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The Story:
The gate was still unlocked. She sighed. It was always the first sign that Silas hadn’t gone home for the night. She pushed it open, locking it behind her after she stepped through.
The door to the station creaked as she opened it. Illuminated by computer monitors, Silas was slumped over his keyboard, snoring. She flipped a switch and fluorescent lights crackled on. He wasn’t disturbed by it.
Out of patience she picked up a thick file and slammed it down on his desk. He shot straight up in his seat. It took him a couple of seconds to start blinking.
“Oh… Angel, what’re you trying to do to me?”
“Change everything about you.”
He growled and shook his head, trying to jumpstart his senses.
“What time is it?”
“Thursday. Now, get up. I’m guessing you didn’t log the seismic from last night,” she said as she woke her computers.
“Marry me, Angel. You’re such a joy to wake up to.”
“I’ll get it. You just start the backup and put on some deodorant, for God’s sake.”
Silas headed to their tiny bathroom, while Angel sat down with last night’s seismic reading charts. Only minor tremors ever happened here, but it was their job to research the area’s unusual, continuous seismic pulsing. Every bit of data had to be assessed.
At 12am the pulses were normal. She flipped the pages, watching the thin line wave up and down at its usual one minute intervals.
She must have flipped 15 pages before she saw it—a flat line. The pulse had stopped. The pulse never stops. She checked the time on the chart. 8:16am. Looking up at her monitor to check, it was 8:34am.
“Silas, get in here!”
He jogged out of the bathroom, with a wet face from rinsing off in the sink. He had never heard a panicked tone from her before.
“The pulse is gone!”
“What? Did you check SIR?”
“No, hang on.”
She flipped a switch on a smaller device, and they only heard static.
“Maybe it’ll start back when..”
The ground underneath them bulged, throwing them into the air. They crashed to the ground and looked at each other.
Angel became instantly aware of some strange language being spoken over SIR’s speakers. It was getting louder.