Chapter 17 - The Observer Protocol
Rick spun around first.
His growl echoed through the control room.
We followed his gaze.
Nothing.
Only empty floor and rows of silent equipment.
Yet the monitors still showed a fifth figure.
Tall.
Motionless.
Standing directly behind me.
The realtor slowly reached toward the nearest screen.
Her fingers passed across the glass.
The mysterious figure remained visible.
Only on the monitors.
Not in reality.
The elderly woman closed her eyes.
"I remember this."
"What is it?"
"They called it Observer Drift."
She sat heavily in an old office chair.
"They told us the cameras eventually learned to see things before people could."
I laughed nervously.
"That's impossible."
"So were the tunnels."
She had a point.
Rick continued staring into empty air.
His ears tracked something moving around us.
Invisible.
The cassette recorder suddenly restarted.
No one touched it.
Dr. Pierce's voice returned.
"If you've begun seeing the Fifth Observer..."
The recording paused.
"...leave immediately."
Another pause.
"If you still can."
A loud metallic clang echoed somewhere beneath the floor.
Followed by another.
Then another.
Almost like enormous security doors unlocking throughout the underground complex.
The terminal beside me came alive again.
A detailed facility map appeared.
Entire sections that had previously been hidden were now highlighted in green.
One area flashed repeatedly.
ARCHIVE VAULT.
Distance:
1.3 Miles.
Underground.
The realtor frowned.
"One point three miles?"
"Under one neighborhood?"
The elderly woman shook her head.
"You still think this place ends beneath your street."
The map zoomed outward automatically.
New tunnel systems appeared.
Crossing beneath highways.
Schools.
Hospitals.
Entire districts.
The underground complex wasn't beneath one neighborhood.
It stretched beneath the entire city.
Then the terminal printed another page.
This time it wasn't a warning.
It was a personnel badge.
My photograph.
My name.
My signature.
Issue Date:
May you like
Tomorrow.
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