LINK to the first part.
Word Count: 1436
Anatoli was running along the main corridor, exiting the control room to his left. He did not mind the electrical cables and wires lying all around the place. He was used to all this mess, and even the the decaying surrounding walls could not distract him from his goal:"Where has Rozaliya gone to? Usually when she's sad, she departs to the offices and closes herself in." On his way to the office spaces, he passed a door labelled "servers room - unauthorized entry strictly forbidden" this always made him laugh - if somebody has gotten this far, to discover a secret facility in Siberia, bypassed the security and came down the tunnels below, than that person has long gotten beyond a forbidden entrance. Today it only made him giggle. He listened in, hearing the roaring of the antiquated hardware, the noise of a thousand fans, working to keep the air flowing, was hard to miss. "Should I check the insides? Fuck this, Rozaliya first," and he ran ahead.
Meanwhile, Gregory barely managed to exit the control room, and, taking the first door to his right, entered the toilets. They were in no better shape than the rest of the complex, giving Gregory an additional incentive to empty his bowels. He found a surge of energy and ran past the washbin to the hole in the ground that was the toilet. He didn't even position himself straight, before vomit started pouring out of his mouth. On this particular day Gregory didn't eat much, as he was nervous and excited about the upcoming data they'd collect. For the past two weeks, the core was brought back to life after almost a year of maintenance. It was time to do science again, and the excitement was too much for him. Therefore, he soon started vomiting his own flouids, feeling sick and trembling all over the body. He felt each muscle contort and expand and was breathing heavily. "At least the worst has passed. I don't have anything more to throw up," were his thoughts inciting his body to cooperate. "Is everything all right?" he heard a familiar voice. Too familiar. He turned his head around and saw a smiling self, watching him with amusement.
Yevgeny and Nikolai were both in the locker room, kicking the locker compartments open. They were in too bad a shape to be opened gently. In response, they heard a screeching sound, one of the rusty metal being forced to cooperate. The insides of the lockers were large enough for a person to fit in, with all the needed equipment stored on the shelves around. With the exception of the toilets, these were the only places down here that left room for some privacy. To cut the costs, the showers inside the locker room were common to all the personnel. As Nikolai was changing into his suit, his mind was racing forward:"What the hell is happening? We must remain calm above else, and figure out the cause of the blackout. Or should we simply escape?" Even as he was thinking this he knew that his military pride would never allow for a retreat.
Rozaliya was completely devastated. She ran out of the controll room, along the main corridor and wanted desperately to cry in peace. If Nikolai doesn't want to listen and comfort her, than she much preferred to cry herself to sleep over a working table. She really liked it there, because she could release her anger by throwing office appliances around, pretending they hit the person that brought her so much misery. But something distracted her. "I don't hear anytghing. Anything at all!" Without questioning her actions, she brushed the tears away and with a newly found determination opened the door. All the machines present in the room were staying completely lifeless. This was the first time that the servers were all down since the beginning of the experiment itself. As soon as she stepped towards a crate extending three meters in height up to the ceiling, all the machines sprung to life. Flashing lights, together with the sound of booting hardware and fans that occupied the room. Rozaliya jumped back in surprise, but didn't emit a single voice. She was drained out of emotions, and gradually aware that there was something exceptionally strange happening: "Even though the servers were down, this didn't explain why the computers in the control room stopped functioning. "Nikolai was right in giving orders to check the core. As always." A bitter smile found its way on her lips, but only briefly. She was the best qualified person in this team for the problems concerning servers. So instead of running away, she started slowly moving around and watching for any sign of anomalies.
Anatoli finally arrived to the office spaces. He knocked first, but upon receiving no response, tried the door handle. "It's open! So she's not here?" Nevertheless, he entered the room and let the doors open thinking "If anything happens, the others will know someone's here. But actually, why should anything happen? Bah, my nerves are weakening." When he entered the room, he was greeted by the familiar open office space, where they all worked most of the time. Usually a single person was inside the control room and the rest gathered here. It held only the bare essentials: five tables, desktop pcs, monitors and chairs. Looking around he saw the usual mess that was on the tables, because nobody on the team cared particularly for being well organized. "Rozaliya?" he addressed the empty room. As he wanted to leave the place and search for her elsewhere, he heard an all too familiar voice say:"Aah, and here I was hoping you have come here for me." He looked around for the bearer of the voice, and didn't manage to say a single word more, as he saw a man looking exactly like his reflection in the mirror, standing with his shoulders pressed to the corner wall and arms crossed.
Yevgeny was first to reemerge from the locker, wearing a whole-body suit in bright yellow color that covered his head as well, with the front of his face protected by a transparent plastic material, enabling him to see through. Soon after, Nikolai exited as well, his suit of a red color, and a symbol of the Union still visible on his shoulder. They looked at each other and Nikolai remarked:"I didn't hear anyone entering. Gregory is probably still having a close encounter with the toilet." He sighed and continued:"I know him too well. Such a brilliant boy, too bad he's not a man yet. Leave him be, the two of us are enough." Yevgeny twitched a little at the mention of his colleague, but decided this was not the best time to argue, and left the room in silence, together with Nikolai. They turned first right, towards the office spaces, but soon after took the left turn, towards a heavy metallic door. And behind the door they knew there was the contamination room, followed by the most important part of the underground facility: the core of the reactor.
In the servers room the air was getting hotter by the minute, with all the fans doing their work, still functioning restlessly. Rozaliya was advancing carefully, and looked for every sign of movement or sound or smell that could give her a clue to solving the mystery and calming her mind: "Everything has a logical explanation. I only need to find the cause of this incident." Nothing could prepare her for what was to come, as she suddenly heard her own voice coming from somewhere nearby. It was hard to distinguish in the noise, but she was used to it. This froze her in her tracks, moving only the head around to check the surroundings. And then she heard her voice properly, almost whispering in her ear: "Peek-a-boo" As Rozaliya turned her head, she saw a familiar face centimeters away. She quickly stepped away, and turned towards facing the new person in the room. And it was none other than a copy of herself. "Are you a clone?" Rozaliya asked. To her amazement, her identical copy started laughing almost manically and then responded: "To be a mere clone would be to have all the weaknesses you posses. I have none." "I'm not weak. And I'm not scared of you if that's what you want to accomplish. Who are you?" Rozaliya demanded back, with her most commanding voice. The expression on her double's face remained unchanged, she was still smiling confidently:"No, I don't want you scared. I want you dead."
TO BE CONTINUED
Behind the keyboard
.... Yeah, I said this is going to be a two-part story. But if I may borrow George R.R. Martin's words, I'm a gardener in terms of writing. I plant the seeds and see where the story takes me. And it just so happens that Tuesday I was drinking beer in good company, a friend and two nice girls he just introduced me to. The topic of discussion got to writing diaries and thoughts, and I remember Vita talking about having conversations with your ego (it makes sense when writing). This was an idea I liked and immediately realized how to use in my story - don't worry, no spoilers here. I like giving credit where credit is due, and so, thank you Vita! ;)
On the other hand, the ideas I toyed with beforehand would have been shorter to write, while this got me to part three. I hope you enjoyed the reading, and I'll try to finish the third (and last?) part today.
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