8
Genetics And Weapons
Luke and AJ made their way into Genetics. This time AJ didn’t have the permissions to pass the door. Fortunately Maintenance permissions did extend to Genetics and Luke was able to access the intact card reader to open the way. Thus far every sector Luke had visited had the same general theme, concrete corridors that branched off every which way and led to the various rooms that the sector was built for. Even the Hydroponics sector was built this way, although the ‘rooms' were actually fields and they were much larger than the rooms in any other sector.
Genetics broke the pattern. The reception area they started in was the same as usual with a new color scheme for the new sector, but when they left reception they found themselves in one massive room spanning the entire sector. Wall to wall as far as Luke could see there were various stereotypical science lab looking equipment all looking as if fresh from a mad scientist movie set. There were strange chemicals in beakers and test tubes, vats with glass walls that Luke was glad seemed empty, strange pieces of equipment he had no name for, and to top it of, right inside the door was a rack of white lab coats.
AJ already had pulled a coat down and was doing his best to put it on even though it was several times too large. There were no barriers between different stations and benches, the only thing blocking lines of sight were pillars like those in the Hydroponics section. A few small stations did have a clear glass box with separately controlled ventilation fans, those were likely meant for the most delicate or volatile experiments.
Luke stopped at a few stations to look over some abandoned notes or try accessing a computer. All the computers were actually guarded by a key card reader, like the doors. Unfortunately Maintenance didn’t have permission to look through genetics research, go figure. The notes and diagrams painted an interesting picture though.
Most of the work stations near to the Hydroponics sector where they entered were focused on the chicken cows and other strange livestock hybrids. There wasn’t any information on WHY they wanted to graft livestock animals together but it seemed they only found success with chicken cows. One whiteboard had been the location where a frustrated researcher decided to let out their complaints.
WHY!!!! WHY ARE CHICKENS AND COWS THE ONLY ONES THAT WORK? WHAT IS THIS BULLSHIT
Luke had a good chuckle at that.
The further from Hydroponics they went the more the experiments seemed to deviate from the livestock program. There was an area dedicated to developing a form of attack bird, it seemed the closest they managed there was a mix of a lizard of some sort and a hawk. The goal, according to a memo he found, was to make something to ‘counter the dragons from Europe.' That seemed ominous.
Another area looked like it was focused on underground life. They were looking into mushrooms, bioluminescence, dark vision, absorbing and repurposing geothermal energies. It all seemed pointless to Luke, they had managed some form of infinite power source, and solved the food issue. There shouldn’t be much more they could need for sustainable underground life.
The next area was trying to reverse radiation based mutations, it seemed it was partnered with a neighboring station that was working on cleansing and ‘immunizing’ various creatures, mainly humans, to the radiation. Luke didn’t feel off or anything but didn’t know how radiation sickness and cancers would feel, so he spent some time looking into what they had discovered.
It was difficult to puzzle anything out solely based on the notes but it looked like they had some success in cleansing and what they called immunizing, though the immunizing was just an easy way to explain that they managed to guide a mutation to develop in the appendix, repurposing it to filter and process the radiation into an energy that the notes called ‘M’. Luke couldn’t find any information on M but there were hints that suggested it was a known quantity and some of the Robotics department, Genetics department, and Weapons department's experiments used the energy to fantastic effect.
Luke made a note to look into M energy and continued his search. Radiation didn’t seem to be affecting him yet but he didn’t want to be suddenly sprouting tumors. Eventually, in the back of a notebook, Luke found a message that claimed their modifications to the appendix mutation were successful and the head of the program had ordered the data sent to the ‘Gene Revision And Body Modification Effort’ for implementation. AJ demanded to be taken to the ‘GRAB ME' section immediately.
The section in question was immediately obvious as they left the radiation research area. There was actually a sign hanging from a pillar that said “GRAB ME here"
AJ took the sign as they went in.
The GRAB ME section had several computer terminals connected together and to a large vat on a raised platform in the center. Dozens of diagrams and formulae covered every scrap of paper and inch of whiteboard visible. Beside the vat there were two smaller containers connected to the vat, they each had labels on them and warnings posted everywhere declaring one was meant for sterilized mechanical parts only, and the other was meant for compatible living biological material only. Several warnings depicted terrible and gruesome fates for those who mixed up the two identical containers.
The diagrams that Luke was able to make sense of described all sorts of incredible modifications one could make to the body of a ‘willing subject.' The morals of the program were definitely suspect but the results they claimed were impressive. Successful modifications ranged from gills and fins, to massively increased muscle density, to photosynthetic skin, to all manner of bionic body part replacements. Several of the modifications relied on the strange M energy and there were dozens of baseline modifications that allowed absorption and creation of the energy, the special appendix was one of the more popular options in the diagrams since it solved two problems with the one solution.
Luke wanted to look into how it was done but they couldn’t access any of the computer terminals without a research ID, so he just made note of the location and told AJ to keep an eye out for an ID. It seemed strange that such a large base was abandoned and all the gear, tools, data and notes were left but the IDs were all taken.
They moved on and looked into the various research stations briefly to see what they had been working on. Aside from AJ's promised upgrades there was no real hurry for Luke, he might need to take a trip back to visit the Hydroponics to restock on food but the emergencies were all dealt with currently.
The next research station had been working on replacements to vehicles. They didn’t seem to have much success but they had been attempting to breed a horse spider penguin. Something that could travel through water in the cold and over rough terrain while carrying a rider. Luke would have wondered how the rider was meant to survive in the icy water but they had just come from the GRAB ME area where solutions to all that and more had been described. More importantly was the fact that the project had failed and been shut down, no nightmare creature like that would be hiding somewhere, hopefully.
Then they found a project to totally transplant a human brain into several different bodies, making the body modular and purpose built with the brain being the actual person. AJ drew a familiar looking villain with a talking brain set into the chest of a musclebound body on one of the whiteboards and they moved to the next area.
On and on the Genetics sector went, with projects of varying levels of success and utility. Many of the stations seemed to feed into larger projects like the GRAB ME or the livestock programs. There was an interesting blend of biological and technological solutions, most of the time working in concert to achieve a goal, but sometimes the researchers had developed a clear rivalry and raced to achieve a result without the aid of the others.
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AJ began to get impatient and Luke couldn’t really blame him. The various projects in Genetics were interesting, and gave Luke something to hope for but the repetition of the same thing over and over, desks and workbenches and computers over and over, got old. Luke even missed the endless blank corridors of Maintenance.
They stopped checking every station and sped up finally making it to the tram station. The plan was to walk the tracks to the next station which was robotics. The excitement of being so close to their goal crashed and burned though as they looked into the station from the reception area. The entire station had collapsed, they could only go a few feet past the door before running into a wall of rubble.
“Well shit.” AJ eloquently stated
With a sigh Luke pulled up his map.
“So, you know already since you have a map built in, but we have three options. We can go back to Hydroponics and then down to Manufacturing via the tramline, then into robotics through there. We can cross Genetics and out the exit, and look for the robotics emergency exit, I’m going to veto that option right now. Or we can continue on to Weapons and hope the tramline is clear to robotics form there.”
AJ remained silent
“AJ?”
“Why is it like this? I just want to be able to move around on my own, but no matter how I struggle, no matter how I fight, there’s always something blocking me. Whose cereal did I piss in to deserve this?”
“Hey, don’t worry buddy we'll figure it out, I promised to get you legs and so you will get legs"
“Yeah yeah, you promised, but what good is that? Does a promise make me taller? Can a promise climb ladders for me?”
AJ threw a rock at the rubble and turned to reenter Genetics, when he reached the stairs and couldn’t climb them he snapped.
“FUCK why the hell is everything so difficult?! SHIT.”
Several minutes of punching and kicking the stairs in vain followed. Luke moved to boost the tiny robot through the door like usual but was brushed off. AJ slowly and deliberately moved the smaller rocks that he could lift over to the stairs one by one, the process took a good half hour but AJ managed to climb through the door himself. Luke followed in silence as AJ stalked off toward the Weapons sector.
A thought struck Luke as he watched the robot struggle up the stairs. AJ had been stuck in Residential for centuries and had collected a mountain of books and such, it should have been possible to repeat this feat there with books and escape residential on his own. What had stopped AJ from doing so? Luke made a note to ask later when things weren’t so tense. Then Luke made a note to actually get a notebook so he could make notes and remember them later.
They traveled in silence not stopping to check any more of the research notes. Luke even managed to hold himself back when he spotted a diagram detailing a set of wings on a human. Unfortunately the door to Weapons was damaged beyond opening. AJ sat and fumed, there were actual visible fumes coming from his sides were ears might have been. Luke took that as a good sign and unloaded the torch. It had been some time since he had cut through anything with a torch but he always found it fun and the doors weren’t really all that thick so it shouldn’t be overly difficult.
Luke made short work of the door, burning where it latched to the frame and opening it.
“Tada" Luke bowed toward the door
“I’m sorry"
“Huh?”
“I’m sorry" AJ repeated, “I spent all that time alone and now there’s people and I’m so close to being free, really free… I’m just impatient"
Luke shook his head, “No I get it… I mean I don’t, I haven’t been locked in a box for ages,”
A flat look from AJ made Luke hurry on, “but I understand. I promised I would get you legs and I will. You are already free buddy, we just need to get you mobile.”
AJ considered that and then jumped back to his feet, “Right, thanks Luke, once we get through this we should go on an adventure together"
“Hah that’s the plan, lets go"
Together they entered Weapons. The weapons sector was more like the normal layout, rooms connected to corridors, each room dedicated to a different experimental weapon. Most of the weaponry was either nonfunctional, too large meant for vehicles, missing, or some combination of those. That being said there were a number of fantastic designs that worked at least passably and Luke added to his loot cart.
Only a few guns were functional and the ammunition was in short supply so Luke left them. There were several high tech looking cold weapons, swords, spears, hammers, maces, etcetera. The cold weapons seemed like more of a pet project from a group of researchers which might be why a lot of it was left behind. Luke was grateful though when he claimed a set of spears made from an alloy that made hardened steel look like warm butter. He also grabbed a spear that relied on the M energy. It wasn’t clear what the M spear could do but it was in its own special case and had an impressive look about it so Luke snagged it.
AJ eventually asked, “Why are you collecting spears? Aren’t swords cooler?”
“Well… no, swords are just more iconic, especially in media. They are harder to learn to use than a spear. A spear is safer for those who don’t want to get all up close and personal. And if you think swords are cool, others will as well, so people would practice against swords more. Oh and I have a spear combat skill.”
“Does that mean you know how to fight?
Luke hesitated, “Not exactly. I don’t understand what the skills are but at least with the Tribal language skill I was able to learn a new language very quickly. I haven’t had to fight much… but… a spear just feels right, familiar.”
AJ nodded sagely and went to say something but locked in place
After a moment Luke asked, “AJ? You ok?”
Then AJ slowly returned to a neutral stance and turned to face Luke.
In a completely new monotone voice AJ said, “L2, don't bother responding this is a one way message. I am Nomed Ecalpal you won't have heard of me just yet. I have a task for you, you can't trust me but I know you well and know you will still fulfill my request. I have information on the others in your little Seconds project. I need you to gather a few specific notebooks, upgrade your implant , then use the upgrade to scan and send me the information. You will find the notes in the Weapons, Robotics, and Data sectors. I have uploaded the information to AJ as well as the location of a security upgrade that can block intrusion of this nature in the future. I will contact you when you have upgraded your chip, you send the notes and I send information on the Seconds project.”
The voice cut off and AJ collapsed in a heap. Luke rushed to his side and tried to rouse the robot. After a long moment where AJ didn’t respond, a yellow light blinked on AJs back. The robot snapped back into the sphere shape he hadn't used since meeting Luke, the light turned green and AJ quickly returned to his former self.
“WOW I am never drinking tequila again, that was one hell of a ride"
“What the hell was that?” Luke demanded
“I had a forceful data dump from an outside source, then I had a reboot to eject any interlopers and reset.”
“Do you know who that was? Nomed something?”
Having returned to the mini humanoid shape AJ shrugged exaggeratedly, “Searching the name in the base's system pulls up references to classified files dating back to the early days of the base, older than I am. Other than that I only get lots of warnings to not offend Nomed Ecalpal or any of their servants, and to report to Surface Operations command as soon as possible. Sounds like someone old and important, definitely strong too if they can force something like that and knew all about both of us.”
Luke gripped a small hammer that he was using as a last resort concealed weapon as he asked, “You are still YOU right? Tell me something only AJ would know"
AJ hummed and tapped his chin for a moment then brightened, “I am the only one who has figured this out so I’m not sure if your inferior mind can handle such revelations. Try not to let your head explode. The reason they couldn’t just fly in and drop the ring in the volcano is because the story wouldn't be interesting and would end too quickly.”
Luke shook his head and eased his grip, “Yea that’s you AJ. So what do you think, do we look for these notes or whatever?”
AJ paced while thinking aloud, “Whoever this weirdo is they are strong and know way too much. Somehow they are getting information from inside the base, but they want physical notes so they aren't here themselves or they cant move. Until we can lock him out of my mind we should be very careful especially around the areas they flagged in my maps.”
AJ stopped and tapped his foot, “I think we get the notes and look at the upgrade thing that is supposed to block them. We shouldn’t let the notes out of our sight or read them especially not me, in case they can just look through my eyes or the cameras here in the base. The only bargaining chip we have is those notes… AND… we don't install the security update thing until we can make sure it is what it is supposed to be…”
Luke didn’t like it, but nodded anyway, “I hate not knowing what the hell is going on"
AJ shrugged again, “We can try and look into some of the classified files to see what they say. Assuming they can’t modify them remotely. There should be physical copies of the files in Data or Surface Operations specifically to counter remote sabotage.”
“Yea I guess we should take a look, we need more of an idea who we are dealing with here. In the meantime, you know where all that is?”
AJ nodded once
“Well, lead the way then.”
AJ took the lead and marched deeper into the base.