Meltdown Ophilion - Book One

STAGE_FOUR - - - 44_ALTERATION III

When the meeting had come to a close the four Merenthaal representatives were taken to the dormitory to wait. Carlin watched through his window as they were led away from the meeting hall, across the street and around a corner. He sympathized with them on some levels: their outcry against the injustice of the com-zones and the Order; their desire to help rectify some of the critical problems in their society; their exploration of the mysteries of life. The great scientist realized that if he were their age and had experienced what they had he would be saying exactly the same things. He had more in common with them that he was willing to admit.

And that is what really bothered him. He knew they were right and he was wrong. Yet it didn't seem fair that they should invade his territory at the last minute and present him with a heretical plan that invalidated his own very carefully orchestrated one. It wasn't fair that he was forced to consider their options. They represented aliens, so they said, who had tremendous power and yet would do so little because they were limited by their Code. His plan, with all of its complexities, now seemed simple; and best of all, he would, hopefully, be released from his struggles. He would have paid his debt in full.

But will I have solved the problem? Carlin thought, gazing up at a photon conveyor. Will I have corrected my mistake? Will I have saved anybody? He looked to the street below him where people were walking, talking, purposefully going about their business. Probably, not. He admitted.

His plans would end his pain, but they would not stop the weapons tests in the asteroid belt. The waves of radiation would converge on the planet and fuse with the larintor and pherion particles in the com-zones and many people would suffer and die as a result.

The com-zones and close-range farming zones would be destroyed. He now understood why the rulers insisted on making the tests in the first place; why they disregarded their warnings: because of the Baccaran – another group of aliens, so they said, who were manipulating the rulers; whose goal was to take control of both planets in their star system. If the teenagers were right, it all made sense.

And the people in the cavern, under his care: all of them were there because they sensed the deep and incurable corruption of the massive city above them. They had been damaged by the com-zone – by the Order – in ways that they felt were not repairable.

How many more people were there – in all of the one hundred thirty-eight com-zones of the planet – who were victims of the injustice but did not have the resources to oppose it? The intruders were right: sooner or later the com-zone system would collapse under its own weight. It was also true that even now only the minority of the population lived any life that could be considered decent.

Even he and the Chiefs and their people were forced to live deep underground and come to the surface in fear and hiding, with counterfeit identities, hoping not to be recognized; they weren't even people anymore in any legal or social sense. And now these aliens wanted to meet them and share their plan with them. They wanted them to be a part of their plan. They wanted them to help save Ophilion lives.

At this crucial moment these young people had arrived. No, this wasn't a coincidence.

Three hours passed before Carlin roused himself from his deliberation. He rose and slowly straightened himself into a standing position. He felt his blood coursing through his body bringing pain to his knees and head. He felt his heart beating in his chest – his lungs gasping for air. He saw strange colored patterns floating before his eyes and he held onto the edge of his desk to keep himself stable.

He felt fear and hesitation and also hope and anticipation and it was impossible for him to tell which of these emotions was prominent, they were drifting through his mind and body and around his office. He realized that the filaments linking him to reality might be snapping, one by one.