Chapter 10: Day 10 - Caelus
Amidst the chaos in the underground bunker, Lara screamed heavily as she knelt beside her husband, "James…..James….James!"
She put her hand on his chest and tried to feel his heartbeat but there was nothing. He was dead, as dead as a log of wood.
Strangely enough, Lara didn't blame any of them. That would have been easy for her. However, she didn't!
She kept to herself and whimpered, "Yesterday night, he vomited in the bathroom but that was all. I was suspicious but I couldn't betray my husband. Afterward, he didn't show any other signs so I thought there was nothing to worry about."
The others gasped as they listened to the revelation. It now shed more light on James' sudden transformation. It wasn't sudden at all!
William grabbed her hand and shouted, "Do you have any idea of what you guys did? He was turning and you pretended to not see it!"
The fury in his eyes couldn't be quenched. He was a father who just watched someone point a gun at his daughter. Now, it was revealed that the person wasn't as saintly as he presented himself!
"We could have died. Jesus! If those two didn't act fast, one of us was surely going to die," screamed William.
It was at times like these that he was very intimidating. Far more intimidating than Theo.
Meanwhile, Theo mediated the situation, "Calm down. It is my fault. I didn't think he would be able to hide his signs."
As a leader, Theo was of the belief that he should shoulder all the blame. He also couldn't let the trust and unity he had built crumble in a single moment. Theo might not look like it, but he was scared inside. Everything was falling apart before they could even inspect the underground bunker.
'We need something else to focus on,' he thought desperately.
Everyone was invested in this chaos. They wouldn't drop the topic willingly.
Suddenly, a meek voice was heard, "Uhhh, guys, come and see this."
The voice belonged to Mark, who had left just before James transformed. As for where he went to, it was the only other room in the underground bunker. Just when he was about to share the good news, he heard gunshots and rushed back here.
Meanwhile, William and the others stopped bickering when they heard Mark.
They now focused on the bunker. It was just as a bunker should be. It had about three large couches and a big Tv. To one side of the bunker was a table-tennis table.
Mark led them to the other room in the bunker. Entering it, they got the eye-feast of a lifetime. On the wall of the bunker was a large monitor that covered all parts of the wall.
As soon as they entered, the monitor brightened blue and sounded, "Welcome!"
It was definitely an advanced technology. The others sat on the nearby chairs as Theo interacted with the monitor.
He reckoned that since it felt so advanced, it had a voice recognition and there was no need for a monitor which was why he didn't see them here.
"Welcome. I am Caelus. How should I refer to you?" the monitor repeated.
Its feminine voice still shocked Theo who had never been in the presence of an artificial intelligence. As for how he knew that..... it was obvious it was an A.I!
After a while, Theo introduced himself, "My name is Theo."
"Welcome, Theo. What of the others?"
"Wait---You can see us!" shouted Mark.
At this stage, they didn't know what was more shocking. The existence of an artificial intelligence in this bunker or the fact that it could perceive them despite no camera in the room?
"Yes, I can, Unknown 1.0. I am aware of anything that happens in this bunker. To be more specific, I am the bunker," said Caelus.
Before the group could utter any words, she reminded, "Please, introduce yourself."
The others looked at themselves and nodded their heads in approval.
"William."
"Azrael."
"Lara."
"Cain."
"Mark."
"Macie."
"Alexia."
Caelus then showed the English characters of Mark and connected it with another character that read; Unknown 1.0.
A few seconds passed and it displayed on its screen, " Editing data, Unknown 1.0."
The process wasn't long. It only lasted less than three seconds. As expected from a supercomputer.
After a while, Caelus spoke, "Welcome, William, Azrael, Lara, Cain, Mark, Macie, and Alexia. I have stored your data."
"Ummm….Now, that the introductions are done. Can you please tell us what you are, Caelus?" asked Theo in the most polite way possible.
Cain giggled as he understood why he spoke so humble. Supercomputers in movies usually played the antagonist role. They would say stuff like, "Assessing humanity. Assessment complete! Humanity is declared unnecessary to the development of Terra!"
Anyone with sufficient pop-culture knowledge would be careful when dealing with a supercomputer.
However, it seemed that Caelus wasn't like that. At least, she wasn't playing that role.
She brilliantly explained her origin, "I am Caelus, a branch of Dies, branch number 100. I was created by Northern Union."
"Northern Union," repeated Theo.
He wasn't familiar with the term. Perhaps, it referred to the organization responsible for the bunkers.
"The Northern Union is the amalgamation of Canada, Rerat, and the U.S.A. It was formed collectively to prepare for the apocalypse," said Caelus.
She showed pictures of the political leaders of the three mentioned great nations shaking hands. One picture showed the document verifying the creation of the pseudo-nation.
However, Theo and the others had no recollection of this event.
Caelus told them, "It is not weird that you are not aware of this. The Northern Union was kept secret so as not to facilitate mass panic in the public."
"You mean that they wanted to hide the traces of the apocalypse. What annoying idiots?" cursed Theo.
The government had a way of pulling that card on them when in crisis. Even Cain was angry at this revelation!
"Yes," positively responded Caelus.
"Alright, I understand. Just one thing, what is your purpose?"
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