Year Sent: 2097
From: Project Rift Director Erickson Montgomery
To: Overwatch Council (Direct line)
The project is a success, after billions of dollars and dozens of years the project has finally borne sweet fruit. The resulting rift that has been created is 55x55 meters, which is a large improvement over our old tests. It is remarkably stable as well, estimates show that it will not collapse for perhaps thousands of years if fed enough power. We cannot see through to the other side, however, we are ready to send expedition teams through. Further technical information is attached below.
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From: Overwatch Council
To: Project Rift Director Erickson Montgomery (Direct line)
We are very satisfied with the progress you have made. Send in Expedition Team Alpha-14, designated 'Touchdown'. If any members of the expedition do not survive, send their families the standard compensation package of 10000$ for each family member lost.
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From: Project Rift Director Erickson Montgomery
To: Overwatch Council (Direct line)
Orders acknowledged, however, isn't 10000 dollars a bit small for a lost life?
____________________________________________________________________________
From: Overwatch Council
To: Project Rift Director Erickson Montgomery (Direct line)
They know what they signed up for.
____________________________________________________________________________
From: Project Rift Director Erickson Montgomery
To: Overwatch Council (Direct line)
Alright, sending in Alpha-14 now.
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Callan had no idea what he would eventually end up doing when he signed up for the Corporation's expedition corps. He and his family were broke at the time and when he told the recruiter his situation, he was pulled to a separate room, forced to sign an NDA, and was presented with a contract very different from the usual employment contract. The pay honestly wasn't that great, however, it was the retirement benefits that really caught his eye. He could retire at the age of 45 and would receive a monthly stipend of 30 grand a month and his family would be relocated to a safer district.
He signed his life away the moment he read that part. Unfortunately, he never got to the part where his family would only get 10000 if he died. That was buried somewhere between the middle and the end of the contract.
And currently, he was standing in front of a massive crack in reality. At least, that's what he's told. Well, there was no turning back now.
"This is Alpha-14 Actual, heading into the rift now."
With one last look at his squadmates, he took one last breath before stepping in.
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From: Alpha-14 Actual
To: Project Rift Director Erickson Montgomery
I thought I had walked into heaven, the sky is blue, the grass is green, and the air is safe to breathe. I would've thought I was still on earth if I had not looked up and saw 2 moons. Air samples came clean, something I should note is that there was a small error or glitch in the Portable Air Sample Tester, there was a small amount of unknown substance in the air, around 1%, and further testing could be required. I recommend throwing a test subject in with no protective equipment in there to see what happens.
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Junior Stein is going to die today' became the common phrase spoken in the test subject cells for the day. His name had been called over the intercom to be present in briefing room 14 at 3 pm. Almost all of the time, the people who called would leave and never come back, and those who did wish they didn't. So he did what everyone would do if they were going to die.
He immediately spent all his credits on some illegally smuggled alcohol and drugs and got wasted.
"Test Subject Junior Stein, Designation number TS-09341, please report to Briefing room 14 immediately." A voice said over the intercom.
Well shit, I guess it's my time to go He thought. Still mildly high, he stumbled his way over to briefing room 14.
"Junior Stein I presume?" asked a guard with a tablet in his hands as he looked at Junior's designation number. His uniform was dark gray, almost black, which meant that he held a higher rank than the average light gray uniformed guards. After confirming his designation number, the guard tapped a few things on his tablet before whistling
"Damn! You really are an unlucky bastard, trust me, "junior stein is going to die" isn't only spoken in the Test Subject cells. Turns out, you're getting sent to Sector-13, unlucky bastard!"
The guards laughing only made him feel worse, and the only thing going through his mind is how he'll die and how painful it'll be.
"Alright, follow me, you unlucky bastard. Oh, and if you decide to run, then me and the boys will have some nice target practice on a live target, something we haven't had for at least a week by now." said the guard.
He and the guard walked out of briefing room 14, flanked by 3 other guards. Soon, they arrived at their transport, the facility was so big that It had its own transport/metro system.
"Right, put this blindfold on" The guard handed him a thick black blindfold probably a size too small for his head. "We can't let any inmates memorize the site layout if they escape"
Seeing no other choice, Junior stretched out the band just enough for him to put it over his eyes. Yep, they were definitely too small for his head, not that the guards seemed to care anyways.
After an undefined amount of time, their transport stopped moving.
A hand grabbed his hand and led him somewhere. After many turns going left and right, they apparently stopped at their destination.
"Don't worry, I'll take it from here guys." A drier voice said. He felt the hand on his shoulder replaced by another, smaller and weaker hand. He then felt his blindfold being lifted.
When his eyes readjusted themselves to not being squeezed and being in pitch-black darkness, they saw a small elderly man with a smile. However, this was not a warm smile. His time in the criminal underworld taught him that.
"I do suppose I should Introduce myself, I am Senior Researcher Ethan Smith, and I must applaud you for not soiling yourself, something most test subjects do when they realize they're going to sector-13."
Ethan kindly patted his shoulder "we've got work to do, I'm sure you know that. Fortunately for you, you will likely not die today, if you do, then at least you'll die staring at a lush green field."
Junior, still slightly high from all the narcotics he took, only nodded.
"Now, follow closely behind me. The guards in this sector are way too trigger-happy. If you get shot with their laser or plasma guns you're guaranteed a screaming and painful death."
Without waiting for any sort of reply, he turned around and started walking. After walking for a while, he decided to look around him and examine his surroundings, this will likely be his only time here anyways. The sector was utterly massive. The rumors that sector-13 is a small dark sector where the cruelest experiments took place turned out to be only partially true. The hallway they were in looked big enough to have several tanks driving side by side.
After a few suspiciously labeled doors, they arrived at a massive gate, Flanked by 2 guards wearing pitch-black uniforms, carrying weapons that looked like they came from a sci-fi game. The gate was easily big enough to fit 8 cars placed side by side.
"Senior researcher" The guard nodded to Ethan
"Elite Guard Lucas" Ethan nodded back to the guard
"I know you hate it but I need you to show me your ID"
"Yeah yeah I've gotten used to this pointless procedure by now."
Ethan reached into his lab coat and pulled out a Light blue Keycard, and then handed it over to the guard. The guard skimmed over it before handing it back. "Head on in"
Ethan stepped forward and placed his hand on a bio scanner. The scanner beeped once and turned green, and with surprisingly little noise, the gate opened rather swiftly. Now inside, they were greeted by an airlock. The gate behind them closed and gas valves blasted some cleaning gas onto them.
"Brainwave pattern accepted, access granted." Said a robotic voice from the walls.
The airlock then opened, only to reveal yet another airlock. The gate behind them closed and then this one opened as well.
Junior was half expecting to see another airlock but to his utter amazement, it instead revealed a massive chamber, large enough to maybe house several dozen airliners. It was filled with other research personnel and guards, with the sides housing several observation rooms, and from the ceiling hung several pieces of futuristic-looking machinery, all pointing towards the middle of the room.
In the middle, was a massive crack in seemingly nothing. It was hard to describe, you could see it on all sides, and small veins and webs crept away from it.
Seeing his dumbfounded look, the Senior Researcher could only chuckle.
"Yeah, everybody here looked like that when we first saw it too. We call it the Rift."
Yep, I'm definitely tripping balls. I'll wake up from my high any moment now. Junior thought.
"Now, I'm sure you're curious about your assignment, it's rather simple, we want you to go inside for a couple of minutes, and then come back out."
Junior still didn't speak, still looking at the crack.
"Nothing is gonna get done if you keep gawking at it." The researcher is getting a bit impatient now.
Junior snapped himself out of his daze and started to walk toward it. After what felt like an eternity, he finally reached it. The Rift looked even bigger up close, way bigger. A strange white energy pulsed occasionally from the center, and it was pitch black.
"Any hole's a goal, I guess," Junior said to himself before diving in headfirst.
Junior lay breathing heavily on the ground. The experience was unpleasant. Very unpleasant. In fact, it felt like someone was trying to pull his skeleton out of his head.
He would've thrown up if he hadn't breathed in the air. The air. For the past dozen years, he had been breathing in stale, underground filtered, and artificial air.
This had been the first moment in many years he had breathed in fresh, clean, natural air.
After taking several deep breaths, he got enough courage to sit up. He was surrounded by a plain of lush green grass.
After taking in his environment for a couple more minutes, he said "Yep, I'm definitely still tripping balls."