"I suppose I misspoke, then. I just wanted to know where the beacons were on the shuttle."

Seeing the back door of the shuttle open, Valorum returned the beacon he was holding to its dormant state, put it back in the box, sealed it, and grabbed the whole thing to carry under his arm. Picking up his briefcase with his other hand, he discreetly informs Ylona:

"Oh, and I've uploaded a copy of the weekly report into the Adamant's computers for you to finalise. There's still a few hours before its transmission is scheduled, though, so there's no need to rush."

And with a bow of his head, out of respect to his pilot if nothing else, Valorum steps out into the storm.

----------

The terrain outside was exactly as Ylona described it; a flat expanse of densely-packed gravel with a short mound barely 40 feet ahead. The wind was howling all around, but there was no snow anywhere near the ground. It was all about 100 feet above the party, churning like a cauldron of mist in the raging storm. Though there was no slippery terrain to worry about thanks to the nature of this world's weather, the harshness of the wind was still an issue, as Ylona previously described. Fortunately, thanks to the added weight from the armour beneath his cloak and the box he was carrying, Valorum was far too heavy for the wind to topple him, even without any cleats or stabilising spikes on his feet. Still, something about the ever-present noise and unstable environment made an old instinct click in the Vodyani's head. Looking back at the rest of his team, he called out over the roaring storm in a commanding shout:

"All units, forward!"

And he began to lead the sluggish march towards the entrance of the ruin.

The sower floats out, as soon as it sees the surface of the planet a familiar feeling comes up.
<This is unclaimed, unbuild, untouched land ... a whole planet to explore... >
Blueprints were filling its mind and its scanners started to gather data, its view was filled with imaginary structures.
<The wind could be harnessed for power, communication Surface-to-Surface should be done underground, the worms are problem, but not he->
Its subroutine driven Thought-Patterns got interrupted by Valorum´s shout, it hovered over, next to the captain.
The floating Ball of Metal was slower than usual as its Graviton device also needed to cancel out the strong winds of the planet,  it finally caught up with the captain, while scanning the terrain around and in front of them.

Valorum could see it too; what was once a tall black tower had since had its upper levels sheared off; whether by the world's storms or a deliberate attack,  nobody could say for sure, but there it was, jutting out from the ground a long distance ahead, barely 10 metres in height. Looking back at his team, he shouted over the storm:

"There's the entrance! Keep moving!"

The entrance was some kind of automated door, the door was deep black, even after the many years it probably was here the material was still reflecting like a mirror instead of getting dull, multiple interfaces were next to it.

Tainted dashes forward as they are only about 15 Meters away.
"Familiar Blueprints, but inefficient, still known ..." It floats to the interface, its glow was dim and also for the ones which didn't understand the displayed language (it's endless) it is obvious that an error is displayed
"This Unit could try to connect, alternative possibilities recommended."
 it said as it knows that connecting with unknown systems can be very dangerous.
"Probability of endless Structure ... 87%"
 the robot said with its limited knowledge about its creators.

Watching the subdued 'drone' return to its position beside him, Valorum nodded his approval before giving the structure before him another look. Neither he nor 7-1-4 had been shot at or blown up, so whatever this was, it was either unpowered or not a defensive structure. The door before him was imposing, but he had seen its kind before; big, shiny, and...inlaid with something. Thin lines had been traced all along the front of the door in what appeared to be some faded, gold compound. It wasn't writing, or any letters even the Vodyani could recognise, but there was definitely a pattern there. Before he could move to check it, though, he heard the rest of the team make it to the top of the mound on which this tower rested, no doubt huffing and puffing from the run. Setting down the crate of radio beacons he was carrying, Valorum looked back and called out:

"Apologies for the impromptu exercise. Catch your breath if you need to, but make it quick. This is the ruin's main entrance, and we must determine if it is still viable."

The Captain shouted and Frame ran. A small metal orb burrowing a hole through the snow. Sprinting past the rest of the group, it barely made it to the entrance seconds behind Valorum.

+!!!+

<Calm>

{That damnned...}

[Quiet.]

"7-1-4, ... suffer greatly ... divided. Do not ... everyone's sake."

+Seven-One-Four?... A name!?+

"Apologies for the impromptu exercise. Catch your breath if you need to, but make it quick. This is the ruin's main entrance, and we must determine if it is still viable."

(Since Blackbird's taking a while, I'm just going to take control of Rolak for a second.)

Chidi Tehik sits down, catching his breath from the run. He hadn't been expecting that, but he followed orders and pursued the Sower, all while scanning his surroundings and keeping proximity to the Sophon. It would have been bad if the little guy had blown away in the wind. Seeing the soldier take a break, Rolak rolls his eyes and approaches Valorum, who's staring at the structure before him.

"You mind sharing your thoughts, sir?"

The Vodyani glances at his acting second-in-command.

"Not tired from the run, brother?"

The Chief of Security scoffs.

"I'll live. You don't make a name for yourself as a merc by being soft."

Satisfied, Valorum nods, and replies while staring at the building before him:

"Ylona mentioned to me that there's a chance this ruin isn't of Endless origin. We seek Tor, ultimately, so if this ruin isn't Endless, then it isn't necessary to explore it; we could be jeopardizing this team for the sake of knowledge that ultimately means nothing to us..."

Rolak made a short 'hmm' noise while looking up at the broken, yet imposing structure.

"Is there any way to...y'know...check? Without turning something on?"

Valorum is quite for a few moments before saying:

"There is something I can do..."

Setting his briefcase down, Valorum approaches the looming doors of the ruin. Now right next to the door, Valorum holds up his free hand to its surface, as if using the shade it cast to examine the door itself. Seeing nothing, he walks along the length of the door, scrutinising the door while at different heights, now clearly showing that there was some method to his actions. It was only once he neared the door-frame, close to one of the consoles, that he stopped, staring. Curious, Rolak approached and saw what Valorum had found; a faintly glowing, golden line, like some kind of circuit, with one part going straight up along the doorframe while the other bent to the right, towards the console. It was completely invisible before, but had somehow been revealed once Valorum approached it. Rolak was taken aback.

"...the hell?"

The captain's voice sounds satisfied as he explains:

"It's a leyline, or a circuit as you might know it. It's a conduit through which Dust is channeled like power. There can be no doubt now; this ruin is of Endless make."

The robot supposed the flight was a bit unsteady and the landing could have been smoother. Valorum didn’t helped at all. The robot never thought that confidence would be this low that the Captain himself was already saying prayers. Apart from that, Laudmas was a bit disappointed that most of the passengers were a lot more boring than he expected. A big shame that most did not wanted to talk during the descent. Just as well, perhaps there will be more time to talk when they reach the ruins.

“Oof.”

The ship landed with a proper thump. Laudmas took the piece of limestone (while shoving a robotic smirk) and quickly loaded up the important equipments on a trolley. The hover bikes were left behind on the ship (the weather was a bit too nasty) and one of the crates made an unsettling crack as another one was thrown on top of it.

Hearing Valorum’s bark, the robot quickly started budging along. The wind was a bit distracting but having a bit of cool air was helpful. Unfortunately, (due to the heavy load) by the time he reached the ruins most of his comrade were already inspecting what seems to be a metal door. 

Seeing that, Laudmas promptly lit up. 

“Perhaps my friends may need some help from someone less sophisticated.” 

And with that, the robot rushed to the door (bumping the Automaton along the way), twisted what appeared to be a knob and pushed forward with a bit of machine strength. The door gave out a large groan and slowly opened, revealing a pitch-black interior. 

“That wasn’t so hard.” The robot said as he looked jauntily to his comrades.

"Wait."

{That doesn't look right...}

"That doesn't look right."

The darkness on the other side of the aperature looked noticably wrong  to the spectropic scans that Guide had requested Frame to conduct as soon as the Captain had beckoned. The darkness on the other side was scattering no light and returning no thermal energy from a seemingly invisible surface aproximately 2 meters from the door frame. The closest analogue Guide had was that of an event horizon, but this surface wasn't even emmiting gravitons. The faint stream of Dust that fed into the door multiplied into a myriad of pathways, all ending abruptly in the darkness beyond.

"Captain, I advise caution." Zeroes began. "I've detected a potentially SEVERE Spatial Anomaly." Guide explained the situation, and Zeros relayed it to the group.

"Now, we could try poking around with whatever that is... But I AM NOT going to be the one who does. However, before the good doctor approached, I did make note of an interesting facet in this situation."

Frame pointed to the stretch of conduit directly behind Valorum. At first glance it seemed indistinguishable from the others but, on closer inspection and with a little explanation, it could be noted that the Dust stream pulsed slightly as it was passing the Captain. 

{Some form of security?}

"I believe I have an explanation, but my theory could use testing. Captain, if you'd be so kind as to allow me to accompany you." Zeroes finished its briefing with a customary Vodyani deferential request and a gesture toward the flat screen beside the door.