Darren Wearmouth: Critical Dawn

CNN was covering an extreme weather report. From the pictures, he guessed it was somewhere in the Far East—China or the Philippines perhaps. The graphic showed a satellite image of a massive hurricane building its power over the… Wait, that’s not the Indian Ocean, he thought.

Charlie got up and approached the bar to get a closer look. Pippa joined him, passing him a Coke. “What are you watching? I thought you didn’t watch TV?”

“I don’t, but it caught my eye. Listen.”

The reporter squared in the corner of the screen brought a mic to her mouth. Her hair was blowing wildly, and she had to shout over the noise.

“As I was saying,” the reporter said, “I’m on Ocean Beach, California, and already the wind is reaching in excess of eighty miles per hour. The satellite imagery is showing hurricane Mel gaining power. The reports from the National Weather Service are suggesting it’s a Category 3 storm with potential to hit Category 4 by the time it reaches land.” The reporter leaned into the wind. Behind her, trees were bending and snapping.

A branch flew past her, hitting against the camera.

“Back to the studio. I have to go. I can see it from here… I’ve never…”

The report cut off. The anchors took over. “Thank you, Hilary, that’s looking terrible out there for Californians. Just to confirm, a state of emergency has been called as citizens find safe places to wait out the storm. In other news…”

“Holy shit,” Pippa said. “A C4? What the hell’s going on these days?”

“What do you mean? It’s one storm.”

“You must have missed the broadcast. India’s been hit with a tsunami, and there’s two more storms gathering in the Atlantic.”

“Man, the Earth must be pissed at us for something.”

“Yeah, hardly surprising though. It’s cyclical. Mini ice ages, mega storms, all that jazz. Glad I don’t live on the West Coast. You got any friends or family out there?”

“Nah, you?”

“All East-coasters.”

Charlie and Pippa sat back in their booth.

“So what are we gonna do?” Charlie said. “About the bead. Publish our findings?”

Pippa took a long drag on her beer, placed the bottle to one side, and sighed. “You know. I’ve been doing this job for a while now, and never have I been so stumped. It’s just beyond explanation. But we’re scientists, we don’t do non-explanations. We do rational logic. I have to admit, it’s freaking me out a little. I mean, just look at this damn thing; it doesn’t even look like it’s made from a terrestrial material.”

Pippa took the small baggy containing the bead from the inside pocket of her favorite biker’s jacket, its elbows and collars worn with use. She opened the bag and let the bead drop onto the stack of papers before picking it up between thumb and forefinger.

They both leaned in to look closer at it.

“The light doesn’t fall on it right either,” Charlie said. “Unless I’m being stupid.”

“No, you’re right.” Pippa held it up at an angle beneath a low hanging lamp. As she turned it, the light didn’t seem to shine on all surfaces.

“That’s fucking weird. It didn’t do that earlier when I checked in the office.”

“Maybe it’s just an effect of the type of light in here,” Pippa added, still twisting the curious blue bead in the light. “But look, on the sections where it’s not glossy, you can kind of see a texture. Almost like a finger print, but much finer.”

“I think we should wait until Mike’s done his digging. You just never know what he might find. It could be the rational explanation we’re—”

“Jesus fuck!” Pippa jerked back in her chair, shook her hands. A small spark burned her fingers. The bead fell from her hand and bounced off the tabletop.

Charlie launched forward to try and catch it, but he was too slow, and it hit the floor… and stayed there, in place, as though it were a magnet attracted to another magnet. It didn’t shake or roll away. Nothing.

“Are you okay?” Charlie said as he bent down to reach for it.

Pippa grabbed his arm. “No,” she said, showing her fingers. A burn blister had come up on her skin. “The damn thing electrocuted me. Here.” She handed him the plastic bag.

Turning it inside out, Charlie covered the bead and lifted it off the ground. There wasn’t any magnetic resistance as he was expecting. Patty and the bikers stared at him. He just smiled and leaned back into the booth.

“There’s only one thing we can possibly do,” Charlie said, sealing the bag and placing it on top of the files.

“What’s that?”

“We go to the dig site and do some more research first hand. Just you and I.” Charlie checked his watch. “If we set off now, we can get there in the morning. I’ll drive.”

“It’s eight hours away,” Pippa said.

“So? I was going to drive about that with the guys anyway. Don’t worry, I won’t play any cheesy ‘80s rock. Let’s grab some supplies and head off. Think of it as an adventure.”

“I’m thinking of my bed and the need to sleep,” Pippa said.

Charlie gathered up the files and placed the bead in his wallet. “Come on, you can sleep in the truck. Where’s your sense of adventure?”

“Fine, fine, but let’s stop off at the apartment first. Let me feed the cat and get a change of clothes.”

“Excellent!”

Charlie escorted Pippa out of the bar, his heart racing with the excitement of everything. With the electrocution and odd behavior, he knew humans couldn’t have made the bead, and he was going to go to its source and find out what the hell was going on himself… with Pippa by his side. Things didn’t get much better than that in Charlie’s world.

Ben leapt from his seat and raced out of the Operations Room. He was thrown against the corridor wall after the ship jolted. Space turbulence or a meteor shower, he thought. This happened occasionally. Deep space wasn’t quite the smooth cruise depicted on 21 st Century movies. It was an incessant rumble with the occasional bumps and rattles.

He skidded around the entrance of the common room. Erika sat hugging herself, shaking.

“Are you okay?”

“What was that, Ben?”

“There’s all kinds of debris out there. Relax, it’s nothing we haven’t been through before.”

She pointed to the internal wall. “Didn’t you feel it? Before the bump, I heard a bang below. The wall vibrated.”

“Probably the same thing. Don’t worry about it.”

“No. I was sitting with my back against—”

Ben was lifted off his feet and slammed against the wall. Erika screamed, grasping her chair. Plates and cups fell from the dish drainer and smashed on the floor. The whole place seemed to shudder.

An electronic alarm started to loudly pulse, drowning out Erika’s cries. Ceiling lights flickered. The common room door started to steadily slide shut. It was probably an isolation procedure in case of a fire. Ben hadn’t seen it before.

He didn’t want to get trapped inside. Maria might need his help in the Operations Room.

Ben dove to the door and held it open with the sole of his boot, using the opposite side of the frame for support. He strained against the power, but was slowly losing the battle.

“Quick, jump under my legs,” Ben said.

“What’s happening? Where we going?”

The force increased as the door mechanism’s pitch grew louder.

“Just do it, Erika. I can’t hold on for much longer.”

“Shouldn’t we stay–”

“Do you want to get trapped in here?”

Ben’s words seemed to propel her into action. She dropped to the floor and slid underneath his quivering right leg. He immediately jumped to the side and rolled away. The door sprang across and hammered closed with a thump.