Foreword
The First Attempt
The lone building in the hilly snow-blanketed landscape rose out of the ground suddenly; no effort had been made at all to integrate the building in color or in architecture into its surroundings. Its exterior had been made of polished black marble and above two solid iron doors were the words Aurora Research and Experimentation Station, spelled out in brass letters. Below this read JordanCollege and St.SophiaCollegeOxford This was the original research center, unequaled in this world, of metaphysical particles. Its bare exterior gave an aura of sophistication and quiet concentration. This far north, it could only be reached in July and August, snowed in for the rest of the year.
A side door in the side of the building creaked open. For a moment, nobody appeared, but then, a woman covered in furs stepped out, carrying what appeared to be a fur sack. The unknown entity walked briskly forward, and none of the many people watching her had any idea where she was going.
All of a sudden, she stopped. She looked around, as if surveying the area. Apparently satisfied that this was indeed the spot she'd been going to, she nodded and set her fur sack down, quickly undoing its ties. The sack fell open to reveal a strange looking device, a metal box with several knobs and engraved with the letters L.S. Sharp intakes of breath came from every single man in the surrounding hills, for this device was the reason they were here. This was the reason they'd been ordered to wait in the freezing hills for hours, this was the reason they'd spent weeks observing the station, this was the reason they were to murder the woman, for the device had powers too great, far too great to be allowed to remain in the world, and its creator, ignorantly unaware of the danger she posed to the world, had to be exterminated before she could go on to do any more damage.
The woman carefully brushed off the dust on the device, then raised two antennae that had been folded into the device. She bent them at their joints until they became right angles, and extended them until they formed an open box two feet wide and three feet tall. Standing back, she turned a silver knob and waited.
Scattered through the hills, the hidden men tensed their muscles, ready to attack if the plan did not work, for some fifteen meters south of the woman, two men were tweaking their own device, which was nearly ready. This one was much bigger than the L.S. device, and a large satellite protruded from it, aimed directly at the device. If they had not been behind a hill, their plan would never have worked, for it was too big to conceal otherwise.
As it was, the woman couldn't see the device, or she would never have done what she did next. The space between the two antennae crackled and flashed, until it at last formed a green veil of light. Faint outlines of grass and cattle could be soon in the light, but there was nothing on the opposite side of the veil but snow. A small marten poked its head out of her coat and raised its head to her ear, as if saying something to her. The woman nodded as if she'd heard, and stepped into the veil of light.
For a moment it seemed as if nothing had happened or would happen, but as she remained in the light, still visible from where she'd stepped into it, a current of energy so powerful that it could be seen as ripples in the air roared through the freezing air. Had it hit the woman, it would have killed her instantly, leaving the machine intact. Instead, it slammed into the machine, with a massive flash of white light. A moment later, all that could be seen was a large hole in the snow, at the bottom of which sat the machine, smoking slightly but otherwise seemingly unharmed, in a pool of water. The woman and the marten had vanished.
It was several moments before anyone could overcome the shock that the anbaric current's impact had created in the air – the very air seemed charged with energy, and so it was several moments before all the hidden men gathered around the snowy well. They stood there stupidly, none of them anxious to touch the smoking device, afraid of what it could do. They exchanged glances, each waiting for another to take it. They were all too busy contemplating the device and who would take it to notice anything else, and none of the men heard the wing beats above until the shadow of a large bird fell upon them. By the time the man closest to the device could react, a goose swooped down out of the sky and snatched up the device in its bill, flying back the way it had come.
