State of lockdown!

     Before trying to find a way down, we convinced UOPETA it would be beneficial to try and find some hint or clue as to who built the ladder to the top, and the rest of the hidden passages. Someone obviously tried very hard to keep their tracks concealed, so it was definitely worth it for us to find out who was behind it! I had the feeing HoN Co. was monitoring us; lying in wait, watching our every move, looking for weaknesses to exploit... But I had a feeling that AMPHIS would still declare that it was SERVERE... Unless... We were both right... I really hope that wasn't the case...

"If you find anything, call us to you and we'll examine it. It doesn't matter how trivial it is; it could be something as small as a pile of ash from a camp-fire or something, but either way, alert us to it as soon as you find anything."

With the top of the cliff being relatively small, there wasn't much in the way of ground to cover. Splitting up and taking different parts of the top, we began to search the area for any trace of whoever had constructed that passageway, regardless of how minute it was. After a few minutes, I had managed to find nothing, and I hadn't been called to either of the other two, so they hadn't had much luck either. There was literally nothing up here besides stone, dirt and the entrance to the ladder to go back down...

"Nothing... Absolutely nothing..."

"Well, on the bright side, we've got proof that AMPHIS isn't senile or going insane! That's something."

"If it was HoN Co. spying on us, maybe we could spy on them spying on us! See who it really is, and what they're doing up here..."

"I doubt that's an option any more. With AMPHIS spotting someone and their response was to flee, I doubt we'll be seeing anyone here for some time, if ever. We just need to be prepared from now on. Come on, we need to inform COLUS and the others about this... Our lives could be at risk."

Unable to find a safe way down, we were forced to head back to the base through the way we had come. It was long and arduous, but that didn't matter. What did was ensuring we were as prepared as we can be from now on!

     It seemed that COLUS and the others had done a good job of distracting AMPHIS from what he had seen; he was busy working away with Joe in the corner of the lab, whilst Amie, OROTHO and COLUS were discussing something related to the tunnel. Upon seeing us enter, COLUS stopped talking and moved past OROTHO to meet us.

"What? What's wrong? It's too early for you to be back yet..."

"How's AMPHIS?"

"He's better; we managed to persuade him to help Joe with some documenting of the security door blueprints. He's calmed down quite a bit since the phantom incident... Anyway, what's this all about? Why are you here?"

"We have reason to believe that AMPHIS may have been telling the truth."

The room went quiet, and AMPHIS looked up from the blueprints. Standing up quietly, he walked over to the rest of us, calm and collected, despite what he likely overheard. Maintaining a relaxed attitude, he asked us a question:

"What did you find?"

"A hidden passageway. Where you stopped at the lava pit, Syeonyx find a hidden button which opens up a pathway to a concealed walkway around the lava. It's on a timer, so it's not surprising that you found nothing when you got there; the wall would have slid back into place..."

There was further silence, and everyone was looking at AMPHIS; he was taking this surprisingly well. I had assumed he would start to become nervous again, and state that he had seen SERVERE, or that he may have rubbed it in that he was right. But he didn't; he stood there, head bowed slightly, looking at the floor, obviously mulling over what had been said.

"Where does the passageway lead to?"

"It leads around to another hidden entrance to a staircase that ascends for a few metres, before ending abruptly in a ladder."

"A ladder?"

"A tall ladder..."

"Where does it go? Does to lead into the portal chamber we've sealed?"

"Worse... It leads to the top of the cliff that overlooks the cliff mine and the area below... Including the walkway and entrance to our base..."

COLUS couldn't seem to believe this. It was incredibly hard to understand, let alone believe, but there was an entrance that lead to and overlook of our base...

"What?!?! How do you mean? Can they see the base?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Judging from the looks of the age of the passageways, someone has been monitoring us for a long time... Syeonyx, show them the image."

Taking the image of the overlook from my inside breast pocket, I handed it to COLUS, who snatched it from my hand, and studied it intently for a few moments.

"But... This can't be...! We would have known about this, we would have seen them!"

"From the height of cliff, and the position it's in, I doubt we would ever have seen anything up there, even if we had had a feeling about being watched..."

"Do you know who it is or was?"

UOPETA thought hard about the answer to this; AMPHIS was listening intently, likely for mention of SERVERE's name, but turning back to COLUS, he went with the more likely answer.

"We believe it could be HoN Co. ..."

"What? How do you know?"

"We don't... But who else would spy on us...? All they would require is a few days worth of monitoring and they would get a feel of how we operate. If AMPHIS really did see someone, and then chased them to this point, it's likely we've spooked them back to whoever they work for..."

COLUS looked back at the image, studying it further for a few seconds longer, before looking up and pushing it back into my hand.

"Alright, everyone, listen up; head to to discussion room. We've got some very serious matters to discuss. UOPETA, go and get THEXIS. We need everyone informed..."

We all left the lab; a sense of urgency filled the air, and I got the feeling everyone had shifted gears into full action mode!

     The meeting in the discussion room was brief, but all that had to be said, everyone agreed to instantly! We were all in danger, and only cooperation and teamwork was going to get us all through this alive! COLUS had initiated a state of lockdown; no-one was to exit or leave the base through surface means. We've been told that the cliff mine is off limits, and COLUS is pushing the start time for the tunnels up to tomorrow. The only issue is getting the iron from storage in the cliff mine. OROTHO and Joe are already working on a minecart system, whilst Amie and COLUS work on the tunnel to get there. Everyone else is on manual duty. That means we've got to pick up a shovel or pickaxe and literally dig for our lives! COLUS has locked off access to the hatch, and ensured that, even if anyone finds the lever on the outside to raise the walkway, it won't work.

"Tomorrow, we head underground! We cannot take this new piece of information lightly! We must assume that HoN Co. is aware of not only our whereabouts, but also our activities! We have nowhere to go but down, although luckily, our very enemy kindly equipped us with the skills we need to do just that! Tomorrow we start the tunnel project, and we begin to fill this land with a mass network of interconnecting passages to pass from destination to destination undetected! Tomorrow we dig for our lives! Tomorrow we dig for the lives that have been lost at the hands of HoN Co.! Tomorrow, we dig, for justice!"

Ooorah!

Syeonyx signing off