Foreign Object in Containment Field. Orb Generation Not Permitted.
Gene hurried to the control room's exit.
The quantum orb had found its way along the lair's power mains into the turbine room of the power plant. With nothing left to push the turbines' blades, their revolutions dwindled to a stop.
Drawn in by the generating coils' electromagnetic field, the orb shot across the large tile-enclosed cavern and towards the number-three turbine. Just as the heavy brass and copper construction came to a halt, the energy ball collided with its top portion. A small explosion dislodged the turbine from its anchors, exposing the drain pipe below the turbine blades.
The explosion was one of the results of the orb's sudden impact. The other was that the orb shattered into nearly fifty smaller spheres. The emerging golf-ball size energy balls scattered across the turbine room, setting equipment and furniture ablaze. Thick, black smoke billowed where moments ago computer panels showed the schematics of the slowing generators. Chairs and desks were instantly set on fire. The yelping of a fire siren was taking the place of the muted evacuation alert. Computer panels and flashing red and yellow lights throughout the facility reminded of the evacuation in progress and the raging fire. Hallways and the many circular stairways that connected the multiple levels of the lair where filled with Troopers scrambling for the missile bay. Isabelle knew the lair's evacuation would lead its staff through the launch bay from seeing the pod eject for the assault on Tasha.
Images of the missiles striking one after another of Tasha's planes were flashing through Isabelle's head. Isabelle felt little chance that her former adversary's action would have created much cloud cover. All alone, she ducked into an emergency supply closet in the missile bay. Through the utility room's cracked door, she watched the lair's personnel burst into the launch area and board a seemingly endless supply of escape pods. As quickly as the Troopers could board, their hatches closed and the cylindrical tungsten-vehicles ejected through the launch tube. The missile laid inactive in its pre-launch position outside the tube. Within a minute's time, the last of Gene's forces had ejected and left a lone pod remaining on the track beside the missile. Isabelle knew for whom this pod was meant. She could feel in every part of her body that she was about to face the most difficult and the most important confrontation of her life. Fuji's words rang strong through her mind.
"He is powerless against your valor."
Isabelle stood tall. She took a deep breath and opened the door to the missile bay. Two steps forward and she stood in what would become the arena for the battle between light and darkness. Smoke from the burning power plant billowed through the hallway outside the window. The missile bay's steel door flew open. Surrounded by a cloud of smoke, Gene entered and flung the door shut behind himself. With anger and darkness in his eyes, the maniacal tyrant stared directly at the warrior of the light before him. Without breaking their eye-contact, Gene reached into the projectile's open access door. His hand explored the cavity that was designed to hold the orb during travel. His fingers felt the cold, wet beads, which had brought his whole operation to its knees, like the thorn in a bear's paw. As soon as he pulled the offending object out of the missile, the countdown clock reset to the final ten minutes. That was how long it would take to generate a new orb and cool the weapon to near absolute zero. A look at the strand of faceted citrine and labradorite brought an expression of great discontent to his face.
"So - Isabelle de Fleur thinks she can stop my plan from fruition? You've got to be the most arrogant person I've ever met."
A strong sense of confidence filled Isabelle. She stood face to face with her adversary, who without his smoke and mirrors seemed a lot less intimidating than she had expected. She walked towards him, knowing that light is stronger than shadow and replied, "It didn't take much to send your army scurrying. I'm surprised you're man enough to face me yourself."
Although Gene wasn't used to getting his hands dirty, he was not about to accept a single woman as a viable threat to his elaborate plan of world domination. "I don't need them to deal with you. Pity the cute ones are always so dumb."
Gene tossed Gemma's beads aside and swung at Isabelle with both fists, which struck nothing but air. Fuji had spent many years training his disciple in the defensive martial arts. As a teenager, Isabelle became a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu, a skill Tasha had experienced firsthand. Isabelle had enjoyed the sport for its aspects of fitness and self discipline. She had never seen the need to learn aggressive sports such as karate or boxing, because she felt no need to know how to attack another individual. Isabelle evaded several of Gene's attempts to punch her and quickly wore down the evil elder who was not accustomed to physical confrontation. Gene came at Isabelle with all his strength only to find himself sailing through the air and landing flat on his back after a skillful Jiu-Jitsu move by Isabelle.
Gene was gasping for air. He was losing the fight with the fit defender of nature. Under normal circumstances, his Troopers handled violence for him, so Gene didn’t see the need to carry a weapon. He had to tip the balance in his favor somehow and Isabelle was the superior fighter. Isabelle stood by Gene's feet. Weakened and somewhat stunned from his fall, Gene braced himself against the wall beside him as he rose up. The corner of his eye caught a fire extinguisher on the wall. As he came back onto his feet, the dark industrialist tore the red steel-cylinder off its mount and with all his remaining strength, he flung around. Isabelle was caught by surprise and failed to dodge Gene's blow. The fire extinguisher struck her in the left temple. For the second time since she had entered Gene's lair, Isabelle dropped to the ground unconscious. Gene glanced at the launch clock that was displayed prominently on the wall behind the last escape pod. Big yellow letters were ticking down the remaining minutes to lift-off.
4:37
A sinister smile spread across Gene's face, but it too, was cut short by yet another alarm. The Napoleonic hoarder of wealth angrily depressed the mute function on the capacitor's warning panel. Tasha and Isabelle's interruptions to the countdown had forced the increasing temperature of the lair's energy storage past its tolerance. Millions of layers of graphite dust in the hollowed-out granite cliff were slowly approaching their flash point, the temperature at which a solid material combusts. Gene could do little more than hope his missile was going to be ready to launch before his underground bunker would burn in a hellish inferno.
The glow from inside the reaction chamber had increased to a blinding brightness, confirmation for Gene that the orb was forming well. The weapon was mere minutes from its automated lift-off. The time had come for Gene to go. He looked at Isabelle as she laid unconsciously on the ground. He saw all his discontent for nature and humanity in the lifeless lightworker. He was disgusted at her audacity to penetrate into his sanctuary. Leaving her to burn to death would be his way to deal with the rebel.
"You're just like your mother."
The sinister grin returned as his wing-tip smashed into Isabelle's left kidney. Certain in his arrogance that she no longer posed a threat, Gene walked towards the remaining escape pod. With little time left before the track would magnetize for launch, he boarded the tungsten pod and closed the hatch. Gene depressed the square, red button in the cockpit and the metal capsule rolled along its auxiliary rails onto the launch track.
The sharp pain from Gene's kick to her kidney had brought Isabelle back into consciousness. Her head was buzzing with dizziness. She could hear the roller-coaster like rumbling of the pod as it merged onto the launch track. Isabelle glanced at the computer panel on the wall beside her. She saw the words Pod Ejecting next to the still diminishing countdown. The effects of her illness and injuries made it difficult for Isabelle to react. In a great effort, she returned to her feet. A translucent button that resembled the half of a grapefruit in the console was marked Electromagnetic Track Test. Isabelle depressed the luminous switch. A strong electrical hum filled the launch area as the magnets along the track energized. The escape pod c
ame to a jarring halt just inside the launch tube.
While keeping the button depressed with one hand, Isabelle turned towards the track to her left. She could see Gene's face through the pod's window. It had turned to a painful grimace. The powerful electromagnetic wave that would levitate and propel the missile was now incapacitating Gene's synapses. Lights in the launch bay dimmed under the track's severe power drain. The sound of Gene's hate-filled voice emanated from the pod.
"Here's your chance for revenge."
Gene's darkness was projecting onto Isabelle. Great sorrow flooded the young woman's mind. Suddenly, Isabelle was face to face with the reason she lost both her parents. Anger welled up in her face as Gene continued.
"Avenge your parents and experience the thrill of killing. Spare me and be the one who unleashes the most destructive weapon ever on mankind."
The orb generator and magnetic launch track were consuming virtually all available power. Lights in the lair and launch bay had gone dark. Isabelle's face was lit by the control panel. She had become the only point of light in the control room. She knew keeping Gene in such a strong magnetic field would eventually paralyze his brain's electrical impulses and leave him to die. The pod would also block the missile from being able to lift off and save the world from Gene's attack. Dizzy and disoriented, Gene continued his assault on Isabelle's positive energy.
"I wonder if your father was thinking about how you ruined him when he died alone."
Gene's neurons strained under the magnetic field and he lost consciousness. All the darkness in her past was coming together in this moment. Isabelle felt every bit of anger she had ever experienced. Anger and the desire for revenge were rampant in Isabelle's mind when Fuji's words rang true like a bell.
“Only light can extinguish darkness.”
Isabelle looked at Gene's face as he sat lifelessly, strapped into the escape pod. Just like in her previous visions, Isabelle was seeing the hidden when Gene's face morphed to become Tasha, then Ryan, Lionel and eventually Tonati. Despite his massive darkness, Isabelle was able to see the humanity in Gene. Fuji had taught her that all life on earth is of the same spirit. His disciple was about to understand that any action guided by darkness would spread more darkness. To win, her actions would have to be guided by the light. No matter how unsavory Gene's actions had been, Isabelle realized that killing her adversary would make her as dark as him.
“It’s only a battle if I fight.”
As she uttered these words, Isabelle released the button in the panel. The magnets shut off. Gene's escape pod resumed its journey up the tube and ejected into the shallow water above. The lights in the lair returned to normal. Isabelle saw the orb in the generator had almost grown to full size. The containment field in the hull of the missile was energizing. Elsewhere in the lair, the graphite in the megalithic capacitor had reached its flash-point. With explosive velocity, an increasing portion of the mountain's energy storage burst into flames, engulfing the secret facility in fire.
The inferno was expanding at blinding speed across the lair. Shafts and tunnels were collapsing throughout as their structural support burned or melted away. Bright yellow flames shot down the hallway outside the launch bay. Like a welder's torch, the fire shot through the hole that the quantum orb had burned through the window. Papers, chairs and equipment were catching on fire all over the room, forcing Isabelle back into the compartment with the emergency equipment. There, she quickly dressed in a silver fire-suit and boots.
On the other side of the closet's door, the quantum orb had reached full size. Unaffected by the flames in the launch bay, the containment field inside the ceramic hull of the weapon was energizing. The now basket-ball size orb dropped into the missile and the access door closed. With only seconds remaining in the countdown, liquid helium was flowing into the weapon's fuselage to cool it to the point of superconductivity. An eerie shroud of fog enveloped the long ceramic cylinder as it neared absolute zero. Smoke and fog filled the fiery room.
Isabelle grabbed a Kevlar fire-ax off the wall and threw open the storage compartment's door. The fire hit her like a gigantic fist. Isabelle pushed her way towards the missile. Out of all her life's feats, this was the most demanding. Isabelle's head was throbbing with the physical pain of the two hits. She had to prevent the launch of this monstrous device at all cost. There was no time to think of what would happen if the missile reached its goal. That would only bring fear and get in the way of success. There was no doubt, no fear. Isabelle knew that her good intent would bring about the positive energy of the universe she needed to be victorious. Her eyes were burning and her lungs felt like they were filled with cement. Thick, chemical smoke from the burning equipment had taken the place of the oxygen consumed by the inferno. The virus she carried had also taken its toll on her strength. Two more steps and she could make it to the missile's aft section. If Isabelle could keep the weapon from reaching superconductivity, it wouldn't be able to lift off. She swung the heavy ax over her head and struck one of the five helium supply-lines that were cooling the ceramic fuselage.
The flexible pipe separated, super fluid helium-4 spilled onto the launch bay's tile floor. Freezing cold helium vapors at her feet were heating up and rising to displace what was left to breathe. Isabelle dropped the ax, reached for the railing of the nearby escape-pod boarding platform, and pulled herself to safety. Contact with the liquid would have brought a gruesome end.
Liquid helium was lapping against the solidly anchored steel door to the hallway. The sudden drop in its temperature caused the door to constrict much faster than the granite through which it lead. The resulting stress tore the doorway off its hinges. The spilled liquid helium flooded the hallway outside, extinguishing flames as it flowed down the decline to the turbine room at the lowest point of the lair.
Isabelle suddenly knew her way out: The lair's ceramic tile floor had been super-cooled. That meant, just like the missile, it had become magnetic. Tremors from the exploding energy storage shook the missile bay. The escape pod's auxiliary track at the boarding platform broke apart. Isabelle reached down and coughing from the corrosive smoke, she pulled up a slab of the track's permanent magnets that were there to guide the escape pods on their path to the main track.
Isabelle leapt off the platform and swung the magnetic plate under the soles of her fire boots. She had a 50/50 chance that the magnet's bottom was the opposite polarity of the lair's ceramic clay ground. If that was the case and if she could keep her balance without sliding off, the magnetic force should repel her. If she were to lose this magnetic coin-toss, Isabelle would get pulled against the ground and be exposed to the flowing helium. Fortune and good energy were on her side. Much like the missile over the track, Isabelle's board hovered safely over the deadly ground. With great momentum, she glided through the open doorway and followed the flow of the frigid fluid. As it poured down the corridor, heat from the ground and the many fires caused the icy-cold liquid to evaporate.
Unseen by Isabelle, the launch door in the shallow lake water sprang open as the weapon's automated liftoff approached. The rushing helium gas was less dense than the surrounding air and much like a child's balloon, it rose to the highest point. This created a tremendous siphon effect. Where earlier millions of liters of lake water had pushed over the turbine blades, a jet of fresh air passed through the exposed inlet of the destroyed turbine. The powerful suction cleared smoke and helium from the area in mere moments. Isabelle gasped for air. She took a deep breath to clear her lungs of the noxious fumes and the resulting dizziness that had almost made her lose her balance. She could see the entrance to the turbine room in the distance. With nothing slowing her down but the rushing wind, Isabelle's impromptu hover-board picked up respectable speed on the steep decline to the bottom of the hollow cliff. The warm jungle air quickly heated the super-frozen ground to frosty but not magnetic conditions. The humidity from the tropical breeze condensed and formed a growing layer of ice on which Isabelle slid towards the open
door when her board no longer hovered.
The layer of ice was getting thinner ahead, the liquid helium's reach had ended in the middle of the hall. The metal plate under her feet came to a scraping halt, Isabelle shot forward. Her suit's thick layers of Nomex and vanadium protected Isabelle from the friction as she shot across the floor. She could hear the roar of the waterfall booming from the gap in the broken turbine - safety! Without blinking and eye, Isabelle dove into the opening, which lead her directly into the outlet pipe.
The remaining helium supplies disconnected from the missile in a tremendous hiss. The weapon had reached its magnetic state despite Isabelle's efforts. The support wheels retracted downwards and the missile was levitating. The countdown clock on the wall had reached zero. The heavy weapon thundered forward into the launch tube. Despite the increasing number of fires in the enormous energy storage device, enough electricity remained stored for a successful launch.
The track's shifting magnetic field propelled the weapon to the speed needed to fling it on a suborbital path of terror.
With These Eyes Page 33