by Paul Anlee
Even in the dark, his target was easy to see. The broad dome of the vacuum tank blocked the view of the cityscape behind. Inside the structure, the Eater grew.
Junior sidled up to the side of the sphere where it met the ceiling of Greg and Kathy’s lab. He pulled the pillbox-sized device from his pocket and placed it against the chamber. It looked so small and trivial, but he knew the deadly potential it held. Entangled matter, Alum had called it. Ready to serve; just add explosives. He didn’t usually lean to the sardonic, but this wasn’t a usual errand, either.
He grimaced and retraced his steps. Tomorrow he would return to Austin with Alum, leaving the scientists to pursue their misguided effort to save this evil world.
Yeshua has commanded the Earth to die. This is the Lord’s work I’ve been asked to do—he reassured himself. He took in a deep, righteous breath and let the uncertainties flow out of him.
Junior was supremely grateful for his position with Alum; it was going to be the ticket to salvation for his family. His father, Jeff Sr., had formed a close bond with Alum over the years, and with Reverend LaMontagne before that. Junior had even been jealous of their relationships from time to time.
Now that Dad had passed on, it was good to step into his shoes and be part of something bigger than himself.
Junior may have spent fewer years in service to Alum than Jeff Sr., but the work he would do here today was sure to cement the YTG Leader’s confidence. Junior felt honored to be the right-hand man of humanity’s Savior.
29
“Today is a most special day in our history. Its importance ranks with the very Days of Creation, with the miraculous Day of Resurrection.” Alum spoke to his congregation without a microphone. He piped his words directly from his lattice into the public address system. It was just another of the minor miracles his people expected of their leader.
“Today I will reveal God’s Judgment for humanity. Today I will bring salvation to the worthy, the people of this Church.” He allowed a hush to fall over the gathering.
“We have been deceived,” he cried and the people cried with him in anguish. “For over twenty years, we have been deceived.
“Nearly twenty-two years ago, in the city of Vancouver, in the country of Pacifica, an abomination was born. It arose from the hubris of man through the evils of science.
“Satan spoke into the ears of the wicked and tricked them into creating the means for the destruction of our Lord’s beautiful Earth, as is the way of the Adversary.
“They even gave the abomination a name. They called it the Eater.”
Wails of despair rose from the people in the halls of Yeshua’s True Guard Churches around the world as they received Alum’s message.
“God looked down upon us and saw that it was time to bring His people home, to draw those of true Faith to His bosom and cast the rest into eternal flame. My father, the Founder of this blessed congregation, the Reverend Alan LaMontagne, pleaded with our Lord for more time.”
Shouts of “Hallelujah” and “Lord, have mercy” rise from around the audience.
“And lo, our Lord granted more time. Through His Divine Intervention, the scientists who created this evil thing were inspired to corral it. They placed the Eater in an isolation chamber that it might be separated from the world it wanted to devour. But they recognized its inevitable nature.”
The congregation gasped collectively. A few carefully-planted young ladies swooned upon a signal from the Congregation Director. A few even fainted honestly, whether in response to the terrible words or in hysterical emulation of the others.
“God granted humanity a deadline: twenty-two years and some days from its creation, the Eater would escape its prison and consume the planet.
“Our Lord and Savior directed the Reverend LaMontagne to meet with the leaders of the world and tell them of a plan to save the Faithful. That plan is Project Vesta and, through it, the Lord has prepared a place for us among the stars, a refuge where humanity may continue to spread His Word.”
“My friends, evil has grown rapidly in this world, and God can no longer stand by and watch His Creation be corrupted. Our Day of Judgment is no longer at hand. Today, Judgment is upon us. Today, the Eater is unshackled!”
He held up his hands in triumph and sent a signal that triggered a one-minute countdown on a packet of C4 explosive on the grounds of his mansion.
The bomb and a small container holding one-half of an entangled particle pair rested on a piece of plywood atop an RAF shift generator. Ten seconds after the signal was sent, the generator activated. It pinpointed the entangled matter’s mate sitting in a pillbox-sized device on a rooftop thousands of miles away, and completed the shift.
The bomb disappeared from Alum’s back yard and instantly reappeared above Greg and Kathy’s lab.
“Today, millions of you, tens of millions of you, the Faithful have gathered at this time of Yeshua’s calling. You have gathered inside our Churches around the world and lined up in the streets to hear this message. Please, bow your heads with me now in humility and gratitude for our Blessed Savior. For today, you are the Chosen People and God has brought His miracle of salvation to you.”
A chorus of Amens resounded, and Alum raised his hands in supplication and bowed his head. He uttered a quick prayer, eager to get on with the day. “Amen.”
“Dearly beloved, our path has been set. Today we embark on a journey to Sanctuary. We leave this wretched Earth that God and His Son have seen fit to curse with vengeful destruction.
“Together, we travel to Vesta, to Pallas, and to Ceres, to the sanctuaries that God has prepared for us, where we will be safe from Satan’s evil machinations.”
Alum turned to address the few hundred he had chosen to be the first of the Faithful to shift to the asteroids.
“I have invited some of you to join me on stage today, to lead the way for the rest of the Chosen. I thank you for your courage and your faith.”
He noticed a small child weeping near the edge of the group. “No, do not cry, my sweet child,” he said, “rejoice! For Yeshua has selected you. He so loves your faith in Him, your enduring love for Him, that He will save you from His father’s wrath. Be joyful!”
The crowd wailed in joy, grief, and disbelief. A few rushed for the exits. They were allowed to leave. God and the Eater will take care of those without Faith—Alum thought, and he smiled.
Those who’d been outside pressed forward into the Diamond Cathedral and into the smaller branch Churches in other locations. The majority of those who attended today had heeded his announcement and were prepared to leave their homes. They didn’t know where they’d be going, only that God had called them to a safe haven. Alum assured them that they needed to bring little, their needs would be taken care of where they were going, praise God.
“Now is the time of miracles,” Alum shouted over the din from the congregation. “Let us praise the Lord God and His Only Son, Yeshua. Let us give glory to the Almighty for His Grace.” The crowds settled down and bowed their heads to receive Alum’s blessing as they had so many times before.
“Dear God. Grant Your people salvation from Your terrible judgment on this day, for they are True Guardians of Your Word and of the Faith. Let Your sword pass them by. Take them from this world to the refuge You have provided. Grant that they may someday spread from there and take Your message of peace and love throughout this galaxy and even to others, if that is Your Will. We praise You and Your Son, Yeshua, our Savior. Amen.”
The congregation echoed “Amen.”
When those who had joined Alum on the stage raised their heads, they were no longer on Earth. In place of the Diamond Cathedral, their eyes opened to the wonders of the tube colonies in the faraway asteroid belt.
30
Greg hummed a triumphant tune. Today, he and Kathy were going to save the world. Well, not literally today. It would take a bit longer to put their plan into effect, but the work they were doing would set them on the road to salvation.<
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Not only that, but their strategy would launch a Golden Age fueled by expansion into space, and facilitate great leaps in science and technology, all made possible by the enhanced-IQ lattices.
The President of the university and Prime Minister Hudson were equally relieved and excited about the plans to move the Eater away from Earth. PM Hudson immediately commandeered six small rockets for the purpose.
Kathy and Greg outfitted the inside of the isolation tank with RAF generators they’d designed to hold the Eater. A little more fine tuning to balance the power across the grapplers, and we’ll be ready to connect the rockets!
The roof and walls all around the vacuum chamber would be removed in just a few days. They needed to construct launching pads and connect the rockets to the enormous tank. Then they’d add control circuitry to manage the ascent of the clumsy arrangement. Kathy figured they could be ready to send the Eater into space as early as next month.
Greg was happier and more excited than he’d felt in a long time. Life was good and they had hope for the future. Everything is going to be okay, for humanity and for us. We haven’t had much hope for such a long time—he realized.
It was Sunday, and the two of them had been working quietly side-by-side all morning. There were so many things he looked forward to sharing with Kathy again, like the tranquility of weekends on campus.
He was already dreaming about the long vacation they’d take once this problem was behind them. He wanted to travel, to see the world and the asteroid colonies they’d helped bring into existence. Maybe they could even stay out there for a while. That would be fun. When they settled down, maybe they could finally start a family. He was almost giddy.
True, only about ten million colonists had been delivered to Vesta, and barely half that number had arrived on Ceres and Pallas combined. But all of the new technologies and habitats had been meeting or exceeding everyone’s expectations, and now that they’d set up the additional Shifting Stations, they could ramp up the remaining colonization process.
That alone was cause for celebration, but his real source of excitement was the surprise anniversary gift he was bursting to share with his wife next week. In anticipation of a few months of travel, he was going to tell her the truth about the “shifting” technology.
Several years ago, when he’d first told Kathy and Reverend LaMontagne about his discovery, he didn’t really lie about it. He just didn’t tell them everything he knew. He couldn’t. Not right away, not until he tested out the rest of his theory.
He didn’t lie when he said using entangled particles to navigate space made shifting safer and easier. It did. He’d even told them entangled virtual particles were everywhere, and that they made it possible to shift short distances.
What he’d neglected to say was that he’d grown an RAF generator inside his own skull some years earlier. And that he no longer needed an external RAF shifter to jump around. And that he’d been practicing shifting longer and longer distances by hopping between different entangled virtual pairs.
Kathy would’ve freaked if he’d told her that last bit.
She wouldn’t have been wrong. What he was doing was dangerous. He risked becoming completely disconnected from the universe, drifting in non-space until he died. It remained a very real possibility.
His shifting method, without a specifically-manufactured entangled navigation guide, was still too imprecise for his comfort. He bounced around in a crazy random walk outside of space and time every time he shifted.
But it worked. He eventually got where he wanted to go, and it was getting easier with practice. Actually, it got easier when he extended his lattice into his gut. Intestinal neurons were the second most numerous in the body and he had no problem seconding them for navigation calculations.
Before long, he was traveling all over the world on his little jaunts. Next stop, the moon—he’d joked to himself, and then a sobering thought crept into his mind—why not?
He put on the environmental suit he used for the vacuum chamber. Then, jumping between naturally-occurring, exotic, entangled virtual particles, he’d made his way to the moon, and then on to Mars.
Even with practice, he couldn’t manage a smooth shift—more like a drunk walking over an ice-covered rock field—he chuckled. But he got where he intended.
The number of entangled exotic virtual particles—particles with no analogs in the real universe—was practically limitless. If he could write out the formulas describing their properties, he could find them. Their existence, such as it was, was implicit in the math, but neither Kathy nor the Reverend gave any hint they had similar ideas. Greg kept that as his own little secret.
By noon, he and Kathy had mapped out a scheme to balance the force exerted by the RAF grapplers. He stood up and stretched. “Lunch time?”
“That would be great,” replied Kathy.
“Okay. I just have to pop to the washroom first. I’ll be right back.” In the hallway, he paused at the big observation window and looked back into the lab.
Kathy caught him peering in. Feigning exasperation, she lifted her brows as if to ask, “What’s up?”
Greg grinned and shook his head. He blew her a kiss. She laughed, and followed his retreat down the hall a moment before getting back to work.
The lab exploded. Or rather, imploded. The ceiling collapsed. The tempered glass observation window shattered.
Greg ducked at the sudden blast and covered his face with his arms against flying debris. What the hell? An explosion?
Chunks of concrete were falling. Structural metal, pipes, and wires were severed and flapping. Only then did he hear the roar of the wind.
So much dust. Can’t catch my breath. Choking.
“Kathy? Kathy? Where are you?” he screamed into the howling wind.
What happened? I can’t see for all the crap in the air.
“Kathy!” he yelled again. My ears. Ringing so loud. A bomb? No, impossible. A lightning strike? No, something bigger. Kathy? Can’t think. So dizzy. Why won’t this ringing stop? The wind. It’s sucking everything into the tank.
The noise was deafening. Amidst the raining debris, dust and darkness, an alarm blared.
“Oh, no, no, no!” The Eater! The isolation chamber must have imploded. “Kathy? Kathy!” he choked. Too much dust. That ringing! It’s not just inside my head. An alarm. It must be an alarm. Wait. Not just an alarm. THE alarm!
“Kathy!” he bellowed into the sucking rush of air. He tried to reach her using his lattice communications, but the local routers had been destroyed and his transmission was too weak to penetrate the thick dust. Or maybe it was the effect the exposed Eater had on the local radio transmissions.
“The vacuum chamber’s been breached!” He could barely hear his own voice. “Kathy!” he screamed into the chaos that was pulling anything not fastened down toward the gaping maw of the Eater’s isolation enclosure. He could see the gray sphere just inside its walls, now, growing steadily as it sucked in air and debris.
“Kathy! Kathy! Where are you?”
He peeked over the lab wall that used to support a window into the corridor. In the midst of what felt like a tornado, he frantically searched the lab.
Remnants of the roof and loose papers flew past. A work table slid toward the Eater, behind a flow of wheeled chairs, broken glass, lab paraphernalia, and bits of construction material. As each item touched the implacable gray sphere, it was smoothly and instantly absorbed. With every molecule, the Eater grew a little bigger. It was already pushing toward the boundaries of the catastrophically breached cell.
Kathy! Her unconscious body was caught on the ragged edge of the imploded vacuum chamber. Her broken limbs flailed, driven by the gale force wind that was drawing everything into the Eater.
He couldn’t get any closer but maybe he could shift in, grab her, and shift out. Too dangerous. Couldn’t get in and out fast enough, before the wind sucked us both into the Eater. Besides, he’d never tried shifting anything
other than himself and whatever he was wearing.
Need another way. Greg slid along the wall to the lab door. If he could just bridge the gap across the break in the isolation tank, he could reach her.
There was a stepladder behind the door. It was long enough; it would work but the Eater was millimeters from the inner wall of the tank now. He didn’t have much time. He heard something rip out of the ceiling behind him. He ducked as dozens of acoustic ceiling tiles flew past him and into the Eater.
That was all it took. The gray sphere grew enough to contact its prison walls. They were gone in a second. There was nothing between Kathy and the Eater. Greg watched helplessly as the wind sucked her into the growing microverse. She disappeared without a sound.
As if it had been a dream, the wind slowed. Is it over?—Greg wondered. He stood in the doorway, bracing himself against the sucking wind.
The lab was empty. The isolation chamber was no more. The wind had died when the Eater broke outside its confines. Now it was absorbing matter evenly on all sides, rather than having to suck everything in through the tear in its container. But Kathy was already gone.
She’s gone. Kathy’s gone. The shock of it was too much to bear. His knees went weak and he collapsed against the wall, numb.
Kathy’s dead, and the Eater is loose. It’s loose.
The ominous gray sphere was growing more quickly now, fed by the walls of the building it contacted, by the mountain beneath the building, by the air that flowed against it, and even by the light of the afternoon sun. Earth is dead. Dead planet walking! He chuckled at his dark wit. Then he snorted. It threatened to turn into a laugh, into tears, into outright hysteria.
What do I do now? Kathy’s gone. The Eater’s out. The world is doomed. He stared at the gray globe expanding implacably toward him.
