30 The Laboratory

The second Eric and Daniel stepped onto the corridor beyond the entrance, the white LED lights placed on the two corners of the ceiling automatically lit up, illuminating thier field of vision in a straight line. From here, Daniel could see that the corridor seemed to lead downwards into oblivion, as there were nothing of note on either side of the wall that would suggest another secret entrance somewhere.

Noticing the frown on Daniel's eyes, Eric explained as the both of them started moving down the hallway, "This place is actually a centuries old nuclear bunker that we requisitioned a month ago to be used as the storage and research facility for the meteorite fragments found all over the mountain, snce we couldn't just leave them out oin the open, we need to find somewhere safe nearby to store."

"It's quite fortunate that we found this place, or else the government might needs to spend thousands of dollars and evoke emergency orders just to get construction workers all the way here to build a new secure building. The existence of this bunker actually saved us quite some time and effort." Eric explained in a matter-of-fact manner, observing Daniel to see if he understood what he was saying.

After seeing Daniel nod, Eric gave a smile.

"It's quite weird for a nuclear bunker to head straight down in a descending hallway though. Wouldn't be much more efficient and better to just build a twisting staircase downwards to increase the mobility of the citizens escaping here in an emergency?" Daniel asked as he noticed the peculiarity of this place.

"Apparently, this nuclear bunker was built for VIPs." Eric shrugged in reply. "It was designed so that when a nuclear war is determined to be imminent, the most important people from the nearby capital can simply rush inside here by car. That's why this corridor is constructed with the width to fit a typical vehicle back in the Information Era."

***

Since there really was nothing to note from the surprisingly long hallway descending downwards to the center of the mountain, Daniel thought that the whole journey would be bland and uninteresting, but to his surprise, after walking for less than a minute, he found someone, or rather something, headed towards their way.

One would be able to realize that the object is moving towards them before they even being able to fully observe its body since they would find themselves being the recipient of a red laser sent towards the center of their forehead first and foremost.

<Ting! Two foreign entities detected. Humanoid. Identities: Brigadier Eric 22001, Daniel 07777. Confirmed permission for entry. Lowering threat level to green.>

Once the object identified the two humans to be friendlies, it automatically withdrew its lasers and weapons as it continued patrolling along the hallway, heading towards Eric and Daniel at constant speed.

When the object came close enough, Daniel finally got a good look at the progenitor of the previous laser beam. Without even needing to think for long, Daniel knew that the object before him was a combat unit android similar to the ones placed at the entrances of government buildings and other important locations.

The android is humanoid in shape, its silver metallic skin reflected the lights from the ceiling, forcing Daniel to squint at it once the former came closer. Although the robot looked to be harmless, Daniel knew that each of his fingers were actually projectile weapons, with every finger's tip being detractable. From the looks of it, this robot seemed to be an even more advanced version since, from what he had learned in class, the robots that were used in public areas don't have a laser eyes function.

Before long, the android passed both men without even saying another word, acting as though the two biological beings were nothing but air. This isn't surprising since the android's only objective was to patrol the entire corridor while eliminating any bogies, not to converse with friendlies during its assignment.

***

Daniel Eric passed by several more of these robots before they finally arrived at what seemed to be the actual entrance to the nuclear bunker.

Unlike the previous entrance, the current one before the both of them looked much more modernized. Its black metallic luster and glossy exterior made Daniel think that the door must have just been constructed, or else it wouldn't look this brand new.

Placing his palm against the door, a white horizontal light immediately shone across Eric's hand, scanning his fingerprints directly. Within seconds, the door directly opened as a robotic voice spoke from a speaker hidden somewhere within the walls.

Daniel immediately walked into through the door first, feeling quite impatient since he really wanted to explore the place, not knowing what to expect. Therefore, the second he entered, he found himself gaping when he saw the sheer expanse before him. Although he had no idea what he would find within the nuclear bunker, he still did not expect that what was within would be so exaggerated.

Before the two men were a gigantic empty space, stretching miles and miles in front of both of them from where they stood. Since the both of them were currently standing on an elevated platform outside the entrance, they were able to see much further than the few scientists scurrying about on the ground.

The bunker itself looked to be at least ten stories high, with either side of the walls before them filled with doors that served to be entrances for each respective apartment. A tinted window is placed on the side of each door, allowing for people to view the scenery from the inside while also preventing people from the outside from looking in.

About a kilometer from where Daniel was standing, fragments of the meteorite impact was piled up into a mountain. Four claw machines were placed in each direction of the makeshift mountain, which Daniel assumed is used for the retrieval of said fragments whenever a scientist wants to do research.

However, since most of the scientists had already ended their shifts, the claw machines are currently not in operation.

If one were to squint and look closer, they would find a rather translucent energy field dome wrapped around the pile of scrap heap, protecting the fragments from the outside elements, while also preventing electromagnetc waves from reaching inside.

***

After gaping for several seconds, Daniel finally knocked himself out from his stupor and saw Eric chuckling towards him, looking amused at the former's reaction to the place. However, the latter wasn't surprised since he himself had the same reaction when he saw the nuclear bunker for the first time.

At this moment, the first thing that came to Daniel's mind was: "Is there a need to construct that many homes within the mountain? There aren't that many VIPs within the country right?"

"The nuclear bunker was expanded after the war and remodelled to serve the masses in the case of a future cataclysmic event." Eric explained.

Daniel and Eric took the stairs on the side of the bunker and reached the ground floor. The place seemed to be originally reserved as a grand hall, which was why the entire floor was empty before the arrival of the scientists. Now though, Daniel could see many rows of desks piled with research equipment and computers, with many holographic tablets being piled around in a messy manner. There were a total of three columns and ten rows of said tables, while multiple apartments located behind the walls of the bunker were used for more sensitive experiments.

After walking around for several minutes, Daniel would look up and sometimes find several men and women in their pyjamas yawning as they walked across the corridors on wither side of the upper floors of the bunker, looking quite sleepy as they walked down the stairs and reached their respective operating tables on the ground. It seemed that even the existence of the many robots and military personnel patrolling the area didn't make them feel anything as they were all muttering something under their own breaths, deep in thought.

"The scientists here would sometimes have an epiphany and come down to jot something or do a quick experiment before going back to sleep, so you don't have to worry about them." Eric explained. "Why don't we head towards the very front? Aren't you curious about the mysterious substance that we found from many of the impact sites that the scientists are currently researching on?"

After seeing Daniel nod with a look of curiosity, Eric chuckled and led the latter to the very front of the hall, where the gigantic mountain filled with meteorite fragments stood.

Since the both of them were now right in front of the mountain, the sheer amount of fragments looked much more towering than before, when they were looking from afar. At the same time, Daniel could feel a strong sense of unease as these fragments called out into his psyche non-stop, as if wanting to be absorbed by him as soon as possible.

Next chapter