Night 64: Quarry

[tasteoftruth]

[From here.]

Badd frowned as they approached the mouth of the pit. Looked like a quarry, hopefully abandoned, but who knew. "Looks like we're not the first ones up here," he grumbled, inspecting the rocks below him. "That means we're not off the map yet. No idea if this is Landel's work or someone else...I don't know what Landel would need with a bunch of rocks but then again Landel never made any sense."

If it was abandoned and the institute didn't know about it, that meant they might have a chance of escaping detection.

Comments

[corvus_veritas]

"I'm not cold!" the prosecutor protested - which was a total lie, but--but didn't Badd need his coat more? It was his, not Byrne's! Besides, they were climbing up a pretty steep hill, so it was only going to get cold--

...er.

W-woah. A quarry? Here, so close to the Institute? (Well, not really close, but close enough.) Just as Badd said, the existence of this place obviously meant someone else had been here, but maybe not recently from the way that nearby crane looked. Still, the fog made it hard to tell for certain. Could this be Landel's?

"Well, are we going to check it out?" It was steep and likely very dangerous, but who knew what they might find in there?

[tasteoftruth]

"Might as well." Badd shone his flashlight down into the pit. Every shadow looked like a spindly, undefined monster ready to come rip their throats out. "We can't go back. Might as well go forward."

A map would have been very useful right about now. Or a compass, or anything that gave them an idea where they were in relation to Doyleton and the Institute. But one worked with what one had.

[corvus_veritas]

And forward means down, huh. Down into the very pit of hell...or just cold, steep rocks obscured by fog. Whatever, better get moving. No time to sit around thinking of metaphors for their situation; the sun might be up soon.

Byrne started walking, keeping close to the pit but being careful to stay at least a few feet away from the edge. If they wanted to go down, then it looked like (thanks to Badd's flashlight) their only way was by ladder. Numerous, possibly not safe ladders. The prosecutor stopped just above one that would take them down to the second level of the pit and kneeled to give it a closer look.

"Wonder how these passed safety regulations," he mumbled to himself, frowning. To him, the ladder looked like it wouldn't hold the weight of a ten year old girl, let alone a full grown man. But hey, maybe looks were deceiving. (Or maybe this was more of a death trap than he was hoping it'd be.) Was it worth the risk? Hmm...

[tasteoftruth]

"Don't go too far down. If we get stuck we'll be sitting targets later on." Yes, he sounded like a mother hen and he didn't particularly care. While Byrne explored the hole in the ground Badd shone his flashlight further down the path.

Given the high...turnover rate, it was impossible to know how long the Institute had been in operation. This might be left over from construction or it might be from before the Institute's existence. No way of knowing until they got out from where Landel could find them.

Up ahead Badd's flashlight beam disappeared into a dim opening in the mountain wall. Badd squinted, trying to make it out. Cave?

[corvus_veritas]

"I know that," Byrne replied with a hint of rudeness in his tone, not even looking up at Badd when he spoke. He probably would have followed that up with a pouting expression if he weren't so used to this sort of thing. (Haha, 'used to it'. That was an understatement.)

His not looking back at his partner would be the reason why he was now testing the ladder's strength with one foot instead of noticing whatever Badd was staring at right now. Steady--steady. Hm. The rung didn't feel like it would snap in half from his weight. That was a good sign. Feeling a little more confident, he put his other foot on the rung even more carefully than he did the first, as he was now almost completely relying on the ladder to support him. Aaand it...still held him.

Well.

Not that far to the first level of this pit then, especially if he hurried. Without informing Badd beforehand (he can see what Byrne's doing, can't he?), he climbed all the way down to the first level of the pit and got off the ladder as quickly as he could. Even if it held him, that didn't mean it would hold him forever. Or, more importantly - would it hold Badd? Guess they would find out. (Though Byrne was now looking around rather than looking up at his partner...)

[tasteoftruth]

"You see anything down there?" Badd called out, though he kept his voice as soft as possible. He'd stand guard up here, and in case Byrne got himself stuck. Of course they'd be remiss in not searching any suspicious area they came across. Clues lurked everywhere, they were annoying that way.

"I think there's a cave or something up ahead." The wind raked over his skin, further encouraging him to get into cover. When he'd claimed he wasn't cold he was blatantly lying.

[corvus_veritas]

"Uhh--" Byrne looked around, squinting a bit to help him see through the fog and darkness. "Just trash. And rocks." As if the latter weren't obvious enough. Didn't seem like there was anything useful.

Then again...

"But there might be some tools. Something we can use as a weapon!" Assuming it was functional. True, all Byrne could see from here was a barrel and some crumpled up paper or something. But if the quarry workers were lazy enough to leave food wrappers everywhere and their machinery just sitting at the top, then who's to say they didn't leave useful tools lying around, too?

Though. That was just down here, and not up where Badd was. And it seemed the detective was seeing something else that sounded interesting at the moment. "How far is it from where you are?" Byrne called back. Honestly, he was eager to explore where he was and didn't really want to go back up. But a cave? That might also be worth exploring.

[tasteoftruth]

"Not far. Maybe a hundred feet." It was hard to tell, in this light. Badd squinted and saw what looked like rusting tracks heading into the mouth of the opening. "Might be an old mine shaft, actually. Do you want me to go take a look?"

He didn't want to leave Byrne alone, but he wouldn't be going far. If the tunnel was already collapsed there'd be no point in investigating it further. On the other hand a windy tunnel like that would be an excellent place to lose yourself for the space between night and morning...as long as you could make your way out afterwards.

[corvus_veritas]

A mine shaft? Really? Huh. Guess it made some sense for a mine to be near a quarry, but it didn't explain why both were so close to the Institute. As curious as the idea of a mine was, though, Byrne still wanted to stay here. He'd barely started searching this area, after all. Why leave now?

Besides, Badd didn't need to wait up there alone without doing anything, did he? And he was more than capable of taking care of himself.

"Only if you think it's safe enough!" the prosecutor called back after a moment of thinking it over. He paused; then another thought came to mind, and he added, "Don't go too far, okay? I'll stay here and see if I can find anything useful."

This ridge was big enough, right? Who knew what Byrne could find here. Without Badd's flashlight, though, he would have to be extra careful not to fall...

[tasteoftruth]

Badd was reluctant to leave Byrne alone, but he'd only be gone a moment. If Byrne screamed Badd could be back in less than ten seconds. "I won't. I'll just go up and see if it's caved in or not," he said, and reluctantly took the beam of his flashlight off Byrne and back onto the path before him.

Badd began walking up the path between the rusting minecar rails, leaving the dim light of the moon and stars for the shadow of the mine shaft.

"And I'll be right back."