by Cam Daly
They stood next to a secondary structure built into one end of the collider level, with a larger than normal door. As he moved towards them he noticed that they were leaning over a terminal as if studying something. He hoped they might be on a call with Kery but his earpiece didn’t connect to a conversation.
Sousa noticed him first and said something to Park, who quickly tucked something into a back pocket - probably the Sneaker phone. They both looked uneasy as he came closer.
“What is it? What’s happening?” Park sounded nervous.
He faced Sousa. “I have orders to remain with you, Sousa, until further notice. Are your preparations complete?”
He looked less nervous, more shifty. He couldn’t take his eyes off of the camera headset that Connor wore. “Almost. We need to verify the cooling levels first, don’t we, Doctor Park?”
Park chimed in, a thoughtful look on her face. “You’re absolutely right, Doctor Sousa. We need to enter the pump station.” She gestured towards the structure behind her, and the row of parkas on the wall.
Connor felt for a moment like he was at a high school play. The two scientists had clearly rehearsed these lines.
Sousa looked directly at Connor. “I just realized something. The walls are very thick, so you might lose your headset connection in there for a minute or so. We won’t know until we go in.”
As he donned a parka and followed them in, Connor wished that they had thought of this a couple of hours earlier.
#
The noise inside was almost deafening. Each of the cooling pumps was a gigantic machine at the center of a maze of colored pipes and conduits, many covered by frost or frozen fluids of some sort or another. Connor held one hand up to his headset and shouted as loudly as possible into the headset. “Master? Can you still hear me?”
There was no response. He waited longer, then asked again. Park looked at him expectantly, waiting for a clear indicator that it was safe to talk. Gingerly he pulled the headset off, turned it around so that the camera was facing towards an electrical panel of some sort and set it on a shelf at head level. He gestured the two into a different corner of the room.
Park was in the smallest jacket available but still looked like a child playing in adult clothing. “Are we safe?”
“For the moment, but we don’t want him to send someone for us. Try the phone.”
She fished it from her pocket and turned it on, but it didn’t connect. She started to put it away but Connor realized that Kery could access its contents later, so he took it and recorded video while they talked. Park and Sousa quickly filled him in on their conversations with her, emphasizing the agreement to save Park. Connor tried to hide his surprise that Kery was offering assurances to them in her current condition. He did tell them about the fate of the VSE Security team.
He noticed at that point that Park was shivering, although it was hard for him to tell if it was cold, fear or a combination of the two. “Broaalg expects an attack at any time. When that happens, everyone except Sousa will become a target. We have to shut off the collider as soon as possible so that Kery can rescue us. How do we do that?”
Park looked apologetic. “We were locked out of the primary control system an hour ago, and DeVries disengaged all the safety protocols and alarms. We don’t have any way to shut it off.”
Not what Connor wanted to hear. “Then we might have to do something more drastic to shut it down.”
Both scientists stared at him as if he had just suggested murdering their children. Sousa was the first to sputter out something coherent. “What are you saying? You’re going to be a cowboy and sabotage the collider? Do you realize what this represents? How hard we have worked on it?”
“Calm down - I don’t want to destroy it. Just…disable it. Can we do that from this room?” He had actually been thinking of simply blowing it up somehow.
Park shut down that possibility. “With all the safeties disengaged by DeVries, it could run for hours without new coolant. Maybe days.”
“What could do it more quickly?”
She cut him off with a shivering wave of her hand. “You don’t understand the big picture. The collider is still generating antimatter. We have it all set up with electromagnetic traps, but there's anti-hydrogen up there. If the system is just totally cut off then failsafes should cut in and contain it, but they've never been tested with the collider in this state.”
“How much antimatter?”
“Perhaps as much as a few milligrams.”
“Which ones are bigger - milligrams or micrograms?” Connor regretted the question the instant he asked.
Park just stared at him for a moment, mouth agape, then answered slowly. “A milligram is a thousand micrograms.”
Sousa looked like he wanted to punch Connor for his lack of knowledge. He settled for throwing his hands up in the air and cursing in what Connor guessed was Portuguese.
So, a lot. Many times more than the Dogpatch incident. Maybe they weren’t just concerned about their careers. “Where do they store it? Building 3?”
“Yes - building 3. The traps are toroidal vessels, about as big around as your arms. Then they ship it out in special trucks. We don’t know where it goes.”
He was surprised. “You don’t know where it goes? This stuff is like a nuclear bomb that’s always ready to go off, and you just let them cart it off?”
Sousa glared at him. “We’re advancing science here. This is Nobel prize winning work. You wouldn’t understand. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. A year from now we could have fusion reactors. Gravity control. Artificial wormholes!”
Connor couldn’t imagine the Molu would ever let them publicize what had been going on here. “A year from now? You need to focus on surviving the next hour.”
Park intervened before things got more heated. “Wait. There might be another way. We’re locked out of primary control, which means we can’t turn it off. But even twenty minutes ago we could still get into the experiment configuration protocols. We could revert it to one of the older configurations, which were a lot less efficient. They shouldn’t extend the decoherence field as far.”
“How much less far? How long will it take?”
Sousa looked on as Park pondered the question.
“Ten times less, give or take. It would only take a minute or so to do.”
Rafael clearly wasn’t happy with that idea. “Susan, we would have to be in the main control room. Once we change the configuration, they will know that we did it. What are we going to do about the…Tumorish? And the VSE robots that go through there?”
“You two leave that to me. I have a plan to get them to focus on each other. Once they do, it will get very dangerous very quickly so you need to move fast. Two minutes after the field is down, I will be…” He hesitated, wondering what exactly they thought would be coming to rescue them. “…meeting Kery at the far end of this building, near the large doors to the outside. If you don’t see us there or can’t get that direction, just head for the exterior wall and get over it somehow. There are shipping containers near the walls in a few locations - you might be able to climb one of those and jump from the top.”
Park stared at him for a moment. “That’s your plan?”
He chose to ignore the insult contained in her question. “Yes. The simpler, the better. I'll need to get a weapon before this all goes down, so after we finish down here then at some point I'll find an excuse to split from you. It’s getting close to dawn. You take the phone and call Kery in thirty minutes to fill her in. Make sure I’m nearby. That’s when we do this. Got it?”
Neither of them looked happy as they gave their assent. Connor carefully picked up the headset and put it back on with frigid fingers, then they left the cooling pump room. It was a relief to be back in the warmth and relative quiet of the collider bay, but he couldn’t relax knowing there was antimatter in the gargantuan machine above him. He decided to not ask the pair of scientists exactly how much was in there. They we
re already clearly worried about his understanding of the situation.
The less they knew about what was going on, the better.
#
Sousa and Park led him back up through the collider chamber and into the control room. The technician on duty there seemed happy for a moment to have some company, but then noticed Connor’s headset. He mumbled a greeting to Sousa and Park but refrained from asking the usual question about what was going on.
The pair of scientists went directly to a station out of the technician’s line of sight. Connor couldn’t make heads or tails of the displays, but the view of the collider out of the curved glass windows was impressive.
He wondered for a moment what his life would have been like had he been more interested in science or math, but was reminded of his current situation when a squad of three Knight mechs came trudging through the room. Their black armored faceplates reflected the many lights and displays in the room, making it harder to see the array of cameras and sensors underneath. It was almost possible to imagine at that point that they were heavily armored men instead of machines.
Connor found himself sometimes thinking of them as ESWAT allies against the Tumorish, but knew that was a dangerous line of thought. If the Molu ordered it, the Knight’s assault rifles would kill him just as thoroughly as the pyrotanglers and plasma casters of the Tumorish.
Park finished doing something with the station then nodded subtly at Connor.
“The system access is set up as we expected. There shouldn’t be any issues.”
“Good work. You should finish preparing for departure.”
The technician looked at the two scientists forlornly as they left and started to ask something, but then stopped. Connor felt bad for the man but couldn’t think of any safe way to give him permission to leave his post.
His next task was to get a weapon and increase the tension between Molu and Craven to the breaking point.
The trip back to the third floor was uneventful. Away from the collider, the building once more seemed like a normal office building. Just off the elevator they passed a series of exterior windows where the first hint of dawn was visible, creating a world of dark blues and inky blacks. The knowledge that the sun was about to rise made him yawn.
A breeze outside caused a hint of movement in a bush near the security wall. Connor could just make out one of the VSE shipping containers. He nearly jumped when Broaalg spoke.
“All forces. Begin preparations for next phase of operations.”
That sounded extremely ominous. Connor assumed the Craven couldn’t listen and hear at the same time, so he echoed the alien’s next words aloud to Sousa and Park.
“We have detected a significant gravitational event in orbit. It might be the beginning of action by the Fleet.”
Both of the scientists stopped and turned to face him. He raised a finger to his lips to silence them. He needed Park to talk to Kery immediately and warn her, even if her brain wasn’t fully charged.
He pointed a waist-high finger at Park, then his headset, then his mouth and finally mimed talking on a phone. After a moment of confusion, her shoulders tightened and she swallowed audibly. “I have to go to the bathroom.” There was a women’s room just ahead of them. Sousa looked at her, then Connor, puzzled.
“Very well. Sousa and I will wait here.”
A few seconds later, he heard through his Fleet earpiece that the Sneaker phone was active. He couldn’t speak with the Craven headset on, but he could listen.
Park's voice was quietly apprehensive as she called the Active from the bathroom. “Kery? Can you hear me? The alien just told Connor that there was some sort of ‘gravitational event’ in orbit.”
“Connor - are you there?”
TAP.
“It must be the Molu, preparing to attack the Craven. Maybe they’ve located his base. Do you have a way to disable the decoherence field?”
TAP.
Park explained. “We just need a couple minutes in the main control room. Connor is going to be the distraction.”
“Connor, are you ready to go?”
TAP TAP.
“How long…Park - did he say how long he needs?”
“I think he said 30 minutes.”
A delayed TAP.
“Once the Craven learn that Horseplay - I - am headed there, they will take up defensive positions. That should prevent them from taking the time to convert the humans and-”
TAP TAP.
“What?” Kery sounded confused by his interruption. “They already are in a defensive posture…” TAP TAP “or they've already started conversions?”
TAP.
“Damn. Broaalg is extremely aggressive for a Craven. Converting staff there would make Ormlan extremely unhappy.”
TAP.
It took Park a few seconds to figure out what Keryapt meant and Connor had confirmed, but when she did reply it was loud enough to hear in the hall. There was an edge of panic in her voice. “They’re already ‘converting’ us?”
Sousa gave a sharp glance at Connor then started down the hall towards the women’s bathroom. Connor grabbed him by the arm before he could get far, glad that he was half a head taller than the scientist. Sousa turned back to him and angrily shook Connor’s hand free. But he stayed there.
Connor stayed silent as Kery responded to Park. “They will take non-essential personnel first. Soon they will come for the rest of you.”
As if on cue, Broaalg gave new orders to Connor. “Cooooper. Harris will be there in a moment with a weapon for you. Convert Park and take Sousa.”
Maybe he didn’t need 30 minutes. Maybe everything was happening right now.
He heard the ding of an elevator from back down the hall and turned to look that direction. Harris, the first Tumorish with a headset that Connor had met in the complex, rounded the corner with a plasma arc cannon in one hand and a conversion needlegun in the other. He had a clear view of Connor and Sousa and headed towards them.
Connor froze. What if Harris gave him the needlegun?
Harris looked past Connor as he strode up the hall. “Behind you.”
Connor turned back and saw DeVries approaching from the other end of the corridor with a trio of the Knight mechs just behind him. The man was unarmed but the three mechs had heavy rifles, not yet aimed at anyone. DeVries looked angry and was listening to someone on his smartphone. He stopped a few meters away from Sousa and Connor, lowered the phone and glared accusingly in their direction.
Harris reached Connor’s side and handed him the plasma cannon without taking his eyes off DeVries. A quick glance revealed it was set to maximum power level with a wide arc. Connor didn’t adjust the settings but held it in both hands, angled downward.
DeVries spoke to Connor and Harris, assuming that Broaalg was listening through their headsets. “Our agreement included no weapons - and especially none of those.” He pointed towards Harris’ weapon. “This is not the time for us to be squabbling amongst ourselves.”
Harris and Connor’s headsets both boomed out Broaalg’s chainsaw voice. “We are prepaaaaring for any eventuality. Your mechs can stay with us while we deal with whatever situation is impending.”
DeVries did not look pleased. “Based on the power level of the gravitational signals we’re detecting, neither your ‘men’ nor these mechs will be of much use. I recommend we take Sousa into the tunnels for his own safety.” He took a cautious but deliberate step towards the scientist.
Broaalg spoke to Connor directly. “Cooper. If he takes another step forward, kill him and Sousa.”
Connor conspicuously tightened his grip on the cannon. It would take a split second to bring it up and fire, but he wasn’t sure if he could act faster than the Knights. He also didn’t know if the wide plasma arc would also hit the bathroom where Park was hiding. The Knights were only a few steps past the door.
DeVries seemed to sense the danger in Connor’s motion and held his position. The two men stared at each other from only
a few meters apart. Then, a change came over DeVries’ face. His brow furrowed slightly and he squinted in concentration.
He had recognized Connor, but couldn’t quite figure out from where or when.
Connor looked away, trying to avoid the man’s eyes. Outside, the sky had lightened considerably. The darkness of night was starting to give way to jagged patterns of shadow on the ground.
The Molu didn’t trust the Craven. The Craven were just looking for the right moment to betray the Molu. Both sides were heavily armed, and he was in the middle.
He knew what to do. The Craven’s reliance on the Tumorish as their eyes and ears in the field was their weakness.
“Master - I just saw movement near the exterior wall.”
Sousa, Harris and DeVries all snapped their heads towards the window.
“Where? What was it? I do not see anything.” The Craven voice in his ear sounded the same as it ever did, so there was no way for Connor to know if it was alarmed or not.
“It might have been something in the shadow of the wall, inside the perimeter. It wasn't large - perhaps human sized at most.” Harris and DeVries walked briskly to the window at the same time, still a few meters apart from each other but now scanning the exterior security wall. The Knights continued to face Connor as he stood in the middle of the hallway.
“I am sennnnding a squad to check that area while reviewing your images. Monitoring stations along the fence picked up nothing.”
DeVries brought his phone to his ear again while he looked. “Did it look like a woman? With long hair? Where, exactly?”
The questions were directed at Connor. “It might have been a woman. Over there.” He pointed vaguely towards the leftmost visible section of the three meter high wall. The three Knights moved like synchronized puppets to the window next to DeVries and turned to face the same direction as the others.
Harris was still a few meters away from DeVries. Connor wanted them closer together.
Broaalg spoke through Harris and Connor again. “DeVries! Is this your doing? Have your sensors detected anything? It must be Keryapt Zess.”