The entire city in the sky is crashing down. And soon each city on China’s eastern seaboard will collapse too.
Jake and Ai are right above me, Ai’s legs smashing into my head as we all hold on to the metal bars for dear life. We are only a few dozen feet away from the spot where the now crumbled cement pillar stood and only inches from falling hundreds of feet into the ocean below.
There is no chance that we will get lucky and have a metal bar hit us on the way down or get caught between two pieces of plywood that somehow keep us from dying. The longer we keep ourselves attached to these metal bars, the easier we make it for Li to kill us. We are still right within firing range of the hundreds of soldiers below, and within seconds we will hit the water.
I let out a scream, my first breath since the entire disaster has started as the rush of free-falling through the sky overtakes me. The rate at which debris piles on us hits a deadly pace as more glass, pieces of cement, and piping land on my body.
I feel more like an abused rag doll than a human, my body desensitized to the dozens of hits as they smack me in various places of my body. Without the bullet-proof suit, I would be dead. But even with it, nothing can save me from being buried alive in thousands of tons of cement and metal underneath the ocean.
We have to break free.
“The cube!” I scream, hoping that Ai can hear me over the calamity of a mountain-sized oil rig crumbling to the earth.
I take it as a good chance that she didn’t hear me given that the echo of my scream barely reached my ears. She is right above me, her feet smashing into my head as she lets go of the one metal bar she is holding on to.
In her moment of crisis, I see an opportunity. The section of metal grating that Jake, Ai, and I were all on is now free-falling to the ground. The grating itself is tilted at a nearly ninety-degree angle, making our own fall nothing more than a suicide jump through a minefield of dust, broken shards of glass, and jagged pieces of metal.
The force of gravity is too strong to keep the cube inside the backpack which is hanging from one strap on the back of Ai’s shoulder. As everything around me seems to simultaneously deconstruct as if knocked down by a magical spell, the one thing that could save it all pokes out of the dark bag and floats through the air. At least, it seems like it’s floating through the air, because relative to how fast gravity is pulling me to the water, the Chimera Cube is keeping right up with me.
In less than five seconds we will all be dead.
The Chimera Cube will sink to the bottom of the ocean, only to be found by President Li and his army of robots. We will all die on impact with the water, or if we are lucky enough to survive we can almost certainly count on being suffocated in the ensuing pile of rubble that will blanket the ocean floor.
That reality and the horrible vision that crosses my mind as I come to terms with death right in front of me propels my body into action.
I vault away from the pole that my hands are still wrapped around, and as the Chimera Cube starts to fall further beneath Ai due to the lack of air resistance, I snatch the cube right from the air.
The entire movement takes less than a second and it gives me the one chance I need to try and save everything.
The next command that I deliver to the Chimera Cube is the first and only thing that comes to my mind. It isn’t a way to save us, it is more the inner gamer inside me trying to imagine what would be a great hack to beat an annoying boss in a game.
The one hack we need in life right now is a force field.
So, I scream into the Chimera Cube and tap it immediately to command it to make me one.
What happens next makes me feel like both a god and an evil computer hacker who has no idea that he infected a government server with a virus only for it to backfire (and I say this without experience doing so, I promise).
The Chimera Cube unfolds, a blue wave of light sweeping over its exterior as the components of its insides are revealed. The force field command is a relatively simple one for the Chimera Cube to execute—it strings billions upon billions of nanobots together in a tightly woven network to form a large bubble of highly electrified atoms around me that will work to repel any object that hits it.
The idea of a force field sounds genius in my head.
It will allow us to hover above the ocean, watching the oil rig collapse as Li stares at us in horror. But I forgot about one thing: the force field is programmed to keep the Chimera Cube at its center and the Chimera Cube is falling dozens of miles per hour. That means we are falling right with it.
I watch in awe as any particles of dust or wood outside of a twenty-foot radius from me shoot into the sky the moment they try to break through the barrier. The outside of the force field is so powerful that bits of the pieces of wood ignite into flames as the force field allows the entire rig to collapse while keeping us safe.
What I don’t anticipate happening is Jake and Ai smashing into the sides of the force field. They bounce off the ends of it like it is a pinball machine, both of them screaming as their muscles spasm from the rush of electricity hitting them. From the part of the patent that Jake and I read on this command, the inside of the electrical field is supposed to be greatly reduced in power compared to the outside, but clearly it is more than powerful enough to do damage.
“Clear dust,” I yell at the cube, my fingers haphazardly slapping the side of the cube as the top of it opens up once again.
The silhouettes of Ai and Jake are both wildly flying throughout the force field. I can’t keep my eyes open long enough due to the shards of metal and glass flying throughout the inside of the force field to see if they are still alive. My only hope is that the dozens of materials colliding with me have failed to connect with either of them fatally.
With the sound waves of the surrounding destruction still penetrating through the barrier that the force field has created, I am able to tell that we are in the middle of the destruction. Then we collide with the surface of water, or more accurately we fall beneath the elevation of the surface, the force field repelling all water from entering our little air bubble that is now devoid of dust. Thousands of pounds of cement and metal have already collided with the sea floor beneath us, the dark waters filled with thousands of bubbles and large chunks of rubble that make the sea look like it is a volcano exploding with bubbly magma.
I won’t let our bodies be added to the destruction.
“One thousand pounds of insulation foam,” I scream into the Chimera Cube and tap it. The insulation is the only thing that can stop Ai and Jake from being shocked by the cube, and it is our one hope at providing enough friction to slow down our fall before we smash into the ocean floor. Immediately after the cube opens, I double-tap it again, but a large piece of wood flying inside the force field knocks it out of my hand right after I deliver the command.
I have no idea if a large pile of insulation foam will work to block the electricity on the interior of the force field from shocking our hearts to death. I barely even know what insulation foam is except for the fact that in dozens of abandoned buildings I have seen the spongey, fuzzy material seeping out of broken walls and ceilings.
As expected, the Chimera Cube knows exactly what I am talking about when I utter the command. Although the cube is out of my sight as gravity is pulling me back down into the force field, I can see the foam forming throughout the entire force field like bubbles multiplying in a soapy bathtub. The cube sticks inside the insulation, the force field remaining in place as the lack of downward momentum of the insulation and thickness of the water result in the force field remaining stationary. Jake is the first to land in the massive pile of insulation foam beneath us, the cotton candy-like fabric of the foam gently catching his body.
I hit the foam next along with Ai whose body is tangled together with mine. When we collide into the foam, it feels refreshing in a way, almost like we are falling into a cloud.
The foam continues to grow in size by the second. At first it only blankets
the bottom of the force field, but after a few seconds the insulation piles on either side of me, the pinkish, lightweight material infesting nearly every inch of the force field.
“What is happening?” Ai’s muffled voice travels to my ears through the network of foam that is now drowning us. The metal shards and bars that were formerly rocketing around the force field stop as the pit of foam catches them. The foam is so thick that lying on it feels like being on top of a mattress. My original worry is that the foam wouldn’t be strong enough to hold up our bodies and that the insulation wouldn’t be powerful enough to diffuse the electrical charge. Luckily, the foam seems to form a perfect floor on the bubble of the force field, and the insulation does a great job at preventing the current from flowing through it.
The only problem is that we can’t sit in this foam pit forever. And the one thing that can get us out is lost in this mess of a pit.
“We are going to kill Li!” I scream as the sound of the collapsing rig distorted by the sea hits my ears in a nightmarish wave of demon-like bangs. Being surrounded in the foam makes it impossible to see the destruction below, but from the sheer amount of debris blocking all light from reaching our depth in the sea, the true horror of the devastation is apparent.
President Li and the Chinese military likely have no idea that we are still alive in a force field over a hundred feet underneath the water. They think we are dead. They will have no idea until we rise from the ash that we are here to kill all of them.
I dive into the foam insulation. The Chimera Cube has only been out of my hands for a few seconds, but my heart is racing as if my one baby is dead. The piece of wood knocked the cube out of my hand, but it’s impossible that it traveled very far—after all, we are trapped in this force field until I command the cube to deconstruct it.
I cough as the chemical particulates in the foam are inhaled into my airways with my head digging deeper into the material. It is impossible to see what is in front of me. My only hope is that if I burrow my arms deeper into the foam with each second that I will get lucky and hit the cube before my hand connects with the force field.
The tips of my fingers touch the warm, firm outside of the cube instead of the repulsive field of electricity. I lunge forward and wrap both my arms around the cube before pulling out of the insulation. In one smooth motion I emerge from the foam insulation, the bullet-proof vest allowing me to have my eyes open the entire time without fear of damaging my corneas from the foam.
“External wound repair.” I tap the Chimera Cube, and Jake and Ai are immediately healed of any pain from the electric shocks in seconds. My first instinct upon emerging from the foam is to end their agonizing groans after watching them painfully smack against the force field, and with their bodies pressed up against mine, they are easily within the detection range of the nanobots in the cube.
They both sigh as the pain goes away. I turn my attention to taking in the apocalyptic scene.
Inside the force field there are dozens of pieces of debris sitting on top of the layer of foam that is almost five feet deep and covers the entire diameter of the field. However, with the wreckage and thousands of gallons of water above blocking most light, everything inside the force field is almost impossible to see.
The echo of the collapsed rig is so powerful that it shakes my body and has a way of making me feel numb with the sheer force in which the waves of sound hit me.
Yet we survived.
Jake and Ai are standing up on the foam, their knees submerged into the fuzziness as they stare in awe at the destruction. Deep in the sea we have a unique perspective of the disaster, the true enormity of the oil rig present when on all sides the force field is swamped in rubble, some pieces minute and other dozens of feet in length. It feels like we are having a weird out-of-body experience, the medium of water distorting my senses enough to make it feel like another dimension.
I could sit on the insulation and stare at the wreckage all day, the power of gravity slowly pulling all the debris to the sea floor hundreds of feet beneath us. Something about it all is so mesmerizing and horrifically beautiful that I have to wake myself up from the trance, in fear that the shock will paralyze our chance of survival.
“Three hoverbikes.” I tap the Chimera Cube and then immediately double-tap it as three bikes with blue neon lights around the exterior of the wheels appear. The nanobots build the structures so fast that it feels like they have been there all along only for someone to pull an invisible cloak off them.
They hover in the air automatically, the engine inside propelling them upward strong enough to combat the will of gravity. The three bikes line up above the foam, their sleek, black exterior and leather seats looking like they are fit for futuristic assassins.
“Hop on,” I yell at both Ai and Jake. My yell is unnecessary, as they are already climbing onto the bikes, neither of them wasting any time. No one questions why I choose the large, unruly hoverbikes to be our mode of transportation through the sea and cloud of dust to the large green metal structure at the center of the oil rig.
In all honesty, they were the first things that came to my mind. I don’t want President Li to see us riding up on puny little hoverboards, laughing as he prepares to send a million soldiers and robots after us.
I want him to see us on our hoverbikes and know that we are fucking badasses.
“Put the cube back in the bag,” Ai snaps at me as I hop on the bike, steadying my right arm around the lever for acceleration. To go forward, all I have to do is press down on the handle and this thing will jet forward, and to turn the bike, all I have to do is shift my body weight in whichever direction I want to go.
“I want to hold this. I want him to see it.” I smile as I stare at Ai, who would normally snap at me and say I’m being an idiot, but she knows her words will be nothing more than wasted breath.
Jake and Ai know why I really want to hold this cube.
I want to cradle it in my lap with one hand as I jet forward on this bike, knowing that I have the power of all the gods imaginable in my hands. They know that as much as I want the world to be saved, the truth is that I want to be the one responsible for saving it.
A surge of adrenaline courses through me as I press down as hard as I can on the accelerator. The two engines positioned at the back of the hoverbike ignite, a thin orange flame exploding out of it.
I can’t see what is in front of me.
I don’t even know if I am traveling in the right direction, but for a brief moment none of that matters. All I can see are Jake and Ai out the corner of my eyes, both of them riding in synchrony with me. The water and debris repel from the exterior of the force field, a vortex of bubbles and sparks surrounding my vision.
It feels like we are breaking through space-time, forming our own little wormhole that we can travel to anywhere in the universe in. It doesn’t even matter how long we take to emerge from the water—as long as we don’t run out of oxygen in our force field, we can burrow tunnels through any medium as long as we push the Chimera Cube forward.
Being at the center of the force field with the light pulsing through the bubbles and wreckage, the closer we get to the surface, an unbelievable euphoric sensation flows through me. Even in the wake of the destruction, even as the shock from all the trauma I have endured in the last hour alone still sets in, the weight of all the pressure on my shoulders is lifted with the power of the cube back in my hands.
And now that I have it with me, I know that I can make sure that no one ever takes it from me again.
It’s moments like these when you see the true evil that this world is capable of and you see how truly horrible humanity can be that you notice that you are no different.
I would destroy this entire rig a million times if it meant killing Li.
And that’s exactly what I might have to do.
Chapter 13
The closer we get to the building, the less confident I am that things are going to work out. I’m not worried about the
military killing us. With our bullet-proof suits, the task of ending our lives is no easy feat.
Add that to the fact that the density of the smoke renders any drone or other military vehicles spotting us from the sea or sky an impossibility, and it looks like we are safe—for now.
But I don’t feel safe.
None of us feel safe.
On either side, Jake and Ai fly in a steep upward angle through the thick cloud of smoke, in sync with my hoverbike. I imagine that if anyone could see our progress flying above the tons of rubble below that are sinking to the sea floor then they would think we are both the coolest and scariest humans in existence. All our eyes are glued forward.
No one talks. No one even wastes their time asking what the hell is going on.
We don’t have any idea what is about to happen.
We don’t have any idea what is inside the control center of the oil rig that we are approaching, or even if we are flying in the right direction. All I know is that as the smoke continues to seep into my lungs, causing me to descend into a coughing fit in which phlegm forces its way out of my throat and runs down the side of my neck, the unsettled feeling inside me grows.
Then the control center towers above us.
I suppose it has always towered above us, but not until we are a few dozen feet in front of it do I get to marvel at its sheer size. It is well over a hundred feet high and several hundred feet wide. The structure is encased in green metal sheets with dozens of cube-shaped rooms randomly dispersed throughout the center of the oil rig to form a massive network of pods as intricate as a beehive. Each pod has a large, circular window on every one of its exterior walls, making the center of the oil rig look more like a civilization on Mars than a compound on Earth.
The network of metal bars and multiple floors of the platforms have all been wiped out on this side of the rig, while the other half of the rig remains untouched. If one could see this scene from the other side of the platform, all you would have to do is look at the helicopter pad and network of valves and pipes all in place and think this rig is still in operation.
The Conspiracy Chronicles Boxset 2 Page 38