Jim thinks about the situation for a moment, trying to apply his considerable intelligence to see if there is a good solution to this perilous predicament.
(At least, I hope an Int roll will help here... >.>)
[int:2]
Your considerable intellect turns out to be far less considerable then you remember.
"Where the hell did that come from?! Burn it! BURN IT! We have to stop this crap from dropping onto us or eating through the elevator we're standing on!"
Get everyone out of the way of the mist and prepare for shit to go down. Try contacting command again.
You run around like a maniac, pushing and dragging people to the outer edges of the platform.
"Keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle and away from the deadly alien fog. We are not responsible for lost, damaged or stolen body parts."
That's... not good.
I think we may have found the reason we lost contact - this stuff might have been intercepting the signals, or, at least, breaking them up. Probably also accounts for the irises closing.
So, who wants some explosives lobbed up there? Or perhaps a chemical-incendiary?
Break off a chunk of Aster-EX about 200 grams, and insert a detonator into it. Load ClF3 grenade into launcher and prepare to fire up through to the next level. Contemplate what the hell is going on.
You break off a chunk of aster-ex and jam a detonator into it. You unload the grenade from your gun and then load it back in for some reason. You are already to unleash high powered ordinance at extremely stupid ranges.
[int:5]
As per whats going on, Chances are that the mist got itself out of some of the bodies upstairs. Question is, why did it start growing now as opposed to before?
((Does nobody read my theories? It makes no difference whether or not there is air pressure. The macromist tunnels existed in the void. The morgue macromist existed in the atmosphere.
Facts: The morgue door was hot and vibrating. Morgue rooms are usually cold. When the morgue door was made cold the mist ate through it. When Milno turned his suit temperature up, he started feeling better. The infected miners in the hangar were wearing suits, so their bodies remained warm and pressurized after their death, unlike their victims who were flash frozen.
Theory: The macromist is like a computer. It produces heat when it operates. If the heat gets too much the mist will hibernate while it waits for the heat to dissipate. The mist will also begin vibrating anti-organic vibrations when hot or threatened. If the heat is extreme the bonds between the mist particles will begin to break down and then the mist particles will be destroyed. If however you cool down a computer you can overclock it, tremendously increasing its speed. Thus when the mist is cool, it can reproduce at an astonishing rate.
And what happens when an HMRC member temporarily kicks the bucket? They are put in a stasis chamber, essentially a supercool fridge. And when did the first HMRC member kicked the bucket? At the end of the exploration of level 3 courtesy to a monorazor to the gut. And when did we lose contact with command? During the exploration of level 4. And why am I talking in question and answer form? I don't know, I must be going crazy.
The only thing this theory doesn't explain is why a mist that hates heat would take up residence in a human body and whys some people get infected while others don't. Perhaps it needs slaves or perhaps it needs bodies to eat in order to reproduce. Or maybe it's a bioweapon, meant to exterminate all life on a planet. We'll know when the scientists analyze it back on ship.
Oh, and the guy who lost his leg had his MKII immediately ampute it, so the infection may have not had a chance to move in. And all people have slightly different internal body temperatures or immune response so that may explain the differences in incubation time. Or, since the mist is psychic, it may have something to do with the way each person thinks.))
"Uh, Apone, I want you to lay down a suppressing fire with the incinerators and fall back by squads to the APC."
Fire my jury rigged flamethrower, first at the hole and then at the mist through the hole, with the intent of making a safe area around the hole. If the flamethrower is empty, refill it from the barrel of booze that should be somewhere on the elevator.
[con:4+1]
You fire a stream of flame straight onto the encroaching mist and then jam the barrel up into the hole. As you swing it around up there, scorching everything in a 360 degree radius, you can't help but realize that the flame seems small and that some of the fuel isn't igniting.
"The atmosphere is still venting into the mines. We're losing Oxygen fast and once it's gone you can say goodbye to old Toasty here."
You pull the nozzle back and stick your head through the hole. The mist has been melted and pushed back, but is still hanging around in the corners. And it's already starting to grow back toward you.
((Us being intentionally exposed to sharkmist or not, my money is on Command being long gone.))
"O Brothers, now is the time to trust in our divine masters! O Cog-azaon, grant us understanding of this sharkmist! O Pathmas, may we be in your favor!"
Pray more. Attempt to use divine knowledge and blessings to understand the best way out of this. Also don't touch the falling sharkmist.
"Can we go around?"
>Toaster. This is Steve. Blow shit up.((Another possibility is that the mist is more intelligent than we think, and the reason it started spreading only now is because it is attempting to trap us, maybe in an effort to have more 'vessels' to infect, after which these can be used to infect other planets. Just thinking out loud here.))
Keep on truckin'.
(but not, you know, if the mist is still there.)
You pull your arms out of the control cuffs and stretch your fingers, waiting for the boys up top to give you the go ahead. As you wait, you notice something out of the corner of your eye. The lights down near the bottom of the shaft have gone out. And more are going out every second. As they go out you catch a glimpse of something coming up the shaft. Something big.
"Oh, mist, how unfortunate! Really, I think we might be better off digging an escape tunnel from the third level rather than go through all that. Who knows how it might react to melting. Though we could always find out, of course."
Stand along the edge of the elevator. Get to Level 3 if possible. If mist is encroaching fast enough to pose a very real, immediate threat to me, try melting it with the MFM. Only a last ditch solution, mind you.
Afraid you're trapped in the shaft here.
You could say you're shafted.
"Oh sweet mercy, It's tasted blood, it wants more!"
avoid the falling sharkmist. If I see an opening to shoot my flamethrower through (eg. when no-one is in the way) the hole, do so.
No real reason to do that now.
As the team goes about it's actions they feel something off. It's a feeling of foreboding, cut with panicky anger. And something else. A vibration; not like the one from earlier, but larger, scattered and inconsistent.