...
April 24th, 2759
Community Rooms, Deck 6
UPNR Absolution, In orbit
2:27 PM (Durness time table)
...
Alice Davern
Alice had most certainly never played nine ball before, nor Blake's variation of it. By the end of the game, she found that she hadn't done too well, although perhaps it didn't matter; she had had fun playing the game, and perhaps had a few new 'friends', if it was appropriate to call them such. Afterwards, she decided to stay in the lounge with the others that remained until the ship landed, relaxing in a way she hadn't been able to a long time, managing to scrounge up a few loosely spiked drinks or two from a small cafe on the same Deck. She had an idea that the drinks weren't meant for the candidates, but the server wasn't any the wiser, and as long as she didn't reek and wasn't as loopy as Savannah seemed, she would be just fine. As it was, by the time the intercomm rang through the ship, she only felt a slight buzz in the back of her mind that felt more like hyperactivity than drunkenness.
"All departing passengers, please ready yourselves to leave on the shuttles. I repeat, we have arrived at Durness and will be leaving the ship on shuttles. All candidates please report to the Deck 5 commons for departure. Bring any and all luggage with you, or it will be left behind. Incoming staff and Project personnel, please report to the Deck 4 commons for departure. Please bring all luggage with you or it will be left behind. Crew will assign each person to a shuttle. Shuttles will arrive at the facility shortly."
The voice again was much louder than it needed to be, and echoed through the nearly empty lounge room, causing Alice to flinch, although she retained herself from covering her ears. Deck 5. That's all she needed to hear. She stood up from her seat on the small couch she had been resting on, and glanced around at the candidates who were left in the room. "Guess we had better get our stuff, then. See you all planetside, eh?"
She only paused to wave briefly at the group before making her way quickly back to her room, where she promptly gathered her small collection of things, and made her way back up the stairwell to the same room where the orientation was held for hours ago. Her face looked composed and calm, although her emotions were rolling like the waves of a tsunami. They were finally going to find out why the heck they were all here. She wasn't sure if it was something to be nervous about or not. At the time she arrived, only a few people were in the room, including four men and women that appeared to be crew on the ship. A young man approached her with a datapad in his hands, and looked her up and down before speaking.
"Name?"
"Alice Davern."
"Right this way please," He said, turning heel and leading her towards one of the four crew members. He stopped before one of them. "This will be your shuttle pilot. You'll have to wait until the other candidates arrive to leave. About three people per shuttle, so your luggage will fit in fine. When you arrive, someone will tell you were to go." He left before she could respond, leaving her to wait with a blank expression until the other candidates arrived. Then, their pilot led them down the twisting, winding halls of the ship to a vast shuttle bay. It was probably the size of a deck on its own, with more shuttles than a ship could know what to do with. The men and women leading the candidates brought each group to a shuttle towards the front of the bay, hustling the group inside before shutting things tight and climbing into the pilots seat, ordering everyone to sit tight. The shuttle had no windows, only a small cam that gave the passengers the pilot's view.
"Ship is making descent." She assumed that was the piloting speaking then, as the voice came through as a fuzzy comm message into the passenger side of the shuttle. Her brows turned down into a frown.
"Wait, I thought the shuttles were supposed to bring us to the planet? Why is the entire ship landing?" She asked aloud, glancing towards the cockpit of the shuttle, even though it was walled off from the passengers.
"These shuttles aren't meant for re-entry. We're landing a good distance away from the facility, so these shuttles will get us to there quick. I trust you've ridden a flying vehicle before?" The voice buzzed back in the comm.
Alice began to nod, but stopped herself once she realized that the pilot could not see her. A slight flush rose to her cheeks. "Yes. You're saying this is a ground shuttle? It doesn't look much like one."
"Decommissioned model. Still works for land transport though." The reply came again. The ground beneath them began to rock and shutter, and she grabbed onto the edge of her seat tightly on instinct, even though the harness around her kept her firmly to the seat. It had taken a few moments to manage to buckle herself into the intricate thing, and as annoying as it was, it probably was for the better. She had been in ground shuttles before, but she wasn't too great at balancing on her feet as the thing rocked and swayed. She wasn't too keen on falling onto her face.
The shaking continued for what felt like forever, and then it suddenly stopped with one big rumbling movement and a creaking noise. She heard metal moving against metal, and then the comm in the shuttle buzzed back into life as the pilot spoke again. "Ship has landed. Shuttle is moving in five."
She tightened her grip on the edge of the seat, her knuckles turning white as the shuttle itself began to hum, the engine causing the floor beneath her feet to quaver and tremble slightly. She did not like this, not one bit. It was like a roller coaster, only worse. Space travel was fine- it didn't shake or rock half as much as a shuttle did. Land travel was another thing. She could feel the shuttle begin to move forward before it sped up, accelerating faster and faster until the rocking mostly stopped. She relaxed slightly in her chair, ignoring any sidelong glances cast her way.
It's just a shuttle. Just a short trip. I'm fine.
"Landing in two minutes."
What?!
Short trip, indeed. It felt faster than it actually was to Alice, her mind and panicked thoughts turning a half hour journey into a five minute escapade, but in the long run, she was thankful for it. Her only obstacle now was getting through the landing. The floor began to shake again, the metal began to groan, and the engine started to hiss as the shuttle slowed down, rocking the passengers inside of it as it dropped to a hover before landing on the ground with a thud that reverberated through her bones. She had to pry her own fingers off of the seat to undo the harness and climb to her feet again. The small door to the shuttle slid open and the passengers climbed out, Alice stumbling like a disoriented klutz as she hopped out with her luggage in hand.
"Ugh..." she mumbled, setting her luggage on the ground. Her stomach felt a little bit queasy. She forced her eyes to look upwards and survey the area around her; the sun was bright, causing her to raise a hand to shield her eyes. As they adjusted, she caught sight of the facility.
It was huge.
Guards were patrolling every inch of the whitewash facility, beady eyes keen and watching every movement on the perimeter. The entrance looked like it was quadruple guarded, with ten guards and what looked like a DNA scanner. There were hardly any windows on the construct, and it was mostly white stone and shiny metal, rising maybe six stories into the sky, and being at least twice as long as it was high, probably more. A few trees spotted the area around them, but otherwise, it was just white pavement everywhere, with a small terrace and what looked like a plaque laid into a white rock. She squinted her eyes to read the text ingrained onto it.
Illoca Facility, Durness
"Come on, come on! Candidates, this way. Hurry up, hurry up!" A voice was calling out in impatience towards her left; a gruff looking man with a scowl on his face. Warwick Donati. He had his holopad in his hand and was counting up the group of candidates as they wandered over like they were school children. She lifted up her luggage again and made her way over, eyes still all over the facility, taking it in slowly. This was going to be her home for the next six months. She hoped it was nicer inside.
...
April 24th, 2759
Illoca Facility
Durness, Poullum System
2:50 PM
...
Dr. Marianne Favero
Inside of a cool, air conditioned room by the entrance of the facility stood Dr. Favero, leaning on the edge of a podium set in front of an empty room. A few guards stood along the edges, no guns in sight, but still looking dangerous enough to be a threat. She adjusted the papers on the podium with a sigh. The candidates, and the new staff, would be here soon.
She couldn't imagine how all these people would react to finding out their real purpose here. Many of them, even the staff, were only vaguely informed of the actual Project, although she was sure some perhaps would have figured it out, or at least would have guesses. After all, the name was a little obvious; the AI Project. She thought it would be best to just be honest with them now that they were in the facility and had no way of leaving. She would tell them everything, their purpose here, what would happen, and then she would make sure to pound home the most important part: That they were property of the UPN.
She kept herself busy as people filed into the room, only a slight chatter filling up the silence. A guard followed everyone in, closed the door behind him, and gave a curt nod to Marianne before crossing his arms, positioning himself directly in front of the door, training his eyes on the candidates and staff. The doctor cleared her throat before straightening up, looking at the crowd before her. She could pinpoint each candidate and the handpicked staff, recognizing most of them by name and not just by picture. She had spent ages studying each and every person that would be working on her with this project. Things had to go just right, and she had to have her eye on everything to make it so.
"Welcome to the AI Project." She began. "I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here. I'm Doctor Marianne Favero, head scientist on the Project. I've been tasked to provide to you the answer to your biggest question."
"The AI Project was initiated years ago with the focus of gaining an edge in the Khaian-Human war. That edge will, as we believe, be the use of artificial constructs in battle. We believe that we can program and design these constructs to provide soldiers with just what they need to succeed, and perhaps more. But as we cannot pull soldiers from battle for testing, we have decided to pull.... you all... for either testing, or assistance in the Project. Candidates have been selected by me personally for participation in this Project, and have been each matched to an AI specially. Staff have been looked into thoroughly before they were picked to help in the training and education of our candidates. Each candidate, now an actual participant in the Project, will study combat, the brain, basic subjects and more, and will soon meet the AI that they will be matched with. In two weeks time, participants will undergo the procedure, and receive their AI."
"In short, each AI will be directly implanted into each participant's brain. Then we will test the effects."
She turned to glance at the few men and women standing behind her that would be joining her as her head staff; a combat trainer, a few 'teachers', guards, and scientists. "You will be living here, all of you, for at least six months as the Project is underway. You will each have a room to stay in, and the candid- participants, will be assigned a floor for living, including a kitchen and small living area, to share between the twelve of you. The head of staff, behind me, will say a few words before you all will be lead to your quarters. Thank you." She ducked her head slightly and stepped back from the podium, giving a brief nod to her head trainer, giving him the okay to say a few words on the training regimen before the teachers spoke.
...
April 24th, 2759
Room B1, Deck 6
UPNR Absolution, In orbit
2:22 PM (Durness time table)
...
Simone "Phoenix" Rish
The booming of the intercom roused Simone from her sleep; or, it actually jolted her away, her head banging into the wall behind the cot with a loud thud. She groaned, rubbing the back of her throbbing head as the voice on the comm continued.
"--dates please report to the Deck 5 commons for departure. Bring any and all luggage with you, or it will be left behind. Incoming staff and Project personnel, please report to the Deck 4 commons for departure. Please bring all luggage with you or it will be left behind. Crew will assign each person to a shuttle. Shuttles will arrive at the facility shortly."
The comm turned off shortly after, and she rubbed her eyes, disjointedly looking around the room. Report to Deck 5 commons? Or was she supposed to go the Deck 4 commons?
"I don't think I qualify as personnel... Deck 5 it is..." She mumbled, grabbing her stuff and heading out to the halls. She followed the directional signs on the walls, wandering about clueless until she found a stairwell leading up to the fifth deck. The first room she walked into was full, people milling about in small groups around the edges of the room. Some were in uniform, while others were dressed casually. She recognized nobody. A man approached her immediately after she entered, a holopad in hand.
"Name?"
"S-Simone," She said, her voice cracking. The man had come out of nowhere, startling her. She cleared her throat, pushing her hair back anxiously. "Sorry, Simone Rish."
He nodded. "Finally. This way, Miss Rish." He said, turning and promptly leading her across the room to a group of four people that she had never seen before. As they walked, the man pressed a small button on his pad, speaking into a small mic on the panel of the device. "Shuttles can be loaded. The last candidate is here." She was the last one to arrive, apparently. That was bound to make a good first impression on people.
"Here you are. Your last candidate. Please proceed to your shuttle," the man said to a woman dressed in uniform as they arrived. The woman didn't even glance Simone's way before beckoning the small group to follow her. She hesitated before following after everyone else, keeping to the back of the small group. They passed through more of the same halls, with signs painted onto the panels in black lettering. They passed one that said "Shuttle bay" before they entered through a set of sliding doors into one of the bigger rooms of the ship she had seen. Shuttles lined the room as far as she could see, and the groups behind and in front of her spaced out, each heading to their own shuttle. The shuttles looked pretty small, but seemed like they would be able to fit each small crowd.
The woman leading their group crowded them into the passenger cabin before climbing into the cockpit; she must be the pilot. Some part of Simone felt longed to be sitting up in that pilot's seat, but she quickly buried the thought as a shudder skittered up her spine. She had too many mixed memories involved with sitting in the cockpit of shuttles, or before the front of a ship. Nobody would want her piloting a shuttle, even a ground shuttle, anymore.
The trip to the facility was lengthy, but quiet. Simone leaned back against the seat and forced her eyes shut, enjoying the rocking of the shuttle and the sound of the engine. It was relaxing. When they landed, she was feeling more lethargic than ever. It was a good thing.
The building was huge, all of it white stone and metal supports, rising high into the sky with the most imposing feel. Someone called out for the candidates to gather, and she found herself sluggishly following along with the others towards him, eyes still captivated on the building. It reminded her of another she had seen a long time ago. She wasn't looking forward to staying inside of this building for six whole months. She felt it would drive her insane. She hoped it wouldn't.
