Chrome Symphony - Chapter 7

Atlas dragged the large, unconscious Benton Mulhauser to the end of the hallway. Some evacuating EMA employees happened upon the group. Atlas flagged one of them down.

"Hey, c'mere a sec," shouted Atlas. "Do me a solid and take this fat sack of dump outside where it's safe."

Two EMA employees grabbed Benton's arms and dragged him into a freight elevator.

"Jess," said Atlas, "Are you sure about this? We don't know what will happen."

Atlas handed Jess another bottle of nano-tech suppressant pills. "We're really gambling here. When this thing blows, we don't know what's going to happen to the adepts, let alone you."

Jess nodded. "I'm willing to take that risk, Atlas," she said.

Atlas, Jess, and Renk ran as fast as they could to the large room that contained the sphere. Jess took a couple of the pills and finished sealing up her space suit. Renk also took some nano-tech suppressant pills and put his space suit back on, too. Atlas put his helmet on.

"We have to make contact with the sphere," said Jess.

The three of them walked up to the sphere and placed their hands on it. Atlas could feel the heat through his space suit's thick gloves. It began to glow a bright white, just as it had when Benton Mulhauser first disappeared back on the asteroid.

Atlas closed his eyes tightly. "I'm not the prayin' type but please please protect my wife and my friends," whispered Atlas.

The white light engulfed the three and filled the room. The temperature increased as their space suits protected them. Atlas noticed that his space suit was registering greatly increased radiation levels, although the suits were protecting them from that, too.

The light became so blinding that all three of them had to close their eyes tightly and put down their extra-vehicular visors.

Atlas heard Jess begin to scream in pain, followed by Renk. Even Atlas began to feel a strange, horrible burning inside his body.

In an instant, the blinding white light vanished, leaving only a black void. A force that felt somewhat like gravity forced the three outward from where the sphere had been.

"Jess?!" screamed Atlas. "Renk?!" Atlas was unsure if his voice could reach them. He couldn't see anything in the darkness. His radio link seemed to be functional again, but silent.

"Please... someone... ANSWER ME!" screamed Atlas, into the void.

Duncan had been staring at the monitor in Camay's meeting room.

"Dr. Thameh!" shouted Duncan, suddenly. "There are three space suits transmitting active beacons in the debris field!"

Shell covered her face. "They got caught up in the explosion..." she gasped.

"No, no, they weren't there a few seconds ago!" replied Duncan. "Chester, can you get us a gamma ray visual again at the center?"

The monitor changed back to the gamma ray image. The outline of the sphere was now nowhere to be seen.

"Thanks, Chester. Now, could we have infrared?" requested Duncan.

The mode changed again. A bright heat signature appeared at the center of the debris field but quickly started to fade away.

"Dr. Thameh," said Duncan, "Let's get a rescue shuttle out there. The occupants of those three space suits are... alive!"

Duncan, Camay, Shell, Jax, and Chester ran to the colony's shuttle docks and boarded a shuttle. The retreating military ships and Crest vessels changed course and began moving in toward the debris field again.

The L1 shuttle slowed down as it approached one of the space suits. It moved alongside the drifting figure and opened the airlock. Shell and Chester, wearing space suits, carefully pulled the person inside the shuttle and left the airlock.

Atlas pulled off his helmet and ran over to the window.

Camay directed Chester to move the shuttle over to where the next person was drifting through space. Shell pulled the second person, Renk, inside the shuttle. He was unconscious.

The last person they recovered was Jess, who was also unconscious.

"Jess and Renk appear to have suffered some sort of terrible shock," said Duncan. "Let's get them back to the colony immediately."

Camay nodded and Chester flew the shuttle back to the L1 colony.

Jess woke up, groggy and with a horrible headache. She was inside the shuttle, surrounded by the crew. She looked over at Atlas.

"We did it, dear," she said with a smile.

Atlas laughed. "Yeah, we did," he said.

Renk woke up and shook off the grogginess. "We're alive, ain't we," he said.

Jess opened her left eye and moved her hair out of the way. Her eyes no longer glowed a bright green but were a more normal green color instead.

"My power is gone," said Jess. "My power is gone and I couldn't be happier."

After the shuttle docked, Duncan and Shell helped Jess out of her space suit and followed her out of the shuttle. Atlas, Renk, Camay, Chester, and Jax followed.

Upon reaching the streets of the colony, a massive crowd surrounded them, cheering loudly.

As the group walked down the streets past the cheering crowds, Shell could hear an announcement over some nearby loudspeakers. She looked up at a large television screen on the side of one of the buildings. The news reporter was relaying information to the people of the colony.

"We have confirmation that the adept instability plague has ceased," said the reporter. "We are receiving reports now that adepts all over the world have recovered from the mysterious illness, having regained their normal states of mind."

Jess, Atlas, and Renk were escorted by Firewall staff to a medical center. Jax, Chester, and Camay led the rest of the group back to the research building.

They arrived back at the conference room where Camay had been monitoring earlier developments. Shell took a seat and immediately began scanning for signs of the beacon signal.

"It's gone," said Shell. "It's completely gone."

Camay nodded. "Thanks to everyone's cooperation, we've removed this threat to humanity. You are all heroes."

Shell laughed. "The situations we get mixed up in, huh, Duncan?"

Duncan chuckled. "Indeed, Shells n' Cheese! Indeed."

The group continued to watch the news reports on the monitor. A short while later, Jess, Atlas, and Renk entered the room.

"Mission accomplished," said Shell, looking at Jess. "You don't mess with Jess! You can't get past Atlas and you can't outflank Renk!"

Shell winked at Duncan. "And you can't dunk on Duncan," she added. The room rang out in laughter.

"Attention everyone," said Camay.

Jax, Atlas, Jess, Renk, Duncan, Shell, and Chester were all gathered in the meeting room. Camay lowered the audio volume on the television monitor.

"The military has given the news media a press release disclosing the true nature of the adepts phenomenon," said Camay. "I'm sure everyone here realizes that today will be forever marked in history as the day an ancient machine of alien origin was finally removed from existence forever."

She looked at Jess and Renk.

"While it was leveraged for twenty-two years as a perceived next step in human evolution," said Camay, "the truth of the matter was that it was a weapon against humanity, not a gift."

Camay had been reading Jess's report, which she had given while undergoing some minor medical treatment earlier.

"President Price," said Camay, "I would imagine your status as a hero will contribute greatly to your campaign for governor."

Camay looked at Duncan and Shell. "Should you two ever be interested, I will recommend you for high level positions within Firewall, if Crest doesn't woo your first," laughed Camay.

Taking her seat, Camay leaned back. "I'm sure you are all very tired," she said. "Your service is appreciated. Thank you all for saving the world."

Camay winked. "Meeting adjourned. You've played your parts in this symphony like true masters."

Jax, Chester, and Camay waved goodbye as Shell, Duncan, Atlas, Renk, and Jess left the room.