Alpha Project 6

Alpha Project 6; The Geek's Basement.

Morning came, the sun rose and Cap, who had been lying silently in bed for hours, got up. He put on his clothes and wandered to the kitchen, remembering the way. He walked into the large room, looking around at the windows that ran across one wall. The dining room that he’d sat in to eat dinner last night was connected directly through a door to the left of the one he’d just walked in from. A small smile slipped across his face as he walked to the oversized fridge. Well, maybe it wasn’t oversized; it had to hold enough food to feed twelve fully grown men. And, he figured from the barking he’d heard last night, a dog too.
He began to rummage through cupboards, looking for something that looked like he’d eat it. He’d stumbled upon a box of Rice Krispies when he heard someone behind him.
“Hello.”
Cap turned around, a man was stood behind him. Cap vaguely remembered him from yesterday, his name was Robert. Stereotypical geek was Cap’s first impression of the man.
“Hi,” Cap smiled slightly, “I didn’t expect anyone else to be up yet.”
“Oh, don’t worry... I’m always up in the morning. The others aren’t usually though.” Robert said, the side of his mouth turned up and he appeared to be smiling.
“Okay. Thanks.” Cap muttered while pulling a bowl out of another cupboard. He walked to the fridge and picked up a bottle of milk. It was one of the big ones, six litres. He carried it back to the counter and placed it, very gently, on the countertop. He poured a full bowl of Rice Krispies and slopped milk into it.
“I’m guessing you’re hungry then?” Robert nodded at the bowl. He was throwing an apple in the air with one hand and catching it. Up and down, Cap’s eyes followed the apple. He wrenched his gaze away from the red apple and nodded. He picked up the bowl, grabbed a spoon and began eating.
“I always like to go for a jog before I eat anything...” Robert smiled, catching the apple in his left hand. He brought it to his lips and bit sharply into it. The crunch was loud in the silent room. Cap’s Rick Krispies popped and crackled to match.
“Mhmm.” Cap grunted, “I wanted to eat.”
“As we all do,” Robert grinned, “Food is brilliant.”
“Food is brilliant, but only if it’s good food.”
“Good food?”
“Not that half cooked, or over cooked, slop.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean...”
An uncomfortable silence fell over the two men as they continued to eat. After a long silence, Cap put down his now empty bowl on the counter. Robert crossed the room and put his apple core into a bin. He turned to Cap and looked at the younger man for a few seconds.
“Want to see what my job here is?”
“Uh,” Cap was taken aback by the sudden question, “I... er, sure.”
“Brilliant. Follow me.” Robert grinned, he walked out of the room and down a corridor Cap hadn’t been down yet. “This is the tech and weapons wing, you’ll get used to it soon.” Cap nodded mutely, following Robert down a twist of corridors and stairs. They were going underground. Well, they had brilliant security here. “And here is my room.”
Robert pressed a code into a key pad and the metal door in front of the two men swung open. He strolled into the room and began pressing buttons on the countless bleeping, blinking machines. The room was a mess of metal, wires, lights and dials.
“What is this?” Cap muttered, looking at a machine in front of him. He knelt down to get a closer look at the mechanics of the thing. He wasn’t sure what it did, but it was making a lot of noise and several small dials darted back and forth.  
“This is the communication centre. Here is where I decode all the messages we need. And I do a, well, a few other things.”
“What other things?” Cap raised an eyebrow; he stood up and looked around the room again. “Don’t tell me, you’re making a robot.”
“Not exactly a robot...” Robert said, he sat down in an office chair and span around. He began tapping away at a keyboard, completely consumed in whatever he was doing. His small frame looked almost fragile when illuminated by the computer screens around him. His glasses reflected the lines of data he was inputting to the computers and he looked ‘in his element’. “But, I am making these. Well, designing them.”
Robert pulled up a file full of images. Each one was set on a black background and the lines were florescent green, there were lines of white data cramped into square boxes in various places around the diagrams.
“Is that... an arm?”
“It’s a biomechanical arm, just a concept design at the moment. But one day we’ll be able to enhance soldiers with these... wounded soldiers only, of course. I’m working on the project alone, until I get a helper and then a few test subjects.”
“Wow, Rob, these are amazing.” Robert seemed to blush under the computer glow, his eyes shone with happiness and his fingers skipped over the keyboard in front of him and he bought up several more diagrams, each drawn in the same way. Another arm, a leg and an eye, amongst others, leapt out of the screens. “Is that a spine?”
“Yeah, uh... do you really think they’re amazing?” Robert grinned, showing off his pearly white teeth. “It was only an idea... from a game. But, if we really can make this happen, it could save lives.”
“I’d love to see one, after you make it work.”
“I’m going to make the prototype arm sometime this month. I just need someone to help.”
“Eh, I haven’t got anything to do.” Cap shrugged, “If I can help, I’d love to.”
“Really?”
“Sure.”

Reviews

[Amata Luna]

Now this is interesting. Robert picking up Cap's interests. I'd love to read more of your chapters. This one is good. Just keep the chapters interesting. Surely it will all fall into one good book. Thanks for sharing this one. I'll wait for the next chapters to answer some of my curiosities and questions. ;)

[Coyote Poetry]

A very good story. I hope to read more. You have a great storyline. You can go in many direction with this story. I like how you set-up the storyline. I want to know more and see where you are taking this story. Thank you for the excellent chapter.
Coyote