Ch. 6

As soon as he walked into the CVR base, Evan had the distinct feeling of being an alien arriving on a new planet. White. Everywhere he looked was white. White walls, white floors, white uniforms on the people walking past, white furniture. No windows, but he was sure that if there had been, they would have white covers too.

He had known the building to be a large white dome from the outside, but that stark absence of color never fully registered. It was just something that was there. It was there and it was bad and he shouldn't go anywhere near it. Now he knew what those lab rats Johnathan Elis had told him about must feel like. And not just from the white either.

Evan could feel himself leaning as he walked, even though his brain was telling him he was walking normally. He just couldn't shake the feeling of tilting slowly to the right.

The recruiter looked back at him and Rosie and grinned, "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. All the pathways are curved in here to use as much dome space as possible. It messes with your sense of balance when you first come in, but I promise, you'll get used to it eventually."

"Just what I need, a new balance problem." Evan muttered.

"And he speaks! I was wondering if you were a mute."

Evan glared at the guy, "And what about you? You're expecting me to believe that the name you gave us earlier is your real one?" No point in telling him he wasn't paying attention. Plus somewhere in the back of his mind he could hear Johnathan Elis' voice telling him not to let these people see him as weak. Probably a good idea to listen to the old man a few more times.

The guy chuckled. "Very astute. No, it was not, but then again we of the CVR don't really go by names as a matter of necessity. When you are first interred you receive a number, but this is not going to be your number forever. Depending on what you do here, what field you go into, what you accomplish, what connections you end up making, your number will either raise or decrease. If it gets high enough, you will be considered for more confidential occupations, your status will increase. If it goes down though, well, let's agree not to do that, kay kay?"

"So will we be getting our numbers right now then?" Rosie couldn't have sounded more excited than if it were her birthday and they had gotten a real cake for the occasion.

"Well, not necessarily. First comes a tour of our facility. We here at the CVR want to make sure our new comers have some idea of where everything is, especially when they just get here. After all, who wants to get lost on their first day?"

You mean who wants to end up in restricted zones their first day. Evan's usually gloomy thoughts rephrased the as yet not-named, or not-numbered, carnivore's statement. Trust was going to be a major problem here.

"Right now we're in the main corridor. As you saw, it's the only one you can walk as soon as you enter the facility, and the only one for a while. That would be for security purposes. The CVR has great pride in its security, so we take it very seriously. As a result, this entire walkway is one of the most secure parts of the building. No one is let in without access, and if I weren't here with you now, you would realize how dangerous white walls can be. Also just a friendly reminder to stay close and not get too lost as we make our way."

Oh goody, so unrestricted is death and if we stay our dirty, obviously not carnivore clothing will pin us as target practice. Good to know.

"Now, the CVR facility for Growth Zone 298 has three upper levels and one lower. As I'm sure you learned in your FEC courses there is a CVR facility in every former major city the world round. Now only the busiest, capitals, centers of major changes, have FEC buildings as well. Before there was one of each in every location, but soon the FEC realized they only needed a CVR base at each, especially with the dawn of the Transversal Visual Monitor Hood, TVMH. Or as I'm sure you've heard it called, a pictage screen.

"For most of your time here you will be stationed on the first floor, until you start to specify what you want to work on with us. Then you will have access to one of the other floors. The second floor is for science and technology based research. How can we get the everything machines to be more productive? Is there any other resource out there we might be able to use? Those are only a couple of the many questions they focus on on the second floor.

"The third floor is our T&T headquarters."

Rosie frowned, "TNT? Like weapons?"

Numberless put on one of the fakest smiles Evan had seen yet, "No, a common misconception. We at the CVR do not focus on weapons technology."

It took all of Evan's will not to let out a derisive Johnathan Elis style snort.

"No, T and T stands for Travel and Technology. There we put our energy into the problem of space travel. How can we get to Prox, safely? What exactly will we have to do and make so it's livable for humans once we are there? We know that, thanks to the Order of Teslonia we know that there is an everything machine there, but how much of its base materials are left? What instructions did the Order leave for it? These questions, as well as space travel, are what floor three covers."

"Seems like a pretty broad spectrum." Evan commented.

"Oh, trust me, it really isn't. Once you get down to it, right now all the T&T is mainly focused on is the technology part of the T&T. Although that will be changing."

"Changing?" Rosie asked.

This time Numberless' smile was real. "Yes, changing. One of our long time scientists has recently had a break through. We will be sending people to Prox in only a few years more. And trust me, unlike the propaganda, it really is only a few years." His voice swelled with pride, "Maybe even as little as two. That's how major this break through is."

Some little kid part of Evan lit up when the guy said this. He could feel himself being pulled in, his past dying. He could feel himself at the threshold of a new world, its gravity pulling him down. Bringing down to the earth whether he wanted it to or not. And strangely, for the first time, he actually wanted it to.