The room we were transported into held a dark interior, with dark gray walls, but the floor was lit by blue lights that resemble veins. The lights would pulse occasionally as the light streamed from one end to another. This wasn't anything like I had seen before, and was probably an indicator we were definitely in another world. It took me a little while to get acclimated after we arrived; I felt dizzy.

All of us looked at one another, inspecting ourselves and our equipment.

"Everyone make it okay?" Luka asked.

"Yeah," I nodded, "I still feel like I have my organs, so that's good."

"Yeah, very good," Meiko said, "the last thing I'd want is to come in here and have something missing."

"Well, at least this equipment works. Getting here was quite a ride."

I nodded in agreement, and shook off the dizzy feeling.

"Well, let's get moving," Meiko said. "We've got a job to do."

Luka and I followed right behind Meiko as we explored further into the facility. The pulsing lights seemed to almost lead us further into it. We stepped down a ramp that led us to a door, which also glowed. Once one of us got close to it, the door unlocked, and opened. Outside was another tunnel, but didn't have the light anymore, and seemed to have a circular glass wall serving in its place.

We walked through, and I noticed that outside the window were rock formations. I looked down and saw that the tunnel was built into a chasm, and the facility ahead was built into one as well. We moved forward, and stepped into the room ahead.

I walked in, behind Luka and Meiko, and observed the room we walked into. It was massive, with the blue streams of light more numerous. It let us see just fine, though it was still a little dark.

"Whoa" I said, letting out a whistle, "this place is something else."

"I'll say," Meiko said. "

The structure's power seemed to have been out, but we were lucky to have the lights lead the way for us. We'd have been lost and would probably be wandering around in the dark without them.

But that wasn't even the most impressive part of the facility; it was the fact it felt so big. It was the fact that this place was virtual. I was left wondering as we walked through the long hallway what this place was built for. Was it a military facility? Did vehicles drive through here? Was it still occupied? And who was still occupying it?

I was sure the further we got into the facility, we'd find out everything that was there, but we'd have to keep moving. Meiko and Luka seemed focused on the mission at hand, and I figured I should try and stick close to them.

It was a long walk, but surely enough, after about twenty minutes or so, we happened upon another door. The door was circular with a mechanism in place; different from the door we first entered from. Once we approached it, the mechanisms spun and disengaged. This place didn't seem powered, but the doors seemed to work without power regardless.

"Well," Meiko said, "shall we?"

I nodded, and followed both of the girls into the room.

Inside, the room we entered had a window that oversaw a cave that held platforms inside it. The area looked like something from our world more than something virtual, but the facility itself was still maintaining the same digital architecture.

Light shined from the top of the cave, entering through a hole in it. It helped for us to see everything in the room we were in. Sitting in front of us were a bunch of consoles and computers, all powered off. From what I could tell, the outside looked like a loading platform, so it was safe to say this was where records were kept. At least it meant there was something we could access in this place.

"Well," Meiko said, "certainly beats walking through that tunnel for the next few hours."

"I agree," Luka said. "Hopefully there's a power station around here. If we can get that online, we can see what this place was made for. I'd say getting that far today would be a success in itself."

"Good idea," Meiko said. "Well, take a look around and see if we can get the power on."

I nodded, and looked around. I turned to look over at the wall near where we entered from. Sitting on a rack was a set of headsets. Each had one ear with a small microphone sticking out. They also shared the same glow that the facility had going throughout it.

"Hey," I said, grabbing one of the headsets "check it out, you think they still have power?"

Meiko picked one up, and checked.

"They're short-ranged headsets," she said, "we can use these if we get split up."

When she put it on, the device lit up. Instead of pulsing, it maintained a blue glow. Meiko handed it to me.

"I figured if we get separated, we have a way to communicate. Take one."

"They still work?" Luka asked.

"We're about to find out. Can you hear me, Griff?" Meiko asked over the headset. I gave her a thumbs up.

"Yeah, they still work."

A thought occurred to me while we were talking. "Guys, how is Gumi going to contact us? She didn't make any of that clear."

They paused their conversation. Not even they knew the answer.

"You think she can see us? You know, wherever she is?" I asked.

"That's the problem," Meiko said. "Gumi wanted us here as soon as possible, and she hadn't really done all the research necessary."

"Well, it's not entirely her fault," Luka retorted, "our knowledge of all of this is limited. The data in the Operating Room's computer is fairly hidden, or it's not there at all."

"Then maybe she should have made sure before sending us here," Meiko said. "Why does she always do this?"

In an attempt to defuse the tension, I tried to resume the mission at hand. "We're trying to get the power back on. Maybe once we do, we can try and find a way to get communications working."

"Right," Luka agreed, "we're here to do our job and get research done. We can gripe after this is over."

"Fine…" Meiko said, rolling her eyes. She looked as if she was going to say more, but stopped herself.

We had gone back to investigating, attempting to find a way to power the equipment on. I checked under some of the consoles, seeing if there was a power switch somewhere under one of them. Eventually, Meiko caught her eye on something.

"Hey, hold on," she said, "the floor doesn't look right."

It took me a second to realize what she meant. One of the panels on the floor tilted upwards. She grabbed, and lifted it up. A room sat beneath it, with the same width as the floor panel, with a ladder that led to the bottom of it, with wires surrounding the walls.

"I think we found an auxiliary power station," Meiko said. "Wanna try switching it on?"

Without hesitation, I nodded, and climbed in. The power station was much colder, and much less comfortable than the room above. With barely any lights, save for the glow on my headset, it was hard to see. I felt around, looking for a way to open the panel, and see if I could get it running.

"Any luck?" Meiko asked, peeking her head in.

"Something like that, I'm trying to see if I can find a switch. It's really hard navigating all this with these wires in the way, and it's dark in here to boot."

Meiko looked at the panel for a second, then pointed. "Is it that right there?"

I hadn't noticed it, but there was a hatch next to me.

"Thanks," I said, "how did you see that?"

"I dunno," she said, "it was pretty easy to see up here, I guess."

Behind the compartment was a circular switch. It looked like what we were looking for. I twisted it and pushed it in, followed by the sounds of heavy whirring and electronic devices turning on.

A voice over a loudspeaker announced, "Emergency power restored to inbound delivery station Alpha. Auxiliary station running at thirty-two percent. All personnel are recommended to stand by until full power is restored."

"Ah, you got it working," a familiar voice said over my radio. "Now I can finally get a better picture of the place."

"Gumi?" I asked. "How did you get here?"

"I'm not here," she said, chuckling, "but I'm following your signal now that you managed to get power back on."

"Oh good," Meiko joined in, sounding sarcastic. "I thought you planned on leaving us out here by ourselves."

"Sorry, Meiko" Gumi said, "I knew you'd never go along with this if you figured out I had no way of knowing how to stay in contact after you got there."

"What's important is that we can talk now," Luka added, "if we can get this place up and running, I'm sure you'll be able to pull everything you need, Gumi."

"Quite so!" Gumi said, "I want to be able to get anything we can working today. This is a good step."

"Tell us what you need, ma'am!" I said, a smile on my face. "I'll be glad to help."

"I'll have you two try and get the communications system back online. As for Luka, I'm going to walk her through getting the power back on another channel. You two can holler if you need anything."

"You know where the generator is?" Luka asked.

"Yeah," Gumi replied, "it's not too far from where you're at currently. I would have all three of you go, but it seems like it'll be easy enough to fix with just one."

"Alright," Meiko said, nodding, "come on, Griff, outta the hole. We can't sit here all day."

She pulled me out, and I brushed myself off.

"Okay," I said. "Let's get to work."

With Luka gone, it was just the two of us now. We got right to work on a nearby console. One of the monitors had power restored, but most of the consoles were offline. The system performed a diagnostic check on the facility.

It read: "Primary system functions: Offline. Unable to access satellite unless emergency access is granted."

A vector graph of the satellite displayed, flashing red and displaying the "offline" warning. We weren't going to get anywhere with this down.

Meiko started going through the console. She looked over at me.

"I think we're going to have to get our hands dirty."

"Why's that?"

"Looks like, from what I'm seeing here, the emergency access is located inside of the satellite. "

She pulled up information on the dish's location, and browsed through the logs. I sat over her shoulder reading along.

"System maintenance schedule: 07-03-2028: Dish 02 has been replaced. Working on installing the last module tomorrow. Once it's back up, we should be able to get a wider range of communications."

"This was the last report. I'm wondering if they ever got around to installing that. Also should note they're running on our time here. They were here since 2028 or longer, so I'm wondering why this place is empty."

"Do you think this place stopped being active around that time?"

"We'll let Gumi figure all of that out. Come on, let's get up there and see if we can get everything working."

Meiko opened a door that led to the outside. I could immediately notice it was more pleasant than inside. It felt cool, and smelled like salt water. It was a welcome change, even if the place still felt a little dead.

We continued along the catwalks, searching for a way to the surface. I looked below the catwalks, glancing at the pools of water. They were all mostly connected to one another, and didn't look very deep. I looked up, and saw water droplets falling into the water. They splashed as they landed. Then I heard a very loud splash.

I looked over at Meiko, who had heard it, too. I was about to speak when she put her finger over her mouth. Another splashing, then two consecutive, then three. They were getting louder. Someone else was here. They were hiding from us.

We turned around, running back to the delivery station. Meiko attempted to radio Gumi once we opened the door.

"Gumi, Gumi!" She yelled. "We're inside the station and being followe-!"

She was cut off as someone ambushed her from behind. They were large, clad in blue metal armor. She attempted to fight back, but she was submitted into a headlock. I tried to run over, hoping I could pry them off, but I felt something heavy strike me behind my head. I lost consciousness the moment I hit the floor.

My head ached, and I could barely open my eyes. Everything around me sounded faint, and I couldn't tell where I was. My body felt heavy, and I couldn't move, either.

I groaned, and started to regain some of my vision as my eyes opened. It was blurry, but I could make out two figures talking to each other. One looked to be crouched over while the other was sitting. I blinked a few times, and started to notice that the figure that was "sitting" was Meiko, who was being held down by two large figures clad in blue armor. She looked like she'd been hit, and her headset was removed.

In front of her, was another person, much shorter than the other two holding her. They were wearing purple and gray armor, with a hexagonally shaped helmet over their face. Purple veins of light ran through the suit as well.

They were very close to her. It took me a second to finally understand what they were talking about.

"...I have zero interest in harming you or your friend," he said. His voice was direct, with a calm demeanor to him, but also very professional.

"Then, what are you after?" Meiko asked him.

"I'm mostly wondering how the two of you managed to make it in here. No one should know about this place. Where'd you get your intel?"

"From a big computer inside my house," she scoffed, looking at him with a smug expression. He wasn't having any of it, and smacked her across the face. I winced a little.

"Don't play dumb, you're in no position to be doing so."

"Oh come on," she said, "what happened to that 'having zero interest in harming me' talk?

"I'm interested in information, how I get it is of little concern. If it means I need to harm someone for it, so be it."

He pulled a knife out of a holster on his chest. It had a faint purple glow to it.

"If I need to do it, I'll start cutting into you until you start telling me." His voice voice lowered, and he sounded serious.

Meiko wasn't deterred, however. She gave a cold stare into his helmet.

"We could settle this like real people instead of you using your goons to hold me down. Getting the drop on us wasn't very fair of you."

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He put his knife up to her neck, and let out a sigh in annoyance. "This hero act you're putting on is really starting to get old. Why are you acting so tough?"

"You don't scare me, sorry."

He put his knife away, then looked over at me.

"Your friend over there seems like he's a lot weaker than you. How about we ask him?"

Hearing that, I tried moving myself up, only to realize I was also being held down by another two large henchmen. They all had the same armor as the ones who held Meiko down. Their size was intimidating, but so were their helmets, with a large red eye on their left, and a Y-shape running across the middle.

Their leader stood up, and pointed at me. "Bring him over. Let's see if he knows anything." They picked me up by my arms and pulled me to him.

He knelt down in front of me. Inside his helmet, two pure white dots glowed from within. Those were his eyes, and they stared into me.

"I see you were watching us, but maybe you should give us your insight."

"Don't tell them anything, Griff-," Meiko said before being forced face-down into the ground by one of the henchmen.

He pulled his knife out again, and stuck it right up to my neck. I started sweating profusely, and a knot formed in my stomach. I couldn't see beneath his helmet, but I got the feeling he was enjoying himself watching me squirm.

He chuckled. "That's much better. The hero act was getting old, but you, you're definitely who I should be talking to. So, tell me what I want to know, and I won't gut you like a helpless animal."

I gulped. I tried to say something but nothing came out. I was starting to hyperventilate almost as he pushed the knife upwards against my chin. This was a nightmare. I closed my eyes in hope I'd wake up. Wake up and realize we hadn't started yet. That none of this was real.

For whatever reason, that's all I could answer with.

"None- none of this is real."

He chuckled, his voice much darker this time. "Oh, no, I'm afraid this is very real."

It certainly felt real, but I didn't want to believe it.

"It's not. It can't be."

He paused for a moment. I felt the knife pull away from my chin, and I opened my eyes. He stared at me.

"My goodness," he said, "now I get it."

He stood up, and signaled to let me go. I dropped to the floor, weak, and without energy.

"This one isn't like any of us," he announced, "I think he's human. The admiral is going to be especially pleased with us. Looks like the stories were true."

"Sir," one of the henchmen holding Meiko down asked, "what do we do with this one?

"We only really need one. Bring her aboard so I can use her as my personal punching bag."

They picked us both back up. I could feel my legs again as they stood me up.

An announcement came up over the P.A. system shortly after they started walking us.

"Main power online. System wide functions restored and running at thirty-seven percent efficiency. Assessing damage reports."

The leader looked over at Meiko. "There's others here, aren't there!?"

"Sorry," Meiko smirked. "I forget things when I get punched in the face."

"Why are you acting so tough? You know you've lost."

"Not yet, I haven't."

A fusebox in the room started sparking. He looked at it, then back at Meiko.

"Boom," she said. The fusebox burst into a brilliant light. All of them were knocked over. Meiko was freed from their grasp while I was knocked to the ground.

I pulled myself up, having some strength finally return to me. Meiko opened the door back out into the cave.

"Get out of here," she ordered, "I'll meet up with you later. Just run!"

I didn't question her, I ran off immediately. Sprinting along the catwalks, looking for a place to hide. On my right, there was a path that led further into the caves. I kept running, and didn't stop until I came to another open area.

I had to stop to catch my breath. My legs were hurting, my chest hurt, and my head was spinning. I had never run so far in my life in so little time.

I sat there for a second, thinking I'd lost them. I looked up, and saw where I was. It was a new part of the cave, with a small crevice that opened up in the cavern's wall. It filled the cave with light, and looked like a way out of here. I moved over to it, slowly.

The back of my head was still hurting. I felt behind and felt something. I was bleeding, and it had hit me that dying here was still a very real possibility. This place may have been virtual, but it was clear I was still human, so I needed to still be careful. I was terrified by the idea of dying here. Dying scared me already, but dying in another world, that was a terror all of its own.

Once my head stopped hurting, and I was breathing normally again. I kept moving, a little faster now, hoping I had finally lost them.

I hadn't. I heard footsteps rushing along the metal flooring. I took off, jumping over the metal railing, and landing on the ground into a puddle.

"There he is!" one of them yelled. "He's running!"

"Open fire," the leader said, "bring him down!"

A bolt of white whizzed past me. Water splashed up, along me, and my vision started blurring. They were trying to kill me, and I couldn't find any cover. The bullets missed, but they had gotten close. My leg twisted, and I tripped.

I fell into a puddle of water, and turned over. Looking up, I saw the leader hop down. He took a small firearm out, keeping it pointed at the ground.

"You're a pain to keep around," he said, "but don't worry, we've caught up with you."

"What are you going to do to me?" I asked, full of fear in my voice.

"Well, certainly not kill you. We could have hit you, but you're right where I want you."

He turned around, signaling one of his troops to come down.

"We'll bring you aboard our ship," he continued. "You'll be a bounty not even credits can buy, and our Lord Admiral will reward us handsomely for your capture."

"What about Meiko, where's she?"

"I sent the other two after her. She should be dealt with shortly. We only need one of you, so they can do whatever they want with her."

I kept crawling backwards, trying to keep my distance from him. I was scared and alone. This is how it would end for me. I'd be kept prisoner on a ship for the rest of my life. Meiko was most likely dead, and I was alone. My worst nightmare was coming true, and I felt like it was all going to be over for me.

"Don't feel too bad," he said, reassuringly, "you're a long sought-after relic. Most of our prisoners don't get to be this lucky."

I crawled back until my back was up against a wall. I was scared, and I felt like I wasn't going to get lucky this time. I was going to get kidnapped this time, and who knows what would happen after.

"Come here," he ordered his subordinate, "carry him back to the ship. Keep an eye on him. I'm going to check on the other two."

Their leader put his hand on his helmet and started requesting his other troops. I looked back over at the soldier who was watching from the catwalks. His rifle was drawn, and he kept it trained on me. Even if I had fought back, and managed to break away, he would have shot me. It would only be a few seconds of freedom, but I kept my eyes on him, because there was something moving behind him.

A lone figure, clad in red, had snuck up behind him. It was Meiko, and my heart started racing. She had come back, and she had survived.

"Team two, come in," the leader said. "Team two, do you read?"

I looked at him, his back was turned away from us, and that was Meiko's opportunity to strike.

She grabbed the pistol from the watcher's holster. He turned his head to look over, and Meiko pointed the gun at his head. She pulled the trigger with zero hesitation. His helmet exploded into pieces, and she grabbed his rifle off of him.

The other soldier dropped me to the ground, and attempted to pull his rifle out, but was stopped by another shot delivered by Meiko. He dropped to the floor immediately.

She was brutal, efficient, and almost unstoppable. The leader attempted to fire back, but before he could even aim his pistol, Meiko shot it out of his hand. He screamed in agony, and fell to his knees, and Meiko jumped off the catwalks, heading straight for him.

She ran over to him, grabbing his helmet.

"They're gone," she said, her voice was low, and intimidating. "All of them, now. You're alone."

The leader was scared now. He couldn't speak, and she stared into his helmet, maybe even into his soul.

"And now you're going to tell me everything."

She forced him to the ground, putting her knee over his chest.

"How did you even survive?" was the only question he could muster.

"Doesn't matter," she answered. "All you should be thinking right now is 'what is this woman going to do to me?'"

He conceded, putting his hands up, "I know when I've lost…"

"Good," Meiko said, "then maybe now you'll tell me what I need to hear."

"I would, but I haven't lost just yet!"

From his right arm, a blade deployed, and he shoved it right into Meiko's chest.

"Meiko!" I screamed, pulling myself back up and running over to help.

He laughed maniacally, sticking the blade in further, and sliding it down to her stomach. I ran over to the gun he dropped, and pointed it at him, but I lowered it.

Meiko was still standing. The blade had gone through her, and even sliced her open, but she wasn't bleeding, she didn't look to be in pain either, instead, she was just angry. A fury was in her eyes. His laugh stopped dead, followed by nervous breathing.

"Now you've just pissed me off," she said, pulling the blade out of her own chest.

He gulped, and Meiko grabbed his head, and twisted. Without almost any effort, it seemed, a loud snap followed, and the lights on his suit all went dark. She let go of him, and he dropped to the floor, lifeless.

Meiko got up, and I trained the gun at her.

"It's okay, Griff. We're done here, you can put the gun down."

"No." I asserted, "not after that."

"What are you talking about, I just saved your life-!"

I interrupted. "I don't know what you are anymore. I want an explanation!"

I stared at her open wound. There wasn't a heart, there wasn't any blood, and instead, it was artificial. Her ribcage was metal, lined with wires, and there was a glowing blue core where her heart should have been.

"Okay," she said. "I didn't want you to find out, at least not this way."

"Then how did you want me to 'find out?'" I asked, almost not sure how to take that statement.

"Put the gun down, please," she said, "and I will tell you everything."

I don't know why I did, but I listened to her.

"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you. I promise."

She sat down on her knees. I sat down as well.

"I should start off by saying that none of us are human. Our whole group is made up of what you'd define as a 'robot.' Gumi, Luka, and I are all artificial. We didn't tell you because we wanted to keep you in the dark on all of it. About us, about our mission."

"So what has been our mission?" I asked.

"We knew this station was here, and we wanted to get it up and running. Gumi had a theory that if we could power it up, we could find a way to gain access into Duodecim's servers and-."

"Wait, Duodecim!?" I interjected. "The security company?"

She nodded. "We were built by them."

"And you didn't think I should know about this?"

"We did it to keep you safe, Griff, so you wouldn't draw attention to yourself."

I paused. "Then what about Miku? How did she get involved in this?"

"She's one of us," Meiko answered. "She was built by Duodecim, same as the rest of us."

I stared at her, almost not wanting to believe a single word she had said, but Meiko had credibility. Considering the fact she had a massive hole in her stomach with a bunch of mechanical parts, I couldn't really deny it.

"We knew about her for a long time. We all got separated during our escape. We kept ourselves hidden. Gumi and Luka found me, and we were aiming to recruit her, but then we found out you existed."

"And how did I play into all of this?"

"You having an association with her meant someone would go looking for her if she went missing. We debated on revealing ourselves to her to see if she would join us, but we couldn't reach a unanimous decision."

"So, all this is my fault, isn't it?" I said, guilt in my voice.

Meiko's eyebrow raised. "You can think that it's your fault if you want, but it seemed Miku would have refused from the start. I sympathized with her; wanting a normal life and all."

A ticket to a normal life? Was that all she wanted?

"And that 'unanimous conclusion' couldn't have been reached because of you, I take it?"

Meiko nodded. "I said it wouldn't be fair to either of you if we took her away from the life she wanted. Once I found out she got captured, we realized we couldn't sit idly by anymore. We saw her capture as a warning. Duodecim is surely on the hunt for the rest of us. That's why we're doing what we're doing now."

I stood up, and held my hand out to Meiko.

"I trust you," I said. "I just needed to know what was going on, I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry," she said, accepting my hand and standing up. "I won't keep any more secrets from you. Right now, we need to get everything online, and then we'll be able to figure out where they took Miku."

I didn't want to keep secrets from Meiko, either. I took a second to think back about something Miku had told me before her capture. I debated whether or not I should tell Meiko about that. Especially when Miku had told me she had left something "hidden away" in her home. Right now wasn't the time.

"So we have a chance to gain access to Duodecim and find out where they took Miku then?" I asked.

"Yes," Meiko said, "that's been our plan from the start. We kept you in the dark for your safety."

"Okay," I said, "is there anything else I should know?"

"I'll let Gumi explain all of that to you. It's her plan. Shall we get going?"

I nodded. We moved back to the inbound center, where Luka was inside waiting for us.

The room had full power again, and it was much brighter inside. We opened the door.

"Ah, you're both back, safe and sound-," Luka said. She paused and glanced at Meiko's torso.

"Luka, hold on, I'm fine."

Luka grabbed her shoulders to get a better look. "You're not fine. Tell me that's fine!"

"Luka," I interjected. "Meiko saved my life. She's okay."

"No, she's not okay, she could be seriously damaged."

Luka froze, realizing that I was there.

"Oh God, Meiko, you didn't-?"

"I did. He knows everything."

Luka took a deep breath. "I'm sure we can trust you, Griff, but we wanted to keep this a secret for your safety."

"It's not Meiko's fault," I attested. "I held her at gunpoint to tell me."

Luka wiped her face, though she wasn't sweating. "Fine, you know now. Then we have work we need to do."

She tossed us both new headsets.

"Gumi's on the line, she's got something we need to do."

I put the headset on.

"We're here, Gumi, go ahead." Meiko said.

"Well, first off," Gumi answered, "I was going to have you and Griff do this, but seeing how torn open you are, I'm going to need you to stay behind."

Meiko objected, "I'm fine, Gumi. It's not life threatening."

"We don't know that. I'm going to have Luka stay with you and make sure nothing important was hit."

"Wait," I added, "how did you know Meiko was hurt?"

"I can see everything happening in the facility. Who do you think blew that power box? I saw you two in trouble, thought I'd lend a hand."

"Makes sense," I said. "Thanks for that."

"No problem at all, Griff, and since I know you're able to still move, you're being volunteered for one final mission before we're done today."

"What do you need me to do?"

"I wanna get that satellite up and running, it turns out the power module wasn't fully installed before this facility shut down. Luckily, we have it. I want you to climb up and get it working."

I agreed. "If it means we'll finally be closer to finishing this, I'll do it."

"Just be careful," Meiko said. "Since I'm staying behind, I can't help you. You're on your own."

I would have offered to try and inspect Meiko, but I feared that I'd probably break something, considering I knew nothing about robotics.

Luka handed me a case. It had latches and a handle on it.

"I'd recommend strapping that to your side," Luka said, "you're gonna need both hands to climb.

I attached the case to my jumpsuit, and stepped outside the communication center.

"There's an elevator that takes you up the cave's hole here. Head to it." Gumi said.

I headed along the catwalks, and walked to a large square platform. There was a switch at the end of it. I pushed it up, and the platform rose up and out of the cave.

Outside of the cave was a huge satellite peering above the facility. The ground around me wasn't rock, but instead, metal roofing. It held a hexagonal pattern running across. I had assumed it was a facility built inside of a cave, but outside, it was a facility built on top of the cave, not just inside it. This place was full of surprises.

I looked up and saw the massive satellite sitting high above.

"There it is," Gumi said. "You're going to need to get creative on how you get inside it. The elevator is inoperable, even with the power back on."

I took a look at the satellite's supports, and noticed it was built with metal rods that ran up in a crossing pattern. There were also a bunch of large wires sticking out of it that kept it in place as well. I walked up to it, and placed my hands on it.

"Okay," I said to myself, "let's do this."

I put my hands on the metal frame, and started climbing. It started creaking from the tension, and I started getting anxious every time I moved up. I pushed higher and higher up, until the ground was far enough away, then I stopped.

I looked down, and started tensing. I couldn't stop thinking about how much of a huge drop this would be if I slipped. This was the highest I'd have ever gone before in my life. It was starting to occur to me how much I had never done in my life before.

I attempted to keep going, with my heart racing, and my arms starting to wear out, I couldn't give up. This had to get done, not just for us, but for the sake of Miku as well. I was doing this so we could rescue her.

As I kept going up, I pulled on one of the metal bars, and felt it start creaking until it snapped. I almost fell off the structure, but I grabbed the pipe below me, and hung on.

"Crap," I said out loud, "that was close."

I managed to regain balance on the supports, and kept climbing. From here on, I was close, and couldn't stop.

I kept climbing, and noticed at the top, there was a large square building and a balcony above. It was right there, and all I needed to do was make it to the top, and get this station running. I just hoped I could figure out what I needed to do.

I climbed up, and felt the wind blowing against my face. I had reached the top, and looked down. If everything didn't feel so unstable, I'd have enjoyed the view. Seeing the bright green forests beyond where the base was, and what looked to be a city on the horizon. I couldn't quite tell. I also couldn't get distracted, either.

Then, suddenly, I looked up, and saw a large vessel flying overhead. It was grey, with bright orange lines running throughout it. Both similar to the interior of the facility, and the armor that our deceased assailant had. I was starting to notice a particular pattern about this place.

I looked back down, and noticed I was really high up now, and my stomach started tying into knots. I pushed the feeling aside. Getting this satellite dish back online was the main focus here, so I needed to not let that feeling take me. I ran over to the station's door, and pushed it open.

The station was dark, but with the sunlight coming in through the window, I had no trouble seeing inside.

"Gumi," I said, "Gumi, come in, I'm at the top of the station. What am I looking for?"

"You're going to want to look for a power box. Inside there should be a panel, with an empty round slot in there. Open the case and you'll know exactly what it looks like."

I detached the case from my side, and opened it up. Sitting in the case was a circular device with a pointed end on one side. I fidgeted with it for a second, and looked around.

I checked at the end of the room, finding the large power box. I pulled on the door, and it fell off.

"I'm not feeling all that safe in this place with how everything keeps falling apart."

"Better than getting shot at," Gumi quipped. "Don't worry, the station is pretty stable. Just hasn't seen use in a while."

"God, I hope you're right." I said.

I checked around the open box. There were loose cables, left untouched for years, it seemed. I pushed them aside, and found the slot. I held the device in my hand, and matched it up.

"Perfect fit," I said to myself, "now let's get this done."

I slipped it into the slot, and twisted it in place. Suddenly the station powered on. Instead of it being dark, it was now a bright blue.

"Hey, Griff," Luka said, "looks like you did it! The station is back online, we're getting assessments across the board."

"Great to hear," I replied, "I'll make my way down, then, hope to see you in a bit."

I grabbed the case, and put it at my side again. I was about to leave the station, but something caught my attention. The radio started receiving a transmission. I walked back over to the console to see what was happening.

"Gumi," I radioed, "are you seeing this?"

"More like hearing it, whatever transmission is being sent to us, we're getting it. I'm going to try and isolate the signal."

I looked at the station's console, seeing numbers cycle through.

A moment passed, and Gumi came back. "I think I got it. Let's hear it."

A voice started speaking immediately. It was a man's voice, he sounded well-spoken, and professional.

"This is Interspace Rangers Fleet Squadron Delta. We have wounded, our home station has been destroyed, and we are in need of immediate shelter. Any and all Ranger stations that are still active, please respond to this request immediately. We will leave this broadcast on repeat across all encrypted channels. Please respond as soon as possible."

The message repeated.

"The Rangers?" I asked.

"No idea," Gumi said. "I'd hazard a guess they aren't the guys you ran into earlier."

"How do you know?"

"The way they're talking is different, I'm going to take some time and look into what these 'Rangers' are before I make a decision to contact them. I'd recommend you all get back to the entry point so I can send you back home."

"I'm on my way back down, now." I said. I left the station and climbed down.

It was a lot easier climbing down than it was climbing up. It was way less scary, too.

I met up with Gumi and Luka who were waiting back at the comms center. We all left back for the tunnel.

"Do we have to walk through that tunnel again?" I said.

"Nope," Gumi replied. "The tunnel is part of a service network. I'm sending a train up to take you all back now."

I sighed in relief. Finally, things were working out for once. I could only hope they'd improve from here.

----------------------------------------

"Looks like your services weren't needed here," the handler said over the radio. "I'm surprised the need didn't arise."

"I told you," the man replied, a thick Russian accent in his voice, "they could handle themselves."

"So it seems. I've updated the profile for the woman as 'hyper-lethal.' She's potentially dangerous, but the wound she took verified that she's part of the project. The boy that was with her, well… He might need a lot of work before he's ever useful."

"I disagree," the man said. "He succeeded in climbing that tower. I would argue he has the courage required."

"True," the handler agreed. "For now, pull back. We need to plan our next move."

"Understood, vacating premises," he said.

He took a look up at the satellite dish as the boy who had activated it started climbing down. He waited until the boy had climbed down to safety.

The figure activated his suit's thermoptic camouflage, and disappeared into the thick forest. He was sure he'd cross paths with this group soon enough.