RTS System in the Apocalypse: New World

The western service entrance was less impressive from up close.

Most of the gate had collapsed beneath vines and a section of fallen fencing. The narrow road behind it curved between rows of trees before disappearing toward the maintenance side of the Conservatory.

Specter Squad crossed first.

Matilda watched their blue markers move through the opening while the Physical Radar continued tracking the infected deeper inside the park.

"Route clear," Specter reported.

Matilda entered with Bar, Saint and Vesper. Marcus and Evelyn followed behind them with two Engineers carrying the survey equipment.

The medical-hazard team remained at the outer position for now. There was little reason to bring them farther in until the route and the first structure had been checked.

The difference between this side of the park and the visitor areas became clearer once they were past the fence.

There were no decorative signs or open walkways here. The service road was narrow, with enough room for delivery vehicles to pass but little else. Trees and landscaped berms screened most of it from the bypass, while several maintenance buildings stood farther inside behind the vegetation.

Evelyn looked back toward the entrance.

The screened western service road matched the Directorate reference: protected deliveries, several dates and little else.

Matilda continued.

The nearest maintenance structure appeared around the bend.

It was a low concrete building attached to one of the service lanes, its roof almost hidden beneath vines. Unlike the glass domes farther inside, most of its exterior remained intact.

An Engineer slowed as they approached. The same utility lines they had followed from outside disappeared beneath the nearest maintenance structure.

Matilda checked the Radar picture.

Three red contacts remained inside a smaller dome east of their position. Another moved along a walkway farther north.

Nothing occupied the maintenance building.

"Specter."

"Moving."

Specter Squad spread around the structure.

One operator covered the service road while the others checked the exterior walls, windows and rear access. Bar moved with them from the opposite side without being told.

Marcus stayed outside. He was more interested in the building than the tactical picture.

A faded service plate remained beside the main door.

He cleared the dirt from it.

The public Conservatory name occupied the upper portion.

The smaller contractor markings beneath it were less familiar.

Marcus read them twice before opening the Directorate records.

"Same contractor family."

Matilda stopped beside him.

"The one tied to the protected deliveries?"

"Yes."

That was the first direct physical match they had found inside the park.

The Engineer checked the door and found that it was locked. He removed a compact tool kit and quickly opened the access panel without damaging anything.

Evelyn moved farther along the wall. There were no obvious cameras left outside. No functioning alarm indicators either.

She stopped near the corner.

"Something used to be mounted here."

Marcus joined her.

A small rectangular patch remained cleaner than the surrounding concrete. Two sealed cable holes disappeared through the wall beside it.

"Camera?" Matilda asked.

"Could be," Marcus said. "Or an access reader."

He examined the mounting points.

"Not SAS equipment."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

Marcus knew what SAS field and secure-site equipment generally looked like. Whatever had occupied that wall belonged to somebody else.

The Engineer finished with the panel.

A click came from inside the frame.

"Unlocked."

Specter moved to the door.

Matilda checked the tactical picture one more time. The nearby infected had not moved.

"Open it."

Specter pulled the door inward. Stale air escaped through the gap.

The room beyond was dark.

Rows of shelves occupied one side. Maintenance equipment, empty chemical containers and broken horticultural supplies filled the other.

Several utility lines disappeared into a reinforced section at the back of the room.

Matilda entered.

The stale smell of fertilizer and damp concrete filled most of the building, with something sharper underneath it. A faint current moved through the rear section despite the rest of the room being almost completely still.

The Engineers cleared several fallen containers from the wall.

The lines they had followed from outside continued behind a broad metal housing before turning downward. Two were probably water and power. Another remained unidentified.

A rectangular seam also ran across the concrete floor nearby.

Marcus checked the public Conservatory plan.

"Trail goes cold after this. The rest should be confidential."

"That’s better then," Matilda remarked. "Would be a shame if there were no secrets here."

One Engineer found the release mechanism behind the removed housing. Most of the electrical controls were dead, but the manual system remained intact underneath layers of dirt.

They documented the panel before touching anything else.

Matilda continued listening while they worked. The concrete and shelving muffled most of what lay below, although she could distinguish the empty volume below more clearly now.

"Open it."

The Engineers disengaged the manual locks.

The floor panel rose several centimeters before resistance stopped it. Dirt packed along the edges after months without maintenance, and the roots already worked their way through part of the surrounding concrete.

Bar and Saint helped clear the obstruction while the Engineers protected the mechanism.

With the second attempt, the panel lifted far enough to expose a concrete stairwell underneath.

Cooler air moved into the room.

The sharper smell Matilda noticed earlier became easier to separate from the fertilizer and damp storage around them.

She contacted the outer team and had the medical-hazard personnel brought forward while the Engineers inspected the opening. They arrived several minutes later with additional sampling equipment and protective gear, taking air and surface samples around the exposed access before anyone descended.

The results found nothing dangerous enough to stop the inspection.

Specter Squad entered first.

Their lights moved down the stairwell while Matilda followed several steps behind with Bar, Saint and Vesper. Marcus, Evelyn and the Engineers remained above until the first section had been secured.

The stairs descended farther than the height of an ordinary basement before turning once beneath the maintenance building.

Concrete replaced the painted public surfaces above.

The walls were thicker here, interrupted by cable channels, water lines and sealed utility boxes running toward the lower level. Several emergency lights remained fixed overhead, although none still worked.

Roots had reached this far too.

Thin strands emerged through cracks near the ceiling and followed moisture along one side of the stairwell, but the growth was nowhere near as heavy as what covered the surface.

The bottom opened into a short service corridor. Specter stopped at the intersection, checking both directions before proceeding further.

"No contacts."

"Move."

Matilda stepped down beside him.

The corridor extended throughout below the Conservatory. Several doors lined one side while the utility trunk continued through the other.

Some had ordinary maintenance markings while the others did not.

The nearest carried only a number and a faded hazard symbol.

She let her senses settle across the corridor instead. Air moved faintly from deeper inside, passing through a ventilation system that somehow retained its natural circulation and kept the lower level from becoming stagnant.

"All clear below."

Marcus and Evelyn came down next with the Engineers.

They followed the utility lines deeper into the corridor.

The maintenance layout lasted through the first junction. Past it, the construction changed.

The walls remained concrete, but the doors were heavier and sealed against their frames. Drainage channels ran along the floor, while an old decontamination station occupied one side of the corridor.

A faded designation remained beside the next doorway. Beside it was the symbol of a DNA with the two strands breaking apart on both edges.

------

PROJECT HELIX

------

Matilda realized that the hidden section underneath the facility was nothing else but a HELIX facility.

"A site for botanical HELIX experiments?" She wondered.

Tyrus had spoken about it a few weeks ago, and it seemed he was not wrong one bit.

Specter Squad cleared the adjoining corridor while the Engineers worked through the dead access controls. The medical-hazard team was brought downstairs once the immediate area was secured.

The sealed door opened into a laboratory.

Stainless work surfaces occupied the center of the room, surrounded by storage cabinets, damaged refrigeration units and several larger processing tanks connected to the utility network. Pumps and filtration equipment filled the rear section.

The lines they had followed from outside entered directly into the laboratory.

Water came in from one side while another network left in several directions toward the Conservatory above.

The Engineers traced what remained of it while the medical team began checking the abandoned equipment and collecting any samples that survived.

Matilda moved through the room without touching anything.

Most of the equipment had been dead for months, but enough remained intact to make the basic arrangement obvious.

Its systems had been connected to the Conservatory.

One of the larger processing lines disappeared through the eastern wall toward the domes. Another joined the drainage network running beneath the facility.

The unidentified line from outside terminated at a group of sealed processing units along the rear wall.

Matilda stopped there.

The containers were different from the ordinary fertilizer and greenhouse equipment upstairs. Their fittings were enclosed, the feed lines separated from the rest of the room, and several warning labels remained readable beneath the dust.

She left them for the medical team.

Marcus moved through the laboratory with Evelyn, checking the surviving security layout rather than the equipment itself.

He photographed the HELIX designation and the surrounding rooms for the Directorate comparison later.

The Engineers continued following the utility network.

It did not end in the laboratory.

Another corridor extended farther beneath the park, dividing toward the Central Dome and two of the smaller greenhouse sections.

Roots had entered through several damaged joints along the ceiling.

The growth became thicker the farther the corridor went.

Matilda noticed that before anyone needed to point it out.

Thin strands around the stairwell had become finger-thick roots around the utility channels. Some had wrapped themselves around inactive pipes, while others disappeared through cracks leading upward.

The medical team collected from those too.

The roots did not react much to their relief. Dealing with trees had been a problem they faced just a few days ago.

Matilda checked the Radar picture.

The largest infected concentration remained around the Central Dome, lying in the same direction where the underground infrastructure was taking them.

"Specter, take point."

The two squads moved deeper toward the Central Dome.

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