Descension

CHAPTER 1

"Desolation is a strange concept," Ben mutters under his breath. He continues softly, staring out at the bustling city of Genesis that just barely creeps into his vision over the horizon, "The idea that something can be truly empty... devoid of anything. I don't think that really exists."

"What makes you say that?" Liam, Ben's older brother, asks.

"The idea of nothing is impossible. To be able to identify nothing, there has to be something," Ben says, turning his gaze to his brother, asking with his eyes: don't you agree?

"...I suppose so," Liam murmurs, "but you're the scientist." He smirks. "I'm just a humble politician." Liam pats Ben's shoulder before striding off, Ben following in a delay, still somewhat lost in his existential reverie.

At first glance, most might not assume that they are brothers. Liam is warmly tanned with amber eyes and dark brown hair cropped close at the sides, his navy blue uniform pressing perfectly to his broad, muscular figure. He walks in casual confidence. Ben on the other hand is pale and cool, his eyes an otherworldly dark blue behind rectangular lenses, and tousled shoulder-length onyx hair. He's slightly taller and far more slender, and his gait is swift and calculated rather than the fluidity of his brother's. On closer inspection, however, they share the same face shape, thin eyes, thick lashes and brows, and charming smiles.

The click of their shoes on chromium-plated floors reverberates throughout the glass windows and thick, lead-filled walls of the reactor's observation wing, leading back to the main hub of the powerplant; Omnicore. One of three stations that power the world, this one the largest. Though it lies within the borders that make up the greater Genesis area, it functions as a city of its own. Housing, recreation, and anything else one could ever need lies within the glass spires of the sprawling facility, dedicated entirely to the engineers that keep its heart, the reactor core at the center of it all, beating.

Ben turns smoothly on his heel toward the doors of the lab, though Liam firmly grabs his arm. Ben shakes off his hand, slowly turning away.

"I won't be long," Ben chides indignantly.

Liam huffs, "That's what you said last time. You need to be in the Capitol Hall by midday. 1200 exactly."

"This is important too." Ben scowls, his scrunched brows pushing his glasses down his nose bridge. He continues, "The shell-"

Liam holds up his hand, closing his eyes and inhaling sharply. "That... is what we are meeting about."

Ben's brows relax as he pushes his glasses back up with his index finger. "What do you mean?"

"The council... they're..." Liam says and leans in, lowering his tone, "Beginning to deem you unfit for this position."

Ben lurches back, offended. Unfit? How? I've been running this plant for nearly a decade. "I don't understand."

Liam sucks a breath in through his teeth, then sighs, "They just don't think you're handling this problem adequately."

"I'm trying to find out what's going on..." Ben shakes his head in disbelief. "How is this even a political matter?"

"They want to send in a team to investigate. They're worried that your emotions may have made you too attached to your job. You might overlook a flaw because you're too prideful."

"Liam, you know my judgment is better than that." Ben scowls.

Liam laughs and shakes his head, patting his brother's shoulder. "Ben, I'm on your side. They're just entitled old men who think they know better. Let them do their investigation, and they'll settle down. Okay?"

Liam smiles and bows his head before walking off, Ben staring after him in silent disbelief until Liam turns the corner of the wing. Ben gives a frustrated grunt before turning around and locking himself in the lab.

Ben takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, leaning back against the doors. There is nothing like the lab and the sense of euphoria it brings to him; The scent of metal, the low hum of machinery, the feeling of repressed radioactivity, and wonder around him. Just him, and the fundamentals of the universe. Working in here feels meditative.

He slowly opens his eyes and straightens his back, settling a pair of safety glasses over his eyes. He sits down at his workbench, opening the glass top of the container that rests in the middle of the table and holds a sample of the reactor's disfigured steel shell. It seemed to have warped, discoloration throughout the metal. Ben takes a diamond-edged scalpel and scrapes off small flakes from the sample. He places the flakes on a piece of glass, carefully dropping distilled water from a pipette onto the sample.

It didn't seem to produce an immediate reaction.

Ben places a second plate of glass over the sample, then sets it under a microscope, adjusting it as needed. He examines the sample, again and again, rolling the dial between his thumb and forefinger. Nothing seemed to change. Ben turns the lens clockwise. He zooms in as much as he can, and still, nothing abnormal, even on the molecular level. He switches to the third, and final lens, turning the dial as quick as he can, until the atoms comprising the steel become clear. They're disfigured, unorganized, and rather than breaking apart by particle, the entire mass seems to dissolve. Ben observes further, his breaths trembling in unease as he watches the atom destroy itself, then spread to the next atom beside it. Whatever this corrosion is, it's subatomic.

1157. Ben marches down the main corridor of the Capitol Hall, his holopad tucked beneath his arm. Two guards clad in heavy armor and guns open large double doors for Ben, who continues his stride evenly, almost as if the doors weren't there in the first place.

"Ben. On time, I see," Tiberius, the Head Councilman of The Ordership states.

Tiberius radiates power. Tall and muscular, even for his age, with tendrils of white and silver hair falling upon his broad shoulders. He has a well-maintained beard and blue-hazel eyes set beneath thick, ash-colored brows, his unwavering gaze potent with control.

Ben nods, standing before the elevated crescent table where the council sits, a hologram of the Ordership flag displayed proudly behind them: as if fabric, the vibrant blue banner of oscillating pixels waves as if fabric in a gentle breeze, emblazoned upon the center, the Ordership logo; two hands cupping the Earth, uniting it as one. From left to right of Ben's perspective sits Liam, Vice Antonov, Tiberius, Speaker Onyango, and Senator Holden, each of their gazes like dozens of needles that slowly inject a burning toxin into every inch of Ben's skin.

Ben gulps. "Early, actually." The attempted humor clearly fell flat. Ben clears his throat. "I've conducted my own research on a warped sample of the reactor's shell."

Tiberius' brows furrow, his dark, aged eyes narrowing to slivers. Even from a distance, Ben could see Tiberius' gaze flit to Liam, then back to Ben, "...Did Senator Anderson make you aware of our plan, Doctor?"

"He did. This is an independent experiment that I believe will be helpful to your investigation," Ben replies.

Tiberius shifts in his seat. Liam wriggles uncomfortably. Tiberius sets his hands on his desk and sweeps them outwards as if to clear Ben's words from his personal space, like a layer of intruding dust had collected there after months of being untouched.

"You are going to cease entrance to the main reactor until we have concluded our investigation," Tiberius states.

Ben's jaw nearly drops, "With all due respect-"

"I understand your position, Dr. Anderson," Tiberius says. "We just don't want any interference. This is a serious matter. You of all people should know what would happen if that core were to blast."

Ben's entire body shakes with rage, his eyes shifting to his brother desperately as the holopad in his hands begins to strain in his grip.

Liam sits up. "Perhaps we should allow Dr. Anderson to continue," Liam blurts.

Tiberius raises a silver brow at Liam's suggestion.

"You said yourself that he knows the reactor better than anyone," Liam murmurs.

Somewhere, a muffled, invisible clock ticks, a long delay between each second- Ben isn't convinced that the sound is real.

"Fine." Tiberius says, "You have one month to complete your research."