We made our way down the tunnel, and it wasn't long before our first encounter with the machinists. Karim was supposed to be taking the lead talking to them, but somehow most of the group ended up getting involved. Most, but not Sayah, who was busy trying not to look at the dead body on the ground. A victim of Lavim - or whatever was possessing him.
The stone with the flower design was still with us, and the machinists recognised it. A node stone. They wanted to know where we found it, and we described the asteroid. The node itself was part of something much bigger. Something that was both a tool and a weapon.
We were allowed to pass through the hall. We were heading for the rift now. Fortunately the machinists had exosuits we could borrow. None were missing. Had Lavim brought his own?
The tunnel we were following brought us to a deep trench in the asteroid. Above us we could see stars. Below was the bottom of the trench and a lot of floating rocks. Remembering our previous efforts at crossing ravines in microgravity with a lot of floating rocks, most of us were in favour of walking (or at least, crawling) to the bottom and then up the other side to get to the mysterious black ruins on the other side. Tahir, unsurprisingly disagreed.
The machinists had been kind enough to loan us a bolt gun, given that the only weapons most of us had on us were stun guns. A little modification by Gurgeh turned one of the bolts into a piton, and after attatching some hyperrope to it, it was fired across the chasm to create a safety line.
We were only part way through getting everyone across when something started shooting at us. Gurgeh, Karim and Sayah spread out to look for where the shots were coming from and relayed the information to Alqadi. A shot from the bolt gun destroyed the target. Lila collected up the pieces and soon identified them as ancient firstcome armour. Alqadi was berated for destroying a priceless artifact - although in a decidedly appreciative fashion.
Up ahead was an airlock. Behind it, we were confident, we would find Lavim. But when Gurgeh sent his drone closer to take a look, he found an artificial gravity field that dragged the drone out of control, damaging it as it smashed into the rocks around the airlock door.
Alqadi offered a heartfelt prayer to the judge, aimed his vulcan pistol at the control panel by the door, and fired. Gravity returned to normal. Not, as it appeared, due to the incredible pistol shot, but due to his mystic powers allowing him to manipulate the controls from a distance. Not that most of the crew knew that, of course. We were merely incredibly impressed by his extraordinary shooting prowess.
Safely through the airlock we found Lavim, once again seriously injured, and some kind of console. Lila and Sayah got to work to figure out what it was, what it was doing, and how to stop it. It had been transmitting some kind of signal to an area of space we were quite familiar with - the one currently occupied by the Legion fleet.
Lavim needed medical help, and fast. Treating him was challenging due to him still being in an exosuit and the lack of oxygen. Gurgeh dumped out two oxygen canisters into the room to provide enough atmosphere to keep Lavim alive while he stabilised him. Then we tied him up very thoroughly with hyperrope, and made a note to tell whatever doctor ended up treating him not to take the ropes off.
Once again, we were feeling ill, much like when we were returning from the asteroid, and Lila was getting a nosebleed again. It was definitely time to leave. Although, having been away for significantly longer than the hour the guards had allowed us, what was going to be waiting for us?
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