Astralis

Episode Two

About eight miles away, in the relentless heart of Washington, D.C., a man and a woman strode down a deserted underground hallway.

"In two weeks, we move in. The authorization came down yesterday and the analysts are all on their way. Once all the personnel clears out, we're a go. We're close now. After a year of data collection, I have every confidence we'll find it." The woman said, with a triumphant smile.

The man stopped and looked up and down the hall. "You're sure this hallway is secure?" he asked.

She turned around and gave the man a clipped nod and crossed her arms over the device she was carrying.

"I still don't understand why we had to wait a year to collect data before analyzing it, instead of running a continual surveillance program until we found what we're looking for," he asserted. "I know that we had to keep a tight cover on the operation so the civvies wouldn't get wind of what was going on, but our technology is more than capable of being routed to the project's HQ."

The woman sighed and studied the man's face at length, before deciding to finally tell him the truth. As the project's Director, she had been reluctant to divulge this particular bit of information. As the project was nearing its completion, however, it was time to make him aware of what was at stake.

"As you know, the target –Astralis– is powerful beyond our comprehension. Aside from the fact that we don't know exactly what it looks like these days, and the annoying persistence of the Aries Project, there's a bit more to it. What you don't know is that it's equipped with the capability to self-destruct in ways we're not entirely up to speed on. The current belief is that, if confronted with the right circumstances, it can not only destroy the information we're looking for - which is almost the entire reason for this mission, I will point out - but also wipe out all of D.C., along with a large chunk of the east coast and potentially set the rest of the country back to the Stone Age – if so inclined. If it realizes what it is, of course. We knew it had been reprogrammed, but we don't know who did the reprogramming or how extensive it is. It's also unknown if Astralis is able to restore its backup self-preservation programming, but trust me, we don't want to find out. The incomplete specs I've seen are...indescribable... It's essentially a weapon of mass destruction, or can be. So we have to be very, very careful how we apprehend it. Even if it doesn't go into a self-defense sequence, dangerous doesn't begin to describe what we're dealing with here.... Let's just put it this way, every single one of the operatives involved with its initial capture are all dead."

The man gave a whistle. "I can see why we wouldn't want that to get out. Talk about creating an arms race..."

"Exactly. We've already dealt with that before, to a degree. I hope you understand this gives 'classified' a whole new meaning," the woman replied.

"Understood boss," he said with a nervous smile.

"I hope so, Vaughn." she said, giving him one last critical look before continuing on down the hallway.