Tom took command of his team once more, leading the Knights past the carcasses of the lifeless insectoid monsters. They covered the entire ground, making it difficult to find even a simple foothold.

CRUNCH

“Ugh…these things are disgusting…” muttered Ethan as he pulled his foot out of a carcass he’d stepped on. The insect’s gooey insides clung to his boot, and he had to try to scrape it off on a tree.

“Where are we even going, Red?” asked Rachel. “The target’s been eliminated, so why not just let Quantum handle the clean-up? We’re all exhausted and could use a shower.” She looked back at Ethan still trying to scrape off his boot. “Some of us more than one.”

“I know Quantum can handle the clean-up, but this could be very important and I want to make sure we confirm the danger’s over before we issue an all-clear to Control,” said Tom. “Now, when I got separated—”

“You mean when you charged in without a plan like a jackass and got thrown aside?” asked Rachel.

Tom grunted and paused before answering. “That’s not how I’d characterize it.”

“No, I’m sure you’d call it courageous. As if the rest of us can’t defend ourselves.”

Tom shook his head. “I’m not in the mood to argue with you, Ra—Blue.”

He heard a snicker come from Ethan when he’d almost referred to Rachel by her name. Tom shot him a look, but with his eyes concealed by the black visor, it lacked the impact he intended.

“Would anyone mind if I turned the focus back to the mission? Just for a minute?”

He held his arms out as he turned to look at each of the Knights. No one offered up any objections and Tom finally felt comfortable enough continuing.

“Thank you. As I was saying, I landed somewhere around here. The impact must’ve been pretty hard because I know I lost consciousness for some period. Don’t know how long I was out for, but when I came to, I noticed there was this odd light coming from nearby. A pulsating orange glow. So naturally, I went to check it out.”

“We were all fighting for our lives but you thought you’d take a detour and get distracted by a shiny object?” asked Rachel.

It was becoming increasingly difficult for Tom to maintain his cool. Rachel was really trying to needle him and he was getting sick of it. He could understand her anger at being passed up for promotion, but he had no say in it. And for her to keep on like this made her come off like a spoiled child.

“I thought it was something that could be of use, if you must know.” Tom moved over toward an area with some low vegetation. He drew his sword and cut through the plants until the rest of the group also started to see that glow he’d describe. He led the way toward the glow and it became more pronounced the deeper they ventured. They soon came to the mouth of a cave, the strange light’s rhythm briefly illuminating the rocky interior.

“That’s when I found this,” he said, moving into the cave.

The rest of the team followed, but they’d barely made it more than a few steps inside until they too saw the artifact that Tom had seen. It was some sort of crystal shard and the glow appeared to be coming from inside it. Even stranger was the fact that it was floating right in the middle of the cave.

“What is that thing?” asked Ethan.

“That’s exactly what I’d like to know,” said Tom.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Since To—Since Red is showing this to us, I’m going to go out on a limb and assume this isn’t normal for a breach?” asked Olivia.

“Every now and then, there may be some unusual characteristic to a breach,” said Rachel. “But I’ve dealt with over a dozen of them and I’ve never seen anything like this.”

She stepped closer to the strange shard and gently held a hand up, slowly moving her fingers almost close enough to touch.

“Hold on,” said Olivia. “If this is unusual, do you really think you should touch it before you know what it is? What if it’s…I don’t know…radioactive or something?”

“I already scanned it when I first found it. No harmful radiation detected, nor any bacteria or viruses that could pose a risk. Even if there were any of that stuff, your armor should protect you,” said Tom.

“‘Should’ seems to be doing a lot of lifting in that sentence…” muttered Alexa.

Tom continued, despite Alexa’s comment. “The only thing is it’s emitting some pretty strong tachyon readings.”

“What are tachyons?” asked Alexa.

“I don’t know the full details, but it’s connected to breaches,” said Tom. “Every time there’s some dimensional breach into our world, you’ll find tachyonic particles closest to the point of breach. Keeping track of these particles is one of the ways the Quantum Group finds out about breaches.”

“You think this has something to do with that bugapalooza we just fought?” asked Ethan.

“I think it’d be the coincidence to end all coincidences if it weren’t somehow connected,” said Tom.

“We should take it back with us to Sanctuary,” said Rachel. “Quantum’s gonna want to examine this thing in as much depth as they can.”

Rachel reached for the shard and once she made contact with it, there was an odd form of feedback. Her mind was flooded with images that she couldn’t even make sense of. She hadn’t even realized that her teammates were shouting at her as her body violently shook. A crackle of energy came next and Rachel was thrown away from the shard, hitting the cavern wall.

“You okay?” asked Red as he came to her side first.

Rachel sat up and rested her back against the wall. “Yeah…I’m fine, I guess.” She shook her head to try to clear it.

“What just happened?” asked Alexa.

“I don’t know…” Rachel climbed back to her feet, ignoring Tom’s offer of a helping hand. She returned to the shard and stared at it. There was a strange symbol carved into the surface of the crystal. Nothing Rachel had ever seen before. Was that one of the images in her vision? What was her vision? She had seen some images, but they weren’t clear. And then, without even realizing it, she’d forgotten them completely.

She shook her head to clear the cobwebs and said, “All I remember is I touched the crystal, then I was over there.”

“So what do we do about this?” asked Ethan.

“Obviously we can’t touch it, so we’ll have to let the clean-up crew exam it and see if—”

Rachel interrupted Tom by reaching out and taking the crystal in her hand. Tom watched her movement in stunned silence and after staring at her for a few moments, he finally started speaking again.

“Are you crazy?”

“We need to take it with us,” said Rachel.

“It just blasted you across the cave the last time you touched it, what did you think would be different?” he asked.

Rachel shrugged and studied the pulsating crystal. “I don’t know. But for some reason, it was different.”

“Uhh yeah, that should be a red flag right there,” said Alexa. “Why was it different the second time around?”

“Could be there was some built-up energy in it that was released when I touched it that first time,” said Rachel. “Whatever the case, what I said before still stands now—Quantum’s gonna want to examine this and see how it’s connected to this breach.”

“Have you guys never seen a horror movie?” asked Alexa. “Whenever there’s some creepy artifact exhibiting strange behavior, you let that shit fucking lie! When you take it with you, bad things start happening.”

“This isn’t a horror movie, Purple,” said Rachel.

“Giant bug monsters, hello?”

“She’s got a point. This crystal seems a bit dangerous, doesn’t it?” said Olivia.

“All the more reason why we need to get it away from here,” said Tom. “If it’s dangerous, then we don’t want it hurting anyone who might stumble on it.”

“Or worse, triggering any further breaches,” said Rachel.

“So now you think the crystal caused the breach?” asked Ethan. “How would it have done that?”

“Which came first, the breach or the crystal? That’s the question,” said Rachel.

“I’m too tired to deal with existentialism. Let’s head back to Sanctuary Isle and we’ll let the scientists figure it out,” said Tom. “Control, this is Red Knight. Five ready to return to the Nexus. We’ve also got something interesting for the brain trust to start examining. Think they’ll find it very stimulating.”

“Roger that, Red. Bringing you home. Stand by for transport.”

The Omega Gauntlets crackled to life and began to spark with interspatial energy. In a flash of light, all five of the Omega Knights were whisked away from the Brazilian rainforest and summoned back to the Nexus on Sanctuary Isle.