*(mood song: "COLDPLAY - IN MY PLACE")
*(mood song: "screeching weasel - my brain hurts")
The palace had fallen silent.
Only the distant crackling of fires and the occasional collapse of damaged buildings echoed from outside.
Outside, the octopeople had already begun securing the upper districts while Rose's bots spread through every avenue.
Grati and Derak walked ahead, now with fresh bandages covering their wounds.
Derak: "The access shafts you seek should be beneath the imperial palace, my lord."
Grati nodded.
Grati: "The emperors declared them sacred centuries ago. Only the emperor and the holy guard could descend to the great ritual chambers."
Rose smiled faintly.
Rose: "Good... that saves us time searching for it~."
The throne room doors opened once more.
The city was extremely chaotic, as thousands upon thousands of corpses covered the streets.
Lizardmen, monsters, servitors, broken mechs, even the bodies of gigantic sea creatures that had climbed into the city during the assault.
Some were still moving as smaller creatures dug inside their carcasses, eating as much as they could.
Huge eel-like creatures dragged apart dead lizardmen while crab-like scavengers cracked armor open with oversized claws, greedily eating the innards and even the bones.
One creature looked up at them, its mouth still full of flesh.
Rose's eyes twitched with annoyance.
BANG.
Its head disappeared.
Without a word, her bots spread out, executing every scavenger creature still wandering the ruins with perfect precision.
Erik looked around.
Erik: "...Well... looks like cleanup starts now."
Rose sighed.
Rose: "Indeed... and I thought exterminating them would be the easy part."
Hours passed.
Explosives cleared collapsed passageways.
Bots of different sizes dragged away mountains of rubble.
The surviving lizardmen, under heavy guard, began hauling corpses into enormous piles while octopeople directed the work.
Antalya finally arrived with the main expedition force, breathing heavily after the long climb.
Antalya: "Finally... I swear this city was designed specifically to torture octopeople."
Timberly laughed.
Timberly: "You should get legs too~."
Antalya narrowed her eyes and slightly nodded.
Antalya: "...I shall consider it."
One of Rose's construction bots stopped.
A scanner projected blue holograms into the rubble.
Rose walked closer.
Rose: "...There."
The bots immediately began removing collapsed walls with mechanical precision.
Layer after layer disappeared.
Finally, a massive circular blast door emerged beneath centuries of debris.
Unlike everything above...
It remained pristine.
Its white ceramic metallic surface showed barely a scratch.
In front of it was a three-meter-deep stone basin carved directly into the floor.
Around it were thousands of shattered crystal containers.
Many more had been crushed beneath collapsed ceilings in adjacent rooms.
Dark green residue covered everything and finally ended on the basin carved into the floor.
Rose crouched beside one of the broken containers.
Rose: "...Poison."
Erik frowned.
Erik: "This much?"
Rose slowly stood.
Rose: "Far more than this."
She pointed toward the destroyed storage rooms surrounding the chamber.
Rose: "Those were all storage deposits."
Everyone looked around.
Entire warehouses.
Every shelf.
Every rack.
Destroyed.
The poison had spilled everywhere quite some time ago.
Timberly carefully avoided stepping into one of the thick puddles.
Timberly: "...Someone really hated you."
Rose looked toward the door.
Rose: "They probably didn't even remember why they did it. Once a tradition sets, the next generation just does the same over and over."
She pointed lower.
Almost hidden beneath the blast door...
A hole.
Barely large enough to fit a foot on it.
Its edges had been perfectly melted, and the carved basin led to it.
Rose knelt beside it.
Rose: "...Plasma."
Erik crouched beside her.
Erik: "Someone drilled underneath the blast door."
Rose nodded.
Rose: "The door couldn't be breached."
She touched the smooth opening.
Rose: "So they drilled beneath it..." She frowned "...and poured everything through here."
Everyone followed the faint dried trail.
The poison had disappeared beneath the sealed door.
For eons, thousands of generations, pouring poison...
Antalya stared silently.
Antalya: "...How much poison are we talking about?"
Rose remained quiet for several seconds as she looked around.
Rose: "... By the amount of storehouses and residue puddles, at least around 1 million liters of poison must have seeped through this time. The place must have been destroyed in the initial blasts"
Silence fell.
Even Erik blinked.
Erik: "...That's... half of an Olympic pool."
Rose laughed weakly.
Rose: "Well, it could have been a failsafe too, but from the blasts around it seems the work of artillery shells..."
Then...
Rose suddenly grabbed the side of her helmet.
Her face contorted.
Erik immediately noticed.
Erik: "Rose?"
She didn't answer.
Her vision blurred.
A sharp pain exploded inside her mind.
Not ordinary pain.
A pressure.
An overwhelming wave.
Rose staggered.
Timberly rushed forward.
Timberly: "Rose!" trying to support Rose.
But Rose caught herself against a wall
Rose: "...I'm... fine..."
She wasn't.
Another pulse struck.
Her knees almost buckled.
Erik caught her before she could fall.
Erik: "Easy."
Rose held her head.
Rose: "...It's...my brain..."
Everyone looked at her.
Rose forced herself to keep standing.
Rose: "All that poison...it's down there."
She closed her eyes tightly.
Rose: "We need to go down fast. There should be a... pump system... for... flooding... ugh"
She winced again.
Rose: "...It feels like someone poured an entire ocean of migraine directly into my head..."
Erik tightened his grip around her shoulders.
Erik: "Then let's finish this quickly."
Rose nodded slowly: "...Yes."
She placed her hand against the ancient blast door.
Nanobots spread over its pristine surface and onto the circuits underneath, powering and repairing them.
It took several minutes, and then...
CLUNK.
Massive locking bars retracted one after another.
THOOM.
The enormous blast door slowly swung inward.
Cold air escaped from the darkness below.
Accompanied by a horrendous stench.
Rose: "Rot and miasma... everyone wear your helmets"
A spiral staircase descended into the darkness.
Its once white steps were now stained.
Dark.
Slippery.
Covered by eons of dried sludge.
Chemical residue.
Industrial waste.
Poison.
Organic Waste.
Every liquid the lizardmen had poured through that tiny opening had eventually flowed down these stairs.
The contamination coated every surface.
Erik carefully tested one step.
His boot slid slightly.
Erik: "...That's disgusting."
Rose looked down the seemingly endless staircase.
Her voice became unusually quiet.
Rose: "These stairs..." she sighed "...used to shine."
She slowly took the first step.
Erik stayed beside her, one arm supporting her as she fought another wave of dizziness.
Behind them...
Timberly tightened her grip on her spear.
Antalya looked uneasily into the darkness and almost immediately slipped after one step.
Timberly: "Careful!" She thankfully caught her on time, pulling her back.
Erik: "It's quite slippery for your tentacles. Maybe better stay and supervise the cleanup?"
Antalya sighed: "I guess that would be for the best. I would need to wash my tentacles for weeks to wash off that stench if I accompanied you down"
Inky chambered another belt into her machine gun.
Inky: "Don't worry, we got this"
And they began descending toward the deepest place on the planet.
Grati and Derak, on the other hand, were directed by Antalya to join the cleanup crews, always supervised by octopeople soldiers.
In the dark staircase, minutes turned into hours as they all did their best not to slip forward with the muck.
The staircase never seemed to end.
Only the steady echo of their armored boots broke the silence.
Occasionally...
A droplet of dark liquid fell from somewhere above.
...plop...
Even the sound echoed for several seconds before disappearing into the abyss below.
Erik looked upward.
Nothing.
Only darkness.
Erik: "...How deep are we? Is there an elevator?"
Rose took a few seconds to answer.
Rose: "... Around six kilometers deep, still a long way to go, and yes, there are elevators, but they aren't responding to the pings."
Timberly nearly missed a step.
Timberly: "...how long will it take then?..."
Rose nodded weakly.
Rose: "My body wasn't exactly designed to be easy to reach from the surface. There are procedures and lots of sublevels, so walking at this slow pace, we should take... around three more days."
Inky looked over the edge of the central shaft.
Her flashlight never found the bottom.
Inky: "...I hate this, can't we just jump or use a rope?"
Erik chuckled.
Erik: "Are you not afraid of heights?"
Inky crossed her arms.
Inky: "No."
She looked down again.
Inky: "...just secure the rope properly, and done."
Rose smiled faintly.
Rose: "We don't have a rope that long, and friction would destroy your hands, haha. At this height, a parachute would be more appropriate."
Erik chuckled: "With how slippery the stairs are, a slide might work, though"
Rose: "No, the acceleration would crash you against the walls and cause a fatal accident. A slide would only work on a straight-line stairway and with a way to slow you down at the end"
Erik: "What about those slides that go really fast over ice?"
Rose: "...here we have stone walls, not ice. It would need much wider and curved bends to avoid launching you off on a curve... You get it, right? It won't work"
Erik dropped a pebble and saw it disappear down the abyss: "...Indeed... so what do we do when we reach the end? "
Rose rubbed her forehead.
Rose: "If my maintenance systems are still functional... we activate them, first the pumps to clear the gunk," she sighed "...and if they aren't..." she looked up "we would need to install new pumps all the way down." She paused. "Worst-case scenario would require a couple of decades of scooping gunk up the stairs with bots and slave labor"
Timberly swallowed.
Timberly: "...let's hope it doesn't get to that."
Hours passed.
The walls slowly began changing.
White ceramic walls surrounded them now.
Not a crack.
Not a stain.
Erik noticed something.
Erik: "No dust."
Everyone looked closer.
He was right.
After eons...
Not a single grain of dust rested on the walls.
Only the poison and sludge coating the stairs remained.
Rose gently ran her fingers across the wall.
The ceramic almost reflected her helmet.
Rose: "The self-cleaning nanolayer is still working at this depth."
Timberly blinked.
Timberly: "...After millions of years?"
Rose smiled proudly.
Rose: "I built things to last."
Another sharp pain shot through her head.
Rose stumbled.
This time she couldn't hide it.
She nearly collapsed before Erik caught her again.
Erik: "Rose."
Rose squeezed her eyes shut.
Rose: "...Closer...We're getting closer..."
She could feel it now, the sensors down the tube were not sending any feedback back, but her organic parts seemed to be on fire with all the substances coating them now.
Like hearing someone scream through several kilometers of water.
Every step made it stronger.
Days later.
The staircase finally ended.
The group stepped onto a gigantic circular platform.
Everyone froze.
Timberly slowly looked upward.
The shaft vanished into darkness.
She looked downward.
It continued even farther below.
Massive bridges extended in every direction across an immense cylindrical chamber whose walls curved so far away they vanished into darkness.
Tower-sized pipes.
Elevators.
Maintenance rails.
Countless sealed blast doors.
Everything perfectly preserved.
Not a single machine was running.
Not a single light remained active.
Only the beams from their helmets illuminated the impossible structure.
Erik slowly whistled.
Erik: "...So...are we inside your head?."
Rose looked around silently.
Her expression softened.
Rose: "...No..."
She looked into the darkness ahead.
Rose: "...This is only the maintenance level."
Even Erik stopped smiling.
Erik: "...You're kidding."
Rose slowly shook her head.
Rose: "My actual brain..."
She pointed toward another enormous blast door nearly two hundred meters away.
Rose: "...is still several kilometers deeper."
Silence returned.
Even Inky simply stared at the colossal underground world stretching endlessly beneath the planet's crust.
Somewhere...
Far below...
A deep metallic sound echoed through the darkness.
...THOOOOOOM...
Nobody moved.
Timberly slowly tightened her grip on her spear.
Timberly: "...Please tell me that was just the building settling."
Rose remained perfectly still.
Listening.
Then another dull vibration rolled through the chamber.
...THOOOOOOM...
Rose frowned.
Rose: "...No... It's either a mechanical failure, or we aren't alone"
They hurried to the blast doors, and Rose quickly opened a side door, leading into a control room, the floors now riddled with powered-down bots.
Rose: "Strange, there should have been also bots outside... "
She sat on a control chair and connected to the systems as her nanobots extended and repaired the broken power cables. Some dim lighting returned to the control room.
Rose grunted: "I should have brought a generator, the power is a mess, it seems redirecting what little was left to our previous base in the mountain killed lots of the maintenance systems completely..." she sighed "well, time to undo that, the mountain base has its own power now... in fact, I will syphon that power for a while, and the factory connection where we found... Molly is also restored... rerouting power and... done!" She paused. "It ain't much for such a huge installation, but it will do for now... checking the logs, it seems this room was powered down completely first to support outer restoration bots... that would explain why they are powered down all over the room, the bots outside tried to fix the pumps and power systems, and were rendered out of service by something... let's hope they succeeded"
Dim emergency lights glittered all over the subterranean structure, and mechanical arms came out of ceilings, dragging bots to their charge stations.
Rose: "Now let's restart the surveillance system..." Small spheres launched from pods everywhere, starting to scan all the structures. "Hmm... only 22% are operational. Well lets redirect some to the origins of the sound"
A screen appeared from the ceiling in the control room, and they could see the drone get closer to the source of the sound, finally finding deep down an area completely flooded and collapsed. Black tendrils attached themselves to the metal and eroded it, a gigantic black pulsating mass. The drone quickly flew by, scraping a tiny sample, flying away as tendrils tried but failed to catch it.
Back at the control room, Rose observed the drone and how the sample slowly took over the drone and melted it.
Rose: "It seems to be some kind of metal eating bacteria colony, must have been agitated by the poison flooding... and it also contains some of my DNA... it seems it has also eaten parts of my dead brain." She paused. "It probably also destroyed the repair bots."
Erik: "What do we do?"
Rose: "Well, I'm restoring power, but that thing is where the main connections out of my brain chamber used to be, and the evacuation pumps nearby, I can confirm, are blocked at the moment. Also, that thing is gigantic... so it will be quite complicated to remove with ordinary methods. I could try to forcefully make the pumps spin with more power. That will chop it up and send it into the incineration system. "
Inky: "Can't it just be pumped outside?"
Rose shook her head: "I Don't wanna move this huge biohazard from inside to outside." She looked at Erik. "You guys go restart the geothermal emergency generators. I will direct bots to come down and to start cleaning the installations... It's gonna take a while"
Erik: "Hmm, okay, but what about that vault we couldn't access before? We could try opening it, maybe it has a solution"
Rose: "Maybe, but I would rather not take such huge risks while inside my head. You do what you want with your own body"
Erik shrugged: "Alright, send me the coordinates to those geothermal generators. I will have them running as soon as possible"
Rose nodded as she waved in his direction, and a marker appeared on the HUD of his helmet, along with detailed schematics of the geothermal system.
Erik: "Quite the distance away"
Rose: "I could only get a response from this one. I would give you a vehicle, but nothing seems to be responding"
Erik: "It's alright, we have walked quite a bit already. A bit more makes no difference"
Hours later, Erik, Inky, and Timberly arrived at an area covered in sulfuric gases as huge pylons were suspended over a solid slab of stone.
Erik stared at the enormous geothermal chamber.
Dozens of colossal pylons hung motionless above the stone floor, each one connected to thick cables that disappeared into the ceiling.
The air shimmered with heat.
Occasional clouds of yellowish sulfuric gas escaped from cracks in the rock, slowly drifting across the chamber before being sucked into ancient ventilation shafts.
Inky coughed as some of the gases passed through the filters on her helmet, and even though the toxins had been removed, the air was still extremely dry and hot, drying out her respiratory system.
Inky: "...I officially hate this place."
Timberly adjusted her helmet tighter.
Timberly: "At least we have sealed helmets." She paused. "So, what do we do now?"
Erik checked the schematic Rose had transmitted to them.
Erik: "Let's see... the pylons must be submerged in molten rock to absorb the heat and convert it into electricity. First, we need to inspect the pylons for defects, and then crack the solid slab and lower the pylons into place... once set, reset every century... seems simple enough"
Inky: "How do we know what a defect looks like?"
Erik: "By comparison, there are 38 pylons. Just look for differences." He paused. "According to this, the control room should be directly beneath that platform."
He pointed toward a raised structure on the other side of the chamber.
Erik: "I'll check the control room. Rose's nanobots should have reached it and started repairs by now. You two inspect the pylons."
Inky looked at the suspended machines.
Inky: "And if one looks different?"
Erik: "Tell me."
Inky: "And if all thirty-eight look different?"
Erik paused.
Erik: "...Then tell me which one looks the most different."
Inky sighed.
Inky: "Very scientific."
Timberly moved toward the first pylon.
The enormous machine was easily twenty meters long.
Its surface was made from the same pristine white ceramic they had seen throughout the maintenance levels, although its lower section was covered in layers of dark mineral deposits.
Timberly carefully brushed some away.
Timberly: "This one looks intact."
Inky walked to the next.
Inky: "This one too."
They continued.
One after another.
Thirty-eight pylons.
Most looked almost identical.
Almost.
Inky suddenly stopped.
Inky: "...Wait."
Timberly turned.
Inky pointed toward the far end of the chamber.
Inky: "That one."
Timberly approached.
One of the pylons was slightly different.
A thin crack ran vertically across its outer casing.
Timberly: "That seems like a defect indeed"
Inky shrugged.
Inky: "Maybe."
She tapped the casing with the butt of her weapon.
CLANG.
The sound echoed through the chamber.
Nothing happened.
Inky frowned.
Inky: "...The inside sounds hollow."
Timberly looked at the schematic.
Timberly: "They're all supposed to be partially hollow."
Inky: "Right... then how does it work?"
Timberly stared at her and shrugged.
Timberly: "...I don't get how it works either"
Several meters away, Erik reached the control platform.
A thick layer of volcanic ash covered the consoles.
He wiped one clean.
Underneath was a glowing symbol.
Erik smiled.
Erik: "Found it."
He placed his hand against the console.
Nothing.
Erik: "...Rose?"
His helmet crackled.
Rose: *I'm here.*
Erik: "I found the controls, but they're not responding."
Rose: *Give me a minute.*
Erik waited.
Several seconds passed.
Then the console suddenly flickered.
A red line appeared.
Then another.
Then hundreds.
The entire control panel began illuminating one section at a time.
Rose: *There, it should be fully powered now.*
Erik: "You repaired it?"
Rose: *Partially. The control systems are receiving power from the emergency grid I reactivated. Once you activate this, we should have a bit of power to spare.*
Erik looked around.
Erik: "Can I activate the generators?"
Rose: *Not yet, normally you would first activate the plasma drills to melt the upper solid rock slab of the lava pool, the glowing symbol in your HUD activates them, but we don't have enough power for that, so find the pylon in the worst state and force that one down first, it will probably break, but it will crack the slab enough for the others to descend safely.*
Erik frowned and then sighed. He then tapped the communicator on his helmet.
Erik: *Timberly, Inky, I found the controls. What did you find?*
A few seconds passed.
Inky: *The one at the far end. We are next to it.*
Erik looked toward the observation window.
Timberly and Inky were standing beside the cracked pylon.
Timberly pointed toward a crack on the pylon with her spear.
Erik looked down at the controls and selected the corresponding pylon, moving each one a little from the console.
Erik: *Alright... lowering pylon once you are back here and safe. Lava might splash in the process.*
Minutes later, they were all inside the control room as Erik closed the security door and protective shutters over the windows.
Erik: "Ready... lowering pylon!"
He pressed the activation control.
CLUNK.
A deep mechanical sound echoed through the chamber.
The defective pylon began slowly descending.
VMMMMMMMM...
Its enormous body moved downward, guided by ancient rails that groaned under the strain of being activated after so many years.
Timberly watched through the security monitor.
Timberly: "It's moving."
Inky: "Slowly..."
Erik kept his eyes on the readings.
Erik: "The system is drawing more power than I expected, but everything seems operational."
The pylon continued descending.
KRRRRRRR...
A horrible metallic screech came from the chamber.
Timberly: "That doesn't sound good."
Erik: "It's supposed to sound bad, don't worry."
The pylon descended another few meters.
Its lower section approached the solid stone slab.
Erik watched the distance indicator.
Erik: "Almost there..."
The pylon touched the stone.
...
Nothing happened.
Erik frowned.
Erik: "...Come on, push through."
The pylon continued pushing downward.
KRRRRRNNNNG.
A thin crack appeared beneath it.
Timberly stepped closer to the monitor.
Timberly: "There!"
The crack spread across the stone.
Then another one branched away from it.
CRACK.
The entire chamber trembled.
Erik: "It's working."
Inky: "Lower it further."
Erik pressed the control again.
The pylon descended more.
BOOOOOOM.
The stone slab suddenly fractured beneath it.
A massive section collapsed.
An intense orange glow appeared through the opening.
Then—
FWOOSH!
Molten rock burst upward around the bottom of the pylon.
Everyone instinctively stepped away from the monitor.
Inky: "HOLY—!"
The security shutters shook from the impact.
Timberly: "The lava reached it!"
Erik stared at the readings.
Erik: "Temperature is climbing rapidly."
Rose's voice came through the communicator.
Rose: *How's it going? I felt a response.*
Erik: *It's already in the lava!*
Rose: *Good. Now wait.*
The pylon began glowing orange from the bottom upward.
Its ceramic shell started cracking.
KRRRRRRRR...
Erik: *It's failing.*
Rose: *Yes, as expected.*
The pylon suddenly bent.
A huge section of its casing broke apart and fell into the molten rock.
BOOM.
The impact sent another wave of lava across the fractured slab.
The remaining stone cracked even farther.
CRAAAAACK.
A network of fractures spread beneath the other thirty-seven pylons.
Timberly: "The slab is breaking!"
Erik: "I see it."
Rose: *Excellent. Now lower the remaining pylons.*
Erik moved his hand across the controls.
Erik: "Here we go."
He unlocked the remaining pylons.
CLUNK.
CLUNK.
CLUNK.
One after another, the enormous machines began descending.
THOOM.
THOOM.
THOOM.
Their lower sections punched through the fractured stone and disappeared into the molten rock beneath.
The chamber shook continuously.
Inky grabbed the edge of the console.
Inky: "Is this supposed to shake this much?"
Erik: "Probably."
Inky: "You don't sound very confident."
Erik: "It's my first time too."
Timberly watched the damaged pylon.
It was almost completely broken apart now.
Timberly: "That one is collapsing."
The defective pylon finally gave way.
KRRRRRNNNNG—
BOOOOOOM!
Its entire lower section broke apart and fell into the lava.
A wave of molten rock surged outward.
The remaining pylons immediately settled into their positions.
Silence.
For several seconds...
Nothing happened.
Erik stared at the console.
Erik: "...Did we just break it?"
Rose: *No, it's reaching optimal temperature.*
The console suddenly flickered.
One indicator turned green.
Then another.
Then dozens.
VMMMMMMMMMMMM...
A deep mechanical hum began spreading through the chamber.
Erik slowly smiled.
Erik smiled: "We have power."
Rose: *Yes haha*
The pylons began glowing with a faint orange-white light as they absorbed heat from the molten rock.
Energy readings climbed steadily.
12%.
18%.
27%.
Erik: "It's increasing."
Rose: *Give it a few minutes. The geothermal system hasn't operated in eons.*
The chamber lights began turning on one section at a time.
First, the control platform.
Then the maintenance corridors.
Then distant sections of the enormous geothermal complex.
One by one, ancient systems awakened.
Inky looked around.
Inky: "...We actually did it."
Timberly smiled.
Timberly: "Looks like it."
Erik leaned back against the console.
Erik: "Rose?"
Rose: *Yes?*
Erik: *How much power do we have now?*
Rose paused.
Rose: *Enough.*
Erik: *...Enough?*
Rose: *Enough to start cleaning up the mess downstairs.*
A series of heavy mechanical noises echoed through the communication channel.
THOOM.
THOOM.
THOOM.
Erik looked at the monitor.
Erik: "What's that?"
Rose: *Pumps.*
Another vibration passed through the facility.
Rose: *I'm also restarting the ventilation system...thankfully it's still operational.*
Inky looked relieved.
Inky: "Finally."
Rose: *I've already started sending bots down the staircase.*
Timberly: *To clean the poison?*
Rose: *And sterilize everything that has been growing in it, yes.*
Erik looked toward the sealed door.
Erik: *What about the bacterial mass?*
There was a brief silence.
Rose: *It's still moving, but it won't be moving for long. Now come back to the main control room. I will send a bot to manage the geothermal power generators, so you can come back.* She paused. *Exit from the back of the room. There's an emergency ventilated corridor. Temperature readings on the main geothermal chamber read above 600°C.*
Erik, Timberly, and Inky went back to the main control room. Bots from the surface were now there, connecting downed bots to charging stations on the walls while Rose remained seated and connected to the main console.
Far below them, something enormous thrashed against the ancient machinery.
BOOOOOOM.
The entire underground complex vibrated.
Rose: "The water is already reaching it."
Erik: "And the pumps?"
Rose: "Coming online now. Thankfully, we won't need to go down there."
Erik, Timberly, and Inky exhaled in relief.
Another deep vibration rolled through the facility.
This time, it was followed by the sound of enormous turbines beginning to spin.
VMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...
Rose: "Now we can finally start draining the chamber."
Erik: "Won't that release the creature outside?"
Rose: "Don't worry. The blades for the pumps are super sharp and moved by an external magnetic field, and the water from those pumps is routed through a chemical processing chamber heated by the lava. The system then separates the water from the dissolved salts and chlorides, producing steam and hydrochloric acid. The acid vapors will then be released through the ventilation system to clean the installation."
She paused.
Rose: "Once the water has been evaporated, microwaves will dry the remaining minerals and oxides into a fine ash-like powder. The metal powders will be recovered for repairs, while the remaining ashes and minerals will be poured into the lava pool."
Erik: "Is that safe?"
Rose: "Yes. The salt residues, minerals, and oxides left in the remaining ashes will act as a chemical flux. When mixed into the molten silicate rock, they will slightly lower the melting point and viscosity of the surrounding lava, causing localized bubbling, color shifts, and minor slag formation on the surface."
She paused again.
Rose: "It should also help dissolve the remaining crust on the lava pool and make the molten layer more stable."
Erik: "Then what now?"
Rose: "Remain here and wait. The hydrochloric acid will be released throughout the entire installation. The structures are made from corrosion-resistant alloys, so the structures will be fine, while the acid strips away the grime and chemical contaminants."
She looked at the monitor.
Rose: "My bots are also pouring scalding hot filtered seawater down the shaft and using hydrogen peroxide from an electrochemical, solar-powered reactor on the surface to wash the stairs. Nanobots are also being supplied for repairs as they extend downwards. So everything should be clean in at least a couple of weeks. The bacterial mass ain't the only problem after all. Poison and gunk are covering most of the lower areas and need to be washed away and disinfected. Then the passages will need to be reconstructed."
Inky: "...so we can't leave?, Our daughters are waiting for us on the ship"
Rose: "Your suits would corrode, and your lungs would burn if you did, but don't worry, my bots are caring for them, and the high elder Antalya, Shana, and Megan are there too. As for you, my bots will bring us food, so everything is under control. Once the data feed is connected in a couple of days, you can even do a video call"
Erik: "In that case, let's check that cut connection to that vault from the last time?"
Rose: "Well, I can start looking into it. Once the installations are clean, we will go check on my main body first. The outer connections were mostly dead, though some farther away seem fine, as I would have been completely isolated inside otherwise... but I closed the main chamber for now while the disinfection is going on to avoid more damage. Once that's done, the main body should be fine once we remove the dead tissue and reactivate the digestors"
Erik: "Digestors?"
Rose: "Yeah, like a human digestive system but the size of a football field. Luckily, we have a lot of available biomass on the surface that I can use for repairs." She paused. "One of the high-speed elevators should also be active by then to bring everything needed down too"
Erik shrugged: "We can always just drop them down the shaft too."
Rose: "Although that would work, I don't wanna contaminate the area after it's finally clean. The final impact velocity would make the bodies splash everywhere."
Erik: "You have a point, although we could always install a safety net." he stretched, and yawned. "I will take a nap then. Wake me up if you need me. After more than three days awake, I'm quite sleepy."
Timberly and Inky nodded too.
Timberly: "Me too. It's been a long descent."
Inky nodded: "Yeah, I'm quite drowsy too."
Rose pointed behind her, and a door opened on the wall: "You guys can sleep there. There's a bed for the supervisor"
Inky entered the room and frowned.
Inky: "Is there only one bed?"
Rose shrugged: "Yes"
Timberly: "I-I'm fine with it, I can lie down in the middle and-"
Inky: "No, who knows where your hands will wander while you sleep. I should-"
Timberly: "What-"
Erik stopped them: "I will lie down in the middle, Inky to my left and Timberly on the right. Now everyone lie down and sleep already." Lying down on the bed.
Timberly blushed: "O-Okay." Lying her huge frame sideways next to Erik, and nuzzling against him as she hugged him, "Sorry, not enough space~"
Erik: "It's okay, just sleep"
Inky frowned but did the same, hugging Erik's left side.