It surprised Marie that the objects were not arranging as a ringed structure. Instead, the pieces were aligning themselves in locations that did not indicate they would interact together at all. Indeed, the larger ones were as much as a hundred feet below the other sections above them.
“How on earth does it work?” she found herself asking aloud, truly perplexed. But this thought was quickly overshadowed by her awe at the sight of the new piece hovering in the air directly in front of her, having floated up out of the water. It rose—now fully in a lateral position—and she craned her neck, following it up into the sky toward the others. Tilting her head back further, she glanced toward the very top, where the first piece had positioned itself. Marie imagined that by the time the entire contents of the structure were revealed, it could reach down near to the vessels—to them—and she wondered what would happen then.
It slowly dawned on her that the energy emissions—should the signal continue to work, and they managed to activate the Machine—would be colossal. Her neck was arched back fully as she stared up, and the sixth piece moved into position beneath the others, eclipsing them all in size. Distantly, she heard a clank—a vacuous jolt that had no real energy, but she felt nonetheless—as the sixth piece locked into place.
The sky lit up for a moment with breathless light as a giant arc of electricity passed over the top of the Machine. It flickered once and then again, this time skirting its way over the other sections, as though it was a hand reaching out to test them. Marie gasped and donned her protective goggles that had until that point dangled around her neck. She took several steps back. After a moment, the electricity faded, and the world was once again quiet, save for the sound of the water that still bubbled around at the center.
She found herself laughing quietly, but this didn’t last as the environment around the Machine began to change. Marie took off the goggles and stared up at the objects that were at least two hundred feet away, trying to make out what she was seeing. After a moment, she was able to confirm what she saw: An orange, cloud-like mist had begun to encircle the apparatus, swirling around it. At first, the mist was almost totally transparent—barely visible. As the seconds passed, though, the haze began to grow in density, becoming more apparent to her.
She pulled her gaze away from the object and walked toward the door to the control room, entering it. She walked straight toward Ranger. “Do we have any reading on the particulate matter that’s forming around the pieces?”
“No, nothing—some kind of anomalous effect. The energy readings are intensifying. It’s drawing power from somewhere.”
“Where?”
“Unknown, but it appears to be self-generated. Suggest that the structural components are generating it in tandem.”
“Like an automatic response,” Marie said to herself. “Once they’re in place, it’s like a chain reaction.” She paused, staring at the live image on the giant monitor in front of her. “It’s starting.”
On the main monitor, they both watched as the orange matter became a strange, swirling cloud all its own, encircling the Machine parts.
“Keep monitoring, Ranger. Let me know of any interference in the signal at all,” she said as she turned away from him.
“Understood.”
Once again Marie approached the golden-white light that poured in through the open door that led to the deck beyond, and a feeling of wonder enveloped her as the unusual, refracted shimmer scattered around her legs. She stepped out and looked up. In the short time she had been in the control room, an additional piece had begun to emerge from the ocean, and she watched it rise. After a few more minutes, seven sections of the Machine had assembled themselves in a tower-like fashion. In the distance, she heard the groaning sounds of some ancient machinery come to life. She donned her protective glasses once more, sensing exactly what was coming. She barely had them on in time as another streak of lightning danced across the interior of the ring assembly, which was now about three hundred feet long from the lowest rung to the highest.
From the outside, the broken rings were barely visible as the swirling mass of mist enveloped them. But from Marie’s vantage point, she could see up inside the center to the very top rung. There, in the interior, the mist was not obscuring her view of the ring sections, and beyond the very top, the sky was clear. The cloud-like substance reminded her of images she had seen of the surface of Jupiter, or perhaps a tremendous sandstorm, and inside it, smaller streaks of lightning could be seen dancing throughout.
For a moment, doubt stirred within her. She glanced down, removing her goggles, and looked at the three other ships that formed the square around the Machine. She could make out very faintly in the distance men and women standing on the decks of these ships, staring up at the system that was taking formation above them. Some of them were holding binoculars. She knew that they were in danger; in fact, she had the sudden feeling that they were all in danger. She looked back up at the Machine as she heard another mechanical sound reverberate. This time, a slight shockwave emanated from above and came down over the ship, rattling the railing and the doorframe behind her.
It occurred to her then that this was indeed beyond them. She thought she had known everything there was to know about the object, but she had been terribly mistaken, and only the sight of its scale and grandeur allowed her to realize it. She lowered her gaze to the deck, where just beyond it, through the railing, the white foam washed against the side of the ship. She found herself thinking of Jane suddenly, without knowing why, and for a moment, her heart filled with hope.
She looked back up at the Machine just as another section of the device rose out of the water. Two other pieces quickly followed this. After a moment, three more of these objects were rising together, and then one by one, they moved into lateral positions below the others.
As she watched them rise, something Ranger had said previously in the control room echoed in her mind. It appears to be self-generated. If it were self-generated, would it be self-perpetuating too? She shuddered at the idea and wrapped her cardigan around her more tightly as the sun fell lower toward the horizon.
***
Jane and Morris had been moving as surreptitiously as possible, guided by Ciara’s instructions toward where they knew there was an access panel that led to the surface. After ten minutes, they reached the empty corridor and entered it. On the right, Jane saw that it extended only a further thirty feet, where there was a solid bulkhead with a window in the center. For a moment, she ignored the door on her left that she knew would lead them to the surface.
Instead, she steeled herself and walked toward the end, almost afraid to look out the window. When she did, she was frozen with shock, for although she had pictured the device in her mind’s eye—both beneath the ocean over which they floated, and outside the ship very recently—nothing had prepared her for the sight that greeted her then.
“Morris… Who built this thing?”
He joined her, standing next to her on the right and glancing over her shoulder. “It’s taking up half the sky!”
Jane turned to him, her face filled with an expression of both awe and fear. “What if this goes badly? What if that thing blows itself to pieces? What if they screw it up?”
“Good point,” was the only reply he could offer.
Jane sighed and shook her head. She glanced back out the window. “We have to try and stop them.”
He nodded his agreement. Then, glancing down, he took her wrists in his hands. “What happened here?”
“They put us in restraints.”
“How did you get out?”
She hesitated. “Uh… They shattered… by themselves.”
“What do you mean?
“I mean… they just broke.”
“Just like that?”
She didn’t respond. She had been staring at her wrists, and now she slowly brought her eyes up to
meet his.
“It was him, wasn’t it?” he asked.
After a moment, she nodded.
“Is he coming back?” he asked, his brow furrowing.
“Look—”
“No, Jane. Forget that. I don’t care about it. We need his help. That’s why I’m asking. Is he coming back?”
“Yes. I think so.” To her surprise, Morris smiled.
“Good,” he said, grinning.
Her lips curled into a smile. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she leaned on his chest as he draped his own arms around her shoulders. She breathed in his scent, but had only a moment to savor it before she heard footsteps approach. After a few moments, Ciara appeared from around the nearby corner.
“Morris!” Ciara yelled as she ran toward him immediately. Her voice was filled with glee, but there was a hint of melancholy.
Jane stepped back, and Ciara ran straight into his open arms, wrapping them tightly around his neck.
“Thanks,” Morris said.
“What do you mean?” Ciara asked.
“Well, you found the place,” he replied, glancing at the door.
“Oh,” she said, pulling away and grinning. “I suppose I did. That’s true.” Mike approached with a huge grin.
Jane could see just the edge of Morris’s smile as he turned toward Mike and hugged him. Mike smiled and embraced him in return. They let go, and for just a second, Morris ran his hand through Mike’s black hair. Mike smiled, blushed, and pulled away, but Morris was after him immediately, grasping his shoulders and tugging hard there.
Jane was ready to laugh and join in with them. For a moment, she saw the carefree energy that reflected their true age, how they should be: innocent, free and unbridled in their communication with each other. But as much as she tried to ignore it, her mind was once again drawn to the whirring of the Machine, tugging at the edges of her mind. Her smile faded, but before she spoke, she spared them a few more seconds to enjoy the moment.
Eventually, Ciara glanced at her and pursed her lips.
Jane nodded. “Guys. Look alive,” she said as she turned to her right where the door to the access tunnel was.
They all turned and fell in around her. Right in front of her was a panel that was printed with the words EMERGENCY ACCESS ONLY.
“There are no electronics, Jane. It’s entirely mechanical,” Mike said, his voice strong and steady.
“Presumably for use in the event of a serious emergency,” Morris added.
Jane looked at him. He was standing on her left and glancing around the perimeter of the doorframe, scanning it. Finally, his eyes settled on the locking mechanism at the center of the door.
“Give it a try, Jane,” Mike urged.
There was a lever on the door that was attached to a circular locking mechanism at the center. The thick handle was pointed upward, and Jane reached for it with both hands, putting pressure on it. She gritted her teeth as she pushed harder, then Morris joined in with two large fists and pushed too. It wouldn’t budge. They stopped pushing and stepped back, breathless.
After a moment during which they stood in silence, Ciara spoke. “Maybe it only releases when the ship enters some kind of emergency mode.”
“Which means we have to break it,” Morris said without taking his eyes off the handle.
Jane looked at him and could see that he had already extended his power out toward the lock. She turned to it too as she heard a loud creaking sound and extended her own vast, elemental power out toward it, feeling the presence of both Ciara and Mike also reaching out. Their focus seemed to combine, and the lock began to turn.
The flashes came without warning as Jane used her power. Flash: the Machine, hovering in the sky and shining in the lowering sun. Flash: the giant sections of the Machine spinning. Flash: something inside the Machine at the top, like a mirror—a gateway—a rippling pool… leading to…
The handle on the door had turned a full ninety degrees, and Jane felt it lock into place in the open position. A loud klaxon blared overhead as the light above the door shifted from red to green. She looked at her friends for some indication that they knew she had seen something, but it seemed none of them suspected a thing. They each looked at each other breathlessly. She felt Morris reach out for the door. His will moved past her, and to her, it felt like a strong, invisible hand. After two seconds, as he used his power on it, the door swung open in front of them with a heavy groaning sound.
Inside, there was a dark chamber with only a ladder at the very center. Jane stepped forward and glanced down below the threshold. The steps descended into darkness, and she guessed that it met various other decks at other access points. She breathed a sigh of relief that this particular deck seemed to be only sparsely staffed.
“Is this it?” Jane asked as she turned her head around and looked upward through the dark shaft.
“This is the quickest way. It leads right to the surface,” Ciara responded. “And not only that. It will put us right on the deck near to what appears to be a control room of some sort—I can’t tell for sure.” She glanced at Jane. “That thing out there is affecting my senses somewhat.”
“Right,” Jane said, a slight hint of hesitation ringing clearly in her voice. She could feel Morris’s eyes on her, and then she saw him approach. He took her hand and held it tightly.
“Come on, let’s go,” he said, apparently sensing her hesitation. He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, brushing it with his palm. Without any further discussion, he reached out toward the ladder, grasped one of the rungs, and then placed his feet on it securely. He began to ascend.
Jane moved next, despite her desire to stay there. She didn’t want to go to the surface, for she knew some tremendous trial was awaiting her there, but for her friends, she willed herself forward. She pushed herself across the two-foot distance onto the ladder, then began to climb. As she looked up, it felt for a moment as though she had gone blind. A momentary feeling of panic gripped her. Somewhere through the thick walls, and in the distance, she could hear muffled voices and screaming. Another image flashed through her mind of the interior of some impossibly large structure, constructed out of brown marble. A tremendous light shone from a central point on her left, and a terrible fear gripped her at the sight. But then her eyes slowly adjusted to the minuscule light level, and she could see once again. The vision faded, and the feelings that went with it washed away like watercolors.
Still, she wondered. It felt as though the feeling of being blind had been almost premonitory. Somehow, she knew she had anticipated something, and the brief, unusual vision had something to do with it. Below her, as she climbed, she heard Mike and Ciara step into the access tunnel, and their feet clanked down on the rungs of the ladder below. She continued to ascend, knowing she was moving toward some perilous destiny. Despite this, she looked up with open eyes and willingness to face whatever was coming, and desperately hoping, wishing, that she would see Max again.
***
Ranger’s tasks were very specific. They involved a) following Marie’s orders, b) monitoring the ship’s systems, and c) monitoring the output signals of the Machine as it rose. He had now been distracted from that as one of the other technicians in the room, Janine, had notified him of an anomalous reading in the holographic testing room. He had been patched into her on a secure communications loop, and now he was listening to her brief conversation with the male technician who worked next to her.
“We’ve got enough data here to keep us mining for decades. Do you see these readings?” came the voice of the man Ranger knew as Jonathan.
“Yes. It’s astonishing,” he heard Janine reply. “There are intermittent readings of entirely different environments now. Something very unusual is happening inside that vortex.”
“Have you got the information?” Ranger asked, with just a slight hint of impatience.
“Coming up now, sir,” she replied.
�
�We need control logs from the holographic testing room. Specifically from the following times,” he said as he sent the data to her terminal. “I need confirmation before I go to Marie.”
“Uh, sir, he’s unconscious. He’s OK, but sleeping.” She paused. “You need to tell her now.”
He knew she was right. He stepped out of his chair, turned, and looked left toward the large door that was cut into the side of the ship’s frame. He could see the fine weather outside, and beams of spectral, incandescent light—presumably from the Machine—were scattered across the floor at the foot of the door, dissipating as the distance from the door increased.
“Get me Marie Donaldson on a secure channel, please,” he said to his AI assistant.
“Continue,” the AI responded.
“Marie, this is Ranger.”
“Go ahead,” he heard her say into his earpiece.
“We may have a slight problem.”
CHAPTER 16
RISE
Marie had been standing on the deck of the ship, watching the Machine continue to construct itself, when Ranger contacted her. The experience was nearly overwhelming, and she was almost glad when Ranger’s communication interrupted.
“What is it?” she replied.
“Lucas is down. We’re watching the video footage now. I think you’re going to want to see this.”
She turned toward the door and began walking toward it. “What happened?” There was hesitation on the other end of the channel. “Ranger, are you there?” she asked, knowing he was and growing more concerned. Behind her, over her head, an incredible, mechanical sound boomed down over the ships. She felt the sonic shockwave wash over her, and she gaped, turning and staring up at the Machine. The uppermost ring had come to life, and she could see it move inside the swirling vortex of matter that encircled the huge device.
Rise (The Ethereal Vision Book 2) Page 20
