Wanda

by carl smothers

  New Mexico

  Harry’s monitor beeped. It was Marc. His mouth was open slightly, his eyes wild looking and his voice shaky. “Harry,” he said excitedly, “the friggin system stability matrix is starting to act squirrely. I think the system’s going unstable! Get down to Mission Control immediately!”

  “I’ll be right there.” Holy shit! Harry’s stomach churned at the thought the monster might break loose. I hope the protocols hold. I think I’ve had enough. We need to shut this thing down until we find out what’s causing these problems. I’ll worry about people criticizing me later. It’s easy to be an arm chair quarterback, but an entirely different issue when you’re in the middle of the game. My priority right now is the safety of this team

  Harry yelled at Pepper’s as he passed her doorway. “Let’s go. Fire in the hole!”

  “Roger, right behind you,” she replied, springing from her chair.

  Harry joined Marc at the Mission Control Console and studied the status displays on the front wall. Startled, he noticed a small yellow dot blinking on his Qtab. Wanda was giving the caution sign. He paged through the system metrics menus, trying to see what was causing the variation.

  All of the team members were at their consoles performing a detailed analysis of their assigned subsystems — trying to find some clue to help get the issue under control.

  “Harry, the virus scan and diagnostic testing hasn’t uncovered anything,” Pepper reported.

  “Great! What the hell’s going on?” Marc snapped. “We got a phantom in the system? This is nuts! Ronnie, do you or Scott see anything?”

  “Some of the metrics are starting to vary, but they’re still in spec,” Ronnie replied.

  “Steady, Marc,” Harry said. “We don’t want to get the team spun up.”

  “This is frustrating the shit out of me!”

  “I’m with you. We just gotta work the processes — we’ll figure it out,” Harry said. I hope to hell we do.

  The system stability metric was becoming even more erratic.

  “Look at the metrics!” Scott yelled. “They’re changing. That shouldn’t be.” Harry checked the entropy calculations. Just as he suspected, the data transfer rate was exceeding the network’s bandwidth. Several feedback control loops showed initial signs of oscillatory behavior.

  Oh, no, Harry thought, this thing is getting ready to bust out on us.

  Wanda’s warning lights began to blink red as the system control computer announced:

  “System stability is marginal. Initiate appropriate corrective action.”

  “Marc, don’t look now but the power subsystems are starting to vary! The entire system is beginning to teeter on instability,” Pepper warned.

  “Damn it to hell!” Marc yelled. “Power systems … please correct the power variation immediately!”

  “We’re trying, control. The power system doesn’t want to respond.”

  Marc and Harry looked at each other and nodded. “Attention, team. The system stability metric is exceeding safe limits. All stations, standby to initiate system shut down,” Marc ordered.

  Thank God, we implemented a foolproof shutdown protocol, Harry thought.

  The computer came over the intercom and confirmed their conclusion.

  “The system stability metric has exceeded tolerance. Corrective action has failed. Initiate system shutdown.”

  The yellow caution lights began to flash at ten second intervals throughout the facility.

  “Attention! Initiate system shutdown immediately.”

  “Scott, have you or Ronnie identified the cause of the problem?” Marc asked — his quivering voice revealing a high state of anxiety.

  “No, Marc. We have to shut the bastard down. If we don’t, the monster’s gonna kill us all.”

  “Shutdown sequence commencing,” Harry, announced.

  “Warning! System and wormhole instability is imminent. Initiate shutdown immediately.”

  The computer announcements were annoying Harry. “No shit, Sherlock! I didn’t know!” He accessed the system shutdown menus and initiated the process. Ronnie and Kimberly were standing at the control console, looking over his shoulder. Halfway through the process, the system quit responding. Harry repeatedly initiated the system reset protocols. The system refused to respond.

  “It ain’t looking good, guys,” Scott quipped, running his fingers through his hair.

  “There’s no reason the metrics or protocols should change.” Ronnie remarked. “Only direct command input can modify ‘em.”

  “Pepper, do you see anything that might cause the protocols to malfunction?”

  “No, Harry. The diagnostics are clean. I have no idea what’s going on.”

  “Where’s Wanda?”

  “I don’t know. I guess she’s in the system somewhere.”

  The wormhole instability was distorting the space within the facility. Time itself seemed to be changing — first slowing, then speeding up slightly, making everyone’s movements erratic. Clean linear edges and objects started to look bent and swayed with the time distortion.

  The information on the front wall display looked fuzzy, and the characters appeared to be moving around as if they had a life of their own. The warning lights started to alternate between yellow and red, and the claxons screamed loudly at ten second intervals.

  We’re losing control. Harry continued to try to shut the system down. The space around him appeared to be swaying around — bending and warping.

  Have to focus. This is surreal.

  “Attention, attention! All unnecessary personnel must vacate the facility immediately. The system will self-destruct in thirty minutes.”

  Harry tried to break into the system, but it had locked him out.

  “This isn’t going to work. We have to go for an alternative,” Kimberly said.

  Marc thought for a moment. “We may be able to shut the power systems off at the junction boxes down the tunnel way. We had better hurry. I don’t know how long we’ll be able to rely on our normal senses. The wormhole’s making things look very strange. Our space–time continuum is going to get really weird.”

  Harry agreed. “Pepper, stay here with Ronnie. Lars, help them try to get the protocols to work.

  “You better hurry, Harry. I don’t think we have much time left,” Lars said, his accent coming out with this excitement.

  “Marc, Scott and I are heading down the tunnel and try to shut down power at the junction boxes. There’s four boxes, so I think it’ll take all three of us. Let’s take a cart.”

  Pepper, Ronnie and Lars sat at the MCC console and continued to try to initiate the shutdown sequence. The system control computer refused to respond.

  “Self-destruct will occur in twenty-five minutes.”

  People inside the MCC control room were yelling and screaming. Most had left their stations and headed for the elevators and stairways as fast as they could. They ran into each other and fought to get into the elevators.

  The warning sirens pulsated with a harsh, loud shrill and the red lights flashed at five second intervals.

  I wish I could turn those damn things off, Harry thought. They’re scaring the shit out of me. Things are going to hell in a hand basket.

  Wormhole stability continued to deteriorate further, creating a contorted space–time environment grossly exaggerating people’s movements. Speech slurred and time itself seemed to be oscillating, fast and then slow. Everyone appeared to be moving in jerky motions like an old movie film running at slow speed.

  Marc, Scott and Harry made their way to a personnel utility cart and headed down the tunnel way to the junction box substation. The high-pressure accelerator cooling lines sagged with the forces exerted on them by the wormhole. Some cracked, discharging steam into the tunnel with a loud hiss making it difficult to see.

  People ran down the tunnel screaming, tripping over each other, terrified by the phantasmagorical space-time continuum around them. Harry thought they looked like ghosts
moving at slow speed through the dense steam. Most of those in the tunnel were workers with no of idea what was going on. No one had ever experienced this. They were horrified, and he was, too.

  The high-density steam, dimorphic space-time environment, the red warning lights, loud claxons and frightening computer announcements made the whole thing seem like a horror movie.

  Harry had to swerve the cart in all directions to keep from hitting people. The undulating geometry of normal linear objects made it difficult to keep the cart on track and screwed with his thinking. Everything was so distorted and moving so strangely it made it all movements difficult.

  Objects were becoming grotesque with unfamiliar shapes. The space around him had turned into something from another dimension — twisted, bending and moving erratically with multiple images. The tunnel walls slowly oscillated and the overhead piping swayed back and forth like giant snakes. This was the scariest thing he had ever experienced in his life. His heart was pounding so hard he thought it would fail at any moment.

  Pepper desperately tried to achieve shutdown, but the system would not respond.

  “Warning. All personnel have twenty minutes to evacuate to a safe distance.”

  The red warning lights flashed at five-second intervals, and the claxons wailed intermittently at an overbearingly high acoustic level. The space-time convolutions were becoming worse. The walls and ceiling of the facility seemed to be moving slowly back and forth — giving the appearance they would collapse at any second.

  Pepper saw Lars running in slow motion toward the MCC elevators. She watched as he collided with two people trying to get into the elevator, knocking them to the floor and taking their place. She couldn’t believe he had deserted his teammates. Almost everyone in the MCC had already left his or her stations trying to find a place of safety. There was none — no escape.

  Ronnie was working at the design simulator console when a high-pressure cooling line ruptured, spewing high-pressure steam into the room with a shrill hissing noise. A piece of metal flew across the room, striking him in the head. He hit the floor hard, blood oozing from the wound in his forehead. He didn’t move or make any sound. Pepper screamed and ran over to him. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to revive him, but got no response.

  Compose and focus, compose and focus, she though as she laboriously dragged Ronnie over to the system control console.

  The space-time continuum continued to deform. It was hard for her to think and see. The dense steam with its ugly loud hiss, warning claxons, red lights and swaying walls caused Pepper to get sick at her stomach. She thought she would throw up any second.

  Her senses told her things that confused her and made everything difficult to interpret logically. She felt like she was moving at slow speed. Every motion seemed exaggerated.

  Pepper fought the urge to vomit. It was like trying to work in a confusing strobe light environment set at a frequency to make one sick. She glanced at Ronnie and thought; He’s bleeding, so his heart’s pumping. Well, the bleeding’s almost stopped, so he’ll have to wait. I have to get back to the shutdown sequence or his bleeding won’t matter. I hope Harry’s having some luck. This is a friggin nightmare. I’ve never been so scared. I hope I don’t throw up on my console. For heaven’s sake, where’s Wanda?

  Harry and the guys continued down the tunnel, swerving to miss ruptured cooling lines, debris, and people lying helplessly on the tunnel floor. As they rounded one turn, a large man jumped on the cart. He beat Harry as he screamed at the top of his lungs. The beating was so savage Harry couldn’t control the cart. It veered wildly, crashing into the tunnel wall, throwing everyone out. Marc hit the wall, shook his head and then jumped back to his feet. Scott lay face down. The big man was on top of Harry, beating him and yelling profanities.

  Harry tried to fight back, but the man was irrational and too powerful. Harry’s eyes were swelling shut.

  “Marc, get this bastard off me. Hurry!”

  Marc grabbed a large wrench from the glove box, and hit the man in the jaw as hard as he could. The man screamed and fell on the floor unconscious.

  “Marc, is Scott all right? That bastard was crazy.”

  Marc bent down and checked his pulse. “Yes, but I think he’ll be out for awhile.”

  “We have to leave him and get to the junction boxes!” Harry yelled. His eyes were almost swollen shut.

  The sirens screamed loudly and the emergency lights flashed red at a high frequency rate. The cooling pipes buckled and spewed dense steam into the tunnel with a menacing hiss, obscuring their vision. Everything was confused.

  The space-time environment continued to deteriorate, creating an obtuse and foreign environment that defied normal perception. The tunnel walls oscillated back and forth and the floor appeared to be rolling like small waves. The red warning lights refracted off the warped space-time geometry, changing colors and creating weird patterns like multi-colored strobe lights.

  People ran blindly through the dense steam — scared, screaming and tripping over each other, their movements like discrete photographic time shots. The computer then announced:

  “The system will self-destruct in eighteen minutes. All personnel must vacate the facility immediately.”

  Harry frantically looked at Marc. “My senses are screwing me up.”

  “Mine, too. Let’s get done before we freak out. The junction box is about thirty meters ahead.”

  They finally made their way to the boxes. Marc fumbled with the panel lock. The spatial contortions caused by the wormhole made it difficult to see the red combination lock numbers. “I’m having trouble. I can’t seem to read the numbers. They’re all distorted,” Marc yelled.

  “Do you need help?”

  He fumbled a bit longer, wiped his brow, and then entered the last two digits. “I think I have it.”

  “All tunnel doors are now closing. Self-destruct will occur in fifteen minutes.”

  “Damn, Marc, I hope Pepper and the guys are having better luck that we are.”

  “Me, too. Things aren’t lookin’ good. I’ve never had so much trouble opening a fucking lock.”

  He wiped his eyes to clear his vision. As he opened the circuit breaker panel, a steam line broke under the changing gravitational distortions and severed the main power line going into the box. A surge of electrical energy darted through the junction box and then through Marc to ground. Marc screamed as his body flew across the tunnel. He hit the wall and fell limply to the tunnel floor.

  Harry’s mouth dropped as he stared at Marc lying in a heap. He regained his composure and went to Marc’s aid. He rolled him over and checked for a pulse.

  “He’s alive but not breathing,” He muttered. There is nothing more I can do except help Marc. Those boxes are too hot. It’s up to Pepper and Wanda now. Harry administered CPR to Marc, and after a minute, he coughed and started to breathe.

  “Thirteen minutes to self-destruct.”

  People yelled and screamed in terror. Harry felt the pain of their cries as they ran for their lives trying to escape the invisible monster determined to destroy them.

  The high-pressure cooling lines leading to the superconductors fought to maintain their integrity. The gravitational tug of war between the wormhole and the mechanical properties of the metal pipes was in a dire confrontation, and the pipes were losing the battle. Harry looked up as one line surrendered to the fight and exploded sending great blasts of gaseous material hurling into the corridor. The impact of the escaping gas slammed his body into the wall. He desperately fought the urge to slip into a state of unconsciousness as he slid limply down the smooth concrete to the floor. He was afraid and utterly helpless to do anything — for himself or Marc.

  Holy crap, he thought. I feel like Dr. Frankenstein. I made something to help humankind, and now I’m going to die at the hands of the very monster we created.

  One by one, the massive steel doors shut through the length of the long tunnel way. The loud metallic sound
echoed and reverberated off the walls as each one slammed shut. It was like hearing the sound of nails driven into his coffin. There was no escape now. He couldn’t do anything to save himself or his colleague, who lay helpless on the floor. There was nothing more he could do … except wait and hope.

  The wormhole was becoming more unstable. The normal Euclidean space-time in which he had lived his life had now become a bizarre grotesque continuum. The objects around him bent and deformed in weird geometric patterns. Some twisted like corkscrews. Square objects seemed to have rounded edges that moved around erratically.

  Emanations from the red warning lights flashed at one-second intervals, shifting in color and bursting into flashes of confusing configurations like a kid’s kaleidoscope. The irritating shrill of the warning horns pounded in his ears, and his head hurt from the assault on his senses. It scared him to see walls swaying and the tunnel floor rolling like small ocean waves.

  “The facility will self-destruct in twelve minutes.”

  Harry could feel the cold floor on his ass. The clammy air, saturated with the smell of burnt circuits, assaulted his nose. Huge sparks squirted out of the circuit breaker panels. It was eerie watching the jagged bolts of electrical energy hunting for a path to ground. The high frequency screeching sounds and the electrical discharges caused cold shivers to run up and down his spine.

  The rolling floor, oscillating tunnel walls and pipes moving like snakes freaked him out. Screams of terror permeated the air as people desperately sought a way out of the hell that had descended on them. Harry’s head pounded and the dense gasses spewing out of the ruptured cooling lines leading to the field generators clouded his vision.