Overview
Project Remus is the underground survival and dimensional-research project in “The Third Machine.” Its purpose is to preserve human life after nuclear annihilation and to search for living worlds beyond the dead Earth.
Structure
The alpha Project Remus facility is a mile-long bunker with laboratories, workshops, living quarters, warehouses, and sealed machine rooms. It is built for a larger research population, but only Helen Fenton, John Fenton, and Raymond Hayworth appear alive at the start of the story.
The project includes at least three major systems. The first machine is associated with John’s Spectromat computer and surface reports. The second machine is Helen’s consciousness-preservation system. The third machine is Raymond’s dimensional contact device.
When the third machine connects two parallel Remus facilities, the teams label the followed facility “alpha” and the counterpart facility “beta.” The beta facility has its own versions of Helen, John, and Raymond, but dwindling power and radiation exposure make its survival increasingly precarious.