Chapter 31 – The Sphere
I sit in the control room and watch the people below me, scurrying around to prepare for the day's tests. No sign of Sam yet, but that's ok. I moved back into our quarters last night. I stifle a yawn as I remember just how little sleep we got last night. I don't think she's completely forgiven me yet, but she's going to try, so I can't hope for better.
The beginning of her thaw was the fact that I stayed away from Buffy after the fire. We knew about it, because it's official policy to keep tabs on the Slayer. When the news came through, Sam expected me to run off to find out what happened. I wanted to, I mean, even forgetting Buffy, these people were my friends. I liked Willow in particular, and hearing that she was injured so badly, I really wanted to go and see her, speak to Xander. And, I admit it, I wanted to see Buffy, see how she was bearing up.
But I was smart enough to know that this was like the first hurdle. I had to stay away if Sam was going to believe my intentions to rebuild our marriage. I was tempted to go but cover my tracks, but, in the end, I decided to stay honest. And, last night, two weeks after the fire, I got my reward. We're not out of the woods yet, I know that, but, I moved back in, and we're going to be doing our best to put things back together the way they were before, or maybe even better.
The sphere is still a mystery. Well, everything we've found on this dig is a mystery. But, it's difficult to get excited about something that just soaks up everything you throw at it. I mean, it'll be incredibly useful if we can find a way to make it, or even shape it. Imagine a defensive material that soaks up everything you throw at it. All you'd need is some sort of cooling system and you'd have an impenetrable shield. But, it's boring.
The sphere's different. Apart from anything else, it's beautiful. It's a savage beauty - a bit like a storm-lashed sea, but there's no denying its appeal. It's easy to fall under its spell - just watch the movement inside, losing track of time as you do so.
Nothing we've tried on it has done anything. We've tried abrasives, corrosive fluids, gases, and nothing has made any impression. Today's test is a last ditch attempt to find something. If this doesn't work, I just don't know what else to try.
We've got a high power pulsed laser set up in the lab. We're going to try hitting it with enough power to vaporise most substances, using a tightly focussed beam. The wavelength is so short, that we don't think anything will actually be able to escape from the sphere, even if we do manage to punch through.
Sam arrives, and she looks up at me. She's smiling, looking really happy again. Well, I did do my best last night. I grin back, and I feel like I did when we first fell in love. I just hope the tests today give us something to work on, so we can get back to our lives again. I hope I never see Buffy Summers again, never have any reason to come back to Sunnydale.
I can see that things are ready down below, so I speak to the assembled team.
"Everything set?" I ask.
"Yes, Sir," one of the technicians replies. Unusually, we've got four technicians and Sam working in there today. They're not really needed, but they could do with a morale booster. If this works, it'll make up for the hours of grinding routine tests they've done in the past couple of weeks. They deserve a break.
"Go ahead," I tell them.
Sam starts to give orders, and I settle down in front of a bank of displays. Some show me the sphere itself, some the lab, and others give me live feedback on various measurements being made on the sphere. Output characteristics, temperature and so on.
The laser is switched on. Minimum power to start. There's no effect, so Sam gives the order to step up. We're keeping the increments small, because we don't want to destroy this thing, just get it to give up some of its secrets.
An hour later, and there's still been no reaction. On the last test, there was the first suggestion of a temperature increase at the pulse site. The difference was within measurement error, though, so we're going with a step up. I know we're nearing the upper limit of the design spec. of the laser, and I'm resigning myself to another failure.
At last, there's a definite sign that the sphere is heating locally at the site of the laser bombardment. It's tiny, but it's there. We step up again, hoping for a clearer signal yet. Again, it's so tiny, it's almost insignificant. Any other material would be instantly vaporised by the treatment we're giving this sphere, and all we're getting is almost negligible temperature increase.
Two more steps, and we've reached the maximum output specified for this laser. When the results are complete, Sam calls a halt.
"Sam, try another couple of steps, we could be close to something here," I suggest over the communication system.
"Riley, the laser's not specified at higher power. It might become unstable."
"Nah, it'll be fine. Just another couple of steps."
"No, Riley, I think we've done enough. There's a team in Minnesota, and they've just produced a laser that gives twice the power of this one. We could get hold of that and try again."
"And how long will that take?" I ask. "Weeks. I want this finished today. We're going to try another couple of steps."
She flashes me a look of irritation, then shrugs. She understands I'm just trying to get us out of Sunnydale as soon as possible. I hit the override switch, and the laser steps up again.
Two more steps, and there's still no change. Sam goes to power down the laser again, but I override. Just another one.
I'm looking at the temperature read-out, willing it to show something significant, when I hear excitement below. There's a flashing light on the power supply for the laser, and I hear the words "It's unstable, initiate emergency shut down." I move to kill the power to the laser from the control console in front of me, and as I do, I glance at the monitor showing the sphere. The crazing on the inner surface of the sphere is growing, visibly travelling over the surface, and it's turning opaque by the second. I watch, mesmerised, as it becomes obvious that the outer surface is starting to crack too. Those in the lab haven't noticed the sphere, they're all looking at the laser.
The cracks are moving from the bombardment site, and travelling in random directions around the sphere, and then it happens. The sphere has been breached. The pinkish energy we've seen inside the ball is leaking out, tendrils of it swirling around the lab.
I hear the first scream, just as the containment alarm goes off. The barriers come down around the room, titanium shutters sliding down the glass separating me from the lab. I catch a last glimpse of Sam's face before the shutters close. She looks terrified.
I continue to watch on the monitors. The scream came from one of the technicians. She's young, maybe twenty-one, and pretty too. Or she was. Where the pink tendrils are touching her, her clothes seem to be dissolving, but what's worse, is that the flesh underneath is doing the same. I'm watching in stupefied horror when another scream joins hers, a male voice this time, and I see another technician being touched by the colour and meeting the same fate.
I know it's hopeless, but I can't help myself. One glance at the monitor in front of me and I see Sam's terrified face. I run out of the control room, and down to the door of the lab. I'm running against the flow of others, the containment alarm being a general evacuation command. I know I can't get in, but I hit and kick the door a few times, making absolutely no impression. I fall to my knees, ineffectually punching the shutter.
A degree of rationality returns then, and I run back to the control room. There must be a way of reversing the lock down. And, if there is, it must be accessible from there.
The screaming's worse when I get back. Sam's still unaffected, but she's crouching in a corner, and it's getting closer. I start to interrogate the computer, searching for anything that'll let me get that door open. One part of my brain's saying I shouldn't even attempt it, because we've got to keep this thing contained. Another's saying that this is my wife, and I've got to do something.
I'm scanning the possibilities, using every password I know, and I'm getting nowhere. Another scream draws my attention back to the monitor. It's started on Sam. She's crouching in a corner close to the door, and from what I can see, it's getting through the door. Not destroying it, just seeping through.
The noise is more than I can stand, so I mute the speakers, but I can't tear my eyes away from Sam, as her flesh slowly melts away from her bones, her mouth open in a now soundless scream. I'm crying, I can feel the tears running down my cheeks, my breath hitching, sounding impossibly loud despite the alarm which is still shrilling all around me.
I know she must be dead. There's nothing left of her. I'm waiting for it to come to me. If it can get through titanium, there's nothing to stop it getting me here. I feel it at last, a stabbing pain in my back. I don't even turn to see the shape of my doom, just wait for the end with a total lack of resistance.
As quickly as the pain hit me, it left. I don't know why. One look at the control room shows no sign of the pink stuff, and I get up and walk outside.
I head for the exit of the complex, away from the lab, and once outside, I spot it. It's leaking out of the unit a hundred yards from me, and it looks like it's got a destination in mind. It's not dissipating, spreading through space in a random manner. It's stretched into a long, thin, ribbon, heading in a straight line towards the centre of the town.
I start to follow, taking it slowly, not wanting to get in its way. It's moving through the familiar streets of Sunnydale, avoiding people, skirting buildings and cars. But, this is Sunnydale. The locals might not admit they've got a problem, but avoiding the unknown's always a good idea. People are running from it, panicking, one sole figure following it. Me.
Past the UC Sunnydale campus, along a road filled with cars. I wonder why it's avoiding people now, after what it did to those in the lab. It's as if it has a purpose now that it didn't know about then. I'm thinking about this thing as if it's intelligent, because that's how it seems to me. I wish I understood why it didn't it avoid the people in the lab. Why didn't it keep out of Sam's way?
I'm not hurrying; it's not trying to get away. It moves into the centre of town, single-mindedly keeping up its progress. It makes no sense at all, but my thoughts aren't coherent anyway. Throughout my walk, I see the face of Sam, my wife, the woman I love, dissolve under its influence, and I know that I'm responsible. For her death, and the others in the lab. There may be more to come, but my motives have more to do with revenge than prevention.
I've killed before. In the line of duty – mainly demon, but an occasional human who was harbouring demons too. But this, this is something else. I've killed people. Good people. People who were fighting evil like I've always tried to do. Sam ....
I suddenly realise where I am. I hadn't been paying any attention to anything other than the trail I'm following. After avoiding other buildings completely, it's heading straight for the Magic Box.