LEANING TOWER OF TREASON
Any number of Old Reckoning sources reference a place known as "Jail", or "Jale" - a place rather like your standard INFRARED housing division, in many ways. Being forced to go to (and remain in) Jale was a very shameful thing - presumably the vague equivalent of being demoted to INFRARED clearance1,2 and confined to one's barracks. This is an infrequent punishment in Alpha Complex - other methods are generally much more efficient - so Jale was relegated to the status of "Historical Curiosity, type B5", until Nefar-I-OUS-3 came along.
Citizen Nefar-I-OUS made the insightful observation that records frequently indicated the worst part of being in Jale was the company. This gave him the idea for a place in Alpha Complex where traitors could be secured, with nobody to harm except each other...and plenty of tools with which to do so. A place to inspire nightmares in any who would sabotage Friend Computer's bountiful work, and trembling awe in loyal citizens.
Thus was born the Tower of Treason.
Construction was overseen by Notor-I-OUS-7. Every piece of the place was something designed to do harm to others - the immense body of the Tower was composed almost entirely of Foil; the furniture came with sharp bolts and edges sticking out; the showers sprayed a weak Galvanic_Accelerant_Dip; the drink dispenser nozzles could double as hydro-drills; and so forth. While all entrances into the place were carefully designed one-way traps, three full Vulture Squadrons were kept ready nearby as additional security.3
Unfortunately, Nefar-I-OUS-3 and Notor-I-OUS-7 were both a part of the OUS_Sector_Cabal, and had their own plans for the Tower of Treason. Three of the first ten citizens incarcerated there were Fur-I-OUS-4, Dange-R-OUS-1, and Insid-I-OUS-3. Through intimidation and guile, they established a power hierarchy of their own inside the Tower. Favored captives were assisted; those they disfavored were used to create the screams and howls necessary to assure those outside of the Tower's effectiveness.
While the Tower was built very sturdily, it was always known that with time, patience, and a high pain threshold, someone within might cut their way out. The containment plans did not take into account an organized group on the inside driving deformed, pain-maddened traitors in front of them as shock troops. Vulture Squadron C4/Charlie took the brunt of the assault when the Tower split (as immortalized in the "The Thin Infrared Line")4, and Armed Forces' best efforts only barely managed to contain the area - until all resistance suddenly collapsed, as everyone but the deranged shock troops stopped fighting and did their best to melt away into the Complex. Some were captured and interrogated, but many escaped, and the network of traitors built up inside the Tower continues to perpetrate treason to this daycycle - possibly even the recent Zenith-Class_Magnetron_Collapse.
The now-Leaning Tower of Treason was not re-activated (due to the danger) or dismantled (due to the cost), but was instead reclassified for use as an INFRARED housing division. At the time of the Toothpaste_Disaster, HPD&MC had not yet made use of the structure - quite fortunate, in view of the role the Leaning Tower of Treason played in solving the sabotage of the Ultimabrite_Cleansing incident.
1 Although, as we all know, the ancients did not use a fully modern + enlightened clearance system such as ourselves, they did have notions of status. Except for the Commies.
2 The ancients were also somewhat less thorough than we are today, omitting the brain cleansing necessary to ensure that a demoted citizen doesn't know anything inappropriate to their new status.
3 A secondary motive for having them present was so that they could hear the effects of the Tower on those put inside of it, and spread word about the place once they were rotated off of that duty.
4 Which should not be used as a primary source for the events in question; as a RED-clearance Documentary, events have been heavily altered and censored to conform to security clearance regulations. Full information about the events in question is cleared VIOLET.
References: Documentaries, Foil, Galvanic_Accelerant_Dip, OUS_Sector_Cabal, Ultimabrite_Cleansing, Zenith-Class_Magnetron_Collapse
-- Err-U-DYT-9
Commentary:
Looking through my predecessor's copious (but badly organized) notes, it would appear that he was convinced that there was a secret tunnel under the Tower that led to one of the access platforms for the XOR-I/Ent_X-Press. I'm not sure I believe it myself, but if it's true, the tunnel would have to be a relatively recent addition, since it certainly wasn't there at the time the Tower was first put into operation... unless the OUS_Sector_Cabal somehow never found out about it.
-- Knok-U-OUT-6
If there was such a tunnel, it could be that:
- It predated the Tower;
- It was built along with the Tower, or during the Tower's use;
- It was built after the Tower's containment breach.
with any of:
The OUS_Sector_Cabal was completely unaware of the tunnel;
The OUS_Sector_Cabal knew of the tunnel and sought to use it for its own ends, or contingencies;
The OUS_Sector_Cabal was in league with the League_of_Extraordinary_Dadaists in some fashion.
Unfortunately, I cannot narrow it down further than these 9 cross-possibilities without additional data; the simplest scenarios suppose some connection between the League_of_Extraordinary_Dadaists and the OUS_Sector_Cabal, but is entirely possible that one sought to use, blame, or monitor the other in some fashion.
The first step ought to be to verify the current or past existence of the tunnel; otherwise, there is little point in attempting to draw additional connections.
--Err-U