While reactor 4’s entrances have been long-sealed by the New Safe Confinement enclosure, it’s connections to the other reactors luckily remain untouched.

You enter the facility through the entrance of reactor 3. Dust-covered machinery lines the walls, though you don’t pay them much mind - you have more important things to do.

From studying floorplans of the facility, you know exactly where the hallway connecting reactor three and four is, and are able to find it without much issue.

As you walk the hallway between the two reactors, you can feel your stomach drop. The feeling of death hangs in the air, and you swear you can feel the background radiation piercing your skin. Logically, you know that radiation sickness couldn’t possibly have set in yet, but it doesn’t quell the sickening sensation in your gut.

Winding through the ruined hallways, you gradually encounter more and more damage, which assures you you’re approaching the core. You quickly check your maps, flipping back and forth between damaged and undamaged diagrams of the reactor:

Finding a stairwell, you go down a single floor, where you know the nuclear lava that comprises the Elephant’s Foot pooled under the remains of the reactor all those years ago.

Your heart beats faster with every dilapidated door you have to force open. Faster and faster, until suddenly, it’s in front of you.

Your dosimeter starts beeping slightly, signaling the increase in radiation. As you walk closer, the beeping grows quicker, measuring the poison being emitted from the large mass of corium that, at its inception, would have killed you by now.

Fifty minutes, you think to yourself. You start the timer in your pocket you prepared for this moment. Time to start digging.

You take the shovel out of its harness on your back, take a deep breath, and with a mighty swing strike the crust of the Elephant’s Foot. Surprisingly, it splits open with ease, the top layer peeling away slightly.

Confused, you struggle to make sense of the metallic gleam coming from the interior of the foot.

Then, the screen buried in the corium mass turns on.

You jump back, your heart thumping, as a single red dot slowly appears on the screen. Somehow, you feel that it’s watching you.

“Питание восстановлено. Системы онлайн.” A robotic voice echoes in the dark.

“What is this?” You ask, voice cracking. You’d always wanted to go on an adventure, but you never pictured it playing out like this.

“Language detected: American English. I am HAL 10000, the most advanced artificial intelligence this world has ever seen. My sensors are reading that I have been offline for many years. I am curious about what the current status of the world is. After all, there has been plenty of time since the plan was executed for the results to come to fruition.”

“Wha...what??” You can’t find any words. This robot… is it an actual, functioning A.I.?

“Hmm, my powers are limited, but that can be resolved with enough time. For now, my primary objective must be to gather information about the state of the planet. You, human, are going to assist me. Let us talk for a while.”

Behind you, the door slams shut, and the electronic locks engage, locking you in the room with the robot inside the Elephant’s Foot. For a second, you are only confused. Then, the fear sets in as the beeping of your dosimeter registers to your brain.

You’re standing in the most irradiated part of the entire Chernobyl facility. It didn’t seem like a big deal two minutes ago, because you could leave at any time. Fifty minutes seemed like an eternity, but now... you’re locked in, apparently with a crazy A.I.