The Rescue

The sergeant beckoned one of the military combatants, whose glasses fell out when he took off his helmet.

"Stop the decelerator, Edmund."

Edmund picked up his glasses and gave the sergeant an awkward little bow before making his way towards the control panel. The tiny man reminded Michael of his best friend from middle school who was bullied for being a bookworm.

"JUST WAIT!" Michael looked at the sergeant. "You must know that any interruption in the process before it is complete will result in a total wipe out of this entire Universe, let alone the entire humanity."

Edmund's steps faltered.

"And I should care why?" Sergeant Hover asked in a lazy voice.

Michael stopped himself from scoffing at the sergeant. "WE will be the first of humanity to be wiped out if the system is destabilized."

Sergeant Hover gave Edmund a threatening look, who then continued to walk towards the control panel in hesitant steps.

"If we die today, it will be for a noble cause. What do you say, boys?"

There was a lukewarm response from the BOYS with a few disjointed YESes. Whatever organization they worked with, they must already regret following the sergeant to the decelerator chamber.

"Wait one second, Edmund." Michael jumped in front of the control panel. "Listen to me. If you stop the decelerator now, our deaths are all but certain." Michael looked straight at Edmund and saw the fear move in his eyes. "Do you really want to die, Edmund?"

Edmund looked at Dr. Weber, who readily nodded, standing against the red capsule. He, then, turned towards his boss, the sergeant, who raised his brows threateningly. He let out a deep breath and began to shuffle towards the control panel.

"If you want to get to the control panel, you have to get through me." Michael extended his arms as his back touched the control panel. This was the maddest thing he had ever said in his life.

Edmund turned once again towards his boss. Suddenly, there was a bang, and the tiny man cried out in pain. The sergeant had shot him in the leg. Edmund bent over and covered with hand where he was wounded.

"The next time you hesitate, the bullet will be lodged in your brain instead of your leg." Sgt. Hover stated menacingly.

Poor Edmund dragged his injured leg towards where Michael stood, leaving a trail of blood behind him. Michael sought the courage to thwart the wounded man away from the control panel when there was a buzz in the room. A bright, dazzling portal materialized behind the men at the far end of the room that caused everyone to turn.

"Looks like our friends from the United Systems Verse are here at last." There was mocking in Sgt. Hover's tone.

It was General Heron to come out of the portal first, followed by his men.

"Put your weapons down and raise your hands." The general pointed his shotgun at Hover and his cronies, so did the others from USV.

Michael remembered the last time he played Call of Duty. This was nothing like that. From the corner of his eye, he detected the slightest of nods from Sgt. Hover, and he immediately pulled Dr. Weber away from the decelerator, collected his tablet, and ran to the back of the room to take cover behind the other end of the red capsule. Dr. Maximilian Weber covered his ears firmly with his hands to block out the jarring noise of relentless gun shots that filled the room. Few moments passed before it all got quiet, except for the revving of the Antiproton Decelerator. Michael tipped his curious head to do a quick survey of the damage, and a bullet zoomed past him, missing him by a hair. He immediately pulled his head back.

"Close," Dr. Weber said.

"Edmund is dead," Michael relayed to Dr. Weber's shock, "so are many."

"Sgt. Hover?"

Michael gave the old man a slow nod.

"He was a brave man, a bad guy, but courageous. How much longer do we have left?" Dr. Weber pointed at the tablet with his eyes. "Tell me the energy consumed, and I can make a wild guess."

Michael opened the tablet screen.

[Antimatter System

System source: Antimatter, CERN, Geneva, Earth, 2021

System location: Anti universe

System energy consumption: 1 million billion kilowatt-hour

System access:

Antiproton Decelarator, CERN, Geneva, Earth 2021

United Systems Verse

System Engineer – in charge: Mikael De Besches/Michael Best, Level II Systems Engineer]

"It says 1 million billion kilowatt-hour. And I do not see a third-party access to the system!"

"That is very positive. We are minutes away from the completion of the process."

"It must be USV. They must have identified and eliminated the rogue third-party." Michael heaved a sigh of relief.

"We can go back, safely. I can go back safely to my country house and live the rest of my days in peace. No more crazy adventures." The physicist sounded more optimistic than usual.

"No more crazy adventures." Michael echoed back.

"ALL CLEAR." General Heron's resounding voice filled the room.

Michael leaned once more to check if that was true. Still standing tall at the other end of the room were the men from the United Systems Verse with their shotguns in full attention. Rows and rows of bodies laid on the floor of the chamber amid the blood and the bones. Michael cautiously appeared from behind the decelerator, with Dr. Weber following him. His gaze fell at the dead eyes of Edmund. The two men plodded towards the center of the room as General Heron approached them.

"I hope the process was not interrupted." On cue, the decelerator slowed its humming and eventually came to a complete stop.

"No. Thanks to you and your team." Michael gave the general a slight nod. "We have now successfully completed the second objective." Michael declared after glancing at his tablet.

"What about all the bodies?" Dr. Weber looked around, visibly shaken. He rubbed off a few spatters of blood on the red capsule with his finger.

"My men will take care of that." General Heron's voice was decisive.

"WATCH OUT!" A shot fired, and Michael immediately pushed away Dr. Weber, both falling to the ground. In his last few conscious moments, he saw a couple of the USV men gun down the perpetrator as Dr. Weber recovered from the fall.