The Adak Research Complex was built approximately eleven miles to the north of the airport, in a secluded area located between Mount Adagdak and Iixtagagiidax Bay, and is surrounded by a sixteen feet high, diamond-shaped, black wire mesh fence that is continuously electrified to lethal levels.
Warning signs placed within a radius of less than seven hundred fifty feet from the fence advise anyone who would get too close that a restricted area lies ahead and that the use of deadly force is authorized.
The facilities are guarded uninterruptedly by armed sentinels that occupy – behind black Faraday cages – the eight black, square watchtowers that are strategically positioned around the perimeter, adjoining the fence. Each side of the area is covered by one watchtower at each edge and one watchtower at the center.
Each watchtower is occupied by at least two sentinels armed with Colt RO635 nine-millimeter submachineguns, with at least one of them watching the outside perimeter and at least one of them watching the inside.
The electric fence and the facilities are energized by a melanin-powered generator. The colossal Tesla coils that are placed atop each watchtower are not meant to power any facility or equipment whatsoever as a primary function; instead, their main purpose is to prevent the subjects from escaping from the complex, which is achieved by using the blue, massive streamer electrical discharges that are generated – in a seemingly random manner – by the coils as weapons.
The complex is composed of the white barracks that are used by the personnel that perform tasks that are not directly related to Project HETO, such as security and administrative routines, and the research facility that resembles a white warehouse from the outside, to which Dr. Volkov liked to refer as “The Compound”.
A short circular driveway links the area’s sliding fence gate entrance and The Compound’s building, identified by the American flag painted on the left side of its façade and the DARPA’s logo painted on the right side.
The Compound was built with electrified wires inside all of its walls and doors in order to prevent the subjects from using their abilities to gain access to restricted areas. Dr. Volkov’s theory that an electric shock interrupts the electromagnetic manipulation process that is used by the subjects in order to phase through walls was proven right in the wake of a few experiments that accounted for some of the casualties that occurred during the test phase.
The first story of the building is divided into three sections: in the first section, on the left side of the hallway from the entrance door, is located the soundproof intensive care unit that is mostly used for the implant procedures and the follow-up monitoring of the subjects; the attending physician’s clinic is situated right across the hall, and is served by an elevator adjoining the unrestricted access door that leads to the second section.
The cold practice rooms that are used by the subjects are placed on both sides of the first story’s second section, at the end of which another elevator, a gym and a small basketball court – all of unrestricted access – can be found.
Past the unrestricted access door of the first story’s third section, the newcomers’ cold private bedrooms and practice rooms are set up. A restricted elevator travels behind a wall to the right of the hallway’s end, connecting the second floor’s restricted areas to the restricted emergency shelter in the basement.
The second floor is divided into a cold unrestricted zone with dormitories, communal showers and a large dining hall for the subjects, and a warm restricted zone with laboratories, offices, meeting rooms, bedrooms and a restaurant for the scientific and medical staff.
Dr. Volkov was in his office reading college football news over the internet while trying to keep his mind from starting the process that invariably led to several consecutive hours of theoretical reasoning on his project’s newly found possibilities.
He knew that the first subject that really was intended to be a beneficiary of his program was going to arrive within a few minutes, which discouraged him from engaging in intellectual activities that were going to be interrupted inevitably.
Dr. Volkov started wondering what made the Secretary agree to sending an active and – for all he knew – valuable member of the armed forces to The Compound without seeing the results of the program personally or even reading his yet to be done supplemental report.
He did assert in his final report that the time for production phase had come, which could not be called an outright lie because the program’s main goal really had been achieved. Nevertheless, he was unwillingly aware that such assertion had been the product of self-indulgence rather than sound scientific judgment.
Dr. Volkov did not hide from the Secretary that he still had not fathomed the implications of the unexpected – although not unlikely – side effects that the subjects were experiencing, which is why he did not believe at first that the production phase’s start would be authorized at that point.
He inferred that there had to be political pressure for the program to start paying its dividends at once – his thoughts were interrupted by the telephone: the subject had just arrived.
Even though Dr. Volkov was not particularly fond of human interactions, it was imperative that he was the first person in The Compound to talk to the newcomer, since there were things that were not mentioned in the preparatory academy but needed to be told to the subject.
***
As soon as the final version of the device started being implanted in the subjects, Dr. Volkov learned that the problem of random particle reorganization had been solved, but not without opening a door to a whole uncharted territory.
The bodies of the subjects started presenting a different kind of unconscious reaction to the device: instead of reorganizing their own particles, now they were manipulating the particles around them.
Some subjects would be found floating asleep a few hours after the device had been implanted; others would repel objects such as food trays without ever actually touching them, even at distance.
Dr. Volkov was still figuring out how to report to the Secretary that he had discovered the scientific bases for induction of psychokinesis when he personally saw a subject flying and moving objects around a practice room at will.
It became clear to him that Project HETO was going to serve a much larger purpose than that which was initially devised. With so many possibilities to be explored, his research was far from over.
Dr. Volkov was as desperate to know what other abilities could be presented by the subjects as he was aware of the fact that he would never get the chance to assess it without an even larger number of people to experiment on.
He did not think it was fair to offer prisoners the privilege of taking a leap toward human evolution now that the device and its use were arguably safe as far as he could tell, which made it clear to him that he could not explore the new scientific frontiers ahead of him before the start of the production phase.
Hence, Dr. Volkov knew that his report had to suggest that it was time to start producing the enhanced soldiers that the government had been so eager to bring into action since the project was commissioned.
Nevertheless, he included in his final Project HETO report detailed information and evidence on the psychokinetic abilities that were accidentally acquired by the subjects, mentioning that more studies should be made focusing both on potential long term effects on their health and on methods of efficient control and security against them.
It was not long until he was informed that his suggestion had been partially accepted: one man was going to be designated to receive the device and proceed to an area outside Groom Lake, in Nevada, for further testing as soon as he mastered his new skills. Safety measures and long-term health effects could be studied simultaneously with the preexisting subjects.
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As weird as it felt to start the production phase with just one soldier, Dr. Volkov had been looking forward to Captain McCoy's arrival to The Compound ever since he was informed thereof.
While it did mean that the potential new discoveries that he desired were going to be postponed until the government was satisfied that the project is ready to go full-scale, it also meant that it was only a matter of time until his peers with enough clearance saw the outcome of his work and praised him as one of the greatest scientists of all times.
***
As the Humvee got closer to the black fence that set the boundaries of the Adak Research Complex, Captain McCoy noticed that the strange lightning flashes that he had been seeing from distance actually were streamer arcs discharged by the metal tori of Tesla coils that topped the watchtowers that were spread around the area.
Private Fowler halted the vehicle for the remote security check protocol to be briefly executed before the entrance gate was slid open. Captain McCoy jumped on his seat when an electrical discharge harmlessly struck the Humvee's roof just a second before the vehicle started moving again as Private Fowler stepped the gas pedal.
Afterwards, the truck was parked at The Compound’s entrance, within the intersection of a structure that resembles a T-shaped acrylic glass jet bridge, which leads to the building’s main door and protects anyone and anything under it from the discharges that are generated by the coils.
Private Fowler stepped out of the vehicle and, accompanied by Captain McCoy, walked a few feet through the covered path toward a metal door, where he activated an intercommunication device:
“This is Private Fowler reporting that the newcomer has arrived.”
“The newcomer’s entrance will be authorized shortly”, a male voice replied.
“Private Fowler requesting permission to leave as per protocol.”
“Permission granted.”
Having to wait outside and endure that freezing cold annoyed Captain McCoy so much that he forgot the awe that had been caused on him by his first sight of the Complex, which made him feel like he was in some sort of movie or nightmare. The loud, steady noise of the Tesla coils did nothing but add up to his growing distress.
When the metal door finally slid open, Captain McCoy saw that someone was waiting for him inside. It was a tall and skinny white man with unshaped, straight black hair and a stubble beard, approximately forty five years old, wearing eyeglasses, a black pullover and blue jeans.
“You must be Dr. Volkov”, Captain McCoy assumed as he walked in and the door closed behind him. He pronounced the Russian surname correctly, in spite of knowing that he was talking to an American.
Captain McCoy was filled with relief upon noticing that the disturbing noise produced by the Tesla coils could not be heard inside the building once the door was closed.
“Welcome to my Compound”, Dr. Volkov answered as he shook the newcomer’s hand with evident dislike. “Come with me. I need to show you something.”
As Dr. Volkov turned his back and started walking, Captain McCoy noticed that the building’s main door was watched from the inside by guards armed with SIG Sauer P320 nine-millimeter semi-automatic pistols, wearing metal mail uniforms covered horizontally with constant blue electric currents at every half inch.
As they walked over the big DARPA logo that was painted on the white floor, an automatic sliding metal door opened, revealing yet another excessively bright and white hallway with a slightly uncomfortable low temperature, where more guards could be found.
Captain McCoy looked at one of the many large observation windows that exist on both sides of the second section’s hallway and saw an Asian man wearing white pants and a white shirt, extending his left arm and hand toward a white mug that was resting on a white plastic table, which was placed a few steps from where he was standing, as if he were trying to reach it.
The mug started floating as the man raised his hand; he made a loop with his hand, and the mug made the same movement in the air. The man moved the mug to the left side in order to make room for the table, which started floating to the command of his right hand.
Captain McCoy looked to the other side and, through another window, he saw a Hispanic man flying in the room. The man, who was wearing white pants and shirt as well, accelerated straight ahead, stopped, moved diagonally to his upper right and stopped again, as if he were a hummingbird.
“What the hell is that?” – a baffled McCoy asked Dr. Volkov.
“As you know, the device was designed to allow you control over the particles of your own body and of the surfaces you touch. It turns out that it also gives you the power to manipulate particles of the environment around you” – Dr. Volkov could not hide his excitement. – “The cool abilities that you see now are the device's side effects.”
“Are you saying I’ll be able to do all those things?”
“I don’t know. We never do. Each body has its own way of responding to the device.”
“You don’t know what’s gonna happen to me?” – that was the only answer that McCoy did not expect to hear.
“It’s always a surprise. We’ll find out together.”
Captain McCoy was going to ask why nobody had told him about the side effects at the preparatory academy, but he was suddenly overwhelmed with excitement about the unthinkable possibilities that could be offered by bioelectromagnetism and thus decided that it just did not matter. Instead, he asked Dr. Volkov another question:
“Who are all these people? I thought I was the first to attend the academy.”
“That information is classified.”
“Of course it is” – McCoy knew that he asked a naive question. “How long until I know what side effect I will have?”
“It should manifest itself unconsciously within the first twenty four hours following the implant procedure.”
Captain McCoy took a deep breath while his brain was processing all the information that he had just learned. Dr. Volkov seized the opportunity to put an end to their conversation:
“Let’s go back. I need to take you to Dr. Minett’s clinic.”
Dr. Volkov knocked on the clinic’s white wooden door twice and started turning the white, hard rubber knob even before he could hear a female voice telling him to come in. Dr. Minett was focused on a text that she was typing on her laptop when Dr. Volkov stepped inside the clinic and greeted her:
“Hello, Dr. Minett.”
“Hello, Dr. Volkov” – she did not stop typing while responding to Volkov’s salute, in spite of turning her head at his direction during the answer.
“I’m bringing in your new patient.”
“I’m sure he has a name” – she stopped writing, stood up from her chair and tried to see McCoy, who was standing behind Volkov. She addressed to the patient: “Please, come in.”
When he walked in the clinic and saw Dr. Minett, a woman with a well-proportioned body of ordinary height who clearly was yet to celebrate her thirtieth birthday, Captain McCoy felt his heart stop for a fraction of a second and then start pounding with the greatest intensity and speed that he had ever experienced in his life.
A shiver that started in his spine rapidly spread to each and every part of him, and McCoy started feeling as if all the heat that there was in his trembling body had suddenly dissipated. He could not see nor hear anything that was going on around him, but his legs automatically brought him close to Minett’s desk.
Captain McCoy knew every detail of that fascinating face that was framed by her straight, long, golden hair and dotted by a few freckles that highlighted her emerald green eyes. There was not a shadow of a doubt that he was standing before the woman of his dreams.
“I’m Dr. Susan Minett, the neurosurgeon in charge of your implant procedure. Welcome to Adak.”
McCoy finally regained control over his body and recovered his senses. Dr. Volkov had already left the clinic.
“I’m Captain Ben McCoy. Nice to meet you.”
As both of them sat down, Dr. Minett resumed talking:
“You’re probably worried about what’s going to happen in the next few hours in the surgery room, but I assure you there’s no reason to. The procedure is fast and simple.”
When Ben saw a wedding ring in the fourth finger of Susan’s left hand, he felt like fate had just stabbed him in the back. The disappointment of falling in love and getting his heart shattered in less than two minutes caused him to immediately stop listening to what she was saying. The only thing that he knew is that she said something about inserting the device in a microtubule of his brain.
“Do you have any question so far, Captain McCoy?”
When he heard that last sentence, McCoy wondered whether that was the first time that Dr. Minett had asked him that question, hoping that she had not had to repeat it because of his distraction.
“Just one: when are you going to implant the device in my brain?”
“You’ll undergo the procedure in five hours. Get some rest until then.”
“Okay. Where’s my dorm?”
“You can ask the guards outside the clinic to take you to your provisional lodging. They know what to do.”
Two guards took Captain McCoy to Section 2, where other two guards escorted him down the hallway of Section 2 and past the automatic metal sliding door to Section 3. One of them opened the first door to the right of the third section’s white and bright hallway by typing “7351” on the door lock.
The small and windowless provisional bedroom features inside its white walls a single size bed with white sheets and a white pillow, a private bathroom separated by a white door, and another white door to the adjoining provisional practice room. A set consisting of a white shirt and white pants was placed on the bed, beside an acrylic box labeled “7351” on all of its sides with big, black stickers for each number.
The guards waited for Captain McCoy to undress, place his uniform and anything else he had in his possession in the box, and fill and sign a check-list form numbered “7351” with his personal belongings that were going to be stored.
When they left, McCoy decided to take a hot shower and stay in bed until it was time for the procedure – it was not really a choice, since none of the subjects were allowed to watch others practice their skills or otherwise stand on a hallway, and it did not seem to him that there was anything else to do for the moment.