The room Aiden so unceremoniously dropped her in, wasn’t much different than the rest of the mine — aside from the shadow of what appeared like an old computer system in the corner of the room, and a notable lack of that rotten meat stench permeating the air.
“Well, I certainly wasn’t napping —” Briana quipped, shooting him a pointed look before noting the concerned expression on his face. Any sign of vexation that’d been present in her features, faded to something softer and more sympathetic.
“I had a vision, and saw what happened to the mine workers here.” Briana explained briefly as she pulled herself to her feet, padding over to gently kiss his stubbled cheek.
"I'm sorry if I worried you," a lopsided smile was tried on to try and reassure him, before vainly attempting to dust the grime from her clothes while avoiding rubbing at the sore spot where her tailbone made contact with the duracrete.
There was work to be done, aches and pains could be addressed later.
Taking the glowrod at her belt, Briana clicked it on, lighting up their immediate vicinity in golden hues. It looked like some kind of control room.
“They were used as experiments by the Maw in the early stages of the last war, a few tried to escape and managed to create that SOS, but their systems were already jammed up by then. I’m guessing that whatever the Maw was using to keep it suppressed must have been disabled somehow.”
Making her way to the terminal on the wall, Briana reached into her pocket and pulled out a small cylinder, plugging it in.
“As for our current situation…” Her voice trailed off, body rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.
In the span of a few moments, the room went from complete darkness, to the dim glow of many lights - most of them panel indicators.
“Must be a backup generator keeping this place operational,” Briana murmured to herself, as if confirming what she'd been suspecting before moving from the terminal to the computer system, fingers deftly clicking and clacking across the keys.
“I think I can manipulate some of these systems to reroute the miners and clear a path out for us, might be our only shot to make it out of here.”
It was a sobering thought, one Briana didn’t let herself linger on as her attention was pulled into focus on the task in front of her for what seemed like several minutes, until finally, her tensed shoulders loosened. Not enough to fully abandon any physical preparedness, just in case something else surprised them, but enough that it was an obvious indication she’d gotten where she wanted to go.
“That should do it,” she told him, looking up and nodding
. “But before we go…” she dug into her pocket, producing the datachit she was supposed to use for recovering information on the mine — instead choosing to download the full database on the mineworkers and their fates.
“We can’t save anyone here, but we can at least give their loved ones closure.”
Rayia Si
Nir Si
