Cliff mining and security doors

     With a decent start already made on extracting vast amounts of iron from the cliffs nearby, we became aware that, with the torches put in place to illuminate the inside, it would be a massive beacon at night, and draw attention to us! There was only one way in to the cliff mine, but there were torches placed on the inside which were visible from outside at a decent distance away, during the day! Who knows how obvious they would be at night. It wouldn't take much to set up a camp nearby, and monitor our activities until they know where we come from and what we're up to... I can see now why COLUS and OROTHO are conscious about our security; we've emerged from the base through the main hatch so many times, it's a wonder that no-one has actually seen us yet! Cutting off access from that route would be more preferable, and it would ensure there isn't an obvious way into the base. While UOPETA and THEROS continued with the shaft that we had already started, I went back down to the base to explain the situation to OROTHO and Joe. Luckily they weren't getting anywhere with the current security system, so they were able to help me.

"So, you need a basic door that prevents light from getting out...? Why don't you just take the torches down after you're done with them for the day?"

"That wouldn't really solve the problem, as the torches could still be seen from a distance during the later part of the day before they finish... You need some system whereby you can close the entrance off when you're in, and close it from the outside when you've finished for the day... I think we could easily make something..."

Joe and OROTHO accompanied me back to the entrance of the cliff mine, with a few materials and tools handy. I showed them the entrance, and pointed out the problem.

"Something could be easily implemented here, leave it with us!"

A little surprised that OROTHO had already dismissed me, I went back to THEROS and UOPETA who had made decent progress in my absence.

"What's going on with the entrance then?"

I told them that Joe and OROTHO were already on it, so hopefully we would have some progress in terms of security soon. We mined for an hour or so, before we began to hit small deposits of iron. We hadn't determined a decent way of transporting back to the base yet, and it wasn't very efficient to just take large amounts back by hand every time we found some. UOPETA disappeared back to the base for some time, leaving me and THEROS to continue with the shaft. About an hour later, he came back with a smile on his face.

"Come and have a look at what I've set up!"

UOPETA had set up a small storage area for us to deposit large quantities of iron ore before we needed to send them back to the base.

"I've been speaking with OROTHO, and we think it might be feasible to connect this mine to the base, and have a minecart system running the length of the connection. That way, there's little effort in terms of transportation."

"That's a brilliant idea! That will simplify things quite a bit! What about OROTHO and Joe though? How far have they got?"

"Take a look for yourself..."

Moving across to the far side, we went over to where the entrance was, and inspected their progress. Joe and OROTHO had gone back to base to collect more materials and tools, but from the looks of things, they were nearly finished! A series of pistons had been set into the floor and ceiling of the entrance, which would presumably close towards each other like a set of teeth, and conceal the cliff mine from prying eyes! A spiders web of wiring was looped around beneath the floor, and a series of levers littered the floor.

"OROTHO says he hopes to have a simple system which allows access from inside and outside. You can gain access from the outside to get in, but if someone inside closes the entrance from inside, the outside system won't work. And vice versa. A simple but effective system to ensure no-one can get in. Just in case, they're hiding the external controls somewhere nearby, rather than having a blindingly obvious lever stuck to the wall!"

I was really happy with that idea! It was similar to the system I had implemented with the gates for my wall, only this system would worked internally and externally. With me only having a limited knowledge of wiring and electronics, mine only worked from inside... We got back to work, allowing OROTHO and Joe to work in peace when they returned.

----

     We've been mining now for some time, and have found quite a bit of iron already! Unfortunately, the lower we've dug, the greater the density of the rock and stone, which has slowed our progress down. UOPETA wants the main shaft to go down about sea level before we branch off. He has this idea that three people digging three separate shafts in three different directions should increase our chances of finding more iron. We needed to maximise the amount of space too, without weakening the surrounding stone which may cause a collapse. Luckily, we had all been trained for seven years in how to do just that! UOPETA said that we were close to the level we needed to be at, before we could mine our own shafts, when Joe called us back to the surface. Going back up, we went around to the entrance, to see OROTHO grinning broadly, and an entrance that looked almost identical to how it had been before we had started.

"We've finished the door! Watch!"

Standing on the inside, he pulled the lever attached to the wall, and large slabs of stone moved up from the floor, and from a niche in the ceiling, forming a perfect seal to block the way!

That was perfect! It operated exactly how we needed it to. OROTHO stood on the outside, watching with an almost palpable smugness, as the door slid into and out of place.

"Now, the security bit. OROTHO, when the door closes, try opening it from your side..."

Joe flicked the lever down, and the stone moved back into place, a few moments passed, and nothing happened. Joe flicked the switch again, and the stone parted, revealing OROTHO again.

"Brilliant! I assume this is up to specification?"

"Most definitely! Is there anything else that needs adding?"

"Nope, it's fully operational now. We're off back to the base to help Amie and COLUS with the tunnels. See you later."

Saying goodbye, THEROS, UOPETA and myself went back into our cliff mine, after shutting the entrance first! That would hopefully add that necessary layer of protection to prevent us from being seen. We would just have to be careful leaving to ensure we didn't draw too much attention.

     We finally reached the level that UOPETA was happy with, and we've each taken a wall to begin mining. We're all going in opposite directions to cover more ground and to find more iron, essentially having an opening in all four directions: the main access shaft and three further shafts.

It has begun to get dark, and we're turning in for the day. We ensured that the entrance was fully sealed before leaving, and headed back towards the base via the normal hatch entrance. Hopefully we could connect the mine to the base so we wouldn't have to keep using that entrance. We spoke with COLUS and the others before finally going off to bed, to discuss the progress with HoN Co. and the portals.

"There's little we can do without any information or intelligence telling us where more are, and the only place that might contain that information is likely to be incredibly secure, in light of the latest developments. We're hoping to dig a test tunnel first which will run close by the conducting tower, and hopefully then we can determine HoN Co.'s progress, and gather any more information. Until then, we just need to concentrate on the tunnels, tunnel security, and mining for iron. We need plenty of it!"

"And gold! We need gold to help with making wired connections for security gates etc. ..."

Iron and gold...? Well we could be mining quite deep then... I was a little put off by the lack of action to stop HoN Co., but COLUS was right. Without any information to lead us, we had nowhere to go, and nothing to go on... Let's just hope if this tunnel works as planned, we can check out the status of HoN Co.'s primary portals from the tower...

Syeonyx signing off