Welcome to "The Diary of a Miner"; a blog detailing the adventures and mysteries that I, Syeonyx, embark upon in my quest to further my mining and survival skills! It'll be tough, there will be good times and bad times, but I'll always be alive to post my adventures... probably...

Day 97: Reminiscence

     For a change, I was one of the first to wake up today. I don't know why, but I didn't feel much like sleeping anyway. When I did wake up, COLUS was the only one up. He was in the lab, thinking about what to do with the current situation. I had to admit, it was a pickle! Here we had a potential spy held in the room of one of the members of the Lone 7 who is now being held captive in the library due to his... Shadowy past... Amie used to work under OROTHO, who was the senior researcher at HoN Co. ... He worked mainly with the higher powers, informing them of their progress into understanding the portals. But he would spend less and less time with his team, and more on assignments HoN Co. sent him out on. He wouldn't tell us what these assignments were... Well, he wouldn't tell us what he really was doing. He just kept saying he was "performing research out in the field", which I didn't buy for a second. He had been a brother of the Lone 7 pretty much since its setup, and when the entire operation was still in its infancy. Surely if the other brothers had reason to suspect him, there would have been signs before now... But now, a random scientist follows us back from an originally routine mission, and informs us that OROTHO isn't all he says he is! I know we all worked for HoN Co. - heck! We were all miners for them - but OROTHO was the only one who worked internally. He was the only one of us to know how the higher powers of HoN Co. worked... That was one big mark against him. With COLUS essentially leading the other brothers, I had to say: I;m glad I'm not in his shoes! Despite this though, he seemed in high spirits...

"Morning Syeonyx! How are you?"

Confused... that's how I was... I didn't know whether to trust Amie or OROTHO, let alone know what to do with either of them... On the one hand, OROTHO was a long standing member of the Lone 7 without any record of unusual behaviour - outside his usual habits! - but on the other hand, why would this Amie be lying? What would she have to gain? Certainly not her freedom! But then again she seemed unwilling to be let go anyway, which added to the confusion... This compounded OROTHO's guilt somewhat, as she was the one who was cooperating, not OROTHO. He was being very defensive... Often a sign of guilt...

"Go and check on Amie would you? I'll go and get the others, whilst AMPHIS gets OROTHO... We need to sort this out..."

Yes we did! I left the room and headed towards the resting quarters, where Amie was being held. OROTHO's room had been secured with a single-use lock on the outside. It was crude but effective, however she didn't seem to be in any rush to test its efficiency...

     She was awake already, folding the sheets on the bed... She really didn't seem anxious to leave... Eventually she turned around, surprised to see me!

"Oh! It's you! What do you want? I've told you all you've asked of me..."

There was one question I don't think any of us had asked her, and it bugged me to not know the answer... Why had she followed us? We had sedated her, but maybe it was least effective on her. Either way, she woke up early enough to be able to follow us. Another thing was how did she track us so well? I thought UOPETA was the best, but it seems he may have some competition!

"I don't know... I just... Like I said before, I found out about HoN Co.'s plans, and I didn't like them. They were morally and ethically wrong! When I trained to be a scientist, I vowed to help people, not make things worse for them... I wanted out! After I woke up and heard voices, I followed them... I figured, if anything, you were my ticket out of there! The guards were hardly going to let me just stroll out of the tower!"

She had a point... I got the impression that HoN Co. treated all of it's employees the same: do your job without asking questions, and there wouldn't be any trouble. Sure knocks the fun out of their smiley-face campaigns and propaganda! The public knew nothing that went on behind the scenes, not even the in-training miners. I hadn't a clue until a few weeks back when I put two and two together... With a little help... I told Amie that COLUS wanted to talk to her again, with OROTHO, and she cooperated again. I unlocked the door, and let her out, wondering if COLUS was having it this easy with OROTHO! At least we knew that OROTHO wasn't a very violent person, so he was unlikely to make an escape attempt, or try to attack COLUS... Besides, he had been locked in the bottom floor of the library all night, what could he attack him with? A severe paper cut?

     COLUS and OROTHO were already present in the lab by the time I brought Amie back. COLUS had somehow managed to get OROTHO to sit down, but he looked incredibly uncomfortable. This was made more obvious when he saw Amie enter the room.

"Okay, OROTHO. I just want to say initially that we're not accusing you of anything. We need to get some things straight before we can continue. Your sudden change in behaviour since Professor Fenrii's arrival has not only made us suspicious, but it's also putting everyone on edge. That's why we're going to need you to tell us the truth when we ask you questions. None of this "research in the field" nonsense!"

OROTHO didn't say anything, but he looked a little more cooperative than usual. He hadn't spoken out of turn or immediately jumped to the defensive yet, so we were off to a good start. There was no point in waking the others just yet. We just needed to clear this up, and hopefully everyone would be back to normal by then. Then we had to work out what to do with Amie...

"Firstly. You worked for HoN Co. as the senior researcher and scientist, studying the portals... What happened when you were seeing less and less of your team?"

OROTHO sat there in silence for some time. Okay, maybe he wasn't going to be as cooperative as I thought, but I couldn't work out whether the silent treatment was preferable to the defensive stance. COLUS began speaking again, but then OROTHO started to answer the question. He did so in a begrudging way, as though he did it against his will, and he made clear to state that it was all in the past!

"I worked as the communications medium between my team and the higher departments... I got my orders from them, and I passed them down to my team. One day, I made a particularly important breakthrough with the portal technology, and they called me to see the CEO of HoN Co. ..."

"What was this 'breakthrough' with the portals?"

"I determined that an inactive portal could be activated using thermal energy... It put paid to months of experiments and millions of pounds of research when we learnt you could activate a portal with a bit of fire! Rather than a large conducting tower... I went to see the CEO and he had 'big plans' for the portals... And for me... From then on, I would see them more regularly, often having important assignments to fulfil. A lot of it was trying to find portals out in the field... But it was more a case of detecting where they were rather than digging around randomly..."

"How? Unstable portals can only be found with the Solus stone... Are you telling me HoN Co. has a stone just like it?"

"Well, sort of... We had a similar device to find them, but it was huge and very complicated to operate... I used it to find the portals and other researchers would activate them. After a few weeks of this, HoN Co. heard about a series of miners who had cut contact with them in a close area. They were worried that you might have discovered the secrets of the portals, and what HoN Co. was doing... So... They sent me in to find you, merge with you. Become one of you... Then, when I had enough information, to return to them. I initially sent communications to them at infrequent occasions about group updates. Then we found the Solus stone... When we did, I contacted HoN Co. immediately, and they wanted me to take it and return... But then you told me about what HoN Co. did to miners who found portals... I was... Disgusted! I vowed to never return, and work against them, an ironic twist considering my initial use to them..."

"How much did you tell them? What did you tell them?"

"This was back before this place was established... Don't worry, I never informed them of names or locations... I still don't even know yours... For protection I suppose... I just told them about places you had been to. They watched you. Observed you. They tried to determine the threat level you posed... Up until you found the Solus stone you weren't 'considered worth wasting resources on' and left it at that... It was a stroke of luck that my moral compass changed then. A few days later, and they would be in possession of the Solus stone, and the Lone 7, would likely not exist..."

We all sat in silence for a bit, thinking about how close this had all come to never occurring... Provided it was all true...

"Where does Professor Fenrii fit into all of this?"

"She doesn't... She simply worked under me as a junior scientist back when I worked for HoN Co. ... She was stubborn. Hard to work with and hard to instil any sense of direction into. She was adamant her ways worked... Well, it's fitting she followed my way... In the end..."

OROTHO's face softened, and for the first time he smiled... A smile of sincerity...

"I know you may be a little confused as to what to do with her Colus. But, she poses no threat to us at all... She may be stubborn... But her intent was always pure. She doesn't work for HoN Co. any more!"

"Amie? Want to add anything to that?"

She looked taken aback! I had to admit, we all had experience working with OROTHO, and we knew what he was like. But that little speech he just gave nearly brought a tear to my eye... It was totally unlike OROTHO, and I wanted to forgive him entirely... But I knew that from an unbiased view, that meant nothing...If anything, this sudden change in behaviour would be thought of as highly suspicious... But COLUS seemed to agree with me.

"I think we sorted that out... Earlier and less aggravated than initially thought. But now, we turn to the task of deciding what happens with Amie... We can't let you go, but even if we could, it seems you don't want to leave... As OROTHO and yourself both know each other... How about you join the team? We need all the help we can get, and it's all the better if if's a person of your intellect and knowledge. I don't think OROTHO would object..."

"Not at all..."

"Well then... If that's a formal invitation... I think I'll take you up on that. I'll be glad to join! Anyway in which I can help to stop HoN Co., I will greatly aid everyone in! But what about HoN Co.? Surely there'll be wondering where I've gone?"

"Indeed. It might be an idea to lie low for awhile. That goes for everyone. If UOPETA goes out scouting, we need to maintain radio silence at all times. And there's your name... "Professor Amie Fenrii" is a little too unique if it were to get out... You can choose your new name, as long as it makes no reference to your previous one... You will be referred to it by all us brothers, for security's sake, so make it an easy one to pronounce(!) As for 'Lone 7'... We may need to have a rethink..."

Syeonyx signing off

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