231 GM
An hour earlier …
On a small island that was quite isolated from other islands, located in the tropics with two seasons, hidden a giant building that continued to operate every day. The building was built five years ago, and it had been operating for two years now.
All electricity used came directly from nature, starting from solar thermal energy, motion energy from wind, water, and even energy that was intentionally created with the help of biotechnology by utilizing algae, bacteria, and even fungi. From a distance, both from the sea and from the air, the island looked like an uninhabited island. The tropical rainforests grew very dense and hid the activities that were kept secret from the world.
The giant building did not have any logo. Even the official name for the building with thick and very secure armored walls had not been confirmed until now. Even so, the insiders referred to the building as heaven. It was heaven in its truest sense, according to its creators.
Although from the outside it looked like an empty building, it turned out that inside the building was already filled with people who had worked there for their lives and sacrificed their lives for money because they could no longer interact with the outside world. They were not just ordinary people who really needed work, but they were people with high intellectuals who had mastered their respective fields.
The fields were varied, starting from medicine, science, physics, biology, chemistry to those who were experts in the fields of information technology, communication, computers, and robotics had also signed contracts to dedicate themselves to work in that place.
Ring!
The only communication that could be used to interact with people outside the island rang when all the workers in the place were on duty. A man in charge of guarding the 7-inch screen-shaped communication device then received the incoming call.
“Hello, it’s Hea–.”
The man stopped his sentence when he saw that the display on the screen did not show anyone’s face. Instead, the screen displayed two letters that coincide with each other. It was ‘GM.’
“Hello, I believe that I have connected with people who have claimed to be God. Those who live in a remote place… Ah, what is it called? Heaven?”
The man who had just received the call was shocked, his eyes widening. He could hear voices, but he couldn’t identify them. Was it a man or a woman? The voice that came out of the communication device in front of him had been modified using sound effects like a robot.
“Ha ha ha ha.” The voice laughed loudly. And despite doing nothing, the volume that came out of the small device suddenly increased to the maximum, and the laughter that gave off a goosebump began to be heard by everyone who happened to work in the same room as the man. They immediately paid their attention to the small communication device.
“I’m sorry. It looks like I’ll have to interrupt your work for a little while,” the voice explained, not feeling sorry at all. This time, he was not only able to increase the volume of the two-way communication device, but he took over the loudspeakers installed in every corner of the room in that giant building.
“Test test… do you guys hear my voice now?” he asked in a voice that could now be heard by all the workers in the place. Even those who were taking a break from their work shifts could hear it. The voice was even heard as far as the bathroom and the private rooms of the workers. It made everyone confused for a moment.
“Rick! Turn it off! We got hacked!” shouted a worker who was standing in front of a giant screen. His job was to secure the place so that no one would find them. However, the screen in front of him suddenly experienced a glitch, and the display was replaced with the same two letters ‘GM’ right now.
Rick was the name of the man who received the call. And he quickly pressed the disconnect button on the screen in front of him. He repeatedly tried to push it roughly, but his effort was in vain, as if the button was no longer working.
“Come on, Rick! Just listen to me. I’m not going to reveal where you were and what you were doing there. Well, not yet.” The robot’s voice made Rick have a panic attack. Now that person even knew his name.
In contrast to Rick who had given up and crouched in front of the communication screen, the man who had given him the order had already stood up and lifted the iron chair where he was sitting and slammed it hard at the communication device.
Crash!
The screen shattered. There was no longer any image on the screen that had cracked, and the shards had fallen to the floor. Having managed to get rid of the suspicious person, he reached out his hand to Rick and tried to calm the man down.
Just as he thought that the robotic voice had been cut off, a very satisfied laugh burst out loudly.
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
He still hadn’t left.
“Oh, come on, Rick’s friend. Do you think that it can stop me?” his voice sounded mocking them. The sound was heard throughout the building so that everyone could hear what was going on in the department surveillance.
“I do not have much time. I just wanted to say hi to you. Since I am being very kind, I will provide you with the information in advance for warning.”
All the workers in the place immediately stopped doing whatever they were doing at the moment and returned their focus to hearing the mysterious voice. Not a few of them began to feel fear crept against their bodies.
“What happened? Did we get caught?”
“Are they going to put me in jail?”
“I don’t want to end up in prison. The guards are so scary!”
“Someone help me!”
The voices of fear came from many rooms. This was the first time someone had come to disturb the peace of their work that the public didn’t know about.
“In the next hour, there will be a mass virtual brain shock. Pay close attention to the patients you treat. Remember that their money is what makes your life prosperous until now.”
“Don’t let them die!” The robot’s voice really managed to make a place that was always calm instantly turned into chaos.
After saying a message that was unclear what the intent and purpose was, the voice just disappeared.
“Who’s GM?”
“Who’s that? How dare you break into our security system!”
“Who’s that bastard?!”
The warning split the workers into two groups. One group believed the warning, and one group thought the warning was just a useless joke. They then returned to work as usual. However, the group who believed in the suspicious voice’s words felt that something bad was about to happen and decided to do as he was warned.
Those who were not on their shift were even willing to return to work to supervise their patients. One patient at the site was guarded by a large team of seven people. They were specialist doctors along with technology experts. Everything was arranged like that. One thing that worried them was that the lives of the patients they cared for because they were also their lives.