Otherworldly Liberty

Chapter 1: New World

"Sir, yes sir!" Answered the Chief of Naval Operations, who also, began to carry out his assigned task in the far corner of the room, using one of the computers to try and get in contact with the Navy.

"Anything else of importance that I need to be aware of?", asked Marcus, a full-blown migraine now present around his skull, not a pleasant feeling at all.

"Mr. President, some of the convoys we sent to the west coast have arrived at the AO, they reported something very strange... it seems like the area has no fallout, no contamination or radiation signals, nothing! It's as if something sucked it all out of the area with no trace left behind... however, the destruction is... the worst our country has ever seen since its founding.", said one of the officials, looking down in regret.

A minute of silence was given in respect for their fallen countrymen and women, however, they had no option but to keep going, to honor those who were no longer with them, and those who were still fighting for their lives, they would overcome this challenge with the full might of the United States.

"...Any theories on what might've caused this... peculiarity?" asked Marcus, with an unreadable expression on his face.

"I might have the answer for that."

The doors opened with explosive intensity, as a white-robed man, recognized by everyone as the highest-ranking scientist of the R&D Department of the U.S. Armed Forces, "Dr. Micheal Hartz, you never fail to pull up when most needed, what've you got for us?", asked one of the many officials in the room.

"Yours truly indeed, as I was saying, I have a theory about this, and it may have to do with the... 'Anomaly' we have been keeping tabs on.", began the scientist, while rubbing his chin thoughtfully, a moment later, he continued, "That thing was like none other we have ever seen before, the readings we got from our sensors should be complete mathematical impossibilities... yet after looking at the data, double and triple-checking it even, we think that it has somehow absorbed all the radioactive material, including its residual energy, right off the land.", he finished with a hardened expression.

Silence filled the room, then a small commotion began to take shape, most of it being speculation while a small part of the discussion was centered around the fact that this was an unexpected, but welcome gift for a nation that had one of its coasts almost glassed into a nuclear wasteland, however, it didn't last long since the President raised his hand, the quiet order received, everyone immediately stopped.

"This is indeed an interesting development, a welcome one for sure, but I heavily doubt that the 'Anomaly' simply did its thing and had no consequences after the fact, what else have you got on it?"

"So far, the only thing we know from the brief satellite data obtained before the loss of our connection to them in the lab, is that the 'Anomaly' ended up expanding a considerable deal, the readings indicated high amounts of chaotically... stable energy, spreading very far away, we don't know the full extent of it from the Ground Zero, but I can guarantee that it covered the entirety of the mainland and then some.", Micheal finished, with a look of cautious curiosity making itself known.

The room was once more motionless, while the information was being processed by its occupants.

"What about the '8-Hour Black Out' we had yesterday? Does it have anything to do with the 'Anomaly'?", asked the Secretary of Defense.

"That's a fair question, one that I do not have the answer for just yet though. However, I would put my money into saying that it has some correlation.", answered the scientist, not a moment later, the President interrupted.

"While all this talk about the 'Anomaly' is thought-provoking, let's not get carried away from our main priorities right now, we will find out more about what happened soon enough. For now, let's focus on the task at hand.", Marcus exclaimed, taking the reins of the conversation once more.