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Chapter 1:- Welcome to the B.A.S.E
I woke up with a piercing headache. The room around me was bright and pure white. I raised my hand up against the window that was now the wall of my prison and sighed. "Where am I?" I mumbled to myself. There were no pictures on the walls outside my prison, no clocks, no windows, nothing, not even a visible door. "Hello!" I called out with no answer. I looked up to see words appear at the top of my prison walls. "B.A.S.E," I read out loud, but I had no idea what the letters stood for. The time underneath read 10:23 AM. "Hello?" I called again.
"Good morning subject Alpha," a woman's voice rang throughout the glass prison. I peered over to the other side of the room to see a holographic woman walk out of the glass wall towards me. I took a step back. "No need to be alarmed subject Alpha." Every time she said Alpha, her voice would crackle and become more like that of a robot. I had to remind myself time and again that this was not a real woman, but merely a hologram. I took time to memorize the details of this hologram. Its black hair was pulled back in a bun, the eyes were cold and lifeless and yet its smile was warm and inviting, and it wore a lab coat again with the letters B.A.S.E stitched above the shirt pocket.
"Where am I? Who are you?" I asked and I thought for a second. "Who am I?" I could not remember who I even was at that moment.
"All questions will be answered in time subject Alpha," her voice crackled. For the time being, I assumed my name was Alpha. It was not of the greatest comfort to me that I was taking my name from what I could only describe as a computer program, but it was all I had at the time. My name was Alpha. The hologram stared blankly at me as if peering through me and into my soul. Then, the hologram turned and walked off back into the wall where she disappeared.
Behind me, part of the wall slid open and in walked two suits of metal. I would have liked to assume that maybe these were humans, though I could not tell at first. After seeing the hologram I didn't know what to believe. "Subject Alpha," the voice behind the mask said and I could tell he was human. I wasn't sure if I should be relieved or even more worried than before. A number pad appeared before the man on the window and he began typing away, though I could not make out the numbers he was entering. The window slid to the side. "Come with us." I would have liked to have asked questions, but the gun in his hands made me think otherwise. I stepped out of the chamber and immediately I felt better. I couldn't understand why, however, since I was being escorted by gun. As I stepped out I was immediately led to the door that was now in the wall and we took a right. The walls were just as white as the room I was previously in. As I looked around me, more parts of the wall seemed to slide away and more people walked out and followed the same hallway. I would have liked to look behind me, but I was too frightened to risk it at the time.
We were led to a large auditorium, again bathed in pure white. I looked around the room in awe at its massive size, but I quickly returned to walking as the guard behind me put the gun to my back. I sat down where the guard told me and then he went off down the aisle of seats. Before I knew it, the whole room was filled with people like me. "Hi," the man next to me stuttered. I smiled sheepishly. "So you're here to, huh?" He laughed. "I don't remember how I got here, but I am glad I was chosen. Always trusted B.A.S.E in the past. What's not to like about them? Now we get to help them! Do you happen to remember your name? Mine escapes me at the moment." The giant glass wall in front of the auditorium suddenly displayed the letters B.A.S.E. "Oh," the man shushed me, "it is starting."
The letters floated slowly to the side of the screen and each letter slowly spelled out its meaning. Before I could read it to myself, that same woman appeared on the glass. "Welcome to the B.A.S.E. The Bureau of Advanced Scientific Exploration." The people around me began to applaud, but I just sat there. "You all have either volunteered or have been hand chosen to take part in our experiments. We want to take a quick moment to apologize if any of the sedative drugs we have given you has caused memory loss." I felt like she was staring directly at me at that moment. "It was a necessary action to keep our location hidden. Here at the B.A.S.E, the last thing we want is for our volunteers to feel insecure or in anyway in danger. My name is Alice. You can think of me as the mother of the B.A.S.E. I am the CPU of the whole industry here at the B.A.S.E. We apologize for the rude awakening you all must have received. Your help will become clear in time. All we ask of you now is to return to your rooms where you have now been granted comfortable beds, a fresh pair of clothing, and please stop by the counters surrounding the room to be implanted with the chips in your fingers to control the glass screens around your room. Thank you again for volunteering for the B.A.S.E." The woman disappeared, but her smile seemed to stain the glass.
I stood and, avoiding my new friend, I peered around the room for the right counter. The signs all posted numbers such as, "Subjects #1902-2450." I had no idea where to go so I went up to one of the guards and asked him, "Excuse me, but I don't know what my number is."
I couldn't tell if the guard was staring at me through the metal helmet and piercing white eyes that I assumed held a human face beneath it. "Keep moving," the guard said. I did not question him. I simply left the room without getting a chip and walked down the hallway and somehow I knew which room was mine. The door closed behind me and I almost jumped. I walked back to the glass prison I was now supposed to call my home and the door slide open for me. I made my way over to the bed, ignoring the clean clothes, and fell onto the pillows. I rolled over and stared at the same wall that Alice had appeared from. Out of pure curiosity I reached out my hand and put the thought in my head to turn on whatever may pop up and, to my surprise, the screen turned on. How was this possible? I didn't get the chip from them.
On the glass, an advertisement for the B.A.S.E was on. I immediately got bored and, after changing the channel a few times, I gave up on finding anything decent to watch so I turned it off. I sat there on the bed wondering about the B.A.S.E and Alice. I thought about everything I had experienced that day, but when I tried to remember what I was doing before waking up here, I drew a blank. I had no memory of anything before the last hour or so. "Lights out," I heard Alice say, but from where I could not guess. The walls around the room changed color from piercing white to black as did the bedding beneath me. The silence was eerie and deafening.
I woke up with a piercing headache. The room around me was bright and pure white. I raised my hand up against the window that was now the wall of my prison and sighed. "Where am I?" I mumbled to myself. There were no pictures on the walls outside my prison, no clocks, no windows, nothing, not even a visible door. "Hello!" I called out with no answer. I looked up to see words appear at the top of my prison walls. "B.A.S.E," I read out loud, but I had no idea what the letters stood for. The time underneath read 10:23 AM. "Hello?" I called again.
"Good morning subject Alpha," a woman's voice rang throughout the glass prison. I peered over to the other side of the room to see a holographic woman walk out of the glass wall towards me. I took a step back. "No need to be alarmed subject Alpha." Every time she said Alpha, her voice would crackle and become more like that of a robot. I had to remind myself time and again that this was not a real woman, but merely a hologram. I took time to memorize the details of this hologram. Its black hair was pulled back in a bun, the eyes were cold and lifeless and yet its smile was warm and inviting, and it wore a lab coat again with the letters B.A.S.E stitched above the shirt pocket.
"Where am I? Who are you?" I asked and I thought for a second. "Who am I?" I could not remember who I even was at that moment.
"All questions will be answered in time subject Alpha," her voice crackled. For the time being, I assumed my name was Alpha. It was not of the greatest comfort to me that I was taking my name from what I could only describe as a computer program, but it was all I had at the time. My name was Alpha. The hologram stared blankly at me as if peering through me and into my soul. Then, the hologram turned and walked off back into the wall where she disappeared.
Behind me, part of the wall slid open and in walked two suits of metal. I would have liked to assume that maybe these were humans, though I could not tell at first. After seeing the hologram I didn't know what to believe. "Subject Alpha," the voice behind the mask said and I could tell he was human. I wasn't sure if I should be relieved or even more worried than before. A number pad appeared before the man on the window and he began typing away, though I could not make out the numbers he was entering. The window slid to the side. "Come with us." I would have liked to have asked questions, but the gun in his hands made me think otherwise. I stepped out of the chamber and immediately I felt better. I couldn't understand why, however, since I was being escorted by gun. As I stepped out I was immediately led to the door that was now in the wall and we took a right. The walls were just as white as the room I was previously in. As I looked around me, more parts of the wall seemed to slide away and more people walked out and followed the same hallway. I would have liked to look behind me, but I was too frightened to risk it at the time.
We were led to a large auditorium, again bathed in pure white. I looked around the room in awe at its massive size, but I quickly returned to walking as the guard behind me put the gun to my back. I sat down where the guard told me and then he went off down the aisle of seats. Before I knew it, the whole room was filled with people like me. "Hi," the man next to me stuttered. I smiled sheepishly. "So you're here to, huh?" He laughed. "I don't remember how I got here, but I am glad I was chosen. Always trusted B.A.S.E in the past. What's not to like about them? Now we get to help them! Do you happen to remember your name? Mine escapes me at the moment." The giant glass wall in front of the auditorium suddenly displayed the letters B.A.S.E. "Oh," the man shushed me, "it is starting."
The letters floated slowly to the side of the screen and each letter slowly spelled out its meaning. Before I could read it to myself, that same woman appeared on the glass. "Welcome to the B.A.S.E. The Bureau of Advanced Scientific Exploration." The people around me began to applaud, but I just sat there. "You all have either volunteered or have been hand chosen to take part in our experiments. We want to take a quick moment to apologize if any of the sedative drugs we have given you has caused memory loss." I felt like she was staring directly at me at that moment. "It was a necessary action to keep our location hidden. Here at the B.A.S.E, the last thing we want is for our volunteers to feel insecure or in anyway in danger. My name is Alice. You can think of me as the mother of the B.A.S.E. I am the CPU of the whole industry here at the B.A.S.E. We apologize for the rude awakening you all must have received. Your help will become clear in time. All we ask of you now is to return to your rooms where you have now been granted comfortable beds, a fresh pair of clothing, and please stop by the counters surrounding the room to be implanted with the chips in your fingers to control the glass screens around your room. Thank you again for volunteering for the B.A.S.E." The woman disappeared, but her smile seemed to stain the glass.
I stood and, avoiding my new friend, I peered around the room for the right counter. The signs all posted numbers such as, "Subjects #1902-2450." I had no idea where to go so I went up to one of the guards and asked him, "Excuse me, but I don't know what my number is."
I couldn't tell if the guard was staring at me through the metal helmet and piercing white eyes that I assumed held a human face beneath it. "Keep moving," the guard said. I did not question him. I simply left the room without getting a chip and walked down the hallway and somehow I knew which room was mine. The door closed behind me and I almost jumped. I walked back to the glass prison I was now supposed to call my home and the door slide open for me. I made my way over to the bed, ignoring the clean clothes, and fell onto the pillows. I rolled over and stared at the same wall that Alice had appeared from. Out of pure curiosity I reached out my hand and put the thought in my head to turn on whatever may pop up and, to my surprise, the screen turned on. How was this possible? I didn't get the chip from them.
On the glass, an advertisement for the B.A.S.E was on. I immediately got bored and, after changing the channel a few times, I gave up on finding anything decent to watch so I turned it off. I sat there on the bed wondering about the B.A.S.E and Alice. I thought about everything I had experienced that day, but when I tried to remember what I was doing before waking up here, I drew a blank. I had no memory of anything before the last hour or so. "Lights out," I heard Alice say, but from where I could not guess. The walls around the room changed color from piercing white to black as did the bedding beneath me. The silence was eerie and deafening.
