[ WP ] The US Federal deficit is actually due to a super top secret massive R & D program the US government pours billions into . You are the newly sworn in President and are being briefed ...

I look down into what I've been informed was a salt quarry. Now it holds a massive, metal box, covered in unrecognizable symbols. 
 
 `` Dear Lord. It's massive.'' 
 
 `` We know, Mr. President.'' 
 
 He said it without an ounce of deference. For the two weeks since taking my oath, I've dealt with men and women who do nothing but grovel beneath me, like some old world king. After two years of campaigning and nearly a billion dollars in fund raising, I think I've earned it. Professor Thurston seems to disagree. 
 
 `` Mr. Thurston, despite the impressive scale of your showing and the *lovely* base you have here, I still see no reason to keep funding your little endeavor. The military is already eating up my budget, and I could seem mildly disingenuous to win my office on a platform of `` political honesty'' only to hide from them this... cube. They still believe we're just in debt to the Chinese. Honestly, you have n't even told me what-'' 
 
 `` Give me an hour, Mr. President, and all will become-'' 
 
 `` Do n't interrupt me Mr. Thurston, it makes you seem desperate. You have your hour.'' 
 
 With a smirk, he says, `` Yes, Mr. President,'' and hands me a pair of earplugs. A short walk takes us to a lift and we start to descend into the quarry. The vibration of the lift unsettles me somehow, but I ca n't seem to put a finger on the exact feeling. Dread? It's a damn elevator, what am I thinking? In ten minutes, we reach the bottom and walk towards a large, vacuum sealed tent, the vibration seeming to follow me. It was n't the lift at all. What is it then? The entrance to the tent towers over me, at least three times my height. A glance to the left, and it shrinks in the shadow of the cube. In the tent, the vibration stops and I feel my palms unclench, warm with sweat. The air smells cold and empty, like the recycled oxygen of a small plane. Flood lights point towards a locked case in the center of the room, barely larger than my briefcase. Professor Thurston signals me to remove the earplugs. 
 
 `` Enjoy the ride Mr. President? You may want to calm yourself before we open the case. You look a bit shaken.'' 
 
 `` Just-,'' my voice cracks. Damnit, I'm supposed to be the one in control of every room I enter, but my throat disagrees. `` Just open the case Thurston. I'm fine.'' 
 
 He smirks again. My anger helps alleviate any lingering anxiety. He knows exactly who I am, yet he insists on treating me like a green intern. What the hell is he hiding in that box that gives him the right? 
 
 `` Whatever's in this box better put an end to this little horror show, Thurston. I never had the time for haunted houses as a kid and I do n't have the time now. Show me your weapon, and yes I can tell it's a weapon, and let me leave.'' 
 
 `` Just follow me Mr. President,'' he chuckles with that condescending, obnoxious smirk never leaving his face. 
 
 As we reach the box, he enters a password into a small computer nearby. The latches on the case pop open and steam rushes through the new seam. The air around the case pulses with heat, like a convection oven. Professor Thurston grins as he lifts up the top. A cube, the size of a palm ascends into the air. I immediately believe it to be as heavy as the one outside. On it appears to be something written in Latin. 
 
 *Cave, quia salus nostra key tenetis* 
 
 I read it and my vision goes black. For an eternal instant I see the earth drowned in fire and boiled in water. 
 
 `` I was wrong. It's not a weapon.'' 
 
 `` Yes, Mr. President.'' 
 
 `` It's a prison.'' 
 
 `` Yes, Mr. President.'' 
 
 `` Do you know what for?'' 
 
 `` No, Mr. President.'' 
 
 `` Wrong answer, Thurston.'' 
 
 I run out of tent with a need I've never had. A need to escape, to run far from the Key, and the Cube, and the ear plugs I left behind. The vibration only makes me run harder. I reach the lift, unknowable whispers louder than my thoughts bringing me to my knees. The ride lasts forever. The whispers change into the sounds of laughter, mocking my cowardice. The ride ends, but the laughter only increases, growing more manic and degrading. 
 
 `` Mind sharing the joke, Mr. President?'' 
 
 The laughter ends. Thurston stands over me, face serious for the first time since I met him. He lays next to me in silence. Around the time I remember to breathe, he finds his smirk. 
 
 `` We do n't know why a giant Cube appeared in the middle of a Massachussets quarry. We do n't know why it speaks. We do n't know why the words drove all the workers insane, or why a key inscribed with Latin appeared next to it, or why the ground around it seems to vibrate. Most of all, we do n't know what's inside. My research assures we continue not to know.'' 
 
 I gasp for breath as the words sink in. I try to rationalize what he says, but all I can picture are the screaming corpses of a dead world. 
 
 `` You have your funding Professor Thurston.''
