Falling Ark Read online

  Falling

  Ark

  LEIGH SNELSON

  Copyright © 2020 Leigh Snelson

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 9798621046354

  DEDICATION

  To my wife.

  For supporting me in realising this vision.

  CONTENTS

  DEDICATION

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  EPILOGUE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Chapter 1

  I watched as the timer continued ticking.

  It now read thirty minutes. That was how long I had waited since inputting the final instructions. It was just a waiting game now as the machine next door cranked and hissed, turning the raw materials into what I hoped would be my life’s work.

  “This has to work!” Lara said over my shoulder.

  “It will.” I confirmed.

  The simulations over the past few weeks had proven the physics and everything suggested this version would be a success.

  “Yes, but you said that three prototypes ago and I am starting to lose faith.” Lara explained, still hovering over my shoulder watching the counter on my screen. “The last one didn’t take this long!”

  “It’s nearly there, give it a few more moments.” I replied, tapping at the progress bar that was nearly complete.

  On the other side of the wall a one of a kind prototyping machine chugged away, firing lasers and radio waves at molecules. Manipulating them so they resembled the blueprints I had given it.

  I was nervous but I wasn’t going to let Lara know that.

  “Do you mind giving me some space?” I asked as politely as I could.

  Having the CEO of the company overlooking your life’s work can be intimidating but not for me. I’ve known Lara for a very long time and I was used to this behaviour now. As soon as I told her I was close to a breakthrough she hadn’t left my side.

  “I am not going anywhere!” Lara exclaimed. “Not until I have a working device in my hands.”

  Lara had hovered over me, like this, for at least six hours. It was nice to know my boss was interested in my work, but I knew as soon as she saw the device working she would be gone, scouting out some other project with some other unlucky employee to hassle.

  The machine changed its tone and a loud hiss could be heard from the other side of the wall. This meant that it was close to completion. I just hoped this time it worked. The machine had rejected so many of my creations I had lost count and started to lose faith.

  I wasn’t sure how the machine worked. Taking in raw materials and spitting out refined products, all I knew was its size. It was huge, not only physically, taking up a large area of the basement floor, but it also had a huge impact on our research. No longer did I have to wait for prototypes to be sent away for construction, I could build anything I wanted, right here in this lab.

  “Maybe I need to task someone with improving the speed of the replicator!” Lara moaned as she shuffled her feet impatiently.

  “I don’t think there is anyone left who knows how it works.” I said, unhelpfully.

  Lara had been responsible for its construction and it helped her dramatically rise to the top of the company. She didn’t physically build it, Lara was smart, very smart, and too smart to actually build something like this herself. Instead she managed the team that built it and then took all the credit for herself.

  During this project she became known throughout the company as one of the most ruthless managers in the entire business. There were stories about how she had broken the spirits of the staff in the final few days, pushing them to their limits which was why many of them chose not to return to work while she was still in charge.

  I must admit that I understood their pain. Lara had basically held me prisoner in here for the past thirty hours. She never physically stopped me from leaving but she was not subtle about what would happen if I did.

  “Nobody left. What do you mean by that?” Lara hissed at my comment.

  “Nothing, just pointing out that no-one really knows how this machine works anymore.” I replied, turning back to the monitor.

  Fortunately, I didn’t have a family to go home too. I rented an apartment close to the facility and over the past few years research had become my life.

  I already had a makeshift bed in the office where I could catch a few hours’ sleep while the supercomputer would create my simulations. As were the joys of being an experimental physicist.

  Besides, who would want to leave knowing that their life’s work was about to become reality.

  A green light appeared over the hole in the wall. The hole that linked this lab with the massive machine in the next room. The rubber conveyor belt started to move and I got very excited.

  “This is it!” Lara squealed in my ear.

  “Remember, it might not be perfect this time.” I said, trying to subdue her expectations.

  “What do you mean?” Lara turned on me. “What have you done to it?”

  “Nothing.” I replied. “I am sure there will be bugs to work out though.”

  I looked up at Lara and she glanced back at me.

  Out of the dark void where so many prototypes had previously appeared rolled a metallic, spherical device not much bigger than a basketball. However, this ball had switches and dials all over its surface and a small display along the equator which was glowing, displaying the word ‘Ready’.

  Lara stood up straight and leapt across the room towards the output tray where the little orb was still rolling around.

  The lab wasn’t that big, only a few metres across, and between us and the little spherical ball were all kinds of experiments. Test tubes, tanks of exotic slime and all kinds of strange liquids in different beakers. Lara didn’t care about any of that, she knocked into one of the tables, nearly toppling a centrifuge on her way across the room.

  I was not going to get in her way, so I took my time, getting out of my chair and slowly walking across the lab. I was excited, but I had knocked over these liquids before. I was only slightly scared of what hazardous chemicals the contained but terrified of the scientists who set them up and what they would do to me if they found out I had destroyed their experiments, again.

  After all, this was not my main office. The biologists mostly used this room and I had just been taking up their valuable space for the past two weeks.

  I found a desk in the corner and this was where I stayed, stopping anyone else from using the prototyping machine while I ran the simulations and created lots of failed devices.

  I likely wasn’t anyone’s favourite colleague at the moment but this was a monumental creation and I never usually used my authority.

  Lara stood there admiring the little sphere like a new-born baby. As I got closer I noticed that she was literally shaking with ex
citement, like a child staring at a mountain of presents at Christmas.

  “Well, what are you waiting for! Turn it on already and make sure it works!” Lara barked at me.

  I had known Lara for many years, and she never hid the idea that I was beneath her in society. We were roughly the same age, in our mid-thirties and by every measure we were equals but she had the title of CEO and I didn’t and somehow that justified how she treated me.

  Picking up the oddly shaped ball I held it in my hands. It was surprisingly light for a metal basketball; the steel casing was cold to touch and the dials spun round effortlessly. Overall, it seemed very durable as I twisted and toggled the switches. The little colourful display reacted, displaying different numbers and icons, just like I had programmed it to.

  “What are you doing?” Lara questioned, staring over my shoulder again at the machine in my hands.

  “Hold on.” I ordered. “Let me set it up.”

  This was it, my lifetime achievement. The years of research and dedication to this company, to Lara, were finally all worth it.

  I wasn’t the only person responsible for this of course and I would make sure that my team knew how important they were to this success.

  I had started to prepare for this moment weeks ago, making a list of what each member of the team truly valued. Tomorrow they would all receive a heartfelt gift from me as their reward. Whether it was an expensive bottle of champagne, flights home to see their family or sports tickets to the cup final, I didn’t care about the cost I just wanted them to know that I was grateful. They had worked hard on this project and it was a shame none of them were here now to witness this moment.

  I rotated a few of the dials away from their default positions and then located the single button on the top of the device.

  I pressed it.

  A small, audible hum came from deep inside the ball and I felt it struggling to leap out of my hands. I let go and it jumped into the air, abruptly stopping and floating above my head just over two metres from the floor. It looked odd, floating there like a Las Vegas magic trick. I couldn’t contain my excitement anymore, I let a smile creep across my face.

  Lara let out a squeal of delight and turned to me.

  “This is great, now pack it up, it’s getting shipped out of here first thing tomorrow morning, I have a prototype aircraft waiting for it. Let’s find out which military has the biggest budget!” Lara said as she smirked at me, unable to contain her own delight. “Don’t forget to encrypt the files on the computer too. We don’t want this secret getting out, letting the whole world know what I’ve created here!”

  I could see the energy in her face as all her emotions became exaggerated. I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. I wondered if I was about to suffer the same fate as so many that had come before me. Was Lara about to cast me out now that she had my invention.

  There were rumours of lawsuits from previous staff, some of whom had mysteriously disappeared. I remember Ron who was working in this lab until about a month ago. He was one of the biologists who I feared.

  He was working on something to do with cloning technology, but I hadn’t seen him around the office in over a month. Maybe he had taken a long holiday, or maybe he had finally had enough of Lara.

  “What do you mean, your invention?” I asked, accusingly.

  “This is my invention. It’s my machine, made in my factory by my equipment.” Lara explained, not even hesitating.

  “And what about me?” I asked again.

  “Yes, what about you? What are you going to work on now that this project is done?” Lara questioned me.

  “I don’t know, I haven’t thought it through.” I replied, caught a little off guard by the question.

  “Well you better think of something, quickly!” She said, then tapped her watch indicating that time was running out for me.

  What was Lara going to ask me to do now that this project was complete? She couldn’t fire me; I knew too much so I was safe from that. Even if she did, I would go and work somewhere else, taking all my research and skills with me. If I do say so myself, my credentials are quite long and I would have no problem getting another job. I suspect that other companies would love to know what goes on in this place and would hire me just to get me drunk and hope I spill the company secrets.

  No, Lara wouldn’t risk that. She had to keep me around.

  She walked under the floating ball looking up at it. She was tall enough to reach it but instead she just smiled and turned back to me.

  “Run some tests on it first and make sure it’s operating correctly whilst I go and get the champagne. This calls for a bit of a celebration!” Lara instructed; her tone was a lot more friendly, even happy. She threw me a smile before she bounced off through the airlock door.

  She was pretty, brunette and the same age as me.

  We had grown up together and our families had been close, but she had a completely different personality to me. She was ruthless and her opinions could only be described as ‘extreme’. She believed only she knew how to improve the world and would instantly reject anyone’s opinion that didn’t match hers.

  If Lara wasn’t technically my boss, then I would not have spent the past few evenings with her. It would be much more enjoyable alone in my apartment, or at the supermarket, anything except being with her.

  There was only one door in and out of lab and it operated like an airlock, just in case an experiment went wrong. It also served as a security filter. Only people with the correct badge were allowed in. It was important for Lara to know who was going into each lab. She decided who had clearance and who didn’t. I once allowed a biologist called Julie into my office one lunch time. Lara found out about this and striped Julie of all her privileges for a month. No parking spot, no gym, no medical. Lara took security very seriously!

  There were a lot of locked doors like this in the facility and I refused to find out what was behind most of them. There were also a lot of rumours, but I liked the innocence of simply not knowing, it was a simpler life and allowed me to focus purely on my own work.

  At this late hour I doubted that there would be any staff around to witness our creation anyway.

  As soon as Lara found out I had a successful simulated the gravity defining orb she ordered that neither of us were leaving until the prototype had been built.

  Now that time had arrived and the prototype was happily hovering over my head, proving the theory worked flawlessly and I was starting to realise I hadn’t slept in a long time.

  As I stood there, staring at the basketball floating in mid-air my mind suddenly started to race at the possibilities. Flying cars, floating cities and holidays the moon.

  One serious project I had simulated involved creating a clean energy generator. Using a gravity distortion, I could suspend water in continuous free fall. When you are messing with gravity you can decide which way things fall, down then back up again in a continuous loop. If you stick a generator in the middle, then you have continuous clean energy.

  It wasn’t quite perpetual motion, but the machine didn’t use energy from local dimensions, instead dragging power in from exotic locations from across the universe.

  It effectively worked in the same way that solar panels convert the energy generated by the sun billions of miles away into electricity here on Earth.

  This was essentially a magical device and it could solve so many of the world’s problems. Free energy, population explosions not to mention space exploration and Lara wanted to keep it a military secret and auction it off to the highest bidder, she had no ambition; my life’s work deserved to be used for the good of humanity not to pad out the profit of this company.

  I stood there staring at the orb floating over me, in awe of the possibilities and I never heard Lara return until she got closer and whispered in my ear.

  “Beautiful isn’t it!”

  Her voice startled me and I jumped a little. Lara was holding two champagne flutes and handed one
to me.

  “To the future!” She declared as she held her glass in the air.

  “To the future!” I stuttered, copying her gestures, moving my glass flute into the air to match hers. Her eyes followed my hand all the way, not wavering from the glass.

  As I lowered my hand her eyes remained fixed on the golden liquid in the glass and I started to feel very sick as reality suddenly dawned on me. I moved my hand to the left and right and her eyes followed it like a dog watching a ball. Why was she so obsessed with my drink? What was in it? Surely, she wasn’t trying to drug me?

  I would have to think quick though. I noticed that she was becoming impatient, her eyes growing frustrated as she watched me play with the drink.

  “And to VisionTech!” I yelled.

  I threw my hand up into the air again at a pace that ensured most of the contents of my glass leapt out, flew the short distance between us and landed mostly over Lara, especially her glass, causing it to overflow and trickle down her hand.

  “You idiot!” She screamed before composing herself. Her voice went quiet and narrowed into a scowl. “That was very expensive!”

  “Sorry, I let my excitement get to me.” I lied. “You drink yours and I’ll clean up this mess.”

  Her eyes darted to her glass, overflowing and dripping on the floor then snapped back to stare at me, deep into my soul.

  It was in that instant I realised how much danger I might be in. Lara had just tried to poison me. I had to get out of here.

  “What are you going to do now?” Lara hissed as she put the glass down on the table. “I don’t need you anymore, you’re just a liability at this point, you must understand that, it’s purely business.”

  I stepped back slowly, making my way across the office.

  The silence caught my attention. It was late but this was a twenty-four-hour facility and Lara always demanded people work late. Tonight, it was too quiet.

  I had worked several late shifts recently in preparation for tonight and there were always people around. It wasn’t difficult to lose track of time down here in the basement with no windows, so people always stayed later than they planned. Tonight, there was no-one, I suspect Lara had planned it this way.