Core Crisis - PART 3

LINK to part 1.
LINK to part 2.

Word count: 2525

Nikolai and Yevgeny followed the standard decontamination procedure, but their mind was already racing to the other side of a second metallic door, the last object in their path towards the core. The core was built as a source of neutrons, for the research in Nuclear Physics. Still, it implemented a 93% enriched Uranium 235, usable for the construction of a bomb. As the massive door before them started slowly opening, their Geiger counters started cracking more violently, signaling the presence of radiation. As soon as Nikolai saw this, he nodded to his colleague: "Good, the reactor is still functioning. Now we have to check all the different readings if everything is ok. You take the top floor, I'll go down to check the core from up close." Yevgeny was annoyed by this request, as he liked to admire the metallic construction, full of wires, that inside hosted something small, yet powerful - the destructive force of nuclear fission. But orders were orders, and when the doors were fully opened, he addressed his superior by saying: "Ok. If you need my help, give me a shout." And so they stepped inside the reactor room, the biggest open space inside the facility. It was around 30 meters tall, and extending for 40 meters in other two directions, it resembled a huge cavern rather than a man-made room. The air was hot and moist, filled with steam from leaks and cracks in the existing equipment that was showing its age.

Soon after, Yevgeny was walking the iron-grate floor, through which lower levels could be seen. He turned his head to see Nikolai resting his hands on the railing and looking at the core, which, at its almost 20 meters height ended only barely higher than their feet.  He wanted to reach the monitor positioned at the far left side of the room - if that was still intact, it would be a great place to start figuring out the situation that ensued. And it was easily accessible from the top platform. He continued walking and scouting the terrain forward, thinking: "Never too soon will the whole damn place fall apart!" Little did he suspect that people would give in sooner. While he was watching the road ahead, Nikolai sneaked on to him, with a rusty and pointed iron bar, that fell of the fence just a few hours ago. "One move, and I stab you. Whose side are you on?" As soon as these words reached Yevgeny's ears, he replied with a calm "Yours." And "Prove it" was an almost as immediate reply.

Yevgeny took a deep breath, and started talking: "I materialized in the locker 4 at 6:03 earlier this morning, finding my weaker self dressing for the scouting mission. There was no place and we were squashed together. Being in contact for too much time, the weakling has been annihilated." Nikolai didn't lose a second to add: "Materialized at 6:04 in the locker 1." and with that, lowered the iron stick. The two then faced each other and stood in silence, only to start laughing uncontrollably soon after. Nikolai was crying from laughter when trying to say:"A-aand we .." and Yevgeny jumped in:"Yep, we were putting up with this act all the way from the locker. The stern leader and the youthful almost-rebel." And he made sure to try and impressionate them again, while holding out the laughing. Nikolai recomposed first and concluded the chat:"Indeed, it feels strange to live like a single entity. Let's proceed." And they both descended the stairs to the core.

Anatoli exited the office with blood smeared over his face and clothes. He was tired, and breathing heavilly. And while his body pulsated with energy, what he was thinking produced him a bloodthirsty smile: "Oh shit! I've ruined my hair! Oh well, it was time to cut them anyway. More importantly, I won't allow Nikolai to treat Rozaliya like that anymore. That emotional deprivation that she's suffering is inhumane." He then calmed a bit, and realized Rozaliya was, in fact, the one he should be caring about. "And people say only men age like fine wine," thinking of her made him realize that perhaps, the servers room might not be a bad place to check:"Ah you idiot. She's a scientist, she'll worry about her babies." He was mocking her in his mind, but deep down knew and respected wholly her peculiar care for the electronics that enabled all the place to be up and running.

Rozaliya was on her knees, speechless. Cold, meditating, thinking "That bitch. She killed my babies." And while this was in part true, she neglected to acknowledge that she too did figt. In fact, much blood was spilled, yet few of it hers. The devastation they produced was visible all around. Most notably, the floor was covered with electronic devices that fell, and the wires were forming a web around the place. She just stood there in silence, and thought of all the work and time she put into this place.

"Why? Was this all worth it? So much time put into electronics that ultimately were destroyed? Should I be happy for the fun I had with them? Or was this just an escape from having to confront with my husband, but never finding the strength to?" she smiled a creepy blood-covered grimace while ending her chain of thoughts:"If that is so, if my escaping from the reality is now dead, so shall be my husband." She looked down at the floor and was surprised: "I'm sure that there was another woman here, looking like me, and I was kneeling on her dead body. Am I going insane?" And as if to confirm her madness, she thought that there was Anatoli screaming out her name! "Oh that sweet boy, does he really find me so desirable?" Still, while thinking it, she waved a hand blindly amidst the cables, and yelled as hard as she could:"If you're real and I'm not dead, here I am, come and get me boy!" And in that moment, something happened and Rozaliya hardly believed what she was saying, as it was coming back to her mind from a long lost memory:

"And from war came love," Anatoli heard her oh, so deep yet womanly voice, and he stopped thinking. He tore his shirt apart and started moving towards her. Faster and faster. She looked at him with growing interest in her eyes, following the thoughts:"Oh those young beautifull muscles! When was the last time Nikolai even remotely looked like that? And still, despite I accepted him as he was, he still didn't want me! I was wasting my time with him. Mmm I can already feel my body reawakening."

She continued: "but love went back again." and at that, Anatoli had her in his arms, taking her gently from the floor, picking her up in his grip, and holding her closely. "I'm lucky my name's not love, so that I don't have to go." he let her down, putting her on her feet, and simply smiled. At that, Rozaliya threw herself at him, pressing her lips on to his. The taste of blood only served to awaken their animal sides as they joined in a wild fury. She suddenly pushed herself away:"Oh, I'm impressed and flattered by your show boy, but I've learned some tricks as well. Let me give you something to think about!" and with that, she descended downwards and started unbuttoning his pants. And soon, the amazement on Anatoli's face changed into a big grin.

Grigory was sitting on the toilet floor, his back to a cold wall. The other Grigory was standing, arms crossed. One looked exhausted from the vomiting, the other fresh. And yet they both had one thing in common: they were smiling. They were passively in silence, and smiled to each other. Untill Grigory on the floor asked:"Woah, where did you say you got thiss stuff from?" The standing Grigory laughed:"Ah, it's too obvious that it was your first time smoking weed. You're completely!" and as of saying it, a thought crossed his mind and interrupted him. After realizing that he's left the weaker guy waiting, he added:"You're completely spaced off!" Grigory on the floor started to feel his back slide down the wall behind, slowly falling to his side, but still pointed a finger to his newly found friend and said "Haaa! And you're lecturing me about spacing off!".

The Grigory that was still in control of his body lost his smile for a second, but then decided to explain once again:"Yeah, so you see. Only by drugging you I could have made you listen. What do you think happened to your other colleagues? We're stronger, better versions of you! To fight us is a losing battle." To this, the Grigory lying on the floor was excited to say:"Yees! Yes, I remember! By experimenting with neutrons, oh yes, those fascinating building blocks of nature! Yes, the neutrons. And yes. We created a field! How is that possible?" His mind was working overtime, trying to fight the effect of the THC in his blood.

The other Grigory laughed, but less cheerfully than before. And he told him:"Would you look at yourself? Anyway, I don't know exactly how it's possible and that scares me! I'm supposed to be a perfect copy of you. So, take a genious and remove his inability to act, because he's a scared little chicken, and that's the difference between us. But right now I'm scared, and in what aspect am I better than you?" "Wooah, duude. Heavy and deep." Grigory let the words lying on the floor with him, hoping to receive a response. As his other self didn't, he continued talking:"Well, you know, you told me about a field being generated, that spread thruought the whole complex. And that if we were to be present on certain locations in a specific window of time, we, the five of us, would interact with the field, producing a new state of matter, that would, in its decay, produce you."

"The five of us, yes, the better versions if you want. And we were created with the knowledge that we can't coexist both. So your colleagues are probably dead by now."

"Well, I am not. Perhaps they managed as well. So tell me again, why didn't you kill me, and start to live?"

"Eh, why? So that I can live on by knowing I killed ... myself, essentially? What a great way to start a life." He accentuated what he was saying, to point out the sarcasm in his words.

"But why did you come to me offering me to smoke? Where did you get that from? Oh, actually, yeah, that's what I wanted to ask you before when I asked you where you got this stuff from."

"Ahahahahahahah. So that's what you wanted to know? What difference does it make? Why not? But if you want my honest opinion, I think it's because you wanted to try it before you die, and so I was materialized here together with the stash that we smoked."

"That's crazy talk. How come you seem to know this much?"

"What if the anti-matter could be organized so well that it could shape humanoid objects, able to withstand everything, all the matter, except their counter-part? What if, before appearing in this world, it had an infinite shared memory with all the other beings?"

"Clearly, you're insane to suggest that you're made of anti-matter. Following the laws of Physics, you would disappear instantly when in contact with matter!" He waved his hands around, showing that in fact all that surrounded them could disintegrate him.

"Well, that's true for subatomic particles. But the two of us are composed by an enormous number of them. And I cannot give myself a reasonable explanation on how I and the other four organized to form thoughts and shapes, before being brought to existance in this world. Something strange happened as well. Having a human body, I cannot communicate with the rest of the anti-matter that's not even present in this world. I'm alone." He then changed his tone in a more serious one and said:"You know, I was really curious to meet you, and you didn't disappoint."

"So then why are you saying it like you regret it?"

"I don't regret it. It's just that I know we both will soon cease to exist."

"What?"

"As I told you already, we can't both exist at the same time. As soon as I became part of this world, me and you started decaying and if I wasn't to kill you, or viceversa, we would both be gone. But at least, I could have granted you a last wish, and talked with you."

"Oh. In that case, it was a pleasure knowing you." the Grigory on the floor put up a hand, which the other Grigory looked at in disbelief. "See? Why are you not attacking me, knowing we'll both die? We are then ineed more similar than I thought." He approached his weaker self, an expression he grew to dislike, took his hand and said:"Good bye my friend" and they vanished, with all trace of neither of them to be found.

Yevgeny and Nikolai were standing near the core. From the bottom most layer of the room, it seemed infinitely high. Yevgeny was the first to break the silence:"But where are the others? They should have disposed with their weaker versions sonner and met us here." Nikolai looked around, as if to make sure they were indeed alone:"For the plan to work, we don't need them." Yevgeny laughed: "You sound incredibly like your weaker self!" And that was the last thing that they said between them. They knew what they had to do, and started opening their protective suits. The geiger counters they used before were on the floor, ticking manically. The longer they were exposed unprotected to the radiation, the sooner their anti-matter bodies would react, sending out a wave that would eat up the core's protective garment and ignite the insides. Once the cooling system was destroyed, this would start a chain reaction, that was sure to blow the whole complex up, pushing the field that created them throughout the world.

And while all this was happening, they watched. All the anti-particles that would like to be free in a matter-dominated universe were collecting informations throuought the world, plotting and planning. A single hieve mind, restlessly chatting, with infinite thoughts scatterd all over: "All has gone according to plan." "Yes, but only because Yevgeny and Nikolai were in a closed space, unable to avoid physical contact for a prolonged time." "And Grigory?" "Grigory, that traitor!" "He had the easiest job, and failed!" "We should be more preoccupied with people like Rozaliya and Anatoli!" "They killed us!" "They were supposed to be weaker!" "This doesn't make any sense." "We know too little of the transition from our collective perfect mind to single human's brains!" "Do we still proceed with the plan?" "Take back the universe from the matter that won over us so many years ago!"

Oblivious to all of this, Rozaliya and Anatoli were lying naked on the floor, covered in parts only by the clothes - or what remained of them. She was stroking the hair on his chest, with her head on his broad shoulder. They had no idea that by killing their doubles composed of anti-matter, they started something. Something that could perhaps yet save the humanity from what was coming in the form of a blast wave that engulfed them, and transformed the whole facility into an enormous crater.

Their last thoughts were of happiness and belonging.

Behind the keyboard

DONE. I promised multiple times to finish this earlier, and failed (though I still tried, I was awake all night, writing). I don't think I'll ever make such promisses again. I much prefer to look up to Valve, that takes its f*cking time, and leaves us hanging for years to come. But once what they do is ready and released, it's totally worth it. I'd rather not live up to deadlines, but deliver quality stories. And that's what I tried doing here. Did this part live up to the build-up in the previous two?

Also, now that it's finally written, I wanted to say something. This story is my first chance to say an enormous THANK YOU to all the incredible people I've met during my physics career and made my life more interesting.

I especially wanted to say thanks those amongst the physicists that helped me most with what was probably the hardest decision I made in my life and as a result of which I'm writing these lines. Massimo, Petra, Alessandra and Chiara, you were, and still are, of an incredible support to me.

I hope you enjoyed reading this short story. I was completely invested in it. So much that I sacrificed a night's sleep and closed my eyes only when it was already morning, not minding the open laptop still on my side. Comments welcome! :D

Also, PART 3 -> Half-Life 3 CONFIRMED!! *sigh* Even The Longest Journey will get a resolution to the incredible cliffhanger before Half-Life does.