Hemdell activated the screen by touching it with one of his thick fingers and turned it so that the couple could see what was there: The photo of a gigantic ovoid black rock, protruding from the dry, arid soil, with dense vegetation in the background. Someone with a minimum of imagination could point out the similarity between that rock and the egg of a bird of monstrous proportions.
“This strange thing is deep in the Black Plateau jungle, a small town in the Proxima district, a few miles away from the city,” Hemdell said. “It was once found by locals who predictably named it Ita-Hu, which in their native language means black rock. At first glance, it has nothing special beyond its size and shape, and we would never have been interested in it if it hadn’t been for…” The graphic of an electromagnetic spectrum full of colorful waves appeared on the screen. “Six months ago, we discovered that it was emitting Kappa-type quantum radiation.”
“Kappa?” Malin wondered, and turning to Adam, she explained; “Kappa is the radiation that can alter the space-time continuum. The one which is detectable only in…”
“Areas with abundant heavy metals,” he nodded. “The Kappa Points. Yeah, I remember.”
It was difficult to forget that tortuous electrical passage that both had crossed, thanks to the bracelets, to travel in the blink of an eye to the Pannotia continent. How much did the Satellites know about his lightning visit to the Markabian Empire?
Malin returned her attention to the monitor. “If the scanners found Kappa radiation, it’s because there might be a Kappa Point right there,” she ventured.
Hemdell shook his head. “We thought so at first,” he said, “but in that area, there is no Kappa Spacetime Distortion Spot or Kappa Point, as you Markabians call it. It is the Ita-Hu.” On the monitor, the graph changed to an infrared image of the huge rock. There they could see that the energy emission was coming from it, not from the ground. “The Kappa radiation of the space-time Spots has a wavelength of five points,” continued the District Chief, “while that of the Ita-Hu has already reached nine; the highest scale known so far. As you can imagine, our scientists are stumped.”
“You said you detected the radiation six months ago,” Malin said. “Did the rock begin to emit it at that moment or—?”
“We think it’s been doing it from the beginning, Miss Viveka,” Hemdell cut in, “only that its wavelength has increased recently, allowing our scanners to detect it. That is why I sent a group of agents to the jungle to study it. However—”
“They got lost?” Adam took a wild guess, and from the man’s expression, he knew that his statement had been nonsense. “I’m sorry. Go ahead.”
Hemdell took a deep breath and continued; “When we wanted to get a sample of the Ita-Hu, this happened.” The images on the monitor changed again, this time to some pictures of tools. Chisels and scoops, hammers, beaks, and wedges, all had their tips bent as if they had been struck against a block of steel. “We tried it with a diamond cutter,” the Director added, “and we even shot it with ammunition, but nothing.”
“Is the rock indestructible?”
Hemdell shook his head again. “These damages,” he showed the tools, “were not caused by the rock. Kappa radiation not only expands from Ita-Hu but has also created a force field around its surface. A shield that disables everything that tries to hit the rock.”
Still intimidated by the Director, Adam raised his hand. “Sorry but wouldn’t it have been easier to pierce it using a high-precision laser?” he asked. “At the company I work for, we laser-drill steel plates, some over two inches thick.”
Hemdell remained silent as if Adam had questioned a truism. So, it was Malin who explained it to him.
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“Kappa radiation breaks down magnetic fields and unbalances plasma particles,” she said. “Basically? When entering the perimeter occupied by the radiation, the laser loses its destructive capacity and turns into a harmless beam of light.” She turned to Hemdell and added, “I guess you had the same problem using a P.F.D.”
Adam glanced at her. That was a terminology he hadn’t heard before.
“Powered Fluctuating Discharge,” she clarified; “the technical name of a Photia.”
“We’ve tried everything,” Hemdell said. “There is no energy or physical action that can pierce the force field. The mystery of the Ita-Hu doesn’t end there, though. When I said that its wavelength has increased in the last few months, I wasn’t overstating it. Kappa Points have a maximum extension of twenty square feet. The Kappa Point produced by the Ita-Hu, has reached a diameter of more than twelve hundred feet. What we are now trying to determine is whether it continues to grow or whether its abrupt expansion was due to an isolated accident.”
“That rock must be packed with heavy metals,” Malin commented.
“We won’t know until we analyze it,” Hemdell shrugged. “The characteristics of the terrain where it lies do not match the registered Kappa Points. I can tell you that, however, the sector just below the rock has begun to change.”
Adam and Malin exchanged glances.
“Yes,” Hemdell nodded. “Imagine our surprise. Looking to study the strange radiation, we find an even bigger mystery. The Ita-Hu not only protects itself with a force field, but it also expands its radiation to a level that we were not aware of, nullifying any type of electrical energy that could pose a threat to it.” The District Chief puffed out his chest like a tenor about to release a high note, then released the trapped breath. “Of course, to study it, we could drop a proton bomb on it and get a sample after we’ve reduced it to a thousand pieces,” he added. “Despite that, besides being too extreme, would tear down my goal of keeping it as intact as possible. Understand that even if we could cross its protective field, my intention is not to destroy or remove the rock from where it is. I just want to take a tiny portion of it to analyze its composition and find out what causes the radiation. Kappa quantum radiation is still partly a mystery; a fragment of that rock under a specialized magnifying glass could solve it.”
“And you want us to help you get that sample,” Malin guessed.
The District Chief nodded and pointed to Adam. “Using his skills,” he said. “We think Mr. White’s powers may work.”
Adam let out a giggle. “What are you talking about, sir?” he asked. “I have—”
I have no powers. Was that what he was about to say? Because it was obvious that the man in black knew the truth.
“You said you tried everything, and you couldn’t get past the electromagnetic field, right?” he said with another giggle. “What makes you think my powers will?”
The screen showed another colorful graphic of an electromagnetic spectrum, very similar to the previous one.
“This is another source of Kappa-type radiation. We discovered it less than a month ago,” Hemdell said. “Our systems captured it for the first time on Saturday, September 22, at 12.43 a.m. The reading was low, and while our radars determined that the emitter was in Proxima, we couldn’t trace it. The second emission took time on Sunday 30th at 11:22 p.m. Its level was higher than the previous time and we were able to determine its origin, which made it easier for us to prepare an observation post in case it happened again. We caught the third emission on Thursday, October 4 at 6:52 p.m., and that, more than an emission, was an explosion! Then came others: Sunday 7, Monday 8, and Tuesday 9; those last three were detected between 7 p.m., and 8 p.m., in the nature reserve of the Cyan Area and the cliffs facing the sea of the Blue Area. Should I be more specific, Mr. White? Or can you imagine the origin of this radiation, or rather, who emits it?”
Adam’s breathing quickened. On Saturday, September 22, after one in the morning, he and Juzo had been cornered by Broga and his mercenaries in Liberty Park. 12.43 a.m. must have been the time when Juzo… That Sunday, after interrupting his date with a nurse, he manifested his powers for the first time, opening by accident a hole in the ceiling and burning his pants. On Thursday 4, at sunset, they were attacked by Simon, whom he defeated by merging his spirit with Juzo’s. Then there were his trips to the nature reserve and to the sea, where he had sought to take off the surplus energy, throwing fire grenades into the water.
“Uh… Well, those days, I don’t… Hmm…”
Hemdell smiled under his thick mustaches.
“Don’t pretend, Mr. White,” he said, and pressing a key on the digital dashboard, he reduced the pictures on the screen to start a video.
It was the night-time filming of a security camera framing the upper floors of an apartment building. Adam’s eyes opened wide. It was the Carter Building; he recognized it immediately. In the video, there was a fire coming out of a window.
No! This can’t be true!
But it was. It was footage from the night Simon had attacked them.