Surprisingly, Jane walked out.
Jane? So she was involved…
Adam decided to sneak away while he had the chance. If he hurried he could make it to the end on the corridor and after that there were several ways to go.
When he was about halfway, he saw a shadow moving at the end of the corridor. Someone was there, and it seemed to be moving towards Adam.
Adam was standing in the middle, with no cover in sight. He started to panic. Jane was coming up from the secret passage and the new unidentified person was coming from where Adam had hoped to go.
*Phew* Taking a moment to recollect himself, Adam quickly made his way over to the end of the corridor. He could after all just pretend to be lost if someone asked him. The other person might just be exploring too. As long as he didn’t know the other person he would be fine.
Adam was only two meter away when the other person came out from the corner.
“Hm? Adam, what are you doing here?”
“Huh? Oh, it’s just you Steven.” Adam leaned heavily against the wall with one arm. “You scared me.”
“I asked you a question. Weren’t you supposed to be at the computer panel?”
“Eh? Oh right. Well I finished that. Then I thought I could explore the base some.”
Steven gave an icy glare.“...Isn’t that exactly what you shouldn't do without me?”
“That-... Yeah, I guess so. Sorry.” Adam scratched his head awkwardly. “Oh yeah, let’s go. I got some other work to do. No point in standing around here any longer.”
Adam started walking, moving past Steven. But Adam barely had time to take more than a few steps, before Steven suddenly saw someone else coming.
Surprisingly, Jane walked out. She looked surprised when she saw them too.
“Jane, what are you doing here?” Steven said.
“Steven!” Jane said smilingly. She waved her hand and ran over to them. “Ah, Adam you are here too.”
Steven had studied the base layout and knew this was a dead end. Reserved for future expansions or something perhaps.
Steven didn’t understand. Why did both Adam and Jane come from the same ‘one way only’ direction? They must have seen each other before but Jane acted like she didn’t know Adam was here. What did those two do? For some reason he felt uneasy. A feeling of… jealousy snuck up on him.
Steven wasn’t stupid. He knew Jane was interested in him. But, he had never responded to her signals. Sure, she was very attractive and had a great body. He was just very picky. Not that he had any right to be. He had neither money, fame, intellect, looks or any other special thing. But, the only thing he didn’t like about Jane was her very bubbly and happy personality. Sometimes she switched over to a more serious mode and then he almost felt something for her.
Either they did ‘something’ in this low traffic dead end area or more likely Adam wanted to confess his feelings to her here. Jane probably turned him down and now they acts like it never happened. Yep, that’s how it must have went.
Steven managed to convince himself.
Jane tried to act like normal and made an attempt to divert Steven’s attention from the corridor. She was worried they would be suspicious about this area.
“So, what are you two doing here? There is nothing around here, you know. I’m hungry. Want to eat?” Jane said with her usual smile.
Adam was relieved by their actions. It seemed like they didn’t have any suspicions towards him. It seemed like they were focusing on each other instead.
Adam figured they all had their secrets. Steven didn’t want Jane to know about him leaving his duties. Adam didn’t want Steven and Jane to know about him discovering the secret base. Jane didn’t want Steven and Adam to know about the secret base. Since Adam was the only one that knew the whole picture he decided to act first. If he could solve Steven’s problem the other two would be easy to avoid.
“Ah, Jane. Me and Steven was just exploring around the base. Sure, let’s go and eat.” Adam said.
“Yes, that’s how it is.” Steven nodded. Steven was happy Adam covered for him and didn’t think much about Adam’s odd behavior.
All three were happy that their secrets were safe, for now.
Earlier that same day.
On the outside there was, like usual, bad weather. Snow and hard winds made it hard to see. The cold was freezing and without proper protection clothes one wouldn’t last long.
A group of people arrived at the base entrance. They had just arrived by plane, and then taken a car to the entrance.
Most of them wore black suits and black glasses. Even though it was very cold they showed no sign of freezing. Two of them had proper winter clothes. Several high ranking officers stood outside in the snow to greet them. One of them stepped forward.
“Mr. President. Welcome to Alpha base. I am in charge of this base. I am Colonel General Chekhov.” The two men shaked hands.
“Thank you. Since I first heard about this place I have been very curious.” The President said.
“Ah, General O’Neill. Back from your vacation already?” Colonel General Chekhov said. Another handshake.
General O’Neill shrugged. “Hah, I was supposed come back in two weeks but I missed my daughter. Literally. She had already left when I arrived at the Gerald. Apparently she came here. Did you know about that?”
Colonel General Chekhov shook his head. “No, I’m not personally involved in the newcomers. Especially if she is on the upper levels.
Let’s go inside for now. Your bodyguard looks like they will fall at any moment.” All the ones with proper winter clothes laughed. The ones in suits only took a quick side glance at each other. Even if they didn’t show it on the surface, they were almost dead.
“We have plenty of time to talk later. Now follow me.”
The group left the cold and went inside.
“How was the ride here, Mr. President?” Colonel General Chekhov asked.
“Air force one is comfortable like always. I will miss it.” The President said. “You don’t need to call my by such a stiff title by the way. Just say Arnold. Besides I won’t be President much longer. My terms are up and the election is in two weeks. I was invited to your base. I will do as you say today.” The President Arnold Balkharv smiled.
The President of the United States of America, Arnold Balkharv. The most popular President ever with a 96% rating. He started out as a professional bodybuilder. He won many prizes and inspired countless people. Then he surprisingly became an extremely famous movie star. Finally after he had aged and no longer had the energy to do his action movies he entered the world of politics. After a successful period as a state governor he decided to run for President.
Now, at the end of his term, he was invited to an unknown base. The most important and powerful man in the world didn’t even know about it. Well, he knew it was here but not what’s inside it. He had asked his staff about the base before, but no one had any answers.
Stolen story; please report.
If this was related to the very odd alliance with Russia and China that he had been forced to sign, then he had to know more about it.
At first he was very suspicious about China and Russia but he discovered they also had been forced to sign it. They also were told to not ask any questions or search for answers. The high ranking in the military even strongly suggested they should dismantle massive amounts of their forces. Not just USA, but the entire world had to do it. In the end 90% of the planet’s armed forces were disarmed and dismantled. Even the greatest deterrence for war, the precious nuclear weapons had to go.
This ‘end of warfare’ was one of the reasons why he was so popular, but others complained that he was too harsh on the people that disagreed with him. Many of the terrorists and dictatorships refused to give aways their weapons. They were met with the full force of the top three militaries in the world. Since they had to destroy their own equipment anyway, like the tanks and planes, they held nothing back. Soon, everyone had agreed. A few millions in enemy casualties, but overall the small wars had only lasted a few months.
World peace, for the first time in the world. With the corrupt dead or afraid to start trouble, many regions in the world started to stabilize. With a sudden breakthrough in medicine and farming technology many diseases and hunger problems disappeared.
Arnold greatly enjoyed the satisfying feeling he got when the world unquestionably became a better place under his leadership. He might not have actually done much, but as the one in charge he took all the blame if something went wrong. Therefore he saw nothing wrong with accepting the praises too.
Now it was all ending. Well, his time in the spotlight was. He had nothing planned to do after this. Maybe retire in some mountain and spend his days in a cabin in the woods. Maybe he was too old for that lifestyle. He had no plans on ending up in a retirement home at least. Well, that was very unlikely since he was rich. Money can buy the best care afterall. If only one could live forever.
Colonel General Chekhov nodded. “If you say so Mr.Pre- I mean Arnold.”
The group waited for the large horizontal vault door to open.
“Impressive. I have never seen such large doors before. Are they actually needed?” Arnold said.
“Not really I guess. We transported a few large items in but other than that... But better safe than sorry.” Colonel General Chekhov said.
They walked down the ramp in silence. As they reached a big open area, they spotted a few electric underground vehicles waiting for them.
“This is what we will use to move around. Normally people take the narrow corridor over there, but we are taking a more direct route. Hop on.” Colonel General Chekhov said.
The vehicles were silent and produced no exhaust fumes, thanks to its electric engine. They looked like a golf car.
They passed several large transport trucks and forklifts. There was even a mining vehicle with a large drill. Several people worked with loading and unloading items.
They left the loading area and continued down a smaller road. It was alot less crowded. It had two different checkpoints with guards, but they just drove right through them.
They soon reached the end of the tunnel. There was an elevator.
“We are here. Let’s go. My people will take the next ride. I will ride with the President and his guards. General O’Neill can join too, of course.” Colonel General Chekhov said.
He opened the door for them and held it to make sure it didn’t close. The door had to be opened with a key and the elevator had to be activated with a code. The inside was uncolored steel. With a light on the ceiling and a panel on the side with three different buttons. 1, 2, and 3. When everyone had entered the elevator the door closed.
Colonel General Chekhov then took out a keycard and inserted it into a, unless you knew it was there, invisible slit in the side panel. He then rapidly hit the different buttons several times. This elevator had several hidden security measures. One might figure out you need a key to open the doors, because the keyhole is quite visible. But inside you would most likely just press the different buttons immediately. If one pressed any of them without inserting the keycard first, security would be notified. The elevator would then lock its door until they were unlocked by a key again from the outside. Usually by the armed guards, waiting to arrest the intruder.
The code Colonel General Chekhov input was twelve numbers long and once he was done the numbers lit up. He pressed the 3 and the elevator started moving.
After about a minute they stopped.
“The doors will open in just a sec.” Colonel General Chekhov said. “It can only be opened from the other side. Don’t make any sudden movements. Especially you guys...” He looked at the black suited bodyguards.
10 seconds later it opened. Fifteen armed men pointed their weapons at them.
“Stand down. It’s me. Colonel General Chekhov. I have brought important guests.”
The guards put down their weapons and one of them stepped forward.
“Welcome back. Huh? Is that the President? Oh, I’m so sorry. We didn’t mean to point our weapons at you.”
“No, no. You did your job.” Arnold waved off their concerns.
As the group passed all the soldiers saluted.
“Welcome to the Omega base, Mr. President. I mean Arnold.” Colonel General Chekhov said. “Come follow me.”
“Omega? You said Alpha before?”
“Indeed. They are not the same. This is where the real stuff is happening. The upper base is where we produce some basic stuff and have the nuclear power plant. We also have a ‘theoretic’ research facility there. It’s a front, incase people start wondering where all the money goes. All in all, this one is three times the size. With over five thousand people working here. When we are done we are planning to have several bases like this, all over the world. Well, similar at least.”
“My god. So many people… What exactly are you doing here?”
“That, is why you are here today. Our secret project is almost complete and you have been chosen to be a part of it.”
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