You are standing on a sandy beach. A sandstone [[cliff->Cliff]], nearly fifty meters tall, stretches south along the coast.
Ten meters of beach stretch from the cliff’s base before the foaming ocean’s roiling and hiss swallows up the land. [[Rocks->Beach Rocks]] lie in still streams, spread thinly iin basins as wide as deltas at the base of the cliff, constricting and contorting to depths of three or four in foot-wide gullies where the waves lick them.
The sun is hidden behind a low, thick cloud layer, but there's plenty of light. The air here is moist and chilly, tinged with a salt flavor.
Near [[the north end of the beach->North Beach]], there is a rail sunk into the cliff.The rocks are worn and rounded from millennia of grinding and sanding by the waves. There are no sharp edges anywhere. Dark reds, brilliant whites, and shining yellows glint in the occasional flashes of sunlight as the clouds overhead shift. The stones are very beautiful, but it is a fleeting beauty; when they dry, they will be as grey and dull as any others.
[[Back->Beach]] You walk closer to the cliff to examine its face.
The lime and sandstone of the cliff is green and orange and dirty white, running and mucky from millennia of salt water and occasional rain. The cliff is staggered, with occasional dropbacks supporting tiny ecosystems on their miniature plateaus.
There is a [[small cave->Beach Cave]] at the base, perhaps three feet above the level of the beach.
[[Return to the water's edge->Beach]] Large rocks, their bulks buried in sand, provide stepping stones to the cave’s ledge. It sinks about two meters in, and isn’t tall enough for anyone but a child to stand. The surface of the ledge is slightly wet with spray from below and drip from above.
It feels peaceful here.
[[Return to the water's edge->Beach]] You walk up the beach for a few minutes until you are standing in front of the railed cut. It is held up by lightly rusted steel bars and plates. The bars form a square pattern, holding plates two meters on a side tight against the cliff, protecting the region from erosion.
A metal and wire cage sits at the bottom, with accordion doors and a two buttons in the shape of triangles pointing up and down. These control the elevator with the least precedence; the controls atop the cliff override them, and those inside the elevator win over both.
You can [[ascend->Elevator Up]] or [[return->Beach]]. The elevator is just large enough for a group of six to ride comfortably; perhaps eight or even ten could squeeze in, but it seems doubtful that the lift would carry the weight. A pair of steel cables, brake and winch, run up the cliff from the top of the cage.
You to step into the cage and feel cold, diamond-patterned steel on your feet. There is a second set of elevator controls here, and you press the "up" button. The mesh accordion door slides shut and the elevator slowly rumbles its way upward, gaining speed as the winch creaks into life.
Climbing the cliff takes almost unbearably long, but you finally reach the top and the mesh door [[slides open->Elevator Platform]]. You are standing at the top of the cliff on a small, railed platform of steel, three triangular beams beneath it holding it to the cliff. You have a beautiful view of the kelp forests just beneath the waves a few hundred meters out to sea.
There is a small, gated, covered bridge to the left that leads to the [[cliff’s edge->Clifftop]]. You are standing on the edge of the cliff that drops down to the beach. The edge has no rail, but there is no reason to fear falling, and the [[elevator platform->Elevator Platform]] bridge deposits you far enough from the precipice for safety. The occasional cactus and scrub bush are exceptions to the rule of lemongrass and creeping desert plants. Ahead (to the east, that is) is the battered concrete and steel head of a [[bunker->Bunker West Edge]].The bunker is round and squat, less than a single story and forty meters in diameter. There are small quartz windows every five meters or so that let in light, but they are milky and translucent.
The plants do not come close to the edge of the structure, which steams slightly as spray and mist touch its body-warm concrete surface; there is little rust on the periodic struts that descend into the rocky, crusted soil, but large salt crystals have formed near their bases.
No vents or radiators are evident on the lightly slanted conical roof, but the south side is covered in solar panels, which are by far the cleanest surfaces in sight.
The way around to the north is impassible; a forest of scrub, cacti, Joshua trees, and stunted-looking Torrey pines bar access. To the south is a footpath, not constructed but rather beaten by the frequent passage of feet. It tracks three or four meters from the steaming cylinder of the bunker, swinging around at a slightly higher circumference to the [[front of the structure->Bunker Entrance]].
To the west is the [[edge of the cliff->Clifftop]].The bunker’s circular structure is interrupted by a long, rectangular protrusion that sticks about twelve meters into the field. Near its end is a [[large door->Bunker Blast Door]].
To the west is a [[footpath->Bunker West Edge]], and to the east is a large, green [[field->Bunker Field]]. To the north is a [[makeshift shelter->Garage]].This is a long, wide field of well-kept grass, 75 meters across and nearly 300 long. The field is surrounded by the same scrub and desert plant forest that borders the bunker to the north.
To the west is the [[bunker->Bunker Entrance]]. In the distance you can see [[Vega's tower]].The huge blast door has the words “FUCK OFF” spraypainted in unruly red letters over its original stenciled yellow “COMPLEX 24”. A twelve-key pad to the left springs to life when touched, keys aglow and vacuum-fluorescent display flickering.
The code is 1945; the keys stick and resist their deep travel into the panel as you press them.
Upon receipt of the right code, the door rumbles open, splitting down the middle (the bottom half has a trapezoidal tongue that protrudes a little way up into the top half, and the two connect with cylindrical teeth).
It is perhaps thirty centimeters thick; as it disappears into the ceiling and the ground, an [[entrance tunnel->Bunker Entry Hall]] is revealed.The tunnel’s wall is concrete, like the rest of the bunker. Conduits and pipes run along the left side of the ceiling, with small interruptions for lights and a set of switches and valves at the entrance (for controlling pressure and power to the door).
The lights are bare LED bulbs, protected with yellow cages, spaced out two meters apart. Various detritus lines the right side of the hall.
Halfway down the hall there are two upturned, empty wooden crates surrounded by four fold-out chairs, two on each side. There is a trash can with empty vodka bottles and food scraps, and on the makeshift table is a deck of cards and a novel.
At the end of the hallway is a door, steel, covered in chipped blue paint. It has a code lock whose wires have been disconnected; its handle turns freely. A small window sits at eye level, made of reinforced glass crisscrossed with steel wires. Through this door is the [[bunker proper->Upper Walkway]].
Behind you is the [[way out->Bunker Entrance]] through the blast door.You're standing in front of a makeshift shelter for two ATVs, a floating speeder, and an ancient-looking Jeep. It is built from discarded metal beams at its corners and two longer ones for its ceiling with wooden ties and bent, nailed-in corrugated sheet for the roof and sides.
To the south is the [[bunker->Bunker Entrance]], and to the east is the [[big field->Bunker Field]].In the distance, beyond the forest of scrub and Torrey pines, is a huge tower made of black stone, smooth and unbroken from the point where it emerges from the trees all the way up to the clouds. The tower seems very far away, and you get a bad feeling about walking into the forest.
You should probably [[go back->Bunker Field]].A steel catwalk circles around the inner edge of the surface structure. You hear a gentle rumbling from below, and warm air blows up through the steel plates. The concrete walls are dotted with grimy, steel-caged diffusers shielding otherwise harsh LED lights, and deep shelves are cut into the concrete.
On the far side from the door, another catwalk extends into the center of the structure, where a [[strange contraption->Fronting Harness]] stands suspended.
A [[spiral staircase->Bottom Floor]] leads down into darkness.
All manner of industrial detritus litters the shelves, but in a few places, it's been cleared away in place of baubles and trinkets: a sphere of blue stone, a few leather-bound books, an old laptop, and a set of dice.
[[Pick up the sapphire sphere.->Sapphire Sphere]]
[[Look at the books.->Bookshelf]]
[[Open the laptop.->Laptop]]
[[Roll the dice.->Dice]]
[[Go back->Bunker Entry Hall]] The stone is cold to the touch. As you pick it up, the light angles through it, hitting your eye for the briefest moment, and you feel a deep sense of dread.
You should probably [[put it back.->Upper Walkway]]The books on the shelf in front of you feel warm and inviting. Each one has a slightly tattered cloth binding, with gently foxed gold lettering spelling out their titles. Among others, you see The Hobbit, Alice in Wonderland, The Little Prince, and a translation of The Analects of Confucius.
[[Step back.->Upper Walkway]]The laptop's screen springs to life, glowing an amber monochrome. It's showing only text, an incomprehensible and ever-changing gibberish of numbers and acronyms, the kind of thing you might expect to see aboard a 1980s spaceship or on the desk of a Wall Street trader - with one exception.
Along the bottom of the screen, the text "DON'T YOU HEAR ME CALLING YOU?" burns amber and unchanging.
[[Close the laptop.->Upper Walkway]]The slightly oversized metal dice are unusually heavy, made of something like tungsten or lead, and with only simple black-inked engravings on their faces, span the range from four to twenty sides. Somehow, they always seem to land on their highest faces.
[[Put the dice back on the shelf.->Upper Walkway]]At the bottom of the spiral staircase, the bunger expands slightly. In the center is a machine of steel and brass, with tubes and wires snaking upwards to the contraption upstairs and outwards across the concrete floor to the walls of the room. On those walls are five closed metal doors, each labelled with a name: Alethea, Kara, Jace, Cassandra, Arudem.
[[Alethea's door->Alethea's Room]] stands open, but the light from her room is too bright to see inside.
[[Kara's door->Kara's Room]] is thick, with a small window set in the frame. There is no lock, just a recessed trapezoid for a hand to grip.
[[Jace's door->Jace's Room]] is dark and cold, adorned with metal forms reminiscent of drops and rivulets of water or oil cascading down its face. There is no handle, just a chalk and charcoal septagram at hand height reading "láta upp."
[[Cassandra's door->Cassandra's Room]] is protected by a folding metal screen, like a closet. Its face is engraved to look like a lattice or shoji screen, but it's completely opaque.
Arudem's door is flat and bare, marked only by trails of rust from dripping condensation. It has no handle or keypad. You're not sure how it could be opened.
You can [[return upstairs->Upper Walkway]].The contraption in the center of the structure is a kind of exoskeleton made of rusty steel and banded about with tubes and wires.. A woman with short, curly, brown hair sits - stands? - within, the slightly rusty metal bars and wires completely enclosing her limbs and face. Over her eyes is a bulky visor, from whence extends a thick cable that snakes up into the cieling. Several of the tubes disappear into her back, under her shirt, and you can see fluid flowing through them.
Her limbs move occasionally, and her fingers twitch nearly constantly, throwing switches and pressing buttons on the control panels placed inside the exoskeleton's hands. She is, you realize, fronting - in control of the body. She does not acknowledge your presence.
You should probably [[leave her alone->Upper Walkway]].You step into the bright, warm light of Allie's room. It's a small bedroom, with cream-colored walls and fresh, cool air moving from an unknown source.
A powerfully built woman sits on the neatly arranged bed against the right wall. Her skin shimmers with gold and silver, which run like mercury in patterns that remind you of shattered poverty. She is reading a book, bound in white leather and embossed with golden letters in a language you cannot understand.
On the opposite side of the room, a suit of steel plate, arranged neatly on an armor stand, gleams in the pervading light. Beside it on a wooden rack stand a longsword and an arming dagger, both polished to a mirror finish.
The rest of the room is bare.
You can [[step back outside->Bottom Floor]].The door resists a little, but you slide it back until it shudders to a stop against rubber limits. Inside, the floors, walls, and the bed built into the right-hand wall are made of the same slightly grimy, worn metal. On the left, a small desk holds a sheaf of papers and a cup full of pens, illuminated by a dim florescent bulb.
In the middle of the room is a yoga mat with deep impressions in the vague shape of hands. There is an untidy pile of graphic tees, jean shorts, and tank-tops shoved against the wall, and two outfits hanging from a bar halfway up it: a flight suit reading "THRACE" and a dress uniform that hasn't been put on in months, judging from the dust.
You can [[step back outside->Bottom Floor]].As you touch the septagram, the door's metal flows and pools, freezing again on the floor. Within, you see a library full of books and scrolls, along with a half-dozen glowing amber computer terminals displaying titles and section markings. Candles and witchlights float at irregular intervals, leaving some stacks in darkness and others well-lit.
A dark-haired man in a long blue cloak sits at a workbench in the center, hunched over a ridiculously complex set of lenses. His one working arm holds a screwdriver adorned with runes and sigils, adjusting the tension on his other arm, which lies on the table in front of him.
As you walk in, he looks up at you. His eyes are solid black, and a ribbon of viscous oil slides from one of them. He smiles, then goes back to his work.
You can [[step back outside->Bottom Floor]].The door to Cassandra's room slides back silently. It really is like a closet in there; it's dark, and small, with just enough space for the porcelain and wood body that stands there in its form-fitted niche.
Its eyes open, slightly luminous in the darkness. It says your name, then, "What can I do for you?" One hand glosses briefly, then dulls, turning to flesh. The other shivers and groans and becomes metal. Then you blink (but it doesn't), and both are porcelain-plated wood again.
You can [[close the shutters->Bottom Floor]].