POV: The Old Man
Alpha-1's rest offered me an opportunity I had no intention of wasting.
Since she had taken over Asmara's body, her decisions had become even more difficult to anticipate.
She had dismissed the researchers tasked with studying Roum, locked several levels of the archives, and made a considerable amount of documentation concerning the early Alpha generations disappear. Even the files to which my former status should have guaranteed me access had been replaced with incomplete versions, as if she had set out to rewrite history, taking care to leave behind only what suited her.
I'm sure it still exists.
When she erased an experiment, she usually kept the results elsewhere.
However, I still can't locate them.
It was annoying.
All I could do was cross my fingers and hope I stumbled upon it by some miracle.
I went back down to the lower level,
At the end of the corridor, but on my left, a metal door.
EXPERIMENTAL SECTOR GENERATION ALPHA, RESTRICTED ACCESS.
I ran my hand over the badge reader.
The system emitted a brief sound, then displayed an access denial message.
- Obviously.
I took my trusty maintenance key out of my pocket, a key I'd kept long before this area was renovated. Its use wasn't exactly elegant, but it allowed me to bypass the lock without triggering the building's alarms.
Getting in everywhere was child's play for me.
When the door finally opened, a smell of preservatives reached me, accompanied by the irregular hum of the equipment that kept the facilities running.
The capsules were dusty and the liquid inside had turned green.
I walked between the rows, examining the plates attached to their base.
As I suspected, Alpha-1 had indeed preferred to hide the subjects rather than destroy them.
TRANSFER PROHIBITED
TRANSFER PROHIBITED
TRANSFER PROHIBITED
TRANSFER PROHIBITED
TRANSFER PROHIBITED
TRANSFER PROHIBITED
TRANSFER PROHIBITED
TRANSFER PROHIBITED
A joyless laugh escaped me.
– You're really annoying.
Once again, you will have to wait.
I copied the accessible fragments onto a separate medium and left the area.
On the way, I consulted the list of transfers scheduled for the morning. One line caught my attention: a human subject was to be taken to the Central Dome under medical supervision, with authorization for movement granted by central services.
EUGENE, CONDITION: PROLONGED SEDATION. DESTINATION: DOME RECEPTION CENTER.
I slow down.
Eugene had no business being up there in that state.
When did she decide that?
He is completely unprepared.
—
Eugene felt as if his head was full of cotton.
He could distinguish the vibrations of the stretcher beneath his back, the steady slid of the wheels, and, from time to time, a change in temperature as they passed through an automatic door. However, he was unable to understand why no one had explained to him where they were taking him.
He tried to raise his head, but a strap prevented him from doing so.
– Hey… Can you explain what's going on?
The two machines transporting the stretcher did not slow down.
He blinked several times. The ceiling rushed past above him, crossed by bands of light that blended together in his vision. He had the unpleasant feeling that he had forgotten something, without being able to determine whether it was a recent event or a much older memory.
– My team… Do you know where they are?
No response.
He tried to turn his head to see the corridor behind him, but the movement made him dizzy. He gave up and focused on his breathing, hoping the sensation would eventually disappear.
– They're alive, at least?
The machines continued to advance.
Eugene let his head fall back against the stretcher. He felt nothing; he had the impression that his chest was empty.
The convoy passes through one last gate.
This time, the change was immediate.
The air grew cooler, and a natural light, almost blinding after the artificial corridors, flooded his face. Eugene squinted. Above him, an immense structure of glass and metal rose far beyond what he could see from the stretcher. Walkways connected suspended buildings, while silent vehicles moved between several platforms; the vegetation was as dense as on the beach where they had ended up.
I had never seen a place like it.
– Where is it?
His question was lost in the muffled rumble of the equipment.
The stretcher moved onto a transfer platform. Beyond the transparent barriers, Eugene glimpsed figures walking unaccompanied, dressed in impeccable uniforms. No one seemed in a hurry, no one seemed concerned about the machines moving just a few meters away. Some stopped in front of illuminated signs, while others crossed the walkways with an almost unsettling indifference.
They had the appearance of people who had never needed to fight for their place.
True immortals
les Pure EMOTIONAL
The convoy continued on its way with all the lights going out.
The machines came to such an abrupt stop that the stretcher slid a few centimeters before its brakes locked.
BIIIIII PIIIIIIIIII BIPPPPPPPPPPP
An alarm signal sounded in the corridors, followed by an automated announcement whose metallic voice repeated three times.
DISRUPTION OF CONNECTIONS BETWEEN STATIONS.
closure of the walkways between levels.
Eugene turned his head with difficulty.
On the adjacent platform, the gates had just closed simultaneously. Barriers were being deployed between the walkways, isolating the different sections of the transport network. The figures that had been moving about a few seconds earlier had stopped; some were being directed towards the nearest buildings, while security units took up positions around the access points.
A second announcement rang out.
INTRUSION DETECTED IN THE LAST LAYER.
Eugene swallowed.
– An intrusion…?
– we must intervene.
The machines did not respond, but their heads rotated in the same direction.
He finds himself locked in the dimly lit corridor.
Eugene watched helplessly.
– Trans-emotional! We need to intervene.
The word didn't mean much to his machines since he didn't know it yet.
He pulled on his straps.
Hey! I'm still tied up!
The brancard remains immobile.
A detonation separated their corridor from the dome.
At that same moment, the Old Man finally arrived
At the station.
– Transemotional…