Welcome to "The Diary of a Miner"; a blog detailing the adventures and mysteries that I, Syeonyx, embark upon in my quest to further my mining and survival skills! It'll be tough, there will be good times and bad times, but I'll always be alive to post my adventures... probably...

Day 85: Creeper watching

     Waiting has never been one of my strong points... We would have to wait for at least three days before UOPETA returned to see the current situation regarding my house. I'm not entirely sure what the expedition has to do with the actual plan to stop HoN Co. and the portals... Except that Creepers usually live in the Nether and pass into Minecraftia through the portals. I hadn't actually seen a Creeper in a long time, but that didn't mean they weren't still a threat, especially if they were indeed under the control of HoN Co. ... Or the figure... Maybe if we can get the book, OROTHO can find the link between the Creepers, lapis lazuli and the Solus stone, and we may have a weapon to combat them, or at least make them docile... THEXIS was present at the radio at all times, waiting for any response from UOPETA, but we had heard nothing since late yesterday afternoon. This didn't mean anything, and I had been reassured by COLUS that UOPETA was the best man for the job! He had the ability to sneak around anywhere undetected and gain access to vital information without anyone knowing he was even there! Well, we'll see when he comes back... If he comes back...

     As I made my way to the library again - I was looking for information about the portals - THEXIS stopped me, the radio in his hand:

"UOPETA has made it to your wall! He's on the outside of it now, the North Western corner. I just thought you would like to be kept informed. He says that he'll be spending maybe a day scouting out the area, watching the guards and looking for areas to exploit. Oh, and he complements you on your wall-building skills!"

I thanked THEXIS before he went off to inform COLUS and the others. Apparently I could build a good wall! Nice to know... Not that it helped in any way... I entered the library and found AMPHIS. I inquired about information regarding portals, but once again he pointed me in the direction of the bottom floor:

"The portals are not public knowledge; HoN Co. never released any information about them. As far as the public knows, the portals don't exist. The only data we collected was written in reports by OROTHO... Again. He's quite thorough though! I think he co-wrote some of that with THEROS... Seems THEROS knows his way around networks and the like! First wall on your left as you exit the stairs..."

     Making my way down the stairs, I easily found the right shelves, and began searching through the folders, files and documents for anything that might add some meat to the bare bones of what I already knew! Once again OROTHO had named everything in the most complex way possible, but I eventually found one that had been written with THEROS helping with the content. Flicking through it, I noticed that as each part was written by OROTHO, a more simplified version followed, presumably written by THEROS. This was a great help to me, and allowed me to understand it better. As I read it, a lot of it became familiar; in fact almost word for word! This was taken more less exactly from the note THEROS had given me about the portals a long time ago! Specific elements to it had allowed me to reach this conclusion, especially the bits about how the portal operates in terms of the "rift" and the "obsidian frame"... I finished the report, and realised I had learnt nothing new. Putting it back, I pulled out another binder that had the title "Portal Network Thesis" stamped across it, and sat back down to read. This one had not been co-written by THEROS, so I found it a little difficult to understand. With it being a thesis as well, OROTHO was making wild guesses and obscure stabs in the dark. However he backed each one up with a page or two of potential evidence. The last few pages summed up the entirety of the report. From what I could understand, OROTHO believed that the master portal did indeed allow something bad to enter into Minecraftia from the Nether. He believed it was a way of transforming any world that accessed the Nether through the master portal into a similar environment, composed of the same hellish materials and monsters! "All that we know and understand in our world will be obliterated to make way for that which pours through the master portals!"... However, there were extremely rigid requirements for the master portal to be activated! This was where the network came in. He theorised that every portal buried beneath Minecraftia is linked to each other and to the master portal. Even if the portal is inactive, the link remains constant. Only when the portal has been removed entirely does it remove the link. The master portal requires a specific number of normal portals to be active before it can be activated itself, and even then it requires the energy from a bolt of lightning! OROTHO put a small side-note in saying "COLUS believes this may be why each miner is assigned a specific quadrant: to maximise the chances of finding a portal, and thus increase the chance of activating it. I am dubious as to this... It may be mere coincidence". Thinking back, I do remember questioning the purpose of spreading miners out. It would be far more profitable if miners were to stick together in at least pairs for morale purposes, and to increase the chances of finding more precious minerals! Spreading the miners out was like taking the "needle in a haystack" and scattering the haystack over a field!

"How goes the research?"

AMPHIS startled me! I had been so wrapped up in my thoughts... I told him what I learnt and he shared his views with me. It turns out everyone agrees with COLUS's thoughts about the quadrants. I nodded, explaining my reasoning and he nodded in agreement.

"I suppose, with OROTHO being a scientist, he doesn't want to commit himself too much to a single idea, especially when he's not working with solid facts. It becomes harder to change your viewpoint if you are already dead set on one initial theory..."

I had to agree with AMPHIS on that... I couldn't relate to the statement, but I understood the logic. He left me to go back to the second floor, and I continued through the folders and files. There was lots of information down here... I wonder if any of them had read it all...? Aside from OROTHO that is...

     I eventually decided to leave the library and go and see what OROTHO was doing. I entered the lab, and as usual he didn't seem to notice me. I walked over to the glass with the Creepers behind and sat there starring at them... I did this for quite a while, all the while growing more and more sorry for them... What had happened to them was no fault of their own. They were innocent victims of this entire thing... But then again it's hard to think of them as victims when a volatile exploding creature comes looming towards you! Eventually OROTHO noticed me...

"Oh! Erm... Can I help you with anything?"

I told him I was just observing the Creepers... Something I had a feeling OROTHO didn't do. He was far too busy experimenting with them to just sit down and observe them from an unbiased perspective.

"Well... Don't bother me... I'm doing important work here!"

After a while of sitting and watching them, I got up and left the lab... I noticed that OROTHO was watching me leave... After I did leave, he closed the barricade behind me! I thought this was a little odd, but maybe I was bothering him by just being there... I made my way to my room... "My room"... It seemed strange to think of it like that... I had been here less than a week and I had been welcomed into the Lone 7 as a fellow brother as though I had been here years! I still felt a little uncomfortable about the armour as well. It just seemed wrong to take Jonas' room and armour... As I entered, I saw Chiron sitting up on the floor, next to Hermes. As I stood there, I still couldn't believe how alike they were! If it wasn't for Chiron's predictable bark when I entered the room, I wouldn't be able to tell them apart!

     Another day gone, and I'm still no better at waiting! Everyone else seems so busy, and I've got nothing to do! I might try and involve myself in something tomorrow whilst we all wait for UOPETA to return. There has been no more news since THEXIS told me about him arriving there. Presumably he's maintaining radio silence for safety. I'm just wondering if there is anything else I could have told him that would have made his job easier. I don't think he's going to gain entry to the house, but he may try to do so. In which case he'll need to be careful. When I was last there, I heard the guards say they were posting the majority of their men in and around the house... He'll have to be very careful, especially as I left the breach in the wooden barricade to the mineshaft exposed.... I wouldn't be surprised if they had removed that entirely now... I just hope he comes back with something we can use if there is need for a further expedition... Images are fine, but they're not going to get us past the guards!

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