CHAPTER 16

Martial law at the nation's capital has given world leaders who frequent the region a reason to divert travel away from the D.C. area. Political pundits advise their constituents to avoid major metropolitan areas, that way the mayhem doesn't influence their administrative decisions or get swayed by criticism of the masses. Assembly meetings on the congressional floor are supposed to reconvene after this economic scuffle is reorganized to fit the needs of new competitors in the marketplace. Ellis Bartram's public holdings of Delphi Corp. hurt enough investors with this volatile market.

With a monopoly over the tech industry, Bartram's corporate giant takes the brunt of devastating blows as his competitors rise from their lowly ranks. Delphi Corp.'s stakeholders don't need to pull out since their money's value has been deflating along with Delphi Corp., there were automated safety nets, but digital currencies skyrockets in value almost overnight.

Bartering is growing its popularity where people have banded together to form militias and storage banks where they can get the things they need on the cheap. If Bartram didn't know any better, he'd swear that he was living in the early colonies. The first month of the New Year hadn't even arrived yet before 2086 was predicted by specialists to be one of the vilest years to come in American history. For once, the United States needed to be rescued from insecurities plaguing its shores, of fear that Delphi Corp. and artificial intelligence would run amok, and it has. Aid would come from many places, near and far when FEMA insists on sharing its supplies widely. It's only been a couple of weeks and the damage is done. Starvation's on everyone's mind and there aren't enough physicians to fulfill demand.

An impromptu conference is live-streamed across virtual media devices with a new internet service. Those too slow to leave Delphi Corp. won't be able to witness it, whether employees, investors, or consumers alike, inevitably get stranded without upgrades when the President gives his speech of inspirational guidance during the tough stretch. They're all spared by international foes who want to take advantage of their vulnerability but decide against it.

Setting up the podium for cameras in front of it to capture the press conference, the thinly haired man with the grace and elegance of his Vice President, demands applause from the crowd. During the speech, he professes a notable judgment being reaped from their sins. Something that radiates the feelings of millions of dissenters. In the absence of order, the President refers to this moment as, "a historic fall of unprecedented magnitude." Since then, the Historic Fall is forever coined in the lexicon of American folklore and grammar. What was once laughable, the rise of artificial intelligence, is no longer humorous when gags between scientists and seemingly harmless experiments put everyone's lives in danger.

It isn't over, either. In Washington, D.C., federal agents are still covering up their tracks from investigating Delphi Corp. Headquarters, Whatever evidence is left behind of malpractice needs to be confiscated or trashed because even they started to get caught up in the secrecy. The problem presently is how to deter interdimensional beings from crossing the parallel divide. For the few hybrids that have the dreaded astral stones, it'll be their responsibility to fight whatever comes from the other side. There won't be Yhemlen reptilians to help them. Xavier Moth has already infiltrated humanity's timeline, and while the grey goo rapidly accelerates the devouring of matter there isn't an adequate response, each microsecond sends data to Frost across the quantum internet. The nanobots are gaining momentum. Ellis is bearing the burden to keep the clan of survivors together despite all the commotion attempting to deter them. It'll take all of them to solve this crisis.

Even though Delphi Corp. has been completely ostracized, the problem they created out of clandestine labs will be repaired just as it began, through experimentation. Bartram and the other hybrids are finally learning how to use their bodies by shapeshifting at the right time. Most important of all, stopping The Concord's bounty hunter needs them to summon the strength of all their powers combined and time isn't on their side. They need to hurry, before Xavier Moth and the grey goo reach them. He will stop at nothing to have them dead.

"We've arrived," Dr. Adams' foot smashes the brake pedal beneath her and sharply pulls back the handbrake for an undercurrent to drop the hover-van.

Everything is occurring without proper communication channels. After the President presents to a small crowd in an undisclosed location, his assertion of an "unprecedented, historic fall" is recorded for people who still have access to media and newspapers. Meanwhile, in D.C., his Whitehouse home is under siege.

"Why didn't I ever think of this?" Bartram exclaims. The hover-van has smitten him in his seat. That's one contraption that Delphi Corp. hadn't gotten into, hover vehicles. For that, he doesn't want to get up. "I would've never thought of something like this. By the g..."

"Let's go," Yasmine says quickly, opening her passenger seat to take a step out.

"What's the rush?" Bartram meanders out of the back door in slow motion.

There's an exhilaration in the air, especially with superhuman abilities that Ellis and Yasmine possess. Despite all the quarrels that Delphi Corp. has managed to avoid, the most damning disaster, and that's letting word get out about what's happening. The FBI hasn't been covering it up but failing to assess what's transpiring. The public has only witnessed a fraction of what's been emerging for the past month. The end of January is almost a week away, and these three have got to meet another deadline, closing the quantum portal before any more assailants can get through.

"Hurry, you guys. We don't have time to waste." Bartram speeds past the two women who were already walking that way. The stark change in demeanor is humorous, considering how slow he was to leave the hover-van. "It's still time for New Year's celebrations!" he calls from afar.

By the way things are going, most of the damage that's happened is only the start. The climactic change from bad to worse will not take as long. Xavier Moth's grey goo has already consumed an entire block and the loud buzz emanating from the western flank of town is hard to ignore. The Delphi Corp. team is fortunate that the nanobots aren't self-replicating any faster than they are. Moth's visor is transparent, but the image projected onto the screen while mounted in front of his face covers the imperfections. He has got to get to the hybrids if he is to have a chance to speed up the human timeline's annihilation.

Across the parallel divide, The Concord has finally mounted the Yhemlen in a stalemate. Pangaea is fully surrounded. Xavier Moth gets a transmission from Grandmaster Frost about the mission. He's projected onto Moth's front-facing visor from a transport ship still in outer orbit, most have already descended. Frost's Grey figure is diminished by his surroundings, and outside the front window are explosions from strikers from both sides being taken down in Earth's upper atmosphere. The Yhemlen are hardly putting up a fight this time around, but Frost is no fool.

"I'll prepare a convoy to make a quantum leap. What are your coordinates?" Frost asks the bounty hunter.

The coordinates are mapped by a drone Moth releases, racing to a high altitude required before taking a precise picture of the topography and mapping its position in a spectrum of the frequency band. When the quantum field is determined, Frost has the directions he needs to direct a convoy through a light bridge portal. A group of transport ships and tankers will airdrop some few hundred, maybe thousands of Grey minions to do some dirty work of extermination. Xavier Moth will benefit from the assistance.

"Sector 10 is on the verge of closing," Frost informs him.

We will move out of the violent sign of Capricorn soon. Moth needs to keep the quantum portal open for as long as possible so that he can travel between alternate timelines and keep the communication channels strong.

"I'm on it," Moth says passionately, intensifying a belief in himself that he's won the fight. He can't wait to be compensated; all he needs is to capture the astral stones. When the grey goo is heard getting closer. Casualties from microscopic nanobots are inevitable, meaning that Bartram can no longer hide the truth as if that was a good plan to start with. This story is bound to be spread once a few wayward people with cameras can smuggle footage of the anomaly.

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"Where are the others?" Yasmine asks.

Dr. Adams and Ellis Bartram are full of questions themselves, but it is answers that they need most.

The scientist weeping on the vault's floor hasn't been responsive. He finally awakens from a nap only to start crying, jumping in dread at the sight of Dr. Adams and Yasmine staring down at him. He is still dreaming about when he was in total immersion.

"Don't shoot, don't shoot!" He covers his face, curled up in a fetal position.

Bartram pushes through the middle of the two when he hears his voice. "Why in the world would we shoot you?" he asks, extending a helping hand. The nameless scientist doesn't want to get up, not now. Bartram's no longer naked either since he's managed to cover himself with a rag.

The sound of other volunteers finally waking from their nightmare across the Wall startles them all. Only Ronny, Sarah, and Dimitri have made it back with their consciousness intact. The others aren't so lucky; that makes it four who survived.

"Give me all the details." Bartram grabs ahold of loose fragments from the crusted grey goo all around them that has metastasized, he needs to figure out how to stop what's coming.

They'll only be able to approach from one side of the spherical outbreak with such few numbers, but it may be possible to disable the entire mass of grey goo at a single end. A few latent nanobots attempt to reconfigure themselves in Bartram's hands, but all that happens are some quick boils that fizzle out when the replication fails to properly arrange molecules.

"Ah!" the volunteer on the floor shouts. He's been spared, though trying to find time for relief is hard. "I think this speaks for itself."

The egg from Tuas and Cira is still contained in the canister that Dr. Frost gave them in Berlin, and the detector as well. Bartram avoids fidgeting with loose items he knows nothing about, he's had enough accidents.

Shivering in dismay, all the scientist can muster is, "We aren't alone."

Dr. Adams feels out of place amidst the damage, wishing to return to her curating duties. On a normal working day, she would have been getting ready for her shift at the NRC. Ever since mounting the hover-van, she's been monitoring Ellis and Yasmine for a shapeshift event using body cues, profiling. It's the primal instinct that drives them, and it's getting closer to erupting within them.

Not only is the grey goo approaching, but Xavier Moth is on target to meet them at Delphi Corp. HQ. Silas Betts and Clyde Van Dyke from the Community Center are their last chance at redemption since they also have astral stone causing them to shapeshift, and when the bounty Moth has them in his crosshairs, he's going to start the fight early. Grandmaster Frost has the coordinates he needs, and the fleet of Greys will salvage what they can before Sector 10 closes. There's only a short time before sunrise. Bartram shrugs off the threat of morning, he's accepted embarrassment that's coming his way for today when they meet a valiant foe. He just hopes they don't live stream what happens. He cares enough about the minds and bodies of the masses, to save them the pain that he's gone through.

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Silas Betts squirms out of the lake when his shapeshift winds down. When he comes back to reality beneath the water, he holds his breath and swims to the surface without choking on the saltwater.

Silas's gasp is loud enough for early morning pedestrians to hear. An older woman going for a morning jog stops when she hears him. It's only a decoy to greater problems not far away, she's scavenging for food. And her jog, it's more like a speed walk.

"Uahhh," Silas's lungs fill with a massive gulp of air. The oxygen that circulates afterward feels different than the gills he had previously.

With his last strength, he pulls himself out of the water, where he plops down face first. He's got to get to safety, quick. The buzz from grey goo approaching is too hard to miss, and what Silas sees spooks him. A mass of silver slime is devouring everything in its path, setting flame and smoke to large buildings. Not far away Clyde Van Dyke is running to Delphi Corp. Headquarters from another corner that flanks Silas's position blocks away. It won't be long until Xavier Moth spots them. These will be his primary targets, and the most vulnerable since they are exposed.

Van Dyke has nowhere to run when Xavier Moth stops him in his tracks. The bounty hunter's tranquilizer darts to one shoulder and the poison that seeps through debilitates Van Dyke's limbs, and then his head. He's knocked out cold. The solid pavement doesn't give when he collapses.

Xavier Moth wants to use him for the astral stone, and the others. If he can pry them from the bodies of their hosts, he can harvest the radioactive crystals and take them with him, back to The Concord. That's better than whole hostages and eases a burden. Van Dyke is Moth's first victim who will be at the mercy of his newly acquired powers. Silas Betts runs away from the boating dock, away from the grey goo that's making its way to them, growing faster in speed. Moth pays the nanobots no mind now that he's got his first quarry down. From the roof of the building, he teleports himself with ease to the ground. Moth leans over to place a hand on Van Dyke's chest. He feels a heartbeat.

Van Dyke's eyes shoot open, this time instead of the hazel brown that everyone's come to know, they're red. His bloodshot eyes aren't from fatigue or extenuated veins, nor is he suffering from Moth's poison. It is the astral stone that is too powerful to resist. Moth draws the anti-matter pistol and fires. Moth can feel Van Dyke coming back to cognizance intuitively. A growl is faintly perceptible beneath the stifled position, but Moth intends to quiet him for good.

He's quick on the trigger and pulling the lever doesn't jerk him back much. When he shoots the anti-matter gun a pulse of energy dumps to the gravel. Moth's frustration can't be contained when Van Dyke rolls over to his left arm. Moth misses. Infuriated by the blunder, he continues to shoot from his anti-matter gun until a portion of the arid particles hits Van Dyke as he crawls away. Moth isn't going to give up.

Only a few blocks from Delphi Corp., Silas Betts follows lines of leftover yellow tape that marked off this spot from protests. The remnants of blasts and cratered-in buildings from Molotov cocktails are enough to remind Betts of the ruin that's resulted from this. The destruction isn't finished. Moth approaches, imagining even more destruction.

From afar, he can make out the image of Van Dyke. Silas darts his head to the right, as he peeks his head from a brick-and-mortar store, facing what appears to be a person with somewhat disfigured proportions than normal. At a greater than average height, his bald head has white ash and his body, likewise, is plastered with residue and paint marks before he's shielded by a large vest made from some extraterrestrial material. It's Xavier Moth, the hunter he's seeing.

Just then, Van Dyke's body begins to react to the anti-matter gun's blast. But the reaction is having a hard time decaying completely. Hunter Moth still has his hands extended, grappling with the gun in front of him, holding on to more shots. To Silas the standoff arrested Van Dyke in sudden shock, except the person with the gun isn't a federal agent. Silas refuses to jump and make himself known, but it's too late. Xavier Moth can hear him from a mile away. As much as Silas wants to rescue Clyde, he must refrain from heroic antics if they both want to survive. Silas watches, hidden behind a brick wall.

Clyde Van Dyke's eyes darken to a deeper shade of red and while the anti-matter gun debilitates him for a while, the astral stone can't be withheld. The radiation takes hold of him, and with the anti-matter as his conduit sheds his old body for a new one. Van Dyke is feeling a shapeshift beginning to take control. Xavier Moth can't react fast enough, and when he jumps back in reaction to the change the miraculous happens. Van Dyke transforms into another centaur. Moth doesn't shoot this time. Instead, the stallion in front of him causes a stir a few hundred feet away that Silas watches unfold. Silas, too, begins to transform. Betts is doing the same thing, intuitively beginning to shapeshift into his hybrid form, except he's more thoughtful in his approach while hiding behind a store.

Xavier Moth is surrounded by the new Overseers. Moth watches as the centaur stomps its hoofs and carries its muscular upper body. Far off to the side, Silas is weighed down by the water as if he just exited another pool. Silas is no longer that same shark submerged in the water, instead, he has morphed into a man twice, or even three times his previous size. All it takes is a single scream that's loud enough to burst glass before a field of rushing water is released through Silas's hands clasped together. When he claps them, a stream of liquid pours out to where Van Dyke and the bounty hunter are standing. It is left over from his gills.

The flood isn't relenting, but for Van Dyke, he hasn't the slightest problem with it. He's even got an arrow that replenishes itself with flaming needles as if Sagittarius was a real thing. Yet, despite the transformations, they're still very much human, although disfigured. And Silas's relationship with Pisces and Aquarius, that's real too. And it's going to take a lot to get used to. But Xavier Moth has seen this before. The water knocks Moth off his feet.

With his new, heightened senses, Silas hears the buzz of the grey goo. It's close enough that they'll be overwhelmed in less than a minute. The rate of decomposition is increasing exponentially. He's got to stop replication somehow from continuing. Van Dyke takes the sight of the silver liquid from afar and uses the opportunity to release an arrow in that direction, something that darts faster than the speed of sound toward the grey goo. The flame is aided by copious winds so that when it reaches the grey goo, it holds it off by a barrage of fire and gas containing its spread. But if they want to spare time, they'll need more than a few arrows. Silas considers another option.