In the lobby of the Oslo UAC office tower, the smashed chemistry beaker of dried blood lies still, the painted symbol on the floor had faded to brown. Heavy chains were looped around the front doors from the inside. The lighting was dimmed and each of the wall-mounted monitors scrolled the same short message, "standby". Up on the rooftop, a gathering of demonically possessed UAC employees wearing black hooded robes, standing around the outside of a freshly painted symbol. They begin their ceremony with a silent meditation. After a moment, they begin chanting in an alien language, as the chanting went on they were hitting morbidly sour tones. The unpleasant chorus became more animated in their gestures with the delivery of each word. This went on for more than an hour when finally, an apparition appeared above the middle of the circle. A demon with long horns on each side of its head and a jaw similar to that of a canine, its skin was a leathery grey. The demon speaks to them in an alien voice, revealing its sharp fangs as it spoke.
"You have done well by summoning me" it said, the former humans were all bowing motionlessly, face and arms on the ground in a display of devotion and worship.
"I must be brought into this world so the cleansing can begin, I must corrupt this world myself. Only when these mortals have lost all hope, only then can we begin the harvest. Moving forward too quickly with the harvest can cause mortal spirits to be lost, and these souls are too precious, I must have them all" demands the Icon of Sin.
The former humans continued to bow in silence, not daring to look up at the apparition or interrupt.
"You will use all the resources at your disposal to build a portal big enough to bring me through" was the demon's demand.
Mere minutes had passed before a group of possessed designers were standing over a large table top touch-screen computer, it held enough workspace for multiple users. They went to work on the design, calculating the dimensions of each module on their own work field. After only an hour of drawing and redrawing designs, each of the device's blueprints was complete, they assembled each composition and the prototype's completed model revealed itself. They sent the model's data to a nearby holo-monitor and the possessed designers gathered around to examine the finished design. The device was a massive upright standing ring supported by elaborate hardware to be housed in system sub-suites. The ring was fitted with red field emitters that sat between tightly coiled metal along the length of the ring. The large loop turns in the green holographic light.
Dark, ominous clouds had converged over New York's night sky, a tall broadcast tower pierces the gloom. Sheets of rain was falling to the streets below. Nearby buildings towered above, varying in shape from straight standing to bulbously designed, an apartment building held an exterior of a honey-comb design, each cell serving as a unit for housing, many hanging plants covered much of the structure. Robotic and autonomous vehicles hovered above a road, the traffic was light. Pedestrians travel along a seamless step-sensitive glass walkway that stretches off into the distance, displaying walking directions, adverts and city news, its various images glowed colourfully. Store-fronts were mostly managed by a robotic staff, business signs were either holographic or scrolling video screens, some framed with classic neon signs.
Spiral escalators twirled down to the subway below, train rails were replaced some time ago by magnetic rail. Small transport pods came and went rapidly through the platform and into the transport hub. Thick concrete columns supported the ceiling, attached were video screens displaying advertisements. A monitor switches from an ad for tiny bite-sized cakes to a red encircled demonic symbol against a white background.
"A new world is within our reach" read the words below the symbol.
A triangular company logo accompanied by the letters 'UAC' occupied the bottom left corner.
Further down the platform, a news broadcast played, the voice of the newscaster echoed through the deserted subway tunnel.
"Today in aerospace news, Union Aerospace Corporation surprised investors by releasing cryptic advertisements that are now being seen across the world. This campaign comes at a time when the conglomerate are facing intense scrutiny over a reported accident with their teleportation technology on two of their off-world colonies that resulted in making contact and being overrun by dangerous aliens. There have also been a flood of layoffs and related payouts recently, the timing of which has also confused investors. For more, we're joined by our corporate analyst, Angus Reed. Angus?"
Angus comes into frame of the broadcast wearing a business suit.
"It should be well understood that these ads are bizarre, wasteful and unnecessary. Union Aerospace is partially funded by governments and institutions. The rest is from profits from contracting its technology and energy to technologically driven investment firms representing countless scientists and engineers intellectually invested in the aerospace field. With that in mind, there's no reason for them to be attracting people's attention in this strange way. I've been following aerospace news for the last twelve years and I've never seen something like this, and for them to be promoting such cryptic content, it's puzzling"
The host comes back into frame on the monitor.
"Despite widespread confusion and criticism regarding these actions, aerospace stocks, particularly those from Union Aerospace Corporation rose considerably during today's market trading. We reached out to Union Aerospace to comment on the ads and investor concerns, a spokesperson for the company acknowledged the situation with their investors and told us that they were taking these criticisms seriously, but declined an interview or to offer more information."
On the rainy streets above, demonic symbols beamed from video billboards throughout the city.