Prologue

The velvety black sky usually studded with stars, was tonight marbled with wispy clouds shrouding the moon beneath a canopy of shadows.

Underneath that sky a curfew deafened the usually bustling city into an ominous muted stillness. 

Search lights cast glowing circular pools onto the roads below.

Buildings were being swallowed by a dense fog that rapidly settled across the city.

From the top floor of the only unlit building in the city a figure scanned the view of the dormant city below. Confident that the only activity was of the workers on the floors below, the figure turned away from the mirrored  window and made a bee line for the elevator.

The elevator descended to the floor below; appropriately nick-named the hub at terminal velocity. Both heavy doors to the elevator parted open to reveal a glass window across the corridor. A retinal scan flickered to life with a single tap on the glass; a  biometric security that granted only personnel with access to the hub. A realm guarding the truth awaited those who could enter.

The hub was generously lit by the constant flow of incoming data illuminating transparent screens in evenly spaced rows.  A hum of whirring machines and indistinct chatter of workers harmonised, creating a vibrant atmosphere.