Lost Things: Solo Extraction
This too shall pass.
The storm was rising, fine red dust obscuring everything, but I checked my compass one last time before spotting Building Arrethe just ahead. The combination of night-vision and rubber gloves made me clumsy and slow, but it was better than the alternative. Arrethe was an unforgiving place.
I wiped more dust from a window and peered in to check that I was in the right place. Two paired doors forming a small internal chamber, all constructed of transparent polycarbonate like the airlocks in high-contagion research facilities. Yes, this was it.
Carefully, deliberately, I used a multitool screwdriver to open a bronze panel below the window. Inside, a neat bundle of wiring. I spliced the only braided pair inelegantly into the battery pack that I had carried here for the purpose and looked up in time to see the newly-powered outer doors open.
I tucked my multitool back, checked my air supply and made sure my gloves and boots were still secure and airtight. Then it was time to get moving - I didn't have long.
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Comments (5 so far!)
August Rode
// I'm not sure that's how it works. // It works however you need it to work, HSAR.
- #4277 Posted 5 years ago
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HSAR
I'm a seat-of-the-parts writer! Never quite sure of anything until I need it for the story :)
- #4278 Posted 5 years ago
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August Rode
Out of curiosity, HSAR, where do the names of the buildings (Grachkin, Arrethe) come from?
- #4279 Posted 5 years ago
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HSAR
Oh gosh, there are multiple ways to answer that question.
The short answer is that they're all random, although they have traceable origins. Grachkin descends from the Russian MP-443 Grach, though I decided I didn't like it having one syllable so I added one. Arrethe comes from Eleuthera in the Bahamas. The overall requirement is only that it be polysyllabic and have no obvious origin.
The long answer is that unlike the floors, rows, shelves and cases, the building names ought not to imply any natural ordering - that is, you do assume that Row 6 is between Row 5 and 7 etc, but no order is implied in named buildings. The names, further, ought not to imply any particular time period. This all builds into the idea that things even though all lost things wind up in the Library, that doesn't mean you can trivially find any given object of interest.
- #4280 Posted 5 years ago
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Inspired by (sequel to):
The floorboards creaked with my passage, threatening to collapse, but the key is to be sure and conf…
Lost Things- Published 5 years ago and featured 5 years ago.
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HSAR
I had originally planned for this to be an expert team of soldiers looking for a case, but I'm not sure that's how it works. It seems everyone is on their own journey in the Library.