Snippet #2710472

Oswald whizzed the drone ahead down the circular stairs plodding down the stairs without hesitation with something to tell him what's coming. That Oswald didn't wobble while doing both always amazed Rembert. Sure wasn't that coordinated the rest of the time. A good nav man was hard to find and Oswald could trace through a schematic with the best of them. Rembert was the one who actually knew how to fix damn near everything.

Rembert smiled, He was the muscle and Oswald was the scaredy little brains. The usual divide of the paired civil engineer teams. As they both arrived at the circular room Oswald manually scanned the room with his suit hardware and Rembert looked at the intakes to the pumps that clearly vacated the room. The lower sections were very well-kept for a place that was clearly so old. He guessed by the scum that inevitably grew in submerged places that it'd been a lifetime since anyone walked these halls.

Oswald broke the calm, "Hey, this door's the only way out. The lower sections just scan as intakes. I don't see any obvious access panels this place is built like a fortress! You know, it kinda seems familiar. Too many people trying to take over the city to pick it out."

Rembert stood up and put a hand on the door, "Have to keep going then. We'll probably connect with the elevator through there. By the looks of it I think we're alone in here, Oz. Unless somebody's ignored this place for a damn long time."

The two took opposing sides of the door setting their boots on firm footholds. With some elbow grease, a good footing on the grate, and their prybars the door was convinced to open despite the concreting of decades of bacterial muck. As their boots took on water the assisted rebreathers flickered on for a moment before with a wave of one hand they shut them both off. Filters were always active to lock down on methane or hydrogen sulfide and such things. The rebreathers were exhausting though at least this gen didn't run out very quickly.

"How's the air in here, Oz? Rembert asked, "Are we getting circulated air or burning it out?"

Oswald poked at an augmented reality UI projected on his arm where the suit hardware controls were. It took a moment but he started a sampler in his pack. There was so much water vapor in the air it had to take a long-form test. Rembert would have to wait.

"Few minutes to run. I think we're at least sucking in air from somewhere though. Air pressure didn't go down.", said Oswald.

Rembert started carefully prying at a cargo box to see what was inside. Better idea of what kind of stuff they might expect here would be nice. At least folks didn't generally keep dangerous things next to the lockers.

He looked around at the detritus as he carefully worked a cargo edge, "Hey Oz, see if you can find access cards or something in the lockers."

The nav pad went about moving the small drone as nav software took pictures of objects. Oswald picked up a few dog-tags and looked them over. Filing through the lockers he saw all the military gear and flags at the end of the hall. Kind of tattered but the layout of this place sparked his memory, "Hey, Rembert, isn't that the flag of one of those gigantic empires that went missing? These guys sure aren't bandits! I hope this place doesn't have a security AI. Or at least that it don't care to shoot at city IFF."