The Salvation

Chapter 43

|Malcolm|

Callus' Nevada facility was the the second most advanced of all his laboratories. One of the bombs hit Las Vegas directly and totally destroyed it, but the underground facility survived with a few faults and issues, but Callus had set his men to work repairing them the first day of the wasteland. The facility was highly damaged and even more irradiated, Nevada itself was inhabitable due to the intense radiation. Nevada was now a crater, filled with sand and damaged debris. Callus avoided his Nevada facility for as long as he could, but he explained to Malcolm that the Nevada facility was his only one with the capabilities of keep SP-16C, Callus' rogue android, from hacking into all of his systems and shutting down most of the network and eventually the whole internet (which was barely still intact).

For small talk, Callus explained in depth SP-16C's creation and why "she" was such a threat. Terry Mathers hacked Callus databanks before Malcolm executed him and he exposed an opening which SP-16C exploited when she had full freedom of Callus' facility. When SP-16C broke through the firewalls, she updated herself with all of the most advanced subroutines Callus had and learned every single one of his projects, files and data entries Callus had documented over the past few years. Callus had to build a special containment tank in the lowest level of the Nevada facility where SP-16C must remain plugged into a copper rod behind a special perplex glass that code and data can't transfer too.

The only problem was the way Callus designed SP-16C. She was highly advanced and she regularly updated herself when she managed to slip past Callus' precautions. Every second she spends in the presence of something new she becomes smarter, able to analyse every detail and work it to her advantage. SP-16C knew the difference between good and bad, and she abided by the laws of nature (despite Callus mentioning she's created by man and not nature) and is a tough supporter of the best interests of the environment. Callus mentioned that most times his and her interests conflicted, and her helpfulness wasn't easily acquired, even though Callus designed her for that very purpose.

"SP-16C is truly phenomenal, but she knows that. It's what makes her dangerous. She would do anything if it had a positive effect on the planet and the planets natural species. If that means killing, SP-16C will gladly do it." Callus explained to Malcolm. "I can't control her, but I can bargain with her. She knows that without my consent, she won't be learning anything new for a long time."

"You said she constantly finds ways to break your firewalls? How come she needs your consent to learn?" Malcolm retorted.

Callus scoffed. "She can, but it's much easier for her to learn as a reward. Once she breaks my defences, I make it harder and she can only get a small amount of data at a time. She's still better than any computer, but I'm finding ways to catch up to her."

Malcolm followed Callus and his escort through the laboratories of the Nevada facility, sixty-seven underground levels of machines and scientists fiddling with God knows what. Callus occasionally stopped to check on progress with some of the experiments. Some of the separate labs were closed off, ones where the outside radiation had leaked through the titanium casing Callus used to seal the facility, some of it was damaged in the blasts. Men in hazmat suits carted materials in and out of the rooms.

In the centre of all levels was a glass elevator, one that led directly down into the deepest and most secretive levels of the facility. Malcolm watched in bewilderment as levels past by, some with mutated animals such as stonehounds and crack lizards locked up for experimentation along with deaddrops and other mutated animals Malcolm didn't recognise. One was a furry creature with wings, but when it tried to take flight in its sizeable cage, it failed. Another was in a tank filled with clear water, the fish swam around angrily, baring its jaws at any scientist who got too close to the tank and the fish would charge at the glass, smacking itself. The final one was an albino stonehound, but it's eyes glowed an unnatural red for the mutated species.