Map Reading and Motion Start

“So, if I’m reading this map right and the building we saw earlier is a real factory, then we should be in one of these places.” Shiro continued after the initial surprise caused by her plan was cleaned out. “Then, unless this place is way too displaced on the space, there are good chances of us being close to this power plant here. Either that or we’re on the other side of the city…”

“You got all this from translating a map?” Lily asked with her eyes going through the map full of writings and interrogation points. “And why there are so many unsure points here…?”

“Lots of what’s in this thing lacks translation, so I’m only guessing what they mean. The words ‘factory’, ‘power plant’, and ‘warehouse’ I’m sure of though.”

“Guessing, eh…?” Lily stared at the map with a look of unsureness on her face. “We have to explore, of course, but following a map that ‘could’ be pointing us somewhere is a little...”

“Yeah, Shiro, I know you can translate things good and all, but this hells lot of interrogation points around don’t make me feel that well…”

“It’s a better bet than ignoring this box. Or none of you are interested in what is sure to be a real artifact? Isn’t this the first time we actually found something that seems worthy of archeology?”

Countering the translator's logic was a little too hard this time. Shiro had a point and, if her guess was right, then there was a chance to open this ‘artifact’ without risking anyone else messing with it.

From her map, they came through the ‘warehouse district’, entered the ‘something-something factory’, and ended in the middle of ‘something knights base’. The many instances of ‘something’ written around and the confused scribbles didn’t give much weight, but the positions seemed right.

And by going with this, they would be right on the side of a huge building with a ‘power plant’ label on it.

Either that or many of the assumptions were wrong and they were instead in the middle of an area full of ‘?’ labels on the other side of the city. That area also had a ‘something factory’ and a ‘military base’, so both seemed like reasonable options.

Luckily, there was a way, or a possible way, to find their proper location.

“Hey, now that I think about it…” Amy called out after checking on her collected data. “Would not the other ruin be another part of this city that sunk differently or was isolated by some landslide?”

From what Amy had about the first ruin, it wasn't in the same depth as them, but it was close. Saying it was only a part of the same city was very likely, especially because she knew about this place already and passed through the other ruin.

In all likelihood, that place would be either marked as a 'laboratory' in this map or as another 'army base' maybe. It also meant that the cold reactor was probably some prototype that was then perfected.

“The other…? Ow. That’s true. Damn, if I had the location of the other ruin, then…”

“Here you go.” Amy interrupted the white-haired twin while transferring a couple of archives to her datalink. “Can you use it?”

The sudden transfer without any permission given was a surprise, but the information she received was even more so. Shiro could barely react to the acts of the pink-colored idol.

“What? This… Can this be…? Yes, I can work with this. What in the hells are you, Amy?” Shiro asked after skimping through the locations and maps related to the other ruin and its entrance. But of course, just like every single other time this question was asked, the only thing that came was some non-answer coupled with a smile.

“I am but a common idol, you know? Why you ask?”

“Teach really didn’t bring you both just because you were good-looking, right?” The poker-faced student went on with an air that made it clear how suspect it all was, but she then turned back to normal without much. “Either way, I can get a better prediction with this, and since you gave me a proper map now… Can I transfer it to you, professor? I would like to have both of you downloading it too, Kuro and Lily.”

“Do go on. I feel we’re aiming at something good now…”

“If Teach says so, then give me this map!”

Lily then nodded in acceptance too, even if still in silence as she watched everything unfold, but that was enough permission for now.

It still took a minute or two for Shiro to write her new map, but the expedition, all but one member of them, soon was equipped with what should be a map of the ruins. A very rough and full of uncertainties map, but a map nonetheless. And as it would be, the initial theory about their location seemed to be somewhat on point now.

The only hard part was knowing which areas were blocked and which ones ended in the wrong depths...

“I’m still unsure about a lot here, in special about what exactly the other ruins were considering that this ‘lab’ isn’t on the map, but we should be around this area.” Shiro continued after being sure everyone that mattered to the decision-making had the right tool in hand. “So, I say we should go to the power plant and see if something there is worth it.”

“Sounds like a solid guess, but I don’t think a power plant would give us much to our goal...” The professor concluded after looking at the new map for a while. “I’m also not sure about turning on an ancient power plant even in the improbable case of it being functional.”

“Most things we saw up there were rusted but should still work, so it’s possible, isn’t it, Kuro?” Shiro added over while still poking around the big metal box. “I’m not that good with machines, but these seem in a decent enough condition and the ones back there were only bad on the outside.”

“Saying those rusted machines are 'workable' is a little overkill, but maybe with some work... Still, you know this place must be at least some hundred years old, right? Do you really think some power plant would work for this long?”

“No, but… That cold reactor thing came from a place like this, didn’t it? Maybe the thing will be in a good state here too…”

Even to the less knowledgeable members of the group, the idea of using a centuries-old nuclear reactor was a little too much. These were very common, especially with the cold-fission discovery, but thinking it would survive for who knows how long was a little too much.

It brought a spark to the head of the pink girl though. One that was linked with the many pieces of information she ‘acquired’ through her time working. She only had to go check on it to be sure.

“Ignoring Shiro’s craziness, if this power plant isn’t nuclear, we may be able to turn it again for a little while without dying. A coal or oil-fired one would likely have some fuel left, and it would still freaking kill me right away if went wrong!”

“Coward.”

“To the hells with you, Shiro!”

“Aham! I see both of your points, but it still seems like a far shot. Finding the power plant and taking a look at it is fine, but turning it on is likely unwise.” Henrique interrupted the discussion to bring up his own point. “We also wouldn’t like to risk causing too much damage here.”

“Yeah, it sounds a little too dangerous to be worth it.” Lily tried to shoot down the idea that was, on many levels, way too dangerous to be worth it. “Going back to the city and bringing a collection of portable generators seems like a better idea if we want to turn that thing on this much.”

“It would take a very long time to cross the bureaucracy, but it would be a better option for sure, missy. We would have to give up on this idea for now though…”

“That’s bad, isn’t it, Professor? I mean, blowing myself up isn’t fun and all, but giving time to those guys...” Kuro spoke with her eyes turned to the lawyer still taking notes in silence, although he turned towards the conversation after becoming the focus.

“Fair worries, but try to not die for them, ok?” He answered with a faint smile. “It would mess up my commission if this whole thing became a mess.”

It was hard to know if Ben’s words were a little joke or if he was speaking the truth. Knowing the difference would make the angry looks from the university crew any less angry though.

Even Lily was having trouble keeping a neutral stance in this situation considering the bad taste of the joke for those who cared about it.

“So…” Amy went on to try and defuse the situation even though all she wanted was to move on already. “What if we split up? I could go to this power plant since it would be good content and you can go up and look for a portable generator. They should have something less regulated in those slums, you know?”

As she spoke, Amy was signaling her partner to somehow try and convince everyone to this plan or, in case she couldn’t accept this one, try something that would give her a chance of opening this box. It wasn’t as if the pink idol had any idea of what was inside there, but leaving something this suspicious was against their mission.

From what she knew, that could very well be the case for some doomsday device or something of the kind. And she was feeling very strongly against leaving it somewhere that could be accessed without her, or her organization’s, eyes.

She was even willing to just throw nanomachines there and destroy the damn thing, but the possibility of collateral damage was too big right now. It was necessary that, at minimum, Lily left the ruins and the area close to it before going for something that harsh.

Lily, as usual, was not fond of putting the expedition’s members in danger even if it was her mission, so she would prefer a safer option too. And as such, she was very willing to go with what the pink maniac was calling at the moment.

An option that would both allow her partner to go all-out and would keep the civilians away from danger was always the best.

“Ignoring the ‘less-regulated’ bit, going in a huge group would be more dangerous than it’s worth for sure. And ignoring this thing here wouldn’t feel right for our goals, right? Even the audience is calling us to somehow open this thing.” Lily joined in with better and more legal arguments than her partner. “More even, I’m interested in looking at the papers left here and how safe this room is. We should at least scan them before moving on anywhere just in case, shouldn’t we? We undid what was keeping this place stuck in time, so who knows what can happen…”

It was unlikely that everything would decompose out of the blue, but it was hard to know what would happen inside such a weird room. Even if ignoring any other danger, the place could always collapse and destroy all the ‘relics’ there, so the purple idol’s suggestion sounded quite decent at least.

How confident and proper she sounded while giving it also helped, of course. Lily’s persona was a lot better with this kind of serious matter than her partner no matter what.

“Hmmm… I don’t like the idea of splitting up, but it’s for the best this time.” Henrique mumbled as he seemed unsure of what was the best course of action right now. “I’ll go up and find something that could help us while you two work on the documents and the little missy there goes scout ahead for a while. It seems to be okay for everyone?”

“We’ll be left alone with Lily?! Then, yes please!”

“I’m interested in trying to translate these, so I also agree. And try to keep your real intentions hidden, Kuro.”

“How these two are reacting bothers me, but since I gave the idea...” Amy pouted as she saw the twins getting excited about their new job even if it was, in the end, her fault things got like this. “I shall see if the reactor has something worth our time and return shortly.”

“So, since everyone…”

“I object to this plan.” The lawyer interrupted the expedition’s leader to bring his own point to the talk. “I can’t keep an eye on all of you like this, so it would…”

“That’s an oversight from your side and there’s nothing in the contract about us having to stay together, so I don’t think you have a say here, lawyer.” Henrique shot the argument down before it could go anywhere. “More so, if you’re so worried about something breaking down, then you can go together with the missy, no? We’ll stay here with cameras either way, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I still…”

“It’s a YOU problem, right?” Shiro also added with the clear intention of shutting down the objection. “There’s nothing more there.”

“Yes, leave us with Lily, and go explore whatever!”

“Your real intentions are still leaking, Kuro…”

“This… Sigh… Fine. Please keep me safe, little idol.”

“I will do my best!” Amy exclaimed before giving what, for the lawyer only, seemed like a very dangerous smile. “Please try to keep it up, Mr. Lawyer.”

“Amy…” Lily eyed her partner but only got a smile in answer this time. A smile still meant that all was fine, or at least the ex-cop believed in such, so it should be fine.

“Looks like everything is set then. I’ll set a timer just in case, so everyone should try and come back here in, let’s say… Three hours?” The burly teacher clapped his hands and then moved his eyes to every member one by one to confirm his new rule. “Looks good enough, right? If I or Amy doesn’t come back in time, then please try to contact us or leave the area and get proper help, ok? Now, let’s start moving.”