Chapters The Last Soldier of Equestria
A sharp hissing sound came to my ears, and my consciousness gradually began to recover. Awakening gave only pain, that it spread out in waves over my slightly numb body. In the next moment, I felt, how my head collides with the hard surface of the cold stone floor. There was a whole lot of mess in my mind that I didn’t even know what was happening to me. The exhausted body refused to obey, just shivering involuntarily from the cold. I didn't even have the strength to open my eyes and get a grain of information for my brain. It feels like how my consciousness slipping away again... maybe it's better...
***
A breath and I almost immediately regretted it. It feels like my lungs burst from the inside with every attempt I tried to fill them with air. The second attempt to regain consciousness was more successful, but the pain was not going to leave, and still tormented every muscle of my body. With great difficulty, I managed to open my eyes. It seemed I spent all my remaining energy on it. The room was dark, with only a small streak of light coming from somewhere in front, illuminating the grey stone floor where my dying body lay. At least that's how I felt myself right now.
I wanted to fail back into the emptiness of unconsciousness so that I wouldn't have to endure all this, but something inside me makes me keep my eyes open and fight.
I took one more breath and tried to move my forehooves, which I gradually began to fell.
Turned from the flank to the belly, I put them to myself and tense them, trying to straighten them up to get up. Blood started running the arteries, causing the legs to cause a couple more times involuntary cramps. But now I could feel the surface beneath them. But the happiness was short-lived because after a couple of seconds they buckled and I again collapsed on the solid floor.
After laying there a few more minutes, I finally waited when I can fully feel my body. The raising will certainly not be any less painful, so that's why I began to slowly crawl towards the light. All I have to do is get to the top of a small staircase and… I'll figure something out.
The smooth floor and the flash of pain that accompanying each movement made me put a lot of strength in overcoming tiny area to my goal and making small pauses to rest. Finally, the hooves found the bump where the stairs began. It'll be harder than moving on a flat surface. I stopped after each raising of the next step until I found myself at the front of a slightly open door through the slit which passed the same light that illuminated my way inside the room.
I poked it with my right hoof and made the metallic door open with an unpleasant screech. The poured out bright light made me close my eyes for a few seconds, letting them get used to it. In the nose, replacing the dusty and dry air of the room, came fresh, pleasantly filling already noticeably less painful lungs. It wasn’t much upstairs, but it was warmer, so the muscles started to relax a little bit, dulling the pain. By leaning on the doorway, I was able to stand on top of it.
My eyes finally adjusted to the light and I could make out the empty corridor where I was in. The light was coming from a couple of windows in front of me, behind which was the street. My head was filled with scattered memories of the past, but I can’t deal with them now. Right now, I need to get to the medical ward, which was a few metres from me. I turned to the right, and everything was floating that I almost fell again. That's good that it only lasted a few seconds and I saw the second door with a frame and a red cross.
Leaning on the right side of the grey wall, I walked down the dark brown cover of the corridor, gradually approaching the door. There was a small card-reader next to her, but apparently, due to the lack of electricity, which I could tell from the off-lighting, she wasn’t working and the door gave way as I leaned all over her. When I was in the room, the first thing I did was look through the glass medicine cabinet. When I was in the room, the first thing I did was look through the glass medicine cabinet. It was locked and I had to break down the door to open it, slightly slicing my left leg on the broken glass. Inside, in addition to a pair of medicinal potions, there were several syringes and jars with different markings. The potion will help, but the pain won’t be over for a while, so I put one of the bottles of red liquid next to me, and I started looking for painkillers among the jars. When I read the next label on the yellow jar, I was sure that I found what I needed.
I took out three pills that looked like capsules. It was dry in my mouth and I couldn’t swallow it, so I opened the vial and I drank all that there was. It couldn’t get any worse. The fluid-cooled off the throat at first, forcing me a little wiggler, but then the heat of the acting spell spreads throughout the body, and the eyes began to close themselves. The legs began to fail, and the brain demanded sleep. As I walked past the wide wooden table, with the papers laid on it, I capsized onto a single bunk, each millimetre of which was covered with a layer of dust, which immediately went up in the air.
After sneezing a few times at the irritant that hit my nose, I put my head on what used to be a pillow and my body finally calmed down. Looks like someone in ancient times told: «Sleep is the best cure». I hope that it's true, and the potion will work when I wake up in the morning.
***
When I opened my eyes, I was met by a dim light coming from the only window of the room, cutting a semi-darkness. The head was slowly recreating the sequence of yesterday’s actions. As I rolled to my side, I climbed up from a dusty mattress, with all four hooves. Yesterday’s pain reminded me of my whining muscles, but at least now I could stand it.
"What happened?" I asked myself a question, trying to collect fragments of past pictures passing at the head.
The last thing I remembered before I woke up was some pegasus pushes me inside the camera, and most of the events before that were a blur. I don’t even remember his face as trivially as I remember the commander's face… mother’s face…
Just bits of childhood, a few army weekdays, our base on the island, but no details. What's happened to me? Is this camera being faulted where I woke up in?
When I came across the hanging mirror, I went up to him to look at myself.
A beige stallion with dark blue eyes looked back at me. The burgundy mane was vulnerable in all directions, almost concealing the horn, and the clotted blood, surrounding the wound, was clearly visible above the right eye. Looks like I got it after I landed on the stone floor. Maybe that why I got amnesia? Anyway, panic won’t help, memories return one day. My eyes went down and I just noticed that I was wearing a camouflage jacket that had a few drops of blood on my collar. I must have soiled it when I got to the stairs.
The first thing I decided to do was test my magic. When I tried to use a simple telekinesis on an empty bottle of medicinal potion, I got strong hit in the brain, as if the horn had been hammered into the skull, so I even cried out a little. I should wait with magic. Well at least the rest of my body is more or less in order.
Stomach soon reminded me of himself, making me think about finding food. Besides, I don’t think I drank enough potion last night to quench my thirst for a long time. It seems, the next building will have a dining room. When I opened the door, I walked into a spacious corridor, walking through the room where I woke up, and I walked to way out of the building. Glass doors were open and I found myself on a small porch.
The sun was only rising, illuminating several small grey buildings. I was about to turn to the next two-story building, which was supposed to contain the barracks and the dining room, as a thought came to mind, made me freeze.
"Where are the others?"
How couldn't I notice it before? There was a little tremor on my body and I started to look around very quickly. There was no sign of anyone other than the concrete structures I already knew!
Was the base evacuated? But why and where? Or maybe…Though no, there’s no sign of a fight. And my camera would have been opened a long time ago.
Wait, camera! How many I was in it? There must be four, I need check them. In last memories I wasn’t alone, so something happened here while I was inside.
But first I'm going to check the kitchen of dining room, see if something have there, because I don't want to chew on, and it looks strange... so dark grey-brown.
In thoughts, I went inside the next building and turned right and I found myself in a wide, dark room with tables standing there. Inside the dining room there were only small windows at the ceiling, so there was very little light, but there was enough light so that I could walk to the kitchen without hitting the tables. When I got to the center, my leg stepped on something solid that made a nasty crack. Maybe it's plate? Leaning closer, I tried to see something in the shadows that I carelessly touched, but when I saw some raised parallel contours, I shied away with a terrible hunch.
"No, no-no-no!"
Ignoring the possible consequences, I tried to light a small flame of magic on my horn. The spell only lasted a few seconds, I couldn’t bear it any more. But that was enough to confirm my hunch. I just crushed one of the bones of a pony lying between the tables of the skeleton that had a few scraps of the same camouflage clothing on it as mine. A slight chill ran down on my back.
"Holy Selestia, that's happened?"
Removed crushed remains under the table, I continued my journey to the kitchen room. There’s nothing I can do right now, but I need to figure out what I missed as soon as possible.
The kitchen was already noticeably lighter. It was a small room with several stoves, refrigerators, a dish table and a warehouse. There were several plates on the table, some of which had mould slides on what was once food. Fridges also do not make sense to check, without feeding from them there was no point and the food probably also spoiled, but in the backroom I can try my luck.
As I walked into the kitchen, I stopped next to the yellow door leading to the back room of the dining room. My plans to find food were engulfed by one small lock closing the door. And who came up idea of locking the door?
Looking for the key, I opened all the closets, but apart from cutlery, a few bags of labels that bleached and even soda cans, I couldn’t find anything. So I’ll have to pick the lock. Back in the hall with the tables, I took one of the nearest metal chairs and, back at the backdoor, I hit them several times on the hanging locker. He was weak and, after the fourth stroke, collapsed on the tile.
As soon as I opened the door, the nasty smell of long-rotten, mouldy foods came up my nose. I got a lump in the throat, and my head got a little dizzy, so I had to step back to breathe some air and cough.
Holding my breath, I went inside the darkroom and took a couple of small wooden boxes off the shelves, taking them to the door. When I opened one of them, all I could see was the strange goo on the bottom and the walls, from whose sight alone, I began to vomit. I was expecting something like this, but it was worth checking.
Back in the room, I felt all the shelves looking for what I really came here for. Finally, I stumbled across the only metal box that could have been my saving. The red cover faded, as did the emblem itself, which left only a golden wing, but it was enough to know it was the right one that I needed.
A miniature time loop was created in such boxes, which allowed the contents to be kept in the same state as when they were placed inside until the box was open. There should be a supply of food and water inside that I can afford for a week. If I remember correctly, there are a few more in the warehouse.
When I opened the magical lock, which was again reflected in pain, I opened the box. Inside were four bottles of water and six tin cans of canned goods. It was a bit difficult to figure out, out of the details, just the number on each of them. Not long after thinking about it, I found a knife in one of the closets and, having pierced the bottom of the jar, opened it.
There was a strange green mass inside that had no smell at all, and it didn’t look good. I didn’t have a choice, so I flipped the jar over and the contents of it gradually dripped into my mouth. It tasted like I was chewing on an orange peel and eating it with fried hay, but I had to eat something. After emptying the jar, I took out one of the bottles of water and rushed to wash down the dish I had just eaten... dish. The water, floating in sulfur, also had a strange taste and bitter aftertaste. After I got drunk, I put it back in the drawer and put it on my back (it would still be more convenient to carry it with me). I also took the knife I found with me, who knows when it will come in handy. I went back to the base headquarters, where I spent last night.
As I walked through the grey corridor again, towards the medical office, which I had decided for now to make a permanent location, my eyes caught on the metal door of the room. When I put the drawer on the floor, I opened the door completely and went down the stone steps to four large capsules, one of which I had recently been in. There was not enough light to illuminate the rest of the room, and I could barely see the capsules themselves.
There’s a blood stain in front of one of them that I left after I woke up. Now, I noticed that three of the capsules were open, but the one next to mine was still closed.
"What if there’s someone alive inside?"
A joyous thought quickly caught me and made me come closer to check it out. There was a small glass at the top, through which you could see the inside of the camera, but because of the small layer of dust and the poor lighting, I could only see that there was clearly someone inside. For a second, I thought, wasn’t there supposed to be some visible sign of its functioning?
When I wiped the glass with my right hoof, I looked inside. I was right, the camera didn’t seem to work, because inside, I could definitely see the pony’s skull. Suddenly, my eyes began to darken and my body weakened, forcing me to settle down a little bit so I wouldn’t fall.
***
I was standing in front of the headquarters, and there was a loud siren sound, and two earth ponies ran past me in soldier uniforms with saddlebags on their backs.
At some time, Rins flew to me.
"What's going on?" asked I, looking at few soldiers rushing somewhere.
"Zebras decided to ditch us all!" shouted flowing pegasus. "Everypony being evacuated. Follow me!' turning me around to face the entrance, the stallion ran inside the building.
"How they found our island?" I wondered. "And why are we running, if we have something to defend ourselves with?"
"They launched Megaspells into Canterlot. And our idiots shot down one from them, and soon there’ll be a residual wave here and there’ll be nothing left of us if we don’t make it!" Rins answered, dragging me inside one of the cameras.
It took my mind a while to realize what I heard. Did our enemies decide to end the war this way by killing their own and others? They just condemned most of the world to death!
"That's the hey, then why are we here instead of evacuating with the others?" asked I, blinking from the unexpected bright light.
"Vertibird picked up everypony he could a long time ago, and one of the boats left for the port of supply this morning. What's happened to the second one you already know. There’s no way off this island anymore, and we have one last option," my partner finished, showing four dark-grey installations with the inside blue light on.
"It's a prototype! Only Selestia knows what will happen if you get inside!" I shouted.
"Trust me, if she doesn't know, but this is the only chance to survive, so get in!" the stallion was pushing me toward the camera.
"Wait, stop…" I tried to stop him.
"That's an order, understand?" having interrupted, strictly said pegasus. "Now it's not time to change mind."
Rins was my friend, but he was also one of the two lieutenants on the base. Maybe someone else would have taken advantage of his position, but I didn’t need it. As an officer, he was superior to me and I had to obey his orders. Already inside the camera, the door closed and the pegasus pressed something on the next panel.
"If everything goes smooth sailing, next minute we’ll just wake up in the neighbouring cameras," he smiles.
***
I opened eyes and found myself on the floor with hurting head. It seemed to be my last memory. Now, at least, I know what happened…
"I’m sorry, look's like something went wrong," the last time I looked inside the camera, I spoke to a dead friend before leaving the room.
It’s getting darker on the street. It looks like I’ve been unconscious for most of the day. The muscles were again slightly ill, probably due to a long lying on a hard surface. So I took the drawer, left in front of the door, and I went to the medical office and I put it in front of a dusty wooden table. There was nothing to wipe it with, so I just put the sleeve of my jacket, leaving a dark gray stripe on it. Bring the open tin can again, I finished eat the rest of the mass.
The shadow of light had already slowly reached the window, suggesting that the sun would soon fade away and the night would take the baton of the day.
With a long yawn, I closed the drawer and went to the open medical cabinet. After drinking another jar of healing potion, I went to the bed and pulled off a thin blanket of dust, which was supposed to be white, but the mud made it grey. I lay on her without taking off my jacket. The potion warmed me up again from the inside and soon I fell asleep.
Author's Note
My first attempt to publish something in English...
The Last Soldier of Equestria
The bright sun was shining in my eyes, marking the beginning of a new day. Covering my face with hooves to escape the blinding light, I turned over and got out of bed. After dusting off my jacket and a little bit of mane in front of the mirror, I took out a new tin can from the red box and ate half the inside of the mass with water.
Cautiously, I tried to lift the bottle in the air, using my magic. There was still a sharp pain in my head, but it was perfectly acceptable to keep something telekinetic, so, I hope, soon pain will go completely.
When I looked in the back of the medicine cabinet, I thought.
As I got closer, I started to sift through the colorful jars in it. Now I could study the labels on them more closely, but half the names were unfamiliar to me, so it didn't make it any easier. When I came across a light blue bottle, I already wanted to be happy, because few people do not know the color of the magic potion. After turning it over and looking at the paper with the designation of the contents, I was convinced that this was what I needed and gulped down the liquid that slightly stung my tongue. There was no visible effect.
"Oh, yeah, it’s only just getting started.'
I didn't have anything else to do in this room, so without thinking twice, I went out into the corridor and went to another part of the building, where there should be a small storage room with tools. Yesterday's idea of the restoration of electricity really got me. I can't sit in the dark and cold at night, can I? In addition, the doors of the warehouse, arsenal and other systems needs in energy.
A grey door, almost-in-tone wall, with a faded-out sign, easily succumbed. Inside was a small room, almost like a storeroom in a dining room, except for the presence of a small window with several shelves and drawers.
A couple of shovels, a broom, wire cutters and hammers, some folders. When I went to the drawers, I finally found four portable magic lamps with a crystal inside there. The generator room, where I’m going, is underground and there’s obviously no window to light my way, and my horn is not yet capable of holding the spell for long.
I tried to light one of them, and it was pretty easy, so even the head hardly got sick. It seems, potion working. Taking the other three in the office, I took the lit lamp and went outside.
There was a light but cool breeze outside, even though the sun was right above me and there were no clouds.
'It’s probably because the ocean is so close."
Walking a little ahead, wondering how the road once formed by trucks was not yet covered with grass, I entered a wide building, where was an entrance to the generator room. As I expected, here were no lights or windows, so I could only rely on the bluish-white light of the crystal in the lamp. Walking along the left-hand wall, I came upon open double doors, behind which was a flight of steps leading down, from where dim red light emanated.
First I found myself in a small corridor with half a wall of glass, behind which I could see some cylindrical installations, the purpose of which I could only guess. The light source was a single light bulb above the same installations.
Went to the right, deeper into the room, I found myself in what might be called the control room. Lots of tables, terminals, things like paper. There was a small white bar on the screen of one of the terminals, and right in front of him, on a chair, was another skeleton with scraps of white fabric. My eyes began to darken again, and my head began to spin…
***
A small room with metal walls illuminated by bright white lights. The two ponies in the white robes were laughing at something while I was watching them standing next to the mare unicorn, sitting at the terminal.
"Oh come on! I wish you’d help me." Turning around on the chair, the filly screamed. "Bring one of the officers here, I need to restart the system so you can replace the second power unit."
"Hey, why are we?" One of the laughing ponies, red in color, with a white mane matching the color of the robe, exclaimed in response. "Here, let your stallion go." He pointed at me.
"He's not my stallion!" Green unicorn gave a confusing response.
"All right, all right. Kel, let's go, keep them alone." Another pony winked and dragged his friend into the hallway.
"Hmm, special pony? I wonder…" said I with smile.
"Hey, don't starting," said mare, covering her red face in the hooves,
"I thought, I handsome enough for you," I pretended upset.
"And after this begin rumors."
After a couple of minutes, the light in the room suddenly went out for a second, as did a quiet hum somewhere outside the walls.
"Fleet, what it was?" I turned to my friend.
"Urgh… why they're so long?" She swore. "How to say, this first signal. We have two units in the generator and one of them is out of order. Of course, base can work on one unit, but there may be interruptions, or even a temporary shutdown. And without a card and an officer's code, I can't restart the system so that we can replace it.
I watched in amazement as the filly began to swing her hooves. It surprisingly, this is not the first time I have noticed that when the dialogue turned to some scientific topics, she went into the story completely, and this even made me laugh.
"Anypony ever told what you are very smart?" I admired, not hiding a smile.
"Are you kidding me?" Fleet again confused.
"Yeah!" I cried, laughing quietly. Moment later, she joined me.
From the corridor, I heard how something small fall.
"Eavesdropping – not good," my friend shouted in direction of the sound. "Can’t expect anything from these two…"
***
This time I didn't seem to be lost in my memories for long, and I woke up leaning against the wall instead of on the floor. My head pounded just a little, but now I know what I need to do.
"Thank you, Fleet. You helped me even after your death," I said sadly, looking at the skeleton of the pony, illuminated by the light of the monitor screen and another red lamp.
Coming closer, I pressed «Enter» on the keyboard and a window with some percentage data and several buttons appeared on the screen. Only one button was active — «Reset generator power system». After pressing it, a field appeared on the screen that requires a password.
"Okay, so I need to find the code and the generator blocks."
Where to look for the code I roughly understood, but where do I get the magic blocks? Looking around, I noticed two more doors inside the room. One of them was supposing lead to the generator room I'd seen coming down here, and the other was locked. Next to it hung a panel in the form of two light bulbs with buttons under them and slots, apparently, for a card.
It would be logical to look for the card in the same room, which I did. Various folders of technical documentation, personal things, even a couple of scientific books were being moved from table to table until I came across a blue plastic card with a yellow perpendicular stripe. If I remember correctly, in army facilities the card , depending on the color, was used by military personnel of different specializations. And the yellow stripe indicated a higher admission.
I pushed the card into the slot and received a green light in response, and opened the door. Behind it was a slightly smaller room with pipes, completely filling the right wall, several tables, and a couple of drawers. Along the other wall were locked iron closet. On the tables, in addition to a pile of documentation, there were several closed flasks of unknown liquid and some details of mechanisms.
There was nothing else in the room, so I opened the drawers, bumping into the same parts of various mechanisms, until in one of them I found three heavy cylindrical objects with a bunch of inscriptions and warning labels.
"Looks like, it's really they."
I pulled out two blocks, each about the size of my foot, and went back to the control room, leaving them on the table next to the only working terminal.
"And now, I need see what's happened to old blocks."
Pushed card into the slot of another panel, I found myself in the generator room. The rigs made a faint hum, it seemed to indicate that they were working. There was another terminal in the middle of them, but he didn't work. Going a little deeper, I saw several grilles occupying the entire wall and hiding something, like a turbine and pipes coming from it, to the right of which was a small closed door, and under it a panel and two large holes, from which two block-like objects slightly protruded, with a round handle, resembling the valves of doors on submarines, to reach them.
"And the last, I need to find code and hope what these old blocks will fit."
There were only one captain and two lieutenants on this base. Their rooms, as their offices, were located on the second floor of the base headquarters, so I would start looking for cards there.
Returning up, I first decided to look at what was on the first floor of the building under which the generator room was located. The room inside was quite small, and I met only metal closed cabinets and a table with round details, again… But the passage to the main part of the building was closed by massive steel doors with a small panel on the side. Of course, it did not work due to lack of power.
When I went outside, I had to squint against the bright sunlight, unlike the lamp. Quick looking up, I determined that the sun had recently passed the zenith, which meant that it was now about 1-2 o'clock in the afternoon. Which is weird, the weather was almost clear for the second day, what was very rare, but now it only made me happy.
"I need to find clock and make a calendar to somehow keep track of time."
Finding the stairs, I went up to the second floor of the headquarters, which was no different from the first, only the signs on the doors were different. The wooden floor creaked slightly as I walked down the corridor in search of the base captain's office. It makes sense to start with him, because he should have access to all parts of the base, and there might just be something useful.
The dark wood door of the base commander's office opened and revealed a room the size of two or even three medical offices. The left wall was filled with small filing cabinets, and in the middle of the room was a wide table with four chairs on each side and one at the head, on which, in a once beautiful, but now dirty and in a couple of places torn dress uniform, was the skeleton of the former captain.
There was a faceted glass and an empty bottle in front of him, a pocket radio on the left, and a terminal on the right edge of the table. It seems that the last minutes of his life, the captain spent with his soldiers, though on the radio. He could have ordered him to be the first to fly into the evacuating vertibird, but he did the gallantly thing.
The terminal screen wasn't lit, so I'd have to leave it for later. Finding a lock on one of the four drawers of the desk, I decided to examine it first. Most likely the key is in one of the pockets of the captain's uniform. The idea that you will have to search the deceased pony, there was a strange feeling, but it was necessary. Soon I found a metal key in my breast pocket and used it to open the lock. When I opened the drawer, I saw only two things inside: a red card and a gun.
I shoved the card into the pocket of my uniform and telekinetically raised the weapon in front of me. It was Colt, the bolt of which was engraved with the inscription – «To captain Grayl Spirit. Issued personally by Princess Luna, for military merit».
My conscience wouldn't allow me to take my award-winning personal weapon, so I put it back in my desk drawer. The remaining three contained only folders of various documents, which I flipped through briefly until I came across a blueprint for the same camera that had saved my life.
Parts of the memories were coming back to me again…
***
The three ponies were placed in a large room with several crates and chatting about something.
"By the way, did you see what was brought to the island today?" I asked.
"You mean the four containers with the cold-chamber-like capsule?" Rins asked, lying on two crates and dangling three hooves, and holding four a bottle of Sparkle Cola.
"Yea. Why are they here, and what is it anyway?"
"This is another Canterlot project for their Stables. It's «Life Saving Cameras». Truly, there is no official name yet, so they are limited to LSC-1, LSC-2 and etc." Fleet, sitting to my right, gave a voice.
"Ooogh. When I once read about the side effects: dehydration, temporary memory loss, blindness, hair loss… Then I decided that better to die than to get into such a thing! Hey, the last one on this list was death!" pegasus chuckled. "From a device whose only purpose is to keep you alive!"
I don't know why, but I joined in his laughter.
"These are only the first prototypes. They were written off, and for their own modified," levitating two more cola, said mare-unicorn.
"Thanks," I thanked, taking the bottle that had flown up to me. "Whatever, why do we need them for?" We kind of haven't been turned into a military junkyard."
"When we turn, I'll personally write to Princess Celestia to fire you for croaking!"
In a second silence were heard sound of approaching hooves.
"I knew I'd find you here," a blue unicorn with a white mane appeared. "Again loaf time?"
"Hey, we actually have free time, we do what we want," Rins offended, spreading his wings so that they too were hanging from the crates.
"Anyway, I came for you," the filly said, taking away the half-drunk cola. "Harch to Captain!"
"Okaaaay," said pegasus, flawing off the crates. "But what happening?"
"If I had my way, they'd have already tied your wings so you wouldn't run away and "accidentally " leave the radio in your office. Then I wouldn't have to look for you all over the base!" Ominously uttering the last words, the officer replied. "You'll find out from him."
"I didn't know you'd get turned on by tying games," Rins grinned, then darted through the open doors, running the edge of his wing across the unicorns back.
"Just let me get another one!" following the runaway pegasus with her eyes, she threatened into the void. "You'd better do something, too," the filly turned to us, then left.
"Maybe we can take a walk while we have time?" I suggested.
"I don't mind…"
***
Opening eyes, I found myself half-lying on the table, my head buried in scattered documents. The setting sun shone through the large windows. Looks like, night will soon fall, and I haven't had time to start the generators yet, so I need to hurry up!
Without wasting any time folding up the scattered documents, I left the office, taking the already extinguished lamp and first checking whether the card I found was still there.
Returning to the terminal, I took out a card and entered the numbers written on it: 5.1 — 31.20.16 — 26.10.22.18.
New data appeared on the screen. On the left were two generators, and below them were the numbers 7% and 4%, as well as a warning about the almost finished charging of magical blocks. In the right half was a plan of the base, with a single illuminated generator and an inscription that the system works in emergency mode and at minimum consumption, and under it — a log with the rest of the summary by date. The last report was recorded in 1253.
Entered the room with the installations, I was now able to turn on the terminal located there and use it to unlock the sectors for magical blocks. Putting the new blocks next to me, I began to pull out the old blocks, which was not very easy. With the screech of a damaged shell, the blocks came out of their holders.
The panel above the empty compartments flashed a red light twice, heralding a complete shutdown soon, unless a new power source was inserted. The first block went in easily, but for some reason the second one got stuck in the middle and I had to push it inside with several blows until it also took its place. Returning to the terminal between installations, I confirmed the connection of new units to the generators and it remains only to start them from the main terminal.
After entering the code from the card again, I pressed the button to start the generators. There was a long creak from the next room, and then a slight, growing hum. The red lights went out, leaving the terminal as the only source of light. Looking at the screen, I realized that the emergency mode was turned off and now I could return the system to normal again, which I did.
The lamps suddenly turned on made me light up for a while, and the terminals on the tables alternately emitted short sound signals, warning of their launch. Next, the fur of the legs and mane, not hidden under the clothes, felt a light breeze that ran through the room — the ventilation started working, bringing fresh air.
Suddenly, a siren wailed loudly from the street. I don't know why, but the sound of the alarm, which is probably heard in any part of the island, made me nervous and caused a strange fright that passed through my whole body like a chill. It was necessary to turn it off immediately!
Hastily running through all the menu items, I found the management of external systems, and then how to turn off the alarm announced on the database. It was also there I noticed that most of the control systems were divided between the generator terminal and the central terminal of the base, which was located in the captain's office.
"I need to try to transfer all control to the captain's terminal."
After a cursory review of the rest of the controls, I decided to deal with it tomorrow, or maybe even later, because so far most of this was not need.
The sun was already setting and I only caught a glimpse of the sunset rays as I returned to the headquarters building. It was a busy day and I was feeling pretty tired, but it was only now that I realized I hadn’t eaten since this morning. As a precaution, having ate a full jar of canned food, drinking her half a bottle of water, I stumbled onto the bed with my clothes on and fell asleep.
The Last Soldier of Equestria
Finally a normal morning. I thought as I opened my eyes, but in the next few seconds I quickly realized that I was wrong. My mouth was dry, the mere lifting of my head was a stab of pain, and I was very thirsty. It's not surprising that I feel this way, considering that I've only drunk about three liters of water in the last couple of days and I've started to get slightly dehydrated, but I needed to conserve water until I found a way to open the warehouse.
Now, the first thing I did was take a new bottle out of the red box and drink a third at a time, as usual throwing in half the contents of the canned food. A little salt, which, judging by the taste, was in them, along with water, should have better helped restore the water-salt balance, and banal I also satisfied my hunger.
By the way, here is a goal for today — I need to thoroughly inspect the warehouse to get out everything useful. Just smoothing my mane, as I had done yesterday, I went outside and walked along the once-designated gravel road in the middle of the base, past the generator building, to the building that stood not far from the wall protecting our military facility.
Inside, there was another wall, on one side of which was a barred door that was always left open, and on the other side was a thick metal door that could only be opened with a card. So the warehouse was divided into two parts: the main one and the closed one, which had limited parts and something else that needed to be locked up. Emergency crates were also in that room.
I didn't need to look at the main part of the warehouse yet, because any food stored there had long since rotted away, and I had come here for that, so I went straight to the metal door.
"Strange, the panel doesn't light up."
I stuck the card in, but nothing happened. Maybe the panel is out of order, but how do I get inside?
"I think I can take it apart and fix it. I'm sure that everything I need will be found somewhere in the warehouse."
The main part of the warehouse was completely dark, so I had to find a breaker panel hanging on the wall to turn on the light. The high-ceilinged lamps lit up and illuminated several rows of shelves and crate-lined walls.
Parts, steel sheets, a few glass panels, everything was there, but there were no tools in sight. There was nothing useful in the crates either, and I didn't even bother to look into the disabled freezers in another part of the warehouse, because it's not hard to guess what happened to the food that was once there.
Finally, I came across a large, dark green metal box, labeled "tools." It wasn't very heavy, so I just dragged it to the door in the closed part of the warehouse, so that I wouldn't have to go out every time to get something I might need.
Using a screwdriver, I unscrewed the screws holding the outer cover of the panel with a small one, and pulled it out, with the wires stretching to it.
"The wiring is fine, so the problem is in the microchip."
Digging deeper, I carefully pulled out a small board that was connected by wires between the main line, the panel, and the lock mechanism.
"There is no visible damage, the capacitors are not swollen, the fuses, as well as the circuit itself, are not burned out, so it should have worked."
Of course, I could try to find the same circuit and replace it, but I have nothing to solder the wires, and a spell capable of such fine work is simply unknown to me, and it is unlikely that it is a problem. Digging even deeper, I checked all the wires for breaks, but it seemed that the breakage was somewhere out of my reach and I had no idea what to do now. The last time I checked everything and stuck the card in, I made sure that the panel was still not responding.
If there was an ordinary door here, I would try to knock it out with something, for example, with a sledgehammer, but in front of me was a thick steel door, on which I would leave a couple of dents at most.
I couldn't think of anything, so I decided to change my mind — it was high time I figured out how to get off the island. The supplies won't be endless, and being left alone on an island without food isn't the best prospect.
Once outside, I again thoughtlessly looked at the building opposite, which I had not yet visited. It's strange to see how many times I pass by and still don't pay attention to it, because it's just... an arsenal!
There must be explosives in there, I thought. So I found a way to open the door of the warehouse, and with a weapon somehow calmer, because who knows if I'm really so lonely on this island?
Immediately after the entrance to the building, there was another room where there was a post where one or two soldiers were sitting, guarding the arsenal. The terminal on the wooden table was unlit, and another dead pony lay beside the chair, holding a slightly rusted rifle in both hooves.
There was also a thick steel door leading into the weapons storage area, which was opened by a nearby panel, which fortunately worked. Inside, the armory was small: to the left, two tables with long drawers under them, and on the wall, hanging stands with recommendations for the handling of weapons. In front are two large metal boxes of dark green color, closed with a padlock, and on the right are four more large boxes of dark brown color and marked "ammunition"standing on top of each other.
Returning to the previous room, I searched the table and the soldier's uniform to find the key to the arsenal's locks. A small bunch of signed keys was found in one of the pockets.
I pulled one of the drawers out from under the table, read the sign - "Careful! Explosive!" - and began to pick up the key I needed. Inside, there were several shrapnel and smoke grenades arranged in compartments, as well as a couple of magic grenades, which were clearly not enough to break through the steel door of the warehouse.
In the second, with a similar note, there were several packages of explosives such as TNT and RDX, as well as two prepared strips of plasticite, just for blowing up armored doors.
"That's what I need."
I laid out the explosives I'd found on the table and began examining the gun cabinets. In the first, six assault rifles stood upright, and above them a shelf with four holstered ten-millimetre pistols. In the next one, four rifles and two nine-millimetre sub-machine guns.
I took out the magazines of the three pistols, put them in my pocket, and put the holster with the fourth on myself, then took one of the assault rifles and, having also previously discharged the others, left it on the table, next to the explosives.
There was another barred door near the ammunition crates that I hadn't noticed before. Unlocking the door, I entered the same small room with weapons cabinets and immediately noticed the tables displayed along the right wall: a real sniper rifle stood on bipods, and next to it a combat saddle with a light machine gun inserted into it!
I certainly don't need a machine gun, but a sniper rifle is a godsend. But the surprise did not end there, because in the first open weapons cabinet there were two rocket launchers with single charges. The other two carried bulletproof vests with belts for hanging weapons, saddlebags, and protective helmets.
There were four laser-beam rifles in the last one, but it was unlikely that the base would have spark batteries for them. I've looked around the arsenal and I'm sure I won't find anything else here, and it's time to go back to opening the warehouse.
I put on my stripped-down armor straps, strapped on my assault rifle, and took the explosives back to the closed warehouse door. Once again in front of the disassembled panel, I roughly identified the place where the lock mechanism should be located and attached one plate of explosive substance to it. There was no fuse, but I could try to set it on fire with a spell, as long as I could find something to hide behind.
I built a small wall of boxes from the main part of the warehouse and stood behind them. The horn lit up with a light gray light, from the spell being prepared, and the next second I was hiding behind a makeshift wall, from the deafening explosion that echoed through the walls of the room.
"I didn't think about that. I can go deaf for not long!"
After recovering a little, I went back to see if my idea had worked out. There was light coming from the half-opened passage, and there was an impressive hole in the door and wall. Leaning on the door, I finally opened it, not without effort. It seems that for greater protection, the hinges were also closed by a special mechanism, but the force of the explosives was enough to break it.
Along the left wall of the small but long room, there were cabinets with padlocks, which contained various limited parts for various complex mechanisms, and something else. A few dark gray steel boxes, and ahead of them the familiar red boxes.
"Huh, only ten?"
I expected more, but if it count on one pony, then the food should be enough for exactly a month. But I have problems with water; since it will end at least a week earlier.
Well, the food problem was temporarily solved, and in a month I will definitely think of something to escape from this island. I put one of the crates on my back and decided to take it to the headquarters building so that I wouldn't have to go to the warehouse for food every time.
When I returned to the medical room, I left my box next to the first one I brought here and decided to go up to the second floor. Since yesterday, I had been thinking of transferring control to the main terminal of the base, and it would be nice to move from a small medical office with an uncomfortable bed to one of the officers rooms.
Going into the captain's office, I turned on the terminal, but there was a password on it.
'Yeah, and who said it would be so easy?"
Now I was terribly glad that the generator terminal did not have a universal password, otherwise I would have had enough for just a few more days. After some thought, I decided to try my luck and enter the code from the card, but, as I expected, it turned out to be incorrect.
Basically, there shouldn't be anything very important to me right now. Directly opposite the office was the base commander's private room, which I wanted to check first. Inside, it was a fairly spacious room, about the same size as the captain's office itself.
There are several bookcases along the right wall, two facing the interior of the base, windows and a wide table with a lamp and a chair standing next to it. To the left is a large bed, and next to it is another desk with a terminal, a small safe and wooden cabinets standing along the wall separating the room and the corridor.
"Yes, this is clearly better than huddling in a medical office."
The terminal also demanded a password, there was nothing interesting in the desk except some papers, and the cabinets had locks built into the door. Of course, it was possible to break down the doors, but that's later. First, I want to look at the other offices, in case there is something useful there?
"Lieutenant Leaf – deputy base commander," — read the inscription on the door of the office next to me. It was half the size of the captain's office, and the first thing I saw was another dead pony lying in front of a table that was perpendicular to the door, and a couple of empty potion jars.
On the table, next to a photograph of a blue, white-maned mare, was a terminal with a cassette protruding from it.
"I wonder what's on it?"
When I turned on the terminal, I was surprised that there was no password on it. After sticking the disc to the end, I started recording and began to listen:
"I hope the recording is going on… *ugh-ugh*
My name is Leaf. I'm a lieutenant in the Equestrian Forces, recently released from the LSC. It looks like there's no ele… electricity and only the terminals are working. *Khh* Huh… Blood after coughing is not the best sign, I think… I hope that these creatures were as bad as I am now…
I managed to get some healing potions from the drawer below, but they don't help at all… I barely made it to my office… I don't know how long I have left.
Base on the alarm mode, so all terminals needs a password, and without them do not start anything. The universal code for them is: seventeen, sixteen, fifteen, ten.
And on there recording ended. I stood there for a moment, confused and completely silent, just looking at the flickering screen.
"How I want to help you," — I said softly.
What I heard made me wonder again, how many ponies died? And what is it all about? Now I was not so happy that I had survived, and without even looking around the room again, I went out.
When I got down to the first floor, I ate a little and went to the warehouse, brought two more boxes. But I took them up to the former captain's room, in which I was now going to settle myself. I dropped the rifle on the table and lay down on the bed. It was getting late and I needed to wake up, so I just lay down on the bed and waited for sleep.
The Last Soldier of Equestria
I woke up surprisingly calm and I did not even get angry at the sun shining through the windows, whose warmth was felt even through the glass. Still, I was right, I needed to come to my senses and think a little.
It's time to find a way to get off the island, thought I, eating the usual conserve for breakfast.
Of course, during these three days I managed to do a lot and ensure my survival for at least another month. But what to do next? I can't live on this island for long, even if I really want to. On the other hand, I don't know what's going on on the mainland right now.
Of course, I'm not the only survivor, and there are maybe thousands or even tens of thousands more ponies out there.
No, they just can't beat ponies, I'm sure! In addition, we had tens Stables in this case, and the princesses would definitely not let everyone they could get to die! That's right, otherwise how would the sun rise every day and the moon every night?
When I had finished my breakfast, I looked at my uniform, which I had never taken off before.
It's time to find some other clothes, thought I.
After glancing at the terminal in the room, I decided to use the universal code I had recently received. There were various entries in the captain's terminal, but I don't think it's worth getting into the personal data of a long-dead soldier. In addition, it was possible to open the safe next to it, which I did.
In the safe was another ten-millimeter pistol with one magazine to it, a silver watch, some personal notes, and a perfectly clean journal!
It would be nice to keep a journal to note what happened to me during the day, and just keep yourself busy so as not to go crazy, thought I.
Of course, I could leave notes in the terminal, but I preferred to write something down on paper. I found a few pens in the desk, but the ink had long since dried, so I would have to use the pencils I found there.
Leaving the journal on the table, I picked up the watch I'd found and removed the lid, looking for the small battery that it was supposed to run on. Taking out a small plate, I just directed a little magic into it and it was enough to fully charge it.
Looking out of the window, I found the sun in the sky. It's almost noon, so I put the approximate time on the clock and went out into the corridor. To the right wall was a staircase leading to the roof, and next to it was a door leading to a room that had not yet been explored. I didn't want to go back to the officers quarters, but there was a…
I stared at the gray door in front of me, puzzled because I couldn't remember what was behind it.
I better get used to it, thought I.
Behind the door was a corner room, with two wide windows facing the ocean and the second exit from the base, and along the right wall were three tables: on the middle one was a terminal, and on the side — two radio stations!
At the far table, wearing headphones with a microphone, face down, lay another dead pony.
"Seriously?" thought I.
I quickly jumped to one of the radios and was terribly happy even with the simple sound of ambient noise!
These stations were used to communicate with the mainland and worked for hundreds of kilometers! All I need to do is find the right frequency and I can contact someone, and then at least I'll be sure that I'm not alone. Maybe this was also a chance to ask for help to get off the island!
The terminal unsurprising needed a password, after which I got a list of recent radio connections. There I also found the numbers of the communication frequencies with military bases. First, I need to check them.
There was another window at the bottom, where I could see the condition of the antenna and how far the radio station was reaching.
"Fifteen hundred kilometers? This is only enough to got off to the coast! And I'm not sure."
The screen showed that only two of the four amplifiers on the antenna were working, and because the radio waves could not reach far.
"I need check this antennas."
The wires went up, so it made sense that she was up there, and it wasn't for nothing that there was a lift to the roof next to this room. There was nothing more interesting here, so I went outside to the stairs and went up.
Coming out of the small superstructure, I saw a take-off strip on the roof with crates scattered around, which seemed to be thrown out to make room for more soldiers. There were also a few skeletons of those who were unlucky.
The steel structure holding the antenna is slightly rusted, although it was made of wear-resistant materials that do not corrode for a long time. Because of this, the left side of the antenna collapsed, along with two small round blocks that looked like thick gas-mask filters. I don't know why this thought came up me with this particular analogy?
These blocks were the signal amplifiers. I don't know the details, but there must be eight affectedly created crystals inside, thanks to which the signal was amplified. In fact, they were not so easy to produce, but at the bases, deep in the ocean or among the mountains, where the signal did not reach the repeaters, there were antennas with just such amplifiers. I also heard that in the capital, in the palace, there were amplifiers that could cover all of Equestria alone!
The blocks were also damaged, so just attach them back will not work. The only option left is to hope that there is at least one such block in the warehouse.
After a brief inspection of the broken crates, I found only rusted rifles, a few packets of rations that were no longer usable, ruined clothing, and a couple of metal plates also covered in rust.
Once on the street, I decided to go first to the building on the right, where, next to the dining room, there were barracks. Inside, the corridor was divided into three exits: the right one led to the dining room, and the two left ones led to separate barracks for stallions and mares.
I easily found my row among the two rows of bunks in the first room. I didn't find anything useful in my personal crate, so I went on, passing a second room with two-story beds, in the direction of a small laundry room, which, for some reason, could only be accessed through the barracks.
The room was quite small, and most of the space was occupied by shelves with twisted sets of clothes, and in the right part there was a small machine that was supposed to clean clothes. The fact is that usually the clothes were put in order by unicorns, with the help of their spells, and the typewriter was rarely used, but I simply do not know him... or forgot about him.
When I found a suit that fit, I took off my holster and pulled everything out of my pockets, then put on not only a light jacket, but also pants, and just in case, I also took a coat. It's
Putting the things I'd taken, I down back in their place, but I couldn't not pay attention to the nearest bunk. One of the tubes holding the upper bed was bent. It seems that somepony was hit his head hard on it, after which bed was deformed, and the soldier received serious injuries. The pony who did this, was sent to one of the northern border bases, where there is always a deadly frost and a bunch of the same exiles. At our base, they were severely punished for fighting, and considering that he almost killed him... he got off easy!
Shaking my head to clear it of unpleasant memories, I left the barracks and headed for the warehouse. It would be stupid and time-consuming to search through a pile of crates for the parts I needed, hoping for luck. Turning on the terminal in the corner, I found a list of the furniture of the warehouse.
Yes, there must be some amplifiers here somewhere! Returning to the shelves, I found the appropriate markings on the shelves and telekinesis took out the top drawer of the green color. Inside were two perfectly whole blocks amplifiers!
Using magic, I quickly returned to the headquarters and climbed up to the roof. The wires, that connected the old amplifiers, were broken, and to get to them, I had to take them almost to the top.
The amplifiers continued to fly beside me in the telekinetic aura as I climbed between the creaking steel floors that held the antenna. When I got to the broken wires, next to the two still working amplifiers. I connected the blocks, and I was about to come down when I heard a loud squeak coming from under my feet.
"AAAH!" I shouted as I lost my footing. Gravitation instantly pulled me down and I tried to grab some part of the structure to avoid injury, but I did not have time and landed on my left side on the covered roofs.
"Urghhh!" I shouted again, when crunch my own bone. Most of the air had been knocked out of my lungs by the fall, and the last of it had been used up in a cry of pain, so I was practically gasping, trying breath now.
I waited until my breathing steadied, then tried to get up. My head ached from the blow. When I leaned on my left front leg, I immediately buried my nose in the floor, because the sharp pain caused it to buckle.
Looks like a fracture, I thought, getting up again, but this time on three legs.
Stumbling to the medical room, I opened crate with medicaments.
"Rut healing potion can't help here," said I, "but he could use anyway."
I washed down the painkiller with a healing potion and sat down on the bed, feeling for the red card in my pocket. Holding it up in front of me with my telekinesis, I went out into the corridor and turned left, toward the closed panel door. It was a medical warehouse, where there were strong drugs, not one crate with medicaments for all the base, right?
A white room, with matching cabinets on glass doors, shelves, and a couple of drawers with medical crosses on them. And there are against the right wall was Auto-Doc that might well be working. But it needed to be refueled with biogel, which also need to find.
"Come on, where he is… Oh, here you are!"
After pulling out most of the drugs, I finally found a flask with dark purple contents and a label – "Recovery Potion". I opened the lid and poured the contents down my throat in one gulp.
The magic liquid should speed up the regeneration, including the bones, and since the fracture doesn't seem to be serious, the bone should recover in a couple of days. The potions are all very well, but there are still some things I need to do if I really want this to heal as soon as possible.
Still on three legs, I reached the warehouse and found four metal pipes of the same size, then placed them crosswise on the leg and secured them at the bottom on a round metal plate that was slightly larger than a hoof. To prevent the structure from drop, I wrapped it with tape along the entire length of the tubes, and then I tied the wire found around the back and hooked it to the upper part of the pipes, which was slightly bulging.
Perfectly, thought I as saw on gotten construction
The makeshift splint will help me not bend the injured limb so that the bone would heal properly. And now I can at least lean a little on this leg, and it's much more comfortable.
After checking that my creation was holding up well on my leg, I prepared to return to the radio station. It's not for nothing I almost died installing these Discord amplifiers!
The radio was still jammed when I came back. After checking the condition of the antenna in the terminal, I was glad to see that the figure had increased to two and a half thousand kilometres. Opening the list of frequencies of the nearest military installations to the coast, I began to go through them all, hoping that at least somewhere I would get an answer.
"This is Sergeant Raise Shade, Equestrian Forces. I'm contacting you on closed army frequencies. I'm stuck alone on an island military base in the middle of the ocean. I need help. If you're hearing this, – please, respond."
For a couple of hours, I went through the frequencies in a circle, but no one answered me. Of course, there could be many reasons for this, and this is not a sign to give up! Most likely, these frequencies are simply no longer used by anyone and no one could ever think that someone could call for help through them. I still have plenty of time to try connect with others.
I was getting a little tired when I came up with an almost great idea. I set up the first walkie-talkie to receive one frequency continuously, and on the second, using the terminal, I sent a cyclic message indicating the frequency of the first walkie-talkie. Now, if someone responds – I'll know about it.
Leaving the walkie-talkies to work alone, I returned to the captain room. Drugs have long been sleepy, and just to rest, so that they act faster does not could use.
The Last Soldier of Equestria
I got out of bed and leaned on my injured leg to see how it would behave. The drugs worked well, because the pain felt very weak. I glanced at the clock on the bedside table, which said eleven o'clock in the morning, and went to the mirror.
To be honest, I didn't like the look of the pony looking at me at all. The mane is simply not smoothed, and the traces of dirt on the fur, that on the muzzle, that on the legs, it is long time to wash off. But this clothes were new.
"Yeah, I need to wash off the dirt, but with what? The salt water will only make it worse.»
After breakfast, I went outside. This time, the sun was obscured by a few white clouds, causing a slight shadow to cover the base.
"So, the soldiers had to wash somewhere and get drinking water, right?"
Remembering the map of the base I had seen in the generator room terminal, I moved to a small building that was located next to the barracks and was a local water treatment plant, next to which there was a shower.
The first thing I saw, when I went inside, were two large tubes that led to three tanks, the front of which was made of glass to see the water level in them, and they themselves were almost as high as the ceiling.
To the right was a device that connected to the tanks with tubes, and others went somewhere deep into the wall. Next to it was a small room with two terminals and a door to a room completely filled with metal empty barrels, under a tube coming out of the ceiling. There was also a drinking fountain, a couple of which I had already seen in other buildings.
"It looks like these barrels were filled with drinking water. Just in case."
Turning on the terminal, I saw data about the tanks and the water treatment machine that was turned off. Also, the water intake and discharge tubes were automatically blocked, and the tanks were previously emptied, but this happened after the power outage.
When I tried to turn on the desalination plant, a warning appeared, reminding me to change the filters. Of course, why didn't I think of it before? The old filters are no longer functioning. Returning to the installation, I opened a wide rectangular hatch, in which several blackened filters stood in a row, which from the outside looked just like plates marked "FP-11" and were connected by hoses to each other.
I pulled them all out, took one with me and went to the warehouse, because there should be extra parts for everything. Through the terminal, I found the filters, but when I came to the shelves, there were only a few plates of "FP-7" and two "FP-4", which were very different from the one I had with me. After looking around, I didn't find any other filters.
"Well, at least I found something."
It wasn't difficult to put the plates back in and connect the hoses to them, so I went back to the terminal to open the pipes. The device hummed, but the water, for some reason, did not go. The system immediately notified me that the valve of the water intake pipe did not open and I need to do it manually.
Simply, I couldn't get to the tube so I had to hobble around the wall that enclosed the base. It's not just the fracture, but also the structure attached to the leg, which is not the most pleasant thing to walk with it.
And it's even worse without it, I interrupted myself.
At this place, the island was slightly cut, so that the shore was quite small, but it was quite close and I had to go not far. There were also two large pipes that went down into the water.
At the place where the pipe were bend and then went straight up to the wall, there was something like a lever, which, apparently, allowed to pull the bolt.
Leaning, I started pushing the lever with my body, but he refused to move. Looks like it's been stuck for so long. After a moment's thought, I turned my back on him and kicked him heartily. The lever, with a second's grating and a subsequent click, finally came into the open position.
"At least it didn't break down, because I don't know what I did then."
Ahead, against the water, was a small building that stood apart from the base.
Oh, it's a shore gun, I remembered, after a few seconds of looking at it. It seems to have fired only once, when we decided to try it out by blowing up a makeshift wooden raft.
Even thought, our island was far from any fighting, but, just in case, this gun got for us. Although it's not much help,, since it will not sink something larger than a heavy boat with one shot, and they are not very effective alone.
Oh, and what fortifications I saw in Manehatten! There are such companies all along the coast that even a battleship could sink with a couple of volleys, not letting it get closer to the horizon line! Well, at least that's what they looked like.
Returning to the terminal, I tried to run the installation again. The sound of running water was heard from the direction of the hall. It turned out that first the trickle-down water is collected in the first two basin, then goes into the filters and goes to another basin in the back of the shower, and the excess is poured into the remaining third.
This water is quite suitable for the drink. But in order to be able to drink it, it is run through the filters several more times and heated, and then goes to the tank under the ceiling, from where it is carried around the base, and if necessary, into barrels.
Of course, it takes some time, so I'll have to wait. Outside in the main hall, I watched the tanks fill up, while I heard a slight crackling sound, though it was drowned out by the sound of falling water.
There were cracks in the glass of the first tank that I hadn't noticed when I first entered, and now they were growing!
If nothing is done, the glass will simply blow and the entire contents will flood the main hall!
I immediately cast to the terminal to turning off the supply to the damaged tank and turned on the pumping of water from it.
There was a pop and the sound of water spilling from the hall. Looking out of the room, I saw the broken glass and a little water on the floor, which, fortunately, was already waning from the tank and poured out quite a bit.
In addition to the broken glass, some stone had washed out.
Passing through the broken glass, I saw the rest of the remains. It looks like he was inside at the worst possible time. The hatch at the top was closed, so he either drowned or died without food and air, which, undoubtedly, in any case, a horrible death!
Clouds now occupied almost the entire sky, although they were not rain clouds, but the lack of sun and the coastal wind created a noticeable chill, even among the buildings that should have prevented it.
Ahead, against the background of the sky that had not yet been delayed in that place, there was a stone tower that was a lighthouse, and next to it there should have been a small port. Usually there were two heavy boats, that sailed to the mainland several times a week for new supplies and, sometimes, soldiers. Rins said that one boat sailed on the day of the explosion, but I don't know anything about the second one…
"What if it still there?" I thought, "I could swim away from this island!"
I had half an hour before the water would pass the first stage of purification, so I, having previously stopped to refresh myself, decided to immediately go along the gravel road towards the port. In fact, it was two large buildings, one of which had a warehouse and something like a workshop, and the second had two docks for boats. A little further away there was a lighthouse, and next to the docks there was a stone pier, to which cargo ships could also sail. It was here that they anchored when the base was just being built. It is stupid to transport materials in small batches for several hours a day, using only the boats assigned to us.
There were two entrances to the workshop: one from the shore, and the other from the warehouse, so in order not to bypass the building, I decided to go through the warehouse. By itself, he did not imagine anything unusual. The dim light of the lamps illuminated several shelves and a large cluster of wooden boxes, as well as a couple of tables in the corner. Passing by another wall of boxes, something made me stop. Having noticed something that looked like bottles under the slightly ajar lid, I decided to open a drawer that caught my eye, which turned out to be completely filled with Sparkle-Cola bottles.
And again, I had a flashback.
***
"Get those crates on the boat," a large stallion in a navy uniform called to me from the entrance.
The shift at the marine depot was my least favorite. Not only do we have to do all the work for the suppliers, who just come to ship and strike, they also complained that we are slow to work! And we didn't forget to shout... as if that would make us do it faster.
Mentally expressing my displeasure, I pushed remove another box and saw someone's mane sticking out behind it.
"Uuu-uh…" I said, watching the hair disappear. The color was too familiar!
As I quickly pushed another crate aside, I saw the croup of a pegasus trying to crawl back into the warehouse, leaving two empty glass bottles at the scene of the crime.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"Oh, it's you," Pegasus said, turning around. "You're scared me!'
"Rins?" I was wonder. "You again? Leaf gonna rip your feathers off and close you in office."
"And why do you like this cola?"
"Hey! If honestly, it's delicious!" he snapped.
"Yeah, and you get used to it quickly... I like Sarsaparilla more, but can't get it anywhere!"
"If you don't tell anyone that I've been here, I'll get it," Rins said, grinning broadly.
"Okay, go already, before somepony else sees you…"
***
Backing away from the wall where I was leaning against, I lifted the lid of the crate, and took out one of the bottles. There are cold in the building, so the cola was cold. Opening the lid, I was surprised by the subsequent hiss.
"Wow, not withered yet!' I said, taking first sip of the carbonated liquid. Although, Sparkle-Cola wasn't my favorite drink, but I have to admit that it is quite delicious, especially when I last drank it just a couple of centuries ago!
Leaving half the bottle, I went into the workshop and saw a boat standing in the dry dock, with a huge hole through the front hull. On the tables against the wall, in addition to the tools, lay a large engine, which seemed to have been taken from the same boat.
"Rotten hey!" thought I, standing with the open mouth.
So that's what happened to the second boat! And why am I so lucky? It will take at least a couple of weeks to fix it, and then, if possible.
I wasn't a mechanic, but the engine didn't look disassembled either, judging by the blueprints hanging on the wall. So I just need to fix the case and get it back in place. Perhaps this is the most likely chance to get out here!
Now I would like to figure out how to patch the hole, but nothing comes to mind. Maybe I should try using the steel sheets that I saw in the warehouse, but how to drag them here? In any case, I still have time to think.
The day was already drawing to a close, so I decided to check the lighthouse before returning to headquarters.
Inside the tower there was a spiral staircase that led to a cozy caretaker's room, under the roof. There was a large bed, next to which there was a beautiful wardrobe with a couple of books and a magic lamp on the bedside table, covering a pocket radio and a loaded pistol, and the room itself was illuminated by light from four windows.
There was a staircase even higher up against the wall, where a large searchlight with a powerful lamp that could beat for many kilometers through the fog stood on a rotating platform. From here you could see almost the entire island, although most of it is filled with tall trees.
There was a small panel in front of the lamp that was turned off, with which I could make the beacon work again. By pressing the button, I conducted electricity into a powerful lamp that was turned towards the ocean. Pulling the lever, I thought that the platform would start spinning around its axis, but after a short creak in the depth of the mechanism, nothing happened.
There was a canister nearby, in which there was oil, which, it seems, lubricated the torque mechanism. Walking around the platform, I found something like a recess with a tube going inside. Relying on luck, I poured some oil into it. Pulling the lever again, at first I thought that nothing had happened, but the platform made a short turn, after which it began to turn slowly with a screech.
The platform turned five or six more times, after which the screeching disappeared, leaving only a rare tapping, at the moment of the platform becoming in its initial position. Now the lighthouse habitually illuminated the area with the light of its powerful lamp, which once helped ships not to lose their course, and now showed anyone who saw it that there were still survivors here.
It was already quite dark in the room, as well as outside. I lit the magic lamp on the table and, after a little thought, decided to stay here for the night.
