Excerpt: The Broken Link

(The end of Chapter 1... Of course, unrevised in any form. This will be replaced with the prologue in full once I get about 10 placeholder names resolved. =P)

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Ben still stood at the second tier, one level below the link generator, staring into the depths of the opaque mass in front of him. Erik noticed Ben’s brow furrow briefly before his eyes widened. Before Erik could open his mouth to ask Ben what he was thinking, Ben ran up onto the platform.

The security team on the ramp next to Ben, caught entirely off-guard, desperately scrambled after him. Erik ran up the ramp and stopped where Ben had originally stood, still nervous to get too close to the murky mystery perplexing them within the link generator.

Ben made his way onto the main platform to the very edge of the darkness just as the security team reached his back. The officer began to chastise Ben, but was cut off when Ben raised his hand up to silence him. Without hesitating, Ben lowered the same hand directly into the darkness before anyone could stop him.

The darkness immediately began to swirl around within the link generator, as it gradually began to change hue from its pitch blackness, as orange, white and yellow began to swim in a chaotic fury within the same original shape the mass had formed. Soon green, blue, red, and purple joined the mix. The colors managed to stabilize after a minute, the shadow mass replaced by something uniquely different.

The mass now held some shadow along the edges, like a border, but the lowest part of the mass was glowing a swirling mix of red, orange and dark brown. The middle was comprised of moving greens and lighter browns, and the top flowed with blues and purples.

The only possible word to describe it was “beautiful”.

Slowly, Ben lowered his hand, glancing at it without much recognition, realizing all along nothing would be wrong with it. As if his action hadn’t made it clear enough, he turned to face Erik and said, “It needed living material to activate it.”

Erik’s eyes were wide, drinking in the sight before him. He finally broke into a massive smile and looked his boss in the eyes. “Ben! You did it! It worked! That’s another dimension! It’s a freakin’ stable link! You’ve done the impossible!”

The shock Ben felt was thick in his head, and tears formed in his eyes as he thought of his dad. The fact he was no longer around to see this moment in human history- to be able to receive the praise and fame- but more importantly, to be able to study this amazing breakthrough on the work he had started…

Clearing his thoughts, Ben finally smiled, relief setting in. “We did it, Erik.” He raised his voice so everyone could hear him. “We all did it. All of you here, who’ve worked so hard by my side on this project for so long, it wouldn’t have worked without your help. We’ve all done it together.”

A deep voice rumbled, “I would think I should get some thanks as well.” The voice came from behind Ben… on the link platform.

Impossible!

The guards immediately drew their weapons and spun to face the platform. Ben whirled around at the same time to face the multi-colored dimensional link on the platform.

Among the colors, inside the link, an older man stood as plain as day. The occasional ripple of color swam by his form, the man standing in stark contrast to the lazy swirls of color surrounding him. Other than the steady glow emitting from all points of the mass, it was as if looking through a window. Every detail of the man could be made out quite clearly. His dark black hair was peppered with grey, the hair at his temples and sideburns long ago abandoning anything but bright white, rough hairs. He was of average height, and wore glasses a bit too low on his large nose. He had his hands jammed into the pockets of his coat. A lab coat.

Ben’s world was swimming, as he managed to breathe an impossible question. “Dad?”

“Benjamin. Thank you for finishing my work. You’ve done well.” his dead father pulled his glasses off, cleaning them on his lab coat briefly before replacing them on the end of his nose.