Chapter 6: Answers
The sweltering heat made the air almost feel too thick to breathe, and my gas mask wasn’t helping. It was Salim’s, he still had it from back in San Myshuno. Apparently there were major gas leaks there when this all started. The Glassbolt Laboratories towered over me. This is the place my father used to work; where the world as we knew it ended. I took as deep a breath as the air would let me, and stepped inside.
Corroded metal lines the walls, and ruined machinery surrounds me. This place used to be a factory, even before it was a lab. I step through the door to my right, and am surprised by clinically clean white walls. A receptionist’s desk greets me, and I am reminded of the few times I have been here. On my father’s birthday a few years ago my mom and I had come by to bring him a cake. We had to stick to this waiting room. The greenhouse which once was home to wonderful plants now looks… strange. The purple vines creeping up onto the glass have a strange magnetism to them, it’s like they want me to open the door. I shake my head. Now is not the time.
I walk past the receptionist’s desk into a dimly lit corridor. I try the doors on the right, but neither will open. I pull out Salim’s file with codes and passwords. After a good 10 minutes of typing in every single code at least twice, I go to try my luck on the left side of the hall. After about 5 codes I get the first positive beep and the door audibly unlocks.
What I see then makes me stop dead in my tracks.
What I see then makes me stop dead in my tracks.
The main laboratory, trashed beyond belief. Broken glass and documents cover the floor. The machinery looks beyond repair. Even with my gas mask on, the smell hits me. This must be where the gas is coming from. I think about the people that used to work here. There is no one to be seen. The Glassbolt expeditions must have taken the bodies.
There is a staircase to my right. Tentatively, I test the first step. The metal creaks, but doesn’t give way. I walk upstairs.
There is a staircase to my right. Tentatively, I test the first step. The metal creaks, but doesn’t give way. I walk upstairs.
The area I walk into must’ve been a breakroom. There are chairs, tables and other furniture. Some of it is scattered across the floor and broken, and some of it is still standing up. I turn the corner to what was once a kitchen. A fridge lay on the floor, with the door off the hinges. If the earthquakes were bad enough to topple a whole kitchen, then why are there still tables and chairs standing?
I shake my head. I can think about the technicalities later. On the other side of the room I can see a glass door. The smaller windows around it were cracked, but the door appeared untouched. I walked toward it and noticed a keypad at the side of the door. The plaque above it reads ‘Professor A. Donovan’. Peering through the glass, I can see an office with documents scattered all over the floor. I look at the keypad. Six digits. I try my birthday. Nothing. I try my parents’ wedding day. Negative again. I have one attempt left. I put in the date of when my mother and I had come to surprise him on his birthday. A beep and a click signal the unlocking of the door. I take a deep breath, and step inside.
I wade through the papers on the floor, heading for my father's desk. I am doing this for the good of the people. I remind myself. Keep it together. Once I reach the desk and sit down I can finally get a good look at the papers. One file in particular stands out to me. It is buried beneath a pile of documents. A big red CLASSIFIED stamp graces the front cover.
‘The Gaia experiment: trial 37b’
I open it up, and begin to read.
‘The Gaia experiment: trial 37b’
I open it up, and begin to read.