Eva looks at the engine bits, then to the group as she picks them up "May I?, without really waiting for an answer she sees if they have a home, such as an elevator motor, or something else, if not she sees if she can put them together.
There is a bunch of different motor pieces here, enough to assist in tweaking any large electrical or combustion engine
Chiro will use his Skilled Searcher talent to look for any hidden or secret items. Also looking for any written material or images (that whole explorer thing).
Chiro:
Chiro will pick up the strange item he found and look for any writing on it or clue to it's use.
It has some markings in Ancient Anglish, but they are gibberish:
Flash 2 Tb USB 4.0
"Huh, man I wish those ancients had some kind of reason for the words they use. They look like random numbers and letters to me. Here ya go EVA, maybe you can do something with this. Might be part of another ancient device or such."
Hands it over to EVA.
Plans on snagging that AK-47 magazine. Unless there is an objection?
The room is quiet
"So where's the robot," Germain asks, "that's what we were looking for right?"
Head out into the "lobby"? and check out the elevator shaft.
"Elevator won't work - might as well check out the stairs. Cover me, willya?" Roach kicks open the door and peers inside the stairwell.
Roach checks out the landing with the stairs going up. There seems to be a mound of ash and dust at the bottom.
Eva takes the USB port from Chirom and attemots to read it.
The group warily checks out the ash pile on the landing. Judging feom the charred horns and bits of old chitin, the pile is decades of accumulated spidergoat parts. Everything has a coating of char, leading you to think they were burned to death.
Under the pile is a skeletal hand poking out. It too is charred.
E.V.A., engrossed in Chiro's find, isn't paying attention. She recognizes the anicient piece of tech as a 'flash' drive, a portable memory storage unit. 2 Tb would imply a two terabyte storage capacity, relatively antiquated by Late Golden Age standards. More than likely it predates the Shadow Years, thus could be over 150 years old. Devices like this are often compromised by age, but E.V.A. has the capability to read any data that might survive.
"I think there's a trap up that way," Germain says, "Let's just hope it's something guarding the top of the stairs . . . I don't think there's anything down here all burnt up."
"Something up there lets out blasts of fire down the stairwell? Interesting."
Eva is delighted over the machinery and USB port after anlysis and a virus scan, Eva plugs the port into her finger tip. Many bleeps and bings become audible and Eva's eyes flutter as if reading text quickly in front of her.
Computer Use 25.
"Something up there lets out blasts of fire down the stairwell? Interesting."
Roach can see there are stray burn marks on the walls. There is no small of accelerant, and the pile of charred bits is fairly old. The most recent victim could be months old.
Many bleeps and bings become audible and Eva's eyes flutter as if reading text quickly in front of her.
10001011110110101111011011010010...
The flash drive seems to be someone's temporary storage device. Most of the data is hopelessly compromised by age, but E.V.A. has an algrorithmic program that manages to winnow some information from the signal noise. Aside from music and pictures, there is a video of the building taken possibly at the height of the Shadow Years.
A young female in her teens is recording via spex (computer sunglasses) out in the neighborhood. There are swarms of people everywhere, and all the ruined buildings are whole, soaring hundreds of feet into the sky. Despite evident signs of plenty, the people look annoyed. One fist fight is even captured during the recording. Many of the buildings evidence burn marks or grafitti on their lower areas.
The teen moves into the very building E.V.A. now occupies, heading up in the elevator. She gets off on the 45th level, and then goes to the stair landing and proceeds to engage in some form of ritual or drug use with several other teens. A large mettalic spider chases them out, an electronic voice speaking loudly:
Unauthorized entry! Leave the emergency stairs immediately! Failure to comply authorizes the building defense net to use tasers. Repeat! Second Warning! Leave the ...
The child goes back into her appartment and the recording ends.
"I wonder if the building defenses still works...."
<Looks around at everyone.>
Eva looks at Coca and states flatly, "I think we should stay away from the 45th floor"
Sherman rolls up a gigantic spliff and starts to tug on it, blowing billows of smoke into the air.
"For I and I's nerves, no?" he inquires.
"Yeah mon, I dren be followin," he gestures with his hand to say he his happy to go along with what ever the others decide.
"That jump drive have something useful on it E.V.A.," Germain asks, revealing her familiarity with high technology, "any idea on what or where those robots are coming from?"
"I wonder if the building defenses still works...."
<Looks around at everyone.>
It's that strange Kruelaid man again! Which wall did he burst though?
Eva will replay the movie on the USB drive and projet it for the group to see
Using the holo projectors built into her synthetic corneas, E.V.A. manages to get a visual-only simulacra of the busy scene up. It is a bit pixelated due to the age of the recording, but everyone gets a 360 degree gander at the neighborhood and building.
Chiro whips out his notebook and scribbles down a few new observations about the strange world of the ancients.
"Wow they sure dressed funny back then, thanks EVA."
"Maybe try climbing the elevator shaft to bypass the trap?"
"Might not be a trap at all - could be that robo-spider whatzit; it's prolly got some laser-burner weapon. It might be guarding some choice stuff, though." Roach runs a hand through his dreads. "Waddya'll think? Look for whatever it was guarding, or just keep movin' on?"
Eva looks at the group and replays the video portion of the sentry, "I have an idea" Eva's imaging creates the room we are in in her display and then adds her companions in minature form, she then runs a series of algorithms and determines a best course of action to defeat a robotic fire wielding creature, Eva then replays her simulation to the party, her lips coil up in an impish grin and she sings, "I have a plan"
After a minute of running simulations for the group Eva looks to the party, "Lets find this thing"
"Looks good," Germain says, "one question though: how do we get up there? What are the chances that the elevator works?" She asks with a giggle, "I mean we could climb up the shaft but we'd be awfully tired by the time we got to the 43rd floor."
"I have rope and I am a VERY good climber. But we could try and rush it using that door as cover."
"Da I can climb like one of dem Spiders," intones Sherman while flexing all four biceps.
"If you want I can try to get one of the elevators to work again"
"If you want I can try to get one of the elevators to work again"
"Robots need a power source don't they?" Germain asks, "especially the big deadly clanks that shoot lasers. I think some can use food to power functions but the big nasty icky weapons need a lot of power . . . and either way the big robot would probably spend a lot of time sleeping to save power. Those little itty bitty robots probably wake up the big one with the nasty guns! We could take the stairs but we got to watch out for the widdle robots cuz I bet they're spies!"
Anything we could use to look around the corners of the stairs (other than Roach). Looking for a piece of flat glass or a mirror.
<Coca pinches off some chaw.>
Roach peers up the dark stairwell. "Let's find and knock out the f%&@er, and take his stuff. I'll lead."
"Roger that."
<Coca chambers a round into Agnew's maw.>
Sherman chambers new rounds into his four guns as he follows Roach up the stairs, "Yes i-dren, I walk from Jamaica, so a few stairs, no problem."
"Robots need a power source don't they?" Germain asks, "especially the big deadly clanks that shoot lasers. I think some can use food to power functions but the big nasty icky weapons need a lot of power . . . and either way the big robot would probably spend a lot of time sleeping to save power. Those little itty bitty robots probably wake up the big one with the nasty guns! We could take the stairs but we got to watch out for the widdle robots cuz I bet they're spies!"
<Coca pinches off some chaw.>
The building's emergency stairwell is a standard design, unchanged for centuries. Each level of stairs ends at a landing with a door to the building's level. E.V.A determined from the information she gleaned that only people holding a proper card key could access the doors. It used to be the same for the main floor, but someone (perhaps the skeleton under the charred spidergoat pile) has already busted that door open. The stairwell should be physically unobstructed, going 50 stories up (or about the 35 that are left)
Anything we could use to look around the corners of the stairs (other than Roach). Looking for a piece of flat glass or a mirror.
Chiro finds a shard of mirror in the rubble about hand size.
"Righto, AK-47 loaded and ready."
Chiro will let one of the bigger mals lead the way.
Germain waits for someone else to take the lead into the staircase before following.
"En.."
<Coca moves into the stairwell. Going upward very slowly. Agnew readied.>