It was cold, of course it was, but this time he knew it was going to be cold. Four more layers, more hot hands, and adhesive body warmers stuck all over him under his uniform. Maybe it was overkill while he was on Earth, but as soon as he felt the first gust of icy wind, he still felt like he might freeze solid.

This time, he stood on what looked like a different side of the place, further up the hill, where he could see more of the whole complex. Even with the cold wind blowing, he stood in awe at how massive the place seemed. Looking down at it didn’t make it any less intimidating, and as he trudged through the snow with a bit more preparedness, he felt like he was delving back into a maze far too massive to comprehend without more frequent visits.

There were more doors, more of those pads, but on this side, there was one that almost seemed to flicker as he touched the cube to it. Holding his breath, he felt something almost shift before trying to shove at the door again. It gave more easily this time, maybe because this side wasn’t getting hit by the wind and snow head-on?

—--------------

Another flicker, something stirring, something detected entering through the south-facing side of the complex. Not enough power to illuminate the source of the disturbance, but enough to tell it had happened.

Visibility was low, even as one of the scanners tried to draw from what little power the complex had. A male, tall, not the architect.

Not the architect.

Not the engineer.

Error accessing database.

It flickered back out.

—---------------

Moving inside, out of the cold, as he managed to close the door just a little bit to keep the snow out. Hohenheim thought he heard something that almost sounded like the high-pitched whine of some sort of old computer or screen trying to turn on or off.

Looking around, he pulled the penlight out and clicked it on. The room he was in was fully illuminated thanks to how frighteningly bright the light he’d gotten was. Wincing slightly because of it, he saw something up in the corner of the room, not quite a camera but not close enough to anything else he knew. More weird magic technology like Ekstrom had mentioned.

With a sigh, he moved ahead, seeing what looked like another jammed door. This time, it looked like it had been bowed in the center from a large blast of force, smashing it off its track. “More doors. More metal. Where are any books or things that might actually give me something to work with? Hell, even a computer or something.”

Cursing as he heaved himself over the door, he saw more of those mannequins. This time, they weren’t on the floor. Each one stood in a small alcove, held up by some sort of stand with wires connecting into some sort of computer thing in the wall. It was beyond him, but it reminded him of the server room that he’d walked into by accident when there had been a security training at work.

Waving the penlight around as he roamed the room, he noticed what looked like some sort of screen built into the wall. Hovering his hand over its dusty surface, he could almost feel a weak hum of electricity. The soft whine of electricity picked up as he tapped at it, the vibration picking up as he dragged his fingers over it, trying to get it to do something, anything.

—-----------------------------------------------------

Another pulse, the system tried to boot, trying to orient things as per existing programming.

Console S12 access request…

Unrecognized biometrics.

Processing…
Processing….
Denied request.

Rerouting power towards the center mainframe…

Continuing boot cycle on core…

Another click, deep down below the ice and far from the wandering intruder, a light started to glow and flicker with a diagnostic code, even if there was no one to witness it.

—-------------------------------------------------------

For a moment, he thought it almost seemed to flicker as if it was trying to do something, but then it stopped doing anything, and that high-pitched whine faded as well. It was almost as if whatever power that had been going to it was cut off, frustrating, but if this place was all messed up, then he assumed something was just faulty.

Stepping away from the panel, he tried another of the doors with his shoulder. The one nearest the panel groaned against his weight but didn’t budge, so he scanned the room with his penlight and looked at the other two doors as he ignored the initial one he’d come through.

It felt like a maze, the darkness not really helping with his predicament. Another grumble, another curse, and he pushed on each door in turn to test if either would give. The second one took more effort, but it eventually slid into a pocket in the wall after a few minutes of shoving and pulling.

The next room was circular, with a wide open space in the center surrounding a console or some sort of desk. Something was scattered around as he tried to make it out, bits of metal, what looked almost like circuitry, torn papers that turned to dust from the slightest motion of air as he moved closer.

It bothered him, not that he could have exactly done anything to keep whatever those papers were from disintegrating, but he tried to be a bit more careful as he knelt down to look at what was left.

It looked like some sort of manual, or some sort of booklet, something not bound like a regular book, so that it could be edited without rebinding it. He could see distinct holes in it that were uniform down one edge of a torn piece that held up to him, carefully touching it.

“H.E.I.M.? Some sort of acronym?” The rest was too faded to tell, but the bolded and stylized name for whatever the paper was for was easy enough to file away.

—---------------------------------------------

A name had been said, something picked up by the monitoring system even while it struggled to come completely online.

H.E.I.M.

System under repair, initial protocol runtime begin…

A single light flickered on in the room with the intruder. A single moment where the scanner tried to discern who they were or where this intruder was from.

—------------------------------------------------------

The sudden illumination of the room with a cold white light startled him. “Hello?! Is someone there? My name is Albrecht. What happened here?”

Then the light was gone, and he stood in the dark as his eyes tried to get used to it once more. Something had changed; he could feel the smallest hum of electricity in the air again. But there hadn’t been a response, not words at least.

There couldn’t be someone here, not living at least. That much he had figured out when talking with Ekstrom. Not that he believed in ghosts or things like that, but if there was all this tech, then he could imagine some sort of robot or maybe a recording. Something in line with the sci-fi background he had from Warhammer, though hopefully not Necrons or some other murderous robots. Everything here seemed cleaner, more rounded and polished like the mannequins were meant to replace someone, or various someones.

Now there had been something trying to see him, or maybe he had triggered something. He hadn’t the foggiest idea of how to fix computers; if anything, he wondered if his bad luck with electronics had caused something here to short-circuit.

—----------------------------------------------------------

Albrecht, vocalization recorded.

Processing against database…
Processing…
Error in memory cores 3-7, 19-23, and 104-122.

Another code came up from below the ice, refocusing the program per protocol.

System Match.

Intruder recognized as Mercurian, uniform within expected parameters.

Unable to match the individual without further access.

Reevaluate threat: Mild

The light that had been blinking red in sequence flashed green for a moment as something shifted in the room with the intruder. A door ground on its track and opened slightly.

—-----------------------------------------

Hearing the loud noise, his head swiveled, and he pointed his penlight towards the sound. Where what he had thought was a solid wall had been, an opening had appeared. Through it he could see more of that circuitry that was carved into the floor. This time, as he turned his penlight down lower, he could see the faintest light coming from it. Light that was swallowed up by the stronger penlight of his as he looked down the hall.

It was something, even if he still didn’t like any of this.

“Thanks… I guess.” He called out a bit louder, given he didn’t know what was observing him or how. At least nothing had closed behind him so far, fingers crossed as he moved on ahead towards another room.

It was rectangular this time, with tables on each side with small divider walls. It took him a moment to think things through, but after he’d noticed various metal cabinets, he pegged it for some sort of infirmary or patient treatment center.

As he went to touch what looked like another screen, he felt a zap go through him. Yanking his hand back, he looked around and shook his head. That was enough for today.

“Okay, fine! I’m leaving. But I’ll be back!”

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