"We talked about this, Alex. Time off doesn't mean, coming in on your days off. You need to get away, rest and recharge."
"Why? This is what I do."
"If only I had ten more of you. Why? You've been in the department for seven years and in that time you haven't spent more than a day away. It's not healthy."
"This is what I do…"
Captain Valian looked at the man sitting across from him and shook his head and ran a hand over his face. Alex Till was a great firefighter, potentially the best he'd ever had under his command, but the department had consumed his entire life. As issues went it definitely wasn't the worst he'd had to deal with but Alex had the ability and drive to go far and burning out within a decade would be a disaster for the future of the department.
"Look, Alex, we love that and honestly I don't want it to change. But at the same time, it's healthy to have a little separation. Take the two weeks and be glad I don't make you take all the leave you've accrued."
"Two weeks?"
"Two weeks. You're into… I actually have no idea what you're into."
"Archaeology," Alex said quietly.
"Archaeology? That's… honesty not what I expected."
"I have a degree in it but never went any further. The fire…” he paused and looked out the window in the Captain's office, “I've been planning a dig for as long as I can remember. I have the permits and everything already."
"A dig? Oh, your accident. I’ll be honest, I never thought you’d get your fear of fire under control. It’s impressive. Will the dig be safe?"
"Completely, well, as safe as camping in the wilderness for over a week is. After the… when the marines pulled us… me out, this is what I wanted. Fighting fire is the only way I can control the fear."
Captain Valian leaned back and nodded, then a smile split his weathered face.
"That sounds great! Take the two weeks. And Alex?"
"Yes, Captain?"
"I don't want to see you in this building for two weeks."
"Understood."
"Good, now get out of here, you're on holiday."
With that, Alex stood and left the Captain’s office, walked down the hall to the locker room and got ready to leave. The room was empty, something he fully expected during mid-shift. Tugging his locker open he saw himself reflected in the full-length mirror on the inside of the locker door. Just over six feet, fit without looking like he lived in the department gym and a burn running down the right side of his jaw, a souvenir left over from his last dig at uni. Pulling off his shirt he grimaced as the shiny patch of skin running over his shoulder and down his chest came into view. Reaching up he ran two fingers from just below his right ear, down his jaw, over his shoulder and onto his chat, tracing the burn and scar the whole way. Then he heard the screams and the crying, felt the heat and the fire licking against him and he sank into his memories like sinking into lava.
“We finish up tomorrow everyone. You’ve all done amazing work, I’m sorry it has to end this way.”
“Thanks, professor. I think we’re all gutted that we didn't find the Viracocha Idol.”
“I know Ben. I’ll be back in a few months, after you all graduate. You’re welcome to join me.”
“If the mercenaries ever leave the area. You know they’re after the idol as well”
The professor sighed and nodded.
“Yes, Maddy. But the State Department has said we need to leave. Once they say it’s safe again… we’ll find that idol.”
“When do the Marines arrive?”
“They’ll be here in a few hours, Till…-”
The professor’s voice trailed off and she looked towards the building entrance.
“They’re going to be late,” said Alex.
Alex watched as the professor walked towards the truck with her arms up, he looked down as Maddy’s hand gripped his, and gave it a squeeze.
“She’ll be ok, love. Ben’s with us, we both know he’ll be the reason something bad happ-”
Alex’s voice trailed off as a grenade bounced off the wall in front of them. Without thinking Alex dove inside, dragging Ben and Maddy behind him.
The grenade exploded, cracking open the earth and exposing a cavern below. The building's foundation fractured and the building slid into the hole, taking the three with it.
Alex woke to screaming and heat, the light of the fire allowed him to see how dire his situation was. He was trapped in the rubble of the partially destroyed Supplies Warehouse. Part of the metal frame had sliced into his shoulder and chest, narrowly missing his throat.
“Maddy? Ben?”
The screaming stopped.
“Alex? You’re alive! Are you hurt?”
“Not badly. Is Ben with you?”
“I’m here.”
“Are either of you hurt?”
“Not badly, mate. We have a problem though.”
Alex managed to get a hand around the frame and attempted to move it, shifting some of the rubble and driving it deeper into his chest and shoulder. He screamed in pain.
“Alex, what happened?”
“Part of the frame is pinning me down, love. Ben, what was the problem?”
“I’m half submerged in fuel… and the fire above you is spreading.”
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Alex craned his head up and watched as fuel spilt into the crater caused by the grenade, splashed against concrete and metal before splashing below him. As he watched a wooden desk that was on fire fell, breaking apart on the rubble before parts fell below him.
“Shit!”
That was all Alex heard from Ben before the whoosh of igniting fuel came from below, then all he heard was the screaming and Maddy begging him for help. He fought against the metal frame trying desperately to get free. Then the begging started.
“Till? Till!”
Alex jerked, looking down he saw the knuckles of his right hand as he gripped his locker door.
“Till, are you ok?”
Alex looked around and saw someone at the entrance to the locker room, then noticed his eyesight was blurry and nodded.
“Bad memories, I’ll be fine. Thanks.”
Looking back at his locker he could see he’d been crying and he felt hot, almost like he was back in the fire. With a shudder he ran a hand through his short-cropped brown hair then he squeezed his grey eyes shut before rubbing the tears away. Sighing he pulled an old t-shirt and slapped his locker door closed before freezing in place.
"Two weeks…" he whispered to himself, “and the flashbacks have started again.”
With that, he turned and headed to the car park. If he wanted to get on the road in the morning he had a lot to do.
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Pulling his truck back onto the street he looked in the rearview, the camping store had most of the equipment he'd needed to replace. The new tents hadn't been cheap, but if he was going to spend ten days onsite he at least wanted day planning to be done out of potential rain and the nights to be comfortable. The cooking gear had just been a bonus, might as well eat properly, the last dig he went on he’d been forced to eat military MRE's which he was still convinced the Professor had purchased in bulk from a WW2 surplus store. They’d been stored in the Supplies Warehouse… Alex looked at the steering wheel and saw the whites of his knuckles and let up on his grip.
“The fire is out. The fire is out,” he whispered to himself.
His heart rate slowly returned to normal.
Alex pulled into his driveway and shut the truck off, he'd made good time, the camping gear and food were sorted. The truck had a full tank and he'd filled two extra fuel cans that were stored in the back. Time to go over his plan, pack and get a good night's sleep then get on the road early. Smiling, he grabbed everything and headed inside.
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Hours later saw his truck reversed into the garage, the back packed and ready for the early morning drive. Excitement was starting to bubble up. With a grin, he kicked back in his favourite armchair and quickly looked over his notes. He had planned everything before joining the department, then filed away the plans and hadn't really thought about them again. Luckily consent from the government lasted ten years so he didn't need to reapply. Thanks to the Captain he'd finally be able to see his plans come to life. Based on his research he believed a party of Incan scouts had built a small settlement a few hours north of where he lived. They hadn't been in the area long before disaster struck and they had died or disappeared suddenly. Personally, he believed they'd moved on to South America but that wasn't pertinent to the settlement. Several native tribes had recorded accounts that mentioned the Incas including a very unusual tale about a wall of fire that sprung up around the settlement when it was attacked. Alex leaned back into the soft cushions of his favourite chair surrounded by papers, maps and notes. Smiling as his eyes drooped and he fell asleep eagerly anticipating the morning.
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Alex woke, surprisingly refreshed considering he'd slept sitting in his armchair. He swept all the research into a rough pile and stored it in a satchel bag.
"Two weeks…" he whispered to himself before nodding and continuing.
With seven years worth of practice being out the door early to get to the station house he was on the road as the sun clawed its way up from behind the planet. The light and warmth washed over his face and chest and seemed to fill him with more energy. He made good time on the initial leg of his journey and reached his halfway point and checked into a motel early. With the door-to-tent flap journey being roughly 13 hours he'd made the tough decision to break the drive in half. Early in the morning the next day had him limping to his truck after a terrible sleep on a motel beard. Then he was on the road and heading northwest to Jarbridge. Early afternoon found him setting up his new tents, both allowed for standing room and were connected so he'd avoid losing or damaging research if it was windy or started bucketing down.
His Map Tent was a large square room that held his maps and notes as well as a comfortable camping chair. It had two access points, one that exited the tent and the other that went into a new sleeping and eating tent. This was a two-room tent that was just over 6 feet tall allowing him to move with ease. Once the set-up was done, something he knew from previous digs needed to be done early or he'd spend the first night sleeping in his ute, he was ready to get started… in the morning. With the lack of light pollution it would stay light for a while but losing two days was acceptable.
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Standing in front of the closed entrance to the Map Tent he surveyed the irregular terrain before him and smiled. He loved his job, no one could question that, but there was something about being on a dig site, the thrill of discovery, even the thrill of potential discovery. With all the research he'd originally done there was still a chance he was a few hundred metres from the site of the actual settlement, or that the settlement didn't really exist.
Alex arched his back, amazed that one night in a tent had worked out all the kinks for the motel bed, and set about preparing the site with a laser grid which would be replicated on his laptop and phone allowing him to track each part of the site as we went, ensuring nothing was missed and if he discovered something he'd know exactly where. It was like playing a game of Battleship with history. Lastly, he activated the archaeology AI his old archaeology professor had developed, HistoriAI. Using technology that was honestly well over his head it plotted the dig site, accessed any information online it could about the area including geographical testing, satellite imagery and terrain fluctuations. She swore by it, going as far as to call it a ‘game changer’, the regular emails imploring him to field test it had stopped after a few years with the department, but her response had been excited when he emailed the previous night saying he was embarking on a solo dig.
Grabbing his tools he started in the first grid zone, working until the sun was at its hottest, then submitted to the god of sun and thirst. Quickly erecting a small sun shade he went to eat, drink and plan the second half of the day, which was to dig deeper in the first zone. Getting ready to send off the HistoriAI data from the morning to his professor he paused as he heard a rumbling in the distance.
“Earthquake or Titan’s…” he listened for a moment then shrugged, "Earthquake.”
Looking around he checked that no large hills had suddenly popped up around him, confirming that he wasn’t likely to be squashed by a large boulder from a hill that didn’t exist; he went back to uploading the AI data.
The rumbling came again, this time he got up and walked around his tents, making sure that no pegs had come loose. The ground rumbled a third time and didn’t stop for nearly a minute.
“Maybe it is the Titans?” chuckling slightly at the thought of his favourite anime.
Heading back into the Map Tent he sat down and grabbed his laptop to check the news, surprised to see that it was no longer on. Hitting the power button a few times he was forced to accept that the battery had gone flat. Slipping his phone out of his work jeans he looked at the screen in shock, it also didn’t work.
“Phone and laptop… no, no, no!”
Alex grabbed his truck keys and was out of the tent in a flash, sprinting to his vehicle he slipped in the driver’s side and… nothing. Then the earth really shook and kept shaking. Ten minutes later it stopped, except for minor aftershocks.
Alex walked back to his tent and flopped down into the camp chair. He was several hours from the closest town and that wasn't much of a step up on his current location. That was offroad. On foot, he was looking at at least three days of travelling through some rather narrow ravines with very rocky cliffs. Not to mention the wildlife. Even with the truck, it was possible he couldn't get out as the track was more than likely blocked by fallen rocks.
“Not even two days.”
Leaning back he realised he was struggling to fill his lungs, he staggered out of the tent and stumbled in the direction of the grid before losing consciousness and falling into the hole he'd dug that morning.
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Dark Side of the Moon
“High levels of Vortalian Particles present captain,” said a tall crewman.
“Explain,” replied the captain.
“Still going through the data sir, based on preliminary data, a group of scientists were experimenting with altering the planet’s axis.”
“Fools!”
“Yes, captain. It worked, in a way. However, the slight shift altered the surrounding space which allowed the particles to spill through a multiverse tear.”
“Solution?”
“With the amount the planet has been exposed to? There is only one solution… they need to be Inducted.”
The captain sighed and leaned back, flickering a finger against the cybernetic implant that ran behind his ear and curled under his jaw.
“Do it,” he said, then left the bridge. “May the Void have mercy on them.”
“Initiating System Induction. Vortalian Particle level… 37%. Planetwide dispensation initiated.”
The ship emerged from behind the moon and fired a series of missiles towards Earth, they circled the planet and entered the outer atmosphere at the same time then stopped suddenly, then the missile's nose cones heads popped off and started to glow.
“System Induction has begun.”