The “door” was actually a set of double doors, splitting open down the center and rumbling to the side in a cloud of dust. Fragments of rock and debris emanated from the cave walls, prompting the Pioneers to cough and step back from the grumbling aperture. But when they looked back, they gazed into a large artificial chamber, walls forged in sleek silver metal. It was featureless, not showing the slightest sign of age but also totally utilitarian. Two ring-shaped, pinkish-white lights, inlaid in the ceiling and floor, flicked on and bathed the underground cavern with their pale illumination. The chamber called to the Pioneers’ sense of adventure, but also promised unknown dangers and complications. Daniel turned his eyes away from the silver room and toward the others.

  Devin O’Riley folded his arms and glared in suspicion at the chamber, his well-lined face growing even craggier in the face of this development. Jordan, on the other hand, looked on in anticipation, the fair-haired fighter practically bouncing on his feet at the prospect of pillaging an unknown tech treasure trove. Besides those two, there was the cringing James MacNeil, the cowardly younger man who’d had the fight taken out of him by his many scares with death, and the stiff neck Omar Ibrahim, who ogled this new development with the suspicion of an Imperial Inquisitor sniffing out a traitor.

  The remaining three humans were Aldo Mubarik, Jan Stanoslav, and Stefan Ramirez. They were older guys, in their thirties or late twenties at least, and the one thing they had in common was that life had been hard on them. Mubarik was a haunted eyed, dark-skinned man, with a generous sprinkling of grey hair in the stubble on his head, despite the fact that he was in his late thirties. The illegitimate son of an army officer, Mubarik was an ex-convict who’d decided to turn his life around in prison. When he was released from jail, he’d thought about how he could give back to the community and earn a decent living. Enlisting was easily his best option, and the recommendation of an old friend in the military allowed him to do just that. He stared at the chamber with a quiet, unemotional gaze. Stanoslav was pale, like Jordan, but of average height and sporting obsidian eyes/hair. He was an ex-con, like Mubarik, but he’d joined the Fed because his new wife had insisted he make a living through legal means. The army was the only place that would take him. Fiery and combative where Mubarik was placid and thoughtful, he stared at the chamber like he wanted to pick a fight with it.

  Ramirez was the happy medium between the two of them in terms of age, in his mid-thirties. He was a sparkly eyed, olive-skinned looking man who smiled often and spoke very softly. His gentle demeanor contrasted with the past of a recovering alcoholic and unemployed factory worker, who’d joined the force to pay off his debts. This new development had wiped away his normal grin, the man staring at the ceiling while lost in thought. The last person watching Daniel was the Dunid, which reminded the young man of something: “You know, big fella, in all the chaos I never got your name.”

  This earned Daniel a few surprised looks from the others at the abrupt change of subject. Ramirez and Jordan actually stifled a few snickers, but Daniel only looked expectantly at the hairy fellow in front of him. The Dunid knelt and carved a few characters in the recently kicked up dirt: “I am Gon.”

  “Okay, Gon, what do you think we should do about this? It’s obviously a lift, right?”

  The chamber, with no doors leading in any direction but toward them, was surely a lift that would take them down into some kind of abandoned facility. These kinds of places weren’t exactly uncommon. The Aeterna had once ruled the galaxy and defined the direction of civilization, until the Collapse of course. Humanity had come roaring into their place, but they were still somewhat primitive in comparison to the Aeterna at their height. That ancient civilization had established research bases, factories, and facilities of all kinds throughout the galaxy, many of which remained in a half destroyed or incomplete state. Finding and investigating these places was a part of a Pioneer’s job.

  That said, the level of danger you could experience in these places also varied wildly. The Aeterna often didn’t match the class of their security to the class of the planet. The wrong step could trigger the ire of some Alpha class android, who would absolutely tear them to pieces. On the other hand, maybe there was no automated security at all. Even if there had been originally, it could have deteriorated or deactivated, leaving inordinately valuable loot behind. Or maybe there was nothing but danger remaining. A facility like this raised nothing but question marks, and the Pioneers that reported it would earn very little if they didn’t investigate it themselves. The presence of the lift complicated things, indicating that there was likely something big to discover deeper underground, but that was hardly a guarantee of value. The Dunid scratched out its response quite quickly: “Yes, a lift. Big prospect.”

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  “Big prospect, but crazy risk, right?”

  “Fortune favors the bold.”

  That startled Daniel a little, and he looked up to meet the fierce and determined eyes of a serious warrior in his large companion. He looked around at the rest of the group after that, asking: “And what about you guys? Do we take our chances topside, or roll the dice in the underground?”

  No matter what they did, it was a risk. If they stayed aboveground, they’d have to contend with the dangerous wildlife surrounding the river or wander elsewhere. At less than half strength, they’d struggle to meet Quota without further casualties. That said, going downstairs could be a death sentence or a dead end. Or they could be set for life 20 times over. Even just doubling their Quota would be a dream come true. It was a plan with wildly disparate outcomes. Theoretically, Daniel was their de facto leader, but he wouldn’t make this decision unilaterally. He doubted the men would accept that, and he had some doubts about his own qualifications to make that kind of decision anyways. Besides, any good commander would get the opinions of his troops at a time like this: “I say we give it a shot! What’s the worst that could happen?”

  Jordan’s energetic grin had something of a competitive undertone, Daniel’s good friend alive with excitement. O’Riley, still staring at the door, was the voice of caution: “Not sure I like this one, sir. Feels a wee bit too neat and tidy.”

  “Indeed. Leaping in headfirst would be reckless.”, Mubarik rumbled, rich voice permeating the stuffy cavern.

  However, Stanoslav quickly fired back: “What kind of fools are you! This is a chance to never work another day in our lives! Are we just going to pass that up?”

  “I don’t trust it. This very lift could be trapped! Or it could land us in in some kind of pit! Who says it even still works?”, Omar declared, giving the lift the gimlet eye alongside O’Riley.

  Ramirez took that time to chime in with a refutation, accented voice coming out smoothly and good naturedly: “Well, I think that’s rather unlikely, now isn’t it? The doors opened for the boss and Mr. Lift downright jumped to please him. I say both he and we have been blessed enough that we can afford one more leap of faith.”

  All eyes fell on MacNeil, who shrugged diffidently and looked away from the rest of the group, simply muttering: “I don’t wanna die.”

  With all voices accounted for, everyone looked back at Daniel. They hadn’t all outright voted, of course, but the group seemed generally split, to the point that it came down to the de facto leader. Daniel frowned in thought and reflected on everything that had happened so far. He’d suspected this as a possibility since the moment he’d laid eyes on the door, and to have those suspicions confirmed was simultaneously thrilling and threatening. There was a part of him that wanted to turn back, but retreating now would doom them all to the mercies of the forest above.

  If Gulliman were still alive, he’d probably order them all to turn around, report it to command, and leave it alone. Which made Daniel’s next words easy: “Let’s do it.”

  The votes in favor broadly let out exclamations of happiness, but even the more skeptical voices didn’t seem terribly unsatisfied. They all followed Daniel into the lift, even MacNeil. When Daniel stepped in, he got another ping on his HUD:

  Welcome to Facility 749

  Please Select a Floor:

  Floor 1

  Floor 2

  Floor 3

  Floor 4

  Floor 5

  Floor 6

  Floor 7

  Floor 8

  Floor 9

  Daniel selected Floor 1. Best to start from the top and work their way down. The doors shut with another rumble behind them, and they felt their stomachs drop as the lift began working its way downward silently. This had clearly been made with Hover tech and constructed quite well to have survived the centuries it’d been abandoned. They spent roughly 30 seconds on their lift ride before it came to a halt once again, mechanical doors opening easily, and depositing the Pioneers into the middle of a warzone.

  Or what appeared to be the remnants of a warzone, anyways. The place they walked into was the remnant of some sort of computer room, with various panels in the walls and desks clearly being the remnants of some workstations. They were the remnants because the panels had been dismantled, their screens destroyed, and their guts ripped out. The desks had also been ransacked; the pieces of their technology strewn about on the floor. Daniel knelt to examine one such piece of tech and noted two things.

  One was that his HUD didn’t ping. That meant that his Codex didn’t recognize this tech to be of any value. But more important than that was the reason why. This circular remnant of an advanced SmartGram had been bitten into, the wiring within it destroyed or eaten out. The battery that had been powering it was also nowhere to be seen. But Jordan was the first to echo his suspicions from across the room: “Fellas, we are not alone down here.”