CHAPTER 16

2210

Titan Corporation HQ Atheux Fortuna

Earth

Isaac adjusted his glasses. He was sitting in the lab, staring at his computer screen. He muttered something under his breath as he swiped at the screen. The content shifted to another page. Isaac looked at it for a few seconds before swiping again, then another swipe, and another, then he stopped. He stared at the screen, then touched his five fingers together, moved them closer to the screen, then spread them into an open palm. The gesture zoomed out the information on the screen. Isaac leaned in closer, adjusted his glasses again, then smacked his hand on the table.

A man approached Isaac, wearing the same science uniform as him. He held a holographic image in his hand. Isaac squinted to look at it, then took it from the man with both hands. He moved his hands away from each other and the image became larger. Isaac walked to the center of the room, where a giant spherical hologram was spinning over a holo-pad on the floor. The sphere distorted every couple of seconds as it spun on its axis. Isaac walked around the sphere, looking stern. He found a spot that was darker than the rest of the sphere and carefully inserted the data he was holding into it. He spun the sphere, making it spin more quickly until it slowed and eventually came to a stop. Immediately after stopping, the sphere shrank. Isaac’s eyes were wide as he watched with his upper lip twitching. The sphere shrank to the size of a tennis ball and stopped. A few seconds later, it exploded, expanding rapidly until it filled the entire room. The image froze for a couple of seconds, then fell apart. Isaac glanced at the man who brought him the data and sighed. He undid the process, and the sphere returned to its initial size.

Elsewhere in the room, Bethany paced back and forth, scribbling notes into the tablet in her hand. She reached over a desk. There was a small holo-pad on the desk and, hovering above that, a model of pulsating energy. Bethany placed her tablet and stylus on the table. Her fingers danced across the keyboard in front of her computer, hitting the keys with enough force that they were audible across the room. Every couple of minutes, Bethany looked up at the computer screen, turned her gaze to the mini holo-pad, and noticed a change in the model. She lifted the model in her hand and walked to the spherical model at the center of the room. Bethany circled it, looking for the spot to insert the data. She found a part of the sphere that glowed more brightly than the others. Bethany pushed the data into the sphere and took a few steps back. From the point where Bethany inserted her data, a distortion quickly spread across the surface of the sphere. The sphere wobbled on a different axis, then the distortion stopped and the sphere returned to normal, spinning as it had before. Bethany pulled up a holo-terminal where she stood. She opened the logs for the recent tests and sorted through them one after another.

“Any change?” asked Isaac.

Bethany shook her head, then scratched it with her stylus. She turned to Isaac. “None of this makes sense,” she said ad threw her arms to the sides. “What are we doing?”

The other scientists in the room turned their attention to Bethany.

“We barely have any data,” she continued. “What are we even looking at?”

“It’s a breach,” answered Isaac.

“I know it’s a breach but why can’t we see it? Why are we looking at a model that we didn’t build? If even one parameter is the slightest bit wrong, any algorithm we design will always be wrong.”

“I know,” said Isaac.

Bethany’s shoulders dropped. “I just hate that they’re hiding so much from us.”

“I know,” he repeated.

“How is closing the breach supposed to bring an end to the vilis threat? Do we even know if there’s a connection? Are the vilis creating the breach? Are they coming through it? What’s on the other side? Where did they find this information?”

Isaac sighed. “It’s pointless asking those questions, Beth. We need to focus on finding solutions to the problems in front of us. It doesn’t matter what they’re hiding. Each division of the science unit received the same data we did. Every second we spend complaining is another second that the breach stays active. I only wish we had a data scale, which seems to have been deliberately omitted.”

Bethany turned to face the sphere with her hands on her hips. “How big is this thing?”

Isaac reached a hand into the sphere. He pulled out a chunk and approached Bethany.

“What is that?” she asked.

“Watch this,” said Isaac, as they both stared at the sphere. The sphere swirled rapidly, forming bizarre multi-dimensional shapes.

“What the hell…?” Bethany muttered. “How?”

Isaac undid his action. The section he pulled out disappeared from his hand and the sphere stabilized again.

“Based on the model, we know the breach is comprised of five layers, right?”

Bethany nodded.

“Here’s the thing, the two external layers are only ions interacting with the thermal wave to create plasma around it. I don’t think they’re truly part of the breach at all. On the other hand, I can’t make any sense of the three internal layers. They seem impossible.”

Bethany squinted and took a step closer to the sphere. “They aren’t interacting with their surroundings.”

“That’s right. Do you know why?”

Bethany reached her hands into the sphere. She stripped away the two exterior layers, leaving the three internal layers. She zoomed in until the hologram filled the entire room and they could view the layers on a molecular level. They were flat and black. Bethany’s brows raised.

“I know this model seems impossible,” said Isaac, “but we shouldn’t worry about that right now. Let’s focus on the facts.”

Bethany nodded. “The breach isn’t here.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Is that why it can sustain itself?”

Isaac removed his glasses. “I can’t say with any certainty,” he ran his finger around the frame and put them back on, “but I think so.”

“My god… If the model is accurate, it means…”

“There’s no way of closing the breach from our end. However, we can…”

“We can nuke it, bombard it with the power of a hundred nuclear reactors at once,” Bethany interrupted, “but…”

“We have no way of knowing what will happen when that much energy interacts with unknown material. We could end up creating a black hole and destroying the planet.”

They both sighed. Isaac tapped his watch.

“Doctor Clarke,” Ethan’s voice came from the watch. “What is it?”

Isaac cleared his throat. “Sir, we have reason to believe the breach data we received is incomplete.”

“I'm sorry?”

“Plain simple, Lieutenant. We are missing data.”

Ethan paused for a couple of seconds “I’ll get back to you in a minute.”

Ethan hung up and Isaac and Bethany exchanged glances. A few moments later, Isaac’s watch beeped and he tapped it.

“Doctor Clarke,” Ethan’s voice came from the speaker. “I believe your team received all the data permitted by your clearance level. You’ll have to work with it.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“But, lieutenant…”

“I’m fighting a war, doctor. Unless you have a way to close the breach, there isn’t much else I want to hear from you.” Ethan hung up.

“God damnit,” Isaac mumbled. “The world is ending, and these assholes are still worried about clearance levels.” He clenched his fists and marched toward the door.

“What are you doing?” Bethany asked.

“I’m going to see Rothbridge myself.”

The door hissed open and Isaac walked through it. The junior scientists in the lab turned to look at Bethany.

She turned her head around. “What are you looking at me for?” she asked. “Get back to work.”

Isaac reached the elevator and pressed the button. As he waited for it to open, the floor suddenly quaked beneath his feet. A deafening roar came from somewhere outside the building. The alarms sounded as soon as the roar stopped. The elevator door opened and a man and woman rushed out of it.

Isaac looked into the elevator, then turned back toward the lab. “Beth…” he muttered and ran back into the hallway, heading for the lab.

Boom!

The ground quaked again, this time more violently. Isaac held the wall to keep himself from falling. When the quaking stopped, he continued along the hallway, running as quickly as he could. Another thunderous boom rattled the floors of the building. Isaac looked up as dust fell from a crack in the ceiling above him. There was another boom, this time much closer than the previous ones. Isaac lost his footing and fell on his face. He immediately tried to get back up, but the building was vibrating too intensely for him to stand. Further along the hallway, the two people who emerged from the elevator were also on the ground, struggling and failing to get to their feet.

Isaac crawled to the wall, pressed his back against it, and tried to slide up it. He heard a cracking above him, looked up, and saw the entire roof falling toward him. Isaac quickly rolled, crying out. The roof fell in pieces, crashing down around him. Isaac continued rolling on the ground until he hit a boulder. He saw that there was space beneath it. Isaac crawled under the boulder and closed his eyes, hoping he wouldn’t be crushed.

A few minutes later, the rumbling stopped. For a brief moment, there was complete silence, but soon the air was filled with the screams of the wounded. Isaac opened his eyes, he was covered in dust. He coughed as he crawled out from beneath the boulder. He took off his glasses and wiped them with his thumb. It didn’t remove all the dust but enough to see through. Isaac put his glasses back on and stood up, using the boulder for support.

“Beth,” he mumbled and started toward the lab again. The path had collapsed and there was no way across. Isaac’s ears were ringing but he heard a weak voice coming from beneath the debris. He turned his head to listen. This time, he was sure. He staggered over the debris until he found a leg sticking out from under a large lump of concrete.

Isaac pushed at his glasses. He squatted beside the concrete to examine the person underneath. There were two people, the same pair who passed him earlier. The woman’s upper half had been crushed but the man was still alive, covered in dust.

“Please help me,” the man said, weakly.

Isaac reached down to the man through a crack in the concrete. The man grabbed his wrist and Isaac pulled with all the strength he had.

“Stop!” the man cried out.

Isaac stopped.

“My leg is trapped.”

Isaac walked around the concrete to find the man’s leg sticking out. He bent down and slid his hands through the gap until he could grip the concrete. He tried to lift the concrete but it was too heavy for him to take the pressure off the leg. Isaac released the concrete and fell back, gasping for air.

Isaac staggered around the boulder to the man. “Is your leg crushed?”

“I don’t think so,” the man answered, weakly.

Isaac looked toward the other side of the hallway and saw the crushed woman. The sight made him sick and he grimaced as he turned away. “I’ll be back,” he said as he walked across the hallway.

“No! Please, don’t leave!” the man cried after him.

Isaac ran along the hallway until he reached another section of the building. People were panicking and running back and forth. Isaac saw a large man, clutching a bag to his chest, and approached the stranger.

“There’s someone stuck under concrete,” Isaac said, “I need your help.”

The man scrunched up his face and scurried away from Isaac. Isaac asked others to help him but, each time he tried, they ran away. He walked up and down the room, looking for someone to help him, as the building shook again and the ceiling cracked. The other people in the room screamed and ran out. Isaac was left alone, scanning his surroundings for anything that might help. To his left, he saw a steel pipe on the floor and quickly picked it up. He felt the surface of the pipe, then tried to bend it against the floor. Satisfied that it was strong enough, he hurried back into the hallway.

“Hey!” the injured man exclaimed. “You came back!”

“I went to get help; I found this.” He held up the pipe for the man to see. “I’m going to try to lift it with the pipe. We only need a moment to get your leg free.”

The man nodded.

Isaac circled the boulder. He found a small gap between the boulder and the ground. He wedged the pipe into it. “On five,” Isaac said, “be ready to pull.”

“Okay,” the man replied with a nod.

“One, two, three, four… five!” Isaac shouted and pushed the pipe down, growling with his veins bulged along his neck and his temples. There was no movement but he didn’t stop. The pipe was beginning to bend when the boulder moved slightly. Noticing it, Isaac summoned the strength to push even harder. The boulder raised a couple of inches, enough that the man could pull his leg out from under it.

“I’m free!” the man shouted, though his leg was badly injured.

Isaac dropped the pipe and fell back against the wall, panting for breath. The man struggled to his feet and limped toward Isaac on his uninjured leg. Isaac had barely recovered when the man embraced him gratefully.

“Thank you,” the man said, exhausted.

Isaac was about to reply when another roar sounded nearby. The ground shook and more debris fell from the ceiling.

“We need to get out of here,” said the man.

Isaac took the man’s arm and threw it over his shoulder. They had only taken two strides when a vilis burst through the wall. The debris struck Isaac, knocking both men down. Isaac couldn’t see clearly; his glasses had fallen off and everything was a blur. He scrambled to put his glasses back on and looked around for the man. His mouth fell open when he saw the man disappearing around the nearest corner, abandoning Isaac to fend for himself. Isaac looked back and saw the vilis standing there, staring at him with its black hollow eyes. Isaac turned and ran and the vilis followed him.

Isaac sprinted down the hallway, the vilis at his heels. He turned a corner and ran along another long, straight hallway. He turned again and reached the elevator. The door was already opening and Isaac hurried inside, mashing buttons on the wall. As the door was closing, the vilis emerged from around the corner, its body tearing through the walls as it approached. The elevator door closed, and it began descending.

Isaac took heaving breaths, gazing up at the ceiling. He heard another roar, but it sounded further away now. He shut his eyes, bent forward with his hands over his knees, and tried to catch his breath.

There was a thud on the elevator roof. Isaac looked up, still fighting for breath, hoping his suspicions were wrong. There was another thud, and then another.

“Shit!” he shouted.

The vilis roared again. Isaac backed into a corner as though it might protect him. There was another thud, then another and another. The elevator suddenly jerked sideways. The elevator stopped abruptly and Isaac fell on his face. He struggled to his knees, then pulled himself back up when there was a loud thud on the roof. The car jolted down, then stopped. Isaac held onto the handrail to keep himself from falling. The vilis roared again, much closer than before. It was deafening and Isaac covered his ears to block some of the noise. When the roar stopped, Isaac looked up with wide eyes, panting for breath.

“Oh my god…” he whispered.

The elevator was creaking. Isaac tried to wedge his fingers into the tiny gap between the doors, but it wasn’t wide enough for them to fit through. As he struggled with the door, an elevator cable snapped and it tilted to one side. Isaac fell but immediately jumped up and continued trying to get the door open. It opened slightly and he peered through the gap. He saw chaos as people ran back and forth. Another cable snapped and the elevator dropped further. Isaac fell again but wouldn’t be deterred; he hurried back up and tried to open the door. A single cable remained and Isaac could hear it creaking under the pressure of not only the cab but also a vilis.

The last cable broke. The elevator fell and crashed onto the ground. The ceiling collapsed halfway down but stopped. The door was crushed but there was now a small opening down its middle. Isaac crawled through the gap, groaning. His body had been rattled in the fall. Even so, fear compelled him and he again rose to his feet. He took a quick look around at the orange-lit hallway, which was smaller than the hallways on the upper levels. It took Isaac a few moments to recognize where he was but the steel steps and catwalks let him know it was the engine room. He ran up the steps and didn’t look back. There was a bright white light ahead of him and he pushed himself to run faster.

It has to be an exit, he thought.

He turned a corner and stopped, frozen with horror. The adrenaline that had propelled him faded in an instant. The light wasn’t coming from outside as he had hoped; it was coming from the reactor chamber.

Isaac heard a growl behind him, followed by the sound of tearing steel. He ran to his left along another hallway. The hallway was short and, after about thirty feet, he reached a dead-end. The growls of the vilis were coming closer. Isaac ran to the door to the reactor room and looked through the window. He knew that going inside without a protective suit meant certain death. The vilis was coming. Isaac returned to the dead-end and sat with his back against the wall. His watch beeped. It was Bethany calling. He raised his hand to answer the call, but it was shaking too violently. Isaac knew he would be dead in moments. Isaac withdrew his hand.

The vilis stood at the end of the hallway. The walls were too narrow for it to enter. It stared at Isaac for a moment, then its body slowly began bubbling like hot tar. As it bubbled, the vilis shrank until it was small enough to stride along the hallway. Isaac sat there, watching helplessly as it approached. He had never heard of a vilis shrinking before. The vilis reached the door to the fusion drive and it stopped. It looked through the window into the chamber. It looked at Isaac again, then rammed its head against the door. The door was six inches thick but it was dented when the creature collided with it. The vilis rammed the door a second time, and the metal cracked. It rammed the door once more and knocked it down. The vilis immediately charged into the room, tearing at something. Isaac stood up and ran to the open doorway. It was ripping into the nuclear reactor.

“Oh, shit!” Isaac exclaimed as he turned away and sprinted. He had barely gone twenty meters when the vilis compromised the reactor. Isaac fell onto the ground as he heard the reactor going critical. He looked back and saw a blinding orange light. Suddenly, something tore through the ceiling and the Vindex in Machina dropped into the room with its hatch open. It grabbed Isaac and shoved him into the cockpit, then sealed the hatch.

As the reactor exploded, the Vindex armor was surrounded by forks of lightning and vanished, leaving a glowing tear in the air.