000521 -- The Sunken Horrors -- part I ====================================== AUTHOR: dsweet COMPOSED: 5/26/00 UPDATED: 5/30/00 STORY: Our heroes wander the under water complex. They walk in many directions and try many hatches. Many hatches are protected by a card swip device. After an hour the group tries to force a door with a card swip but in the end they decide to continue walking. They get the gist from the area they have already explored that the base is made of concentric circular halls occasional linked. They must have arrived in the outer most circular halls. They decide to head towards the center of the complex. Meanwhile, Rick has a really good look at the white worms in the water. He uses his biology background and pronouces these worms only exist in the Atlantic Ocean. After another forty minutes they spy a man in a grey-blue uniform walking towards them. Jay immediately assumes this man one of the people responsible for their predicament, "what the hell have you done to us?" The man in the uniform starts to yell at them simultaneously, "where the hell have you all been?" Now standing only a few feet from each other, the man in the uniform has his hands on his hips while he looks up and down the motley crew in front of him. The focus group begin to make demands. "Get us out of here." "Your legally responsible for our mental hardships." "Tell us where we are." "Who the hell are you?" The posture, attitudes, and questions worry the man in the uniform. The man does tell the group his name is Captain John Henrikson before he reaches for the commication device on his shoulder. Jay blurts out, "get him.". The Black Scorpion goes into action placing the Captain in a full nelson before he get communicate a single word. The questions begin to fly. Despite how bizarre they are the Captain answers as many as he can. They are in a Hiromatsu Power Station. The station amoung other things mines Hyperiote. Many of the card swipe protected doors are to transport tubes. They are obviously the Gamma team sent by the company to investigate the weird lights, dolphins, and hunter killer subs that have recently been seen nearby. It is June 27th 2045. The U.S government, like many governments, still exist but is a mere country. It is considerably weaker then many of the multi-national corporations like Hiromatsu. He believes they are suffering from nitrogen narcosis as a result of a pressure leak in the sub used to transport them to the power station. He urges the group as strongly as his situation would allow that the gamma team should follow him to the sick bay so they can be depresurized properly. Eventually the Captain is released. Together they all walk to a transport tube and travel to the sick bay. When they arrive the Captain is surprised to find Doctor Hyperron is not there. The tech Grigori Tiche is capable enough of running much of the Doctor's equipment so he performs the necessary tests on the gamma team. Due to the behavior the Captain described Grigori is surprised to find the internal body pressure of each of the gamma team is at sea level. Grigori theorizes that there must have been a small leak in the sub but since they have been on the station they must have equalized to the sea level pressure inside the station. This seems to satisfy the Captain who asks Grigori to equip the team and get them to VP Butler. Grigori walks the team to the locker room designed for any visiting gamma teams. The team puts on various pieces of the equipment but none seem to want to get into full uniform. All of them are interested in carrying the blaster pistols though. Grigori suggests that each at least put the Gamma team emblem on their shoulders. Grigori walks Amber to the women's locker room. Rick decides to prove they are in a video game by showing everyone the blasters are just lazer tag guns. He successfully terminates the locker in front of him. When Grigori hears the weapon's discharge he radios in and suggests Amber stays here until the unavoidable scrimish is avoided. The Captain arrives with an eight man security team. They are all armed and at the ready. Common sense wins out. Rick agrees to go with the Captain for a full physical. Rick's weapon is taken from him. Rick is taken to the isolation cells. Just as Rick reaches the cells a man in a white lab coat rushes him and his security retinue. He grabs for a security guard's blaster and demands they shoot him. The guards are able to keep the gun away from him and usher him into his cell. Rick is placed in the cell next to him. Rick eventually communicates with the man who turns out to be Dr. Hyperron. He is confused but remembers his year of birth. He talks about the lights and the dolphins and is sure they will all die horrible deaths. Meanwhile, the equipped team reaches Executive Vice President Bulter for their briefing. The VP doesn't reveal very much additional information about their mission but does let it slip the complex is short handed. He will be able to provide a sub pilot for them if they need one. He is surprised to discover that no pilot was a member of the team. He also mentions that the sub spotted is probably from their competition, the Rio Largo Corp. Jay insists that Rick is a essential member of their team and should be released. The rest of the team vouches for him and as a result gets him released. The team meets Leon Vlasky at the Mini-Submarine Troop Transport. They take it out for a spin. Leon explains the sub's operation to Jay who picks it up quickly. Navigation, sonar, and weapon systems are explained. The sub has a mini-torpedo and a Blue-green vehicular laser. After a short time they head back to the docking bay and Leon departs. Jay takes control of the sub and steers it towards the ridge where the lights have been spotted. Now that the team is alone, Rick describes his encounter with the Dr. He believes they are truely in 2045 and should takes this very seriously. Jay says that if this is real then explain why he is able to pilot this sub. While skimming over the ocean floor everyone scans the water around them. Rick sees what he thinks is an eerie group of eyes staring at them from north of the ridge they are heading for. Despite how much this disturbs him he shakes it off and annouces his find to the group. They decide to head towards the eyes which turn out to be the running lights of a hunter killer sub.