Andre stood flabbergasted at the entrance of the -32nd floor. He thought that he would be helping out with a secret experiment given the location, but he truly did not expect this.
Thousands of people moved around an area so massive it still looked sparsely populated. The massive space looked more like a cave than the inside of a building. Its walls are uneven and made of compacted dirt with thousands of powerful lights haphazardly hanging from the ceiling.
High-voltage wires clung to the walls like a sea of vines. The entire facility was supposed to run on four fusion reactors. Andre now knew that was a load of bullshit. He could feel the electricity flowing through the wires with his enhanced senses and they were well over double what four standard reactors could provide.
An enormous magi-tech structure dominated the center of the cavern. A circular platform that was a little over a kilometer in diameter. How the hell the TRI had managed to get the resources to build such a thing was beyond him. There was probably enough metal here to build a city not to mention more than enough electricity. Twelve telephone-pole-sized magic crystals were placed upright with equal spacing on the edges of the platform. Andre estimated that each one was at least size 10 or above. That would mean there were millions of mana units being provided for this megastructure.
The entrance was closer to the roof of the cavern than its floor. Andre walked down a long winding stairway to get down to the ground. On the way down he saw a familiar figure among the crowds surrounded by a posse of white lab coat-wearing scientists.
The elderly woman sitting in a mechanized wheelchair seemed to sense his presence the moment he looked at her. Her head spun, staring him directly in the eyes with a smile growing on her face.
“AH! Andre here at last and not a moment too soon.” Her voice traveled hundreds of meters with perfect clarity.
She beckoned at him to move faster with her bangle-laden arms.
Andre hastened his pace to a light jog. There were too many fragile-looking devices here for him to start sprinting at superhuman speeds.
“You are almost late!” The elderly German woman admonished him while pretending to look at a nonexistent watch.
“For a moment I thought my protege had grown lax and tardy.” She added.
“Apologies Director Kasimira, I hope you did not wait long.” Andre apologized while scratching the back of his head. He knew well enough trying to explain the holdup would just lead to an ear-numbing lecture.
“Bah!” She spat a frown creasing her face.
“Are we strangers that you speak to me this way!” She hollered, placing the back of her hand to her forehead like she was about to faint.
She gave him a dejected look before looking away as if to ignore him.
“Auntie don't be like this.” Andre said awkwardly. They were already receiving amused looks from the people around them.
He was already in his late forties yet to her he would always be a child and she his foster parent.
The senior staff surrounding them that were familiar with him were amused by the show while the younger scientists looked visibly confused. It was incredibly rare to see the Director of the TRI so animated given her condition.
“Hmph!” The director continued to act up.
Andre sighed with surrender. He walked up to her, spreading his arm for an embrace.
The elderly woman smiled as she accepted the embrace. Then she gave him a smack on the back of the head as he stood back up.
“How am I not going to be angry? I moved you here seven years ago and you haven't come to see me even once!” She chastised him like a disappointed mother.
Andre hung his head. It was true he was allowed to go anywhere within the facility's premises, but he had chosen to live like a hermit.
Director Kasimira is a member of the high council. As one of the most powerful people on Earth, she lived a life of intense politics. Being seen giving preferential treatment to someone supposedly serving a punishment had drastically different implications than accommodating a visitor even if the guest was the very same person. While visiting him would give her political enemies ammunition the reverse was far less problematic.
“I'm sorry.” He was the only answer he could come up with.
Kasimira squinted at him scrutinizing his face.
“Why do you beat yourself up over it Andre? You have saved more than you have lost, don't be greedy.” She said, trying to comfort him.
“That doesn't make it any better…” He sighed.
“But it does” She interrupted him. “If you made a million and you lost a hundred thousand you still have nine hundred thousand left!” She quantified looking honestly confused.
As far as members of the council go Kasimira could be considered benevolent but as someone who has lived long enough to see the world burn along with most of humanity. She had a dispassionate view of life. To her the masses were numbers that she vowed to increase but, in the end, they were numbers and as long as they trended up, she was satisfied.
Andre shook his head there was no point in arguing with her about these topics.
“Those bastards in the council wanted to put us down so they attacked you. They fear us. If Raja wasn't such a coward, we could have taken over long ago.”
Everyone surrounding them acted like they didn't hear the treasonous speech. Here deep beneath the bowels of the TRI her word was law. This was her kingdom filled with her people.
“And those damned protestors! You know they were paid by our enemies, just ignore them.” She continued.
“Don't ridicule the families of my men.” He voiced with a stern tone interrupting her rant.
They had a stare down which lasted for several seconds.
“Bah! Enough of this talk. follow me.” She dismissed the topic. Knowing she had spoiled the mood.
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Andre followed Kasimira as she drove her mechanized chair. As he followed her, she would point out objects of interest eager to talk about her work.
“Those are size twelve crystals each containing 531441 units of mana.” She said pointing at the 12 gigantic crystals standing on the platform.
“I shaped them myself. The mana obviously came from smaller crystals, but I doubt anyone else on Earth could shape crystals this size even when linked to a supercomputer.” She bragged.
It was indeed an incredible feat Andre himself took hours to create a single size four crystal. Even if he was to get mindlinked to a supercomputer he would probably only be capable of shaping a size eight or nine crystal.
“Aside from dealing with the council, this beauty has been my life for the past decade.” She exclaimed as they approached the massive magi-tech platform.
“What exactly is it for?” Andre asked as the scale of the construct still boggled his mind.
“You will see.” The old woman giggled with excitement.
They took a lift up into the Kasimira's current office which was a room built high up the wall of the cavern from where she could observe all those below. The room was filled with tables stacked high with paperwork even the walls were not spared with almost every inch used to pin some important document.
Kasimira waved him to the only part of the room which wasn't leafed in research papers. A single large table was laden with all kinds of food and drink.
“Help yourself, child.” She said as he took a seat next to the table.
Most of the food was obviously chosen for its long shelf life. Biscuits in tin boxes and a large variety of sweets. But there was some fresh food still smoking, obviously prepared just in time for their arrival. There was even a substantial amount of high-quality printbeef an expensive delicacy to even the richest and most powerful.
Andre stared at the feast, yet his guilty conscience sapped away his hunger. He did not think he deserved such excesses as flashes of his nightmare played in his mind.
“So, what exactly am I supposed to do here?” Andre asked, trying to distract himself from his thoughts.
Kasimira only stared at him, giving a quick glance at the food and staring right back. The message was clear. They would not talk until he had food in his belly.
Andre acquiesced, placing a steak on his plate and food down. It was delicious but every bite was a battle for him. After he had managed to eat about half the steak Kasimira was appeased and started talking.
“Your mission is simple.” she began.
“You will accompany a group on a long expedition in uncharted areas and make sure they can perform their task.”
“Uncharted area? Where will this be exactly Siberia, Amazon….?” He interrupted with a question.
“Uncharted area.” She repeated with a smile.
“A whole new world to be exact.” she clarified.
“So, I guess that massive platform is the success of the rift generation project.” He said while staring at the megastructure through the glass wall of the room.
“Exactly! Or more accurately it creates a stable portal to another world” She exclaimed.
She spent a couple of minutes talking about the intricacies of the device. Most of it went over his head as he was nowhere near her level of expertise but he listened anyway.
Then abruptly Kasimira leaned closer to the table, her expression serious.
“Honestly Andre, the other members of the council have been getting antsy about your stay here within the facility. Your several years of skulking only worsened their fears. They think it's all a facade and that we're planning something.”
“Are we?” He couldn't help but ask.
“No… Not you.” She replied cryptically.
“After a lot of shouting we decided on a compromise. You will be sent with the expedition to another world. Far away and not a threat to them while also not being a hostage against me and Raja.” She explained.
“Does that mean I'm basically going on a forced vacation?”
“No, I am not that inefficient,” she told him with an authoritative tone.
“If I am forced to send you somewhere you best believe I would make you useful. I love you child, but your skulking has at times gotten on my nerves.”
She moved next to one of the tables piled high with folders and grabbed one.
“This contains a summary of what we know about the otherworld. As you can see it's not much but that's why we're sending this expedition.” She said while handing him the files.
He browsed through the papers which were mostly just pictures of weird plants and animals with observation notes. Then as he flipped through one paper he stopped. It was a picture of two men wearing green capes with the older of the two pointing what appeared to be a crossbow at the drone.
“What!” He could not help but exclaim.
Kasimira grinned at his reaction. She could remember the absolute confusion this same picture caused the day it was received.
“Yes, it seems there is a very human-like species among the otherworld's population. We suspect this is because of the fact that the world is parallel with ours so expect there to be significant similarities. As you can see the flora and fauna don't exactly look that alien either. Not to mention the air is supposedly of excellent quality.” She explained while pointing at different pictures.
“Wait! Just how long is this expedition going to take?” He asked as it was obviously not going to be the short mission he prepared for this morning.
“After you arrive there the next several dozen portals would be for stabilizing the connection between the two worlds and would not be safe for human travel as that would incur additional cost. So I would guess it would take a bit more than two years before the next safe portal.” She answered.
He began to stand up as he suddenly needed to obtain way more supplies than he currently has.
“Oh, sit down you,” Kasimira said, waving him back down.
“I already packed all the supplies you would need, just stay here and talk to me for a few hours.”
“How did you know what to pack?” He asked. It has been decades since he left her care.
“Who do you think orders new uniforms to be brought to you? You definitely didn't bother to get them yourself.” She spoke with her arms crossed.
Andre was taken aback; it was true that new uniforms were brought to him every year, but he simply thought that it was the supply officer being exceedingly competent. After he sat back down Kasimira continued their conversation.
After almost an hour more of lighthearted talk Kasimira once again changed to a more serious tone.
“Andre, for now, your job is simple as the entire first group is made up of my people. Just make sure to protect them and they will do their jobs well.”
“But this will not be the same forever. If you are successful at getting a foothold in the otherworld. There is no way the pigs in the council will tolerate not having a piece of the pie. I doubt they would settle for just a piece.”
She cupped his head between her hands and stared him in the eye.
“I want to get ahead of them. Andre, I know you are not the best at politics, but I ask you to try your best and make use of this head start. Use of my people as you see fit and make sure when those fools come to feed all they would get are scraps.”
After a few moments, he nodded. It was probably best for Earth if Kasimira was on top rather than the others. He knew she was using him but honestly, he didn't care. He trusted her as any good son would.
“It's almost noon and at two I would have to open the portal. The expedition team is over there. I am sure some of them would be quite familiar.” Kasimira told him as she waved him away.
Andre walked past the much more active crowds doing the final preparation for the portal opening. He expected to leave the facility today but being sent to another world was not part of his expectations. He did not blame Kasimira for not telling him about the mission beforehand. In a way accommodating his self-imposed isolation was a show of love given her usually strict nature.
All he had to do is to perform his task. He reminded himself. For a moment his nightmares flashed before his eyes bringing about feelings of failure. He took a deep breath to steady himself. I will never fail again. He promised himself as he strode to meet up with the rest of the expedition team.