"This has been your third fuck up already Dr. Olson; you only have one more goddamn chance before I get to let you experience how it's like to have a dozen extra fucking holes in your body."
"C-captain if you would let me explain!"
"I believe I've heard those same exact lines the last time you fucked up and if it were up to me, you would have been dead when you said those words the first time."
"I-I know, but those other three were just for testing! This time…this time I can assure you it will be a success!"
Dr. Olson pleaded with the Captain as he was being lifted in the air by his neck.
"That was different from what you told me before." the captain said as he squeezed Dr. Olson's neck harder.
"It was the only way you would allow me to continue! S-so let me down, and I...can show you what I've been working on! Let me down... Ugh! And I can show you!"
The captain scoffed at Dr. Olson's words as he released his hands from the doctor's neck. With a loud thud, Dr. Olson fell to the ground as breathed in air heavily.
"So show me what you have before I use my happy finger. And no more lying."
"Y-Yes...at once of course. Just follow me, I've been keeping this subject a secret just for this very day!"
"You've been keeping this subject for the day I get to shoot you dead? You have some sick fetishes, Dr. Olson."
"Your humor may work on the soldiers, but such low intellect jokes do not affect me. With no offense of course."
"Oh, I've definitely taken offense, Dr. Olson. I'll be sure to write you an invoice later."
"R-right…"
With the banter out of the way, Dr. Olson led the captain through the hallways of the facility.
"So why in the world are you working in this old abandoned facility? Did you get bored by your lab?"
"Maybe because I wanted to get as far away from you as possible, captain."
"And look how miserably you failed at doing so. You truly are an idiot, Dr. Olson."
"I don't think the word "idiot" should define me and my achievements, captain."
"I feel you're deserving of the title of "idiot" since you keep screwing up everything you do ."
"Almost everything, captain. There's a big difference." Dr. Olson said as they reached a metal vault door labeled "5.5" with the remaining words having been faded. "And here we are, captain. The key to the project!"
The captain frowned as he looked at the numbered metal vault door before replying: "So the key to success in completing the project is this door? Amazing, Dr. Olson. I would have never thought of something so... abstract. Truly you're a genius among men."
"You know what I mean, captain. Your sarcasm isn't humorous." Dr. Olson grumbled as he turned the wheel-like handle to open the door.
As Dr. Olson kept turning the handle, the area around the door became colder making the captain more curious as to what was behind the vault door.
"Dr. Olson, what's so special about the vault we are heading into?"
"It's a vault that has been forgotten. I only found it after trying to find a suitable host for what we needed and it just so happens that what we are looking for is right inside this vault!"
"So you somehow luckily found an abandoned facility with a secret vault in the middle of nowhere that somehow nobody else found except you.
"I might have been using our archives to find this information, but the general did say to use everything at our disposal." Dr. Olson said as he turned the handle for the last time. "And there we go!"
A clicking sound was heard as Dr. Olson reached the end of the turn cycle and he started pulling it. As the door opened cold mist was released from the room revealing how cold the inside must be.
"Why the hell is it so damn cold? Are we entering a freezer?" The captain asked as he started wearing his leather gloves.
Dr. Olson smiled as he walked into the room: "Not a freezer per se, but a cryostasis room."
As they entered the room the only thing inside was a single podium standing in the middle of an empty cold room. On the podium was a control panel for the room.
"Cryostasis, What's that?" The captain asked as he looked around the empty room. "And what is this room used for?"
The whole room was filled with large white tiles on the floor, walls and even the ceiling. The material for the tiles felt soft and spongy making the room soundproof. But at the wall opposite of the door had a metal door with a low lying metal table below it.
"Cryostasis is a part of cryogenics; it was an experimental procedure that used extremely cold liquids to preserve a person, but the success rate of a person surviving the procedure was so low we called it useless. Especially after we found better ways to obtain longevity. The room is used to house the subject." Dr. Olson replied as fiddled with the control panel.
As Dr. Olson started fiddling with the control panel captain could hear motors and gears turning behind the walls as the sound of gas start hissing. "Dr. Olson, care to explain what the hell you just did?"
"Do not worry, Captain. It's just the mechanisms of the room running; the noise is just a by-product." Dr. Olson said "Now watch, Captain, the key to success. Subject 5.5!"
As Dr. Olson was talking the metal door at the other end of the room started opening to show a dark hole, and what came rolling out onto the table was a cryotube. A first generation cryotube.
On the cryotube was a string of numbers engraved onto the metal, "5.5" and the words "Xen Labs".
"So what's the chance of someone surviving again? The captain asked
"5%, captain."
"So you now have a 95% chance of being shot."
"Better than a 100% chance, captain. And believe me, I fully intend to live!" Dr. Olson replied with a big grin on his face.
"You crazy fuck, so why in the world do you need to risk it with a pre-war idiot who froze himself." the captain asked as he looked at Dr. Olson with suspicion.
" A host with pre-war era genes to fuse with our unstable project is more important at the moment. I've tested my theories with the other three subjects we had and I'm sure it will work with him. A pre-war patient has the perfect characteristics for the fusion. It was fate that I've found this patient in the archives, one that hasn't been taken by other scientists. If the patient is an idiot as you say, I'm sure you'll be able to take care of it."
"So you managed to find a pre-war patient that no one else found, I don't think you have the ability to do that."
"And that is exactly why I believe it was fate that I found this patient, captain. Only one file in the archives had talked about this lab. According to the file a few years after the patient was kept here they were told to abandon the facility and this patient. Most of the people who ran this facility before are probably long dead." Dr. Olson replied.
"Well then let's get this patient out of the cryotube."
"Yes of course! Now let's see here…" Dr. Olson said as he fiddled with the control panel. "It should be… this one!"
As Dr. Olson pressed a button the freezing cold liquid inside the cryotube was flushed out as it opened up revealing a young teenage boy.
"So is the kid alive?"
"Good his body seems perfectly intact! It must be the suit he's wearing keeping his body safe, ingenious I must say. But we don't have much time, He'll be fine for now, but we need him to stay below the melting point. We will have to immediately ship him back to the base so I can stabilize him properly." Dr. Olson said as he took out a syringe from his lab coat pocket.
"And what's in that syringe?"
"Something I've prepared to stop a person's body temperature from dropping any further, but it only lasts for an hour, so if we want the boy to stay alive we need to be quick!" Dr. Olson replied as he injected the boy with the syringe.
"The trip to the nearest base is 30 mins from here correct? I believe your vehicle has enough room for me and the patient, Captain." Dr. Olson asked.
"From leading men to being a chauffeur, I've truly reached the pinnacle of my career." the captain sighed as he picked up the boy's body. "Why the hell must he be so fucking cold!"
Soon the both of them patient included got on the captain's hover cruiser before flying off back to their base.
"This time captain, I can assure you. We will complete Project: A.I. Mark this day."
"Of course we will, I'll make sure you're locked up with the kid in your lab until we do. And I still want that new upgrade you owe me from before."
The world has drastically changed from before. This is the year 2113, and welcome to Project: A.I.