* * *
The next day, when news arrives that Dr. Xiang’s arrival is delayed until Friday, Thuma acquiesces and they make the trip into The Bunker.
They’ve all been privy to the specs, and, having seen myriad such state-of-the-art facilities before, its layout is no surprise to her.
Row upon row of two-state servers whispering to each other in voices the speed of light. Geothermal energy powering the phenomenally energy-intensive cooling necessary to keep them running. All tucked away some 50 meters underground and topped with a not-quite-nuke-proof shell.
What does surprise her, however, is the atmosphere of the facility. The ambience of the place. She can see why Thuma insisted on waiting.
The blast doors open slowly to reveal a massive tunnel. She had expected a rather uninviting sight, more armor scaling the walls, lest rock still fresh with wounds of excavation be seen.
Certainly not this.
Ukiyo-e[8] landscapes mural the walls of the great hall leading to the elevator.
The lift comfortably fits them all, and after a quick ride they exit into a vast expanse bordered in waterfall gardens and blossoming Sakura.
Roiling holographic nimbi filter the 5000K LEDs shining down from high above, a near-perfect simulacrum of the midday sky. It is easy to forget where they are.
As they cross the wide yatsuhashi[9] over the koi pond stretching past the main lift’s entrance, Thuma pauses to cast a handful of seaweed pellets from a basket nestled amidst the Iris Ensata.
He is clearly ensorcelled by the aesthetic of Old-Nippon, and the style suffuses his subterranean facility
A large pagoda stands at the center, on a dais of tiered ikegaki[10], and, as they approach along one of the many elegantly tiled paths that crisscross the grounds, Britt actually feels as though she walks in one of the great countryside prefectures of the mainland.
Thuma pauses at a karesansui garden[11] along the way and—perhaps considering the vantage point of his guests—says,
“Eccentric? Yes. Expensive? Without a doubt.”
He picks up a simple wooden rake and delicately patterns the sand, perhaps recalling waves or rippling water.
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“But if I, or anyone, is to spend any length of time down here, then why not make the experience a pleasant one?”
Continuing along the kiri-ishijiki[12] stones, she runs her hand through the rows of hakonechloa macra, and, having seen it now for herself, ‘Bunker’ feels rather incongruous a moniker for the place.
She concedes that this is indeed a rather pleasant place to be.
I would’ve expected shōji cubicles
Inside the Daitō[13] they encounter nothing anachronistic to the 1650s. It is only once they exit that they see a similar structure built into the wall at the rear of the cavernous space. It is through the heavy doors of this facade that they enter the true heart of the facility, where the mainframe—the silicon cerebrum of BNKR—sits.
Beyond this threshold the décor is muted, though still a clear continuation of the ‘outside’ aesthetic, and Britt is surprised not to see a canopy of bonsai trees crowning the servers.
In the turbine rooms—the lowest point of the complex accessible to anyone without a pressurized dive suit and a very expensive life insurance policy—Thuma explains, gesturing grandly around himself as he charges indefatigably onward, that the solid-state lithium-sulfur backup batteries store enough power, if need be, to run the entire island for 8 months without any geothermal input.
“And of course we have emergency exits in case of, well, emergencies.” He notes. “Though the risk of flooding or any kind of catastrophic disaster is so negligible as to be 0.” Smiling towards Rainey, “It really would take something like a nuke to knock us off kilter.”
He goes on,
“Nevertheless there are rapid lift emergency elevators at regular intervals throughout the facility—of course you know this already, the information was automatically shared to everyone’s tablets the moment we stepped through the blast doors—but they all surface on high ground, where terrain permits the easiest retrieval by the island’s automated search-and-rescue Quad-rotors.”
Again stopping to turn and cast that winsome grin,
“Although I am pleased to say that only twice have the emergency lifts been needed. Both times during the final installation of the mainframe. Both times the same individual.”
He shrugs,
“Turns out one of my technicians was quite the bathophobe. He didn’t realize it until he was already down here running diagnostics. The panic attack hit and he bolted for the lift. He tried again later but couldn’t manage.”
Face suddenly austere, his tone shifts ominously,
“So I had to have him… liquidated.”
Silence and disconcerted stares.
2cool looks as though he’s about to speak.
“I’m kidding of course!” Thuma bellows. “I had him leave the project early, paid out his full contract term, and then paid for his therapy.”
He winks at Stovich.
“I’m not quite the evil capitalist that some people want to make me out to be.”
* * *
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[8] 浮世絵 - Nipponese art genre that flourished 17th-19th centuries. Woodblock prints and paintings of female beauties; kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; travel scenes and landscapes; flora, fauna, and erotica. Ukiyo-e translates as 'pictures of the floating world’.
[9] 八橋 - in Nipponese architecture, a low, wood plank bridge in a zig-zag pattern over a shallow pond. The name means ‘eight planks bridge’, but refers to any similar bridge. Often associated with water iris (Iris Ensata) gardens.
[10] 生垣 - in Nipponese landscaping, a hedge of live plants trained to create a fence.
[11] 枯山水 - Nipponese Dry Garden, often called a Zen garden. A carefully composed miniature landscape of rocks, water features, moss, pruned trees and bushes, with gravel or sand that is raked to represent ripples in water.
[12] 切石敷 - in Nipponese landscaping, cut paving stones such as those used on the formal paths of the Katsura Detached Palace.
[13] 大塔 - in Nipponese architecture, a 5x5 ken Pagoda, or 'large pagoda'.