Curt had led them to an isolated building, fiddled with an ancient pad lock and had used a key to open another. After removing both locks he threw the bolts on an ancient heavy storm door.
"Better get the lead out." He said with an mischevious wink, suggesting that they prepare to gun down what might lie behind. Then he threw the door wide.
Nothing but whisps of smoke. Curt then looked to the side and saw a power box, threw the lever.
Lights, spread out far along an electric line, flickered and came alive. "Looks like the generator is still good and there's still juice. Must be the methane tank is still workin'."
Curt looked absolutely jolly for the adventure, an enthusiasm Dwemer found a bit disturbing. "Let's do this shall we."
Down the stairs into the cold rock below. The stairs descended nearly forty feet. "Got to do this the old way as the surface elevator went to hell."
Deeper, the air cooler, Dwemer noticed that some of the ancient bulbs had burst, but that any still burned was something short of a miracle. The faint hints of smoke continued to burn.
Inne reminded them of their duty. "First thing we need to is crush the eggs." For her the duty to Shady Sands was paramount.
Curtis took them through the tunnels and for much of the morning, they tracked down scorp nests with their eggs. Most were unhatched with parents tardy. These they broke with handheld weapons.
Others, the eggs had begun to break and small rad scorpions scurried about looking for food. Having not matured enough to have filled their poison sacks, these were easily dispatched with spear, or knife.
Curtis laughed as he cut through one with a knife and tossed it in a pouch. "This are good to fry up. Snap crackle pop!" He said.
Some got away, but this did not concern the crew. Where they went they set fires to smoke out the remaining scorps. They would never get all the scorps or perhaps all the nests, but few scorps would remain in a few days.
Down, further down, through the tunnels. Curtis led them through the main tunnels to lower caves and caverns that had been blown out, ever deeper.
Finally only some three levels lower they found a large central area. Here was the bottom of the surface elevator, which had fallen years ago and remained as a crushed ruin in the bottom of the shaft. Another shaft was nearby, but no shaft. The power and control switches down at the bottom. In a nearby adjacent tunnel they found the long vertical shaft, a narrow but deep and hidden well.
"THe elevator might be anywhere down that shaft, so you can't go down there. You'll have to go down this shaft if you want to get to the bottom. Ah fuck... wait a second...forgot something, follow me." Said Curtis.
He led them down a narrow passage that was low and twisted and turned until they came to a wooden door marked "DANGER! EXPLOSIVES!"
He explored the edge of the door and checked the bottom. "Got to be careful. We used to set booby traps down here, and I can't remember if we rigged the explosives room. Anybody got a smoke?"
Then he began to work the lock, taking his time. When he had it undown, he removed it carefully and then slowly opened the door. But the door was tight with age and warp, and Curtis worked around the edge with his combat knife, digging around the edge. When he was finished, he slowly opened the door.
"Smoke?"
Melvin handed him one of his handrolled, and Curt took a long drag. "Good shit."
"Home grown" Said Melvin.
"Got to give me some those seeds." Said Curtis, enjoying the joint.
"We'll party later." Said Melvin, plainly concerned that the old man might trigger a booby trap.
Curtis blew smoke, revealing an array of hidden light sensors, otherwise naked to the eye.
"Daddy always liked the sensors. But if we cut electricity, these should go out." Said Curtis, flicking on the helmet light.
Rich nodded, "I'll cut the lines from back there a ways." Happy to go back in the tunnels, he found a safe place to cut the wires.
The hallway went dark.
"Hey old man. What makes you think there ain't another trap in there?" Asked Melvin.
"Nothin. But if there is, we'll probably find out." Said Curtis with a cackled laugh, who then stepped in.
There was no big bang, but the others felt better staying outside.
In a few moments, Curtis returned with a box marked explosives.
"Now about that verticle shaft?"
