2400 AD

Every time Thespian scored, his lips jumped upwards, and the skin around his eyes contracted.

It was like playing chess. He played to win; evident by the way he leaned back and slanted his eyes. Then he’d whisper, “Yes,” crinkle his nose and nod before every move.

Kendall gave him all the instructions. Find a round building and make it bigger. For this he’d need to use the physics of PI. He’d surely lose.

But, in his mind, he already knew the values that PI presented and within moments he calculated exactly how big the building should be without interfering with the surrounding structures.

“Impressive,” she said. “Try this one: Find the Needle, make it disappear and then reappear in a strategic location.”

He’d need to know what strategic meant. He found the Needle beside a power station and deduced that the object had something to do with energy. He made it disappear and it reappeared beside a power station somewhere in France.

Suddenly the sirens screamed. Kendall grabbed Thespian and held his head as his entire body convulsed as though in a seizure. She placed him on the floor in the recovery position but he continued thrashing about, screaming as though in pain. The moment she touched him he screamed even louder, begging her not to touch him. She stepped back and immediately punched the communications button.

“What the hell is happening? I have an emergency. Need backup immediately!”

But all she got back as a reply was static.

She punched the button again. “Help! I need help here. Tumelo! Gideon! Anyone!”

The static was relentless, as relentless as the foam coming out of Thespian’s mouth. The screaming had turned into a painful gargling sound.

She continued punching the communications button, to no avail.

Another explosion rocked the facility and the static died.

***

Jacob fell off the bed after the first explosion. He quickly got up and began banging on the walls hoping to attract attention.

No one came to his rescue.

He shouted, kicked, banged some more, and desperately tried to find a button, a trigger to open the panel. He searched the frame of the bed, scanned the azure-blue lighting on the ceiling, under the washbasin, and even the floor, still he couldn’t detect any mechanism to open the wall panel.

When the second explosion came, he grabbed the bed to maintain his balance and then suddenly began spinning around, holding his head, screaming in pain. Eventually he fell to the floor and started foaming at the mouth as his body jerked relentlessly.

***

Gideon and Callum didn’t finish that first kiss. The burn was interrupted by the first explosion. It made the very foundations of the Pyramid tremble and they grabbed each other for support.

“What the fuck!” Gideon said after the tremor subsided.

“Was that an earthquake?” Callum asked, his face white with fear.

Gideon punched the coms button on the wall behind him.

Static.

“Answer me, goddamn Tumelo!”

He punched the button several times. Nothing happened. He grabbed Callum and pushed him towards the elevator built to one side of the room.

“Bale, open the elevator door.”

“Yes, sir.”