Endless Energy
The drill inched forward slowly, as if something was trying to push it back. It trudged on bit by bit.
“There’s an energy spike,” I said, pointing to the monitors.
“Cause?” Smith asked, walking up behind me.
“Unknown, but it’s affecting the drill. We should abort until further studies can be done,” I said, looking back at him.
“No, we’re too close to unlimited energy. Keep going.” He cracked his knuckles. The sound made me shiver.
I shook my head and let out a sigh. He was in charge of this project, but I was here for safety purposes. One word from me and they shut the whole thing down.
We were dealing with so many unknowns and theoretical information, we should err on the side of caution.
The meter spiked again.
I glanced at Smith and back to the readings. “Stop the drill. There’s too much resistance you’re going to burn it up and God knows what that would do to the core.”
“I’m in charge, I say go ahead,” he said, raising his voice so everyone in the room could hear.
“Smith, it isn’t safe. Stop it or you could blow up the whole planet.”
The drill operator pulled a lever and hit a button slowing the drill to a stop.
Smith yelled, “Restart the drill!” He clenched his hands in fists at his side.
The operator glanced at me and I shook my head.
Smith stomped across the room until he hovered over the operator. “You’ll be fired for insubordination! Restart it!”
The operator crossed his arms over his chest, unmoving.
“Fine, I’ll do it myself. When the world celebrates my triumph you’ll be remembered for trying to stop progress,” he said, grinning.
“No!” I yelled trying to cross the distance to stop him, but it was too late.
Smith threw the lever and hit the button and the drill started it’s slow decent.
I reached behind him going for the button. He pushed me back. I stumbled. The operator reached to shut it off again, but he was blocked by Smith.
“Call security,” I ordered going for the button again while Smith was distracted by the operator.
Smith threw a punch at the operator. He took a step back out of his reach. I shut the drill off and locked it down. It had slowed, but not stopped. I glanced at the readings and gasped just as I caught a fist to my cheek.
Pain radiated through my head making it hard to focus.
“What did you do?” Smith demanded. “What did you do? Fix it!” He pulled me to my feet shaking me.
Security rushed the room, separating us. The witnesses were telling their stories, when I noticed the drill never stopped. It was slowly accelerating, even though the power had been cut.
I glanced at the instruments. The seismograph started to move. Earthquake. This had nothing to do with tectonic plates. Whatever this movement was, it was coming from the Earth’s core.
“Oh my God,” I gasped, frozen in horror.
Everyone stilled. The whole planet rocked. Shaking harder than anything ever recorded. Everyone ducked under desks and ran to doorways seeking shelter. I could only sit there in awe. “What have we done?”
After the dust settled more than half the worlds population was gone. We soon learned the core was energy in it’s purest form. It was the magical essence that maintained the Earth. We had unleashed it from it’s prison. That much wild magic was unpredictable, changing everything it touched as it raged through the planet.
