Area 13, America.
The director and Jay entered an elevator that led deep underground. Its buttons ran only from "-1" to "-12." The director stepped forward, placed his left hand on the palm-shaped handprint scanner, and aligned his left eye with the iris scanner.
"Beep! Verification successful!"
Then a floor indicator marked "-13" suddenly appeared beneath "-12," and the elevator began its descent.
Hearing that something had gone wrong with "Thirteen" had put the director in a terrible mood. It meant Jay's analysis was very likely correct.
What was more, he had never expected the aliens to retain control over "Thirteen"! They had already taken precautions, so why was this happening?!
But what form would the aliens' retaliation take? Could it be some kind of devastating attack? The director's heart was filled with unease.
Seeing the director's ashen face, Jay tried to ease the tension. "Hey, K, don't worry too much. Thirteen's firepower is limited, so even if it self-destructs or something, the worst it could do is blow Area 13 sky-high. Earth should still be safe..."
The director: "..."
Now he felt even worse...
Soon, the two reached "Level -13." As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, a researcher in a white lab coat hurried over. "Director, this way!"
As he spoke, he led them to the observation window of an enormous testing chamber.
In the center of the vast chamber, a black spherical object rested on a steel support frame. A letter "B," in alternating red and blue, was engraved in the middle of the sphere.
The sphere seemed to have originally been connected to a dense tangle of pipes and cables, whose other ends led to a transmitter tower resembling a signal-receiving dish. Now, however, those lines looked as though they had been torn