Back at the Temple of the White Tiger, several heroes are left behind, to wonder what happened to their comrades. The Turtle Ninjas (and friends), Scars, Tinyanko, Fireman and the Steamcat are left, along with the ambulance that Kathmandu had tossed through the "Gate of Set". Donnie spends some time repairing the much-abused ambulance, while the others try to sort out what happened. One moment, everyone was there - but the next, there was that strange rippling sheet of energy - and then Kathmandu, Voltage, Rose, Nao and Jing Li were gone. Soulrender disappeared soon thereafter - in a puff of sulfurous smoke - along with all the supplies that he had been carrying.

So, our remaining heroes spend some time divvying up some of the equipment still in the back of the ambulance, and trying to figure out ways they might get back to Superior City - or at least some place a little more normal than their present surroundings. While they are discussing this, a large shimmering "rift" appears in the distance, and it seems to just keep getting bigger - and closer. Through it, they can see a starry expanse, and what looks like a desolate, irregularly-shaped asteroid or moon - and the planet Mars beyond it.

Nobody present is very keen on getting dumped into hard vacuum, so they scramble about, trying to come up with ways to avoid the rift. They line up Steamcat, Tinyanko and Fireman on one side of the platform and have them shoot off their respective weapons - bursts of steam, fire and water, respectively. However, it seems to have a negligible effect, given the large size of the plane. (Curiously, Fireman, Steamcat and Tinyanko discover that their weapons don't lose any ammunition or energy despite making a continuous stream, but this is little comfort given the current circumstance.)

Mikey starts to wonder just how it is that they're able to breathe at all in this "void" anyway ... but then he gets a bad feeling about even wondering that, and abruptly tries very hard not to think about that particular problem. Rather, given the weird and possibly subjective nature of his current surroundings, he starts trying very hard to concentrate on going "home" to Superior City ... and then, more specifically, he imagines a portal to take him there.

Perhaps Mikey has some previously untapped gift (or else he is just supremely lucky), because a portal actually materializes, some distance off from the plane. Mikey excitedly lets the others know that he's "imagined" a portal into existence - to which Fireman comments, "Next time, do you think you could imagine a portal a little bit closer?"

But there's no time to lose! Donnie rigs up a makeshift ramp from some cots and other junk in the back of the ambulance, and then hops into the driver's seat, while April, Casey and Scars climb into the back. Donnie guns the engine, hits the ramp, and goes hurtling off ... but it seems that once free of the plane they've been standing on, gravity ceases to function, and thus he overshoots his target considerably. Scars leaps out of the back of the ambulance, pushing himself toward the gate, and Casey joins him, along with some of the Turtles. However, April holds back, reluctant to just fling herself into the void.

Tinyanko comes to the rescue, leaping out and catching onto the ambulance, then using his fire breath to try to blast it back in the other direction. He succeeds! However, he keeps jetting fuel, and one disadvantage of propulsion from one's mouth ... is that he can't see where he's going. To his chagrin, he sees the gate shoot by ... which means that he and the ambulance are headed on a direct course to that portal!

There is much screaming and floundering about. Steamcat makes a leap for the portal gate, and actually grabs onto its edge. Casey and the Turtles leap after the ambulance. Scars, seeing that time is running out (as the "Temple of the White Tiger" is overrun) opts to save his own skin - and he leaps through the portal gate, back to Superior City. The Steamcat opts to follow him.

So, a moment later, an ambulance is hurtling through empty space, with Donny and Raph up front, a confused Tinyanko in back, and April and Fireman stuck in the middle. Mikey, Leo and Casey are free-floating behind it ... and then, everything comes to a halt.

A "window" pops up in front of Mikey.

"ALERT: Query E39A-E400 - "Shuttle Entry" - MSG 46: Scenario Condition Trigger.

"Warning: Vehicle object not spaceworthy; no exact match in local object library. Expected PC survival time less than 1:00 minutes. [Local hold enacted.] Convert object? [Closest match: 00A3-5HE0-F899-EA02 Hazard Team Shuttle (White)]"

Mikey is presented with two "buttons" on the window to choose from - "OK" and "CANCEL". He reaches out - somewhat surprised that he's able to do so, with everything freezing like this - and pushes the "OK".

Suddenly, the ambulance stretches out and is reshaped into a large futuristic "shuttle" spaceship - considerably more spaceworthy, though the rear ramp is open (where the doors were), and Tinyanko is still sticking out the back.

Another window appears, even as the first disappears.

"ALERT: Query A60E-F664 - "Tech Level" - MSG 24: AI Type Prohibit.

"Warning: NPC AI label "(CWT) Technocat 7CA7" type (Golem) incompatible, will revert to inert in scenario. (No Golems, Elementals, Spirits, Toons as models.) Convert to closest NPC type? [Closest match: 0003-040A Self-Aware Robot - Modified]"

Mikey clicks "OK". The window vanishes - and is replaced by several more in rapid succession:

"ALERT: Query E39A-E402 - "Shuttle Entry" - MSG 46: Scenario Condition Trigger.

"Warning: PC label "(TMNT) Michelangelo 7113" spawned in hard vacuum. Expected PC survival time less than 1:00 minutes. [Local hold enacted.] Move to nearest alternate spawn point? [Closest alternate: "Shuttle Pad E"]"

... and ...

"ALERT: Query E39A-E403 - "Shuttle Entry" - MSG 46: Scenario Condition Trigger.

"Warning: NPC label "(TMNT) Casey Jones 7116" spawned in hard vacuum. Expected NPC survival time less than 1:00 minutes. [Local hold enacted.] Move to nearest alternate spawn point? [Closest alternate: "Shuttle Pad E"]"

... and ...

"ALERT: Query E39A-E402 - "Shuttle Entry" - MSG 46: Scenario Condition Trigger.

"Warning: NPC label "(TMNT) Leonardo 7111" spawned in hard vacuum. Expected NPC survival time less than 1:00 minutes. [Local hold enacted.] Move to nearest alternate spawn point? [Closest alternate: "Shuttle Pad E"]"

Mikey takes a moment to carefully consider what to do. He clicks the "OK" button first for Leo - who then blinks out of sight. Mikey hopes that's a good thing. He clicks the "OK" button for Casey next. And lastly, he clicks the "OK" for himself. Casey and Mikey vanish.

That leaves everyone in the ambulance. An "icon" of an hourglass appears, hovering in the middle of the ambulance, and the "grains" spill through it. A label proclaims, "Local hold to end in ... :05 ... :04 ... :03...." Tinyanko, bewildered by his new perception of his surroundings, nonetheless pulls his head in and slaps the "Close" button on the ramp. ":02 ... :01 ... :00." Suddenly, the shuttle rumbles and shakes as it hurtles toward Deimos, the moon of Mars, and the control panels light up. "Autopilot engaged," the display reads. "Begin landing sequence. Estimated time until arrival - 1:58:00...."

And so, the shuttle begins its slow descent, while displays light up, and an automated "Welcome to Deimos Alpha Research Facility" video starts playing, broken up frequently by digital corruption and random interference. The "weather" report notes that there will be a beautiful meteor shower starting tomorrow morning, and then switches to an overview of the UNE (United Nations Extraterrestrial) and its monumental accomplishments toward peace on Earth and for the galaxy through its operations on Deimos, et cetera, et cetera.

Tinyanko lopes out of the rear airlock and into the main passenger compartment of the shuttle. The contents of the ambulance are still there - but they have been unceremoniously scattered about the interior of the shuttle. Compartments clearly designated for the holding of "vac suits" are empty - and the same goes for every locker and compartment in the shuttle. It would seem that the shuttle has come only with the bare necessities, and no accessories to speak of.

April peers anxiously out of a porthole, looking for some sign of Casey and the others - and largely hoping that she won't see anything, what with the idea of anyone being caught out in the emptiness of space. Donnie overcomes his initial shock to begin excitedly going over the controls; he just accepts the strangeness as yet another anomaly that comes with traveling between "dimensions". Raph, however, has a greater understanding of their predicament, and just sits back, grimly reflecting upon it.

Fireman, however, looks for all the safety notices on the interior of the shuttle, and then begins enthusiastically advising everyone to buckle up for landing, and letting them know that the emergency exits are located here, here, here and here, and that in the unlikely event of a water landing, their seat cushions can be used as flotation devices....

Meanwhile, far, far below, Rose, Kathmandu, Ferrari, Delilah, Voltage, Jing Li and Nao make their way through the Biosphere. They find the emergency weapon cache that is opened by a security card they found previously in their journeys. Fortunately, the security lock works, and it opens. Much of the cache has already been raided, but there are still some useful items left - such as a "Foxfire" plasma flamethrower, a couple of "Durandal" semi-automatic double-barreled "sawed-off" shotguns, and a large supply of shotgun shells and slugs. At first, Jing Li starts to divvy out the items ... but then she realizes that the snub shotguns can be wielded one-handed by someone with proficiency. She's developed some aptitude with shotguns by now, so she gives them a whirl. A moment later, Jing Li proudly spin-cocks a pair of shotguns, one in each hand. "I think I'll be keeping these," she announces, grinning widely. Nobody argues with her. Ferrari goes for the flamethrower, and the rest shuffle weapons around amongst themselves.

Kathmandu, meanwhile, pokes around in the underbrush, and finds some sort of alien organism - a symbiotic "organ" from one of the aliens, apparently a "survivor" of the battle. He meows loudly to the others, and then psychically calls out to get their attention. An examination of the symbiote seems to suggest that it could be attached to a human body, and grant some sort of advantages ... but Voltage wants none of that. She kicks the organ over, throws on some "alien pods" found elsewhere in the Biosphere, and lets loose with the flamethrower. The flamethrower lets out an impressive gout of plasma flame, incinerating the pods in an instant. Voltage looks pleased. They also find a plasma chainsaw. "It reminds me of Ash," Voltage says with a dreamy sigh.

Meanwhile, Ferrari spots something up in the sky - through the clear glassy dome of the Biosphere. She points it out to the others. Rose flips on her night-vision goggles, and adjusts the lenses to magnify the image: She reports seeing what looks like an ambulance hurtling through space - briefly, with a gout of fire shooting out the back side - and perhaps one, two, maybe three people floating free beside it. Then, suddenly, the ambulance "morphs" into a spaceship - and the three floating figures vanish. It looks like the ship is heading down toward the base - and the heroes confer with a map and a look out the window to determine that it seems to be making its way toward Shuttle Pad E - which just happens to be the closest shuttle pad, and the one that they are presently heading toward themselves!

They work their way through the Biosphere, and make it to another express transit tube, though there's no sign of a tram. Repeated presses of the call button don't result in any response. Voltage nonetheless takes advantage of the presence of a control station to try hacking into it; she takes the locker security card - the one that would have opened the locker back in the cryogenics chamber, before they tried blowing the door open with a Molotov cocktail - and she hacks it to use it as an "interface" to the system. With some careful rigging, she manages to get the system to think that it's a Shuttle Security Card, and she manages to patch into the shuttle communications lines.

Voltage adopts her most "professional"-sounding voice that she can.

On board the shuttle, they hear a voice crackle over the com system. "Hello, Shuttle Alpha, this is Mission Control. We see that you're on an approach vector to...." She carries on the ruse for a bit, and she can hear the confused voices on the other side. Once she's pretty clear that they aren't going to recognize her voice enough to catch on, she drops the charade. "It's me!"

"Me who?"

"Voltage!" And she lets them know who else is down there. In the exchange, they learn that Mikey, Leo and Casey are missing - and neither party has seen them. Rose anxiously inquires as to whether Soulrender is on the shuttle - but, no, he disappeared in a puff of smoke. This just makes Rose glower even more, though it's hard for anybody else to tell the difference.

So, Voltage informs the shuttle team to wait on them, as they're going to make their way to the Shuttle Pad, and possibly use this shuttle as a means of escaping the base. And then, plans made, our heroes start to file into the empty transit tunnel. Rose takes the lead, with her night-vision goggles - but, seemingly out of nowhere, several alien-looking creatures swarm down the tunnel, nearly blending into the darkness with shifting patterns on their chitinous bodies.

Nao leaps in to defend Rose, slashing at the aliens, but they surround her, and Nao is battered horribly. Rose takes a beating as well, and she discovers that these aliens are armored: She can't take out several at once by using multiple thrown roses; instead, she has to focus her attacks on weak spots, one enemy at a time.

Although it takes a bit to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of these new opponents, in a bit, the battle is over, and our heroes are the victors - except that Nao is lying unconscious on the ground. What's more, there is a rush of air passing through the tunnel. Kathmandu yowls and broadcasts a mental warning to the others - "Somebody grab Nao!" Jing Li grabs Nao and clambers back onto the platform, while the others scramble free - and, sure enough, the tram is rushing up, belatedly responding to the call signal, perhaps ... with no sign that it's actually going to stop at the platform.

Jing Li entertains, for a very brief moment, the idea of leaping out and onto the tram, but she has absolutely no idea how she would do anything to stop it. So, our heroes stand back and watch it fly by. Then ... they follow it.

They go down quite some distance, avoiding the occasional pool of acid, or steaming alien parts, as the tram has plowed the way ahead for them. Then, there is a flash at the end of the tunnel, and they can feel a rush of air. An explosion ... in a tunnel with few outlets. Hastily, our heroes backtrack, rushing back to the last maintenance alcove. They give in, and shut the door behind them, and then watch as a wave of fire blasts past, along with several smoldering bits of alien and of tram wreckage.

Finally, once the fire clears and the pressure equalizes, they step out. Fortunately, it seems that the explosion hasn't exposed the tunnel interior to the void, and so they continue.

Some time later, they come up to the smoldering wreckage of the tram. Off to one side, they can see that some side tunnels have been sealed off by bulkheads; apparently, while the main tunnel has withstood the blast without a breach, some of the smaller side-tunnels didn't fare so well. (Small wonder, what with how all the joining passages leading to the express tubes feature "scenic views" of space, thanks to far too many windows.)

They are met by a group of three haggard-looking individuals - not "alien zombies", thank goodness, but rather Casey, Leo and Mikey! Mikey and his companions relate that one moment, they seemed to be floating in space - and then the next, they were in a room at this base, and then, just when it looked like they had found their way to a major junction in all these passages, there was a runaway tram - and then an explosion when it hit the terminator at full speed. They managed to get to cover in time - and now here they are!

They look somewhat dejected when they're informed that they need to go back the other way to meet up with the rest, but nonetheless, that's what they do, as our heroes make their way to the waiting area next to the shuttle bay.

At the waiting area, our heroes patch up some wounds, catch up on news, and check out their surroundings. Unfortunately, when Voltage opens up a door to an adjoining workshop, there's a huge alien inside, and an "alien zombie". Ferrari quickly reacts by pointing her flamethrower into the door and letting loose. This roasts the alien and zombie nicely ... but it reacts poorly with all the fuel containers in the room, and various other combustible materials. They explode. Delilah manages to use the sealant gun to close off the room before the lobby's contents (and our heroes) can be sucked into space.

And then the shuttle lands ... and what's really problematic is that the shuttle bay is crawling with aliens - and once the air-cycling procedure finishes, the doors between the bay and lobby automatically open, and a crane begins to start unloading the shuttle's "cargo" (its central passenger bay module). All in all, it's a very bad way to start a confrontation. And it doesn't help that a huge worker robot with a plasma cutter arm lumbers out of a work area, and makes a beeline for the cockpit of the shuttle.

Battle ensues. Most of those in the lobby line up, trying to maximize the number that can fire out of the relative safety of the lobby and into the swarms of aliens. Ferrari makes a particularly daring show of things, by letting loose with her flamethrower, and hitting several exploding barrels and stockpiles of combustible (and explosive) materials. In a particularly remarkable feat, when the "queen" Spiner retreats to the upper supports of the chamber, Ferrari toasts a cluster of barrels. They explode, and send the center barrel spinning and shooting upward ... and it actually manages to score a critical hit on the Spiner queen as it explodes on impact! Alien goo rains down.

Poor Tinyanko manages to disembark only to be caught right in the middle when all the explosives go off. His head goes rolling across the floor, and other heroes spilling into the bay end up using his robot body for cover as they shoot bolts and bullets and throw shuriken at the berserk worker robot. All this fire sets off the emergency fire-suppressant system, so the whole bay is covered in foam ... and then hoses start spraying down the area to clear off the foam.

"Help!" Fireman cries, as, after taking out several aliens, he finds one particularly persistent (and well-armored) alien that he can't actually harm; all he can do is to keep hosing it back and trying to incapacitate it, one round at a time. Raphael leaps to his rescue ... but then gets distracted by a huge cargo haul with a great many gizmos and other interesting items. Raphael rushes off to go loot.

"Help?" Fireman pleads, as he's barely holding on. (The aliens are pretty nasty when they hit.) Nao tries firing wooden bolts at the alien, but they just shatter on its armor. Jing Li ends up running by and blasting it with her shotguns.

And so the battle continues, until the workbot, the Spiners, and the "Leapers" are reduced to steaming puddles of alien goo, the shuttle is torn apart (thanks to the workbot's plasma torch), the loading crane (which had gone berserk) is incapacitated, and the whole bay is generally a wreck.

Then, it's time to loot. Fortunately, the looting is good: Our heroes actually find some power tools that could be employed as weapons. However, after their mishap with the workshop, they decide not to try going into the emergency medical supply storage room. Instead, they just patch themselves up with what they've got, and Voltage tries hacking into the computer system to get a better picture of what they might be up against if they try going to another shuttle pad to get a functional shuttle.

It doesn't look good. After checking everywhere, they only find one remaining shuttle pad that has a functioning shuttle and hasn't been taken over by aliens - and it has its own problem, in the form of a psychotic combat robot. (It blasts the security camera before Voltage can get a very good look at it through the system.) There are several parts of the base where she can't get any link to the security cameras at all.

Fireman and Kathmandu suggest that they might try to go to the Rover Garage to look for a vehicle to drive over to another part of the base, but Voltage tries another gambit: She wants to find out if Earth really "exists" in this scenario at all. She logs onto this system's version of the internet, and tries prodding it for information on Earth. It seems as if this system doesn't "fill in the blanks" quite the way that Superior City does; rather, it has a fairly definite layout, and specific events and objects found within it, though it is apparently capable of making some on-the-fly decisions regarding "foreign" objects imported from other settings (such as the recently-repaired Tinyanko - who now has his original legs back, thanks to Voltage).

As for its information on Earth, it seems to be expansive enough ... until Voltage realizes that she's looking at a lot of the same information she had seen when she visited the internet earlier, through Superior City. It's just that, unlike Superior City and its "raw" internet feed, this one has some sort of "filter" that basically draws information from resources on the internet, and then tweaks them to be more "fitting" with the alternate history of the Deimos adventure. Ultimately, it is doubtful that the programmers actually bothered to add an entire Earth to this scenario.

Still, that spurs other ideas. She finds that this "filter", oddly enough, has been coded within the reality of this game - meaning that it's actually possible for her to hack into the computer system here and bypass the filter to get a raw connection to the internet. She does so, and accesses the Superior City Community Forums - and sends an email to Morpheus.

After a while, she gets a reply. She carefully crafts a vague response, mindful that others may be snooping on the contents of her message, and she doesn't want to outright give away her location. Nonetheless, she manages to hint that she's on the Deimos server, and that she could really use some help. She goes to the others, asking for requests. Kathmandu, with his newly discovered psychic powers, would really like some kind of gizmos that might work with his psychic powers - so he asks Voltage to request some "brain food", and hopes that Morpheus will get the clue. The Turtles all want pizza. Fireman wants something useful for fighting robots - since it looks like that's what they'll need to get to that other shuttle bay.

Voltage puts in the request and, after a few exchanges, manages to hint that they are at Shuttle Pad E, and that the shuttle already there is out of commission. Morpheus's next message warns them to get clear of the bay. They do so ... and the shuttle explodes.

Just then, the com system alerts everyone in the lobby to the arrival of another shuttle. The lobby doors close, the shuttle bay's air drains out, and a fresh new shuttle lands atop the wreckage of the old. Once the air cycle completes, our heroes file back into the shuttle bay, and find that this one is well-stocked: There are space suits, a "test animal" carrier (with oxygen supply), a rocket launcher (and rockets), EMP grenades, some energy weapons (with EMP capability), some pizza, MREs, some medical supplies, and - by way of "brain food" - a "brain module" that would work well with a brain implant (if only Voltage had one) ... plus, a psychic amplifier that lets the wearer use telekinetic powers. (Apparently the "brain food" comment wasn't quite clear enough for Morpheus to figure out what was intended, exactly - so he must have just decided to cover the bases!)

Voltage makes some adjustments to the telekinetic amplifier so that Kathmandu can wear it, and modifies the test animal carrier pod, so that the hatch can be opened from the inside. She finds that since Tinyanko has been "translated" into being a more conventional robot - with standardized parts - she can make some changes to mount the rocket launcher on his back - so she does so. The Turtles chow down on pizza (while most of the others have to settle for MREs), and the rest of the goodies are divvied up. The shuttle seems to be functional, and has all the information needed to set a course for Earth - though Voltage still would like to find that "Alien Crystal" that she had heard was present somewhere in this scenario. Perhaps, with this shuttle, they could fly to another part of the base, rather than wading through countless encounters with aliens, and malfunctioning tram tubes ... but first, she has to overcome the programming restrictions on the shuttle that seem to be expressly designed to prevent her from doing just that.

It looks like she's got the job done. April double-checks her work, and it looks good.

However, instead of heading out right away, our heroes are rather exhausted. They lock down the lobby doors, cram into the shuttle, and then struggle to find decent sleeping spaces. There's considerably more elbow room when Tinyanko exits down the ramp and sleeps on top of the shuttle instead.

This time around, keeping watch isn't such a problem: After all, Tinyanko doesn't have to sleep, and unlike the oddities of Night City, he doesn't inexplicably shut down at "sunrise". However, several of our heroes have disturbing dreams, intruded upon by voices that echo those that occasionally blast over the com system - voices urging them to "join the hive", and trying to sell them on the "wonders of unity", and so forth.

Rose and Kathmandu have some particularly odd dreams. Rose finds herself in a nightmarish realm - just the sort of "nightmare" that she might consider home, a grey place full of tall, narrow, Victorian-esque structures, wrought iron gates, and gloomy weather. However, it is pushed away by a dream of a vast expanse of white fluff, dominated by the sound of a cat purring contentedly - Kathmandu's dream. Rose sours at her dream being interrupted by Kathmandu's, and she tries to fight it off in a struggle of wills ... but to no avail. Then, a third player interrupts - the Hive, it seems. The Hive tries to taunt them, to tempt them to join with it, and it offers, by way of "temptation", a bewildering montage of fantasies of all of those who have been absorbed into the Hive so far. Some of them are rather mundane or even pleasant - but a great many of them are horribly twisted and grotesque, and the accompanying feelings of "pleasure" are artificial sensations forced upon the unwilling "viewer". Kathmandu, however, proves to be getting stronger at his mental focus, as he drives the unwelcome intrusion away.

Rose, feeling somewhat inadequate compared to Kathmandu's mental prowess, just simmers and glowers some more, even in her dreams.

When they awake, it seems that all is well. Tinyanko leaps off the shuttle, and goes into the lobby to get some "breakfast" by hooking up to the power charger. However, he notices that something is amiss: There are some holes "burned" through the doors to the transit tube. Earlier, he had noticed several aliens scurrying about in the transit tube, but had assured himself that it would take them a very long time to burrow through the shielding. Well ... it seems that a long time has passed.

Several Spiners drop from the ceiling, and attack Tinyanko. He fails about, crushing a couple of the aliens, but he knows from experience that it's going to be a losing proposition if he stays here - and he can't count on the others to finish waking up in time in order to come to his rescue. He leaps over the remaining Spiners, and crashes back into the shuttle bay, calling out a warning to the others. Behind him, Spiners spill out of the lobby, flooding into the bay. Tinyanko leaps up atop the shuttle, and bats at those Spiners that try to climb onto the shuttle with him.

Up at the cockpit, Raph and Casey have claimed the most comfortable seats for themselves - but Voltage yanks Casey out, and takes over the controls. She bypasses the air-cycling step, and issues a command for the bay doors to start opening immediately. The shuttle rises, and Tinyanko clings onto the back of it.

Outside ... there's a meteor shower going on.

Voltage bobs and weaves with the shuttle craft to dodge glowing green meteorites, and Tinyanko bats the rest of the aliens off of the shuttle. The shuttle makes its way across the base, keeping low, and toward the Gate Technology section - where she's fairly sure that Alien Crystal might be found, though she wasn't able to catch a glimpse of it on any of the security cameras. She starts to put down on top of one of the modules ... when suddenly, error messages appear on the control screen, as the shuttle is trying to enact "safety protocols" - but is running into some problems with Voltage's earlier reprogramming. The anti-gravity system shuts off. The ship's downward descent accelerates - slowly at first - toward the base. It's not looking good.

Tinyanko hangs his head off the side, and carefully braces his body, letting loose with a gout of his "flame breath" to try to provide some reverse thrust, but it's not quite adequate to soften what's going to be a very hard landing at this rate. Kathmandu leaps out of his makeshift "cat carrier" and rushes over to a window, still wearing his telekinetic amplifier visor. He focuses, drawing upon his meditation exercises, to drain all the energy from the amplifier, and exercise "telekinesis" upon a very, very large object. The shuttle's downward movement slows, slightly, while Voltage hastily works to fix the programming. Slowly ... slowly ... and then the error messages clear, and Voltage gets the anti-gravity to kick back on, just in time - as the shuttle makes a bumpy landing on the outer hull of the Gate Research section of the facility.

There's little time to waste, as the meteor shower is still going on, and proximity alarms hint that there are several large aliens crawling this way. (Apparently, hard vacuum doesn't trouble them in the least.) The only ones who can go out in space suits would be those who aren't hindered by muzzles, tails, or large turtle shells. So, that leaves Casey (armed with the plasma cutter), April (with nailgun), Tinyanko (who has no need of breathing apparati anyway), Fireman (in the nifty new "Hazard Armor" that was on the shuttle), Delilah (with needler pistol), and Ferrari (with heavy pistol). Rose, albeit free of extra appendages, is just too small well into any of the suits, so she stays behind, along with Jing Li, Nao, Kathmandu and the Turtles. Voltage stays in the shuttle as well, to provide remote support through the on-board computer.

On the surface, April checks to find a good spot, and then Casey cuts through with his plasma cutter, and stands back as escaping air jets out. Inside, they find a room that has been gutted by a recent plasma fire - though venting the room has caused it to shut down abruptly. Bulkheads block the way to adjacent rooms - closed due to the sudden loss of pressure. Casey uses the plasma cutter to cut through a bulkhead, and then, as the air rushes past, they fight several aliens on the other side. Voltage remotely overloads a plasma recharger unit to obliterate several aliens, while Casey, Ferrari and Tinyanko finish off the rest.

After a pitched battle with the aliens, our heroes press on, though Fireman's sensors pick up high radiation levels in the part of the complex they're entering. Voltage is certain that this is the way to an experimental chamber where some sort of crystal artifact - perhaps the one that they're looking for - though none of the security cameras in the chamber itself are online. Even more worrisome, though, is that in this part of the complex, there are lots of plasma conduits and recharging units, as well as other highly combustible items, all over.

Suddenly, our heroes are ambushed by several former security guards - now alien "zombies" - who are aided by a combat robot that competes with Voltage for system control over the local bulkhead doors, and frustrates her attempts to blow another power recharger unit. In the ensuing battle, Tinyanko takes heavy damage, and retreats, while Fireman proves to be most effective in holding off the enemies while Voltage tries to shut them off by strategically closing and locking doors. Casey ends up tossing a cryogenics cylinder into the room where the zombies are most tightly clustered, and where Fireman has been spraying his fire hose, resulting in an icy barrier that buys them some time - but the combat robot systematically starts smashing its way through the ice to get to the heroes. The combat robot uses the doors rather viciously, at times trying to close them on some of the heroes who have the misfortune of being stuck in a doorway at the moment, but they manage to escape maiming. Casey makes sure by cutting through a couple of the doorways - which has the added benefit of helping him get back to April, who had been separated from the others momentarily.

Eventually, the combat robot manages to override Voltage's commands and to open the doors again, this time without an icy barrier to shield the heroes - so Fireman concentrates his fire, blasting back the combat robot (and the remaining zombies) and battering them against the walls ... until they stop getting back up again. Voltage closes the door off to the side-passage where the zombies had been gathered - and this time, the door stays closed.

After a short battle with a rampaging secretary robot, our heroes make it through an antechamber filled with hazardous waste barrels. Voltage can't get a feed on what lies past the next door; it appears that the door leads to a large holding chamber, and our heroes guess that there's probably something significant - and dangerous - on the other side. So, they line up the barrels to block the door just enough so that, if they open the door, they can hide behind the barrels and just look.

On the other side is a large chamber, with a raised mechanism in its center, and a glowing, slowly spinning crystal floating above it. The dimensions of the room are hard to ascertain, as there are multiple distortions that come and go, making the room seem to twist and shift, expand and contract. There also happens to be an enormous, multi-armed robot that seems as twisted as the room, with various tools and makeshift weapons joined to its body. It turns to look at the newly opened door, and it emits what looks like a shimmering orb - nothing substantial, but its passage can be seen by how it distorts the light that passes through it. It hits the barrels ... and, in a flash, they corrode, burst, and disintegrate into dust. Voltage watches the scene by means of one of the security cameras in the hall. After a moment of shock, she gets the feed to replay the scene from its buffer.

Casey hits the panel, and the door closes. It looks like our heroes will need a bit of a plan before they tackle this challenge....

So, will our heroes get the crystal? Or, will they call it a day, and head home? (That is, if they can even get there?) Find out the answers to these questions and more, in the next thrilling session of ... Superior City!