"First we get up there! Hold tight!" Ptricia said, and pressed the release. Whirrrrr! The platform wound up to the rim of the duct in seconds, stopping with a jerk.<br/><br/>Ptricia let go and climbed up and connected the hook that was attached to the main winch mechanism, a fishing reel on a spar that stuck into the duct, before unhooking the tape measure. The cage swung across as she released it, now hanging over the duct. Shed obviously cheated a bit, as the reel then started unspooling without any sort of activation mechanism, lowering the cage more sedately down into the darkness of the duct.<br/><br/>White LED lights mounted around the outside of the base came on, and they could see the horizontal offshoots of the air conditioning system as they dropped, and feel the striong flow of warm air from below as the air headed up the riser to the exhaust vent.<br/><br/>"If Reizu's on schedule, he'll be inside the main building by now, and having fun ninjing all over the place."<br/><br/>They dropped 20 floors, and the riser reached a bottom at last, a larger chamber of sheet metal with multiple fans blowing air in.<br/><br/>"Okay we're down at the second sub-level, which if my calculations are correct... and they are, provides access to the tunnel network of the underground base."<br/><br/>As they dropped the last few feet, she was once again examing her surroundings with devices both magical and electronic.<br/><br/>"Good, the floor's alarmed, but the walls aren't." She scrambled up and tapped the fishing line once, and their descent stopped inches aboe the floor.