I sat down in front of Monty, who was eating some flatbread he made along with a bowl of chili from one of the cans I got at German school.
“We didn’t have yeast, so I made this,” he said, pointing at the plate of flatbread. “I think it’s called bannock. It’s really dense, but it’s pretty good.”
I take one, and Monty pours some chili into a bowl for me as he refills his own. It’s actually good, but after that disastrous MRE, I guess anything would taste good.
Monty suddenly looks up, like he just remembered something. The screen appears in front of me again.
I click yes without really thinking and ask, “How did you figure out how to do that?”
“I was on the base terminal, and I clicked on one of the empty rooms. I could at least see what we could build in them. When I clicked one of the options, it gave me an ‘Access Denied’ message, but it also said that upgrades and building projects can only be done by the owner or a co-owner.”
I nod and continue eating before asking, “What would you have put in the empty room?”
“I saw we could build hydroponics in there, but there were several interesting ones—a workshop, a gym, a med bay. The most interesting one was an option to dig it out further, turning it into a hallway and adding four more rooms. But I’m not doing that without at least a jackhammer.”
“We could leave the middle one empty until we decide what to do. And even then, I doubt the system would stop us from digging under the commander’s quarters.”
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I take another piece of flatbread and eat it. But first, we need to find a way to safely open the bunker door from the outside so we can both go exploring again.
Then I remember—I haven’t tried my new skill on the bunker door yet.
After finishing my meal, I head to the guard room to find the door controls. I know the control board has all the buttons, but I haven’t seen the actual mechanism.
After searching, I find the control cabinet and open it. Inside, there are a lot of wires and some black and white components.
Monty follows me out of curiosity, but the moment he sees the electrical parts, he swears.
“Ha, fuck. Not these things.”
I look at him, realizing he knows what these are.
“These are relays. Some of the farm equipment used them back home. Biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever had to deal with. The contacts get stuck if even a little dirt gets on them, and if oil gets in there, they start crumbling apart.”
He takes a screwdriver and presses one of the black indents. The bunker door starts to open. When he releases it, the doors continue opening until he presses the ‘Close Door’ button. The contact switches, and the door closes again.
Monty looks at the hydraulic piston and says, “There are two sensors on it that signal when the door is fully open or closed.”
“Hey Monty, do you think you could move the opening relay closer to the door?”
He gives me a weird look but shrugs. “Yeah, I can do that if I have some cables.”
I tell him to wait here while I head to the storage room. I grab a spool of thin cables and bring them back, handing them to Monty.
Less than half an hour later, the relay is now taped next to the bunker door, with a cable running along the ground back into the control cabinet.
We press the ‘Open Door’ button, and it still works.
I tell Monty to stay put and close the door once I’m outside.
As the bunker door closes, I place my hand on the outer wall where the relay is taped on the other side—and use Overload.
After a few seconds of electrical buzzing, I hear the door begin to open.
Monty looks confused and asks, “How did you do that?”
I grin. “One of my new skills lets me mess with electronics. But you know what that means—we can explore together again.”
Monty stares at the still-opening door and mutters, “That should not work. Aren’t bunkers built to withstand an electromagnetic pulse?”
I just shrug.
“Well, good thing it’s magic then—and not electromagnetic whatever-you-said.”
