AIQ

Part 6

Up above the chaos, the military base was in a frenzy. Gilbert was in a foaming stupor, stamping about as a loud, frenzied alarm pounded wildly in the background. As he was doing this, dozens of trained professionals could only watch as Frasier dragged the bodies of Lopez and Savage out of the room, leaving an ominous scarlet stain on the once clean white floor. They watched him as he began to lean the bodies over the hatch of an incinerator that the hallways had for biochemical purposes, and watched as he pushed them down into the fiery inferno. That was all they could do; watch.

        Nobody knew how he had shut himself in like that. It looked as if he had written the code for a lockdown on this scale himself, then inserted it into the system mainframe, but hunting for where the line was and disabling it could take days in something as complex as Argus. Without confirmation from the inside of the facility that the outside could be let in, the whole thing could go on indefinitely.

        As the watchers watched, a dozen debuggers typed busily at their screens, searching, searching for anything that could lead to them ending the terrible situation that was at hand. “First person to find a way into this hell hole will get a promotion to sergeant! No, commander! We need to finish this guy before the rest of the world figures out what’s going on!”

        “Sir,” one of the debuggers said. “I’ve shut off food supply to the facility; as much as Frasier would prefer not to admit it, he’s still a human – we can starve him out.”

        “Good! Good thinking soldier! This has earned you a spot in my book – everyone, be like this skipper over here and think!”

        As the general continued to shout, a locker room to the left was filled with twenty-five soldiers suiting up for a Level 5 raid. Body armor, helmets, gas masks, night vision goggles; all the good stuff. It was all to make sure that when they got the opening, that psychopath Frasier would be dead before he realized it. Better to go big and overestimate than go small and go home empty handed, that was their philosophy. Once the transformation from man to hulking metal beast was finished for each of the twenty-five men, they walked out of the locker room and marched to the debriefing room, where the General was waiting for them, brows furrowed and fists clenched.

“Alright men,” he said, knowing that he wouldn’t have time to give them a game plan when the game was about to begin. A picture of the doctor appeared on the screen. “This is Dr. Karl Frasier. 152 pounds, 6 feet, 3 inches. He is 48 years old, he went to MIT, and he’s armed and perceived as a Level 2 threat. However, he has two things going for him that are making us bump this up to a Level 5 situation – the size of the facility and two hostages, Dr. Jack Rubin and Maria Lopez’s son, Eugene. As far as we know he’s been keeping the two of them alive. Either way, if he uses these two to stop you from taking the shot… don’t hesitate to fire on him.”

Everyone in the room nodded, except one man, serial number 5-37K. He was new. “But… sir…. they’re civilians?”

“You let me worry about that, soldier. But for the time being I would prefer everyone in there to be dead and have me fill out paperwork instead of having everyone alive and facing national embarrassment. Understand that?”

“Sir, yes sir!”

“When we get the window will we take prisoners!?”

“Sir, no sir!”

“If he gives you the opportunity, will you take him out!?”

“Sir, yes sir!”

“Hoo-rah then, men! And when we figure this whole mess out, I’ll be letting you know.”

Gilbert walked out of the debriefing room and headed back to the debuggers, who were still looking at their screens with intense focus. He watched them as they worked, rubbing his temples and scowling at nothing in particular. He was literally powerless. For the time being at least. His opportunity to prove, once and for all, his dominance in a level 5 situation was nearly at hand.