Exterminator : The Dark Beneath

“It was surprisingly easy to equip a secret lab, the ARC is so full of laboratories working on the next big breakthrough that equipment and resources are constantly being ordered or replaced. All I needed to do is move a few things around on a computer and hey prestos, a cutting edge facility totally hidden from the main Arc computers. I would have ordered a complete revamp of the requisitions systems by now to prevent others exploiting this loophole, If it wasn’t so usefully to the project”

-Overseer Olivia Jansen, sealed personal logs, November 2089

19:00 Laboratory zero

“Come on you little bastards “ Juliet muttered as she stared down the microscope lens at the nanobots swimming around the sample “ Adhere you shits! The cell is right there!”

“Problems?” April asked softly from beside her, causing Juliet to lean back from the microscope, groaning as her back clicking in protest. She winced at the sudden increase in light from the bright lights of the lab after staring so long into the microscope. The area was wide and well appointed, with several rows of workbenches down the middle, and equipment and larger apparatus lining the walls. The stark white of the walls, ceiling, and floor helped make the area easier to clean, but made everything pretty bright.

“This new batch of nanobots are refusing to adhere to the blood cells,” she complained, rotating her neck in a attempt to remove some of the stiffness. “I think we need to get Dr Jeffrey to revert to the older models and then try a new approach. Maybe we could add a complimentary protein strand to adhere to the cells surface receptors?”

April nodded in agreement as she handed over a cup of tea, making Juliet’s eye light up.

“Aw, you glorious goddess of a woman, you read my mind!”

“Tried that once,” April responded a deadpan voice as she sat beside her, “not much in there to read!”

Waving a fist at her friend in fake anger, Juliet sipped her tea, sighing at the pleasure of a good cupp’a. Once she had slaked her thirst she turned to her friend, who was busily unpacking samples from a cold storage box.

“How are things going back there April? I heard some raised voices a minute ago. Something wrong?”

April shook her head as she sorted; laying chilled organic samples, and flasks of media out on the white lab table.

“I was just getting our drinks from the machine in the hall when I overheard Doctor Branson complaining. Apparently he was looking through some of the local team’s sample and research and found some things missing and told Professor Malcolm who is pissed off to say the least. Now Malcolm’s having a go at all his staff trying to find what the samples were and where they are.”

“Wait, how can they know they’re missing but not where they are?”

“Well it looks like the contents of the containers they were in were removed and then the data base was edited to remove the actual contents. It’s obvious something was there, but as the person who moved it cleared the data rather than deleting it the computers never flagged any change.”

Juliet shook her head and sighed; “Well this is great! If the old staff didn’t resent us new-comers before, they certainly will now!”

“Oh I wouldn’t say resent,“ came a voice from behind them, making both girls start and spin around. Dr Jeffrey was stood behind them, the tall gangly man’s lab coat hanging off his frame as if it was stolen from someone considerably heavier. Juliet thought his wildly sticking up grey hair making him look like a stereotypical mad scientist. He held up his hands in a placatory gesture, a look of regret on his lined features.

” Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to overhear or sneak up on you. I was just wondering if anyone had shown you to the break room yet? I can see you found the coffee machine, but I wondered if you wanted something a bit more substantial and, seeing as I’m not going to be able to start my work until Malcolm is done flaying some unfortunate person’s hide, I through I’d offer to squire you ladies around.”

Juliet looked to April with a raised eyebrow and her friend nodded. She turned back to the man and gave him a smile.

“That would be lovely thank you. I guess it will also give us a chance to get to know each other a bit.”

He nodded and smiled, offering a arm to each of them, which they took with a giggle. Something about Jeffrey reminded Juliet of her uncle, a odd but a kindly soul. He led them out of the lab and along the connecting corridor, explaining as they walked.

“ As our work isn’t doesn’t officially exist, neither does this lab. Therefore it didn’t really have a name on any listings of paperwork, , However, although it’s not really something the bosses encourage, the rest of the staff here have dubbed it Lab Zero.

All the staff are listed as working in other departments, where the supervisors will insist you work there if anyone asks, which they won’t due to the Exec’s overseeing the project protecting it, and by extension, us. Our equipment and supplies are also diverted from these labs, and there are no records of its existence available to anyone outside the project and a few key people Gentech’s board of directors”

He gestured around as the rooms they passed. ” So our lab space is basically divided in half. We have the wet lab and storage areas in this half, which also contains the entrance through which you arrived. There are 4 dedicated wet-labs as well as a nanotech lab and the bio-fusion room. I understand one of you is the new biochemist?“ he queried and Juliet nodded. “Well I expect you’ll be spending a fair bit of time in there, then.“

They reached the end of the corridor and the ceiling opened up into a two-story space with a blank grey wall in front of them, broken up by a single large metal and glass blast door. As Juliet looked around she realised that metal railing ringed the walkways, through which she could see the glass windows of another lab, at the level above them. Raised voices where reverberating through them, and although she couldn’t quite make out the words, they didn’t sound flattering.

“Now,“ Jeffrey continued, looking slightly embarrassed by the noise and raising his voice slightly to compensate. ”As you can see we have two levels here, with the rooms spread out amongst them. I’m told at least one of the labs will be exclusively yours, seeing as you both focus on the bimolecular and genetic sections of the project. I share mine with our nanotech specialist, Senior Tech Holden, and presumably one of your colleagues now.”

He turned back to the blast door and keyed it, releasing a waft of cool air, as it quietly swung open. He gestured politely for them to enter and then joined them in the large airlock beyond. Its walls were a mix of white plastic covered metal and glass, showing reddish stone beyond the sealed space.

“This airlock links the two halves of the lab, and as you can see its large enough to move most of the equipment through in one piece.” He walked to the other end of the air lock and keyed the far door.

Juliet jumped as a torrent of pressurized air blasted from above flattened her hair down as it blew over her, before stopping in a instant..

“Oh damn! I’m terribly sorry,“ Jeffrey cried as he hurried over to them. “I’ve become so used to the decontamination cycle I hardly notice it anymore.”

“It’s OK Doc, no harm no foul”

He nodded hurriedly and opened the far door, which opened out into a large open room, with steel grill floors and metal tables and benches set around it. A large array of kitchen units and paraphernalia was set into the wall to their right, whilst several lighter bulkhead doors lined the long wall ahead of them. The ceiling overhead appeared to be more stone set behind glass panels, with bright lighting shining down from overhead. Somehow the room seemed light and comforting despite the amount of bare metal and glass.

“Well this is the cafeteria. As you can see it’s far too large for just our little group, even with our new additions. It was originally going serve a whole new complex to be built out and up from here, but when it was decided the lab would be more..covert, it was left as it is.” He walked to the far doors as they followed, opening one and leading them out into a similarly sized space that had been given metal and glass walls and ceilings, dividing it into several rooms linked by a cross shaped corridor. The door at the far end appeared to lead to another airlock although, judging by the pile of boxes and crates stacked against it, it hadn’t been used for some time.

“OK, so this area contains the medical facilities, an office area for writing up your findings and the like, and a few other lab spaces which are currently unused, although I expect that will change.” He led them along the corridor towards the airlock, until it opened out into a well-appointed office area. Several waist high cubicles had been formed using display boards, each of which contained curved ergonomic desks and a multi panel clear-screen computer each. The floor was carpeted and a few potted plants were scattered around the room, making the atmosphere more pleasant, but what drew Juliet’s immediate attention was the long window running along the back of the room, from about waist height to just over her head.

Out of the window she could see what appeared to be a large open cave mouthed. A overhang of red rock stretched out from above them leaning out to shadow the cave floor, rock and sand was strewn around its base, and as she peered along the cave to its mouth she could see the red curve of a sand dune ahead.

Juliet walked up to the window and stared out. She could see a reasonable sliver of the sky caught between the overhang and the dune, which created a good 10 metre long by 30 wide strip of shadowed sand in front of the windows, still brightly lit even with the hanging rock.

“How come you have a exterior wall and airlock here?” she asked as April and Jeffrey joined her. ”I would have supposed that it would be too dangerous without the tech glass used in the main Arcology”

“Ah, well, to explain that you need a little history lesson. To get here you had to travel along a long tunnel by buggy, yes?”

Juliet and April nodded. They’d travelled from their new, decadently huge apartment, down to one of the lower science wings expecting to find their lab there. Instead one of their new co-workers had lead them to an out of the way corridor and asked them to jump in a small buggy, a bit like a golf cart. He’d driven them for a few minutes along a dingy corridor hacked through the bare rock before reaching the entrance to the lab.

“Well,” Jeffries explained, “this whole lab was made to be both secret from the majority of the ARC, whilst also being far enough away from the main complex to be easily isolated in case of contamination. We’re not actually under the ARC at all. The corridor you drove down was originally part of the old mine works, which is why it has so many sealed blast doors leading off it. They can’t be opened, otherwise the area would lose pressure and anyone in the tunnel would be suffocate, exposed to the local atmosphere…”

Juliet raised her eyebrows at April, who looked slightly worried at that. Her friend had had a fear of suffocation since they were little, after a malfunctioning airlock on Mars almost killed her and her father. Unaware of the silent communication, Jeffrey continued.

“…this window looks out from underneath a cliff 5 kilometres along from the ARC itself. The original lab was just the first area you were in, but it was decided to expand it into a whole new complex to allow more workers and equipment, but part way through the building there was that...unfortunate incident in Columbus when all those people died.” Juliet winced and April paled somewhat but Jeffrey didn’t appear to notice.

“Suddenly the company wasn’t so confident in researching the amalgamation of bio and cybernetic technology on a large scale, and so the lab was reduced down into what you see today. The blast doors and decontamination processes mean that if a contaminant is leaked the lab can be sealed off from the rest of the ARC.” He turned back to them and waved his hands in a dramatic gesture.

“And that, my dears, is the grand tour...well not a very comprehensive one, but it covers the basics. Now,” he said with a grin, ”perhaps I should actually make us some food. You’re probably pretty hungry after having this old coot talk your ears off for twenty minutes?“

Juliet shook off her dark memories of Columbus and smiled at him. “That would be lovely, thank you, and thanks for the explanation. We were a bit lost trying to work out the layout of the lab!“

They followed him back into the canteen, where they saw Doctor Branson and Mathew talking at a table. The professor waved them over, and they moved to join him with Jeffrey’s in tow. “Ah, there you are my dears. I see Dr Jeffrey has given you a tour. How do you like the new digs? Pretty cool, hey?” he said, with a wink.

Juliet sighed theatrically at the Doctor’s juxtaposition of slang, the old man seeming to have regained his spirits after whatever the upset had been about.

“Yes my old chap” April replied in an exaggerated old man’s voice, deliberately poking fun at him” Old Jeffrey here gave us a wizard prang tour of the old girl” The table chuckled at her impression, Branson loudest of all, whilst Jeffrey’s looked slightly lost but seemed to get the gist of the joke.

“Well girls, it’s good that you met Dr Jeffrey already. He’s an absolute genius with neocortical implants you know? You should read some of his articles from before he joined this place. Amazing stuff.”

Jeffrey’s nodded with a slightly wan smile in response to the compliment, before replying.

“That’s high praise indeed from a scientist of your calibre, Dr Branson. I have to admit that the secrecy around the project is the only downside, as I can’t submit any of my work for publication until the project is complete, but now your team has arrived maybe that will change.“ He shook his head ruefully.

“You know, when the project stalled I got so bored I volunteered in the Cyber clinic in the Arc. Somehow I got press ganged into overseeing the implants of the Exterminators of all people! Can you imagine me, hanging around with those ruffians?”

Juliet felt suddenly uncomfortable as he spoke, and April took her hand under the table, but although Matthews threw her a concerned look, the older men didn’t notice.

“The Exterminators you say? Fascinating. I’ve always had a certain interest in the group, albeit in a slightly dreadful way. Imagine, giving a powerful armoured Exosuit and high-end cybernetic implants to criminals and sending them off to swat pests!” Professor Branson shook his head ruefully “If there’s one try tragedy with the hostility of the public to cybernetics it’s that the most advanced products constructed can only find use stuck into the body of reprobates. What a waste”

“Well generally that’s true“ Jeffrey countered thoughtfully “ But one of the Exterminators stationed at the ARC is different. Smart boy, nay, brilliant even. Knows more about cybernetics and mechanics then just about anyone I know. Hell, he even gives me a run for my money occasionally.“

He sighted in frustration” I wish I could have convinced the Professor to let me get him on staff as a assistant I’m sure he....”

Jeffrey’s smart-pad beeped, interrupting his musings as he reached for it, looking at it for a moment before his face went white as a sheet.

“Umm...please excuse me. I have something of a emergency to deal with”

The tall man hurried off, leaving Juliet and the others looking on in concern. “I hope everything’s alright,“ she said worriedly.

“I’m sure its fine, my dear.” Branson said with a wave, pulling out his own smart pad.” Anyway, let’s start drafting our experimental schedule over the next few days. We have a lot to get done!”