Map update

     Fuelled by our own enthusiasm and progress, we continued on with the tunnel off to the East as soon as the bracings were in place. With only a few hundreds metres left to go, who knows, we could be done by the end of the day! That would make it very risky to install a security door on the surface, as we would need a source of light, which is about as subtle as screaming "Hey, we're over here!"... We'll need to install that during the day, so there's a chance that it might be better to finish the tunnel off today and leave the entrance for tomorrow, which may mean us not doing anything for a day, unless UOPETA thinks it's better to check out the tower during the day. I would've thought that under the cover of night would be better, but ultimately UOPETA knew best, and we had to go with his decision. After all, he was the one looking after us! COLUS, OROTHO and Joe have moved as much of the equipment they need for the door to the end of the Eastern facing tunnel, so there is little need to keep going back and forth. OROTHO is beginning to grow as excited and jumpy as Chiron; he keeps coming back and forth between the lab and where we are and asking far we've got left to go.

"Not long left OROTHO. We should be through by the end of the day, but by then you'll have to wait until tomorrow before you can get started."

OROTHO was very keen on determining where exactly we were in terms of being underground. Eventually he managed to persuade THEROS to update the map as to our position. Leaving me, THEXIS and UOPETA, we continued on knowing that that was likely to have been the better idea.

"Why do you think OROTHO's so jumpy? We're getting closer to the tower, so shouldn't that make him more edgy...?"

"Possibly, but you know OROTHO... He's going to have a big chance to show off his skills with wiring and door mechanics. We're not going to hear the end of it for weeks afterwards."

That was true; OROTHO was already rubbing it in about the security doors working to his specification, and the lab-side security system which told you if the doors were open or closed. I had got wind that that had been Joe's idea, but he was being very humble about the whole thing, despite being an integral part of the tunnel security. If anything, OROTHO was doing the bragging for two people! After an hour or so further, we decided a rest would be in order, and began to head back to the lab. We passed a whole array of tools, components, and parts that would all make up the final door on the far side of the tunnel, and I'm glad I wasn't getting involved. It looked incredibly complicated, and in a way, I felt that OROTHO deserved to brag, although not quite to the degree he has done. Entering the lab, we found THEROS looking through the work that AMPHIS had translated, whilst Amie, OROTHO and COLUS seemed to be looking at the revised version of the map. Going over to it, I managed to have a look at how close we were, and found out that THEROS had traced the route our tunnel took from the base to where we had reached so far.

Looking at the map, it was hard to understand why our tunnel had taken such a weird route, but then you had to take into account a whole series of different factors. For example, we couldn't just head straight North as it would mean passing through one of the main walls of the base and we would risk reducing the structural integrity. The tunnel appears to go underwater, but that's mainly due to the structure of the base. Our entrance is directly beneath a pool of water, but the main parts of the base purposely extend out into a larger body of water. This was done purposely so if there was any need to evacuate and destroy all trace of our existence, COLUS could blow the support walls and let the water do the rest. It was an ingenious method of ensuring our security, and now we had a true escape plan. In fact, we had two! There was the access down the tunnels, and through to the cliff mine. Hopefully that wouldn't be needed as an option though. After resting for a few minutes we went straight back to work. We all had a goal to work towards and we were steam-rolling our way towards it! By the end of the day we'd hopefully be at the end of the tunnel, and OROTHO can install his security door. Then we can continue with stopping HoN Co.! Provided we find some portals or reports to help us...

Syeonyx signing off