Be the Light

9. The Antenna

The computer room had no windows. All the light stemmed from the blinking machines that recovered with the initial power-up. They were strangely beautiful in their scattered shine in the dark. Just like Seonghwa, their artificial light offered some guidance among the mysterious devices, but they were delicate and fleeting.

Even Jongho was overwhelmed by this amount of technology. He sat with Seonghwa on the ground and tried to navigate which cables had to attach where and which buttons to click in which order to access the primary computer system. Not far, Hongjoong hovered with a similar astonishment. He giggled at the flickering lights, lifting crooked fingers to cover and uncover their glow. Yunho stuck near him to make sure he wouldn't break anything important, so the rest of the team dedicated themselves to finding the antenna. They had seen it before, if briefly. Now they just needed to locate its connection to this place.

"So the antenna sends Seonghwa's signal to the satellite in the sky, which then emits a wave of energy across the atmosphere," Yeosang summarized as he left the room by Wooyoung's side. Mingi and San searched the left corridor and their eyes were vigilant to any intruders now that they accessed the heart of the facility.

But the building remained dead. After wiping out those scientists, this was their place to claim.

"It's sounding more and more lunatic," Wooyoung grumbled in response. "I thought the details would make sense by the time we made it here."

And Wooyoung doubted he would ever understand Seonghwa and his function. All the incoherent systems and signals and atoms and whatnot would never make sense to him.

But if the skies cleared, that's what Wooyoung could witness and understand. So he hoped Seonghwa didn't need his help with the rest.

"We will have the answer today. Whether all of this is just a fever dream. Although it would be a marvel if all of us believed in a fake device." Despite his joke, Yeosang's chuckle was nervous. After coming all the way here, they wanted to hope. The impossible brought them into this situation, so only the impossible could get them back out.

Wooyoung leaned out of an empty window frame. He studied the nearby walls to figure out how their location had changed from the spot where they initially saw the radio tower. It certainly had been in this direction, so perhaps they had to climb to find out how the cables connected to the computer room.

Yeosang trailed along, ready for commands even when he wavered to take the initiative. Though Wooyoung wasn't used to taking care of two people since Yunho and he naturally divided their duties in the middle, he was unbothered. A couple of weeks back, he would have barked at Yeosang to back off and find something else to do if he just planned to stand around, but now he appreciated the company in the abandoned building. Unexpected as it sounded, Wooyoung got used to having a group around him.

Could he have brought Seonghwa all the way here alone, or even just with Yunho? No, it seemed everyone did their fair share of helping. Only because they had an eye on each other, they didn't lose anyone to greedy raiders or the fouls.

Now, if only they could create a world where that type of watchfulness wasn't needed anymore. If only they could clear the skies and heal Jongho and have running water from those funny tabs.

"There it is!" Yeosang called and Wooyoung snapped out of his thoughts. He leaned out of the window Yeosang had halted at and squinted his eyes against the roofs.

Now, with a new angle and some distance, they could spot the antenna. The tower perched directly above the computer room for maximal functionality. When Wooyoung pulled out his rifle to study its cables through his scope, he nodded at Yeosang. The former slave beamed with the glee to have helped.