Editing The Machine (section)

===Timeline===
Fiddled a little with a rudimentary timeline. No hard dates yet, but more of a foundation to build on.

The Machine is discovered. Americans quickly claim the site of the entrance and establish a military base to defend it.

World War II breaks out. Machine exploration is ground to a halt.

There are whispers that Hitler is fostering a growing obsessions with the Machine, and that he has already sent specialist teams into it.

End of World War II. An important issue at the Malta conference is access to the Machine. A question that is never fully solved.

The UN is formed. One of the first orders of business is to establish UNSERC (United Nations Subterranean Exploration and Research Committee) to govern access to the Machine. The United States are forced to relinquish possession over the entrance, and Outpost 1 is established.

The great Delving Race begins. Both the Soviet Union and United States invest massive amounts of money in delver expeditions in the hopes of discovering technology that will give them an advantage over the other side.

The Houlihan incident. A catholic priest named Stephen Houlihan is admitted entrance to the Machine. After a day of exploring, Houlihan attempts to destroy as much of the Machine as possible. He is quickly stopped, but the Catholic church (and Christianity in general) still suffer a massive setback after this incident.