About ten minutes after arriving, I was sitting by myself at the end of the corridor near the main computer terminal. We had a plan in place. Not a great one, but something. Emily was hiding far from where I was waiting just to be safe, while the others took up their positions. Then it happened. A security alert went off. A couple minutes later, Armin came running back into the corridor and said, “Mr. Noble! Please, we must leave. There’s been a security breach. Someone is trying to get past security.”
“Armin, it might be best if you go hide over there,” I said as I pointed to where Emily was.
He didn’t question me and went over in that direction. Emily reached out from behind a computer cabinet and pulled him to safety.
Another few minutes passed and finally, there, at the opposite end of the corridor was Celica. She had blood on her clothes, presumably from some unfortunate security guards. Without much effort at all, she broke through the first locked glass door. She then moved down the corridor and broke through a second. And then the third, before reaching my location. She stopped at the entrance, about a hundred feet from me and said, “so somehow you figured out what I was up to.”
“Not completely, but I knew you’d be here. Why don’t you explain what it is you’re up to?” I asked to buy a little time.
She started walking towards me and said, “my research of your world indicated that this place is the most likely place to open doorways into new worlds so that I may infinitely expand.
Once I merge with this database, I can start up the LHC and see what I can cook up.” “How does it feel to be nothing more than a super intelligent parasite?” I asked.
“How does it feel to be my host?” she asked in return.
Suddenly, from above one of the cabinets, Wraith swooped down and landed on Celica with a Swiss Army Knife he bought at the Airports gift shop. It was a classic move at this point, stabbing like that right down into the top of the shoulder. But unfortunately, it worked better on Davol and Josie. The knife hit, but Celica threw Wraith with godlike strength off of her into a cabinet, knocking him unconscious.
She kept walking towards me. No more words between us. After a few steps, Arduwan burst out of hiding and engaged Celica directly. She fought hard, but Celica was just too strong. I cringe as I heard Celica break her right arm and toss Arduwan to the side like yesterday's garbage. She cried out in pain as she writhed there in pain.
When she got to me, I wasn’t even sure how I’d put up a fight. She didn’t give me a chance to, anyway. She simply grabbed me by the throat and put her other hand on the terminal. She was merging with it right then and there.
“You’re too late,” she said as I started punching at her back while she choked me, “this computer system is somewhat like a toy. I’ve already figured it out and turned on the LHC. It’s only a matter of moments before I become one with it.”
There was no more time. I didn’t know what to do. All this planning, and rushing, and effort. Was it all for nothing? All of us combined couldn’t stop her. She would be invincible once the Synthesizing process was complete.
“Ah, there it is, the key,” she said, “I’ve already created four alternate realities with LHC. I can sense one of them has a possibility that you somehow stop me here today. That’s pretty good odds isn’t it? A four to one chance. Like the house's edge at a Casino. Either way, I want to keep you alive to witness my complete ascension. Afterall, you’ve been such a good host.”
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“Four to one, huh?” I heard Arduwan say. Both Celica and I looked to see what she was talking about.
“No, don’t touch that!” Celica shouted as she noticed that Arduwan had crawled over to a large, thick, black electrical cord.
“Eric, take me to a Casino sometime,” Arduwan said as she pulled the plug right from the wall.
The lights on all the terminals went out and Celica’s eyes rolled into the back of her head as she released her grip on me and collapsed to the floor. Celica must have been mid transfer right as the plug got pulled. I sat on my knees beside her lifeless body as I tried catching my breath. Emily and Armin came out from their hiding spot and rushed to Wraith’s side to try and wake him up.
“Arduwan…I’ll take you anywhere…you want to go,” I said while coughing.
Wraith began to come to and was confused at what had happened.
Emily asked,” I’m confused, Arduwan. How did you know that pulling the plug would stop Celica?”
Arduwan, holding her broken arm, lifted up to her knees not far from where I was and said, “Well, it’s like this. A few weeks ago, I was laying on the floor watching cartoons. It looked like that cat was finally gonna catch the mouse, so I really wanted to see what was going to happen. But Higgins came in and said he needed me to leave the room for a while so he could vacuum and dust. When I didn’t move, he shut the TV off. I grabbed the remote and turned it back on. So, he shut it off again, but this time, he pulled a black rope that looked kinda like this one but smaller and the TV went off again. He said, ‘maybe that will show you that you can’t always get your way young lady’. So that’s what gave me the idea!”
“Unbelievable,” I said, as I hugged Arduwan and kissed her forehead.
Soon after, the police arrived and took us all in for questioning. Armin told them how I was a big donor getting a private tour when the attack happened. Both he and the security cameras vouched for our innocence in the attack. Once we were free to go, we all went back home together. The news reported that a millionaire playboy was a victim in the attack on CERN by a Luddite Terrorist that was hell bent on destroying the facility before they created an evil Artificial Intelligence capable of culling humanity. I’m sad to say that the worst part of that report was that I was no longer a millionaire. Because of my donation to CERN to get into the facility all I had left was a few hundred thousand dollars and the estate.
* * *
Once we reunited with Anabel and Stephanie, we knew something had to be done about Higgins' body. As I mentioned before, due to the nature of the house and the well, we couldn’t have the authorities come over. No one would come looking for him, so we were able to have a private funeral. We chose to do it in Bristol. Anabel went down the well ahead of us to make arrangements with Thomas and Benjamin since it was her home world. It was Stephanie’s first time traveling through the well. She hoped it’d be her last.
It was early fall now, both in our world as well as Bristol. We buried Higgins on the grounds of the parallel well in Bristol near Benjamin's house. Wraith attended as well. He and Arduwan, whose arm was in a cast, stood by while Emily delivered the eulogy of course. It was very sad.
“He was a great man, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude that I’ll never be able to repay now,” she said, “he took me in and made me feel wanted in a world very different from my own. Without him, I would have been killed numerous times thanks to the training he gave Eric.”
She started to cry and wrapped things up before giving the floor to Anabel.
“Like Emily, Reginald Higgins took me in and took care of me when I knew very little of my surroundings,” Anabel said, “he showed me things like conventional cooking and washing machines. He taught me how to drive an automobile. Words cannot describe the loss I feel without him here.” Anabel began bawling hard and couldn’t finish. Stephanie held her tightly as she cried onto her shoulder.
I decided to say a few things to see him off before The Order guards finished burying him. I said, “I spent 28 years not knowing my father. Reginald Higgins spent 28 years knowing my father very well. He served with him in campaigns across the multiverse through thick and thin. Good times and bad. And my father’s last wish before his own impending death was simple. It was for Reginald to take care of me. He was like the father I never had.”
I made sure to lay the pocket watch that Italia made for him on his body as The Order’s men nailed shut his pine box. They lowered him into the dirt and laid Reginald Higgins to his final resting place.