Cole sat on the edge of his bed. Two days had passed since they had joined Harbor, and he did not want to stay any longer. Cole searched his mind, for details of the previous days that would help them escape.
The pamphlets on their beds had contained some basic rules, and directed them where to go on their first day. Most of the day was an orientation that explained the doctrine of Harbor and outlined their duties. As some of the lowest ranking members, Cole and Alyx were not expected to do very much.
They had some menial tasks like cleaning, and directing new member traffic, but a majority of their duties were directed at studying Harbor and looking for improvements. Cole thought that it was a way to immerse new uncertain members into the pull of Harbor.
Of course the first thing that Cole had tried to get answered was if they were allowed to leave the building, but the responses he got were not satisfactory. Most people pretended like they did not understand him, and explained the hours that the new members were allowed to enter Harbor. It was as if they expected him to believe that Harbor was the only exit from the drab building.
Since Jam worked in Resource Management, Cole knew that members would go out of the headquarters, but it was frustrating to get such useless responses. Rather than keep asking the same question, and likely drawing unwanted attention to himself, Cole stopped asking, and began hoping he would not have to figure out the length of the initiation process.
Alyx, who did not appear rattled, focused mostly on the hierarchy of the organization. She tried to figure out if there was a singular leader. According to what they were told, there was not a leader. However, Cole and Alyx did not believe such assertions.
Once he was given more time to think about Jam's connection with the organization, Cole began to wonder if they ordered Jam to kill Mr. Jenkins. Cole didn't see Jam as a fanatic for Harbor, but he wondered if the organization had enough pull to make the man kill someone. Cole figured that Alyx was working on a similar theory, with her questions about leadership.
Remembering the explanations they got about the organization's rankings, reminded Cole of the document he had found in Mr. Jenkins' office. Harbor put an emphasis on a person's position, and Jam had been on the verge of a promotion. Was that enough to clear him? He would have not only gained power in the company, but also Harbor. Regardless, Cole had questions for Jam.
Cole turned his mind back to the situation at hand. The food that was offered sucked. There was a cafeteria in the building and nothing they served tasted good. Even after a couple of days, Cole did not like living in Harbor's headquarters. Cole lay down in his bed. Technically, he had been granted time to enter the virtual world, but he did not feel like entering when his real body was suffering.
Cole looked at Alyx, who was laying on her bed, eyes closed, as she explored the virtual space. The difference from their tour was that they now could go to populated parts of Harbor, to interact with other members. Alyx found it much easier to get answers from people in the virtual part of Harbor.
During their first day, Cole and Alyx had met other new members, in the real world, and Cole had sorted them into a few categories. There were those brimming with excitement, everything they did was filled with energy. The next group was those who seemed rather confused to be in the situation, but their numbers had thinned after a single day. Another majority were those who seemed to feel a sense of profound relief at joining Harbor. It was as if they had been given a new lease on life. The final category that Cole had decided on was those who appeared morose. Many new members were not the happiest people he had ever met.
Cole looked at Alyx again, she had said they would discuss their plans when she returned from the virtual world. Cole compared the rules from his first day, with the regulations in virtual reality. While they had a strict schedule, filled with stipulations outside of the virtual, once in a piece of Harbor, they had been given a lot of freedom.
They were not given any rules about the virtual space, but that did not seem to harm its harmony. Any trouble that was caused could be easily rectified, and there was a sense of fear among new members that those who ruined the space, may be exiled to the real world.
Cole smiled as he remembered being told that the technology for virtual touch had been created, but it was not being used because its creator was worried about virtual torture. The person who had told Cole the rumor, had seemed certain that the creator would give the technology to Harbor in an instant. All that needed to happen was for the creator to be shown the vision of Harbor.
Cole couldn't imagine such technology being hidden, but had politely seemed interested, the conversation had told him a good deal about the people in Jam's organization.
"Let's get to planning." Alyx sat up, stretching her arms above her head. Extended time in the virtual tended to make one's real body tense.
"Finally. I thought someone had become Harbor's number one supporter." Cole sat up. "The main issues are the guards and finding our way out. What else?" Alyx yawned.
"Do we need to figure out anything else for the investigation?" Cole couldn't believe he was the one bringing up a reason to stay, but he did not want to have to come back.
"Nope, I think we have enough. So do you think they will actually try to stop us from leaving?"
Cole thought about the question. He was not sure. The existence of the guards was threatening, but he had never seen any of the new members being harmed. "I don't know. Although I do think it will be better to sneak out, just in case. Also what about the forms we filled out?"
"That might be the most dangerous part. I think we will have to get into the server room, if we are going to sneak out." There was a gleam in Alyx's eyes. Cole grimaced, there was no doubt that Harbor servers were heavily protected, because they could not let their deity be harmed.
"Is getting to the server necessary? What if we just find a way to delete our contracts?" Cole asked.
"They are bound to have backups, and I don't know how zealously they pursue people who escape. It's better if there are no records that we were ever here. Can't have it getting back to Mr. Hardy."
"What about Minny and Leth?" Cole was not worried about the other new members, because they had only met in passing, and even if they remembered them, they were not high ranking enough to be a threat.
"Minny doesn't even remember your name, and I don't think Leth interacts with normal members much. I doubt he will check on us, and besides I bet he oversees hundreds of contract signings a day."
Alyx's reasoning, while uncertain, did not have enough holes for Cole to push for an extended stay, and Cole began to focus on the creation of a plan. The location of the server room was not hard to figure out. It had to be in the center of the building. Getting deeper into the building was something that required raising one's rank in the organization, and that was the only logical place to protect the most important part of the building.
"We could probably rely on stealth. It doesn't seem like they have much technology in the building." Alyx brought up a good point. The building was void of many pieces of technology that would be common everywhere else. The large staircase was one such example. Every other building would have speedy elevators, but there were none in Harbor.
"Even if we are unseen, we will need to get higher ranking bracelets." Cole could not think of any other way to bypass the locks.
"I am not so sure about that. Have you ever seen a high ranker wearing a bracelet?" Alyx fiddled with her bracelet. Cole realized that she was right. So how did they traverse the building?
"What about the tattoos? That is the only thing that I can think of that they all have." Cole exclaimed.
"You might be right, but I am not about to get a random tattoo." Alyx sighed. "It shouldn't be as simple as the pattern, too many people have them. Could it just be normal biometrics?"
The two entered a thoughtful silence. They had more to figure out, if they wanted to get out of Harbor.
"The receptionists seem to have control over the doors, and bracelets. Maybe we should check one of their desks." While trying to think of an answer, Cole had remembered that there had been receptionists at every level they had gone through, and they seemed to be the ones letting people enter.
"That's enough plan for me." Alyx cackled softly. She was too excited for the espionage.