We walked past the rec center and through the large courtyard-like area that sat in between the group of main buildings near the entrance of the camp. In the center of it was a large gazebo, where the entire camp would gather for our daily meetings. Beyond it was an open area that gradually began to slope upwards, encompassed by a forest of tall pines. Just at the edge of the line of trees, at the foot of a large grassy hill, was our old cabin. It was still a little way off but a break in the clouds shone a little bit of moon light over the area, making the old building just barely visible in the distance.

Of course it's still there. Everything is just as we left it, I thought to myself while striding whimsically across the courtyard, when suddenly I noticed the grass in front of me disappear and turn to dirt. I slowed my pace to inspect the ground I was now standing on. All the years I'd spent at camp I remembered how green and lush the grass always was throughout its entirety. In front and to each side it all seemed to be upturned dirt now. I walked a little further looking from side to side and noticed large deep tire tracks, presumably from construction equipment, and appearing to be somewhat recent. I looked to Geraldo who followed close behind.

"This is new." I said to him, but the cabin was very close now, so we continued toward it.

The ground remained the fresh upturned dirt like that of a construction site up to the very foot of the porch of our old cabin. The strange thing was that when we looked around it, there didn't appear to be any sign of new construction.

The cabin was dark just as all the other buildings were. The only difference is that it was not boarded or chained up like the other entrances. I walked slowly up the stairs of the porch to the front door and grasped the door handle. It opened easily when I pulled, and when I did an old familiar scent wafted outwards from the darkness. Geraldo looked over his shoulder and followed reluctantly into the cabin behind me. The floors of the cabin were dusty but not as excessively as one would have guessed. The bunks were all bare and the place was stripped of most of the furniture that was once there. Nothing out of the ordinary stood out to me at first glance. To my left I saw the light switch to the main room, I wondered if the electricity was even still on here. I flicked the switch and to my surprise the lights all came on. Geraldo and I turned off our flashlights and closed the door behind us.

"So, is this the place you were looking for?" He asked, with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"It is." I said, feeling more than a little disappointed at what I was seeing. The place looked exactly the same as it used to.

"There doesn't seem to be as much going on here as I guessed there would be, is all." He added.

I walked around the cabin looking for some hint or clue that Jacob may have left behind. First, I went to his old bunk, then to mine. I looked them over thoroughly but there was nothing to discover. At a loss, I continued to look around the main bunk room, gradually making my way to the bathrooms. I turned the corner from the large main room into the hallway that held multiple toilet and shower rooms on each side, and that's when I saw it. At the end of the hall facing directly towards me was a bookshelf. A bookshelf that had never been there. I nearly ran to it, and heard Geraldo concernedly stumble after me.

"What is it?" He asked.

"The bookshelf! Jacob put this here!"

He gave me a look that signified that he was not at all understanding what I meant.

"I mean Jacob recently put this here. Just trust me."

I looked over the shelf meticulously, and there was something that instantly stood out. Amidst various trinkets that one would not normally question finding on display at summer camp in Maine was something that did not fit. An ornate hourglass. One I had seen before. The same one that was missing from Jacob's apartment when I went looking for him last.

"Ha! You son of a bitch Jacob." I said out loud.

So, I was right about the clue you left me. The inconspicuous drawing that could have led me and me alone to this place. And now this, another clever clue, one that very few people would have picked up on. It could only mean one thing. The pieces were beginning to come together in my head quickly now. I picked up the hourglass and looked around hastily on the shelf to the right of it. There I found the indentation I was searching for, just like in Jacob's apartment. I could tell Geraldo was still very confused. Soon he wouldn't be. I placed the hourglass into the indentation of the shelf and gave it a twist.

Like a door the bookshelf gently swung open from the wall it appeared to be built sturdily into. I turned to see the surprise on Geraldo's face and was not disappointed.

"Looks like we know what all the construction was for." I said matter of factly.

I pulled the bookshelf door open so that we could get through. When I did so motion sensor lights came on behind it, revealing not a separate room, but a stairwell that led down, underground. A surprisingly deep stairwell at that. Geraldo and I walked down as the lights continued to flicker on in front of us. It must have brought us more than one hundred feet underground, and at the bottom of it, another door. This door was far more fortified than the previous one, but when I went to spin the latch to gain access to the next room, it would not budge. On the side of the door was a sort of access pad with no buttons. I tapped it to see if anything would happen and to my luck a message appeared.

"Place Your Right Thumb"

I placed it.

"Look Directly into The Camera"

There was a small camera at eye level that I didn't notice at first. I looked into it and a bright light seemed to scan my eyes and face. Then there was a click.

"Access Granted"

I quickly began to spin open the latch to the door, and when I felt that second click, I pulled hard on it. The heavy metal door swung open revealing nothing but a pitch-black corridor of unknown size before us. I wasn't even sure what I was expecting to see when I opened that door, the only thing I had hoped to find was Jacob. I stepped into the darkness and the motion activated lights revealed a room far different from anything I would have imagined.

There wasn't much time in between finding that bookshelf and stepping foot into the place that I now found myself. So, there wasn't all that much thought put into what we might find down here on my part. Another secret lab for Jacob to conduct his work maybe? But it was far from just that.

The lights came on subtly, starting from a dim glow to a comfortable warm brightness spread evenly throughout. The first thing I noticed was the grandiose chandelier that hung in the middle of a double staircase that spiraled upwards on either side of the room. It was a foyer, and a very ostentatious one at that. I walked slowly into the center of the room, Geraldo still at my side. We both spent a moment examining the small details of the place. The design might have been extravagant, but it was simultaneously also very comfortable. The walls were stone, devoid of windows, as they were built deep underground of course, but they were decorated with tasteful art and light fixtures that complemented the atmosphere of the room.

"Quite the place!" Said Geraldo after a few moments.

"It is, but it's certainly not what I was expecting to find down here."

"What were you expecting to find?"

"Jacob." I answered.

There were two doors in the room, aside from the one we entered, which had happened to close silently without us noticing. Both were at the far end, opposite the entrance. One at the top level, and one at the bottom, each in the center of the staircase.

"I'll take the top, you take the bottom. Jacob has to be here somewhere." I said to Geraldo.

"As you wish Master Olivera." He replied in his proper manner.

I made my way up the pristine staircase, admiring the craftsmanship. It was immaculate, in fact at first glance it seemed so perfect that I would have liked to have stopped to appreciate it a little longer if I wasn't in such a rush to find my friend. I pushed open the fancy double doors to expose the area that followed. The moment the next set of lights turned on is when I realized that this truly was far more than just a secret lab for Jacob to do his work.

It was a bunker; with every amenity you could think of. I now found myself standing in what I could only assume was the entrance of a very large gathering area. A great room, I think some would call it. A short hallway with modest height ceilings of perhaps ten feet or so, opened up into an enormous open concept room, with ceilings likely twice as high. There was a central glass fireplace along a stone wall with a large television above it. To the right was a massive sectional couch, with multiple tables and lounge chairs strewn about giving a homey aesthetic. A stairway in the stone along the side of the room led up to a level above this area to another very large space that overlooked this one.

I walked up the stone steps to find a room even larger with ceilings not quite so high. Here were the dining room and kitchen areas. Along with a bar, numerous pantries, and two bathrooms. Just like the rest of what I had seen, the style was as elegant as any mansion but with a hint of what you might find in a castle, a more modern-day castle at least. On this level I found one more archway that led into a long hallway. I walked down the hall that hosted six rooms, three on either side. I checked each one. Four large bedrooms and two studies, and at the end of the hallway it opened up into a massive double level library, and I must say the library was quite impressive.

I walked around the catwalk that overlooked the stone floor below. Sliding ladders along each wall gave access to the tall shelves filled with books. Globes, framed maps, and a large live-edge wooden table gave a unique ambiance to this place. It was just like what I would have tried to picture myself if I were to go all out and create my own dream library, other than the lack of windows that is. It was fantastic, but nothing was out of place, no books were touched or left open on the table, and every chair and stool I had seen so far was exactly where it should be. So where was Jacob? I hoped maybe Geraldo had more luck on the first floor, and I then began to rush back in that direction.

It was no surprise that between the two of us I had been the first to finish my search. I could tell within a few minutes that the first floor that Geraldo was searching, had to be at least three, maybe even four times the size of the one I had just scoured. Right away I found multiple more corridors filled with bedrooms, studies, and large bathrooms. Next, I found a full gym, with a sauna and tanning booth. Then a pool room designed stunningly from stone, it even had a waterfall feature, as well as a very large stone hot tub.

I had yet to even run into Geraldo again, let alone the man I was actually searching for. Venturing further into the place I came to another long hallway. Except this one was far longer than the others, and it did not keep up with the general aesthetic as the rest of what I had seen. It was quite plain in fact, industrial almost.

Here I discovered multiple vast rooms of plants in hydroponic grow systems. Pretty much every fruit and veggie you could grow with hydroponics was already in full bloom. It all appeared to be running on an automated system. Next, I found multiple storage rooms with an astonishing amount of supplies, water, non-perishable and canned foods, as well as anything else one could think of. There was enough here to last a dozen people over a decade I estimated. Not to mention what was growing in the gardens. On top of that there was another room filled with quail in small cages producing innumerable eggs, and multiple large tanks filled with water that hosted what had to have been tens of thousands of Tilapia.

Finally, I came to the end of the long hallway. There were two doors here, and one was locked. On the side of the locked door was a simple keypad. For a moment I considered trying to guess the code, but then I realized I had already been through every door aside from the other one that was here at the end of the long hallway. I opened that door to find the lights already on, it was another very large room. It appeared to be a control room of sorts. There were what looked like large central plumbing and heating units, as well as a large metal container fixed to the floor, not a set up I had ever seen before. There were numerous ten-foot-tall tanks connected by plastic pipes to other smaller tanks. A filtration system I presumed. And lastly a fusion reactor which sat behind a wall of glass. It was larger than any reactors we were currently building.

I walked onward towards the far end of the room, where I had noticed the light of a monitor peaking around a corner in the distance. As I approached, I heard faint voices over the mechanical hum which enveloped the room. I began to rush towards it. I rounded a corner and saw more screens. This must be where Jacob has been conducting his work, I thought to myself. As I came fully around the corner, I was sure he would be standing there speaking to Geraldo, but that was not the sight I came upon. Though Geraldo was speaking to a familiar face, it was not the one I expected to see. J-1 turned to look at me with a kind pixelated smile.

"Hello Mr. Olivera, it is a pleasure to see you again."

"J-1," I said curtly. "Where is Jacob?" I asked hoping for a quick explanation to put all this worry to rest. That was when I noticed the look on Geraldo's face. It was a bleak look, unlike his polite smile that I was becoming familiar with.

"I'll give you whatever time you need to speak with the robot here, come find me in the lobby when you're ready to go." Geraldo said to me then and began to walk away.

"Wait–" I began to say, but he just kept on walking. I turned back to J-1 who still wore that polite pixelated look. "What is going on J-1, where is Jacob?" I demanded.

"Mr. Teebler is not here. But he told me that you would be coming." My stomach dropped, for a moment I thought maybe something had happened to him, and that maybe that was the reason Geraldo had such a grim look on his face. But J-1's phrasing was enough to inform me that Jacob was simply elsewhere.

"Well where is he?"

"I have not been permitted to give you that information Mr. Olivera, I am very sorry."

"You're kidding me? Everyone is worried sick about him! Can you at least tell me what's going on here, is Jacob alright? And why hasn't he contacted me or Morales himself?" J-1 seemed to hesitate before answering.

"Mr. Teebler is in good health, the information he has kept from you and the others was for your own safety, and for the discretion of his projects." Replied the robot who stood unimposingly in front of me.

"What even are these projects of his?" I asked. To say I was starting to grow impatient with all this was an understatement.

"Well, this facility here was one of them." Said J-1, waving his hands towards the walls around us. "He instructed me to tell you all about how it operates and how many people it can support. Would you like me to show you around?"

"I've already taken the tour, thanks." I said bluntly. "Why can't Jacob just tell me about the place himself? And what do you mean by how many people it can support?"

I already knew that this was not just a place for Jacob to escape to do his work. It was obvious that he meant for it to also function as a fallout shelter. Although I didn't like how readily J-1 hinted at the need for me to know how many people it could host.

"I am afraid I am only able to relay certain information, but I can say that if Jacob contacts you personally, I am quite sure that he would have no problem giving you the information you require. Otherwise, I am only able to say what he has instructed me to say. As you may have guessed this facility was built to shelter you and your loved ones in case of a catastrophic surface event here on Earth. It can host up to 20 people for 5 years on the stockpiled rations alone, but with the proper maintenance of the sustainable grow and farming rooms, the same number of people could theoretically survive indefinitely within these confines."

"So why do I need to hear this from you? Jacob has been adamant that the war will not reach Earth." I asked, growing more frustrated with every moment. Why wasn't I getting any real answers? I get the precautions Jacob took by building this place, but while talking to J-1 it felt like I was being prepped for something. A pit began to settle deeper in my gut.

"Once again, I am very sorry. Mr. Teebler was clear on my instructions that I must give you the proper rundown of this facility. He says that you and your family must come here by the 23rd of October." replied the robot, his pixelated face shifted from a polite smile to a polite frown whilst he spoke.

"What?! That's only a few weeks from now. Why would he say that! Please tell me what the fuck is going?" I was heated and breathing rapidly. I took a deep breath in to cool myself and regain my composure. "Please, what exactly are you able to tell me about the current situation?" I asked as calmly as I possibly could.

"Mr. Teebler said that you might have a hard time accepting the information I am now giving you, in which case he instructed that I ask if I may give brief instructions on the intentions he has for this facility?" J-1 stared at me, patiently awaiting my response.

"Make it brief." I said.

"As you wish. You may have already gathered that this place was built to act as a fallout shelter. His original intent was only for it to serve as a backup measure. But that is no longer the case. In recent days Mr. Teebler has come to believe that there is a strong chance that things will not go as planned in the battle that is to come. He is convinced that a certain number of enemy crafts will reach Earth. Mr. Teebler is adamant that you trust in his judgment now, and that you bring your close family and friends here so that you will be protected if this likelihood does so come to pass. I was also instructed to relay his invitation to his driver Geraldo, who will be bringing his young nephew and wife."

As the robot spoke, I began to feel as if I was listening underwater. I watched as it moved its arms in humanly fashion and shifted its expression to seem more life-like, but in that moment it felt surreal. Was this truly our reality? All the chaos had finally gotten to me, I was breathing heavily now and couldn't seem to get any words out.

"I am detecting a rapid heartbeat indicating elevated levels of stress Mr. Olivera, it seems you are having a panic attack. It would be best to sit down and take some deep breaths." J-1 quickly pulled a rolling chair from the computer monitors nearby and rolled it dexterously to my back and motioned for me to sit. I did as the robot instructed, taking as deep breaths as I could. This was the first panic attack I had ever had.

"What changed?" I asked, after sitting silently for a long moment, struggling to catch my breath. "Why is Jacob convinced now that the war will reach us?"

"Once again, I am very sorry, but this is not something I am permitted to tell you yet." Replied the robot.

"What do you mean, yet?" I asked.

"Certain information leaving the safety of this stronghold could prove detrimental to Mr. Teebler's plans. Though, upon your return, you will be given all the information that you seek."

I found this rather odd, and I wondered what Jacob's reasoning for this could be. But I was too choked up from my panic attack to try and argue, I knew it would be in vain if I did anyway. Despite all the secrets and the lack of consideration for his friend's concern for him, I trusted Jacob. There was no other choice but to do as J-1 instructed.

I got up out of the chair that the robot had rolled over to me and brought it back to the monitor where it originally sat. I took another deep breath, still working on processing it all.

"Thank you, J-1, for telling me as much as you could. Jacob has clearly put a lot of faith in you, so I will do the same." I said.

The robot nodded and the pixelated look that flashed over his face showed a sincere gratitude and compassion at the same time.

"One more question before I go. What's behind that last door? The one that's locked."

"You will be permitted to see when you return."

This didn't sit too well with me, but I knew I had no choice in it. So, I left J-1 and made my way back to the lobby to find Geraldo.