2017
"I'm just saying it was a little weird that this all happened on the day I was supposed to conduct my experiment. It's like my PhD all over again" said Maya as they were re-aligning the affected junction.
"No it's not, you're just choosing to find patterns among the chaos to blame something…or someone…when there's really NO one to blame but incredibly rotten luck" replied Daniel. He could see Maya was furious.
"No Danny, I've worked on this for well over 2 years now, almost 4 if you include all the research I've done and calculations carried out. And for what? Wasted away because of some…'rotten luck'" she retorted.
The funny thing was this research was her pet project during her PhD work, which was completely unrelated to her project work. She was studying quantum signatures and attempting to introduce entangled particles into the stream to observe the effects. Her supervisor laughed off her wild ideas – one of which was sending messages across time – as mere nonsense. And it probably, in fact, was. But this was still her idea and she wanted to test it out.
"It's going to take months before we get approval to use the collider again. Everyone's going to want to do tests and calibration to determine how this has all affected the equipment. We'll be so backlogged we won't even have a chance to test the equipment…"
Daniel stopped for a moment and looked intently at Maya.
"Maya, where is your device?" he asked.
"It's in the adjacent lab….where it'll probably stay until the end of time" replied Maya.
"Be right back!" he said, dropping his tools and hurriedly made his way out of the chamber room, exiting the lab.
'No….surely he's not thinking what I think he's thinking?' Maya deliberated.
She didn't have to wait long though, because within a few minutes Daniel had walked back into the collider lab, with her device in hand. She smiled as Dr. Buser examined Daniel quizzically, tried to stop him, then dropped his shoulder's slightly in surrender, and waved him back into the lab.
"I can't believe you! What did he say?" asked Maya.
"Oh you know, the 'try not to break it anymore than it already is' talk" replied Daniel.
"Besides, they couldn't turn the collider off for some reason, they're still trying to figure out what's going on. So I thought we may as well exploit this bad luck and turn it into something good"
"Yeah, but…this could give me false data" replied Maya.
"It's your choice Maya, do we attempt to do this, or wait however many months it takes for the team up there to fix it?"
After a thoughtful pause, Maya decided to go ahead with the test. She attached the device to one of the control panels in a junction, and set up the parameters.
"You two" Maya heard Dr. Buser's voice booming from a nearby speaker, "we've discovered some anomalies with the collider. Maybe best you delay this test until we figure out what's going on"
"What sort of anomalies?" Asked Maya
She heard a sigh from Dr. Buser, he then proceeded hesitantly to describe the readings they were receiving on their equipment "we…appear to be picking up Morse code…coming from inside the particle collider"
Maya stopped what she was doing, an expression of disbelief on her face as she turned to Daniel
"What?!"
"This is by no means a definitive answer, it needs to be confirmed by others. We didn't know what this was before, we thought it was just chaotic noise caused by disruption from the earthquake. But it's not, there is a predictable pattern, and it's on a repeat" replied Dr. Buser.
'That can't be' Maya thought
"When did this start?" she inquired
"After the earthquake, but it has intensified just after you installed your device" replied Dr. Buser, "We should consider doing a manual shut down of the device, now!"
And then, just as it happened in the corridor, another earthquake struck. Only this time it felt like the floor was being pulled apart.
"It's happening again!" cried Daniel
The noise was almost deafening, it sounded like a train going at full speed
"Aftershock most likely, hold on!" Maya yelled above the noise. Daniel managed to secure himself under a table, but Maya was thrown hard onto the collider.
"Maya! Get down!" cried Daniel
The air was knocked out of her lungs, Maya desperately clung to her device that was still firmly connected to the collider. She felt a pulsing heat and vibration coming from her device and immediately sensed that she was at risk.
"Maya!" yelled Daniel. She turned to see a look of horror on his face. He was looking at the device. Now panicking, she looked down to see the device was glowing. And all at once she felt a force so strong it pulled her into nothingness. She couldn't breathe, she could only see streaks of yellow and white light passing by her. There was no noise, only light. The last thing she saw before being pulled in was Daniel running to the control panel, reaching for her, then blinding light.
'I'm dead, I must be dead' she thought. But as soon as she thought that she started seeing stars in her eyes. And then the terrifying reality sunk in.
'No, I'm not dead, I'm suffocating!'
Maya tried to inhale but nothing was going into her lungs. The light dimmed slightly and she could see figures moving behind the thick glass that was separating her from the air she desperately needed. And then, a shattering sound and air rushing in.
Someone…or something grabbed her arm and began pulling her out. The hand was cold and rigid, like it was made from metal.
"Move! Move!" yelled Ibsen as he put his helmet back on, grabbed a sledgehammer to try to shatter the view glass in the collider. But the glass only fractured slightly at the impact point, leaving most of it intact. They could hear a hissing sound as air started to seep into the chamber.
"They're still alive! Help me get them out!" he yelled to the Paladins as he grabbed the arm to check for a pulse.
"Stand aside" said Ramos. He picked up the sledgehammer and swung it on the connection junction to sever the metal tube. A few good hits and the seal broke, allowing air into the chamber and initiating the collider's fail safe stop. Another hit and the tube broke off, allowing them to pull the individual out.
"Oh my God…" whispered McNamara in amazement as he witnessed his paladins remove a woman out of the collider. She was dazed and confused…and wearing old world clothes.
Could it be they attempted to send us a representative from the past?! Thought McNamara. If they did, what did they attempt to accomplish? Were they trying to find out the truth before they stopped the war? And how do they expect them to send her back?
The woman looked shocked and terrified as she was pulled out of the machine.
Before McNamara had any time to think of any more possibilities as to the arrival of this stranger, he realized that the ground hadn't stopped vibrating since the second earthquake. He had to get them out of here, before the ceiling collapsed on them.
"Everyone, we need to move out NOW!" he roared.
"Wait!" called the woman, "who are you?! How did you get in here?! What…" it suddenly dawned on her…"What happened? Where's Daniel?!" she insisted. Everything around her had changed. It was as if the lab had gone through a series of earthquakes and aged at least half a century in the span of a few minutes. She had no explanation for what had just occurred, but she knew they were not safe in that room anymore.
"No time, we have to get out of here! The whole area is unstable and will crush us if we don't leave NOW!" said McNamara. He grabbed her by the arm and lead her and his team out of the chamber, through the hallway and back up the elevator shaft. Everyone made it out safely and just in the nick of time. The area was slowly crumbling inward as the floor was collapsing into the underground cavities. They moved a couple hundred meters away from their entry site. The collider was lost….they would have to find another one if they wanted to attempt contact again.
"What the hell is going on? Where am I?" the woman panted.
What she saw next made her jaw drop. Maya couldn't believe her eyes. She was on the surface, where the ground floor should have been. But instead she was surrounded by rubble, various debris, and the sky...the sky was green. What the hell happened? thought Maya. This couldn't be the university that she knew...this must be a nightmare. She must have fainted, or knocked her head in the lab and this is a nightmare.
"I…I…feel…" she started to stumble. Without any protective armor on, every cell in her body was being contaminated by radiation.
"Here" McNamara took out a syringe of Rad-Away and moved to inject her. A look of terror crossed her face and she pulled away, "there's heavy radiation in this area, and you've been affected" he explained, "If you want to live, you will do as I say".
She didn't have the strength to argue, and reluctantly she allowed herself to be injected with the strange yellow liquid.
"What...happened? What do you mean there's radiation?" she asked hesitantly. The liquid coursing through her system would protect her from the radiation for a while, at least until they could get back to their vertibird.
McNamara looked her in the eyes and determined it would be best to offer her a sincere possible explanation. "We believe you came here from the old world, judging by your apparel" he said.
Maya just looked at him and shook her head. She didn't understand.
"The year is 2291, 200 years after the Great War. This area was bombarded with nuclear weapons, that is why it is contaminated with radiation" McNamara replied calmly.
"You mean...a-are you saying I...traveled into the future?" she asked reluctantly, to which McNamara nodded.
"That's not possible!" she insisted, "Time travel isn't possible!". She looked around her, at all the soldiers in armor who were standing over her and staring, and back to McNamara. The predicament of her situation was beginning to dawn on her.
"I...traveled...over 2 centuries into the future?" She asked. He nodded slowly and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I'm afraid so" he said, "we'll get you out of here soon, RadX and Rad-Away will only protect you for a short time".
McNamara turned on his radio to signal the pilot to start the engines so they could leave. No response…
"Pilot, do you read me?" repeated McNamara.
A few seconds of silence, and then he heard a familiar voice he was not expecting.
"Hello McNamara. It's been a long time." Came a steely voice from the handheld radio.
"We have your pilot and your Paladin guard here. Make your way to your Vertibird."
"Elder White" McNamara replied over the radio, "I wasn't expecting you here".
"I came by to make sure you weren't making a foolish mistake" came the cold voice from the radio. "Now come quietly, or I will have to use force"
"You've failed White, I have already carried out my mission" McNamara responded defiantly.
"I beg to differ..." replied Elder White.
A squadron of Paladin's in white armor appeared out of the debris and surrounded McNamara's group, guns aimed at their heads.
Maya's head was spinning. Whatever was in that vial was, it beginning to take effect, but it didn't make her feel any better. She clutched at the arm of one of the men in metal armor as she felt her body begin to shake. She couldn't make sense of what happened, not yet anyway. She had to rely on this group of people to get her to safety, wherever that was. She glanced around weary eyed trying to see where she was. Everything was foggy, as if she had developed myopia since getting out of the collider. Who knows what damage was caused to her body by being in there, and being in contact with her device.
Her device!
"Ah!" she cried.
"What is it?" the armoured soldier asked. From the tone of his voice, she couldn't tell if he was concerned or annoyed, the metal mask prevented her from seeing his face. All she could see was her reflection in the mirror-like glass eye panels of his helmet. From the looks of things, she was in trouble.
"My side…." Gasped Maya. She reached around her left side and sure enough just underneath her floating rib was a deep puncture, probably caused during the second earthquake when she was slammed into her device. A warm liquid drenched her hand. She was bleeding, badly.
"Hang on, we'll get you help" the soldier replied softly, "We need a medic here!"
Another man in armour knelt next to them while the first was holding Maya up. Bandages, some vials of what appeared to be sterilisation liquid and medicine, and more needles. He sprayed a cool liquid onto her wound. It was numbing the area. Then he took out a sterile plastic container with a large syringe, needle, and what appeared to be a gas pressure gauge attached at the end.
"What….what are you doing with that?!" She demanded, but she could barely hold her own weight up let alone make a run for it.
"Take it easy, I'm just going to give you a stimpak"
"No! Get away from me!" she said, attempting to free herself from the first soldier's grasp.
"Hold her still!" the second soldier insisted.
It was then that everything seemed to go in slow motion. Maya managed to catch a glimpse of other soldiers in white armour surrounding them before she fell unconscious.
***Two days later…***
Maya woke groggily to the sound of gentle electric humming. Slowly as she regained consciousness, her head began swimming with images from what had happened before she drifted. Where was she, what happened? Concerned, she began trying to force herself to sit up as the memories began coming back. She tried to get up but the pain in her side shot through her entire body. Trying to reach over to feel her wound, Maya found she couldn't move her arms past her hip. It was then that she saw her arms and legs were restrained by harnesses tying her to the bed. Her vision was back too, she could see everything clearly.
Frantically she scanned the room. The walls were all cement with some exposed steel beams in the corners, a heavy steel door without a latch or handle, and what appeared to be a mirror running the entire length of one wall. But Maya had a suspicion that that was definitely not a mirror.
This had to be an observation room.
Before she had a chance to try to wriggle her way out of the restraints, she heard the door being opened from the other side and she stared at the door. Petrified of the thought of who her captors were, she froze in her bed.
A man dressed in full yellow hazmat gear walked through the door with two colleagues. As soon as he saw her he stretched out a hand to reassure her that they weren't there to harm her.
"It's okay, you won't be harmed, we're here to help you"
"Where am I?" Maya tried to say, but her words sounded hollow and raspy. She hadn't noticed that her throat was so parched she could barely speak.
"Here…" said the man, placing a glass of clear liquid gently in her hands. Maya looked at the container and then up at him sceptically.
"It's just water, I promise. I'm a doctor, I won't hurt you" he re-assured her.
Maya savoured every gulp of water, it was as if she could feel the refreshing coolness hydrating every cell in her body.
"Slowly now" said the doctor with some concern in his voice, "you haven't had a proper drink of water since we brought you here, we've had to administer IV drips"
"W-when….how long…" Maya found her voice after finishing her drink, handing the glass back to the doctor.
"A little over 2 days ago. You were brought in with another group of Paladins, who claim to have rescued you from inside a particle collider" he almost laughed as he finished his sentence, as though he didn't believe the story himself. She could see smile lines behind his hazmat mask.
"Yes" stated Maya matter-of-factly. The doctor's smile appeared to slowly fade.
"Yes…you were…inside a particle collider? Or yes you were saved from the wastes?"
"The wastes? What? No, I was in the collider." Replied Maya
The words seemed to finally register with the doctor. His expression turned to worry.
"But…that's not possible" he stated, "no one has been to that site in decades…"
"What are you talking about?! I was just there! I was surrounded by my friends and colleagues and….and then I was running an experiment in the particle collider chamber with my best friend Daniel…" then it dawned on her. Daniel!
"Where's Daniel?! Please tell me is he safe! What happened?! Where am I?!" Panic was almost suffocating her, adrenaline was coursing through her veins like fire. She had to find Danny and make sure he was okay. What if he was stuck in the collider as well with no one to help him? Oh God….Danny…
"Sedative please!" yelled the doctor to his colleague.
"NO! No please don't make me sleep! I need to find Daniel!" Maya pleaded, but to no avail. She felt a sharp sting in her arm and found herself drifting into the darkness.
Two days had passed since their mission, and there was no sign of change. McNamara felt a heavy weight in his heart, knowing that the mission to change the outcome of their future had failed….that HE had failed…
After his group was apprehended, they were all split up, bags placed over their heads to prevent them from seeing where they were going, and transferred to a separate Brotherhood stronghold bunker for interrogation. He wasn't allowed rest, was denied food and water, hadn't seen or heard his group in over 48 hours, in what was clearly an attempt by his captors to break him. He couldn't let that happen, not to him….not after all that he has been through after HELIOS 1, the courier, and the battle at Hoover Dam.
He was worried about his group, and those he left behind in the bunker in Hidden Valley. No doubt that Harding usurped his authority and declared himself Elder once the news of McNamara's capture reached his ears.
'No way to go back now' thought McNamara, feeling a lump in his throat. A part of him regretted carrying out the mission with such duplicity towards the Brotherhood, especially after that mission failed and resulted in the capture of everyone…including the stranger out of time.
'That's it! She must be the key' He thought. McNamara allowed some hope to fill him and began busying his mind on a way to escape the bunker.
Hardin read the urgent communiqué on his terminal. It wrote:
"Head Paladin Hardin,
We have apprehended the Elder responsible for the Hidden Valley bunker. We inform you that Elder White is en route to your location to determine the extent of the insurgence under McNamara and your rule, and to carry out a full investigation on your group's activities. You are to report to the Elder upon his arrival at 0400 and relinquish your weapons, power armor, and position until further notice. We demand full co-operation from yourself and your group. Immediate exile from the Brotherhood of Steel will be issued for any and all failing to adhere to the investigation procedures and/or Elder White's orders.
The Brotherhood Council"
Hardin's stern expression didn't waver, he would dutifully carry out the orders he was given by the council without question. However, he was insulted by the insinuation that he had anything to do with any of McNamara's fantasy missions. Not after his attempt to usurp his power was revealed by Courier Six a decade ago. He still didn't regain McNamara's trust after that, and he doubted that would ever change after what had recently happened.
'Well McNamara, it would appear your progressive thinking has failed you now' thought Hardin to himself, although there was no glee in that thought. At best, McNamara would be exiled from the Brotherhood for his actions. At worst…he would face execution by firing squad. And that is not something Hardin wished for him. They may have butted heads and not seen eye-to-eye, but Hardin had great respect for the Elder. If it wasn't for him, their group would have been wiped out at Helios.
Hardin just had to wait and see what would happen. He would follow the orders of the council, for now. But he still had time until 0400 tomorrow to make any emergency arrangements before Elder White arrived and locked down the bunker.
"Wake her" demanded Elder White.
Maya was slumped in a metal chair that was bolted to the floor. Her arms, legs, and waist strapped tightly to its cold frame.
A Paladin in white armor picked up a bucket of ice cold water and slowly decanted it over Maya's head, sending a wave of shock and terror through her. She thought she was drowning…
"Come now, isn't that better?" Elder White asked coldly, an expression of sadistic amusement escaping his gaunt features.
Maya gasped for air and was desperately looking around confused. Her eyes caught the sordid expression on the Elder's face, and her confusion and fear turned to anger. She immediately had an instinctual distaste for this man.
"Why am I here?" she demanded, gazing directly into his pale grey eyes. They reminded her of eyes that were always that kind of pale, deathly grey in the majority of zombie movies she had seen.
Elder White grinned, bemused by this little woman's defiance. He would make sure to crush it and make her watch as he does.
"I was going to ask you that very same question" he smiled and moved closer to Maya, "What's your name?"
Maya refused to look at him, instead she turned her head to the side in an attempt to show she was ignoring him. But that was a mistake.
He grabbed her long damp brown hair and yanked her head back. Maya couldn't help but let out a yelp of pain, her face contorted in a grimace trying to hold back tears as she felt her neck being pulled taught.
Elder White was savoring this moment. He wasn't your typical Brotherhood of Steel soldier, his job was to do the hard work for the council – the work that no one wanted to do for fear of compromising their morals. But White had buried his morals a long time ago. All that was left was his obedience to the council.
"What. Is. Your. Name?" He asked once again.
"….Maya" she gasped. White let go of her hair and watched the pain on her face slowly fade as her neck was allowed to go back to its natural position.
"There. That wasn't difficult" he stated, satisfied with himself. 'Maybe I will turn her into a pet' he mused to himself. Maybe even put a collar on her neck….make it bulge slightly around the sides so she doesn't forget who the master is…
"So, Maya…what were you doing down at the old University with the other Paladins?" he pursued, looking her up and down, "A...woman like yourself with no power armor….in the middle of a site flooded with radiation... That. Is. Suspicious. Don't you think?" he dragged the question out, as if he was working out possible answers, facing away from her while walking around the room in a circle.
At this point, Maya realized she was stuck in a room, possibly underground, with a psychopath. She was in serious danger.
She shivered from fear and the cold water that had drenched her completely. Pleadingly she looked at the other soldier in the room, her eyes begging to be let go. White noticed that look and knew he was about to crush her. He swooped towards her and placed his hands on the arms of her chair.
"Ah-ah-ah, nobody in here will help you" he grinned, "But…..maybe….he can". White motioned to the door while maintaining eye contact with Maya. She heard a latch open and the door flung inwards, a man with brilliant white hair and brown eyes was pushed inside before the door closed and locked again.
"Do you know this man?" Demanded White.
McNamara met Maya's gaze but made sure not to reveal anything he felt. He knew White would pounce on a single twitch, but he also knew that ignoring White would infuriate him even more. As long as White's attention was on him, she was safe.
Maya looked at the man for a second and realized that it must have been one of the soldiers that had been there in the particle collider room. But she could not admit that.
"No" Maya answered honestly, meeting White's cold gaze.
"No…." White repeated answer in a whisper almost.
He straightened himself up slowly and turned to McNamara.
"…No…" White circled McNamara.
In a swift movement, White kicked McNamara behind his right knee, making him fall hard on all fours with a groan. He grabbed hold of McNamara's hair and pulled his head back just as he did to Maya. Maya screamed for help, but no one came, she yelled for him to let them go, but that only made White laugh menacingly. He pulled out a knife from under his armor and brandished it in front of McNamara's neck.
"NO! Please! Don't hurt him! I'll tell you anything you want! Just leave him alone" Maya pleaded.
White had won and he knew it. He lifted his gaze up slowly to meet hers.
"I can't wait to hear all about it my dear" he sneered.
