Project Gleam

The streets of Illumina fell into the most eerie and deafening silence ever imagined. The Pulse system was more than just Illumina’s mode of communication. No one could do anything. Closed signs appeared in store front after store front as even the simplest and mundane task of buying something was impossible.

People gathered out of buildings and onto the streets, deeply confused and alarmed. Those who just moments earlier were enjoying the peacefulness of the disturbance shields stood up in confusion as the disturbance shields deactivated one by one.

Seconds that turned into minutes had long passed. The system should have been long restored by now.

“The system should have corrected itself by now,” one said with concern in their voice. “Something’s not right.”

“This is more than a glitch. I just know it,” replied another.

Many attempted to activate their pulse codes but to no avail. Pulse codes were completely nonfunctional. Everyone wanted answers but no one could do a thing.

Nova stood outside of Insight’s entrance. Being unable to enter made her feel even more hopeless. Like everyone else, there was absolutely nothing she could do but wait until the system was restored.

She released a slow breath and leaned against the building, her gaze overlooking the city of Illumina. What had happened just moments earlier hit her.

She had teleported.

After all those years, she stepped unto a teleporter and actually teleported.

The sensation of experiencing teleportation was just as she’d remembered it. A quick rush of static electricity. A sensation that was over before she knew it. Nothing bad happened. There was no sensation of being pulled like a magnet between places.

Nova shut out the memory of almost being separated from her parents in one of the most terrifying ways possible and continued to gaze out towards Illumina. What could have possibly happened for the system to crash disabling everything? Was the system worse than Insight thought? It didn’t make any sense.

The more Nova gazed out at Illumina, the more her mind wandered. How did she ever get involved with Project Gleam? How did her time travel project become taken over by him when just moments before, it was only a dream she had been persuading Insight to resurrect and make into a reality? Dr. Maddox showed no genuine interest in it in the slightest, previously brushing off her idea as pointless and not worth the risk.

Anger coursed through her as she stared out as far as her sight could reach. How did she ever let herself become so convinced by Dr. Maddox just to make a deal with him and swear his project to secrecy. A secret that only she and Donovan knew about.

Ever since he started working on that awful telepathic device, Dr. Maddox became different. She saw how he behaved. She saw the glint of obsession in his eyes as he prodded with the device taking it apart and reassembling it in any way imaginable. A flame of obsession and desire that could never be squelched.

He had always been obsessed with perfection in every technology created, but the obsession he had with Project Gleam was not like any obsession she had seen in him.

She never should have gotten involved in the first place. If she never allowed Dr. Maddox to take advantage of her persistent nature and expertise. If she hadn’t worked so tirelessly on incorporating the eludesiht component into the telepathic device, maybe the device wouldn’t have reached the level of advancement it had reached now.

She should have said something to warn Insight and now it might be too late.

A flash of light coming from her band startled her. She watched in anticipation as a holographic screen appeared glitching in and out of focus. Was the system back or was this another false hope?

“Keep going. Keep going,” Dr. Maddox nodded in approval as he walked in a methodical manner from one station to the next.

For just a second, the screens in the lab appeared with no glitches before going blank again.

Dr. Maddox’s band glitching as well before a holographic screen of Dr. Zolan appeared.

“Dr. Maddox - has happened?” Dr. Zolan spoke in between glitches his voice somber and concerned. “If we - proper procedure - the system - to this degree?”

Dr. Maddox nodded solemnly piecing together the broken pieces of Dr. Zolan’s words. “I fear the system was unable to handle such a massive upgrade. However, the possibility of you being able to communicate despite the glitches means that the system is returning to where it should be.” He gave a reassuring smile leaving out the very fact that he had ordered a full system upgrade that caused the system to crash in the first place.

Dr. Zolan began to respond but his hologram glitched out to a point that what he said was intangible before glitching out altogether.

“Continue the current update!” Dr. Maddox ordered. There was a strong sense of dedication in his eyes. “We must continue to address the glitches in order to resolve the entire system. We must look at every detail no matter how minuscule.”

Dr. Maddox walked in his slow and methodical manner observing station after station. The system that the city of Illumina relied on had suffered a catastrophic crash. A crash that was brought forth by his own madness and obsession.

Note: It's been a while since I've worked on my sci-fi WIP (work in progress)! I've still been writing stories including on here so haven't felt too bad about not giving my story any attention. Nonetheless, it feels great to get back into it!