The group continue underneath the city and find the control centre for power and forcefields. They are able to disable the forcefield and head back up. They go up the spire until they get the the room at the top which is locked. They are able to enter by climbing up the outside of the building from underneath where they come across a hologram which disables the flight mode of the city. However the auto-safety is still operating and the city slows enough to prevent death when it lands, but immediately starts sinking into the sea. Kell is able to hack into the system and take control, lifting the city back out of the water. They are now able to take their time to fully understand the controls and have a massive flying city at their disposal. But what to do with it? Kell decides to take some time to really understand the city systems well, and Nes decides to set up a more homely living environment in the luxury offices below. Chips and Buster decide to take the time to explore more of the city. They start in the military section, finding a large amount of numenera and some monitors that show most parts of the outside of the building. They then head into the recreation section of the city. The amount of holograms, lightshows and sound is almost overwhelming, but they are able to make their way through the winding streets and alleys of the area. They come across a group of beings called Wairexal. The Wairexal welcome Kell and Chips into their homes and they spend the night there, telling and hearing many stories. From these stories the explorers learn that this city was once a spaceport and the Wairexal were part of a larger group who were visiting earth as tourists. However the city was attacked by android visitants and the natives were wiped out. All vehicles were destroyed or disabled and instellar communication was wiped out which left the Wairexal stranded. Since then, they have stayed in the city. They have found a permanent source of food in the matter creation units in the food stalls and have been happy to stay and tell stories until rescue comes. By their reckoning they have been here for 4 generations and through several hundred years. The next morning, a young Wairexal takes them to the food stalls where they find a permanent source of human compatible food (though not so tasty). However they are forced to climb to the top of the stalls to escape a roaming pack of broken hounds. They then start making their way back to the tower, but are contacted by Nes who says he can see 6 people approaching the tower. They rush back to the tower where they find the strangers trashing the atrium as they look for items of interest. Buster goes in to talk to them, but it turns out that the leader of them is not interested in friendship and demands payment for Buster to continue staying in the city. Buster escapes, and then he and Chips re-enter through a side door. A game of cat and mouse then ensues through the stairwells and lift shafts with Chips and Buster picking off the enemy one by one. This concludes in a shootout in the main atrium where the leader is almost killed but teleports away. The one remaining stranger surrenders just as Nes makes it down from the top of the tower (it's a long way). The strangers name is Valhees, and while he was part of the group he was finding he liked them less and less. He had joined them since he has some specialist skills (including vision that allows him some x-ray ability, and the ability to see in the dark). He also is extremely fast when he needs to be. They had come up in a floating platform cypher and had been exploring parts of the city for weeks. He takes the group through the high quarter, pointing out the dangers and where they have already explored. He then takes them to the groups base where they have discovered a vault filled with time-frozen provisions edible by humans. It is a huge amount of provisions and would have lasted the group at least a year. Buster, Nes and Chips decide he is worth trusting and ask him to join them.
