbed beta by the arm, and ran for the exit, leaving xfir stunned.

[plymoth45]

In the meantime, Philip and his militia team were moving through the tube system at an increadible speed looking for any sign of xfir, CK9, or beta, even though they had to use flashlights to get around without being to slow, they were still covering plenty of ground. When they got to the garage, they saw the scout and headed towards it. Then they heard voices.
"Arm urselves, this could get narly." "Yes sir, armed and ready."

"You fools, watch the gas, you might kill us all if you drop that. WATCH IT ALREADY!!!!"

"Alright team, it looks like we are going hand to hand combat. We can't risk hitting any of those gas canisters, if we do, we may have killed the whole colony. The advantage we have is the element of suprise, if we can move quick enough, we will be able to take them out before they have a chance to react. Good luck. Ok, we are going to split into groups, half of you with Plymoth, the rest of yo are with me. Plymoth, take your team to the other side of the garage, then we can sandwinch them." "Yes sir."

The two teams split, and when Plymoth's team got to the spot that CK9 had spot welded the plate back on, One of the team members noticed that it had been cut. "Sir, we may have already failed the colony, this plat has been removed and spot welded back." "Shoot, that is a bad sign." "Plymoth to Philip, there is a plate over here that has been spot welded with what looks like a laser welder, please advise."

On the other side of the garage, Philip got Plymoth's message and messaged back, "Ignore it for now, we can deal with it after we take out the enemy."

[BlackBox]

Meanwhile in the CC life moved at a sluggish pace, since the computer core had not self repaired yet.

Then garrett walked into the CC. He went to Hacker and said, "why are all the lights off in the colony?"

Hacker sighed and said, "This is going according to plan.. I can't tell you about all of it, but it has to do with the isolation procedures."

garrett said, "alright." He gave Hacker a small plastic card and walked out without a sound.

Hacker looked at the card. It was labeled "Data Card." He decided he wanted to see what it was. He inserted it into the card reader on the computer and the screen flashed and lit up. The computer was rebooting. Hacker wondered, Why on earth would he give me a bootable data card? Those are only needed in emergencies.

The computer screen flashed again and the screen read, "Bootmaster 20X.... Working..."

Then suddenly a voice message said, "Boptronics module infected."

Hacker immediately called garrett via radio... garrett knew more about the current boptronics units, because he was the primary researcher for the new system that they would use, codenamed "Outpost 3".

garrett answered, "Yes?"
Hacker said, "This is Hacker. About that data card you gave me...."
garrett interrupted, "I found it on the floor."
Hacker said, "WHAT?! I loaded that card. It has a bootup module on it. Now the boptronics module is infected."
garrett said, "Good going. That data card probably had code for proteins. Now the computers just made their own virus."
Hacker said, "Huh? How is that possible? Code is isolated from proteins."
garrett said, "It is possible to get into the low level machinery that translates proteins, at boot up time. That would explain the boot module on the card. It probably contained code for a virus, and now the machines have executed this code, and made viral enzymes."
Hacker swore under his breath. He finally told garrett, "But it shouldn't work! I had the computers damaged earlier to prevent the isolation sequence from happening."
garrett said, "Well, it wasn't totally disabled... But the biological components' immune responses are lowered from it. Now that virus will probably manifest, where under normal circumstances the computers would destroy any infection and be able to fully heal within a few microseconds. But now, it will overtake the computers. Within a few hours it will probably damage the life support mechanisms, and this will affect everyone that is currently in the colony."
Hacker said, "Get the people out of here. Call an evacuation. EVERYONE HAS TO LEAVE." {on the line: mechanical bleep}
garrett: "The vehicles can't be teleoperated anymore. The virus has damaged the RCC support computers. The only way to move the evac transports is to get someone physically to them and drive them."

Hacker screamed louder than he ever had in his life, "F***!!"

[CK9]

CK and Beta were in the scout.  "Where is it CK?"  "Hold on!"  CK removed a fllor pannel and revealed three thro's hammer rifles.  Only one of them had a shoulder strap still, the only one CK was able to hide from philip during his modifacations.  He handed Beta the two others, shouldered his, and removed a second floor pannel, which hid his own secret.  it was loaded with a whole bunch of weaponry from Earth.  "CK, was it safe for you to hide those here?"  Picking up an M-79 and examining the barrel, CK finaly replyed "No, but as long as there is a need..."  He then grabbed his bow and arrows with special explosive tips kept in a case.  "If we have to fight, we must sink to their level."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
xfir was almost to the junction between the CC and the factories.  He hadn't been down this way in a long while, and certainly didn't remember which was to go.  All the on site maps were down, all of which being computerised.  There were sounds down to the left of the security vehicles.  No telling how they were effected, so it was saffest to go off to the right.  Unfortunatly, the left was one of only two ways to get to the CC.  The right led to all the factories, ending at the DIRT that was assigned to them.

[BlackBox]

Xfir sighed as he looked up at the red stenciled letters "DIRT" on the bulk head.

He knew he was running out of time.

Suddenly, a klaxon began screaming a high pitched note.

Then the voice of Hacker spoke over the siren, saying, "The computer core is infested. EVERYONE that is still in the colony must proceed to the nearest exit. I repeat, EVERYONE must proceed to the nearest exit. If you fail to do so, you may die. The life support systems will fail very soon."

Xfir immediately turned around and ran down the tunnel in the opposite direction, trying to get to the vehicle factory. He figured he could process an order to create a scout or other light vehicle, so he could get out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, it was frantic at the CC. Everyone was rushing trying to shut the machines down.

Hacker sat down next to the computer console again, one last time before the computer would be shut down, and accessed a command prompt.

He entered "BOP MAKE PROTEIN MET,SER,ASP,(STOP)". This was the command to create a protein, the building blocks of biological life, and the boptronic computers, too.

The protein contained the amino acids methionine, serine, and asparagine.

Hacker had done research on boptronics and knew that the computer's structural proteins contained amounts of serine and asparagine.

{note: this is accurate to real life in how proteins work... all proteins start with methionine. As far as the structural stuff, I'm not sure totally.}

The computer returned the message "BOP ACK PROTEIN MET,SER,ASP,(STOP)" meaning it understood the command and would try to manufacture the protein.

Then he typed "BOP REP LAST FOREVER". This told the computer to repeat the last instruction forever. Hopefully, it would work and the computer could regain strength.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the scout, CK and beta sat. Then beta had an idea. "Forget the rifles, we got ourselves a big weapon here! We could just ram the place with the scout!"

CK said, "well, it's worth a try"
He pressed the start button. There was a buzzing sound as the coils that initiate the fusion reaction filled with energy. Then a click, then nothing.

CK said, "It won't start."

Beta said, "try again." So CK pressed the button again. Nothing, not even a click.

CK said, "They already got to the scout. Probably couldn't get in, but they damaged the engine. The reactor won't get hot enough to start now."

So they grabbed the rifles, and jumped down from the vehicle. They were immediately confronted with small drones carrying Thor's hammers devices.

[CK9]

{okay, here's what's going on:

It was a quiet day, everyone was relaxed and only three of the staff were in the CC.  Something came up on Beta's console, but he was in his residance room.  CK went out to get xfir and Betaray, and on the way back to the CC, the Trade Center was blown up.  They are trying to get to the CC to figgure out who it is that is doing this (which I will reveal in this post), but then the isolation sequence started. (BTW, x if you can get the spell checker back up it would be very helpful)  CK, x, and Beta have found where the attacks are being organised from.  CK convinced xfir to try to make it back to the CC before the isolation sequence completes.  CK and Beta went to get the rifles and other supplies from the scout.  Philip and plymouth, along with their squadron, have gotten to the unfinished garage.  A virus has entered the Boptronics and a complete evacuation has been ordered.  x is going to the vehicle factory to see if he can get some fast vehicle made quickly (that fells a bit redundant :mellow: ).  CK and Betaray are now cornered by a whole mess of drones carrying thro's hammer devices of their own.}

As x was working on the almost malfunctioning computer, a side window poped up.  "x, This is Hacker speaking.  I recorded this message ahead of time to tell you what's going on.  It has been activated by your access code.  We have found that our worst enimies have joined forces, the Xkr-Killer combo, and Sierra HQ.  They have already started attacks and..." The message was vut short by static.  x knew he had to act fast to save the colony.

[xfir]

{ Do I have to refer to myself in third person? }

As xfir ran down the corridoor to the velichle factory, the doors behind him began to close. The corridoor was sealing, and would soon be completely isolated. xfir knew he had to get out of there fast.

A quick right turn took him to the entrance to the velichle factory's underground harbor. He keyed an access code, saw the message from Hacker, and rushed into the factory.

No lights meant that he tripped over near anything that had been knocked over by the explosion of the trade center. A small light in the corner of the room attractted xfir's attention.

He approached and saw none other than an active bomb. He panicked and nearly knocked a machine tool over. He regained his calm and set to work disarming the bomb.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hacker watched as everyone scrambled about trying to figure out what to do. He took order and began directing certain people to get evacuation transports and bring them back to the CC and residence.

[BlackBox]

CK told Beta, "stay quiet. I don't think they see us yet."

Suddenly a buzz came from the nearest drone.

CK screamed, "GET DOWN! GET DOWN!"
Luckily the bolt missed them and hit the roof.

CK and Beta cocked the rifles and started firing at the drones. The drones appeared to be modified spiders, because they were legged, moved very fast, and died with one hit.

Then Beta acknowledged this, "They look like spiders..... Oh crap, if they are spiders, if someone has an EMP weapon they could reprogram us!"

CK said, "EMP only disrupts electrical circuitry, not biological circuitry." Beta breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, they looked up and saw more shots from the left. It was plymouth, phil, and the militia! They watched as the militia battled their now seen enemies. They were XKR and Killer.

Beta gasped. "Oh no, not them again..... They deleted my post back on Earth, now they'll delete me..."
CK said, "SHH! do you want to be seen by them???"

Suddenly the shooting stopped. Xkr and Kiler were nowhere to be found. Only Phil, Plymouth and the militia group remained.

CK and Beta waved, trying to attract Phil's attention. Phil saw them and ran over. He said first to plymouth, "Get going to the transports, and get these people safe."

He then turned back to the scout. He said, "Are you two alright???" They answered, "Yes. Well, are we?" Phil said, "If those, those, two men don't come back." Then he said, "Hey, do you know anything about a plate taken off of the maintenence shaft by the machine room?" CK said, "Yes. We had to get in the substructure to get out." Phil said, "Ok. Well, start this scout up and let's get out of here." CK said, "Fusion reactor's gone on it."

Phil said, "It was them. It has to be. They've done more than meets the eye."

Suddenly they heard a bell from far away, and a voice said very faintly, "Boptronics compromised. Infection level too great. Shutting down primary systems."

All three said, "what was that?"

~~~~~~~~~

In the CC, Hacker had gotten everyone out to the transports. He stayed behind to take care of what was left.

He had heard the message, and realized he would have to leave soon before the atmosphere degraded to New Terra's composition, making it unfit for humans.

He went to the computer console again, having an idea.

Maybe he could pump oxygen back into the colony. He went to the command prompt again, and typed this:

dbv earthtech.db

DataView 34.2
Loading earthtech.db... please wait.

Enter query:
* pump

Looking up "pump"... please wait.
Results for "pump":

1 Pumps, Water
2 Water Systems
3 Water Wells
4 Spacecraft Technology - Airlocks

Enter number of result to jump to:
* 4

Spacecraft Technology: Airlocks

{text scrolls past on airlock technology}

Command * find "air pump"

Text "air pump" not found, but cross reference found:

1 Vacuum Cleaner, Schematic

* PRINT 1


He took the printout and stuffed it in his pocket. Then he looked around the chaotic CC for the last time, and left for the transports.

[CK9]

"We have to get to x!  If that's what I think it was, he's in a lot of trouble."  The four ran to the garage as the troops went out to secure an imaginary perimeter.  There was no sound coming from the tube system.  None of the four were used to this and it gave them a chill down their spines.  They walked down the tunnel a ways, then a blast came from behind, the shockwave from which knocked them all off their feet.  They were instantly trapped in the tubes as the door shut behind them.{You know, these are normally supposed to be funny, but with how this is turning out, I'm going to have to change the name}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Okay, just a few more connections and...done.  Now to get to the computer relay and get a scout made, and fast."  x was now covered in a strangle liquid that he wasn't quite sure that he wanted to know the name of.  Suddenly, there was a rumbling and a hloe was ripped into the factory.  The door sut tight locking him in.  He had to work fast on the bypass codes.

[BlackBox]

op2hacker climbed into the almost full transport. There was 1 seat open in the back, and he climbed into it.
After the transport started moving, everyone settled into a routine of reading, sleeping, or doing something else. Hacker pulled out his printout. He looked it over. He had printed it in haste, he didn't even know what a "Vacuum Cleaner" was. He gritted his teeth as he looked over the schematics... Large, bulky outdated parts. And absolutely no biological components. He wondered how they made it way back when on Earth.

He read from the top.

It read:
Vacuum Cleaner. This model contains HEPA filtration to remove particles up to 10 microns in diameter.

He frowned. 10 microns? Now, it was illegal to produce filters that allowed particles bigger than .07 microns to pass.

He looked through the rest. He couldn't understand how it worked.

"Hot? Neutral? Ground? what type of electrical system is this? The current electrical system is, Even, Odd, Data, Power."

He put the plans in his pocket in disgust. But he knew, they held the secret.

~~~~~~~

CK and the others thought, "What do we do???" They were trapped.. The only way out, was again, CK's welder. CK pulled it out and prepared to burn thru the wall. Phil said, "STOP!" CK said, "What?" Phil said, "These walls release radiation when tampered with. You'll kill us with that." CK frowned. They were stuck. Then suddenly the loudspeaker said in a very raspy metallic voice, "This system is now under computer control. It will be self destructed in 30 minutes. If you are human, you MUST contact EJR3/B to be released from the system."

Phil pulled out his computer, and ented EJR3/B as the recipient of his message. He tapped Send.

A few seconds later, the speaker said, "All quadrants being opened. Please stand by."

The floor heaved and shook. The doors opened about 6 inches, then there was a loud scream of tearing metal. The doors stopped moving.

CK said, "See if you can crawl under the door, Beta."

~~~~~~~~

Xfir had it. He tapped the Build icon and watched the machinery operate below.

Suddenly, he heard the scream, too. The machinery stopped moving.

He tapped the icon again. Nothing happened. Then the computer console went black. It was pitch black.

 

[CK9]

"It's no use CK, I can't fit!"
"I hate to do this, but..."
CK pulled out one of the explosive arrows and aimed it at the door in the direction of the CC.
"Everyone, cover your ears!"
The arrow launched with amazing speed and the emergency doors blew apart.
"Philip, I'm going to get to the CC to see if I can redirect power.  Try to get that door open while I'm gone."  He paused.  "Beta, see if you can find x."

[BlackBox]

Beta said to Phil, "Well, before we can get anywhere we have to get these doors open."

Phil said, "Hmm, well, dig through that scrap pile - that was once the door, and see if you can find something sharp enough to gouge metal." {CK had departed with the welder and arrows}

Beta dug thru the pile. Suddenly, he stopped. He said, "Phil, come look at this!"

Phil walked over. Beta was holding a green credit card-looking object. It was labeled with the words, "Access override system. To use: Swipe card and dial 400FG on minicomputer."

Phil looked at his computer.. He happened to have one of the old type that had an "expansion" board slot. He wondered if that would accept the card.

He said, "Beta, give me that card. I want to see what it does."

Beta handed him the card. Phil inserted it into the expansion slot and looked at the display. It flickered, going into a text-mode display mode.

The screen read, "Reading expansion board. Please wait."
The message disappeared then it read: "Memory mapped, now reloading the firmware."

The screen flashed several times then the computer restarted to it's normal startup screen. Phil said, "I hope this works." He tapped the "call" icon and entered the number: 400FG.

Tapping the send icon, he waited as the messaging system processed the command.

Suddenly there was a loud vibrating tremor.

[CK9]

a voice came over the sound system: 'Self Destruct sequence initiated, t-10 minutes'

"I'll never make it there like this!"
CK transforms into his other form, something he promised x he would never do in the colony.
"I'm sure this is an exception to his rule about this!

[plymoth45]

There was still one transport, piloted by Plymoth waiting for the senior command group to get out of the colony, but Plym didn't think they were going to make it. He hoped that Phil still had his mini computer, cause that was the only way to comunicate with anybody in the dying colony. Plym typed up a message and sent the message to phils minicomputer, but with the colony the way it was, there was no way to get conformation that the message was recieved.

In the tube system, CK in his other form was almost to the CC when the tube in fron of him collapsed. "Oh great, I guess there is only one way to get through this mess."

[CK9]

as plym started up the vehicle, he saw a bright flash and the main systems went out.  "Dang!"

Back in the building where xfir was frantically working:

"Darn you CK!  I told you not to do that."

xfir pulled out his comunicator and typed in the communications override code.

"When I get him to answer..CK, wtf are you thinking?"
'sorry, but I was trying to keep the pressure stable in here.  I had no choice.'

[plymoth45]

Back in the Evac, "oh great, he blows through the tube, and fries my transport, i'm gonna get you for that ck," Plym mutters under his breath while unstrapping himself from the transport. Once he had gotten out, he started to head to the vec fact to try to build a new one when Xfir's scout comes barreling out at top speed, almost hitting Plym.
Then xfir taps the stop command and the scout screeches to a halt. "Need a ride Plym?" "might be nice, since CK fried my transport, bout to me with it."

[CK9]

CK took out his laser cutter and put up a weak em feild

"I hope I can make this work, I'd hate to run out of air..." turns on communicator "x, get out of here, I'm going to try to get some extra resources together as well as some structure kits and the defense team." turns off the dcomunicator before x can respond and cuts through the tube.

"now to get to the CC and get all the factories working.  where's beta when he'd be useful?"