NOVEL NEXT Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Breaking Points
Titan Facility, Omega Vault - July 1987
"Temperature dropping past theoretical minimums," Sterns reported, his instruments giving impossible readings. "The containment field is holding, but the resonance patterns—"
"Show me the other sites." Carrie's voice cut through the growing chaos. The vault's displays shifted, showing real-time feeds from facilities across the globe. Each location pulsed with the same unnatural cold, spreading outward like infection.
"The Kazakhstan facility is completely overrun," Walter reported. "Norwegian team has gone dark. Canadian site reports multiple containment breaches."
The Emperor Eye tracked patterns in the spreading contamination. Not random. Strategic. The infected zones formed precise geometric patterns visible only from orbit.
"They're creating a network," Caspian said quietly. "Each site linking to the others. Building something larger."
"Not building." Howard's voice carried decades of dread. "Rebuilding. What it used to be. Before it was divided."
The metal box in the center of the vault had accumulated a thick layer of frost. The patterns in the ice were more complex now, almost like writing. The Emperor Eye could track changes in the symbols—a language evolving in real time.
"Sir," Walter's voice held rare urgency. "Thermal imaging shows biological contamination spreading beyond the facility perimeters. Civilian populations are at risk."
"How many people?" Carrie demanded.
"Current projections... tens of thousands within the next hour. Millions by nightfall."
The temperature in the vault dropped another twenty degrees. Ice crystals formed in the air itself, arranging into familiar patterns. The same patterns they'd seen in Finland.
"We can't destroy the facilities fast enough," Caspian said, Emperor Eye calculating possibilities. "Even with the prototype charges, we'd never reach them all before—"
"We don't have to." Howard's interruption was sharp. "Arthur knew this might happen. Why he kept that piece in Titan. It's not just a fragment. It's a lynchpin."
Understanding hit like ice water. "The piece that remembers," Caspian said. "If it's destroyed..."
"The others lose their connection. Their purpose." Howard's laugh was bitter. "At least, that was the theory. Why Arthur built the vault the way he did. One last failsafe."
"But destroying it would require someone to be in the vault with it," Carrie said quietly. "When the containment field collapses."
The implications hung in the frozen air. Destroying the fragment would mean sacrificing whoever triggered the process.
"Director," Walter cut in. "We're detecting massive energy spikes at all sites. Some kind of quantum tunneling effect. The fragments are trying to—"
Everything happened at once.
The vault's displays showed simultaneous breaches at every facility. The metal box's surface cracked, frost patterns spreading like lightning. And through the secure channel, they heard Howard gasp.
"It's here," he whispered. "In the hospital. It found... it followed us from Finland. It's—"
The channel went dead.
"Howard's location is compromised," Walter reported tersely. "Hospital feeds show massive contamination. Temperature dropping rapidly. Security teams are—"
"Get me a secure line to the hospital," Carrie ordered. "Now."
But Caspian was already moving. The Emperor Eye had caught something in the vault's ice patterns. A message, forming letter by letter:
FOUND YOU.
"It wasn't random," he said quietly. "Finland. The hospital. They weren't trying to wake the fragments."
"They were testing our responses," Carrie finished. "Learning our protocols."
"Director." Walter's voice was very quiet. "We're detecting temperature drops in multiple cities. New York. Moscow. London. The contamination is spreading faster than projected."
The metal box cracked further, ice spreading across the vault floor. Through the facility's sensors, they could feel similar patterns spreading through every compromised site. Building. Growing. Reaching.
"How long?" Carrie asked.
"Until total containment failure?" Sterns checked his readings. "Minutes. Maybe less."
Caspian looked at the spreading ice, the Emperor Eye tracking its progression. Then at his mother. Her slight nod carried volumes.
"Get everyone out," he said quietly. "Seal the vault. I'll trigger the collapse sequence."
"Caspian—"
"A Valemont started this," he cut her off. "A Valemont needs to end it."
The ice was climbing the walls now. Through the facility's systems, they could feel the cold spreading outward. Upward. Reaching for the surface. For the world above.
Something had to be done. Something final.