Arcadia: a search for purpose
 

The terrible feeling of disembodiment subsided. Reality repaired itself with startling speed and the two of them were deposited unceremoniously on a cold hard surface. Dim red lights flooded the room, giving it an eerie demonic feeling. Metallic surfaces glinted black in the darkness. A huge machine of unknown purpose loomed over them, several circles within eachother, each attached to a gymbal to allow for rotation. The rest of the expansive room was filled with electronic devices and research materials, a few desks in one corner were strewn with note pads and manuals. Wherever they were, it appeared to be deserted.

A single door on the far end wall was the only apparent way out, however a security panel was located next to it, a small green LED blinking sporadically.

"Ung..." Caleb said, putting a hand to his head and sitting up. He looked around the room, first checking for any sort of danger in the area, then attempting to ascertain exactly where they were. Shaking himself off, he got to his feet.

"Well that was an experiance." he said, an ironic smirk crossing his face. "You make it through alright?"

ooc: Sorry for the lateness but my access as been a bit sporatic of late.

ic: Ocius shook his head; then discovering where they were he jumped to his feet. His act of a agility, impressive as it was, only succeded in injurying him further as he hit the floor. He turned to where Caleb's voice had come from, "I do believe I'm ok if not a little out of sorts. I'm going to attempt to find a way out of this." Then, a little more caustiously he sat up and used a nearby desk to stand. He found a small office chair on wheels and used it as a crutch as he moved accross the room. As he reached the door he touched the panel with his hand. He hoped that he could interface with the secruity system and see through the survalence system; perhasp even open the door while fooling the cameras into not seeing him and Caleb.

"Wait a couple of seconds..." Caleb walked over to the desk on which the manuals were placed and began leafing through them "Before we brazenly exit this room into who knows what on the other side, I'd like to see if I can figure out exactly where here is, and perhaps why we've been put here."

Ocius found the security system to be rudimentary, a few seconds and he was able to deactivate the rooms alert systems.

As Caleb rummaged through the files, he found numerous schematics and charts of power outage from different sorts of equipment, none of which he was familiar with. Under a stack of lab reports he noticed a diagram. It was a representation of a personality matrix. It was a computerized printout of a human soul, the stark black and white sheet was someones life fed through a computer system and digitized. Normally these things would be defined by the somewhat mystic process of divination. The spikes and frequencies of emotion and thought were sensed through an empathic link and felt in the mind. He had never seen one printed out before, but looking at it for the first time he was able to determine exactly what it was.

The arrangement of the matrix was startling as well, the subject was obviously insane, but more so than that, he was dangerously violent and powerful. Many of his parameters exceeded human limitations. This was either an extremely powerful nexgen or...

Caleb didn't need to finish the thought. He picked up the paper, folded it, and put it in a pocket of his trenchcoat. Caleb once more flipped through the indecipherable mass of papers. He took a moment to try to memorize the shape of the machine. "Okay, I'm ready to go." He pulled his gun out, reloaded with flechette charges.

"Stay near the wall when we get out. Keep your ears open as well. If anyone is coming our way, I can cloak us to the human eye."

Ocius nodded, "That's good because I can cloak us to their sercurity systems. We should be able to exit unnoticed." Ocius checked his supplies and slipped on his glasses and had a few nanobots build a transmitter that he attached, in a hidden location to the wall panel. It would allow him to use the pervaisive WiFi network to control the secruity system even after they left the building. He turned to Caleb and asked, "You ready?" as he began the sequence to open the door.

The door made a mechanical click and the LED went out. It slid open easily when the handle wa turned. Beyond it was a long hallway leading to another door, this one also having a computerized lock on it. The rest of the hallway was devoid of features, except for the security camera directly above the door they had entered from. It stood motionless, deactivated by Ocius' hack.


ooc: Ocius has a connection to the entire security system, which compromises the rest of this hallway as well, so he can unlock the door with a thoguht, I only put the hallway there for architectural realism, sorry if it seemed like stalling.

"Almost too easy." Caleb said looking over hall as he walked down its length. Coming to the door he turned to Ocius. "Care to work your magic?"

ooc: for the sake of story development, I'm going to commandeer Ocius for a moment, please forgive me.:)

Ocius nodded and the door unlatched, allowing access beyond it. Caleb opened the door slowly and peered through. The lights were dim inside as well, and there was a cool damp breeze flowing through. As his nexgen sight adjusted quickly to the lighting conditions, he could see large, barred rooms at the opposite side of this room, which was considerably larger than the previous two. They appeared to be prison cells, although all the visible ones were empty. A desk sat near the entrance they had used, and on it were various papers in filing boxes along with what appeared to be prisoner rosters. As Caleb walked further into the room, he heard a groan coming from one of the cells shrowded in darkness.

ooc: this is h4x.m4g3's character in the cell, so now he can post. see ya tomorrow!