After arriving at the lowest level, a door blocked my way, with a notice that unauthorized access is prohibited. I slowly pushed the handle down and to my surprise it actually went open. This made me field emboldened. When I closed the door, however, I noticed another sign on the other side of the door: "Always lock this door after entering and leaving!"
Apparently another ComRa employee didn't take the instructions that seriously. Since I hadn't received a key yet, I couldn't lock it either. I decided to think about it later because my current assignment seemed more important to me. Only then I noticed the eerie atmosphere down here. The corridor in front of me exuded a strange coldness. Low temperatures are actually nothing unusual in vaulted cellars, but down here it was not the usual “moldy cold” that had been locked in the depths for decades. Instead, everything seemed sterile and impersonal. It felt more like a fresh chill that has just moved in. Mixed with the neon lights, a futuristic dystopian atmosphere was created. The next thing I noticed was the smooth walls. These were not the kind of walls one would expect in such an old building. Instead, the walls were almost as smooth as glass without the slightest rough edge. This is exactly what the walls at ComRa headquarters looked like. From this I concluded that ComRa had carried out structural measures down here and that there must be something important here. Maybe I even found the well-hidden backstage area that even Lighter didn't know about. I was speculating that the Djs could be brought here through the same entrance and on the other side there could be direct access to the stage. Exhilarated by the prospect of having discovered something special, I walked down the long corridor. The pipes hanging on the ceiling caught my eye. These also must have been installed later.
After a few meters I came to a junction. No matter which direction I watched, it all looked the same. I thought about which direction to go for a while, until I noticed that the pipes merged on the ceiling into even thicker pipes. These tubes should show me the way. I followed them until I stood in front of a door again. This was also not locked, although it should actually have been.
Unfortunately, the backstage area was not in the room. Instead, there were huge boilers and machines in front of me. These looked just as sterile and new as the corridors. Lots of colorful control lights were flashing on them and next to them in the corner was a gigantic computer rack. At this moment I was very disappointed. There was no beer nor famous people down here. Apparently I had stumbled into a technical room. Maybe the ventilation was being controlled down here. I discovered a monitor on which data could be seen. Among other things, the number of guests, dance steps per minute and average dance steps per hour were displayed. Before I could see more, I was startled by loud footsteps that echoed through the large room.
There is also a lot to discover in Herr Oppermann's new deep story. The Hamburg resident and curator of the Klangextase series skilfully mixed atmospheric tracks into a stylish overall experience that many would like to experience over and over again.
