Day 98: Portal map

     Amie, OROTHO and COLUS spent the better part of yesterday afternoon and evening discussing the portal situation. They all agreed that the secondary portals were top priority, as we could essentially take out forty standard portals in a single shot, regardless of how many replicated portals they set up. As long as the "disappearance" of Professor Fenrii from the HoN Co. labs is enough to stall the progress into the primary portal replication research, we might just make it. THEROS has been working with AMPHIS collating the data that everyone else managed to run off, and me, UOPETA and THEXIS have had little to do but sit around waiting. I was happy to know, once I woke up, that they had created an updated map showing the location of portals we have destroyed - both secondary and standard - and the locations of any more know secondary portals. We're not bothering with primary portals as they are considered "a waste of time and effort"... At least that's OROTHO's viewpoint. COLUS has pointed out though that if we're primarily going for secondary portals, we'll need to be prepared for guards and more Affinitas cages setup nearby. So far, we've outlined the definite locations of five additional secondary portals. Amie cannot verify if they are active or not, but we are to assume they are and they are not. Going with one assumption means leaving either the Solus stone of the diamond pickaxe behind. And the last thing we need is to find an inactive secondary portal, and no way to destroy it! OROTHO has come to the conclusion though that most, if not all of them will be active, especially if HoN Co. have been activating more of these replicated portals. After we take out these next five, UOPETA, THEROS and myself will be checking at the conducting tower again to see if it has made any impact at all on the currently active primary portals... Amie has informed us though that at least half of the connected secondary portals must be destroyed or deactivated for the primary portal to become deactivated, however, this is often compensated by other secondary portals which may already be online. Well, five secondary portals is definitely a start!

     COLUS has refused to allow us to begin the operation today as he believes that HoN CO. guards may still be more abundant than usual. THEXIS verified this a while ago. He had been monitoring communications traffic from HoN Co. guards - without giving our position away - and he says that they know she's missing. They're performing a wide search area in all directions, paying close attention to portal locations. They haven't found her, obviously, but the patrols are likely to cross by our base by the end of today. COLUS has assured us that the base is secured; it is securely locked down, and no-one can find the lever to access the hatch. Even if they could, the hatch would remain locked. Besides, from an external point of view, the base looks like a pool of water in the midst of a few high climbing cliff walls. Nothing suspicious there. We do need to ensure that we aren't spotted at night though; I remember when I first found the base. There had been a light emanating from the centre of the pool when it was dark, which made it a little obvious. We've taken down the torches close to the hatch, so the closest light source to it now is the lava trench, and it's unlikely the light is going to get that far. Unless the guards decide to go swimming!

"Tomorrow, before you head out, THEXIS will monitor radio chatter to determine an approximate direction and distance the search is heading. If it's safe, you three will go out and remove the known secondary portals. Once this is done, report back for an update about the search teams, and we'll try to negotiate a safe path to the conducting tower. We don't know what the guards will do after they stop searching, nor do we know how far they are likely to go before they give up. As usual, we shall assume the worst, and act accordingly. Until then, try to determine the plan of action. What you do, and how you do it is up to you, but as long as those five portals are destroyed, we should be good!"

I followed THEROS and UOPETA to the library to plot a course, and decide on a plan. We essentially had two options: go for the furthest portal first and work our way back to the nearest, or do the opposite. It seemed more logical to do it the first way as we needed to come back to the base to get an idea as to what the search teams were doing. The last we needed was to run into a whole squad of HoN Co. guards! Provided the teams were still searching when we got back to the base, we would have an easy path to the conducting tower. Once there, it was likely to be heavily guarded though considering the recent events. It's not every day a top scientist goes missing from HoN Co. ... Who knows what they were thinking right now. Chances were that the research into secondary portal replication would be put on hold until she had either been found or replaced. Well, it definitely wasn't going to be the former.

"We'll start with the secondary portal off to the far North, and work towards the one closest to the base, by following the arc that they create. Then we double time it due South back to the base, hopefully evading any returning search teams. Once back, we determine the current operation the search teams are performing and either go to the conducting tower, or wait until they pass. Here's to hoping that they don't give up the search until after we return from the conducting tower. I have a feeling that once they give up the search, they'll all converge on the conducting tower. Not an ideal location to be pinned down in!"

Well, that was the plan then. Take out the portals, check on the search teams and determine the situation at the conducting tower. Then return with some data Amie has asked us to acquire which should hopefully allow us to locate the next set of secondary portals. We were going to be very busy over the next few days!

Syeonyx signing off

Portal, to another world!

     It was odd... Very odd: since earlier when everything was cleared up, OROTHO has been much cheerier... More so than usual... Maybe it was Amie... They had been actively working together, discussing hypotheses, and no raised voices at all! Admittedly OROTHO had no reason to be upset with Amie and vice versa. I guess OROTHO's original outburst was as a result of fear stemmed from the belief that Amie would reveal his dark history with HoN Co. to us... It didn't matter. It was all in the past, and OROTHO had more than made up for his previous actions by helping us. he had been an invaluable asset to the team, aiding us with theories, equipment and techniques. With Amie joining us, it could only get better! As COLUS said though, we're keeping a low profile for awhile, allowing Amie to disappear. It would also allow us to recap our efforts so far, and realise what we have ahead of us. We knew it was serious when Amie told us about the portal replication research, and how they had already begun implementing it. that much was also clear from the increased number of active primary portals back at the conducting tower. On the bright side, she was the lead researcher and scientist into replicating the secondary portal technology. They were more complex as they would have to route numerous network connections from multiple portals to a single primary portal. She has informed us that they had only got as far as beginning to understand the purpose of the appendages on each secondary portal.

"Each Class B portal, sorry, secondary portal, links to forty or so portals. We believe each 'arm' of the portal deals with approximately ten signals from ten portals. Four arms means about forty portals. When you destroy a secondary portal, you cut the link to all forty portals, causing them to revert back to an inactive state. But they can be reactivated, and they can link up to the next available secondary portal... As for how many secondary portals to primary portals, I don't know. We never got that far into the research. We hoped that by better understanding how the portals link to a secondary portal, we could work on the secondary to primary link later, assuming it was of a similar connection."

COLUS asked a question that, at the time had eluded me completely, but I did wish to know the answer to:

"OROTHO has made references to 'networks' and 'connections' before, but he's never said how they were connected. We've never studied a portal in such great detail. Partially because of the distance they are located to any equipment, but mostly because of the threat it poses if we left it active. How do they link? What 'network' is being referred to?"

"Well... It's quite complicated, but I'll try to keep it simple. I'm sure you're aware of the electromagnetic spectrum? You have you visible light in the middle of the spectrum, and the higher frequency, lower wavelength spectrums towards the blue end, and the lower frequency, higher wavelength spectrums towards the red end. As you should also know, most communications are transmitted via radio waves, the band with the longest wavelength. Well we believe that there is another band which exists beyond this range. Radio waves can travel hundreds of miles before needing to be boosted by towers or satellites etc. But this additional band can travel thousand, maybe millions of miles without needing to be boosted! However, it cannot really fit onto the electromagnetic spectrum, as it appears that despite the usual nature of waves - the further from the source, the more they spread out - these waves seem to maintain a uniform spread! This makes for very precise communications, but no communication equipment would be able to transmit at these wavelengths due to the immense energy needed to generate them! We named them 'iter waves'... It's Latin meaning 'journey'. These waves essentially have the power to be transmitted from planet to planet with little need for boosting, or loss of energy!"

"What's the point though? The portals would be close enough to transmit a connection signal via radio waves... Why use these... iter waves?"

"I don't know... The energy generated by the link between the obsidian frame and the rift of the portal is sufficient to generate this range of electromagnetic radiation. It's possible... That the portals might not be confined to Earth..."

Was Amie suggesting what I think she was suggesting? Was she saying that portals could, not only exist elsewhere outside of Minecraftia, but also on other planets? That didn't seem physically possible! Wait a minute. I put forward the theory that, if portals could exist on other planets, was the master portal even the main threat?

"Well, you have to bear in mind that the Nether isn't just another world, it's another entire plane of existence! There are other worlds, galaxies universes out there through the portals, not just the Nether. There is belief that, well... Some believe that the portals aren't gateways to a new dimension, but gateways to different worlds in our own universe... It can't be proved, but it extends to the theory of leaf frogging... We use the portal constructed from obsidian to travel to the Nether, and then use another material in the Nether to construct a similar portal to travel to another world... No-one has tried this, and I doubt anyone will, but it isn't a major theory. The problem is, there's so little we can prove, that the subject is open to individual interpretation."

The entire time, OROTHO had been sitting in silence, listening to Amie's ideas. He seemed intrigued by them, as were the rest of us. It was an interesting twist to the whole portal theory, but one that was of little consequence to us now. We only knew that the portals were linked to the master portal, a device which was hypothesised to allow multiple dimensions - or worlds - to meld. HoN Co. had seen the profit in this by being able to harvest the materials and ores that would be abundantly available, and, provided it could be contained, it would be left unknown to the public. All they need know is that a new material was found and is being sold and used in specific areas of industry. If HoN Co. could secure their future in solving the world's energy crisis... They're become the most lucrative company on the planet!

"It doesn't matter about the possibilities! We just need to settle on what we know, and deal with it accordingly. The secondary portals are still our main focal aim. We destroy them, and we put a stop to the master portal being activated. It will also greatly reduce the efficiency of these replicated portals. They have no purpose if they cannot be linked, so the secondary portals remain our top priority. Myself, Amie and OROTHO will discuss what plan is needed, and we shall rope AMPHIS in to ensure you have the correct details. THEROS, we'll need your cartography skills so we can draw up a map of positive secondary portal locations. I'm sure Amie knows where enough of them are to be able to get a good footing!"

Amie nodded, and OROTHO rubbed his hands enthusiastically. Looks like the Lone 7 was running at 110%!

Syeonyx signing off

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

The truth comes out... Sort of...

     I followed THEROS out of the room, and out to where Amie was currently being held. COLUS had secured her in OROTHO's room as he never seemed to be in there anyway! The door was locked, and she seemed to have made no attempt to escape. She was either playing it cool, waiting for a moment to sneak out, or she was actually cooperating, and wanted to remain here. She definitely seemed adamant she wasn't going back to HoN Co. ... Or at least that's what she had said... She heard us coming, and was looking at the door when we were level with the windows. I was curious about her, as well as OROTHO, but I might be able to get some better understanding if I quizzed her before we took her to OROTHO. THEROS seemed to agree, so before we opened the door, she agreed to answer a few questions. I initially asked if she knew of a person named "OROTHO". She denied doing so, but that wasn't proof of anything. The Lone 7 had all been given new names when taken in to protect their identity. If they were previous employees of HoN Co., the last thing they needed was them running around with their original name! OROTHO was likely to be an example of this.

"Have you heard of us before?"

"Only bits and pieces... The guards and a few senior engineers and scientists spoke of your name, but only in relation to the portals... I think they know you're behind the disappearance of some of them..."

"What about the figure? Are they working for you?"

"Who? I don't know who you're talking about... I'm just a scientist... I work primarily with the senior engineers and the guards that secure HoN Co. locations... I've never heard of "the figure" before..."

It was likely she was telling the truth. I mean, we didn't know who the figure was, and if she was who she said she was, she was likely to have been kept in the dark, for security reasons...

"We're bringing you to the lab for another interrogation. We've spotted some odd, group inconsistencies which arose since you arrived... We have a feeling you may know one of us..."

"Oh! I doubt it... I keep mainly to myself. I don't go out much, so I'm unlikely to know anyone from here... Besides, I think HoN Co. would frown upon fraternising with "the enemy"..."

She had a point... This next conversation was going to interesting...

     We brought Amie to the science lab. As she entered, I noted a very uncomfortable look cross OROTHO's face, and an uncooperative stance about him. Yes, this was going to be interesting... Amie sat down on the far side of the room, whilst OROTHO paced back and forth in front of the Creeper screen. When Amie saw the Creepers behind the glass panels, the same shock and awe crossed her face as it had mine when I first saw it! COLUS saw the look on her face, and sought to reassure her:

"Don't worry; they're conditioned not to explode... Courtesy of OROTHO here... Now then... OROTHO? Come over here..."

OROTHO stopped pacing, but refused to move.

"I'm fine where I am..."

"Professor Fenrii? Do you know a man of the name, OROTHO?"

"I don't think so... I've never heard of that name before..."

"Are you sure? What about Professor? Professor Machs? Ring any bells?"

"Professor Machs? That was the name of the senior scientist I was stationed with."

"Are you sure? What happened to this, Professor Machs?"

"He disappeared... Well, he was called up to the higher echelons of HoN Co. when he helped drastically with the portal technology... Why? What does anything have to do with..."

"OROTHO? Please turn around..."

OROTHO slowly turned around to face the rest of us, a look of seething anger on his face, coupled with fear. These were emotions rarely seen coming from OROTHO. Then again any emotion from OROTHO was often seen as odd!

"Professor? What...? Wha... I don't understand..."

"Welcome to the club... OROTHO? Please enlighten us!"

----

     After a lot or arguing and shouting - mainly from OROTHO, and COLUS telling him to calm down - we managed to get some information out of both of them. It was very surprising, and we've all learnt a lot from it. I don;t know about everyone else, but I'm more nervous of OROTHO now... Amie told us that OROTHO - or Professor Machs - was the senior scientist she served under years ago, back when HoN Co. first found the portals. He was the lead professional in this area, despite the apparent infancy of the research done into it so far. He lead a whole team into the purpose and secrets of the portals, and was the first to allow HoN Co. to send men in through it. The information gathered from it allowed OROTHO to inform them that the Nether likely contained vast quantities of unimaginable energy stored in fuel and ores, and it would be good to acquire them. Only problem was, they found that taking the ores through from the Nether to Minecraftia warped them somehow; they lost the contained energy as they passed through the rift. By this time, HoN Co. was adamant that this was the way forward for energy. So they set out acquire knowledge of the portal to help them retrieve the energy without it's loss through the rift. Then more and more HoN Co. miners found portals, and it wasn't long before HoN Co. was struggling to keep it private. So they started killing miners who found one, to cut all ties... If their families asked, they died in "a freak accident during a routine mineshaft inspection"... OROTHO began spending less and less time with the research team, and more time with the upper levels within HoN Co. ... Eventually he just disappeared... A part OROTHO is unwilling to fill in... Amie took over control of head researcher, and that's where she's been since, more or less since the startup of the Lone 7. They've been working closely with portal technology, and found the master portal a few years back. Since then, they've been working on a way to activate it, thinking it was a way to merge Minecraftia and the Nether together, but they need to activate the primary portals... That's where the portal replication technology came in... COLUS verified the timeline; the Lone 7 had come together as the full team - AMPHIS, COLUS, THEXIS, THEROS, SERVERE, UOPETA, with OROTHO joining at a later date - and vowed to take out the portals. Each member had found a portal whilst working for HoN Co., but had put two and two together when HoN Co. acted shifty around it...

"So... OROTHO? You worked for HoN Co.?"

"Yes... But might I remind you that we all have at some point or another... What difference does it make, I left because I didn't like the direction we... They were going in... I got out..."

"But you can't just get out! You were a senior researcher! they wouldn't just let you go, why did they let you leave?"

"They... I didn't give them a chance to say no... One day I was working as normal, the next I didn't turn up for work... They sent out covert search teams, knowing that if I'd gone rogue, I was a loose end... A potential chink in their armour... If I went public, I could topple HoN Co. ... But I didn't I went into hiding, and eventually found the Lone 7..."

"But it doesn't add up... How could you hide? Surely they knew that you were too valuable not to keep an eye on... If you wanted to leave, they'd know exactly where you went and when... You would be too valuable an asset to let out of their sight!"

COLUS had a point... There was something off with OROTHO's story, but we were getting off the point. What were we going to do with Amie? She still didn't seem in any rush to leave, and she was cooperating completely... OROTHO's initial statements to "kill her!" didn't add up with his story or hers... Why was he scared of her? Did she know something? I asked COLUS if I could take her aside, to which he agreed. OROTHO watched her as she and I went to the corner of the room, out of earshot... I told her that I knew she was with holding something... Something about OROTHO that might prove important...

"I didn't think it was important, but shortly after Professor Machs, OROTHO, left, I did some investigative research into it... I couldn't let it go that he had simply disappeared, and I found out that he had worked his way into the higher areas of HoN Co.! He was regularly doing important jobs for them, things that helped us lower down in the company, but one job he went on, he never came back from... The thing is, the report I managed to access seemed to indicate that Machs wasn't coming back... It had no real objective to it. Well, the bits I could read. Most of it was still encrypted, and I didn't want to draw attention to myself..."

What was she saying? That HoN Co. had given OROTHO an assignment to leave? I doubted that very much, but it still didn't make any sense as to why they never pursued him... Unless... Unless they knew where he was going... We went back over to the others, whom were now watching us intently.

"Well?"

I gestured to Amie to inform the others, and she repeated to them what she told me... With each sentence, the stress on OROTHO's face grew and grew... he was hiding something, and he wasn't very good at covering it up... At the end, COLUS asked OROTHO about the assignment he had been given, and he rattled off something about retrieving some intel in the field... I didn't buy it for a minute! OROTHO was hiding something... Everyone knew it, but he was sticking clearly to his guns, and was not budging!

"Well we're not going to get anything sorted out today... We all need to calm down and get some rest. As for you two, put OROTHO in the bottom floor of the library and lock him in. Put Amie back in OROTHO's room... We need to keep them separate in case one decides to "injure" the other... We'll sort this out tomorrow..."

OROTHO began protesting, but he knew it was futile, and eventually went with AMPHIS to the library... With OROTHO's past coming to light, we couldn't trust him any more than Amie! However, I must say, I was beginning to think Amie might actually be telling the truth about all of this... She was cooperating all the time, and OROTHO was the one being difficult... As usual... Maybe... It doesn't matter... Hopefully we'll sort this out by tomorrow, and we'll finally have an idea what to do with Amie... Lone 8...? Maybe?

Syeonyx signing off

Truthful captive

     We set off to the North East in search of this portal Amie, the scientist, informed us of. Well, actually her words were: "Just South of the lightning tower are two Class B portals and an Affinitas cage... Be careful!"... Sounds like she cares, which is odd if this is actually a trap. Needless to say we're all playing it very safely! We know to watch out for an Affinitas cage, which means there are likely to be Creepers around. We can't trust Amie, so we were likely to approach the situation with due care anyway, but a heads-up of the possible situation could be what proves her innocence... If she is telling the truth then who knows... We can't let her go just in case she was working for HoN Co. all this time, and killing her wouldn't make any sense... Maybe... Maybe the Lone 7 would become the Lone 8...? The word "Lone" would make less and less sense... But still... A really odd thing is OROTHO' behaviour: he's been acting very cagey since her arrival; only COLUS is allowed inside the lab now, and even then he won't tell anyone why... Maybe he doesn't like the idea of another one joining us... Or maybe he's just edgy around women...? Anyway, we continued to the East, keeping track of our location using UOPETA's scouting skills, and THEROS's map. It wasn't long before we were right where Amie indicated: North East of the base, and due South of the lightning tower... We didn't have to search long to find the place as the other piece of information Amie gave us was that it was "twenty feet below the surface..."... With most of the land being quite flat, finding the hole was too easy...

     Taking our blowpipes out, we cautiously entered the hole, aware of a strange light deeper inside... We couldn't hear anything until we came to a small junction when the echoing sounds of a nearby portal attracted our attention.

"This way... Keep it slow and quiet... There's bound to be a Creeper or two down here, and hopefully we can catch it offguard!"

We continued following the path towards the light which now appeared as a dim, purplish hue. There was definitely a portal up ahead, but we couldn't tell if there was more than one. Would they be close, or spread out along this tunnel? It wouldn't matter. We would destroy them both... Amie hadn't said whether they were active or not, so maybe only one of them was... It didn't make a whole bit of sense for only one to be active, but we had seen more unusual things... The echoing sounds grew louder as we got closer and closer to the portal. Then we saw it... The portal! An active secondary portal - or a "Class B portal" - embedded into the wall with an Affinitas cage in the centre! Then we saw it... A Creeper standing with it's back to us, breathing in short, rasping breaths. UOPETA put the blowpipe to his lips... And exhaled sharply!

The Creeper howled and then dropped like a stone! I readied my blowpipe in case there was more than one, but nothing else moved... As we crept closer, we realised that the tunnel ended in a chamber rather than continuing off to another portal. Not only that, but the other secondary portal was positioned directly opposite the first one, on the other wall! They were facing each other, with the Affinitas cage directly between them! There had only been one Creeper, but with two active portals in such close proximity to each other, we were going to have to be careful when destroying the first one. Once UOPETA was happy the area was safe, THEROS placed the Solus stone onto the left portal, and we stood back. Not because of the portal, but what might come out of the other one! The rift slowly changed colour, and the frame began to crumble. After a few moments, the last of the obsidian pieces disappeared from view forever, and the chamber darkened slightly as the rift collapsed in its entirety. We would have to wait now until the Solus stone became visible enough to retrieve, and then wait even longer before we could use it again... Once both portals were destroyed, we would have to head back to the base. We couldn't make any form of contact with the base via the radio. Amie says they've been tracking most of our radio communications and have been trying to pinpoint our location. Thankfully they became confused when they tried to track us just recently. That must be since we employed the reverse compass technique! Obviously we haven't told her that... It's not safe to do so just yet...

----

     Both portals down! After waiting a very long time, the Solus stone came back to full strength, and we destroyed the second portal with no fuss! We were expecting to see a Creeper appear from the portal as we waited, but nothing happened. UOPETA was guarding the entrance but he saw nothing either! Afterwards, THEROS "dismantled" the Affinitas cage, which in hindsight, we should have done first! Not that it mattered now; they were both destroyed! Amie had been truthful about the location of the portals, and the current status of security, but I wasn't sure if that proved her innocence... If she thinks she can escape, she may be playing scared until she leaves, and then tells HoN Co where we are...

     We made it back to base with nothing eventful occurring. We expected to be overrun by guards or Creepers at any moment, but there was no-one... Nothing... When we got in, the barricade was down. Good! They weren't taking any more chances. We were eventually let through and we went straight to COLUS who was in the lab with OROTHO.

"Well? Was there anything there?"

"There were two secondary portals there, sir. just like she said. And an Affinitas cage guarding them. I couldn't say with any degree of accuracy, but they were both located in a tunnel that led underground... I think she's telling the truth."

"She's lying! Can't you see? She's lying!"

This odd outburst from OROTHO was surprising and not surprising at the same time! It was so out of character for him, but he hadn't been himself since she arrived. I still didn't know why...

"What makes you think that?"

"She's using us! She's only telling you what you want because she thinks she can go free with the location of our base! I say we kill her!"

"Whoa, calm down OROTHO! That's enough! She's proven herself so far, and cooperated with us. If that doesn't convince you, explain why she seems to think she's not going back?"

"Because we're holding her hostage! She's putting on a ruse to make you think she's scared that you're going to kill her! She's probably hoping you'll fall for it, feel sorry for her and let her go! Kill her now! If you don't, you'll regret it!"

I was suspicious... OROTHO was acting strange. Really strange! It was like he knew her or something; he had practically stormed off the moment he saw who it was... Did he know her? Was it possible? I put this to him, and even COLUS looked surprised!

"Know her? Of course I don't know her! She worked for HoN Co.! She probably still does! If you hadn't noticed, I'm trying to stop HoN Co. from progressing with their plan!"

"Syeonyx has a point; you're the only one to not actually meet with her face to face... What's up with that?"

"I'm very busy with experiments and research! I can't go wandering around the base, staring at prisoners for hours on end!"

"No, but Syeonyx was right! You did walk off! When we were all at the barricade, when she revealed herself, you walked off... Why?"

"I was in the middle of an experiment... I couldn't let it ruin otherwise I would have to start from scratch!"

COLUS whispered to me:

"I think you're right about this. There's only one way to find out..."

Standing up, COLUS announced something that shocked OROTHO down to his core!

"Syeonyx? Take THEROS and go and fetch Amie from her containment. Bring her here... We need to sort things out now, once and for all! OROTHO, don't move anywhere..."

"WHAT?!?!?!"

Syeonyx signing off

Rogue scientist...

"An intruder? Is the light on?"

"Yes, sir! Someone has triggered the trip system... If no-one of us is out there, then someone from out there is coming down here!"

"I thought we lost them?"

THEROS asked UOPETA. We had lost them according to UOPETA, but the situation was difficult enough as it was, let alone adding a stalker to the mix!

"We did! But they must have reacquired our trail... I was sure we had lost them..."

"Did you manage to get a look at whoever was following you? Was it a HoN Co. guard or Creeper...? How many were there?"

"From what I could tell, there was one of them, but I couldn't tell who or what it was..."

"Well it doesn't matter now... Everyone up to the main gate, and prepare for anything! It is likely to be a guard, or someone else from HoN Co.!"

Of course! I had been thinking it could be a Creeper, but I realised whoever they were needed to activate the walkway to gain access! Otherwise the hatch wouldn't lift! A Creeper or a random animal wouldn't be able to do that! This was for real! We all ran down towards the barricade, swords at the ready! If this was a proper assault, the blow pipes were not an option! We were going to have to use these swords, and despite my usual pacifistic nature, the moral implications of killing someone never came to light at the time... All I knew and cared about was an intruder had gained access to our base, and my life was in a precarious position! We all lined up along the barricade, looking to see who had made their way down, expecting to see HoN Co. guards.

"Are they within the hatch?"

"Yes. They're between the hatch and us..."

"Good! Lock the hatch down! If there's only one we can trap them, and if there are more, we've locked the others out. Keep the master switch on."

THEROS flipped a lever, and there was a clunk. There was then a high pitched yelp, almost as if in response to the sound of the hatch locking. We all heard it!

"COME OUT, AND SURRENDER PEACEFULLY! YOU'RE TRAPPED AND HAVE NOWHERE TO GO!"

COLUS's thundering words echoed around the chamber. They were met with silence...

"ONE..."

"TWO..."

"Wait wait wait!"

A girl wearing a white lab coat appeared from the shadows of the wooden alcove that lead up to the hatch. She was shaking nervously, head bowed as she came into the light of the lava trench. Then I realised who it was... We'd met mere hours ago...

     We all lowered our swords reflexively. All except COLUS who maintained his authoritative stance...

"Who are you?"

The girl began speaking, stammering slightly, most likely due to nerves:

"My... my name is Amie... Professor Amie Fenrii..."

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm... I followed three men who went in this direction... They... They were moving away from where I was working..."

COLUS decided to play it dumb:

"And where might that be?"

"At the HoN Co. lightning tower... I... I fell asleep... I think... I heard voices... Unfamiliar voices... So I followed them... They brought me here..."

"How did you gain entry? This place is sealed from the outside!"

"I saw one of the men use a switch or a lever from behind a rock and go... Go down in to the water... I used the switch myself... I followed them..."

"Do you work for HoN Co.? Are you a spy?"

"No no! Nothing like that! I just followed those three men... I do work for HoN Co. ... Well... Did..."

"What do you mean "did"?"

"I quit... Just now..."

"We can't trust your word. This could still be a cover. Prove it!"

"We've been watching... They've been watching you, very recently... They've noticed the loss of a few portals... They want to kill you all, but they can't trace you... I'm just a scientist... I didn't find out when HoN Co. were using these portals for until a few weeks back! I was horrified! I've been looking for an excuse to leave since then..."

"That doesn't prove your innocence..."

"I know what you're trying to do... I want to help! I can give you the location of a few portals... Surely that'll prove I'm not with HoN Co. any more?"

Oddly, at this point, OROTHO looked rather furious, and stormed off, presumably back to his lab. What was that about? I could see from COLUS's face that he was thinking about it. It was a good proposition: she tells us where a few portals are, we find and destroy them, and then... Well We would get to that later... Then again, she could be lying: they could be traps set up for us and the Lone 7 is torn apart!

"Prove it! Tell us where one portal is?"

"Erm...You already destroyed the one on the island off to the East... Erm... There's a Class B portal to the immediate South of the lightning tower. Buried about twenty feet below the surface..."

COLUS turned around the THEROS who already had the map out.

"I can't say for sure, but we have flagged an area near there as a possible portal site... She could be telling the truth..."

"Alright, here's what we're going to do! We're bringing you into this base and securing you in a locked location. You'll remain there until we have actual proof a portal exists there... If not, well I suppose I don;t need to say. This is your one chance... You better be right! Lower the barricade and bring up the walkway."

The barricade quickly disappeared to form the basis for the floor and ceiling, and the walkway steadily rose from the lava.

"Slowly make your way across. No sudden movements..."

The girl slowly began walking towards us across the walkway, head bowed, hands shaking uncontrollably! I couldn't imagine what stress she was going through right now, let alone what she was thinking about... Once she got over to our side, COLUS approached her, sword at the ready. He led her across, down the stairs towards the discussion room.

"We have a lot of questions for you..."

----

     After a few hours of talking, we had gained some valuable information from her: she was indeed a HoN Co. scientist - proven by the company logo on her lab coat - and she had informed us of their experiments. Unfortunately, she also confirmed the success of the recent portal replication tests... She said that the guards had been placing them all over the place and activating them, checking the link to nearby inactive secondary portals. They had managed to establish a secure connection with numerous secondary portals, bringing them online, which in turn brought three more primary portals online. She confirmed our suspicions about the primary portals: they are quite literally indestructible. However, THEROS had shown her a map, and she had confirmed the location of multiple portals in the areas we had ringed. The two locations we never found anything in she crossed off, saying there was no record of one being there... It started to look like she was actually doing some good for us! She was the chief researcher for the secondary portal replication project, so that would slow that down considerably!

We're all being cautious of her. We only know what she's told us, which admittedly is a lot, but it could still all be false. How do we know she doesn't have a transceiver on her which is telling HoN Co. where she is, and ultimately where we are? I put this concern to COLUS, but he informed me that the base was lead lined, and would block almost any incoming or outgoing signals unless we wanted them to. That was how the radios worked when we contacted the base from the outside then... For now, Amie has been placed in a make-shift cell where we can keep an eye on her, whilst myself, THEROS and UOPETA go out to the South in search of this portal she indicated... I don't know why, but she's beginning to grow on me... I just hope she's not wrong...

Syeonyx signing off

Day 96: "Portal replication technology"...

"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!"