The Milestone Protocol by Ernest Dempsey (reading in the dark txt) 📗

Tommy looked offended. “Hey. Come on.”

Sean grinned at his friend and pulled him away from the wall. “Come on, you big baby. We have to stop Sorenson. And I know you want to pop Kevin Clark.”

Tommy nodded, and an invigorated smile spread across his lips. “Oh, yeah.”

Sean pulled open the door and shoved his friend through, following immediately behind.

49

Svalbard

Kevin stared at the blue cube with rapt attention, as if hypnotized by its rhythmic pulsing. The object stood on top of a shimmering golden plinth. The low relief was carved to look like swirling strands—almost like arms—that wrapped around the stand from the base to the top where a square platform held the cube in place. A beam of blue light shot up out of the cube and struck a golden plate in the ceiling overhead. Golden lines stretched out across the ceiling just as Kevin had seen in computer circuitry. The lines appeared to be powering the glowing hieroglyphs, though Kevin could not come up with a hypothesis as to why that would be necessary.

Surrounding the pillar and cube were twelve smaller replicas of the plinth. The only difference being, these platforms didn’t hold a cube. Instead, they each contained a gem of a different color, inserted into a hole in the center. Every one of the brilliant stones glowed brightly, pulsing in rhythm with the subtle beat of the Quantium cube.

Kevin also noted that the hum had faded upon entering the big control room.

“What happened to the sound?” he asked as he approached the enormous cube. “Is it safe to be so close to this without any protection?” He motioned to the block.

“The sound diffuses in this room. It is insulated all around, and we believe that might be one of the reasons for the liquid Quantium paint, but again, we can’t prove that yet. In this room we are safe, I assure you. And the cube does not put out any harmful radiation, not to us.”

Kevin flicked a glance at the man following his last few words. He knew what that meant. Magnus was referring to the powerful radiation that would circle the globe and wipe out billions in minutes.

“How does it work?” Kevin asked.

Magnus turned and indicated an empty plinth, the only one in the half circle of stands surrounding the cube that didn’t contain a cylindrical gem.

“Once I insert this, it will activate the mechanism.” He pointed at the plate overhead. “That plate will slide away, and the beam will fire up through the shaft. From there, the energy will be converted by the sphere in the scepter atop the pyramid and the one on top of the mountain before it is distributed around the world.”

Kevin’s forehead tightened. He wasn’t fully convinced. “How do you know all that?” He looked around the room, noting hieroglyphs that depicted beings standing by a pyramid with a red beam coming out of the top and spreading into a dozen beams like rays of crimson sunshine.

“The instructions are all around us.” Magnus splayed his hands out wide, showing off the walls of images.

“But how do you know what it does? You said it was radiation, but you also alluded to other potential ways it works. Do you even know or are you guessing?”

Disappointed with the lack of faith, Magnus lowered his hands. “I’m surprised, Kevin. I offered you sanctuary here, in this place. I have taken good care of you, paid you more than anyone in your field could ever imagine. And for that, you question me, the most powerful person in the entire world?”

“It’s just that, how do I know we’re going to be safe in this place? With all due respect, sir, it seems like there are a few questions that need to be answered.”

“We will have our answer soon enough, Dr. Clark. But trust me when I say nothing is going to happen to us in this room.”

He turned and faced the empty plinth and raised the red diamond over the hole in its center as if about to plunge a dagger into a sacrifice.

“I’m not so sure about that, Doc!” a new and familiar voice shouted from behind Kevin, who whirled around in time to catch a right hook from Tommy.

The fist smashed across Kevin’s jaw and knocked him sideways. Dazed, he fell to the floor nearly unconscious.

“Nice one, Shultzie,” Sean said, keeping his pistol aimed at Sorenson’s back. “Sometimes I forget how strong you really are.”

Tommy grinned over his shoulder. “I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted to do that.”

“You’re too late, Sean!” Magnus yelled as he held the red gem over the hole in the pillar. He turned and faced Sean while keeping his left hand and the diamond in place. “Oh, what are you going to do, Sean? Tell me to drop it? That’s going to happen whether you shoot me or not. And when I do, billions of people will be wiped from the face of the earth.”

“You don’t have to do this, Magnus. What happened to the man who taught me about honor, perseverance, doing what is right?”

“This is what is right, Sean. Don’t you see? This is how the universe works. For there to be creation of the new, there must be destruction of the old. If I don’t do this, how many billions will die in far more painful ways? This is the most merciful thing I can do, my boy. That we can do.”

“You know I can’t let you do that, Magnus. Take the diamond away from the…whatever that thing is, and step down. Don’t make me shoot you.”

The Swede laughed deliberately. “You’re a good shot, Sean. But you’re, what, thirty, forty feet away? At that angle? You may hit me. You may not.”

“You willing to take that chance?”

“Always the one with the witty answer.” Magnus noticed Tommy shifting to the side. “Don’t try to flank me, Tommy. It’s not going to stop anything. Put your guns down, boys. You’ve done well. Truly. I