Time dragged on so slowly that the minute hand seemed motionless. The clock appeared to refuse to turn minutes into hours. It was already nine in the morning, and Martha Crockford hadn't been able to close her eyes for three nights. The expedition was supposed to have returned three days ago. Tomorrow, the launch of the Fracture Machine was scheduled. But the Wanderers had not come back, and the energy disk was not installed. Another day had arrived. Another sunrise.
Professor Crockford walked slowly through the halls of the Fracture Compound. Sometimes she stopped to gaze down at the park, where cadets rested and weary scientists conducted calculations in the fresh air. Stepping back, Martha returned to the sterile corridors of the Compound. Guilt gnawed at her. For the sake of the project, she had sent the Wanderers to the Third District, knowing that someone would have to die. That's why she sent Amanda's squad with them — to die defending such crucial members of the project. When did she become this way? Had life changed her, or had the collapse done this?
At ten in the morning, Martha entered her office. The light and computer screen turned on. She threw her coat onto the sofa by the door, took a white lab coat off the hook, and put it on. Sitting in her chair, she pulled out a pack of cigarettes from the drawer. Taking one out, she lit it and turned to the window, peering into the Gardens of Eternity. They offered her a strange sense of peace. The sun glinted off the facets of the Cube of Memory. With the naked eye, one could see a flash of light in the distance. She slowly looked at the people rushing toward the station behind the park. The fire consumed the paper and tobacco. Martha inhaled the smoke slowly when someone knocked on the door.
"Come in," Martha said, extinguishing her cigarette and running her hand across the screen.
The door opened. Darwin Toapanta entered the office. The short guy held a report with the diagnostic results and quickly approached the professor.
"Professor," he said, handing her the tablet, "here are the data from the latest diagnostics."
"And yet," Martha glanced at the data but saw nothing new. The same indicators as before. "Darwin," she said slowly, "did you understand where the mistake occurred?"
"No," the guy shook his head. "It's as if..."
"As if what?" Martha's hands trembled with tension.
"As if fate itself, reality itself doesn't want the launch to happen," Darwin adjusted his glasses.
"You're talking like the Last One," Martha replied, pulling out another cigarette.
"I don't see any other reasons. Everything was normal. Everything worked as it was supposed to."
"Fate doesn't exist, Darwin," Martha looked into the guy's eyes. "It's not real. If the energy disk is broken, then something went wrong. Something happened. And it's been several days; we can't figure out what exactly."
"I'll continue running diagnostics anyway," Darwin added.
"I know," Martha said, "I know you will. That's why you became one of the leading scientists of the project. Even if everything is going to hell, you keep fighting."
"Because if not me, then who?" Darwin nodded. "Also, I wanted to ask you..." he suddenly stopped.
"Ask..." Martha took another drag, not even paying attention to the guy who had fallen silent.
"What's that?" Darwin walked around Martha's desk and approached the window.
The woman, noticing the guy, turned to the Gardens of Eternity. She tried to see what he had noticed. And finally, she saw it: in the distance, a fiery object was rapidly approaching the ground. The woman extinguished her half-finished cigarette and said, "Activate window mode." Lights illuminated in the windows of her office, and data began to appear on the glass. Touching the symbol on the window, she zoomed in on the video from the external surveillance cameras. Blurred but visible, Martha saw the Hawk. Its engines were on fire, the fuselage was torn apart. The machine was crashing.
"It's the Hawk," Darwin said. "Is that... them?"
In the aftermath of the explosion, one of the engines tore away, and the metal bird crashed into the Cube of Eternity, destroying it.
"Call the medics and Jessica," Martha ordered, rushing out of the office. Darwin immediately began to follow Professor Crockford's instructions.
Martha raced through the corridors. There was no time to call the elevator. The stairwells flew past her eyes. She burst out of the complex, heading for the exit. People heading to the station stopped and stared at the smoke rising from the center of the Gardens of Eternity. Shoving through them, she ran into the green labyrinth. The living walls danced, but Martha was indifferent to it. Finally, turning the corner, she saw the wrecked Hawk. The fallen machine had destroyed the Cube of Memory, where the names of those who died in the collapse were etched. One remaining engine still burned, and the fuselage was crumpled as if something with infinite force had burst inside.
Suddenly, Martha noticed movement inside. Someone knocked on the door, and the metal structure fell to the ground with a crash. Samantha Miller, holding onto the railing, emerged from the cabin. She was breathing heavily, and the energy field around her was shutting down. Martha saw her suit glowing red, indicating an overload of internal systems. Spotting the professor, Samantha slowly approached her, placing a hand on Martha's shoulder. With her other hand, she pointed to the backpack she was holding.
"The energy disk!" she whispered. "We got it!"
Following her, John emerged from the Hawk. He raised his head to the sun, and turning around, he saw a crowd of people, Samantha, and Martha Crockford nearby. Taking a step forward, he heard crunching underfoot. Glancing down and lifting his foot, John discovered what had caused the sound: the glass of the Cube of Eternity crunched beneath his weight. Hearing James behind him, he turned around. The Wanderer was carrying the squad commander Amanda in his arms. The woman was bleeding heavily; her arm hung down, and shards from the Hawk pierced her body. James fell to his knees, laying the commander's body down on the ground.
"Where are the others?" Martha asked, taking the backpack with the energy disk in her hands.
"They're gone," Samantha shook her head. "They're not coming back."
Three. Three people had died in the Third District: Ivan, Manuel, and Alexa were dead. Even Martha couldn't fathom it. Had they perished in the destruction of the Cradle ruins, or had they been swallowed by the Convergence points? Or perhaps marauders had dealt with them. She waited for a report from the survivors while behind her the Ether descended, from which Jessica and a group of medics emerged. They picked up Samantha, John, and James.
"Take her to the Fracture Compound," Martha ordered. The medics lifted Amanda's body and loaded it into the Ether. The machine ascended and headed towards the complex. Then there was an explosion. The expedition's Hawk was destroyed, and flames began to spread. The living walls twisted under the onslaught of fire. Martha retreated. Fire. An element that is hard to control. At that moment, there was no control over it. The Gardens of Eternity were ablaze, and the tranquility of the living hedge burned away with eternity.
Evacuation. Some people ran out of the maze, while others made it onto the train waiting at the station. The smell of burning filled the air. Firefighting drones began arriving from different directions, but the fire could not be stopped. The Gardens of Eternity no longer existed. Lowering her gaze, the professor opened her backpack. The energy disk was intact; it had survived unscathed.
Returning to the Fracture Compound, Martha first handed the backpack to Darwin Toapanta so he could begin connecting the disk to the Fracture Machine. She gave the Wanderers two hours to recover and then locked the door to her office. Settling back into her chair, she took out a cigarette and lit it. Whatever had happened in the Third District, she would soon find out. Behind her, drones were trying to extinguish the Eden.