Far from the walls of Large n Minor University, where Sarah was being rescued from Ruby, and where Jim was taking a nap on Abby's chest, was the city the University was built by. The city was near 30 square miles. At the very heart of it, was a large, brown building. The build was 3 stories high, and was beat up on the outside. Most would pass it by, thinking it was some old, abandoned warehouse. To others, however, it was a very crucial area. It had a few things that no one would ever expect of it.
Deep into the building, a man was walking through a steel hallway, wearing a tight, military-like suit. His legs and arms moved in unison with one another, snapping as each step was taken, his stride in a very precise fashion. Above the uniform was a oval-shaped head with slicked back brown hair. Above that hair as a hat, as black as the suit he wore. Walking towards a door, he slowly opened it, disappearing from the hall, into the room beyond.
The man walked into a large room that once resembled a computer lab. Adorned on the walls were large computer screens. In the middle of the room were several rows of computer terminals, each with a person sitting at them, typing away and speaking to one another. They all wore white dress shirts and were adorned with blue-tooth headsets. They all looked transfixed on their work. No one had flinched or moved a muscle as the tall, stern man walked in. Seeing this, his eyes slowly scanned the room, picking up on a man in the corner of the room, working on a terminal that was set aside from the rest. He kept his eyes on him and began to move towards him.
The man’s boots tapped against the steel floor, creating a high-pitched echo go across the room as he made his way to the other side. Workers were busy with their monitors, which displayed various things. Some shows charts and graphs, others showed maps, and some showed asterisk-covered text documents, the confidential reports being written and hidden as they were being typed. Above the corner where this lone terminal stood was an emblem on the wall. It read “Anti-Large: Keeping your Lives Small and Safe”. The man eyed it for a moment before stopping, just behind the man working at the terminal.
The terminal, itself, had a display of a few sound-wave patterns. The man was finishing up a listen towards an audio track as he noticed the shadow of the man whom was now standing behind him. Noticing the shadow and a slight reflection on the monitor itself, he turned around and removed his headset. Quickly bringing his hand up, he waved a salute towards the man who stood there, waiting. The man looked down at him and, with a stern and deep voice, he spoke. “I was informed that you had something to report to me?”
Removing the sale, the man at the computer nodded his head and looked back at his computer screen. “Yes, Captain Hayes. Thank you for coming.” As he looked back at his computer screen, he quickly pulled the cursor to the beginning of the audio track he’d just gotten done listening to. “If you would, put on the headset, Captain. I think I have something you’re going to want to hear.” Captain Hayes picked the headset up, but cocked his head a little towards the man, as if waiting for something else.
“Excuse me, doctor, but I would appreciate it if you would tell me what I’m about to listen to, so I know why it was so important that you had to call me all the way down here, if you don’t mind?” The man at the computer shivered for a second, and then spoke again, removing his hand from the computer terminal. “Oh…of course, sir! My apologies. About half an hour ago, we received a transmission from one of our Reconnaissance Radios that was quite interesting. It was attached to that new recruit, Ruby King. The signal is coming from somewhere outside of the city, possibly the…university, and….”
Captain Hayes’ eyebrows raised and got a sense of curiosity in his eyes as he heard about the signal possibly coming from the university. If he meant THE university, then this could be very good for them. After a brief moment of silence, he spoke again. “…and? Go on, Doctor.” The doctor took a deep breath as he sat at the computer and slowly continued. “Right, sorry. Anyways, some of us think this may be tied to the kidnapping rumors that happened in ‘their’ district last night. We think this might be it, sir. The case that can finally see our dream made. We can-”
“Doctor Raine! Doctor Raine, there’s another transmission coming in from Radio RK1!” A voice from the other side of the room got the attention of both the doctor and Captain Hayes. Quickly clicking on a window of the terminal, Doctor Raine brought up a new feed for the audio coming in and motioned towards the Captain. “Go ahead and take a listen, Captain. I’ve got it recording.
Captain Hayes took the initiative and slipped the headset over his head after removing his hat. He took a few deep breaths as he carefully listened to what was coming in through the headset. Holding one ear shut, his eyes squinted with curiosity as he made out the faint words coming in. “Hmm…I hear two females talking. Sounds like Minors. I think they’re talking about Rub….wait…wait!” Captain Hayes almost froze in place for about 2 minutes as he listened further, after which he threw the headset to the table.
Turning around, he started forcefully walking away from the terminal. “Doctor, make sure you record that! Get it ready for a media broadcast within the next day. I’m heading down to the labs to see if our ‘little’ project is ready yet. This might be it, people! Keep your eyes and ears on those transmission frequencies and be ready for anything! If the project is ready, we could be moving out within the day!”
Captain Hayes quickly went through the doorway he’d come in through, and everyone quickly returned to their work…