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** CHAPTER 15**

** ** The blue comet: Part IV

In peaceful silence, the place appeared as if frozen in time. Nothing seemed to be in chaos or disorder, but instead it looked like if everything suddenly went to a stop.

The faint glare that the sky of the comet emitted made its way gently through the windows that were covered in a thick layer of ice, flooding the room with a soothing blue tint.

An eerie noise could be heard in the distance; it sounded like a deep wail that never desisted. This noise wasn't coming from the outside, but from close inside the building. We just couldn't figure out from were exactly.

Minutes before, we made it into the building that rested in the comet's surface. Examining this place could be the only way for us to know if this outpost was still in the possession of some other intelligent life form or not. We could have left the place, but the vast amount of Blue Mineral was too important to be simply abandoned.

"This was probably a break room." Andy whispered. He was standing in front of what looked like a table.

"How to you know?" I asked. Fx and I got close to where he was.

"See this?" He placed his hand-paw in a protruding object in the ice, as he tried to break it loose. Its shape didn't make sense and it looked like nothing else but a chunk of ice. But somehow, Andy did recognize the shape of the object.

"What is it?" Fx asked.

It took some force from Andy to detach the object from the ice, but it wasn't too difficult for it to finally give. With the object in his hand-paws, it was easier for us to see what that object was. It looked a lot like a cup.

"This is why I think it's a break room. There are many of these, and also strange containers all around us if you look closely." Andy affirmed.

"You might be right. This could've been a lounge of some sort." K9 replied from across the room. "But these 'panels' over here might be evidence that this could've also been a control room." He then suggested.

"Control room for what?" Tech joined the discussion. She tried to keep her vigilant position all the time as she was there to escort us, but she seemed curious as well.

"I think I might have the answer." Doko added his thoughts. "Remember that this place could be an entrance for an underground facility. This might not only be the access to it, but also a monitoring room. Whoever was in charge of this station, stayed here for a long time during a working period." Doko concluded.

Standing in front of a wall, Doko placed one of his handpaws on it as he looked closely at the scanner that he carried. "And I think I might have found the entrance. The scanner detects a large room at the other side."

"You're right, Doko. This might be the entrance." Titan replied as he stood close to the wall.

"Should we continue, Commander?" Doko asked.

Taking a few seconds to examine the scanner by himself, Titan finally took the decision to continue. He nodded at Zonda who approached the wall and cut through it. This door wasn't as thick as the entrance doors and it didn't take him too much to finally get the doors loose enough. With some help from Tech, they both were able to open this access door.

"Tech; flare..." Zonda ordered as he peeked inside. Tech took a strange small sphere and tossed it at Zonda's hands. Immediately he twisted this sphere and threw it inside the pitch black room. The sphere broke and a bluish jelly splattered around a small area. This jelly started emitting a strong light that soon stabilized to replicate a more natural source of light.

"Something is not right with the light enhancer. There is too much white noise." Zonda said. Before deciding to use a flare, he tried to activate the night vision function that the armor has, but something was causing it to act up strange.

"This could mean that there is a strong source of energy causing interference with our suit's systems." Titan concluded. "Everyone change to auxiliary energy saving mode. We'll have to rely on our external illumination systems and flares."

We all obeyed Titan's orders and changed to an energy saving mode. The visor became dimmer and most of the HUD disappeared. We only had a simplified oxygen and pressure gauge at one of the corners of the visor. Radar, map and information on our partners went away as well. The armor also felt a bit heavier, but nothing too difficult to deal with.

Once we entered the room, we noticed various objects that looked like tools, as well as some strange things that we identified as suits. For us the Evos, this was the first time we saw the body features of another species other than the Retcans and ourselves. It was a very weird sensation. But that was not at all disturbing in comparison with that we started to notice.

"What is that noise?" Kala asked nervously.

That eerie wail that we heard in the first room was now stronger and we noticed it came from behind another door at the end of this room. This door was half opened and nothing but blackness could be seen at the other side. A strong breeze felt like if it was being sucked in into this gap of the half opened door.

"The building ends at the other side of this door. It seems to be a very small compartment." Doko informed as he kept track of the scanner while he approached this door at the end of the room.

"It's an elevator." Titan concluded.

One by one we got close to the source of that ghastly sound. Tech and Zonda slid the door open without much effort and almost immediately we felt a strong wind trying to pull us into the pitch black shaft that was now visible.

"My guess is that there is no elevator." K9 said.

"You might be right, K9." Titan replied. "If this was a conventional elevator, those towers outside might have been what held the cables. Now that one of the towers collapsed, the elevator might have fallen to the bottom."

"It sure looks like a very deep shaft. I can't read beyond sixty meters." Doko double checked the scanner.

"The energy source might be interfering with the scanner. Here, let me..." Zonda approached the shaft not before grabbing another one of those jelly flares and tossing it down the shaft.

The time that it took to finally make contact was very unsettling. Almost sixteen seconds.

"That doesn't sound right. Are you sure that we should continue?" Zonda asked.

"I'm afraid we have to." Titan replied, trying to see the light of the flare thrown by Zonda but failing to do so.

It was not long until Tech prepared a line for all of us to descent through the shaft. It would be a long and dangerous way down in absolute darkness, only being able to illuminate our way through with the direct light diodes on our arms.

Meanwhile at R105, what Zonda mentioned about a planet being nearby was being discussed by Silver and the rest of her crew.

"... It's the only planet that has the right distance from the solar system's star." Cobalt said, doing some research of this mysterious planet aside from monitoring our progress.

"Do you think that the planet might be inhabited? Not to question Silver's authority, but I think this is getting a bit out of hand." Bo asked Cobalt quietly.

"That is yet to be confirmed..." Cobalt replied.

Silver stood from her seat. Silver's eyes glared through the darkness of the control bridge as she approached Cobalt's station. Always with an emotionless expression, she stood by Cobalt's side with her arms behind her back.

"Whoever built that outpost must come from that planet. I want you to verify this by tracing the comet's orbit and confirming if in fact it passes close to the inner sectors of this solar system." Silver ordered with her usual soft but direct tone of voice.

"It will be done, Captain." Cobalt obeyed.

Silver then directed her gaze at Bo and approached him. The young white Retcan couldn't help to feel intimidated by the Captain's presence.

"I know that you might feel like if I'm doing what we are supposed to avoid at all costs." She said as she stared directly to Bo.

"I'm sorry, Captain. I have no right to question you... I..." Bo nervously replied.

"It is perfectly fine, Bo. I sometimes doubt of my own decisions and might need someone else's second thoughts." Silver sat next to Bo and started whispering something to his ear. This was not the first time that this behavior was witnessed between Silver and Bo. Cobalt noticed how Bo let out a smile of relief once Silver stopped whispering at him. Silver stood up and placed her hand-paw on Bo's neck and caressed him in a friendly matter.

"Don't worry, my friends. I will not risk our brothers and the Evos if I see that things are getting out of hand." She then walked to her seat passing by Cobalt's station once again. "Cobalt; please send probes to the planet's orbit. I want a signal sent to various points inside the planet."

"Yes, Captain." Responded a doubtful Cobalt. "If I may ask, are we getting ourselves into that planet?"

"If we get a response, then that will be our call to withdraw from this mission." Silver responded without answering Cobalt's actual question.

"I understand, Captain."

Silver felt like going too fast. It was a tough decision that she needed to take since it was the security of not only R105 but also Canis Major what could be at risk. In the other hand, there was a high reward that could benefit both species in the long term. It was not the first time Silver had to take a decision based on little or no information. Her good judgment was once again being put to the test.

Back to the comet, it wasn't long until we finally reached the bottom of the shaft. Most of the way down, we were surrounded by darkness. It was unsettling, but at the same time, probably we didn't want to see how long our fall could've been.

"I see the bottom." Tech yelled. Zonda and her where a few meters bellow from the rest. The light from the flare that Zonda threw now engulfed the bottom of the shaft.

"This is odd." Titan said to himself.

"What's wrong?" K9 asked as he heard Titan questioning himself.

"The elevator; it seems in good conditions."

We wouldn't expect the elevator to be in such good conditions, apart from the ice around it. We had counted the distance from the surface and we were almost 200 meters below it. If it had fallen from the surface, it should've been in a complete wreck.

"This can't be right. This means that the last trip the elevator did was to the bottom." Titan discussed.

"Whoever was in control of this facility could've sent the elevator down from above, right?" Kala suggested.

"Unless the elevator was automatic, I don't see the reason for doing so. The only reason would be if there were individuals still down here." Titan concluded.

"If that's the case, then we should be alert." Zonda firmly replied.

After a hole was made on the elevator's ceiling, one by one we descended into it. According to the scanner this was the bottom of the shaft, so we were in the right place. The door of the elevator was half open and once again we found ourselves in front of absolute darkness.

"Help me, Tech." Zonda ordered her. Both were able to slide the doors open just like they did before.

As the doors were being opened, that eerie wail made itself present, but this time a deep echo made it resonate even stronger.

Zonda threw another flare into the unknown and soon we were able to see what lied before us. As we stepped out the elevator, we noticed a very large room, bigger than the whole area above us. There were several racks of tools and gadgets on the walls, and some suits hanging from them as well.

"This could be where they kept all of their tools and equipment." Doko suggested after examining the large area. "As they went down, they grabbed all the necessary and headed inside the mine. I detect a large room at our right and a passage with an undefined area in front of us."

"That must be the entrance to the mine." Titan said.

"The interference is getting stronger, but I think the scanner will hold." Doko added not too optimistically.

With our vision limited by our diode flashlights it would be too risky to adventure ourselves into the mine. Also, Tech had only two flares left. But K9 soon found something that could've been of help. A large panel with rustic levers seemed to be in overall good conditions.

"Do you think this panel might control the lighting systems in this place?" K9 asked Titan as he inspected the panel.

"It might. But what good it would be if it isn't getting any power." Titan responded.

"If whoever built this place knew how to control the power of the Blue Mineral, then I'm sure their technology should prove itself reliable enough to endure these conditions." K9 thought.

"You know, he might be right." Doko agreed. He checked the scanner for any clues that might support K9's theory.

"It sounds possible." Titan came to realize. "Doko, stay here with K9. I'll check the large room. See if there's any possibility to operate this panel."

The more we stayed there in absolute darkness, in this place that looked eroded by time and the elements, the more difficult it was to feel comfortable. The ghastly echoes made it worst. If somehow we managed to restore the lights in this mine, that would make our assignment safer.

Tech threw another flare in the large room next to the panel. As soon as the flare illuminated the place we noticed it was an almost three story high room with two massive structures in the middle of it.

"These seem to be generators of some sort." Titan examined the structures that look like two turbines. One was destroyed by a large mass of rock that fell from the ceiling of the cave-like room, but the other looked in good conditions.

"Titan; K9 and I discovered that the panel is connected to that room, but also to what we think it's a ventilation and lighting system." Doko informed Titan through the ComPod.

"Sounds great, Doko; this looks like a generator room, so we might have found what we need." Titan replied.

"Do you think you can start it? Because according to what K9 and I are seeing here, this panel might still be functional. We will have to bridge some connections, but everything looks somewhat in working conditions. The only problem is that there is no energy whatsoever. "

"I might be able to start it. Let me look around."

After checking the generator room completely, Titan found a switchboard in which he connected a strange device.

"How are you going to make this work?" I was next to Titan so I couldn't help myself to ask.

"I can't really confirm that it will work. But if there is a chance to illuminate this place, it is worth the try."

"But do you think it will work? I mean, this looks very old and corroded."

"Just like K9 said, if these beings had the technology to travel in space, set up a mining outpost in a comet and process the Blue Mineral, then their machinery should work in these conditions." Titan replied as he inputted all sorts of commands in his device.

Titan, K9 and Doko worked diligently and soon discovered that the old wiring system was still able to transmit energy. A few more minutes and they bypassed all the old systems of the panel into their own devices. It was now just a matter of making the generator work.

After a couple of tries, we then noticed that the power cell consisting in a very large crystal in the good generator was completely drained. That meant that the generator was left running for an undefined period of time until it eventually died. However, the other generator was destroyed before its power cell was drained, so we transferred it to the generator that was in good shape. It took some time, but we finally did it.

"In theory, these old circuits should be functional. If I'm mistaken, then we will find out in the worst way possible. Stay clear, team."

Titan managed to make the energy of the crystal flow through the circuits. We felt a buzz raising its frequency progressively. Then, Titan tried to start the large generator.

We felt like if the whole place started to vibrate violently, followed by a tremendous racket. Dust and debris started falling from the walls and ceiling. A screeching whine came out of the generator, as the place started to fill up with white smoke. I was the huge magnetic disc inside the generator that hadn't spun for centuries and it was stuck by corrosion. Its sound and vibrations were fur-raising, but after a few seconds passed the generator stabilized and the sound got softer and less erratic. We couldn't believe it worked. A machine that was at least a couple of hundreds of years old was still alive.

"I owe my full respect to the ones that built this machine. They somehow managed to fuse very ancient technology into the space age technology." Titan yelled because of the loud noise. "It's more like a self powered alternator. It uses a spinning magnetically charged disc. The mechanical energy that is created by the spinning disc is then converted to electrical energy. Quite simple but not short of impressive. The quality of this machine is superb." Titan seemed very excided by the impressive durability and the mechanics behind this machinery.

But there was one more thing to do. We needed to see if that generator was still capable of giving enough energy to the lighting circuit.

Titan gave Doko and K9 the order to activate the panel. They immediately lowered one of the levers that they had concluded it controlled the lighting system. We heard how the generator struggled a little bit, and less than a second after, the lights were starting to flicker and pulse their way on. We got startled a bit when some of the lights exploded, but at least most of the lights still worked.

With most of the lights functioning, it was now safer for us to continue inside the mine in search for clues that could tell us if that place was still being harvested. For what we had seen so far, it was more likely that the place was completely abandoned. But again, we didn't want to take any chances. Full confirmation was required to proceed with the recollection, even if it took us weeks or months to come up with any conclusion...