Infinity Inc/HQLaos
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Laos (do not pronounce the s at the end!) is a landlocked nation in Asia, formerly controlled by France. It is an absolutely beautiful country with an impressive history. The mountains and the forests are breathtaking. And in a ((wholly fictional)) section of that forest, where not even a dirt road leads, is the true headquarters complex for Infinity, Inc.
The official headquarters of Infinity, Inc is actually just outside Luanda, the capital city of Angola. Functionally speaking, however, the company headquarters is actually the Laos facility.
An important early thing to note about Angola and Laos: neither has extradition treaties with the USA.
Laos is one of the "implementation" facilities. Since II employs the occasional village-full of locals, the company can get away with an awful lot. It is registered as an archaeological research facility with humanitarian side businesses: they conduct (involuntary) immunization and basic health care of everyone within twenty miles. Beyond that point is jungle, without even dirt roads leading to the rest of the world; one can get in and out by walking, or by flight.
Most Hybrids never see the outside anyway. More than two-thirds of the employees never see it either.
Laos has two sets of function rooms for converting a "human template" into some sort of Hybrid. The "tour-ready" set has the genetic surgery equipment and the psychic surgery equipment, which are very unpleasant to experience, but no means of making physical modifications to the body. Life support equipment is present to imply that the patient will spend a significant amount of time in a medically induced coma. The tour giver explains that the patient is experiencing great pain now, yes; but thanks to the miracle of modern medicine, the patient makes no memories. Every second of pain is forgotten as soon as it happens. Thus the body may suffer strain, but the mind does not!
(This claim is malarky. Unless the "patient" is one of the Laos citizens or an II employee, being cleansed of genetic defects.)
The tour-ready set has a recovery ward that's basically an Intensive Care Unit. Some of the "bedrooms" in the ward have six beds arranged daisy-style, with all the heads toward the center. "Some of our Hybrids are part of a set," the explanation goes; "they recover better and faster if they are together. Just hearing one another breathe is often enough."
The production set is in soundproofed rooms, with a power washer sitting in the corner for any time something goes REALLY wrong and they have to wash viscera off the walls or ceiling. In addition to genetic adjustments and mind adjustments, physical changes are made to the body. Often these changes are drastic. Also the production set has a bank of cages where the subject can be stored, like a Japanese coffin hotel but with no solid walls.
