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The time is near, part 3

Locke's discovery

Locke opened his eyes. He felt slightly woozy and very disoriented. "where am I? " he wondered. He was lying on something soft, a cot of some kind most likely. He turned his head to look. Yes, it was a cot. Locke closed his eyes as a wave of dizziness came over him. When it had passed, several moments later he opened them slowly and took in his surroundings. All around him were smooth rock walls, extending up as far as he could see. "I must be in a cave" he figured. There was nothing else in the "room" but several other,empty cots. Locke sat up, and immediately regretted it as the room swam dizzily out of focus. He lay back down and closed his eyes. When he dared open them again he turned his attention to his physical condition. Apart from wooziness and a dry mouth he felt fine. Locke wiggled his fingers and toes and moved his arms and legs, sighing with relief upon realizing that he was uninjured and not paralyzed again. He examined the rest of his body. There were no apparent injuries. He finished by probing his head for cuts or tender spots; There was nothing unusual there either.

 He tried sitting up again, this time much more slowly. The room wavered slightly, then was fine. What had happened? The last thing Locke remembered was being in the jungle hunting a boar. What the others were calling "the monster" had been coming toward him. He remembered the sound and the wind; and a sting at the back of his neck. Locke's hand went to the spot involuntarily as the true implications of that became clear. At the time, he had thought it was an insect sting. Now, he realized it was something more ominous. Locke shivered, and not just because it was at least 20 degrees cooler in this cave than out in the jungle. He now believed what he had felt was a tranquilizer dart hitting him in the neck. He didn't remember seeing anyone or hearing an approach, but it made perfect sense and explained how he was feeling.

Slowly, carefully Locke swung his legs off the cot. The room wavered slightly, then returned to normal. He still had no idea where he was or how to get out of this place.
He was about to stand when a sound stopped him; someone was coming.
Two large, dark figures entered the room. In the low light Locke was unable to make out their faces. He was able to clearly see the rifles they were carrying. "You will come with us" one of the figures commanded in a deep, sepuchral voice. "who are you?" Locke asked "what do you want with me?"

"You will come with us" the figure repeated. Locke noticed that their rifles were now pointed at him. He held up his hands supplicatingly "alright. I'll go with you. I don't want any trouble..."  "come." the figure replied. " I'm coming with you." Locke said "are those really necessary? " he indicated the rifles.  They left the room, one of the dark men on either side of Locke. He looked from one to the other, uneasily. They were still holding the rifles, but at port arms instead of pointed at him. He relaxed a little.
They walked down a seemingly endless passageway. "am I your prisoner? " Locke asked. There was no response from the two shadowy men. They turned and went down a shorter passage, stopping when they reached a door. It was heavy steel with biometric sensors mounted next to it. "what is that doing in a cave? " Locke wondered. One of the men stepped up to the door and stood still while a beam of light shot out of a small black box and ran over his face. A retinal scanner, Locke figured. A green light came on above the door. The man typed a code into a small, black box mounted near the door handle. There was a beep and the door opened with a hiss.
 Locke and the men stepped into a dark, steel corridor. It was empty and featureless except for a strange hexagonal symbol on one wall. Locke wondered where they were. The corridor went on for a while, then opened into a large room that looked like a laboratory or research facility of some kind. Stepping into the room Locke noticed another of the hexagonal symbols on the wall near the door they had just come through. He had never seen one like it before. There was also a mural of some kind with several symbols he did recognize- an ourobouros and the words "this is who we are". Puzzled, he looked around the room. There were more men in tan jumpsuits working at laboratory tables and equipment. There were several computers and a bank of monitors on one wall. A tall man with close cropped gray hair was coming toward them. "Detweiler" Locke said with a mixture of shock and disgust. "Peter, it's good to see you" Dr. Detweiler said, smiling. "I thought you were dead". Locke looked at him coldly. "You thought wrong". Detweiler chuckled. "I see your opinion of me hasn't changed. No matter. It's still good to see you, my friend"

 Locke glared. There was part of him that wanted to knock the smug smile right off of Detweiler's face. Thankfully he had more self control than that. "We're not friends, William" he answered. "and never were either" he thought but didn't say. "What are you doing here?" Detweiler smiled. "And why am I being held under armed guard?" Detweiler motioned to the guards and they withdrew to the other side of the room. "I apologize for having to take that precaution. I figured you wouldn't be happy to be here and might try to do harm to me or this facility." Locke nodded. "You're darn right I'm not happy" he thought. Detweiler motioned for Locke to follow him into another room. He did, still wondering what was going on. "This is a pretty impressive facility. How did you get all this up and running in five years?" he asked. "I didn't" Detweiler answered.

"All this was here when I arrived. The Dharma initiative has been operating on this island for a number of years." That caught Locke's interest. "What is the Dharma initiative? And what is the group's involvement in all this?" Detweiler looked puzzled. "What makes you think the group is involved?' Locke forced himself to remain calm "I saw the symbols on the wall. What else should I take from that?" They were standing in what looked like a dining room. Detweiler motioned for Locke to sit at one end of the long table. He did, still looking angry. Detweiler sat down opposite him. Several moments later one of the jumpsuited men entered with a tray of food. "I'm sure you're hungry. Eat." Detweiler said. Locke was hungry and the food looked good. There were baked pork chops with rice and vegetables, fresh bread, and tropical fruits for dessert. Detweiler had taken a plate and begun to eat. Locke hesitated a moment, then reached for the other plate. "The Dharma initiative is a coalition of scientists doing various kinds of research" Detweiler continued where he left off. "The Group is marginally involved in some of the research." Locke put down his fork. "Why am I just finding out about this now? As a senior member of the Group I should have been privy to this information from the get go." Detweiler sipped his water. "I can't really answer that. The decision was made above both of our heads. You trust the Group, don't you?" Locke angrily stabbed a bite of meat. He didn't answer the question. "That still doesn't answer what kind of work you're doing here" Detweiler put his fork down and wiped his lips with his napkin. "This station is involved in various kinds of genetic and biological research. After we finish here I'll show you around."

They finished their meal and Detweiler stood up and motioned for Locke to join him. "When you left to continue your work on a private island five years ago were you doing so under the auspices of Dharma?" Locke asked as they stepped out into another featureless corridor. "Yes." Dr. Detweiler said simply. Locke nodded. "and here I thought you just wanted to be able to play Dr. Moreau without getting in trouble for some of your research" he thought, his eyes boring into Detweiler's back. Another thought occured to him. "How did you know I was here on this island?" They had come to another steel door. Detweiler keyed in a code and it hissed open. They stepped into what looked like a state of the art surveillance room. "Does this answer your question?" Detweiler asked, motioning to the wall of monitors. On one screen was an image of the wrecked fuselage on the beach and Claire and several others going through luggage looking for personal effects. Another showed Jack talking to a middle aged black woman wearing a red shirt. Below that he could see Kate and Michael making their way back to the beach. Locke remembered the metallic glint he had seen in the tree as he tracked the boar. "there are cameras hidden on the island?" Detweiler nodded. "I've been monitoring your group since your plane crashed. You can imagine my surprise when I saw you among the survivors." Locke turned from the monitors. "Why is the island being monitored?"
"It's all part of the research. " Detweiler answered. "This equipment was here when I arrived. I just put it to use." Locke didn't doubt that.