Prelude
Atlantic City, North America 22nd Century
Nine o'clock in the evening is bedtime for most people, but for Atlantic City, that’s not the case; it is just the beginning of the day.
Atlantic City, built on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, is one of the youngest cities in North America, built only thirty years ago. However, the pace of its development was so remarkable that it surpassed many of the older cities. Now, Atlantic City is the second richest city in North America, lined up closely to Capitol City, the capital of the continent.
During the day, Atlantic City is like all the other cities; fast-paced and busy, with millions of population hurrying off to work. Not much unique, except for the Ultratrain, one of the fastest trains in the entire world. The city installed it three years ago, which bought envy to the other cities. After all, only seven cities in the entire world have the Ultratrain. The others use the old Supertrains.
As said, no difference from the other cities throughout the day, but at night, the entire city turns into an uproar.
Night markets, shops, clubs and cafes are open throughout the night, filled with costumers of all kind. Casinos, arcades and restaurants are also open for business while movie theaters and big malls are simply crowded. The night for a normal citizen kind of looks like this; spending two hours in the theater, watching the newest 4D movie and then go grab some snacks; maybe a game of snooker at a club and then buy cheap stuff at a mall. If this guy is one of the crazy people, he’ll probably go to the arcade for a whole night video game. This is how one out of nine million people spend their nights.
Atlantic City is a city for the rich, and the rich owns it. They do not have to do much work in the day, because most of it was done by robotics. They do not have to sleep much too since three-hour sleeping pales were invented decades ago, providing humans the ability to sleep for only three hours. The rest of the “saved” time, was obviously used for having fun. So, as you can see, the life is very comfortable and luxurious in the 22nd century. But that of course, are only for the rich.
The city may seem quite lively and wealthy on its surface, but below the well-furnished buildings and colored lights that never go out, lives the poor. Since all of the hand-labor jobs were taken by the robotics, those who couldn’t find a job lives in poverty. They are mistreated and disrespected in all ways; some rich citizens even consider them sub-human. They wander through dark valleys and underground stations during the night, waiting for the rich to finish having fun and then “cleaning up” what’s left of their mess.
Today is Saturday and many of the city citizens are arriving back to the city after spending a wild day at the beach. The lights are already on and the sound of rock music filled the streets. However, unlike other days, as soon as the sun disappears behind the tall skyscrapers, the temperature is beginning to drop at a very fast speed. This is very unusual for Atlantic City, since it is a coastal city. Even in December, the temperature rarely drops below fifteen degrees. But today, the temperature seems to be so low that water puddles on the streets seems to be frozen.
Somewhere in the city center, a black suited man stepped out of the door of a skyscraper and paced down the crowded street. He soon noticed the chillness of the weather and started rubbing his hands rapidly. He walked faster, desperately trying to slip into crowds of people for warmth. He turned at a few corners and eventually stopped at a crossroad. He reached into his suite and pulled out his Digital Smartphone.
“Uh, this weather is truly shivering.” He spoke to the phone. “It’s not the sort of cold we get from touching snow in winter. This cold comes from the inside of you.”
“Well, same here in Capitol City.” An old lady’s voice came from the Smartphone. “You take care of yourself Jack. I have a feeling that something unusual will happen. We haven’t had this kind of weather since thirty years ago. The Global Warming didn’t take over back then.”
“You too mother.” The man spoke with a shaky voice. He glanced quickly at the sky, which was full of lights from satellites. “But don’t worry, I am sure nothing unusual will----” He was interrupted.
The conversation ended and at the same moment, all the lights from the sky disappeared. Jack was quite surprised and tried to call again. But this time, the call couldn’t be made. A notice appeared on the screen: Your current location can receive no signal.
“What?” Jack cried pulling his suite even tighter. “No signal in the middle of Atlantic City? This phone must be broken!”
Just as Jack was about to tuck the phone into his suite pocket, the lights went out. The street lights, house lights and even the lights in cars went out without a warning. A moment ago, Atlantic City was full of bustling noises and sounds of all kind, with lights shining in every corner of the city. Now, the city was in a total darkness and everything was silent. Dead silent. Nothing could be heard except the breathing of man and woman on the streets. The entire city froze for a straight whole ten seconds.
Then there was chaos.
The streets, already crowded with people before the blackout were now in total disorder. Frightened people trampled over one another as they scrambled through the darkness. Then there were shouts, screams and cries. Electricity shortage has rarely happened in the past century and none of them could pull an entire city into darkness, especially one as important as Atlantic City.
In this century, a day without electricity is unbearable. The cars and robots won’t move without electricity; the super computers that run an entire nation will fall dead; People will lose communication with each other and the world will be covered in total darkness.
Jack made his way through the startled crowd. He tried to open his smartphone to get some lights, but only to find it impossible to open. As he dodged and shoved those who got in his way, he realized this blackout is not something caused by a technical accident but something else. He also knew that this is extremely dangerous. There were ten oxygen bases established in the city and those machines provided all the citizens of the city with oxygen. The trees on Earth were very scarce from the beginning of the 22nd century. Oxygen machines were invented to provide oxygen to the over-populated planet and if those machines didn’t work, then everyone will be in great danger. Jack tried to escape from the mob, but was knocked down by a fast-moving object.
Before, he could gain consciousness again, the crowd around him turned into a stampede. He began to realize that people are now stepping and falling on him. Gradually, pain took over. In total darkness and confusion, he felt like a helpless rat about to be ripened apart by a cat. The air began to be hard to breathe due to the lack of oxygen. Chokings and heavy breathing started to occur as the world started to spin. Darkness soon became a limbo as the man collapsed to his stomach. The people around him were soon doing the same thing. With little oxygen in an over populated and cramped space, the citizens of Atlantic City were soon at their feet, gasping for every bit of air left.
Feeling that his muscles were aching terribly, Jack groaned with agony. It is almost impossible to breathe now and dizziness was overtaking quickly. He realized that his life is going to end here.
And then, it was over. He felt pain from all parts of his body, but was now able to move them. The darkness that surrounded him were now vanishing quickly and a bright beam of light pierced through his eyes.
At first, he thought the lights finally came back. But he soon realized that the light didn’t come from any of the human inventions. There were lights from the ground and the sky, creating a wall of luster that reaches to all corners of the earth. As everyone on the ground stared with amazement and terror, they soon found themselves surrounded by lights of all colors. It was the most wonderful thing they saw in their life. The lights were pure and soft, unlike the electrical lights. It was so beautiful!
Jack steadily got to his feet, along with the others. The lights were beginning to fade, as if retreating back to the darkness. However, it did not vanish, but gathered in the sky, overlooking the entire planet. There were also beams of lights from across the horizon. As if summoned or pulled, all beams of lights joint the beam of light high in the sky. Gradually, it formed into a shape; a round, circular shape; a wheel. Three spots of light appeared on different sides of the wheel, releasing beams of light down the surface of the earth. One beam of light just headed east towards the Atlantic Ocean. The other two went south.
The colors of the light were unspeakably beautiful. To everyone in Atlantic City, it seemed like fire and water altogether. There was nothing more beautiful than the scene they are seeing now.
City of Toshio, Asia 22nd Century
At the same moment on the other side of the globe, it was eight o’clock in the morning. Shumin, an office worker pulled himself out of his car as he stopped for breakfast. He entered a noodle restaurant and took a seat by the window. A robotic waiter quickly came over to take his orders.
“A bowl of tomato noodles and a pan of fried eggs please.”
People rarely spend time eating in the 22nd century, especially in a busy city like Toshio. Food pills were designed to provide its users with enough energy throughout the entire day. Therefore, the necessity of eating is eliminated. However, having a meal in a restaurant is still popular, mostly for commercial purposes. In Shumin’s case, he just wanted a good taste for his tongue.
He took a quick glance outside the window to watch his car. It was brand new and one of the most advanced cars in the world. Cars still run on the ground in 22nd century, though the technology to let a car fly in the sky was invented years ago. However, experts figured out that if cars were able to fly, then the whole transportation system will break down. There are just too many cars to go around and the possibility of cars crashing each other in the air is too great to estimate. However, highways and roads are now way above the surface, some even reaching six hundred meters below the surface. So, the first thing you see every morning in the 22nd century is either a skyscraper or a highway. Cars are really expensive and Shumin has been working very hard to buy this car and now, he won’t allow anyone to touch it. To him, it’s even more precious than his young wife.
“What a strange weather today.” He murmured to himself as he took out his computer to overview his business papers. “I could actually see the sun today.”
Toshio City was the biggest city in Asia, with a population of over thirty million people. It’s a vast industrial and financial center, well known to the rest of the world. It was built on an island and is the heart of a compressed transportation network. Many of the world’s most important companies and banks put their headquarters here, making Toshio City the “Financial Center of the World.”
The city was huge, quite bigger than Atlantic City. The city also has nickname, known as the “Iron Forest” mainly because the city has the most skyscrapers than any other city in the world. If anyone took a satellite view of the city, he will find out that the city was designed in a swirl pattern. It’s very impressive and was considered one of the non-natural wonders in the world.
There weren’t oxygen machines in the city for some reason. Although the air is hard to breathe, people can still survive in it. In some heavily polluted areas, people were required to wear gas masks.
The sun hasn’t show up in this city for decades, mainly blocked by the fumes from factories and vehicles. But today is a strange day. The sun could be seen clearly in the sky and with no clouds for as far as a human eye could see.
Unlike Atlantic City, there wasn’t much of a difference between poor and rich in Toshio City. Everyone living there is neither poor nor rich. Most of the citizens are busy workers who only care about its salary and don’t pay much attention to entertainment. Asia is an extremely overpopulated continent and the competition between people for job is too great to be measured. Therefore, they work not to become rich, but for survival.
The lack of public safety is also a great problem in the city. Many of the citizens are overly pressured by their work and are more likely to do things that harm the society. Mass suicide, gang violence and robbery are some of the things that is been going on in the city for the past few years. The police tried very hard to maintain order, but the hearts of the people are fully overtaken by money and power. They became working machines, like the robots, which care nothing for the sake of others. The future for the city is a blank.
There was a small riot in the corner of the restaurant. Shumin ignored the commotion and continued reading his business papers. Fights and arguments are somewhat a unique scenery in Toshio City.
“What’s going on? There’s no signal in this restaurant!”
“Sorry for the inconvenience sir, we will try to fix it right away.”
“I am missing a very important business meeting on the internet because of your damn restaurant’s wireless system. I demand reparation!”
“But sir….we—“
“Call your manager immediately!”
The sound of the quarrel is starting to get louder. Shumin frowned and turned to the direction of the commotion. On the other side of the room, a man with a fancy business suite was arguing with a robotic waitress. The sound attracted many other costumers, who made a circle around them.
“Hey wait, we don’t have wireless signal over here, too!” A group of businessmen shouted from a table near them.
“Niether do we!” Another group of businessmen shouted.
Shumin took out his smartphone to look at the time. He was quite surprised to see that there was also no signal on the screen. But this is very weird. Even if the restaurant’s wireless did broke down, then the smartphone will go on and search for other wireless signal. However, on his smartphone’s screen right now, it shows there wasn’t any signal. This means, this wireless system of the entire area of the city has broken down!
Shumin dashed outside. The wireless screen of his smartphone still remained a blank. He sprinted into his car to retrieve his Personal Wired Network. This small apparatus could be used when the wireless system broke down. But to his surprise, the apparatus didn’t work. He noticed people passing by his car are also in a panic. They stared hard at their smartphones and tablet PC with great confusion. In Atlantic City, no one can live without electricity. But to the citizens of Toshio City, a day without internet is like putting them into a pot of boiling water. Therefore, the entire city was now in a riot.
“This is means a lot of trouble to me.” He said to himself as he tried to start the car. He tried as hard as he could but it won’t give a budge. Beads of sweat began to run his forehead. This is deep trouble. After a few minutes of desperate tries, he gave up and fell backwards into his seat. He lifted his head helplessly to gaze towards the sky, wondering why everything is going run for him.
Then, he saw the lights. At first, he thought it was a light from an areoplane or a satellite. But the lights were too bright and soft to be any of them. He stared in amazement as the clear blues sky started to change color. Into red orange. Beams of lights with different colors from all directions began joining the light in the middle of the sky. It formed into a circular shape, covering all corners of the sky. Different colors of light are twisting together, like a hurricane. The light wasn’t sharp at all. In fact, it was rather comfortable to stare at.
Then, a wheel shaped image gradually appeared in the sky. He made out two “eye of the hurricane”, where all lights surged into these two spots forming on the surface of the wheel. Gradually, two beams of light shot from the two “eyes”, heading different directions onto the surface of the earth.
Shumin rubbed his eyes slightly. He forgot all of his works and pressure. He felt like everything around him is covered by light. The world seems to stop and time itself seems to be frozen.
Mount Howe, the Continent of Antarctica 22nd Century
The weather is dropping quickly as the hour grows late. In the frozen terrain of Antarctica, a five men research team, led by Professor Edward Frederick was struggling through the deep and wet snow. The temperature was very low and apparently, the team didn’t have enough clothes on. Professor Frederick walked in the very front with his other four team members stumbling behind him. The darkness of the vast glacier was even more unbearable than the coldness. They only had three spotlights which provided them with little light and it is almost impossible to see what is going on three steps ahead of them.
“Professor, how long do we still have to go?” A man right behind the professor asked. “We’ve been walking for three hours.”
“Yeah, we are walking through the light and are likely to freeze to death in this kind of weather.” Another man complained nervously.
“And my legs are already aching terribly!” A woman whined from behind.
Professor Frederick turned around and stared at each and one of them. His entire face was covered in ski mask, only his blue eyes recognizable. Edward Frederick was almost forty years old, but looks young for his age. He was very handsome and many women just want to throw their arms around him. He always had a very big smile on his face, always cheerful and humorous to both his partners and his family and loved spending time playing soccer and video games. However, things changed during the past two years and his age finally caught up to him. The smile on his face has faded away and he became quiet and short-tempered. He began shutting himself in his studies, spending hours looking at the sky and drinking huge amounts of alcohol. He became more energetic in his research studies, often going on for days without eating or sleeping. To everyone else around him, he has become insane, just like a fair amount of people in the modern society. But he has great intelligence and stayed in his work. No one knows what truly happened to him, except those who knew him very well. Too much have changed in his life and they knew no one will be able to stand it.
“Fellows, just keep up for another half an hour, I am sure we will find it” His voice echoed through the empty Antarctica plains.
“Yes, but why do we have to do it this late?” The man behind him asked. “I mean, can’t we do this research in the morning?”
“Jake is right” The women said. “We are doing no good in this darkness. And why won’t you let us use the equipment instead of walking through this mess bare-footed.”
“Because we will have to keep this research a secret!” Professor Frederick insisted, turning back to the front. “If we use the lights and equipment, all the other research teams will know. Besides, if we don’t find this thing before dawn, chances are that the other will find it before us.”
They continued walking. A man from the end of line jogged to the front. He stopped to catch a breath and then patted the professor on the shoulder.
“I know how your wife’s death saddened you and how much it means to you to find the object, but you can’t risk the life of the entire team!” He whispered silently into his ear.
There was a moment of silence and then Professor Frederick spun around and struck the man down.
“Steve, I’ve told you many times not to mention it.” Rage poured into the professor’s eyes. “Say this again and I shall kill you!”
The other team members gasped silently, watching the two men in terror. Then, the man, Jake took a step forward and broke them off. Steve got up and wiped his mouth as if there was blood. He swore out loud as he made his way back to the end of the line.
Without another word, the team continued moving on. “Do you know what the professor is up to anyways?” The only women member of the team whispered silently to the man beside her, Simon.
“I don’t know Charlotte.” David whispered back silently. “I think what we are finding is an object that provides eternal power. Something that could cure wounds of any kind and grants anyone who gets it the power over all life.”
“What do you mean a powerful object? What is it? And how much power does it consist?” Charlotte leaned closer to Simon, holding her breath nervously.
“I am not very sure.” Simon stared hardly at Charlotte through his goggles. “But one thing is clear. If the facts are true, then the world we know right now will come to an end.”
“The facts?” Charlotte widened her dark blue eyes.
“Yes, the facts.” Simon replied. “There’s a research years ago about this ‘Pandora’s Stone’. It’s an object that controls most of the energy that flows through this Earth. Scientists have located this object to be in one of the Poles. Since the North Pole has been fully explored and most of it has melted away due to Global Warming, only the South Pole is left.”
“So that’s why so many nations sent researchers and explorers to the South Pole during the past year. They all wanted to control this magnificent amount of energy and become the dominant of the world.” Charlotte exclaimed.
Simon nodded, but then shook his head. “It isn’t actually the pure energy those politicians wanted. It’s something much stronger and effective than just energy.”
“Like what?”
Simon paused for a moment and then said carefully. “Consciousness.”
“Huh? What does that mean?” Charlotte asked.
“It means that whoever takes control of this object controls the mind of the entire human race.”
There was a moment of dead silence. Then Simon continued explaining. “Some of our planet’s brightest scientists speculate that there is an invisible energy web above the Earth’s surface. This web controls our emotion and our thoughts. Recent research has proven that there’s a link between the consciousness of human, even if they were separated from across the globe. That means there’s an invisible force that controls how we think and how we act.”
“But…but…how can something control the way we think?” Charlotte was almost out of breath. “Everyone’s thought are unique and different. As the saying goes, ‘only minds cannot be controlled.’”
Simon shrugged. “I guess that’s not true then. There are too many secrets still hidden beneath the surface of the earth and none of us could guarantee those things don’t exist. We humans also have a lot of secrets. And by the way, do you know Project B?”
Charlotte shook her head.
“Scientists also discovered that when a human’s conciseness reaches a certain level, the human body can gain unlimited energy from the environment around them. In other words, we can become an immortal. This project is to reveal the human’s true power.” Simon finished, gazing mysteriously at Charlotte.
Charlotte frowned. “None of this makes any sense. And besides, how did you know all of this anyways?” Charlotte asked suspiciously.
Simon grinned. “I guess that’s the only good thing about being the professor’s personal apprentice. I have the opportunity to peek out some top secret information.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes. “Please, take a seat. Why would professor go on such a wild goose hunt anyways? Finding this object will bring him nothing. I mean he is a multi-millionaire with fame and fortune. Why would he still come down here to this horrible place and do another hopeless science research?”
Simon’s face suddenly tightened. “Like I’ve told you, this object has unlimited power. The thing is that the professor believes that this object has the power to bring dead people back to alive.”
“So that’s why he’s so desperate!” Charlotte cried with excitement. “All he wants is to use the power to bring back his dead---“
“Hush!” Simon interrupted. He gazed nervously to the front, only to see the professor digging through the snow with full concentration. He sighed in relief and said. ”You don’t want to drive him nuts again, do you? Keep your voice down!”
“You two, shut your mouth before the ice freeze it.” Jake spun around and glared at them. “It is professor’s love and passion towards science that gets him here, not the rubbish you two were talking about.”
Steve gave an evil snare at the back.
“Now hurry, professor is already way ahead of us!” Jake ordered and the team broke into a short run.
Up in the front, Professor Frederick was adjusting the lights. “Damn, these lights are probably out of battery.” He muttered to himself. He tucked his flashlight into his backpack and began walking in the darkness.
The wind of the frozen terrain swooped across the empty landscape, picking up shattered snow and ice. The only lights left were the weak luster of the stars. The moon didn’t show up today, as usual. However, even though in this freezing temperature, the professor’s heart was boiling. He has the sense that today is a day that’ll change the fate of mankind forever. What he was about to reveal was something buried deep in the history of humanity, something that can change the course of science and something that can stop the humans from destroying itself. But most importantly it is something that can grant his wish to bring back someone he loves. And this is definitely the main reason he kept up this research for so long. Professor Frederick is a scientist and never believes in gods. However, in this particular moment, he felt that if god really existed, it must be on his side. He can sense an invisible power guiding him towards this object. He felt it. Something inside of him was probably awakened. It is destiny calling.
Deep in thought, Professor Frederick wandered off his planned route. Before he could realize it, his feet below the snow slipped and he lost balance. He rolled down the snow mountain in great speed, crashing into boulders and ice. He tried really hard to grab on to something, but it’s completely dark and all he felt was the cuts and bruises made by the ice and rock. He closed his eyes and decided to wait till this is all over. But it showed no sign of stopping.
Then, it was over. His battered body slammed into a big chunk of ice, stopping the fall. He lied there for a total five minutes before even bothering to move a finger. Finally, he put up the severed pain and managed to draw some strength. Luckily, his bones were fine and weren’t broken as he expected. He struggled to his feet, checking his wounds. Now, he was pretty sure that there were no gods and destiny has played another game with him.
The wind appeared to stop, but darkness was still there. Professor Frederick tried to retrieve his lost headgear, but apparently it was impossible. He groaned and began cursing all the gods he could think of. He really regretted about leaving his team so far behind because now, he not only will lose the object, but might freeze to death in this weather. He threw away his backpack, feeling he won’t need it anymore and began a long journey back on the mountain. But before he could even make one step forward, he stumped over again. This time he apparently tripped on a block of ice, or as he thought it was. However, as he got up again to examine the “ice”, he discovered it is something very unnatural.
On top of the hill, all four members of the team were on the ground gasping for a breath of air.
“We’ve been running for ten straight minutes and there’s still no sign of the professor.” Charlotte coughed out loud. “We are going to catch a cold running in this weather.”
“You mean pacing slowly in this ‘winter wonderland’ will be a better plan?” Steve remarked dryly. He still remained at the very back of the line.
“Why you---” Charlotte raised her voice.
“You two, cut it out!” Jake interrupted, as usual.
“Hey, who makes you the boss around here?” Simon challenged. “You are the one who is leading the way and now we are all lost.”
Surprisingly, Jake didn’t argue with him like always. He was deep in thought. He knew in his heart that they are in serious trouble and he might be the one who caused it. After all, he is leading the way. He didn’t want to risk his life in searching for someone else’s life, especially when his team members are now complaining about his leadership. If they could turn back now, perhaps all of this will have nothing to do with him.
Everyone was quiet for another minute and then Jake stopped. He spun around and said “This is hopeless, lets head back to the base.”
“But what about professor---” Charlotte protested.
“It’s his own responsibility for getting himself into this mess. He is the one who ordered us to come out in such a cold night. He is the one who refused to take any technical equipment with us. He is the one who got lost in this snowfield.” Jake’s voice suddenly sounded sinister. “If we don’t go now, we shall die with him.”
“You can’t just abandon him like this. You just can’t!” Charlotte’s voice became shaky. “He is, after all, our tutor.”
“We didn’t abandon him. He abandoned us!” Jake ignored Charlotte’s pleas and started heading back.
“Don’t be so sent-mental, Charlotte.” Steve snickered from the back. He followed shortly after Jake, muttering the word “Women” several times.
“Gentlemen, I don’t think we should head back to the base.” Simon said, standing with Charlotte.
“And why is that?” Jake continued walking.
“Well, because we can’t head back to the base.”
“Don’t be foolish, all we have to do is head the opposite direction from which we are going now.” Steve said, with a tone of teasing in his voice.
“You two have worked as a scientist for at least ten years and you still don’t know the situation we are in now?” Simon yelled as the distance between them increased. “Can you recall all the directions we passed through these three hours in this darkness?”
The figure of Jake and Steve stopped dead at their spot. Slowly, they turned around and headed back to Simon.
“Does this flashlight still work?” Jake grabbed over the flashlight from Simon, examining it.
“This flashlight was broken and the other one is with the professor.”
“Did you try on the reserve batteries in your backpack?” Jake sounded desperate.
“This flashlight is broken, not out of battery. I’ve just said that.” Simon sounded annoyed.
Jake was still playing with the flashlight, as if trying to fix it. He pressed all the buttons on the side, tried on new batteries and even screwed the cover off. Just as he was about to give up, a beam of light appeared out of nowhere.
It came very fast and at first, Jake didn’t notice it. Then, the lights became brighter and bigger. The landscape around them was suddenly recognizable and clear. Darkness retreated quickly before their eyes, but strangely the change of the light didn’t really hurt their eyes. They all gasped in excitement as the distant places all appeared out of the “fog”, as if the sun rose into the sky in just one second.
“What is this madness?” Simon was too stunned to say another word.
“Look, to the sky!” Charlotte pointed to the sky above them.
Everything seems to stop as all four of them gazed towards the sky. Beautiful scenery, mirage and illusions appeared in the sky. It was so magnificent and beyond any mankind’s imagination. Wonderful and mysterious things flashed by like a movie. Or more truly, it’s a memory. The entire night sky was as light as during the day, as the dark blue light stretches to all corners of the sky. Glistening lights of all colors and comet-like object drifted slowly across the sky, joining one place in the sky.
For a moment, Charlotte thought she was some sort of geometric pattern formed by the beams of light, but that thought passed quickly. The sky now appeared to form a shape of a wheel. There’s one wheel outside the smaller wheel and on to infinity. Well, as far as they can see. It reminds Charlotte of the very same effect when a drop of water landed in a pool of water, as one ripple forms outside the previous ripple.
Then the wheels began to turn, each wheel heading the opposite direction as the two neighboring wheels. On one side of the wheel, almost directly over their heads, a spot of light appeared, formed by the previous beams of lights and comet-like objects. None of them could possibly describe what color is the spot, because it’s pure light. This is something never seen by the human civilization before. The wheels on its side was changing constantly in colors, forming a very beautiful mix of colors.
“You know, I would do anything if I could ever see this again.” Jake whispered on their side. “Even if it meant giving my life.”
“I just hope it can stay in the sky forever.” Charlotte added, her eyeballs glowing as the color of the wheel changes every time.
All four of them stared at the sky. They didn’t move a finger of a toe. They didn’t even find time to blink. Just as they were still focused on the changes of color patterns of the wheels, the spot on the side of the wheel suddenly casted a beam of strong light down the sky and onto earth.
The light nearly hit them as it surfed above their heads, feeling only inches away from their body. The light was connected with the spot and this time, the color was kind of similar to the color they’ve seen before. It’s crystal blue. The light disappeared behind the mountain top if it continued its direction, it’ll land somewhere below the snow mountain.
Professor Frederick has also noticed the changes of the sky. However, he was positioned in between four mountains, meaning he can only see the sky directly above him. So he didn’t really have the fabulous experience as his team members, who have witness this view on the peak of the mountain. He got up and stared at the sky for a while. After a few a seconds, he concluded this scenery with a very scientific explanation. It’s the Aurora Polaris, or known as the Polar Lights. He smiled thoughtfully as he turned the attention back to the object he just tripped on. At least now, the Aurora Polaris provided him some useful light.
The object he is trying to dig out is obviously not ice. It has an extremely smooth surface and it appears to be half of a basketball. But when Professor Frederick put his bare hands onto this object, it didn’t felt freezing as ice supposed to be. It actually felt kind of warm, from the inside. The color of this transparent object is special too. It has the color blue, or crystal blue. However Professor Frederick could tell that the color inside this object is actually changing, in some way. He wasn’t very sure, but he sort of has this feeling that this object is actually alive.
This object was still half frozen into the ice, so he decided to break it open from the bottom. But when he dug below the surface of the snow, he hit something hard. He really wanted to believe it was ice, but it was not. With limited amount of light, he discovered that the ground beneath him is also made up of this strange crystal-like material. Professor Frederick’s mind raced quickly. This meant that the round object was connected to the surface of the ground below him. Could this be the object that he was looking for? But research suggests that the object he is hunting for is in the shape of a cube, not a sphere. And the material he is running into now is also kind of strange. Deep in thought, he fumbled for his backpack and took out a sharp laser knife. The moment he took it out, he realized how stupid he was searching for light when this laser knife could be used as the perfect flashlight. Without another moment of thinking, he decided to break open this object.
Abruptly, a beam of light shot down from the top of the mountain, landing right on the sphere object. The beam of light was so strong that at first, his eyes were completely blinded. He fell back and shaded the light from his eyes. He could feel a massive energy field forming around him. It was so strong that he felt like his entire body was a piece of feather and no longer has weight. Waves of powerful energy passed through his body, making him feeling extremely strong, from his inner self. He knew that this energy is the very energy he’s been searching for years. And now, it is presented before his eyes.
He grabbed his laser knife and activated it. A feeling told him that he must take the object right now. Just as he was about to raise his knife, he saw some strange golden markings coming from the surface of the sphere and the ground beneath him. It stretched for miles until it can be no longer seen by his eyes. It seemed the whole world was covered by these strange markings. The markings seem to be a form of language that he actually recognizes. But he can’t remember where he saw it.
The light is becoming weaker and the marking also started to fade away. No longer hesitating, as if forced by an unknown force, he brought down the knife with all of his might. Before impact, he expected the crystal not to break instantly or at least have some form of resistance. But he was wrong. The crystal ball broke like an egg hitting a stone. It cracked. Then, before he can realize what was happening, another beam of light exploded out of the broken object. It was a beam of white light; pure white with no other color. The light and the shards of the crystal blasted into his face with such a great speed he didn’t even have a chance to draw a breath. He didn’t felt any pain at all. In fact, he lost sense of all parts of his body. He felt like been twisted into a spiral in the sky like a bead of sand been sucked into a huge tornado. His last thought was, what he did just a moment ago might change the course of human history forever. Perhaps, this might even transform the entire universe into something unnatural. He didn’t have time to think more. The only thing he saw before losing consciousness was that the world around him also started to spin rapidly. Not the same spinning he was doing now, but twisted. Everything was twisted.
Then, the color of white overtook everything.
