New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Following the man out of the room, Alexander fell face to face with someone he didn’t want to see at the moment, and who he wasn’t expecting to see there at all.

“David? What the hell are you doing here?”

Turning his head to his interlocutor, David raised an eyebrow in surprise.

“Butterfly. The same goes for you. What are you doing here? I thought this was a special hidden place, but it seems they even let dogs in, hahaha.”

The insult flung by David was a playful one. But that didn’t keep Alexander from wanting to punch him in the face.

But as he took a step forward, a hand landed on his shoulder.

“Gentlemen. Please refrain from any more violence on the premises. Especially you, Mr. Leduc. The nurse you scared is still in shock at seeing you throw a man like a rag doll.”

Alexander felt bad for doing that to the woman, even though it felt like the right thing to do at that moment. But before he could apologize, a snippy remark from David put him in a foul mood again.

“Look at you, always resorting to violence. You are such a savage, wolfy.”

The snide grin on his face drove the point further, making the urge to punch him stronger in Alex’s mind.

“Shut up, bag of bones. Like you’re any better.”

“Gentlemen!”

Both of them shut up at the assistant’s snap. Seeing they would not talk any further, the man started walking away.

“This way, if you please.”

The pair followed behind him, jabbing at each other silently. From afar, it would look like a sibling rivalry to anyone looking.

The assistant ignored their little punching game, as he led them to an elevator. Once inside, he scanned his retina and thumbprint, before voice activating the elevator.

“Basement office.”

The elevator dinged, as it started descending smoothly. The steel walls all around them didn’t allow them to know how fast they descended, or how far, but with the time it took, it could have been anywhere between a few floors, to a few hundred metres.

As the elevator dinged again, the doors opened. As the assistant and the two men entered, they walked into a superbly decorated office, with lavish furniture, and expensive art on the walls.

Jack Boudreau was looking outside an enormous bay window, into a well-lit cave down below. His arms were crossed behind his back, the latter ramrod straight, with his shoulders squared up.

It was easy to tell from this posture that this man had been in the military.

The assistant led the two young men to chairs in front of the desk, and pointed at them to sit.

David did so immediately, getting comfortable in the chair, while Alexander ignored the demand. He walked over to the window, standing beside Jack, in awe of the sight before him.

In the cave below, workers were busy like bees in a hive, transporting building materials and crates of unknown contents. There seemed to be many tunnels leaving from this gigantic cave, some natural, others man-made.

“What the heck is this? Are you building a fallout shelter under the city?” Alexander asked.

“Impressed? I built only a little of this. I found this cave when I was having the land for the hospital inspected for stability, before building it. The inspector found a strange blip on his sonar test, and he had diggers investigate.”

“And you found this massive cave? How was it never found before?”

“Cave system, to be exact. And it was never found because there is no surface entrance or exit. It’s all an enclosed system. The air inside it is purer than the one at the surface, meaning it has been closed up for a long time.”

“How long are we talking?”

“Very long. Possibly predating humankind. Which is why there is no gas machinery down there. It’s all electric. And the hole was closed once we had a shaft installed to go down there. The only access is through the hospital now.”

“Ahem!” David loudly interrupted.

“I would love to know more about your pet project, old man. But you had your butler or whatever invade my home to ask me here. So I would rather we get to business so I can go home.”

Although Mr. Boudreau didn’t like the arrogant tone David had used, he wouldn’t mind discussing business and sending his rude ass home. He looked at Alexander and waved at the other seat across his desk.

“Sit. I have questions for both of you.”

As the two of them sat down, Alexander next to David, and Jack at his side of the desk, the latter locked his gaze on David.

“Let’s start with you, Mr. Magnus. My little birds tell me you are up to something. I want to know why.”

David frowned at the old man’s words. He was curious about how the old man knew about his project, but he was more curious about why he wanted to know why he was doing it.

“What’s it to you? Can’t I build whatever I want on land I purchased legally?”

“Young man. I care not what you do on the land that you own. I care why. Why are you building an underground shelter? I have seen the plans, so I know what you are building.”

Alexander was aware of the shelter, since David had told him. But he was curious how Mr. Boudreau had found out.

Looking at the assistant almost fading into the darkness of a corner, he surmised he had something to do with it. ｂｎ𝚘ｖ𝚕．𝚘𝚛𝚐

David looked at the old man. Judging by his air of authority, and the massive secret cave behind him, he understood the man could at least keep secrets.

He also doubted the old man would let him leave if he said nothing.

“Fine. I’ll tell you. But it needs to stay within the confines of this room, for now. The world isn’t ready for this information.”

Jack nodded, before looking at his assistant for a second. The assistant nodded at him, flicking a switch next to him on the small table.

And weird buzzing assaulted their ears, before subsiding quickly.

“No signals in or out of this room until that switch is flicked again. You can speak freely.”

David smirked.

“Military jammer. Powerful stuff, too. Neat. In that case, let us get to business.”