Starborn: Origin of the Stars

Robin inspected the keypad and had to agree with her. This was just a pretty normal locking mechanism, a human craftsmanship. Maybe that would explain why he sensed so few power lines in the wall.

Had someone just slapped some simple generator to the building to be able to control its basic functions and stuff like the retrofitted access control?

“Patience, I like your enthusiasm and while I agree with you and really wanna see what's inside, I don’t think this is a good idea.” He contemplated, “I'm fairly certain someone installed a new generator and upgraded the door to restrict entrance. Our assumption that these alien relic sites are all abandoned, falls short somewhere…”

“Maybe it’s something the guys from the plundering science teams left behind, to be able to come back one day if needed? But I cannot see any vehicles outside and they probably won’t travel here by foot.” Patience argued. Seeing his still skeptical face, she continued “Honestly Rob, do you really think someone lives out here? In the middle of nowhere? Come on - this is our adventure, in all great stories the heroes have to take some risks!”

He saw her pleading with puppy eyes and conceded.

“Okay, but remember, we are not heroes and most of these stories have a really bad ending, there's just no one left to tell the tale!”

"Awesome, now crack that door, techie!"

“Ugh...Give me some space and be quiet for a moment. This may be a bit tricky.” He chased Patience away and closed his eyes again to sense the energy in the keypad. Since his little accident in the museum, he could tap into his mutation with much more ease. There was something he always wanted to try, but never found the time before. Waiting for his senses to finish their scan, he slowly opened his eyes but tried to keep his skill active and hold onto the image. As soon as his concentration began to waver, the image flickered and soon his ability stopped.

Robin didn’t give up, he could feel that this was the right way. He should be able to do it. Once again, he began to sense the energy in the keypad… and again and again…

On his 7th attempt he finally made some progress. He opened his eyes and the image in his mind began to overlap with his vision, highlighting the cables he saw around the keypad with the familiar blue glow.

“Awesome!” he exclaimed and his concentration slipped, canceling the skill. It was like augmented reality, only that it was directly added to his view without any tools or transparent displays.

“Patience, I'm trying something new here. I’m on the right track, but I’ll need more time. Would you fetch our lunch?”

“Sure, take your time little hacker!” She laughed and went over to the ship.

The two wannabe safecrackers took their time and Robin often switched between eating and trying to use his mutation to not just visualize the energy in his mind, but to enhance his actual vision. Eventually he succeeded and could see all the cables and innards of the keypad glowing with a light blue hue. It was a terrific sight.

‘This is crazy, I’m absolutely certain, that this shouldn’t be possible for any Class E or Class D - Energy Senses. I’ll have to ask Jim to get me connected with one of the techno-medics that dabble in mutations and is not on the payroll of the government. I can’t have them ask too many questions, if the results of my mutation’s analysis are…questionable.’ Robin put these plans in the back of his head and carefully began his work on the datapad.

He tapped some random numbers and watched how the flow of energy changed, when the red light informed him that he used the wrong code. He had to do this a few times and really hoped that there wasn’t some auto-lock mechanism after too many failed tries. When he was sure which cable was responsible for what, he grabbed the screwdriver again and prepared to hot-wire the keypad.

“We are lucky that it is just some standard module and not something for security purposes. I should be able to circumvent the pad now. Ready?” He asked Patience.

“Been waiting for an hour, just do it so at least something happens!” She came over, clearly bored and with nothing of her adventurous feelings left.

Pushing the screwdriver in, he connected one of the cables with a pin at the side of the pad and watched as a blue pulse of energy moved through his vision towards the opening mechanism. Moments later, with a low hiss, the slab moved in a bit and slid to the side, vanishing in the wall.

“Huh!” Robin stood there, slightly muddleheaded and stopped his ability. Even with his more resilient mind, the constant usage began to take its toll and his head began to throb.

Patting his shoulders, Patience passed him and moved into the building.

“Good job, Rob! You look like you’re more surprised than me that it really worked.” She laughed, vanishing in the dimly lit corridor.

Following her, Robin observed his surroundings. The walls were made from the same black metal as the rest of the complex and the ceiling was decorated with cheap but modern lights. Another hint towards a repurposing by humans.

“Wow! Look at that, why would these be here?” He heard Patience calling from somewhere deeper down the corridor. With hurried steps he soon came into a big room, maybe 10 by 20 meters in size, on the other side was a single, closed door and to the right side were dozens of crates neatly stacked above each other. He couldn’t identify them on a moment's notice, but they did look like the standard transport boxes that were also used by CTVs. Patience was standing to the left side of the room, at the end of a long row of refrigerators. They were all powered and gave a low hum, filling the room with a spooky background noise.

“Rob, what the hell is all this? Why would anyone put so many cooling devices here?” She asked him with a furrowed brow.

“I have some ideas, but neither of them includes us being here as a good thing…” He said and tentatively walked to one of the many crates on the right side. He carefully pushed open the lid and took a look inside.

“Spare parts?” He mumbled, “These are vents for planetary ships, a lot of them.” Moving to the next box, he found even more parts. This time the crate was filled with CTV and PTV compatible system parts.

“This is some fucking expensive shit and definitely not something you would hoard in bulk, just to let it collect dust in a forgotten warehouse in the middle of nowhere.”

“Tell me about it. Damn, you have to see this…” Patience called him over.

Closing the box, he walked over and immediately understood what she meant. One of the fridges was wide open and the bright light inside highlighted the orderly sorted packages.

“Meat? Holy shit, how could you get your hands on so much real meat? There have to be 15 of these refrigerators, if not more! That's a fortune we are talking about, if they are all filled.” Patience said with a shiver in her voice.

“Patience, I have no idea how all this stuff got here, but I’m pretty certain that you would not be able to just buy so much of these things.” Robin explained and took out his datapad. “We should take some pictures and get the hell out of here before whoever is the new owner comes back. Meat will not stay fresh for too long, there must be regular activity here!”

“Yep, enough adventure for today, let's pack up!” she said and closed the fridge. Robin took some pictures and stored his pad again.

Just when they turned to hurry back to the exit they came from, the door beside Patience opened and he heard someone shout in surprise.

“Oi! Who the fuck are you and whatcha doin’ here?”