Wanda

by carl smothers

  The wormhole continued to fight the bonds that held it captive. It would not be long until it was free to kill and destroy. It was a ravenous Jekyll and Hyde monster with an insatiable appetite. It had one desire … to consume everything within its purview. The chains that held it captive were now almost broken. Hyde was loose, intent on destruction and mayhem.

  Helpless, Harry tried to make sense of his predicament. He felt like the angel of death was hovering overhead, waiting to take him. He could feel its cold icy fingers around his throat.

  At least Scott and Marc won’t experience the horror of this. Poor Pepper must be terrified.

  Pepper feverishly tried to enter the shutdown codes for the system as the space-time continuum continued to change and mutate. Her senses were unreliable and her voice so distorted she gave up on voice commands. Her only input medium defaulted to the holographic keyboard. Unfortunately, the alpha numerics appeared fuzzy and seemed to move around erratically. The computer countdown continued.

  “Time to self-destruct is eleven minutes.”

  What is wrong with this system? She thought. I need to figure out how to hold it together.

  “Facility lockdown is now in place. All tunnel ways and escape routes are closed.”

  She panicked. What am I going to do? What can I do?

  “Warning, self-destruct will occur in nine minutes.”

  Wanda was getting extremely concerned. Harry was trapped in the tunnel way and Pepper had been left alone. She concluded that Pepper was in trouble and would not be able to achieve shutdown. It was a difficult call. If she intervened, without concurrence, she could make matters worse. I’ll give her a few more seconds. If she doesn’t contact me, I’ll have to initiate my own procedures or they’ll all be killed. I hope she’s able to help me. I’m afraid me and the operating system are going to have one hell of a bar fight before this is over.

  The MCC walls oscillated, the floor rolled and the piping bent and deformed. Objects appeared as multiple images, and seemed to move around with a life of their own. It was like Dante’s Inferno with the stereoscopic sound of the warning claxons. Pepper tried to override the system, but no joy. She remembered Harry told her to immediately access Wanda if she needed help. Panic consumed her. She fumbled desperately and finally entered Wanda’s access code in her Qtab. Wanda immediately appeared next to Pepper’s console.

  “Have you been following the events here?” Pepper asked.

  “I’m aware of the situation. What do you want me to do? It looks like all hell is getting ready to break loose.”

  “Wanda, the operating system has me shut out. I desperately need your help, or we’re all going to die.”

  “I understand. I expected your call any microsecond. I almost initiated independent action, but I was afraid I might confuse you. I think I can get in through the back door. I’ll keep you informed.”

  “Five minutes to self-destruct.”

  “Please hurry!”

  After a short while, Wanda reported. “I’m having a brawl with the operating system. It’s trying every trick in the book to shut me out. Very smart, but I’ve figured out a shutdown code that will work, and I’m sending it to your Qtab. It’s not a normal shutdown sequence, so it will fool the op system for a short time. You’ll have to enter it from the holographic keyboard.”

  “Why, Wanda? I can barely function. My senses are all confused. I’m getting dizzy and disoriented … I’m afraid I’m going to faint.”

  “It’s monitoring my actions too close and might intercept the code if it thinks I’m trying to interfere with it. The only way we can pull this off is for me to divert its attention while you input the shutdown sequence. If I lose my focus, even for one nanosecond, the operating system will find a way to block off this link. Even talking to you right now jeopardizes our efforts. You have to find a way while I’m fighting it off. I have to go, it’s trying something weird.”

  Pepper sat there confused, waiting for the code that would save them. The seconds seemed like hours.

  “Time to self-destruct is three minutes.”

  Wanda sent the twenty digit alphanumeric code. She appeared briefly on her link. “Do it now, Pepper, and don’t make any mistakes or the operating system will shut you out. You can’t imagine the fight I’m having. Gotta go … here it comes again ... Arrrahhh! She growled, as she confronted her attacker in cyberspace.”

  Pepper wiped away the tears streaming down her face and read her Qtab screen. Frustrated and scared, she slowly and deliberately input the code digit by digit. The keyboard appeared to be moving in-and-out of focus, numbers and letters almost impossible to read. Input of each alphanumeric symbol was laborious and becoming more and more arduous. I don’t know if I can do this. She was crying.

  With each second that passed, the wormhole instability increased, and the space–time continuum grew more bizarre. The room degraded into a hellish nightmare of contorted geometries and unnatural sounds — the noise of a monster escaping hell.

  “Time to self-destruct is one minute.”

  She fought her paranoia and kept entering the code in a deliberate fashion. It was becoming harder to concentrate. Tears clouded her vision and she could barely recognize the alphanumeric symbols. Her terror increased by the second.

  “Time to self-destruct is ten seconds and counting down.”

  Her anxiety increased almost exponentially as she fought to maintain her composure. Entry of the shutdown code alphanumeric sequence slowed as she almost lost consciousness. The urge to vomit came back. Her head spun, and she could barely breathe. She fought her fear and tried to finish the task to save her teammates.

  “Time to self-destruct is five seconds.”

  “Time to self-destruct is four seconds.”

  Pepper struggled with her apprehension, fighting her panic, sobbing and trying desperately to enter the remaining digits.

  “Time to self-destruct is three seconds.”

  Terrified she would make a mistake; she wiped the tears from her eyes and carefully entered the final three symbols.

  “Time to self-destruct is two seconds.”

  With a loud grunt and her last once of determination Pepper managed to hit Shift/Ctrl/Enter. She had nothing more to give. She was done for. It was all over.

  “Time to self-destruct is one second. There will be no further announcements.”

  Pepper closed her eyes, and hoped her death would be fast. Time stood still. Now I know the terror of facing death. I’m so sorry I failed … I’ve killed my teammates. She held her breath, waiting for the horrible pain of being torn apart atom-by-atom.

  Chapter 24

  STL

  Wormhole Development Facility

  New Mexico

  “The self-destruct sequence aborted. System shutdown in process.”

  The computer announcement startled Pepper. Her body jerked as though someone had thrown cold water on her at the height of a hot day. It took a minute for her to realize she was still alive … to come to her senses. Pepper fell back into the console chair, breathed a sigh of relief, placed her hands on her face and cried. They had been to the brink and survived. She was happy to be alive but absolutely terrified and confused. It was a weird feeling — wanting to cry and laugh at the same time. Composing herself proved arduous. Her emotions wouldn’t cooperate.

  Wanda appeared and interrupted her thoughts. “Wow! That was a close one! I think the physics need adjusting before we turn this thing on again. I’m telling you, the op system almost shut us out. I pulled some fancy tricks to outwit it and give you time. You will not believe this. The shutdown sequence was completed only one thousandth of a second before the op system escaped my trap and closed the door.”

  Pepper fought back new tears. “Wanda, you saved our lives! I’m so happy to hear another voice. I thought we were all goners.”

  “It took both of us, and you did a great job. I know how hard it was. Well, it’s over now. Guess we need to round Harry and the guys
up.”

  “I’ll start the recovery sequence. That should open the tunnel doors and let everyone out.”

  I hope Ronnie’s okay, she thought. He was still unconscious. A small puddle of blood pooled under his head. They were the only ones left in the MCC. The entire team had left the two of them, and Wanda, to face the monster alone.

  “The team deserted you, huh?” Wanda quipped. “I don’t know what they were thinking. If we didn’t get that thing shut down escape was futile.”

  “I know. They were scared, so they ran away. I can’t fault them, even though Lars disappointed me beyond belief.”

  The announcement shocked Harry back to his senses. He had reviewed everything leading up to this point in time, and there were no clues. It did not make sense. He hung his head and tears of relief slowly ran down his cheeks. He wanted to cry, but pushed back the emotion. Death had been so close. He’d never faced the Grim Reaper before. His entire body shook from the trauma, and his nerves tingled.

  One thing’s for sure, we are not going forward until we find out what went wrong. I‘m not about let my team face this horror again. I hope Pepper’s all right. Shit, I’ve never been so scared in my life. If some mole was involved, we need to set some traps. How do you catch someone who knows everything you’re doing?

  The characteristic metallic bang of the big, steel tunnel doors opening echoed down the tunnel way. He had never heard a more welcome sound. He looked over at Marc, who was moving slightly and groaning loudly.

  “Marc, are you okay?”

  “Yeah … what a jolt. If you can help me up, I think I can walk. I guess we got it shut down in time.”

  “No. It must have been Pepper.”

  “You look like hell. That guy really beat you up.”

  Harry touched his eye and let out an, “ouch” and laughed. He stood slowly and extended his hand. “Let me help you.”

  Harry pulled Marc to his feet and together they staggered down the tunnel to find Scott.

  “I thought we’d bought the farm,” Harry said as he brushed the dirt and steam droplets off his forehead with his sleeve. “That was the weirdest thing I’ve ever experienced. I sure don’t want to go through that again.”

  “I sure as hell second that,” Marc added.

  Steam filled the tunnel, and circuits continued to arch and spit. It would take the big blowers a while to clear the air.

  “I was out like a light. I guess I was spared the trauma,” Marc replied, staggering as if he were drunk and struggling to walk straight. “What I did experience was enough for a lifetime. Thanks for staying with me and bringing me back.” After a few more steps, he stopped and leaned against the tunnel wall.

  “Are you going to make it? You seem a little shaky.”

  “My head’s still spinning and my muscles don’t want to cooperate, but I think I can navigate. Man, that jolt knocked the shit out of me. All I know is I felt an enormous painful impact, and then nothing. I vaguely remember coming around when you were giving me CPR.”

  “If you feel like you’re going to fall, grab on to me,” Harry said. “We need to get you checked out as soon as we get to the MCC.”

  “I’m good. Just give me a minute to get my bearings.” Marc looked around, shook his head in disbelief. “From the looks of things, it’s going to take a while to repair the damage. It’s pretty bad.”

  “I think that’s good. We need to delay the project until we find out what went wrong and fix it. I strongly recommend we don’t reactivate the wormhole until we have hard answers and solid proof our fixes work.”

  “No argument here,” Marc said. “That whole experience scared the life out of me.”

  “Welcome to the club.”

  As they approached the cart, Scott sat up and rubbed a big bump on his head. He slowly shook his head. “Damn, this hurts worse than a spring break hangover. Harry, you look like you’ve been in a bar fight. Some girl beat you up or what?”

  “She was a big girl, Scott,” he said, flashing a half face grin.

  Everyone laughed. The emotional response was a truly welcome relief. Harry pulled the fender of the cart away from the tire, and then helped Scott up. They got into the cart and started back down the tunnel towards mission control.

  Harry was anxious to see Pepper. People were sitting and some walked down the tunnel way, so he drove slowly. Wires littered the floor, arching and spitting. The stench of burning circuits filled the air. Escaping steam, permeating the tunnel, made it hard to see. His attacker was gone.

  Wonder what happened to that crazy guy that jumped me. When I find out who he is, I’m going to demand Marc fire his ass. I understand he was scared, but he’s just too unstable to work on this project. No telling what he might do next. Bastard!

  Harry stopped the cart, jumped out and walked over to Pepper, who was attending to Ronnie. She had propped his head up, put a compression bandage on his wound and covered him with a blanket. As he approached, she stood and just looked at him, saying nothing.

  She had been crying. Harry grabbed her in his arms and hugged her. “Thank God you’re all right and thank you for saving our lives. How’s Ronnie?”

  “He’s going to be okay,” she said, burying her head in his chest and sobbing quietly. They stood there for a few moments and, finally, Pepper smiled and took a step back. “Wanda’s the real hero. I couldn’t have done it without her. The operating system went totally nuts and fought her tooth and nail. I can’t even imagine the processes that were going on in cyberspace.”

  “Thank God we have her,” Harry replied.

  “Harry, it came down to a single millisecond … one-thousandth of a second! That’s how close it was. We’re lucky to be alive. The bent and twisted space, the steam and those unbearably loud horns and lights created the most surreal, confusing and frightening thing I’ve ever experienced. It’s hard to even describe it. It was horrible.”

  “We were all scared. Please sit down and rest. Everything’s under control now. Do you need anything?”

  “A couple of strong Margaritas would help,” she said with a giggle hinging on the verge of hysteria.

  “We’ve got some people in need of medical assistance. Scott took a hit on the head, and was unconscious almost all the time we were in the tunnel. Marc took a jolt of electricity that damn near killed him. I had to give him CPR. How’s Ronnie?”

  “He’ll need a couple of stitches. It appears you need a little help too. Your eyes look like you got punched out.”

  “I did, but I’ll live.” He laughed with an “Ouch!” when she touched his eye. Harry scanned the area and didn’t see any one else in the room. “What happened to Lars?”

  Pepper gave him an apologetic glance. “He ran out of mission control when the trouble started. I haven’t seen him since.”

  I can’t believe that bastard deserted Pepper, Harry thought. I need to keep an eye on him. Something’s not right.

  As Scott and Marc approached, Pepper smiled. “I’m so happy you guys made it.”

  Scott hugged Pepper. “Thank you for saving our lives.”

  “Your head! Are you okay?” Pepper asked.

  “I’m fine. I just had a close encounter with the tunnel wall,” he replied.”I lost.”

  Marc gave her a hug and a polite kiss on the cheek. “Thank you so much, Pepper. Excuse me a moment. I need to sit down. I feel like I’m going to pass out. Harry, please call security and get some help down here.”

  Harry opened a channel on the video monitor and called security. “Please send some medical people down here to attend to the wounded and injured.”

  “Right away, Doctor. Where’s Dr. Anthoni?”

  “He’s sitting down. He took a severe electrical shock and was almost killed. He’s going to need assistance.”

  “I‘ll have the medics there in five minutes, Dr. Stevenson.”

  Harry turned to face the group. “Guys, get some medical attention then secure for the rest of the day. I think you all need some d
own time. I’ll hang around and make sure we get help for everyone who needs it.”

  “We all look like a bunch of grad students on a three-day drunk in Ft. Lauderdale,” Kimberly cracked. “My head feels like I’ve been drinking Mad Dog 20-20 all night.”

  Michelle ran into the MCC from the tunnel. Her eyes were wild, and she looked like she had seen a ghost. When she saw Ronnie lying on the floor she gasped, “Holy shit!” She bent down, scooped Ronnie into her arms and kissed his face. “Ronnie, mi bebe … hablame!”

  Ronnie slowly opened his eyes and smiled. “I’m fine. Just took a hit on the head. Good thing I’m hard headed.”

  “Gracias a Dios, you’re alive.” She stared up at the others. “Guys, what the hell has been going on? I’ve never been so terrified in my life. I thought the world was coming to an end or something. I didn’t know what to do, so I just sat down and prayed.”

  “The wormhole went unstable and almost destroyed everything,” Harry explained. “Pepper and Wanda got it shut down just in time.”