Brave New World
The address given was a huge building complex, which belonged to Google, as the massive letters suggested. A name that shaped a significant part of the old world, and one of the first mega corporations to reallocate to Haven. The newcomers were greeted by a few men in suits and led inside. Eventually they reached a large hall probably used for press conferences. On the stage there was a massive monitor probably used for presentations. Not that many people have gathered here - no more than two hundred. Once the final volunteer came in, a well-dressed woman came on stage.
"My name is Amanda Draisen, and I welcome you to Haven, or what's left of it. I once was the Marketing Director for the organization which owned this building, but that title holds no meaning now... If you came here, it means you hold the desire to make the world better than ever. As tragic as these past months are, humanity was also given an opportunity to start anew. Tabula rasa, a clean slate. The only way we can honor the fallen - rebuilding the world better than it ever was."
Amanda pulled out her phone, and activated something, making the big screen turn on. "This is combat footage taken by a soldier who is now our Head of Security. Very few have seen Golems in action and lived to tell the tale, but it is important for you to see just what they are capable off."
The footage looked like it was taken from a rifle scope, complete with various data like wind's direction and strength, distance and of course the crosshairs. In the distance could be seen a massive amount of Husks, and among them you could barely see something stand out. Though blurry at such great distances, it could be seen that the figure, which was the alien, threw something in the air. Once the device reached sufficient altitude, it activated, and started acting almost like a black hole. Buildings nearby started disintegrating bit by bit, their matter now looking like blue dust being sucked in into the device. As more and more matter got sucked in, the thing started to take shape, and eventually formed a massive skyscraper sized humanoid robot. It consumed the matter of five skyscrapers to form one "Golem". Up next were various instances of Golems deconstructing buildings and objects via the same way, then using that stored matter to start building whatever they were programmed to do.
The footage came to a stop, and Amanda resumed her speech. This video has visibly shocked the majority of the audience. After all, most civilians who survived were far away from such things. "These are the so called Golems. They are able to deconstruct and restructure matter at will just like that. I'm no physicist, but I'm pretty sure that is impossible with our current understanding of physics. And that is our first goal. Understanding and learning this technology. I am sure I don't need to tell you the applications for this."
"And now those who still are crazy enough to join us, please go to the tables near the entrance of the conference hall. You will be given your own room, and of course, the Datapad." The audience was clearly confused to the mention of this Datapad. Amanda raised up her phone, which looked like any other. The large screen switched to display the phone's screen. Fairly similar to any other smartphone, this one had such apps as "Emergency Lockdown", "Door Control", "Surveillance", "Screen Control" and so on. "This thing can make calls, but only to other Datapads. Or DTPs, as well started calling them. Once you acquire yours, it will record your fingerprints and only you will be able to use it. It will act as your key as well. There GPS of course, and you can also use the "Locations" option to get precise directions to whatever you need on this building. It has many, many more functions, and you will learn them in due time. To those who still consider joining us, we'll meet tomorrow here in the same place. Good night everyone."
And so, Amanda left. And the audience went outside, where the men in suits waited by the tables with boxes of those DTPs. "Just write your own personal data in and then hit "Register". A room will be assigned to you automatically. Various R&D facilities are free to use if you have the knowledge. We'll begin the work tomorrow." The volunteers were informed.
Andrew Baxter
Amanda was going to show the volunteers the footage. As much as Andrew wanted to provide commentary, he was posted on the rooftop of the building, continuing his guard duty. He was the one who got the footage in the first place. Though he didn't show it, Andrew has seen figurative hell. From the safety of his perch, he saw countless people die. Far more died elsewhere. He did agree on one thing with Amanda - the world is now a clean slate. She was and still is the corporate type, but with governments gone, people like her are the only specs of order left.
She is most likely pouring a lot of inspiring bullshit to the volunteers right now. Despite all of her motivations, she still aims to be on top of the new world. She and countless others. Andrew knows that with the immediate threat gone, people once again will turn on one another. Gangs, cults, warlords and corporate interests will be a given. The latter seemed like the lesser of evils.
