The DOOM Chronicles

Chapter 27: Paranoia

They lucked out: there was a tunnel that was a straight shot between the utilities building and the command module, and it was relatively clear of demons.

Powell even managed to get through the lock on the door and admit them access without any real fuss. It was going so well, in fact, that Kyra was beginning to get suspicious. That question was coming into play again: intentional or coincidence?

It would be impossible to tell until some nightmare horde of demons descended from the ceiling or burst forth from the shadows or broke down half a dozen doors at once, screaming, shrieking, slathering, salivating for their fresh flesh.

"Powell," Kyra murmured quietly as they stepped into the area beneath the lobby of the command module and began looking for a way up, "how well do you know Carpenter or Blair?"

"I don't," he replied. "Not really. I've seen them a handful of times, Carpenter more than Blair."

"What were your impressions of them?"

He paused to consider it. "Carpenter is a hardass, but he gets the job done and I figured you can trust him to not bullshit you. Blair...seemed like a typical middle-aged, higher-up science type. Focused on his research and his data and his work to the point of obsession, to the point that he wasn't bathing or eating or even sleeping at normal times. But there was something fucking creepy about him. I figured that was normal, though. I've never gotten on well with guys like him."

"If both of them was telling you the other was trying to kill you, who would you believe?"

He looked at her for a long moment. "...Carpenter. Why?"

"Because Blair says Carpenter has turned on us and is working with the demons."

"What? That's ridiculous," Powell replied. "How would that even work? I haven't seen one do more than grunt or scream, how would they even try to communicate a deal?"

"How much do you know about what's happening?"

"Not much."

"You didn't seem surprised when I called them 'demons'."

He looked at a fiend corpse and nudged it with his boot. "I mean...look at this thing."

Kyra laughed bitterly. "Yeah." She considered telling him what was happening worldwide, then thought of Parnevik and thought better of it. Even if she thought he was a professional who could handle it, he'd operate better if he didn't have to handle it. "All right, I need your help, Powell. You seem pretty competent. My team was sent here to rescue people, retrieve crucial data, and shut down whatever the fuck is going on."

That wasn't entirely true but she fully intended to destroy the portal or gateway or whatever they wanted to call it.

"I'm in," Powell replied immediately.

"Okay. What can you tell me about the command module?"

He thought about it, sighing unhappily. "Not much, unfortunately. I didn't spend hardly any time around here. Brass didn't like me. Carpenter did, but the actual guys I had to work under didn't. I think I threatened them somehow. But I know how most of this shit works. I've been a UAC tech for twenty years."

"Seriously?" she asked.

He laughed. "Yeah. I know, you think I'd be a piece of shit at this point. I knew they were into some shady shit but..." He hesitated, looked away for a moment, his features becoming dark and largely unreadable. "Let's just say that it was justified when I joined up, and then it didn't matter anymore, and then...eventually, I figured that I should stick around the UAC because I might be able to fuck something up royally for them if the right time, right place ever arose."