Vietnam
1981
"How far are we?" Beck asked. They had been trudging for a while now with still no sign of the bunker.
"To be honest, I still struggle to recall if this place actually exists." Benedikt lead the way, Redeemer in hand.
"Your joking." Portnova cut in.
"Unfortunatly not. This was one part of my memory that didn't clear up like it should have."
"So your telling us that we followed you into the middle of nowhere based on false images inside your mind!"
"I know where we are!" He turned around. His angry eyes visible through his balaclava.
"But you just said you didn't even know if this place existed! What kind of leadership is this?" Portnova approached him.
"Drop your weapon and we'll find out." He threatened, tossing his own pistol aside, ready to fight.
Beck noticed something strange behind the arguing pair. He stepped aside to investigate with a closer look.
"Will you both stop!" Park seperated the two, shoving them apart from each other. "We're in the middle of the jungle with the balance of war shoved into a small backpack and here we are, Russia's supposed best. Standing here, bickering like a bunch of morons. We're soldiers, not petty children. So I expect both of you to act professional." She looked back and forth between the two, making sure they weren't going to become hostile.
"Hey guys. Look, I found something!" He shouted behind him. Using his knife, he cut multiple vines to reveal a red metal door.
"It does exist.." Benedikt mumbled to himself. Everyone gathered around the entrance as he opened it.
"It looks abandoned." Beck said, shining a flashlight down the hall.
"Looks can be deceiving. Everyone keep a close eye on their surroundings." Benedikt lead their way down the halls.
"So this is the place?" Portnova asked.
"Yes. It used to look better, I can only guess why they abandoned it." He lead them into the lab area of the bunker. "Not as big as the ones we have back home but it will have to do." They shone their lights all around the lab.
After finding the switch for power they were able to get the bunker functioning again.
They pulled everything they had recovered from the base in Antartica out of the bag.
"So if these are all the actual journals... what did you hand Perseus in his office?" Beck asked.
"The one containing their flawed attempts. At the time theh of course didn't know their errors in their research which is what caused the deaths of their first few test subjects. I simply handed him a bunch of jumbled puzzle peices."
"Let's hope it will keep him occupied." Portnova sighed.
"It will, trust me." Benedikt handed her the DNI chip he had recovered from his adventure.
"All this is going to take some time. Park, Beck I'll need you two to work on this journal. Sum up for me the basics of time laws or whatever we decide to refer to it as." He tossed the leather book to Beck.
"On it boss." He replied, the two setting up at a seperate counter space.
"All the gear you'll find over in that corner. Let me know if you need anything and hopefully it won't be rusted." Benedikt said before begining on a different journal that consisted of encrypted code.
After a little while of sitting in tense silence, he decided to speak up. "I want to apalogize for what happened earlier. I shouldn't have let my frustration out on you. Your a part of my crew. Its a wonder none of you have left my side yet, after all the times we've evaded death and horrible circumstances we tend to find ourselves in."
She sighed. "I also apalogize." He could tell it was difficult for her. "Its not my place to question the authority of a superior."
"I think we're all a bit tense after our most recent adventure." He wrote as he spoke.
"Yes, but it will make for a great story to tell at the dinner table." They both laughed.
"Look at them. A pair of nerds." Beck quipped as they multitasked.
"Its a good thing shes on the team. It gives Benedikt someone to talk cryptogrophy and other stuff with. One less headache to deal with." Park joked.
They had been at work for nearly two days. With very little rest, they managed to complete most of their work.
"So we understand how it works now?" Beck asked Benedikt and Portnova.
"We know the basics. There are some ins and outs that we still cant explain but we atleast know that they happen. This DNI chip.."Portnova held up the chip and presented it infront of the other two. "… its connected to the brain.
"I decrypted this journal, one that had been written in code by who I assume to be the Americans. Part of the passage is an absolute mystery. 'Breakthroughs in a variety of fields, including neuroscience, electrophysiology, materials science, computer science, artificial intelligence, and robotics, have all contributed to the advancement of this technology, as well as the perfecting of surgical techniques that would have seemed fantastical only 20 years ago.' Word for word." He paused. "Listen to this. 'After early academic work in the 1970s, it lead to advancements in microsurgical methods, understanding of the function of broader parts of the brain, and considerable advances in processing capacity which then prepared the path for trials where animals learned to control the movement of robotic arms in the 1990s and 2000s.'". Benedikt went on to explain further how early the process and development of the DNI chip started and when it began to be put into use.
"Thats impossible." Park said. "How can the Americans perfect what the Nazis started and yet seem to have this information as if time travel has always been around."
"So someone jumped through time before Benedikt did." Beck listened as he continued to finish up the last of their findings.
"There were only three other subjects before me. They died, Hudson and Adler showed me the footage."
"And you beleived them?" Park asked.
"We're talking about time travel. That alone doesn't sound beleivable. I didn't really have a choice, they knew more about it than I did."
"So one must have been able to send back the info before they died."
"So they lied to me. Again." He scoffed. "They told
me they knew little to nothing about this! I don't even know why I'm angry, I should have expected it."
"What other findings do you have?" Beck tried to get them back on track.
"Theres more features about this thing I didn't realise. Its combat mode works to highlight enemy targets and even reveals any lethals and tacticals the enemy has thrown. All it takes is one friendly to see it and everyone else's DNI highlightes the same threats as they see. Not to mention their location, distance and signal if an enemy is about to open fire. And thats only the tip of the iceburg. I'd explain more but we don't have the time."
"I tested and played with the chip myself. My findings are just conformations that nerves and the brain communicate as impressivly as Benedikt mentioned. Simply put, memory and sensory info is encoded and sent back to the brain along with a few other things. But thats irrelevant right now."
"Boss.. This day just got even more insane." Beck said, taking his glasses off, having just finished his research. He stared long and hard at the journal before Benedikt picked it up.
"Let me see." He said, reading the passage for himself.
Subject Number: Classified
Name: Benedikt Romanov
Age: 30
Year Obtained From: February 24, 1981
After our third attempt the decision was made to not document the fourth on footage. The team managed to send Romanov into their desired location of 2065 however he returned earlier than anticipated. When we brought him back he didn't seem to die like the others. While in the past other subject's bodies had not remained intact because of disinigration or other unfortunate demise, this corpse bled to death. A seperate team had investigated the body and concluded the cause of death were due to combat who we can only assume to be the locals he encountered while in 2065. Without speaking a single word, he handed two journals to CIA Agent Jason Hudson before breathing his last. Very few people know the contents inside these journals, even myself. After the second subject failure Hudson had brought Adler in on the project. The entire mission was to obtain the chip for its ability to access memory. Seeming to feel there was only one right man for the mission they brough in Romanov while also testing out their time travel findings. The current status of circumstances seem to be questionable. Having recently obtained Romanov from present time, it is deemed that tomorrow he will be sent in with the mission to acheive the chip and return home. Assuming it goes to plan the chip with be duplicated. One implanted into Romanov and the other into the desired host.The plan to win the war.