Chapter 5: Going Under
Cheyenne Mountain Complex
09:50 A.M
Half-way through the elevator ride, Satterfield could tell that the Russian was getting uneasy.
"If you don't mind my asking," The Major began, hoping to ease the tension.
"But are you claustrophobic,"
Alexeyeva found the question quite random, yet she answered.
"You have twenty-eight floors of an underground complex and I have been reassigned to it," She replied, scoffing.
"So?" Satterfield asked.
"What can you possibly do here?"
Satterfield shrugged at the question.
"A lot," She replied.
The Russian shook her head.
"If this turns out to be anything like Aperture Science, I'll take my leave," She said, chuckling.
Satterfield grinned.
"Oh wow," She said. "I didn't know you played Portal,"
"What can I say, Major," She replied, shrugging. "It's a fun game,"
"To be honest," Satterfield added. "You never struck me as a gamer type,"
"Are you one, Major?"
"Well, sorta, I mean I play a lot of games like Call of Duty in my spare time with the other guys,"
Alexeyeva shook her head.
"Something wrong?" Satterfield asked.
"Tell me something Major," The Russian commented. "Why is it that American game designers chose Russia as America's primary villain almost every time?"
"Well," Satterfield began. "Guess it's the Cold War blues," She laughed uneasily.
Alexeyeva leaned back towards the elevator wall, placing her uninjured hand into her pocket, still not satisfied with the Major's response.
"Don't worry about it, Colonel," Satterfield replied, trying to make light of the conversation.
"They are just video games,"
"Da, well, I preferred the ones that took place during the Great Patriotic War,"
"You mean World War Two?" Satterfield clarified.
The Russian nodded.
The elevator stopped descending and the doors retracted open. The two found themselves facing a linear corridor, decorated with pictures of planes that belonged to the United States Air Force.
"Impressive collection," Alexeyeva heard herself mumble.
"Oh, well, thank you Colonel," Satterfield replied.
"There's plenty of more around here but most people just ignore them,"
The two turned past one corner and then again around another, finding two doors before them. One door was ahead and another was to the left side. Satterfield knocked on the door to the left, the one that read 'Brigadier General Samantha Carter' followed by one star.
"She was just recently given the position," Satterfield explained as they both head a
"Come in,"
The two women entered the room. They found boxes littered everywhere and a woman behind a desk, who was hanging up her phone.
"Ah," She said, standing up from her chair.
"You must be Lieutenant Colonel Alexeyeva,"
"Yes Ma'am, that would be me," The Russian replied, saluting.
The commanding officer, General Samantha Carter nodded at Satterfield.
"Thank you, Major, you're dismissed," She said.
Satterfield saluted and then left the room, closing the door behind her.
Carter sat back onto her chair, leaning into the desk, rubbing her forehead.
"So much to do these days," She began.
"Ma'am?" Alexeyeva asked.
Carter looked up and smiled.
"Sorry, it's just the responsibilities of command…again,"
"This is not your first time commanding a base?"
"Not the first time for this particular base, no," The general replied.
Alexeyeva nodded.
Carter gestured the Russian to take a seat and she complied.
"General Carter, may I ask you something,"
The General nodded.
"Please ask," She said.
Alexeyeva took a deep breath.
"For two weeks, I have barely had any sleep," She began. "A federal building was invaded, killing a few innocent people and wounding more, I lost two of my men when we finally caught up with those who were responsible, those two men I had known personally, a bomb had gone off, and no one would tell me who those hostiles were, please General, I beg of you, tell me what is happening,"
Carter nodded as she listened.
"I would," She began.
Carter paused, taking the time to pull out a vanilla folder, stacked with papers, from her desk.
"But you will have to sign this," She said, handing the folder to the Russian.
After a brief examination, Alexeyeva shot her head up back to the General.
"A Non-Disclosure Agreement?" She asked.
"I've taken the liberty of cooking it up while you where you were on your way to the Pentagon, whatever you see and hear in this base…you are bound to not say anything outside this mountain,"
"So this was all planed?" The Russian asked, opening to the first page that held the signatory line.
"It's a bit more complicated than that." Carter replied.
Alexeyeva shook her head. After all this time, from that fight in Moscow to going twenty seven stories downward into the ground underneath the U.S, the Russian had to a lot to think about. She closed the folder, but kept it on her lap. After shooting a glance to her right, eyeing a briefing room through the glass that was covered by a star map, she sighed. Biting her lip, Alexeyeva said that she would like to think about signing the agreement.
"I understand what you must be going through," General Carter told the Russian.
"You can make your decision in the briefing room next door if you'd like,"
"I would, General," Alexeyeva told the General.
She stood up and walked over to the next room with the folder under her arm.
The Russian took the seat next to the center one, speculating that the center belonged to the General. She could feel eyes upon her when she noticed several Airmen were standing guard in the room, which had made her even more uncomfortable. Not only that, but she also found that the window behind her was protected by a steel barrier, blocking the entire view for what ever was behind it.
After opening the page that asked for a signature, Alexeyeva took hold of the pen and clicked it. Before she could sign, however, her hand began to shake. An instinct, that had saved her life more than once, was telling her something wasn't right. Of course, she already knew this, with all the secrecy. The Russian eyed the General, who was still in the other room, talking on the phone. Eavesdropping, she heard what the General was saying.
"…Sir…I'm confident that Lieutenant Colonel Alexeyeva is the best candidate for the program…Sir…I want to be honest with you sir…this is my project and I think I entitled to choose who I want and I'm sure General Landry agrees with me,"
Alexeyeva raised an eyebrow as she continued to listen.
"…It wasn't my choice to become base commander in the first place sir…yes, I understand, thank you sir,"
Then Carter hanged up.
Before the General could notice that she was watching, Alexeyeva quickly looked back onto her paper. Carter entered the briefing room to find the Lieutenant Colonel still looking at the paper.
"I thought you were going to think about it." She said to the Russian, noticing that the pen was about to strike paper. Alexeyeva simply shrugged, unsure of how to answer.
"I'm still trying to understand what will happen to me if I agree to all this," She replied.
"I'm sure it'll be worth your while," Carter commented.
Alexeyeva agreed and took one last look at the paper.
"I want to be clear, General," The Russian began. "If I don't like what I find, I will respectively ask for my leave,"
"I'm sure that can be arranged Colonel…but at least give it a try," Carter replied.
Alexeyeva nodded, pressing her pen against the signature line.
"This one's for history," The Russian said, signing her name for what would eventually become the rest of her life.