The group decide to explore the long passageway leading down from the pendulum chamber, Wilhelm and Vann lead the way with Bucky bringing up the rear. Whilst they are walking Bucky stops to collect a sample of the animal droppings that litter the floor. At the end of the corridor the group find a room full of machinery, but its complexity defeats them and they cannot find a way to switch it off. Down a side corridor they find a barred exit to the outside, which seems to lead to the shaft Tommy and Wilhelm found earlier at the base of the largest pyramid. Wilhelm suggests that he could cut through the bars, using his laser rifle, in about twenty minutes but the others want to press on as they only have about two and a half hours of oxygen left in the suits. So, they decide to return back the way they came.
Returning to the upper level and to the shaft where Bucky made his descent, they explore the two side corridors that Bucky ignored when he was first here. The first just leads to another small chamber, whilst the other one leads along to what seems like a door, Vann and Bucky give it a push and slowly it begins to open, flooding the corridor with light and opening a doorway to the outside. Bucky decides to head back to the Aurora while the others begin to rappel down to the lower level. Everyone makes it down the cable without any mishaps.Quickly they make their way along the main corridor to where the pendulum is. Three large chambers are located off the chamber, in two of them the group find what appear to be sets of controls, in one chamber all the controls seem to be turned off but in the other the controls show that power is going to a number of systems in the pyramids. The third chamber is empty except for a curiously smooth block of stone set in the middle of the chamber. In the active control chamber Tommy examines each of the controls and finds three depressions beneath each one, pressing each depression does not seem to change any of the readings, so Tommy and Vann go back to the pendulum chamber leaving Wilhelm to study the controls. One thing Tommy notices is that the pendulum is swinging in an intricate pattern over three plates on the floor, he and Vann remove the plates and reveal eight small compartments. After opening all the compartments all he finds are twelve small metal clips which can be clipped on to a cable to help in climbing.
When they return to the control room Wilhelm says that he has had a bit of luck in decyphering the controls, he presses two of the depressions simultaneously and the power level for that gauge drops to zero. Rapidly, the three of them each take a bank of controls and turn them all off, plunging them into darkness. Tommy radios Oliver and Bucky and tells them that the beam might be disabled, To test this Bucky goes back to the pyramid and looks for something to test the theory, not finding anything on the ground he delves into his pockets and throws the first thing he finds towards the pyramid. The thrown animal droppings do not trigger the beam, and there is a profound silence from the others when they hear what Bucky has done.
Wilhelm tells Oliver to lift off gently and to bring his ship closer to the pyramid, as the ship comes over the dunes there is no reaction from the pyramid, with a sigh of relief from both Oliver and Wilhelm the Aurora, settles back down beside the pyramid. Tommy, Vann and Wilhelm make there way back to the cable and with the help of the clips Tommy found they quickly climb back up and exit the pyramid through the door they found. Wilhelm goes and retrieves his cable before following the others back to the ship. Gingerly Wilhelm takes off and at a safe distance climbs up and back into orbit.
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