blueteamnovel 172. An Overview of F-H5
172. An Overview of F-H5
172. An Overview of F-H5
ImpulseWorks Sites were never small. Even the most mundane and low-risked Sites were behemoths that rested beneath rock and soil. The corridors Frost and her group travelled through were made large for the purpose of accommodating Corrupted upwards of 10 meters in size.CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m
These rooms were built at the highest point of F-H5 and did not house the Corrupted. Rather, this was where various Employees such as cleaners, clerks and other administrative and basic personnel called their home. Employees were considered lower than Workers on the ImpulseWorks hierarchy.
They were Clearance Level 7 which was the lowest clearance one could be granted, and they roamed nonchalantly along their lavish facility. The top portion of the Site was essentially the living quarters for its Employees and Workers; however, the Overseer and the Navigator made it clear that some people were required to live on the Corrupted layers.
A pair wearing long, white lab-coats escorted them around the facility. Both were humans. Very human compared to what she imagined them to be. The Overseer was a man dressed in nothing but his simple, loose lab coat that fluttered with each step. There was never a shred of emotion shown in his face.
His eyes were ever calculating as if constantly on the lookout for any potential threats. At one look Frost understood that he had witnessed unimaginable horrors. Or rather, he had already grown accustomed to them.
Overseer
< F-H5 >
Soul Rank: Yellow | Atelier: ImpulseWorks
LEVEL : 25ORIGIN: Human
HP : 100
ATT : 5MAG ATT : 0ATT DEF : 3,500MAG DEF : 3,500
MP : 0
RESIST : 300AGI : 4
“Clearance Level starts at 1 and goes down to 7. 1 will always be the highest in ImpulseWorks. 7 is the lowest. Please keep that in mind. What we discus must never reach the ears of the Workers or Employees.” He slowly spoke, bringing a finger to his tired face.
He appeared as though he had never caught a single night of good sleep for the last decade and was dressed haphazardly. The Navigator on the other hand adorned her uniform like it was her first day at work. There was not a single crease to be found as she towed around several books, including a strange training manual.
Navigator
< F-H5 >
Soul Rank: Green | Atelier: ImpulseWorks
LEVEL : 10ORIGIN: Human
HP : 100
ATT : 2 MAG ATT : 0ATT DEF : 3,500 MAG DEF : 3,500
MP : 0
RESIST : 50AGI : 4
“Clearance Level is different from a Worker’s attribute level. That’s the only time you’ll see... See... uh – Yeah, see 7 as the highest!” The woman, who had her long, black hair styled into a pair of twin tail braids said, reading straight from the manual.
She constantly needed to adjust her giant, round glasses whenever she returned from reading, and was an all-around klutz as she bumped into walls at regular intervals. Jury kept her close as a result. With them having been confirmed to be companions of Frost, the Black Dove, there was no need to be wary.
But tension hung in the air. The triplets wanted an explanation of ImpulseWorks operations. They were not alone of course, but Frost wanted to remain civil. Before the purpose of their operations, she wanted to know how it was run under the pretense that as their supervising security, she needed to understand what to look out for.
As they ventured into a dark, hollow room where only a single steel catwalk ran along, the Overseer answered.
“We work with the Corrupted for two kinds of responses. Positive, or negative depending on our requirements.” He said, combing a hand through the transparent plaque they had delivered. “Negative to generate Nex. Positive to generate materials. They’re interchangeable, but they’re the standardized methods.”
His voice echoed in this endless chasm. The bottom was nowhere to be found.
“And death is also ‘standardized’ here, I take?” Frost said, hiding her irritation well with a small hum.
“Death is expected when you work in such close proximity with living nightmares. Even after all this time we don’t know what they are. Where they come from. How they’re made. We only know that they have a use to us.” The Overseer explained, running a hand along the railings as they entered another room filled with mechanical tubes and all manners of magical machinery which groaned as if alive.
Larger versions of Inflow Direct’s blue tubes and needles could be found alongside exposed, giant gears that endlessly spun with seemingly no purpose. The floors were made from metal grates, and they could find more twisting gears and pipes pumping various liquids throughout the site, including fresh water.
The origins of this baffled Frost. The mechanisms appeared ancient, but they operated like modern pumps. The longer they walked, the more Frost believed that these pipes resembled the veins of a living entity.
“ImpulseWorks is the backbone of all Ateliers. Without us, they lack weapons and a steady stream of Nex. Nex powers the Ateliers, including our own. In exchange, we have the full cooperation of all Ateliers to sponsor our work.” The Overseer led them into a chamber lit only by red luminescent strings that ran along the ceiling like sinew. “Or used to. Scarlet Logic won’t send any personnel during Code Red protocols.”
They eventually reached a solid piece of glass where the Overseer assumed a pondering gaze. Beside him stood the Navigator who clutched at the manual as her eyes watered at the sentimental sight of something beyond the glass.
Frost could not see this. But she could hear it. A heartbeat. It was not the same as the Impuritas Hearts. Rather, she was instantly struck with an uncanny wave of nostalgia as she held her breath and scoured the darkness for the source.
Why did it feel so familiar to her?
“You three. Please listen to her.” Frost warned in a low tone of voice, but she sympathized with them. She truly did, but she did not want to make an enemy out of an ally.
At least not now.
“Hypocrite.” Cer hissed. “You’re just going to stand there? Listening to this? She’s reading from a damned pamphlet. We don’t need that. We just need to do what we do best. Kill the Corrupted.”
Ignis did not participate and simply waited beside Snap in anticipation.
Frost cleared her throat and approached them.
“D-Don’t kill them. The Site – Without them we’ll all –!”
“Please forgive Her. She’s just joking.” Frost affirmed with a stoic nod as she passed the woman, standing firmly before the defiant triplets. “Sorry. Listen... I understand how you feel. Think about the buffet that’s waiting for me down there.”
If Frost did not exude an aura of authority, then she would have sounded like a crazed lunatic. The triplets didn’t try to fight back and stared at her with bared fangs.
“Navigator. What’s the goal of F-H5? Of ImpulseWorks as a whole?” Frost asked.
“Er... I don’t really know. But I’ve heard that a lot of wars had stopped ever since ImpulseWorks became active. Maybe it’s that... or maybe it’s –”
“Preserve your sanity. Reinforce your heart. Harden your mind –”
The Overseer spoke with his back turned to them, the light of the glass screen cascading over him like a holy figure in this dim, metal chamber.
“– Temper your aspirations. Only then can you temper theirs... Temper Aspirations. It’s our motto. How do you interpret it? Our Beholder... The Abyssal Mother was always cryptic with us. We don’t know how our work influences the world outside.”
He zoomed into the smiling faces of a small group of Workers as they patrolled a corridor, and then, moved to the bloodied room where an empty cradle resided. The deceased body had yet to be removed.
“We only know that we must keep pushing forward. Everyone here aspires to understand the Corrupted. We can’t fight like you or the Moons of the Nexus. We can only experiment and observe from afar.”
Then, he focused on a Worker interacting with a porcelain-made doll that sat atop a glass throne. Inside of the all-white, metal room Frost watched as the Worker first observed the Corrupted, and then, they kissed the back of its palm.
The room flashed green, and he was free to take a severed, porcelain hand with him in return.
“We study them. Harvest them. Categorize them. We’re Facility H5, after all. Black Dove. Ugh. You sent a wrench my way. End goal? I can’t remember why I started this in the first place. Is it the call of the Abyss? Our morbid curiosity? We don’t know. But we do know that there is work to be done. I can’t imagine how the other Ateliers are supposed to make their own Nex without us.”
This caused Frost to realize the moral dilemma of ImpulseWorks very existence.
As horrific as the work here was, the alternative was even worse. It was the choice of picking the lesser evil, and with her knowledge of how people can generate Nex, Frost deeply understood the implications of a world without ImpulseWorks.
This finally nailed the fine balance between the powers of the Ateliers, and reliance upon one another.
Reorganizing them was going to be far more difficult than she could possibly imagine. But this did not dissuade her. Instead, it only fueled her aspiration to make amends for the Ateliers.
Although, she understood that with the Corrupted, death was unfortunately going to be commonplace.
This realization spilled onto the triplets as they recomposed themselves and simultaneously sighed.
“Sounds to me like even the Beholders don’t know shit.” Cer spat. “Alright. We’ll tag along. Security? Sounds easy.”
“Don’t forget my zero-death policy. No one’s allowed to die in these 5 days.” Frost stated, gathering nods from Snap, Jury, Ignis and Res.
“Yeah yeah. As always. Alright, Nav, I mean, Navigator. What’s up?”
“... the ceiling?” The Navigator innocently pointed upwards, and in that moment, Cer unexpectedly snickered. “Um. Is it ok for me to speak now?”
“Please.” Jury kindly urged, adoring the Navigator.
They all wondered if Nav would one day turn out to be as cute.