Even Monarch's death passed like a ripple in a sea of moments, one equation in an algorithm. His people wanted to mourn, gaunt as they seemed, but there was no time to while the rest of the world beckoned. It was Beelz who gave the order to keep going, and Jessica agreed, trudging over the fallen on the 86th floor. One functional elevator carried the last operatives to the next level. And as the number blinked from 86 to 87, Jessica felt a hand squeeze her arm. She was met by the evergreen death stare.
"Make this count or else..." said Beelz.
Jessica pulled away. "I've been counting just to keep my head. Monarch died on the 1,687th second since the start of this mission."
The doors opened to a white antechamber. Dim lights, a single wall, and a line of doors reminded Jessica of the Tantive IV blockade runner from A New Hope, where Darth Vader apprehended Princess Leia. This was worse, a security checkpoint, which meant the other side held something important.
Each entryway had a pedestal with a round orb, like the one used to access the Azarean armory. Jessica approached the closest device then activated her Vambrace.
"Where'd you get that?" David asked, ogling the violet.
"Developed it with some help," she answered.
Beelz eyed Jessica's arm with similar curiosity. A single ding confirmed a successful hack before a strange scope lowered from the ceiling. Here, Beelz unveiled Malvis' replica eyeball.
"The final verdict," she said and pressed the iris against the scanner. A foreign voiceover spoke through invisible speakers. Almost no one understood the language, but the door opened. Jessica advanced, Beelz smothering her personal space to inspect her arm.
"Care to explain where you found that holo-brace?" said the redhead.
"Call it an heirloom."
Beelz stopped, compelling Jess to stop along with her. "You're not going to stand there and tell me someone just gave that to you. You know what that is..."
"Guys..." Raptor muttered.
Everybody stopped to observe the latest in a series of strange places. The room beyond the white doors was dark, ornate, and circuitous as if the interior decorator came from a murky otherworld. On all sides, to the non-discerning eye, the surface pattern of the walls was like flowing metal and swooning flora. And environed by something so alien, Jessica felt like an astronaut.
Her mind's eye brought a house of strange alloys and organic material that coalesced into a symmetrical sanctum. Most prominent about this interior, its rows upon rows of seats circled like the rings within a tree stump... or Saturn. From the outermost to the innermost, they shrunk, enveloping a spherical device directly in the center of everything. Around the room, against walls and equidistant from another stood four major support pillars – Energy shone from incandescent lines inscribed along the contours, their bright green like the inconsistent texture of flowing water, and they extended and bent high overhead, unifying at the zenith.
Beelz veered from the room's macabre majesty, distracted by flashing blue light on her watch. "Secure the door," she ordered. "Guard this room! Make sure no one else—Azarean or otherwise—follows us." The last three members of Gemini did as told and sentried the long series of doors.
Jessica ran her fingers across the seats. "If I were a fly on the wall..." She shifted to the round instrument at the center of everything. This orb reminded her of the nexus back at Sub Terra HQ. What secrets did it hold? The question burned the tip of her tongue.
They use this place to commune.
At the same time, Raptor ambled closer, gawking at the mysterious device.
YOU ARE READING
Hacking the Sun - The Re-Remake
Science FictionJessica Leibniz tried to be a normal teenager, but unlike most teenagers in the 22nd century, she can tell time without a clock. So what good is a watch... unless it comes with incriminating A.I? It's part of a fashion sense that involves 1980's nos...
