Running out of time

Part 17 - Days before the disaster

All of us were smiling, because we had a lot of great moments together. People thought we only focused at trying to save this universe, but in reality we had dozens of adventures, which haven’t been described by anyone. Only people in those facilities knew about them, and we never told others about what happened there. For example, once there was a huge party in the facility, and we decided to participate in it. At one point, Cain brought a critical tomato, and put it on a desk while Abel was telling a joke, and then immediately ran away.

After his brother finished saying it, and all of us burst out laughing, the tomato smashed him in the back of his head, which caused his head to go down and land on a slice of cake. He tried to find a person responsible for this prank, but nobody told him anything, and he found out about his brother’s intrigue the next day during breakfast.

These were good times, and I felt sadness due to the fact, we were most likely never going to see one another again, until my phone rang, and when I answered it, I heard Cain’s voice:

-Y/N? You have to come to the facility as soon as possible, we have found something interesting!

- What do you mean Cain? Is there a chance to save our world? – I responded filled with hope.

- I am not sure, I haven’t read it yet, because I am waiting for you.

- What about others?

- Iris and Abel will come to us tomorrow, Olivia probably won’t come, and Myung-Ok is already in her real world, which means, she is most likely not coming back. You are the closest to this facility, so don’t waste your time and come back to the Site-17 as soon as possible!

- Okay, don’t scream at me, I will be there within one hour.

I hung up, grabbed my car keys and drove in the direction of Site-17. Thankfully it was surprisingly close to my house, and I was surprised nobody has found them during all this time, but frankly speaking, they were well hidden. After thirty minutes of driving I saw the familiar building again, and after showing guards my ID, I stepped inside in order to find Cain.

Thankfully he was waiting for me next to the elevator, and immediately brought me in the direction of his office, where he indicated at a small note lying on his desk.

- I don’t know what is that, but when one of our scientists was analysing that machine, he managed to open it and found this thing inside.

- And he sent it to this facility?

- Yes, because who else would be able to use this information, if not us?

- Okay, I get your point, let’s open it.

He took the note, and having read it carefully, he gave it to me.

Welcome citizens of this poor universe! If you are reading this, then you are already aware that this machine is impossible to destroy, as it is bounded to your timeline and the entire universe. I am not sure if you are the first ones to find this message, but congratulations! Only people who managed to completely destroy the machine with their technology are able to find this note at the last-but-one day.

Unfortunately for you it is not going to save your world, as the Great Hurgtargh does not show any mercy, but you will be able to find out, what this machine truly is. First of all, as we already mentioned, this masterpiece has been created by Great Hurgtargh, a member of The Highest Council, made out of fifty strongest destroyers of the entire Multiverse. There is no hope for you but we know you are special. Because of that, we will give you a hint what to do now. Destroy your world yourselves.

Machine will survive no matter what you do, and it would be better for you if your civilization dies before it activates. Watching your entire world getting annihilated while you are unable to do anything is a terrible experience, and since you already know what is going to happen, then you might as well make it come faster.

After all, this gorgeous piece of art has been made to show pathetic races like yours, that with our power, nobody stands a chance. You made an effort to save yourselves, but it was pointless. So go ahead, and unleash hell on your planet, but please, be creative. A VHS tape presenting the annihilation of your world will be made after the machine activates, but we would love to see something new and interesting. This note will come back to the machine after your world dies. Do not disappoint us.

The Highest Council

P.S. Please, sign the name of your race at the back of this note. This will be a memorial for you.

I slowly handed the note to Cain, who closed his eyes for a second and then threw it into a garbage can. I have never felt more disappointed, because this note not only didn’t help us, but also completely shattered my last hope, that something could change. I sat on a chair and pulled out my phone in order to check the time. It was slowly getting late, as it was already 8 p.m., and in only few more hours, humanity would have one more day of life.

After that, we would have approximately seventeen to twenty hours, before our civilization would get completely annihilated, while we were helpless. Type six civilization had a chance to escape this hell, but their ship got destroyed by a falling moon. They tried to escape when it was too late, and the same fate is waiting for us. We don’t have advanced technology to escape, and the only thing we could do is evacuate humanity through an SCP object, but neither of them was safe or big enough to save everyone.

When I presented this idea to the O5 council four weeks ago, they started considering it, but ultimately they all said, it was pointless. At best we would be able to move few million people, but most of them would die anyway, as those dimensions were mostly located in our universe, and the machine would affect every single one of them. There was no chance to bring humanity to another universe, as we didn’t have the necessary technology, and Serpent’s Hand would doom themselves by turning this world into a part of their library. Ultimately, we have decided to give up and wait for the inevitable end and spend this time as well as we could.

Our fate was sealed, there was nothing we could do, and with this thought I went to a bedroom in Site-17, where I lied on a bed and fell asleep. At the beginning I had trouble with falling asleep, and when I finally managed to succeed, somebody splashed me with cold water. Immediately I woke up and looked at that person with anger, and saw Iris standing over me with an empty glass, from which she poured water on me.

- Wake up you sleepyhead! – I heard her voice while another person next to her started laughing.

- We travelled a long distance to see you again, and you don’t want to greet us? – Abel responded with a smile on his face.

- I was trying to fall asleep for over two hours, and when I managed to do that, you guys wake me up?!

- This world has only one more day of life, and we wanted to spend it as one group again.

- Is it seventh of July already?

- It will be in thirty minutes.

I slowly stood up, grabbed a bottle of water and drank a small amount of it. Having looked around I realised only Abel and Iris arrived, while Myung-Ok and Olivia were absent.

- They are not coming to us, are they? – I said while looking at them.

- Probably not, and I am not surprised. Olivia isolated herself from all of us, while Myung-Ok is the only one who can escape to another universe, but she is unable to take anyone with her. – Iris responded immediately.

- She wants to save her life and warn her world about the possible danger, which could come for them after us. – Abel continued Iris’s response.

- Can you blame her though? If somebody from that other world accidentally brings that machine to their world, they will die too.

- Guys, I really appreciate you came back, but can I please, go to sleep? – I said with tired voice and yawned after that.

- Sure, but I will wake you up at seven a.m. – Iris answered before leaving the room. – Goodnight everyone.

After she left, Cain and Abel followed her, leaving me in the bedroom alone. I closed my eyes and tried to travel to the land of dreams with knowledge, this would be my last sleeping session in my life. Anxiety and fear were playing with my feeling, but after some time, I didn’t hear anything around me and fell asleep.