“What?”
“It’s a purifying force. Overpopulation is the cause of our problems. War helps us return to balance.”
She clasps her hands. “Please, we’re on the cusp of a brilliant breakthrough. Take a step back and think about the possibilities.”
Anil lowers his face and sends a message in his smartglasses. “Where is the titanium?”
Austin silently sends a reply. “Are you sure you want to go inside?”
“Yes.”
“It’s on the counter next to the accelerator.”
Anil’s heart beats madly in his chest. “Can you distract the guards?”
Austin gently nods. Without warning, he stands and shouts at the top of his lungs and then races from the crowd.
Manos points. “He’s getting away!”
The paratroopers race towards Austin and tackle him to the ground. Seeing his opportunity, Anil quietly crouches and sprints towards the laboratory. He makes his way through the bay doors and hides in a corner. The timer comes into view.
7:12, 7:11, 7:10…
Shit, time is running out.
He pulls on the shackles with all his force and waves of pain tear across his arms. He struggles to break free and scrapes his wrists on the metal cuffs.
That hurts!
Fighting through the terror, he tries forcefully to free his right hand and opens a deep gash. His arm bleeding and badly bruised, he runs in agony looking for a way to escape the restraints.
Shots fire on the field. Anil looks back to see someone lying on the ground.
Dr. Sanders!
Startled, he sprints to the accelerator and finds an electrical saw on a workstation. He flips it on and the razor-sharp teeth spin at high speed. His heart racing, he turns around and slowly lowers the handcuff chain onto the blades.
Relax, you can do this.
A loud snap echoes off the wall as Anil splits his cuffs in two. Breathing relief, he races through the lab looking for the titanium canisters, finding nothing. Running from table to table, he trips and falls hard on the ground, curling into a ball and suffering in silence.
God, help me.
Writhing in misery, he spots a briefcase nearby. He crawls on his knees and grabs the bag. His hands shaking, he reaches inside and pulls out a six-inch cartridge.
Here it is.
He gets up and scans the X10 interface looking for a spot to insert the titanium. The device appears to be off. Anil pushes several buttons but there is no response. He looks up to the clock.
5:12, 5:11, 5:10…
Panicked, he bangs on the instrument and kicks its metal stand but only hurts himself more. As the countdown ticks away, he remembers that it runs on a mobile operating system and he did not load the software on his smartglasses.
Oh no, I can’t even turn this on!
He leans over the accelerator and sobs. Blood drips from his hand to the floor.
We failed…
Suddenly the device rumbles and a capsule door opens. He jumps as a message arrives in his field of view. “Load the canister, Anil. I’ll activate the X10 remotely.”
Anil jolts up. “Dr. Sanders, you’re alive!”
“Hurry, turn on the laser!”
He inserts the gas canister and closes the door. An electric whir reverberates through the hangar as the titanium ions accelerate at high speeds.
4:32, 4:31, 4:30…
His heart racing, he dashes across the warehouse and climbs a set of stairs to the command center. He glances outside and sees the soldiers standing at attention.
I hope they don’t see me.
He enters the office and finds a touchscreen display with rows of icons. Breathing frantically, he scans the monitor for the activation sequence and makes random selections, unable to turn on the laser.
3:19, 3:18, 3:17…
A message arrives from Austin. “Hit Command, Neodymium, 100%, Activate in that order.”
Anil nervously browses through the options looking for “Command.” Seconds later, he finds it and presses it. A window pops up with twenty additional fields.
Calm down. Do this for Lumi.
He pushes “Neodymium” and then raises the level to “100%.”
“Confirm power-on,” an A.I. voice requests.
Anil presses “Activate” and the console flashes. “System warming.” He runs out and spots the laboratory’s lights flicker as the laser warms up.
Will it be ready in time?
He looks to the timer.
2:45, 2:44, 2:43…
“Hurry, turn on!” he yells.
The warehouse shakes when a generator kicks in and activates the ray to full strength. A faint red beam strikes the reactor’s outer zirconium shell and smoke rises to the ceiling.
Two minutes before the wave hits.
Rhythmic thuds bounce off the walls. The familiar metallic smell drifts through the air as the laser intersects the titanium field in the gravity engine. Anil looks around and notices a hole in the wall near the transformer.
His heart drops.
I forgot to connect the high voltage lines!
A soldier shouts from the field. “Someone’s inside!”
Shit.
Anil turns to find paratroopers storming the hangar. A shot fires and blasts through the ceiling.
1:51, 1:50, 1:49…
“Stop where you are!”
Anil races frantically towards the transformer and finds a thick black cable twelve inches in diameter, its exposed end lying on the ground.
We were supposed to connect this to the other end!
His hands shaking and the paratroopers closing in, he grabs the ultra-high-voltage line and sprints towards the crevice, dragging meters of wire along the floor behind him.
“Get your hands in the air!” a soldier yells.
A bullet ricochets off the reactor and Anil falls to the floor.
1:11, 1:10, 1:09…
Looking through the opening, he scans the area for the power plant and finds nothing, then desperately clutches the cord and leaps from the building, landing on the outdoor concrete. Clenching his jaw in pain, he gets up and runs through a dirt patch.
“He’s escaping. Shoot him!”
A shot rings out and birds flock from a utility pole. Anil ducks and rushes aimlessly in search of the partner cable, struggling to hold onto the line.
We can’t all die this way.
A message arrives. “Hurry, Anil, the wave is about to hit.”
Anil scurries across the field in search of the missing end. Suddenly he hears a snap and tumbles on the ground as the cord reaches its full length. Frazzled, he crawls back and grabs it with the soldiers closing in.
Oh, no, it’s not long enough.
He pulls on the cord but it doesn’t move, stretching taut from the laboratory.
33, 32, 31…
“Anil, connect the reactor to the grid. Hurry!”
A query pops up in his smartglasses. “Accept request from Austin Sanders?”
“Yes!” Anil cries. In his field of view, a blue tracer fans across the dirt field. He gets up and follows the arrow, sprinting as fast as he can and searching the ground in all directions. A rifle goes off and a bullet whizzes by him.
“Stop where you are!” a paratrooper orders.
With the help of the navigator, Anil locates the other high-voltage lead and springs towards it. His arms cramping, he grabs the end and runs back towards the hangar, facing the soldiers head on.
12, 11, 10…
He scurries as he stares down the barrel of a soldier’s gun. “This is your last warning,” the gunman screams.
Anil closes his eyes and races forward as gunshots reverberate across the field. He leaps in the air and lands hard, opening his eyes to find the other cord a few feet away, the junction box at its end open and waiting. The thunderous whir of the laser and accelerator shake the ground.
“He’s still alive. Kill him!”
He frantically crawls forward with the cabl
e in his hand, trying desperately to make the connection.
6, 5, 4…
Covered in dust and sweat, he grabs the link and shoves it in the other end. Sparks fly as a magnetic force snaps the leads together. Suddenly lightning strikes a utility pole and a violent explosion hurls him in the air.
Instantly, the sky brightens and intense daylight glows above the San Francisco Bay Area. The ground teeters and the building tilts forward.
Anil falls feet first and collapses on the swaying earth. His wrist shatters against the ground, leaving him immobilized in pain. Waves of agony rip through his body.
Am I alive?
He tries to open his eyes but a piercing white light blinds him. His ears ringing loudly, he forces his eyes open and spots a mushroom cloud rising to the sky.
“It’s an atomic bomb!” someone hollers. The soldiers cover their eyes from the intense heat.
Anil turns to the east and spots the sunrise. He looks up and catches a glimpse of a massive star, its light several times brighter than the sun.
Two suns?
The high-voltage line buzzes as electricity flows from the reactor, sending thousands of gigawatts into the world.
Anil tries to sit up but the ground spins and he collapses.
30.
“ONE MINUTE till the EMP strike.”
Aboard the USS Hawkeye, Lionel Mercer and Abe McNair prepare for the bombardment of Mars. The ship’s missile ports open and the electromagnetic guns charge for the coming strike. In the cockpit, a console displays the highlighted map of New China.
A red siren flashes. “Warning, bay doors exposed.”
Abe trembles. “What is she talking about?”
Lionel calmly guides the ship. “Relax, the A.I. is programmed to say that.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, we’re ready to fire.”
“I have a bad feeling about this.”
Lionel scans the radar for signs of the enemy. “Thirty seconds left…”
A countdown appears on the display. “Prepare for launch,” the A.I. says.
Abe looks from the window, shaking in fear. Suddenly his head violently snaps back as an explosion rocks the spacecraft, disabling the systems and shutting down the airflow. All electronics and air flow turn off. As the Hawkeye goes silent, a glowing star appears in space ahead of the ship.
The force hurls Lionel upwards and smashes him into a storage barrel. He rubs his pulsating head and shouts, “Colonel McNair?” His ears ring loudly. “Sir, are you okay?” He turns to find his boss unconscious in his chair. “Can you hear me?”
Panicked, he swims to the controls in dead silence. The star’s piercing radiance blinds him as he tries to power on the spacecraft. He taps a display but the radar and monitors remain off.
“Colonel, wake up!” Not hearing a response, Lionel reaches for a first aid kit, his vision aided by the aura from space.
Abe opens his eyes. “…what happened?”
Lionel breathes relief. “Sir, you’re alive.” He grabs an ice pack and hands it to his boss. “Can you hear me?”
Abe appears frazzled. “My neck...I’m in so much pain! What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. We’ve malfunctioned…the system is down.”
“Did we strike Mars?”
“I’m not sure.”
Abe writhes in agony. “Let’s just head to Earth.”
“Sir, did you hear me? The ship’s offline. We are in trouble.”
Abe points. “Why are we facing the Sun? Did we spin around?”
“I don’t know.”
Air begins to flow through the vents and the spacecraft comes back online. The console restarts and cockpit lights up. “Prepare for reset,” the A.I. says.
Colonel McNair squints. “Can you darken the windows? I can’t see anything.”
Lionel floats to a panel and activates the visor, restricting the light from space.
“Thanks, captain. Much better now.”
As the intense luminescence fades, a large star comes into view. Lionel stares from a window and stiffens in alarm. “Colonel, that’s not the Sun ahead of us. Come take a look!”
Abe drifts towards his colleague and sees the Sun to the left of their spacecraft. He turns and finds a large, luminous object straight ahead. “What the hell is going on?”
“It looks like a meteor.”
“That large? No way.”
“What could it be?”
The radar resets and Lionel heads to his chair. “Whatever that is, our navigation isn’t picking it up.”
“That’s impossible.”
Lionel loads the shuttle log. “There’s something else—the EMP blasts never fired.”
“Are you sure?” Abe asks. “What caused the blast?”
“Perhaps a malfunction. I don’t know.”
“So we never struck Mars?”
“Nope.”
“Well, what the hell is that bright thing ahead of us?”
“No idea.”
“Strange. Let’s ask Central Command.” Abe picks up a headset. “Houston, do you come in?”
“Hawkeye, we read you. Can you tell us what happened? We’re at a loss for words here.”
Abe makes eye contact with his coworker. “…we were hoping you would inform us.”
The operator replies after a lag. “We had a massive 8.1 earthquake here in North America with a mushroom cloud over the West Coast. Did you mistakenly fire the EMP at Earth?”
Lionel grabs his headset. “This is Captain Lionel Mercer. Our missiles never launched, Houston, do you copy?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Why is there a giant star in the sky? We see two suns from here.”
Lionel nods and points. “Affirmative! We also see a star in front of us.”
Silence fills the cockpit.
“Central Command,” Abe proclaims, “we are returning home, over.”
“Negative, Hawkeye, please explore the unidentified object ahead of you. Repeat, fly towards it and report your findings back to us.”
Abe closes his eyes. “I can’t take any more of this.”
Lionel shushes his boss. “We copy, Centcom. We are on our way to solve the mystery.” He reprograms the ship and accelerates towards the intense light, hurling them into their seats. The spacecraft travels at 10,000 miles per hour away from Earth.
Abe grabs his neck and fights off waves of nausea. “Let’s head back, Captain. This is too dangerous.”
Lionel ignores his boss. “There’s something strange going on. Our radar isn’t picking up the star. Also, our ship’s exterior temperature hasn’t changed.”
“So what?”
“If we were this close to our Sun, we’d fry.”
“Maybe that’s a cold dwarf.”
“I’ve never heard of that.” Lionel leans forward. “Whatever it is, we’re approaching it fast!”
An anomaly appears on the cockpit’s holographic radar. It flashes black and white, contrasting with the green dots on the display. Lionel points to it. “Look, now we’re picking up something 100,000 miles away.”
“Why is it flashing?”
Lionel analyzes the radar log. “The object doesn’t have any mass.”
“So it’s not a star?”
“Apparently not. It seems to be some kind of energy.”
Abe’s brow furrows. “What if it’s a black hole? If we get sucked in, we’re dead on arrival.”
An incoming call rings in the cockpit. “USS Hawkeye, this is Gareth Allen, do you read me?”
Lionel answers. “Mr. Allen, we hear you, sir. This is Captain Mercer aboard the Hawkeye.”
Gareth replies after a lag. “Congratulations on a mission accomplished. That was the largest missile strike we’ve ever seen.”
“Mr. Allen, we did not launch the EMP.”
After several seconds of silence, Gareth shouts, “That’s impossible! We felt the impact on Earth, and there’s dead s
ilence from the enemy.”
With his smartglasses, Lionel takes a picture of the weapons console. “Mr. Allen, I just sent you evidence that the EMPs are still in our bay. About a minute before launch, we were hit with an explosion and our power went off.”
Gareth pauses. “Then how do you explain the blast in the sky?”
Lionel shrugs. “All we know is that we’re traveling towards an unidentified light that appeared after the blast.”
Suddenly something eclipses a small portion of the star. Abe sits upright and stares ahead. “Oh my God, am I seeing things?”
Lionel squints. “Is that what I think it is?”
Gareth barks, “What the hell is going on? Can you describe what you’re observing?”
Silence fills the cockpit as the spacecraft hurls towards the unknown.
“Hawkeye, what do you see?”
“Director Allen, it’s hard to explain,” Abe says. “I could be wrong but there appears to be a planet ahead of us.”
“How is that possible?”
Lionel nods in silence. “I know what it might be. Colonel, look at the distribution of light around the star.”
Abe looks straight ahead. “What about it?”
“Now look off to the side. Do you see how the density of light changes?”
“Can you describe your vantage?” Gareth interrupts.
Lionel takes a photo. “I can see a clear demarcation of space ahead of us. I could be wrong, but it looks like a portal has opened up near our ship.”
“Like a wormhole?”
“That’s right. We see a distortion in space and a large star much brighter than our Sun. There’s also clearly a body next to it.”
Gareth gasps. “What kind of body?”
Lionel activates the ship’s telescope and zooms into space. A blue world appears on the cockpit display.
“Oh my God,” Abe whispers.
“What do you see?”
Lionel’s jaw drops. “A planet! It has clouds and seas and even a moon.” He waits for the telescope to focus. “I see oceans of water!”
“What?” Gareth cries.
“Yes, and there are white clouds just like home.”
“Are you sure you aren’t looking at Earth?”
“Sir, the land is purple in color. And there appears to be one large land mass with no obvious continents.”
Gareth’s voice rises. “You must have opened a portal to a new solar system!”
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