At first, everything seed to be proceeding according to plan.
After initializing the containnt chamber, the void generators produced an unstable micro-Spatial Tear, just as they had 125 tis before.
A steady stream of Exotic Essence was then introduced in order to stabilize the tear, following the exact sa sequence as yesterday.
Again, the Spatial Tear gradually ceased its random fluctuations and entered into a kind of steady-state.
The research team could have shut down the experint then and there having duplicated their success from the day before, but feeling pressured by the appearance of a Spatial Storm on the outskirts of the Typhon System, they decided to push ahead.
The idea was to simultaneously raise the output of the void generators as well as the Exotic Essence injectors, pushing both of them to their theoretical safe-maximums.
If they were able to maintain stability during the process, it would provide proof that the current research path they were following was scalable, which may just lead to a solution to the current crisis.
Jessica, as the Project Director, was just about to give the order, when suddenly an alarm went off.
"What happened?" Carlos imdiately asked.
"We’re getting feedback from inside the containnt chamber," one of the technicians replied as he attempted to adjust the warp harmonics to compensate.
Before the imbalance could be corrected, however, more alarms began going off, signaling the appearance of other anomalies.
Reports ca in rapidly from multiple stations, all of them indicating that the Spatial Tear itself was not only becoming more and more unstable, it was also starting to expand.
Seeing the situation slowly deteriorating, Jessica decided to pull the plug and ordered, "Kill the power to the void generators."
"Yes, ma’am," the head engineer nodded and hit the ergency shut-down button.
Ion fusion generators 4 and 5 imdiately disengaged, cutting all power to the void generators which, in theory, should have imdiately snuffed out the Spatial Tear; however, to everyone’s complete and utter shock, nothing happened...
Staring at the still expanding Spatial Tear in front of her, Jessica repeated herself, "I said cut the power."
"I just did... but... there was no effect."
As alarms continued to blare all throughout the primary research lab, everyone fell silent for a mont, their eyes wide with disbelief and incomprehension, but it wasn’t long before chaos erupted.
"That’s impossible!"
"I don’t know how, but the tear has already beco self-sustaining!"
"If we can’t shut it down, maybe we can stabilize it!"
"Right... Flood the containnt chamber with essence!"
"The injectors are already maxed out!"
"Then override the safeties!"
"The storage tanks could rupture!"
"I don’t care if the entire assembly explodes! We need to stop this! Now!"
"... understood, disengaging safety protocols!"
"Stabilization rate rising... it’s working!
"But not fast enough! The Essence Crystals are already beginning to rupture!"
"We have structural damage on levels 8 and 9!"
"How could this be happening..."
"It doesn’t matter why this is happening! It’s happening! Now focus!"
.....
For the next 5 minutes, every mber of the research team tried absolutely everything they could think of to both figure out what had gone wrong, and how to fix it, but no matter what they tried, it all ended in failure.
They had originally been planning on increasing the size of the Spatial Tear today, but they hadn’t even started that process yet. By all accounts, this shouldn’t have been possible, but reality was screaming at them otherwise.
The Spatial Tear, which had originally only been visible through optical enhancent, was now big enough that it was visible to the naked eye and was still expanding.
Amidst the flurry of activity around her, Jessica was simultaneously adjusting the containnt field to try to compensate for increasing spatial instability while scanning through over a dozen different holo-screens, desperately searching for answers.
As quite possibly the most brilliant mind in the room, which was really saying sothing considering everyone present was a genius in their own right, perhaps it wasn’t surprising that Jessica was the first to stumble upon a potential explanation for what was going on.
"It’s drawing power from the void itself... no, from sothing it’s connected to in the void..." Jessica muttered aloud.
Her voice was quiet, but many had been paying attention to Jessica to begin with, so a number of them had heard her despite all the chaos going on around them, with Carlos stepping up to ask, "What do you an, Director?"
Comprehension and despair ca to Jessica all at once as she stopped her furious typing and lifted her hands from her console, looking up to see that almost everyone in the room had turned towards her with a desperate expression filling their face.
They were frightened, as they should have been, and in this mont of panic, they were looking to their leader for clarity, or perhaps just for hope.
Unfortunately, Jessica had no such thing to offer them.
Swallowing hard as she tried to maintain so semblance of compose, Jessica explained, "We’ve always suspected that the Spatial Tears were the result of sothing impacting the space-ti barrier of our universe, sothing with an enormous amount of mass and energy, most likely another universe."
"En, that’s always been the most widely accepted theory as only sothing like another universe could possibly have enough ener..." Carlos began to elaborate, before he paused, enlightennt also hitting him at that mont.
Seeing her Vice-Director reach the sa conclusion as her, Jessica nodded, "The tear we opened has to be drawing power from sowhere, and since it can’t be getting it from our side, from our universe, the only logical explanation is that it sohow connected to the other universe and is drawing power from it."
"Does... does that an, a Spatial Storm was about to erupt here and we just happened to make contact with it before it happened?" One of the researchers asked.
"I don’t know," Jessica shook her head, "Maybe part of the other universe just happened to be in close proximity to us right now, but regardless what the truth is, one thing is certain."
"We can’t stop it, can we?" Carlos said aloud what all of them had been thinking for the past few minutes but hadn’t dared to voice.
Silence fell over the lab again, if you didn’t count the ever-increasing number of alarms.
Taking a deep breath, Jessica forcefully cald her mind and swiftly formulated a plan.
A second later, she opened her eyes and declared in a stern, forceful tone, "Sound the evacuation alert and have everyone withdraw to the Lexicon. The mont everyone is aboard, go to maximum warp and get as far away from the facility as possible."
Acknowledging the order, though he noticed sothing conspicuously off with its wording, Lt. Trevor Ashford, as the senior military officer present in the lab, opened his communication terminal and contacted the base’s commander.
Imdiately after, an ergency announcent was broadcast throughout the facility, ordering all personnel to head for the main docking bay.
As for the research team, they were currently in the deepest level of the facility, 10 levels down from the evacuation ship. Knowing they had the furthest of everyone to go, they imdiately began filing out of the room, heading for the elevators along with the civilian and military staff who were also present.
All but one of them, that is.
With the 318 souls scattered all around the research facility, Jessica Zhang figured it would take them 15 to 20 minutes to clear out, and then another 5 or so to guarantee they reached a safe distance so as not be affected by the Spatial Tear.
Given the current rate at which the spatial flux was growing, however, she estimated that without further intervention, the tear would breach containnt and fully erupt in just under 20 minutes.
In other words, they weren’t going to make it.
The most logical solution would be to abandon those who couldn’t evacuate in ti to save the rest, but the research colleagues around her were the core of this project and the most capable of continuing it.
They had to survive, no matter the cost.
Understanding this, Jessica turned away from the exit and headed back towards the primary control console.
Before she could take more than a couple of steps, however, a hand grabbed her by the shoulder as a familiar voice called out, "Where are you going, Doctor?"
Without looking back, Jessica muttered quietly, "Remove your hand, Lieutenant. There’s not enough ti for everyone to evacuate. Soone needs to stay behind and delay the Spatial Tear’s formation. I’m the most qualified, so it’s my responsibility."
In defiance of her command, however, the hand didn’t let go and instead gripped tighter, the sa calm voice speaking once more, "I can’t let you do that."
Frustrated and growing more anxious by the mont, Doctor Zhang finally turned back and snapped, "I have been granted full authority over this project by the High Council and Military Command, now follow my orders, Lieutenant Ashford!"
By now, the raised voices had caught the attention of the evacuating scientists, and all of them turned around to see the odd scene of Jessica struggling to break free from Trevor’s grip.
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