The Facility

Conspiracies

"The 60's is where this started. My grandpa was a young man who had just moved to New York from Seattle after graduating from university. For a few years, he worked as a chemistry teacher at a high school, before he quit and joined Laminax as a Junior Scientist. At the time, Laminax was a household name. At the time, they had laboratories and power stations in Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Ohio. They were on the rise, and multiple other laboratories were already be planned to be built across the U.S, due to this craze of seemingly unlimited power that didn't harm the environment. He was well known for his work, and he quickly became a Senior Scientist. But then in 1965, he quit." Joseph pointed out in front of him and gestured broadly, saying, "This area here used to be the old laboratory, until they destroyed it." "Why'd they destroy it?" Carlos asked. Joseph said "Let me take you back about twenty years away from 1965. It was post-war, and America was booming. Two scientists who were involved in the Manhattan Project were now living in an area known as Mount Pleasant. It was quiet up there, all until the crystal cave was discovered in 1946 by a man who had find an entrance to the cave through a pile of rocks. The Government was called there, and the area was soon closed off and stations were established in and around it. Nobody knew where the crystals came from, or why it had formed here. The two scientists proposed to build a laboratory above and around it, to study the crystals. Although the idea was originally rejected, it was later picked up again by the Government after high amounts of energy were reported to have come off the crystals. And so, Laminax was founded on the 16th of November, 1950. A day after the laboratory was finished, they said to the public that the laboratory was in the medical industry, and it was purely used to make a vaccine for Polio. That was partly true, but it was also used to find out more about these crystals." Joseph took another drag of smoke and said "One day, a scientist made the first modern recorded discovery of the Gootraxian species, which he found wandering the crystal cave. It was a Kaiju. They captured it and then discovered that it left puddles on the floor where it was kept. They put it into glass containers."

Joseph took a final drag and exhale of his cigarette, snubbing it on the railing and then threw it into the abyss. "One faithful day on the 22nd of April, 1965, the same scientist that had discovered the Gootrax accidentally dropped his pen into the glass container, but when it floated back up to the surface, it was... different." Carlos asked "Like, different as in it had been infected?" Joseph nodded and said "He told everyone about his discovery, but as he was about to show the scientists the pen, the substance seemed to have jumped onto him, and the scientists watched in horror as they saw him change before their very eyes. One thing led to another, and there was a 5 mile mass evacuation away from the lab. The U.S army got involved blew up the facility, with the dead Gootrax and workers being thrown into the abyss down there." It was silent for a while. Finally, Carlos said "Jesus... that's a lot to take in... uhh.... so we don't know where the crystals came from?" Joseph said, "We don't, that's why Laminax built laboratories all over the world to find out more about the crystals and the Gootraxian species, not because of the eco-friendly power generating thing that they claim is great for the planet. It is, but they hide all the other things that they do. And as you know, Laminax got caught up in the money and power, and drifted away from their original purpose to study the Gootraxians. Company divisions in petrolatum, medicine, mining, industrial chemicals and even hospitality, for God's sake. What even goes on there?"

Carlos asked, "So, your grandpa told you about all this?" Joseph said "Yeah, basically. I thought he was making it up, but he was right..." They were silent for a while, but then Joseph said, "Somebody then broke into the laboratory in 1985." Carlos said "Why would they do that?" Joseph sighed and said "Well I don't exactly know why, but apparently his father also worked at Laminax in the 60's and supposedly died due to a gas leakage, and he was suspicious of Laminax, so he broke into the old laboratory, hoping to find evidence of what actually happened to his father. Carlos asked, "What happened to him?" Joseph shook his head and said "After he had broken in, he had found evidence of what actually happened. He managed to escape unnoticed, and then he tried to sue Laminax, but he obviously lost, due to Laminax having the US Government on their side. And now, nobody knows where he is today." Suddenly the door opened behind them, and Michael walked through with a toolbox with other engineers behind him. "What's going on?" Carlos asked. Michael stopped and said "Apparently the power generator isn't working as it should, or something like that." Michael walked through the other set of automatic doors with the other engineers and disappeared from sight. "The power generator isn't working? I thought those crystals were 'flawless' when it comes to power generation." Joseph said. 

Suddenly, something crackled from Carlos' radio, saying "Carlos Johnson, report to the Security Department immediately, I repeat, report to the Security Department now." Carlos sighed angrily and grabbed his radio, saying "I heard you the first time, I'm coming." He walked through the automatic doors, muttering angrily in Spanish with Joseph following close behind. "Carlos, what the hell's going on?" Joseph asked. Carlos turned around and said, "The security breach, of course. They're probably gathering us here to tell us that it wasn't a problem and the Gootraxian was re-contained, and that we can go home now." Carlos said. When they both arrived at the briefing room in the Security Department, the two men guarding the room let Carlos in, but denied Joseph. Joseph walked away, and eventually found Adam, who was talking to another scientist something about a " Dangerous asset breach, we are sending a team of security forces to re-capture them..."

He asked Adam what was going on, and Adam said to him "Nothing that you should be concerned about. It's getting late, I suggest that you go home now, Joseph." When Adam turned to talk to the other scientist again, Joseph angrily walked towards the CCTV room. A guard who was standing next to the door and said "Woah, woah, woah, do you have permission to come in here?" "Uh, I just need to.... uh... clean the room, that's all." The other guard at the door said "Well, where's your stuff? Your mop? Anything to clean the room with?" Joseph sighed and walked away towards his locker, getting out the first things he saw. He carried his mop, a bucket and a bottle of Windex. "How long is this gonna be?" One guard asked. "Aah, not long. Just a quick cleanup before I leave. Maybe about 5 minutes, or less, and I'll be out of your hair afterwards." Joseph replied. 

The guard pulled a card from his belt and scanned the small black pad that was underneath the doors handle. It opened soon after, and Joseph walked in, closing the door behind him. He walked inside and sat down on a chair and switched camera after camera until he found the briefing room, but as soon as he did that, they all left the room. He said a swear word underneath his breath, and he then flicked through more cameras until he reached the weaponry room camera. Joseph quickly counted the amount of security guards in the room, which was 7, including Carlos. They were gathering weapons. None of them had pistols or glocks, they had semi-automatic weapons, automatic weapons and even shotguns. "Jesus, what could they be re-capturing?" Joseph quietly said. There were two scientists in the room as well. One had a clipboard and pen, and the other had a Colt Python and a knife. "Guess ones interested in the field of research, the other is interested in survival." Suddenly, they all walked out of the room, out of sight again. Joseph sighed in exasperation. A few moments later, the lights flickered, then stopped. "That's weird." Joseph said. Suddenly, the lights flickered even more, then stopped. And then, the lights flickered again. Joseph was expecting it for it to stop again, but it didn't. The power turned off. Everything was dark. This was a blackout.