The elevator had been descending for nearly twenty minutes. Glen would’ve had a good view of the ocean except for the fact he was now below midnight depth. Nothing but black water stared back at him through the reinforced glass. Kyrus was a frozen planet with just enough geothermal energy to heat an underwater abyss under the ice. It was eighty light years from the nearest Space Gate. Practically in the middle of nowhere.

Beneath his feet, Glen could see the first shimmers of light resting on the ocean floor. Blacksite Seven was perhaps the most secure prison in the Exchange. The facility could survive for approximately fifty years without contact from the outside before resupply was needed. He hoped his visit here would be much shorter.

The elevator quickly descended into the facility. The black abyss of the ocean turned to grey steel, and then the doors opened to a white hallway. Standing in the corridor, Warden Weir saluted sharply. The man wore a black and grey uniform which clung tightly to his body. Glen couldn’t help but notice distinct striations in the black material, hinting graphene reinforcement. One could never be too careful.

“I hope you’ve had a pleasant journey, sir,” Weir spoke.

Glen stepped off the elevator and straightened his own uniform. “It’s always a pleasure to come by here,” he grimly sighed.

Weir lowered his hand. “We’ve brought the prisoner out of stasis, as per your orders. She is in a holding cell waiting for you.”

“Thank you, Warden.” Glen began to walk down the hallway, and Weir followed shortly behind.

Glen already knew his way around. He went through the first bulkhead door, then took a sharp right after reaching the front atrium.

“I trust you are doing well here?” Glen glanced around.

The prison was composed of sterile white rooms and corridors. Nothing was dirty or even slightly scuffed. They passed rooms of glass and cushioned furniture. It was almost impossible to tell it apart from a high end apartment. Of course, this was all solely reserved for the guards who were in charge of monitoring the pods.

“We keep ourselves busy with what we get from UTN.” Weir shrugged. “It’s a pain that signal delay is still about ten years from enhanced transmissions. All my favorite shows have already ended. I’m just playing catch up.”

The two stopped at an innocuous door. Weir placed his eye next to a sensor and there was an audible clicking sound as it unlocked.

“We’ll be monitoring the conversation. There’s a subdermal implant in her neck to keep things orderly.”

“I’m sure it won’t be necessary, but thank you.” Glen smiled and nodded. He opened the door and quickly shut it behind him. There was another clicking noise as the locking mechanism reengaged.

The interior of the room was of a similar design to rest of the base. The cell was composed of a relatively comfy bed in the corner and several couches arrayed in front of a holographic wall. A small section was separated off in the back for a restroom and a furnished kitchen on the other side.

Erika Terese sat on one of the couches. She had several blankets wrapped around her shivering form. It was not uncommon for the body to feel freezing even days afterward of long-term stasis. An unfortunate side effect of the procedure. The apparently young woman looked to be in her twenties. Although Glen knew that nearly ninety-five percent of females opted for that age until they had children.

Blond hair and blue eyes poked out from under the blankets. Cold eyes which stared at him as he entered the room. Her face was also perfectly kept, as a fairy almost. Except nearly all women looked like that.

“My name is Glen Tannis,” he said, smiling.

“I know who you are,” a calculating voice answered. “The warden gave me the brief.”

“Then you should also know why I’m here. Why the Exchange has decided to take you out of stasis.” Glen took a seat at one of the couches.

From the angle, the holographic wall shifted from its standard white configuration. He could see she had set it to a view of the solar ring currently being built in Vega. The small band of iron wrapped around the star, only making it about three quarters of the way through. Once the project was completed, it was expected to serve as a staging ground for the fully fledged dyson sphere. One to join many already built.

“Looks like one of the colony ships beat the odds.” She turned from Glen back to the screen. “I wonder if any of them figured it out. Herodotus was never supposed to make it to Andromeda.”

“The Exchange is building a future here in the Milky Way. The Space Gate system cannot effectively bridge galaxies. To colonize them would only present future competitors in the long run.”

Erika chuckled. “You truly are planning for the endgame, aren’t you? The Exchange as the perpetual master of mankind.”

“We have humanity’s best interest in mind,” Glen retorted, “in the most literal sense, not many other governments in history can claim that.”

“The cat is already out of the bag.” Erika shook her head in dejection. “The Andromedans, whoever they are, survived. They had three thousand years to develop. You think you can control that?”

“That’s why we need you.” Glen clasped his hands together. “To determine our options.”

Erika spat on the floor. “As I recall, prisons were once reserved for criminals. Not the innocent. I didn’t do your dirty work five hundred years ago, and I won’t now.”

“You of all people should know there is no use in arguing. The Exchange has need of your services and needs them desperately. That narrows the future down to two options. Price… or force.”

“You could never meet my price.” She glared at him.

“My dear, for all your wonderful gifts, you are a terrible negotiator.” Glen chuckled and raised his hand. The holographic wall turned black for a moment before displaying a number of files, all with black redacted marks streaking across white paper.

Glen saw the woman stare at her research with a mixture of pride and regret. He had to sympathize with her in this regard. It was a terrible thing to see one’s life work go to such waste.

“We’ve had five hundred years to reevaluate our positions.” Glen snapped his fingers and the long redactions disappeared from the files. “True, unknown competition is an unacceptable proposition. But the truth of your thesis has proven… inevitable. We will allow you to run your experiment your way.”

For the first time, Erika had hesitation in her eyes. “If that was the case, then how come you haven’t thawed me out earlier?”

“Because you are right. The cat is out of the bag. If the Andromedans survived, that means any of the other colonization attempts could have as well. We can’t play it safe by maintaining the status quo any longer. Once we eliminate the Andromedan threat, you will have the entire resources of the Free Exchange at your disposal.