Operation: "Shakedown"

     I must say, OROTHO has been very thorough with this paper! No expense in detail has been spared. He mentions numerous theories regarding the bizarre behaviour change in the Creepers, documenting the science behind them very accurately. Although I must say he seems to be pointing his finger in the direction of genetic enhancement quite a bit! Is it possible? Were the Creepers really altered on a genetic level to explode? I mean, what's the point? It's the total antithesis for the purpose of life! I ha to skip quite a few pages; a lot of the file was just page after page of numbers, calculations and equations... Some of them however seemed to be summaries of the equations, possibly for the benefit of the other Brothers. Seeing the usual writing style of OROTHO, I could tell he had "dumbed down " the language to allow the others to understand. I'm glad he did otherwise I wouldn't have a clue what any of this meant!
"The Creepers may have changed in accordance with a modification to their DNA, but the cause of which is currently unknown. A possible attempt at capturing and studying a Creeper in detail may be required."
Later on, OROTHO makes mention of the use of a chemical that acts as a catalyst to allow the Creeper to self destruct, however he doesn't mention what it is. He does say that it was likely to be a hormone which would be secreted when stimulated by a particular event or change in the state of the Creeper. AMPHIS came down the stairs with Hermes following close behind:

"Any luck then?"

I told AMPHIS what I had found so far.

"Yeah, OROTHO is absolutely obsessed with science and biology! If he finds out that the change in Creepers is due to a genetic alteration, we won't hear the last of it! I think a few weeks after that report, he pinned down the use of adrenaline as a precursor to the chain reaction. He was elated for weeks after that! Said it practically proved his initial thesis."

I hadn't realised, but I had been down in the library for a good hour or two, and AMPHIS had come to check on me to tell me of progress with the next stage of the plan.

"Do you think there's anything to this book then? The book you found I mean? It has us all stumped, especially OROTHO. We can't seem to understand the role of lapis lazuli in all of this. I think OROTHO is a few steps away from pulling out his beard hair in frustration! Anyway, I only came to tell you that the others are meeting in the discussion room. I think they've finalised another stage. I think UOPETA's getting ready to move out again!"

I followed AMPHIS back up the stairs and out of the library, back to the discussion room. There's always something happening around here!

     When we got there, everyone but OROTHO was present. They were all huddled around the table, looking at a large piece of paper, which I later realised was a map. As I got closer, I noticed it was comprised of the two map pieces THEROS had sent to me via Hermes. One was centred around my house, whilst the other side was centred around the base. It had a key on it indicating my house, the conducting tower above the master portal, and something labelled "HoN Co. tower".

For safety's sake, the location of the L7 base wasn't indicated.

"Right! This is Syeonyx's house! It covers a large area, but the house is located more or less in the centre, and to the East of this walled off area. Getting to the wall is the easy part; luckily the entire journey crosses the water over land, so there's no need for a boat. This'll make UOPETA's job easier! Right, once he gets there, what will he be expecting?"

I told COLUS about the wall only having access at the beach side and the cliff side near the rear. Although they were both locked down using gates, and the only way in was either over the top of the wall, or through the mineshaft. I told them about the small shaft I had attempted to dig down in the main mineshaft that was beside the HoN Co. ship. From there, he had access to the house via the basement. There were only two floors, and if I remember correctly, the book was upstairs in the chest beside my bed.

"What about the HoN Co. guards? How many were there when you left the area? It doesn't matter I suppose... I doubt UOPETA need to get that close. In fact he could probably scout the area without having to get into the house at all!"

I then told them about the overhanging cliff that loomed over the entire walled off area. UOPETA put forward an alternative idea:

"That could be better; instead of gaining access to the house over the wall, I could scale the cliff and look down on the area... That would give me a good indication of the HoN Co. defenses... Syeonyx, I may have to borrow your camera? The zoom feature will allow me to see things up close from a distance, and it will give us a greater advantage if I'm able to take some shots of the area to aid the actual operation later on!"

Not a problem! I handed the camera to UOPETA and he took a few moments to familiarise himself with the controls. He then put it in a small pouch strapped round his waist.

"Operation: Shakedown is finalised then. UOPETA? Get ready to head out. Take the map with you and make haste to the South West. How long will it take to get there, gather the necessary data and come back?"

"If I'm lucky, and I get the images I need, I could be back within three days, maybe four."

"Good. The sooner, the better. Take a radio with you as well. THEXIS will keep in contact with you, but when you get to the wall, maintain radio silence. The last thing we need is to mess up at the final stage!"

THEXIS moved forward, carrying two basic radios with him, and passed one to UOPETA, who clipped it to his belt.

"Keep it to channel four at all times if you need to contact us. Channel three is reserved as a distress channel so don't use it unless you need to... Knowing you you won't need to! Whilst you're there, try and get an idea of the guard hierarchy and patrol routes. More intel is bett..."

"Better than no intel! Yes, I know."

COLUS rolled up the map and passed it to UOPETA who secured it to his back.

"As this is only a scouting mission, don't take unnecessary risks! The information you gather is pivotal to any further operation in that area, so be thorough but don't endanger the mission! We'' see you in a couple of days. Good luck!"

UOPETA bowed and then turned and ran towards the exit. I hope he can gather some decent information whilst he's gone. Although a small part of me was hoping that I could move back... It was impossible though. I knew it deep down. I was too far involved in the mission against HoN Co. ... Moving back would be stupid and suicidal. It'll be good to see images of the old place again. See what those guards have done to the place. Well, if this mission is a success, I might be going back there in person anyway. I wonder if I'll be able to cope? Oh well... Good luck to UOPETA! I hope operation: shakedown is successful!