Hexad: The Chamber (18 page)

As they lay on the top of the stack of containers, Dale took in the scenes on the ground, noticing a huge mountain of what appeared to simply be soil being added to by scores of massive dump trucks, the pile spreading out, a man-made mountain soon to be inside The Chamber. Dale wondered how you could spread soil over the surface, he supposed it would have to wait until it was rotating.

Other activities were lost in a haze, the space so vast that it seemed to actually have its own micro-climate. Dale was sure that there were actual clouds high above, which would be a real concern he would have thought, with so much machinery and electronic equipment involved. The issue was soon explained though when far up in the sky something changed and massive vents roared into life, a deafening sound piercing the background noise as the cloud was sucked away. Even so far below he could feel a wash of fresh, dry air brush his face, a collective sigh echoing around the cavern as the humidity drained away and arid air took its place.

They watched for over an hour, whispering to each other about the sights they saw, trying to make sense of it, trying to find a way for the knowledge to help them in destroying the thing, halting Hexad productivity and Hexad existence once and for all. How were they to do it? Where to begin? What would guarantee they succeeded?

"We need to find out what this has to do with our Hexads," said Amanda. "Obviously this is the root cause of all our troubles. Somehow this is what everything leads back to. It's like Hector and how he produced Hexads, only very different. But the same thing applies: this is to get the spinal fluid from all those versions of me, and somehow it then produces the machines. It's got to be a part of it."

"Maybe not at first though," mused Dale. "For all we know they are building this for an entirely different purpose and then just hit on the whole Hexad thing."

"I don't think so, look." Amanda pointed down not far from where they were hiding. It was Cray, stood amongst a group of men in all manner of bizarre outfits, Cray, as always, in his enduring plain suit. They watched in silence as the sycophants laughed at whatever was being said, nodded sagely at words of wisdom, and smiled plastically at the end of the meeting. Just as they were about to disperse a noise came thundering out of the air.

Bing-bong,
came the beginning of what was sure to be an announcement, as if they were in a supermarket and the special offers were about to be read out. The air filled with a beautiful female voice, but what she had to say was far from beautiful.

"Ladies and gentleman, please note that progress is lagging behind by at least seventeen hours now. It is in your best interests to ensure that we meet our work quota and that The Chamber is completed exactly on time. Remember, this is your future we are creating here. The prize of a free Hexad for all involved is a promise Mr. Cray wishes to keep, but please do note that your contracts expressly state that this is conditional on work being carried out as efficiently as possible and that there is absolutely no delay concerning the deadline. Thank you."

Bing-bong.

Dale turned to Amanda, eyebrow raised. There was no doubt now what was going on. The room exploded into an increased hive of activity, noise levels rising as workers and supervisors shouted orders and picked up the pace.

So this was how Hexads became common to the masses — once The Chamber was complete countless thousands would be given one, and Dale was sure that many millions more would be sold, if they hadn't already been, to furnish such a massive undertaking.

"Of course," said Dale, to himself as much as to Amanda.

"What?"

"It's obvious. Cray could simply keep jumping about once he came to the future and showed them what he possessed. He could have jumped back countless times, got his hands on numerous Hexads, or whatever, even steal a few, the ones in the trunk anyways, and he could sell them each for the price of a country.

"He will already be rich beyond imagination, that's why this is possible, and once it's done he's clearly going to go into mass production, give thousands away and probably sell millions upon millions making him ruler of the whole bloody world."

"He'll probably own the world," said Amanda. "It makes sense Dale, he's made a fortune and now is going all-out to ensure that he can never be stopped and that he can get what he needs from Amandas as and when he wants."

"But why this? Why something so..."

"Big?"

"Yeah, big. There's more to this Amanda, a lot more. Let's do a little exploring."

"I don't think so, I think you should stay right here."

Dale and Amanda jumped at the voice. It was Cray, even though they could see him down below. They turned, and there he was: same suit, same hair; but older, and a lot angrier.

Dale didn't even try to reach for his weapon as it wasn't much use anyway, not when you had a gun pointed directly at you and the love of your life.

Dale sighed. "Fancy giving us a minute to think about what to do next?"

Cray shook his head, motioning with the gun for them to get to their feet. "No funny business, I'm really not in the mood. If you think I'm going to let you two just run around like this then you are sorely mistaken. You should have left well enough alone; it's not your business."

"Not our business?" spat Amanda. "Not our business when you are keeping those women in that abomination of a thing and ruining everything?"

"Like I said, I won't let you interfere. Now, we have to go. I can't very well have me down there getting involved in this, now can I? Never mind, I didn't, so I won't. Hold hands," ordered Cray.

Dale and Amanda held on to each other tightly as Cray stepped close, gun in one hand, Hexad in the other. He took hold of Amanda by the hair, pulling her head back, and pointed the gun square in her face before turning to Dale and saying, "Press the dome down. Now."

Dale pressed it. They jumped.

Secrets Revealed

Time Unknown

Dale was expecting to jump to some dingy basement where Cray would tie them up and maybe torture them while laughing manically, telling them of his plans for world domination in every possible timeline, at every possible point in history, so it came as quite a surprise to find himself in the same vast space they'd just been in, except now it was devoid of the mass of people, the machines, the noise, and The Chamber. He could tell by the look on Amanda's face that she was as shocked as he was.

Cray still had the gun however, and it was still pointed at them both.

"You know, you two are really rather slippery. I've been chasing you for some time now, and it's beginning to get a little bit tiresome."

"You could always just stop," said Dale.

Cray stared at him like he was about to smack him across the head with the gun, and Dale noticed a twitch of the arm. He flinched as he waited for a blow that never came. Cray seemed to get himself back under control and swept his free hand around the enormous room. "You see this? This is the beginning of it all, the start of what I know you have seen. Have you any idea the kind of organization it took to get this kind of a space ready for what I did? No, of course you don't, you don't know anything. This is the largest undertaking of its kind in the history of any world, let alone what comes next. And you, you two idiots, you want to ruin it all, put an end to a great future that changes the entire course of history forever."

"And gets everyone in all the universes killed," said Amanda, surprisingly calm and composed.

"No, it doesn't. I don't know what it is that you think happens, but it isn't the end, not really. I've seen it all, seen what happens when I bring Hexads to the masses, seen the mess that it causes at first, the closing down of timelines, the disappearance of humanity, but that's not the end of it all. I've seen the future, the far future, and it is once again populated with people, just different. My family. And yours." Cray pointed at Amanda, who shook her head, not understanding.

"Well, maybe not you exactly Amanda, but as we know there are plenty of yous out there, jumping about in time, creating universes, disrupting everything and killing yourself in a million different ways, but plenty of you end up in The Chamber, where it all begins. You try to destroy yourself but all it means is that more of you are drawn into that beautiful world, and there you make your choice. You accept your new life, or you don't, it's as simple as that."

"You built it on purpose, to get Amandas to live inside. Why?" Dale had to know, he simply had to.

"Dale, this isn't the movies where I tell you all my secrets right before you escape."

"Why not? Why not tell us how Amandas jump there rather than just disappearing because of a paradox? Why not tell us how it works, what it's really for? What difference does it make if all you're going to do is kill us?"

"My dear boy, how simplistic your view of the world is. Why on earth would I tell you all that? You might want explanations but I'm afraid you won't be getting them from me. What I build here is the most important piece of science and human experimentation ever performed, that ever will be performed. It is the single most important place on the planet, housing the greatest gift humanity will ever know, and you would like for me to spell it all out for you, tell you of my accomplishment, just like that?"

"Um, well, yes please." Dale knew he was playing a dangerous game, but he refused to bow down and act like the nervous child he actually felt — he would stand up and be a man, even if his palms were sweating and he feared Cray was going to do terrible things to Amanda before his eyes.

"Sorry, no dice. Oh, and about that killing thing, what kind of a man do you take me for? I'm not going to kill you, I can't."

"Well, that's... good," said Dale.

"Hmm, maybe. I'm not about to risk all that I do, all that I have done should I say, by killing you two. Amanda, it is you that started all this, although if I'm honest I'm not exactly sure why or how, but no matter, you must survive so that all that has happened will happen again, and you were to spend your time with company you are sure to like: other Amandas. But after your rather splendid escape, which I must congratulate you on, I'm afraid there is going to have to be a change of plan."

Dale didn't like the sound of it one bit, and he also wondered just what it was that Cray actually knew. This Cray would have lived a life where there was a different version of Dale and Amanda, a world where he'd found the trunk full of Hexads after the rather daft attempt to follow what they thought they were supposed to do and call the bomb squad in. After that he would have got his first Hexad and that would have been the beginning of the future Cray lived.

But what did he know now? He knew enough to jump back and to try to set events right, but most of it would have been with him acting blind to the change in events caused by Amanda returning. It was too confusing to understand, with worlds disappearing and then being recreated in an instant, just because Amanda jumped. It was all part of the same thing, all wrapped up tight in a mystery it would never be possible to solve.

"Before you do whatever it is you're going to do," said Dale, trying to buy some time, just on the off chance something happened that could save them, "have you really considered the consequences?"

"Dale, I know where you are heading, and it won't work," said Cray, almost, but not quite, smiling.

"Hold on, I haven't finished yet."

"Fine," sighed Cray. "Continue."

"Are you really sure that doing anything but letting us go is the right course of action?"

"Ha."

"No, wait. Look, you are here, right, so are we, and so is The Chamber and countless Hexads in the future. Right?" Cray just nodded; Dale continued. "So, that means you win, doesn't it? It means that we don't get to save the world and stop you from doing this madness."

"Not yet, no. But you stopped different ways of Hexads being in existence, so you could do it again."

"That's my point, we can't because we are here. If we do what we want to in the future then this conversation won't be happening, will it? No, it won't because it won't have ever happened."

"Dale, do you take me for a fool?"

"No, I'm being serious. We've seen it, been inside your Chamber, seen the Amandas, all of it, so there is a future where you do all that. That's the one you've already lived, right?" Cray just nodded, maybe Dale was actually convincing him? "So, if you leave well enough alone, leave us alone, then that future comes to pass, already has. But if you kill us, or do anything else with us, then how do you know that what you do won't change everything and you will fail?" Dale smiled, sure his words had an effect on Cray, maybe saving them from whatever he had in mind for them.

"Dale, Dale, Dale, good try my friend, but I am no newcomer to this. I understand the sheer impossibility of ever coming to terms with how time travel works. I gave up even trying a long time ago. Sure, I have lived a blessed life so far, constructing The Chamber, collecting the Amandas, all of it, so yes, all of that has already happened, and I know it could be changed, but it hasn't, has it? No, so whatever I do to you now will have absolutely no bearing on those events."

"It will, and you know why?"

"Please, enlighten me," said Cray, actually smiling at Dale's vain attempt to win their freedom.

"Because it already has. You doing this, jumping back to get the Hexads, it's led to this, so this is how it plays out now. We will win."

"No, you won't. And you don't get it do you? It may be me who invents the Hexad, but only because I knew of their existence because of you two. So there you go, what do you have to say to that?"

"What I say to that is where's your gun Cray?"

Cray took a moment to register what Dale was saying, knowing that he still had his gun in his hand.

Dale smiled wide, nodding his head at the gun now held by Cray's side.

Slowly, realization dawned; Cray's eyes widened. He lifted the gun up in front of his face before throwing away the plastic replica in disgust.