Elle - Chapter six
Raimes watched the two men inside the Chamber intently.
“When will we get access to the archives?” Ellis asked impatiently, “Has this Stint got any chance of figuring this out? I really need…”
“You'll get your access Ellis, but for now, be quiet,” Raimes commanded.
Ellis stopped and saw he was intent on watching what was going on inside the Chamber.
“Is that safe?” Ellis questioned, watching the two men.
“We may yet find out,” Raimes answered.
They watched the men. Walter was kneeling down with a screen display, and Stint, Stint was just standing there, staring.
Raimes pressed the intercom. “Walters, everything ok in there?”
Walter looked up from the screen, he raised his hand, and gave a thumbs-up.
“Mr Stint?” Raimes watched, Stint was about two feet from the object and wasn't moving. “Mr. Stint?” He didn't answer.
“What the hell is he doing?” Raimes cursed, “Better not be fucking ignoring me.”
“Sir,” Ellis pointed to the object, “What's happening?”
The aura around the object seemed to be shimmering, rippling on the surface. Like water being drawn to the side Stint was standing on.
“Stint!” Raimes yelled in the intercom, but he didn't respond. This time Walters’ head snapped around to see what was happening.
“Stint,” The intercom cracked and squeaked in the chamber.
Walters stood up hurrying over to where Stint was. “Stint, move back.” There was no reaction.
Stint’s eyes widened and dilated as the figure moved forward out of the distortion field. It was dark, a shadowy blackness that drained the remaining light from the room. As it moved forward the wave pulled Stint in like a riptide dragging him into an abyss.
“Stint!” The yelling was louder but it seemed so far away, distant and muffled, he tried to turn his head but he felt tired, his mind began to scatter.
Walter grabbed at his arm and was flung back so forcefully he hit the back wall with a crack.
“Fuck!” Raimes yelled seeing the ragdoll figure slump down against the floor, “What the hell.” He slammed his hand onto the console and the room turned red.
The two guards burst into the room with their rifles drawn. “Get them out of there!” he yelled. The two guards paused for a moment, hesitant, scared. Then they both headed for the door to the chamber. The guard in front grabbed at the handle but it did not move. The second joined and they both wrenched at it trying to pry it open. It would not move.
Black within black, the shadow now stood in front of Stint. It was the same height as he was and rippled the same way the aura had, like a black pond. He felt his hand raise and his fingers extend. Touch… a voice in his mind said, touch…
His lips moved, ‘touch’ his mouth echoed the voice. The figure reached out towards him with the opposite arm, opposite fingers extending out. Touch.
“What the fuck is he doing?” Raimes yelled, he looked at Ellis who stood in the corner, eyes wide and stunned at what to do.
“He’s trying to touch it,” She said, Stint moving his arm forward closer to the object.
Raimes pressed the intercom again, “Stint, move back, do not touch the object! Do you hear me, do NOT touc…” The intercom squealed, the shriek pierced their ears. Raimes, Ellis, and the guards fell to the floor grabbing at their ears and trying to cover them. Then, silence. Raimes brought himself back to his feet and looked back into the red room. Walters had scrambled to his knees, his hand on his head where a dark wet patch was. Raimes reached for the intercom and pressed, but nothing happened, it was blown out. He lifted himself up onto the console and hit the window.
Walters' head swayed and then faced Raimes. He looked over to Stint, and slowly he pulled himself up with one arm, still holding his head with the other. The first few steps looked as if he would fall but then he stabilised himself and walked towards the object and Stint.
Raimes watched helplessly as Walters stumbled one foot after another towards the middle of the room. The red light seemed to enhance the waves that now pulled from the walls towards the object, towards Stint.
Walters reached an arm out, but before he could grab Stint again a low rumble shook the chamber and the viewing room. At that moment Raimes could see all the red light in the room flow back into the object, and the room went black.
For what seemed like an eternity Raimes could not see anything, it was dark, but darker than just having no light. Almost like all the light in the world had gone, sucked out of the room in a vacuum of silence and black.
He felt around for the console pressing buttons that did not respond. A sharp slice of light appeared in the chamber casting rippons of white that dissected the room. In the center, a black carbon textured oval sat. It was in the exact same place the object had shimmered. No longer translucent, Raimes could see it.
The silhouette of Stint was cut out of the light. He was still standing in front of the object, motionless. His arms by his side.
Raimes squinted and shaded his eyes with his hand. The light was emitting from the inside of the oval, it escaped through a thin slice perfectly.
The light flickered and the opening increased releasing more blinding white light. Raimes could feel it hitting his face. As it opened the vibrations increased sending the glass into an oscillating frenzy before it reached its breaking point shattering inwards.
Raimes gasped covering his face. He heard Ellis scream, she was standing right next to him now. They both looked back into the chamber. The egg had separated and floated in two halves in front of Stint.
“We need to get them out of there?” Ellis’s voice was shaky but focused.
Raimes turned to the two guards, but both stood silent. Their faces met Raimes’s and they knew what they were being asked to do immediately. One of the guards unshouldered his rifle and stepped forward, before he could aim the weapon it flew out of his hands and into the chamber disappearing into the blinding light.
The second took a step back, he hesitated then reached for his rifle. His eyes looked straight past Raimes and Ellis and into the light, the soldier froze.
They all turned at once. The light was less harsh and from the centre of the two halves appeared a figure. Tall and slender, it was the same height as Stint but they could not make out any details. It was both shadow and light.
“What the fuck?” Raimes couldn't believe it, his mouth open and his body tense.
“They’re here,” Ellis said, almost sounding excited.
The being stood half behind Stint, the two silhouettes seemed to merge for a moment as their eyes adjusted. Then they could see it more clearly, the skin seemed to be metallic and reflective. It had arms and legs and was somewhat humanoid. But it was hard to focus. It was there and not there at the same time.
Raimes and Ellis watched as the two figures danced, blurring in the light, vibrating and shifting. “What’s happening?” Raimes gasped.
Ellis was silent in awe of what they were seeing in front of them. There were so many thoughts in her mind all at once, and then, she saw what was happening, “They are merging.”
The two figures were becoming one, somehow vibrating into one synchronous figure.
“What?!” Raimes' voice was shocked and frightened, “Get him out of there!” He yelled at the guard behind him.
The guard looked at Raimes and then at the Chamber, his foot stepped forward bravely but it was too late. The force of a shock wave shook the room and launched Raimes, Ellis, and the two guards back with a violent explosion.
A sharp light danced across Ellis’s vision. The small slit of her eyelids opened as she felt the first strike of pain across her head. It was throbbing from her forehead back to the base of her skull. The light was sickening, she tried to swat it away with her hand but she had no strength.
“Ms. Ellis, can you hear me?” A voice said loudly, “Do you know where you are?”
Ellis struggled to make a sound as her head spun. All she remembered was feeling her whole body compress and then become weightless through the air, the Chamber moving away from her until she hit the back wall, then, black.
A hand compressed a bandage across her forehead and for a moment the pressure relieved enough for her to speak, “Raimes, Stint… the Chamber… Wal…”
“You’ll be ok, we have Mr. Raimes, he’s being treated.”
Ellis’s eyes opened enough now to make out the figure kneeling in front of her. Her nose filled with the smell of ash and smoke. “What happened?”
“You were caught in an explosion,” the blurry figure said.
Ellis lifted her head feeling the immense weight on her neck, she felt the concussion. Opening her eyes she tried to focus on the room. It was black, charred, and still smoking. The last of the plumes of smoke bellowed upwards to the ceiling and out into the night sky. The whole roof had been blown off.
“Help me up,” She said to the medic, who was now unblurred.
“I think you should…”
“Help me up” Ellis reached forward and grabbed the medics shirt pulling him forward for leverage. He held her firmly realising she wasn't going to remain seated.
“Where is it?” She said standing to her feet, giving her a moment to regain equilibrium. Her knees felt weak and swollen but she stood.
“Where is what?” The Medic answered holding her steady by the shoulders.
“Object, in the chamber, where is it?”
“Ms. Ellis I think you need to let us treat you.”
Ellis pushed him away and leaned against the wall she had been thrown against. She turned and looked where the chamber had been. The foam spikes were gone, replaced by a thin film of ash. As the smoke mixed with the cool night air, she started to see detail. The centre of the Chamber was perfectly intact leaving a circle of carpet. Above that, hovering two feet above the carpet were the two halves of the object. There was no more light as the two half-egg shapes floated motionless, an exact mirror of each other.
“It’s gone,” Ellis whispered to herself. Whatever it was inside had gone, leaving its shell. She looked around the scarred and scorched viewing room. In the corner, another medic was kneeling treating Raimes. He was half-leaned forward with a large gash on his neck and multiple cuts and abrasions on his hands. At least he was ok, she thought, she still needed him to figure out what the hell this thing was.
“Walters,” She looked back into the chamber. Stepping forward she caught a glimpse of a white sheet, the end peaked covering a pair of shoes. She paused. Another step and the white sheet revealed the shape of a body, the top of the white shroud turned red where someone's head would be.
“Walters?” She asked and confirmed in her head.
“Yes, Mr. Walters was deceased when we got here. He had suffered severe trauma to his head, there wasn't another we could do.”
“And Stint?”
The medic gave a sympathetic look, “Mr Stint was the closest to the explosion, he was vaporized.” He resumed a supportive stance for Ellis to lean on.
Ellis leaned onto the medic’s shoulder, there was a moment of sorrow. Then she remembered what Raimes had said about gaining access to the archives, “Shit.”
Amazon: A.D.H. Thomas
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