"Here you go AMPHIS. Thought you could use some iron ore, you look like you're running low!"
"Thanks guys, it's just what I always wanted(!)"
We all laughed as we placed the iron ore on top of the rest, and remained in the lab watching the others at work. THEXIS wasn't present so presumably he had already started on the actual tunnel. OROTHO had gone back to the minecart to retrieve more of the iron ore, and Joe had gone over to Amie and COLUS as they discussed the layout of the tunnel. We went over to them as well, hoping to gain a little better understanding as to the requirements of the tunnel network we were putting into place.
"THEXIS, Syeonyx, THEROS and UOPETA are all going to be mining the actual tunnel itself. We'll have a rota system; two of you will be up front excavating the material, while the other two are removing it from the path. Every few metres, digging will cease to allow Joe and OROTHO to put a bracing into place. Once in place, mining can begin again. Any ore or useful materials will be put to one side, whilst the rest will be thrown into the lava channel as waste. We have't yet concluded on a security design yet, but we believe we're going to implement a system with locking doors and warning lights. That will be the most time consuming element, and once we've finished the design, I'll join you five in mining. Meanwhile OROTHO and Amie will implement the security system behind us. AMPHIS and Joe will continue to smelt the iron into pure ingots so we have a plentiful supply for security and bracing. Everyone clear on their roles? Good, get going you three."
With our orders well laid out, I followed UOPETA and THEROS towards the hidden entrance where the tunnel had begun. Taking the pickaxe from my back, and picking up a shovel on the way out, I was ready to start making some serious progress!
The small room beyond the hidden entrance that was opened from the lab now split off in two directions; the right path took you down towards the portal access corridor, whilst the left path took you down a dimly lit corridor where we could just about make out THEXIS, digging away on his own. Before we were able to go down there though, OROTHO rushed through excitedly and pulled the lever on the side of the wall. There was a delay of half a second or so, and then a portion of the wall slid into place just ahead of us in the corridor and then another slid into place right before our faces!
"Good isn't it! Joe helped me conceive this idea! It's a replication of the hidden lab entrance door, but with a twist. If someone on the other side saw that, they would see the back of a piston and assume something is there. With this system, there is a mirrored door which slides into place in the opposite direction, so no matter which side you're standing on, you will only ever see a blank wall!"
"That's pretty ingenious OROTHO... Can we go through it now...? I think THEXIS is waiting for us."
"Oh, of course!"
OROTHO pulled the switch again, and the wall in front of us slid back and then to the left, giving us enough time to see the further wall portion slid into its recess. Beyond that, we could see THEXIS standing there, arms cross looking a little miffed...
"Is he messing with that lever again? If he does that one more time and traps me in here, I swear I'm going to snap it off!"
We moved down the thin corridor towards THEXIS, tools in hand and ready to go! Now that there were four of us, we should be able to make some decent progress.
"Right. COLUS says he wants the tunnel three metres tall by three metres wide. As you can see, it's been slow going up until you arrived. The original idea was to have two of us mining and the other two clearing the material. However, I think we can manage three of us mining and one person clearing material. Anyone want to volunteer for clearing away the rubble?"
THEROS's hand shot up instantly! We knew he wasn't overly keen on mining, and the rest of us were happy with that if he was, which he seemed to be.
"Alright then, let's get to work!"
THEXIS pointed to two more pickaxes lying against the wall in the corner, which THEROS and UOPETA picked up. I still had my trusty diamond pickaxe which had served me well in so many occasions. It had even helped to save OROTHO's life! The diamond edging was still razor sharp, and made mincemeat of any rock or stone in my way, and it showed no sign or wearing down! We set to work, mining at the wall ahead of us, me, THEXIS and UOPETA standing in a row attacking the wall, watching it splinter and crack, and eventually crumble against the might of our combined strength!
The ache in my arms has begun to creep back in slowly, but looking back down the tunnel, it's not surprising with the amount of progress we've made! We've covered nearly one hundred metres in those few short hours, despite having to stop every few metres to allow the iron bracings to go in. We had stopped for a short rest, before cracking on with the work. Before heading back to the lab, I took a photo of our progress, and smiled. It felt to get back into mining again. Even if it was slightly out of context...
As I stepped into the lab, I was hit by a wall of heat, and my step faltered slightly. A little taken aback, I regained my balance, and made my way through into the sweltering room. Everyone else was hard at work; AMPHIS and Joe were hard at work smelting the iron ore. The pile of iron hadn't shrunk at all, despite the mass amount of pure iron lying around, but judging from the sweat that beaded their brows, they had been hard at work for some time. Everyone else was sitting on the other side of the room, looking all hot and bothered, trying to go over some blueprints. As I went over, I managed to catch a little of what OROTHO was saying to Amie...
"... this way then it'll be easier to determine whether someone is coming or not..."
"True, but won't it give away our position...?"
I sat by COLUS who looked equally as boiled as everyone else... It seems that they had decided on the best way to implement the security doors, and would just wait for us to reach certain stages within the tunnel itself. After a few minutes of sitting in silence, listening to Amie and OROTHO go back and forth between points, UOPETA stood up quickly!
"Nuts to this, it's too hot! I'm going back to work! That's the benefit or working underground; it's colder than in here!"
Emulating the same feelings, I left for the tunnel as well. It was too hot in there to relax, and to be honest, mining some more was definitely preferable to sitting in there! We began to mine again, glad of the cool stone all around us. But it wasn't long before we stopped again. UOPETA had mined into a small cavern which, with a little more investigation, stretched across the entire tunnel width. With large openings on the far walls of the tunnel, they would pose a massive security breach which would leave us vulnerable. UOPETA went back to see OROTHO and COLUS, and inform them. He came back shortly after, allowing them to inspect it, and determine a solution.
"Hmm.... Only seems to be one viable solution... Plug the hole up with iron plating... Looks like you're in need of another tunnel bracing anyway. Let me get the iron ready. We were once again forced to stop to allow OROTHO and COLUS to put in the bracings, but we were able to help plug the hole with iron plating.
After this was complete, we were allowed to continue the tunnel. It was hard work, but it beat risking my life every day trying to stop HoN Co. from potentially murdering billions of people. Woah, when put like that, it makes you think what's really at stake... I really don't want to be thinking like that again... With every life at stake, there's no margin for error. We can't afford to make mistakes. We can't afford to let them activate the master portal. We had to be successful!
Syeonyx signing off
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