Chapter 6 – Gravity Knots
A few minutes earlier…
Far out in the middle of the barren desert, the massive Project Epsilon Research Facility hung in the evening sky. No guards stood their posts, no vehicles moved on their patrols around the perimeter.
Documents, tatters of clothing and broken glass littered the interior of the facility. Doors hung from mangled hinges or lay at angles on the floor, unable to find comfortable positions as their handles kept them forever tilted just a few inches away from perfect slumber. Couches, chairs and desks, all reduced to kindling and wire-ribbed tumbleweeds of stuffing. Only short tongues of untended combustion moved, pacing themselves in their consumption of the scattered debris.
The relatively indestructible terminal monitors of the observation labs all flashed the same message, EVACUATE. Scattered across the floor lie the message's intended recipients, the lifeless bodies of the project technicians. Opposite the monitoring labs, small, comfortable cells lined the other side of the hall, each occupied by a single unmoving individual.
Naked, hairless and still, the test subjects floated in the air, several feet above the floor. Before each of them hovered a small black rectangular object, a Micronix device. Anyone not preoccupied by a floating rectangle of black metal was lying in a crumpled heap, oozing fluids.
In the very center of the facility, loose items had begun to gather. Bits of paper, glass and chunks of office furniture began to slip and slide along the floors, becoming trapped against other objects, walls or ceilings. The center of the facility began to churn with the debris. Human bodies, office appliances and furniture, all flowed forward to become a formless boiling mass. The center grew tight then burst into flame as white-hot fusion consumed the physical elements.
With a second pop, the burning knot at the center went dark, expanding exponentially, inhaling, igniting and consuming furniture, walls and floors as an ocean drinks from rivers. In a fraction of a second, the implosion consumed the entire facility, leaving a massive crater in the empty desert where Project Epsilon had once stood.
At the center of the devastation, one item survived. A rectangular chunk of black metal, a single prototype, lay in the dust.
In a separate, much smaller facility, hanging in orbit far above the desert site, three agents monitored the Earth. They sat with their backs to one another, in a triangular formation, each occupied with their own bank of monitors and control panels. They sported beards and crazy longhair, as they were in orbit and had lost the desire shave and get regular haircuts.
The astronauts double-checked and confirmed their readings.
"We'd better call Dr. Fox," Carlson said.
"Where is he anyhow?" Wilkins asked.
"Dinner with the family," Bryce answered.
"Fuck, man." Carlson dialed the doctor. “No answer.”
“Better dial again,” Bryce said.
Carlson tapped resend and waited.
"Hey, Doctor Fox, this is Carlson, up on Kojima Station, we've got a problem with Epsilon."
"What kind of problem?" the doctor asked.
"Well, sir, it's gone."
"Gone?"
"Exploded, sir, or imploded maybe. We've forwarded our footage."
"How did it start? Anything preceding?" Fox asked.
"There was some kind of accident, sir. We've got all the data backed up to the server, but on the security feeds... it was psychokinetic. Also, the server might be contaminated as well. We're not sure."
"Has it given you any strange readings?"
"You should have the stream in just a couple of seconds. We did see some lights, but it could be just a backup battery coming online. They were floating again and then everything got sucked toward the center of the facility."
"A gravity knot? Like before?"
"Yeah, only this time... No survivors."
"That we know of?"
"Sir, we’ve got a fifty-kiloton release and an eleven-mile crater. FLIR and sonics show no life forms. We do have confirmation that a small black metal object is lying in the middle of the crater. One piece of shrapnel, that's all that's left."
"How small?"
"Looks like, flat rectangle, it would fit in the palm of your hand. Spectrometers register it as pure terillium."
"Thank you, Gentlemen."
"Kojima out."
Upstairs, in her room, Ashley flopped onto her bed. She pulled her journal from her bag and opened it...
Ashley’s Journal, June 22, 2308, Evening
I can’t believe I am actually considering running away, but he is making my life impossible. There’s no reason for him to treat me like this.
I hope Mom brings up my plate, but as hungry as I am, it’s not worth going back down there.
Ashley heard the door to the garage open and close. Then the big garage door opened, and her father’s car lifted off. Ash could easily tell the difference between them. His cruiser had a deep low rumble, while the family wagon had a slightly higher and quicker purr.
Ashley opened her door and found her mom halfway up the stairs.
“Come down here,” She said. “I want to talk to you.”
Ashley rolled her eyes but followed her mom down the stairs.
She sat back at the table and noticed the food was still quite warm.
“Go on,” her mom said.
Geoffrey had finished and gone down to his games and simulators.
Ashley didn’t talk but quietly ate her food.
After a few minutes and a few more bites, Anastasia looked over to her daughter. “You don’t know how much he cares about you, Towanjica.”
Ashley looked up at her mom. It had been years since Ana had used the pet name for her little girl. Ashley had been born with bright blue eyes and a shock of dark blue-black hair. Lakota for ‘All Blue,’ Towanjica had been Ana’s term of endearment for her daughter.
Anastasia Zelena was the daughter of a Czechoslovakian manufacturing mogul and an American Indian, of the Oglala people. Both her parents insisted that Anastasia be fluent in their native tongues, so she spent lots of time between the two countries, learning English and Russian, in addition to Czech and the Lakota languages.
Ana had tried to pass on some of what she remembered to her children, but Geoff and Ash seemed to absorb none of it.
“I know it feels like he’s ignoring you, but he isn’t. He’s just got a lot on his plate right now.”
“He always does.”
“You heard that phone call? Well, things might be changing a bit.”
“What do you mean, changing?” Ashley asked.
“You might not be going to camp at all.”
Ashley put her fork down. “What happened?”
“I just need you to be extra patient with your father this summer. What ever he wants you to do, just do it. Don’t fight with him, just do it.”
“Mom! He’s not listening to me! Don’t you understand?!”
“I do understand. I know you feel trapped, like you have no control over your own life. You’re right, you don’t. But this time will pass very quickly. Once you’re grown up, you’ll wish you’d enjoyed it more.”
“Is that all?” Ash asked.
“No, that is not all,” Ana paused. “Eat your food. You need to eat.”
Anastasia waited until her daughter picked up her fork again.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about your father.” Ana looked out through the glass doors, into the back yard. “I was only twenty-six when we met. He was a couple of years older, but he already had the world by the tail. Everybody wanted what he had.”
“What did he have?” Ashley asked.
“Everything. If you wanted it, he could get it, or could make it. Once he created that healing compound, he was the one everyone looked to. And he’s been working on a new project, and it just went sideways.”
Ashley didn’t speak.
“Over the years, your father has embarrassed some very important people, and they
aren’t the forgiving sort. They are looking for any excuse to take a shot at him.”
“They’re going to shoot him?” Ashley asked.
“Only if he’s lucky,” Anastasia answered.
“What?” Ashley asked.
“They might arrest him, and try him for treason.”
“What happens to us?” Ashley asked.
“We run.”
Ashley set down her fork.
The legendary spy and ninja, Anastasia Zelena, smiled at her daughter. “Take it easy on him. He really does have a lot on his mind.”
Ashley nodded.
“And whatever happens, don’t be afraid. If I could give you any advice, that’s it. Don’t be afraid. Take the fear and do something with it. Kill whatever is scaring you and don’t feel guilty about it. Whether it’s a spider, a snake or a man, kill it and kill it again, until you aren’t afraid of it anymore. But then, you have to clean up the mess.”
Ashley smiled.
“Oh and give his little camp a shot. It won’t be so bad. You might actually be good at it.”
“Ugh,” Ashley replied.
Anastasia laughed and cleared the empty dishes.