Underground Structures and Tunnels

[Killer Cyborg]

And yet since none of those are nano scale in size or manipulate items at the nano scale (they operate at cellular scale and up, not molecule scale) they cannot be nano machines.

Wrong.
They are "nano-bots." That's flat-out stated.
Can you find it flat-out stated that they are NOT able to manipulate items at the nano-scale?
Because it sounds to me that you're letting something that you think would be likely or true outweigh something that's stated in canon.

Just palladium's writers trying to make something seem more than it is as a form of dramatic hyperbole.

I'm not going to say that I think it's impossible that the writers were lacking a full understanding of the real-world science.
But much like the way that nuclear power, plasma weapons, giant robots, and other stuff in Rifts doesn't fully fit what we currently understand of real-world science, that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist as described in the setting.

[Shark_Force]

pretty sure japan has nanobots in their golden age time-transported city that can be released in a cloud to disassemble all the things.

I could be wrong though... I'm afb at the moment. but I'm almost certain someone has that tech... I think it's in the GMG as well, i'll see if I can track it down later (unless someone else does first).

[boring7]

Upon impact, the grenade or missile releases a cloud of tiny particles. These particles are actually thousands of tiny nano-bots that attack mega-damage armor on a molecular level; usually

edit:

The AADs are programmed to only attack the primary target, e.g. the first armor they find/strike. They do not "leap" from one armored mega-damage structure to another like fleas on a dog, or move from one target to the next like a swarm of ants. Furthermore, they are programmed to seek out and attack only military-type metal alloys like those used for power armor, body armor, cyborgs, robots, guns and armored vehicles. They will NOT attack M.D. ceramics, plastics, concrete, or superhuman flesh (or magic items/materials). Nor will they attack mega-damage materials coated, encased or attached to real or artificial flesh; protecting most cybernetic and bionic implants, optics, organs, and limbs. However, borg armor and external weapons, guns and plating are vulnerable and subject to dissolving. As an additional fail-safe, the nano-bots only have a life of 50 minutes, after which time they become inert and harmless.

Further showing that the nanites are also fairly complex and intelligent in terms of programming and what they can recognize.

I'm still not entirely convinced that you could go full "molecular forge" a grey goo that not only breaks things down but then reassembles them outside of controlled (such as a lab, or a human body) environments or reproduce itself just by "eating" raw materials in its surroundings; but I wouldn't call it "unreasonable retconnian nonsense" if it showed up.

The fact that Rifts books use "button sized", "microscopic" and "nanite" interchangeably is a different argument, but we can chalk it up to Art Major Physics and #riftsediting and move on with our lives.

[Shark_Force]

oh good, that means i don't have to go through a few dozen pages of the GMG to find that

[rem1093]

Just an idea but you could have something like the InHumanoids.

[Daniel Stoker]

Oh lordy... I loved that cartoon way to much not to steal from it.


Daniel Stoker

[glitterboy2098]

And yet since none of those are nano scale in size or manipulate items at the nano scale (they operate at cellular scale and up, not molecule scale) they cannot be nano machines.

Wrong.
They are "nano-bots." That's flat-out stated.
Can you find it flat-out stated that they are NOT able to manipulate items at the nano-scale?
Because it sounds to me that you're letting something that you think would be likely or true outweigh something that's stated in canon.

actually i'm going entirely by their full description. items have to be analyized by examining their full descriptions not just cherry picking single words.

the IRMSS and IRVT bots are both described as "about the size of a pinhead", which means they are not nano-scale. hell a pinhead is barely even milli scale.
the RAU and RMK bots are even larger still, being "three inches long and one inch wide" and "the size of a shirt button' respectively.

further lets look at what they do?

IRMSS = repeairs internal injury, specifically mentions blood clots, torn/ruptured veins, internal bleeding, and minor damage to internal organs.
IRVT = locates and sends back sensor data on blocked, pinched, and damaged arteries, veins, and other internal passageways.
RAU = crawls along a wound, removing dead flesh and pus, cleaning the wound and spraying antiseptic.
RMK = crawls along the body seeking out cuts in the skin. sprays disinfectant, cuts away dead or infected flesh, and sutured the cuts closed. good against cuts, bruises, bullet and stab wounds.

none of these are nano scale operations. no mention of breaking down molecular structures, of altering/repairing DNA, etc. just operating on full multi-cellular tissues.

so if they are not nano in size and do not perform operations on items of nano scale, by that same definition you posted they are not nano-bots.

pretty sure japan has nanobots in their golden age time-transported city that can be released in a cloud to disassemble all the things.

I could be wrong though... I'm afb at the moment. but I'm almost certain someone has that tech... I think it's in the GMG as well, i'll see if I can track it down later (unless someone else does first).

WB08 also does not specify that the armor dissolver warheads are pre-rifts tech. and since it goes on to say "The AAD is NOT available on the Black Market or in any other part of the world. Nano-technology, like the SAMAS and many other pre-Rifts technologies and secrets, exists only in the Republic of Japan and the city of Nagasaki in particular. The Black Market, Coalition States and most nations do NOT have the technology, resources or understanding to "knock-off any sort of nano-technology. Only Triax or Naruni Enterprises could learn and develop nano-tech, but it will take even them 10 to 15 years of study and development to reach a stage equal to that currently held by the Republic of Japan."
indicating that the nano-tech weapons are a post-rifts development. otherwise Triax would not require a decade plus to develop nanotech bots in general (not just the AAD's). if it was pre-rifts tech, Triax would already have details on how to make the basic nano-tech machinery. further that passage makes it clear that no one other than japan has nanotechnology machinery, which reinforces the fact that nano-boots are not a pre-rifts tech. clearly it is one of the advances the Republic of japan has made since they emerged from their pocket dimension in PA87.

however that, plus the use of larger pinhead sized bots in various pre-rifts systems like the medical kits does suggest that pre-rifts earth might have been near to a true nano-bot technology in the 2090's. probably only lab based developmental systems at best, still on the drawing board at worse. very small scale production if it exists at all, and certainly very specialized designs. (to be honest, the AAD system could easily be a weaponization of 'assembler' bots meant for some form of additive assembly or a very advanced vehicular self-repair system.)

[Killer Cyborg]

And yet since none of those are nano scale in size or manipulate items at the nano scale (they operate at cellular scale and up, not molecule scale) they cannot be nano machines.

Wrong.
They are "nano-bots." That's flat-out stated.
Can you find it flat-out stated that they are NOT able to manipulate items at the nano-scale?
Because it sounds to me that you're letting something that you think would be likely or true outweigh something that's stated in canon.

actually i'm going entirely by their full description. items have to be analyized by examining their full descriptions not just cherry picking single words.

the IRMSS and IRVT bots are both described as "about the size of a pinhead", which means they are not nano-scale. hell a pinhead is barely even milli scale.
the RAU and RMK bots are even larger still, being "three inches long and one inch wide" and "the size of a shirt button' respectively.

Right.
And since "nanobot" is defined as
1. a machine or robot built on the nanoscale, still in the research-and-development stage, with potential applications in medicine and industry.
OR
2. a machine or robot that can manipulate nanoscale objects with great precision.
... and we know that it's NOT definition 1, that leaves Definition 2.

further lets look at what they do?

IRMSS = repeairs internal injury, specifically mentions blood clots, torn/ruptured veins, internal bleeding, and minor damage to internal organs.
IRVT = locates and sends back sensor data on blocked, pinched, and damaged arteries, veins, and other internal passageways.
RAU = crawls along a wound, removing dead flesh and pus, cleaning the wound and spraying antiseptic.
RMK = crawls along the body seeking out cuts in the skin. sprays disinfectant, cuts away dead or infected flesh, and sutured the cuts closed. good against cuts, bruises, bullet and stab wounds.

none of these are nano scale operations.

Forgive me for not instantly accepting your assumptions about how a fictional robot described in a few paragraphs physically accomplishes the tasks described.

no mention of breaking down molecular structures, of altering/repairing DNA, etc. just operating on full multi-cellular tissues.

And nothing forbidding those things.

if they are not nano in size and do not perform operations on items of nano scale, by that same definition you posted they are not nano-bots.

Conversely, if they are nano-bots (and we know that they ARE according to canon), then they are either nano in size, OR they are capable of performing nano-scale operations.
Since we know they're not nano in size, that leaves one option.

[Shark_Force]

rifts japan also says nobody else can make particle beam pistols, and yet northern gun - not the coalition or wilks or even triax - has a particle beam pistol.

rifts is incredibly bad at actually defending these blanket statements. like techno-wizardry, which "originated in north america"...

oh, and also the xiticix have TW weapons (and have advanced to the point where they can replace the most expensive components with MDC resin-based concrete). and some guys in australia. and ninjas in japan. and atlantis, which has been using them for millenia. and the united worlds of warlock. and true atlanteans. and the dwarves in... queenston i think it is? and the nazca have a few things which are counted as techno-wizardry. maybe one of the nations in underseas too?

[taalismn]

Given that an IRMSS 'bot is expected to get through blood vessels and help actively HEAL a person, and not become an even worse clotting hazard to the patient, I'd grandfather them as nanomachines.

But to try to gravity-tractor this thread back on-topic:

Other structures underground:
*Toxic/Radioactive Waste Repositories....Oh yeah these get REAL fun....
*Illegal Labs---We're talking small companies or mad scientist individuals with access to small, but sophisticated, lab technology, and maybe an inside man at the local waterworks willing to loan them some time with the big drilling machine currently drilling a deep runoff pre-treatment storage reservoir for the municipal water treatment system to make a side tunnel,,,then seal it off.
*Records Storage ---Not everybody trusts digital storage media, so many folks will want backup records in deep vaults.
*Contraband Srorage---Stolen items of great value but also great ease of identification; the diehard collectors who don't give a $#!+ about fencing the stuff, but just want to OWN it, gotta hide it somewhere...or maybe they've taking a long term view and hoping that with time they, or their descendants, might be able to successfully blur the evidence trail between the illegal acquisition and themselves(yeah, right!)
*Buried Martian Warmachines....they overslept and missed the Tom Cruise era...Rats!

[Killer Cyborg]

rifts japan also says nobody else can make particle beam pistols, and yet northern gun - not the coalition or wilks or even triax - has a particle beam pistol.

Which came out first, the Japan book, or the book with the Northern Gun particle pistol?

rifts is incredibly bad at actually defending these blanket statements. like techno-wizardry, which "originated in north america"...

oh, and also the xiticix have TW weapons

Actually, the Xiticix have TW-like weapons, not actual technowizardry.

and some guys in australia. and ninjas in japan. and atlantis, which has been using them for millenia.

1. I'd go with "technowizardry native to Rifts Earth originated in North America."
When we say stuff like "Edison invented the lightbulb," we're not necessarily saying that he did it in every dimension, nor on every alien world.
Same things if we talk about where dreadlocks originated--we're just talking about our planet, not every planet.

2. IIRC, Japan talks about TW stuff from pre-Rifts times, though. Or maybe it's just proto-technowizardry.
The Japan book tossed a lot of previous canon out the window.

[Blue_Lion]

And yet since none of those are nano scale in size or manipulate items at the nano scale (they operate at cellular scale and up, not molecule scale) they cannot be nano machines.

Wrong.
They are "nano-bots." That's flat-out stated.
Can you find it flat-out stated that they are NOT able to manipulate items at the nano-scale?
Because it sounds to me that you're letting something that you think would be likely or true outweigh something that's stated in canon.

actually i'm going entirely by their full description. items have to be analyized by examining their full descriptions not just cherry picking single words.

the IRMSS and IRVT bots are both described as "about the size of a pinhead", which means they are not nano-scale. hell a pinhead is barely even milli scale.
the RAU and RMK bots are even larger still, being "three inches long and one inch wide" and "the size of a shirt button' respectively.

further lets look at what they do?

IRMSS = repeairs internal injury, specifically mentions blood clots, torn/ruptured veins, internal bleeding, and minor damage to internal organs.
IRVT = locates and sends back sensor data on blocked, pinched, and damaged arteries, veins, and other internal passageways.
RAU = crawls along a wound, removing dead flesh and pus, cleaning the wound and spraying antiseptic.
RMK = crawls along the body seeking out cuts in the skin. sprays disinfectant, cuts away dead or infected flesh, and sutured the cuts closed. good against cuts, bruises, bullet and stab wounds.

none of these are nano scale operations. no mention of breaking down molecular structures, of altering/repairing DNA, etc. just operating on full multi-cellular tissues.

so if they are not nano in size and do not perform operations on items of nano scale, by that same definition you posted they are not nano-bots.

pretty sure japan has nanobots in their golden age time-transported city that can be released in a cloud to disassemble all the things.

I could be wrong though... I'm afb at the moment. but I'm almost certain someone has that tech... I think it's in the GMG as well, i'll see if I can track it down later (unless someone else does first).

WB08 also does not specify that the armor dissolver warheads are pre-rifts tech. and since it goes on to say "The AAD is NOT available on the Black Market or in any other part of the world. Nano-technology, like the SAMAS and many other pre-Rifts technologies and secrets, exists only in the Republic of Japan and the city of Nagasaki in particular. The Black Market, Coalition States and most nations do NOT have the technology, resources or understanding to "knock-off any sort of nano-technology. Only Triax or Naruni Enterprises could learn and develop nano-tech, but it will take even them 10 to 15 years of study and development to reach a stage equal to that currently held by the Republic of Japan."
indicating that the nano-tech weapons are a post-rifts development. otherwise Triax would not require a decade plus to develop nanotech bots in general (not just the AAD's). if it was pre-rifts tech, Triax would already have details on how to make the basic nano-tech machinery. further that passage makes it clear that no one other than japan has nanotechnology machinery, which reinforces the fact that nano-boots are not a pre-rifts tech. clearly it is one of the advances the Republic of japan has made since they emerged from their pocket dimension in PA87.

however that, plus the use of larger pinhead sized bots in various pre-rifts systems like the medical kits does suggest that pre-rifts earth might have been near to a true nano-bot technology in the 2090's. probably only lab based developmental systems at best, still on the drawing board at worse. very small scale production if it exists at all, and certainly very specialized designs. (to be honest, the AAD system could easily be a weaponization of 'assembler' bots meant for some form of additive assembly or a very advanced vehicular self-repair system.)

While none of the functions requires nano-scale operation they can be done on a nano scale. Cutting away dead flesh while traditional done at a scale larger than cellular could also be done by cutting away at a nono-scale.

Basically you are coming acrossed as I do not want rifts to have nano-tech so the books are wrong.
Rather than just looking to say the books are wrong, look to see if there is a way that the books can be correct before you say it is wrong. If a way can be found for the books to be right then the books are not wrong.

PG 71 Glitter boy power armor. Second paragraph last sentence.
"The super dense Chrome armor is constructed on a molecular level and can withstand more ...."

So we know they could work on the molecular level pre rifts, and would have had nano tech.
**So the golden age did have access to nano tech. It is possible they could have created experimental digging machines using such tech that could fit the rouge digger idea The big issue would be power source as the unit would have to be operating for much longer than standard rift power sources.

[boring7]

So we know they could work on the molecular level pre rifts, and would have had nano tech.
**So the golden age did have access to nano tech. It is possible they could have created experimental digging machines using such tech that could fit the rouge digger idea The big issue would be power source as the unit would have to be operating for much longer than standard rift power sources.

If it's "matter editing" and "self-repairing" level smart/super-sciencey it can build replacement reactor parts. It can also reproduce itself, make tunnel systems that span for miles, make them super-strong/waterproof/drainage-equipped (to handle earthquakes and water issues) and fill it with weird crap.

Personally I'd put the tunnels in the Rocky Mountains; since that helps deal with Water Table issues (you can be at a high altitude AND underground, because mountains) and lets you play with a big, mostly-empty (but still North American) map.

And now I'm just thinking about Black Mesa.

[Blue_Lion]

Fallout Rifts.

You are a member of vault 69.

[slade the sniper]

OK, well having thought about it for a while, here is what I have come up with...
Salt Lake City, Utah was buried underneath millions of tons of ash from the Yosemite super volcano. Therefore, that will be my dungeon...a city underneath a mountain of ash. Unrealistic, of course it is. What I am going to do is make a big map using the "caverns" setting in the dungeon maker at donjon.com and then overlay that over a map of Salt Lake City...and boom...adventure time!
The city is easily big enough for mutants and morlocks and allows for external adventure on the ash plains/mountains, internal in the caverns on the city, and then the subways, sewers and other stuff...plus the Salt Lake allows for some aquatic stuff as well.

-STS

[glitterboy2098]

actually, i'm pretty sure WB14 put Salt lake City as in the middle of a radioactive wasteland.
here is, pg 130, the keepers of the desert. while the origins of the keepers are said to be myth, the locations are indicated to be real.

[Library Ogre]

actually, i'm pretty sure WB14 put Salt lake City as in the middle of a radioactive wasteland.
here is, pg 130, the keepers of the desert. while the origins of the keepers are said to be myth, the locations are indicated to be real.

I can see it as both. Dumped ash, then covered by radioactive waste. Keepers of the Desert live up top, crazy mole-people live below.

[slade the sniper]

actually, i'm pretty sure WB14 put Salt lake City as in the middle of a radioactive wasteland.
here is, pg 130, the keepers of the desert. while the origins of the keepers are said to be myth, the locations are indicated to be real.

I can see it as both. Dumped ash, then covered by radioactive waste. Keepers of the Desert live up top, crazy mole-people live below.

Well, judging by how my players acted when facing a scary looking, but scrupulous necromancer...I think they will place the Keepers in the "kill them with fire" bucket. Oddly enough they have no problem with the sexy vampires, good looking werewolf or clearly evil, but friendly mercenary. So if it's ugly, they kill it...and if it attractive they make friends with it...strange.

So, now that my cavernous map is complete (90 miles by 60 miles), I just need to populate it. First idea is a weak exiled Nightlord undergroud with his cultists vs the Keepers who are trying to get rid of him for the central conflict. Might need to have a few more...

-STS

[Shark_Force]

fun thing to consider: the LDS church, headquartered in Salt Lake City, has vaults dug out to store church records that are intended to last through all kinds of distasters.

imagine the look on your groups' faces when they uncover an ancient vault, protected by all kinds of high-tech stuff to preserve whatever is inside... and they find billions upon billions of pages of genealogical records.

good times

[slade the sniper]

fun thing to consider: the LDS church, headquartered in Salt Lake City, has vaults dug out to store church records that are intended to last through all kinds of distasters.

imagine the look on your groups' faces when they uncover an ancient vault, protected by all kinds of high-tech stuff to preserve whatever is inside... and they find billions upon billions of pages of genealogical records.

good times

Stolen! I suspect that some evil supernatural beings might find those records useful as well I think that in the future (during the Golden Age...) the LDS would have a lot more records.

-STS

[Shark_Force]

fun thing to consider: the LDS church, headquartered in Salt Lake City, has vaults dug out to store church records that are intended to last through all kinds of distasters.

imagine the look on your groups' faces when they uncover an ancient vault, protected by all kinds of high-tech stuff to preserve whatever is inside... and they find billions upon billions of pages of genealogical records.

good times

Stolen! I suspect that some evil supernatural beings might find those records useful as well

-STS

you wanna make it even more funny?

have it all on microfiche. (i mean, i doubt that's the storage medium they'd be using a century or more from now, but i do know that it at least was a primary storage method for quite a long time... most of it is now being digitized, but i don't know what they're doing with the old microfiche, so it's entirely possible they're keeping it as a backup).

[slade the sniper]

you wanna make it even more funny?

have it all on microfiche. (i mean, i doubt that's the storage medium they'd be using a century or more from now, but i do know that it at least was a primary storage method for quite a long time... most of it is now being digitized, but i don't know what they're doing with the old microfiche, so it's entirely possible they're keeping it as a backup).

That would certainly make for a good twist.

Thanks for the idea!

-STS

[glitterboy2098]

fun thing to consider: the LDS church, headquartered in Salt Lake City, has vaults dug out to store church records that are intended to last through all kinds of distasters.

imagine the look on your groups' faces when they uncover an ancient vault, protected by all kinds of high-tech stuff to preserve whatever is inside... and they find billions upon billions of pages of genealogical records.

good times

Stolen! I suspect that some evil supernatural beings might find those records useful as well I think that in the future (during the Golden Age...) the LDS would have a lot more records.

-STS

well they would also find budget reports, inventories, inter-office memo's and reports, employment records, etc as well. the LDS are a major religious organization, so they'd have to keep track of their stuff, their people, and the various parts of it would generate a hell of a lot of paperwork that has to be preserved for legal purposes every single day.

you wanna make it even more funny?

have it all on microfiche. (i mean, i doubt that's the storage medium they'd be using a century or more from now, but i do know that it at least was a primary storage method for quite a long time... most of it is now being digitized, but i don't know what they're doing with the old microfiche, so it's entirely possible they're keeping it as a backup).

oh definitely. even the national archives continues to use Microfilm, even as they digitize. because in their own words; "because microfilm is a low-cost, reliable, long-term, standardized image storage medium. The equipment needed to view microfilm images is simple, consisting of light and magnification. The medium has a life-expectancy of hundreds of years"
digital storage is code dependent, and formats and standards keep changing, making it tricky to ensure digital records will be accessible in the near future, much lees the distant one. and optical disk storage methods have a fairly short shelf life by comparison spanning decades to at best a century or so. record-able and re-writable discs have an even shorter shelf life. Archival grade disks exist which degrade slower thanks to better materials, but even those can only boast at best 300 years, far short of what microfilm could do. and the archival grade disks are still limited by the need to have compatible readers and programs to convert their data to usable outputs. microfilm just requires a lightsource and an optical magnifier to view.

[Shark_Force]

well they would also find budget reports, inventories, inter-office memo's and reports, employment records, etc as well. the LDS are a major religious organization, so they'd have to keep track of their stuff, their people, and the various parts of it would generate a hell of a lot of paperwork that has to be preserved for legal purposes every single day.

you'd be surprised how few employees the church has. a lot of it runs on volunteers (sort of).

still, they do have some (though that's relative; by "few" i really mean "few for a church that has over 15 million members on their records", not an actual small number). and a crudload of property.

plus, while the labour is generally voluntary, a lot of supplies (fuel, food, etc) for church activities will be reimbursed... and of course, all of that needs to be available to the various tax agencies of hundreds of countries.

however, having said that... you probably don't really need most of that stuff to be stored for centuries, so i doubt it's in the long-term archives.

but who knows, maybe they'll be able to find the location of a centuries-old canning facility or something. they might stumble on stockpiles of golden-age farm equipment, or seed stock for golden-age genetically modified crops.

(but mostly i would expect genealogical records from all over the world, all assembled into one truly massive family tree. maybe some church history documents or objects of historical significance i guess. i don't know that something like a first printing copy of the book of mormon would really be worth much on rifts earth though).

[slade the sniper]

genealogical records from all over the world, all assembled into one truly massive family tree.

How much do you think that would go for to a bunch of demons, deevils and nightlords? A complete record of humanity from X until the Cataclysm might be quite valuable to a few factions of supernatural critters...especially if any of them are capable of limited time travel.

-STS

glitterboy2098, thanks for the info on microfilm.

[Shark_Force]

genealogical records from all over the world, all assembled into one truly massive family tree.

How much do you think that would go for to a bunch of demons, deevils and nightlords? A complete record of humanity from X until the Cataclysm might be quite valuable to a few factions of supernatural critters...especially if any of them are capable of limited time travel.

-STS

as much as the DM says, i suppose

[Nightmartree]

Your still looking for ideas for underground right?
The classic giant tunnel making worms are always fun, and a nice way to link man made and natural caverns via animal tunnels (possibly big enough to fit a heft PA or small robot in...or a big robot, i wont judge your giant worms if you dont)
Why not directly rift an entire city in? Directly scoop out a portion of the cave/tunnel/bunker and have a city appear in it whole and well...bonus points if theyre magic and now tell legends of the day the sky vanished
Giant mdc alien moles, or shrews (shivers) ya basically any small burrowing rodent made mdc and bigger than a human is now nightmare material
If Madhaven could rise up maybe instead something else sank, like an entire cemetary, old school, or other setting, of course filled with appropriate monsters (undead, kid ghosts, a race of goblins trying to imprpve their education)
Following up on the above, maybe something sank a LOT, perhaps your pcs know exactly were they need to go, after rifting/teleporting/walking there they find out that the place is a lot deeper than it used to be, and now is far hotter due to its depth, maybe deep enough to nurture fire loving beings from another dimension?or three?or perhaps its a race against time as their prescence disturbs the fragile balance between the old mdc structure and the extreme pressure of its new place beneath the earth
If all else fails the best handwave i can think of for why ancient tunnels that collapsed are now open and maintained is "that crazy earth warlock did it"

...well its just some idea

[boring7]

Had an idea, might be bad (might be mildly offensive, actually) but here goes: Morlock space program.

Basically if you've got underground mutants, Mormonism (which includes other planets as part of it's theology), and ICBMs they can tunnel to (technically I don't think Utah has any publicly avowed missile sites in it, but creative license) you could have a whole sub-plot involving the rocket they've found/built and be anything from Ghouls in Space to that episode of Venture Bros.