(Gamma World) Not a Test #128 - Time Constraint

Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, have decided to embark on an epic quest to reach Lathar's long-lost father, Harkonn.  After side-quests, distractions, and backtracking, the group has made it past Fair-Town and KIA Academy, and they continue to explore some sort of abandoned facility along the Big River.

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Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend.  He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters.  Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does.   Looking for trouble in all the right places. The two-time champion of the Fair-Town Queen's Joust.  Recently married to the now-pregnant Thunnelda Haycock.   He had recently received a letter from his long-lost father, and has convinced the others to accompany him to the Wildlands.

Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout.  Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.   Apparently addicted to his newly uncovered yellow powder found at "The Pool House"

Sonny Helianthus: an over 10' tall sentient sunflower artifact examiner with four arms, and trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable,  but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades.   Sonny may have recently detonated an atomic device in the petrified woods... although no one else knows. 

Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble in all the wrong places,  and finding it often.   He  has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair.  Recently attacked and kidnapped then left for dead by an unknown group, looking for revenge.  Also pregnant for the third time, and due to deliver badly out of season

Poppy and Speedy: Two of Squiggles' offspring from his first... litter(?) They're now teenagers in worm years, old enough to grab diminutive muskets and help their Manchi and his friends on this epic quest. 

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With the young worms, Poppy and Speedy, guarding the back gate, the rest of the Explorers continued their exploration of the abandoned compound... still in the domed marked "MRF" on the outside.

They stared at the display in the shiny metal cabinet again.  Shelves of small jars, with labels full of patterns and strange symbols.  

Searches revealed only one important thing in the dome.  A one foot by two foot black box on the side of the cabinet was revealed to Sonny from above to be a clipboard, double hold punched printed paper held together by two large rings run through the board... scraps of paper suggested many other sheets of paper had been in their 

Page 1: 

Designation: CB-RV-17 / PROXIMITY SITE - SAMPLING COMPOUND

Security Level: BLACK-IRON (downgraded post-withdrawal)

“Research objectives compromised. Containment no longer assured. Recommend immediate transition to denial posture.”

Page 2:  

Filed by: Lt. R. Kess (Acting Containment Officer)

Key Points:

• One freezer unit (BIO-VAULT C) registers internal pressure drop

• Alarm did not trigger automatically

• Manual inspection notes:

  • Frost pattern inconsistent with door opening

  • Interior surfaces show micro-fracturing, like stress from inside

Addendum (handwritten):

“Sample was not taken.... Sample escaped....  That should not be possible."

Page 3:  

Source: Arc-Tech Sensor Mast 
Correlation: 99.2% match with historical events

Notable Annotation (red ink):

“This is NOT a natural surge.
Something anchored it.”

Page 4:  

Encrypted Burst Transmission
Origin: Coalition Command, River Theater
Priority: ABSOLUTE

“Cease all research activity immediately.
Initiate DENIAL PROTOCOLS.
No recovery attempts.
No pursuit.
Base is to be considered compromised beyond reclamation.”

Follow-up (Timestamped 2 minutes later):

“If personnel resist evacuation, leave them.”

Page 5: 

• ✅Scuttle arc-tech equipment

• ❌Bio-Vaults Failed

• ✅Burn all anomaly logs

• ✅Troops successfully withdrawn 

• ✅Hunter packs accounted for and reassigned. 

“Time constraint.”

Concerned by the strange data, the group reassigned the young worms to different positions and continued searching the other domes.  

Most of the domes showed signs of barracks: cots, footlockers, some emptied, tables that once displayed something.

Lathar pried open on of the plas-tech footlocker with his sword.  black uniforms, combat boots, toiletries, and a disturbing picture of a man, his partner (?), and two small children.  The children's face had been physically worn out/erased... 

The cloth journal was expected of some soldier in charge.  It was mostly the standard fare: missing his family, worried about his men, but the last page seemed scribbled....

"The Doctor mentioned magic!!!! What fucking bullshit is that?" 

Pete acquired a map!   It was mostly a sketched map of the Big River below KIA. The actual river itself was well detailed, showing rapids, islands, and low points.  What was worrisome were the repeated words along both side of the river.

"Do Not Camp"

Working through the next dome, there was a series of destroying pieces of tech, shredded papers, that Pete confused as comfortable bedding, and one lone terminal with a single blinking message: 

SOURCE UNDEFINED

Sonny played with the terminal with no success.  So did Lathar.  Pete simply pulled the plug on the device, plugged it back in, and a simple blinking horizontal line appeared in the upper left hand corner of the screen.  

Sonny:  "I'll work on this later, if we have time."

In the final dome were more cots and empty footlockers.  Two cryptic message were carved into the surface of the latrine: 

"The River Listens"

"Don't Dream Here"

The explorers pondered how far these humans had travelled... and more so whether it was safer to spend the night there, under heavy guard than risk it outside the walls.  

They didn't rely on the resting Sonny the Sunflower as a guard, setting up a rotation.

The rest, including No-Name resided in the dome with the terminal, Sonny's new obsession.  He worked through half the night, until becoming more and more aggravated, stomping out to see Squiggles and relieving him early to collect himself in the autumn night. 

Sonny stepped up on the concrete block wall, towering over the metal fencing, as he stared across the river.  It was still quiet.  No insects.  No birds.  No animals.  Just the sound of the Big River, gurgling, swirling, and rolling.... upriver.

"Upriver???"

Alarmed, Sonny ventured back towards the dome, only to be met by Squiggles and his children staggering out.  

"Sonny, something's weird...  The kids..."

"Did they eat the rations?"

"No, no... cause I feel like it too... No-Name seems startled inside."

"Uncle Sonny.... my segments hurt!"

Inside the dome, Lathar tried to calm No-Name.   He was preoccupied by trying to remember the dream he had just awoken from.  It felt so right... but it didn't feel good. 

The group came back into dome.  Pete suggested that the pack up and leave quickly, finally emerging from dome and witnessing what was coming.   

The night sky was illuminated away from the river.... a large, blue, glowing aura stretching across the horizon on the left appeared to be working towards them at a rapid pace.....

The group fled the dome... running out the back of the compound.  No-Name acted particularly belligerent to its kind master Lathar, the barbarian pulling him by the reins like it was some obstinate camel.  

And the blue aura, know crackling with similar energy, kept coming.....

Next: #129 - The Third Reflection of the Ninth Crossing