Chapter 1: The Enemy in the Shadows

The woman clad in the black uniform and skirt had her feet propped up her desk, eating an apple with her small knife. She was busy monitoring a multitude of screens, each show casing a different area of the underground lab. She had walked over to the window, observing the construction of Underground Station #5 being built. Everything was running smoothly. She had relocated her office here for the time being to keep an eye on things. It was New Year's. Nothing much would be happening, so she decided to have her snack, after organizing her desk, and take a break. Of course, she was annoyed she had to be on duty tonight. She could've at least been at a party.

A pair of figures walked into the security room, wearing white lab jackets. They looked identical and were not much taller than the woman. Their hair was slicked up into a spikey hair styles, both wearing square frames. Their noses were pointy as their hair. Their ears while mostly normal, had an angular point to them as well.

"Dr. Paneel, Dr. Pallack, to what do I owe a pleasure this fine New Year's Day?" The woman's voice, while soft, had a harshness to it, like every word she uttered was meant to stab and find its mark on its intended target.

"Lucinda, Happy New Year. I take it things are quiet here?" asked Dr. Paneel. His voice sounded oily and wheezy, despite looking no more than 30.

"The work crews are monitoring the Big as we speak. However, it seems the power the Paradigm Utility Board is currently giving us is not enough to resurrect it, unfortunately. It seems your observations are correct. We'll need additional power."

"Most unfortunate, Lucinda," observed Dr. Pallack, "It seems we'll have to resort to steal the electricity from Electric City. But how? This project is being monitored by the Negotiators."

"Indeed they are," replied Lucinda. "I submitted multiple reports that the Negotiators are interfering with eminent domain plans, so that we could expand our stations underground without public alarm. However, I understand the setbacks with the Big took precedent. Rest assured, they haven't interfered enough to cause significant delays, yet. But I do recommend acting soon against them."

"We must not hurry, Lucinda!" screeched Dr. Pallack, "We must keep pace with the pace of the Big or if we awaken it too soon, before our plans are completed…"

"I understand, Dr. Pallack. But …"

Dr. Pallack yelled in frustration, clenching his fists and stomping his feet in a tantrum.

"We're so close! Do you understand that? We have the chance to get it right this time! It's bad enough we lost the android key…"

"Brother, calm down. We knew our Angel girl made some changes in the reset. It's okay if we don't have the android key anymore. We've found another way to resurrect the Big, even though it'll take time. However, the source of the energy falls within the Big's range of purpose. We're still building our network of our spies and Lucinda has done well, with what resources we have. These things take time and money. The biggest blow was losing some of our budget and losing a station. Not to worry, we'll get there eventually. We'll just need to adjust our plans to fit our budget and the new time constraint," said Dr. Paneel, trying to calm his brother down. His brother stopped his tantrum, glaring.

"You forget, brother, our biggest setback was trusting those fools, Dr. Giseng, Dr. Grant, Dr. Morowski, and of course, the Rosewaters," replied Dr. Pallack, "But now, they're out of the picture with the added loss of Dr. Wayneright. Of course, the Rosewaters were wiped out by their own kin as well. Discovering she has the ability to make those disappear from existence was not a pleasant day."

Dr. Paneel let out a cackle. "We've harnessed the power of creation itself! We'll bypass that issue, no problem. We've found the skeleton remains of the Big at last, and now we'll restore it, and bring harmony to this world! The world will no longer be on a stage, but will be modeled after one of our creation!"

"Brother! We must first focus on the task at hand. Gordon only provided us the framework for the rebirth of the world. We must finish his work. We must also worry about the two Negotiators. Smith alone is a force to be reckon with, but with the android now as a human, she may possess those valuable memories from the first reset, no thanks to her father, and those memories alone could end us. If they were to discover the true purpose of the Big O, they may be very able to defeat us. After all, the girl was created by the leading man in android research and technology, but apparently during the last reset, she wanted to become human!"

Dr. Pallack was beside himself now. There were too many unknowns, unknowns they had no control over, on top of the problems they were already trying to fix. They had been working night and day keep the Big stable. And then of course, there was the botched hostage crisis that had been organized by Thomas Cavanaugh and the Paradigm Equality Liberation Front. He was a loose end that needed to be tied up and so was Davidson, who was now in prison. Then there was the Negotiator, or Negotiators now. Having two Negotiators meant they could cover more ground and he knew it was only a matter of time before they stumbled on their plans, if they hadn't already done so. Dr. Paneel seemed to be reading his brother's mind and nodded at him when he looked at him.

"Lucinda, dear. Please take care of the Negotiator," said Dr. Paneel, "My brother does have a point. We only need one negotiator, and the former android could perhaps be of use to us. So, keep her alive, kill Smith."

Lucinda took a large bite of her apple. "How do you want me to do it?"

"You're a smart girl, you can figure it out. Also, please take care of Representative Cavanaugh and the Davidson character. They are loose ends that need to be wrapped up as well."

Lucinda got up from her chair, taking her hat and putting it on, taking another bite of her apple and swallowed. As she began to leave, Dr. Paneel spoke.

"Make sure you follow through on killing Cavanaugh's family to send a message to our other esteemed members of the council who have sided with us that failure in following our directives will not be tolerated."

Lucille stopped in her tracks.

"With respect, sirs, Cavanaugh has a large family with two kids of his own that now have families, both a with a kid a piece. What should I do if they're all present? It would be a large unwanted piece of attention that we should avoid right now, at least until the Big is nearly restored. Killing their butler was one thing, but killing an entire powerful family as old as Paradigm's founding…"

The twin doctors huddled with each other, talking quietly. Lucille stared at them. Then Dr. Pallack turned to her.

"Wrap up the loose ends, Lucille."

Lucille grimaced. "Again, with all due respect…"

"This is very unlike you to question our orders. Kill them or be decommissioned. It's your choice."

Lucille gritted her teeth, not feeling comfortable in the doctors' presence, but steadied herself. This was a very risky move, and very unlike the doctors to make such judgment call. It would call so much unwanted attention, and possibly the attention of the Negotiators. Were things going that bad with the restoration of the Big to justify such a reckless response? Possibly. But at the same time, to be threatened with decommission for refusing an order… She felt her belief beginning to waiver for the first time since working for the New World Order. Yet, at the same time, to voice that doubt again to them, or now any doubt at all, would mean the end of her. She closed her mind to these doubts and redoubled her focus to the task at hand.

"Forgive me, merely seeking clarification, and wanting what's best for our plans. For the New World Order of Paradigm," and she bowed to the doctors and left the security room.

Dr. Pallack and Dr. Paneel left as well, going to their office. They needed analyze reports regarding the stabilization of Big Gamma.