Rinng. Rinnng.

A flashing red indicator on his tablet pulled the Director away from his rest. It was the middle of the night in this part of the Grand Circuit. There was a pending update on the anomaly that required his immediate attention.

He straightened his hair and sat on the edge of the bed The small table to his right was cluttered with small items and he knocked most of them over picking up his tablet from the mess.

“Fuck. I’ll get it later,” he sighed as items rolled across the floor and scattered. “What’s going on at this hour?”

The spike was on schedule, impacting within the hour. But there was a problem. The anomaly had produced a second magical anomaly that moved faster than the diffusion spike. It would impact Earth 669 just after the spike.

“That’s not enough time,’ the Director fell back against the bed. The data indicated that the second, faster anomaly would have enough of a destructive force to make the planet nearly uninhabitable. What kind of entity could produce that level of power at only a threat 9?

A message notification flashed. The director was receiving a call.

“Director Cavill speaking,” he answered the call. It was Steven, one of the lab researchers. He’d been in charge of tracking the spike and the anomaly.

“Sir, the diffusion, I don’t think it's going to take.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look for yourself.”

A green map notification appeared in Cavill’s vision. He enlarged it, showing a side-by-side map of the rejectory of the anomaly and the spike. “They’re landing in the same spot?”

“Precisely. Whatever the anomaly is, it knows we’re doing something!” Steven was talking faster. “It’s not some mindless destructive force! It’s fighting against our plan.”

Silence.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“It’s dangerous and needs to be stopped. Do we know why it’s targeting these planets?”

There was a cut in the line. The second researcher joined the call. “I have a theory,” he announced.

“OK, Lucas, let’s hear it.”

“It’s the cores. Every Earth has a magical core, no matter how small.”

“Say that’s true, what could you do with one?”

“You could sustain an entire planet’s energy grid with one,” he replied. “Or go from a threat level 4 to over 9 in a very short time. You could devastate an entire planet’s ecosystem with a single spell.”

“You think this thing, whatever it is, is powering itself up with the planet cores?”

“I do. One hundred percent. We should detonate the spike.”

Silence.

Steven broke the silence, “You mean to destroy the core before the anomaly can get to it? With everyone still on it?”

“Well, we wait until it reaches planetside first,” Lucas clarified.

“Let’s not do anything rash. How long before she lands?”

“20 hours for the slower one. Less than an hour until the spike hits, then the second anomaly hits right after. The planet becomes a frozen wasteland, most die instantly. We estimate enough magical force to freeze the first 15 miles of crust,” Steven explained.

“Any chance of survival?”

“Slim at best,” Lucas said. “Seriously. We should just detonate it.”

“Not with Catria there,” Cavill snapped.

“The first wave of diffusion will cause a huge change. Those closer to the center will have a better chance of survival than those on the other side of the planet. The local fauna will adapt faster than the inhabitants. Theirs will be instant. Instinctive. They don’t need a tutorial.”

“I’ll notify Catria of the changes to the timetable. I’ll have her report back every 5 hours with a hard deadline of 15 if nothing changes. Keep tracking the objects and the status of Earth 669.”

“What about upper management?” Lucas asked.

“They haven’t replied to the first inquiry, but I’ll forward an update. Anything else?” The line was silent. “I’ll see you first thing. Thanks.”

The line cut. He sighed, falling backward onto his bed. He stared to the side out the window. Wide open space. Literally. He lived on an asteroid apartment and used the Warp-System to get back and forth to the office.

He sent a quest update to Catria and penned an email to upper management. He’d leave it up to her best judgment.