Chapter 4
Bomb Scars
Gubiak kept his hands firmly crossed in front of his chest, staring at each person in the room with the iron gaze he'd perfected over his years in charge. Evanz, on the opposite side of the circular holographic map couldn't keep still; his fingers almost constantly twitching by his sides as his eyes darted around the room, then back to the floor. Juke still kept a slightly disgruntled mope on his face yet remained silent, knowing this was no time to interrupt as Rage, Hollow and Fluke stood, still in shock. Hollow's eyes had grown wide as he repeatedly clenched and unclenched his jaw whilst staring directly back at Gubiak with a look of shock. Rage carried a sense of disbelief, his face mirroring the thousands of questions racing through his head at this moment yet his mouth unable to form any of them into words. Fluke had lost all sense of his enthusiasm, as he looked over at Gubiak, then to Evanz and Juke. The silence continued to hang over the room, the only sounds the hum of the technology that surrounded them and the distant radio chatter of those around the perimeter of the room piercing the air. Hollow, his eyes never lowering from Gubiak's broke the air, his voice a mix of fear and shock.
"You mean THE spire. Right?" He questioned through gritted teeth. Gubiak silently nodded, meeting Hollow's eyes dead on.
"well..of course he means THAT spire" Rage spoke up, although his eyes continuously darted around the room and his voice was soft and distant. "I mean...what other spire is there?"
"I just needed to make sure you weren't fucking around Gubiak" Hollow continued, taking a step closer. Gubiak stood proudly, his arms still tightly crossed as Hollow approached him. Fluke, lost in his own world, took a few steps towards the map whilst staring firmly at the center. His eyes and face one of pain as he stared at the tall centerpiece of the hologram. The sharp jagged spire that rose from the Earth's surface and towered above all the land around it still seemed imposing even on a much smaller scale, extending high into the air and dwarfing the hills and Encampment around it.
"I'm not 'fucking around' Hollow, you know I mean what I said" Gubiak spoke
"Well I know you know this sounds like a load of bullshit too" Hollow replied, still staring directly at Gubiak. "So did I" he calmly responded "When Evanz first told me about it." Gesturing with his head towards the quiet scientist in the back of the room, Hollow and Rage both turn to look as he stands nervously twitching and fiddling on the spot, eyes darting between the others in the room. Bringing his trembling human arm to his face, he strokes his chin as a nervous tick as he attempts to start to form words. "I...there..." He states, before clearing his throat as Hollow and Rage turn to get closer and face him. "We think we've found...found a way to collapse the structure" he continues, clenching his hands together whilst still looking around the room. "A bomb has been developed that can puncture certain supports and bring it toppling down on itself." He looks up at Hollow and Rage, for the first time keeping a steady gaze. "We think we can win this war".
"Why now?" Rage spoke, his voice much steadier than before, given a moment for the initial shock to wear off. "What's changed? We've always had weapons, always had bombs"
"We've never had the right bombs" Evanz replied
"What, we've only been using the left ones?"Rage countered, finding his sense of humour with his voice. Evanz however, still uncomfortable with the conversational confrontation ignored the joke and stated "All these years since we've been studying and using their crystals, their materials we only ever analysed certain aspects of it. Namely, how much damage they can do" His voice grew in confidence as he continued talking "We could put them in weapons, vehicles, technology and use them but we never broke them apart. We never found out HOW to break them apart, we just found ways to manipulate them to do what we wanted them to do and we never once thought of how the materials inside them can be used wholly on larger things; entire vehicles, weapons, structures..." He looked over at Rage and Hollow again."Structures like the spire."
"So you're telling us that huge building is made up of the power crystals?" Hollow responded with a sound of disbelief
"Not ENTIRELY no, nor technically. But it's similar particles, similar build structure" Evanz replied
"Similar but not the same?"
"The same in all the ways we need it to be"
"The ways being, blowing it up?"
Evanz Nodded, a slight smile on his face. "We've designed a bomb using a chemical found underground. I won't get into the specifics because i'd hate to bore you but it is a type of crystallic residue left behind by the terraforming the Ragicans have been doing, Peace has been collecting samples and we should have it built within a few days." Hollow and Rage stood in amazement as they looked over at each other, their faces calmer and for the first time since entering; understanding and hopeful.
"We might have the weapon this time" Fluke spoke for the first time, still staring directly into the center of the holographic map. His voice was soft and pained, his eyes heavy. "But last time...last time we learnt what happens when we try to get close" His face twitched as surges of emotion passed over and his hand tightened around the edge of the map. Hollow, Rage and Evanz fell silent again as they looked on sympathetically towards the pilot. Gubiak, from the other side of the map spoke calmly "Fluke, that was a long time ago" he stated as Fluke's eyes quickly darted up, a mix of pain and pure anger as he stared from under his brow at Gubiak. "Yeah well it's hard to forget." Gubiak looks on, opening his stance and resting forward on the map and relaxing his normally very strict and powerful posture. "No one's asking you to Forget Fluke"
"No but you're gonna ask me to go back there aren't you?" His voice became more aggressive and progressively louder "You're gonna ask me to tell my crew to follow me into a place where I lost the last one. Fuck, only reason i'm still here is cos of what Jake did for me" he added, the emotions coursing through his speech as he rose to his feet and began almost shouting "I carry around the pain of what happened then every-single-fucking day and you're gonna ask me to do it again?!" He turned to Evanz as he ran a hand through his messy blond hair and across his face to attempt to curb his emotions" Now, you can talk all day about a bomb that can wipe out the spire but as far as i'm concerned that means fuck all unless you have a way to get us in and out because i'm not risking my crew getting killed or worse." The room was silent as Fluke stared directly at Evanz, his fist clenched as a way to relieve the anger but directed at no one other than himself bought up by memories of the past. Rage and Hollow stood on the sidelines out of the way as even Juke looked startled, waiting for a response from Evanz. However Gubiak interrupted from the other side of the map, still with a calm and sympathetic voice "We have a way Fluke" as he rose up to his feet slowly "and Evanz can show you" he added, gesturing to the scientist. All eyes turned to him as he looked up at Fluke and slowly reached over to the interface panel on his robotic arm. Cracking a nervous half-smile he pressed a button and then, disappeared.
Everyones face fell into one of astonishment as Rage's jaw dropped "HOLY CRAP EVANZ CAN TELEPORT" He shouted
"Not teleport Rage" Evanz replied his voice seemingly coming from thin air exactly where he was stood. "Invisible then? I still keep my HOLY CRAP" Rage responded, as a second later Evanz reappeared on the exact spot he'd vanished from. "We can put this on your ship, you'll be completely undetectable from the Ragicans." Fluke had calmed down a lot since his recent outburst but was still obviously pent up as Evanz took a few steps forward "Look, we have the tech and it can get us in and out safely. You just have to trust me" Evanz added, before standing right in front of Fluke.
"If it's worth anything, it does actually work" Juke chimed in, his voice a mix of elegance and sarcasm. "Which is strange for Evanz" he continued, as Evanz cut an angry glare at the hologram. Fluke smiled and let out a slight laugh under his breath as he looked up at the inventor. "Hey" he stated, getting Evanz's attention "if you say it works, and you promise they'll be safe. I trust you" Fluke added. Evanz smiled and nodded "I promise"
"Soooooooooo" Rage interrupted, gathering everyones attention as he looked around the room. "What's the plan?"
