Remember back in the annotated chapter 12, when I said I should’ve given Walker a repurposed bank vault to keep her captured Beings in?
That could’ve been used to build a more coherent backstory for this scene. Dr. Lin and her co-workers would definitely chat about how cool it was to work in this old building, with historic architecture and that amazing vault in the basement. So maybe Jany was told to go grab some cash for an errand, and thought “okay, cash is stored in the vault, right?”
There would be human security in the area, but Jany would tell them, in complete honestly, that she was supposed to be there. Authorized by the chief researcher. Or maybe by Walker herself! They could even call Walker to double-check, and she would say, in all misunderstood seriousness, “yes, I asked the girl to go that way.”
Five minutes later, she calls back and goes “hang on, you are by the budget office, right?”
And the guards are all “uh, no, we’re the ones guarding the old basement…”
Obviously Walker doesn’t want more unauthorized eyes on her secret Being prison. Don’t go after the child, she says. Just stay at your posts. Blake is already on the way down…
Jany: Maybe I was meant to go three floors up, not three floors down? Creepy . . .
. . . and cool! It’s like a secret passage in a video game! Maybe this is where we’re supposed to go. Maybe Walker’s giving us a test!
Kara Lynn: And if this isn’t what Walker wanted . . . I’m sure we’ll find out eventually.
Blake: Still no sign of her, boss.
Walker: Just checked with the science team. Dr. Lin sent her off fifteen minutes ago.
So go find her.
Blake: On it.
Jany: You think Walker commissioned this, or did she just buy a building that had it already? You have better night vision — tell me if you see any lights —
Offscreen voice: H-hello? Are you one of the good guys?
Of course we are one of the good guys, what kind of question is that?