He glanced at the only other two people in the office. Mary Jane Kelley and Sid Damon stood as far apart from each other as the room allowed. Mary Jane was normally spirited in both her style and personality. Her hair was true red, glinting in waves to her shoulders, her face expertly touched by nude shades of makeup. Her glamorous looks were contrasted by her neatly arranged black suit and tie, stylishly cut to still appear distinctly feminine. Damon looked rumpled in comparison with his rolled-up sleeves and predator demeanor.
He smirked. “Guess you didn’t want to share the bad news with the Senator.”
“That we lost contact with Dr. Stein and the Tantalus? Of course not. Things are bad enough without my father trying to push his way back into Chimera affairs. And especially when a billion dollar facility completely vanishes.”
“Not to mention the cryptic last transmission.” Mary Jane pulled up the digital message on screen. The words pulsed in red characters, abrupt and ominous.
STAY AWAY
Blackwell stared at the message, thoughts whirling. “We’ll figure it out, Mary Jane.”
“How?”
“By thinking it through.” He felt his jaw clench, and slowly relaxed before the grinding started. “We’ve sent drones in the general vicinity, but they vanish without a trace. It all goes dark, like some black hole is pulling everything in. Yet nothing registers on normal scanners. Infrared, sonar, thermal, and satellite imagery all read as normal.”
“But not on the aberrant detector.”
“Correct.” Blackwell picked up a tablet and flicked the image to the larger display. “The scanning technology pioneered by Nathan’s ghost hunting peers was highly modified after we purchased all rights to it. Now we’re able to harness its full potential.” All three stared at what rotated on the main screen with a shared sense of awe.
It appeared to be a hurricane of darkness. The image was choppy and flickered as though unsure of itself. It revolved in place like a stalled typhoon, or a roiling explosion spewed from a hateful volcano. Their eyes were transfixed, unable to tear away from the screen as the view zoomed in, magnifying the bubbling cloud of unknown origin.
Mary Jane broke the silence. “It was a mistake to send your people out there. You had no idea what they would be facing. You sent them there to die.”
“They chose to go.” Blackwell’s gaze was locked onto the display. “No one was forced. They knew the risks. And so do I.”
“You’re not seriously considering sending more personnel out there, are you? After everything we’ve already lost?”
“I am, and I will. I’ve invested too much into this venture to tuck tail because we hit choppy waters. Fortune favors the bold, Dr. Kelley. Not the cowardly.”
“Do you hear yourself? You really think spouting clichéd quotes can somehow justify the fact that your own people are dying? You should have taken Michael McDaniel’s testimony more seriously. What if everything he said was true? What if you somehow opened a portal to some hellish dimension and unleashed God knows what into the world?”
Blackwell whirled around so viciously that Mary Jane took a startled step backward. He felt the fury that radiated from his face. So much like his father’s. He tried so hard to contain it, but it was always there. Lurking. Waiting to be unleashed.
“So what if I have? These events, these Aberrations as Nathan Ryder calls them, have been occurring on our planet for ages if his information is correct. No one else has even come close to discovering what they are, why they occur. No one but me. You think they’ll stop happening if I cut my losses and retreat? No, Dr. Kelley. Not a chance. We’re being invaded by forces we don’t even understand. Don’t kid yourself. This is a war we’re fighting. Right now I’m the only one equipped to fight back. I won’t be the one who lost our world. I will be the one who saves it.”
His chest heaved with the release of adrenaline from the explosion. He hadn’t meant to reveal so much, but it felt so good to finally utter those words. He watched the realization dawn on Mary Jane’s face.
“So, this obsession with harnessing the aberrant energy source is just a facade? You’re really planning on stopping that thing?”
“The theoretical energy research is a red herring to keep my father chasing his tail. I’m far past that shortsighted goal now. Our situation is actually much more catastrophic.” He returned his gaze to the screen, where the boiling mass churned like a cloud of Biblical locusts, ready to devour the world. “The readings indicate the phenomenon is growing. Its mass has increased by .2 percent since the scanners first discovered it. At its current rate of growth it will have reached the Bahamas in six months. In eight months, it will have made landfall on the coast of Miami. I don’t have to tell you what that will mean if we haven’t found a way to stop it by then.”
“Then you need help. You shouldn’t be playing lone wolf here, Alex. Alert the White House. The full resources of the government should be levied at this.”
“Right. Because our government has a great track record of reacting in time to prevent catastrophes. You know how they operate: Independent studies — delays. Expert analysis — delays. Congressional hearings — delays. Private meetings between power brokers — delays. Committee meetings with UN representatives — delays, delays, delays. The US doesn’t anticipate, Mary Jane. It reacts. You know this. But by the time they react to this—”
“It’ll be too late. I understand. But I still suggest you lay a foundation for support, even if you choose to move ahead. Chimera has many friends — and investments, in Washington, including your father, to say the least. You should call in all favors.”
“My people are pursuing all avenues available. In the meantime we will assemble an elite team for a rescue mission. I don’t mean to let our people die out there. Dr. Stein is one of the last pioneering geniuses left alive, especially since we lost Dr. Rosen on the Gorgon mission. That makes Stein and his team all the more valuable, and I’m going to get them back.”
Mary Jane shook her head. “I don’t see the point of blindly venturing into a probable disaster. You might be able to get a reading of this aberrant cloud, but it’s still hundreds of square miles in size. Zeroing in on the exact position of the Tantalus has proved to be futile so far. It’s either been moved or completely wiped off the map. Either option seems impossible, but we seem to be leaving reality behind the further we investigate this thing.”
“I might have to lay all of our cards on the table, Dr. Kelley. After all, I have an available asset who has proven he can flawlessly identify aberrant readings.”
She eyed him askance. “You’d seriously consider using Michael McDaniel as a member of your team? The man is under psychiatric evaluation.”
“But we know he isn’t insane. Severely traumatized, but that’s nothing properly prescribed medication can’t pacify. The fact remains that Nathan’s studies prove Michael is either biologically or mentally attuned to debris from Aberration sites, no matter the age of the sample. I’m willing to bet he can sense the nearness of an Aberration, which means he can probably guide us to our missing facility, and Dr. Stein.”
Mary Jane’s expression was considering, but still doubtful. “Michael believes himself a prisoner unjustly detained by Chimera. Putting his mental state aside, what makes you think he’ll cooperate? He already survived one Aberration. I can’t see him exactly volunteering to dive headlong into another.”
Blackwell smiled. “We’ll get someone he trusts to persuade him.”