"The standard detonation time was set to 7 minutes and 30 thirty seconds. However, there were alterations made to the basic design when the cannisters of toxic chemicals were installed in the warehouse. I am therefore unsure of the set time. The units have displays, but they can only be read once activated." The robot said.
Richard has been closely examining the self destruct mechanism and it was obvious that thisone was not in its original state. Extra wiring was soldered on and leading to 2 dark cannisters standing against the wall. They looked like something you would expect to contain some sort of gas. They were about 1.5 meter high, painted completely black, except one little label stating 'Caution: H.E. Thermite Plasma'.
Richard had learned about this back home. In their base there had been hangars with old military ordnance meant for the Airforce. Thermite Plasma was a kind of more high tech napalm. It was the kind of thing you would drop on something you wanted to be sure to disintegrate without having anything escaping the blast, things like a chemical weapons factory. No harmful chemical would be left intact.
"Robot, are these cannisters the alterations you were talking about?" Richard asked.
"Amongst other things, yes." The robot replied.
"How many of these cannisters are there?" Richard inquired with a frown on his face.
"Only these two, the other self destruct devices were only altered on a software level." The robot explained.
"What is it, Richie?" Sam asked before anyone else could say anything.
"This is thermite plasma, it will burn up and consume ANYTHING it touches, which is ok for us as we want to rid ourselves of the chemicals, but it also spreads like TBC in a Saigon whorehouse." Richard explained. "When this thing goes off, we need to be completely out of the vault if the elevator protectionthingy isn't working like Dwemer said."
"Is one bomb enough then?" Inne inquired in the hope of only having to use the bot as a martyr.
"I'm afraid not. The designspecs i've seen of the vault say there are 4 firewalls and firedoors which possibly could stop it from spreading on this level, so we need to detonate the other explosives to blow them out. However the middle bomb has free passage to the elevator and will surely spread if the elevatorshield is not down." Richard explained to the group. He was making a lot of assumptions, but in his heart he felt them to be true.
"So we arm them and get the fuck out of here in 7 and a half minutes?" Dwemer asked.
"That might be shorter than you think." Sam said.
A screeching metal sound filled the lower vault. The group became more nervous.
"True, but i guess we have no other choice." Richard agreed. "Dwemer, you make sure the freaky gypsy, Melvin & Curt get out ok. We arm thisone together, the robot goes to the south, Inne & Carib west, Sam & Rob east and i'll take the north one."
The group nodded. Although Richard was not a born leader (nor would he want to be one), his suggestion made sense and everyone agreed. He then proceeded to arming this bomb. A small humming noise filled the room and the display lit up saying 'Linked'. No timer. No countdown.
"Shit, it must be set to only explode if the other 4 have gone off." Richard said.
"Well, let's arm them then and get this show on the road, kids." Inne said as she walked out.
"Slowly count to 120 and then arm the bombs, so we can be sure everyone arms them at the same time." Sam said just before the group split up.
_____________________________________
Richard headed to the north side of the vault with a feeling of regret and fear. Regret of not having asked Sam to come with him and fear of something happening to her. Of course his mind was certain things were better off this way, the groups had been formed based upon knowledge and skill. Richard continued down the dark halls with both his pistols drawn, but there were no hostile pests to be spotted. It was as if they were hiding from somethings, not one single spider was to be seen.
*fifty-eight*
*fifty-nine*
*sixty*
A loud metallic crash echoed through the vault followed by a small explosion. The beast! The boobytrap! It was safe to assume that the beast would survive the boobytrap, when you had seen the beating it had taken in the warehouse without really being hampered. Richard could hear insects and other pests running north on the ceiling tiles. But no time to worry about that, he had a job to do.
*seventy-one*
*seventy-two*
*seventy-three*
Richard reached the outer north room and to his surprise, it wasn't even there anymore! All that was left was debri, a crater filled with dirty water and a large hole in the wall, seemingly connecting to some kind of cave. This bomb had obviously already been set off, but did not cause a chainreaction to the others. The firewall was lying in ruins as Richard expected.
*eighty*
*eighty-one*
*eighty-two*
Richard went to take a look inside the cave as he still had time before the others would arm their bomb. He almost wet his pants when he came face to face with an adult Radscorpion which had been standing just around the corner. The scorpion was just as startled and lashed out with its tail, only to miss Richard and hit the cave wall. Richard was now more or less recovered from this little surprise and pumped the scorpion full of lead.
At this point Richard had completely lost count, but it didn't matter anyway. He headed back full speed towards the elevator. As he ran he kept hearing the sound of insects heading the other direction, they probably were heading towards the caves to make their way out, like rats on a sinking ship. Richard had had the longest way to run so it was possible he might meet up with the rest at exactly the same time near the elevator.
Richard took the final corner only to be stopped dead in his tracks. He now should have clear view of the elevator, but no, all he could see was the same damn ugly tentacled beast, they had dealt with before. It was trying to push itself into the elevatorshaft to move up towards the surface. Either that, or it was trying to hunt Dwemer, Melvin, the gypsy girl and Curt, but they were probably long gone. Luckily, the beast had not noticed Richard just yet...
TO level has activation rights. Or manual override can be done by manually arming the 5 explosive charges located in the 4 outer rooms and the middle room... *Security announcement* Please keep clear while using self destruct procedures. Be sure to lower the armored door in front of the elevator or you will risk blowing up the elevator and letting the explosion spread through the shaft and the facility. *End of security announcement* ... Was this reply more satisfactory?"