CHAPTER FOUR: THE DAYS BEFORE EVERYTHING CHANGED: PART IV
WEEKS LATER
The sun was as blinding as it was scorching.
As much was to be expected from an expedition to Cairo in the middle of summer, but the scientists dispatched from the nanite development team didn't foresee their venture to the Egyptian ruins taking as long as it did.
So despite the scientists not being constrained to any sort of deadline for the first time in their project's history, everyone was in a rush to get the information they needed so that they could leave the site and be free of the ever-rising temperature they were ill prepared to deal with.
For some, that impatience manifested in the form of rigorous dedication to working under all hours of the day and men such as Rafael indubitably suffered as a result of their own hubris.
Having painstakingly dug through sand and rubble ever since the break of dawn, Rafael finally abandoned his pickaxe and collapsed with his back against a wall that had shade cast over it.
To think that despite their most recent assignment perhaps being the easiest yet, he was on the verge of blacking out with sweat drenching his face, his shirt, and the outside of his canteen that had long-since been drained of water due to his thirst.
He couldn't even move so much as an inch to reach another filled canteen no more than a foot away, but fortunately for him his wife came to his aid after witnessing him slump to the ground through the broadcast of his body camera.
The recording provision was an obtrusive device to say the least, but it did see some use if one looked past its unwieldiness and always-recording nature; such as tracking the whereabouts of reckless husbands who were prone to accidents.
...Not that such was the main purpose of the equipment, which was actually to assist in the process of recording data — and it did, though it was rumored by some scientists that they recorded every action performed to make sure they stayed in line.
Those were only rumors though, and the only person who could confirm or deny that theory was busy tending to her partner.
"Eres increíble Rafael." Violeta signed while crouching down to pour the contents of the canteen into his open mouth. "You drink like a camel yet still manage to succumb to heat stroke more than anyone else on this excavation twice-over."
"No one here works harder than me." He gurgled with the water still being poured onto him.
"Well you could stand to work smarter. I don't want you to sacrifice your health searching for some schematics that may not even exist." She lamented while angling the canteen to a slow drip. Rafael couldn't help but sigh in exhaustion and disagreement with his wife's statement, but decided to take the canteen and chug it empty before choosing to dispute against Violetta and her silver tongue.
[1] "¿Cuando terminamos la construcción de la Meta-Nanite? A few weeks ago, un mes now?" He queried while wiping the moisture from his face with the cuff of his shirt.
"To think that much time has passed since we've learned of such a phenomenon and have yet to realize its full potential. The sooner we learn how to further develop it, the sooner our work is done and our world is irrevocably changed for the better. There's not a moment to waste!" He exclaimed while jumping to his feet—canteen still in hand—and returning to the ruins with a lighter pickaxe.
His wife, despite envisioning how funny it would be to watch her husband eat his words and collapse face-first into the sand, stepped forward to block his path and took hold of the pickaxe.
"Raf, aren't you the least bit skeptical about what good the Meta-Nanite can accomplish?" She questioned in a hushed voice. With a worn but attentive face, Rafael gently took back the pickaxe and continued to work his way to the deeper parts of the ruins.
Violeta accepted that their stubbornness was mutual and opted to trail behind him instead. In less than a minute the pair reached the barrier Rafael had been chipping away at for days on end, and Violeta was impressed by how much progress her husband made.
Granted, it didn't surprise her given how impressive his physique had become over the past several months with all of the mining and various other physical activities he engaged in. However, her absent-minded staring at his muscles ended once he raised the pickaxe over his head.
She took a cautionary step back, and he continued to dig through what he assumed was the fifteenth layer of near impenetrable sandstone. Violeta, who still held her reservations against their continued search, raised her voice to ensure she was heard over the strikes of the pickaxe.
[2] "Por favor mi amor, escucha me." she bemoaned.
[3] "Estoy escuchando." he grunted between his swings at the wall.
"It's incredible how far we've come with this project since discovering these ruins all those years ago," Upon hearing his wife mention the project in which they met Rafael stopped swinging— which was necessitated anyway due to his drained stamina, but he genuinely cared in what she had to say and gave her his undivided attention.
"But don't you think our prioritization of the Meta-Nanite veers too far from the original purpose of this project?" She whispered closely enough to him to not be recorded by their equipment.
"Not at all." He admitted with complete disregard for secrecy or subtlety. "After all, whatever can be solved with technology can be solved with our Meta-Nanite. The Consortium wants stability? We can create the manpower to enforce it. They ask for immortality, we create longer lifespans through the eradication of disease—"
"But is the Meta-Nanite truly capable of that?" She egged while bringing her face closer to his.
"From what we've tested, the Meta-Nanite can only create sophisticated apparatuses — which are impressive feats! But they do nothing to address the issues that our world faces; and the closest we have gotten to that is with Rylander's omega-1 nanite but he says that it'll only work on Rex."
"It might interact differently with Black Knight once we start testing it on her." Violeta pinched the bridge of her nose in response to hearing that name. For as bright as Rafael was, he wasn't too perceptive of her implicit concerns and it didn't make her dealing with migraines any easier.
It was up to her to communicate her message without ousting herself to any eavesdroppers, and so—being the master improvisationalist she was—she hastily retrieved a hammer from her pack, yelled "¡Ratton!", tore off Rafael's shoulder-mounted camera, and smashed the camera equipment.
"So—many—rattons! Their little paws are all over us, I—I think we're being outnumbered!" she clamoured while destroying her camera in quick succession.
Rafael was bewildered by yet another display of a sudden violent action after her assault on Van Kleiss weeks ago, but could only stand back and process what he had just witnessed. "So, are we being attacked by a swarm of invisible rats or do you really despise being on camera that much?"
"I'm quite comfortable with my self-image, thank you very much." She clarified while dusting sand off her knees. "Being spied on, however, is an entirely different story."
Rafael rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you believe that silly rumor going around—"
"No es un rumor, Rafael. Our data is being broadcast to a receiver located back at Abysus."
"Really?" His tone changed from disbelief to intrigue. [4] "¿Cuándo te diste cuenta?"
"Earlier before I brought you water. I was running diagnostics on the tablet when I noticed our data was being broadcast outside our private network — a network the Consortium insisted on issuing."
"They're the ones paying us to do this research, it only makes sense that they have access to the technology they provided." He stated, but then he slowly began piecing together Violeta's theory. "But they never mentioned anything about keeping constant tabs on us, so why the secrecy?"
"That's exactly what I'm concerned about Rafael! You keep secrets from people you can't trust!" Rafael felt his blood turn cold at the accusation, but reminded himself she was referring to the Consortium. Not that it hurt any less hearing it out loud, but he chose to hold his tongue.
"I mean, don't you find it the least bit concerning that the Consortium was so willing to provide us with an off-the-record test subject for human experimentation? And are so adamant we don't get attached to Jennifer Eve or even refer to her by her real name? They only thing they want is power, and they will acquire that power through any means necessary." She elaborated.
"Black Knight—pardon—Eve volunteered to be tested on. She's qualified to be a trial patient,"
"Yes, as the unflinchingly loyal servant of the Consortium! Those abilities she's developed with that Meta-Nanite — we have turned her into a living weapon Rafael and there will be consequences! What will become of our future? What will become of our boys?" She snapped at him.
She believed he was being far too forgiving of the Consortium's actions up to that point, and for what? Because they were promoted rather than fired after having experimented on their son?
"I know what repercussions my actions have on the well-being of my children Violeta, and don't you suggest otherwise!" he furrowed his eyebrows and argued back.
[5] "I'll do anything for our boys, y yo no dejaré que nuestro trabajo se desperdicie en fear of some rich gringos who want to play God. Además, we can always deal with them later—"
He tossed the pickaxe up to his shoulder to prepare for mining. "But at the current moment, my primary concern is finishing our life's work!"
With a frustrated swing, Rafael struck the stone one final time before the wall began reverberating with a deep crackle that shook the ground beneath them. Rafael instinctively raised his hands while Violeta took on a defensive stance, and then both of them took measured, cautionary steps away while glancing at each other with much softer faces.
The couple instinctively reached for each other when they were close enough together, and turned around to make a beeline for the exit before the wall behind them collapsed entirely and they were consumed by a cloud of dust, sand, and rubble.
For a moment neither of them knew where they or their partner were, but a bought of intense coughing from the both of them gave away their locations.
However, they were still completely blinded by the all the particles lingering in the passage so Violeta latched onto Rafael's arm and guided themselves to an open area with fresh air.
After some very disoriented steps in a random direction, the couple traced against a wall and arrived at on opening where they could finally breathe without having to cover their faces. Upon opening their eyes they acknowledged how fortunate it was that their sight wasn't contaminated during the collapse, but also realized that they didn't return to the entrance from which they came.
It was cold, dark, and incredibly arid in the space where they currently stood. They were unable to do much about the latter-most detail, but they did stand closer together for warmth and Violeta retrieved a compact flashlight from her pack to illuminate that which they could not see.
Much to their astonishment they didn't stumble upon a sinkhole or a cave entrance; they were inside a tomb where there was a foundation composed of tiles, pillars that held up the roof, and walls that most interestingly had inscriptions etched into them in the ancient Egyptian manuscript.
Violeta passed her hand across the scrawlings as if they were braille, amazed that it was so intact and legible. [6] "¿Rafael, puedes leer los símbolos?" she asked while withdrawing a notepad and pen from her collection, always ready to take notes.
"Hardly. For as much as I loathe V.K, he was always much better at this than me." Rafael admitted while scanning the walls of text. [7] "But alas, el pobre bebesito is too busy cleaning up the mess he's made to play in the sandbox." He mockingly whimpered with a faux pouting expression.
"You're terrible." Violeta giggled while testing out the ink quality on the paper. "But I suppose I'm no better for demoting him to the position of a janitor." she solemnly confessed.
"...Do you think I made the right choice in that decision, Raf? I may still hold a grudge against him, but I feel as though that entire meeting with Eve and the Consortium was too personal an attack on his pride. I really do worry what could happen when a brilliant mind such as his becomes corrupted with thoughts of vitriol and avarice." she concluded with a mutter.
"I think we know exactly what Van Kleiss is capable of doing." Rafael responded with discernible trepidation. Violeta didn't actually expect a response from her husband—she never did when it came to questions such as the ones she asked—but before she could raise his question with another, Rafael took hold of her flashlight and guided it towards a particular section of the wall.
It appeared innocuous at first glance — but then Violeta saw the damning image in the center. It was a hieroglyphic of a man that bore exact resemblance to none other than Van Kleiss himself.
It was a shocking sight to behold and one that Violeta was already processing dozens of theories to rationalize, but Rafael offered a translation of the surrounding scripture before anything was said.
"Apparently this is a place known as The Hall of Records. Much more information regarding the function and capability of nanites is scattered all over these ruins, but across this wall there is writing detailing how Van Kleiss arrived in that era, how he planned to escape it, and a grave warning to all those who wound up here. It's best we heed his advice."
Rafael grabbed hold of his wife's wrist and began running back to the entrance while she stumbled to keep her balance traversing through the dust cloud.
[8] "¡Rafael, no podemos dejar atrás toda esa información! There's so much more about nanites that we could learn—"
"Forget about nanites! You were right all along, that project was nothing more than the opening of Pandora's box!" He frantically warned in exhausted breaths. "I hardly had time to interpret the message but the contents were quite clear: 'Do not trust the Consortium, watch out for the Black Knight, and beware the dominion code. Should any one person wield all five of the Meta-Nanites, they will have the power to recreate this world to whatever image they desire!'"
"Wait, there are four other Meta-Nanites!?" Violeta shrieked.
"Si. And if we don't leave this site to do something about it, our world will be in great jeopardy!"
The married couple emerged from the other side of the cloud right as Rafael finished, and during that first second of clarity they were greeted to a round of armed soldiers aiming their rifles directly at both of their chests.
Red dots coalesced into larger circles of imminent death, and the both of them unconditionally surrendered with the sound of their heartbeats crashing through their skulls.
Violeta regretted her decision to destroy the equipment, having realized that the Consortium dispatched their troops to suppress the both of them once they began openly defying their bosses.
This was the cost of her impatience, although she couldn't have possibly known that would be the response or that it would come right after they learned of information that would fundamentally change the world as they knew it.
All the same, it was time for the soldiers to bring the Salazars home to learn what they discovered.
And what a joyous reunion it would be for the men who wanted the world.
MONTHS LATER
The blaring sirens and flashing lights were nothing new to Caesar. With how frequently both occurred in the workspace he was provided, he eventually adapted and learned to block out both of the stimuli entirely; but perhaps more terrifying than that fact was the reality of the entire facility initiating its alarm system for the first time since Rex's accident, and there was good reason for it.
While running through the hallways, Caesar checked his phone and saw only one new notification which was from his younger brother. Rex was concerned by the alarm, but the fact that he wasn't aware of what caused them was a good thing in Caesar's mind.
He effortlessly texted back to his sibling and reassured that he was looking for their parents and that all would he fine. Normally Caesar would make no such guarantees for things he wasn't absolutely certain about, nor would he tell explicit lies to those he cared for — but he practiced sensitivity when it came to Rex and there was too much going on for him to be further implicated in.
And so he weaved his way across several corners, leapt over several flights of stairs, and slammed face first into a heavily reinforced door which was the object of his destination. After picking himself up he swiped a total of five key cards, those being his parents', Rylander's, Meechum's, and his own across the access swipe which unlocked all of the bolts and mechanisms securing the door.
With all of the security measures out of the way, he hurried his way into the chamber where all of the developing nanites were stored—both the Meta-Nanites and the batch of unstable nanites.
It was an inexplicable feeling to be standing before what may have been the greatest scientific triumph in human history. And right then, Caesar's mind swam in the ocean of infinite possibilities and breakthroughs that could have manifested from the nanites, all the good that they could bring into the world provided the proper care and investment they required.
But those thoughts only made it all the more painful when he remembered what he had to do next, although he reserved no objections to his task. It needed to be done, it was the only way.
However, that wasn't to say he was entirely prepared for the ramifications that would come from his actions or how he would cope with that burden. With his hand gently resting on the button that would release all of the nanites at their current state, he wasn't entirely certain if he was brave enough to ruin the world — even if it was to save it in a twisted gamble of epic proportions.
But then Caesar thought of his younger brother, and what kind of future he would have in a world governed by the Consortium if their plans to achieve Dominion became realized.
Would it still be a world where Rex could express his boundless curiosity, wander around the halls with as much freedom as he desired, draw pictures of heroic machines in city-spanning battles, or smile at his family with all of the innocence and love in the world?
Caesar was hesitant, but he mustered enough strength to press the button — and then slammed it.
It felt like all of his vitality was drained from him as he retracted a shaky hand and dwelled on the gravity of his irremissible sin. Slowly taking a few steps back, he looked up at the monitor with a heavy heart and a heavier conscious.
The countdown clock was initiated.
Only ten minutes until the Nanite Event.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Enough exposition and backstory.
Let the real story begin.
UPDATE [7/9/2019]:
Edits have been made to improve grammar, structure, and translations which can be read below.
TRANSLATIONS:
[1] When did we finish the construction of the meta-nanite? A few weeks ago, one month now?
[2] Please my love, listen to me.
[3] I'm listening.
[4] When did you realize?
[5] I'll do anything for our boys, and I won't let our work go to waste...
[6] Rafael, can you read the symbols?
[7]But alas, the poor baby is too busy…
[8] Rafael, we can't leave all of this information behind!