Many say life is straightforward and simple. I used to agree, hell sometimes I wish I still did.

There are Billions of People on this Planet, People of all races and colours, living their normal and ordinary lives. I used to belive like they did, get educated, get a job, find a wife and start a family. That was supposed to be the great goal in life, the endgame of existence for a regular Human like myself.

Let me tell you what changed my Mind and made me a Non-beliver in that way of life.

It all started when I finally Graduated, finished Highschool and was working my first job. My Name is Jake by the way, Jake Miles to be exact but you can call me J.M like my friends did.

Seeing that even though I was a generic loner it was not like I was socially incompetent, I was able to blend in and perfectly adapt to any social circumstance thrown my way. There was just never anyone really close to me that I felt a special connection with, which really stood out to me when my everyday life changed with graduation. None of the people I used to hang out with in class ever kept in contact with me, and neither did I with them. There was never a reason for it in the first place I guess, so I did not mind it at all at the time. But enough with the sentiments and useless nostalgia, the real story starts with the Day I quit my Job, only 5 Months into it.

It was just another regular day for me, woke up far too early, got out of bed and cleaned myself up like anyone would. Had a smoke, yes I know its bad for my health but so is stepping outside into the sun okay? - Grabbed a quick bite to eat and drove to work. Screaming inside my Car at all the people that are too dumb to drive, I know you have done the same countless times, so dont judge me. When I pulled into the parkinglot outside the company complex of "I.H Technology", which the employees lovingly named "Internal Hell Tec" when none of the supervisors were around, my "closest Co-worker" Frank was already standing in front of the gate while smokeing his own ciggarette. I parked my Car, a pretty beat down Ford, and stepped outside, raising a hand to wave at him and walked past without even muttering a word, since the casual wave sufficed as a perfect greeting for our level of "friendship".

After I had entered the Complex and got up to the third floor, in which my shared office block was located, there was barely any time to get myself another cup of coffee before the Chief was up and about, assigning tasks for the day to everyone.

Working as an accountant in training was about as exciting as it sounds. People rarely have a higher understanding of what it is that balanceing books and makeing ends meet for a company actually requires. The ability to not get bored while reading tiny numbers and repeating them in endless columns untill the day is over. Seeing I was fond of beeing by myself and always had a love for numbers it sounded like the perfect job for me.

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Clearing my way through an endless Jungle of numbers was still a lot better than physical labor, as I was just not built for that in the first place. For better or worse it paid the bills, got food on the table and smoke into my lungs so who was I to complain about it?

When the Chief, commonly just called "Ed", walked up to my desk and asked me to come along downstairs I thought nothing of it. In hindsight I should have walked away right then and there. He was certainly shorter than me at about 167 centimeters, but what he lacked in height he surely made up for in weight, almost 270 pounds stuck to the tiny frame. For the duration of the Elevator ride down into the Basement we barely spoke a word, not even the usual smalltalk. Which was curious since Ed was known to never shut up for love of God or even money. Once the Doors opened and we passed through the hallway, he finally opened his mouth and told me "You see J.M, youve been here for an entire five months now." He stopped in front of a secured metal Door and punched a code into the pad next to it, which unlocked it with a clearly audible grinding of gears and a high pitched beep. "Since you are now under full contract it is time you got to know what our company actually works on down here." Curious as I was my reply consisted of a short nod after which we entered through the Door, which at a closer look was about one and a half meters of thick solid steel. "They really take security very seriously with their new inventions" was what I thought before looking forward again and stopping dead in my tracks.

I have seen every single Movie about Supercomputers and HighTec appliances and read plenty of Books about the subject aswell. Nothing could have prepared me for the Gigantic Hall with Cables thicker than Ed running from the Walls and Ceiling to the Middle of what I now realized was basically a Hangar. We must have gone further down in the Elevator than i had realized, beeing more occupied with my own thoughts than paying attention to the unusually long time spent in it.

"What the Hell is this place?" I asked Ed looking positivly shocked, just stareing at everything trying to take it in all at once, as to not miss a thing. "Well, this my young friend is the reason our Company is so sucsessfull. This is the underground Complex of I.H Tec, also known as the actual Company. Everything upstairs is pretty much a facade we have to keep for the Public. What you see all the way in the Center over there is Aeria."

Him looking at me like it should be obvious and I was a retard for not knowing even the most basic of things, I smirked.

"So your telling me this is Project 7, my personal assignment and the reason I got hired?" He laughed and pointed toward the middle of the Hangar " Dont get ahead of yourself, first you should meet her, then we can decide if you really do fit the criteria as well as your test suggested."

The reference either beeing the thorough psychological examination at the interview, or the months spent working here, was what I thought he implied.

Still looking around and trying to make sense of the entire situation, I followed Ed, not even noticing the Door closing on its own behind us. We walked along the cables and I finally got a closer look at what Ed called "Aeria", it was a cluster of cables centered around what I assumed to be a Cube of pitch black Metal.

Boy was I wrong.