The sound of General Sherman's boots hitting the polished metal floor reverberated around the long hallway. "Lieutenant!" He barked at the young fresh-faced officer sitting in the control room.
"Sir!" The officer said, jumping to his feet with a look of alarm on his face, his hand snapping to a salute.
"Where is… “the experiment” being held, kid?"
“You… you mean p-project Dainty Bacon sir?”
General Sherman sighs, pinching his brow and clicking his handy “ink stick”, clearly agitated. “I told him not to name it that, but does he listen to me? No, of course, he doesn’t. ‘The president never listens to anyone.’”
"I-its d-down that hallway and to the left, S-sir!"
"Hmm... Tell me somethin' kid, why are you so nervous?"
"W-with all due respect sir, we weren't expecting you yet!"
"Well, the President thought it best to rush the project."
"B-but sir we-"
"No buts, Lieutenant! That’s an order!" He interrupted, starting to walk to the experiment site. The young officer stood with his back erect, only sparing the quickest glances at the General's receding shadow down the hallway. He let out a quiet sigh of relief.
…
"General?"
"Outta my way."
He shoved the technician aside, moving forwards toward the head scientist who was standing in front of a massive machine resembling a giant ring with many protrusions.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“What is everyone standing around for, get this test over with already.”
"Wait, sir, we haven't worked out all the bugs yet!" The scientist shouted.
Sherman turned around, "Does it look like I care? Hell, does the President care? It won’t even matter if the Russians beat us to it. And if we don’t complete it now we could all very well be court-martialed!" He snarled.
"Yes, General!"
The head scientist shuddered at the thought. “You heard him! let’s get this up and running!”
The scientists scrambled, flipping switches and activating the separate modules of the intricate machinery.
The behemoth of a machine slowly whirred to life, light streaming from its many protrusions. Multicolored electricity flickered and flashed almost hypnotically. The center of the ring started glowing, and a translucent multicolored film of pure energy began to slowly spread in the previously empty space.
The scientist sighed with relief. It works! He thought to himself excitedly. After years of hard work with very little vacation time, the hours he and his team put in seem to have been paying off. He allowed his mind to wander Imagining the 6 months of promised vacation time he would spend with his family.
His blissful thoughts were suddenly interrupted when General Sherman snapped his fingers in front of his face. “Quit your daydreamin' geardo.”
The scientist quickly snapped out of it, realizing his folly, his late mother's words echoing around in his head “Don’t count your eggs before they hatch John.”
General Sherman turned toward John “Hate to burst your bubble, but is that supposed to happen?” He pointed towards the machine.
John directed his gaze toward where General Sherman was looking. A singular protrusion that was recently functioning like the others seemed to be spazzing out slightly. Oh, that can’t be good. “Shut it off! Now!”
The urgency in his voice set the rest of the scientists in motion as they struggled to deactivate the machine to no avail. The machine was truly glitching now. The once serene bubble looking film of energy was now almost writhing in an angry shade of red, the protrusions sending arcs of electricity into the resulting space, rather than to the other protrusions, killing several workers immediately.
The machine then made a sound that could only be compared to the sound of a thousand nails across a giant chalkboard. Almost as if it was screaming out in pain and rage at the outside world that had birthed it’s immensity.
And then, it was over.