D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

--- Hunter ---

Hunter eventually found a hole to get inside with… but it was much larger then one she'd been looking for. While Hunter was moving along the top of the roof she noticed through one the smaller holes that there was quite a lot of light streaming in from outside. Hunter took a chance by jumping down and was rewarded for her curiosity.

The entire roller door for this particular bay had simply fallen off and collapsed into a heap on the floor. A quick inspection once she was inside revealed the damage was recent, perhaps sometime earlier this week as the broken bits of metal had yet to show any signs of rust or wear.

Walking inside Hunter could now clearly see a moderately sized conveyor belt at the back of the shed. Curious she glanced the way it was going but couldn't properly see where it ended up on account of the boxes and robots in the way. Glancing the other way, Hunter was able to see a door set into the shed, though one that clearly went to another area inside of the shed rather then the outside. Read new chapters at empire

Hunter glanced down at the conveyer belt.

*Hmm… do I follow the conveyor belt and possibly find something interesting or do I head for the office and try to look for a keycard or something? I've already been through a tonne of offices and I'm sort of sick of that… but I don't know for sure this is an office and it isn't too far away.*

With a slight sigh Hunter slithered over towards the door, being careful not to bump into any of the robots or their various limbs. Most of them were folded up neatly but occasionally there would be a random limb just splayed out across the path. Hunter had no way of knowing if it would trigger anything but she decided it was better to be safe then sorry and simply avoided the lot.

When Hunter got to the door she noticed that it had a lock. At one point anyway. The lock had been pulled apart at some point and now the door was held shut not by the door's dead bolt, the metal rod that held things in place but by pot instead. One likely taken from the gardens outside.

Carefully moving the pot aside, as it looked a bit fragile, Hunter took in a room filled with buttons, nobs, a few exposed wires, a computer and an intense number of sticky notes. So, Hunter started looking them over ignoring the layer of dust that had gathered in the room.

Quite a number just said 'DO NOT TOUCH'

Some others were complaining about how hard it was to get working again, a few had instructions on how things actually worked but the most useful of them all was a larger piece of paper Hunter found had fallen to the ground.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

'If you're reading this, it means you're back in the control room for the farms. If the farm is still working, don't be an idiot and leave. I had enough problems fixing it the first time and I'm getting old. In case you're wondering who's writing this it's Corela. I'm either the old woman yelling at people or the old woman in the cryo pods.

We didn't have enough for everyone, and a lot of them have failed at this point.

I was old when I took this post, and I'm older still now. I put myself to sleep so that if people really need me, I can be there. I help maintain the vital parts of this facility to keep us alive. The barrier is both our safety and our prison. The world ended out there, and if you're reading this it means you're a curious one… or the planter robots are playing up again.

I don't know what to put here, how much to share. I do not want to encourage you to wake me up again. Every time I wake I see new faces, but fewer of them. Our small population here is dying and I don't know how to handle that. Perhaps I'm just leaving this here as one more chance to complain.

Now, if the planters really aren't working I can work you through how to fix them. If it doesn't work you'll have to wake me because you'll starve to death in short order without food. If I don't wake? If my cryo pod fails like so many of the others despite the effort I've put into keeping it in top condition? Then I can only wish you the best and hope you find a way out.

Maintaining the farms manually will give you time, but probably not forever. Good luck, and here are my instructions…'

Hunter glared at the paper. It actually did go on to explain a great deal about the robots, how the control panel worked and even how to reprogram the harvesting robots somewhat. It took up both sides of the paper… and some more. There was a 'See Page 2' listed at the bottom which might be useful if Hunter could see any sign of that second page.

It wasn't in any of the few drawers inside the room or under any of the equipment from what she could tell. It was annoying because this was the first real bit of information she'd gotten.

So there was a group of people here when the barrier went up and the bombs went off outside… but it's unclear how well they managed to survive. I suppose it depends on how many people they started with.

If there wasn't that many the population would likely have issues reproducing as they interbred too much… or perhaps like Corela here they simply weren't young enough to have children in the first place.

So I guess the question is… are they still around? I'd have expected more decay on this paper if it were from a long time ago but perhaps there something about the facility that's preserving it? It's really hard to say because there's been no sign of people actively living here so far… but maybe they're in the lower levels? But WHY would they limit themselves?

My best guess is that the robots don't recognise them as being allowed to be here… but if that's the case then why not camp out on this floor? The robots aren't combative and they only activate occasionally by the looks of things. Assuming they still move at all. Perhaps they were scared of breaking it again?

Not sure why it was broken in the first place but it SEEMS like it was a problem at one point.

So many questions are answered by this note but Corela really didn't leave much. I guess she was expecting it to be someone from inside the barrier that found this note. Which is… fair I suppose. I can't tell how the language has changed because I haven't seen the written form of it's current version or tried to turn of my translation abilities to properly check the differences.

Is Corela smart or knowledgeable enough to know, if I cam from outside I shouldn't have been able to read the note? I mean, the language probably grew out of what survived? Or did nobody survive and the current sentients are entirely new? I didn't bother to check that before going on this mission because it wasn't relevant. Probably still isn't relevant. Hmmm…

So is it more or less likely that there are people here? I know there's at least one person. Corela is probably still here and in a crypod. Do I wake her up if I get to her? We can obviously take her outside, and leaving her here to remain trapped would be potentially horrific… but if she never wakes up again she'd never know. It's not my mission and… she doesn't sound too happy in this note.

She continues to live because she feels she needs to.

Though… how long did the old people of this world live? Is she OLD OLD or just old for her species? Do the bombs still effect things here and cut down on lifespan? What about if other people are still around. Do I offer them the chance to leave and give them the choice to wake her up? Urgh.

I'm going to need to bring Meg and Kamiko in on this. Probably Bower too… I'm not one for these sorts of problems. I kill things for a living.

I almost wish I hadn't found this note. It's given my major problems, more than a few questions and essentially know answers. I… I also worry about Meg's response. She may be better at social situations and handling people than I am but frankly… she's very callous about it and just because she knows how to handle people doesn't mean she uses that power for good.

I could see her creating a lot of issues for a people that haven't left the same small locked in area with just a few words. Even exposing them to her is something I'll really need to consider. If they still exist. Dammit.