The Grand Hotel

November 10 - Albion City, Zenobia

"I know that ghosts have wandered on earth." ― Emily Bronte

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You could see my hotel quite clearly if you entered Albion City from the west. Towering above the skyline, the colour of glacial ice.



Top UAP officials stayed here when on world. I was told the Parliamentary Press Secretary even had offices on the top floor.

I would be staying here while in the capital, providing there was enough room. I did not have a reservation.



The lobby seemed deceptively small for such an imposing structure, but it did not lack in comfort. Plush carpet and soft chairs. Original art from contemporary masters were displayed upon the walls. A reception desk cut from one piece of black marble dominated the room.



Fortunately, my sudden arrival did not appear to cause inconvenience for the hotel staff. They coded my room access to my biometrics and I was whisked away in the elevator tube to my lodgings for the night.

---

My luggage was waiting for me when I arrived.

I began to unbuckle my armour as I took in my surroundings.



The room was simple but the view was spectacular. Opaque from the outside, the walls themselves were tintable windows. My window looked out over Heroes' Square with its monument to those who died preserving the Union.

I sent a quick message to Ceasar to let him know I had arrived safely, as if I was merely on a two day work related conference. Given my line of work, a call home was a luxury we were usually denied. Other couples indulged in all sorts of imaginative games to introduce thrills into their marriage.

We pretended we had a normal life.

I took a hot shower and ordered a light meal from room service, before settling into my evening, reviewing some of the unlocked Umbrella files.

---

CyaN go bron = Nanocyborg

Nanotech, microscopic machines that can build and repair, is quickly becoming to our culture what atomic energy was to the 1950s and the computer was to the information age, a world-changing technology.

It's easy to get carried away with what nanotech will be capable of. There are limitations, just as there are with any technology.

Nanobots are microscopic (technically nanoscopic), self-replicating robots that can invisibly act inside of your body. Vast sums of money are being poured into nanotechnology. 



These techniques aren't just theoretical, for a while now scientists have successfully used nanotech to repair optic nerves in blind people by building a custom synthetic molecule that, when injected, arranges itself into a nanofiber to repair the nerve.

Umbrella scientists in cooperation with Weyland-Yutani are developing and testing nanorobots that target and kill cancer cells like tiny hunter-killers.

It's simply a more advanced, more mechanic and less invasive form of medicine that could someday detect and repair body disease and trauma at a cellular level.

Researchers at Weyland-Yutani have taken it even further, saying that certain recent advances in materials for making nanobots can create more complex nanobots, that we could replace the nuclei of our cells with nanocomputers that would do a faster, more efficient job than the nucleus that evolution left us with. Weyland-Yutani has not commented on a state of development of these nucleus nanocyborgs.

Umbrella Laboratory Scientists have already created a nano-cyborg, by fusing a nanoscopic silicone chip to a virus. These cyborgviruses operate for up to a month after the death of the host. Cyborg bacteria and protozoans have demonstrated similar post mortality metabolism.



Umbrella Laboratory Researchers in cooperation with scientists at Weyland-Yutani are experimenting with nanobots set up neural connections to replace damaged brain cells. These nanobots are able to rewire thoughts to reprogram otherwise irredeemable sociopaths.

The nanobots in the brain are programmed to keep functioning after the death of the host. They form their own neural pathways, meaning they can the host’s brain to keep operating its limbs after it has deceased, right up until it decomposes to the point where it is mechanically incapable of movement.

Somehow a spontaneous programming error altered the nanobots self-replication protocols. Usually the death and eventually decomposition of the host means the end of the nanobot functionality cycle. The rewrite made it that in order to preserve themselves, they'd need to transfer to a new host. Therefore, nanocyborg zombie bites a hole in a healthy victim, letting the nanocyborg stream in and set up camp in the new host. Once in, they shut down the part of the brain cortex that resists and leave the brain stem intact.

Various methods of trying to destroy the nanocyborgs using other nanobots or substantial Electromotive Pulses have either been ineffective or counterproductive. Research continues.

---



It was well into the night when I finally crawled into bed and fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

----

The next day...

The spacetime laboratory on Level 3 was filled with noise.

A cacophony of pumps wheezing, and bells chiming. A white hourglass, the height of a tall man, slowly rotated in the center of a hexagonal control room, with a dull grinding sound.



From a certain angle looking into the control room, one was given the odd impression that the surface area of the laboratory floor extended beyond the surface area of the building.

The research staff at the Zenobia Institut Polytechnique prided themselves in pushing the boundaries of science. They described the laboratory as a No Place, and analogous to a Klein Bottle, a vessel where the inside is also the outside.

This explanation did not help.

It was disorienting, though I had been assured that this was a normal reaction.

---

My boots echoed on the tile floor.



Flashing and glowing, translucent red cubes hovered in the air. 

Located on Level 4, the mainframe was instrumental in the study of artificial intelligence and quantum computing.



During an experiment in non-linear transit, through a connection made to a place called Olyesti, two Artificial Intelligences bearing Umbrella Corporation signatures had invaded the polytech systems late last month.

They had appeared visually as holograms of two young girls, one red and the other white.

Now, they resided here.