Hosein Kouros-Mehr - Extinction 6

Camila grimaces. “I’m sorry, Beth. I should have listened to you and stalled GoldRock, and now it’s too late.”

“We can still stop Manos.”

Ben sits upright. “How do we do that?”

Beth makes a fist. “We have to be two steps ahead and block him from taking over. The ego will not just die and fade away. Evil forces will linger until someone strong puts them out of their misery. We have to stand up to Manos and react forcefully. Don’t be afraid of him.”

Camila looks down. “This morning he requested access to our network.”

“I noticed that. You see, he wants control of our resources.”

“I rejected his bid.”

“Good,” Beth asserts. “That’s a start, but we need to do more.”

The copter flies low to avoid detection by the military. It passes over the East Bay Desert, once a farmland with orange crops and vineyards. Cracks separate the dry earth and expose a fault line running south to the Central Valley.

Beth taps the dashboard. “This is the just the beginning of GoldRock’s campaign. They will try to corner us and seize power, but we must outwit them. It’s time to fight back against our oppressors!”

Thomas raises a hand. “I’m with you, Beth. What can I do to help?”

She lifts her chin. “All confidential data must be backed up and deleted from our private servers. Keep them in a safe place far from GoldRock’s fingers. They will try to hack their way into our information.”

“You got it.”

“Change the passwords to our corporate VPN accounts and block access to our supercomputers and A.I. software. Don’t allow Manos to get his hands on our company secrets. I can only imagine the deceptive plans he has in store.”

Camila looks up. “Consider it done.”

Beth stares at the camera with resolve. “The way to destroy Manos is to innovate . Thoughtfulness and patience are the spears to trounce anger and manipulation. I’m going underground to work on a confidential project and I hope to be back in Mountain View to launch it. I have a plan to turn the tables around but I can’t discuss the details over the phone.”

“Can we join you?” Ben asks.

“No. I need you to protect our assets and fight back against GoldRock. Don’t give them any leverage. If I need something from you, I will reach out. Please be safe.”

She drops the call as her helicopter arrives in Livermore. Tenements stretch across the shantytown, their metal roofs reflecting the intense sunlight. People congregate along the riverbank as stray dogs roam through dirt streets.

The chopper descends on a fenced industrial complex on the outskirts of town. As it lands on a helipad, a destination icon flashes on the cockpit tablet. “Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Founded in 1952.” Once a military aviation factory, the campus houses the world’s most advanced lasers and other research equipment.

Beth rushes from her vehicle towards a massive hangar. She finds the front doors locked. She swipes her badge on a security post but it fails to grant her entry.

Where is everyone?

She hears shouting. Out beyond the barbed wire fence, children are playing football in the searing heat. They run barefoot in the dirt.

Why aren’t they in school?

The door opens and Austin comes running out. He appears disheveled. “Beth, come inside.”

She turns and smiles. “How did you know I was here?”

He points to a camera. “I have a live feed connected to my smartglasses. If there’s activity outside, I receive a notification. It’s a security precaution. Follow me.”

“Who else is here with you?”

“Everyone.”

She follows him through the entrance and down a hallway. Austin badges into the secure laboratory and motions for Beth to enter. She gasps as she steps into a colossal space the size of a football field. A one-hundred-foot neodymium laser spans the room, its steel scaffold wrapped in pipes and wires. Around it, a maze of drones transport boxes and machinery.

Austin holds out his hand. “Say hello to the National Ignition Facility, the world’s most powerful laser. It was designed way back in 2009.”

“This is incredible!”

“There are 40,000 optics guiding 192 beams onto a single target the size of a dime.”

“Amazing,” Beth says as she approaches the laser. “I read that a nuclear reaction took place here many years ago.”

“Yes. The longest one lasted 10 microseconds, and it happened in 2041.”

“That’s right. I remember an article claiming the end of fossil fuels. And yet here we are still addicted to oil and natural gas.”

“It’s the curse of fusion,” Austin mutters.

“Let’s hope we break it.”

He groans. “Honestly, I don’t know if we can.”

They walk along the instrument’s perimeter, passing networks of tubes and monitor panels. At the end of the warehouse, they approach the laser’s target point and find a team of welders anchoring steel cables to a six-foot silver cube. Sparks fly from their welding machines. One of them stops the pair from walking any closer.

Beth turns to Austin. “When is the gravity event?”

He frowns. “In two days.”

“What’s the matter? You seem edgy today.”

He moans. “I’m stressed. I can’t describe the pressure we are under. Honestly, I don’t think we’ll be ready in time.”

Beth looks into his eyes. “Don’t give up yet. Let’s keep up our motivation.”

“Easier said than done.”

Anil appears carrying a box of equipment. “Dr. Andrews, take a look!” he shouts eagerly. “I just picked this up from our 3-D printers.” He unveils a T-shaped anchor covered in metallic glass.

Beth’s jaw drops. “Is that the gravity engine? It looks like the drawings you showed us.”

“Yes, exactly. It’s made of graphene, the strongest material on the planet.” He rotates it and shows them two holes on opposite ends of the device. “The laser runs through this port and emerges to hit the reactor. The other hole is for the titanium ions.”

Beth nods. “I see. The two fields intersect.”

“That’s right. Once the gravitational wave strikes, this machine keeps the neodymium beam at a constant 100 million degrees.”

“Hopefully with no explosions this time.” She points to the metal cube anchored to the ground. “I assume that’s the reactor?”

“Yes,” Austin replies. “We encased the deuterium fuel in a zirconium scaffold.”

She chuckles. “It looks like a giant Rubik’s cube.”

Austin rubs his eyes. “Listen, we need to set our expectations. This experiment ran here ten years ago and it failed.”

Beth smiles. “Yes, but this time we have the gravity engine. That’s the missing piece of the puzzle. Don’t be so negative, Austin.”

“Negative? We still don’t have a particle accelerator and there are two days left to assemble a very complicated machine. This project is impossible!”

“You don’t have to yell.”

“Well, I’m at my wits’ end!”

Beth lowers her tone. “Please relax for one second. Take a step back.”

Austin throws his clipboard and storms off. “I can’t take this bullshit anymore. I’m ready to quit!”

Beth finds herself alone with Anil. “Poor guy.”

“I’ve never seen Dr. Sanders like that.”

“He’s under a lot of pressure,” Beth reassures. “This is the most difficult challenge we’ve faced together.”

Anil sighs. “Yes, and there’s no guarantee it will work. We are losing our confidence as a team. I’m having doubts as well.”

“That’s unacceptable. You have to remain positive.”

“It’s hard, Dr. Andrews. Everyone yells at each other and the shouting just slows us down. I wish we could be more united.”