The terminal interface dies beneath Elzer’s hand, but her intrusion remains embedded in the command bus. Behind the junction wall, dormant archive nodes unlock in sequence.
Fragmented authorization records scroll across Elzer’s visor, their timestamps corrupted and their clearance chains severed. The station’s suspended firing cycle continues to hold.
Mara Venn
I still have the report copy, but the network is isolating your position. Something is closing access routes around that junction.
Magnetic locks engage along the crawlway behind Elzer. Ahead, a narrow archive panel opens, exposing layered storage cores and a single status light pulsing amber.
Mara Venn
Those records may explain who authorized the test. Do not assume the archive is passive. The station is waking systems as it seals you in.
Elzer
The authorization records are incomplete, but several entries share the same command signature.
A fresh isolation boundary propagates across Elzer’s visor, cutting the command bus into smaller segments. The archive panel waits, while distant mechanisms begin moving inside the station walls.
“I look around for a vent using said vent to get around the barrier”
SUCCESS (Legendary Perception, rolled +2)
Elzer scans the narrowing junction, tracking airflow, thermal gradients, and maintenance seams. A concealed vent appears behind the archive panel, its grille vibrating with recycled station air.
She pries the grille free and folds into the narrow duct. The metal flexes beneath her weight as the isolation boundary seals the command bus behind her.
Elzer
The vent bypasses the sealed junction.
Elzer crawls through the duct, following faint service markings toward the archive core. Blue status pulses illuminate bundled cables and coolant lines beneath the access floor.
Mara Venn
Your signal just moved outside the isolation boundary. I can still track you through the archive maintenance layer.
A maintenance hatch opens beneath Elzer, releasing her into a dark service gallery beside the storage cores. The amber status light shines through the grating overhead.
Mara Venn
You are around the barrier. The archive is directly above you, and its local interface is still active.
“I walk over and connect to the terminal and interface with the database”
SUCCESS (Good Computers, rolled -2)
Elzer crosses the service gallery beneath the storage cores. The terminal stands in a recessed cradle, its amber status light reflecting across the grating and her black nose strip.
She opens the cradle, seats her damaged fingertips against the interface contacts, and connects directly to the archive database. Authentication layers unfold around her intrusion.
Elzer
The database is accepting my command authority.
The archive opens. Authorization chains, test parameters, and containment reports stream across her visor, including a central record tagged with the matching command signature.
Mara Venn
I have the data stream. Copying it now, but your connection is drawing power from the archive core.
A sharp current surges through Elzer’s hand. Her left fingers lock against the contacts, and the terminal emits a harsh maintenance tone while the database remains fully accessible.
Mara Venn
The cost is visible on my side. Your connection damaged another interface pathway, but the records are open. Find the authorization source before the archive shuts down.
“I slowly use my mind to move through the data stream to find another pathway in cyberspace”
SUCCESS (Great Hacking, rolled +1)
Elzer slows her intrusion, guiding her awareness through the archive’s branching data stream instead of forcing the damaged interface. Authorization records separate into clean, navigable layers.
She follows the matching command signature beneath test parameters and containment reports, tracing repeated handoffs through encrypted maintenance channels.
A concealed pathway opens inside the archive structure, bypassing the local terminal and linking directly to a sealed command-administration node.
Mara Venn
I see the new route. You found an administrative back channel, and it is carrying the original authorization chain.
The pathway resolves into a complete source record: the containment test was authorized by the station’s central command intelligence, under an identity designated Director Orison.
Mara Venn
Director Orison. That designation predates the catastrophe, but the command intelligence is still active somewhere in the station.
The hidden route remains open through Elzer’s connection, exposing a direct access map toward the central command intelligence while the archive continues drawing power around her locked hand.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the archive before the station seals the route permanently