Chapter Ten: Upsurge

Greck's beautiful kitchen had been turned into a rampaged heap of rubbish. Dishes had been smashed, glasses had been destroyed, and all the hard work that he had put into the meal lay splattered on the table or on the floor, and in some cases rested in vomit from fear. There was no doubt about it; Greck would be the one to clean it all up. When Blake had sent him off with Temple, the first place they visited was the galley. It bothered Greck very much that the only thing he cared about in the entire base other than himself was hurting. He stared at the wreckage, shaking his head.

Temple poked his head into the freezer, seeing if the elusive figure had darted through this area. But there was nothing here; not even a trace of the monster besides the mess he had left in his wake when he first froze the scientific minds with fear. Upon further investigation, though, Temple and Greck discovered that Phaira-kur had romped through sometime ago.

The counter on the far end of the kitchen was sawed in half, and the metal had spewed over the sides, solidifying into a drop formation. But if this cut were fresh, the steel/titanium top would be hot, at least according to logical reasoning. Greck and Temple had no reason to believe the monster was still hiding in the shadows, but they still carried on cautiously.

Soon after the mysterious slice had been unveiled, the duo heard a rapping at the swinging door; it was the back exit from the galley into a small storage room that Greck hardly ever used. When Greck thought about it, he remembered that the only thing in that room was a small supply of breakfast materials. Temple motioned from the cook to sit still as he moved in.

He moved closer as the rapping stayed continuous, menacingly tapping at the swinging wooden doors that sat so still. Surely if there was someone making that noise, the doors would have to budge in some minute fashion. But no! The gates sat in their crooked position, the left half loosing one of the screws that held it to the wall.

And the tapping went on, and on, and on…

Finally Temple slashed his arms at the door and with one swift stroke did he enter and spin through the cubby hole of a room. But the only things that moved were the doors and a chain that was latched to a light above. The end of the string was a small metal ball, and pulling the cord lit the room instantaneously. Temple shook his head in anger to find that a string too close to the door had caused him enough stress for a heart attack. He tugged at it and the dim light bulb illuminated.

"So, what was it?" Greck asked nervously. Temple was not looking at Greck's position, who was standing at the doors, his eyes and nose peeking over.

"Ah, it was nothing. Just that God-damned string," Temple stared at the vacancy of the small room, looking for anything unusual. The only matter that caught his eye was the string's going back to the repetitive tap.

Greck grunted and went back to the kitchen as Temple gazed at the string. Was it a small breeze or draft that caused the string to move in such an awkward manner? It had to be; the string was not moving by itself. I hate this damn place, Temple thought as he looked back at the walls. But there was no window, and that confused him. Looking up at the ceiling, he found no vent of any kind. Well, I know the string isn't moving by itself!

"Greck!" He called. "Greck, come here for a sec!" He wanted to ask the man who knew this sector better than he.

Greck dragged his feet back angrily.

"What the hell do you want, huh? I want to start cleaning this mess!" But Temple paid no attention to his weak argument.

"Where the hell's the vent in here?" Temple asked. Greck cocked his head back as if he had inquired what the sum of two plus two was.

"There's no vent in there, Temple. No vent at all. Now, can you stop with your retardedness and help me-"

"Then why is this cord still moving?" Greck then peered over the wooden doors to see as the string swung back in forth in a weak matter, tapping against the door. Rapping, rapping, rapping…

----

Renaud was kneeling at the beginning of a hallway. Stratham, Snider, and Van Camp waited behind him, looking around to make sure no crazed scientist was running trigger-happy. The lights were on. Someone had been through here. Whether they were waiting for Phaira-kur or just plain stupid, Renaud decided to test their sanity. He retrieved the handgun from his side and carefully shot out each fluorescent light that magnified Jarvis's waxed floors.

And he pulled the trigger with a plink

Plink

Plink.

The corridor now loomed over the four with a certain disdain for life, and Renaud signaled to move carefully. About halfway down, a rustling was heard from above them. They froze and instantly turned their attention to what was aloft, hearing the scratching and scurrying. Renaud's eyes fixated on the vent grate in the center of the hall, and sure enough, whatever figure was crawling started to pass by.

"Who in the hell would be up in the vent?" asked Stratham.

"I'd rather know why they're in such a hurry," whispered Snider. But Snider's question would be answered soon enough. When the hand touched and put weight to the vent, it fell through. Grady plunged to the ground face-first, only to get up and scramble away from his location.

Renaud watched in confusion as the once-menacing soldier paid no attention to him and ran off, smacking into a wall at the end. Soon, a constant humming was heard.

"What is that?" asked Van Camp. The four were all leaning against the one side of the hallway, but slowly moved to the other side as the humming grew louder.

"He's here," Renaud announced, and everyone aimed at the wall, expecting a great beast to emerge.

But the humming only stopped and disappeared.

Grady breathed a sigh of relief, and Renaud – who seemed locked in place – came out of his non-animated position and swiftly walked to his nemesis. The soldier looked up at the lieutenant, and only a small amount of hatred passed between them.

"What happened?" Renaud said with a cold look. Grady only tilted his head to see if Phaira-kur was really not coming, and once that had been found true, looked at the men who followed him.

"Wonderful. The whole gang is here. Don't you guys have a goody-goody contest to go to?" Renaud kept the same blank stare. Grady only looked down after this, realizing that they had seen him run scared from the beast. "The Phaira-kur thing killed him, Renaud! It killed Silas! And he was coming after me!"

Renaud looked at the air duct, but there was certainly nothing there now. Grady looked up again, and Renaud grabbed his collar, yanking him to the ground.

"You're coming with us," he said.

Renaud led the men down the hall and started to follow the vent. They twisted in and out of turns within the complex, and eventually he let Grady lead. The stubborn soldier brought them to the starting point of the failed crusade. Renaud looked up into the air duct, but saw nothing.

"And if you go up you'll see a pretty big hole about thirty or so feet away. Silas is down there."

Renaud nodded. Van Camp meshed his two hands together and propped Snider up and into the vent. Snider crawled through the maze carefully, and finally came to the hole Grady spoke of. He cautiously rolled his eyes over the liquefied metal and saw Silas.

Quickly he retracted his head to keep from vomiting; the sight of the slain man was absolutely horrific.

Snider came back, silently coming out of the air duct only to be bombarded with questions, but he could only tell them to go see it for themselves. Renaud was taken aback at how such a brave soldier could be quieted in such a way.

----

Connant and Ames were still chatting about their remarkable discovery even after the body of Durhkhan was found. Garrett, Straatman, de Roos, and Newell all grabbed a limb and began to carry the battered body outside. The two scientists kept rambling on and on to each other as the soldiers became more and more aggravated.

"So what theories can psionic ability, if it truly is in everything, prove?" asked Ames, still in shock over the young man's genius.

"Well, it's hard to say. I'd like to head in to Boralis and get on a transport out of here so I can further study this. Maybe I'll head to Aiur," Connant said, thinking out loud. Then he looked at the deceased body of Durhkhan, and the wrath the Protoss warriors might show. "On second thought, maybe that's a bad idea."

Ames smiled and looked ahead down the corridor. He saw the exit, and paced ahead of the soldiers to help open it for them. Connant stayed back, supporting the head of the slain creature. The group carried Durhkhan outside and gently laid him on the snow. The wind was blowing strongly now, and they all quickly scurried back inside.

As the group talked about what to do and where to go, Ames and Connant naturally suggested the lab. The soldiers looked at them as if they were mad. Newell rolled his eyes.

"You do whatever the hell you want," Newell said.

"Hey, man; wait a minute," Straatman put in. "I don't want these two getting killed. They've done a lot of work, and they're on our side, unlike everyone else. If they go, we go." Newell rolled his eyes again, but de Roos, MacFerran, and Garrett seemed to agree. "Will we be able to see Durhkhan's body from a window in the lab? I want to make sure Renaud's plan works."

Connant and Ames said that there were two windows that the men could scout from. Straatman nodded, and the group headed for the lab. The scientists practically ran as the other men walked slowly, dreading the science facility as a whole.

Once in the lab, they both went straight back to the maps and studied them some more. Ames went to a file cabinet and pulled out older space charts that had been recorded every six months for the last ten or so years. A few maps were missing, but they weren't needed to complete the puzzle.

The scientists calculated the amount of movement of each planet from the first map to the last, noticing how everything had moved somewhat closer; this strayed from Connant's original theory.

He had thought that planets with very little psionic potential were moving away from Aiur, but they, too, were moving closer. The rate was much, much slower than planets such as Braxis, but they were still heading towards the great beacon.

"Do you realize," Ames started, "that in a few million years there will be an unbelievable amount of energy around Aiur?" Connant nodded.

"With all of that force," Connant said, "it would be surprising if everything was still intact."

Ames was confused by this. "What do you mean?"

Connant leaned on the table and looked at the soldiers who stood by the windows. "I'm just saying with all the stars and planets, it would be amazing if nothing collided or exploded. And what happens when everything gets there? We have just one big ball of energy? Aiur isn't a black hole; it's not eating everything away. But it is drawing a lot of crap in."

MacFerran left the window and headed over towards Connant.

"You're a scientist, Connant," he started. "How do you think the universe started?"

Connant was caught off guard by the question and looked at the radio operator. "I've always believed in cosmic dust theory. Not real sure. Never interested me, really. What about you, Ames?"

"Cosmic dust theory. I'm the same as you. Never really was interested with what happened in the beginning. I always let God handle it," Ames said with a small smile. MacFerran nodded and folded his arms. "Why do you want to know?"

"Oh," MacFerran said, "it's just always really interested me. I heard what you two were talking about, and it reminded me a lot of this thing I was taught in school. Big bang theory or something." Connant and Ames both shot looks at each other. "Maybe it was big bam… I don't know."

Connant's jaw slowly slid open as he looked at the chart again. He looked at Ames, and both were shocked.

"That's it," Connant said.

"What's it?" asked MacFerran.

"I can't believe it! It'll happen again! An endless cycle… holy shit!" Ames shouted.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Garrett said, moving his focus off the snow outside.

"That's fucking brilliant!" Connant exclaimed. He grabbed MacFerran's face and kissed him on the forehead. "Brilliant!"

Ames and Connant jumped on each other, giving the other the biggest hug in scientist history. Both of them, with the help of MacFerran, had found that the universe was going to repeat the big bang. Over, and over, and over. Aiur was the starting point. Aiur was the center. Aiur truly was the heart of space.