Danny sighed as he swiped his badge to clock in, relieving Charles the night shift guard with a lazy salute. Charles was a good older guy, probably mid 50s, gray around the temples, but muscular in the way a guy who fought time with both fists would be. They didn't see eye to eye on much, or have many shared interests besides the local hockey team the Ice Dragons, so unless there was a game the previous night, their exchanges were usually silent.
He examined the shift notes, and as usual it was just a record of patrols. No incidents. He could flip through three months of the logbook and it would look identical. Only the fourth month would register some moose hunters coming close enough to the perimeter fence to even bother to note. He tossed the book back on the desk and hit the button to buzz Charles out before walking back to the breakroom fridge and tossing his lunch inside. One of the scientists who worked at the facility, Briana, sat at the table munching some form of chip and playing on a handheld game.
"What's the word of the day Brie?" he asked casually, turning on the kettle to brew himself some green tea. Brianna was a beautiful native woman with curves for days. From what Danny could tell, she detested her own beauty and downplayed it as much as possible, which still left her as the most beautiful woman for a few hundred miles. She was the only local FutureProof employed at the facility, everyone else himself included was a transplant from much further south.
"Well, I'm still waiting on the synthesizer to finish that hormone cocktail for project Methuselah. Brandon is still toying with the mixture on whatever they've got him working on. Oh, and Team B got reprimanded for whatever they were doing with that comatose guy they've been testing with for the last month." She said in a hushed gossipy tone. Team B is what they called Chi Hu and Dow, the two staff of mysterious Asian origins whom they had identified as speaking Mandarin-Chinese, Tagalog, and Korean in a bizarre mish mash.
"The hell were they doing? Fucking it? I thought they were just working on gut bacteria?" He mumbled, packing his small green silicone tea infuser that looked like a brontosaurus with his favorite blend and then dousing it with boiling water. Brianna didn't say anything, but loudly crunched a chip as though it were punctuation. Danny took her meaning and cringed. "Well I didn't get a call about them leaving so they must be still on site. Did they at least take their toy away?" He asked, searching the cabinets for honey. Brianna cocked an eyebrow at him, another gesture that spoke volumes. "Jesus man I hope they end up finding the cure for world hunger and John Doe gets a statue made of him for putting up with their shit." He laughed. Brianna chuckled and stood, tossing her chips package in the trash and strolling to the exit.
"Hey I need that new Synthesizer Medium tank loaded in this afternoon and Perry's been AWOL since Tuesday beyond showing up to yell at B. You care to lift it in for me? Brandon doesn't have the muscle." She asked casually. Danny gave a thumbs up before picking up his mug and following her out of the room and turning back to his desk.
FutureProof had hired Danny as a favor to his friend and mentor. Tim had taken Danny under his wing working towboats on the Mississippi fifteen years prior when 15yr old 6 '5 Danny had convinced a captain he was 18 in order to skip town on an abusive foster family, and had become like a father to him. Danny had saved Tim's life twice at great cost to himself, and when Tim somehow managed to parlay a couple of computer certs into a position at FutureProof, he'd decided to pay back the favor. The research station he currently guarded was extremely remote, isolated on an Alaskan island with a year round population of less than 500, but the pay was insane, and the company provided everything from lodging and transport to per diem and onsite medical with Perry the site manager being a licensed MD.
He sat at a desk, sipped his tea for 12 hrs a day, seven days a week, for three months, then he got a month off with full pay. The company provided a personal assistant to all staff named Nicole. She handled any and all errands the staff needed since they were considered essential and couldn't really take days off unless ill. Sure it killed his social life, but the only bar on the island was mostly locals who looked at him like an outsider even after a year on the island. It was mostly a boring job, he'd recently picked up the Discworld series, and had a GameBoy in his desk for when he got tired of reading. Sweeps of the perimeter and labs every 3 hours. Same thing every day. But he was paid well for the boredom, and had plans of retirement before he turned thirty at his current salary.
The day was shaping up to be a relatively tame one when the phone rang. While not unheard of it was unusual for the facility to get a call on its singular landline. "Thank you for calling Dranith Holdings, how can I direct your call?" he answered in a cheery voice. The cover name for the facility was that of a cargo logistics company, and as far as anyone on the island was concerned that's what they were.
"Authorization Zulu Echo Charlie Kilo Romeo Zero Mike. Security officer Richards this is head of security for FutureProof Mike Latorus, we are activating a code one alert for your facility. I need you to get all your staff out of the facility and transport them to town immediately. We have reason to believe..." Danny never heard the last part of his sentence. It's hard to tell if the line went dead or the explosion hit first, not that it really mattered. One moment he was on the phone with his boss the next he was thrown to the floor and his eardrums were doubtlessly shattered. He stumbled to his feet and managed to pull the fire alarm, before rushing back to the labs to make sure.everyone got out. As he hit the first security door and jammed his override key into the lock, a second explosion slammed him from the right hand side, and the world went dark.
One Week Later
Danny awoke with a start, partially because he couldn't see, but mostly due to the burning sensation over most of his body. He tried to move but found himself wrapped in something that all but paralyzed him. He heard a beeping going haywire somewhere, but couldn't see anything. He tried to reach for his eyes but again whatever he'd been wrapped in was oppressive.
"Danny Boy Settle" Tim's voice barked, bringing with it all the comfort of knowing he wasn't dead or pinned somewhere. Danny couldn't tell where Tim was in relation to him but he was close, and that meant Danny was safe. "Don't panic, son you're just wrapped in gauze. Even with FP's fancy medicine the burns you got required some healing. I'll have the nurse uncover your eyes in a minute alright? But you gotta try to lie still for now." Danny tried to respond but found his mouth full of more cotton than anytime he'd smoked weed in the past. He tried to beg for water but only managed a moan. He felt a straw press to his lips and greedily slurped every drop of the offered beverage. "You remember what happened at all?" Tim asked. Danny let the straw slip from his lips for a moment and tried again to speak.
