by Aman Gupta
The operation began around 1 PM. More than twenty screens were in front of Maia and Sylvia, and few other captains whose squad were leading the operation, while they were sitting together around a table.
“We’re there. Turn on the lights,” said one of the soldiers, as all elevators reached 5A, delivering around 200 soldiers in the first cycle. The soldiers were wearing full body armor and air filter masks, carrying grenades, Taser bombs and rifles.
Captain Burt Honel looked at Maia, who nodded. He picked up the phone and ordered the lights at 5A to be turned on.
The screens switched from night vision mode to normal, as all eight people in the war room gazed at various screens trying to look for signs of trouble.
‘Alpha team. Go,’ could be heard on the microphone worn by select soldiers.
The operation was assumed to take over 3 hours to complete. The soldiers systematically covered and cleared every room before moving forward. Maia and Sylvia picked their favorite screens and only stared at them while monitoring the operation. The first sign of panic came ten minutes into the operation when they saw pools of blood on the floor. Some of it looked fresh, while others looked dried and old. They could see blood-stained footprints on the white floor, but no signs of any human bodies.
As the soldiers followed the blood, they saw there were drops of blood randomly visible in the corridor, as well as inside some rooms, but no signs of bodies being dragged through the floor.
The captains looked at Maia’s face to see her expressions. Maia remained resolute. Sylvia almost puked when a soldier picked up blood with his hands and rubbed it against his gloves.
Around 1:30 PM, one of the cameras went dark. The screen showed that the connection had been lost.
“Where is that?” said Maia. “Find out.”
Burt made a call to his team leader, who was down in 5A.
“Sector 117 has gone dark. I repeat, Sector 117 has gone dark,” said Burt.
Their sergeant, Yanik Hanson, called out for his team at Sector 117 via his radio.
“Alpha 117. Come in, over,” said Yanik.
There was no response, just static.
“Bravo 117. Come in, over!” said Yanik.
There were few distinct noises, before the radio went static.
Burt was panicking at Yolk. He and Dyaz opened the blueprints on the digital screen embedded in the table. Burt touched a few digital files with his fingers, while Dyaz loaded a few programs.
“Yanik, tell 131 and 143 to change route and head west. They will cross path with 117,” said Burt, on the phone.
“Copy!” said Yanik.
“Alpha 131 and 143, come in,” said Yanik.
“Alpha 131. Go ahead,” said the voice.
“Head west. 117 is out,” said Yanik.
“131 copy,” said the voice.
“143 copy,” said another.
A few minutes later, a camera picked up its first body, when a soldier entered Lab – R4. Sylvia recognized the woman. She was a lab assistant who Sylvia had often seen during her tour of 5A. The soldier followed the blood-stained footprints on the floor, which led to a freezer room. He called for backup, and three more soldiers arrived.
He unlocked the freezer by pushing the lever and opened it. There was a tremendous flow of vapors, gases, and steam. He went inside, but they didn’t hear again from him for the next thirty seconds.
“34. What do you see?” said Burt.
“He’s still inside, Captain,” said a soldier. “Do you want me to go in?”
“Yes,” said Burt.
Another soldier went inside. A few seconds later, both of them returned. As they stepped out of the freezer, Maia gasped looked at the soldiers as their skins showed severe burns. Their flesh was melting, while their clothes were burnt with huge holes in them.
“Seal 34. Immediately!” yelled Maia.
Dyaz immediately remotely locked the doors of the lab using his device.
The other two soldiers ran for the door, to make it out in time while the doors were closing shut. But they were too late. A member of Sector 35 was nearby and made it to that corridor in time. Everyone looked as all four soldiers lost their lives within a few seconds, coughing blood before their flesh just melted away while they were kissing the glass wall begging for a reprieve.
Burt sat back on his seat in anger.
“This is why I asked for intel about what we might find in those labs. I’m losing my men,” said Burt.
“You don’t have to tell me, Captain,” said Maia. “I know.”
“Yes, General,” said Burt.
The next two hours were even more excruciating. Around a hundred soldiers went missing, and their cameras went dark under mysterious conditions. Out of 163 sectors, 78 of them weren’t visible anymore. There were no surveillance cameras in Sierra – B to guarantee its secrecy. Sylvia insisted on that when Victor asked for an opinion. That decision, made two years ago, had backfired.
Some soldiers lost their lives in similar incidents due to unknown gas leaks and exposure to hazardous chemicals. Only four bodies of researchers and engineers were found, though over a hundred were expected, as per the final roll call done by Maia. But that wasn’t the most terrorizing outcome of this operation.
An exposed Level 5B posed a much greater threat. Maia tried contacting department heads of Level 5A and 5B. They told her that based on the huge time elapsed since the shutdown, the state of Level 5B had changed from ‘indeterminate’ to ‘lethal.’
“What exactly is down there?” asked Maia on the phone.
“A nightmare,” said the caller, before hanging up.
Upon inspection, they found the door to the staircase was open from both ends. It was closed, but the locks were disengaged. Anyone could pass through that vault door without interruption. Team 57 was the first team to stumble upon that staircase around 4 PM. They were still almost fifty feet away from the door, as no one wanted to approach it without express instructions. The corridor was frightening. The smell was terrible. The silence was deafening.
Maia sat back on her chair, thinking about the repercussions. She was faced with an important decision – whether to send more men or abort the operation, sealing off Level 5A, forever.
“General, should I ask them to go to Level 5B?” asked Burt.
“Can we seal the door remotely?” asked Maia.
“Negative,” said Dyaz. “It’s not responding. The circuits must be fried. We have to do it manually. They just need to push the lever on the door.”
“We don’t know if they can do that,” said Burt. “These are my men. I’m not losing them.”
“If they lack courage, maybe they shouldn’t be soldiers,” retorted Sylvia.
“Easy for you to say,” said Burt.
“How dare you!” said Sylvia.
“Enough!” shouted Maia.
She got up from her chair and stood next to the screens, touching them with her hands.
“How many men do we have?” asked Maia. “In that area.”
“12,” said Burt. “Rest of them won’t be able to get there before an hour. They are still clearing their sectors.”
Just as Burt mentioned it, another camera went dark. Maia turned around and looked at Burt.
“That’d be Sector 51,” said Burt. “Yanik was in that sector.”
“Can you try to call him?” said Dyaz.
Burt called Yanik, but couldn’t reach him. “The receptor’s cut off. Someone ripped out the cord.”
“Tell those men to seal the gate,” said Maia, inhaling deeply.
Burt conceded. He connected with Team 57’s team through the console.
“Alpha 57. Engage the lock,” said Burt.
“Copy!” said the voice.
The leader gave the signal to his men, as they all slowly marched their way to the door. It took them a couple of minutes to reach there, as they all looked around. The area was bright, but still, they were afraid that something dark might be waiting for
them hiding behind the door.
They reached the door, but couldn’t control their curiosity. A couple of them opened the gate to look through the staircase.
“It’s clear. Should I drop a grenade and destroy the staircase?” said one of the soldiers.
“Captain, what are your instructions?” asked their leader.
Burt looked at Maia, who looked at Sylvia. Sylvia nodded, knowing it meant that Victor’s dream was forever lost. It was his army, his retribution, and his solace. Sylvia knew it meant Victor’s wrath.
Maia nodded as well.
“Affirmative Alpha 57,” said Burt.
The team leader, Delane, himself, went through the door. Maia looked at the screen. It looked like a harmless staircase. Clean. Almost as if someone had cleaned it minutes ago. But Maia knew it was false. There were dozens of reports from survivors that their team members had gone down the staircase and even heard noises coming from there.
“Wait, I see someone. They’re alive,” said Delane.
“Who is it, team leader?” said Burt.
“I will need to go and check,” said Delane
“Okay, but take 4 more men with you,” said Burt.
Maia and the rest were glued to the screens. Every step that the team leader took, it raised the temperature in the room. They were panicking, even though it looked harmless. The camera picked up the person lying on the staircase. It was a woman. She was naked. As Delane bent down to pick her up, the woman turned her face towards Delane. The camera on his right shoulder picked up her face.
“Abort!” yelled Maia as she looked at the screen, horrified.
Burt and Sylvia were stunned too. They recognized the face. It belonged to the person on their right.
“Alpha 57, Abort!” said Burt.
The radio picked up grunts and noises of Alpha 57 Team getting devoured, before going silent.
“Seal 5A. Immediately!” said Maia.
Dyaz turned on the red lights through his console. The teams working the corridor knew what it meant. They ran towards the nearest elevators. They had sixty seconds to get there. The timer on the elevators was automatic, as it counted down from 60 seconds.
Delane’s camera had gone dark, and there was no response on the radio when Burt tried. The radio picked up growls, grunts, and sound of a sword tearing apart the guts. The next sixty seconds felt like sixty years for Maia. It couldn’t come soon enough. For the soldiers who were running haphazardly in the corridor, sixty seconds weren’t enough.
Not many could make it. For some, the elevators closed right in front of their eyes. They ran around, even cried, looking at their teammates who were safe on the other side of the glass door. There were cries for help, but their teammates were helpless themselves.
“Please, I got to see my kid. Please, Sophia, pull the lever in the elevator. Please!” pleaded one soldier to the love of his life safely standing behind the glass elevator doors.
She touched his hands through the door, as they both sat against the glass, crying. There was indeed a lever in the elevator, though no one knew what it did. Perhaps it did open the elevator doors. They were afraid that it might.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry!” cried Sophia.
Out of 112 soldiers that were accounted for before the lockdown, only 67 managed to return to the ground level. The rest were considered lost, like the other 400 hundred who perished in the last three hours. A wall of the world’s hardest material slid upon in front of the elevator doors, as all official entrances and exits to 5A were sealed. Forever!
Maia told Tilly to shut down all lights of Level 5A. For the soldiers that were abandoned there, their only ally was darkness. They went back towards the labs looking through their night vision goggles, hoping to find other groups just like them. The floor was silent as ever. No one wanted to be the first to break the silence. They were stuck here for eternity, they thought. Of course, they couldn’t see the manmade ghouls that entered Level 5A through the other side.
It was 5 PM. Maia and Sylvia were having a drink in Maia’s corner office, drowning their sorrows while gathering strength to call Victor. Sylvia’s phone screen lit up. She grabbed it, thinking it might be Victor. It was Marie.
“It’s Marie,” said Sylvia.
“What does she want now?” said Maia.
“Let’s find out,” said Sylvia.
Sylvia picked up the call and put it on the speaker.
“Hi, Marie,” said Sylvia. “Maia is also here.”
“Good. I need to talk to both of you,” said Marie.
“What’s wrong?” asked Maia.
“I just arrived at Yolk,” said Marie. “See you in a minute.”
“I’ll tell the guard to escort you here,” said Maia.
She picked up her landline and called the ground floor security. She told them to escort Marie upstairs immediately.
“What do you think it could be about?” asked Sylvia.
“I’m done with bad news today. I don’t think we can survive any more bad news,” said Maia.
A minute later, Marie arrived and entered Maia’s office with a tablet in one hand, and some charts in another.
Maia cleared the table while Marie laid down the charts on the table. It didn’t take long for Maia to realize it was Sierra’s blueprints and its surrounding areas.
“What’s wrong?” asked Sylvia.
“You know how we lost our moon?” said Marie.
“You mean the thing in our sky?” asked Maia.
“No, she’s referring to one of the satellites Verati launched in the sky. The real name is tricky, but it’s commonly referred to as M.O.O.N.,” said Sylvia.
“I don’t think I want to say M.O.O.N. Let’s just call it moon,” said Maia. “No one cares about the Moon anyway."
“Ladies, you’re going off topic,” said Marie.
“Right, sorry,” said Maia.
“You found it?” asked Sylvia.
“I already had gained access to it a long time ago,” said Marie.
“Why wouldn’t you tell me that?” asked Sylvia.
“I’m sorry I didn’t want to share it with the world. It was kind of like my favorite toy,” said Marie.
“What is happening? If you two need to talk it out, do it elsewhere,” said Maia. “I’ve had a rough day.”
“Sorry. Yeah, so I had access to it, before Sierra went down. Ever since we came back online, I can’t carry out its operations. I can monitor the moon’s positions, but that’s pretty much it,” said Marie.
“You’re telling this now?” asked Maia.
“I didn’t check until today morning. The locations were updating in real time, so I didn’t bother to check it, until today,” said Marie.
“Why today?” asked Sylvia.
“It’s gone off its trajectory. Orbit to be precise,” said Marie, and took out a pen from Maia’s pen stand.
She made a huge circle on the blueprints, covering a radius of over 10 miles, including Sierra.
“I’m sorry, what is that?” asked Sylvia.
“The impact zone,” said Marie.
“You’re speaking some foreign language, honey. Give it to me in simple words,” said Maia.
“The moon is made of hundreds of satellite clusters linked through a common framework called the central node. These clusters grouped together to create our moon. That’s the rough version,” said Marie.
“And?” asked Maia.
“Each of these satellites or parts of the moon, have their own independent power source, as well as their own thrusters. They move together in synchronization. Until today morning, they stopped doing that. Someone redirected all of them towards Earth,” said Marie. “And based on the angle at which they will enter and their speed, I can pretty much predict their location.”
“What are you saying?” asked Sylvia.
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” asked Maia.
“Yes. Our moon is headed towards us. Towards Sierra,” said Marie
.
“Wouldn’t it blow up in the atmosphere like they used to teach us in school?” said Sylvia.
“Not the material they used to create the moon and sun. The smaller parts might burn up in the atmosphere, but the bigger ones will reach the ground,” said Marie.
“How is that possible? An asshole hacks the system, and it’s all over?” asked Maia.
“No, the moons have been programmed to communicate with the sun. That’s S.U.N. It controls the critical operations like this one. After 1/1, the link between sun and moon got severed. A few days ago, whoever hacked us managed to gain access to the moon, and restore the connection with the sun,” said Marie.
“Keep this space stuff to you. I’m on the ground. What do you need to get back our moon?” asked Maia. “Or destroy it from here.”
“A miracle. We can’t destroy every last bit of it,” said Marie. “I’ll keep trying to regain access.”
“How did you get it done last time?” asked Sylvia.
“That was different. It was like a lost child. Now, it’s under the supervision of their parent. I can’t just walk through the front door anymore,” said Marie.
“Do what you have to do,” said Maia.
“Okay. Perhaps, you should tell Victor,” said Marie.
“Oh, I’m not saying anything. It’s your fault,” said Maia, shying away from responsibility for the first time in her life.
“I’ll do it,” said Sylvia. “Just get me a concrete timeline.”
“My software is running a simulation, analyzing the clusters. We should have the results within an hour,” said Marie. “But.”
“But what?” asked Maia.
“Based on its speed and the distance it has to travel, it would soon be out of our hands. Sierra might not be here to see the sunrise,” said Marie. “The only silver lining is that there’s a lag in the system that doesn’t activate the full force of the thrusters immediately, as a fail-safe. If that weren’t the case, it wouldn’t take an hour for it to get here.”
Maia and Sylvia were shocked. Suddenly, the news of 5A felt like an inconsequential blip in a system that was about to go kaput.
