Devoured

"𝘈 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘩"

Funny how fate had made me her favorite toy. If I think about the culmination of my life's work and what I think I could do more. Thirty days would never be enough. But things have changed. I only have one goal in mind now. I just have to believe that it would work.

"Let's get back to work." I said as I stood up.

And we did. As if nothing life threatening happened. As if the world wasn't crumbling to pieces as the war dragged. Days passed and we continued our quest to do the impossible. Cass closely monitored me down to cellular level. I'd spend an hour in the cell regeneration chamber everyday, maintain a strict diet, and accurate sleeping patterns to somehow help my cells fight the degeneration effects of the pill.

May 14, 2032, exactly seven days after the incident.

"Cassandra!" I panicked.

"I-I can't f-feel my legs" I said as I was shaking in fear. I knew that at some point it would lead to that but it was different experiencing it first hand. It was a different kind of fear. The fear of finally getting all the puzzle pieces together and not finishing the damn puzzle while holding the last piece in my hand.

I may look and feel like I was saving the world again but it wasn't the whole case then. I was also saving myself from the life I accidentally created. The overwhelming feeling of need made the impossible task a lot more difficult. Even more difficult when the prototypes failed again and again.

"Again! There's something missing, Cass. Help me." Frustrated. I yelled sitting in a floating wheelchair. I thought I had it all figured out.

Our 45th test has failed. The reactors' container broke again. They couldn't withstand the vibration produced by the process of tearing time, space, and matter. It kept on breaking. Unlike the reactors used in vortices, this special type of reactors should be able to withstand the power and vibrations approximately 30 times that of the a normal vortex reactor. The problem is that such equipment didn't exist yet. It's too ahead of our time.

But it's not impossible.

We needed to find the right elements and the right mixture to create a perfect alloy that wouldn't melt or break or else the stone's output won't be stabilized enough to maintain such enormous power.

"We need a different type of alloy. I'll look into this." Cass said.

We were on our third week. My lower extremities aren't functioning anymore and I am stuck in a wall that is almost impossible to break. I'm feeling a lot of numbness in random parts of my body in random times of the day. The degeneration effects had started to reach my nervous system.

"𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵."

"Cass, check the Mars database as well. See if you can find an element that's well suited for the job."

We got the formula. The theory. But we don't have the resources that could retrofit its power.

Five minutes later...

"I got a hit. Martians call it Zirca. Since Mars has a thin atmosphere, most of the UV rays gets through and affects the formation of its elements. Zirca is one tough element that can withstand extreme exposure to radiation and it's hardened by time. It could take a thousand years for a kilogram of it to naturally occur." Cass said.

"How much do we need?" I asked.

"About 106kg. It's for sale in black markets in the dark web." Cass gave the exact amount.

"I'm guessing they acquired a sum of it from Elon's mothership. Am I right?" I thought so since that mothership was so tough it needed almost all forces of NEA to tear it down.

"Yup." Cass confirmed.

"As usual, use the dirty money and order the amount that we need. Imma take a nap first"

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"Ugh, that's one hell of a great nap." I felt so recharged.

"Joe! Finally, you're up!" Cass was acting weird.

"Yep. What's the big deal?" I wondered.

"You were out for 4 days!"

"Four what!?"

Then I tried to get up but my right hand won't budge. I never noticed but only my left eye was working. It's getting worse.

"Let's work." I said as I set every worry aside and only focused on that one goal.

"While you're out, I've conducted tests on different alloy mixtures and I came up with this." Cass showed me the reactor containers she made.

"Let's test it."

With only my left hand working I turned on the machine.

It came on.

The reactors are holding up.

They shook randomly but they're holding up.

Everything began to shake.

My equipments. The bots. And the lab itself.

It must be the reaction of the stone's dust particles in the time machine that we have been building. Whirring sounds began to echo throughout the lab. My heart pounded as I witnessed the actual tearing of time and space to the past. It appeared as if the lab was torn right in front of me in mid air but there were no physical damages if you look around it. The other side looked like outer space with less stars. It had random splashes of red substances. There were no sounds coming out from there. A completely different space. Later on, I found my younger self talking to Ed.. It indeed worked!

This was never done before. Vortices let's one travel forward beating time. This lets one travel BACKWARDS beating time.

I immediately tried to enter but it repelled and threw me meters away as it shut down on its own.

"Wh-what the hell?" I frustratingly asked.

"The output power of the time machine isn't enough to fully open the door for physical things to go through." Cass analyzed the error data sent by the machine to her.

"Okay then. Let's use more stone shavings. That could work." Bots helped me get up and I rushed to a storage area where a large amount of stone shavings were kept.

I took lots of it and reloaded them to the reactors.

But the same thing happened. Not even an increase of power output was detected.

"None of these makes any sense at all!"

I literally am looking at the other side. All I have to do is leap and finally I will have another chance in life. But no, fate is once again playing her cards against me.

"Joe, I think... " Cass had an idea.

"No! We're not doing that! Not a chance, Cass." Since our minds were connected. I already knew what she meant.

"It could be the only way." She added.

"What if it fails? I don't wanna lose you too, you know!" I explained myself.

She certainly had a point but the risk was too high. I went out of the testing area and grabbed some coffee.

The smell of the freshly brewed coffee calmed my mind for a second but the thought kept on ruining every sip I take.

"Should I?" I asked her.

"It's the best shot we got, Joe." She replied.

"What if it doesn't work? I'd lose the stone. I'd lose you. I'd lose the very power I got to atleast fix this broken world if the time machine doesn't work. This is too risky, Cass."

"What if it works? You see, the stone shavings cannot produce power in par that of the actual body of the stone. There's fifty-one percent chance that it would work."

A tug of war inside my mind.

"𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘥𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦?"

I had made numerous life threatening decisions in the past but this one's in a league of its own. The fate of humanity lies between these two choices I have to make.

Sweat ran down my forehead even though the room temperature was 19°C.

Deep breaths.

Deep, deep breaths.

"So you finally have decided" Cass talked to me in our neural link.

I stood up not finishing my favorite black coffee. It's a first. I never not finish my coffee.

I travelled down the hall using my floating chair and into the Cass' core server door. The entrance sensors detected my DNA signatures and my Vital signs and I had to put on five long codes that only I knew about.

The door opened. After seven long years, I finally am back inside Cass' core server. It was as stunning as I left it. The server room housed 10 core reactors stabilizing the stones power output. These reactors are maintained by AIs and bots in the facility making sure it gets cooling and produce the best power efficiency. The entire facility has no other human intervention aside mine. It is made of silver and gold alloys to ensure temperature conductivity. And titanium and chromium alloys on the outside to ensure durability.

"Welcome back, Joe." Cass said as she voluntarily opened the stone's container.

Once I remove the stone from its container. Cassandra's program will automatically shutdown. Severing her neural link me.

And once I feed the actual stone to the time machine's core reactor, stone will be consumed permanently.

So is Cassandra's existence.

Though Cassandra has grown as an AI over the years, her intuition towards the greatest purpose remained unwavered. She knew that the best option at that time was her banishment.

"What are you waiting for, Joe?"

I couldn't move. It wasn't because the paralysis effect finally affected my whole body but because I will miss Cassandra.

I'll then be alone in this world.

I'll die alone if this won't work.

"I can't." It was too frightening.

"You have to, Joe." She encouraged me.

"There should be another way!"

"You know there isn't and there's not enough time. It's okay, Joe. I know you'll figure something out of this. You always do." Cass said.

I still didn't budge. I just stared at the stone.

"Joe. Get it." She reminded me as I blanked.

"I'm sorry, Cass."

"Look at you. Don't be so dramatic, Joe Madrid. It has been a pleasure, my creator." Her final words.

"Trust me. The pleasure is mine." I said as I finally removed the stone frome her core reactor.

I lost another one again.

And I'm losing myself slowly too.

With a very heavy heart, I wiped my tears as I rushed into the time machine's core reactor. I opened it, put the stone inside and closed it immediately.

It emitted a barely perceptible sound.

Then ground shook.

The tearing of time, space, and matter happened once again. The reactors heated up. Bots worked to cool them down. Frequent lightning buzzed randomly inside the lab and...

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The shaking and lightning stopped like nothing happened.

No effect.

No signs.

No portal opening.

I immediately checked the stone inside the core reactor. It was gone. It was consumed by the process!

"What the-- Give me back my st--" I shouted out of frustration and suddenly...

I disappeared in thin air.

Leaving everything behind, I was sucked into an unknown space.

I kept on falling and falling.

I yelled for help as it completely terrified me.

But nothing and no one was clearly coming to save me.

"𝘐'𝘮 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘦. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦?"

For a second I regretted my decision.

Knowing it's something I couldn't control. I just prepared myself. I closed my eyes and let everything flow...

As I accepted everything.

I stopped falling.

I opened my eyes and I was stunned with what I saw.

I saw the world.

I saw my city.

I saw the people living their lives.

I saw the war going on.

I saw death.

I saw life.

All around me in a rectangular pathway where I stood on literally nothing but I felt a solid ground. I was like inside a video game with cheatcode.

I walked forward and I saw their movements hastened. Curiously, I walked backwards. All their movements reversed. It was as if they were in a movie that I can replay, rewind, and fast forward.

Then I realized.

This was the world I live in.

This is the time machine!

I immediately ran backwards but I could only go back to the time I entered the time machine.

"F*ck! So what now??"

I tried everything but I could only go forward from the time I entered the portal. I couldn't even go back. There's no door or opening. It was just an invisible wall that I kept on bumping.

Frustrated I paused.

Then I realized.

I CAN WALK!!

MY ARMS AND MY LEGS ARE BACK!!

I was speechless as I couldn't believe I feel normal again. I looked around and figured there was only one way to go and that's...

Forward.

So I walked and walked...

As I took each step, a lot was going on around me. The war. Famine. Greed. Killings. The destruction of ML1 due to the exchange of blows from country to country. The resurfacing of deadly calamities. Nuclear war.

Then everything disappeared around me. It was pitch black but it was weird as I could still see my hands and feet as I walked forward.

Suddenly,

My foot got sucked forward then goes my body as well! It was as if I got disintegrated for a second and got back in one piece on the next. A very peculiar feeling but it didn't hurt. Then I realized, I was now in a different place.

This was what I saw on the 46th test.

If I'm not mistaken, I even was here in one of my dreams before!

A vast space with a few stars on it and some random and occassional splashes of red.

"This is what I saw inside the stone. This is the place" I was in awe of everything around me.

As I observed the huge miracle I uncovered, I heard a voice. A very, very familiar one.

"Oh! No way?!! You're here!!! Good Lord! You're real!!!!"

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It was another me.

[𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎𝚍... ]