Chapter 233: PROJECT VXXXXN

Kordula waited until Tyrus returned to the laboratory.

"Since you’re already here, there’s something else."

Hans looked at her.

"More experiments?"

"Not his, but ours. DAEDALUS."

She led him farther down the corridor.

Several doors that were sealed during his previous visits were open now, with Engineers working between old equipment and temporary power lines. Other sections remained closed, although considerably fewer red indicators remained along the corridor.

"How much did you open?"

"Most of what we can reach safely."

One room contained several workstations and equipment Hans could not immediately identify.

Another looked more like an engineering bay than a laboratory, with heavy mounting points across the floor and several disconnected assemblies resting behind reinforced glass.

Hans stopped at the entrance.

"AWP?"

"Partly. There was more going on down here."

Kordula brought one of the terminals online.

The directory was considerably larger than the one she had shown him weeks ago. Most of it still meant nothing to Hans, but the Automated Weaponry Program appeared often enough to recognize.

Another section covered materials research.

"Heat, radiation, chemical exposure, structural failure," Kordula said. "Mostly figuring out what survived what."

The next laboratory was cleaner. Shielded containers occupied several workspaces, while much of the equipment appeared designed around small samples rather than machinery.

"Fissile work?"

"Fuel analysis, chemistry and related research."

Hans looked around.

"And fusion?"

"Libertan got controlled fusion working about five months before the Event."

Hans stopped.

"What? Seriously?"

"Yes. This station was being considered for one of the follow-up installations."

"Why wasn’t that publicized?"

"Daikan. Valeria. Take your pick."

Hans frowned. "Didn’t know foreign espionage was that big of a problem."

"The news makes you think it’s small. I guess the PR has done a good job on that."

Another room farther down was still undergoing inspection. Most of the equipment remained dark, and the labels concerned coolant chemistry, corrosion and contamination.

Then they reached another open section.

The designation above the entrance was unfamiliar.

------

PROJECT VULCAN

------

A narrow beam crossed the lettering before breaking into several lines near the end.

Hans looked at it for a moment while Kordula had already entered.

"DAEDALUS worked on the power systems. VULCAN worked on what you could do with them."

Hans looked around.

The equipment was heavier than anything in the nearby laboratories. Shielded power units occupied one side of the room, while several disconnected assemblies sat behind reinforced partitions.

"You knew about this?"

"I knew something was being installed here. I didn’t know the project name until we opened the section."

Hans looked at her.

"You people and the SAS really liked compartmentalization."

"Not our choice."

He walked toward one of the reinforced partitions.

"So what did they test here?"

"Power delivery. Heat. Containment. Components for directed-energy systems."

"Not the weapons themselves?"

"Not the complete ones. At least not here."

The Nuclear Power Station could provide enormous amounts of power without anybody noticing unusual demand outside the facility. It also had shielding, cooling systems and enough restricted space to keep most people from asking questions.

Hans looked through the glass.

One of the assemblies resembled an emitter, although most of it remained disconnected.

"Does any of this work?"

"I don’t know."

Kordula answered without hesitation.

"And I’m not turning anything on just to find out."

"Based on how compartmentalized everything is, this one should have its own Overseer?"

"It had one. And ASS-116 made him history."

Hans clicked his tongue. "How unfortunate then."

"I wouldn’t say that," Kordula remarked. "Guy was a prick."

"But not as irritable as Tyrus?"

Kordula didn’t comment.

Several Engineers were already documenting the equipment farther inside.

Hans left them to it.

DAEDALUS had already been larger than ASS-116. Looking at the new sets of laboratories, it seemed to be not the only project using the Nuclear Power Station either.

"How much of the records survived?"

"Depends on what you mean by survived," Kordula said. "The local files we can access are mostly intact. The rest are still behind project credentials."

Hans frowned. A different project meant a different access chain.

He could not expect Kordula to be able to access VULCAN files even if she still retained her Overseer clearance.

"Can we hack through it?"

"Yeah but there’s digital landmines on it everywhere. Trip off one of them and you’ll erase the data you’re searching for."

"What if we recover the VULCAN Overseer’s credentials?"

"The ASS-116 got that covered. Any personnel had their clearance revoked the moment they were compromised."

"Your inventions are starting to get a bit annoying."

"I heard the same thing from Tyrus."

"That was his personal vendetta against you."

Hans called over one of the Engineers working inside the room.

"How much can you get now?"

"Ah, the scraps, Commander? Quite a bit. Local files, logs, whatever remained accessible."

The Engineer looked toward the equipment farther inside.

"If you want something complete enough to work with later, we’ll need to recover the storage properly. Overseer Kordula has already explained the rest."

Hans understood what he meant.

Tyrus’s HELIX notes had already done something similar months ago. The System recognized the information as compatible external data and incorporated what it could use.

That had come from a handful of recovered notes. Now, this place had entire laboratories.

"Don’t rush it."

The Engineer waited.

"I want everything we can recover from this complex. HELIX, DAEDALUS, AWP, VULCAN. The materials and fuel research too. Any personnel involved, keep that as well. Perhaps we can link other facilities for more intel."

Kordula looked at him.

"Do you really want to take the risk?"

"Or what? Wait for a who-knows-where personnel that can help us unlock this?"

"You’re putting too much trust in your Engineers."

"As their Commander, I should."

"Alright then. Don’t say I didn’t warn you."

Kordula had already moved toward another terminal.

Hans stayed where he was for another moment.

Back when the System first accepted Tyrus’s HELIX data, Hans had realized that Gold was not the only thing worth recovering from the old world.

He had simply spent the following months with too many other problems to do much about it.

Now he had an underground complex full of the kind of information the System had already proven it could use.

The Tech Center could wait for the analysis. The files themselves could be recovered now.

The Engineer had not gone far when Hans called him back.

"One more thing."

"Commander?"

"When you recover the files, keep everything separated by source. Don’t throw all of it into one archive."

"You’re being unusually careful."

"Incomplete information can be disastrous on its own. And these projects speak for themselves."

The Engineer looked toward the locked storage again.

"We can start with forensic copies of the accessible systems. That won’t require us to touch the original files."

"And the protected ones?"

"That would be where it would slow down, Commander, unless we have better equipment."

Hans stared at him for a moment before realizing what the Engineer implied—the Tech Center.

System, it has that kind of functionality too?! He stopped. Nevermind. You won’t answer again.

Kordula watched them on the sides. "Is this not considered better equipment already?"

The Engineer looked at her as if imbued with pity. Hans sighed, though he would not bother to explain.

"You’ll find out soon enough, Overseer."

"Oh?" Kordula raised a brow. "Is this another one of your magical toys, Commander?"

"You catch up quite quickly."

"I will be looking forward to it."