The crypt is build into the stone of the mountain, and while the outer museum was a relatively normal room the crypt itself is bare stone. No decoration, but it does have oil lanterns hanging from the ceiling to light the way. They've long since gone out, reservoirs expended. For a moment I wonder where they got the oil from, but I suppose that it wouldn't be strange for communities like this to ship in a barrel a year or so.
I move deeper, Jade watching the flanks. Side passages are more crypts, but they don't have any markings so I've got no idea if they're for families or years or professions or… Whatever they considered most significant. Further in and the passages-.
Honestly, a setup like this... Would the closest crypts have been the oldest community members, dating back however many decades since its founding, with newer crypts deeper down as they expanded... Or would they have moved each older generation deeper in with each expansion, to ensure the newly interred 'ancestor spirits' were closest to the living? Who knows?
"Stop."
I stop, attack constructs ready to go at a moment's notice.
Which would be quite the display in animation. guns appearing all around him...
"The walls. They weren't made with the same tools."
I take a closer look… Yes. This continent was early to mid twentieth century equivalent in terms of technology. This was done with something else, something they couldn't have built; either a plasma cutter or a matter disruptor.
...So not a local. Perhaps this section was carved to to hide something newer? But by
who?
"Kalmin wouldn't have left a test subject alive. But it's not that hard to come here if you know where you're going. There's no reason to assume that we're the first ones here."
I continue deeper. Something else that stands out: Kalmin wouldn't have bothered to copy local styles, whereas whoever did this clearly has. There are empty shelves, their design similar to but not quite the same as the ones the locals use. And there are bodies, but they're placed sporadically while the locals filled up spaces before moving on.
Definitely someone trying to hide something.
Alert.
Standard scan didn't spot it, but sonic and electrical sensors working together detected a spatial fracture system. Nasty if you walk into it, but the generator node… Should be…
Ooof. I expect it has an effect on corporeal forms similar to what a kaleidoscope does to light?
Messy.
I release the Colin Thornton construct lantern and send it onward. It marches into the fracture zone, which triggers and begins altering the relationship between spatial dimensions in its radius. Colin returns to my ring instantly, but I'm braced and prepared for the storm of horrifying images that come with seeing his memories and behaviours. I release and dispatch him again to the same result, and again-.
The spatial fracture generator stutters, a problem with hiding a power hungry system from a sufficiently capable attacker. Colin flies through during the flux with only some damage, and tears apart the generator with his bare hands.
Good use for bad rubbish, even if you have to put up with seeing his memories every time...
"Dismissed."
He vanishes, and after another scan I advance into the area it was covering.
Since that area couldn't have any other defences within it... They'd have been destroyed by the effect.
"Would that send an alert?"
"Probably. Nothing I can detect, so we're dealing with someone clever rather than opportunistic looters."
Which means said signal could be
very well-hidden from you.
Scanners and mental acceleration on full I move forward, alert for-
"Nurnnurnnurnnurn…"
Someone's having either a very
bad time back there, or a very
good one.
-any sign of danger to us. Nothing, and we're in a crypt cul-de-sac-. And from the way that dust cloud is moving I can tell that's a hologram.
I short it out, and-.
To be fair, it'd probably have fooled anyone without a Power Ring, I bet.
Plasma fire from a device built into the ceiling hits my force field and achieves precisely nothing, while my spear construct punches through its weak armour cuts off its power supply. Hm. So far it looks like the technology here is advanced, but the application is a little slapdash. Someone with little field experience?
Other force fields or guns? Looks like no. I push on-
A rookie Weaponer, taking advantage of Kalmin's abandonment of his worksite?
Scan available.
-into the room, construct tentacles snaking out and seizing control of the main computer system. Sadly it's not tied into anything other than the… Containment unit? But I stop the automatic subject purge countdown anyway.
Because of
course there's a self-destruct. Probably something large and
messy, I bet.
The subject-. A dishevelled humanoid. Male. He's wearing a plug suit-. No, a bio-monitor suit, but his hair and beard are scraggly and I can see blood around his mouth.
And fear. So much fear.
Huh. Marinated in fear. That sounds...
Unpleasant.
The other equipment… Some of it looks a little like Kalmin's forge. Other parts look like the more mundane parts of his workshop. A Weaponer, then. Someone out of favour with Varnathon? Or just trying to hide a secret workshop away from prying eyes.
The computer doesn't have records on it. Because what sort of Weaponer wouldn't be able to just remember things like that?
Kalmin: A very
poor one, of course.
The containment chamber is a custom job, and I don't think that it's designed to let things pass in or out easily. I could break through with a little effort, but I think it's best to get a better idea of what's going on first. The man inside doesn't look bound in any way, he's just sort of curled up against the side of the chamber.
And there's the speak-.
Yeah, best to know what you're poking before you let it out of it's cage.
Wait. I know that face. DNA scan-.
I activate the speaker.
Let me guess: An Antimatter universe counterpart of someone you know? What are the
odds?
"Orange Lantern Illustres here." His head doesn't come up. "Can you hear me?"
"Eh-heh-heh-huuuu…"
Well, he's terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought.
Cowering and gibbering. Okay. If I understand this machine correctly, then pulling this lever and turning these dials should reduce the focus on the chamber interior.
"I think the Weaponer who set this place up was trying to focus the residual fear energy through this man."
For shits and giggles, or for a
specific reason?
"Why?"
"I'm not sure. Perhaps they were trying to make him into an ideal Yellow Lantern? Or just to see what would happen."
To be fair, for a Weaponer, that's an entirely
valid option...
"Where did they get a human?" … "Don't tell me-."
"There's an anti-matter Earth. I mean an Earth Negative Sixteen. I don't actually know if he's from there."
...So, there's an Earth -14. What's their Earth 14 like, then? Or would that be the equivalent of their Anti-Matter Universe?
"But you don't think he's from our Earth. You've scanned him."
"Yes. Hello in there! Are you feeling any better?"
Given previous
experience with inter-polarity crossovers, I'm betting his entire body has
Situs Inversus. That is, his body is a mirror image of a 'normal' human's - Heart on the right, that sort of thing.
"Hu-ur-huh?"
His head comes up slightly, his mind still filled with fear but regaining the capacity for coherent thought.
Ah, he's not gone bye-bye any more. Just remember, if he asks if you're a god... Say 'Yes.'
"I'm happy to remove you from this planet just as soon as we can get some idea how safe that is for you. Can you tell me your name, sir?"
He manages to make eye contact for a moment, then they drop back down again. I'm not sure if all that I'm seeing in him is fear because it's so strong that it's overwhelming, or because that's all there is left.
It wouldn't be the first time you've encountered someone cut off from the other Lights. Remember Sally Sonic?
"W-where is she?"
"I don't know who you're talking about, sir. As far as I know, the three of us are the only people on the planet."
...The only ones
alive, anyway.
"No-no-no-no-no."
"Can you tell me your name?"
Might need to be a bit more
commanding to break through that thick shell of
fear, OL...
He manages to get up on his hands and knees, still
cringing and unwilling to meet my eyes.
"
Joseph.
Joseph Harrolds."
...If you're
lucky, you can prevent him being acquired by
Volthoom's Ring...