SUNGLASESS AND ROCKETS Part 2: The Machine

THE LAST SECONDS

Darwin and I took a deep breath.

"Got it," we said at the same time. With my tremulous jaw I asked, "where should we introduce the frequencies?"

"Nothing works here," the doctor said, and turned his beams to a huge hole. "We will do it directly".

"Directly?"

Our boss pointed to a big cave framed with fragments of a translucent material. It was the gigantic observatory window that was destroyed.

"The big SVM must be behind it," the doctor explained, "Let's go!"

He dove himself swiftly in that direction.

"We are still on time!"

We crossed the big cave, avoiding a lot of floating obstacles.

The space was clear.

We activated the retrorockets and we found ourselves floating in a huge vertical cylinder illuminated by a strange greenish light... the walls had small circular blocks... with blue sparkles jumping form one block to another, like worms...

"Is this the SVM?" I heard Darwin ask.

The doctor was looking around.

"It is the resonance vault..." He turned downwards, "the SVM is at the bottom!"

He cast himself at once and we followed him.

The construction was huge, like a 30 story building!

As we descended the light increased around. But I didn't have the courage to look to the sides... I was afraid to crash at the bottom which now I was starting to make out. Something sparked in the center of the platform that was used as a base.

"Put on the brakes," the doctor shouted.

I pushed the corresponding button. The bottom was vertiginously getting near us.

"What is that?" Darwin asked. "Something is moving down there!"

There were bodies floating around the platform. They were shaking as if they had some electric discharges...

Static crackles vibrated on the headphones.

"Moses Masterton," was heard.

It was Voodoo's voice!

"Voodoo?" Lucas asked from the Pterodactyl.

"Lucas," the doctor reprimanded him. "Do not interrupt."

My fast descent was stabilizing. A retrorocket was making my torso turn softly to fall on my feet.

The bottom was a few feet from there.

"I did not build this SVM," Voodoo added, he had a grumbling voice. "I just wanted to make it work."

"There is no time," the doctor said. "Where is the input for the frequencies?"

At that moment I made contact with the ground and I a fell on my side. Only then, I dared to gaze up. The doctor was passing a few feet in front of me falling down like an experienced parachutist. Darwin was next.

"Where are we working?" my friend wanted to know.

"Voodoo," the doctor insisted. "If we don't deactivate the SVM, a cataclysm will occur on Earth!"

The strange looking device was shining from a distance of 30 feet, it must be the big SVM.

The doctor was already going in that direction.

We followed him dodging the cables that were winding in the surrounding area. Suddenly, we found ourselves facing the fearsome machine.

"Voodoo! Which are the frequency inputs?"

No answer.

"We are looking for four big connections," our boss murmured. "Each one with six inputs in a star shape.

The instruction was simple, but there was nothing on that strange device that indicated the presence of connections. It was a metallic ball of approximately 6 feet in diameter, with sections made of crystal of a disturbing greenish brightness...

Even so, none of us had second thoughts about checking the diabolic device. Every second counted. Our effort soon paid dividends.

"Here are some wires," Darwin said.

I was looking on the other side of the ball. I straightened up. Darwin was holding a bunch of thin wire. The doctor took them and pulled strongly.

"They're cut," he said.

The shredded ends showed up dancing. In electrical terms you could say that the wires were alive.

At that moment, Voodoo regained contact.

"All the frequency inputs had been cut off... there is no point..."

Where was Voodoo watching us from?

"We already tried to deactivate it," he continued as if he was dying. "Go away..."

Was that one of the bodies shaking on the side of the platform? I tried to spot him.

"Gordo," the doctor said, ignoring Voodoo's words. "Are there any cables on your side?"

I went back to the base. Except for the metallic link to the platform, the only weird thing that I found was a black box pasted to the ball. It had a chronometer with red numbers.

"There is a box with an incorporated chronometer," I informed astonished. "It runs in thousandths of seconds."

The doctor came towards me and bent down completely.

"It's a bomb!"