Benjamin Schramm [The Ninth The Ninth (epub)

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.What had once been the neat, orderly hallways of the facility were now warped with massive scorch markings everywhere.Taking in his surroundings and shifting through the anxious emotions of the work crews, Jack lost track of Nathan.Looking ahead, he found Nathan standing still, staring off down the hallway.Jack could feel the regret and sorrow from his old friend.Standing beside him, Jack was overwhelmed.There was nothing beyond where they stood; below was a large empty cavern.A massive, empty sphere was below; sparks falling from the damaged power grid illuminated the remaining warped and twisted walls and bulkheads.It was as if some creature had taken a bite out of the underbelly of the facility.Nathan led Jack down a series of hastily assembled ladders and bridges.As they descended further into the emptiness, the blazing lights and alarms faded into the distance.“I’m surprised this place is still standing,” Jack said in awe when he was sure Nathan could hear him clearly.“Thankfully, we chose one of the old fortresses left over from the Great War to house the research complex.If we hadn’t, Tricra itself would have been destroyed.”“You can’t be serious, Nathan.Surely that’s an exaggeration.”“That is one of the only facts we are certain of at this point.The portal made a stable link for the first time.However, almost at once matter started to pour out of the gateway, before anyone could.”“Wait, Nathan.Matter poured out of the Lazarus gate? I’m not a temporal engineer, but I know my basics.Isn’t that impossible?”“Not impossible, but highly improbable.There were events with the Chronos gate of emissions and unusable links, but those problems were solved a long time ago.Supposedly, all contingencies of unusable links were banned in the mainframe long before either of us was born.”“And yet here we stand.I always had a bad feeling about Lazarus but never dreamed it would end up like this.”“None of us did, Jack.Even the doomsayers are in stunned silence.”“So what happened after the stable link?”“Well, before anyone realized what was happening, a massive explosion erupted from the gate.Apparently the explosion triggered a failsafe in the fortress, and it rerouted the entirety of the Lazarus power grid.”“Rerouted it to what?”“Your guess is as good as mine.The explosion killed anyone near enough to hazard an educated guess and destroyed any evidence left over.The point is, whatever it was that the failsafe did, it saved us all.The orbiting scanners all came up the same, an “unknown energy signature.” Then they fried out.That energy signature was off the charts, more than enough to envelop the entire planet.But in the end, this cavern is the extent of the damage.”“I’ll never make fun of our worrywart ancestors again.However, that still doesn’t explain why you summoned me here, officially no less.”“I didn’t know who else to turn to.When I came back to the facility it was in chaos.Dead bodies were everywhere, and the military was swarming over the place.I never want to go through that again.”“Nathan.”“It’s all right Jack; I’ve gotten over the worst of it.I brought you here because you might stand a chance where we’ve all failed.”“Failed? What are you talking about?”“At the base of the pit we found something, someone.We can’t even get close to it.”They had reached the end of the catwalks.Large groupings of containment tents lined the floor of the chamber.Jack had seen similar tents used in training scenarios.Despite their fragile appearance, they were quite sturdy and created a clean room environment in their interiors.Nathan lifted a flap and entered; Jack followed with questions still remaining.The two stood still in the makeshift room as it purged them of outside contaminates.Scientists and armed guards filled the tents, too busy with their tasks to notice the two newcomers.Jack instantly realized the guards were elite troopers from the military.The few who bothered to return his glances showed no fear of the Weaver.Nathan led him deeper toward the center of the grouping.Ahead, Jack noticed heavy weapons platforms, enough to hold off an assault even from the ancient enemy long since gone from the Great War.The platforms ringed a large dome.It was a semi-transparent material that wafted in the small breeze of the clean room ventilation.Nathan stood just behind the weapons and their operators.Staring into the dome, Jack could make out a small form.“It’s a baby, Jack.” Nathan answered Jack’s questioning gaze.“All this for a baby?”“A baby found at the center of an explosion powerful enough to take out an entire planet [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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