The rest of the journey to the Core was fairly simple. Turns out that our little detour through daring and adventure had actually brought us closer to our objective that our original plan did. It certainly wasn't worth it, but at least something good had come up from all that fighting. We kept our pace steady throughout the rest of the tunnels, our line up exactly the same as it was before with Sawdust leading the front of the pack. The squad actually took it slower this time and I found myself not racing to keep up with them like before, which I was very grateful for. We didn't meet too much resistance as we navigated, but when we did they were easier to take out then that scramble of a fight we had back in the Liquid Magic Lab. Libra and Sawdust do a much better job taking out groups of guards than I could ever do. The rest of us covered their flanks from getting flanked while they displayed their awesome combat prowess. We never got ambushed from the back ever again, but I made sure to keep a careful eye on the neighboring passages we were passing. The whole lighter pace overall gave me a moment to relax myself and preserve my magical energies just in case we have another big battle.
We eventually reached the center of the Silo. From what I could remember from the mission briefing and the map provided, there was a large ring hallway around the Core with six different entrances to approach the Core from. Beyond those entrances was a humongous, empty chamber with a ceiling that had six bridges leading to the main room in the center of the space. Then, in the center room was the Main Reactor Chamber, which should have several large lines of wires traveling up and down the building. My job was to the set the bomb onto the wires and get out of there as fast as possible.
Moving forward as a whole, we approached one of the entrances to the chamber and checked the hall to see if any guards were still posted here. There were a few, but we took them out silently and threw them down the nearby vent shafts. From there, we all stood beside the southernmost entrance while Libra when with Gizmo to plant miniature cameras all around the ring hallway so she could monitor every single angle possible. The door to the chamber was huge, by the way. It stood at least as tall as a house and had to be at least 3-feet thick. A zig-zag line traveling down the center marked where the two pieces of steel parted, and the door frame was wide and menacing. It was pretty darn epic. The Engineers must have had a blast building this place.
The door was set into a plain, metal wall that reflected green off its surface. Bright light bulbs hung above out heads 25 feet up at the ceiling in the dozens and the line of pipes that were in the tunnels stopped short of the ring hall. Unlike the rest of the Silo, this part of the facility actually looked like its upkeep was handled nicely. The floor turned from grey concrete to a shiny sheen of steel, waxed and clean like it was a piece of china. The door controls beside the entrance were more elaborate than any controls we'd seen before and covered more wall space, but it was still a mind-boggler to see such tiny buttons dictate the movements of such a gigantic object.
After a few minutes, Libra and Gizmo came back from their scouting and gave their report. Apparently there were two guards posted at every single entrance and they had to take all of them out one by one. Well, 'they' meaning Libra, because Gizmo isn't a great fighter. She's an engineer, and solves practical problems rather than pony problems.
"Ok team, this is it," Sawdust stated as we all gathered into a circle. "These are the doors before the core. Like we planned, three of us are going to split up and go access the core. Ignis, you're going of course, but I also want Ironheart and Whirlwind to go with you. That should give you enough ponypower to handle more guards inside, if you encounter more."
"I think I can handle a few guards by myself, if needed boss." I mentioned, my head dipping down to meet with the height of my teammates.
Sawdust gave me a level look. Ironheart snorted. Then, the others giggled at my expense. A smirk grew onto my face too.
"That's good. Libra, Gizmo and I will stay out here and keep watch. Be fast, because if more guards come than we can handle I can't guarantee that you will get complete cover from getting flanked."
I nodded. "I understand."
"Good. I know you're going in blind, and that ain't a good thing, no doubt about it. But since we've got no intel on the actual core itself, you're all going to have to learn the layout as you go. Keep your guard up for the usual stuff: Traps, cameras, turrets and Silo personnel. I'm going to give you 22 minutes to plant the bomb and return here. After that, we're going in to look for you."
My mouth twitched. I didn't agree with his last idea.
Sawdust was already reading my thoughts. He knew me too well. "We're not leaving anyone behind, you got that? We're all in this together. Once a squad mate, always a squad mate."
"Yes sir." I responded.
He nodded, but gave me a dead serious look.
"Don't go dyin' on me now." I imagined him say.
You can count on me, boss.
"Ok, everybody into positions!" Sawdust shouted.
We all ran around until we got into breaching position again. This time, Libra and Whirlwind were not at the door, but instead were looking down the halls to our sides, making sure no one unfortunate stumbled into us. Sawdust got the passage behind me and I had Ironheart by my side to block any incoming attacks from the other side. Our leader then motioned with his right hoof and Gizmo opened the door, her horn glowing orange. There was a huge blast of hot steam that slammed into my face and threatened to blow my Stetson off the top of my head. I squinted, keeping my wand level with the door while condensation formed on my fingertips. I briefly wondered if it was actually condensation from water or if it was some other liquid sprayed onto us that would knock us out in a few minutes. I was being too paranoid. Instead of stressing about unlikely variables, I stared as the massive doors opened to reveal a second set of doors beneath. A light above the doorframe turned green, pinged and the second door split in two and opened as well. There was nothing on the other side.
Sawdust gestured his head towards the new opening, and I nodded. I got up, keeping my eyes on the prize and stepped forward into the parted doors slowly. Ironheart was strafing right against my thigh with her eyes to my right, which was standard cover procedure for human-pony protection pairs. During Valoran training, I had to focus to keep my huge feet away from her ankles and accidentally kicking her fetlocks from underneath her, but now I didn't even have to think about it. Stepping in, I immediately turned my attention to my right while Ironheart kept behind me and checked left of the walkway. It was clear. There was nopony waiting for us on the other side. I turned and looked behind the big doors to where Sawdust and the others were standing. I gave a thumb up and he nodded. I could see Whirlwind examining the place thoroughly with serious, squinted eyes two steps behind us. The twin metal plates of the door closed shut and sealed themselves with another hiss of steam. When I brought my attention back to the path ahead I finally got to get a good look at the inner chamber. My jaw dropped.
We were in a massive chamber, and I mean MASSIVE. That is the best way I can describe it. We were in a humongous, ginormous circle of a chamber with a 500 meter high ceiling and walls that stretched for at least half a kilometer. I glanced down and saw that we were standing on a 20 foot wide strip of turquois metal that led right to the center chamber, which had to be at least a quarter of a mile away in front of us. There were four other greenish-blue bridges that were sticking out of the other four entrances we could see, with the fifth one hiding behind the walls in the center of the chamber. The bridges all ran parallel with the hexagon shape of the room, keeping a symmetrical style and connecting with the Reactor Room that was so far away from us. Both the ceiling and the walls were coloured a sharp bronze shade with not one spot of white showing through the paint. Did I mention that this place was huge? Sure, I could see the very opposite side of the room, but it was so far away that I could barely make out any details in the surface. Here, when I searched to my immediate left and saw the wall right next to us I could see dozens and dozens of pipes running along the height of the room, twisting and turning and interlocking with one another. And the system of tubes went on forever! It traveled all the way up through the ceiling, leading to multiple places unknown to us above our location. When I traced them downward, well, they passed beneath the bridge we were standing on.
Curious, I jogged up to the side of the bridge and leaned against the railing, looking down. There was darkness. Simply, darkness. Ominous and foreboding, the space beneath the bridge was non-existent. There was nothing there. Zero. Nada. Zilch. The darkness went on forever and ever with no signs of stopping. There was no visible floor from where I was standing. I reflexively brought my left hand to my Stetson, my stomach doing flips. It was hard to believe that there was nothing there. Everything has an ending. Every path ends at a cliff. Every pipe ends at the sewers. Every life ends at death. The drop… The drop seemed to have no ending. There was something predominantly evil about it, something that made my skin crawl and the tip top of my spine shiver with fright. I didn’t even want to think about the objects that were thrown off of this ledge, much less the construction ponies that may have fallen down while making this place. What’s worse is that I could feel a lot of dark energy in there. Anti-magic, a very dangerous substance enveloped the entirety of the world below me. Anti-magic acts much like radiation does, as it can exist in some areas and disappear in others, but it’s not created by waves of energy, it’s either created by corrupted and crossed lengths of arcane power or by an unstable source of magical energy. I’m guessing the latter is causing the anti-magic. Because we’re so close to the core, a highly important source of power for the district, I think it’s safe to say that all that power has to come at a price. Now I know why the Arcane Silos were built so high; they have to in order to contain all that extra anti-magic that’s emitted.
It’s so dangerous here! Also like radiation, you can get sick from exposure to anti-magic. It knocks you out cold because it scrambles the natural magicks in your system. The problem with that is the chaos that it causes in your body can also affect your organs. Your stomach will start contracting to small and expanding to squash your other innards. Your heart will stop beating in rhythm and will grab a tempo of its own. Your brain will stop functioning. Anti-magic is lethal, and standing in it for more than ten seconds will spell out death for you. If anyone or anything falls down this pit, they are done for. It doesn’t even matter if the fall kills them, because the anti-magic will. Not even Pegasi can avoid the threat of the drop, because if they fly too low the anti-magic will stop their natural Pegasi magic and disable their wings. Nothing can prevent the death below. It’s a total dead zone down there.
“Is something the matter?” Ironheart asked me. I turned around to see her concerned, crimson face, reading my nervousness like an open hoof of cards. Whirlwind was flying beside her with his attention towards our destination, but he still hung back to hear the conversation.
I struggled to find the right words. Of course they wouldn’t feel the anti-magic below us; they’re not casters! Oh sure, Earth ponies and Pegasus ponies have their own kind of inert magical abilities, but nothing near the likes of unicorns and human wizards. Ironheart and Whirlwind have no kind of device to feel the anti-magic with! Heck, I probably can only feel it because of my wand, otherwise my magical ability would have been too weak to detect anything! I bet they could feel a teeny tiny bit of the anti-magic aura, but not enough to concern them, and since they haven’t experienced anything like it before, they would probably just mark it off as a light headache or something. I’ve already felt the effects of anti-magic before. It was not fun.
“You can’t see the floor from up here,” I explained. “I know it seems unlikely, but try your best to stay on the bridge.”
“Of course we will,” Ironheart reassured me. “What makes you think that we would try anything like that?”
“You’re right,” I said, looking back down the abyss. “I’m making no sense at all. Never mind.”
“We need to get going.” Whirlwind interjected, flying in front of Ironheart.
I turned my head towards him. He was right. “Ok, let’s go.”
As so we walked. Or, rather, it started out as walked but then quickly translated into a light jog across the bridge. I had to remind myself how far the distance was between us and the core and realized that we didn’t have much time until Sawdust and the others came in looking for us. That wouldn’t be good for our cover. Never the less, my pulse tapped its tempo lightly against my temples while my footsteps rang out in correlation with Ironheart’s heavy hoofsteps and Whirlwind’s wing flaps. I found it a little bit strange that we hadn’t seen anyone near the core so far. I understood that the Silo heavily relied on mechanical security and defence to defend most of the complex, seeing as the building was far too large to be covered by standard personnel, but you would think that there would be more ponies the closer you got to the core than not. But then again, I bet that the anti-magic would have some unhealthy effects to guards who hang around here too often. It may be below in the darkness, but the radiation of the stuff could still probably reach up to the surface of the bridge. I didn’t think that we were in much danger of anti-magic corruption because we should only be here for no longer than 20 minutes. It would take hours and hours of standing on the bridge until we would feel the effect of the anti-magic.
At the entrance of the chamber, it felt like it would take forever to get to the other side. But the next time I blinked, we were at the doors of the core. We all stopped and looked up at it. The door was about 15 feet high and appeared to swing instead of slide, what with the rusty hinges latched to the outside surface of the core and all that. A large pipe wheel was placed on center, keeping the door closed shut. There were brown and dark yellow stains splattered all over the front of the metal entrance. I wondered if it was from some clumsy guard’s spilt coffee, oxidization or if the material was tainted from being so close to the anti-magic for so many years. That made me think for a bit. The silos had to be a few hundred years old, at least dating back to when New Canterlot was made! It had to power entire districts, so it must have been one of the first things made in the city. There were six Silos in all, one in each of the six districts. Well, except for downtown, but that didn’t technically count as a district and was built up over the years of occupying such a populated city. What’s powering these things? I know that the power for the city has to come somewhere, and it’s not like New Canterlot was built over a large encompassing river or something, so what was the energy that went through the core? Was it magical? Was it electrical? Was it heat, maybe? I know that whatever it is, it’s draining the planet of its power fast, but still, that could be anything.
I cautiously looked at it and raised my right arm to point forward, extending my magical senses towards it. The dead zone below us may have dulled my perception a little bit, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t check the door for any booby traps. It’s difficult to detect any physical traps with my senses, but if there was a ward placed over the entrance I would be able to find it right away. Not like there would be one, but I always had to double check even though we already got through the brunt of the security. There didn’t appear to be anything wrong with the door, and I couldn’t find any devices attached to either side of the wall, so I approached the giant metal slap and knocked my fist on the surface. It was definitely solid alright and made a dull clang with each hit.
“Is it clear?” Ironheart asked behind me.
“Clear and clean as it’ll ever be.” I responded, grabbing hold of the wheel and pulling it counter-clockwise. It budged a little bit, groaning loudly as I forced it to move. After a few inches though, it halted and wouldn’t budge. I grunted and groaned, trying to get the damn thing to move while my comrades watched me struggle from behind. Damn it, this thing needs some oil!
I felt a tug on my leather coat. I already knew who it was. “No, don’t worry, I–hng, I got it. Just–nngh, just give me a few more seconds…”
She started tapping and poking one of my calves. “We don’t have time for this, goofoff. Get out of the way.”
I sighed, an admission of defeat and shuffled to the side with my head down. She didn’t even look at me, but I could feel the cold stare that Whirlwind was giving me when I backed up beside him. Ironheart stood up on her hind legs, pounded her front hooves together once and placed them on the wheel. With barely any effort at all, she turned the rest of the contraption with her brutish Earth Pony strength. I frowned as something clicked into place behind the door and the doorframe shuttered visibly. Ironheart began pulling and the 500-ton submitted to a proud linage of sheer iron muscle. The door was open before I knew it. Tiny lights inside were glowing in the dark, not bright enough to illuminate the entire room.
Ironheart moved from behind the door with a tiny smirk on her face. I tilted my hat downward while walking towards the newly opened entrance, holding in what grumbles I could.
“Figures that we would need to resort to classic, reliable Earth Pony power. It’s a good thing that I brought and supplied the big guns, don’t you think?” she boasted, trotting up beside me with her smug little face and light-as-air hoofsteps.
I grumbled something I didn’t even understand. She was enjoying herself way too much.
The three of us stepped over the foot-high doorframe and entered. Well, two of us really, because the one could already fly over the obstacle. It was too dark to see anything. I automatically felt the nearby wall for a light switch and was surprised when I actually found one and hip-height. I flipped it up and the ceiling shone brightness down on us, showing the room with a bright, fresh light source. My jaw didn’t drop exactly from what I saw, but I was definitely in awe at the sight before us.
In the direct center of the room was a gigantic, long and translucent pipe that has pure magical energy flowing through it. Multiple flashes of topaz, neon blue and bright green was channeling throughout the system with several other tinier pipes connect to the main one. They too had their own arcane trafficking system and the combined mass made own humongous fuel highway. This was untainted, untouched, virgin magic we’re talking about. The freshest stuff you can find. Pure magic is thick and heavy compared to what unicorns pump out of their horns. Their magic is diluted and thin because of what little pure magic their horns can produce at a time. A Unicorn’s horn is an organ that creates pure magic for the Unicorn to use. That’s another reason why Unicorns have so much more ability that humans, because they naturally create the substances needed for spellcasting, while humans have to train and condition their body over a period of months until their body finally starts creating their own source, and even then humans don’t create that much pure magic because they have no horns to store the liquid in. The Pure Magic ends up in their circulatory system, diluting in their blood and making spellcasting even harder to achieve. We can’t die from too much Pure Magic, but some wizards have found that they cannot actually produce enough without getting sick. So while tiny amounts of Pure Magic existed in within the shell of the magically inclined pony species, here were gallons and gallons of the stuff getting sucked up and down the tubes that fell before us. Pure magic doesn’t have a definite visual representation except that when you see it moving, it looks like a rainbow of colours flashing right before your eyes. Pure Magic that sits completely still has a silver tint in it and cannot allow light to pass through. I guess that answers my question. This is how the New-Age Government runs the entire city. They siphon Pure Magic from the planet and convert it into electricity and other arcane resources.
There was a two-foot gap where the floor ended around the pipes, but at the edge of the platform was a huge computer console. It was low to the ground so you could monitor the fluids traversing throughout the silo, but it stretched around the entire outer ring of the gap. It definitely looked as old as the city itself, with the metal painted a dark green and the keyboard being physical instead of touch-based. The monitors had a black background with green text in a square-ish font scrolling on the screen. There were no chairs around the computer, but they were perfectly at pony height so they could be easily operated by the top engineers of the workplace. Around the room were five other doors that connected to the five other walkways on the outside. They all had pipe wheels like ours did and had no consoles to electronically open them up. When I tilted my head down I realized that the floor was actually simply grating and you could see through forever. The pipes with the Pure magic extended for eternity into the darkness, but shockingly enough there was no dead zone beneath us. I couldn’t feel it anymore. It only existed in the pit outside the core.
“Wow.” Ironheart stated. I turned to see her gaze locked onto the cylinder of vibrant flashing lights near us. Whirlwind kept a careful eye on the controller console, a sour expression placed on his muzzle. I could only ponder if he knew about pure magic already, and the utmost harmony and destruction it could bring with it. I rotated my shoulders back to face our objective. I certainly brought enough C4 with me to explode the place and then some, but it didn’t look safe to try and lean over the gap to attach the bomb onto the pipes. Setting it on the computers would definitely do.
I strode forward, flipping the straps of my messenger bag up and undoing the belts that were drawn through my leather jacket. Whirlwind was already checking the outer rim of the ceiling, searching for cameras and other monitoring devices he could plug into and disable. Gizmo may have been the mechanic, but that didn’t me we had tools up our sleeves too to handle electronics. Ironheart was slowly making her way to the opposite side of the room, her head trained on the system of Pure Magic. As I was getting out the bomb, I took a quick glance at one of the terminals that the computers had. The screen had a bunch of technical mumbo-jumbo that I didn’t understand at all, but the very messages at the bottom had caught my eye. Unlike most of the text on the glass, the bottom sentences were in red.
!WARNING! Engine Track A overload! Please contact an administrator and technician for repair immediately! [ERROR 0A-67B: UNUSUAL CORE REACTION]
!WARNING! Main Core Battery Corrupted! Please contact an administrator and technician for repair immediately! [ERROR 0A-67B: UNUSUAL CORE REACTION]
!WARNING! Abnormal core reaction with unknown variable! Please contact an administrator and technician for repair immediately! [ERROR 0A-67B: UNUSUAL CORE REACTION]
I frowned. That couldn’t have been good. I mean, we were blowing this place to Tartarus anyways, so the condition of the pipes didn’t matter that much, but what caused the computer to create these warnings? I keep seeing the words “Unusual core reaction” and it just makes my spine shiver. What reacted with the core? If the core is the thing that’s pumping out the Pure Magic, that might make the Pure Magic not so pure anymore. Does that happen often? I definitely wished that we had a certain orange smarty pony in our squad to give us a better deduction of the situation.
I hefted up the paper bag of plastics in front of me and took a good long look at the front. The C4 was a rectangle of explosive power wrapped up comfortably in a brown paper space. It was about as wide as my torso and as thick as an Earth Pony’s back leg muscle. I certainly made sure that I brought enough ‘boom’ to level an entire Government building. The paper was thick enough to keep the C4 in where it needed to be so that it didn’t fall out of its packaging and exploding pre-emptively. There was a tiny electronic device attached to the bomb that had several red and yellow wires running to and from the dynamite. On the electronic was a small screen that was turned off with a red light, a red button and a number pad all sitting around each other on a ten-inch by 6-inch space. Using an explosive like this was simple enough to use, but only because I myself made the explosive. From scratch. Yes, Gizmo did help a bit, but only with the programming of the minicomputer to have a code lock mechanism so that only the person with the code could actually set the timer. The rest of it was all me. And I was the one with the bomb, and I was the one with the code.
I set the bomb on a flat surface on the computer that didn’t have a keyboard on it and pressed the red button on the detonator. It beeped once and the screen lit up to a bunch of xs where I had to input the right code. Get it right and the timer sets for 28 minutes. Get it wrong and it does nothing. I started putting the first four numbers in out of 12. Two-eight-nine-three. That was the year I was born. Then it was the address of my current residence. One-four-oh-nine. My index finger twitched and I thought that I punched in the numbers wrong. I felt as if I was seeing things. My nerves were getting to me, of course. The closer you get to the climax of the stage play, the more suspenseful the atmosphere gets. I re-checked the numbers in my head and then concluded that I got it right the first time through. Then, I finished the rest of the code and pressed the red button again. The button turned on to glow a resounding red and two quick beeps came from the device. From there, the bomb sounded off every second, but it was so quiet that you would have to lean your ear into the object to actually hear it.
“Bomb has been planted.” I muttered to myself as I lifted my hands off the charge.
“Is it set?” I heard Ironheart ask behind me. I turned around and saw her staring at me, fooling around with the crimson amulet around her neck.
I double-checked the box sitting on the computers. “Yep. Set and ticking. We have 28 minutes. Let’s get moving.”
She nodded. We both turned to the open door we entered through and Whirlwind decent from the ceiling. He took one glance behind me and knew why we were leaving. As I took the first step though, there was a rapid chorus of pings coming from the bomb. My face froze and I immediately turned around and rushed towards the bomb. When I checked it, it was functioning as normal and ticking down softly. But the beeping didn’t stop. When the bomb malfunctions, Gizmo told me that it would sound off three times in order to signal that it was broken, but after the seventh desperate beep, I realized in horror that the sounds weren’t coming from the bomb. I slowly rotate my head to the terminal beside the C4. On the black screen the text was rapidly scrolling downward. But it was all red text. The words moved so quick I could barely keep up to read what each line said.
!WARNING! Fatal Main Engine failure! Please contact the head technician and engineer immediately! [ERROR 0F-22A: CHANGE OF ELEMENT]
!WARNING! Main Engine Metal Gear failure! Please contact the head technician and engineer immediately! [ERROR 0F-22A: CHANGE OF ELEMENT]
!WARNING! Main Engine Track A malfunction! Please contact the head technician and engineer immediately! [ERROR 0F-22A: CHANGE OF ELEMENT]
!WARNING! Main Engine Track B malfunction! Please contact the head technician and engineer immediately! [ERROR 0F-22A: CHANGE OF ELEMENT]
!WARNING! Main Engine overheat! Please contact the head technician and engineer immediately! [ERROR 0F-22A: CHANGE OF ELEMENT]
CRITICAL ERROR: MG.PureBat ENCOUNTERED AN ERROR. THE THREAD WAS SHUTDOWN IN ORDER TO PREVENT FURTHER DAMAGE TO THE SYSTEM. 082-477S2
!WARNING! Main engine overload! Please contact the head technician and engineer immediately! [ERROR 0F-22A: CHANGE OF ELEMENT]
CRITICAL ERROR: MG.CtrlHrmny ENCOUNTERED AN ERROR. THE THREAD WAS SHUTDOWN IN ORDER TO PREVENT FURTHER DAMAGE TO THE SYSTEM. 082-477S2
CRITICAL ERROR: MG.Generosity (String MG.ConBat, MG.Console) ENCOUNTERED AN ERROR. THE THREAD WAS SHUTDOWN IN ORDER TO PREVENT FURTHER DAMAGE TO THE SYSTEM. 082-477S2
My heart leaped from my chest. The messages went on and on and the computer wouldn’t stop signaling the user. Then I realized that there was no one here that could handle this kind of problem. Whoever was on the staff team of the silo that managed the core was not here right now. I had to guess that the security team evacuated all the scientists and technicians once Holly started their assault on the left wing of the complex. They probably have no idea what’s going on right now, and even if they did I bet that they probably couldn’t get here on time to stop what was happening right now.
Suddenly, the grounds started shaking violently. I lost my footing fell to me knees while holding the bomb tight in my grip and trying to hug as close to the surface of the computer as I could. I heard Ironheart fall down behind me in a squeal of surprise. Only Whirlwind would not be affected as he was airborne, unless the vibrations in the air threw him off too. My suspicions were found correct when I heard the Pegasus slam into the wall to my left. I was deathly afraid of the bomb exploding early due to the shakiness of the room. The vibration could have way too easily knocked around the mechanical timer in the device. I grit my teeth and forced to keep my eyes open, aware and awake. The flow of Pure magic in the pipes seemed to accelerate to blinding speeds and I could hear the bolts that held the grating of the floor and place rattle, threatening to drop the ground on us in an instant.
“What’s happening?” Ironheart shouted.
“I don’t know!” I responded, keeping my position as best as I could. With every shake my fingers slipped off the package by an inch and every time I had to readjust I had to loosen my grip which made the bomb shake even more. My hands started sweating. If I held on to the paper outright then I might rip the packaging which would let the explosives out of the bag, and then we would be history. My knees were getting sore from banging against the cold hard steel flooring. I had to stabilize myself even further by grabbing the far edge of the computer console and trying my best to keep a grip on the smooth cornered surface. My jaw was clenched in concentration. We couldn’t move because if I left the bomb it might go off. I had no idea where the shaking was coming from. It seemed to emanate from the room itself. There was a deafening echo of a low tone coming from the depths below us, all creating from the quake we were experiencing. There seemed to be no end to it. Seconds passed and the shaking didn’t stop.
All in the while, the computer kept beeping and spitting out more error and critical failure messages.
If fate had her way at this rate, we wouldn’t need the bomb to destroy the core.