"What do you mean?" Dr. Schmitz asked irritated. "We have to explore this station further. The level of technology and skill to build something like this is staggering. The knowledge we could learn here would be of immense value."
"No argument here. The problem is simple. How much time do we want to spent here?" The Captain asked back. "This station is easily the size of a planet, we can't breath the air and our scanners are of limited use. I think we could easily spent years here without learning everything there is to learn."
The scientists sat in silence while mulling over the implications.
"I think we should take at least a couple of days. See what we find and decide then. The important question is now: What do we try next?"
Finding the manual controls on the first airlock had taken them nearly an hour. With the scanner array on the pod illuminating the airlock they where easily able to find them on the next airlock. The pod was hovering in front of an airlock that was easily large enough to accommodate it and even a mule with lots of room to spare.
The problem was that this airlock had more controls around it and none of which matched the description on the first airlock.
Sofia was busy analyzing the set of controls with markings that where similar to the the first set of manual override they had found on the first airlock.
Sunblast was hovering over something quite puzzling.
"This looks like an access port of some kind." he mumbled concentrating on his scanner. "But what would be the purpose of this?"
"There is another one on this side" Luca answered from an identical installation directly opposite from Sunblast on the other side of the airlock. "I'm reading a low-level power signature, nothing more."
"Me too. But for what would these be used? Power tools?" Sunblast asked.
"It's possible. But I don't really see the point. That we can't scan more than the surface of them does not really help either."
"I think I understand what they're meant for." Sofia interrupted the discussion.
Both men slowly maneuvered over to her.
"If I read this schematics correctly this airlock has an emergency power mode. The connectors are meant to provide power to the mechanism externally in case of a total power loss." She explained.
"Ok, that makes sense. Can you still open it without external power provided?" Sunblast asked.
"I think I have identified the sequence for that, yes. All we can do is try." she answered
After some consideration she entered the sequence and they all stood back to watch and wait for the airlock to cycle.
"Alright, lets see where we can park." Joe answered from the pilot seat.
Their pod was hovering several hundred meters away from a large structure that was pointing out of the station like a spike.
"Maybe we can just dock the pod? It should be a docking facility." Rick said.
"I'd rather not. Usually undocking does require some clearance and I have no idea how we could possibly get that here." Joe answered while scanning a diagram of the structure.
"Oh. I hadn't thought of that."
"There." Joe said, highlighting an airlock that was close to the base of the spike.
"Looks good. Close enough to the base that we should be able to walk and get a good look."
Joe maneuvered the pod into position next to an airlock that was the same size as the one they had used originally. She carefully lowered the pod until it made contact with the surface of the spike.
Magnetizing the landing struts a noticeable jolt was felt throughout the small craft.
"Alright, suit up everyone." Joe instructed the team in the back of the pod. The two scientists put on their helmets and checked the seals assisted by Tony and another rating from the Hermes' crew. After verifying that everyone was ready Joe evacuated the cabin and opened the door. One by one they filed out of the pod and started examining their surrounding. Joe and Rick went to work on finding the manual controls for the airlock. Thanks to their tuned scanners they found it quickly and cycled the airlock twice to test it.
"Team 2 to Hermes. We found and tested an airlock. Please confirm signal strength." Joe called out to the ship that was in an low orbit far enough away to maintain contact with both teams.
"This is Hermes. Signal is ten by ten."
"Alright. Let's go in." Joe instructed.
The filed into the open airlock and initiated the cycle. The cycle was pretty short as the airlock was much smaller than the one used previously.
Carefully they entered a dimly lit passage that ran of to both sides of the airlock.
"Team 2 to Hermes. Verify signal please." Joe called after the airlock had cycled shut behind them.
"Hermes to Team 2. Signal strength is constant and unchanged. We read you loud and clear." The ship answered.
"Atmosphere is pure nitrogen. Pressure and gravity are identical to the work area." Rick announced checking his scanner.
"This could very well be a maintenance corridor, but I can't see any equipment on the scanner." Rick announced after checking his scanner.
"Let's go then. I guess to the right?" Joe asked.
"Yes, that should lead us to the station." Rick answered.
They waited for Tony to place the first beacon at the airlock and started trekking towards the station.
The pod fit into the airlock with plenty of room to spare. It carefully settled down on the bottom and anchored itself by magnetizing the landing gear.
After receiving the all-clear from her team-mate Sofia initiated the airlock cycle from the inner console at a safe distance from the pod.
The airlock's outer hatch closed and it began to cycle.
Leaving the pilot and the pod in the airlock the team exited the airlock to find a large cavern like room not unlike the first one they had explored.
"I'll deploy the drones." Luca stated. He stepped to the side and removed several small drones. After checking them he launched them one by one.
"Ok, let's have a look around and see what we can find." Sunblast instructed.
Sofia and Luca took off into one direction closely monitoring their surroundings while Sunblast and an engineering rating took off into another direction.
After walking a featureless corridor for some short minutes the rating in the lead of the group called out: "I'm reading an energy signature ahead."
Joe looked at her scanner confirming the reading. "Alright, 20 more meters, let's have a look."
They approached the first opening in the wall of the corridor so far, clearly outlined by a bright light shining out of it in stark contrast to the dimly lit corridor.
Joe and Rick approached carefully.
"What do you make of this?" Joe asked.
Rick looked around. "The corridor goes on for quite some distance. It would make sense to have access points at an interval. It could also just be an empty storage unit."
Joe carefully stepped into the opening. Consulting her scanner she approached the center of the room. "Hm, gravity fluctuations are consistent. This looks to be artificial created."
Rick had turned to the side after entering and was waving his scanner around the opening.
"I think there are some controls here. I think I know what this is."
He opened a panel to reveal a very limited control panel concealing only two controls.
"What do you think this does?" Joe asked him.
"Simple." He activated one of the controls and their legs dropped from under them.
Joe barely managed to contain a scream but managed to calm down after she realized that she was not falling down as the dark opening of the corridor was slowly sinking back into the ground.
"What is happening? I feel no gravity at all." she called out to Rick. Rick was unable to answer as he was busy keeping his breakfast down as he was not used to zero-g at all.
Slowly another dark opening approached from above and stopped directly in front of them. Their weight returned as they seemingly floated on air. Carefully they approached the opening and exited what the now realized was a large tube.
"Tony, do you read me?" Joe called out.
"Loud and clear, you gave us quite the scare there." He answered.
"We're fine. Looks like it is a gravity shaft, it transported us to what appears to be the next level."
Looking back at Rick who was slumped over and clearly struggling Joe continued: "Let's see how we best continue."
Sofia was scanning a large block of an unknown material as a notification from the drones broke her concentration.
"The drones have found something." She announced over the open channel.
She quickly pulled up the reading on her scanner.
"There is a faint energy source roughly one kilometer away." She continued.
"That is quite the hike in the suits." Luca answered.
Normally this would be no issue. Spacesuits are designed to be operated in zero or low gravity environments and especially without too much atmosphere being present. Walking in them under full gravity with an atmosphere pressing in on them does put quite a strain on the wearer.
That was the reason they had brought the Pod inside the airlock. Flying inside an enclosed space can be tricky. With perfectly uniform artificial gravity and equally stable environmental conditions it is easy. Especially when the enclosed space is comparatively huge.
After a short Pod-ride they landed close to a small group of objects that was placed around a dimly glowing short pillar.
Sunblast and the rest of the party approached carefully, scanners out.
"There is an energy signature, that is certain." Sunblast declared as he approached the dimly lit pillar. He slowly walked around the 1,5m tall and about 60cm wide pillar, scanner outstretched.
"Interesting. This pillar seems to have popped out of the floor. See the top? That is one of the deck plates, at least it seems to be the same material." He stopped at a cable that ran to a nondescript box.
"There is power flowing through here, the scanner can't make out how much though."
Sofia approached the box.
"The only reading so far is a slightly raised temperature, barely 2K above ambient temperature. What are you?" She started to slowly walk around the box.
While Luca went down on one knee to careful scan the pillar, Sunblast approached the box. It was completely blank with slightly rounded corners. The only thing that struck his eyes was an open panel floating above an interface where the power cable was connected. He walked closer to inspect it.
"Let me try something." Sofia said changing the settings on her scanner.
Markings started to appear on the box. As she reached the connection interface where Sunblast was investigating schematics lit up on the open panel and the area surrounding the interface.
"Hermes? I hope you're getting this." Sunblast said.
"Confirmed, we're analyzing the schematics." Dr. Schmitz answered.
"This part seems pretty straightforward." Sunblast said as he traced the schematics pointing to the power connector. "The rest not so much."
Sofia was slowly circling the box illuminating and transmitting the schematics.
"Please show the top of the box." Dr. Schmitz requested over the open channel. Sofia happily complied. Standing as much on the tip of her feet as the suit allowed she held the scanner as high as possible and scanned the whole top of the box which was a fair bit over the top of her helmet.
"Thank you. You might want to take a look at the schematics on top of the box while we analyze it." Dr. Schmitz answered.
Sofia and Sunblast looked at the small screen of their scanners.
"Wow!" exclaimed Sunblast. "That is the most complex schematic we've seen so far."
He turned to the rest of the party. "While we wait for the smart guys to find something we should scan the other boxes as well."
They all fanned out and started the same routine on the other boxes neatly placed in the vicinity.
It had taken a moment to figure out the controls to the gravity shaft but the group was now together in one place and ready to explore.
The surrounding had changed from a small and nondescript utility corridor to a large open area its open ends in both directions lost to the darkness of the dim lightning. It was lined with large windows that showed the outer hull of the station and the darkness of space.
"I did not notice any windows when we approached. Did I just miss them?" Tony asked.
"No, I did not see them either. And I did orbit this spike several times in this region." Joe answered.
"The scanner can't identify the material. It seems to be different than the rest of the hull though." Tony answered from the next window.
"Alright. The base of the spike is this way, lets go." an again confident Rick instructed and took of. The rest of the team followed suite, scanners out and alert.
They passed several strewn around structures, each one completely different from the other. They where colored differently. After scanning some of them, again with the scanners giving no result at all they ignored them and carried on. After a while the windows stopped and the corridor got a bit smaller.
"I think we're at the base of the spike now." Joe stated.
Ahead of the group was a large arc that was framed by tall walls. "Looks like we're supposed to pass though there." Joe stated and started to move.
"Wait a moment." Rick stopped her.
"What is it?"
"Lets think for a moment. If this would be a human-designed space station what would this area be?" Rick inquired.
"I supposed this would be a docking area for civilian traffic. Oh…"
"Exactly. This would then be a scanner used to scan for contraband." Rick concluded.
"That would make sense, sure. Question is what would be considered contraband here? And also is this thing still active?" Joe continued.
"I'm not getting any energy signature. Might well be shut down like the rest we've seen so far." Tony offered.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Joe answered and pointed to the arc.
While Joe and Rick had been discussing their next steps the others from the group had taken a look around with their scanners. Tony had approached the arc quite a bit when it started to dimly light up.
Before anyone could react Tony was engulfed in a beam of light.
"Don't move." Joe and Rick shouted simultaneously.
Tony was frozen in space out of sheer terror.
"Are you alright?" Rick asked.
"I think so, yes." Tony answered slowly.
Carefully Rick and Joe approached Tony, scanners pointed at him. The beam of light was slowly moving over Tony.
"According to the scanner it is a low intensity scan." Joe announced.
While they watched Tony being scanned the scanning beam began to change color.
"It seems to be scanning different spectra, interesting." Rick commented.
The light suddenly stopped. All members of the team where looking dumbstruck at each other.
"What happens now?" Tony asked.
"Whoa, I have activity here." Sofia stated as the box in front of her lit up.
"Same here." was repeated from the others as all the boxes lit up briefly. Lights moving all over them.
"The scanner can't identify what is going on. I think it is a data stream being processed, but I'm not certain." Sunblast stated.
Suddenly the other boxes went dark again. Only the original box was active now, more so than before. After a couple of seconds it began to show even more activity for a short couple of seconds and returned back to its former state.
"Ok, what just happened?" Sunblast asked flabbergasted.
With that said his scanner started beeping just like every other scanner of the team.
Before anyone could answer they got distracted by their scanners beginning to signal.
Remote access…
Storing data…