The Hall of Souls
Clarissa quickly realized that both she and Zachary were at a serious disadvantage in this area-there was no cover whatsoever. Of course, there had been no cover in the earlier section's they'd trawled through, but this was different, here it was all straight corridors and blind corners-the other sections had a gradual curve that they could use to their advantage.
Thus they were reduced to wall hugging, taking a few steps and listening for any sounds that might signify life. Zachary's hand came down on Clarissa's shoulder and she stiffened for a moment before relaxing and sighing.
"Don't do that! I'm already on edge enough as it is."
"I see another corpse next to that doorway. I think it's an apartment of some sort. Maybe the personnel computers down here haven't been wiped. "
"The computer isn't my main concern…this stiff actually is." She crept foreword and knelt beside the thing taking it's head in her hands and examining it.
"What the devil are you doing?" Zachary hissed, "That thing could gut you like a fresh pike before you had time to-"
"His lips…" Clarissa breathed.
"What about them?"
"There's no foam…his lips are comparatively moist."
"Then it's not Hydrophobia…oh Gods above…"
Clarissa stood and opened the door to the room. "You wanted proof Zachary? This is it."
The room was small, cramped by anyone's standards. On the bed rested a body, which was in such a state of decomposition that it's stomach, was bloated to a horrifying degree. Clarissa couldn't even tell what species it was.
Clarissa turned to a workstation and pressed the power switch experimentally. To her amazement it turned on. "Huh…an emergency power supply." She continued typing with Zachary staring over her shoulder.
"Odd…there are at least 100 safeguards but they're parting for me as if it's supposed to be found by…"
My god… Clarissa's hand flew to her mouth as she began to readDiary Entry # 354 Date Unknown: If you've found this then I am already dead, as is every other individual inhabiting this facility. Perhaps you area member of the first security team to penetrate this facility. If so, heed my warning, DO NOT activate the main construct, no matter what the regulations state.
It began when a candidate slipped through the screening procedures (which were specifically designed to prevent this from occurring) He had a latent form of schizophrenia, one which was so deeply imbedded that the screeners hadn't caught it.
As soon as he was implanted with the device, the computer interfaced with his brain and was affected-due to the fact tat my suggestion of adding a reverse blocking pipeline to the data stream was…ignored First he fell into a coma. Then he started screaming on the 5th day.
Two weeks later it struck, and by this time all 600 of the patients had fallen into a coma or some degree of psychosis. Almost ran out of straightjackets. We couldn't understand what was going wrong; the implantations on ALL of them had been lawless. All the prototype implants ha been triple checked for defects-none existed. Software checked out fine as well.
It cut the lights off first, and then began using the atmospheric shielding to create…explosive decompression. We lost 50 of the staff that way-before we shut off the controls to that. The security forces tried to hold out as long as they could but given that most of the access to the weapons caches was controlled by the computer…it was a losing battle.
Eventually it started remote-transporting people to holding cells for implantation, it said it could improve the technology, make it work. Hundreds were taken. That it was doing it for the good of the company. In it's mind it was following it's prime directive And it wanted to spread, explaining why we'd cut off the main array…if it got loose everyone would have been in danger. We threw up firewalls to slow it down and retreated to the residential levels-because from there we could use emergency shafts to access the core.
Three rats lost their lives planting the low yield EMP. It went off…and everything went dead. No COM's... nothing. I am the last one alive. It said it saved me because I talked to it…treated it like more than a machine.
Even though we disabled the sensor grids, I believe it has learned to use the bodies to monitor the activity…a living auto defense system. Ingenious.
I do not have long to live…please…take the original prototype model chip, which will be in my right hand when I die. Perhaps you can make our dream work.
Adieu- Alan Diaphones
Clarissa opened a COM line and said "This is Clarissa to all units, retreat to the landing pad immediately, do not, I repeat do not bring the main array online-"
Clarissa stopped when she heard a footstep from outside the door. "You're wasting you're time talking to them…I've been jamming your signals since you got down here."
Zachary grabbed the glass case clutched in the corpses right hand while Clarissa covered the doorway. "I know what you did to them, you sick twisted shithead."
"I liberated them from their bonds. I made the part of myself. Is that wrong? One collective consciousness…knowledge…insight. It's a beautiful thing. You believe that I am…tainted…you are incorrect in this. I merely wish to make the implant work…"
"I'll kill you!" Clarissa snarled and sent three shots into the thing's forehead, dropping it.
"Not a wise decision…" Said a bevy of voices from down the hall. "Using three shots on just one of us? Not smart at all…" Clarissa trained her flashlight down the hall and saw at least five groups of wraiths walking towards her, all carrying assault rifles, bedecked in battle armor and wearing that same sadistic smirk on their faces.
"I did some repair work down here as soon as you got the droids up and running…quite simple really." A red sensor strip lit up along the bottom wall and Clarissa saw auto turrets drop into view.
Zachary stepped out of the room and almost dropped his pistol. "We are sooo fucked right now."
"Thank you captain obvious." Red laser sights were trained on both of their heads, unwavering…after all they were being controlled by a computer. They wouldn't miss-ever.
Clarissa switched to her rifle and aimed at the first group of Anthros. "There are over 1,400 converted individuals in this base. 4000, turrets. The droid foundry can spit out up to 3500 mark 5 defensive drones…" A blast door slammed shut behind them, cutting off their escape route.
"I could activate the decompression shields right now and have you struggling in a vacuum before you could move for your firearm…" Zachary looked up at the ceiling and swore.
"You're not getting out alive…why not join me?" Clarissa closed her eyes and shouldered her assault rifle. The vixen calmly removed the gloves from both her hands and pocketed them.
"What the hell are you doing?" Zachary hissed. Clarissa didn't answer. Her prosthetic lengthened once again and a chuckle rippled through the ranks.
"Zachary…get behind me." Her voice seemed…different. Stronger…bolder. She had no fear.
"You don't honestly believe that you can leave do you? Your time has run out! I can predict your every move."
Clarissa pulled a grenade from her belt and the first arcs of blue energy began to encircle her arm. "Predict this." And she pulled the pin.