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...

Lab partners

     Leaving the room dressed in a new disguise was awkward. We would have to adjust our entire acting model to suit a scientist now, as opposed to a surly guard. We couldn't be confrontational in the slightest; if anything we would have to be the opposite. Not a total recluse, but someone who is reserved, intelligent and humble about their intelligence. I think being egotistical about knowing you're intelligent as a character would be a brilliant way to be spotted very quickly. Something we wanted to avoid at all costs. Regardless of the disguise however, we had to move around with a sense of belonging and confidence. We had to appear that we knew why we were here, where we were going, and that we were familiar with the place and the other people. That seemed to be quite successful dressed as a guard, but with a scientist, it's likely to be a little more difficult. Firstly we'd have to avoid any of the guards we had currently been in contact with as they would recognise us and stop us.

"So we currently have access to the labs and structures from the Northern entrance then?"

That was how it seemed; after leaving the room, we entered into the courtyard that SERVERE had mentioned, and it was teaming with life! There were so many civilians and guards wandering around, and the environment was abuzz with activity. Some people however weren't wearing armour or lab coats, which led me to believe that something else was going on here. However, in the crowd, I spotted the face of the man in the suit, looking across from a desk into space. At first I thought he was looking at us, but his facial expression showed that his mind was elsewhere. I pointed this out, and we made a beeline for the entrance directly ahead of us on the far side of the courtyard. This place was pretty big, and there was so much we all wanted to explore, but that would just slow us down and possibly get us into trouble.We reached the entrance and began to descend the steps that led to a small corridor that ran perpendicular to the steps in both directions. To our right were a set of double doors which led to the canteen, whilst to our left, the layout of the labs began. The labs seemed to be distributed on both sides of the corridor, the one closest to us was the 1 labs and the far side was 2 labs. What the difference was in the experiments and research they were carrying out, I didn't know, but UOPETA opted for us to find out. It might help us determine what we're likely to expect in the structures.

"Before we continue, I'd suggest opening your mind, or at least act like you have an open mind. If we come across something shocking and we express that as shock the other scientists may pick up on it and inform the guards that we're not who we sat we are."

We started with the 1 labs, stepping through a set of double automatic doors into the most clinical environment I had ever seen! The walls were perfectly white, almost blindingly so, and there wasn't a hint of colour in the room save for a few containers and workbenches. A table was set up in the middle, and the sides of the rooms all had benches running their lengths. On the side-tables were numerous experiments, all involving Bunsen burners, tests tubes or other glass-based equipment. Despite the vast quantity of odd chemicals they were likely to use, the room had a neutral aroma to it. There was an incredibly faint smell of disinfectant, but that may have just been me. As we walked further into the room, we could see four scientists busying away at the tables with the experiments, and they didn't seem to notice us enter at all. Either that, or it didn't phase them. Maybe they were used to other scientists of neighbouring cells coming in to aid.

"Don't touch anything, don't say anything, don't do anything. Just, follow my lead..."

We followed UOPETA around the edge of the room, trying to deduce what they could possibly be researching, but there wasn't a scrap of paper around. In fact, the only writing that was visible was scrawled neatly onto a whiteboard at the far end, and that was just meaningless chemistry to me. From what I could remain from applied chemistry, they were experimenting with hydrocarbons, as I could recognise the structural composition of benzene, but from then on, it was just a maze of elemental letters and numbers with lines. Deciding to leave this lab, we exited, turned left and went to where we expected to find the next lab, but instead there was only a short staircase leading down. Deciding to stay on the level we were already at, we decided to check the labs on the other side of the corridor, the 2 labs. The first one had the words "TESTING" written in high-impact lettering on the sign, so we decided it would be best to remain outside. We did however notice that the room had viewing windows, through which we could make out a small room with a familiar object in the far corner.

"Affinitas cages... They're still testing them then..."

In the far corner of the room was an Affinitas cage, sitting atop a small unit. However this one was unusual in that instead of a spider or a skeleton spinning around inside, broiling in intense flames, it was a small pig. Not a piglet, but an actual small pig. We couldn't see what was happening other than the pig spinning furiously like a top in the unnerving way the others had. We know they had begun tests on the Affinitas cages to allow them to spawn any creature they liked into this world, and it looked like they were starting with pigs. However with a runtime of seventeen hours - displayed besides the TESTING sign - this didn't seem like a significantly successful test. There were no pigs in the room.

"Okay, next one."

Moving across to the next lab, we were surprised to be met with another set of doors. It seemed that his lab dealt with experiments that could prove problematic if they escaped, so cleanliness was an issue. Moving through the second set of doors, we found ourselves in a small chamber with a single button on the right wall, just below a light. With the door in front of us currently locked, the only logical thin we could make of it was to press the button. The light above the button flashed twice, and then we were sprayed forcefully by some type of spray! It wasn't expected at all, but it showed how important disinfecting was. After the spray settled, the light flashed twice again and the door opened. Stepping through, we found ourselves in larger room which only had two people in, neither of which turned to look at us. They were busy working at a table top; one of them had a knife and was cutting at something obscured, but judging from the experiments we had already seen, the less we saw, the better. They were talking quietly amongst themselves, and I was only able to catch small snippets of it.

"... Looks like we'll have to try that again. The boys down in 2-A aren't getting anywhere with this, and we won't be getting any further at this rate..."

I managed to take a photo of them covertly as they both pushed whatever was on the table into a trough filled with water which appeared to flow out of the room.


"I think we should go and find these Ender Eyes now... I'm feeling a little... ill..."

Syeonyx signing off

No comments:

Post a Comment