The End of Existence as We Know It
an excerpt

Chapter one -- Mission implausible: perfectly planned, poorly executed

In a gargantuan explosion of fire and dust and ice, the earth, the solar system and a good chunk of the galaxy blew up. And in the resulting silence, all that could be heard was a sheepish, " oh… Bugger. "

I knew that voice… And that particular phrase. " Ezekiel? What did you do this time?"

"Nothing really… Well nothing I can't put right in just a little bit, Boss."

I looked at his view screen. " Zeke, please tell me that you were just running a simulation. "

He had the grace to blush as he took his hands away from the data pad. "I um, well actually Boss, it was supposed to be an experiment." Zeke glanced at the screen and wouldn't look at me. "I thought I'd set all the parameters correctly but I guess I miscalculated somewhere."

I took a deep breath and studied the screen and its data. " at least one. And now we've got one hell of a mess to clean up."

He flinched and twisted his hands in his lap, wings fluttering slightly. Ezekiel Angelica hated it whenever I made a reference to hell. Never mind that neither Heaven nor Hell even existed except in the minds of certain sentient beings.

" I can fix it Boss. Really I can. Just give me a day or two." He was earnest. He really believed what he was saying. And an average operator would be able to do exactly that. Ezekiel was not your average operator. Apparently he was no more an operator then he was a guardian, or a creator, or a guide.

Which is to say that we were running out of jobs for him. So far, everything we put him to had been an unmitigated failure.

It wasn't as if he didn't try. He did. What ever it as we gave him, he threw himself into 100%. And it wasn't that he lacked the knowledge, or even the capability. By all accounts, he should have been one of our best. But the reality didn't match the theory, unfortunately.

" I'll take care of it, Zeke. Your shifts about over anyway. Take tomorrow off and don't worry about it." My eyes never left the view screen. They didn't need to. I already knew what I'd see. Zeke would be looking at me, eyes sad and wings drooping. I glanced at the time display instead. " go home Zeke. I'll give you a call later."

" but Boss."

" Zeke, go home."

Even his voice was crestfallen. " OK Boss."

I stepped back and let him pass me, waiting until the door shut behind him before activated the intercom. " you catch all of that Control?"

" yeah. Don't know where else we can put the poor bastard though Boss."

"I know. He's not going to be comfortable in any of the positions we have left."

"Can you fix it?"

I was surprised by the uncertainty in Controls voice.

" any competent operator can fix it. But I'll take care of it. No need to let the extent of this one get out."

" OK Boss. Next shift is isn't due in for two cycles."

I seated myself in front of Zeke's view screen and put my hand on the data pad. "Let me know half the cycle before their start time."

" will do Boss. Good luck."

I nodded absently, already processing the parameters Zeke had set and overlooking his code.

Half a cycle later, I sat back with a frown. At first glance. I couldn't see where he went wrong. I got up and poured myself a cup of the sludge that passed for coffee and paced the length of the room a few times.

Maybe it was the stimulant, or maybe I had just needed it to stretch my legs, but suddenly a light went on. I hurried back to the work station and pulled up the code. After a moment, I nodded. There it was. Change that piece of code and adjust the associated parameters and that should put everything back to rights.

I manipulated the data pad quickly, taking care to double check the changes I made before saving. Then I ran the modifications through the simulation mode. The galaxy, solar system, and earth reappeared on the view screen. I sighed in relief just as Control notified me I had a 1/2 cycle left.

Then a tiny blinking icon located on one of earth's continent's caught my attention. I looked closer, finally zooming in. When I could see what the icon represented, I groaned.

It was Ezekiel and the modifications had -not- run in simulation mode. They had run in active mode. I sighed and told Control to look at the results, only one thought running through my mind. " that didn't turn out right. Oh my god, what have I done?"