After discovering what they needed to do, and that was to turn the furnace that was located on the roof of the building on, Isaac, Chrysalis, and Carver headed towards the other side of the building, where they accessed a normal door for once and entered the hallway that was on the other side. When they walked through the door they discovered a recording from Dr. Earl Serrano, who revealed that he and the other scientists had uncovered two Nexus specimens and that they were hard at work on trying to uncover them from their icy prisons. The three of them stood there for a moment, listening to the doctor's discovery on the fact that the Necromorphs apparently communicated by some sort of telepathy, reminding Chrysalis of the hive mind that she and all other changelings possessed, until she lost that connection when Thorax took over and she was dethroned at last. She wasn't sure if the Necromorphs actually used telepathy, since all of the ones they had encountered seemed to be acting on instinct, an instinct that told them to kill and convert everyone around them, but at the very least the work Dr. Serrano and his fellow scientists did would allow them to find and destroy the Marker signal.
Once the recording was over the three of them walked towards the end of the hallway and opened the door that was in front of them, allowing them to enter a decent sized room with some supplies, a locked door, a suit kiosk, and the elevator that would allow them to reach the roof... though since none of them needed to fiddle with their suits, and had collected all the loose supplies, they climbed onto the cargo lift and headed toward their next destination.
When they arrived on the roof they found that there was a single room they could enter, which was where the controls for the furnace had to be located, though as they walked out onto the roof of the building Isaac spotted a ladder that would allow them to access a walkway, one that went to the top of the building where the controls had to be. Since the walkway was only wide enough for two people Chrysalis let both Isaac and Carver walk across it, though as they did so they were attacked by a pair of fodders, which they dismembered rather quickly as they pressed onward. Chrysalis found that the area of the roof that she was in appeared to be void of enemies for the moment, though as she looked around she found something that made her smile a little, as she discovered a power cell inside a container, one that let her take the power cell out without fighting back. Of course as she did that, and carried the power cell with her levitation magic, a few fodders charged down from the door of the building in an attempt to kill her, though they weren't expecting Isaac and Carver to fire at them from behind, destroying them before they got too far.
"Here, I think you guys might need this." Chrysalis said, levitating the power cell up to Isaac, where she let it drop out of her levitation magic and fall into the waiting grasp of Isaac's Kinesis Module, to which she smiled as she waited for them to get to work in fixing the furnace.
Chrysalis waited for a few moments, taking out whatever Necromorphs remained in the area around her, before she heard the sound of a door slam shut and noticed that the door to the building that Isaac and Carver were inside had closed, and it appeared that they had restored power to the furnace. Not even a few seconds later the duo opened the door and walked out to where she was standing, to which the three of them walked back towards the cargo lift, boarded it without delay, and started the descent back into the building that the Nexus was resting in. As the cargo lift started it's journey Isaac raised his hand and tapped the side of his helmet for a moment, opening an audio link between them and Ellie, so he could tell her the news.
"Isaac, are you guys alright?" Ellie asked, because while she knew that all three of them could take care of themselves, especially since two of them had taken down two different Necromorph outbreaks in the past, that didn't stop her from worrying about them.
"Yeah, we're just fine." Isaac replied, though he smiled for a moment, as it was nice to have people who genuinely cared about him and the others working on their team, but they still weren't sure if Norton was the enemy, like Chrysalis had suggested, or if he was just being lazy, "And we've restored power to the furnace, so we're coming back down to see what else Santos needs us to do so we can do this experiment."
"Santos will be happy to hear the news," Ellie said, relief filling her voice for the moment, as knowing that the furnace was back on would make everything much easier for all of them, before she focused on something else, "Listen, I'm sorry that you guys have to deal with Norton... he's been acting strange the entire time we've been here."
"Good, I'm not the only one that's noticed that somethings up with him." Chrysalis commented, as she was happy to hear that someone might agree with her thoughts on Norton, though she would only know that for sure when they had a moment to talk to each other, face to face anyway.
"Ellie? Is that Isaac?" Norton asked, though as he spoke both Isaac and Chrysalis, as well as Carver for that matter, could hear a hint of annoyance and anger in his voice, something that definitely revealed that he wasn't a fan of what Isaac and the others were doing, "Oh, are the two of you having a nice little chat?"
"He just called to let me know that they got the furnace working again," Ellie replied, though the annoyance was clear in her voice, as she was honestly getting tired of the fact that Norton hated Isaac with all his heart, even if he wasn't doing anything to sabotage their operation, at least nothing that they were aware of, "they're on their way back right now. Isaac, we'll see you guys in a few minutes."
"Yeah, we'll see you guys soon." Isaac said, to which he disconnected the audio link for a moment, as he knew that the moment they were back inside the room where the Nexus was resting Santos or Ellie would tell them the next step of their plan and what they needed to do so they could move forward.
It took the cargo lift a few more seconds to reach the bottom of the shaft that it moved up and down in, though when it reached the bottom the trio let the bar in front of them rise before they walked back into the room with the suit kiosk, which they ignored again as they stepped into the hallway that would take them right to where the Nexus was located. A few seconds later they opened the door into the Nexus' chamber and found that the machine that was right in front of the specimen was definitely on, but as Isaac looked at it he could tell that something was up.
"Ah, Isaac! The heat exchanges are powered up now, but the specimen isn't thawing like I had hoped." Santos told them, speaking over the audio link that Isaac had left open, where he was thankful that he had the thought to leave it open for such an occasion, "Is there something wrong with the mechanism?"
"Yeah, it looks like it's frozen shut." Isaac replied, staring at the machine for a few more seconds, as he knew that there had to be a way to fix it, before he smiled a little as an idea came to mind, "We might be able to free it by adjusting the pipes."
"Should we really be thawing the Nexus out now?" Chrysalis asked, as this sounded like a terrible idea, because she knew that if the Nexus warmed up enough they could awaken it from it's slumber and it would no doubt attack them the moment it spotted them, "Shouldn't we wait until we have everything we need for the experiment, and then start to thaw out the Nexus?"
"Listen, we don't know how much time we have before Danik and his men find us." Norton stated, to which he looked down at the trio from the observation level, though that only caused the three of them to glance up at him so he knew he had their attention, "Just fix the damn mechanism and get it over with, before our enemies find us."
Chrysalis sighed and shook her head, as she felt that this was a foolish thing for them to do, before she glanced over at Isaac and let him get to work, where he told Carver to watch the pipes that had the numbers '3' and '4' at the top of them, as he was going to watch the ones with the numbers '1' and '2' on them. Once they were in position Chrysalis approached the controls, glanced up at the slumbering Nexus for a few seconds, as she knew that it would awaken at some point if they did this, and simply tapped the command that was on the screen in front of her. The moment she did that Isaac and Carver used their Kinesis Modules to turn the pipes when the number above them glowed, allowing the mechanism to shake as they worked on adjusting the pipes, while at the same time Chrysalis kept an eye out for any enemies that might try to stop them. A few moments passed before Isaac and Carver did what they had been attempting to do, as the pipes reached one hundred percent and steam started to emit from where the Nexus was resting, though Chrysalis still thought that this was a stupid thing to do.
"Okay, I think that did it." Isaac said, letting the others know that he, Chrysalis, and Carver had done what he said they were going to do, even though he had no idea what the next step was, because it appeared that the only one that knew what to do was Santos.
"Yes! The Nexus' internal temperature is rising!" Santos stated, though while she sounded happy Chrysalis still thought that doing this, when they didn't have everything on hand, was a terrible thing to do, since they had no idea what might happen next, "And I have more good news."
"And that would be?" Carver asked, because right now he knew that they all needed some good news in light of them crashing on the planet, losing three of their crew in the process, and having both Danik and his insane cultists somehow track them all the way to this forsaken place.
"Come up to the Observation Booth, I'll explain on the way." Santos replied, to which the trio glanced at each other before they started moving, though that was exactly what Santos was waiting for, as she continued talking a few seconds later, "The Necromorphs are conduits for the Marker's signals, based on the information we found, and the researchers managed to build a sensor that allowed them to track the signal upstream, right to the Machine. Unfortunately the original sensor was likely destroyed in the purge two hundred years ago, and both Ellie and I agree on that, but we also found the blueprints so we can make a new one."
"And suddenly I'm having deja vu." Isaac commented, to which Chrysalis nodded her head in agreement, because that meant that the three of them were going to have to find the necessary parts to make the sensor, so they could figure out where the Machine was located.
Together the three of them walked into the elevator that was below where the Observation Booth was located and let the door close, before they took a short ride up to where Ellie, Santos, and Norton were waiting, though when they arrived, and disengaged their helmets for a few moments, they found that both Ellie and Santos were happy to see them... while Norton, of course, ignored them to the best of his ability.
"Over here!" Santos said, to which the three of them walked over to where she was standing, though at the same time Chrysalis noticed that Ellie was studying the Nexus, just in case something happened to the large Necromorph while the three of them were busy, though Santos was walking around the booth and moving things around, "This is the blueprint I was telling you about. I don't see any of the parts necessary to make this sensor... but there's another research warehouse on the other side of the camp. Here's the schematic... what do you think?"
Isaac walked over to the counter and looked at the schematic that Santos was showing them, though as he looked at it he found what the researchers had done to make the sensor in question and the few amount of parts that they had used to get the job done... and, if he was reading everything right, he knew that making one would be easy, provided the other warehouse still had what they needed.
"It looks like they modified a telemetry spike." Isaac eventually said, though it wasn't something that he generally worked with, meaning that he had found something outside his comfort zone, but at least the notes on the schematic would allow them to figure things out, "Honestly, I have no idea how such a thing works, but yeah, I should be able to put one together, provided we can find the right parts. Where's the other warehouse?"
"I'll put the coordinates in all three of your RIGs." Santos replied, though her voice indicated that she was happy that they were at least willing to look into making the sensor they needed to replicate the experiment, "It is most likely going to be locked down tight, so here, let me send you the research passcodes we found when we arrived in Central Command earlier. They are what got us into this warehouse... maybe they will work for the other buildings as well."
"Well, we'll got check out the warehouse and see if the parts are there." Chrysalis said, to which she, Issac, and Carver reengaged their helmets as both the coordinates for the warehouse and the passcodes arrived in their RIGs, allowing them to make some real progress once more, "We'll be back once we've taken a look at the warehouse."
As Santos nodded, and started talking to herself about gathering information on the Machine from what was left behind, the three of them returned to the elevator, rode it down to the level they had been on a few minutes ago, and headed over towards the door that would allow them to head back to the warehouse in question.
"Okay geniuses, here's a question," Norton spoke up, stopping the trio in their tracks, because right now he seemed to have nothing positive to say and was only good for annoying people with simply speaking, "Let's say that this stupid experiment of your's works and you find the location of the Machine. Then what? Do you guys even have an idea as to what 'turning it off' even means?"
"Well Norton, Admiral Graves referred to something called a Codex." Isaac replied, remembering what they had found up on the Roanoke, before they decided to come down here and begin their mission to find the Machine, "She said that it was the key to controlling the Machine."
"That's correct." Santos added, indicating that she must have discovered some piece of information before they arrived at the warehouse, revealing that she was working much harder than Norton was at the moment, "I've been able to decrypt several of Dr. Serrano's logs and he references someone called 'Rosetta' in being instrumental in the process of forging this key."
"Are you even listening to yourselves?" Norton demanded, his tone revealing that he thought they were all going insane, falling victim to the madness that had caused this nightmare in the first place, but at the same time he made no movements towards anyone, "You don't know any more about this bullshit than I do!"
"Well, we're going to focus on recovering the parts needed to build this sensor," Chrysalis commented, to which both Isaac and Carver nodded their heads in agreement, where the three of them resumed their journey to head towards the warehouse they needed to search, "once we have the sensor, and perform the experiment to figure out where the Machine is located, then we can figure out what to do about the Codex... and Norton, if you don't want to die a very painful death, I would suggest that you stop trying to stop us from completing our mission."
When Norton said nothing to that remark, which was what Chrysalis was hoping for, she, Isaac, and Carver stopped by the Bench and restocked their ammunition, though both of her companions made a modification or two to their weapons before they were ready to go. With all three of them ready to go they headed back through the security door they used to get into this building and walked outside, where they carefully followed the path back to the cargo lift and, upon finding that there weren't any enemies for them to take out, rode it down to the level below them. From there they headed through the security door in front of them and paused when they found some Unitologists inside the drill chamber, where it appeared that they had set up a ritual area, which both Isaac and Chrysalis recognized the moment they saw it. Fortunately they didn't have to deal with the group of Unitologists, as they lowered their guns and killed themselves by running a knife over each of their necks, allowing their bodies to fall to the ground as they awaited an infector to come and claim them... or maybe they just killed themselves because they didn't want to deal with the three of them when they arrived.
The trio paused for a moment, finding that there weren't any enemies that wanted to come out and infect the fresh corpses that were in front of them, so Chrysalis burned them until they were nothing but ash and followed after her friends as they headed through the security door on the other side of the chamber... and returned to the area where they could see the massive frozen Necromorph from earlier.
"According to the coordinates Santos gave us, it looks like the path is right there." Isaac said, beckoning his head towards the walkway that was in front of them, the one that headed off to the right, which meant they had missed something when they were here the first time.
"Hey... HEY!" Carver suddenly called out, looking at the path they had taken to reach Ellie and the others, after the Unitoogists arrived, though when Isaac and Chrysalis looked over there neither of them saw anything, dead, alive, or even spiritual, that would have caused him to speak up.
"Carver, is everything alright?" Chrysalis asked, though at the same time she knew what this was, and was sure that Isaac knew it as well, as they had seen this happen back on the Brusilov, where Carver had experienced the influence of the Marker and had been shown something personal.
"There was a woman... out there." Carver replied, though he sounded like he was half paying attention, while the other half was likely caught by the fact that he was suffering from another surge of the Marker's influence, before he turned and looked at them, "Maybe we should go look for her."
Isaac and Chrysalis turned their heads towards each other, knowing that allowing Carver to delve into this madness wasn't something they should be allowing, but since he seemed so ready to follow after his delusion, like Isaac had been willing to believe in the projection of Nicole that the Marker used against him, the decision was already made when Carver spoke up. As such they put exploring the warehouse on hold and let Carver take point this time, where he headed back down the path they had taken to reach the drill chamber, only now they were heading back through the security door and into the small passage building they had walked through earlier.
"Carver, are you sure that you saw someone?" Isaac asked, because he wanted to know if their companion was actually under the influence of the Marker or if he was just buying time for the Nexus to heat up, which was something they could be doing once they had the sensor.
"This is the only way she could have gone." Carver stated, revealing that he was focused on whatever he had seen, as he was more interested in heading towards the other side of the building they were in, instead of focusing on getting the parts to make the sensor.
Chrysalis knew that Carver answered the wrong question, but at the same time he was also confirming that he had seen someone walking in the area, even if both she and Isaac didn't see whoever he had seen, to which the two of them followed after Carver as he exited the building and walked out into the passage area between the groups of buildings. As the three of them walked down the path that was in front of them Carver suddenly moved quicker, heading towards a building that was marked as 'Storage' by the sign, a building that also happened to be locked at the moment. Fortunately the passcodes that Santos had given them also contained the necessary information to open the door, allowing the three of them to step onto the elevator that was on the other side of the door. A few moments later, after riding the elevator downwards, they stepped out into what appeared to be a tram station, only for whatever model of tram the researchers had designed for Tau Volantis, especially since it was underground by the looks of it.
"So what the hell is this place?" Carver asked, indicating that not only was he not paying attention to the signs they had walked by, but he was too focused on trying to figure out what he had seen earlier, confirming their suspicions that one of the Markers on this planet had to be playing with his mind again.
"You should be telling us what this place is," Isaac replied, though at the same time he knew that this was a tram area that connected all the underground parts of the facility, and that there had to be a storage area of some kind, but instead of saying that he wanted to see if Carver even cared enough to make the attempt, "you're the one that brought us down here in the first place."
"Yeah... I'm, uh, going to take a look around." Carver stated, clearly showing that he had no idea where they were or what they were doing down here, though at the same time he readied his weapon as he walked over to the other elevator that was open, another one that likely descended into the planet, "You guys coming?"
Isaac and Chrysalis sighed as they followed Carver onto the elevator and let the door close, though not even a few seconds later, as it began it's descent, the elevator got jammed on something, to which they simply stood there as they waited to see if it would fix itself or if someone would have to fix it themselves. Chrysalis noticed that while Isaac seemed focused on the mission, which was what they should be focused on, Carver seemed to be staring off into the distance, like he wasn't there or something, but for her she found a chill that hadn't been there before. It wasn't the chill that came from the cold air of Tau Volantis, which was what the Arctic Survival Suits had been acquired to deal with, rather it was the same enchanted chill that she had felt when her mother first revealed herself as a hallucination of the Marker, back when she and Isaac were on the Titan Station. That worried her, because she had destroyed her mother three years ago, before the destruction of the station and it's Marker, but there was always the chance that a fragment of her had survived that fateful day, even if she hoped that she was dead.
About five minutes ticked by, according to the clock that was on Isaac's RIG, before the elevator shook and caused them all to move ever so slightly, though while Isaac and Chrysalis weren't affected all that much Carver turned his head for a few seconds, as if he had been somewhere else and was only now snapping back to reality.
"Isaac? Chrysalis?" Carver asked, as if he was being sure that they were real and not fragments of his imagination, making them wonder what he had seen in his vision, as both Isaac and Chrysalis were sure that the Marker must have shown him something.
"Of course." Isaac replied, though at the same time a light smile appeared on his face as the elevator started moving again, because now they could see what was going on, or at the very least ask Carver what he had seen before they continued the search for the sensor, "We've been in this elevator for the last five minutes, so are we going to check out this storage area or not?"
"No... no, we're not." Carver answered, where Chrysalis noticed that his tone was different than what it had been before they climbed into the elevator a few minutes ago, something that Isaac seemed to spot as well, though they both knew what had happened.
Fortunately it appeared that the elevator stalling, and starting back up again, had caused the elevator to head back up to the room they had been in a few minutes ago, where they simply walked out into the tram room again and walked back into the elevator they had used to reach this area in the first place. A few moments later they walked out of the storage area and returned to the passageway between the buildings, allowing them to feel the chill of Tau Volantis once more, but at the same time Chrysalis knew that they weren't alone. As they started walking back towards the security door that would allow them to get back to where the warehouse was located, so they could find the pieces of the sensor and build it without delay, there was something that made Chrysalis, and her companions, slow down. There was the sound of hooves walking on the snow behind them, to which Isaac and Carver turned around so they could face Chrysalis, though as they did so they both disengaged their helmets and showed Chrysalis that they were shocked... to which she disengaged her own helmet, feeling the sting of the cold weather once more, before she turned around and looked at whatever her companions were staring at.
Standing a few steps behind them, without a single care in the world for the cold that was affecting the three of them, was the last person and pony that Chrysalis expected to see again, because of what she had done three years ago... and yet her eyes weren't deceiving her, especially when she stared at the familiar changelings that stood in front of them.
"Guys... what the hell is that?" Carver asked, because he had never seen anything like what was standing in front of Chrysalis, though when he tried to raise his gun, so he could be ready to fire at a moment's notice, Isaac rested his hand on his weapon and shook his head, indicating that he shouldn't do that.
"It's not a 'what', it's a 'who'." Isaac answered, though at the same time he knew that they were in trouble, because the spirit standing in front of them was one of the worst that could have been drawn from Chrysalis' memories, especially when they both thought she had been destroyed, "Actually, it's a 'she'."
"Carver, I don't believe that you have had the pleasure of meeting my mother," Chrysalis commented, to which she stared into Crudelis' eyes for a few seconds, while at the same time her mother glanced at the pair that were standing behind her, "Allow me to introduce my mother Crudelis, former queen of the changeling hive, who died a little over a thousand years ago, for me anyway."
"Chrysalis, it is good to see you again," Crudelis said, though at the same time she walked up to where the trio were standing, noting that two of them were gripping their weapons tightly while one of them, her daughter, wasn't even bothering to do that, "You must have matured since we last saw each other, because you're no longer trembling in fear by the fact that I am here, nor have you decided to shoot me in the head, like your friends might do."
"That's because I'm not afraid of you anymore," Chrysalis stated, because thanks to the spirit of her sister sticking around she was able to overcome the vast fear that had been installed in her by their mother, and it was easy to do that when she had something new to fear, "Speak your mind, mother, because we're on a busy schedule and we can't afford to waste time making small talk with you... or trading insults, whichever you prefer."
"I just wanted to say that I'm disappointed in you," Crudelis replied, though even as she spoke Chrysalis knew that there was more than what her mother was saying, especially when she remembered everything that happened to her before she took over as the queen of the changelings, "My actions on the Titan Station pushed the right buttons and you ascended to a new level of power, one never seen by any changeling in our entire history, and yet you refuse to use it to destroy your enemies."
"There is a reason I don't call on that power." Chrysalis said, as she had seen how dangerous she could be if she let her power take control of her, like it had three years ago, and she intended to never let that happen again, not unless she found a way to tame her power.
"Trust me, in time you'll learn how to master your power." Crudelis stated, surprising Chrysalis for a moment, as this was possibly the first time that her mother, who had treated her like trash her entire life and had tortured her when she showed weakness, said anything that might encourage her or give her hope, before she turned around and started to walk away from them, "Until then, I'll let you and your friends have fun... and who knows, maybe we'll see each other again before the end."
Before Isaac, Chrysalis, or Carver could say anything Crudelis disappeared as quickly as she had arrived, to which the three of them engaged their helmets and got some warmth back, though at the same time Chrysalis stood at the same spot and stared at where her mother had been standing.
"Isaac? Carver?" Chrysalis inquired, causing the two of them to stop moving for a moment and turn towards her, as while one of them knew how annoyed she must be, since Isaac was the only one of the two that knew who Crudelis was, the other wanted to move on and leave the past behind.
"Yeah?" both Isaac and Carver said, though while they would have been annoyed by speaking at the same time, they just didn't show it like people usually would, they were interested in what Chrysalis had to say on the matter, especially when her mother came back once more.
"I hate those fucking Makers even more now." Chrysalis stated, though at the same time she sighed as she faced them, as right now she wanted to get their mission over with so they could find the Machine and turn it off, because having her mother return again just annoyed her and made her angry, "Come on, let's get that sensor built and run the experiment before my mother decides to attack us while our defenses are lowered."
Chrysalis wanted nothing more than to put the past behind her, and she thought she had done so with the death of her mother three years ago, but now it seemed that she and Crudelis might be destined for another collision with each other, something that she would have to avoid for the sake of the mission... provided everything remained the way it was and nothing surprised them, though she had a feeling the situation was going to change on them soon enough.