For Every Action - The Quantum Mechanic Series Book I

Barnes watched tensely as the tow winch made its third rapid whine, pulling the emergency platform back up the central elevator shaft at a breakneck speed. With a bang, it slammed into the autoclamps at the surface level and another twelve staff members ran, limped, or were carried by others towards the residential service road. With a practiced move, Ramirez then punched the side and the disposable propulsion cartridge that drove the winch for rapid pulls ejected. Then she touched the side of her helmet as she loaded another and listened to something before stepping over to report.

“Sir. We still haven’t heard from anyone below level seven and all of the stairways and elevator shafts beyond six have collapsed. But according to the security system that should have been the last full load. Levels one and two were unstaffed and almost everyone who badged in on levels three through six are out.”

“Almost?”

“Aside from the security team, the system is showing a trauma ward nurse and one patient on level six. It’s Sergeant Clark and Private Jeffries is there. He says Clark won’t wake up and he’s too heavy for them to carry out.” Then she paused for a moment and gave him a strange look. “Sir… Jeffries keeps saying that Clark’s gotten… bigger.”

Barnes scowled in frustration before responding, “Wake him? I thought he was outbound tomorrow. Why do they have him sedated… and what does he mean by bigger?”

“He’s not sedated Sir. He’s drunk.”

“What?”

“Apparently he stole a case of cooking sherry from the cafeteria kitchen.”

Barnes silently cursed himself for agreeing to bring Clark in for treatment. That damn Marine had been nothing but a giant pain in the ass since he woke up, “Alright, so what the hell does he mean about Clark being bigger?”

Ramirez touched her helmet and relayed the question, then she listened for a moment and turned back to Barnes.

“Jeffries is saying that Clark doesn’t fit on his bed anymore and according to his chart he’s gained ninety-three kilos in the last six days.”

Barnes rubbed his temples and looked out at the cooling crater for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts. Then he made a mental note to never believe Edward Mathers when he says everything’s going to be OK. The damn kid had pumped a quadruple dose of his super concentrated Corsican assailant hormone treatment into Clark without asking. Now this behemoth of a man wasn’t just getting better, he was getting… bigger.

Barnes sighed. He admired Mathers’ dedication and genius, but the kid was a world class master at colossal fuckups. Then he turned back to Ramirez, “Corporal, is Jeffries carrying his stun gun?”

“Sir?”

“His stunner. Does he have it?”

Ramirez touched her helmet again and repeated the question into her comm. Then she nodded and looked back up at Barnes.

“Yes Sir. He has it.”

“Good. Tell him to crank it up to the max setting and stick it up Clark’s ass.”

Ramirez grinned at him before saluting again, “Yes Sir!”

Doing her best to look stern, Theresa Vallard placed herself firmly (and quite statuesquely) in between the stun gun wielding guard and her unconscious patient. It was a desperate move and the vain hope that she might appear more authoritative she drew herself up to her full five foot, nine inch height. Then she threw everything she had into the fierce look that she gave him with her hands on her hips, and shouted at the man to let him know who was in charge, “Soldier! I don’t care who gave the order. I’m in charge in this room, and you are not going to use a stun gun on my patient!”

But deep down she knew that the very idea that she could intimidate Private Jeffries, or anyone else with Y chromosomes… was patently ridiculous.

She had been almost absurdly gifted by nature in both beauty and bosom in a way that made it nearly impossible to elicit anything outside of a very narrow set of responses from men. When she was cheerful, they found her exciting - and hot. When she was sad, they found her adorable - and hot. When she was serious, they thought she was cute - and hot.

Just out of bed? - Tousled and hot.

Drenched in sweat from a workout? – Glistening, and hot.

No makeup? - Girl next door hot.

Showering?... – Hot enough to be dangerous to the heart health of any human male who had reached puberty.

Flat out... the girl was hot.

She could have listed off a lot more examples, but the end result was always the same - sexual attraction… and the worst was when she was angry. There was something about the flashing of her emerald green eyes and the tossing of her fiery red hair that drove men absolutely crazy. Her looks weren’t the end of the problem either. Almost everything else about her just made things worse. Her voice, mannerisms, and liquid-hipped body language were enough to boil a man’s hormones all by themselves.

Contrary to what most people thought though, there was a lot more to Theresa than what met the eye (and libido). It would have been easy for her to let her brain idle and just get by on her looks, or to become jaded and bitter from how she was often treated. But Theresa had done neither. Partly because she came from a long line of beautiful and sexually attractive women who had advised her while she grew up.

But mainly for a far simpler reason… For all their faults, Theresa Vallard truly, deeply loved men, but not just any kind of men. She loved the ones who starred in old westerns, worked hard on deep sea oil rigs, walked fearlessly across the girders of skyscrapers, and went to war for their country. In fact, had she been asked, she would have been hard pressed to name something about that type of man that she didn’t like. She loved how they looked, smelled, spoke, walked, worked, and fought. She loved how strong they were when they needed to be, and inflamed by how secretly tender they were in private.

Her grandfather had been just that type of man, and he had stepped in to raise her after her father was killed in a car accident. Her mother had abandoned them years earlier, and so she and her “Pop pop” cared for each other until he passed away the year after she finished college. As a result, she had grown into womanhood with a deep yearning for men produced by generations past, and with only one exception she had been universally underwhelmed by the boys of her time. For her, the foppish, effeminate men her generation were basically just women with more body hair. She was repulsed by their constant need for her approval and derelict masculinity.

So now as she found herself in one of the strangest and most desperate moments of her life she wasn’t surprised to see that the young man in front of her was another useless example of everything she hated. He had frozen in his tracks the second he found himself confronted with her more than considerable assets and had been rendered completely discombobulated. Just the sight of her statuesquely endowed figure had been all that was necessary to stew him into a state of complete hormonal bafflement.

Inwardly she sighed... this was not the reaction she had been hoping for, but she had to admit that the results were still useful.

So she shrugged a little and decided to run with it. A small shift of her hips to loosen her posture. A coy flash of her eyes at him from under her half lowered lashes. Then she waited a moment to let that sink in before lowering her voice into a sultry and conspiratorial tone, “OK sweetie, I’m sorry. But, I’m pretty sure Sergeant Clark will wake up just fine on his own any time now and maybe you could just stay down here and, you know... protect me? Maybe keep me company?” As s she this she let her eyes drift up and down his body in an appraising way... and the effect was immediate. A vapid expression combining both puppy love and pubescent lust stole over his face as he began to stammer, “Well... I, uh... that might be OK. I mean... uh, whatever happened… looks like it’s over... So...maybe…”

But then the crackle of a disciplined voice barked viciously through his headset and he snapped violently out of her spell of libido induced hypnosis. For a second he stood there twitching and then after a small shake of his head... he sighed. Then he took a tentative step towards her with his hands raised. ” I... I’m really sorry ma’am, but those are my orders... and if you’ll pardon me for saying so, Corporal Ramirez is a far sight scarier than you. So I’d rather be on your shit list than hers.” Then he started to go around her to get to Clark.

In the desperate hope that she might still rescue the situation Theresa took a deep breath and tried to think up some way to rope him back in. But she never got the chance, because with a tremendous crack the ceiling above them gave way under the pressure and punishment of the compacted levels above it.

Chunks of cement, plaster, dirt, and other various building materials hailed down on them and the screech of rending metal threatened to burst their eardrums as it roared from the widening seam over their heads.

Theresa screamed, and with a half turn stumbled backwards to avoid being struck by the ever larger pieces of masonry that were falling. The young soldier did the same and backpedaled in the opposite direction, propelling himself out through the door.

But this turned out to be a very poor and ultimately fatal decision because the second he set foot into the hallway he was brutally crushed by a car-sized chunk of falling cement. Then the inertia of the impact smashed the massive artificial rock through the floor and it tumbled down into the lab where the little girl was still suspended in her cocoon. In a panic she scrambled for cover... lost her footing, caught it, and then lost it again when she fell onto her back next to Clark’s bed. She looked up after she hit and let out a throat rending scream of terror as the ceiling plummeted down to deliver her death.

But then, with an abrupt and surreal cessation... everything grew very still. The only remaining sound was her scream and that abruptly trailed off into a tiny, astonished, “oh!” when she looked up.

Like a titan from Greek mythology, Sergeant Clark was looming over her with his massive shoulders, arms, and legs straining... and the ceiling, with nearly nine tons of rock above it was being held up on his back.

Despite the trembling running through him from the level of willpower this feat must have required, he managed to look down at her with his best nonchalant grin. “Hey hot stuff. I… I’ve been wondering how I could get you on your back under me. But... this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. So… so maybe you should go.”

Looking around in shock and not knowing what else to do, Theresa rolled over and belly crawled across the floor to the edge of the room. There wasn’t much space left out in the hall, since most of the floor had been smashed down into lab seven below. But there was a ledge that got her clear of the ceiling section Clark was holding up. So she pulled herself out onto it and turned to look back at him. He was still there, holding his ground and watching for the moment when he knew she would be safe. For a second their eyes locked and he winked at her. Then he collapsed under the staggering weight of the structure above him. Tons of rocks, cement, rebar, and various pieces of equipment roared down to create an avalanche of terrifying destruction.

Then there was a moment of stunned silence. Theresa shook uncontrollably as she slowly lay down on the ledge... and descended into hysterics.

Barnes coughed, and immediately felt blood spray into his mouth.

Shit. That can’t be good.

So he spat and used his tongue to push the dirt and pebbly debris he could feel in his mouth out. Then he realized that some the pebbles were his pulverized teeth. He tried to remember where he was, and how he got there. Eddie had just been talking about the girl, something about her lighting up Times Square and... wait. No, Sallinger had said that. What happened afterwards? He blinked a few times to try and orient himself and looked up. He could see some stars through a dirty piece of blood smeared glass. A windshield. He was in an MGSU, but something wasn’t right.

He turned his head to the right and saw dirt and cement pouring in through his window.

Huh. He was in an MGSU that had been buried…. interesting.

Then it started coming back… the explosions and carnage. He and Ramirez had gone back to evacuate the staff and she had ordered Jeffries to use his stunner on Clark. But then there had been a deafening roar and the ground around them had begun to collapse. They dove into the MGSU, but before Ramirez could even start the engine a giant hole had just opened up and swallowed them. From what he could tell they were now about fifty or sixty feet down, wedged in a crevasse and flipped on their side.

Ramirez… Where was Ramirez? He tried to turn his head to the left to see - and screamed. There was something seriously wrong with his left side and he couldn’t move the arm and leg that connected there.

“Great”, he thought.

Then with a slow groan that sounded more like a gurgled scream he pulled himself back to reality and reached over to unbuckle the harness holding him. This rolled him enough to the left to be face to face with Corporal Ramirez. From what he could see, her chest had been crushed under a massive stone that had come in through the windshield. So with a small and silent prayer he etched another soul into the ledger of his sins. Then he reached up and popped the forward hatch before beginning the long, and agonizing process of dragging himself out with one arm. As he did, he made a mental note to ask Jessica if getting pulverized trying to save people redeemed him a little. Maybe. Maybe not. There was a string of bad decisions in his past that meant he still had a lot to answer to the Saylor family for.

Then he returned his attention to the task at hand, which was the need to pull a leg that appeared boneless up out of the hatch. Then he felt the skin behind his ear vibrate and a call came in on the satphone. He reached up, tapped the vibrating receiver and listened to the gruff voice on the other end for a moment before grunting, “Yeah, I’m having a real shit day too down here Andy, but I think I’ve got some good news... I found your satellite.”

Moving as fast as they could, Tammy and her ragged group made their way around to observation booth five and after carefully placing Janelle into a reclined chair, ran to the glass. Already, a massive chunk of the ceiling had been punched out by the collapsing structure above and it had only narrowly missed the chrysalis. Almost half of the supporting web work had been torn free and Jessica’s organic cradle dangled at a precarious angle. But Tammy could see that deep inside of it a blue and white glow was flickering and growing stronger. Seconds later, the entire cocoon writhed in a series of massive convulsions, and more of the web work fell away. Then blue and purple fluids began to spray from seams across the pulsating surface of the chrysalis and it began shedding its protective outer layer. Jessica was emerging! If they could get down to the lab floor they might be able to help her and get out through the west stairwell.

But then there was a massive crack and the walls on either side of the gaping hole in the ceiling collapsed, pouring debris onto the floor and exposing two of the facility’s massive titanium alloy supports. Sparks flew from the exposed and torn wiring and a massive power cable landed within inches of the main stalk that connected the chrysalis to the floor. Across the floor and walls, micronite gel spidercrabs began to run amuck and tangled their umbilicals as they slammed into each other with clumsy, blinded movements. Several pulled hard enough to rip themselves free from the chrysalis and skittered madly out of the controllers range. But within seconds they staggered, collapsed, and darkened into a muted and deathlike grey.

Then with an abrupt and perfectly synchronized twitch the remaining crabs froze and then began swiftly untangling themselves. Like a battalion of well-trained soldiers they moved with an eerily synchronized grace into a complex pattern that ringed the chrysalis. Then they all moved in concert to swarm up the tendrils supporting Jessica’s artificial womb. They began unwinding the organic cables in a series of swirling strips that gently lowered the life chamber towards the floor. At the same time another team of crabs began pulling the electrified cable away to a safe distance. It was OK. Sheng was still in control and it looked like he was working diligently to protect his young patient.

But then Tammy felt her heart tear itself apart as her worst nightmare came to life.

There was a terrible series of crashes and an armored MGSU came careening down out of the hole in the ceiling. It crushed the crabs withdrawing the cable and the sparking cord went whipping in a long arc that brought its sizzling end against the chrysalis. The result was spectacularly explosive and with a deafening bang the cocoon burst open. With a sickeningly wet slump a pale and corpselike Jessica fell halfway out, naked and limp. Her back was to them and as far as Tammy could see she showed no movement at all. She wasn’t even breathing. Then she realized that she was screaming and clawing at the glass. It was happening again. She was trapped and helpless... watching from afar while someone she loved suffered and died.

Then she heard Ginney’s voice behind her, “Hey, where did Eddie and Sallinger go?”

Out in the hall, Sallinger gripped Eddie by the shoulders and locked him in place with his most intimidating stare, “Remember our talk when we pushed the button that started all of this?”

Eddie blinked and looked down at him, “Yeah, of course.”

“Well, you were right. We’ve been kicking death’s ass, but if we don’t do something right now that little girl is going to die and everything we accomplished is going to get buried under hundreds of feet of rock.”

Then he watched as realization slowly dawned in the younger man’s eyes.

“Holy shit, all of the research! All of the tech! It’s all down in the red zone! We have to get it!”

“No”, Sallinger responded gravely, “You have to get it, and get everyone the hell out of here. I’m going to help Jessica.”

“Doc, you can’t!”, Eddie sputtered, “There’s no way down with the central stairs blocked! Besides, what are you going to do? She’s not even human anymore!”

Sallinger squared himself before replying flatly, “Let me worry about that. You. Go... Now!”

Then he spun Eddie around and pushed him towards the west stair red door. The gangly younger man stumbled for a second, but then began to run and soon Sallinger heard the hollow bang of the red zone door slamming shut behind him.

After taking a deep breath a look of terrible conviction settled into the eyes of the veteran surgeon and then he turned to run the other way.

“Shit”, Tammy cursed, “Where the hell are they?”

“I dunno!“, Ginney replied as he and Elena ran to look down opposite sides of the hall, “They were just here!”

But before Tammy could respond there was a loud smashing noise from the lab and she turned to see Sallinger straddling a seat in the wildly tilted observation booth they had just left. On the floor below him a heavy bronze nozzle from one of the emergency fire hoses lay amidst a spray of broken glass.

“Oh… oh shit.“, Tammy exclaimed.

“What the hell is he doing?” Elena asked.

“I have no idea.“, Tammy replied as they watched him wind the hose around his arms before beginning to lower himself down through the shattered window and into the lab. He had an EMS pack slung over one of his shoulders, along with an emergency defibrillator and the bulk was making the job difficult. But he somehow managed to make it down without incident and when his feet touched the floor they all breathed a sigh of relief.

“I think he’s going to try to help her.“, Ginney said softly as they watched as Sallinger carry the equipment over and he began checking Jessica’s vitals.

Far above in the night sky over the facility Bao Zhi screamed in silent rage and frustration. He had a fresh set or rails ready to fire, but the maintenance subsystem had suddenly begun executing a hard coded calibration check. Now every single system on the StarLance was rebooting. He had already lost nearly ten minutes waiting and he could see survivors fleeing the base along some winding dirt road. If he didn’t get to fire his last series of shots soon they might escape and ArcLight could go with them. Their spies had assured them that all of the systems at the Valley falls base were cut off from the outside world for security reasons. To eliminate ArcLight he only had to destroy this facility and everyone in it. The only way to be certain was to leave nothing to recover... and there could be no survivors.

So while he waited for the StarLance’s systems to come back online he watched the small groups making their way along a service road that eventually connected to a main road several miles away. The he ran a few rapid calculations and adjusted his plan of attack.

He intended to make the rest of his shots count.

Down on level six it had grown quiet and dark until Theresa heard a series of loud bangs and crashes coming from above her. Then she was launched into another fit of hysterics as an entire MGSU came barreling down out of the gaping hole over her head. It passed by to continue down into level seven it missed her by less than an inch. Then she heard another deafening crash and things grew quiet again. But this time it took her a lot longer to calm down. When she finally did she felt so strange and unmoored from reality that she feared there might not be a way back. She hadn’t signed up for anything like this. She had been given all of the standard warnings and signed the legal disclaimers for her contract at RAMBUS. But back then she had felt safe knowing that she was going to be stationed in Kansas. Seriously... nothing scary ever happened there unless your name was Dorothy. But here she was in a collapsed building, lying in the dark a hundred feet underground with boulders and tanks falling around her. Poor Sergeant Clark had given his life to save her and she was just going to die anyway. Any second now the rest of the facility could collapse and…

“Ow…“, came a muffled, and gravelly voice.

Theresa froze and looked around wide-eyed before shaking her head. Auditory hallucinations brought on by stress. No one else was down here. Everything had been blown up. Everyone was dead. Clark was dead. The soldier who tried to evacuate her was dead. Everywhere she looked there was just a lot of... dead.

“Shit. That is definitely gonna leave a mark.“, came the voice again in an abnormally low baritone - and Theresa looked over just in time to see the impossible. The massive rockslide of debris that has crushed Clark to death was shifting. Then it was lifting and falling apart as a hulking figure slowly emerged from the mountain of concrete and rebar.

Clark… and unless she was also having visual hallucinations he was even bigger than before.

She watched in stunned silence as he gruffly brushed himself off and made his way over to her with footfalls that sounded more like the dribbling of a bowling ball. Then he loomed over her again with that overwhelming sense of presence he had and she had to suppress a semi-hysterical giggle. This couldn’t be happening. She was losing her mind. That was the only possible explanation.

But then she realized that he was looking at her expectantly and she turned her face up to meet his gaze. Yep. He was definitely bigger. The irises of his eyes had to be as big as plumbs and his arms were thicker than both of her legs put together.

“You OK?“, he asked gruffly as he put a hand the size of a Christmas hand out to steady her and the depth of the resonance in his voice made the fillings in her teeth vibrate.

“I... uhhh, think so.“, she stammered after a moment.

“Cool”, he replied with another wink, “Stick with me and I’ll never let anything happen to that fine ass of yours. Now let’s get out of here.” Then he reached down to pick her up without even asking and cradled her in his arm like a doll as he began climbing upwards through the wreckage.