23 Success

2034

ExplorerTech Industries, Coldstone

New Cinalia

150M

125M

100M

75M

50M

The closer Sia got to the building, the faster her heart began to beat. Unlike the city buildings, ExplorerTech Industries seems untouched by the destruction and frost that blanketed the city. It is located a bit outside the city with a high metal fence and guard booth separating it from the regular traffic. The fence is open and the lever that should block cars from entering is up.

"Okay, I can't be stupid about this. I have to take everything slow." She says to herself as she stops at the empty guard booth.

She walks up to one of the wide windows and looks inside for any left behind materials.

"It's just like those videogames. Grab anything that can help us. Anything can end up being good loot."

She didn't find anything in the guard booth. It seems like they weren't in a rush to leave.

"I wonder when they were attacked?" She mutters as she moves on down the empty road.

She walks uphill to see the parking areas and the glassy façade of the building. It looks very similar to her old workplace.

There are two parking lots. Multiple cars have been left in the parking lots. They are dusty but seem to be in good condition. She stops at one of the cars and touches a handle to pull on the door. It opens.

"Huh."

She finds the keys in the ignition and a small flashlight attached to the keychain. She furrows her brows and turns the key. Nothing happens.

"Well, it's been 16 years," She says before checking the rest of the car.

Spare change, papers, and wrappers, but nothing useful can be found. She goes row by row in the parking lot. Only two of the fifteen cars have locked doors. After searching half of the first parking lot, she leans against a car and looks up at the sky. It's starting to get late. She should go inside before she loses daylight. She decides to just walk through the parking lots, and if she doesn't see anything that is useful she will head to the front of the building.

Nothing sticks out to her in the rest of the first parking section, so she jogs across to the other parking section. Passing the first row, she sees a dark figure kneeling and abruptly stops and ducks down to hide. The van hides her well.

'Yoooo. Oh man. Did you see that?'

AFFIRMATIVE

'What is it?'

A CERVIDAE OF UNUSUAL SIZE

MOST COMMONLY KNOWN AS A DEER

'Yes. Okay. A deer.'

Sia isn't as frightened knowing that it is just a normal animal that she would see every once and a while before. She straightens up and walks out to examine what the deer is doing. She takes three steps, makes eye contact with the eating deer, and scrambles back behind the van.

She almost trips over a parking block as she jogs to the road and follows the path toward the front of the building.

'Oh my god! Why am I surprised?!'

She starts running and doesn't look back until she reaches the entrance doors. Looking back, she sees the deer has not followed her, but she can't trust that it won't later. The doors are not locked. Light from outside illuminates the entire lobby. There are papers scattered on the ground, but nothing living seems to be around. She stumbles inside, scurries to the lobby reception desk and sits behind the structure. It hides her from view.

Catching her breath, she thinks back to what she just saw.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several human bodies were laying on the ground in no discernable pattern. Their heads had been torn from their bodies. Their clothing was torn and opened to reveal the flesh within their bodies. It seemed as if their spines had been removed. Some weapons could be seen left on the ground.

Discarded because of lack of ammunition or dropped while they were consumed.

The deer was kneeling and eating a corpse. Its muzzle stained red as it nosed inside a body and chewed on pieces of flesh.

When Sia had walked out and made eye contact with the doe, it had raised its head a bit higher as it ruminated on the meat. It didn't seem to have been in a hurry to finish up or leave.

Sia excused herself from the feast and went to acquire a better understanding of the situation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Oh man. I almost pissed myself. What was going on? Deer don't eat people. Right?'

FALSE STATEMENT

Whaaat?!'

IT HAS BEEN DOCUMENTED THAT UNGULATES HAVE BEEN OBSERVED TO EXHIBIT CARNIVOROUS BEHAVIOR WHEN FOOD FROM THEIR TRADITIONAL DIET BECOMES SCARCE

THEY WILL INGEST FLESH WHEN IT IS AVAILABLE

Sia knocks her head on the desk behind her and closes her eyes.

'Truth is stranger than fiction.' She thinks.

'So, it's not mutated?'

NEGATIVE

CERVIDAE DO NOT MATURE TO THAT SIZE WHILE IN CAPTIVITY OR THE WILD

'So, I should still avoid it…in case it's got more unusual qualities?'

AFFIRMATIVE

Sia rises and looks around the lobby. It's not very messy. The few papers that had been dropped seem to be one person's error and not the widespread chaos that an evacuation would usually produce. These people had a warning. Much more warning than Sia had.

The lobby has the same decorations as her old workplace. A chandelier hangs from the high ceiling, a dried-up waterfall is along the side wall, and a balcony overlooks the entire lobby. An escalator connects to the balcony and Sia is sure a long hallway is up there.

Down on the first level, there are 3 hallways. One side hallway, and two hallways going in opposite directions. The one on the left has a sign that says "Café" in multiple languages. The one on the right has a sign that says "Auditorium", "Labs", and "Research directory" in multiple languages.

Sia pulls the little keychain light from her pocket and walks over to one of the hallways. It is short. It brings her to the elevators and stairwell entrance. Only a little bit of light from the lobby shines down this side hallway. Sia walks over to the stairwell entrance and shines the light into the window.

It's empty. Clean.

She ignores the elevators and decides to go down the hallway on the right. The rations she stored in her backpack have not been touched yet. She doubts anything will still be good after 16 years of being left on a shelf.

All she wants is to get into a laboratory and see if any of the computers still work. When she gets to her first door, she shines a light into the lab and twists the knob. The door is locked.

'Oh yea. Automatically locks behind you.'

She looks around herself and down the long silent hallway.

If this place is anything like her old job, the janitorial supervisor would have the keys for all the rooms. That office was near the cafeteria.

'I'm so dumb. Keys, but…how will I start a computer without electricity. UUGH!'

While backtracking and walking down the left hallway, she realizes something she can do.

'Can you retrieve the blueprints for this building?'

NEGATIVE

'Can you retrieve the blueprints for the one I worked for? Even any details from my memories?'

UPLOADING BLUEPRINTS OF EXPLORERTECH INDUSTRIES RIVER CITY LOCATION…

Using the blueprints, she can find the supervisors office. Luckily, the door is not locked. When she opens the door, she sees why it isn't locked. Seems that whoever had been inside here had been in a rush. The chair is pushed to the ground, papers are strewn everywhere, a jacket left on the coat hanger, and there are no keys on the hooks next to the message board.

She grabs the jacket on the coat hanger and hears a jingle. She grabs the keys and shines her light on the message board.

Even with a quick glance, she can see an article about a nuclear explosion. The words "WASHINGTON CITY" are in bold, along with the words, "UNDER ATTACK" and "WAR".

'So, enough notice to read about it, but not enough notice to know you were leaving right this moment.' Sia thinks.

She moves her light around the message board to see if there are any blueprints on it but doesn't see anything familiar.

'Guess we'll follow what we have…. Where does it say the generator room is on the other one?'

HEAD NORTHWEST PAST THE CAFETERIA

OPEN STAIRWELL DOOR AND TRAVEL DOWN 4 FLIGHTS OF STAIRS

The cafeteria is built identical to the Washington city branch. It has two wooden doors that swing open with a push, and glass walls on every side. An antisocial person would not have to step one foot into the dining hall before turning around to eat somewhere undisturbed.

Passing the cafeteria, she shines her light at the wide glass. It shines onto a lunch table. Several trays are still on the table. They are empty. Sia pauses and gets closer to the glass wall. Some of the tables closest to the food counters are flipped onto their sides. The assembly line ropes are tangled and strewn across the floor. Wrappers and boxes have been discarded around the room.

'People must have taken all the good stuff years ago.'

Sia shines her light once more across the room but turns away from the mess hall as it illuminates an antenna. Sia reaches her arm out along the glass wall and uses that to lead her to the stairwell.

'Gotta save this battery for the basement.' She thinks as she shuts her light off.

She tucks it into a pocket and pauses a moment as the texture of the glass disappears and is replaced by a rough stucco-covered wall. She drags her fingertips along the bumpy wall and remembers questioning her boss about that detail.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why is everything so smooth and beautiful, but the walls are so rough and uncomfortable?" Sia asked while dragging along her mop bucket, "It scratches at my arms when I lean against it."

Ron paused unlocking the laboratory door to look back at Sia, "If they wanted you to rest out here, they would have set down chairs and soft cushions. The hallways are to be quickly traveled. No hanging around. No chatting."

"Hey, I'm not chatty," Sia moved the bucket closer to him as he held the door open.

Ron gave Sia a long-suffering look, "Not yet. The company understands how the young and old think. So, they make the laboratories more comfortable than the transition areas."

"But what about us? Shouldn't we get a place to lounge?"

"The locker room doesn't meet your high standards?"

"I saw a couch with a pull-out bed in one of these labs! We have metal benches everywhere. There isn't even a shower."

"Now, now, Ms. Chen. I know people of your generation expect to be pampered, and I find comfort in a nice seat myself. But a paycheck feels much more deserved with an aching back."

Sia rolled her eyes at the old man and began mopping the floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The creaking of the door echoes down the dark hallway and spooks Sia into looking behind herself. Standing still she squints at the darkness. It is futile to try. There is no light this far down away from the lobby and cafeteria.

'I wish I could see in the dark.'

INCREASING RODS IN SUBJECT 001'S OCULUS UTERQUE

'What?'

The cafeteria door is nosed open and antennas tap along the floor. Sia grabs onto the stairwell doorway as pain surges into her eyes. Pressing her forearm into her arms does not decrease any of the pain, neither does rubbing her eyes on the cloth on her arm.

"Aaaaaah," She moans as the pain intensifies.

Lifting a hand to press at her temple, she loses her grip on the doorway. She shambles into the dark stairwell and falls to the floor. The door closes shut behind her.

"There is something in my eyes!" She yells.

Her panicked words echo up and down the dark stairwell.

'Something! Something is burning out my eyes!'

NEGATIVE

tRainQuilT646 INITIATED

SYNTHETIC INTELLIGENCE DEVELOPER IS MODIFYING OCULUS UTERQUE

UPGRADE IN OCULUS DEXTER IS AT 60%

UPGRADE IN OCULUS SINISTER IS AT 40%

Sia's arms lower and help push her up into a standing position. Her eyes open and can make out the stairs and railing without the aid of a light. The pitch-black surroundings are less daunting now. Sia's body begins walking down the steps at a steady pace. The echoing footsteps make the tapping of an antenna to the stairwell door imperceptible.