The steel door slammed open after the system accepted Elmina's UN codes. A large and spacious room was revealed behind it. The two have finally arrived to their destination: the Apox's command centre. It was outfitted with everything needed to keep the massive space-penitentiary in check: wide monitors hang on the front walls with control panels below and there were numerous entrances to the side, leading to what were potentially other places of vital importance. Abandoned, but thankfully still mostly intact, this was the best chance for the survivors to find something meaningful.
While Jake looked around in awe, Elmina shut the door tight behind them. She did not want another encounter with any inmate anymore. They did not have much time work with here anyways, they best do whatever they want undisturbed now.
"All right. We have around 15 minutes until the generator breaks down and we definitely don't want to be around when that happens. You have your way with the tech here - I'll go pick up anything that can be useful."
"Okay, okay. 15 minutes. I'll...see what I can do."
And with that their ways split. Elmina went off to the side while Jake walked forward to the control panels.
He briefly examined what he has to deal with here. It was top-notch technology, at least back a hundred years ago and that was all he knew about anyways. The system was turned on and working in this very moment as well, as signed by some green lights at the middle. Below the lights was a large keyboard and many levers and switches with unknown functions. He obviously did not want to fiddle with those latter just yet, so he laid his hands on the keyboard.
He almost jumped up in surprise when the black screen suddenly became alive and the same familiar AI voice greeted him: 'Welcome to the Apox mainframe. Please sign in.' This same message was also displayed on the largest screen on the middle of the wall with white letters on a light blue background. Jake let out a sigh. He was hoping the system was abandoned prematurely and the last official who used it would still be signed in, but it was on the case. This fact and the complete lack of any UN personnel made him believe that the centre was left to rot way before it crashed down into the Earth. This also meant that the system was left in some sort of autopilot mode.
The login screen offered various ways for identification, among them was the simple username/password option, which Jake - once again - thanked God for. The rest of the measures were way more advanced, things like biosignature or face recognition - no way he could bypass those in time. The age-old combination was child's play though. Or was it?
Jake suddenly felt his limitations without his wide array of tools which stood in his disposal throughout his entire career. There was nothing with him this time, not even a simple chip. He tried to recall the various passwords that belonged to UN officials he hacked over the years, but his thoughts were all over the place and he could not remember properly.
He looked back at Elmina, who was busy searching through the area still, mapping the things that need to be taken away. Time was ticking on them and if he could not get in very quickly, the entire operation could be a bust. That is why he decided to follow a sudden idea.
"Elmina, um, what was the name of that relative of yours who was a high-ranking official in the UN?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I need it to enter the system..."
"Grant. He was Grant Lennox."
"Perfect." And he was back to working. He input the standard username created from full names (GLennox) and quickly went through a variety of common passwords. It worked! Just a couple tries later he was in the system. This Grant was not much of a security maniac, he thought. And this was a very great thing to know in that moment.
Once inside the mainframe, he was immediately greeted by a host of warning messages on the home screen. A few more prominent ones caught his eye:
'Warning: Outside conditions atypical. Please recalibrate the Apox system.'
'Warning: Power level critically low. Please ensure proper linkage to generations has been established.'
'Warning: Hull damage detected in multiple areas. Please dispatch engineers to resolve the problem.'
After putting these messages to the side, he checked his user rights. His clearance was fourth level, which was not the highest but still gave access to most information. "Now to find out where the fuck we actually are..." He launched an application. The UN logo itself was the loading screen until it was overtaken by a wide map of the world. There were red dots flashing on many of the larger cities, possibly indicating UN centres. Jake then initiated the GPS, to which another error message popped up, something about 'Missing satellites'. A rough search was conducted instead, which displayed the fallen Apox centre's location as Nantahala Forest, North Carolina.
"So we're probably in the middle of a plus 500 000 acre forest. That's...that's great news..." He announced, trying to remain calm and not lose all hope just yet.
"All right, where is the nearest functional UN base? Or...any base?" Elmina kept things to the point and did not let Jake panic.
"Franklin. 30-40 miles. Not exactly close..."
"We don't have many options... Either way, we have less than 10 minutes now. My search so far has not been as effective as yours, unfortunately, so I need to hurry."
Jake nodded and turned back to the panel. For the next couple of seconds he was just moving through the main interface aimlessly, unsure of what to check on next. Yes, he - and everyone else - had tons of questions about the entire situation, but their current state did not allow for too much browsing. He had to uncover the most valuable information in a very short order.
Eventually he stumbled upon an extensive folder titled 'Security logs'. It branched out to many subfolders, most of them having jumbled names and the tag 'TS' at their end. These same ones were also further encrypted and locked down - Jake's fourth level clearance was not enough here. The first folder he could actually get into did not even have logs in it: there was only a single image file, which showed the basic map of Apox centre, divided by level. He did not look through it too extensively, instead just putting it out on one of the secondary screens and calling for Elmina once again: "Hey, I found a map, might be useful for the scavenging!"
The main folder was huge and he wanted to read as much of its content as possible. After browsing through a couple of the deck maintenance logs, he noticed an interesting pattern: all records ended in 2100. On a particular day, all files ended abruptly. There were no error messages which would sign system malfunction either, everything was clean. As if the centre was completely abandoned one day to another...
For all Jake knew, the Apox was a pretty well-running business for the UN. What better way was there to completely isolate the most dangerous criminals from society than freezing them for infinity in outer space?
He sorted the files by date of creation and opened the first (and in chronological order, last) one, conveniently titled "FinalNotice.doc".
'To all UN personnel employed within the Apox Space-Penitentiary,
After a year-long legal battle and billions of dollars spent in the cause, it is up to me to announce with a heavy heart that tomorrow, July 4th, 2100 will be the last day of the Apox centre's active functionality. The reasons behind this are complicated, it is as much of a move to appeal to the masses as it is a financial outbreak. Operating such an advanced maximum-security prison was no small investment by the UN and the project has been bombarded since its inception by negative press from the various so-called 'humanitarian' organizations around the globe who still think dangerous criminals should have 'rights' and whatnot.
The upcoming Independence Day just makes the PR that much easier. The people will be overjoyed to hear that their hated 'tool of oppression' is officially closing down. But fear not, my enlightened and open-minded brothers and sisters - I have assured personally that exactly one hundred of the worst offenders locked up in there will stay in the freezer. Perchance they will be revisited when the situation is more in our favour once again.
No one shall remain in the Apox after tomorrow. The Prime system will be set to AI control to ensure basic maintenance tasks and the cryochambers are still functional. I expect a report after everything is done from the head of security.
Signed,
Sir Herrity Apox'
"The bastards..." That's all Jake could say after reading through the farewell document by the founder of the Apox himself. The lines reeked of UN corruption and malice and suddenly he did not mind anymore if this entire place blew up on the spot. There must've been only a few minutes left now anyways before the generator broke down and they were out of this hellhole for good.
He looked to the side, Elmina was still busy doing some last bits of scavenging. Following a sudden idea, Jake opened up the inmate database. He ran through the entries, looking to identify the people in the group through their appearance. They had quite a...diverse roster as it turned out. Former Russian president, notable member of the prominent rebel organization Gaia, drug cartel kingpin, and these were just a few of the personalities who came together by chance after the Apox crashed. Through and through, Jake was looking at ruthless and manipulative individuals - save a few who were imprisoned for entirely different reasons - who would stop at nothing to reach their goals. How he would navigate through all the webs they weaved was still unclear, but at least now he was armed with information - and as he always said, that was half the victory.
"Done?" He was snapped out of his thoughts by Elmina, who apparently just finished her work as well. He quickly put the database tab away.
"Yes, I guess. Too bad we have nothing to store all this info on..."
"Maybe next time. For now, you gotta help me carrying a couple of these weapons in this bag. Thanks to that map you found, I managed to get into a secret weapon locker. It was filled with guns and ammo still." She explained as she dropped down the large sack on the ground between them. "You're...not the kind who would shoot me in the face as soon as given the chance, right?"
"I thought we had at least this much trust between each other already..." Jake picked up what looked like a shotgun from the bag. He never held such caliber in his hands before, but fortunately this first sensation did not start any...homicidal thoughts in him. "I think we're ready to um...get the heck out of here. For good."
While Jake looked around in awe, Elmina shut the door tight behind them. She did not want another encounter with any inmate anymore. They did not have much time work with here anyways, they best do whatever they want undisturbed now.
"All right. We have around 15 minutes until the generator breaks down and we definitely don't want to be around when that happens. You have your way with the tech here - I'll go pick up anything that can be useful."
"Okay, okay. 15 minutes. I'll...see what I can do."
And with that their ways split. Elmina went off to the side while Jake walked forward to the control panels.
He briefly examined what he has to deal with here. It was top-notch technology, at least back a hundred years ago and that was all he knew about anyways. The system was turned on and working in this very moment as well, as signed by some green lights at the middle. Below the lights was a large keyboard and many levers and switches with unknown functions. He obviously did not want to fiddle with those latter just yet, so he laid his hands on the keyboard.
He almost jumped up in surprise when the black screen suddenly became alive and the same familiar AI voice greeted him: 'Welcome to the Apox mainframe. Please sign in.' This same message was also displayed on the largest screen on the middle of the wall with white letters on a light blue background. Jake let out a sigh. He was hoping the system was abandoned prematurely and the last official who used it would still be signed in, but it was on the case. This fact and the complete lack of any UN personnel made him believe that the centre was left to rot way before it crashed down into the Earth. This also meant that the system was left in some sort of autopilot mode.
The login screen offered various ways for identification, among them was the simple username/password option, which Jake - once again - thanked God for. The rest of the measures were way more advanced, things like biosignature or face recognition - no way he could bypass those in time. The age-old combination was child's play though. Or was it?
Jake suddenly felt his limitations without his wide array of tools which stood in his disposal throughout his entire career. There was nothing with him this time, not even a simple chip. He tried to recall the various passwords that belonged to UN officials he hacked over the years, but his thoughts were all over the place and he could not remember properly.
He looked back at Elmina, who was busy searching through the area still, mapping the things that need to be taken away. Time was ticking on them and if he could not get in very quickly, the entire operation could be a bust. That is why he decided to follow a sudden idea.
"Elmina, um, what was the name of that relative of yours who was a high-ranking official in the UN?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I need it to enter the system..."
"Grant. He was Grant Lennox."
"Perfect." And he was back to working. He input the standard username created from full names (GLennox) and quickly went through a variety of common passwords. It worked! Just a couple tries later he was in the system. This Grant was not much of a security maniac, he thought. And this was a very great thing to know in that moment.
Once inside the mainframe, he was immediately greeted by a host of warning messages on the home screen. A few more prominent ones caught his eye:
'Warning: Outside conditions atypical. Please recalibrate the Apox system.'
'Warning: Power level critically low. Please ensure proper linkage to generations has been established.'
'Warning: Hull damage detected in multiple areas. Please dispatch engineers to resolve the problem.'
After putting these messages to the side, he checked his user rights. His clearance was fourth level, which was not the highest but still gave access to most information. "Now to find out where the fuck we actually are..." He launched an application. The UN logo itself was the loading screen until it was overtaken by a wide map of the world. There were red dots flashing on many of the larger cities, possibly indicating UN centres. Jake then initiated the GPS, to which another error message popped up, something about 'Missing satellites'. A rough search was conducted instead, which displayed the fallen Apox centre's location as Nantahala Forest, North Carolina.
"So we're probably in the middle of a plus 500 000 acre forest. That's...that's great news..." He announced, trying to remain calm and not lose all hope just yet.
"All right, where is the nearest functional UN base? Or...any base?" Elmina kept things to the point and did not let Jake panic.
"Franklin. 30-40 miles. Not exactly close..."
"We don't have many options... Either way, we have less than 10 minutes now. My search so far has not been as effective as yours, unfortunately, so I need to hurry."
Jake nodded and turned back to the panel. For the next couple of seconds he was just moving through the main interface aimlessly, unsure of what to check on next. Yes, he - and everyone else - had tons of questions about the entire situation, but their current state did not allow for too much browsing. He had to uncover the most valuable information in a very short order.
Eventually he stumbled upon an extensive folder titled 'Security logs'. It branched out to many subfolders, most of them having jumbled names and the tag 'TS' at their end. These same ones were also further encrypted and locked down - Jake's fourth level clearance was not enough here. The first folder he could actually get into did not even have logs in it: there was only a single image file, which showed the basic map of Apox centre, divided by level. He did not look through it too extensively, instead just putting it out on one of the secondary screens and calling for Elmina once again: "Hey, I found a map, might be useful for the scavenging!"
The main folder was huge and he wanted to read as much of its content as possible. After browsing through a couple of the deck maintenance logs, he noticed an interesting pattern: all records ended in 2100. On a particular day, all files ended abruptly. There were no error messages which would sign system malfunction either, everything was clean. As if the centre was completely abandoned one day to another...
For all Jake knew, the Apox was a pretty well-running business for the UN. What better way was there to completely isolate the most dangerous criminals from society than freezing them for infinity in outer space?
He sorted the files by date of creation and opened the first (and in chronological order, last) one, conveniently titled "FinalNotice.doc".
'To all UN personnel employed within the Apox Space-Penitentiary,
After a year-long legal battle and billions of dollars spent in the cause, it is up to me to announce with a heavy heart that tomorrow, July 4th, 2100 will be the last day of the Apox centre's active functionality. The reasons behind this are complicated, it is as much of a move to appeal to the masses as it is a financial outbreak. Operating such an advanced maximum-security prison was no small investment by the UN and the project has been bombarded since its inception by negative press from the various so-called 'humanitarian' organizations around the globe who still think dangerous criminals should have 'rights' and whatnot.
The upcoming Independence Day just makes the PR that much easier. The people will be overjoyed to hear that their hated 'tool of oppression' is officially closing down. But fear not, my enlightened and open-minded brothers and sisters - I have assured personally that exactly one hundred of the worst offenders locked up in there will stay in the freezer. Perchance they will be revisited when the situation is more in our favour once again.
No one shall remain in the Apox after tomorrow. The Prime system will be set to AI control to ensure basic maintenance tasks and the cryochambers are still functional. I expect a report after everything is done from the head of security.
Signed,
Sir Herrity Apox'
"The bastards..." That's all Jake could say after reading through the farewell document by the founder of the Apox himself. The lines reeked of UN corruption and malice and suddenly he did not mind anymore if this entire place blew up on the spot. There must've been only a few minutes left now anyways before the generator broke down and they were out of this hellhole for good.
He looked to the side, Elmina was still busy doing some last bits of scavenging. Following a sudden idea, Jake opened up the inmate database. He ran through the entries, looking to identify the people in the group through their appearance. They had quite a...diverse roster as it turned out. Former Russian president, notable member of the prominent rebel organization Gaia, drug cartel kingpin, and these were just a few of the personalities who came together by chance after the Apox crashed. Through and through, Jake was looking at ruthless and manipulative individuals - save a few who were imprisoned for entirely different reasons - who would stop at nothing to reach their goals. How he would navigate through all the webs they weaved was still unclear, but at least now he was armed with information - and as he always said, that was half the victory.
"Done?" He was snapped out of his thoughts by Elmina, who apparently just finished her work as well. He quickly put the database tab away.
"Yes, I guess. Too bad we have nothing to store all this info on..."
"Maybe next time. For now, you gotta help me carrying a couple of these weapons in this bag. Thanks to that map you found, I managed to get into a secret weapon locker. It was filled with guns and ammo still." She explained as she dropped down the large sack on the ground between them. "You're...not the kind who would shoot me in the face as soon as given the chance, right?"
"I thought we had at least this much trust between each other already..." Jake picked up what looked like a shotgun from the bag. He never held such caliber in his hands before, but fortunately this first sensation did not start any...homicidal thoughts in him. "I think we're ready to um...get the heck out of here. For good."
