The Synchronizer

by Francis Tint

  With great velocity, the flaming ball came crashing down, rolling through the booby-trap field toward the entrance. It smashed the entrance impetuously, destroying everything in its path, knocking off the previously melted door that had allowed the group to enter the facility unscathed.

  “I’m surprised to see you here, Corey,” a voice emerged behind them. “Don’t you have a habit of leaving people behind?”

  “Dylan,” Corey greeted simply. “Where’s Blake?”

  “With us,” Dylan answered slyly. “She’s doing well. Don’t worry.”

  “If you dare harm her…” Tylor warned.

  “Why would we harm her when she’s being so useful?”

  “What are you freaks doing to our Blake?” Julia roared.

  “Just using her unique abilities to get intel,” Dylan responded candidly. “We’re almost done with her. There’s one more thing we wanted to know. She’s fighting hard, but we will get it from her, if it’s the last thing I do.”

  “They must be exploiting her memories through some sort of mind probe,” Zach speculated over the radio.

  “Is that Zach talking there?” Dylan asked. “How typical of you Zach to hide behind the scenes, sending your friends to danger!”

  “Maybe you should think again who’s really in danger!” Julia retaliated, and held up her torch gun aiming at Dylan. He lifted his hand, and a magnetic field was triggered, pulling the weapons away from both Julia and Rachael.

  “Don’t forget whose territory you’re in,” Dylan said sinisterly. With another signal, a rope flew across the room and tied the four of them tightly in the center of the space. “Let’s make this easy for all of you. Give us the pieces to build the Synchronizer, and all of you will be free.”

  “Never! We don’t trade with terrorists,” Rachael insisted. “What do you want with the Synchronizer anyway?”

  “It’s a machine that controls the multiverse. They created us as a result of studying the multiverse and designing the machine. We have more rights than anyone to control it. The power of the machine belongs to us!” Dylan proclaimed passionately. “If we need to squeeze it out of Blake’s memory, frying her brain in the process, then that’s what we will do.”

  Turning his hair ivory, Corey summoned a bolt of lightning and targeted it directly at Dylan. Smack! The flash burned a clear mark on the spot, but the target had disappeared just before the impact.

  “So close,” Dylan reappeared behind them. “I was trying to be civil, but I guess it’s time for brute force,” he concluded and vanished.

  “What should we do now?” Rachael urged.

  “First,” Julia suggested, “let’s get out of this rope. The gun’s not my only weapon. Time to go old-fashioned.” She whipped out a knife from her pocket and sawed the rope off.

  “I hear something gushing in,” Tylor warned. “Waves of water.”

  Surges of water appeared from all four corners, gushing down from great heights to wipe them out. Immediately before the water landed, Corey summoned wind and formed a bubble around them.

  “We got to get out of here.” Julia’s voice bounced off the walls of the water bubble, sounding a little muffled as if she was underwater. “There are a few doors. Which one should we pick?”

  Tylor closed his eyes and focused with his enhanced hearing. “The one to the right,” he pointed. “I can hear footsteps behind that door.”

  Corey delicately directed the wind bubble with the four of them toward the target door. Julia kicked open the door allowing the group to enter. Rachael quickly closed the door behind them, blocking any water from entering.

  “Human GPS,” Julia asked, “which way now?”

  Before Tylor could produce a response, strobe lights started to flash along with a loud siren. Tylor crumpled on the floor, with his hands covering tightly on his ears. “Too much sensory fluctuation.”

  “Quick, Ty,” Rachael suggested, “use the watch to dampen the effect.”

  “If I do that,” Tylor responded, “I won’t be able to tell us where to go!”

  “We need to find a way to balance the sensory inputs,” Zach suggested over the radio. “We need to drown out the lights and the siren.”

  “How do you propose we do that?” Julia asked.

  Before a response was given, Rachael turned up the volume as Zach played white noise through the speaker to drown out the sound of the siren. “Corey, you need to counteract the pattern of the strobe lights.”

  With great concentration, Corey studied the sequence of the flashing strobe lights, and conjured corresponding electric pulses.

  “It should work,” Rachael said. “Ty, try to focus. Where should we go next?”

  Tylor gingerly opened his eyes. The bright light and heavy noise were still causing him a great deal of pain, but a lot more tolerable than before. With great difficulty, he focused his heightened auditory ability and directed the group before a door.

  Corey busted the door open. They entered and saw Blake lying unconscious in a bed, with her head connected to a device through a complex system of wires. Corey quickly got beside Blake and placed his hand on the cable powering the device.

  “Stop!” Zach warned through the radio. “If you take her out cold, she might never get out of it. We need to shut it down properly.”

  “On it,” Rachael complied, and jumped on the computer. Through discussions with Zach, she entered a series of commands to shut down the program. “It should be good now.”

  Corey unplugged the device and removed Blake from the influence of the program. “Blake,” he said gently.

  “Why is she not waking up?” Julia asked.

  Her question was not met with a response. Rachael shook her head and shrugged cluelessly.

  “Guys,” Tylor said, “we got another serious problem.” He moved a cabinet to barricade the door, which was barely holding up against the attacks from outside. “They caught up with us. We are absolutely trapped.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Blood and Water

  Edison was taking some readings from a specially designed actinometer when Ashlea entered the lab. “You called?”

  “Take a look at these readings, Ash. The machine is again picking up a foreign source of radiation penetrating our world.” They had been detecting random patterns since the night Sue had appeared, when they had detected a big surge of anomalous isotopic frequencies. They had assumed it had been due to Sue’s arrival from a neighboring universe. But since Sue had betrayed them, they were no longer sure.

  Ashlea took the fresh readings and compiled them against their past records. “If you’re right about it, trending our readings, it looks like these foreign radiations have been slowly increasing in frequency and magnitude. What do you think is causing the increase?”

  “I can’t be sure. It looks like there’s an imbalance in energy levels within the multiverse. Nature always seeks equilibrium. The multiverse is no exception. The current working theory is that something happened and it upset the balance among the universes. If these disruptions continue, it might lead to catastrophic results to the entire multidimensional system.”

  “How can we prevent it?”

  “Dee and I have been working on this design with another scientist before. Once activated properly, it can manipulate the energy balance within the multiverse, creating synchrony among the universes.

  Ashlea looked at the design with the title “The Synchronizer”. “Fancy name. Let’s get it to work.”

  “But remember, we need to be careful with this. Anything that can create balance can also further disrupt it. It can potentially be used to destroy all other universes in the system.”

  Get to Po’s place, Dmitri kept telling himself, as he clumsily dodged arrows targeted at him from behind. He felt his heart racing and tasted salt from his sweat. Swoosh. Another arrow narrowly scraped his right temple. A right, then a left, then he would arrive at Edison’s. He must not fail.

  Sue hadn’t lied. He had been tri
cked. They must have been working together. She must have stolen the formula and started experimenting on people. He must tell Po before they got to him. He knocked frantically at the door and slammed on the door bell. Where the heck was Po? Open up!

  Edison was pouring a cup of coffee when he heard the panicked knocks. “Coming,” he responded.

  He opened the door, and saw his long-time research partner in a disheveled appearance with a scrape by his temple. “Dee. What are you doing here? How did you hurt yourself?”

  Dmitri opened his mouth and jerked slightly. His eyes lost focus. He stood motionless.

  “Are you feeling alright?”

  “Two-nine-nine…” Dmitri started chanting.

  “Huh?”

  “…seven-nine-two, four-five-eight…”

  Why did he start reciting the digits of the speed of light? Edison put both his hands on Dmitri’s shoulders, trying to wake him up from his hallucinatory state, but to no avail. He embraced his close friend, completely clueless on what he could do to save Dmitri.

  Edison admitted Dmitri to a mental hospital. A refugee who had escaped from his home country, Dmitri had built his life in this country as an academic. He didn’t have any close friends other than Edison. In the relationship field on the admission form, he identified Blake as his goddaughter so Dmitri could have more visitors in the future.

  He tried to talk to Dmitri. The only response he received was the unintelligible number sequence. With a heavy heart, he bade his friend farewell. Before he left, Dmitri grabbed onto his arm, and looked intently in his eyes. “Traitor. Po. She’s a traitor.”

  “Who? Who’s a traitor?”

  Edison never got a response. Dmitri resumed reciting his number sequence.

  Edison went to Dmitri’s apartment, trying to find out what had happened to his friend. He noticed Dmitri’s computer was still on. He woke up the machine and found out he had been working on encrypting the folder containing their research on the Synchronizer. That must be why he had been reciting the number sequence. On a notebook beside the mouse pad, he also found an address.

  He arrived at the address and found himself at a run-down facility. He gingerly approached the door. Before he pulled on the handle, he heard footsteps from the other side. He quickly hid by the side of the building.

  A strange man walked out, holding a cell phone by his ear. “Still voicemail? Where the heck is he?” His shift was over, and he wasn’t going to stay a second longer. No one would break into a dump site. He left without locking the door.

  After the man left, Edison quickly went into the building. He stepped behind what looked like a security desk with some monitors. The screens were only showing some empty hallways. All the hallways led to a mysterious door. He looked around the desk, and saw a flyer advertising the Hermes program, with the promise of greatness and powers beyond imagination.

  Ring! Ring! An alarm was suddenly set off. Through the computer screen, he saw a woman with extraordinary strength break through the mysterious door. She was stomping boisterously, punching senselessly at the walls.

  He quickly headed to the exit. As he was leaving the area, he saw a car pulling in. Ashlea got out of the car and rushed into the building. She must be trying to contain the emergency.

  This must be what Dmitri had been trying to tell him. The traitor.

  He departed so quickly that he had left the note containing the address behind the security desk.

  Beryl University was empty, except for Edison working hastily in his secret lab. Sue had been telling the truth, he thought to himself. The threat from the other universe was not limited to the anomalous isotopic frequencies. They had already invaded his world. He had trusted the wrong person.

  The only thing he could do was to safeguard Sue’s invention. If his calculation was correct, it would be the last part they needed to activate the device. He couldn’t allow them to use the Synchronizer to further disrupt the balance of the multiverse. If he could leave the city before they found out he had learned their secrets, maybe he could rebuild and use the device one day to restore the balance, eliminating the threat once and for all.

  He had lost contact with Sue since their falling-out. Hopefully she remained safe.

  Boisterous footsteps emerged from the hallway. “Come out, Eddie. Stop hiding,” Ben taunted. “We know you have the last part to fully activate the Synchronizer. Give it up now. Just take the easy way out, unless you want to end up like Dee, permanently trapped in his mind.”

  What monsters! How could they?

  He was too late. There was nothing else he could do. He needed to rely on his last resort. Good thing he had rigged the space earlier. He activated a switch, took the tubular gadget and went through a trap door to the other side of the lab. Shutting the door tight behind him, he continued down the path into a serene underground cave.

  His breath was visibly fogging up as he gingerly stepped on an icy lake. Every step he took was echoing off the walls of the cave. Boom! A loud rumbling disturbed the peace of the underground cave. He looked back and knew his plan had succeeded. He hoped Ben had gotten buried under the demolition.

  He arrived on the other side of the lake and started to dig. The soil was cold and rough. Shivering in the cold, he started feeling numbness in his fingers. But he had to keep going. He continued to make a deeper hole, and placed the tubular gadget in it. Then came the moment of truth. Sue had said that her technology could convert mass to energy and sustain the lifeform’s energy. He crossed his fingers and hoped it would work.

  He twisted a knob above the gadget. Shockwaves of electricity were visibly passing through his body as his corporeal form started to disintegrate into blue energy waves. “When the time comes, you will know what to do, my sweet daughter.” At once, he vanished into the deafening silence and ghastly darkness of the cave.

  “I don’t think this will hold up any longer,” urged Tylor. His back was pushed against the barricade blocking the door, as the Typhon continued to launch their interminable attacks. Dylan was coordinating the attacks on the other side. He knew he wouldn’t be able to fight all of them by himself even though he could teleport. He needed his army for support.

  “Zach, you got any good ideas?” asked Rachael.

  “Or just any idea,” Julia added.

  “Is there anything in the room useful, to revive Blake or as a weapon?” Zach inquired.

  “There’s the bed, the device, and the computer,” Rachael responded. “There’s nothing else.”

  “Maybe I can call the police?” Zach suggested.

  “Not literally any idea,” Julia castigated. “No time for jokes!”

  “Well,” Zach pondered for a moment, “a brain is made up of neurons and synapses carrying electric pulses. Maybe we can jumpstart Blake’s brain.”

  “That is absolutely the worst idea I have ever heard, quite positively,” Tylor commented.

  “It’s not complete nonsense,” Rachael refuted. “The right amount of jolt has been proven to increase brain activity. I think it might help Blake.”

  “Define right amount of jolt,” Corey said.

  “Start very small,” Julia cautioned.

  Corey laid his hands gently on Blake’s head. He closed his eyes and concentrated. With great restraint, he sent a small spark along his fingers to Blake’s temple.

  With her fingers on Blake’s wrist, Rachael checked her pulse and breathing. “Vitals feel normal. I think we can go a little higher.”

  Following the instruction, he repeated his action and sent a slightly larger jolt. Blake remained in the bed unresponsive.

  “More,” Rachael repeated.

  “I’m getting close to the voltage used to jumpstart a heart,” Corey warned. “Should I keep going?”

  Rachael shrugged before Blake’s unconscious body, diligently monitoring her vitals. “Electroshock uses around seventy to hundred twenty volts,” Zach narrated his research through the radio. “It shouldn’t cause any permanent damage if
you keep it within that range.”

  “Whatever you do,” Tylor urged with his back against the cabinet blocking the door, “do it quick. Seriously, I don’t think the door will hold any longer.”

  With determination, Corey closed his eyes, summoned a larger jolt and passed it through Blake’s temple. The current caused a noticeable jerk all over her body. “Blake?” Corey muttered. His question was not met with a response.

  After a brief moment, Blake started to convulse uncontrollably. “What’s happening?” asked Rachael. “I thought you said it wouldn’t cause any permanent damage.” She quickly held tight on Blake’s agitated body.

  “It shouldn’t…” Zach replied on the radio.

  Corey looked at Blake remorsefully. What had he done? What could he do? This should’ve worked!

  He placed his hand over hers, and held tight. A sudden and large discharge of electricity shocked the room. A bright flash blinded everyone in the space.

  After the group readjusted their sight from the glare, they were both shocked and rejoiced at the sight before their eyes. Sitting up in bed, conscious and alert, was Blake.

  “You’re back!” Julia said triumphantly, and dashed to give Blake a tight hug.

  “I don’t mean to cut the moment short,” Tylor added, “but we do have another problem…” His sentence was interrupted with the door bursting open. The cabinet gave way to the assailants behind the door, pinning Tylor against a wall.

  “I tried knocking,” Dylan announced, “but you didn’t answer the door.”

  Without hesitation, Rachael and Julia rushed to jump Dylan. Before they reached him, a pale man from the Typhon army released a chain telepathically and tied it tightly around them.

  “Not so fierce now without your weapons, ladies?” Dylan mocked.

  “Back off now,” Zach yelled over the radio. “You won’t…” He never finished his sentence. The signal was interrupted from Dylan brutally stepping on the device.

  “Finally some peace from the whiny brat,” Dylan said. He stepped sinisterly toward Blake and Corey. “Let’s make this easy. Tell me where you hid the instructions, and I will tell my folks to go easy on you lot.”