Chapter 11: Fake World
"Damn this stupid thing" He shouted slamming his fist into his desk causing Alistar to look up and ask "What is it this time Jack?" Jack looked over his computer screen at him and said "It's this new data processor, I cant get it to work with in the parameters that it needs to be useable" Alistar stood up and started to walking over saying "Let me see maybe a new pair of eyes will help" "Be my guest" Jack said leaning back in his chair. Alistar leaned one hand on Jack's desk as he looked at the screen and after a few seconds said "Maybe try reducing the distance between your main power unit and the sequence loop module, it seams that you are loosing to much power on the way to the module as it passes through the other components" "Maybe, but wont that end up pulling to much from the other units by the end?" "True, well try putting the loop in the middle and link the start and end sequences and take advantage of the loop module" "How do you mean?" "Use the sequence loop module as a repeater for both the data stream and the power flow" "Interesting, lets give it a try" Jack said as he started typing "Now lets see what it will do now" He said and hit the star simulation button "That's better but I'm not getting the power out put I should be" "That's because your amps to voltage ratio is way off" "Oh ya it is, lets fix that. Wow this thing actuly works" "There you go, what's this thing for anyway?" "I not one hundred percent sure I thing it has to do with one of doctor Tanoge's projects" "Hu, well let's let the good doctor know it's ready for testing shall we" Alistar said picking up an in building commlink.
The door click shut behind him and he hung up the light jacket he had been wearing on its hook in the hall and walked into the living room and faceplanted into the couch. Elizabeth walked out from a back room and leaned on the hall wall and said "Rough day it seams" Alistar turned his head just enough to be heard but was still muffled "Yes and no, the morning wasn't bad we finneshed our project but the afternoon I got stuck in an inter department shit show" She straitened up and walked over to the couch and leaned down placing her elbow on the arm rest "Was it as bad as military 'disagreements'" She said as he rolled over to look her in the eye "It was about the same, two people yelling at each other over who has the right to do this or that and even after that nothing gets done" She smiled knowing exactly what he was saying "So how was your day?" He asked. The question surprised her and she said "Not much happened so it was not bad but not good" "It was an ok kind of day then" He said "Ya an ok day, nothing special" "Well then lets do something special" He said standing up and walked over to the entertainment center they had and plugged his data pad in "What are you doing?" She asked sitting down on the couch "Storm sent me a data pack of a bunch of old movies that I watched growing up and I want to show you some" "Old movies, how old?" "They were old before I was born, and tecnicly I'm ancient" He said doing a silly little dance for the effect. She laughed a little at the move then asked "Ok so wich one first?" "Well it's an old movie called Singing in The Rain staring Gene Kelly a verry talented man" "Really?" "Yes he could dance and sing wile being a great actor, he even did some directing" "That's a lot, what did he direct?" "Another one of my favorites movies Hello Dolly we can watch it later if you like" "I would like that, and who stars in that one?" "Oh a lot of people like Barbra Streisand plays Dolly and another favorite of mine Michael Crawford who himself dose sevral other things I like" "Like what?" She asked excitement growing "Um he did Condorman a wonderful comedy and he originated the roll of the Phantom in The Phantom of The Opera" The two of them went on for hours talking about old Earth things and watching old movies going late into the night.
"How long have you been at this pet project?" Jack asked "Three weeks" Alistar answered head in his hands sounding on the verge of giving up "Well maybe you should not have called Tanoge an idiot for insisting that what he sent us was the only way to do that processor, and then toss a working version in his face built to your specks" Jack said looking around his computer at Alistar "Maybe, but I was right" "Yeah you were and you proved you are smarter than him so he dumps an impossible task in your lap either getting you to give up and he wins or you get it to work and he still gets what he wants" "You know him well" It wasn't a question "Yes I have seen it before, it didn't end well" "I see" Was all Al said as the thaught of what might happen if things went south ran through his head. His brooding was interrupted by the time clock calling for a shift change "That's it for today I guess" Jack said standing up and stretching "I'm going to take this home with me and see if I can crack the encryption on this stupid thing" Al said lifting the old looking data pad that he had been trying to crack for the past weeks "You never stop do you?" Jack asked pulling on his jacket "Not when I'm close" "You said that last week" "True well on one hand I'll either come in tomorrow done or still going" "You are something else you know that" "How do you mean?" "You never stop, it's like you have to do this to survive or something" It surprised Alistar how close Jack was to the truth "I just like finishing what I start" "Well you need to slow down some time or you will burn out" Jack said getting into his car "Na I'll be fine" Al said sarcastically as he started walking home "Whatever" Jack said pulling out.
"You don't even take the time to stop and eat, you do both" Elizabeth said taking Jack's side in the conversation watching Al continue to try cracking the data pad and eat at the same time "Listen El this data pad dates back to the end of project Olympus, normally I wouldn't care but-" "But this might have answers" She finneshed for him "Yes" He said looking at her "I get it, but why is it taking so long?" "Well I've taken down sevral layers of encryption already but the problem is they are all trapped with self deleting codes so I have to be carful wile undoing five thousand bit encryption keys" "That sounds like a lot" "Well let me put it this way, the data that came out with me only had a six hundred bit key and you couldn't crack it and I don't think the IMC could either with out the key" "Oh" "It's fine I'll work on this for only a little bit more then I'm going to bed so don't worry" "Ok but don't say that and then get lost in what you are doing and forget" She said as she walked out of the dinning room "You know me to well" He called after her. Al picked up his plate and walked out of the dinning room turning the light out as he did and entered the kitchen. He set his plate down on the island counter and turned on the small light over it as not to use to bright a light then went back to work. A few hours later the entry encryption broke and he looked at the home screen of the pad and something about it felt familiar following a hunch he opened the files and started reading, most of the data was useless a report on supplies making their scheduled time of arrival and troop transport ETA's and ATA's giving up he scrolled to the bottom and got up to get a glass of water before it finneshed. After he sat back down he saw that near the bottom was a file with no heading but it was much larger than the others, tapping the file it opened to revile a report confirming the activation of a new initiative with in project Olympus he could not fine the name at first but after a wile "Come on give me a name, this looks promising 'And so commander I can confirm the green light to begin the Apocalypse Initiative' AAAAaahhhh" Upon finishing the sentence there was a flash in his head and he grabed his forehead pulling back in pain and falling off of the stool he was sitting on and smacking his head on the floor knocking him out.
'What do you think Alistar?' Alistar turned to see Ben looking at him 'I think their scared, scared of what we can do so they put us together to keep an eye on us and make us feel specal as a way to keep us in line that's what I think' Ben's grin left his face and the looks on Sam's and Lily's faces were worse 'Why would you say that, it's not that bad here' Lily said half heartedly 'You three are second wave pilots, you don't know what command is capable of' 'Come on Al, those stories are just that stories' Sam said stepping forward 'Are you sure about that Sam?' 'Well I-' 'You never wondered why a quote new program was called Olympus 2, why such amazing genetic research worked the first time no problems and no testing, why twenty foot tall robots pilotable by humans have no long term affects on the pilots first time around? Or the micro bots in your body that make up the lost ground from just being human are that fine tuned' 'I never saw it that way' 'All I'm saying is don't trust freely around here you three' As he finneshed the intercomm called out 'Pilot Cambel report to med bay for a medical update' And saying nothing he walked out. 'You don't think he's serious do you?' Sam asked looking at Ben and Lily 'I don't know' Ben said watching Alistar walk away 'He is, well I don't know what he is' Lily said also watching him walk. After a few seconds of silence Ben said 'I do know with out a doubt that he is what he says he is' 'Oh and what is it your are talking about exactly?' Sam asked 'He is a first wave pilot I'm sure of that' Ben replied 'But how can you know for sure?' Lily asked a little fear creeping into her voice 'No second wave pilot has seen combat yet but he has this aura about him a sence of death and lots of combat. And he shares a link with his titan like no pilot in the second wave has, they share info and have conversations at speeds no other can match' 'So he has seen combat what's the big deal?' Sam asked 'The big deal as you say is he is the same age group as us and has those years of combat, I think those stories aren't just roomers but more of horror stories of what he can do that's why in this Apocalypse Initiative he got the name Death' That oh so familiar feeling of pain but this time it had some more to it his head hurt both inside and out "Al can you hear me?" El asked taking his pulse "Ya I'm good" He said sitting up "What happened?" "I cracked the pad and found something that released some memories" "Anything good?" "No" "Oh do you want to talk abut it?" "Not really, but I should or it might not stay" "Ok" "Well it seams that my past is darker than I thaught" And Alistar told Elizabeth about what he had seen and heard and what he understood about the Apocalypse Initiative wich led to "Why the Apocalypse Initiative? It's a bit intimidating" She asked "They called it that because each of the four members had a specal skill set that corresponded to one of the four horseman of the apocalypse, mine was death" "Well I can see that happening" "You can hu? Ah" As he spoke his body locked up for a second and his face was full of pain "Al?" "I'm ok for now El it's just that if this keeps happening it will cause lethal brain damage" "What can we do?" "The only thing I can think of is to step up our plans, I know from when doctor Tanoge gave me the pad that he has a sever in his lab that has all of his data on Olympus and from what I can tell the systom blocking my memories is running on that to" "When do you think we should do this?" "Tomorrow night with it being Saturday there will be less people in the bulding" "Ok I'll start preparing" "Ok tomorrow night we end this"
The wind blew lightly as Alistar hooked up the rappelling harness and tested if the line had anchored properly, pleased with it he looked over to Gates and she gave him a thumbs up. Alistar walked over to the edge and looked down checking the drop if it was all clear, they would have to rappel down from the top of the tenth floor to the South West corner of the ninth floor where Dr. Tanoge's office was. He turned around letting his heals hang of the edge and began to lean into the harness and over the edge, slowly one step at a time he lowered him self to the window he wanted. He would have to affect entry and unhook his harness so Gates could join him, grabbing a small tool from his belt he put it into postion and began twisting. The small hand drill would not set off the windows pressure alarm if he did it slowly enough but that was the trick drill a hole slowly enough to not be noticed and open the window so he could swing in and let Gates join him. Just as the drill tip began to peek the other side of the glass the glass began to make cracking sounds he stopped the sound continued for a second or two then stopped. Alistar wiped his face out of nervous habit and tried drilling again even more slowly causing a few more sounds but nothing that stopped him from finneshing the hole, when he was done he put the drill back and reached in the small hole and unlocked the window it swung open slightly and stopped he was glad it was night time as the window moving in the day would have reflected light onto some one below. Going to pull his hand out of the hole he found a new problem his hand was stuck and he couldn't get it out, he pulled and pulled he tried moving his thumb this way and that but nothing worked finally he reached in the window with his other hand and undid the Velcro on his glove and pulled it off. That worked and his hand was free now he swung himself into the window. Alistar stood there for a few seconds waiting to see if his entrance set off any alarms, nothing happened and Alistar unhooked the rappelling line and sent it up and soon Gates joined him "Where is the computer we are looking for?" She whispered and Alistar pointed to the unit saying "There" just as quietly. They walked up to the monitor and Alistar woke up the screen "Gates make sure nobody interrupts me" He said and she nodded walking over to the door Alistar looked down and started, There wasn't much security on the computer it self as the fiscal security of the bulding was up to standard. "People put to much faith in cameras" He said as he searched for the program blocking his memories, after a minuet or two he found it and began dismantling it. When he had the whole thing ready to go he looked at Gates and said "I may black out for a bit, if I start yelling try and keep me quiet" She nodded and watched as he hit enter on the keyboard. Immediately he dropped to his knees and grabbed his head gritting his teeth as wave after wave of old memories both good and horrors he didn't realize he had flooded back, he sat there on the floor for a few seconds panting trying to get a grip on all of the things now lose in his mind Gates stepped over "Are you ok?" "I'm fine" He said standing up and looking at the screen "Shit Tanoge rigged an alarm if the systom went down he would know" "How long do we have?" "Five seconds until the elevator opens with security in it" Just as he finneshed talking they heard a soft ding as the elevator opened. Alistar moved over to the door and Gates took cover behind a desk, Alistar could hear the guards approach the door seven by the sound of it they were going to kick the door down. Alistar reached over and grabbed the doorknob and waited for the sound of shifting gear and when he did he pulled the door open just as the guard was trying to kick it open and the man fell flat on his face. Wasting no time Alistar kicked the man in the face just as he was turning to look at him breaking his neck, stepping over the body he reached out and grabbed the carbine of the next guard and pushing back and up causing the butt of the gun to slide into his chin and make him take a stutter step into the guard behind him. Al let go of the gun and pulled his knife plunging it beep into the mans throat then pulling it out and pushing with his other hand sending the now lifeless body back into the next guard knocking him to the ground, jumping over the two on the floor and sending his knee into the chest of the next guard nocking the wind out of him making him drop to his knees Al shifted the knife in his hand and brought it down right at the base of the mans skull, reaching down and grabbing a sidearm Alistar took aim and fired twice dropping two more guards. Alistar turned around to see the one guard he had nocked down starting to get up he aimed and fired twice more killing him instantly but the pistol jammed. Dropping the pistol and turning to see the last guard leveling his carbine Alistar ran forward and as the guard began firing Al jumped up kicking from wall to wall until he kicked off for the third time and landed on the guard nocking him prone and then holding his upper chest and shoulders down with his left he reached around with his right behind the mans head and grabbed his mouth and jerked if suddenly and violently snapping his neck. "I take it your back to full?" Gates said from the doorway of the office "Mostly" He said standing up "I'd say you are seven guards in five seconds, you never did that before" She said stepping up to him "I must be getting slow" Was all he said and walk to the elevator. Gates watched him disable the elevator thinking 'He's grown cold and verry dangerous, maybe he was holding back earlier but why?' "Gates it's time to go" He said walking past her to the window stopping at the main desk and looked at it for a few seconds then said "I have their cameras now" "But how?" Gates asked stunned "My nural lace I linked up to the server" Before she could say anything more they heard foot steps running up the stairs "There is only one coming get hooked up I'll deal with him" Gates nodded and started hooking up her harness and Alistar walked over to the door leading to the stairs and waited on the knob side. As the door swung open Alistar turned into the guard and brought both his hands up into the mans neck and broke his windpipe causing him to fall back down the stairs either way the man was dead and Gates didn't know how to handle what was happening, sure she had seen combat and the like but the cold efficiency and shear speed he now moved at wasn't natural not by a long shot.