Forty Days in the Wilderness (Sicarius)

[Ashin Varanin]

[member="Sicarius"]

She gave the shaft a good spray and clipped the belt of her rad suit to a magnetic clamp by way of a length of cable. Another length of cable, with a quick-release at her end, connected her to the KUT-42 and its repulsorpack. Plasma torch floating along beside her, she began to descend, magnetic attachment point by attachment point, using only her gut and the Scanpack. She quickly found that the combined weight of rad suit, pack and cables required her to have her repulsor belt active, to defray the strain on her arms. The effort of moving the clamp from point to point would add up sooner rather than later.

She was, in several ways, glad that Sicarius was going first.

 

[Sicarius]

With the shaft sprayed with the lubricant and his cable and harness anchored to the magnetic clamp, he knew it was time to get to work. He slipped over the edge of the shaft and planted both feet firmly against the wall. Once there, he slowly turned around so that he was facing downwards and not up. Once done, he slowly made his way down, step by step.

The reason for this was simple. It was more work for the climb, but facing downwards meant that he could spot the monofilament wires more easily and quickly. This meant that the climb could go faster and with less holdups. It also meant that he might need an extended rest once they'd gotten inside the vault, but that was a problem for later, not now.

For now, it was an issue of dodging the wires, like the one he just spotted and twisted away from, and getting to the next point. Selka had said every forty meters or so, which meant he still had a short distance to go.

[member="Selka Ventus"]

 

[Ashin Varanin]

After forty meters and several randomly placed monofilament lines, they reached the first enclision grid. Each side of the hexagonal grid wrapped around ninety degrees of the tube's circumference. Easily visible, this first one, in the faint light from the hatch. Selka suspended herself between a magnetic lock point and the KUT-42's repulsorsled, on the off chance the magnetic anchors withdrew or deactivated when the enclision grid fired -- that would have been a nasty, creative touch. She took notes from her paranoia.

"Easiest way would be to bridge it with cable, short it out, but that's hardly leave-no-trace. I know we've discussed options, but which one are you currently leaning toward, [member="Sicarius"]?"