• View
• Edit
• History
• Print

GroundMinusOne

19 years after the Snare, Ground Minus One complex is a carefully manicured blue zone, surrounded by a thin yellow ring and then thaumaturgically unstable terrain, in what used to be Jerusalem; it is only accessible by high-altitude semiballistic drop and by grid travel through the thin safe ring surrounding the complex. There is a carefully marked route through the dark zone surrounding Ground Minus One that is safe for supply vehicles, but it's one of CATS' few remaining secrets; rumors are that it is in fact a tunnel.

The only remaining major CATS installation is here. The containment chamber offers guided tours, and it is possible to see Jesus continue to pass His divine judgement on all He surveys through an array of TV screens that was installed for His perusal. At some point after the reconstitution of the Commonwealths, it was felt fair that since He will not leave His airless prison until He accepts to stand trial or the Earth is destroyed, He should know why He is in precautionary custody -- to preserve the beauty of the world.

The containment chamber has been expanded twice and is now the size of a large conference room, and is mostly unfurnished, save for a white marble seat that was found in the nearby Temple (presumably Jesus' throne), a foam mattress, and the original containment barrel (it was not possible to remove it when the larger chamber was built). The TV screens are built into the walls and, in fact, share their vacuum chamber with the environment - they would be the first systems to fail in case of vacuum breach.

It is possible to talk with Him, although He has never deigned Himself to respond; anyone is welcome to try, subject to queues -- anything said from the observation porthole dedicated to this is typed by CATS interns and displayed to the Lamb of God via a scrolling marquee LED. Lip readers monitor His sayings 24/7 and a full transcript of the last 36 hours is available in the main conference room, although statistics show that they are getting more and more repetitive. Prayers and questions addressing Jesus are typed into the marquee verbatim, with the only exception being attempts to explain to Jesus how He might break out of containment.

The conference room itself was built to house a trial, but given that the Accused refused to acknowledge both His counsel and the Planetary Committee on Reconcilation beyond silently cursing their flesh to melt from their bones, the trial has been postponed indefinitely.

Jesus' body remains incorrupted despite the lack of nutrition, and so do His garments; what little information remote analysis provides shows that He is either not in pain, or even capable of feeling pain, which tends to disappoint most visitors.

Three of the four Empyreans that accompanied Jesus in His Triumph (the Archangel Michael was swallowed by the earth when the chasm to the lake of fire closed) have been released on lack of evidence, amidst an ocean of boos, in a reduced version of the planned trial; Cristopher is at large, while Caleb and Nahum were later gunned down by CATS guards while attempting to free their Lord. The Archangel Raphael was found guilty of genocide, executed by probing, and autopsied. To date, these three are the only Empyreans that could be properly autopsied, as subsequent Empyrean bodies have disappeared shortly upon elimination.

Powerful vacuum pumps keep the containment chamber to cleanroom standards and prevent outgassing; the system is expected to function for about 150 solar orbits before material fatigue sets in, by which CATS hopes to have shot the whole thing into space.

CATS is currently researching methods to safely deliver Jesus to outer space in a solar orbit for long-term containment (Earth's space launching capabilities have not yet recovered), or alternatively inventing a divinity-proof ball gag so that He may be eventually released.

Most of the research on soul liberation performed by CATS is available to the public, and briefings are given if a sufficiently large tour group asks for it; the actual work is done elsewhere. Recognized Storytellers? are encouraged to visit, since Ground Minus One is one of the few stable grid travel hubs and it's possible to meet people from all over the world in person.

Christian Remnants are allowed to come in by grid travel, and worship their Lord and Savior directly, and are in fact encouraged to try to talk to Him; the chances of a breakout are mitigated by the nature of grid travel and the fact that Ground Minus One is one of the few places left in the world that has 24/7 security with lethal response.

Access is free to most areas, but CATS maintains that a significant part of its operating budget comes from donations pledged at Ground Minus One. From the outside, the complex has been described as looking like "A church designed by Hugo Gernsback". The suspicious resemblance between it and the Ezekiel Map of the prophesied Millennial Temple has been noted.