Trinsic:Modern/Relief Squad/Chapter 27

From Dead Pigeons Society

Chapter 27: Paranoid Security

We rejoin our friends and sorta-maybe-kinda-heroic people as they face the first elves that aren't making Christmas presents they've ever seen.

Miriam: "Uh... I forget Flint's actual last name."

Miriam: "But it isn't Bygeorge."

Flint grins at the elvish woman. "But, you can call me George if you want."

Miriam: "Please, this is hard enough as it is without two names for people flying around."

She blinks as the translation comes through.

...and involuntarily glances upward.

Miriam: "That was an idiom."

Miriam: "Just call him Flint." *points at Flint*

This results in a smatter of conversation between the man and the woman.

Finally, it settles down, and she finally points at Flint and says, "Flint."

Flint nods.

Miriam: "Yes, that's Flint. He doesn't talk much though. At least, not much that's relevant. You'll probably want to talk to me."

She turns to Erikale, then speaks a sing-song pattern to him. He responds with a similar pattern, although he seems to be shrugging.

Miriam: "Just kidding Flint. But I'm still the one to talk to, most likely."

Tobias: "Someone's coming from the loading dock."

Tobias: "They're armed with a flashlight."

Flint immediately draws his pistol, and ducks behind the nearest piece of machinery, taking up a position where he can aim clearly in the direction of the approaching bogey.

Miriam sighs "Why are you assuming hostility?"

Eliza winds her way around the conveyors, only to bang into one and swear every time the flashlight flickers off. "Why they couldn't just wait for me..." she muttered under her breath.

A quick sing-song, and the woman pulls her bow, stringing it and readying an arrow before skulking into the shadows.

Tobias: "On the off-chance it's a lightsaber?"

Flint: "Uh, I dunno, because they could be hostile?"

Ronnie points her flashlight at the incoming flashlight.

Eliza: "There you are!" Eliza shouted with a scowl as soon as she could be heard. "I've been looking all over. Try leaving me behind again and I'll wring your necks."

Miriam: "See? It's just Eliza. No worries."

Flint: "Oh." Sounding almost disappointed, Flint stands up and holsters his gun.

Erikale calls out something sing-song, almost a question on the end.

A few moments later, Allianna drops from the ceiling and lands next to him, causing him to screech in surprise. She has a slight grin on her face.

Eliza blinks as the others come in to view. "Hello. Um... if you don't mind me asking, who are you?"

Flint: "These are our new friends (we assume). This is...uh..." Flint blinks. "...whats-his-name, and, uh...whos-her-face."

Miriam: "Erikale and Allianna. Really, can't you try learning names?"

Eliza: "Ever so helpful, Flint," Eliza replied sarcastically. "But I wasn't talking to you."

Erikale tilts his head at Flint for a few moments, then hesitantly translates this for Allianna. He's working hard to keep up.

Flint: "Hey, I can't help it, I stink with names."

Miriam: "Then you should have let someone else tell her."

Eliza: "Wait a sec, you guys. It looks like we're rushing the translator a bit," Eliza said when she noticed Erikale's confusion.

Miriam nods and remains silent, getting the hint.

Flint nods, and is quiet.

Erikale finally manages to catch up with all he remembers of the conversation, gasping slightly as he catches a breath. Allianna finally nods, and says, in her heavily accented voice, "I'm Allianna." She points at the man. "Erikale."

Miriam: "Right, we got all that. So, can I ask you... what are you doing here?"

Eliza nods. "I'm Eliza."

Eliza: She glares at Miriam. "Stop butting in."

Miriam: *raised eyebrow* "You snooze, you lose."

This last statement seems to result in another conversation between the man and woman.

Eliza: "Shall I make you snooze, then?" Eliza asked sweetly. "You know I can, twig-girl."

Tobias: "I'd prefer it if you didn't make more work for me."

Miriam ignores the disparaging comment and waits for a response from one of the elves.

Eliza: "I won't. Just knock her out for a short while. it would probably do her disposition some good."

They seem to be debating, actually. You hear the word "snooze" come up multiple times.

Miriam: "Oh, great... 'Snooze' is just a term in this case meaning fall behind."

Eliza: "Or being unconscious."

Miriam: "I don't want to start hostilities. Please, we have an insane AI to fight, can you PLEASE let your ego go and just ride with me on this one?"

This somewhat conflicting information results in another short debate, although finally it seems like Erikale has won it. Allianna rolls her eyes, but seems to have accepted it.

Thankfully, they missed the bit about 'insane AI'.

Eliza: "It's not my ego that's the problem here. I'm just trying to catch up. After all, you guys *did* leave me behind."

Eliza: "I mean seriously, I just went to the loo. You could have waited five minutes before dashing off."

Tobias: "At least you got a flashlight."

Miriam: "Then please accept that you know less about the situation and leave the communicating to me. Someone else can fill you in. And it wasn't my decision to leave."

Eliza: "No, but I doubt you really argued."

Miriam: "For your information, I didn't even cast any opinion either way because no one asked. Now please, shut up and let me do the talking!"

Ronnie follows everything that's going on with head motions akin to a spectator at a tennis match.

Eliza: "No, you'll probably scare the poor people off, knowing you."

Miriam: "Everything was going fine until you butted in. Please, someone else help me out here. This is just confusing them."

Flint steps forward. "Eliza, please let Miriam finish what she's trying to do. You can b*tch at her later."

Ronnie holds up her hands. "I think we should try focusing on the basics. Namely, who they are, how they got here, and what they're doing here. Then we can share who we are, how we got here, and what we're doing here, and hopefully all end up on the same page... er, I mean, the same understanding."

Miriam: "Exactly, Ronnie. We're going one step at a time."

Miriam waits for the elves to respond to her original query.

Flint leans over and whispers to Miriam. "I don't think they *know* to respond...so far, they've just sort of been listening to us babble. We need to communicate to them that we want them to communicate to *us*."

Eliza looks at Flint. "Do you seriously think Miriam is the best for this?"

The two elves stand there as Erikale finally manages to catch up to the heated conversation.

Miriam: "Good point, Flint." "Allianna, can you please tell us what you two are doing here?"

Flint: He then leans the other way, and whispers to Eliza. "Well, I know that I've got bupkiss for diplomatic skills, Ronnie's better with machines than people, and Toby tends to leave random explosions in his wake. Seeing as how you're a bit crabby at the moment, I'd say she's best for the moment."

Flint: He continues with Eliza. "Now, do you want me to fill you in, or what?"

Eliza: "I'm only crabby cause you lot left me behind, and then she butt in while I was trying to catch up."

Flint: "Yes, well, we're in the middle of a delicate first-contact situation, and don't need anyone confusing these guys any more than they already are. Please, just calm down."

"Help..." She pauses, trying to put together the words, clearly not having NEARLY the vocabulary to express what she needs. "...guys..."

Eliza scowls and rubs at her leg where she was wounded earlier and managed to bump again when her flashlight flickered off before.

"...hostilities..."

Miriam: "All right, the words aren't there yet."

Miriam: Alright*

"...start..."

Erikale puts a hand on her shoulder. She stops.

Ronnie: "Help you... start hostilities? Or stop hostilities *before* they start?"

Erikale shakes his head, translating anyway. "No start hostilities. They start hostilities."

Tobias: "Someone attacked you?"

Miriam: "Who's 'they'?"

She points behind them, out the hole in the door, at the bodies scattered around the main hallway.

Ronnie: "The security guards? Why did they attack?"

Miriam: "Ah. The insane computer. Yes. What I was asking was... how did you arrive on the moon in the first place?"

Flint whispers to everyone. "I hear footsteps approaching, from the main corridor. I think we'd be wise to step away from the door in case they come this way."

Eliza does so.

Ronnie moves away from the door.

Miriam: "Please, can we stop assuming hostilities?"

Eliza: "Better to be safe than sorry, as they always say."

"Security guards? They..."

Tobias takes a step away from the door.

Flint once again does his "duck and draw weapon" routine. "Hide, dammit!" He motions at the elves. "Hide!"

There's a brief whispered translation between the two elves at Flint's revelation, and the both step away from the door, into the darkness.

Miriam , frustrated, turns around to face the oncoming people but does not make an aggressive move.

Flint facepalms.

The sound of near-marching comes closer.

Miriam: On second thought... Miriam pulls her shotgun out and hold it at her side, just in case.

Flint tries one last time to reason with the crazy lady. "Dammit, Miriam, there's a dozen of them out there! If they ARE hostile, you're as good as dead!"

Flint: "...cause I am NOT jumping out to save your ass."

Miriam: "A dozen? Crap." Miriam bolts behind Flint.

Just as Miriam bolts out of range of the door, a ragged group of men and women in InfiniCorp security uniforms comes marching into the main corridor.

11... 12... 13. 13 people. They look edgy. A lot of bruises, bandaged arms, wrapped ankles. Survivors of the battle, and they're now twitchy as all get out.

A slight noise from down the corridor results in half of them hitting the deck, and the other half emptying their weapons down the corridor. A dead body becomes a dead puddle.

Flint: (A dead puddle of what?) *is quiet*

(A dead puddle of blood, guts and shattered bones)

"Hey, someone's blown a hole in that door to the loading bay!" If anything, this revelation makes them even jumpier. "You mean... some of THOSE could have made it in here?" "Dude... Not going there. Let's get a desk and weld it into the hole." "Are you insane? I'm not going anywhere near there!"

Flint ponders announcing himself.

Clearing her throat, Eliza starts to step out of her hiding spot. "WHAT'S THAT!?" A fusillade of weapons fire blows through the hole in the door, shattering equipment, shredding conveyor belts, and blowing holes in support beams.

With pure-bred luck, nobody got any bullet holes in them during that barrage of weapons fire, although there's a slight outline of Flint's shape in the duct he was hiding behind of new holes all the way through it.

Flint blinks.

Flint: He then yells. "DON'T SHOOT!"

Miriam: "Hey! What was that for? We're your FRIENDS!"

"...Reload! Reload!" Everyone starts taking clips out of their weapons and replacing them with new clips. The person in charge practically jumps out of his skin as Flint and Miriam yell. "Prove it!" His voice doesn't sound as strong as his words would seem.

Miriam: "OK! I'm coming out... slowly!"

Tobias: "We're not shooting at you."

Eliza stands up. "Guys, it's me. I work here, remember?"

Miriam slowly crawls out towards the center.

Miriam: "I'm Miriam Maranis. I and the rest of us have been fighting this insane computer for the last few days! Please, help us!"

One of the men swears, "&@#(*&@# jammed!"

Miriam: "I can help you. Please, help me."

Ronnie: "We'd better let them go... they seem to be more concerned with using everything as target practice..."

Miriam, on the ground, turns her head up and smiles warmly.

"Show me your hands, lady, or there won't be a body to attach them to!"

Miriam sighs softly where they can't hear and shows her hands, still on the ground.

"All right... Get up slowly and let's see your ID badge." Most of the weapons are back up and ready again.

Miriam: "Uh... I don't have an ID badge myself, as I don't work here. But the others do, and I originally came here just to be shown around, as a friendly gesture to a supplier company. But I find that in these times, we can't afford to think about who works for who. We all must work together if we are to succeed!"

The group of men and women is twitchy, nervous, and sweating.

"There ain't no VIP tours scheduled!"

Eliza: "They saved me," Eliza piped up.

Eliza: "One of the turrets turned on me and shot me in the leg. If not for this lot I'd still be on the floor bleeding. Or not, by now."

Miriam: "Didn't say it was scheduled! I came as a surprise and got Space Station to let me in. But as I was saying, I don't think we can afford to draw lines. We're all sentient creatures here and we need to work together or we'll all die!"

"Sounds like you might be the CAUSE of this, lady!"

Eliza shook her head. "They came well after everything went crazy."

Miriam sighs "It was already like this when we showed up! I don't have proof, just the straight truth. I'm being honest because I know it's our only hope!"

Ronnie: "Oh, for the love of Primus. We're new hires, we've been shot at by the AI same as you, we've given the control tower people a new broadcast transmitter, and we were going to fix the AI before you showed up. So go hole up somewhere and let us do our jobs!"

"All right. For now." He wipes his brow, then murmurs, "Okay, weapons down... but keep 'em handy." Louder, "Come on out."

Eliza slowly walks out.

Flint puts his gun away and stands up, hands above his head.

Tobias slowly walks into view.

Miriam puts her weaponry away and slowly stands up.

Ronnie never had any weapons out to begin with, so she simply walks out into view.

The two elves stay silent, the woman drawing her bow tight, the man putting a hand on his sword.

Ronnie: "Can you tell us who you're so scared of? Is the AI up to no good again?"

"What? No, we've got most of the corridor cleared of turrets. It's these pointy-eared freaks that came outta Science section. Been killing my people."

Ronnie: "What pointy-eared freaks?"

Tobias: "Did you try talking to them first?"

Miriam: "Obviously they didn't."

"You haven't seen 'em around in their weird robes and carrying swords n' crap?" He turns from Ronnie and looks at Miriam. "Now, what do you want? Where did you come from? And why are you here?"

Ronnie: "Where did the 'pointy-eared freaks' come from? And why are they here?"

Miriam: "I already explained my story."

"Yeah. And it smells like the southbound end of a northbound elephant. Where did you come from and why are you here?"

Flint sighs. "We were new hires who were supposed to start work here. Except when we got here, the place had gone to hell. It's that simple."

Flint: "We came from Kevlo, on a plane. If you can call it that."

Ronnie: "And Miriam was a salesperson coming to do an inspection who we gave passage on our ship."

One of the guys leans close, and hands the guy in charge a piece of paper. When the leader gets done looking at it, he glances back at the group. "The Alice?"

Flint: "Yeah."

"All right... any of you people know how to fly?"

Flint: "I do."

"Hmm. There's a ship in the hangar..."

"We could take you straight there... if you'll fly us back."

Ronnie: "We're not going anywhere until the AI is dealt with."

Miriam: "Exactly."

Flint: "Why not? I thought we wanted to get out of here!"

"Non-security personnel are gathering in Masterson's. It's the safest place."

Ronnie: "We can get out of here after fixing the AI so it's not still running rampant."

Miriam: "That would be ideal."

Flint rolls his eyes. "Bah." Then, he blinks. "Then again, I think we'd have to shut down the defense system before anyone can leave anyway."

"We can't just let people wander around here randomly. I really must insist that you all move to Masterson's and stay there so Security can clear the facility of pointy-eared freaks. Johnson, take half the team and scout back up this corridor, make sure nothing's sneaking up behind us." He motions, and one of the men heads up the corridor again.

Eliza changes nick to Diana|Work.

Ronnie: "You still haven't told us how the pointy-eared people got here, why, and what they want."

Ronnie: "And we're currently the most qualified to repair the AI and shut down the defense systems in order to enable our ships to leave and help to come here."

Slowly, about half the men head up the hallway.

"Yeah, well, so far they want to kill people. How they got here and why isn't in my job description, lady."

Miriam: "Have you even TRIED to talk to them?"

Ronnie: "Why did they start killing people?"

"My responsibility is to the safety of human beings on this station."

Miriam: "Ten-to-one says you fired at them first." Miriam accuses the guy.

"You know, I didn't bother talking when the first words I got involved an arrow in my arm, lady."

Ronnie: "I was just going to say... are you sure they're not killing you because you fired first?"

"No, I didn't shoot first. And, clearly you clueless people are about as stupid as they come. Why am I bothering talking to you? Move it, Masterson's now."

Flint glances at the elves, so see their reaction to all of this.

Tobias: "Did you point your weapon directly at them when you saw them, then?"

Miriam: "We're not going anywhere. We're fixing the AI and we're certainly not letting you kill sentient beings because you want to."

The elves have remained in hiding.

"Oh, so now you're on their side. The entire story you've been selling us has been a load of crap, hasn't it?"

Ronnie: "No, the entire story has been the truth."

Ronnie: "We're just sort of fed up with everyone right now because no one will tell us WHAT IN THE NAME OF HELL IS GOING ON. That's all."

Miriam: "I'm not on their side. I'm a trained Diplomat and I want peace so we can concentrate on the real enemy."

Flint: "Sheesh. Chillax, Ronnie."

"What's GOING ON is I'VE LOST 20 MEN TO THESE INVADING FREAKS! 20 good men! Not to mention all the other dead men and women around here!"

Ronnie: "Well, for pity's sake. We have an AI that's gone insane, but no one can tell us why. We have pointy-eared people on the station, and no one can tell us why. And what is with the sentient killer cats in Hydroponics?"

Miriam: "ANSWER MY QUESTION ALREADY! DID YOU THREATEN THEM FIRST?!?"

His pistol snaps to aim at Miriam. "I don't much care to be yelled at, lady. And, the truth doesn't matter because idiots like you have already decided what you believe!"

Miriam: "No we haven't. However, we have opened a dialogue with them. We can do the same for you, but not if you don't give us the facts."

Ronnie facepalms.

• KABLAM*

Miriam: "Hey now! We're trying to help!"

Flint: "Shut UP, Miriam, before they shoot you again!"

The bullet rips into Miriam's arm, a minor wound, actually. "You're collaborating with the invaders! Give me one good reason not to kill you here and now."

Ronnie: "Because we're the only ones who can stop this insanity if you'll let us!"

Miriam: "I understand what you've been going through, but this isn't the time! We are all the same. There is a misunderstanding we must correct!"

Ronnie: "We can stop the AI from attacking you. We can also stop the invaders from attacking you. But you have to work with us and stop shooting everything that moves!"

Ronnie: "Or at least move on your way and stop shooting at *us*."

Ronnie: "And if you don't, we're siccing Starscream on you." Ronnie pulls out the figure and shows it to the guards.

"Yeah, whatever. Masterson's. Now."

Ronnie: "Oh, fine, whatever. Flint, can you shoot them or something?"

The weapons of the rest of the group comes up at Ronnie's words.

Flint rolls his eyes. "Alright, fellas, look. We need to tend to our wounded here..." He looks meaningfully at Miriam. "...and then we'll head right for the bar. We can talk later about flying out of here, after the systems are down. Okay?"

Miriam: "We are NOT going to let sentient creatures get carved up."

Flint whispers. "SHUT UP, Miriam."

Ronnie: "And that includes you guards, although at this point I'm wondering if you actually qualify as 'sentient'."

Miriam: "Ronnie, you're not helping."

Flint sighs.

Ronnie: "Well, if they'd just realize we're trying to help their sorry butts..."

Miriam: "We can shoot each other until we're all dead, most likely you, or we can work together and figure out a way out of this mess. Your call."

Miriam casually pulls at something in her pocket that, from inside, looks like a concealed machine gun.

Miriam: "Oh, and by the way... There's always the chance that those pointy-eared freaks have about a hundred arrows trained on you. I hear they're very good shots."

"..." That finally gives him pause. <c>

After a moment, he glances behind him, then back at your group, as though unsure if you're bluffing him or not.

Flint: Realizing that the leader is distracted, Flint whispers at the guy elf. "If you can understand me, we could really use a distraction. Do something to scare them."

He blinks a few times, then rises slowly, and gestures, murmuring quietly, at the last moment, he turns and gestures, then cries out loudly, "ONTA ALU!", throwing his fist toward the group of guards. A cascade of water appears above their heads.

...then falls on them. Surprised, the already-nervous guards scream, now partially soaked, and then mostly break and run pell-mell down the cross hallway.

Miriam: "...that wasn't what I had in mind..."

The last one dances around, then rushes after his teammates.

Ronnie: "It worked, don't knock it."

Miriam: "Point taken"

Flint: "Hot damn! Let's go!"

Tobias: "...I want to learn how to do that some day."

Ronnie: "Looks like we'll have to get going before they decide to come back. Erikale, Allianna, will you come with us?"

Flint pokes his head out of the hole. "No time to lose. Let's roll." He motions to the others. "We need to get down the corridor here before they come back."

Miriam heads down the corridor.

Allianna and Erikale nod, rising from their spot to follow.

Ronnie nods at them, then follows Flint.

Flint draws his gun (what, again?) and stalks down the corridor, looking for any sign of hostile (security, elf, or otherwise), or the computer room or wherever it is they're supposed to be going.

As you proceed down the corridor, you get to the cross corridor, apparently named "Executive Offices Corridor" A smaller sign says "To Laboratory Corridor" with an arrow pointing North. You get to the corridor just in time to see the group of guards cramming their way into a room on the left side of the corridor. "IN IN IN!" There's lots of shoving and pushing and finally, they all cram their way through the door. The sound of a very heavy lock echoes through the corridor.

Past the corridor, the first door you come to is Mickey Mouse, Esq.

The one after is "Sewage Maintenance Entrance".

The next one is labeled "Maintenance".

Flint leads the Party (plus two) off in the apparent direction of the laboratory corridor.

You head North up the Executive Offices corridor, passing offices for the Research Department Head (Dr. Joseph Nitwhite>, the Operations Department Head (Miles Naismith), and Administration Department Head (Fred Beeker).

Next, you pass "Lunar Base Executive Director (Leo Walsh)", then the door that the security guards crammed into. It's labeled "Storm Shelter (OSHA Required)".

Flint: "Oh, brother."

Flint checks to see if there's any way to bar/disable the door from this side.

And, finally, you come to a cross corridor that leads off to the right. "Laboratory Corridor" it proclaims. Pointing ahead, farther North up the corridor, it says "Reception" and "To Living Quarters".

Ronnie: "Oh yeah, we have rooms on this place."

The door appears to be quite ordinary, except being made of a very thick metal unlike most of the other doors in the corridor. And, of course, bearing a stamp that declares "OSHA Approved".

Flint whispers to Erikale. "Psst. I don't suppose you know any way to stick this door shut, do you?"

He looks over the door for a few moments, then speaks to Allianna. The two exchange a few words, but finally, Allianna finally says, "No."

Flint: "Damn." Flint leads the Party off down the laboratory corridor.

Ronnie: "What I wouldn't give for some super-glue..."

Heading off down the Laboratory corridor, you find a large double-door labeled "LABORATORY ONE". Underneath, someone has scrawled "Because we are smart enough to read the whole words, not abbreviations". Under that, "Security Personnel Require Pre-Authorization For Access". Finally, "...cause they're not that smart."

Flint snorts. "I guess this is it."

Miriam: "It seems so. Who's got Lab access?"

Ronnie: "I'd wager I do, most likely." Ronnie looks for a lock or card reader.

Flint: "Uh." Flint shrugs. "That's a good question. I suppose Ronnie would be the logical choice..."

Ronnie swipes her card in the reader.

The card reader pipes up. "User not on access list. Connect to HQ to check for updated access list?"

Tobias tries out his card.

Ronnie: "Meh."

The card reader pipes up at Toby's card swipe. "User not on access list. Connect to HQ to check for updated access list?"

Ronnie: "Oh, we'll do it the hard way."

Ronnie opens the reader and starts poking around. "Cootchie, cootchie, coo."

Dismantling the lock with speed and precision, Ronnie finally discovers the point at which the lock retrieves security access lists. Working carefully, she reswipes her card, then directs the lock to add her to the access list with a few deft shortings of the proper components.

Finally, she puts it back together and on the wall.

Ronnie makes a show of tipping her non-existent hat. "Now that we've been properly introduced..." She swipes her card again.

• BEEP* "Please place your palm on the biometric scanner and enter your personal security code."

Ronnie follows the computer's instructions.

"Access Granted." The door cycles open with a hiss, sliding to one side. You'll note that the door is a good three feet thick.

Flint: "Yikes. That's one hell of a door." Flint sneaks through the door, sweeping the room for signs of hostiles.

The huge lab is wide open, with rows and rows of glass vials, bubbling concoctions, DNA analyzers, two massive refrigerator/freezers, microscopes, bunson burners, electron microscopes and scads of machines. There are no hostiles here. Nor friendlies.

Ronnie heads inside. "Now this is a nice setup."

A row of flasks on one shelf are secured behind a glass case.

Tobias walks in. "Now this looks like an interesting place..."

Miriam searches for any computer-like device.

There are many computer-like devices here, some connected to electron microscopes, some connected to DNA analyzers, some connected to other machines scattered throughout the labs.

Miriam: More specifically, she was looking for something with a data uplink.

Flint, out of curiosity, goes to open one of the freezers.

The massive freezer is loaded chock full of samples, each individually labeled.

Miriam groans "Maybe I shouldn't have come here... I've got nothing accomplished."

Flint: "Aww, don't worry, Miriam. Once we deal with the computer (one way or another), Ronnie ought to be able to pull whatever you need from the mainframe."

Miriam: "I sure hope so..."

Flint closes the freezer, then looks in the other one.

Ronnie looks around for something resembling a door, trapdoor, or other accessway to under the labs.

The second freezer looks about like the first, scads of samples, all individually labeled. This one has more petri dishes, less test tubes.

Flint: "Hmm." He closes it. "Dang, I was hoping for some food or something."

Ronnie: "Hmm." Ronnie checks out the safe.

Tobias looks in an electron microscope.

Ronnie's search produces no hidden doors, although opening one of the cabinets reveals a safe.

Ronnie attempts to open the safe,

The safe is of the conventional variety, requiring a key and the turning of the large knob. The safe is labeled "MasterLock Corp"

Tobias: "This DNA looks somewhat familiar...but still alien..."

Flint: "What DNA?"

Tobias: "In this electron microscope."

Flint: "Hmm. I wonder what all that stuff in the freezer is? What exactly do they do in these labs, anyway?"

The two elves are idling outside the door, glancing around, but not entering.

Miriam: "Hey, you two. You wanna come in?"

Erikale translates for Allianna, but shakes his head.

Flint: "Why? What's wrong?"

They gesture at the room, but after a short debate, they finally end with Allianna just saying. "No..."

Ronnie: "Hey, Flint... do you still have that key?"

Flint: "Yeah, I sure do." He holds up the keys, and stares meaningfully at the key that unlocks that one room. "Heh heh heh." He gets a glass-eyed look, then snaps back to reality. "Oh, wait, you mean for this thing? Yeah, there's one key left that I dunno what it does." He hands said key to Ronnie.

Ronnie shrugs a little and tries the key in the lock.

Inserting the key marked with an "M" is a snap, you discover. With a little twist, the key turns. A loud clunk announces the unlocking of the safe, releasing the handle.

Ronnie: "That actually worked? Wow." Ronnie looks surprised for a moment, then opens the safe.

Tobias: "Careful. It might be a very elaborate trap..."

The safe creaks open.

Ronnie: "If it explodes, I have faith that you can put me back together."

With lightning reflexes, Ronnie slips out of the way of the HUGE, VICIOUS, MASSIVE...

...mess of very thick journals.

They do, however, fall on Flint's toe.

Flint: "Ow!" Flint begins hopping around on one foot, holding his toe and whimpering.

Tobias breaks out the medical kit.