Author's Notes

Alright, here it is. The next chapter already. Going to warn now, the pacing might be slow and action may not happen for a while. I should also note, i'm writing things the way I am because I rather not assume Frank/the machine is capable of psychic powers to any extent, instead considering the barrier a seperate power outside of psychic powers just using the same energy. This chapter, we get to see the Glass House crew now. So with that, enjoy.

Chapter 1

Mornings Suck

(No P.O.V.)

Claire Danvers hated mornings. Especially mornings where her days off were stolen by Frank, who was a machine. She sighed and looked at the clock to find it was still 8 am. She moved slowely to get out of bed as to not wake up Shane so she could use the bathroom first. After getting ready for the day she headed downstairs to see what was being made. She found Eve and Shane cooking eggs and bacon, arguing about when to go see a new movie that had recently come out. From what she could tell as she poured herself a glass of orange juice, Shane wanted to go see the movie with her today, Eve wanted them all to go this Friday. She sat down and waited for the two to finish before getting her own and giving a Shane a kiss.

As they broke it, she heard Michael walk in and say "Good Morning everyone" and proceed to get a sports bottle out of the back of the fridge and heat it up in the microwave. As per usual, she ignored and didn't think of what was in it. She spoke up as she started eating "I have to go to Myrnins lab today... seems there's something urgent going on". They all gave her a quick glance, Shane replying "Really? You sure it's that important?". She replied "I have no idea" She sighed slightly "If it isn't important, I'll just leave". Eve and Michael looked at each other and then her and shrugged. Shane said "Well... that sucks. I was hoping to take you to the movies. Guess that'll have to wait for another day" Shane sighed. Michael chimed in and said "Well, I hope it goes well. Be nice for things to go smoothly at his lab".

They all agreed and began their usual joking and talking breakfast routine before Claire got ready for work. Shane and Eve had the day off. Soon she was ready and as she left she saw Shane waiting, ready to go somewhere himself. Along with Eve. "Hey, we're gonna go to this Arcade that has opened up in town. If you need anything, call. When you get off also, call so we can hang out there after" Shane smiled happily. She knew how much he enjoyed video games, and she knew he would want to go as soon as he could. Though for Eve that surprised her and gave her a puzzled look, to which she responded "I'm going for the food. You know Arcades love their junk food". Claire couldn't help but give a small laugh. She nodded "Alright. I'll see if I can get off. I'll see you two later" she said as she left, Shane and Eve leaving in their car.

It was a nice day out and not all that hot so she decided to walk to Myrnin's lab. It took her a while to make it to his lab, once she did though she announced "I'm here, what do you need?". She put her backpack onto her table as Myrnin came out of the trapdoor leading to the Machine. He replied "We have a very serious problem. One none of us could have foreseen coming" He said, sounding alarmed... which made Claire very nervous. She asked "What? What happened". "Four vampires were murdered last night, for lack of a better term. With... something similar to the boundaries" He said, with a mix of enthusiasm and fear in his voice "I say murdered because even if they recover, they'll probably go immediately into coma's or they'll be vegetables... their brains were crushed and ripped apart from the inside out".

She was speechless. Someone was able to kill 4 vampires, in the middle of the night, using... psychic energy? She asked "How... how is that even... possible?". She was trying to think of how it could even be possible. She knew she made a computer similar to the machine, but that had not only been a failure, it was just a barrier. To full on kill someone with that energy... what were they? It scared her quite a bit now, but she took a deep breath and simply asked "When did this happen?". "Last night at midnight. Frank detected it. Whatever is the source of it, it's blocking his ability to sense it" Myrnin replied.

His response did nothing to assure her, it just scared her more the fact that someone was able to block Frank from sensing them after such a feat. She said "So... what now?" to which Myrnin replied "For now... well we have several options. We can improve the machine's capabilities or at least try to, we can go meet the elder council, or we can try to identify the source ourselves". She sat and thought.

This was a very serious matter. She couldn't take this situation lightly at all. She knew tinkering with the machine was out of the question. There's no way in hell she was going to risk ruining it... and killing Frank in the process. She then considered the other two options. If they tried to identify the source themselves, it would be very problematic to do consider Frank wasn't an option. However, if they went to the elders council, there was a good chance that Amelie and Oliver would rather destroy the source outright than try to study it. Another possibility was the two would begin to panic, considering the severity of the situation. Then a realization came to her that made her decide.

"It's portable... otherwise we'd have it" She said to no one in particular. Myrnin simply nodded and said "Yes. and more powerful as proven with our situation". She decided then that the elder council had to be convened. There was no excuse for not just going to alert Amelie and Oliver to the situation, but there was a chance that they'd understand that whatever it was, it would need to be studied in case the machine broke down or if there were more, as unlikely as the latter was. She moved and got her backpack and said to Myrnin "Alright lets go to the elder council. This is too serious to leave Amelie and Oliver out of this". Myrnin looks a little surprised but said "I agree. I just hope they don't panic and demand it's immediate destruction" with a hint of hopefulness in his voice. With that Claire opened a portal to where the guard would be posted and pulled her cellphone out and began making calls while Myrnin dealt with the guard. Soon enough, they were walking towards the conference room where Hannah, Richard, Oliver, and Amelie would be waiting. All she had said was that news her and Myrnin had concerned all of Morganville. That was enough to at least peak their interest. She only hoped the full details wouldn't send them into a panic.

End Notes

With that, the wheels have begun turning. Now the reason i'm assuming they would panic is a very simple one, they were on high alert when the machine was down originally, enough that Amelie made Claire work nonstop in order to finish it (which in my opinion is out of character for her due to the fact she seems to respect claire and that she's smart enough to know that any human being tired lowers the quality of their work). So yeah. Next chapter, the big 4 meet up about this... or do they? we'll see soon enough.