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“Alert. System capacity nearing critical mass.“
No, no, no! Don’t you dare! Don’t you fucking dare! A solitary scientist was staring at a screen as red boxes flashed across it. Step by step, he was working through the issues, tapping away at other screens or fiddling with other devices to control the various semi-autonomous assistants.
Storage capacity overloaded; he took up a cellular-like device and drew lines between the symbols to reroute power flow. A majority of it went to electrical conversion before being dumped into the city’s electrical network.
Core Rift Support overheating; he pressed a button on the main screen and dragged the toggle down to increase power into the electro-thermal heat sync floor and ceiling. That would take a moment to be effective.
Rift expanding; could not solve that yet, move on.
Energy radiation is interfering with communications; he used his cellphone to disable the Wifi and run all communications through ethernet lines. Shit, that worked? No time for surprise or praise, time to move on.
Rift is expelling exotic matter, turning the walls into a black tar-like substance; What the fuck?
Electrical output is overheating the powerlines leaving the lab.
The air in the core is growing exponentially hotter, despite cooling attempts.
The rift is expanding.
The voices coming from the phone seem to be speeding up, growing higher and higher pitched.
Time dilation… No button for that.
IT finally came. The voice of the laboratory executive giving the world to pull the plug. This was the easiest part and the only real task that had been expected of this greenhorn. He returned to the main computer, kneeled down, and took hold of the wrist-thick bundle of plugs socketted into the wall. Power, Ethernet, output information to the Rift Breech Core, input diagnostics…
He yanked. Nothing happened. The communications computer still squeaked at him, but the speed of the voices became almost incomprehensible. He had no more readouts. Not that he needed them; the rift was constanty expanding. It soon passed through the walls meant to hold it in. It needed no power to stay open.
That lone scientist turned his gaze from the coming demise to the clock. 11:59, with thirty seconds to go till the new year.
10.
His seniors were supposed to be drinking an expensive whiskey to celebrate - he was going to have a big bonus on his pay for staying behind.
9
The young man, resigned to his fate, removed his labcoat. There was no running from this. The voices were barely high pitched beeps.
8
Leaving the time dilation would mean going from super slow to normal. Half his body would be exposed to slow progression. Blood flow, nerve signals, et cetera - all fucked up in no time.
7
I was supposed to be interviewed…
6
It felt like no time at all, but he knew those outside were probably minutes - if not hours in to the crisis.
5
It was surprising how calm the air was outside the rift. There was no pull of gravity, despite the time dilation. No radiant energy through the air - at least that he could feel.
4
The rift continued to expand, and the lone man found himself pressed against the elevator door. Death by dual time, or exotic exposure? Neither sounded particularly pleasant.
3
It was odd, his last thoughts. In the moment before the outer lining of the rift - a blackened void-like sphere - touched his chest, he could only think of how history would remember him.
2
I hope no one remembers me as the Second Chernobyl guy…
1
1
1
...
0
The impending wall of death made contact with the young man's chest. All at once, the world flexed and bowed, time slowly crept from a standstill and the exotic matter retracted. It was not back into the rift that had released it, but into the living creature it had touched.
The experience was brief, but it felt like ages. He couldn't remember what started this. In fact, he couldn't jot remember much at all. Why… am I here? What… is all of this?
The young man looked around and saw nothing familiar in the world. It was sunny out, with wispy clouds overhead. Upon a crumbling pillar of stone sat a large Bob tailed cat licking at its paw. The man heard nothing but crackling and roaring. Upon the vine pierced tile floor laid several small creatures, burned to death and in various stages of decay.
I… I'm… free? What am I free from? Why can't I remember? It felt like a distant memory: something screeching and waves of heat, the overwhelming sensation of fear. It was a broken memory, yet it was the most vivid memory he could recall.
No, no, no! Don’t you dare! Don’t you fucking dare! A solitary scientist was staring at a screen as red boxes flashed across it. Step by step, he was working through the issues, tapping away at other screens or fiddling with other devices to control the various semi-autonomous assistants.
Storage capacity overloaded; he took up a cellular-like device and drew lines between the symbols to reroute power flow. A majority of it went to electrical conversion before being dumped into the city’s electrical network.
Core Rift Support overheating; he pressed a button on the main screen and dragged the toggle down to increase power into the electro-thermal heat sync floor and ceiling. That would take a moment to be effective.
Rift expanding; could not solve that yet, move on.
Energy radiation is interfering with communications; he used his cellphone to disable the Wifi and run all communications through ethernet lines. Shit, that worked? No time for surprise or praise, time to move on.
Rift is expelling exotic matter, turning the walls into a black tar-like substance; What the fuck?
Electrical output is overheating the powerlines leaving the lab.
The air in the core is growing exponentially hotter, despite cooling attempts.
The rift is expanding.
The voices coming from the phone seem to be speeding up, growing higher and higher pitched.
Time dilation… No button for that.
IT finally came. The voice of the laboratory executive giving the world to pull the plug. This was the easiest part and the only real task that had been expected of this greenhorn. He returned to the main computer, kneeled down, and took hold of the wrist-thick bundle of plugs socketted into the wall. Power, Ethernet, output information to the Rift Breech Core, input diagnostics…
He yanked. Nothing happened. The communications computer still squeaked at him, but the speed of the voices became almost incomprehensible. He had no more readouts. Not that he needed them; the rift was constanty expanding. It soon passed through the walls meant to hold it in. It needed no power to stay open.
That lone scientist turned his gaze from the coming demise to the clock. 11:59, with thirty seconds to go till the new year.
10.
His seniors were supposed to be drinking an expensive whiskey to celebrate - he was going to have a big bonus on his pay for staying behind.
9
The young man, resigned to his fate, removed his labcoat. There was no running from this. The voices were barely high pitched beeps.
8
Leaving the time dilation would mean going from super slow to normal. Half his body would be exposed to slow progression. Blood flow, nerve signals, et cetera - all fucked up in no time.
7
I was supposed to be interviewed…
6
It felt like no time at all, but he knew those outside were probably minutes - if not hours in to the crisis.
5
It was surprising how calm the air was outside the rift. There was no pull of gravity, despite the time dilation. No radiant energy through the air - at least that he could feel.
4
The rift continued to expand, and the lone man found himself pressed against the elevator door. Death by dual time, or exotic exposure? Neither sounded particularly pleasant.
3
It was odd, his last thoughts. In the moment before the outer lining of the rift - a blackened void-like sphere - touched his chest, he could only think of how history would remember him.
2
I hope no one remembers me as the Second Chernobyl guy…
1
1
1
...
0
The impending wall of death made contact with the young man's chest. All at once, the world flexed and bowed, time slowly crept from a standstill and the exotic matter retracted. It was not back into the rift that had released it, but into the living creature it had touched.
The experience was brief, but it felt like ages. He couldn't remember what started this. In fact, he couldn't jot remember much at all. Why… am I here? What… is all of this?
The young man looked around and saw nothing familiar in the world. It was sunny out, with wispy clouds overhead. Upon a crumbling pillar of stone sat a large Bob tailed cat licking at its paw. The man heard nothing but crackling and roaring. Upon the vine pierced tile floor laid several small creatures, burned to death and in various stages of decay.
I… I'm… free? What am I free from? Why can't I remember? It felt like a distant memory: something screeching and waves of heat, the overwhelming sensation of fear. It was a broken memory, yet it was the most vivid memory he could recall.