I AM BEYOND HUMAN

DEACTIVATING THE ALARMS

After the elevator had stopped abruptly, which was entirely due to my interference in tempering with the circuit board, Jerry Stringer, Mathew and Greg Jones all staggered while they tried to find their balance once again. In my attempt to short circuit the controls for the door, I might have accidentally disturbed the sensors attached to the breaking system, affecting the stopping of the elevator itself. However, this was an action that was only momentarily.

 

"What was that?!" Greg asked with his heart racing but was left with no answers from the two men present there with him. Later on, seeing as no one was willing to answer his question Greg went on to ask yet another one because this man wasn't one to be deterred by silence, not at all.

"Umm question..." he raised his hand like a student who was about to ask his teacher something in class "Does what just happened mean that we're finally there, umm i mean here, umm whatever preposition is needed!" he said but yet again was still left without a single utterance from the two meant to serve as a form of reply.

His question was irrelevant to the situation but was none the less important to him. Meanwhile, to the others, they had other things more pressing to be concerned about. Being observant to the situation, Greg used the prepared look that Jerry Stringer had on his face to satisfy himself.

*TSK* 

He clicked his tongue. There was only so much mental resilience someone could have to being left with silent, plus the situation required him to stop speaking like he normally does.

"Alright then, I guess that I'll take that as a yes. Better get ready for shit that's about to go down too" He twitched his nose as he breathed in sharply with his lips rounded to immediately let out a deep sigh. Greg seem to be the most jumpy out of the three.

 

As they waited for the door to open, Jerry Stringer took the lead by slowly crossing his hand all the way to the other side of his body, gripping on, one finger at a time which was starting from his pinky finger all the way the the last, his thumb, around and then pulling out his baton by the side of his waist belt and then he firmed his grip even tighter while Mathew and Greg copied his actions although not as proficient as the older man had done it but enough to suffice and prepared themselves for a possible battle that might just take place in the sub level floor.

 

*GULP* Greg swallowed a mouthful of saliva as the tension kept on building. Yes he had taken the job presented to him by his sibling to serve as a security personnel because he really needed the money and their parents were on his neck about how lazy he was at the time, slacking off and playing video games all the time. But, never did he actually imagine that being in a situation like this was ever going to happen even if something threat worthy had actually happened before but it never got to this point, he thought as reassurance of his safety before taking the job.

Time went by with all three of them remaining in the same offensive posture, ready to pounce an enemy they had no proof existed. However, after waiting in the elevator for more than half a minute and the door still inconsiderate about opening, Jerry Stringer was caused to loosen his stance and due to him being the leader in this impromptu band of three, Mathew and Greg followed him to do the same.

Greg took a quick glance at everyone in the elevator with him while his eyes twitched as he did. Because the build up had lasted for too long without anything happening there was a serious crash in the intense atmosphere everyone was feeling.

"This is a normal elevator right? So is it supposed to take this long to open?" Mathew asked looking at Jerry from behind as he stood upright.

"Not that I'm aware of" Jerry answered rhetorically. 

Because he was no longer feeling what was going on anymore and the lack of any progress being made had annoyed Greg when he thought about the other things he could be using his time to spend on, which all involved playing a certain video game. So, standing upright as well he placed his left hand on his waist while his other hand was used to gesture and show his annoyance as he spoke, accompanied by the rolling of his eyes.

The door still wasn't opening on its own so Greg muttered "Is nobody going to open the door or what? I can't believe I seriously got scared for a moment there but anyway. Oh no, wait, lemme guess, this is the famous Blackroom we have been hearing about since a couple of minutes ago. I never thought it would look so much like an elevator" he said and smiled mockingly.

*TSK* Jerry clicked his tongue in a distasteful manner which was rightfully aimed at the less than interested security man.

"Don't be an idiot boy, something must be wrong with the doors which is why they aren't opening and most likely someone must have messed with them to keep up us from getting out" Jerry Stringer said as he turned around and looked at Mathew who had been standing by his left side since they got in the elevator.

"What is it?" Mathew murmured before he wried nervously "Please don't hit me, Greg was the one who said it not me" Mathew leaned back in a defensive position with flailing raised hands to protect his face and body.

 

"Hit you? You've got to be kidding me, move out of the way boy! The both of you are starting to get in my nerves" Jerry gave Mathew a little shove to the side pressing him against the wall of the elevator with one hand while he reached for the crowbar behind a safety glass.

The glass of the box that the crowbar was in served as a door so it didn't have to be broken through before the metal tool behind it can be used. A simple pull and Jerry had the crowbar in hand, meanwhile he stuffed his baton back into the holster by his waist to free his hand for what he was about to do next.

 

"Looks like we'll have to do this ourselves" He held the crowbar firmly with both hands adjusting his grip on it and after he got the right hold he plunged the end forward with all his might into the middle where the elevator doors meet.

 

*BAM* *BAM* *BAM* *BAM*

"Oh, so that's what you meant" Greg smiled.

 

Jerry continued to hit the doors with the crowbar, trying to get them to open but got resistance in return, until he finally managed to get the end of the crowbar through to the other side. Meanwhile, both Greg and Mathew covered their ears to block the noise that was being made.

 

"It's through! You two, come over here and help me let's get this door open" Jerry commanded in a surprisingly calmer voice than what he should have as he adjusted his position both in the elevator and with how he was holding on to the crowbar to give room for both Mathew and Greg to assist him.

 

*GRAB* *GRAB*

All three of them held a section of the crowbar with Greg and Mathew both pushing to one direction while Jerry pulled towards the same direction, applying enough force against the doors in the same direction until they slowly opened the elevator door *BUDGE* *BUDGE* *OPEN*

 

*CLANK*

After a considerable amount was opened they dropped the crowbar and used their hands and body to push the doors in the opposite directions until finally it was opened enough for them to pass through comfortably.

 

*SIGH*

 

"Wow! that was... that was something" Greg said under his breaths.

 

"Common you two, stay alert. Bring out your flashlights and let's look around, someone might be hiding in here and waiting for us to drop our guard and on the perfect moment they strick" Jerry instructed flicking his own flashlight in front of their faces, with his other hand resting on the handle of his baton which he didn't waste any time in pulling out.

 

"Alright Sir!" Mathew replied doing as instructed while Greg shivered a little bit due to what Jerry had just said replying with a "Right, an intruder could be lurking"

*STEP*

They all walked in to the first room with Jerry leading, Mathew behind and Greg in last place and after taking four steps into the room Greg bumped into Mathew.

"??"

"Sorry" He apologized

 

"Don't get too jumpy or else you won't be able to react if something happens" Jerry advice as he advanced inwards.

 

"O-Okay Chief"

.

.

.

"Hmm, weird boxes and weird logos even... What are these doing down here Sir?" Mathew asked doing a survey of the first room they had just entered.

 

"Stop asking unimportant questions and do what you're here for"

"Okay chief" Greg replied and saluted mockingly to ease the tension he was under. He normally used jokes and stupid antics to cope with situations he wasn't comfortable with being in. And even though he was saluting his saluting hand was shaking profusely.

 

Jerry rolled his eyes "You two keep checking this area while I advanced to the next room" then he separated from the both of them and went into the other rooms to check for himself as he was the only one allowed access out of the three of them.

The alarms were still going off in the next room so the doors remained locked and prevented access even after he inputted the correct password on the security panel

[ACCESS DENIED] was displayed.

"TSK... Security measures." Jerry Stringer stepped back and brought out his pen shaped communicator. Same one which had alerted him earlier of the alarms going off in the sub level floor.

 

*CLICK*

"Security code override, deactivate first door lock to the white room" He spoke into the tip of the communicator and after identifying his voice immediately the door infront of him unlocked.

 

He could have unlocked all the doors until the Black room with a different command word but in order to prevent a possible intruder from escaping and running towards him he decided to do it one at a time. There were still no concrete evidence to say that there really was an intruder but Jerry was operating from a gut feeling and in his experience, his gut has never been wrong.

He inputted the password again and the panel lit greet, displaying [ACCESS GRANTED] and then the door slid open then he walked into the next room. Apart from the flashing red lights and wailing of the alarm, everything seemed to be okay as there were nowhere for anyone to hide in that room.

 

The moment he walked passed the door it slid close and locked itself behind him as part of the security measure since the alarms were still going off. He also made sure not to turn off the alarms just yet in order to keep the doors locked until he was done with his search.

 

Jerry went over to the security panel of the white room and did the same override command and inputted his fingerprint as well as his DNA blood sample to gain access and after a quick scan the door opened.

 

"Hmm! That was fast?!" He murmured because the blood scan sequence took a shorter amount of time than it usual does but with how suspicious how everything already seemed, the panel being tampered with to scan faster was the last thought in his head.

 

He went into the next room as well and did another quick survey around as he moved along to the end and apart from the motion sensors and wave frequency emitters used to measure body rhythm and temperature, there was also nowhere to hide in that room. Because of the alarm had been triggered the security measures in the room Jerry was, which were the motions sensors and body rhythm machines had been put on standby.

He got to the last door and instead of overriding the lock, this time he immediately drew a pattern on the door first then spoke into the communicator.

 

"Display thermal image" 

 

The door which was completely opaque before he spoke, suddenly a section of it became transparent and started to display the heat signature of the next room, The Black room and everything in it.

There where pillar shaped thermal images being displayed with no human shaped heat sources anywhere in sight and because the room was kept at a very low temperature in order to prevent the servers and processors from overheating, a human being being in there and mixed with everything else would be very visible in the thermal imaging. After a couple of scans Jerry finalized that there was no one inside the Black room, even though he's gut feeling still hadn't been settled yet.

 

The reason he did this first before entering was because unlike the last two rooms there were actually a lot of places and things to hide behind in the Black room that would conceal any presence from sight. If there was indeed an intruder in there, they could use that opportunity to attack him from behind which if they are able bodied enough and young enough to be in their prime, he who was an older man wouldn't stand a chance unless he had a gun with him which he didn't. A baton wouldn't stand a chance against someone who's faster and stronger.

 

He redrew the same pattern but in the reverse and the thermal image cleared off followed by the door becaming completely opaque again.

"Security code override, deactivate last door lock" He said and the lock was deactivated.

 

He raised his left hand and pressed it against the door and the area around his hand highlighted blue. Even when he had dropped his hand the spot still remained highlighted, up to the point that the door slid to the side.

 

*STEP*

Jerry walked in cautiously with his flashlight held tightly, closed to his chest and in front lighting the way for him as the Black room was not too illuminated like the last two rooms but had a dim blue lighting. There were a lot of servers arranged like a maze and after searching everywhere and seeing that there had been no physically obvious tampering with any server in there or the presence of anyone in this room or any of the rooms he decided to call it quits and join up with Mathew and Greg.

*CLICK*

He turned off his flashlight and placed it back on his waist belt the same with his baton

"Security code command... Deactivate alarms!"