“I think we’re okay. We’re in the center of the building, and we’re twenty feet underground,” said Dutch. “If Wilson didn’t feel it until he came down here, I don’t think Isaac will be able to either.”“But I didn’t know to pay attention to it. He would, wouldn’t he?” said Wilson.“If these swords are as powerful as the legend says,” said Kristen, “then we cannot afford to let him have it. You saw him, what he is capable of. Imagine if he gets a hold of this weapon.”“But if we try to move it, he might be drawn to it faster. Trust me, this is the safest place it can be,” said Dutch.“Open the glass,” said Kyle.“What? Why?” asked Dutch.“Because I want to test it,” said Kyle as he yanked out a few hairs from his head.“That won’t work on that one,” said Dutch. “That sword is quite different from the other one. It’s cunning. It doesn’t fall for cheap tricks and tests. It knows when someone is actually handling it.”“You’re acting like it can think for itself,” said Kyle.“It can,” sai
“Bullets didn’t work?” asked David in surprise.“Yeah, we shot everything we had at him. He dodged most of it, but a few did get through. It seemed as though the shots were hurting him but not seriously enough to stop him. The most curious thing to me was the lack of blood flow from his wounds. He should have bled out within a matter of seconds, but there was barely a drop. It was as if the bullets weren’t penetrating very deep,” answered Dutch.“That’s interesting,” said David. “If there is something preventing the bullets from penetrating, then PEP might be an acceptable alternative, considering the high heat of the plasma pulse. However, the lack of physical density might make it more difficult, although perhaps it’s the mass and density of the bullet that his body is stopping, in which case the plasma should be able to burn through with relative ease.”“It’s worth a shot.” Wilson shrugged.“Ha, ha,” said Kyle.Kristen tried unsuccessfully to stifle a chuckle.“What? Oh . . .” said
He walked over to a target still hanging up in Kristen’s lane and swung the sword at it, watching as the bottom half fell to the floor. The sword had passed through it as if it wasn’t even there. The paper was charred around the edges.The target began to move back toward the booth. Wilson looked to see Dutch pushing the return button. He removed what was left of the paper and replaced it with a half-inch thick wooden board then sent it back downrange. Wilson took a swing at it. This time, he felt a little resistance, but it was no more than slicing through warm butter. Dutch replaced the wooden target with a half-inch steel plate. Wilson took a swing at that. It felt like slicing through bread. He jumped back as the bottom half of the steel plate slammed against the ground, just missing his left foot.Dutch motioned for David to come out of the safety room. “Have someone bring the snake sword. I want to test something,” he said to him.They waited while David and another lab tech bro
She looked up just long enough to catch a glimpse of his face then returned to looking down into her knees. His face, that beautiful yet horrific face he carried, was the face she couldn’t seem to get out of her head—the face of the monster that killed Lisa. Did she really not blame Wilson? Suddenly she wasn’t so sure. How could someone with the same face be innocent?It wasn’t him, she tried to convince herself. He’s the one that saved me from the falling pillar. It’s not his fault they look the same.But no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t shake off the feeling of resentment that was building in her.“It’s my face, isn’t it?”This caught her completely off guard.“I don’t know why he looks like me, and I’m sorry that it haunts you. I don’t know what to say.”“I’m sorry too,” she said.She looked back at him, wondering how he could possibly know what she was thinking.“I’m going to go see if there is anything to eat,” he said. “Do you want anything?”She hadn’t realized how hu
“I think there’s more to you than you give yourself credit for,” said Kristen.“I know what you’re trying to do, but I just can’t be a part of it. It’s not me. I’m not a warrior.”The door creaked open a bit, and Wilson’s voice called through. “Is everyone decent?”“Yeah, come in,” answered Kristen.Wilson walked over to them carrying three plates with sandwiches on them in one hand and three glasses of water in the other.“That’s impressive,” said Kristen.“Thank you,” said Wilson. “They said that normally they have a chef in, but he isn’t here yet. So I started looking through the fridge and saw some ingredients for sandwiches, and I thought that might be good. You are welcome to remove anything you don’t like. They’ve got turkey, ham, lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, and mustard.”“Sounds delicious,” said Kristen as she took a plate.“You should try and eat something,” said Wilson to Kora as she seemed reluctant to accept the food. He handed her a plate.She took a bite
An officer bent down next to him, and Isaac could feel the quivering hands as he pulled his arms behind his back and began to fasten something cold and hard around his wrists. The officer looked up to see that many of his men were missing. He spoke into the device on his shoulder.“Where is everyone? Did you see anything?”A voice answered, “No, I was watching him. Wait a second.”The chopper ascended several feet.“They are all piled on top of one another behind that boulder! But he hasn’t moved! What is going on?”The remaining officers turned and looked around them for any sign of trouble. All of a sudden, the officer closest to the cliff went flying through the air over a small boulder and toward the canyon. He screamed as he plunged off the edge. The rest turned toward the cliff, clearly terrified. They kept glancing wildly back and forth from Isaac to the place where the officer fell. One officer caught sight of something yellow on the boulder for a split second before it vani
“They already know this location, so we will need to move the truck again,” said Mitch. “Normally, I wouldn’t go through this much trouble, but this vehicle can be very useful to us. It’s not like other vehicles as you might have noticed. This truck is pretty high-tech. It looks the way it does because it has reinforced armor plating and ballistic glass windows, making it capable of stopping bullets and small explosives.”Isaac was looking confused again.“Sorry, going too fast. Bullets are the projectiles people have been firing at you with guns, and explosives are things that go boom! Basically what happened to the helicopter.”“Helicopter?” Isaac asked.“Yeah, that thing they were flying back there.”“Not chopper?”“Same thing. Helicopter, chopper—a lot of stuff has multiple names. That’s one of the crappy things about English.”“Crappy?”“Bad. Frustrating. Annoying. Irritating. You see what I mean?” said Mitch, laughing nervously.Isaac turned to his creature and muttered somet
“This is called a mobile operating system or MOS. This specific device is called a holographic ring phone. Its main purpose is for communicating across long distances, similar to the radios you saw earlier, but those are much more short range. This can communicate with anyone anywhere on Earth. But it’s not just for communication. It can do almost anything you need it to. If there is one technology that advances so fast even people of today have difficulty keeping up with it, it’s the MOS. The light show it is displaying is called a holograph. Previous phones and mobile devices used a physical built-in screen, but the holographic screen is much more versatile and easy to use and isn’t bound to a specific screen size, as you just witnessed.” He turned to the image and said out loud, “Sketch pad.”The holograph went blank except for two small rows of symbols and colors across the top. He touched the image and, with a swooping motion, drew the letter A.“This is the first symbol in our a