There Is Always Hope!

[Maharg67]

1.4.2[6]: ETriplets Get Involved With An Overdue Rescue Clarification

 

The group now moved not deeper into the RedZone proper but almost at a right angle to going deeper. They followed hallways that Frank knew had not been there, at least not in that layout, before. Something scuttled through a vent duct, up at ceiling level, but it was just three radroaches according to the ETriplets.

 

Emmelia spoke quietly. "Harry is calling all wildlife to himself that he can, even such as less dangerous radcritters, to have them go into the lifecube set up for preservation, research and the gaining of useful resources. Harry could be spending more his time there."

 

Frank nodded. He had been one of those who had found Harry, the toddler, wandering through the RedZone but not alone. The child had his escort of radcritters and other things, not all visible but there anyway. Harry, and his wife Emily, had adopted Harry even though most of his new relations do not understand him. Kimmy more than makes up for the others.

 

Harry Hardily was Harry's full name. Kimmy was his very protective sister who was almost exactly his age, as far as medical science could determine. She helped him with his home education as did others.

 

Quietness fell as the ETriplets kept on leading the others. They passed a wall with a kind of crumbling rip down part of it from which ran grey tinted water. Except that it was no normal rip in the wall. The ETriplets warned the group to avoid the wall and the toxic water.

 

Then they were at a standard powerdoor that opened with a soft humming noise. There, in a chamber lit by emergency fluroflats, three humanoid figures were inside slanted statuscapsules against the back wall. They were almost unmoving, were clearly once human being now part human, but with areas of scaled skin, tentacles, altered features such as eyes and in one case a long tapering tail. Each statuscapsule was cradled by its machinery and linked to a terminal complete with 3Dscreen.

 

The big chamber was a laboratory-workshop that had had much of its resources taken away in a big hurry. The evidence of this was open lockers, open containers on the floor and scattered items not deemed important enough to be taken. There were two other powerdoors, of which one was open, and a gridded vent. Except that the grid had a hole torn in it, the grid bars pressed inwards into the room.

 

If bullet marks, on walls, did not provide enough evidence of trouble then the three corpses in laboratory vaultsuits certainly did. The dead bodies were rotting but had been only so for some days.

 

Emmelia spoke. "Dark experimentation was undertaken here that ended just over a week ago. I am afraid that your brother, and friends, were made into experimental subjects for they are the three in the statuscapsules. Perhaps they were left preserved for possible later reclamation or were considered not important enough to shift; question is what were in the other three statuscapsules. If you see the marks on the floor, and same wall, other statuscapsules were taken. More than one thing came through the smashed open vent grid though it is made of very hard steel."

 

Frank frowned. "Perhaps death would have been a preferable fate for the three but they are alive and so what can be done for them must be done including merciful death if necessary."

 

Emmelia, of life elemental energies, responded. "First of all there has to be an investigation into what took place here including with those three men."

 

Frank frowned harder. "Former men for those are not men now."

 

Emmelia sighed. "There is always hope, Frank, even for such as they!"

Edited March 24, 2018 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

1.4.1[7]: TechVault101 Official News Bulletin in Brief 172111c112.

 

Article A: Killing of the Ashwood Gang.

Five Grade C Citizens were murdered by unknown assailants. They are Dave, Dale and Dee Ashwood along with their companions Candis Brown and Peter Leewang.

 

Article B: Rediscovered 3DTV Shows Added To the TechVault101 Cable Network.

Five new 3DTV series, as recently found in unsorted storage, are to be aired on the TV101CN. They are the Big Brother Beach Bungalow, the Adventures of Candy the Clown and the F-Troopers.

 

Article C: Successful Solution Gained to Flooding Problems in LifeVault101 SubVault101B.

Congratulations to the three Maintenance Department workteams that fixed the problems and the volunteers that so willingly assisted them.

 

Article D: Birth of the 1,000,456^th Citizen Heralds New Hope in Dealing With Infertility Problems.

The birth of Sandra Deelee brings joy to the Overseers Network and to the people of TechVault101. She is reported to be in fine health-fitness.

 

Article E: The TechVault101 Cultural Centre New Exhibition.

A new historical exhibition is being held at the cultural centre, in the museum section, featuring 3Dphotos, 3Dposters and other items of the TechCorps' glorious past during the PreDD. Exhibition souvenirs will be on sale at budget prices in vaultcredit and-or kudos-points.

 

Article F: Baseball Results of the most recent game.

The Blue Beavers have won 13 runs to 8 against the Red Eagles. The Blue Beavers are now eligible for the semifinals and will either contest against the Brown Prairiedogs or the Eager Eagles.

 

Article G: Beatrice Armstrong Publishes 5^th Poetry Anthology named the Sparkling Vault Flowers.

Copies of the anthology can be loaned from vault libraries or bought at vaultshops for vaultcredit and-or kudos-points. All proceeds go to the TechVault101 Miscellaneous Welfare Fund.

 

Article H: Rage Incident in LifeVault101C Cafeteria!

The brief incident was easily contained by security staff. Public Law Order Overseer Harriet Hines advises that there should be no idle gossip, or active whispering, based on this happening.

 

Article I: PestRegulators to Gain Increased Resources.

The PestRegulators Department is to gain more resources to continue to carry out the excellent work that they have so far achieved.

 

Article J: The Maintenance Repair Department has repaired 15 SSVR capsules and two SSVR exoframes that will soon return to regulated public accessibility.

 

Article K: The Bake Off Cooking Competition has reached its first semifinal round with the Cookie Cookers, the Baking Bandits and the Steaming Sisters due to duel in the first kitchen-pantry match.

 

Article L: Strange, Disturbing, Unidentified Smells and Sounds in the AuxiVault101C.

Investigations, by various TechVault101 Departments, have so far failed to identify any cause of such phenomena but investigations continue because of new, credible, reports of such incidents.

 

Article M: Security Overseer Alan Mack's Official Request

The Overseer has officially requested the Doubling of Resources for the Security Department. This would come in the form of discretionary spending vaultcredit, power armour, powerful weapons, security robots and other hitech equipment-supplies. The PrimeOverseer has indicated that the request will go before the Overseers Central Committee.

 

Article N: TechVault101 Constitutional Amendment #5a has been brought forward for public assessment by Grade A Citizen Councils. Amendment #5a is an extension of the original Amendment #5 as pertaining to the regulation of Exclusive Resources Allocations.

 

Article O: Two New Cycle Tunnels Opened for the Exclusive Use of Pedal-Vehicles, Hybrid Pedal-Vehicles and Light Electric Vehicles.

 

Article P: Monotram Tunnel A1B1e to Undergo Annual Maintenance.

 

Article Q: New Radroach Farms Gain Valuable New Resources for TechVault101.

 

Article R: New Food Ration Choices Added to Cafeteria, and Meal Delivery, Menus.

 

Article S: Censorship Orders Placed on Citizen Views Newspaper Articles.

Editor Karl Lennon faces charges of breaking official publication guidelines.

 

Article T: Whispers of unofficial twixtvault, and rimvault, human populations are to be investigated by the Special Oversight Insight Department.

 

Article U: Apartment Based Artisan-Artist Efforts To Be Given Greater Support, and, Leeway in their production of goods.

 

Article V: 16 Basic Multifunction Remoterobots Reported Missing in AuxiVault101C.

 

Article W: Congratulations to Citizen Type A Students of the Special Training Education Academy for outstanding achievements in all subjects.

 

Article X: Reported Missing: Citizen Class B Andrew Doxen of the Internal Audit Investigation Subdepartment.

 

Article Y: Reported Missing: Citizen Class B Jodie Frost of the Miscellaneous Crime Subdepartment.

 

Article Z: Reported Missing: Cuddlewud the Cat. Reward offered for safe return.

Edited March 24, 2018 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

1.6.1[8]: An Important Meeting is Held

 

Assistant Overseer Cleopatra Thyne was the official spokesperson for the PrimeOverseer and HighOverseers. She was tough, canny, smart and arrogant. She was also aware enough to quickly pick up that such folks as the Andersons, Amata, Harry and a few others were of greater value to her than most who were officially supposed to be so.

 

In that 'great big metal hole in the ground of a pressure cooker' she was only too aware of the dangerous balances of vault existence. Thankfully so were others including the PrimeOverseer himself who had been honest-courageous enough to admit he was sometimes overwhelmed by it all and so to seek assistance but also to instigate some special semiofficial projects.

 

ThinkTank101 was a program-projects that not all Overseers, or other factions, were happy with. While the ThinkTank101 proper was a council who met to process ideas, to brainstorm, to bring forth reports, there were projects that were harder to define. Cleopatra sat on the TT101 Council and directed the various projects.

 

Cleopatra sponsored the meeting where she sat on-in a special chair as they all did. Jasmine, Catherine and James Anderson plus Harry were there also with Amata Almodovar, Director Perot of the PestExterminators, some others including three who wore secrecy helmets.

 

Harry smiled sweetly-warmly and looked to those in secrecy helmets. "Poet Beatrice Armstrong, Editor Karl Lennon and VaultGuard Overseer Captain Tellis, are those things you wearing fashion statements? I heard that the elites like to make fashion statements, what ever they are."

 

The three took the helmets off and sat there with ironic smiles on their faces.

 

Beatrice spoke. "Now, proof, of Harry's special nature above and beyond his adorableness. No, sweetie, were were supposed to be hiding our identities even from you."

 

Harry blushed, looked puzzled, and went to speak again until Jasmine stopped him with a kiss. Then she spoke very quietly into his closest ear. He nodded and did not speak.

 

Cleopatra spoke. "I would suppose that Harry was going to state that more than he 'saw through' the helmets. Such are a matter of security protocol but also because of a secret factional war taking place here in TechVault101 as in a counter-conspiracy versus a conspiracy. It has been going on for at least 100 years and there is growing evidence that the conspiracy has been active since the wheeldoors were rolled shut and then the previously hidden isolation barriers slammed down, or at least most of them did. That is, as you know, 258 years ago."

 

The story was well known. The VaultFolk101 had been tricked into thinking that they could leave the techvault, returning to the surface, after 100 years had passed. Instead the isolation barriers, being massive superconcrete walls reinforced with very tough alloys, had crashed into place. They could not be opened.

 

Except that one isolation barrier had failed to drop. The first PrimeOverseer, being angered by the way that even she was deceived, sent out the first expeditionary group into the cave systems that ringed TechVault101. That expeditionary group did not go far compared to later ones but from then one more than 30 expeditions took place, some of them very secretive because they had goals that were not even semiofficial in nature.

 

Five groups had entered the techvault, from outside, according to official records. All had been at least fairly large and the Andersons had been with one of the smaller ones. Semiofficially it was eight groups and unofficially it was probably more.

 

Cleopatra went on. "What this meeting is for is to discuss the growing troubles linked to the RedZone but also to see if they are linked to the conspiracy which has always been linked to the isolation experiment as imposed upon TechVault101. That is the conspiracy is actually a network of vaultfolk who secretly have monitored the results, of the isolation experiment, on the majority of VaultFolk101. Except that it has become clear that more than that has been taking place, that certain troubling elements have been added to the experimental mix. Does the RedZone have anything to do with the conspiracy network and the isolation experiment?"

 

Catherine spoke quietly but had everybody's attention. "Though most do not know it consciously, though most assume that the RedZone has existed since TechVault101 was completed, this is not true! The RedZone appeared, materialising to fill solid rock that it utilised to help fabricate new parts of itself, just five years ago. It is not really a vault section at all and the core of it does not even exist as normal reality. There, in that twisted reality, lies a great threat. This has nothing to do with the conspiracy network or the isolation experiment.

 

Catherine: "I had a great, and terrible, vision of the RedZone with the help-protection of higher entities. The radroachers are escaping from that and its minions for that thing is but a follower of something far more dangerous than itself. The RedZone is a bridgehead of a transdimensional invasion but is also a testing probe. The invasion is about regaining something stolen, gaining something desired and wreaking vengeance on something else. The only involvement that the conspiracy network has is that it is as shocked, and wary, of the RedZone as we are but has resources that could help us all survive and even drive off the RedZone."

 

For a short while the group was silent and trying hard to take in what had been said.

 

Amata spoke. "My father was linked to the Isolation Experiment Network 101 but broke away from it along with many others. Perhaps you could get him to give over such information."

 

Cleopatra: "I was also linked to the IEN101 and it helped form the basis of the anti-conspiracy when it shattered into two parts, being the loyalists and the reformists. Unfortunately neither faction has much real data on the experiment for that has always been controlled by the elite Founder Families. They being the core, of the IEN101, is the real reason for their slowly decaying hierarchical power, resources wealth and vaultfolk influence. So, where do we go from here?"

 

Jasmine spoke. "I can not, at this moment, speak of the source of the information I will now give. About 20 days ago a large, well equipped, very secret, expeditionary force entered the RedZone. We need to rescue them, to find out who they are, who sent them and why."

 

Harry spoke quietly and yet, somehow, all heard him. "You forget to add 'what has become of them?'"

 

The meeting soon ended to prepare for follow up briefings and more meetings including the quick organising of a special search and assessment team to go into the RedZone.

Edited March 24, 2018 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

1.6.2[9]: An Important Meeting is Held: Cleopatra has a follow up meeting

 

Cleopatra sat observing a 3Dwallscreen as it showed her a great, slowly changing, verdant forest. Animals flew, sauntered, swam in the river or climbed in the trees. She knew it was a false ideal of the real thing but it helped give her peace of mind, helped her to think more clearly.

 

Then the 3Dwall changed and there sat a man, behind a big desk, that tended to effect her in quite the opposite way. She hated him!

 

Djoser, who was named after an ancient Egyptian ruler as she was, frowned at her. "Well, daughter, they should have listened to both of us. The expeditionary force, that took up much of our remaining people and resources, has vanished in the RedZone."

 

Cleopatra spoke. "The Andersons know of the expeditionary force but not who-what sent it or why it was sent. The TT101 is organising a search-assessment team into the RedZone to try to find the taskforce. I do not know how they obtained their information except to say it follows a pattern long formed by the Andersons and some close to them. I made sure that the zero-mattercated copies of security guards, and their gear, was all disintegrated. I thought you were going to make sure none in the homevault utilised any of our stored zerotech."

 

He scowled. "None of the IEN101 Central Council were behind this. All zerotech has been securely locked away and is checked by reliable people every three hours. Despite that I went and checked for myself. Everything is in place. You hate me but you know I do not lie to you."

 

Cleopatra nodded. "What of the whispers, in SemiVault101M, of zerotech that has never been officially recorded let alone stored away carefully?"

 

Djoser: "My current allies, and myself, continue to look into the matter. You should not mention the name of the semivault in our communications. Do you wish for another whipping?"

 

Cleopatra shook her head, gritting her teeth. "The Founder Families have been linked firmly to the isolation experiment by a number of people. I stepped forward to volunteer the information, at the meeting, to continue to be loyal to the anti-conspiracy faction. It is only a matter of months before the Overseers Network turns against the Founder Families publicly and with overt action. I suggest surrender while we can still negotiate terms. I know you would not agree!"

 

He scowled. "On the contrary, given the stupid sending of the taskforce into the RedZone, I am starting to see that there is no other choice. Show me!"

 

She turned and undid her vaultsuit, and undersuit, enough to show the faded whip marks on her back. She did not know why her father liked to see them so often but it angered her even more that he did so. If he did not hold her younger siblings, and pets, hostage he would not get away with such things.

 

The 3Dwallscreen was back to being an ideal forest scene, the communications cut with the ultrasecret com cable. Standing there was the green shimmering, skinsuited, ETriplet.

 

She spoke. "My name is Emmelia of Life Elementalism. You will sleep and when you wake you will be enhanced. The whip marks will be there but only as long as you wish them to. If you are whipped again your body will show whip marks but you will feel very little pain being only enough to indicate when the whip strikes you. Harry saw the whip marks, for he can see through clothing as he saw through those silly helmets, as was more concerned for the pain in your mind, and spirit, than in your body. He vouches for you and that is enough to trust you; also we need you as you need us."

 

Cleopatra woke up, fully dressed, lying on her couchbed, folded out to be a bed, but with three big cats curled up with her. They were cute, adorable, and had beautiful eyes plus collars showing their names along with vault registration codes. The ginger orange tabby was Ginger, the black cat was Swiftie and the white one was Snowie. She was enhanced mind-body-spirit and knew that the cats were more than just cats. She rubbed them and they purred with delight.

Edited March 24, 2018 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

1.6.3[10]: An Important Meeting is Held: Amata Attends a Meeting of Two Overseers

Through heavy traffic, in vault terms, Amata had travelled on a vaultcredit hired bicycle. Pedal-vehicles made sense because of the smooth, level, ways of the techvault where even most ramps sloped more gently. Ramps, rampway tunnels, had been designed for robotic, remoterobotic, electric vehicle and trolley use but pedal-vehicles used them well. They also helped keep vaultfolk fit-healthy and saved on precious electricity better spent on special, high demand, needs and longer term reserve storage.

Amata pedalled carefully past a small group of seniors riding electric assisted mopeds, each being a big electric-tricycle with its back storage area full of cottage artefacts destined for the TechVault101 Open Market. She wished she had the time to buy one of their amazing goods but was soon leaving them behind.

After parking, locking, and getting charged a small vaultcredit fee for the ride, Amata took an express elevator ride and, after that, went through a safety-security airlock between that primevault, into a tunnel through an area of twixtvault and through another SSAL into CoreVault101.

A small escort took her to the PrimeOverseer's Office via monotram that at one point went straight upwards thanks to the use of a monotram elevator. The CoreVault was very busy, especially in that area, but more so than usual thanks to various increasing problems of which the RedZone was but one.

When Amata entered the small meeting room, alone, Security Overseer Allan Mack frowned softly. The others there were the PrimeOverseer himself and some aides along with two guards, one being a bodyguard for the PrimeOverseer and the other a security guard.

Amata sat down on a chair left there for her. She looked around, smiled, and spoke. "Sorry for my lateness but there appears to be an increase in traffic and in activity in the CoreVault."

Alphonse spoke. "Much of it is in reaction to a surprising, sudden, event; there has been an inexplicable surge in fully healthy births from women but also from primary forms of animals including from adult-females officially sterile. 100s of new human babies have been born but 1,000s of chicks, calves, pups, kittens and other animal young have arisen. Even plants are flourishing more than they used to along with fungi, cultivated bacteria and exotica. We are not here to discuss that matter but must do so soon in a bigger, more inclusive, meeting. In exchange for a doubling of useful resources, the Security Overseer will politically and practically support the TT101 and its projects." He turned to Allan.

The Security Overseer frowned softly. "The resources have been delivered including some suits of light power armour, light combat robots, multipurpose vaultdroids (androids) and some unusual tech. Security is dealing with the increase in rager incidents. The few regulation law enforcers, the vault has, are overwhelmed and not meant to deal with such a threat. Let them harass people over littering, graffiti, late library books, bicycle theft and such terrible crimes as that."

Alphonse spoke. "Then you can provide a heavy security unit to go with the expedition into the RedZone."

Allan suddenly grinned. "No, why waste such resources on a lot of fabricated stories and illogical nonsense. I thank you for the extra resources."

Amata smiled, not so nicely. "Storeroom Sera Alpha 101 4444 is what you coded it. Full of SecretMarket contraband goods and illegally held items. Evidence of your secret dealings with the SecretMarket criminals, with illegal populations in the twixtvault and rimvault, with the IEN101 and with some few others. The evidence, as datafiles, and hard-copy data, was not there before but we have planted it there in a very convincing manner. We also moved its location."

Alphonse smiled. "Now, will you do as promised?"

Alan shrugged. "I always intended to do so but hoped you would reveal why, when I last went to visit the storeroom, it wasn't there any more. Since you have caused me trouble, with being so clever, at least you can help me clean up the mess."

Alphonse nodded. "Consider it done!"

Edited March 24, 2018 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

Note: The TechVault101 Overseers Network

 

Official

 

PrimeOverseer

HighOverseers of the High Overseer Council that also includes the PrimeOverseer

Department Overseers

Assistant Overseers

 

Directors

Coordinators

Supervisors

 

Managers (newer category rank)

Assistant Managers (newer category rank)

 

Semiofficial

 

Troublers

Troubleseer (Trouble Overseer)

Troublelators (Trouble Regulators)

Troubleters (Trouble Shooters)

Edited March 24, 2018 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

1.7.1[11]: Into the RedZone They Go: Approaching the RedZone

 

The expeditionary taskforce, RedZone Intervention One or RZI01, reached the now more secure RedZone area. There were VaultGuards there along with heavy security guards, both in light power armour, protectrons, eyebots, heavy security vaultdroids, special dogs with their handlers, powerful rail-turrets and turrets along with some of the brand new VaultMilitia trained volunteers.

 

Both unsealed powerdoors had outposts but patrols moved carefully through the air. PestExterminators also patrolled the area and with them went who-what was available to spare.

 

It was a good, but not great, situation thanks to the shifting complexity of the approaches to the RedZone that had changed five years ago from a non changing, normal, area. The RedZone had influenced that area and that influence had been slowly-steadily spreading ever since. There were strange noises, smells and glimpses of fast moving things but though many were disturbing they rarely led to anything. Many were also not disturbing and some were even the opposite.

 

There was a secret conflict taking place of an extremely subtle and exotic type.

 

RA Teams had been pulled back and sent to other techvault areas to work. It had finally been realised by the Overseers that they had been achieving nothing valuable, except for some light salvage gains, while being put at increasing danger. Except that Frank Hardily joined the expedition officially as a knowledgeable liaison with much experience of the RedZone.

 

"Much experience in fear and frustration but also in wonderful moments!" Frank sighed. "I have come to the conclusion that a hidden battle has raged here since the RedZone appeared."

 

Jadekin responded. "Yes, there is, but this is not the time-place to speak of it. We have come to think that there was a ghostvault situated where the RedZone is now. The ghostvault was used by a secret research development project that may have been linked to the isolation experiment but we have found no logical reason what they would be so. The ghostvault was a semivault that according to data scraps, found in an old databank, could have been called Vesta101K being a nonsense code term designed to give nothing away. Except that data scraps revealed it to be unofficially termed as a 'special uses semivault'. We only found the data scraps because of intensive recent efforts to discover any useful data about the RedZone, either directly or indirectly. There was a truly massive attempt to erase any information about the ghostvault and we suspect it happened when the RedZone first appeared."

 

Juniper, Jadekin, and Jessica, were there representing the JQuintuplets. Secretly all of the SQuadruplets were also there as were the ETriplets. There was Frank Hardily, adoptive father to Harry Hardily, some heavy security people, some VaultGuards, some MilitiaGuards and a mixture of others with useful skills and experience.

Edited March 24, 2018 by Maharg67

[Maharg67]

1.7.2[12]: Into the RedZone They Go: Into the RedZone Outer Area

 

Small areas of floor, wall or ceiling rippled at times and there were odd muffled, distorted, sounds that the group found difficult to identify. They came upon black patches of sticky, vaguely tar like, substances and caught glimpses of flickering shadows that existed with out apparent natural cause to do so.

 

Jadekin spoke. "Shadowlings, semisolid upright shadowy humanoid figures. One of the more common entities of the dimensional realm of realms known as the Shadozone as being part of the Spectrumzone. Shadowlings are normally quite harmless but if boosted by more powerful entities they can both be dangerous as they are or try to possess victims; the last is tricky and often fails against unwilling hosts."

 

Jadekin: "That information was found in a book titled the The Dreaming Madness of Saint Sebastian of NewYork as edited and expanded by Elaine W. Washing. Elaine was careful to keep Sebastian's quotes, crazy hybrid poetry-prose and sketches intact as possible. She respected the so called living saints, of the Church of Living Saints, if only for their strange psychic abilities and the many successful predictions that they made in their visions. She surmised that the five living saints, of three women and two men, were the results of exotic biotech experimentation of the 2050s."

 

Frank Hardily spoke. "So what have the shadowlings to do with that awful stinking black stuff?"

 

Juniper responded this time. "The shadotar patches, as named but mortals like us, are markings of a far more powerful, but less common type of, Shadotaze entity than the shadowlings. Shadowlings use them to gain greater powers but become more enslaved to a higher-deeper entity in doing so."

 

Frank snorted softly. "Could you also have other sources of information such as MrShadow? He came visiting me last night. He met my family, my family cat who adored him, and we chatted about various matters. He mentioned the shadowlings, the shadotar and even the SQuadruplets."

 

The four SQuads shimmered into visibility as they deactivated their stealth cloaking shields.

 

Frank spoke out. "Hello, sweeties, how are you?"

 

Samantha smiled through her now transparent visor. "We are fine. You spoke to one of our dads. We met him just after he visited your family including lovely Harry. There is a green patch ahead that blooms with life energies. Harry created it to counter the expanding shadotar patches in the area and it worked. Shadotar is neutral, in itself, but can too easily be used for evil by rogue Shadotaze entities."

 

Samantha: "MrShadow speaks of the Shadoqueen being very angry, in a Tazekind fashion, at any Shadotaze willingly taking part in the RedZone being here as an intrusion for not all here are willingly so. The rogue shadofolk are being taken advantage of by non Tazekind entities. There are shaze here also but deeper in the RedZone but MrShadow does not know what else. There are Shadotaze Protocols that stop him going deep into the RedZone, if you can call them that for they are very nonhuman type rules and near impossible to understand from a human perspective."

 

The others there had mixed reactions to the appearance of the SQuads. Those with no real understanding of the RedZone, or of even being very close to it or in less exotic techvault areas, tended to be more surprised and wary but not those who had more 'interesting' experiences.

 

VaultGuard Lieutenant Sandover spoke as she eyed the four 'newcomers' with care but not hostility. "Unwilling? What do you mean by unwilling?"

 

Samantha responded. "The process which was used to draw willingly shadofolk into the RedZone, from the Shadozone, also sucked along with it unwilling shadofolk. MrShadow suggests that these might be good allies if only to help us to defeat what ever force it is that is holding them trapped here."

 

A silence fell as the group moved on and then found itself in a large hallway area where surfaces were covered with a kind of softly glowing green mossy substance. It grew over areas of floor, the walls and the ceiling but not the doors. Clear strips ran down the center of the hallway and from there to each door. Amazing plants grew from it and small, and tiny, creatures lived in it.

 

Overseer Supervisor Belen Hatzi was very wary of the SQuads as he was of the JQuintuplets. Now he frowned. "The substance could be exploited by the Department of Agriculture to..."

 

Jessica broke in. "That will not be happening. Just as the Lifecube is off limits to Overseers authority, so is the RedZone along with all exotic substances within both zones. The vault gives to the Lifecube but gains much in return in the form of valuable resources that it could not otherwise obtain easily if at all. The greenicglow is not yours to have let alone to 'exploit'."

 

Belen was, in theory, neutral in factional alignment but in practice he was linked with the corruption of the Founder Families though he was not of them. How he had ended up there was a puzzle except that now he was starting to behave in an irritable, nervous, fashion as his skin became more flushed, his eyes wilder and he began to shake.

 

Even as a shadowling flowed out of his gaping mouth, Belen collapsed to his knees and from there to the floor. He lay there, twitching, for a short time and then he died. The shadowling tried to escape but was drawn, against its will, into an area of greenicglow where it vanished.

 

All three ETriplets appeared as they shimmered blue, green and yellow-white. "So it is as some feared; shadowling possessed fools are even in the Overseer Network ranks. This was planned after information was gained from highly classified sources. Belen has been amongst a few individuals acting suspiciously, strangely, for the last few months. The longer the period of possession, the more distorted-sicker the possessed becomes. The fool could not be saved and his death was an act of mercy."

 

Sandover scowled. "So you wanted us here as witnesses as much as anything else?"

 

Jessica spoke. "Yes, it was planned that he should come here and be caught by Harry's greenicglow trap, having you as official witnesses, but it was also a gift as that man used to be a wiser, more compassionate, individual. His life went in a hard direction when his only child died and he became depressed. He was not helped enough and became open to hearing what one might call the 'dark mind voices'. That he was officially abandoned has been admitted to, by the PrimeOverseer, as a fault of the system that badly needs to be reformed."

 

Sandover frowned. "I would rather face obvious enemies that I can shoot than deal with sort of threat."

 

Jessica snorted. "So would I, but be reassured, soon we will be facing plenty of those."

 

Sandover snorted right back. "That was not reassuring!"

Edited March 24, 2018 by Maharg67

[Robert55]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Still good but needs editing a little over complicated?

[Maharg67]

1.7.3[13]: Into the RedZone They Go: A Very Strange Discovery

The main contents, of the standard type vault chamber, came as a surprise. An open powerdoor led into it so it was easily discovered. The lesser zerotech replication unit was semiactive only but quite recently it had been used to create the five fake security guards and their gear. There was no clues to who had done so or why they had done so. The replication template imprint data, for the fake guards and their gear, was still in the data buffers of the dangerous machine.

The ETriplets were wary of it even as they 'cleansed away' extremely toxic, antinatural, substances as slight as they were.

Jadekin spoke. "To think that Zerotech was supposed to be the greatest of the wonder technologies that would bring forth a great world utopia. Instead it brought on the the three year long Doomswar that ended in the 3Doomsdays."

Eshinae spoke, of phase elementalism, spoke. "There is something most odd about this zeromachine being here. Phasewise I sense that it has been shifted some 580 metres but by distortions in localised phase patterns. That is of the kind most likely caused by the intrusive appearance of the RedZone about five years ago. Perhaps zerotech experimentation, in the original ghostvault, gave an opportunity for the RedZone to be placed here. It would explain much for it would be extremely difficult to intrude into the dimensional realm from a very different kind of one."

Emmelia spoke. "Combining my elemental powers with those of my triplet sisters, one has detected that the entities that created the zeroreplicas were shadoslaves being three men and a woman. They were advanced in their sickness, their decay, caused by the possession and hard to identify from their facial features but their jumpsuit ID-badges showed they were not of the main vaultfolk population. Perhaps they were of the ghostvault population? Considering how long they had shown to be possessed, they could not be of the mysterious expedition that we are trying to track down."

The three elemental empowered sisters combined powers and disintegrated the working core of the zeroreplicator. It was no longer a threat, could not be repaired, for zerotech had to be manufactured from the basis up and there was only limited ways in which they could be fixed. It was one reason that zerotech had led to the cataclysm of the Doomswar and then the even worse one of the 3Doomsdays.

Stupidity multiplied by arrogance and ignorance.

The mysterious expedition had not found that chamber, or at least there was no evidence of them doing so.

The group found some useful equipment-supplies to take with them such as three bulky, powerful, xolaserguns fired shoulder fashion like missile launchers were. Xolasers were very deadly against such as shadowlings or zerolifeforms so it was curious that they were there in the same chamber as the zeromachine. They found more standard equipment-supplies in other lockers and storage containers; most of what they discovered was left there for later salvaging because it was not useful to at that time.

The group moved onwards as it went deeper into the RedZone.

Edited March 24, 2018 by Maharg67