An Unexpected Guest

Day two of Nar's expedition into the Astral Plane. At least, that's what his phone is telling him. With how weird the AHS is, Nar feels like he's already been in here for a week. That's exactly the reason why one of the pieces of equipment the E.S.E.E required for adventurers traveling in the AHS was a way to tell the date/time outside the AHS. Taking care of your needs is important in the AHS, even if physically, you never feel them. So having a way to set a schedule for rest was important. Otherwise, Astral Sickness might creep up on you before you even realize. After two days of travel, Nar has managed to make it to the second layer of the Astral Highway System. Things went smoothly in the first layer, but that was to be expected. He expected that things would start getting more dangerous from this point forward. (https://youtu.be/qjV5HABkJ5A?si=M1euD96hBH1-AHjp) The highway Nar currently found himself in appeared to be a long, straight dirt path through a forest during a cool, early morning. In a way, it was kind of relaxing. With everything that was on Nar's mind at the moment, a calm, jaunt through the woods was a great way to keep him calm, and focused. He takes a deep breath to fill his lungs with crisp, cool air, and heaves a contented sigh. This might be a pretty long highway, so he might have a good ways to go before he finds a door to another one. Sure enough, the next time Nar thinks to check his phone, it tells him he's been in this highway for 4 hours now. Despite surveying the woods around him constantly, he just can't seem to find any other doors here. At least, until he trips on a tree root, and crashes to the floor. With a grunt, Nar pushes himself to his knees, and grabs his phone from off the ground in front of him. As he stands, he inspects the tree root below. It seems to run from one side of the path, to the other, and disappear into the foliage. Hey, wait a minute! This isn't a tree root! It's a cleverly disguised cord of some kind! Odd. Nar wonders what it's connected to, and where it leads. Well, there was only one way to find out. Nar picks a direction, and follows the cord off of the path, and into the woods. Usually, leaving a path in the AHS was a terrible idea, as it was incredibly easy to get lost, but as long as Nar stuck to the cord, he should be fine. He follows the cord for quite some distance before it looks like the trees part ahead. The dense foliage of the woods gives way to a misty, grass clearing, and Nar sees what the cord is leading to. It's some sort of radio tower. A short inspection of the tower brings Nar to a few conclusions. One, he has no idea how radio towers work. Two, the tower likely isn't a part of the highway naturally. It seems like it was constructed, but Nar has no idea if a radio tower would even work outside of this highway. Three, the other end of the cord must connect the tower somewhere, so he should go the other way, and check that out. Thus, Nar sets back off to follow the cord in the opposite direction. He passes through the dirt path he had been on, and enters the other side of the woods. It was honestly pretty impressive that the cord he was following managed to stay straight the entire length he followed. He would have expected something to get in it's way, and need to go around at some point. Yet, for as long as Nar has seen while following the cord, it hasn't once deviated it's path. Sure enough, after a fairly significant distance, Nar manages to find where the other end of the cord is going. Inside of a large, redwood tree, rests an AHS door. The cord appears to go directly into the tree. The door is colored red, and is marked with a glowing square. Looks like it leads to the third layer. A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. Before Nar reaches for the handle, however, he reaches into his satchel, and removes his trusty battleaxe from within. If the tower is any indication, someone might be in the highway beyond that door, and they may not be friendly. With one hand holding his battleaxe, Nar places the other on the doorknob, and slowly turns it. The door creaks as he pulls it open, gingerly, and steps into the threshold. Nar's skate touches tile flooring, and Nar emerges into what looks to be some sort of office waiting room. Granted, it's quite small, and there isn't any furniture to speak of. The room itself features shiny, white tile flooring, and a plain, slightly darker shade of white on the walls, and ceiling. At the other end of the room is a mechanical door with a small speaker next to it. The cord from the previous highway runs up along the wall next to the door, then on the ceiling, until it passes through the opposite wall, above the door. In the top right corner of the room, a single camera surveys the room. Nar approaches the speaker, and finds a little, orange button on the bottom with a label that reads "Ring for Entry." With a shrug, he presses the button, and stands up, waiting to see if anything happens. To his surprise, the speaker crackles to life, and a nasally, woman's voice comes through. "Yes! Hello? Are you here for the scheduled data transfer? You're three months late!" Nar opens his mouth to respond, but the voice cuts him off. "Come then! I have many discoveries to pass on to the society!" The door then emits a metallic hiss, and begins to slide open, revealing a similarly plain hallway beyond. Confused, Nar enters the hallway regardless, and the door slides closed behind him. After a short stroll through the hallway, Nar is met with another metallic door watched by a camera. This one opens as he approaches, revealing a much larger room beyond. As he steps inside, all Nar's mind can think of is the laboratories from the various sci-fi games, and movies he's seen. Esoteric equipment everywhere, metallic, lab tables with sterile, white tops, multiple work stations with sleek computers, and a pile of clutter near the back left corner. For a moment, Nar stands at the entrance to the lab, stunned. A shout from within the clutter grabs his attention. "Over here!" (https://youtu.be/c5fwlzpHnm8?si=eym-gAfPQxlfhs0Q) Nar approaches the pile of clutter, and rounds it to find quite the sight inside. In the middle of piles of books, notepads, and stationary, a computer sits on a desk, with a short, unicorn mare sat in a sleek, but comfortable office chair. Her hair is a frazzled brown, but shows signs of graying, and her fur is a light, caramel color. She wears a lab coat, and a pair of blue, disposable gloves. As she turns to face Nar, he sees a pair of wicked looking goggles atop her head, and a pair of sleek glasses resting on her nose. She's an older woman, likely in her early 50's. In all honesty, she looks really similar to his mother. "Ah! There you are!" The woman begins. "Do you have the supplies I requested from our last correspondence?" Nar blinks. "Wha-?" The woman pauses for a moment. "Wait. You ARE with the society, right?" Nar's head tilts to the side. This is the AHS. He can only think of one 'society' that she might be talking about. "Of Extraplanar Exploration?" The woman's face lights up. "Yes! So you are with them!" At this, Nar gives her a slow shake of his head. Judging by what he's heard, this woman has been in here a while. She likely wasn't told about what happened to the E.S.E.E. "Sorry ma'am, but the E.S.E.E Is defunct. Happened a few months back. Bad operation got nearly 50 adventurers killed, and the press caught wind. Canterlot Castle forced the E.S.E.E's Central branch to disband, and the other two branches followed soon after." The woman's bright expression quickly turns somber. "Ah. I see. I had assumed something of that nature had occurred." Her head tilts in a nod. "I assume you were one such adventurer? Either way, Thank you for telling me about this." Nar responds with a nod of his own. "I was one of the ones who  took part in that operation." "And you chose to return to the Astral Highway System, even after such a tragedy? Why?" Nar's head lowers. "I... I have matters I have to attend to here." The woman clearly wants more detail, but she relents. "I see." She then stands from her desk. "How long have you been traveling through the AHS on this expedition? Come. We can converse in a more comfortable environment." At that, the woman walks past Nar, and leads him to a door on the other side of the room. As she opens it, she reveals what looks to be a small apartment, attached to the laboratory. It features a full kitchen, living room, and two more rooms at the back, which appear to be a bathroom, and bedroom. The woman directs Nar to sit on the couch in the living area as she removes her lab gear, and neatly places it near the door. "Are you hungry? Thirsty? I'll put us on some tea. Please, do make yourself comfortable." She then begins to make her way to the kitchen, only to stop, and turn. "Oh dear me, where are my manners? I'm Micro Lens. At least, that's what my colleagues used to call me." She offers a smile, and a hand, which Nar takes. "Nar Yakushi. Though, my friends call me blockhead." The joke elicits a chuckle from Micro, who releases the handshake, and turns back to head to her kitchen. "Well Mister Yakushi. I do hope you like camomile, as I'm afraid that's all my equipment can produce for the time being." "Works for me."  Well, this was a pleasant turn of events. Nar wasn't expecting to meet anyone else in the AHS, much less someone so hospitable. If anything, Nar really wanted to learn who this woman was, why she was here, and just what her deal was. Perhaps that might be accomplished over tea.