Chapter 5: File 1; the ghost of base 44

"No…no…the means, don't even tie into the result." Sci spoke to himself while looking out of a window from a large lab.

Miranda appeared next to him along with James, their spectral bodies seemingly more corporeal then before when Sci had been in Universe 443.

"What is it sir?" They asked in unison.

"Something isn't right…some confounding phenomena outside the bases of my understanding is deviating any and all logic that is being concluded from the experiments. It is as if some incorporeal god has his hands wrapped around this universe, and thus without seeing the face of this god first…I will not be able to even understand the true nature of the mortals that lie within it."

The two holograms placed their hands behind their back and silently listened as Sci pondered on.

"In that universe we were just in there were underlying symbolic meanings…it was strange, being from outside that universe and without the energy those of that world are born with I feel while I am within that universe unlike them…I understand different Dao as they called in. Each personality they showed to me, whether hidden or forward was as if it was tied to the energy that trained in…it was strange, the users of fire were impulsive and brazen, the users of water calm and collected. It was as if…"

Miranda finally spoke up, "As if the energy created an archetype?"

Sci nodded, "Yes…archetypes however are denoted from the field of psychology of the past built around 'Nature' or rather that individuals are conceived with a predisposition to a certain personality or thought pattern. This theory is as equally true for Nurture however…and even a combination of the two."

James looked at Miranda, "Sir…following the deep scanning's of Universe 443 we have found a 99% similar universe with matching signatures after I studied the various planes and universes we have traveled too…I believe that I can pinpoint the correct coordinates within 3 days, 14 hours, 35 minutes and 59 seconds."

The man before the two tilted his head to the side in James' direction but continued to look out the window, "Interesting…"

James nodded, as if 'Interesting' was the answer he was looking for a disappeared after bowing to Sci.

Miranda looked at the place James had just been and then back to Sci, "On a side note…we have had strange developments in a base amongst the previous ones we had begun from…"

"Begun?...ah…those bases" Sci was reminded of the base far below his feet in which he had first created the 'Immortal Cell', and the other bases he had studied and created the 'Planar Gates' from. He had scoured the world for these bases, mastered each of the things that other scientists like himself had spent life times to try and perfect and then shut them down.

"Which base…" He asked after a while of reminiscing.

"Base 44" She pulled up a directory and map of the world in front of her body, and then floated it through Sci until it was directly in front of him. A little wave was spreading out from a small dot on the upper right hemisphere of the planet.

"Strange…this wave would indicate that the base is active" He flicked his fingers and several cameras from inside the base came to life and showed Sci different viewpoints of within and outside of the base. Strangely, the cameras inside the base apart from the ground level floor were all black.

"Interesting…" Sci murmured before disappearing from the room in a wisp.

Miranda sighed, and closed the holographic map in front of the window with a wave of her arm. She looked out the window to several creatures fighting to the death, sending blood and gore everywhere as they ferociously, if not blindly, fought to kill one another.

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Sci appeared over a mountain range mere minutes after he had left his home base. 1,000's of miles in the blink of an eye wasn't even Sci's fastest pace but he had to take some liberties and stop every once in a while to inspect the world and its developments.

A base of rock and stone hidden between two massive peaks could be seen not far away from his advantage point. Sci felt a strange sensation in his chest, and his mind delved into his flesh to explore the causes.

"Strange…what is this…eerie feeling coming from…Miranda, inspect the reasoning of this unnatural fear or association. Scan for energy emissions in the surroundings, and see if they correlate from the base ahead of me."

Miranda flickered to life beside him and nodded, a planar graph matching the topography of the surrounding mountains and their depth appeared in front of Sci. Several pings were let off from her, and seconds later numbers flew across the graph as a large circle approximately 10 miles in circumference was surrounding the 44 base not far away.

"Sir…although no energy can be detected, no lifeforms of any variant including plants can be found within this spectrum…or circle with the base as the center."

"Scan the surrounding plant life outside of that…field…and see if there is a expanding ecological bacteria, foreign disease of virus."

"No correlation…plants are healthy, and diverse"

"Scan for…any anomalies as we proceed forward…collect all data possible"

*WHOOSH*

"Open gate entrance to Base 44" Sci said aloud.

Except, even after speaking with the voice of the commanding operator the base either didn't recognize him as the sole owner, or there was a flaw in some mechanism.

"Damnit…Miranda infiltrate the complex, see if it's a data fault."

"Sir…it seems that no energy is flowing to the control room, and thus although the cameras were operational it was because they each had their own back up battery and satellite tether."

"I see…So we can't open the door?" Sci was smiling.

"Sir…James will not enjoy cleaning it up." Miranda said with a smile.

"I know Miranda…I know…"

*BOOM*

The several meter thick reinforced steel door caved in and blasted down a long corridor before slamming into a wall and causing countless shards of concrete to shoot in various directions. Sci's mind wandered around the ground floor, but for some reason it couldn't penetrate the ground and delve further into the base.

"A mental block?...how strange…" Miranda said beside Sci with her brows furrowed.

"I agree…only certain materials amongst our universe or others, including the people from universe 443…can stop my mental probing…strange indeed Miranda." The room as well felt colder than normal and in fact was over 45 degrees lower than the outside temperature, which was currently 68 Fahrenheit. This placed it well below freezing, and yet it was only the ground floor level, what lay beneath the ground could be sheets of ice and below 0 conditions.

Although this didn't faze Sci in the least, it was still a rare phenomena and for all the guesses he could have, this cold was proof of an outlying occurrence related to Base 44.

This part of the hemisphere was cold indeed in certain parts of the year, and snowed heavily in the winter. In the summer the snow would thaw, and some plants would bloom in its place. It wasn't the Arctic specifically, but it indeed was at the top of what used to be Greenland which was not far from it. With many years having past and the devastation of the world as it had occurred, the weather had changed all over.

Greenland, which was very Icey before, was now in fact more tropical. This also had something to do with Sci affecting the world and terraforming it for his own purposes but the northern tip had been kept relatively the same. Albeit that in the summer, it would match the climate of the rest of the island.

However now, in what should be a moderately temperate climate was a Base with a below average heat pulse and environment.

In the same regard just because correlation could be made, didn't mean the cause was the same. Further investigation regardless would have to be made, and thus Sci strode towards the one elevator leading downwards and slowly ripped the doors apart with his arms.

An abyss of darkness layed below a 1,000 of feet down the passage before him, and yet it wasn't the darkness that was eerie nor was it the stagnant foul air. It was the mysteriousness of what lay below, a question with no answer yet to be found. This was what excited Sci the most, to find something unknown.

To search with no way back into the vastness of mystery.

This was the epitome of curiosity and truly the way of an immortal.