1:4:7 Solutions (Part 3)

The towers of The Slingshot loomed overhead. The First put themselves between The Slingshot and their party before checking to make sure they were alone.
“What the hel do you think you two are doing? There’s already twenty five of us running around and you want to add a bootstrap paradox on top of that?” Their calm disappointment was damning.
“Not technically a bootstrap since we didn’t give you the schematics…” Char argued.
“You might as well have.” They paused. “Look, I appreciate the help but I think it’s for the best you leave.” The First beckoned Charrlene to their side. “Return to your own time.”
Lore squirmed and fidgeted sheepishly. “That’s not quite the reason we came…”
The First let out a sigh strong enough to turn a wind turbine. “Am I going to want to know?” Lore and Char looked to one another and then shook their heads. “Then I will let you go about your business. I want no part in it.” They stormed off.
“Well, that was easy.” Char chuckled. Lore just stared at her. “What?” They continued staring.
“How long have we got until they’re photographed?” Lore shook their head, still in disbelief at Char’s previous statement.
“Timestamp on the picture says it’s taken in an hour or so. I’d say it’s when Potts reveals their plan for The Razor.” Char tried to line up the picture with The Slingshot. “They could be due to arrive any moment but my teleporter’s scanner isn’t powerful enough to give us a definitive time.”
“I bet they’ve got a pretty powerful scanner in there.” Lore pointed to The Slingshot. “Worth a look.”

Neither of them knew exactly what they had expected but somehow, The Slingshot’s interior had far surpassed it. It was larger than it had any business being and was swarming with Lores, Chars and humanoid robots, flitting around like bees in their hive, working away and ensuring the project was completed in time. They remained, entranced for a time, watching them all work until one of the robots approached them.
“State your name, rank and intention.” It barked at them.
“Lore, Lore? And we’re looking for a terminal to run an experiment.” Lore couldn’t help but try and examine the being before them from every angle they could. It bore a striking resemblance to a flayed human, cast in metal but it had muscles and tendons alien to their physiology. It’s face, although it’s voice didn’t carry it well, emoted with precision and variety. It stared into their eyes as if trying to gauge their intentions from their soul before it responded.
“You are designation Lore Forty brackets one close brackets. You have been granted permissions to examine this site. You are permitted to access any terminal in any part of this installation. You must first agree to the terms of service located on the wall behind you. Hard hats must be worn at all times, as outlined in the terms. Failure to meet the terms or sign the terms will be met with expulsion from the installation.” It pointed to a sign behind them. “Are there any questions?”
“I’m sorry, but what species are you?” They paused. “If that’s not too rude a question.” Lore quickly followed.
“We are Amalgam.” It walked away, returning to it’s work.
“Amalgam? I think I’ve heard of those before…” Char wracked her brain. “They came to Quatarr before the war. They’re a technologically enhanced species. No-one knows what they look like inside or what they looked like before but the stories go that they created an alloy that could be used for anything. A perfect conductor when you needed a conductor, a perfect magnet but most importantly, a perfect defence. Apparently, they went around collecting and adapting other species technology and biology to improve their own.”
“Is that why they look like humans?” Lore couldn’t take their eyes off of its shoulders. “Those mechanisms are stunning.”
“I don’t know. The Amalgam were almost living legends. I personally encountered them once but that was it. They looked completely different though.” Char tried to remember. “They had shells I think.”
“Wonder what happened to them? We didn’t see them on The Razor. We could give them a quick search when we find a terminal?” Lore pointed to the terms and conditions plaque. “Best start there though.”

The terms and conditions tablet was taller than Lore by a significant margin and, even with all of that height, the designer had decided to reduce the font size to a point where it was barely legible. Lore pressed their face against it and attempted to read some of the terms before signing but, about half a paragraph in, Char tapped their shoulder.
“We can’t sign that.” She handed them a hard hat. “Literally, we do and they’ll know we’re here. Plus, they think we’ve already signed it as Han and Prinn.”
“Good point. Makes sense. Hope it doesn’t annoy the Amalgam though.” Lore donned their bright orange hard hat. “Could we use this terminal or are we going to have to find another?”
Char examined how the tablet was connected to the wall. “This should work just fine. Just need to do a bit of the old jiggery pokery to get it working.” She chuckled as she drew her sidearm. “Fantastic human euphemism.” She dialled in her focussing lenses to create a hair thin beam. Char pressed herself to the wall and began cutting around the screen’s fitting. “Could you just hold it up for me. It’s going to want to fall off if I go any further.” She manipulated Lore’s hands into position before she continued cutting. “Ah, thank the Gods for a hinge. You’re alright to let go now.”
Lore stepped back as Char opened the tablet up as though it were a door, revealing the circuitry and processors behind it. “I think it’s safe to say cable management wasn’t a priority?” It was a mess of wires.
“Could be a security thing.” Char combed through the matted bundles of cables “Can’t disable a system when you can’t see which system you’re disabling. Plus, cut the wrong wire and you’re getting electrocuted because one of these is the power cable.” The cables were all of uniform shape, material, width and colour. “Good thing we don’t need to remove anything then. I just needed access to the power switch on the tablet itself. Quick reboot and we’ll be good to go.”
Char started holding down the power button while counting to ten repeatedly in her native tongue. As they waited, Lore looked out into the room. “What is this obsession with spiral staircases?” Lore pointed to the central pillar. Surrounding a mess of cables and conduits, a rusted metal, spiral staircase.
“What’s wrong with a spiral staircase? They do the job and they’re fairly compact.” Char resumed her counting.
“I don’t know why but I always feel like I’m going to fall off of them. The inner part is too thin and the outer part is usually only just thick enough for me to feel safe.” They shrugged. “I don’t know how to explain it but I do not like them.”
“We could always take the lift?” Char pointed to each of the four corners where there was an open faced service lift. “Personally, I’d be more worried about where the spiral staircase was taking you.” She pointed up to the next floor which, to Lore’s dismay, was made from metal grating.
“Why?” Lore shook their head.
The tablet rebooted. It no longer displayed the terms and conditions and was awaiting log in credentials.
“Ah, we don’t have those…” They said in unison.
“You remember any passwords you might have used before?” Char fiddled around with the back of the monitor.
Lore tapped words they thought were symbolic to them at the front but the only response it gave was denial. “It would seem I don’t.” Something suddenly crossed their mind. “I wonder…” They waved their Breacher over the screen and, although it took a little longer, they were still denied. “I think the other Lores use their Breachers as a key.”
Char poked her head out. “Give it here then.” She grappled at Lore’s wrist. “Right… I think it was four six five dash nine eight nine.” She gave them back their arm. “Try that.”
They swiped their wrist again. “Welcome Lore.” The computer trilled. Char immediately grabbed Lore’s wrist again.
“Better safe than sorry.” She reset their Breacher modulation. “I think I’m almost ready to patch us into the scanners. Want to start a scan from there?”
Lore nodded. They navigated their way through the menus until they eventually found the option to begin a scan. An audible pulse was emitted from the station as it began. Slowly, a map of the left tower was formed. After the wireframe of the building was created, several small blips appeared. “Well, that’s not promising. According to this, we’ve got fifty six life signs in this tower alone.” Lore looked around the screen. “Ah, scanning resolution’s set to the minimum…” They shook their head before dialling in the scanner. “That’s better.” The blips became more differentiated, showing that not all of them were organic. “We’ve got forty nine Amalgam and seven organics. Discounting us, that’s five organics here.”
“Any idea who they are?” Char poked out with a wire in her hand. Lore shook her head. “Hopefully my scanner combined with the towers will give us a little more detail or else we’re stuffed.”
“At least we’d know that there were more organics. We might not know where they are but we’d know they were here.” Lore tried to increase the scanning distance of the tower. “It’s a bit rubbish.”
“And we’re done.” Char banged her head on the roof of the alcove in her celebration. “Ouch. We’ve got a scanner now. Just as long as we stay on planet, we’re alright.” She chuckled as she rubbed her head. “Oh and it won’t work as well indoors. Whoever designed this place decided to use the walls to shield the conduits so there’s too much background radiation to determine who’s who.”
“But if they’re outside?” Lore had their fingers crossed.
“We can see who they are down to the chromosomal level. But as soon as they step inside, they’re just another organic.” She tapped her wrist. “Look, I can’t scan anything outside. Well, we can see what the outside looks like and what is outside but we still don’t know who it is.”
“Any new organics?” Lore tried to understand what her scanner said but still couldn’t decipher Char’s native tongue.
“Still fifty two. Interesting that there are so many Amalgam. A hundred and four seems like such a specific number.” Char slammed the tablet back into the wall before she welded it shut. “As if we were never here.” She smiled, admiring her joining work.
“Ready?” Lore asked, holding out their hand.
“Of course.” Char took it and started walking. “Where are we going?”
“I think, while we’re the only additional time travellers, we should have a look around. Look for weaknesses they might exploit.” Lore pushed the door open and invited Char to go through first.