FREYJA II//The Test
The chain of islands were a sight to behold. They were of the sort that would not look out of place in an advertisement for a resort in a tropical paradise. The islands reminded him of the ones from a documentary he had watched a few years back; Before the world had gone to shit.
The coral reef around the island was one of the most beautiful he had ever seen. He would have built himself a small holiday retreat on these islands as soon as he was out of her service but it seemed that fate wanted to mock him.
The islands had been chosen for the test.
Truthfully, the destruction of these islands would weigh much more heavily on his consciousness than whatever she did with the bomb. He was glad that she had at least allowed him to visit the islands in person to supervise the construction for the metal structure that would hold the bomb.
The aircraft carrier on which they were aboard had been anchored roughly one hundred and fifty kilometers from ground zero. Yet he couldn't help but feel fear, fear of what if something in their calculations went wrong, fear of what if the shockwave from the bomb was much too strong a force for even this beast of the sea to handle.
As he walked out on the deck of the ship, he saw Lilac standing near the edge, observing the island chain through a binocular. He dearly wished he could push her off the damn edge to her watery grave yet knew that would only result in his death and nothing more.
The woman's posture and attitude had changed quite a bit as compared to the time he first met her seven years back. She now carried herself with much more pride and authority. She held herself like a true Queen would; yet, inspite of how many masks she put up in public, he knew what kind of monster lurked behind that polite and kind expression.
“Admiring the view, doctor?” The woman's unnatural ability of always being able to sense every movement around her, creeped him out more than he could ever express. If the whole Goddess of War persona wasn't already backed by her monstrous deeds then this ability of hers would have surely cemented it.
“Quite a lot, my Queen,” He responded. Lilac hummed as she put down the binoculars and turned towards him, “You're still sour about the islands being chosen as the test site, doctor?”
Robert's expression must have given his feelings away because the very next moment, she started laughing.
“Hahaha! Oh doctor, you truly haven't changed, have you?” She chuckled. However Robert was at a loss, what did she mean he hasn't changed? When did they ever meet beforehand? Only, maybe in passing when he had met her father.
“No need to trouble yourself over such a small matter, doctor. Even though I had never met you before our meeting, almost 7 years ago. I had heard quite a lot about you from my father,” Her face had gained a distant look to it as she mentioned her father before it shifted back to the normal mask of politeness.
She continued, “His description of you as an eccentric and unpredictable man was quite true as I have observed in these past few years. You're truly an interesting specimen, doctor. A specimen that I want to study in detail, a specimen whose brain I want to pick and prod or as you fancy pants call it- dissect.” Her statement made him shudder, knowing that the madwoman could actually order the other scientists to cut him and truly dissect his brain.
She had done it before, no doubt. And it was likely she could do it to him as well.
Lilac must have sensed his fear because she smirked before turning back around to observe the island through her binoculars.
He must have stood there with her in the silence for a total of five minutes yet it had felt like an eternity before her right hand man, Agony and a few other loyal dogs of hers came onto the deck.
“The bomb will be detonated at four in the morning,” The man, Wifort as he had been introduced to him, informed Lilac. She looked satisfied and nodded before handing the binoculars to Wifort and signaling Agony and the other rugged looking man, Memo, to follow her back inside the ship.
Him and Wifort stood on the deck in silence for a few minutes before the man grew tired of the quiet and spoke, “Do you feel fear regarding the test?” Robert had many fears regarding the test but as far as Lilac was concerned, they were nothing but unfounded concerns based on nothing but his cowardness. Thus he didn't plan on ever bringing them up. If something did go wrong, however, he hoped that it would kill the thrice-damned woman so that she would rot in hell.
“Not at all,” Wifort looked surprised at his answer. His eyes, however, shined with suspicion.
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Robert and him stood out on the deck for a while longer in silence before retreating back inside, to wait for the dreaded hour to arrive.
*3:55 AM*
“DETONATION WILL COMMENCE IN 5 MINUTES. ALL PERSONNEL RETREAT TO SAFETY ZONES OUTSIDE THE EXPECTED DANGER RADIUS!”
The broadcast systems had been thundering continuously for the past ten minutes and in spite of knowing their importance, he couldn't help but feel irritated by the constant noise. His eyes wandered over to Lilac, the woman was standing near the edge of the deck again, staring deeply into the darkness.
There was something about the way she was staring into the night that made him unsettled; not that the woman ever failed to be unsettling but there was something different about this, that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
“DETONATION IN 2 MINUTES. ALL PERSONNEL ARE ORDERED TO FOLLOW NECESSARY SAFETY PRECAUTIONS IN ORDER TO ENSURE THEIR SURVIVAL!”
Robert walked up to Lilac with the tinted glasses that they were required to wear in order to protect their eyesight. The woman, as always, sensed his approach and shook her head at his offer of the glasses.
“I have no need for them, doctor. Give them to someone who wishes to be on deck and see the spectacle with his own eyes.” With her piece said, Lilac turned away from him to once again stare into the night. He did not insist on her taking one of the glasses and walked away. It would be better for this world if the madwoman went blind or burnt her eyes out.
“DETONATION IMMINENT! 30 SECONDS TILL DETONATION!”
Seating arrangements for the higher officials were nothing more than metallic chairs which had been bolted down to the deck. Other observers on the carrier were ordered to lie prone until the flash had dissipated before observing the blast.
Robert himself had chosen the bolted down chairs to witness the bomb in all its glory. It was after all his creation. If anyone had a right to view it up close, it was him.
Lilac continued to remain standing near the edge, uncaring of any protests made by her generals and loyalists for her to sit on the chairs and use the glasses to view the explosion.
“DETONATION COMMENCING IN 5!”
“4”
“3”
“2”
Robert braced himself for the explosion, hoping against all hope that nothing goes wrong.
“1!”
He cast one last look at Lilac. She appeared to be bursting with excitement. He shook his head at her stupidity and braced.
“0”
“DETONATION COMMENC-”
A blinding light erupted on the horizon. A brilliant fireball expanded rapidly, engulfing the sky in an inferno of colors. The intense heat and light pierced through the protective goggles, forcing him to squint, yet he couldn't tear his eyes away from the spectacle unfolding before him. The fireball looked like a second sun, even so far out the heat from it was extreme, it was as if one was standing underneath the desert sun during the summers. The night sky had lit up as if it was day, casting a malevolent glow all across the ocean.
The ship trembled beneath their feet as shockwave after shockwave rippled outward from the epicenter of the explosion. A deafening roar followed, echoing across the ocean, drowning out any other sound. The force of the blast seemed to bend reality itself, as if the very fabric of space and time had been torn apart. Yet all through this, Lilac stood unflinching and observed the explosion with intense passion.
As the fireball continued to expand, a massive mushroom cloud began to rise, billowing into the atmosphere like a monstrous, malevolent creature. Its imposing presence served as a stark reminder of the destructive power that the FREYJA held.
He thought back to the tropical islands which were used as the detonation site and was sure that they had been vaporized near instantaneously. His eyes wandered back to Lilac who was still staring at the explosion and he hoped that maybe, the light had burnt out her eyes. That hope was, however, shattered when she turned away from the second sun on the horizon towards him and gazed at him with an intensity he had never before seen in her black eyes.
As Lilac strode over to him, all around cheers had broken out as the people witnessed the power their Empress now possessed. It was sickening to hear the glee and joy in the shouts of the people around him, even Wifort, a man who had not struck him as one to take pleasure from such a weapon of mass genocide, was celebrating and cheering along with his fellow countrymen.
“I believe congratulations are in order, Robert. You have after all, managed to put any atomic researcher before you to shame. You have truly brought about a new age in the harnessing of the atomic realm.” He had failed to even notice when Lilac had approached him. It was, for perhaps the first time in his life that he heard such pride and glee in her voice, even her normally dead eyes were shining with glee as she looked at the slowly dissipating mushroom cloud.
“I- I am not sure, if we should put this weapon to use, my Queen,” Lilac snapped her neck to look at him. A heavy scowl adorned her face and Robert felt that he made a mistake in admitting his honest feelings about the bomb.
“We shouldn't use it? Shouldn't use it?!” Lilac nearly shouted and perhaps for the first time, had he seen her lose composure like this. She seethed in anger as she continued, “You agreed to make the bomb, so your life would not be forfeit wasn't it, doctor?” She asked him in an enraged tone as her body practically vibrated with fury.
“I- i- yes, I did but with the progress our troops are making, we might not even need to use the bomb. We should wait a few more weeks before we consider using it. I trust in our army that by then the Eastern Coalition will collapse,” As he finished, Lilac seemed to bury her anger inside her as her eyes and face turned blank. She spoke in a dead tone yet one which carried weight along with a sense of finality in it, “We do not have a few more weeks, doctor. I want the bomb ready for transport in three days, and I will hear no argument to the contrary.” With her order, Lilac turned away and walked towards Agony who was standing a few feet away from them; he was still observing the now rapidly darkening night sky as the mushroom cloud disappeared into the air.