Fall of the Archangel

2. Flash Freeze

'Something unexpected has happened. I need you to look into it. You're the only detective we have on call,' said the commissioner.

'Right away sir,' replied Josephine. 'What is the incident?'

'A massive shipment of liquid nitrogen went off course. We just got word of where the truck's been found. The Franklin hotel, halfway through the lobby.'

'The one next to the Mar River?

'Exactly'

'But how could this happen? Didn't the Archangel foresee this?'

'That's what we need you to find out. A patrol car will take you there. Get going.'

'Yes sir.' Josephine got up and walked out of the room, not noticing how much the commissioner was sweating. He then looked at his computer. He had received absolutely no alerts about this incident from the Archangel. Only one system message was displayed.

The Archangel app calibrated for your use has crashed.

Detective Josephine was stumped. Her phone was still displaying the system message. She felt like a child who lost his mother in a supermarket. For all her life the Archangel had been a constant. But now without it, she was heading into an unknown unscripted future where anything could happen. For the first time in her life she felt fear. Not more constant alerts from the Archangel. She was going to have to start making decisions herself. She restarted her phone hoping that would help. No luck. It still displayed the same ominous message. And since the other functions of her phone relied on the Archangel app she couldn't use any of them. Her phone was now about as useful as a torchlight. She could only wait for midnight when the main Archangel server would refresh and update with tomorrow's list. For now she was going to have to make do without it. The automated patrol car zoomed through the streets with its siren wailing. It was operating on emergency protocol since the commissioner's app crashed. The other road users got out of her way in surprise. This was bad. If one app crashed the whole system might fail since everyone's future depended on who they came into contact with. Because of her, the guy who got out of her way had his future changed since he wasn't supposed to move out of the way at that point. But after a while cars started moving out of the way automatically. She heaved a sigh of relief. The Archangel was compensating for the unexpected turn in events by updating everyone's futures. Only her app still remained crashed. She guessed there were too many uncertain things in her future to update it accurately.

She arrived at the crime scene to find a massive hazardous material transporting truck lying on its side halfway through the lobby of a hotel. The driver was sitting by the side of the river with his head between his knees. Paramedics were everywhere. The whole scene looked like it was hit by a snowstorm. Ice was everywhere. Half the lobby of the hotel was frozen solid. Thanks goodness there was a strong wind to blow away the evaporating liquid nitrogen. People were sitting in ambulances with shock blankets. All around the T-intersection curious passer-by's were looking. The Archangel had already updated so no one was shocked. People were even looking down from the windows of neighbouring office buildings. She walked up to the driver who was sitting in an ambulance shivering more from shock than from the harsh December cold.

'What happened?' she asked him.

'It all happened so fast. My app didn't even notify me.' So his app had crashed too. What was going on?

'Just tell me what happened,' asked Josephine.

'I was driving normally down 7th Avenue. Then as I turned around a building I saw a guy standing in the middle of the road. I was shocked my app hadn't said anything about it. I slammed on the brakes. The truck grinded to a halt. I got out of the cabin and went to give him a piece of my mind. He didn't seem to be scared at all. I walked up to him and said "Hey buddy," and that's the last thing I remember.' Next thing I know I wake up in my truck's cabin. Only the truck is half way in the lobby of the Franklin hotel.

Josephine froze. A guy. A guy was the cause of this. And judging by the statement of the truck driver it was no accident. He had deliberately knocked out the driver and driven the truck into the Franklin Hotel. But what could he possibly hope to achieve. But more importantly, how had he achieved it? Impossibly, a man had defied the Archangel system.

'Can you tell me what he looked like?' inquired Josephine.

'Let's see, he was really tall. He was wearing a jet black trench coat that went all the way down to his calves. I can't really remember what his face looked like. It all happened so fast.'

'Thanks for your information,' replied Josephine.

She then walked over to the truck to inspect it. The huge truck lay on its side. The truck was carrying a tank full of liquid nitrogen. She walked closer but slipped on some ice and fell. Dammit she thought. Combine the liquid nitrogen spill with the harsh December cold and she felt like she was at the North Pole. The trucks top was split open like a tin can. The guy in the trench coat obviously was driving it at top speed before he crashed it into the lobby. But exactly what was he hoping to achieve? She was soon to find out.

'OH MY GOD!' she heard a scream.

She ran over to where the sound had come from and she saw what had happened. The liquid nitrogen had spilled past the lobby of the hotel and into the Mar River.

Despite the cold December the river hadn't frozen completely that year. But apparently the sudden rush of cold from the liquid nitrogen was exactly what nature had needed to tip the scales. The Mar River was now frozen solid.