Glumly treading along the numerous puddles, I was silently cursing my boss. Nikolai Petrovich, the head of the "Analysis and Business", where I happen to work, called at 1 A.M. demanding I go to work on Saturday. Not answering that call probably would've been a wiser decision, but, just leaving intense VR session, makes one's poor judgement indeed, as it was making me very soaked at this very moment. It turned out that our supplier *finally* delivered the upgrade servers we've been expecting since last month and, despite the lack of any upcoming deadlines, these were to be connected and brought up to working condition right away. The fact that it could have been done on Monday (without turning anything off also - the process of plugging in additional flops was developed well in advance) and all the plans I had, that went down the drain `cause of this, did not help brightening my mood in the slightest.
The company I work at(now quite well known) earns money by processing and analyzing various kinds of information and generating prognoses about the possible future based on that. Most often we`re hired by trading companies to give the expert opinion on how their section of market might look like in the near future. Sometimes though, we get really interesting problems to solve, usually originating from various institutions that lack flops or educated personnel to tackle them themselves. I really like these kind of tasks as they often imply the need to delve into yet untouched subjects and I am always eager to learn new things.
My boss is a clever and active kind of guy, who happens to always know the current information technology inside out despite this being no easy task. He also showed himself to be good at management, when after raising enough funds and purchasing the right kind of hardware he convinced(not with money most of the time) enough talented programmers to join him in starting a company. Some of the first prognoses they made for not-so-law-abiding people helped them avoid huge trouble already on the way and earned us a reputation of good fortune tellers (and good share of money).
So, I`m also a programmer there, a lead programmer in fact. This kind of job usually does`t entail assembling new hardware on work-off days,but, as it happens, I combine my programming duties at the company with those of a system administrator. You see, when we were just starting, the boss had a hard time finding a competent guy for the job and when it turned out I was well versed in the subject he just temporarily pushed these duties on me(for extra cash of course). Not that I was against it in any way. Afterwards, he stopped searching for the "competent guy" to do this kind of work, realizing that he already got one, and, to my satisfaction, temporary promotion became permanent. In two months time I've managed to set the computational cluster up and running, and also made the distributed and remote work possible, allowing programmers to show up at the main office only when needed and write code wherever they are. Of course, that required a sturdy protection which I set up as well. As of now - it generally works without my attention needed at all and I just get the money for additional position. Generally...
This kind of criticism, however, was not going to lead anywhere, so I just plugged my glasses into a buddy-computer, put an unfinished book to the left glass, turned on the music, fixed my instrument bag ,also containing a powerful sub-notebook with administration software, and hurried to the bus stop. I`m not the kind to willingly go around with a bunch of hardware, which, despite being quite light, still causes discomfort, but this notebook has all the software our company had developed over years, just in case. Although, considering how much of this software is still new and not even patented properly, I`d meet a violent fate at the hands of my boss, should he ever realize it. Of course, it`s all hidden well and ciphered to prevent anyone even knowing it is there, much less access it, but still...
Having left the bus to go back to the city, I stepped into the park. The location of our company is, technically, within the city limits, but in reality it`s the disused building within the military facility of purpose uncertain on its very edge, that my boss was able to rent cheap, due to it being empty, unneeded, and ill-maintained. After some time invested to fix and clean it we've had the neat and spacious office to work in and it even had a natural park as its surroundings for us to rest and think, which I did this quite often.
The only one to meet me at the place when I arrived was, obviously, the boss.
`Come in buddy!,` he happily waved.
Is he drunk or anything?
`Boss, come on, was it really necessary for me to wade through mud coming here today?,` I immediately began, `Whatever happened to the whole of Monday we still have ahead?`
My relationship with the boss can hardly be called formal. Of course we respect each other but it`s actually even further than that, The best description he already did, calling me buddy. As such, formal talk between two of us is rarely the case.
`No can do, Kolya, no can do`
Mysteriously smiling, he was sipping coffee and smoking a cigarette, doing this, as I noticed, being all too comfortable in Olya`s chair.
`She`s gonna have a fit if she can as much as smell this ash when she comes,`I thought. Olya, being very clean and meticulous girl, hated any kind of disorder on her table. I was flirting with her on a regular basis (trying to seduce really), but, so far, she`s somehow managed to hold. She visibly liked the game though. Whether she liked me was another question.
`Ok, jokes aside, what`s the matter?,` I threw my bag on the table and started making coffee for myself.
`Well, Kolya, see ...`, I hate it, when people call me by my first name and mostly everyone knows this by now so they just call me Nik, boss has taken a liking to tease me though, `We have a new order`, he pointed his finger upwards, `A big order, which we`ll likely have to start working on immediately, probably even tomorrow. Thus, I can`t have you being distracted by servers on Monday. I`m sorry, but this will have to be done today. More flops won`t hurt anyway.`
Okay, boss had likely snatched this order from some other company and is now happy being the smart guy. Realistically thinking, we don`t have any serious competition, but this, probably, makes him even happier to win in rare cases it actually happens.
`I will now upload a summary of the work to be done to your machine. I`m expecting comments on it this evening. Mostly about how much time you expect this to take and who you`re gonna use on the project.` He murmured something into his buddy-comp, immediately, mine notified me of the direct connection established and data being uploaded to it. The setup was that we could send whatever to the other without any security checks.
I sighed.
`Well, at least I hope we've got the specs we ordered unlike last time. Have we?`
The "last time" was when parts delivered was nothing like parts we ordered and of very doubtful origins also. This didn't work. Boss made the seller regret this rather quickly and ever since personally checks all incoming hardware. He likes working with it anyway, but, most importantly, it helps him keep up to date with the industry.
`Yep,` he nodded, `it's even been unpacked already. All that's left is to connect it together and set it up`
He inhaled the smoke and blew a ring upwards.
`So, where is it?`
This location was quite important : in some places at our office power cables could be seen sinking somewhere into the basement, instead of coming out of safe to use central switchboard. We didn't risk putting servers there until necessary repairs were finished (which was "just over he horizon", eternally) and didn't have enough stretchers to bring main power to them.
The reply was a I guessed.
`Room #5`
`Don`t you remember cable layout?!` I waved the coffee cup emotionally barely avoiding the table with it. I could tolerate hardware being messed up no more than Olya disorder on her table, probably even less. `Might I remind you that when the power fails you`ll be the first to complain if the time-frame or, worse, hardware is messed`up?` I spat, `And, we still have enough free slots in the rack`
`Weeeelll, Kolya, the hardware we got... it`s better than what we ordered. I won`t say how much,` he grinned, `you`ll see for yourself shortly anyway. The racks it came with have their own power backup so it`s probably safe installing it in #5. You just go and connect it now. It`ll be much needed on Monday and we`ll have central power there sometime next week so it`s gonna be OK` He waved dismissively and plunged into his thoughts.
Oh well, whatever. Taking my bag I went to #5. Anyway, what`s this with "better than ordered"? It`s not like there`s much available better than what we ordered and it all costs a ton.
Room #5 greeted me with scraps of packing paper lying all around. Upon inspecting what was packed in it just before I immediately understood what boss meant. Stats of the hardware in the rack, helpfully projected by a buddy comp, revealed it to be no less than IT dream. It was so great it had to be experimental.
`Just where did he manage to get this?` I thought and, rolling up sleeves, started working. First thing, all of the packing paper went out of the room. This done, I quickly connected what was in the rack into a testing configuration and plugged in the power.
`Well,well,well`, I pushed the power button.
Nothing happened.
`What the...`.
Obviously, voltage indicator on the socket was not lit. I fetched tester from my bag and plugged it in - as expected, no voltage was found. No short-circuit either though and the auto-protect automation was working allright - the power was cut off somewhere else.
I spat and sent to boss`s computer a short but emotional expression of what I thought about his choice of rooms, along with the notice that I`ll be in the basement, fixing power, and was ignored.
Throwing instruments into the bag I went downstairs. It`s worth saying here, that basement, or rather "The Basement", was big. Certainly felt to be bigger than the actual building itself although we never bothered to explore much further than the entrance. The combination lock was strangely lit. God knows where it took its power but this simplified things, somewhat : the light was red. This was not much of a problem though. Quick connection to the company`s database and I knew the code it needed. The identification process happened to be rather long, `Did they plug the lock into a calculator?` I mused, but, finally, indicator turned green.
The sound of bolts opening made me shiver uncomfortably, the driving servos seemed to be way too powerful and bolts themselves covered the whole doorframe.
`What the hell did they keep in here?` I wondered, totally at loss about simple basement having such security.
Meanwhile, the door opened. It was dark inside. Cursing at my own foolishness of not taking flashlight down with me, I enabled nightvision mode in the glasses. Colors shifted for some time, but, finally, I managed to see a short corridor ahead. Image, partially taken from glasses's own camera, partially generated by buddy comp's various sensors, was, overall, quite satisfactory. It seemed like I won`t need flashlight to look around after all ... if only I knew what to look for, and where.
Lucky for me, switchboard feeding power into the socket I tried to use earlier was not far away. And it had voltage allright. Strange. Why aren`t the lights on then, when they should automatically react to door opening?
Perplexed, I scratched the back of my head and, fixing my glasses, proceeded to next switchboard. With some luck, I might be able to find loose cable somewhere on the way. I certaily didn`t want to wander in this darkness any more than necessary. Even though I could see my way, with only sound audible being distang dripping of water, it was much too creepy. What might have been good in computer game, encountered in real life, felt ... unnerving.
I didn`t have much choice though, so, carefully looking around, I continued my way along the power line, meanwhile trying to fetch from the internet wire diagram or at least building plan. To my surprise neither was available and I ended up retreiving it from video recording made of the upper levels, where it was on display. After converting the image to format compatible with path tracking I put it to my glasses and marked the switchboard already checked with some comments.
When the next switchboard turned out to be okay also, I went futher, then even further and an hour was spent checking them one after another. Somewhere around the second buddy-comp beeped, signalling loss of connection. It was pretty deep indeed. One kilometer worth of cables and switchboards, all in perfect condition, and I was tired enough to take a break but decided checking two more when I finally found the culprit. This switchboard I arrived at was glowing in the dark. It has visibly melted and lights of continuing discharges could be seen inside. Obviously, this was the one that short-circuited. I put on the rubber gloves, which I took with me, quite expecting this trouble, and, with difficulty, managed to pry it open. I whistled - the wires had all melted. It seemed like preventers, for some reason, failed to do the job.
After some rest I began working: carefully cutting off melted parts and creating a bridge. It was, of curse, much more sensible to go and switch off electricity before doing anything, but distance between switchboards in this building was too much. It was not that hard to do anyway, so I was already finishing, when I heard a sound from behind. Surprised and sufficiently scared, I leaped up, forgetting the wires still held in the pliers. I never saw what scared me so. While in the air,I turned and the next moment my body was striken by discharge, teeth clenched and the world disappeared in sparks as my consciousness mercifully drifted away.
Chapter 2.
I awakened to the sound of dripping water. With great difficulty, I was able to open my eyes - to see nothing. I was in absolute darkness. Suddenly, a shock went through my whole body as nerves reminded of themselves. It seems like I was electrocuted. Quite seriously at that. What scared me anyway? I clenched my teeth as I tried to move my arm but achieved no more than a twitch. After some rest, I tried to revitalize my muscles. One-two, one-two. Strain-and-release. After pumping some blood through them, as sensei taught me long ago, I felt a little better. Half an hour later I was able to reach the wall and finally lean on it.
Meanwhile, I was trying to figure out what happened to me. How exactly did I manage to get electrocuted when I had both isolated pliers and rubber gloves between me and the wire? As I wondered, I felt the smell of burnt hair. I tried to reach my head and immediately, a bolt of pain went through it. Okay, now I get it : when I turned to the sound I probably stepped back came in contact with bare wires. Thinking about it, I was very lucky to even be alive. Strangely, the wound on the head only ached when touched. Was it good or bad? I didn't remember.
I tried to feel around the head again and discovered that my glasses were gone. I whistled and, to my relief, light spot appeared in the darkness and a buzzing sound could be heard. I often lost those glasses at home, so I made them react to the certain kind of whistling to become noticeable. Buddy comp had the same settings, and it seemed like it survived as well. This was not very surprising actually. These were the kind of things people tended to keep around at all times(some geeks even bathed with them) and as such, they were made to be quite sturdy. It was not an easy task to fetch them though. I had to rest a bit more before managing to get up and look around. I still needed to fix the switchboard, if it was not totally ruined by now, and return to the office. The head could wait - it didn't ache that much anyway.
I looked at the wall and froze. The switchboard was not there and the wall itself was empty. 'Did I get thrown away?' I wondered. I checked the wall twenty meters in both directions but still could not find it. However far I was thrown, it could not be *that* far. The switchboard *must* be there. Yet, it was absent. Come to think of it, the wall itself wasn't quite right. Considering the state I was in, it wasn't surprising that I haven't noticed the fact until now, but once I did, I could not believe what I saw.
The picture of the corridor I had before my eyes was generated in real time by various sensors buddy computer posessed. Theoretically, the software I had installed should have been able to create realistic image of my surroundings 10 meters in any direction, more if any light source was present, but what it showed me now was clearly wrong. Was buddy-comp damaged by discharge after all? I turned it off and enabled diodes in my glasses. Immediately, visibility shrunk to a few meters. Thin line of light on my forehead, which is how it looked like from aside, was not powerful enough to penetrate far. I did not need it anyway, the only thing I wanted at the moment was to compare the wall I was shown, to the wall I could see myself. The problem being - there was not much of a difference.
The metallic wall with a silvery surface I was looking at, now with my own eyes, was something totally misplaced in a building made of concrete, in which, however you look at it, I should have been at the moment. I touched it carefully. Nothing changed. Creepy sounds, disappearing switchboards and now - this. This was too much for me. In hope it helps I switched back my buddy-comp and made it scan my surroundings one more time, now with additional light source. Almost instantly, I was able to see much clearer and tried to look around.
I was still in the corridor alright. The corridor, however, was different. Certainly not like the one I entered previously. Instead of concrete, totally wet and dripping with water, there was metal everywhere I looked. Walls, floor, ceiling - all were made of it. Dusty garbage rustled under my feet as I walked disbelieving. From what I could see it consisted generally of dry leaves and rotten wood but, occasionally, little bones could be seen, probably ones of small rodents. I shuddered. I hate rats. 'Hmmm, is that possible that my head injury is more serious than think? ' I wondered. I tried readjusting settings of my health monitor program. It could not replace specialized health monitor systems of course, but, if I was correct about my condition, even the approximate analysis would do. It didn`t help much however: from what it showed I didn`t walk here unconscious, so lunacy was not the case. It looked like the corridor just.. changed. Instantly. And despite being electrocuted I could not see any serious health problems in my readings. Just a suggestion to visit a hospital to treat my wound on the head. It also suggested I use some light tranquilisers or a relaxation therapy, but those were optional.
Taking my bag I went towards the exit. Well, at least towards where exit had been when I entered. Who knows where it was *here*. While I walked, I tried not to think too much about where I turned up or how. The place was scary enough without me imagining things. It is not like I am scared easily. I was rather strong even before I started practicing sambo and, despite the fact that I stopped training regularly after I graduated, I am still in rather good shape which usually gives me confidence enough to easily deal with most "scary" situations. There is, however, common scary and creepy scary and the latter is usually too much for even most confident(or ignorant) people.
As I slowly walked along the corridor I noticed that the sound of water was getting closer. It seemed to be dripping somewhere just round the next corner. There, the corridor, previously dusty but well preserved, changed drastically: it was bent, the ceiling subsided and both walls had been pierced by metallic tubes, one of them damaged and leaking fluid, which was the source of the sound I had been hearing. The puddle underneath, however, was rather small which indicated that water(if it was water) had somewhere to flow. Strangely, just after this blockage, the corridor seemed to end while the one I entered through was nearly half a mile longer...
'Ok.' I said to myself, 'Is it worth the time crawling over this to check or should I retrace my steps and see if the other side has any exits? Here I have at least something. The other side is a total mystery... Let's investigate whatever I find here, then go back' I decided. Crawling over the blockage I checked the liquid. Strangely, it was water. Just water, huh? The simple analyzer buddy comp posessed showed it to contain some minerals but safe to drink. Well, if it says so... Some thirty meters further I reached a dead end. As I guessed it led nowhere.
Ok. I've had it. Let's rest. Think. I took a quick glance at the floor but there was nothing of interest. I sagged down heavily and was already closing my eyes, when a line, darker than the metal around it caught my attention. It was almost at the point where floor and a wall joined together and up till now, was hidden by a layer of garbage and dust, which I moved aside, so it was barely noticeable. I was too tired to investgate it though. I returned to the water and took a few gulps. Although it tasted just like usual mineral water I waited a bit. I felt nothing strange. It seemed like computer was right which meant I had at least water to survice on. I drank some more, crawled to the nearest wall and closed my eyes. Then, remembering the relaxation course computer offered I set it to wake me up if anything happens, started the corse and dozed off.
After an hour of such sleep I felt alive again. The head did not ache, the body was revitalized and muscles signalled that a bit of movement will only do me good. Realizing that it was at least strange in my condition, I started to think.
Let's see, the shock I received was quite hard. When I first woke my mucles were numb, head ached and overall I felt miserable. Now I am all well and don't even feel hungry. How? Surely, relaxation course freely available from the the internet could not do this to me. Then, maybe, water? 'Must be in the health potion factory' I laughed, but stopped abruptly. If the computer failed to detect that this water was in fact medicine, it could easily go the other way too. Too late worrying about it though. I felt alright, stomach did not ache and if it did't kill me in an hour, it was unlikely to do it at all. Dismissing the possibility I drank some more, then poured some on the back of my head (who knows, it may even heal wounds), then went to check the end of the corridor one more time.
So, what do we have here? I squat down and spent a few minutes cleaning around the place I noticed earlier. Finishing this, I patted myself on the head, well, metaphorically speaking of course, but this felt in order. The wall was in fact a door. Quick inspection showed that it was a slide door and it was not even fully closed - gap between it and the opposite wall barely noticeable but still present. I took a screwdriver from my bag and, pushing at it with all my streangth, was able to insert it in the gap, thanking gods for the metal it was made of being strong enough. When the gap was big enough I used the post as support, and pushing with my legs, was able to slid it open. The moment I did it, the room behind it was illuminated by soft light. Surprised, I leapt back. The light turned off. Phew, nearly had a heart attack there... The automation still working, I wondered what it was built with. The corridor looks like it's not been cleaned in ages and devices I knew should not last as long. Praying for luck, I stepped into the room. The light appeared again.
The room I opened was rather large, roughly the size of a university gym. It was circular however and its walls, each made of the same metal I've seen in the corridor, were separated into distinct sections with writings and icons on each of them. They gleamed softly, reflecting the light of the room which seemed to be emitted by the air itself. Overall, it was rather pleasing to the eyes. Some devices were lined along each of the walls and from the farthest of them a table, or rather a control panel extended. Against that panel, in the very center of the room was an operator seat, currently turned away from me. From the back, it seemed to be made of that same metal. For some time I just stood at the entrance uncertainly, then captured the room view on video and, slowly, started walking towards the chair...