Mark headed out of the corridor. Having skipped all but the most necessary setup tasks, he was able to get himself out of the AI lab in record time. Now wearing a full environmental protection suit, he made his way to Section 4, observing the changes going on in the building. It seemed everyone was on edge, though the emergency alarm lights weren't on yet. Tension was written on everyone's faces as he ran past them and into the decontamination chamber at the lab entrance. After waiting for a grueling 35 seconds for the cycle to compete, the locked doors opened and he moved forward. Thanks to the application of Eaiphe in nearly every section of the base, the doors were no obstacle for Mark. With security clearances galore and a wealth of knowledge on AI configuration, everyone needed his expertise as some point or another.
As Mark sped down the hallways toward the Section 4 testing chamber, he heard the interface come to life. An excited Eaiphe pushed through with new directions and praise.
[Wonderful! This is much better than the security cameras! Your biological waste threshold is starting to get out of hand though.]
“Yes yes, stay on task Eaiphe!” Mark said with a sigh.
[Fine, yes, take the next left, the source isn't from the main testing lab. Seems to be originating from station 5 in lab 3, so you're almost there. Bringing up a map now.]
A map appeared in the corner of Mark's vision, similar to a minimap in a video game. Using advanced pathing, Eaiphe directed Mark through the crowd toward lab 3. 5 minutes, and a lot of scared people later, Mark arrived at a glowing red door. Given all the doors in this section were supposed to be white, and none of them glowed, it must be heat. Mark moved toward the door, enabling another new feature Eaiphe snuck into the chip. The uplink scan function handled AI-assisted environmental scanning, but was normally restricted to use in external tools and not allowed in brain interfaces. The regulators claimed it was to prevent ingress, but it was probably just to limit who could analyze proprietary technology. Eaiphe was a bit too good at that unfortunately, so they had to limit access after several corporate partners complained.
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The door was definitely hot, 1367 degrees Celsius hot, actually. The analysis showed the door would hold until 3553 degrees Celsius though, so it isn't yet critical. A guard rushed forward after noticing Mark’s generally careless demeanor, and pulled him back.
“Are you looking to get burned, son? This is no place for a coat. Go back to the shelters.” The guard said sternly. Mark barely paid him a glance before pulling out his clearance card and tapping it against the guards hand piece. The guard froze for a moment, bowed slightly in apology, and said “I didn't realize it was you, Mr. Aeros. Please, let me know if I can help.” in a respectful tone.
Mark waved him off, continuing to watch the door. The analysis was ongoing, but initial results from the scans showed something similar to a fusion reaction taking place inside Lab 3. It had thoroughly disabled any monitoring equipment, and little could be seen of the device that generated the energy, but at least it had a verifiable signature as fusion.
Eaiphe watched the data come in, checking for anything that would paint a better picture, and Mark pointed out some extra data that was initially filtered out as junk to be re-examined. Around Mark was chaos though. Scientists rushing to get to shelters, Guards moving things along and preventing blockages during the escape. The emergency alarms began blasting from the corridors, but Mark just disabled the audio input from the environmental suit. Watching what was behind the door was far more fascinating. As things got worse, Eaiphe started to have issues with the connection.
[Mark, we're fading in and out here. I think it's time to switch to Mode 3. I can't help you if I don't have access to the anomaly.] Eaiphe noted calmly.
“Okay, switching now, and this better not hurt!” Mark said with a slightly exhausted tone.
Heat surged from the door as the two shifted into the clearly prohibited mode, but Mark was just glad to have the opportunity to analyze a likely new discovery. Now released from the tether of the network, Mark and Eaiphe moved quickly to finish the scan results. Section 4 would need the data to fix the next iteration of their prototype after all. As the information on the event finally finished analysis, something changed.
The once red door went dark. Heat, Light, and all sources of energy seemed to disappear. It was only a moment later. 3 second from the darkness and nothing was left. Mark felt surrounded by black. He couldn't feel, see, or even taste. His mind spun as all the sounds evaporated around him.
There was only black.