The Six: Genesis | A Reverse Harem Novel

Seventy-Seven

And this is home. For now.

To the naked eye, it's a plain space with white walls, a curved exterior window made from diamond glass, and flat white marble floors. Recess lighting peppers the ceiling, leading to the doomed glass where they shrink to a smaller size and line from the ceiling to the floor. Outside of a single painted portrait in the far left corner, there are no other adornments.

Incredibly, when I step inside, the space transforms.

A hollow oval shape clicks open on the floor and a marble desk floats up, hovering near my waist height. With a flick of a wrist, the plain walls flip, exposing touchscreens from floor-to-ceiling. My office chair rises from the floor as well, a whisper on the wide made from the softest silk on a titanium frame.

"Welcome, Blue," Iris's calm voice pours over me, "how may I assist you?"

"Iris, are you aiding Ryker and the guys with their search for me?" I ask plainly. Her loyalties lay mostly with me, but she knows and is fond of them all.

"No. They have been informed I cannot assist them with their search."

"And how close are they to finding me?"

She pauses briefly, as though considering her answer with care. Time stretches for so long, I nearly spit the question out a second time. Her voice rebounds when my mouth opens to say her name.

"They have requested I pay them the same respects as you. I will assist them in finding you, but I can't say I agree with your escape either, Blue."

"You work for me, Iris, remember?"

"Yes, I am aware. However, you also programmed me to behave in your best interest and I believe you were at your best when with Chris, Michael and Charlie."

"Fine," I sigh, rubbing my fingers against my temples as I flop into my chair, "don't tell me."

"I wasn't planning to, Blue. How many assist you this evening?"

"Are you still running the algorithms and working on locating Levi and Catrina?"

"Yes, all protocols established before your retraction are in force," Iris says, flickering a multitude of black lettering across the screens. They flitter quickly, flickering project after project before me. I checked their completion and was disappointed when I saw there were no leads for Levi or Catrina.

Was Ryker hoping I wouldn't notice the both of them are gone? When he told me about Levi missing, I chose to track Catrina behind the scenes. She popped up occasionally for insubordination, demanding to speak with me, but she was met with a brick wall.

A brick wall named Ryker Daniels.

He doesn't want her near me. So, she's nowhere near me. But, I want to know why she wanted to speak to me, despite the way our relationship ended.

You know what they say: curiosity killed the cat. For the time being, I let it go.

I nod, "good. Let's tackle some of the other issues."

Many would prefer magic, but I like my tech better. While there are many questions as to why tech works, a tried-and-true formula for success changes as time does. According to the fantasy books I've read, magic has rules.

You must speak incantations this way. You must mix your potions like this. You must draw your rune in this specific shape.

Technology doesn't work this way.

I can bend it, break it, remake it to create something new, something better. And there are no rules other than those meant to prevent harm to humans. What I hope to start today will work in the opposite direction. In order to protect myself, I need weapons.

They can be swords, knives, guns, shields—whatever the mind can conjure—and they must be easily accessible.

If Lewis catches sight of a gun or sword strapped along my back, he'll freak out and I may never see him again. However, tying things to innocuous items on my person is a viable option. Unfortunately, my nanites don't possess the carrying capacity to create an automatic weapon from thin air.

Decades ago, when the first Hadron collider was built, they sought to answer several theories about the universe. Particularly, are there other dimensions, and can we detect them? We've made many strides in this area, delving deeper into the hypothetical theory of dark matter and how it comprises an estimated 27 percent of the mass energy of the universe.

I'm not concerned with dark matter, but I am concerned about the additional dimensions.

A few years ago, Zhyv and I sat down regarding the research completed at the Hadron Collider. Much of it is classified and hidden well behind a firewall most hackers can't access. Zhyv and her nine aren't normal hackers.

Honestly, I don't think there's a server safe from them.

To protect the public and ensure their own survival, the governments of 79+ countries decided to hide the existence of other dimensions. Two scientists rebelled, and aimed to expose the secrecy to the world. Sadly, it was less than 48 hours before their deaths were announced. A single tragic car accident and neither of them will ever see another sunrise.

Their research was digitized and placed on a server under the care and direction of the United Nations Initiatives. Zhyv broke into their servers and uploaded a virus directly into their systems. Now, she's a ghost, existing on the fringes of their systems as new information becomes available.

Undeniable proof of other dimensions.

From what I can see, they've found a ton of one thousand so far and the number climbs every day. Some have evidence of life, others are void littered with dark, formidable forces and others... are empty havens. Bending an empty void to my whim can be useful, but also enormously dangerous.

To make this work, I need an empty dimension I can store weapons inside of and access at the drop of a hat.

Similarly to space saving shelves, I'll need to stack the weapons in a prescribed order, create a search and find device, and then fashion a conductor to pull the weapon from the dimension for instantaneous use. Easy, right?

Oh, yes, and ensure it's a dimension no one other than myself and those I've given access to can locate. Opening the files I've downloaded from their server, I start at the beginning. After all, when I sort out the remedy to my problem, I'll answer Zhyv's question and hope the enemy isn't Charlie.