“The ones that are connected to that pocket universe,” he nodded. It was hard to forget the tortuous electrical passage they had both gone through with the help of their bracelets to travel to Markabian territory in the blink of an eye. Uri wondered how much the Satellites knew about that lightning trip; perhaps the man in front of him could answer his question, although it was better to remain in doubt.

Malin returned her attention to the monitor.

“If the scanners found Lavra radiation, it’s because there might be a Lavra Geyser right there,” she ventured.

Hemdell shook his head.

“That’s what we thought initially,” he said, “but there’s no space-time Distortion Spot at that location. It’s the rock itself. The Lavra radiation from the space-time Spots has a wavelength of five points, while that of the Ita-Hu reaches nine; the highest scale known to date. As you will imagine, our scientists are stumped.”

“You said you detected the radiation six months ago,” Malin said. “Did the rock begin to emit it at that moment or—?”

“We think it’s been doing it from the beginning, Miss Viveka,” Hemdell cut in, “only that its wavelength has increased recently, allowing our scanners to detect it. That is why I sent a group of agents to the jungle to study it. However—”

“They got lost?” Uri took a wild guess, and from the man’s expression, he knew that his statement had been nonsense. “I’m sorry. Go ahead.”

Hemdell took a deep breath and continued:

“When we wanted to get a sample of the Ita-Hu, this happened.” The images on the monitor changed again. This time, pictures of tools appeared. Chisels and scoops, hammers, beaks, and wedges; all had their tips bent as if they had been struck against a block of steel. “We tried it with a diamond cutter,” the Director added, “and we even shot it with ammunition, but nothing.”

“Is the rock indestructible?”

Hemdell shook his head again.

“These damages,” he showed the tools, “were not caused by the rock. Lavra radiation not only expands from Ita-Hu but has also created a force field around its surface. A shield that disables everything that tries to hit the rock.”

Still intimidated by the Director, Uri raised his hand.

“Sorry, but wouldn’t it have been easier to pierce it using a high-precision laser?” he asked. “At the company where I work, we use them to drill through steel sheets, some over two inches thick.”

Hemdell remained silent as if Uri had questioned a truism. So, it was Malin who explained it to him.

“Lavra radiation breaks down magnetic fields and unbalances plasma particles,” she said. “Basically? When entering the perimeter occupied by the radiation, the laser loses its destructive capacity and turns into a harmless beam of light.” She turned to Hemdell and added, “I guess you had the same problem applying a P.F.D.”

Uri glanced at her. That was a terminology he hadn’t heard.

“Powered Fluctuating Discharge,” she clarified; “the technical name of a Fotia.”

“We’ve tried everything,” Hemdell said. “There is no energy or physical action that can pierce the force field. The mystery of the Ita-Hu doesn’t end there, though. When I said that its wavelength has increased in the last few months, I wasn’t overstating it. The radiation from the Distortion Spots, or Geysers, as you call it, has a maximum area of ​​twenty square feet. That of the Ita-Hu, to date, has reached a diameter of more than four hundred yards.”

Uri and Malin exchanged glances.

Hemdell raised his thick eyebrows and nodded, reaffirming his fascination with the matter.

“Right now, we’re trying to determine whether it continues to grow or whether its abrupt expansion was due to an accident,” he said. “Imagine our surprise. Looking to study the strange radiation, we find an even bigger mystery. The Ita-Hu not only protects itself with a force field, but it also expands its radiation to a level that we were not aware of, nullifying any type of electrical energy that could pose a threat to it.”

Hemdell swelled his chest like a tenor about to release a high note, then deflated it.

“Of course, to study it, we could drop a proton bomb on it and get a sample after we’ve reduced it to a thousand pieces,” he said. “Despite that, besides being too extreme, would tear down my goal of keeping it as intact as possible. Understand that even if we could cross its protective field, my intention is not to destroy or remove the rock from where it is. I just want to take a tiny portion of it to analyze its composition and find out what causes the radiation. That pocket universe and the passages to it through the Distortion Spots remain a mystery to many of us; a fragment of that rock under a specialized magnifying glass could solve it, at least in part.”

“And you want us to help you get that sample,” Malin guessed.

The District Chief nodded and pointed to Uri. “Using his skills,” he said. “We think Mr. O22’s powers may work.”

Uri let out a giggle. “What are you talking about, sir?” he asked, nervously. “I have—”

I have no powers. Was that what he was about to say? Because it was obvious that the man in black knew the truth.

“You said you tried everything, and you couldn’t get past the electromagnetic field, right?” he said, with another giggle. “What makes you think my powers will?”

The screen showed another colorful graphic of an electromagnetic spectrum, very similar to the previous one.

“This is another source of Lavra-type radiation. We discovered it less than a month ago,” Hemdell said. “Our systems captured it for the first time on Saturday, September 22, at 12.43 am. The reading was low, and while our radars determined that the emitter was in Proxima, we couldn’t trace it. The second emission took time on Wednesday, October 2 at 11:22 p.m. Its level was higher than the previous time and we were able to determine its origin, which made it easier for us to prepare an observation post in case it happened again. We caught the third emission on Friday, October 4 at 9.14 p.m., and that, more than an emission, was an explosion! Then others came; Tuesday 8th, Wednesday 9th, and Thursday 10th; these last three were detected between 7 p.m., and 8 p.m., in the nature reserve of the city’s north park and the cliffs facing the sea. Should I be more specific, Mr. O22? Or can you imagine the origin of this radiation, or rather, who originates it?”

Uri’s breathing quickened. On Saturday, September 22, after one in the morning, he and Juzo had been cornered by Broga and his mercenaries in Liberty Park. 12.43 a.m. must have been the time when Juzo… The following Wednesday, after interrupting his date with a nurse, he had manifested his powers for the first time, opening by accident a hole in the ceiling and burning his pants. On Friday 4, at night, they had been attacked by Simon, whom he defeated by merging his spirit with Juzo’s. Then there were his trips to the nature reserve and to the sea, where he had sought to take off the surplus energy, throwing fire grenades into the water.

“Uh… Well, those days, I don’t… Hmm…”

Hemdell smiled under his thick mustaches.

“Don’t pretend, Mr. O22,” he said, and pressing a key on the digital dashboard, he reduced the pictures on the screen to start a video. It was the night-time filming of a security camera framing the upper floors of an apartment building. At the top of the screen was the date and time: 10-04-2110. 9.14 pm.

Uri’s eyes opened wide. He knew that place perfectly; it was the building where his loft was located. And in the video, there was fire coming out of a window. It was footage from the night Simon had attacked them. An icy sweat covered his forehead, his hands clung to the armchair’s armrests, and his green eyes darted from side to side, looking for a place to hide.

No! This can’t be true!

But yes, it was.

He appeared on the screen, engulfed in an electrical firestorm, peeking out the window as he dragged a helpless Simon by the neck. The recording zoomed in on his face, and he was clearly seen. There was no way to deny it, it was him.