SECTOR 10 (The CLOUD 2)

CHAPTER 16

CHAPTER 16

Martial law at the nation's capital has given world leaders who frequent the region a reason to divert travel away from the D.C. area. Political pundits advise their constituents to avoid major metropolitan areas, that way the mayhem doesn't influence their administrative decisions or get swayed by criticism of the masses. Assembly meetings on the congressional floor are supposed to reconvene after this economic scuffle is reorganized to fit the needs of new competitors in the marketplace. Ellis Bartram's public holdings of Delphi Corp. hurt enough investors with this volatile market.

With a monopoly over the tech industry, Bartram's corporate giant takes the brunt of devastating blows as his competitors rise from their lowly ranks. Delphi Corp.'s stakeholders don't need to pull out since their money's value has been deflating along with Delphi Corp., there were automated safety nets, but digital currencies skyrockets in value almost overnight.

Bartering is growing its popularity where people have banded together to form militias and storage banks where they can get the things they need on the cheap. If Bartram didn't know any better, he'd swear that he was living in the early colonies. The first month of the New Year hadn't even arrived yet before 2086 was predicted by specialists to be one of the vilest years to come in American history. For once, the United States needed to be rescued from insecurities plaguing its shores, of fear that Delphi Corp. and artificial intelligence would run amok, and it has. Aid would come from many places, near and far when FEMA insists on sharing its supplies widely. It's only been a couple of weeks and the damage is done. Starvation's on everyone's mind and there aren't enough physicians to fulfill demand.

An impromptu conference is live-streamed across virtual media devices with a new internet service. Those too slow to leave Delphi Corp. won't be able to witness it, whether employees, investors, or consumers alike, inevitably get stranded without upgrades when the President gives his speech of inspirational guidance during the tough stretch. They're all spared by international foes who want to take advantage of their vulnerability but decide against it.

Setting up the podium for cameras in front of it to capture the press conference, the thinly haired man with the grace and elegance of his Vice President, demands applause from the crowd. During the speech, he professes a notable judgment being reaped from their sins. Something that radiates the feelings of millions of dissenters. In the absence of order, the President refers to this moment as, "a historic fall of unprecedented magnitude." Since then, the Historic Fall is forever coined in the lexicon of American folklore and grammar. What was once laughable, the rise of artificial intelligence, is no longer humorous when gags between scientists and seemingly harmless experiments put everyone's lives in danger.

It isn't over, either. In Washington, D.C., federal agents are still covering up their tracks from investigating Delphi Corp. Headquarters, Whatever evidence is left behind of malpractice needs to be confiscated or trashed because even they started to get caught up in the secrecy. The problem presently is how to deter interdimensional beings from crossing the parallel divide. For the few hybrids that have the dreaded astral stones, it'll be their responsibility to fight whatever comes from the other side. There won't be Yhemlen reptilians to help them. Xavier Moth has already infiltrated humanity's timeline, and while the grey goo rapidly accelerates the devouring of matter there isn't an adequate response, each microsecond sends data to Frost across the quantum internet. The nanobots are gaining momentum. Ellis is bearing the burden to keep the clan of survivors together despite all the commotion attempting to deter them. It'll take all of them to solve this crisis.

Even though Delphi Corp. has been completely ostracized, the problem they created out of clandestine labs will be repaired just as it began, through experimentation. Bartram and the other hybrids are finally learning how to use their bodies by shapeshifting at the right time. Most important of all, stopping The Concord's bounty hunter needs them to summon the strength of all their powers combined and time isn't on their side. They need to hurry, before Xavier Moth and the grey goo reach them. He will stop at nothing to have them dead.