"The 'mall' is set up to look like a mall but it doesn't even have cash registers. And we can check the search thing on the computers and see if there are more computers down there. I bet there are."

"Oh." Claire frowns.

"I think that might be stronger evidence for something weird happening than the teleporting flyer. Videos can be edited," says Alex.

"Ooh, is there a way to program the computers. I'm good at programming computers," says Emily.

Claire's eyes go wide. "Please don't break the computers Emily, they might be important."

"Maybe they'll be lots more of them in the mall and then it won't matter if one gets broken. But we should check first."

"Maybe there is a manual for the computers somewhere on the encyclopedia? I did not see one but I didn't spend that much time going through it yet."

"I think Claire was referring to breaking the computers on a software level, not a hardware one, and I think they're networked so maybe it is a concern," says Riley.

Claire nods.

"One time Claire, I only managed to rewrite my computer to display exclusively eldritch runes the one time."

"Sounds like quite a story there."

"It was for my final project in a an AI class. I think I might have made a breakthrough but when I turned it on things got really weird." Emily blushes just a little.

"The government confiscated her laptop, I'm not sure what happened from there," Alex notes wryly. "I think that was one of three times they've classified things Emily has done."

"I'm not allowed to comment." Emily says.

"Well, if it turns out we're not going to be able to go home maybe you can share some of these fascinating stories." Riley is looking at Emily like Christmas came early.

"Either you have the best luck or the worst. Do try not to do anything exotic with the computers, at least for now."

"Alright, I'll be careful," Emily responds.

"Anyway, downstairs we go?" asks Riley.

"Sure."

Heading for the stairs.

And then they're in the library. Claire and Alex go to browse the stacks while Emily sits down and starts to read the Encyclopedia in alphabetical order. Riley starts reading up on medecine.

Anna starts reading up on medicine too. Linda starts reading about cleaning, and any information about teleporters available.

The medical texts list dozens of drugs that neither Riley nor Anna will recognize, one of the stranger ones is labelled as a Teleportation Support Buffer, intended to protect against the side effects of interstellar teleportation.

Linda will find articles on the various types of teleporters. There are two types of code based teleporters, elevators and airlocks which are interoperable. There are also trapdoor elevators and there's a description of something called a broken ring carriage zone which apparently allows residents to navigate within a specific zone of connected teleporters but only leave under certain special conditions.

Alex meanwhile has located a physics textbook and is flipping pages rapidly.

"Some weird stuff here. Interesting but weird."

"Huh. And apparently there's a bunch of different types of teleporters. Some of them look like they could be set off accidentally. Have to watch for that."

"Did it list anyway to tell when that's going to happen? That seems like it might be important to know." Riley asks. The article did mention the the symbol for one-way will be displayed near the entrance to a trap-door teleporter.

"There's apparently a 'one way' symbol that will be displayed near the trapdoor type."

She goes looking for further information about symbols.

"Alright."

There's a whole dictionary of symbols with about a hundred of them. Skimming through the list the ones that stick out will include wildlife, moderate danger, lethal danger, and a repeat of the one-way door symbol.

"There's kind o a lot symbols here. There's ones for 'moderate danger' and 'lethal danger and the one way sign, and a few others that look particularly important. I'm going to draw out a chart."

She gets a pencil out of her purse and a notepad out of her tote bag and starts doing that.

"Lethal danger... we should definitely memorize that one," says Riley.

"I'm liking being stuck here less and less," says Claire. "Although, some of these books are really nice."

More Symbols include: Wild Animals, Deep Water, Advancement, Library, Museum, Residential, Security, Food, Servitor, Manufacturing, Live Wires and Hazardous Material

"At least there's warning signs. Could be worse. We should see if there's a photocopier to make it easier to make a bunch of copies of the symbols. And not go off exploring alone."

"Maybe there's cell phones that work here in the mall? If not maybe there's at least radios? Something for people to call for help with if they get lost or hurt."

Emily looks up. "There's a subcategory in the encyclopedia for Mall stores, it has a map."

"Well, that will make finding what we need a lot easier," says Riley.

"Yeah. We should make a list of stuff we need before we go down to the mall. Probably need a cart or something for one thing."

She finishes drawing out the symbols for various potentially hazardous things and passes the chart around for people to look at.

"Some kind of setup for proper bathroom privacy is, well  not literally the most important thing, but pretty important. I don't want to shower in shifts or  have everyone awkwardly staring at the walls forever."