Chapter 8 - Release

“Why don’t we just destroy the weapon instead of using it to destroy Aeon?” Dara asked.

 The ship’s expression changed. One could feel it in its walls. 

 “Miss Dara. Aeon could always create an anti-matter weapon. Even we destroyed his ship or main-frame, Its consciousness is Omnipresent. It could always return. We need to link its consciousness to the anti-matter and destroy every instance of it.” The ship said.

 “Just like quantum entanglement” Dr Nyle resounded.

 “Yes”

 “So where do we begin?” Dr Nyle asked, enthusiastic. 

 The ship’s light flickered again. 

 “I located one of the resistance’s fighters on a parallel universe. Universe 23. I believe he has information on where the parts were hidden.”

 Dr. Nyle expression showed agreement. “Then that’s where we will go?”

 Dara sol looked at him with anger; She was not having it. 

 “Go where?” She barked. “We haven’t talked about this or even told the commander about our discovery or the war, So we can know where humanity stands in this.”

 “Where else can we stand apart from the side that fights destruction of our universe.?” He then calmed down and held her shoulders. “Look Dara, I know you care a lot about me, but this has been my dream. I would understand if you wanted to go back . But for me, I’m putting through with this.”

 She sighed and looked , like she was looking outside the ship. How else would he understand; She had no home but him.

 “I’m going with you then”

 “Dara –“

 “I have made my final decision”

 Dr. Nyle knew Dara well; She wasn’t going to change her mind. The ship vibrated again and holographic images came out. “I have been trapped in this black hole for long and can’t get out. I need you to enable my mother board. It can only be done by a living being.  After that we can start our journey”

 “Quick question epochis; How long would our transversal take?” Dara asked.

 “Miss Dara, I can exist outside time and we could always go back to any period or universe. Even if we took a thousand earth years. I could always return the both of you to this instance so that it was like you never left this reality”

 “That’s … Kinda cool”

 “So you can use cool?” Dr Nyle teased. Then he turned to epochis holographic projection. “So , how do I enable your motherboard?”

 Epochis explained to Dr. Nyle and Dr Nyle went ahead to turn on its motherboard. At that instance, the whole ship went dark and the lights came on flickering. He could feel immense gravity increasingly acting on him; The black hole was starting to work. Though only for about three seconds, with the help of a gravitational shield from epochis, they were able to resist the gravity. Then suddenly, epochis started to shrink so small, till it couldn’t be seen by the naked eye. It had left that universe.

 Universe: UNIVERSE 21, 

 Location: Rhea Research Facility, Outer Saturn orbit

 Timestamp: Just about the time Dr. Nyle turned on the motherboard.

 “Sir, we have no idea where they went” Jake spoke to the commander through the big screen. The team had been looking for Dara and Nyle.

 “That damned man. I told him to stay put” The commander shouted.

 Everyone was silent. Then, Jason came out of his pod looking confused. “What’s happening?” He whispered to Debra, the only female in the team after Dara.

 “Dara sol and Dr. Nyle are nowhere to be found”

 “Commander” Jason spoke out. Everyone turned to look at him.  “I know where they went”. He lifted his hands, pointing out of the ship. 

 “The black hole? You can’t be right” Dave, the team leader said.

 “He can.” The commander spoke up. They looked at the big screen, surprised. “Nyle reported that he had sent a probe to Kx-31, and he was getting a reading from the probe.”

 “That’s impossible –“

 “That exactly what I thought. You see, Nyle had made some assumptions based on the properties of the black hole. After getting readings from the blackhole, he asked that he investigate further, which I told him that he suspends the investigation. But knowing Nyle fully well, I guess he went ahead himself.” 

 “-and he took Dara along” Dave said.

 Dave paced around a little. He knew Dr. Nyle to be very arrogant and strong headed, but to enter a black hole, that was a whole new level of crazy.

 “Since he’s around the probe, we could tap into the probe’s system and get its location. Maybe we could communicate with them through it” 

 Without any hesitation, the team’s computer scientist got to work. In no time, the location of the probe was on their system. It was still in the blackhole.

 “Send communications to the probe” The commander said. 

  “Okay sir-“  Dylan, the computer scientist responded. He hands moved fast over the computer’s keyboard. Just as he was about to lock in the probe’s co-ordinates, his expression changed.

 “What’s wrong Dylan?” Dave asked.

 “The probe’s location just went blank. Like it just disappeared.”

 “What do you mean disappeared ?” The commander asked

 “Captain, Look-”   Debra said, pointing to where the blackhole should have been.

 “The black hole- its gone” Dave said in disbelief. Just days ago, it had appeared from nowhere and now, it was gone.  He turned to the commander but there was no one on the big screen.

 “Commander-?” 

 “Captain, what’s happening?” Debra asked. Her voice, heavily shaking with fear.  Dave turned to look at her. Part of her body was fading, as though it was going out of existence. The same thing was happening to Jason.  He started to feel light headed. He looked at his body and it was fading too. 

  In moments, the whole ship faded away.