Falling Ark

by Leigh Snelson

  We navigated the corridors of the lower basement floor. Only yesterday I had been here as an employee. The whole place seemed unrecognisable to me now.

  Approaching the server room, I could see glow from all the blinking lights and as we turned the corner and the glass wall came into view. The night vision glasses nearly blinded as they were overcome by the new brightness of the room.

  All three of us took of the glasses off and stared at the glowing wall. It was supposed to be inspirational or motivational or something, but I never really noticed it in all the years I worked here.

  “You know, When I first saw the room, I thought the computers were fake because of how neat everything is.” I said.

  “Why would you think that?” Derek asked.

  “Look, there are no cables or piles of computer parts sitting in a corner and I have never seen anyone in there performing maintenance.” I explained.

  “Well let’s hope they are real!” Derek said as he started to unpack his bag.

  I never thought about how to get into the server room. There were no doors or windows, just this giant glass wall. That little detail wasn’t about to stop Derek. He reached into his bag and held out another little device which looked like a plunger with a speaker attached to it.

  He stuck it to the glass using the plunger side and turned a little dial on the side.

  “You might want to step back.” Derek informed us.

  We did as we were told.

  The whole panel glass started to vibrate. I could see it visibly bouncing then it shattered into millions of pieces, Derek’s little device fell to the floor, it’s job complete.

  “Resonant frequency!” Derek said as he grinned and stepped over the glass shards to retrieve his gizmo. “Just like an opera singer breaking a glass with their voice, only much more effective.”

  I followed him into the room, careful not to slip on the glass beads.

  It was loud in here. The hum of the fans and drives was quite intense, and we had to raise our own voices to be heard.

  “Well done guys.” Sam crackled over the radio. “Ava suggests putting the USB in the grey case, third on the left.”

  Hank did as he was told. He was probably not the best person for this job. His giant hands struggled with the task of inserting the small device. He was not nimble, but he managed it after a couple of attempts.

  The little stick started to flash its LEDs.

  “That’s great guys.” Ava’s voice said. “Just give me a few minutes while I work my magic.”

  I looked at Hank who in turn looked at Derek. This was too easy. We hadn’t seen anyone or set off any alarms and I had a bad feeling that this was all about to go very wrong, very quickly.

  It felt like we were being watched, and not just by Sam and Ava. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something wasn’t quite right.

  Derek and Hank looked around the server room and down the corridor ensuring that no-one could sneak up on us.

  I watched on the screen mounted in the server case. A simple display appeared which indicated the signal strength to Ava's laptop and a loading bar that showed how much data had been transferred.

  I watched the bar slowly increase until, a few minutes later we got the all clear from Ava.

  “That’s great guys, I think we have everything we need. Get out of…” Sam’s voice was cut short and replaced with static.

  I pulled the device out of the huge computer and put it in my top pocket for safety. There was no data on the device, but it talked to Ava’s laptop and if it fell into the wrong hands then it could be used to track Ava’s location. I was not prepared to compromise her safety.

  The moment the device left the server the main lights across the basement came back online and I heard a voice behind me.

  “You have some guts coming back here after the stunt you pulled!” The voice said in a deep growl.

  I slowly turned around to see three armed guards dressed in swot-style uniforms. Two of them were large, bulky men holding even larger, bulkier machine guns. In the middle of these two was a giant. He didn’t have a gun but the way he towered over the other two, he didn’t look like he needed one. It was Frank.

  Even though they wore masks and heavy equipment it was easy to pick Frank out of a line up. He was literally head and shoulders above the others who themselves were huge. Frank was the biggest man I had ever met, except for my new friend Hank, I didn’t want to guess who would win if they met.

  Looking around realised that both Hank and Derek had done a disappearing act. They were no-where to be seen and I hadn’t even heard them leave. When I turned my back to get the USB drive, they must have ran away. Unless they were setting me up, this could be a huge ploy by Lara and everyone could be working for her. I dismissed the idea quickly.

  “Frank, you have to let me go. Lara is crazy. This technology could change the world, but Lara only wants to exploit it for profit.” I tried to beg.

  I looked him up and down, he didn’t move, didn’t give away his intentions. I don’t know if I was getting through to him or not.

  “I have caught you red handed. Steeling company secrets, that’s unforgivable.” Frank said. “That device in your pocket, and the metal ball, slowly put them on the floor.”

  I knelt and placed the orb and the USB stick on the floor slowly, just as Frank had asked, desperately trying to think of a solution. There must be a way out.

  Nothing. That was my solution, no ideas came to mind at all.

  “Now, back on your feet. Slowly, we don’t want any funny business.” Frank grumbled.

  “I am sorry about last night, about you face.” I cried, trying to sound as sincere as possible. “I had no other option.”

  “My face? What about my face? What are you talking about? Is that a threat or a distraction technique?” Franks voice grew angrier as he blurted out the questions.

  Did he not remember last night? Perhaps the pain had caused him to blank it from his memory and I don’t think I want to remind him about it if he doesn’t know what happened to him. At least for now he wasn’t holding a grudge about it.

  “Thank you for your co-operation. I’ll leave you in the hands of these two.” Frank tapped the two guards on their shoulders.

  The riffles rose straight at my head. They took aim and without hesitation I saw them pull their triggers.

  Closing my eyes, I allowed the sound of two automatic machine guns emptying their barrels fill my ears.

  I didn’t feel anything. Perhaps this is what happens when you die.

  A full ten seconds passed before I had the confidence to open my eyes again. I could hear the ammunition leaving the guns but no pain. My body was stiff with anticipation, but I could still feel my fingers twitching.

  As my vision returned, I saw the flashes of light from the tips of the rifles and the streak of bullets heading straight for my head.

  The bullets converged into a point, half a metre from my face before changing course drastically and plummeting down into the concrete floor.

  They cascaded into the ground just in front of the orb. The orb, I noticed, was flashing little lights and its screen indicated that it was connected to something remotely.

  Someone was controlling it. They had created a huge gravity field in front of me that was catching every bullet and sucking it into the ground.

  The clicking of the automatic weapons stopped and I could see the confusion in the guards. Not on their faces but in their body language. They had just unloaded their entire arsenal at me, and I was still stood here unscratched.

  Below, a crater had formed in the concrete. Dust, debris and a molten ball of bullets all fused together.

  Still unsure about what had happened the guards looked at each other then, they took knives out of from behind their backs. In unison they leapt forward towards me.

  It didn’t take a genius to work out the outcome of this. There was a massive gravity field between them and me, strong enough to pull bullets out o
f the sky. They didn’t stand a chance.

  The human body is not designed to handle high levels of gravity. I didn’t want to think about what would happen to their bodies, however, I had no choice but to watch and find out.

  Everything seemed to take place in slow motion. They jumped towards me, leaving the floor and gaining quite a bit of airtime. Then, they hit an invisible wall of gravity. It wasn’t like they fell out of the air, more like they were pulled down by an incredibly strong, invisible force. They hit the ground with the force of a freight train hitting them.

  I hoped that they didn’t have enough time to understand what was happening. That they blacked out before they felt anything because right now, they bodies were being crumpled into a single point, merging with the wreckage from the bullets into a ball.

  Once again it was just me and Frank, just like last night.

  “What is this magic you are using?” Frank asked. The shock evident in his voice as he watched the bodies blend and fuse together on the floor.

  “I warned you.” I said with as much confidence as I could muster.

  If you had asked me to explain what was going on, I would admit that I didn’t have a clue. I knew I had to act strong in front of Frank otherwise he would call my bluff.

  “Just let me go and no-one else will get hurt.”

  “Boy! After what you have done. You’re mine.” Frank hissed.

  He reached behind him and pulled a long glass rod from behind his back. It was a circular beam, frosted, an inch in diameter with a metal handle at one end. It resembled a very thin, glass baseball bat.

  “This is a nice little invention.” He started to explain. “Lara warned me that I might need it, this uses lasers. Let’s see how your tricks hold up against this.”

  Frank pointed the end of the rod towards my head.

  It is possible for gravity to affect light, but the requirements are so huge that in doing so it would probably suck the entire Earth up at the same time.

  This time I held my breath and stared at the glowing rod in Franks hand.

  He had barely got to the end of his speech before a barrage of bullets peppered him from the side. He went down like a sack of potatoes.

  Hank and Derek turned the corner. Hank, holding a small pistol that he was putting back into its holster and Derek was doing something on his smart phone.

  “Don’t come over!” I yelled, raising my hands to stop them. “Something has happened to the orb and it’s sucking everything in.”

  Derek continued to walk towards me. Stepping over the orb and the wry smile on his face grew into a smirk.

  “Now that is a very useful device.” He said, putting the phone away.

  “You did that?” I asked in a startled voice.

  “Sure did. Earlier, while you were getting your beauty sleep, I started to experiment with it. Hope you don’t mind.” Derek informed me.

  “How did you know it would work?” I yelled in bemusement.

  “I didn’t. My plan was to fly the orb towards them, stick them to it and fly away but they shot first, so I had to improvise.” Derek replied. “A little thanks would be nice; I did just save your life.”

  “Thank you!” I said. “And thank you!” I repeated to Hank.

  “No problem.” Hank grunted as he turned over Franks body.

  This was a testament to how strong Hank was. I was certain I couldn’t turn Frank over, even ten of me together probably couldn’t turn over the limp body of Frank and yet Hank seemed to do it with ease.

  He reached into Franks pocket and pulled out a tracking device. A little stick with a red flashing light at one end.

  “We need to get out of here. We won’t be alone for long.” Hank instructed.

  I picked up the orb, double checked my pocket that I had put Ava’s device back in there and stepped out of the server room, refusing to look back at the carnage that was behind me.

  We opened the stairwell door and heard the clunking of heavy boots heading our way. Slowly I let the door close and led the way across the basement to the elevators.

  Running past the doors of so many offices I was glad to see no lights, no people, no witnesses. That was until we crossed the path of Julie who just happened to be leaving her lab.

  As she closed the door, we turned the corner and stumbled into her, knocking her off her feet and flinging the orb out of my hands.

  In one fluid movement Derek caught the orb and hid it behind his back, out of sight. I held out my hand and helped Julie back to her feet.

  “Julie!” I exclaimed.

  Julie was a few years older than me and she had worked at the facility much longer than I had. In fact, when I first started, straight out of university, Julie had been assigned as my ‘buddy’. I remember laughing when I first heard this. To have someone contractually required to be my friend seemed very odd, but it turned out to be a great idea. Julie taught me all the little secrets to getting what you wanted.

  On my first day she pointed out that if you wanted the best food from the canteen you don’t go early. You get there late.

  “Late?” I asked. It was a strange idea. At university if you turned up late to somewhere with food there would be nothing good left.

  “Yes, late.” She replied. “The management come to the canteen at the end of the lunch break to make sure that everyone clears out back to their labs. The canteen staff know this and put out more food, better food at the end of the lunch break. Just make sure that they see you turn up late and your fine.”

  Julie was full of little hacks for the facility. The best place to park, how to get any equipment ordered next day delivery without anyone noticing or even how to avoid the management entirely. She had set up an alert system from the CCTV cameras which monitored the corridors and sent alerts whenever a senior manager was on the prowl looking for someone to punish.

  Julie was ace.

  “Dom!” She shouted in surprise. “I was just heading out to…” she stopped mid-sentence when she saw the huge figure of Hank stood next to me and Derek next to him.

  She eyed me up and down. “Do I want to know what’s going on?” Julie whispered in a confused tone as she kept one eye on my strange guests.

  “Julie, there is no time to explain, just go back in your lab and stay there for ten minutes.” I opened the door into the dark room and flicked the light switch on.

  I don’t know what she was currently working on but there were small trees growing out of dozens of test tubes. If this wasn’t strange enough the trees were a range of colours and textures, different shapes and sizes. If you had just taken a large number of hallucinogens, you would have felt right at home here with the trippy colours and strange objects.

  I ushered her back into the room and put my finger to her lips indicating that she should be quiet. At that moment we heard stomping from a platoon of men coming our way.

  I slowly shut the door to Julies lab and we continued to run.

  The carnage from the previous night was still obvious. Bullet holes were still embedded in the concrete walls and the elevator door was still broken. Someone had put some red tape around it indicating that it was not to be used, just in case anyone was confused by a large steel door hanging off its hinges.

  Quickly, we all jumped into the broken lift car and Derek handed the orb to Hank.

  “Going up.” Derek said as he tapped on his phone.

  Hank started to rise in the air. The metal ball firmly grasped in one of his giant hands. He reached down and grabbed me by scruff of my jacket and Derek grabbed onto his left leg as we ascended the lift shaft.

  I refused to look down and noticed that Hank too was also only staring upwards. When the door came into view Hank gave it a huge kick with his right leg, nearly shaking Derek off his left. The metal door smashed open into the lobby. He made it look easy compared to my efforts last night.

  The large glass atrium where we had made our entrance was once again silent. There was no hint that something was wrong at
the facility, no alarms, no armed men, apart from the large basket that sat amongst a sea of small glass particles underneath a hole in the roof, everything seemed normal.

  We ran over to the basket, jumped in, Hank coupled the orb into its harness and Derek tapped on his phone, lifting us off the ground. The small metal ball carrying us up and away, through the opening in the roof and out into the cool night air, leaving behind the mayhem we had caused.

  Chapter 9

  “Remind me again why we don’t use the car to drive away?” Hank asked as he stood in the middle of the basket, trying not to let his weight unbalance us as we floated high in night sky.

  “Because Lara could track the car using her satellites.” Derek reminded him. “The higher we go the harder it will be for her to see us.”

  Ava was still sat in her car about a mile away and she was now the rendezvous point. She sat there watching us make our way through the clear, starry night.

  As we got closer Derek started our descent in the moonlight and we made a graceful landing in a tree.

  “Good driving!” I said.

  “I wanted to park somewhere that wasn’t obvious.” Derek stated.

  “Yeah, because no-one will notice a large wicker basket in a tree.” Hank pointed out. “Look around, the trees are full of baskets, buckets and containers, we fit right in.”

  Derek gave his phone an angry tap and the basket shifted harshly to the left, tipping us all out onto the grass below.

  “Was that really necessary?” I asked as I got back to my feet.

  Hank stood up and his head met the metal orb that was dangling in its harness from a tree branch. A loud clunk echoed in the still night and Hank quickly held his head.

  Derek and I grinned at each other, then the grins turned into laughter.

  Hank reached up and pulled the orb out of its holster.

  “That’s enough of that for one night.” Hank said as he took the ball and made his way over to the car where Ava was in fits of giggles watching all this unfold.

  She was sitting on the back seat, in the dark with her laptop screen illuminating her face. As we approached, she unlocked the car to let us in. Derek took the drivers position and Hank sat in the front along side him. As Hank entered the passenger side the whole car dipped down under his weight. He looked like he had just been canned as he squeezed into the front seat.