Chapter 761: Sheldon, being Sheldon.
"Sheldon..." Sunshine said in quiet, but deadly voice, "We have twice the number of watchers at this rift than the last one. We have mutated beasts guarding it. We have Sulfur sirens on the ground. Do you think I care about cars?"
The temperature in the room seemed to drop. "Sulfur sirens! The toxic ghosts?" Warren asked, leaning forward. "The ones from the survival manuals?"
"Yes, those ones," Sunshine said. "They are airborne parasites. They don’t bite; they possess. They look for any opening: nose, mouth, ears...anything. They enter the body and cause hallucinations, oxygen deprivation."
"So, what’s the fix?" Nimo asked.
"Simple," Sunshine said. "Like the brochures and books and advise, we cover everything. Every hole on the body that they could use to possess us must be sealed. Activate the triple-reinforced seals on the exo suits. Instead of regular clothes, we must wear heat suits, with the hoods up. Everyone must be vaccinated with the Reddix vaccine." She tapped the table, "Again, every hole on the body must be covered."
Sheldon, unable to help himself, let out a juvenile chuckle. "All holes? Even... you know... the one down there?"
The silence that followed was deafening. Everyone knew exactly what he was talking about, but given they were discussing a mission that could lead to the collective demise of their people, the joke landed with the grace of a lead balloon.
Jon, who was standing right behind Sheldon, didn’t even hesitate. He reached out and delivered a sharp smack*l to the back of Sheldon’s head.
"Ow! Hey!"
"Get your head out of the gutter, Sheldon," Jon growled. "We’re talking about dying here."
"I meant the ass hole, you ass hole!" Sheldon screamed.
Again, he got smacked.
Sunshine didn’t even acknowledge the interruption. She was used to Sheldon’s stupid remarks by now. "The easiest way to get rid of the Sulfur Sirens is by condensing them. We use the Dragonoids to flash-freeze the gas and turn them into harmless crystals. I think we should pretend to be in search of the prime core. The Watchers will rejoice because they will think our greed is growing and we are walking right into their trap."
Many heads nodded.
Carson raised his hand. "Still, the watchers will probably doubt our plans. What are the odds of us showing up in a place with a second rift just after the first one was closed?"
"So, we fake a fight, during the search for the prime core." She suggested. "We can fake our own chaos. We can even fake a few deaths from the sulfur sirens." Her eyes gleamed. She would use the illusion masks to fake the death of some superhumans that would show themselves on the day they fixed the final rift.
She stood up, signifying the end of the briefing. "The mission goes down today at 2 A.M. We will make it look like we went on a secret mission and ended up shooting ourselves in the foot. Those that are going should get their gear checked, seals tested and grab some sleep."
The committee began to disperse, the air humming with the frantic energy of a dozen different preparations. Hades stepped closer to Sunshine, his eyes flickering toward his comms unit.
"Sunshine," he said quietly. "I just got a message. The New Eden team is here. They’re here to buy more weapons. They’re early."
Sunshine rubbed her temples. Between rift repairs, possession-ghosts, and suicidal decoys, she now had to play arms dealer. "Go ahead, Hades. Handle the trade. Keep the rift business a secret."
"Understood," Hades said, his voice dropping into that protective growl. "And you?"
"I have another meeting," Sunshine said, her gaze drifting toward the lower levels of the fortress. "Ala wants to see me."
Hades nodded once. A gesture of absolute loyalty, and then, he headed toward the armory. Sunshine watched him go for a moment before turning back to the glowing map of Mockland. She looked at the medium, jagged tear in the world.
"I will fix you, no matter what." She whispered.
***
Before meeting with Ala, Sunshine met with Vortan and Nine in her space. She showed them the images she had brought back after visiting the rift site in Mockland_ jagged, glowing snapshots of a reality tearing at the seams.
Vortan whose resting face usually hovered somewhere between "mildly annoyed" and "about to start a war," pulled up his own holographic images taken four days ago. He compared the two, his eyes narrowing until they were mere slits. He let out a low, vibrating growl that rattled the tea set on the table.
"It’s grown," he spat. "By at least half an inch."
"Half an inch?" Nine asked, pausing mid-crunch. He was currently destroying a pack of chocolate biscuits with a ferocity that suggested the cookies had personally insulted his lineage. "That’s like... the width of a thumb. That is not good.
"In rift terms? It’s catastrophic," Vortan said, pacing the small area. "It’s growing because of all the small creatures suddenly squeezing through. Every time one of those pests’ crawls over, they fray the edges. It’s exactly what the Xylas want. They aren’t just invading; they’re stretching the doorway in any way they can until the hinges snap."
Nine cursed the Xylas, a spray of biscuit crumbs flying from his mouth and landing unceremoniously on the floor. "Dammit," he mumbled, trying to wipe a stray crumb off his chin. He looked up at Vortan, his face suddenly looking very tired. "Is there really nothing we can do to them? Are we all just going to sit back, drink tea, and watch those sadist creatures torture other worlds who are already in pain? It’s sick."
Vortan let out a long, heavy sigh. He looked like he wanted to give Nine a rousing speech about the dangerous weapons the Xylas had, but his cupboard of optimism was currently bare. He had no answer. Instead, he turned back to the images, gesturing for Sunshine to come closer.
"Even if it’s widened, the structural integrity is the same as the one you repaired last month." Vortan noted, his voice professional again. "But you’re going to need to channel more energy from the storm this time. If you low-ball the power, it won’t work and those consequences I told you about will happen."
Sunshine nodded slowly. "I figured. It’s going to be a heavy lift. I am prepared. My electrokinetic powers have grown by leaps and bounds after I repaired the Elitope bridge."
Nine and Vortan didn’t stay much longer, though they did insist on doing some shopping in Sunshine’s space before they left. Nine managed to walk away with three more boxes of biscuits and a vintage jacket he claimed was for morale, while Vortan took a high-grade scanning lens and a bottle of something that smelled like jet fuel but was apparently top-shelf whiskey.
From that meeting, Sunshine went straight to the next. Fingers crossed, the little one had created a device that would freeze everything in the sky and give her three hours to fix the second rift without any of them losing their lives or dropping a sweat.