Prodigy (Complete)

Chapter Forty

Aris searched high and low for an access pod charging dock, but could not find one. While the device mostly obtained power from the sun, Aris had not seen the sun in over two days and it was not about to rise for another six hours. He had exhausted all options in the office and did not have time to search the entire mansion.

What would Alex do? he asked himself. Alex would most likely think outside the box and not look for a technological solution. What is the non-technological solution in this instance? Aris thought while spinning around in his chair. His eyes fell upon the large portrait hanging behind the desk.

Aris rose from his chair and pulled the large-framed picture of Trevor Morrison off the wall. The resolution of the photo was so high, to him the resemblance was a perfect match. But there was a big difference in fooling him and fooling a retina scanner. It was time to find out. Aris held the picture up to the retina scanner and a thin blue beam of light scanned the surface of the image. Aris crossed his fingers as the computer analyzed the result.

“Retina match confirmed,” a voice said. He smirked as he admired his ingenuity. The next thing Aris was looking at was the home-screen of the Leader’s computer.

Aris spoke some key phrases pertaining to the ship and within seconds, the computer populated a list of results. Aris was now staring at a hierarchy of glowing orbs – each one a file awaiting his selection. He reached out and chose the first orb on the list – a three-dimensional scaled version of the ship. As the hologram spun slowly, Aris marveled at the technological achievement. The design was a vast improvement from the preliminary sketches that Mara had. Using his hands, Aris disassembled the craft piece by piece. The ship had two massive cargo bay areas, an antigravity scrambler, two twin-turbo thrusters, several mini-exploration pods, two fully functional labs, and he had yet to explore the main deck. It was a very impressive craft to say the least – paid for by the citizens of Earth. He was also impressed at how the Leader was able to keep the construction of the craft under wraps for so long, especially with the ubiquity of information and communication available. Where would the Leader even hide something like this? he asked himself.

Out of the corner of his eye, Aris saw a section of the ship that intrigued him so he reached into the hologram and held the room in his hand.

“Isolate,” he instructed. The computer discarded the rest of the ship except for that one selected portion he was holding.

“Enhance,” he commanded again. The hologram expanded, allowing Aris to get a better look at it.

“Analyze.”

A soft computer-generated voice began to disclose the specifics of the unfamiliar region of the craft. “Matter Transporter. Location: rear quadrant of the main hub—”

“Repeat,” Aris said before it had a chance to finish.

“Matter Transporter. Location….” the voice said again.

Aris was speechless. He had never heard of a fully operational matter transporter before; that was something out of science fiction.

Without interruption, the voice continued speaking in the background as Aris comprehended this discovery. “Last Transport: Maxim Morrison. Status: Successful.”

Aris sat there almost in a hypnotic trance as the glowing hologram slowly revolved. In theory, for a matter transporter to work, there would need to be two of them – a transmitter on one end and a receptor on the other end, he reasoned. Therefore, if the Leader transported himself to the ship, the transmitter was likely somewhere in this house. If I had to guess, it would be somewhere in this room.

“Locate matter transporter,” he said on a hunch.

Much to his surprise, a series of pneumatics released a soft hissing sound from across the room. Aris immediately looked over as a portion of the wall split apart, revealing a strange-looking contraption inside a small nook. He slowly approached the room and was in awe at what was inside – a tall, off-white cylindrical machine with smooth contours and glowing areas.

Aris studied the machine with interest and then stepped fully inside. We’re all going to die someday, he thought. He stood there a moment, contemplating what he was about to do. In his excitement, he had forgotten to notify the others of his discovery, though not that it mattered since his access pod was completely drained.

“Transport to last coordinates,” he instructed with a slight hesitation.

He stood up straight and remained still as the machine powered up. What started off as a mild vibration continuously increased until it became a loud hum that rattled his bones. His ears popped and he was blinded by an intense light. Following that, he felt a burning sensation rip through his entire body as if he had swallowed an atomic bomb and it had detonated in his stomach. It was too late to scream. Every fibre of his being separated as the bright light consumed him. The machine howled loudly and with an intense jolt, it blasted him into another space and time.