Welcome to the Machine

Break on through to the other side

“What the hell is her problem anyway?” Octavia stormed off in the direction of the looming ediface that was to be their new home. “Lost her luggage?!?! Do I look like a bellhop?”

She leaned against the cool brick wall as the doors swished shut behind her. Its sterile white surface stood as a barrier against the bane of Tavi's existence... Loretta Emiliano, her mother.

“Welp, should take a look around since we're here and all.” Her words bounced hollowly around the spacious front lobby.

It was airy and open with a large central desk unit made of some faux wood that came to chest height on her. Tavi put her elbows up on the counter that still sported one lone clipboard with a pen attached by a chain. Name, Patient you are visiting, Relation, Time. At the bottom of this sign in sheet was a reminder list of rules.

Patients may only have two visitors at a time

Patients are not allowed gifts unless they are first inspected and cleared by a nurse.

Visitors may only stay for a maximum of two hours.

Please remember that our goal is patient recovery, please do not hinder that by depressing speech or arguments,do not encourage the patient to not accept treatment, or try to linger when it is time for the patient to have therapy, medication or treatment of any kind.

Remember you are here to support your loved one.

Tavi snorted at the last reminder and wondered just how many of the patients had been placed in this place by their “loved ones”. Hopping up on the counter, she looked inside. There were three stations, each with an identical computer,phone,filing cabinet and chair. One faced forward towards the front entrance and two faced backwards at a slight angle. There were two swinging half doors into the little cubicle on both sides each with a slide lock to deny entrance.

She looked around at the paneled sky lights in the vaulted ceiling and the cheery fake trees and potted plants. The side walls sported a honey coloured wallpaper with a modest design and large modern paintings in soothing hues that were splashed on the canvas with seemingly random sweeps and splatters.

“Nice.... Obviously meant to relieve the 'loved ones'.”

Is it so wrong if i don't pay my rent?

Buzzing open the very secure looking door, Tavi dropped down off the counter and quickly opened the portal before it locked again. The hallway was more white cement brick but there were paintings of pastoral scenes in golden frames at regular intervals on the left. On the right there were three doors.

Opening each in turn showed her exactly the same thing; a small room with an over stuffed couch, a rounded coffee table and a couple of chairs. The walls of each room were painted a soothing shade of periwinkle and hosted yet another modern canvas of random design and colour. Private visiting rooms.

The hall dumped out into large open common room. In the center of the room there was the nurse's desk. It looked much like the counter out front though this one only supported two work stations and was covered in a white utilitarian surface. There two wide screen television sets spaced well apart surrounded by couches and arm chairs. In the far corners there were small circular white tables each with four chairs. In between the two tables there were small rolling bookcases filled with books in various stages of repair. All of the furnishings were away from the walls because lining those were a series of doors. Tavi counted twenty two rooms in total with the space for twenty four. The last two rooms were taken up with spacious bathrooms each complete with three stalls, two showers and one large tub.

Opening a door to one of the rooms, Tavi raised a pierced brow. “Not exactly the Presidential Suite but I suppose it will do.”

For much of her life, Octavia had slept around an open campfire or on the floor of a common room with other kids her age, or a temporary haven with her brother or a wagon with her family. Really anything private might be considered a condo as far as she was concerned.

The room looked pretty basic. There was a twin bed pushed against one wall, a large wooden closet unit and an arm chair. The bed had wheels but otherwise looked ordinary enough and the windows had bars and heavy drapes but still gave a decent view of the grounds outside. It could be made homey if they really planned to stay here long enough.

She wandered back into the common room and through a door on the far end. This was a short hallway that opened into a cross section on the left. There she found what looked like a doctor's offices and consultation rooms. On the right there was a security station behind heavy glass. Tavi looked from it to the next heavy door with frustration. How was she going to buzz herself through this one?

On a whim, alright more a lack of patience, she pulled on the metal barrier and was nearly knocked over as it swung towards her in smooth efficient silence.

“Damn!” Tavi pulled herself away from the wall and walked into the next common room brushing invisible dust off the back of her jeans. “The security must not yet be online. I wonder if they gave that job to Tobi.”

This open area was much like the previous one.

Tavi meandered this ward and on through the next. The wards that were spaced out equally from each other . The pattern was a hexagon with secured hallways separating each of the patient sections from each other; though offices and treatment facilities took up the space of one of the wards. It was pretty much the same on every floor until she got to the top.

“Got to sort out your crazies by type can't have your nymphos hanging with your sadists or they'd never get laid!”

I think I'm paranoid. Manipulated. I think I'm paranoid. Too complicated


The top floor had a special elevator that required a key card pass to operate. Fortunately someone had laid these on a counter for the new occupants. They were sturdy plastic with a lanyard molded onto one corner so that they were not easily ripped away from it. The lanyard, if worn, also kept the card in plain view of the employee at all times making it difficult to lose out of a pocket, set down absently or outright stolen. Tavi snagged one and feed it into the reader; the elevator doors opened with a satisfying woosh.

Stepping out on the top level, she was met immediately by a security station and an odd steel....cage. On the counter of the security station were more keycards. These were smaller but also securely attached to a lanyard. Eyeing reader somewhat dubiously, Tavi swiped the little card through it. It clicked and the door popped open. She figured the security system for this ward was not on the same one as the rest of the hospital. Makes sense, if one goes down then its likely that the other is still up. The chances of the dangerously crazy getting out and running amok in the streets was minimized.

Tavi didn't even bother trying to swipe the reader on the next door. It would not work until she shut the first one. The same security was used quite often in prisons. Bringing the first door closed with a click, She moved hurredly to the next door. The rational mind said that this was just a safety measure and nothing more than a delay in her progress but there was something about knowing that you were temporarily locked in the small space that set off alarms in even the most normal of people. What if the power went out right at this moment? Swiping the small card on the next door released her from the small cage.

The delay was not over...or at least it wouldn't be for a normal employee. The room she walked into was a small exam room; here all staff and maintenance workers had to be checked for dangerous items before being allowed admittance. Their tools that were considered unsafe were written down so that they could be checked off once more when the employee left the secured area. She had seen some crazy **** as a police officer and these people had to be about as desperate as a criminal sentenced to life with no parole. This ward was for those that just weren't going to get better and that was too dangerous to release into society. Knowing that, and many patients did, would make some people willing to do just about anything that could lead to freedom. These jokers weren't called criminally or violently insane for nothing.

Finally inside the main ward area, Tavi found that a few offices were situated off to the right. There were not many up here but the staff had to have somewhere to go to get things done in peace. A small break room with several sofas testified that it was a place of rest for the weary and aggrieved. She even noticed a few fold up cots lined up against the wall.

Going back to the main entrance, she went through into the ward itself. The common room looked much like the others except that the television sets were bolted to the wall and covered with thick transparent plastic. An experimental pull on one of the bookshelves revealed that it too was secured to the wall.
The bedrooms were also nothing special in the front rooms. Beds,dressers,bars on the windows, all looked the same. Once she went down a corridor though, she found things were not exactly the same. Here there was cell after padded cell. Tavi stepped inside one and looked around. These were awesome! She leaned backwards into the padded side and contemplated the useful possibilities of these rooms. Good sound proofing was the immediate advantage but there were others in her mind. It was small though and there were no windows in the thick walls beneath the padding. Tavi determined that she wanted one. Now she had to sell the idea of the maximum security ward to her brother because the place would not be the same without him. Tavi rushed, as quickly as she could through several keypads, back down through building and out to find Tobi. This was going to be awesome!

Down, Down to Tangie Town
Tobi trooped down the stairs with a deliberate effort toward making noise. Soon, he imagined, the corridors would be abuzz with people, but now their new home was just too quiet. And big. It bothered his overactive imagination, thinking of all the things he could get up to and having no means to do any of them at the moment. Everyone was restless, though; even his mom was cranky and snappish, and she rarely had a harsh word for him.

Deciding it was just the stress of moving in, he did the smart thing and got out of the way. He could figure out how he wanted his room set up any time, and anyway he wanted to wait for Tavi so they could decide if they would take one of the rooms in mom and dad’s ward or if they wanted to strike out on their own. Or rather, she could decide and he would probably do whatever she felt like – he didn’t care much either way. He assumed that his sister had bailed early on too – if mom was being snappy with –him-, he could guess how the two female Emilianos were getting along.

Women.

At any rate, sneaking off to the basement had the added bonus of avoiding work, that dreaded thing Tobi shunned at every turn. If mom had any clue how –easy- his job was....he was once again grateful for her limited understanding of computers, and how much automation was possible in a given system. Not that he wanted her to get a clue – he liked surfing the web half the day.

He chuckled when he made it to the bottom of the stairs. So this was where the crazies went for recreation. He stood in a large, open room, scattered liberally with vague lumps under white sheets. A couch here, a television set there…oh, a pool table, sweet! He figured this room would serve the same purpose now as it ever did – a rec room, a general place for people to gather and chill. On the wall there was a massive mural that had clearly been done by the patients as some sort of therapeutic assignment. Along the top of the wall were the words “How Do You FEEL Today?” in twelve inch high block letters, painted to look like a rainbow. ‘Hmm, I think I’m feeling quite yellow today,’ Tobi mused, before examining the collage of artwork underneath the apparent ‘theme’ statement. It was a mix of painting and stencils, crayons and magazine clippings, and Tobi found the way everything came together in something resembling order slightly disturbing. Mixed in with abstract shapes were various psychedelic motifs – shrooms, cannabis leaves, swirls of smoke…there were probably others that he was missing, or just didn’t get the significance of. Pictures from magazines were altered with magic markers – their eyes blacked out, their faces twisted in agony or covered in blood.

It was actually kind of cool, in a creepy sort of way. Maybe they could keep it.

Tromping the rest of the way down the stairs, he peered under a few sheets to confirm his guesses, then turned his attention to the doors lining the far wall.

Curious, he walked over and tested the first door on the left, a little surprised that it actually opened for him. He checked around the door frame for a card reader, wondering if it was just a glitch in the security system, but it seemed these doors were open to anyone. Encouraged, he began exploring the rooms.

One was clearly an ‘art therapy’ room – Tobi snorted at that thought, imagining some poor doped up sap sitting at the pottery wheel, a trickle of drool running down his chin. And then…and then, his eyes glow red, and the demon possessing him comes out with a primal roar! It Came from the Mental Hospital – Starring Debra Paget!

Oh…wow. Moving on! He stopped at a small work table, grinning at a carving in the wood. Alright – who gave one of these people a knife? Or had some mental patient carved this likeness of Jim Morrison with a spoon?

The caption, he mused with the air of a stuffy art critic, was the kicker.

‘No one here gets out alive.’

Heh. Poor mental patients. Tobi gave a snort and moved on.

He peeked in most of the rooms on the far side, finding a serviceable kitchen, what might have been a reading room, a well used gym…Tobi figured the free weights were still fine but they’d want to replace the dated equipment. Bored with the series of smaller rooms, he went on to the double doors on the left hand side of the main rec room.

Roughly double the proportions of the previous room, what was apparently a meeting room of some kind spread out in front of him. Stadium-style fold down seats faced a podium up front and long counters ran in front of the rows. He figured this room must be pretty new – the fabric and carpeting was clean and free of stains and the counters looked smooth and unblemished…and uncarved. He noticed there were even cup holders at regular intervals. Nice!

It was then that he registered the other purpose for this room. Turning around, he looked up to see a projector pointed at the far wall. And he was willing to bet a screen dropped down from the ceiling.

Movie theater! –Totally- sweet!

He figured the room could be used for informal meetings and get-togethers too, though the important stuff they’d meet outside for.

Getting his bearings, he figured he must be directly under the residential wing of the former hospital now – the wing reserved for the Legion probably had a closed off basement. Stepping out into the rec room, he nodded in affirmation – there were no doors leading into the east wing of the building from here, but he figured there were Legionnaires on the other side, doing who the hell knows what.

Deciding this place would be pretty cool with a little work, he just as quickly resolved to avoid being the one to actually –do- any of necessary setup tasks. Time to bail! He was hoping maybe he could find the place where they did the electroshock therapy, but he'd settle for a padded room.

Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown

Only a few hours in and already Loretta was climbing the walls. Not literally, of course, but every little thing seemed to grate on her nerves today. She knew part of it was simply adjusting to change in general. Another was the Jiro’s absence. Two weeks Thanos had been gone, and it showed in subtle little ways.

Knowing that she was just stressed, though, didn’t prevent her from snapping at people and generally being unpleasant. Her luggage was lost. Where was the Polemarch? Who was at the guard post?

The last straw, though, had been the security system. The doors were annoying. They were unnecessary. She wanted the buzzers taken out. One of her husband’s men tried to explain, in a tone just short of condescending, that it was wise to keep the doors as they were, for their own protection. This had led to raised voices and she quickly lost her temper.

And so Vaughn had calmly intervened and encouraged her to explore the grounds while they smoothed everything over. She knew when she was being handled and had stormed off in what her son might call a ‘snit’.

She was, however, forced to admit that her husband knew her well. As soon as she stepped out the back doors she felt a weight drop off her shoulders. The air was heavy with the humid scent of late summer and the turf felt springy under her feet. She even found a rare smile in her when she saw the neatly mowed lawns that the Polemarch had taken over for the Legion’s use. Latzu’s personality was evident in both the orderly marching grounds and the highly involved obstacle course, and she was, not for the first time, glad that man was on their side.

Directly in front of her the grounds spread out in a cultivated network of walking paths, complete with graveled pathways, hedges, stone benches and garden beds. This had, she could see, been recently landscaped – the flowers and shrubs were fresh but young and the mulch looked nearly untouched.

She took the first path she came to, winding around the exploratory walkway, which eventually led to a small roundabout on which a very different tree was planted. Its bark was very smooth and reddish, with long limbs and tiny translucent green leaves in the shape of tears. Some of the bark had been stripped away and bleached, leaving shapes and forms in stark contrast all along the trunk. Wolves and moons were popular themes, but Loretta could also see dancing people, flames, an owl’s eye (she made a disapproving face at this – how morbid!)

Otherwise the tree was empty, though soon small objects would rest at its feet and hang from its limbs. This was the Andre tree, where Vyusher R’asa on their journey would drop some small trinket or other and, when they left, take some other item to remember this Kumpania. Anywhere Vyusher gathered, one could find this unique tree, distinguished by its red bark and artistic carvings – and, of course, the pile of objects ranging from stones to small works of art to more modern items like sunglasses and CDs. Loretta took off her lavender scarf and tied it around a limb, and thus her homage to home was paid. Then she continued on, glancing at colorful flower beds and herb gardens mixed in with elegantly formed rocks.

Soon she was surrounded by trees, though here they were not particularly dense and there was little undergrowth – this area was still cultivated. Occasionally there were turns in the path that led to clearings, where anything from Gifting to evening campfires might take place. She did not, however, deviate from her course. The pathways were meant to converge into one, which led further out from the building. Though she knew where this main walkway led, she followed it anyway, wanting to see how well their designs had come to fruition.

She was well pleased with what she saw; the path seemed to lead directly into a row of pines, though as one approached a latticed archway through which visitors could step was clearly visible. On the other side of this line of trees there was a large rectangular mall, framed on all sides by a border of evergreens.

This would be their meeting hall, with the sky as their ceiling and the woods for their walls. This was where all matters of importance would be dictated. Already she could see their gatherings – The Legion’s honor guard marching down the center aisle, their banner flying out behind them. The crowds of families clustered together, and her at the head of it all, standing beside the Sarkis, the Jiro just behind her, Tobi and Octavia off to one side. And there they would stand, bearing whatever weather nature chose to bestow on them, to hear the Alphas speak.

Yes. This would do.

She returned back the way she came, as beyond the mall there was only forest, but she found she was not quite ready to go back inside just yet. Instead she turned east, where the fields were slightly less groomed and orderly. In fact, as she approached she saw that in some places the wildflowers and tall grasses would come up to her waist. Beyond this open area the forest loomed large and green and impressive, and Loretta felt its call as a tugging in her heart.

She managed to resist breaking into a full on sprint until she was well beyond the guard station’s line of sight, though when the guard towers around the building were manned she supposed it would be a different story altogether – there would be virtually nowhere, save the woods, where one could go unseen. For now, though, it was just her and the grasses and flowers and pollen getting in her nose and everything turning to a blur of yellows and greens. She may be getting on in years, she thought, but Li' ha' eer, she could still run!

At last she came to the edge of the woods, and even then it was only by flinging her arms around a birch tree that she stopped her progress. There she stood, looking into a wood which was, as Thanos would later predict, mostly secondary forest with a heavy undergrowth. Some may wish to cultivate this area, and the field behind her, but Loretta preferred this natural state. There was a splendid variety here – mixed in with the range of pines were elms and beeches, hickory and oak, dogwood and cherry. She breathed in deeply and would swear she smelled mimosa.

Smiling, she decided that was the first tree she would seek out. She followed that scent carefully, and was rewarded for her efforts with not one mimosa, but an entire grove. The real delight, though, was the pond at the foot of the trees. No – she saw as she approached that it was not a pond at all, but a creek. This was just a particularly large pool, where the current slowed to almost nothing and formed a deep well of water.

Sighing, she kicked off her shoes and climbed up onto a boulder, letting her feet hang in the water while she looked up at the ceiling of tiny fragrant yellow flowers.

Home, home again. I like to be here when I can.

Vaughn smiled to himself as he set down the last of the luggage in a place were Loretta would be able to find it. The children were scarce and he figured there were two very good reasons for that: There was a new place to explore and their mother was going stir crazy having to travel through the city.

It was a safe bet that he would see none of his family for the next hour or so at the very least; that gave him time to check out the office complex.

Stepping inside, Vaughn gave a low whistle and shook his head. It would seem that -someone-, designer or owner he knew not which, had enough with all the clean white walls and safe utilitarian furniture. The lobby looked like a mental patient danger zone. The floor was sleek black marble. The side walls were a deep plum. What stood out the most though was the far wall and the receptionist's desk. The most prominent furnishing in the room was the desk, all brushed grey metal with a sharply angled top made of glass. The wall behind this desk was stacked slabs of rock; it looked like a cliff face of natural stone and a sheet of water splashed down its surface collecting in the fountain basin that was strewn with small plants and flowering greenery. The raised metal logo affixed firmly to the rocks proudly stated PrimeLab Technologies; they were the former sponsors of Shady Pines and dealt mainly in drugs that were supposed to aid in treating various forms of mental illnesses.

The basin at the bottom probably held koi at one time. Vaughn mused on the potential benefits of replacing those. On the one hand, the little fish would be a pretty glittering addition to the base of the peaceful water structure but, on the other hand, they would have to replace them every time one of the more wild of the R'asa decided that the fish had been placed there as a convenient snack.

There were two dark wooden doors on either side of the receptionist's desk. The one on the right led to the plush private offices of the institution's VIPs. Vaughn figured he and Thanos could take two up front and Etta could have one at the end of the hall that was nearest a back exit to the private garden and had a view of the woods.

He walked through the other door. Towards the front on the left was a set of two brushed steel elevators framed in dark walnut wood. In between the pair of twin metal doors was a thin glass case display hung on the wall framed in the same brushed metal. It neatly listed out the departments found on each level; every floor clearly marked in stylish metal letters pressed in the the black velvet background.

1.Conference Rooms and Hospitality Suite
2.Customer Service and Employee Lounge
3.Medical Library
4.Records
5.IT department and Security

On his right opposite the elevators there was a small alcove with a coffee machine and a few chairs.

Surely a place like this did not consider that a hospitality suite? Vaughn had seen things exaggerated in the past in the business world so it would not exactly surprise him, no more than someone claiming to have defensive driving experience because they played a lot of racing video games or a small business using the term 'Corporate Office' to describe their headquarters located in the spare bedroom.

He moved down the wood paneled hallway towards a series of three doors on the left. Each one showed him exactly the same thing with only the minor details such as the paintings and plants being different. All three were dominated by a large elongated oval table made in dark walnut that tapered dramatically to narrow rounded ends that were almost points. The chairs were upholstered in sleek slate trey leather. The left wall of each room was floor to ceiling windows that faced the front of the grounds away from the hospital and so gave a serene view of manicured lawns and carefully tended entrance road instead of the bustle of the institution's daily activities; these had bamboo slat roll blinds colored a dark smoky aqua. The walls were a light French grey and the far wall at the head of the conference table held a flat screen monitor that can could be connected to a laptop for presentations. Vaughn noticed that the other two walls in all of the rooms held large abstract artwork on canvas in tranquil shades of blues and greens with thin trailing of glittering silver to give them something to draw the eye. The corners of the rooms held trees and plant combinations in various forms of ficus or palm, their bases overflowing with a variety of lush low growing greenary. The long wall opposite the windows held a long low buffet styled tables in matching wood with a brushed metal counter top, cabinets were artfully hidden in the wooden base and required that the door pushed lightly for the catch to release.

Very adequate, Vaughn noted with approval; the rooms would do nicely for meetings with people from outside the R'asa who would expect a more formal setting than their preferred camp fire meetings. The plants and the wide view of the lawns might also allay the cramped feeling that some of his kind felt when being couped up indoors for hours.

Walking back into the hall, the Sarkis then opened the one door on the right. Raising his eyebrows, Vaughn stood in the doorway for a moment simply to take in the sight.

The little plaque had not lied. -This- was a hospitality suite.

The room was the length of the three conference rooms combined into one large open space. There were no windows but the far wall was a cascade of water dripping in a thin veil of shimmering subtle motion over smooth dark grey stone. Unlike the water display in the lobby, this fountain was quiet,producing no more than a soft tinkling sound that reminded Vaughn of gentle rain being heard taping lightly against a window of some place cozy and warm.

Dominating the center of the room was three U shaped couch units of deep dusty purple colour that added a warm inviting quality to water hues that seemed to be the main design theme. Vaughn noticed that the decorator, who obviously had an eye for function was well as fashion, placed the two end couches facing the water wall and while the center one was pointed in the direction of the entrance creating a wave pattern that was visually stunning as well as helped manage traffic flow. Each unit had its own dark wooden coffee table and a couple of matching plum chairs for those with a larger sense of personal space.


The side of the room to the left was a mini kitchen which included a long counter of dark wood with a brushed steel sink. There was a coffee maker and espresso machine but conspicuously absent was a microwave. Vaughn surmised that the company did not wish their honored guests to even entertain the vaguest of notions that their food had not been freshly catered and prepared by the very best. There was, however, a brushed steel refrigerator, that when he opened it, contained many shelves especially designed to hold long serving trays of food that needed to be kept cool.

The far right wall held a large flat screened television set high enough above the mini bar counter below it so that a person standing there fixing a drink would not block the view of the screen.


I got a right to go to work but theres no work here to be found

Vaughn left the elegant front face of the offices intent on seeing what the working structure behind the scenes looked like. Walking back down the hall to the elevators, he pressed the button for floor two. Left behind was the opulence of the previous floor and here functionality took over.

The room was large with low cubicle style desks with computers in the main section. This was the space of customer service and admin assistants that were shoved together and generally forgotten about but were responsible for keeping such businesses running smoothly. Forgotten until they screw up; Vaughn mused to himself. It always took a certain something to make one's self noticed in such a job but if there was a will and a goal the right person could quickly rise from the customer service depths.

The walls here were a light shade of tranquil greenish-blue. The desks were made of a dark teal press board and laminate composition that survived many occupants and a great deal of every day wear and tear before they needed to be replaced. The cubicles themselves were made of a dark dusty plum fabric stretched over metal frames with wheels. They could be taken down, added to, or moved around very easily. Their dark colour hid things like scratches and dirt easily and helped provide a greater sense of privacy than a light open hue would have done. Thoughtful, this designer obviously could do more than just expensive décor.

Vaughn could imagine the empty space bustling with people, congregating around a computer, leaning on the low wall, moving back and forth to the break room with steaming mugs of 'liquid alertness aid' in hand. The employee lounge was directly opposite the elevators on the other side of the large open office area.

Most everything was stripped clean of personal effects but passing by one cubicle he noticed a small piece of paper tacked to the fabric padded half wall. It read:

You don't have to be a sadist to work here....but it helps.


Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn. Locking in, uniforming, book burning, bloodletting

The elevator opened up onto a large open room. The slate blue walls were covered by dark wood book shelves and more were lined back to back in neat rows down the center. On either side of the elevator entrance there were computers for use in looking up the specific medical book a person might want. In the far left corner there was a large desk set in front of a small room that appeared to be for processing new books and repairing old ones.

Vaughn walked down the aisles and noted without much interest the titles and organization of the shelves. He supposed they should leave this area the way it was. The R'asa did have doctors but not many; his kind might be accused of having obscene good health.

The right of the room had a long row of computers for employee use and the far end of the room had four private study nooks. Each one of these had a table, several chairs and a couch on side. The walls were painted a light cream colour and the couches was a dark dusty plum. The chairs around the walnut tables were a light teal plastic stackable chair. Vaughn took a closer look at the artwork on the walls. They were long thin steel boxes bolted together with large bolts all along the frame. They were impressionist paintings that used the same palate as the rest of the building but added a rich red and a golden yellow. Something a little brighter to help keep researching doctors alert and awake.

Why painted steel boxes? Vaughn knocked on the middle section of one of the paintings; it was definitely hollow. He made a note to come back and check them over more fully. The bolts had been painted over so it might be difficult to pull the paintings apart without ruining the image.

That mystery left for later, Vaughn decided against inspecting the restrooms and instead headed back to the elevators to move up to the next floor.

It's gonna take a million waterfalls to wash away the sin

This level was the records room. The doors opened out to a small hallway that had a large metal door on the left and a small row of chairs on the near wall. Directly in front of him there were three thick glass windows with lockable slides that opened inward towards the desks situated on the other side.

Vaughn pushed experimentally on the door and found that it opened. He walked past the desks and into the open room behind them. File cabinet after file cabinet was stacked neatly in the main room. Neat labels stated the contents of each drawer. These were the hard copy files of all the patient histories. The desks held large computers which no doubt had access to electronic versions of the same information. High speed printers sat at each station along with a stack of blank teal file folders.

There was a small break room here for the record keepers and a schedule board that was still posted on the wall showed that the room was manned twenty four – seven.

Checking the top floor, he found the right half of the floor to be taken up with the IT department. There were rows of computers along with the banks of equipment to keep the electronics in the building online and working. Vaughn figured the generator was located somewhere below but the ups system and surge protectors were located up here.

He moved past the elevators and on towards the left. Here a metal security door with a small square of bullet proof glass in the door, led to a room with several banks of computers that normally displayed the views from the security cameras. There was another small room past this one with several biohazard suits and riot gear. An interesting mix but at least they were prepared for almost anything. Another security door led directly out the building. It was good that the team placed here could quickly get outside if needed but at the same time it meant that there was a quick way into this room, even if it did require getting through a heavy steel door. Once inside here it was possible to lock all the doors in the building, trapping everyone inside.

Tell me why you cried, and why you lied to me.

Heading back to the elevator, Vaughn slipped the lanyard he had been given off his neck and held up the small funny shaped silver key that dangled from it. On the right side of the elevator there was the panel with the buttons for the floors; on the left side of the elevator there was a small red closed panel that said emergency and had a key slot. It was, despite its colour and professed function, quite unobtrusive. Vaughn slid the key into the panel; instead of opening up a box, it started the elevator moving once more. This time it went down.

The doors opened up to a small corridor dominated by a booth with two layers of bullet proof glass and a heavy security door. There was no passkey on this side of the door. Your only access was through the person standing watch in the booth buzzing you through to the other side. It made sense to Vaughn; there was no way for a key to be stolen and used. The guard likely knew everyone on site or perhaps there was a means of recognition from inside the booth.

With the security down at the moment, he was able to push the door open. Once on this side of the booth there was another set of elevator doors. This time the key actually opened a panel which contained three buttons.

He punched the first level down, wondering what he was likely to see. There were easy guesses he could make but Vaughn wondered if the specifics of whatever nasty hidden little research would be of any use to his pack.

The first area was somewhat disappointing. There were rows of private offices that each contained several rooms. The first was a good sized working area furnished comfortably and to personal taste; the second room was a small sleeping area. He wondered if the employees were required to live on site in such a small space or if they were given quarters out of courtesy for long working hours in an odd environment.

Beyond the first area there were less comfortable quarters. These were obviously meant for patients. They mirrored the high security ward from the hospital. There was minimal furniture, straps on the beds and well... they were underground so they did not have windows at all. He noticed there were a few padded cells here as well but not many. Vaughn reflected that with human decency out of the way they could deal with troublesome patients in a number of ways that did not require special rooms for them to scream and flail without hurting themselves.

We're all stars now in the dope show

He was intrigued and moved back to the elevator to go another floor down. The elevator shushed quietly but it seemed to reverberate loudly in the vast open space that opened up before him.

Vaughn stepped out into a lab. The immediate space was a wide walk area but he could see the various areas of work space that were partitioned off with heavy bullet proof glass. Little fear of bullets down here but further investigation did show that each section was sealed air tight. He did not doubt that they each had their own air supply. It there was an accident and something toxic was made the unfortunate scientists could be sealed into their lab with little hope of breaking the glass but also with less risk of killing everyone else.

“Someone read the Stand.”

Vaughn muttered to himself as he pushed through a door to his right.

“Steven King as parable. That's different.”

The next section was like falling down the rabbit hole. There was a long hallway with a series of 12 doors on each side. This was somewhat stark but normal enough. He entered the first room. It was dim,apparently the lights in this room defaulted to a low setting. Perhaps they did not even get brighter. It was an observation room much like you expected to see in a police station but the room it looked out on appeared nothing like an interrogation room.

It was a bedroom, at least that was the way it was furnished, right down to the miniature rose patterned wallpaper on the walls. Interesting stuff. Further investigation of the room he was in showed Vaughn that there monitoring equipment and a computer set up. He sat down at the desk and booted up the system. A folder on the desktop looked promising.

Case Study 18 – Julie's Bedroom

Subject has taken well to batch 34c. She is completely docile and will remain where placed until the drug wears off or someone moves her. It is unknown as of yet whether 34c can be combined with other drugs to a more useful effect. That will begin the next stage of testing.

There was video footage in the document as well. Clicking through the last few showed a woman laying on the bed. She appeared near dead, staring blankly up at the ceiling, and in all the time he watched, remaining unmoving.

The next room looked observed a jail cell. Vaughn also noted that each observation room had a door that led directly into the room that it overlooked. It was not visible nor accessible from the other side.

Tapes here showed a tiny man in a fit of rage. He tore at the mattress, clawing it apart with his bare hands. Once that was shredded to his satisfaction, the man began to throw himself violently against the bars. Vaughn watched the continued aggression until the man managed to knock himself out with an unlucky leap that had landed him head, instead of shoulder, first into the bars.

Every other room on the left side was a different scene. The walls in the scenario rooms were made up of panels that could be removed and quickly replaced by something else. Most of the video footage seemed to be observing drugs that had different effects on the patients.

The doors on the right were similar but with one exception. The room that they observed were blank white. He was bemused by the usefulness of this set up until he viewed the files. Here there were projectors hidden high in the blank paneling. The scene displayed in the video was of the outdoors. The man in the middle was sitting calmly around a non existent fire and speaking to a lab technician. They were discussing some deeply personal matter about the man's wife. Documentation said that the man had taken well to the drug's suggestive state and was now willing to believe that lab assistant H. Clarke was his brother, Jeremy. Reading the background file on the patient told Vaughn that the man had gone to trial for killing his wife and her lover along with the family pet and had pleaded insanity.

The next room's footage was truly shocking. The background around the woman dressed in a lab coat showed a patient's room in a hospital. He might have wondered if she were one of the staff except that she was strangling the life out of a large doll, tears running down her face. She was speaking through the tears and the effort, telling Benny that she loved him over and over again.

Clicking off the disturbing video, Vaughn looked at the woman's file. She had been a medical doctor in intensive care. She was admitted to Shady Pines by her husband, Paul. The reports showed that the reason given was a nervous break down. She had no visitors after a visit by her husband and her son, Benjamin. The Shady Pines psych reports revealed that there was nothing wrong with her.

Further searching showed more of the same, patients shooting what they obviously believe are live people, patients growing attached to inanimate dolls, even to include sexual relations, patients pushed to the verge of every emotion imaginable by use of drugs and environment.

The last room held tapes with more drastic results, if such a thing were possible; there he found video of patients killing live subjects, more than one patient paired together as a team and induced to believe they had a long history of intimate relationship, and one patient brought to the point of putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger. The gun had been empty and the man had been devastated.

There were some footage on this computer that was not conducted in one of the testing rooms. They seemed to be taking place in the outside world. There seemed to be only one subject for these, as of yet, and the man's record showed that he was a special forces agent who was put on section eight and sent to a maximum security psych ward. The video showed 'missions' in which people were assassinated, documents were stolen, and hostages were taken. The patient performed these tasks flawlessly and without complaint. Instructions and sound stimulus was sent to him via a very small audio device in the man's ear. That was all there was to see within these rooms.

Vaughn sniffed disdainfully and got up to head back to the elevators.

“And they call us monsters.”

Just remember that death is not the end

The third and final floor had a section to the left and another to the right both blocked off by heavy metal doors. The right one had another security booth with bullet proof glass.

Venturing to the left, Vaughn found the security headquarters for the lower level. It also contained the controls for the doors, air supply and other odds and ends that were not immediately obvious. A search found that the upper security for the rest of the offices could be over ridden from this location...as could the hospital. Paranoid much?

Going through the door with the security booth led him into a long tunnel. It eventually veered left off in two directions. One led to a large storage space and was located directly below the loading area for the hospital. The other corridor led to the basement of the hospital itself.

Vaughn went back to the elevator and returned to the upper floors. Placing the special key back around his neck, he went out the back exit of the office building.

This section was a private garden with high hedge walls that blocked the view of the hospital and its surrounding acreage. In the middle section was a large bronze bowl fixture with grey coloured stones beneath. It was not lit now but soot within the concave structure showed that it was a large fire display.

The paths and low hedges radiated out from the fire fixture in ever widening circles and lines. There was greenery of all shades, flowers for all seasons and trees for shade. Though there were benches placed throughout the garden, there was clearing near the office building that held three round tables and seating on one side and couple of benches and several large ashtrays on the other. The back section gave way to sand and held a pond surrounded by hardy palms capable of withstanding Nachton's winters. Vaughn walked through the garden and out the back iron gate; it closed after him with a click. He needed to find Thanos and let him know what he had found.