"What?!?!"
I went over to THEROS, and took the report from him. After a few moments of scanning the page, I realised he was right! This report seemed to suggest that HoN Co. were experimenting with portal technology, and have recently been successful in replicating actual portals! UOPETA snatched the report from my hand and read it himself...
"This can't be... I thought HoN Co. were activating portals they found? OROTHO said it was impossible to build a working replica of a portal!"
"Well according to the last page, they made a recent breakthrough..."
UOPETA began to read directly from the report:
" 'Replication of a Class C portal has been successful! We have confirmed it's link with a nearby Class B portal and are working towards the construction of a working Class B portal. Hopefully this research will lead us to uncover the ability to replicate Class A portals, and maybe even total replication of a Chief portal!'... What does that mean?"
I knew what it meant... It was clear as crystal, but we were all trying to deny it mentally...
"It means... It means they're working towards replicating master portal technology... They want to open up multiple event pathways to the Nether... If they manage this... Who knows what extent the damage will be... We need to go and inform OROTHO and COLUS about this... We can't do anything more here..."
UOPETA stood there for a moment, dumbfounded, before quickly composing himself. He took a few images of the report before stuffing it back into the drawer. Meanwhile, I helped THEROS pick up the girl, and put her back on the chair. We just needed to make it seem as though she had fallen asleep, and we might get away with it.
"Come on! There's not much time!"
UOPETA called down to us from halfway up the stairwell, and we quickly followed him. We climbed the long stairway back to the base of the tower, and we exited, closing the door behind us. With a silent hiss, the wall slid seamlessly back into position.
"Come on, this way..."
The sun had begun to climb over the horizon to the East as we made our way back South towards the base. I could tell from the looks on UOPETA's and THEROS' faces that they were thinking about the implications of "portal replication technology"... Heck, even I was! I couldn't tell, but that was the reason I was using to explain why UOPETA was stopping more often than usual... However, he kept turning around a lot as well, looking behind us...
"UOPETA? What's up?"
UOPETA stood for a moment, perfectly still, eyes wide, looking behind us, like an alert caribou...
"I think... We're being followed..."
"How can you tell...?"
"Because... I can... Hear them..."
"I can't hear anything... Are you sure?"
"Positive... We can't go straight back to base... We'll need to lose them first..."
With that, UOPETA began sprinting off through the treeline leaving me and THEROS a little bewildered. After a moment we quickly followed pace, and tried to keep up. He was fast! He was too fast! We could barely keep up, and yet we could barely hear his footsteps... Eventually, after a few minutes of constant running, UOPETA stopped and slowed down behind him..."
"Well...?"
"I think they're still following us... Again..."
UOPETA ran off again, this time directly to the East, hoping to throw whoever was following us offguard. We were still pretty tired from the last sprint, but we managed another burst of speed, following behind UOPETA. After a few minutes more, UOPETA stopped again, and he looked around, alert.
"Anything?"
"I think... I think we lost them... Just in case though, we'll run to the South for a few minutes more... Then we'll continue at a normal pace..."
UOPETA wasn't even out of breath, and off he went again, this time heading back South. We ran after him almost completely spent. I had a stitch that felt like my side was going to split open, but I managed to push past the pain and continue... I had no idea I was so stoic! Then again, UOPETA outdid me in that area...
We made it back to the base, completely exhausted, but assured that we had lost whoever was following us. I trusted UOPETA enough to get us back safely, so I was happy with his assumption of the follower... He didn't say who it was... I don't know if he knew himself, but I doubt very much it was a Creeper! We made our way over the lava trench, before THEROS lowered the pistons, and the walkway sank beneath the surface. He also closed the barricade, before joining us again to meet with COLUS.
"What do you think he's going to say?"
"Who? OROTHO or COLUS?"
"Both..."
I bet OROTHO is going to be fascinated, whilst COLUS is likely to share the same emotions and mood as us... We went straight to the lab where OROTHO and COLUS were talking about the old subject of the person who helped the Creepers have more of an "explosive" personality...
"Good, you're back. What did you manage to find?"
UOPETA threw the photos onto the nearby desk...
"Trouble... We destroyed a number of portals, but it hasn't made a blind bit of difference!"
"What do you mean?"
"More of the primary portals have been activated! HoN Co. have stepped up their operation to activate any portals they find. They know about is for definite now!"
"Wait a minute... How can more of the primary portals be active? I thought they needed a large number of secondary portals linked to them first?"
"We don't know, but I'm sure OROTHO is going to have a whale of a time going through that lot to give us a rough estimate(!) That's not the worst part... They've begun research into portal replication technology... They're already under way..."
UOPETA flicked the last image onto the desk; the image of the last report we found..."
" 'Test 347: successful'... they've managed to build a working standard portal... Not only that, but they were able to link it to a secondary portal! They're already making headway into replicating secondary portal technology... Then primary... Finally... They're hoping to replicate the master portal!"
"What?!?!? How can this be? Portals were supposed to be ancient artefacts build millions of years ago... How could they be replicating them?!?!"
"No idea, but hopefully OROTHO can shed some light on the subject when he gets through all of this lot..."
COLUS sat there for a moment, completely dumbstruck... He cradled his head in his hands and let out a long sigh...
"How many more primary portals have come online?"
"Three..."
"Then they must have gone full production with this new technology... If they manage to replicate secondary portals... We stand no chance... Destroying the portals is no longer priority... We need to destroy the source of these new replicated portals... We need to destroy the research into any more portals from now on!"
THEXIS ran into the room, looking very confused...
"Oh... You're back..."
"You don't look so happy to see us..."
"Well if you're already here... We have an intruder!"
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