“—t an additional Carrier Strike Group would be diverted to reinforce ours already stationed in Japan speaks to the severity of the situation, does it not Mick?”
“Well, “severity” makes it sound like things have fallen through over there, but I just don’t thin—"
Isaac shook his head as he listened to the two reporters, debating over whether or not the country was moving towards a war footing, already well aware that a conflict in the Pacific was on the horizon.
It had been around four hours since he had walked away from Elijah and began to work - within a sub-room of the prototyping foundry - focusing on trying to remove any remaining deficiencies in the fourth-gen’s plans and reduce the possibility of failures as much as he could sans testing. It was tedious work, involving some of the most minute of changes, all to eke out small percentage increases in efficiency or increase the possibility of successful outcomes. It also proved to be incredibly stressful work, while every change brought about a greater chance at saving a life, so to was Isaac more than aware that those same changes were based off of assumptive analyses and loose hypotheses, that could do just as much harm instead.
It was a tight rope of cataclysmic proportions. And Isaac couldn’t feel more at home walking it. If not for the circumstances involved, he would almost go so far as to say he was elated and excited to be engaged with such an amazing project.
But the circumstances made for an environment that caused such feelings to rapidly die with every reminder of the stakes involved.
Isaac tapped at a keyboard, adjusting a part to be manufactured – again – after having modified it and invalidating the original piece, only to hear the door to the main room open. Isaac ignored the entrant, it being the sixth time someone had entered into the room, more than prepared for the likelihood of it being just another questioning session to clarify any confusion they had regarding the Cradles’ modifications, and nothing resembling the active assistance Isaac desired.
He continued with his work, not pausing as he heard footsteps approach, stubbornly unwilling to be the first to engage. It was a petty and small action of him, but left to stew and work alone - with everyone he could possibly need to finalize the Cradles’ upgrades and complete the Enuma project just a room over - Isaac had found himself in a progressively worsening mood the more time passed.
Isaac continued on with his work, the only sound within the room the ambient noise of machinery at work, the tapping of keys, and the awkward shifting of feet just behind his right shoulder. He forced the unfortunate messenger to wallow in his disregard, stretching their discomfort for long minutes, a small reflection of what he had been feeling since his last… conversation with the rest of their group.
“E-excuse me, Sir?” A younger man’s voice hesitantly spoke up.
Isaac’s fingers paused mid stroke, the voice interrupting his focus for an instant, before he resumed once more, “One moment, please,” Isaac quickly began to tap away, wrapping up another thread of modifications, so he could turn his attention to the man without putting any of his changes in jeopardy. Once finished, punctuated by the final click of a key, he turned, “Yes? What questions do you have to ask me now?”
The man stammered, then cleared his throat, eyes jumping around in an effort to avoid looking directly at Isaac, “A-actually, Sir. Doctors Barbeau and Muñoz, as well as Heads M-Muñoz and Lupo have asked if you wouldn’t return to the main room to speak?”
“Elijah, Sara, Maria, and Killian… but no Paltridge? Hmm,” Isaac had wondered where the man had gone, not having seen him since his… speech earlier, “If he’s not with the rest of them he must have left. Unsurprising I guess, he’s always been a capricious and selfish bastard. Though now I’m wishing I hadn’t put up with that nature of his if - when we needed his genius the most - he bailed.” Isaac sighed, something he seemed to be making a habit of, and replied to the nervous man, “Well, better not wait any longer. I sure as shit have done enough of that already.”
Isaac pushed away from the desk he had been working at, forcing the messenger to stumble out of the way or risk taking a rolling chair to the shins. He didn’t spare the man a second glance, standing and walking with purpose to the door, mind too preoccupied with possible meanings for the group’s desire to see him.
He hoped that this was going to be the moment they admitted to having found themselves at an impasse, incapable of finding any other way to complete the Enuma project than to utilize his fourth iteration design. But a larger part of him worried that this would just be another bout of wasted time and heated emotions.
In either case, the only way for him to find out if his hopes or worries were valid, was to meet up and hear them out.
The door slid open at Isaac’s approach, allowing him - and the man who had been sent to retrieve him - into the prototype foundry’s main room once more. He stood for a moment looking the room over, the messenger scurrying away with his purpose fulfilled, and spotted Maria arguing with Killian over by the main console bank.
“Well, let’s see what this is all about…” Isaac thought as he navigated a path through the buzzing crowd of workers. On his way, Isaac threw a running glance at some of the open work screens, finding that while most seemed to still retain a focus on the version of the Cradle they had originally been working on, a handful could be seen with his version on display. “As good a sign as any I suppose. Though I would prefer every able body working on it, that even a handful seem to have taken an interest in it is nothing short of a miracle at this point. Though…” Isaac’s evaluation was pulled to the raised voice of Maria, “I can’t help but worry that this is the only good news I’ll be walking away with.”
As Isaac neared, the clearer Maria’s words became, “-is will kill people and you’re just… okay with it?! You’re just going to take Isaac’s word as though nothing has changed? As though we can trust that he’s doing this for a “good” reason?!”
“Yes.” Isaac snorted at Killian’s curt response, being reminded that the conversation they had shared was the exception and not the rule when it came to Killian’s brand of… eloquence.
His snort drew the attention of the duo; Killian merely nodded in acknowledgement of Isaac’s arrival, face an impassive mask, while Maria, who had been glaring at Killian, turned a deepening frown towards Isaac.
“You think this is funny, Isaac?” She asked with obvious displeasure, every ounce of her body language radiating the ire she had for him.
“Yes,” Isaac replied, tempted to answer in a similarly blunt fashion as Killian before thinking otherwise, “I did think that Killian’s… succinct reply to your tirade was funny. I also thought it was nice to feel something other than the anger, frustration, sadness, fear, and depression I’ve been feeling today and for the past… oh, I don’t know two-ish months.” Sadly that “thought otherwise” had landed squarely in the bleeding sarcasm camp, but Isaac felt it was as appropriate a tone he could manage, “Now I believe I was requested. So, how about we get to why you all wanted me here, yeah?”
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Killian waved over Elijah and Sara; both having noticed Isaac speaking to Maria but having chosen instead to wait until he was done to approach.
With Maria floundering for a rebuttal, Isaac turned his attention to the two of them. Elijah seemed… resigned if not a little nervous, his eyes holding a deep-seated weariness that Isaac had become all too familiar with. While, with a face drawn and sallow, Sara looked as though she was fighting a losing battle with some form of illness; she oozed a palpable frustration and discomfort deepening the unhealthy pallor of her features by the minute.
“You were right, Isaac.” Elijah spoke up first, cutting straight to the heart of the matter, “Even in only a few hours of readings, evaluations, and comparisons we could tell that your schematic was the most feasible option for the event you informed us of. With the addition of the news reporting movement in the Pacific many have been even more convinced of the… practicality of your proposed design…” Elijah’s voice trailed off into a leading edge that made Isaac’s eye twitch.
“But?” Isaac harshly supposed.
“But,” Sara stepped in for Elijah, confirming Isaac’s fears, “Not all of us are convinced. Whoever contacted you could just be paranoid; all of those rumblings and movements could just be simple posturing. There’s no real evidence that any sort of world-ending war is coming… and some of us just aren’t comfortable jumping to such extreme measures on what might amount to a false alarm.”
“So, what does this mean exactly, going forward?” Isaac asked as a pit grew in his stomach, his worst fears suddenly coming to life.
“It means,” Killian’s voice came from Isaac’s right, forcing him to turn and give focus to the man, “That while Mrs. Muñoz and a majority of the personnel in this room will continue to work on the previous design; Doctors Barbeau and Muñoz, as well as myself and the remaining staff, will support and assist yours.”
Isaac’s eyes widened in shock, his attention swapping from Killian back to Sara and Elijah, his mind beginning to reevaluate the situation.
While the manner in which they got to announcing their support for him was anxiety and fear inducing, it was their demeanors that had led his mind astray. Their discomfort and anxiety had led him to believe that they were worried how he would react to their refusal to help, when it was actually representative of a split in decision, “Killian, Elijah, and Sara against… Maria.”
He looked away from Eli and Sara to find Maria glaring at him with a vehemence bordering on bloodlust. It was obvious she blamed him for the current situation, putting her and Sara on seemingly opposing sides, his presence only exacerbating the anger that she had been feeling… and had displayed earlier. But truthfully Maria’s displeasure over the situation, and his appearance, barely registered over the confusion and emotional whiplash their “support” had left him with.
“Why?” The question slipped through Isaac’s lips before he could stop it, head snapping to each of the faces around him fearing that the question may cause them to reconsider their choice and rescind their support.
“Because I don’t trust you,” Sara answered, “If you’re capable of designing something like this and willing to go through with it for reasons that may, or may not be true, how far will you go if your design doesn’t work out or if you start to run out of time?” Sara stared Isaac straight in the eyes, unflinching and unwavering, “I won’t stop you. Even if I’m not fully on board with the idea that a new world war is going to break out, I’ve worked for you long enough to know that none of this would be happening if you didn’t truly believe one was. But I can’t let you continue, without making sure myself, that your desperation does not push you to entertain putting more people lives at risk in an effort to “save” them.”
Isaac understood and appreciated Sara’s choice. A part of him was disappointed that she would think so little of him as to believe that he might go to worse practices in order to save more people from the coming Armageddon, but a far more vocal majority of him saw that his recent actions and decisions - as well as the very design he had proposed - could not be construed for much more than the choices of a desperate man. He could only hope he would prove her fears of him to be unfounded.
“And while I’m in a similar camp as Sara, wanting to be present to make sure that others are kept safe and treated well. I’m also choosing to help you for another reason…” Elijah filled the silence that followed Sara’s answer, “To make sure that someone’s around to take care of you, too. I can see that you’re burning the candle at both ends son, and I don’t think you have much left to burn before you’re completely spent. I know you and I can see, in everything you’ve been doing, that you are trying to save people from what’s coming. But I also know that unless someone steps in, you won’t stop until you either succeed, or your body fails, and you can’t keep going anymore.” Elijah waved around to their small group, as well as the room at large, “They won’t see the signs, they won’t step in to stop you from destroying yourself… but I will.”
“That even after everything I’ve pushed on them, Eli’s still looking out for me…” Isaac was touched by Eli’s sincerity, by the fact that he still considered his wellbeing so highly, “And I don’t think I’ve ever done a damned thing to deserve this degree of compassion. Certainly, nothing to deserve it after all that I’ve done, or will do...” He was comforted by Eli’s presence at his side however, and as much as he didn’t believe he was deserving of Eli’s faith in him, Isaac didn’t see himself as being capable of succeeding without him.
Isaac felt a hand on his shoulder, “We already had our talk, so you know why you’ll have me behind you.” Killian uttered before walking away, grabbing the attention of a handful of guards with a wave of his hand.
Which just left…
Maria was seething, if she could, she would likely have wisps of smoke coming from her nostrils and flames sparking from her mouth with every breath. She didn’t have to explain her reasoning, not a single word was necessary to describe how her hatred and distrust of him was all that fueled her choice. All Isaac had to do was take in her posture, look into her eyes, and know all he had to about the logic behind her decision. It was… painful for him to take in what he had done to her, how his decisions had so fundamentally changed a woman that he had once known so well into a stranger. But, as much as he may wish, there was no changing the past or taking anything back from it. He had made his choices… and Maria had made hers.
Now he just had to hope that despite their costs, they were the right ones.
Isaac looked away from Maria, not wanting to risk garnering further irritation from her, “Then if one of you would be so kind as to gather whoever else would like to assist me, while I go and find an empty console to bring some things up on, that would be much appreciated.”
Elijah and Sara shared a look, a silent discussion passing between the two before they separated; Sara moving to Maria and pulling her away deeper into the room, Elijah putting himself besides Isaac.
“Sara will grab whoever we need, or at least tell them to gather by us, while you do whatever it is you need to here.” Elijah answered Isaac’s unspoken question as they watched both of them walk away.
“And you?” Isaac asked, turning his attention to the consoles surrounding them in hopes of spotting an unoccupied one, “Why’d you choose to stick around with me?”
Elijah followed Isaac for a minute or two in silence as they moved from console to console, “I put a lot on you earlier, son. Got so caught up in my own emotions, that even though I saw the pain you were going through, I didn’t truly acknowledge it. We’ve had the time to… vent and discuss amongst ourselves about all of this madness. But you…” Elijah grabbed Isaac by an elbow, forcing his attention to him, “You’ve been going at this madness for months, alone. And then, when you finally shared it with others, you still found yourself going at things on your own. I... I should have been there to help you. I shouldn’t have put so much pressure on you after your opening up, shouldn’t hav-”
“Eli,” Isaac cut him off, “You didn’t do anything wrong. Certainly nothing that you should feel regretful or sorry for. Everything you said to me was deserved. Everything you felt needed the time and space for you to understand and come to terms with it. Everyone did,” Isaac turned to look out over the room buzzing with movement, “And even if I’m not comfortable with how I separated myself from everyone earlier; no one, yourself included, would have been able to decide how to deal with what I dropped on all of you if I had stuck around.”
Isaac pulled away from Eli, turning towards the man fully, “I wouldn’t have been of any help then. But now, I’m going to do everything in my power to be of help. And you being here helps me more than you could ever believe. So, no more feeling sorry, we’ve got a job to do and… hell, a world of people to save.” He began to look through the room again, mumbling, “If we could just find a console to start with that would be great though…”
Isaac stalked through the room grumbling in frustration as console after console passed occupied, with a deep chuckling following in his wake.