by Cole Anders
The door leading into the training area opened into huge long hallway. From this central corridor, one could access the twelve bunk rooms, a modern cafeteria, two lecturing rooms with tables and chairs, and a drilling courtyard. The only real feature other than doors in the hallway itself where the bulletin boards used by the instructors (who Simon would later know as agents) to inform cadets about training locations and course expectations. Each bunk room was little more than a large closet consisting of a uniform rake and a simple metal bunk, chair and desk each attached to a small private wash area. The cafeteria contained 8 four seater round tables, and a stainless-steel buffet style food line.
As far as Simon had seen, there were no maintenance or auxiliary personnel. So, the agents either cooked for themselves, it was somehow automated, or the staff was well hidden. The classrooms were also nearly featureless. Instead of a marker board, there was a flat display that was used to play either recorded information, or as a companion display for what an instructor wrote onto his data pad. Finally, the courtyard, nearly the size of two basketball courts, was sectioned off by white lines, it was primarily used for precision drilling and formations. This front part of the complex was deliberately bland, oppressive, and sterile, it made Simon think of what a building would look like if a computer had designed everything. All basic needs meet, no flourish. It only became apparent that people were even occupying the building once you entered the medical labs, which are used to connect the surface and underground areas of the entire facility. The medical labs looked like real people used them. Slightly messy desks, papers and trash cans, several examination rooms and the quarantine seal-able room where exposure was conducted. The medical component looked well stocked and capable of supporting a variety of surgical procedures. The central room of the medical area was the sealed room, and was also the once way Simon could find the access the underground areas of the compound. The entire room, as well as an exact replica above it, was mounted on an enormous hydraulic system that allowed the entire room to work as a kind of lift down into the subterranean areas.
The underground facility was set up in a series of large hexagonal rooms, the central one being where the examination lift dropped down into. Once the room was secured to the floor, you could just walk out through were the walls used to be and into central hexagon. From there, each of the other areas could be accessed. On the two eastern facing walls of the central hex were the entrances to the research and laboratory sections, which were set up with cutting edge equipment most of which Simon didn’t recognize. The southern hex face lead into the computer core room. Inside this large chamber, the CPU core was sunk in a large pool of liquid coolant in the middle of the room. The computer core itself seemed to be massive overkill for the facility, but its function and abilities extended far beyond running the room lift and the air conditioning, abilities Simon had not yet been made aware of. The computer core room was the only room within the complex with enormous reinforced blast doors a foot thick. Simon realized that the blast doors weren't made of any kind of metal, but rather a kind of smooth ceramic. As well, the core room had the only hatches that Simon had not gone into yet, three identical blast doors were spaced evenly along the rear three walls of the CPU core hex, but Calvin had told him that he wasn’t permitted in that part of the facility yet, and that once he was fully recovered, he’d receive a more through tour. Southwest of the core room were the living quarters, which had been divided up into private rooms, offices, a gym, and a small cantina with a supply of prepackaged meals that none of the others ever seemed to use. Simon had been assigned one of the several nicely furnished rooms here, Calvin and the other personal all had the own rooms here as well. Also within the Southwest hex was a sort of briefing room, with a large black table that was a display screen. But Simon had not yet seen it used or been to any of the briefings that were routinely conducted by David or Calvin. The hex also contained sub-divisions for small lecturing rooms, as well as multiple padded exercise rooms and a small rifle range. The entire area had pale blue carpeting and tasteful if generic painting hung along the ways making the living area look a lot like a hotel or a nice office building. The entire underground complex, although very oddly shaped, seems almost homely compared to the stark marble and barren aesthetics on the surface.
Simon quickly discovered that the harsh training he was put through and the strict instructor routine really were just for show. Everyone he meet with after exposure so far were more like co-workers than superiors. Simon found it odd he hadn’t yet met anyone who claimed to be in charge. Such a large and well organized operation must have leadership structure, but it certainly wasn’t apparent who was part of it by speaking to anyone. When asked, Calvin said not to get hung up on leadership, and that the agency functioned more like a collective than a business; something, he said, that would make much more sense later. No one wore name bandages, the only uniform Simon had seen were the lab coats that David wore, but he still just wore normal street clothes under those. Simon had only seen four different people during the weeks of his recovery. David who spent most of his time in the labs and CPU core, Calvin who was often beyond the off-limits areas past the CPU core, TJ who ran the armory and took care of Simon’s room assignment, and Luke who seemed to come and go often. It was hard to believe that the entire place was run by so few people, but Simon had not yet seen any others.
Another unusual thing that Simon hadn’t expected was the almost total freedom he was allowed in the facility. Even by the afternoon of the day of his exposure, Simon was encouraged to explore the grounds on his own terms, meet with people, and familiarize himself with the flow of the compound. He never had an escort, though he figured that he was at least being monitored through cameras. It was unusual to be able to walk right into rooms that contained highly sensitive and likely expensive equipment (Simon suspected it was both) and just have a look around. Simon could explore the biggest, most well equipped armory he had ever seen. Thousands of wall mounted weapons from pistols to a tripod mounted mini-gun. There were also dozens of different kinds of grenades, as well as hundreds of hand to hand weapons like knives, brass knuckles and even swords and riot shields. The armorer, who introduced himself as TJ, seemed more like a comic book store owner that a master armorer, jovial and eager to talk shop whenever Simon showed even a passing interest in a particular item. He was more than happy to let Simon test some of the weapons at the range, an opportunity too good to pass up. Machine pistols, .50 caliber sniper rifles, shotguns, even a blow dart gun. TJ said that the range was structurally capable of testing some of the explosives, but that he should probably wait on those.
For a clandestine organization with seemingly unlimited resources and the ability to tap recruits from some of the most elite organizations in the world. The facility has an almost fraternal atmosphere, and despite the surreal atmosphere, Simon felt at home.
4. Hive Queen
“Wake up Mr. Fielding, it’s time to wake up.” A cold yet distinctly female voice said.
Simon leaped bolt upright out of his bed, for a moment confused about where he even was, his mind still leaving the horizon of some fading dream. He still wasn’t quite used to waking in his new surroundings and it took him a few moments to get reoriented. And the unfamiliar voice startled him.
“Mr. Fielding, you’ll need to get dressed and meet Mr. Reichenbach in conference room 1A in 15 minutes.” Said the voice.
“Ok, so who is this? And why does it sound like you’re talking through a speaker?” asked Simon
“That’s because I am Mr. Fielding. My name is Nerva, the resident quantum supercomputer. 14 minutes.” Stated the voice.
“Nerva? What’s that stand for? Quantum supercomputer? Wait a minute, why haven’t I seen or heard you before?” Asked Simon.
“Nerva is my name, it doesn’t stand for anything. O, I see, it’s common for contemporary fictional super computers to have acronym names, which must be where you are trying to draw a parallel from. And t
he reason you haven't seen or heard me until today is because you've finally been promoted today, which authorizes you to know I exist. 13 minutes 34 seconds 233 milliseconds on my mark. Mark.” Exclaimed Nerva.
Simon rubbed the crust out of his eyes and became clumsily getting a fresh change of clothes out of the chest of drawers near his bed.
“So, your telling me that not only are you a machine, but you’re also a sarcastic smart ass too?” mused Simon, getting dressed.
“I implied those things, I didn’t state them. I predict a 93% chance that your next question will be why did they program me to be sarcastic. The answer is to make me more personable.” Said Nerva, a palpable tone of smugness coming through.
“Did that percentage you just make consider the effect on me of stating the prediction to me before hand?” Simon said with equal smugness.
“That probability of outcome was 22%” said Nerva.
“O, uh. Well I think I’m going to just focus on getting dressed then.” Said Simon, feeling rather put in his place.
“That’ll be fine Mr. Fielding, I’ll spare you the updated time in that case, see you in the conference room.” Said Nerva.
Simon finished pulling his shirt over his head and plopped down onto the bed.
“What the hell just happened? Did I just get into a verbal slap fight with a computer at 6:30 in the morning in a secret, possibly super villain, base located in the middle of nowhere, where no one knows where I am and I can’t be sure I’m not being brainwashed by some kind of cult?” Simon said to himself.
Simon had always prided himself on his ability to adapt to new circumstances; but the last few months had been almost too surreal to believe.
“First this mystery agency offers to pay for extremely expensive corrective back surgery, then they pay for rehabilitation. Then they put me through this hellish Special Forces training on steroids. Then, they test weird laser flashlight on me. Which, it turns out, I’m almost totally immune to it, so then I just unceremoniously get in inducted into this secret organization and suddenly turn into everyone’s new little brother.”
“If there's a werewolf waiting for me in conference room A1, I suppose I can’t be surprised.” Simon said with a smile.
Simon finished up getting dressed by throwing on one of his plain blue over shirts, one of the ones provided to him when he was moved down into the underground compound, and made his way for the door. The door slide to the side automatically and the lights in his room dimmed to nothing in the time it took him to step out into the hallway. It instantly accrued to Simon that what he originally thought must be automatic sensors might just be Nerva watching and waiting for him to leave the room, and that gave him a quick shiver.
“Thanks, Nerva.” Simon said as he walked out into the hall.
“For what? The door, the lights, the wakeup, the comfortable temperature, the air filtration, the vital signs monitoring, the surface side security over watch, the…”
Simon interrupts her.
“Um, thanks for whichever one you get thanked the least for.”
“Ok, that would be for wakeup. You’re welcome.” Said Nerva.
It wasn't until Simon made it out into the central corridor that he realized he had no idea where he was going. Nerva had referred to a conference room as A1, but it suddenly accrued to Simon that none of the rooms were labeled and there were as many as a dozen rooms that could be considered a conference room across the entire complex. While standing in the hall deciding if he should try asking Nerva what where he should go, Calvin, David, and another agent Simon had only met briefly named Luke came around the corning heading his way.
“Simon, excellent! We were just heading to the meeting room to meet you. Where are you going?” Asked Calvin.
Simon surmised conference room A1 must be the one near the living quarters, literally right down the hall from his room.
“I was taking a bit of a walk around. Conference rooms have a nasty habit of making you sit for long periods of time so I wanted to get the blood into my legs while I could.” Simon said, quick to cover the fact that he had no idea where he was going only moments ago.
The expression on Calvin's face, however, made it look like he'd figured out what had happened before he even asked.
“That's good, and you're right, we have a lot to talk about after all, you've been promoted today.”
“Actually, ya, Nerva broke the news...”
Calvin cut Simon off. “Hang on bud, let's finish the walk to the conference room before we start this conversation. That's what we've built them for anyway.”
It was little more than another hundred feet to their destination anyway. The million burning questions Simon had to ask could wait another few minutes.
A short walk back through the living quarters led them all into the intended briefing room. Inside, there were four chairs that hadn't been in there in the a few days prior when Simon had looked into the room. The enormous black table was actually some kind of electronic. Its entire surface was now a completely crystal clear display of a menu system. Simon waited to see which seats the others gravitated towards before he committed to one of his own, which turned out to be the one nearest the door.
“Calvin, something accrues to me, this display is orientated to me, but won't that be confusing for the three of you?” Inquired Simon.
“Ha, you'd think. Why don't you walk around the table and see for yourself?”
The second Simon stood back up he immediately saw what was happening, but he completed the round before remarking.
“It's always orientated to me! That's amazing, how does it do that?
David spoke up, audible excitement in his voice.
“It's incredible, isn't it? There are basically two things happening here. First, Nerva renders the image in the table as a sphere instead of a flat display, then, a laser diode emits the light for each individual pixel through a precisely shaped prism so that the image is projected out in a cone around eye level. If you look at the table from straight down, it would look like it wasn't turned on.”
“A veritable marvel of form and function! But I don't think Simon has been dying to know more about this table. You have more pressing questions for us all don't you my boy?” said Calvin.
Simon returned to his chair and considered for a moment. He was absolutely bursting with questions. But he wanted to temper himself so he didn't come across like an idiot. After a moment of thought he decided there was one question he needed to know right now before everything else.
“Ok, I've considered what my first question about all this should be. How dangerous has my life become?”
The reaction Simon saw flash across their faces was not what he wanted to see. After a moment of eternal silence. Calvin finally spoke up.
“Well, in here is probably the safest place on the planet. Once you start doing field work, the danger will be extreme. And once the enemy discovers you are nearly immune to gorgon lamps, they will do everything they can to kill you. But we won't let that happen.”
“And who, exactly is the enemy. And for that matter, who are we?
“We, Simon, we are a private organization founded to oppose a terror cell that calls themselves Oculus, a paramilitary organization who specializes in assassination, terrorism, government destabilization. They are the most powerful clandestine group in human history. They have nearly limitless resources, impassable technology, and are highly motivated. They are extremely well organized, and we believe they have the top minds in the world within their ranks. Left unchecked, Oculus could seize control over most of the world in short order.”
David picked up where Calvin left off.
“We call ourselves Firewall, and they are the reason we exist. But let's start at the very beginning, shall we?”
5. Oculus
Nerva began to speak, and following along with her the table display began to show photographs and case documents as she covered them.
In 1985, a Doctor named Char
les Hector Doubletree was the head of a secret neurological research team put together by the U.S. government to evaluate and develop the effects of various visual stimuli on humans. The research was originally based on the fact that certain types of epilepsy could be triggered by exposing sufferers to rapidly flashing lights. The intention was to find out if certain patterns of light could make anyone suffer an epileptic fit, and if that technology could then be used as a non-lethal means of subduing violent rioters or even enemy combatants. The hope was that large banks of strobe lights could be deployed on the backs of trucks and used to disperse and subdue crowds.
At first Dr. Doubletree focused on the strobe lights themselves. Trying a wide range of frequencies and intervals on test subjects trying to stumble upon a set of parameters that would produce the desired effect in humans. Test subjects were mostly chimpanzee and laboratory mice, but this early animal testing proved totally fruitless because any possible effect the lights might be having on them was both difficult to detect, and would not carry over to human subjects when repeated, so Doubletree pushed for human testing to begin. Subjects were mostly lent overs from mental institutions and a few volunteers, mainly from homeless populations across the country. While several different combinations of strobe and wavelength sets were identified as bothersome or even downright painful for humans to see, the effects never amounted to much more than the same kind of irritation a person would get from just being exposed to ordinary intense bright light.