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...

"Noxious" plans of "volatility"

     We left the tower shortly after going through the nearby drawers for any information on reports. THEROS had suggested we go through the information stored in the portal data room, but me and UOPETA had concluded that it was unlikely there would be anything there to help us.

"If there were any more possible sites for more portal chambers, I would have thought they would have been in the report we took initially. After all, the last chamber we got to wasn't even complete! HoN Co. are probably just stocking up on obsidian for the next lot of portal chambers. Hopefully, COLUS and OROTHO come up with an idea to put a stop to the obsidian production once and for all!"

Moving quickly and quietly from the entrance to the base, we moved two of the guards back around to either side. When they awoke, they wouldn't remember a thing, and it would reduce the chances of the other guards spotting their unconscious forms... We headed back to base, not meeting anyone or seeing anything along the way that was cause for suspicion. As usual, the journey back was totally uneventful. Despite this thought, it felt good to be back into the swing of things, proceeding with a more regulated routine. The long days and nights without sleep had started taking their toll, and that twenty four plus hours I slept really helped me to recharge... Let's hope there wasn't a need to do that again too soon... We made it back to the base in what could possibly record time, and passed through the hatching, lowering the walkway as we climbed down.

     As we continued towards the lab, we were surprised to find everyone there, doing something or other to help. COLUS and Amie were talking about portal technology, and how it had been working for HoN Co. as a lead scientist, AMPHIS and THEXIS were digging out more of the tunnel for OROTHO to install more security barricades, and Joe and OROTHO were talking excitedly about "security installations"... Needless to say, I probably would have understood more of what was being said had I walked into a room full of people all speaking in Greek!

"Ah, you're back! Good! How is the primary portal situation thus far?"

"Good news; the active primary portals along the left-side wall have now all become inactive! Only a few remain on the far right wall! We're so close to destroying this threat once and for all!"

"Well then, that means there's two lots of good news! OROTHO, Amie and I believe we have come up with a way to destroy the obsidian farm for good! OROTHO, Ami? Would you mind filling them in?"

Amie and OROTHO approached us from their original positions, and stood just in front of us. Instantly, OROTHO jumped into a lecture about lava...

"Obsidian, as we all know, is the bi-product of the process by which lava is cooled rapidly, either by cooled air, or water. Although the obsidian is in fact glass-like in state, it acts more like a dense rock. When lava is cooled rapidly, the noxious and volatile gases are violently forced outwards, along with steam, either from the water vapour in the air, or from the direct contact of water itself. As lava is hot, it possesses a lot of geothermal energy, which becomes trapped in the dense layers of obsidian during this process. Amie?"

"This mixture of expelled gases possess a volatile property which, when exposed to a spark or naked flame, can ignite quite forcefully and explosively."

"So what you're saying is... We rapidly cool the lava blow introducing a vast quantity of water to it, and there's a chance that the expelled gases will destroy the remaining structures?"

"It's definitely possible..."

"Hang on then... How come this doesn't happen every time they harvest more obsidian then? The process remains the same, but only the scale changes... Why aren't they blowing themselves up every time they rapidly cool a portion of lava?"

"We don't know... This is purely theoretical, I should mention, but it's possible the atmosphere inside that chamber might be dampened... If it's full of water vapour, it's likely that's what's preventing the explosions..."

OROTHO could be right... When we were in there, I had felt incredibly hot and sticky. Not something I would usually associate with close proximity to lava... I would have thought it would be hot and dry, like a desert... But it was as though the air was moist as well as hot...

"Well if HoN Co. are humidifying the air, how would the gases help then?"

"The humidifying effects would likely only work on a small scale. But if we were to cool the entire surface of the lava at once, it's possible the volume of volatile gases released would be sufficient to be ignited..."

"So we're talking about a huge volume of water... I don't think the reservoir holds enough to do the job... Then again... If we destroyed the piping along the ceiling that feeds the reservoir, it should create a constant downpour of water... that would be enough! We would just need to get to it."

"That's definitely a much easier option than drowning it with the water from the sea... I'll leave it up to you."

OROTHO went back to talk with Joe, whilst COLUS took his place beside Amie.

"In light of what we have learned from Joe, it's not a necessary condition to remove the guards and workers from the site before you do anything. You can achieve this in any way you like, but make sure everyone is out of there before you do anything. If it's going to explode, it's also a good idea to get well back after the initial detonation..."

Joe cut in at this point, with an excellent idea that never would have occurred to us, mainly due to our lack of knowledge about the location.

"If that place deals with large amounts of obsidian, it's possible there could be a circular saw in there... If you manage to wedge a chunk of obsidian beneath it, and set it spinning, the sparks created could ignite the gases after you evacuate..."

"Brilliant! I think it might be best if Joe went with you. Normally I wouldn't advise it, but he might prove useful in convincing some of the other workers to follow you. Maybe even get the guards to leave the location of their own free will..."

"I'll try anything to help... When do we start?"

"When OROTHO has created a large enough cache of explosive to destroy the piping..."

"No need... I can guarantee there will be explosives already there. They would have needed to use some to get to the chamber itself. They'll be lying around somewhere on the surface, away from the lava..."

"Alright then, if you three are happy with that, you can go off and start now... But be extremely careful! Evacuate when the gases are released, and be sure to thoroughly check everyone else has left the site first... We don't need any deaths on our hands. Yours, or anyone else's..."

Making sure we had everything we would need, we set of towards the boat, with Joe accompanying us. In less than twelve hours times, HoN Co. could receive a crippling blow to their progress, as we march forward ever stronger, to bring HoN Co. to it's knees, and reveal to the world their true face!

Syeonyx signing off

No comments:

Post a Comment