Adonis Chapter 2.01
The elevator ascended so slowly… so painfully slowly.
Haley had spent her first hours in her new body alone, panicked for much of it in the dark about her identity for its entirety. Release from the small prison she previously endured rewarded her with a much smaller, much lonelier prison in the guise of an elevator. The only thing she could do was stare at the button panel and try to put her brain to some sort of use. From what she saw on the display, she was originally on the floor labeled B32. Coupled with the observation that the elevator traveled upwards, she guessed the facility she was within extended deep underground. She had no clue why it did so, but she drew a blank on a variety of oddities about the backwards facility. She also noticed during her trip to the lobby that the duration between some floor changes were quite long, suggesting there was some very big rooms on a couple of the floors, especially in the teen levels. B32 looked to be the lowest floor, with five floors above the lobby level.
Not surprisingly, the last thing she noticed was that the elevator went straight to the lobby. Thirty-two floors and not a single stop to pick up more people did not help her plummeting hope of finding other human life.
The doors opened with a hiss, and the lobby Haley found herself in nearly took her breath away. It was a beautiful showroom, filled with white marble and elegant red carpet, with a fountain in the center, designed to represent the mythical being the laboratory and the city were named after. The lobby was a work of art that undoubtedly held all the presentations of major scientific breakthroughs that rich people could pretend to listen to. It was impossible to see the entirety of the lobby from Haley’s viewpoint, however—a large set of marble stairs ascended towards what she guessed was the front of the lobby, and the sheer number of steps blocked her view of anything above them, save for the towering ceiling. A large projection screen hung on a wall in the back, past stairways and doors to conference rooms, a snack bar, and even a delightful little Adonis Labs gift shop—the only place to stock up on teddy bears dressed in Adonis Labs shirts, no doubt. All the lights were on in the lobby, giving the impression that there should be activity. But once again, the utter loneliness was disturbing, but since Haley knew there must be some logic behind the emptiness, she reasoned people just hadn’t been in the building for over a day—it could be the weekend. Her justification for that claim was that a small vacuuming robot was roaming the floor, quietly carrying out its daily task. But was only partly done with the large carpet, which spanned to either wall, and yet there were no visible footprints–save for her own–on the uncleaned portion. Instead, the carpeting had the same back-and-forth pattern on either side.
It’d be nice if she just could just live with that explanation, she thought. Even on a holiday or weekend, there would have to be at least a couple actual people here, wouldn’t there? There should have been at least a couple more chance encounters with something that talked.
It was wonderful timing, then, for the vacuum robot, a small plastic circle about the size of a frisbee, to break from its path and roll beside Haley’s foot. She didn’t notice it until she nearly stepped on it, and she jumped with a yelp when the mechanical creature beside her spoke in a cheerful, sing-song synthesized voice.
“Can I help you?” it queried.
Once Haley’s heart began beating at a normal pace again, she sat down on the ground in front of the robot. It had a faceplate with two glowing sensors on the front, giving the impression that it had eyes. It was actually rather cute for a circle, the girl thought. “Um, yes… where is everyone?”
“I do not know. I am sorry.”
“Oh, well…” she tried a different approach, and she asked, “When was the last time you saw a person here?”
The robot would have looked slightly amused by the question if it could, as any good, logical machine would be—it tried to convey its amusement in its statement. “Right now.”
Haley sighed, not because it wasn’t a valid answer, but because she should have seen it coming from a mile away. Though, the robot giving the impression that it was displaying a sense of humor in the tone of its voice seemed once again odd to the girl, until she remembered that certainly there must have been advances in robotics in the past twenty years. The design seems to have stuck from older models, at least, but the A.I. and conversational abilities were impressive to her. “Okay, let’s try again…. before seeing me, when was the last time you saw people?”
The robot checked its logs before constructing an answer. “I have not seen people in the duration of my operation. I am active for three hours every week, from midnight to three A.M. and the operation hours of this facility are between five A.M. and ten P.M.”
“But, what about security? Watchmen? Scientists that have to monitor when experiments break down or something? Or, some guy that fixes you when you break down?”
Again amused, the robot seemed to be enjoying this conversation, and in a way, so was Haley. Even the man behind the desk in B32 didn’t show as much emotion as this little talking bot. “The laboratory is equipped with automated defense mechanisms that activate upon unauthorized entry. As well, a central computer network handles all the duties of maintaining the facility and the experiments. Even if the facility was totally abandoned, it would operate so long as there was power.”
“Then what about the guy downstairs, at the desk?” Haley pressed, realizing that the odds were that the man should at some point have a need to get to the lobby, where there was no doubt an exit to the outside world. Or so she hoped, as she wanted to use it as soon as possible.
“I do not know. The central computer would, though.” The robot spun a bit, adjusting its position to survey the area left to vacuum.
Haley shrugged a little. “It’s not that important, I just want to get outside. I could use some sky above me, y’know? Well, maybe you don’t, but still.” The central computer didn’t seem like a necessary visit at present. Though it likely contained her background file, she still needed that administrator to unlock things, so finding whoever had that access would have priority first. She stood up, looking towards the marble steps as the most logical direction for an exit. She walked towards them and stepped up a few, until she began to see the top edge of a giant wall covered in glass and metal.
It was another oddity to add to the scoreboard, as the giant panes of glass that should have been unobstructed in order to view the outside world were instead completely blocked by a heavy metal barrier. The first few rows of window, which were undoubtedly a few stories high in the incredibly large lobby, had no view other than the dull gray heavy metal paneling. Curious, Haley walked further up the staircase, taking slow steps. As she traveled upwards, more rows of glass were revealed to her, and each row had metal plating over the top. Near the top of the stairs, she had an easy view of the first level of windows, down the long, open hallway that held more doors to more conference rooms, lobbies, classrooms, and other rooms that likely had purposes eluding the girl’s imagination. But those doors were only a momentary distraction as the girl saw what brought about an intense sense of panic: the lower windows and glass door were all blocked by the same metallic structure. The door would likely open, but Haley could not leave.
No one was here because everyone was being kept out, the girl thought. Something was wrong, very wrong. Remembering hearing the word ‘lockdown’ earlier, she assumed it had something to do with the metal barrier keeping her in, and she stepped hurriedly down the stairs. “You have got to be kidding me…” she mumbled to herself.
The vacuuming robot, which had returned to its duties, once again rolled itself by Haley, though this time the girl was the first to speak. “Why didn’t you tell me the place was in lockdown?” she asked, now slightly irritated.
“I did not know.”
“How could you not know?” she asked in an animated fashion, gesturing towards the marble steps with her hand. “There is a giant metal barrier up there that covers the entire front entrance!”
The irritation bled off into the robot’s tone, as it responded quickly. “In case you did not know, I am unable to climb stairs, and I am unable to look upwards.” It wouldn’t make sense for a robot whose duties were solely floor-related to have the need to look upwards. Down and forward were the robot’s range of vision, as it was just enough to see obstacles like the girl’s shoe in front of it.
Haley didn’t waste a moment in picking up the robot from the ground, causing the little wheels to audibly spin in protest. She marched up the stairs again, and held the robot at an angle where the entity born of plastic and metal could see the lockdown situation that it had no awareness of. Moments passed before it spoke.
“Oh my.”
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