The Rig by Joe Ducie

Author:Joe Ducie
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781471402203
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Published: 2014-04-22T16:00:00+00:00

14

Crystal-X

What Drake saw next changed his entire outlook on the world.

‘As most of you are aware, but for the benefit of those only just brought into our select loop,’ Doctor Elias smiled at Whitmore’s entourage, ‘the Alliance has been operating this facility for just over eighteen months. We mine the glowing rock, which I’ll hereafter refer to as Crystal-X, and experiment on it in a vast array of ways down here, in the privacy afforded us below the Rig.’

‘Do you know of anywhere else this mineral, the Crystal-X, can be found?’ a tall, attractive woman asked. She stared into one of the tanks, fascinated. ‘Or is this location naturally unique?’

‘Our leading theory is that the mineral itself is actually not natural, madam,’ Elias said. ‘We think this entire facility has been built on a gigantic meteorite. Yes, that was my reaction, too. We’re standing on a massive chunk of space rock that collided with Earth some millions of years ago. And …’ Elias cleared his throat. ‘And it’s been growing ever since.’

Most of the crowd was stunned into silence, as were Drake and Irene. Does he mean …?

‘My technicians have been working around the clock to prepare for your arrival,’ Elias continued. A group of six men and women, wearing white lab coats, stood in a line behind the doctor. ‘This, ladies and gentlemen, is what you’ve travelled so far to see.’

Elias flicked a switch on his workbench and four glass display monitors hanging from the ceiling flickered to life.

The displays played footage of a dozen different tests on a dozen different subjects. Drake didn’t recognise most of the boys he saw in the clips – and none of the girls – but they were dressed as he was in the Rig’s green jumpsuits. One or two seemed familiar, but he was more focused on what the people in the videos were actually doing.

One girl held out her palm and created a sphere of rippling energy, like a tennis ball of lightning. She tossed it at the wall and burned a hole through the metal. Another boy lifted a massive crate over his head with one hand and smirked at the camera.

‘That weighed three metric tonnes.’ Doctor Elias provided commentary.

A boy who could be no older than sixteen sat with his legs crossed. Not overly impressive by itself, but he did it two metres off the floor. He was levitating.

Irene’s eyes gleamed in the half-light. She looked at Drake and grinned, as if to say ‘See? I told you so.’

Doctor Elias paused the footage and addressed his audience. ‘As you can see, the results have varied. Most subjects show zero affinity for Crystal-X. Some develop a minor talent that requires a constant source of the mineral to maintain.’ Elias shook his head. ‘We classify those as unworkable.’

‘Thank you, Nathan,’ Warden Storm said, glancing sideways at Lucien Whitmore and his entourage. ‘However, I think Mr Whitmore would like to hear more about our success.’

Elias nodded. ‘A small percentage of the subjects

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