Chapter 22

On Galess I activated the Distortion Field and waited with bated breath for it to form. Ready to react should I need to.

The Field is active, Clive. Hakan is certainly not here.

“I don’t know whether to be happy or sad. But…I think I’m sad. We were so close. Fuck it. I think I’ll head to Onnekus and quickly set a Field around there. See if we can fish the bastard out again.”

What will you do if you capture him?

“Leave the shithouse held by the drones until I can sort a trial out. I don’t need it to be personal. Once we’ve done our due diligence, I’ll have the drones drain the shithouse. We can hold him like that, can’t we?”

We can. Though we would have to involve the other Administrators as a jury. I can’t see that being a problem, as they are all on your side.

“Wait, what? You didn’t need anybody else to judge me!”

At that time there was no one else, Clive.

“Fair point. Let’s do it then. It’ll probably be a little while before Life gets here, anyway. Will you let her know where I’ve gone if she gets here before I do?”

Of course, Clive.

Feeling a small surge of optimism, I transported to Onnekus and repeated the process. Again, I waited, but this time it wasn’t Aly’s reassuring voice that spoke first, it was the system notification:

Warning:

Distortion Field failure.

Planet does not meet the criteria to be protected.

“What criteria!” I semi-shrieked at the display. Not my finest moment.

The presence of Neuma based barrier covering the entire planet is preventing the creation of the requested Distortion Field.

“Mother-Fucker!” I was so angry about the obvious issue that I hadn’t even considered what else it meant for a few seconds. Then it hit home.

“Aly, does that mean we can’t actually go to Onnekus anymore?”

It seems likely that is the case. Checking now…

The barrier appears to be Hakan’s Sphere of Influence. You will be able to use the totem to travel out of the Admin hub to the planet, but you will most likely be caught in a containment field as soon as you do.

“Holy shit!” I said, with mixed emotions. “That was bloody close then, wasn’t it? I bet he was hoping to use the Totem’s against us. Hoping we’d pay him a visit here and trap us.”

It would certainly be an unfortunate end to this endeavor.

I shook my head at her wording. Bloody Endeavour! Then suppressed my irritation to find a workaround. “We need to make sure no one else goes out there by accident, checking on their old homes or something like that.”

I’m afraid there is something far more concerning than that, Clive. The barrier around this Admin hub is under attack. Either Hakan’s Sphere of Influence or his own actions are actively suppressing the capabilities of the Distortion Field.  In other words, the Field around the Admin Hub is dissolving.

A fresh wave of panic hit. “Any idea how long we've got before it drops?”

At the current rate of suppression, approximately four hours. It seems your decision to put Distortion Fields around the other planets has prompted Hakan to action.

"Well, that’s a kick in the nuts. Can we stop it?”

I have no idea, but… from what I can tell, it’s highly unlikely without a great deal of time.

“Which we haven’t bloody got. When the Distortion Field drops, what does that mean for the Admin Hub itself? Will Hakan have full access? Will he be able to access your systems?

It should be possible to sever the hub from the rest of the system. I do not know if he has the knowledge or ability to reconnect.

“It’s not worth the risk. Once everyone is out we’re going to absolutely level this place.”

As unfortunate as it will be to see part of the Alo-im history and architecture destroyed, I would have to agree with you. Hakan will almost certainly use anything that remains against us.

It took a little minute for me to gather my senses and form some kind of a plan. “First off: How do we move all these people? The Alo-im must have had a way to transport large numbers of people or large equipment without bringing it all the way up to the top of this damn tower.”

The Distortion Field would not have been active when only the Alo-im resided here. They would have been able to portal freely. I will check the records to see if there any options.”

“Thanks Aly. I'll go let everyone in the city know it’s time to move again. I’m sure they’ll be overjoyed.”

I jogged from the room and launched myself from the balcony, taking to the sky to hover over the most populus area of the hub. Most people lived centrally but I projected my voice to carry across the entire city

"Hakan has taken over Onnekus! He’s currently trying to bring down the Distortion Field that currently protects you all. He may not be able to bring it down fully, but I don't want to take any chances with your lives.”

I paused a moment to let that sink in before continuing. “I’m truly sorry for the upheaval but we really do have to get the hell out of here fast. If you could all gather your belongings and come out into the streets. We're working out a way to transport you all to Toukal as quickly as possible. It's exactly like this place so you should be comfortable and I really hope this time we won’t have to move you on a gain.”

I was about to fly off but the dejected looks and slow response to my warning had me worried. So I added a little incentive.

“If any of you have the idea that you might just hide in a building and take your chances when Hakan comes, please don’t. We will be turning this place to dust and rubble once everyone is out and I really haven’t got time to come and search.”

With that warning I flew back to the Transport Tower with an assortment of worries hanging over me. If that arse managed to put a shield around Falritas and it would royally fuck us over. I had to make sure that didn’t happen and there were only two ways to do that. Activate a Distortion Field there, or to make sure our Sphere was large enough to cover the whole planet. Possibly a combination of both.

My thoughts were interrupted as I touched down on the balcony by Aly’s voice.

Underneath the transport tower there is a Portal Clive. When Active it operates between the Hubs and the Headquarters in case of emergency. You need to access and activate the portals on the planets you want to link to.

“Emergency figgin portals? What the hell is that all about?” I realized Aly wouldn’t have a clue either, so I pressed on as she confirmed my suspicion.

“So how do I get into it? Is there an elevator?” I asked, dashing over to the Interface.

The entrance is at ground level. No elevator or other direct access and while you can open the chamber from here, you can only activate the portal ring at site but to use it you will need to activate the target portal first.

She brought up the screens I needed as she spoke and I whirled through them trying not to get sidetracked by the curious details.

Do you wish to access Emergency Evacuation Chamber?

Y/N

“Hell yes.”

Is your life and the lives of those inhabiting this hub at risk

Y/N

“YES!”

Access Granted. A full report of proceedings will be sent to Administration Headquarters. Please make your way to the Portal Site.

Please ensure target Portal is Active

“I just fucking love that this is an emergency system that involves running around like a jackass for ten minutes just to escape.”

Better than no options, or many of the alternatives we have at our disposal.

“Sure! It still should be possible with the press of a button for a Universal Administrator,” I replied as I headed back out of the tower and jumped from the balcony this time, letting my body weight carry me down.

“Oh and Aly, can you tell the others to meet me in the Admin Hub. I need them all there.”

Immediately, Clive. One moment.

As I landed, the change to the tower was obvious. Almost half of tower base up to around twenty feet high had opened up to reveal a well-lit ramp leading downward. How no one, especially me, had noticed this was a mystery but on reflection, I supposed the fact that we all flew didn’t help matters.

With a combination of intrigue and desperation, I headed into the underbelly of the building.

What really struck me was the musty smell that you’d expect from a sealed off area under normal circumstances. Yet none of the other parts of the Administration system had that scent.

I perhaps should have been more wary as I continued deeper and deeper, but Aly knew where I was and had hopefully alerted the others which meant even if something did somehow manage to cause me trouble, I had back up.

My path continued down for a surprisingly long time before leveling out into a huge, dusty room.

In the centre stood a giant portal, similar to the one I was able to create between Falritas and Earth. It was eye catching, but far from the only eye-catching thing in there. Figures lined the walls, approximately one hundred in total and each of them individually shielded.

They looked like high-tech space-suits or armor, and while space suit seemed unlikely, given Alo-im could already traverse space, they were also essentially invincible too, which meant they really didn’t need armor either.

They were all the same in style, with sleek smooth helmets that had a full reflective visor. And body armor composed of segmented plates, each adorned with a symbol. A golden circle filled with a multi-colored, twelve pointed star inside. I knew exactly what it was and I felt a pull in my chest. It was the nexus. The twelve colours of the Neuma, together creating the Neutral. The gold. The only color that truly mattered. Both strong from the unity it was born from, yet weak for it served no singular purpose.

I noticed then that the color of the armor each represented a Neuma though none of gold. Ten of each, to make one hundred and twenty suits.

I was intrigued by the mystery in front of me and wanted to prod further, yet I remained rooted to the spot, still taking it all in.

My eyes fell next on the heavy duty, metallic boxes that looked like treasure chests. Each box was the color of the armor they sat in front of. I smiled at the sight and thought of my friends. The union of specialized power I believed would ultimately make them a match for Hakan. I wondered if the armor could be worn by my friends and what power it might offer but that was for later.

My eyes fell briefly on the doors that marked each colored section. It was clear that they hadn’t been opened in a long time. I could tell by the dust at the threshold and the oxidation around the frame.

My heart sang out desperately to investigate everything further, but my mind forced me to focus on the matter at hand. Resolving to look once the people here were safe in Falritas, I pulled my eyes away and marched to the interface to activate it.

The portal hummed to life, a dull glow wove around its circular frame, while a mirror like ripple of Neuma crossed the previously empty opening. I looked back to the interface.

No target locations active.

It was just as I expected, and with a satisfied nod, I teleported back to the top of the tower. Completely missing a tremor of movement down there with me.