Adam got back to his room. Exhausted. Both in body and mind. The work was harder than he ever would have imagined. The stress of keeping everything he was planning a secret, started to take it’s toll. One of his biggest issues right now, is who he could trust. Adam took off his shoes and sat down at his desk, stretching out his body. His joints cracked, giving off a pleasurable feeling.

“Ahh, that feels good.”

It might be impossible to do this alone, Adam thought, as he sat by his desk. He practised several pen spin tricks with his hand while he thought about what to do.

Adam decided he needed some help to get inside. He couldn’t ask any of the military. Even if they didn’t know about the secret base, they would most likely follow their orders. Just making Steven leave Adam alone for a few hours took alot of work and in the end it almost backfired. Breaking into computers for encrypted data, tricking security or even having to do something more drastic would most likely be impossible for them.

That leaves the civilian workers. Problem is, Adam doesn’t know if any of them is working with the military for real or just hired help like Adam. Adam doesn’t want to end up asking help from someone like Willie. Civilian on the outside, military on the inside. Another problem is, he only knows like five people on the base. Jane, Steven and Willie are all out. That leaves Asmoz and Cora.

Since he had a new plan of action, Adam decided to update his story with the new information.

‘Today, I finally found what I was looking for. A secret door in a dead end corridor. I followed, or rather shadowed, my supervisor through the base. I managed to get rid of my own shadow, called Steven, nice guy by the way, through some lies and convincing. Good thing I actually got to know him quite well. Otherwise it would have been impossible to know his weak spots.

My supervisor, called Willie, did several small jobs on the way. But just as I was about to give up, he reached the end of a corridor I had never been in before. He suddenly took out his tag and a computer panel appeared. It seemed to have an eye scanner and number code as protection, as well as a valid tag to even active it. The wall moved to the side and it revealed a new corridor.

After some time another person even came out. Jane! Don’t think I have mentioned her before but she was someone I met on the aircraft carrier. I had no idea she was involved in the secret base. I even asked her if there was something more in the base. I tried to flee but ran into Steven. Good thing he doesn’t seem to know about it at least. Then Jane caught up to me and after some awkward moments we managed to put it behind us. For now, my plan is to secretly ask around if anyone else is suspicious about this whole event.’

After he was done, Adam noticed another problem. He couldn’t connect to the internet. While he didn’t need to upload the new text right away, he had to do it at some point or the automated message would be sent without all the information. As Adam pondered his new problem, he realized another problem. The automated message! He had to reset it. Last time he did it, he was on the aircraft carrier. That was four days ago now. The internet issue suddenly became a real issue.

Could Adam get in and out within three days? No, did he really need to leave? Could it be connected back to him? Probably, if they investigated it thoroughly. Some of the details inside were quite telling.

Adam now had a time limit. Not only was the risk of being discovered huge, someone else might steal his glory. Was the automated message really such a good idea? No, the truth has to come out, even if Adam was not the one that delivered it. Several thoughts swirled through Adam’s mind.

“Damn.” Adam dropped the pen. His thoughts got more and more distracting.

Adam decided to worry about it more tomorrow. For now he had to sleep.

*Ziiip* Adam opened the zipper that covered half the overall. He tried to slip out of it, but the sweat made it stick to his arms.

Maybe I should take a shower before bed?, Adam thought. It’s been two days since last time and the overall is starting to smell. Nah, maybe next day…

Adam gave up and simply laid down on his bed. To tired to think about such things he quickly fell asleep.

A new day. The alarm clock rang at 6:00. It creeped its way into Adam’s dream with the extremely annoying beeping sound, interrupting at the most interesting point. He reluctantly opened his eyes and got up from the bed. The content of the dream was forgotten, however he faintly remembered something about an animal, some kind of lizard. He looked around his room. The walls were completely empty, and they were painted in a grey color. His gaze stopped at the clock by his bed.

“Six a clock huh. If you say so.”

If someone told Adam it was actually night right now he would probably believe them. Not seeing the sun in so long had caused him to lose his sense of time.

As Adam was about to leave, his hand reaching out towards the door handle, he stopped mid motion. The busy schedule had slowed down a little and his old routines started to pop up again.

Adam realized he had forgotten his old habits. He never placed any traps in his room. He had been so busy with travelling and working, that he had no time to think about those things. No more, Adam thought. He decided to set up his basic ‘hair in door’ trap at least.

He wasn’t really worried about someone reading his secrets on the laptop. It was a special kind. Made by a small company that specialised in secret keeping computers. One would need Adam’s fingerprint, several passwords, a certain set of motions with the mouse and one always had to close a few programs and open others in a certain order or it would not work. Maybe if they actually ‘stole’ it from Adam, and went through everything in it they could find another way but that would take some time. No, he was more worried about someone entering his room to set up some cameras or something like that. Using some of his electrician tools he could scan for electronics so he knew there were no cameras inside his room at that moment. But that was very time consuming.

Adam was already dressed, since he never got out of his overall the night before. So he headed to the toilets, carrying his hygiene products in a small bag. The corridors were swarming with similar dressed people. Since no room had their own bathroom, everyone had to go to the public toilets. One could either wake up a little bit earlier or take a risk of having to wait in line. What made it worse, was that everyone started working at the same time, except the few night workers. Working the ‘night shift’ was something most people wanted because you didn’t have to deal with most of the crowds. Even though they lived underground, and had the lights on at all times, which caused them to burn out faster, increasing Adam’s work, they still had to follow the surface timezones. New visitors, workers and material supplies arrived everyday.

There were two kinds of restrooms. The very open and public one with urinals in a row and sinks with mirrors over you could brush your teeth at. It also had barely decent toilet booths, open above and below with swing doors. The other type was a private room with a door you could lock. It had a toilet, sink and mirror. These were of course vastly more popular but few in numbers.

Adam luckily lived in one of the less crowded living areas. This meant he could usually sneak in before the angry and tired ‘zombie mob’ came looking for free toilets. Once you got in, you took your time.

As Adam brushed his teeth to the sound of banging on the door, he thought about his new plan. Today he would talk with Asmoz in the computer center. Adam could easily get access to it, since he was an electrician. He could either bullshit his way through, saying something was broken inside and needed fixing or he could actually create a problem. With some power fluctuations they would have to call in help. It might wipe out some of their work but, eh, not my problem, Adam thought.

The rest of the morning went as usual. A quick breakfast with some oatmeal with nuts, seeds and jam in. Adam arrived at work. Willie stood in front of a large whiteboard. It had today's tasks on it. Adam walked up next to Willie, looking for a good job. He spotted a very good one. ‘Repairs in the computer center’ with an added detail of ‘Change light bulbs and light switches’. Perfect!

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Hey, Willie. Do you mind if I take the computer center job?”

“Hmmm” Willie stroked his beard. “I planned to put ye in the plumbing section today. They needed some new electronics setup.”

“What? Oh, cmon, not the plumbing section. It’s worse than garbage disposal. Please, I promised I would meet a friend there today.”

Willie turned to look at Adam. “Eh, if it means so much to ye, go ahead. I’ll get another newcomer on the other task.” Willie waved Adam off with his hand.

“Yes, thank you. I’ll get right to it.“ Adam said while running off to register the work. They register the work on their tags so they can get access to different areas. Most of the time it’s not needed but for high security areas, like the nuclear reactor and the armory, it’s a must.

Adam made his way over to the computer center together with Steven.

“Hello, I’m here for the repair job.” Adam said to one of the guards at the entrance.

The guard simply glanced over him with an uninteresting look, before spotting Steven in the back.

“Yo, Steven. What are you doing here?” The guard said with a grin.

“We, are here to do some repair job.” Steven replied, emphasising the ‘We’ part.

“Oh, this guy, huh?” He turned his attention back towards Adam. “Well, get inside. Quickly.” Turning his head towards Steven again. “But, you can stay to chat for a while right? Not like he needs you around while working right?”

Adam and Steven look at each other.

“No, I’m fine on my own. You can stay here, and talk with your friends.”

“Ok. I’ll be waiting here for you.”

Adam walked inside, smiling to himself. Worried for nothing it seems, Adam thought.

Adam got to the area he needed to work at. Room 8. Light flickered inside, a broken fluorescent lamp. Adam checked the switch too. It also needed replacement. Someone had used great force on it, repeatedly. Adam saw this often. It’s caused by anger managment issues, triggered by the light not working properly. Adam grabbed his ladder and got to work. It was a simple job. Took only about thirty minutes. Having some spare time now, Adam looked around for Asmoz but he couldn’t see him.

The rooms were filled with people sitting behind screens, typing away. The sound of mechanical keyboards could also be heard. That wasn’t standard issue. They must have brought it with them from home. They are nice to listen to if you are alone, and the one typing on it. But listening to others typing would be quite annoying after a while.

Adam walked up to a nearby room. ‘Room 3’ it said on the door. The door was open so Adam walked in. The walls were covered in schematics of disassembled weapons and other items. About twenty computers were inside. Adam walked up to the one sitting closest to the door.

“Hey, you know where Asmoz is?”

“Huh?” The man was surprised and quickly turned his screen off. He was working on secret projects after all. “Who?”

“Eh, Achim Asmoz. Around fifty years old or so, gray hair and glasses?”

“Never heard of him. Sorry. Now if you don’t mind…”

“Ah, wait, he works in AI?”

The man nodded. “Ah yeah. That’s in room five. Just down the hall.”

Adam thanked him for his help and got on his way. Room five was a fairly small room. Much smaller than the one he just left. At the moment only Asmoz was inside. It had three other computers but they were currently turned off. Piles of papers covered the desks. Perfect opportunity to ask him a few sensitive questions.

“Hey, Asmoz!” Adam walked in with a smile on his face and waved with his hand.

Asmoz looked up from his screen and raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Adam? What are you doing here?”

“Ah, well, I wanted to talk with you about something. This might come as a surprise but, I’m wondering why you are here? You working for the military for real or just a hired help?”

“Eh, what an odd question. No, I-...” He stopped talking and put the glasses on top of his head. “Why do you want to know?” He had a stern look on his face, with furrowed brows and crossed arms.

“Eh?” Adam didn’t know what to say. It was not how Adam had expected the conversation to go. Adam swallowed but didn’t say anything else.

“Hmm, I guess that reaction confirms my suspicions. You are the same as me right?” Asmoz said.

“Same as you? Guess so...?” Adam didn’t know what to think.

“Haha, relax. You don’t look like the usual military type. I came here to this base in search of something. I’m assuming you are the same?” Asmoz said.

“I did come here searching for something, but I doubt it’s the same as you.” Adam said. He hoped it wasn’t the same at least.

“Well, let’s not talk about it here. You never know who is listening.” Asmoz said and put on his glasses again.

“I had some other things I wanted to talk with you about anyway.” Adam said and walked closer to Asmoz. “You got internet access down here?”

“Nope. Only the surface got that. Why? You bored or something?” Asmoz smiled.

“Damn.” Adam touched his chin. “Hm, so anyway. What are you doing down here?”

“I’m, I’m working on a new AI script. To handle a store. Before that I made an unloader, capable of unloading boxes from a truck and putting them in another place. If they load it up in some kind of robot it will work nicely. Here, I’ll show you the simulation.” Asmoz clicked a few times with the mouse and a window popped up on his screen.

Adam stood behind Asmoz as they watched the simulation. It showed a human shaped robot picking up boxes and putting them down again.

“Huh. I had thought it would be some more military focused.”

“Hmph, those guys in room three are working on new fancy weapons. Well, they claim they are theoretical but I’m not so sure. Most of technology for it doesn’t exists yet, but they seem to be extremely detailed. Well, I’m not a stranger to sci-fi so I know there are some amazingly detailed fictional universes, but still. Why would they work on that? Here?” Asmoz gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. “No, they must be planning something big.”

“Interesting. They are designing new weapons there? I talked with one of them and he immediately turned off his screen.”

“Yep, they do that. But I have only heard rumors and seen the things hanging on the walls so I’m not so sure about the details. Well, the guy next to me is working on a new targeting computer, so it’s not like military projects are uncommon.” Asmoz paused. “Anyway, you are working hard it seems… maybe a little bit too hard.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s just, you know. You kinda starting to smell.”

Adam sniffed his clothes. “Oh, right. Well, I have been putting that off for a while… Anyway, let’s meet up in my room later. It should be safe.”

Adam explained where his room was located and they decided to meet up at around 19:30. Adam left and walked back to his own zone together with Steven.

After that, work went on as usual. Adam and Steven grabbed something to eat at the mess hall. Adam worked all over the base, as usual, fixing small things. After he got off work, Adam decided to pick up some new fresh clothes and take a shower. His ‘hair trap’ was undisturbed, like always. At the appointed time someone knocked on Adam’s door. Adam opened the door slightly and peeked through the opening.

*BAM*

Adam slammed it shut again, leaning heavily against it with his back. His heart thumping rapidly. His breathing ragged. A surge of heat spread out through his skin, making his hands sweat slightly. What is going on? That wasn’t Asmoz.

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