Chapter 3 – Life. Not so daily anymore.

The moment the message was decyphered, the passionate scientist became both confused and excited. He had been working on the code tirelessly and now it appeared as though he had made a mistake somewhere. It seemed so out of place, he felt there was no way this was the correct message! The spires were probably put there by forces greater than mankind, so it would be only natural to assume that their message would be something profound and awe-inspiring. However, what he was reading there was something completely different.

[table][tr]Welcome to Tower E17.

You are hereby permitted to access sector 1.

Access to other Towers has been denied until further notification.

Due to your status as 'pioneer', language clarification is required.

Please engage the transfer process.

Confused, he glanced over it a second time, to make sure he had read it correctly the first time. No change. Letting go of his initial dissapointment, he began analysing the message. It appeared that all the spires were actually called 'Towers', which contained something called ‘sectors’. Also, he apparently had access to sector 1 of the spire he had taken the code from. That was the one located in the centre of Singapore, which had obliterated his favorite restaurant when it arrived.

It was only a few minutes of walking to the site, so why not just go now? Seemingly ignoring the fact that it was 3 in the morning, he got up from his littered desk and rapidly pacing up and down his room. Well, the government never sleeps, so they’ll let me in again. Probably.

Quickly slipping into something less comfortable, but much more presentable to the eyes of the outside world, he left for the tower. Walking down the streets of his city, he thought back in retrospection about what had happened the last few months. When the spires first appeared, he was just going through his divorce with that slut he had once proudly called his wife. She’d been sleeping around with other men as soon as a month after their honeymoon! If that was not the exact definition of a slut, nothing was. Luckily he was a man of science and logic, which let him escape most of the emotional rollercoaster. According to her, that was what had driven her away in the first place, but why would he listen to anything such a horrible person had to say? He felt blessed he had not invested much into their marriage, because he did not lose much either.

Then he had found the code and all of his time and effort went into decyphering that masterfully crafted piece of art, which made him feel like he actually contributed to society and he could take his mind off of things. He was on leave for the whole divorce incident anyway and the university had already found a temporary replacement, so he could devote all his time to conquering this code.

With these thoughts in the back of his head, the scientist made his way through the silent chaos that was the city. Broken windows, burned down cars and an excessive amount of broken furniture was scattered all over the streets, but besides that it was empty. About a week ago, there had been riots because of the inability and lack of help from the government. He could not really blame either party, as they both made valid points, he felt.

Finally arriving at his destination, he saluted the sleepy-looking guard that was posted by the roadblock.

“Hey there, good morning. I was just wondering if I could enter the premises again?”

The guard gave him a good look-over and then asked him, with a hint of aggression, whilst placing his hand on his assault rifle :

“Who are you and why should you be given access? Do you have any form of identification on you?”

Smiling, the scientist took out his wallet and showed the guard his driving license. The attitude the guard had sported completely vanished in mere seconds, as he recognised one of the most esteemed scientists the government had been employing. This man was placed on a very short list of people that had unlimited access to the spires in the country.

“Oh, I do apologise Sir. I simply did not recognise you in this time of day! Please, come in. Would you like an escort? Have you discovered anything new?”

Bombarded with questions by the now eager guard, the scientist simply smiled as they walked down the path towards the central building.

“That’s quite alright, you were just doing your job. I have indeed discovered something and I would like to further my investigations.”

A wide grin appeared on the guard’s weather-beaten face, that had probably seen too many horrors of what human desperation could lead to, these last couple of weeks.

“Will you be needing any assistance, Sir? I can easily let someone take over my shift and escort you over the premises.”

“I am no Sir, just call me Jason. Jason Parks. I wouldn’t mind you tagging along, feel free to do so.”

Excitement flashed across the man’s face, as he rushed over to the building that probably were the baracks. A few minutes later the man returned, followed by a grumpy colleague.

“We’re all set to go, follow me Mr. Parks!”

The skies finally had started to brighten, as the light of day approached. A warm breeze softened the anxious mood that Jason had been having in anticipation of what was to come. He would be the first to discover such an abnormal phenomenon! He wondered what would happen once he’d reached the spire, as the message had not been completely clear.

Sector 1 probably was some hub of information or some other service, that only he would have access to. Language clarification could only mean that there was some sort of method to translate the code that he had decyphered more easily. This method would then be the ‘transfer process’ the message had mentioned, but he was not sure what that would exactly consist of. Humanity had not invented such a method yet, at least not to such an extent, so this would be a new experience for both him and humanity.

Setting aside his thoughts, he realised they’d reached the base of the massive black tower. Speaking his thoughts out loud, he remarked:

“Every time I see them, I can’t help but be in awe of the magnificence that they possess.”

His companion happily turned his head towards him, as he replied:

“Indeed Sir, can’t help but fantasise about who or what made them.”

Agreeing with that statement, Jason slowly walked towards the black stone and stuck out his hand. As he came closer, he felt as though something reached back, or was it his imagination? A shiver ran through his body as he abruptly stopped in his tracks. He took a few seconds to make up his mind and steel himself for what was to come. He would definitely not back down now, he had come too far. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?

His right hand touched the stone and immediately a cold rush entered his arm. His body temperature fell immensely, to the point where he could not help but feel like he was skinny dipping during a blizzard, in the Antartic. The impossibility struck him harder than the bodily reaction, as his mind could not comprehend the situation.

He stood there, frozen in place. His body was unable to listen to any of his commands, as he helplessly panicked inside this cage of his own body. Then, out of nowhere, a thought came to mind. He somehow recognised it as something that was not his own, which was not only due to the fact that it was completely unrelated to his situation, but also because the origin felt foreign. As he focussed on this thought, another one appeared. And another. Suddenly a stream of thought filled his head.

[table][tr]Welcome to Tower E17.

You currently have access to sector 1.

Due to your status as 'pioneer', language clarification is required.

Transfer process will start shortly.

Due to your status as 'pioneer', declination is unavailable.

Transfer process will start now.

Before Jason even had time to panic about this abrupt notion, an excruciating pain filled his head. Still unable to move, he could do nothing but suffer in silence. He could only imagine what could lead to such unimaginable pain, as absurd images filled his head.

A faceless man was slowly tracing a miniscule blade around the trajectory of his head, leaving nothing but a trail of pain and disturbance.

A giant cockroach smashed his skull in on a rock, before slowly emptying the insides. Nothing was left except for the empty shell that had once housed his mind.

He was slowly sinking, head first, into a pool of molten lava. His head disintegrating, while being unable to move.

As these visions of his imagination bounced around his mind, in reality he had been doing nothing but stand straight up, with his hand on the tower. His mind was literally being torn apart and put together again, as something took his knowledge and returned it after some time.

A complete day had passed, with the only change in scenery being the countless government tents that now covered him and the doctors that had been measuring his health. They had tried awakening, as well as moving him. However, all their attempts resulted into failure, as he somehow stood there, just as unwavering as the tower he was now connected to.

Another day passed and still nothing had occured. Government officials were running impatient, as the numerous teams of scientists could not determine the condition of this quite revered member of society. Plans were made to move Jason and see what would happen, however many were against these plans as they could lead to fatal consequences.

Exactly two days after Jason had touched the tower, he regained control of his body and he fell down. Immediately, a team of people attended him and he was rushed to the medical facilities. Most were mainly interested in what had happend to him and not his health, so he was bombarded with questions regarding his experiences.

With a distant gaze, the man on the stretcher stared at the ever chaning ceiling. Not a word had left his mouth since he had his body returned. Then, the left corner of his mouth twitched. This repeated itself, until also the right corner joined in. The twitching then slowly formed into a smile. With no light in his eyes, he began grinning. First, a chuckle. Then a slight grin. The grin spread until it had turned into a full laugh. This laughter grew and did not seem to stop. The doctors that had been surrounding him grew worried, as this was obviously abnormal behavior.

Suddenly, a fire lit inside his eyes as he finally completed the process of creating a laugh of pure madness. Maniacally laughing, his eyes rapidly spun in all directions. When this moment struck, one of the assisting doctors decided it was in the favor of both the patient as his colleagues to sedate the man. A large needle was stuck inside the man’s arn and he gradually slipped into a state of unconciousness.

The bystanders glanced at eachother before carrying the, now mentally unstable but once revered, scientist off to a secluded space for further treatment and assessment.

This day would later on be remembered as 'The Start', as it signalled the start of what was to come.

On a completely different continent, another touched a Tower. However, this time, a completely different outcome originated.

*

Do let me know what you think and if there's any criticism at all, I'd love to hear it.

Also, don't mind the blue streak in the story, I'm still screwing around with tables and I'll improve soon enough.