Chapter 144 - Deserted Command Center

Heavy boots echoed in the corridor outside while an ear-splitting alarm rang. Dr. Laurell pushed his sweaty hair away from his face. He was gasping for air, the pain from his injured arm still eating at him.

"Cut that damn alarm!" he shouted. He peeked over his shoulder when the horrible sound went on. The room was empty, all the engineers were gone when they heard the evacuation order. He was the only one left, sudden despair took hold of him followed by fury. How could they leave? Those ingrate rats, he pestered. The far door opened with a bang making him flinched and a group of soldiers appeared all dressed in black with heavy combat gears. They moved aside to let a tall man in a gray uniform step forward. He had a tanned face with fierce blue eyes, his gray hair matching his uniform was glued flat close to his skull.

"Dr. Laurell," he called over the irritating alarm in an amusing tone. The doctor narrowed his eyes at the newcomer. He knew and despised the man. This was exactly what he feared when everything went south. All his hard work, all the years of sacrifice will be stumped on by this square-head military man, whose only goal was money.

"Commander Gits," Dr. Laurell grimaced. He knew that from now on he wasn't in control anymore. His heart sunk and he tried with every piece of his crumbling pride to face the commander with his head high.

"Our shareholders and generous investors are worried that your little god complex really got to you—clouded your logic," the man scanned the empty room with a smirk. Then snapped his fingers towards his group. "Boys, let's get this party started," a dozen of man marched inside and went to sit at the empty desks. Hands working rapidly on the plastic keyboard and in seconds the alarms were cut. The sudden silence was almost scary. Commander Gits strode to the front of the room next to Dr. Laurell then faced away from the giant screen.

"I want a complete diagnostic of the facility. What when wrong? Who's fault was it? Who died and how can we get this situation under control," he barked his ordered in one breath. He turned to the main console while ignoring Dr. Laurell. He typed his own password into the interface then peeked at the main screen. The doctor fidgeted but kept quiet. He didn't want them to kick him out and yet it was painful to watch them take over his beloved project. The legacy of his father and Grandfather. How he hated himself right now. He frowned at his trembling hands, shoved them into the pockets of his white blouse. It was Churchhill's fault, he thought. No, he shook his head. It was those artificial's fault. They infected Atlas. It must be sabotage, there wasn't any other reason. Churchhill must be a spy for the real humans, he was convinced.

"Laurell!" called Commander Gits snapping the doctor out of his thoughts of revenge. "Stop daydreaming and tell me what went wrong with the AI,"

"It was infected by a foreign file," he said slowly. "I've identified the culprit. He used his robot prototype to infect Atlas. When Atlas went berserk it destroyed Aquarius. Delta is still fighting to keep the facility functional," he paused.

"What about the security robots that went on a killing spree?"

"I-I lost so many of my talents colaborators—" his voice trailed off thinking about young Elija.

"Sir, sorry to interrupt, I have the stats of the facility. Sub-levels 0-15 is sealed, Atlas had purged the oxygen around the core. It's impossible to send troops without the proper equipment. Also from the scanned, there are at least 3 dozen heavily armed robots guarding his core," the commander rubbed his chin as he evaluated the situation. Another soldier stood up from the last row of desks near the exit.

"Sir, Delta is barely able to contain Atlas' attacks. It won't be long before it also falls," the man hesitated and then went on. "Sir, Delta is the one protecting all our military projects. If Atlas get its hands on the gate or the other classified—" he let his sentence hang and silence followed. Everyone in this room knew the heavy implications if they fail. Commander gits clenched his hands into fists.

"Boys let not fall into the drama. We are here to make it work, else we'll have to use our last card," a shiver went up to Dr. Laurell's back. He knew what that meant. He slowly walked to the exit, praying that the commander was too busy to notice. When he reached the knob someone cleared his throat right behind him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Dr. Laurell gripped the knot with all his might and didn't look back. From the imposing force pressing against his back, he knew who it was.

"I need painkillers and a coffee," he conjured all his rage to conceal his quivering voice.

"Ok, but take one of my guards with you," Commander Gits snapped his fingers and a man came closer. "I don't want to have another death on my conscience—especially not yours," with then, they let him stepped out of the corridor accompanied by a tall and crooking looking man with nervous eyes. Dr. Laurell gave a quick peeked on both sides of the corridor.

"I need to take a little detour to my office and then we'll head to the infirmary," the guard nodded once with his lips sealed. The doctor was grateful for the silence, he wasn't sure he could handle small talk at the moment. Not when all his hard work was threatened to be wiped. It was urgent to retrieve his precious backup. All of it.

As they rounded a corner that led to his office they fall on two cybots walking towards them. The guard pushed Dr. Laurell against the wall and opened fire. The robots flinched with the impact of the bullets and responded. The crooked guard dove to the ground pulling the doctor with him. they both landed hard on the concrete floor. More bullets were fired in a frenzy dance of orange sparks.

"Laurell," called the crazy robots. The doctor stared in utter shock, the guard pulled Dr. Laurell by the collar just in time to save him from bullets flying at him.

"Run!" shouted the crooked guard. "Backup, we are under attack, I repeat. Send back up we are on level 24 in the west wing. Two cybots are cutting our way from the exit," barked the man on his radio. He kicked the door on his left and shoved Dr. Laurell inside. So much for the coffee, thought the doctor.