Motherboard Test

In the base's underground sector—

In the most critical experimental area, the air was already filled with the heavy hum of operating machinery. The high-powered indoor ventilation and air-exchange system was running at full capacity, mixed with certain unusual mechanical noises.

Jason lounged against a monitoring console, holding half a cup of coffee that had long since passed the right temperature. He watched the technicians in protective suits make the final communication connections inside the isolation zone.

"Authorization approved. Initiate area safety scans and sterilization of access zones every five minutes. Remain on alert at all times."

O

The warning announcements echoing throughout the area showed no sign of stopping.

The white coats and responsible personnel coming and going were all busy with their own work. Few had leisure as relaxed as his.

"Honestly, the fact that this thing could be dug out of the ruins of The Hive relatively intact was already a miracle in itself."

He joked to the person on the other end of the communication channel, but his eyes never left the very center of the isolated testing area—the "big fellow" that had been stripped of layer after layer of cushioning and restraints, revealing its true form, with all kinds of cables connected to it.

This artificial creation, which still looked somewhat battered around certain corners even after initial maintenance, had a rather pleasant name: the Red Queen.

"Look at her. What a beautiful girl—"

"It certainly is an unexpected 'surprise,' but how did you dig it up and bring it back?"

"Ha, thanks to Umbrella's clone executive. I gave him my blood sample, along with some very interesting guesses. I also told him that there was more than one freak like me active in that world, and that I could help find them—"

"And when