Once upon a time, a crazy scientist put an unfortunate cat inside a box next to a fragile bottle of poison and locked the box.
Actually... Schrödinger's cat is only a concept. But the paradoxical situation of the cat closely resembles Adam's.
Two timelines are merged; in one timeline, Adam definitely survives and in the other, Adam definitely dies. The result is the current timeline where Adam may live.
The captain rushes back to the monitors. Rayne appears in one of them, entering the main eastern corridor through its open gate. He doesn't need to look at the map to remember that the main eastern corridor is a 200-meter-long, 8 meters wide, straight hallway of concrete. The two worm mouths that grew in this area are now perished thanks to extermination by unit Azul, leaving two empty holes. One hole in the southern wall and one in the floor. Rayne makes four steps to her right and puts the sole of her left boot on a thick column protruding from the wall next to the gate. She stretches her right arm out, pointing four fingers in the direction of the other end of the corridor, and then she simply… jumps.
In less than a second, Rayne appears on the opposite end. The captain is not sure how exactly she made the jump, but it looked like the gravity manipulators on the soles of her boots had something to do with generating the momentum. And perhaps the fingers help with aiming. But the jump... it seemed supersonic. She was so fast that only a dark silhouette could be seen on the monitors traveling from one end to the other end of the corridor.
“What exactly is her speed?”
“It is hard to calculate an exact speed for her equipment because it depends on the length of the corridor,” answers Jane.
“What?!” the captain is baffled.
On another monitor, Rayne appears walking past a door and standing in the middle of the second corridor. Her next destination is 40 meters to her right at the far end. The only worm infestation in this corridor is successfully exterminated.
“Her equipment manipulates gravity, and time. Time and gravity are always intertwined." Karen jumps in to explain.
Rayne takes three steps to her left to stand in the middle of the 4 meters wide hallway. She opens her arms, pointing four fingers of each hand at each opposing wall of the corridor. It looks like a barely visible cord is generated between the walls, a cord that passes through her jacket on her arms and shoulders and connects the two opposing walls.
"...her time manipulation is dependent on the distance she has to travel..."
Rayne turns; twisting her arms while turning as if making a giant knot mid-air. Each arm ends up pointing in the direction of the beginning and the ending of the hallway.
"There is no column to support her momentum here," thinks the captain
"...All jumps between two ends of a corridor take exactly 400 milliseconds, no more, no less..." continues Karen.
In the monitor, the helmeted woman springs in the opposite direction of her destination.
A dark line appears on four monitors at the same time and disappears immediately. Rayne appears on the other end of the corridor in less than a second.
"Did she start by leaping in the opposite direction?" thinks the captain.
"...So, a C-MRQ user like the doctor can travel 200-meter corridors at 1800 km/h, and 20-meter corridors at 18 km/h,” Karen seems to really enjoy numbers.
No one knows how C-MRQ users manipulate time and gravity so easily, CASTEL keeps the details of this rare technology a secret. Although, it is well-known that most CASTEL technologies rely heavily on bioengineered cells.
On the monitor, Rayne appears in the hall currently being de-infested by unit Azul. Unit Azul includes one CASTEL exoskeleton, right now wrestling with a worm mouth and one armored supporter. Using its clamp, the exoskeleton clutches to the tongue, keeping it from retracting to the mouth. The tongue is obviously very strong, forcing the heavy exoskeleton to lean back on its 6 legs, struggling not to get sucked into the mouth. Unit Azul's armored supporter is standing a safe distance away from the fight, keeping the exoskeleton's cord stable while it wrestles.
This fight is at the far left of the hall. Rayne's next destination is in front of her, about 60 meters on the other side of the hall. Half a second later, she is there.
The captain is doubtful about the numbers Karen just said. He makes quick calculations in his head. Mathematics is not an easy subject but calculation is part of his daily job and he is good at his job. 1800 km/h is the speed of a bullet. This can't be right. His surveillance monitors did not have the ability to record the images, but his memory is excellent. Based on what he has just watched on the monitors, the white-haired woman traveled all distances in less than a second. So the speed of a bullet is completely plausible.
“In 1905 a German scientist called Einstein described the theory of relativity…” Karen continues explaining.
“I got it. Time’s speed is the dependent factor here.”
“Excellent captain.” Says Jane non-sarcastically. She looks a little surprised. This may be the first time the captain has seen some kind of emotion on her face.
On the monitor showing dormitory D, Adam is in the same place. The worm's mouth is growing out of the wall on his right side, only 5 meters away, becoming more prominent as it digs its way out.
“ADAM! MOVE!” The captain shouts desperately in the loudspeaker.
Adam is crouched over in the fetal position, rocking back and forth. He cannot see the worm’s tongue getting ready to launch.
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Rayne is now two corridors away from Dormitory D and Adam. The first corridor is 40 meters long and has a worm mouth, active and waiting on the floor halfway through the corridor.
In less than a second, Rayne appears on the other side of the corridor. The worm did not realize her passing. Rayne crosses the door at the far end and appears in the last hallway between her and dormitory D. This hallway also has a worm mouth, one-quarter of the way on the left wall. The door to the dormitory is at the far end of the corridor. Less than a second later, Rayne is at the dormitory door.
Inside the dormitory, the fully-grown tongue lashes toward Adam,
"NO!"
Something interrupts the tongue, throwing it off its course midway. The same thing also violently pushes Adam to his right. Adam splatters on the ground on his right flank and has to support his head from hitting the floor by extending his arms. The cat escapes from his arms, runs towards the nearest air vent, jumps inside, and disappears.
Rayne is on the monitor now, she is on the other side of the dormitory. Did the captain just see her throw a giant ball of air at the worm? Was the camera tricked by something just now?
Does it matter? He must do something.
Rayne runs towards Adam and tries to lift him off the floor; she is half his size. The task of supporting Adam to stand up seems like a grapple, especially since Adam seems to be resisting it.
“Dammit, Adam!” The captain grabs his coat, he must do something, and he decides to go after them.
“Wait…” Jane grabs the captain’s arm “…give her a second.”
The worm’s tongue is slowly sliding on the floor, rolling back to the mouth. They all know the tongue will launch again once fully retracted. Rayne is no longer forcing Adam to stand, he is standing on his own, but he is not moving.
Rayne takes her helmet off, it turns back to the shape of black headphones. She puts the headphones on the ears of Adam and pushes one of the ears. The headphones turn back into a black helmet with a green visor, matching Adam’s head.
“You can speak in Adam’s ears now.” Jane offers her mini-radio to the captain.
The captain grabs the radio immediately. “Adam, can you hear me?”
For a second that seems to last forever, they can only hear Adam’s irregular panting on the radio.
“Ca… captain??” utters Adam eventually.
Everyone in the monitor room takes a breath of relief. “Listen to me, buddy. You need to move and you need to move right now.”
“Ye…Yes, captain!” Adam’s shaky voice is the sweetest thing the captain has heard all day.
The tongue is fully back inside the mouth now.
“Run to the door! NOW!”
Adam starts running.
The tongue lashes.
Rayne jumps between them, she interrupts the tongue midway by making an invisible cushion between her right boot and the tongue, it is like she is playing football with a giant invisible ball.
“This is not good.” Says Karen, for the first time her voice sounds serious.
On the monitor, both Rayne and Adam pass the door before the tongue can fully roll back inside the mouth. Rayne grabs a pillow and a blanket from one of the bunk beds while running and brings them with her.
On another monitor, Adam and Rayne appear passing the door back to the last hallway. Rayne closes the door behind them. In this hallway, a mouth has dug a hole in the wall 25 meters to their right. Rayne grabs Adam’s t-shirt and pulls him backward until their back reaches the wall to their left; they are now 27 meters away from the mouth. Rayne pushes herself and Adam to the wall. The tongue lashes toward them, but it is not long enough to reach them. It falls on the floor in front of them and slowly rolls back to the mouth.
“If they can keep this position, unit Azul will reach them in 9 minutes,” says Jane.
“Uh-oh,” says Karen.
The mouth disappears from the hole. Waves of flesh covered with red oozing skin appear on the hole. Is it digging to its left?
“It is digging to its left,” says Jane on the radio.
On the monitor, Rayne touches her right earpiece and nods.
Jane approaches the captain. She looks even more serious than before “The doctor’s equipment has finite battery making gravity bursts, only 9 strikes” explains Jane in her stern monotonic voice. “She just used 2 of them.”
“She may need your help eventually,” says Karen sounding concerned.
The captain did not understand CASTEL's technology or these... bursts... they talk about. But if there was a limitation in how long they can defend themselves, it is time for him to act. “Adam, listen to me carefully, follow this woman, she will protect you,” says the captain on the mini-radio “I am coming to get you, ok? Hang in there and do everything the woman says.”
“Ok, captain,” says Adam in a voice that is almost crying.
The captain grabs his coat and runs out of the monitor room to the stairs. He jumps the stairs 3 by 3 and gets himself to the bottom of the tower as fast as he can. The moment he steps foot outside the tower, he remembers that he no longer has Faraday cage protection. But he does not have time to linger. He runs out of the door, into the exhaust tower, he knows exactly where he is going.
The captain is a skilled ice climber and a military-trained medic. He can establish intravenous access in any victim in a few seconds.
His current job has a lot to do with removing half-crushed bodies of his employees from under malfunctioned constructions on top of preventing those accidents from happening.
Rayne is not sure if she correctly heard the captain say “…do anything this woman says”. Adam’s panting is so loud she can barely hear the voices inside his helmet.
Let’s see if Adam will follow her directions.
“Adam!”
They are both pressing their backs to the wall. Rayne turns her head towards Adam, puts her left hand on top of Adam's helmet, and turns his helmet so he faces her. Adam's eyes are protruding but they lock on Rayne's eyes. His cheeks are red but his breathing is regular and that is good. Rayne looks directly into Adam's eyes.
“Stay behind me. Move with me.”
Rayne’s stern expression and firm command leave no choice for Adam. He stops panting for one second. He nods.
Rayne holds Adam’s shirt with her left hand and steps in front of him to his left. She slowly moves both of them to the wall on the opposite side of the worm and slowly walks closer to the hole. The hole shows waves. This means that it is the body, so the mouth must be digging somewhere else. Jane just confirmed that the mouth is digging to its left. They have to get out of there while the mouth is still digging. Rayne grabs a desk that was standing next to the door they just escaped from and adds the desk to the pillow and blanket she carried out of the dormitory, keeping the legs of the desk pointing at the hole, making a DIY shield. She looks for signs of a digging mouth appearing out of the concrete wall to her front. She starts walking slowly to her left.
Uh-oh, behind her, Adam is not breathing properly. His breathing is shallow and he keeps holding his breath. If he continues like this he may pass out.
Raynes turns her head towards Adam and looks him in the eyes. With her mouth, she words “BREATHE”.
Adam has a tired look, he understands Rayne but his breathing is taking over him.
“BREATHE” mouths Rayne again. She grabs Adam’s left wrist and places his palm on her chest, making him feel her chest moving in and out with power.
Adam understands Rayne better now. He takes two strong breaths. Rayne watches his breathing become more regular. She turns her focus to the front. No sign of excavating mouth. Rayne pulls Adam to the left wall and continues walking along it, keeping their backs as close as possible to the wall behind, slowly getting closer to the enormous hole on the wall now showing oozing wavy skin. The worm's body shows signs of digging. "But this worm is fucking smart," thinks Rayne.
As they pass in front of the hole, the mouth reappears right in front of them, back in the same hole. In a fraction of a second the tongue lashes towards them. Rayne reacts fast, she jumps and holds the desk between herself and the lashing tongue, using her right arm, the sole of her right boot, and her left knee. She holds Adam behind her using her left hand. The tongue presses them to the wall behind them.
“Shit”
The tongue is not stuck on the desk, it gives up pressing and slowly moves back to the mouth. It will strike again very soon.
“RUN TO THE DOOR!” shouts Rayne while dropping her DIY shield.
Adam runs to the door. Behind him, he hears the same bang noise he has heard Rayne’s boots make when they strike.
Adam passes the door and stands in the middle of the next corridor. An active worm mouth is dug out of the floor in front of him, a few meters away. Rayne closes the door behind her, puts her back on the door, and pushes Adam with the soles of her boot, throwing him to the opposite wall. The worm's tongue passes between her boot and Adam's body. "Shit," thinks Rayne. The tongue rolls back inside and launches again. Rayne defends with a gravity burst.
BANG!
The tongue is thrown to the other side of the corridor.
Rayne grabs Adam and pushes him to run with her toward the mouth. She prays that Adam will not resist running directly at the mouth. The tongue is rolling back. Adam obeys Rayne and follows her. The tongue fully rolls back inside and launches again, Rayne defends with a late strike, and the tongue lands on the wall right next to Adam's head. Adam screams and crouches over. "Shit!"
The tongue rolls back and lashes again. Bang! Rayne defends with another strike.
"Adam! Run! Please!"
Adam is holding his head with his hands, crouched on the floor in the fetal position.
Bang! Bang!
"Adam! Please! Run! Now!" Rayne sounds desperate.
Bang!
"ADAAAM!" the captain's scream echoes all the way through the corridor. Adam raises his head and looks around. The captain is standing on the other end of the corridor holding what looks like a makeshift scarecrow wearing a yellow worker's helmet attached to a stick.
"RUN!"
Adam starts running toward the captain, passing the mouth. The tongue lashes out but this time it is aiming at the scarecrow. It attaches to the scarecrow's head and the helmet, sticking to them and pulling them back to the mouth. Adam passes the mouth. Behind him, Rayne passes the mouth too.
Suddenly, Rayne is violently pushed to the front. The tongue is attached to her back, on her jacket. As the tongue starts pulling back, Rayne helplessly extends her arms in front of her, hoping to grab something midair. In her moment of despair, she sees the face of the captain, he grabs both her hands midair like he is holding to dear life.
He puts his feet in front of him and bends his knees, getting ready to resist the force pulling her with all his might. Rayne grasps his hands with all her strength. The tongue pulls Rayne's jacket. The jacket rips open at designated zip lines. The tongue retracts, attached to the torn-off jacket. Rayne stands still, wearing only her black sports bra, holding the captain's hands.