[AlumiuN]

May 7th, 8:25 PM

AlumiuN sits in his comfortable leather chair as the sound of static engulfs his apartment, only to be replaced by the shrill cry of sirens and the roar of an escaping city.
He walks over to the window and looks out at the ants of American civilization below. They scramble to escape what they know that they cannot hide from.

"Is this really what society has come to?"

The sound of a smashing window two floors below accompanied by a harsh scream signifies that someone realised what the masses did not, and preferred to choose their own conclusion.

"I suppose I'd best prepare."

He pulls out a small, metallic cube from his pocket. The glint reflects a sterile blue onto the white roof above as he opens his laptop to be greeted by the ironically cheerful sound of a Ubuntu 10 boot sequence.

4 years of design.

The cube now begins to emanate a small electrical hum.

One year of construction.

An empty desktop stands before him, with only a taskbar at the top of the screen to remind him that he is not using a digital photo frame.

2 years of testing.

He opens a small, simple window, with two icons. He clicks on the one labelled Zerospace, opening another window above that.

Radius: 30 metres
Allow Entry By:
User: Yes
Outsider: No
By Permission: Yes
Data: Yes

Entry Password: ********
Confirm Password: ********

Shield Space: Yes
Compression: None

He moves his mouse towards the Activate button. The sound of horns and twisted metal far outside confirms his knowledge that the general populace was doomed.

"It better bloody work."

One click produces a rapidly expanding blueish hue from the cube, stopping only once it has engulfed two full, but almost empty floors of inner-city apartment. The hum becomes louder, and the world outside fades into black.

"Come on..."

A sudden flash lights up the surrounding hills and cityscape in an eerie blue glow for a split second, before the entire room becomes pitch black.

"YES."



A thousand citizens of the area designated only as '4' look on as the top two floors of an apartment complex disappear, leaving an open shell of a building. The foreshadowing is lost on their panic.



AlumiuN looks through the small port in the subspace rift created around him. He remains stationary for over two hours. Not once does he flinch as the bomb hits, as the port flickers from the EMP wave, as millions of people perish and disintegrate in front of his eyes, for he is safe.


For now.