Nexus (Chapter 4)

FOUR - Jane Soutaine II

Date    : 3044 A.D.
Place   : SINGAPORE, EARTH

Jane Soutaine, a thirty-year-old scientist from the latest Wormhole Tech Inc. had just finished her case. Lately the world had shown signs of instability and she was given a task to identify, investigate and possibly put a stop to it.

Instability was the only correct word to describe it.

16 years back, there was a massive earthquake measuring up to 11.2 on the Richter scale hit the northern Saharan desert, kicking up sandstorms that travelled almost to Alaska. Strangely, when scientists all over the world raced to the quake site, ever quite expecting a drastic geological impact, were puzzled to find nothing was there, except some great amounts of sand had been reduced.

But that quake somehow sent a hidden message to young Jane Soutaine who was about the age of a late teenager. She was at France when the quake happened. She could feel it, and so did everyone, but she was quite sure that something went amiss. There was a very, very deep whisper in her mind telling her that the quake was not natural and the scientists had overlooked something.

She never believed in extraterrestrials, of course.

Her determination made her ambition into a reality. She was a genius. She knew almost everything in the world. Everyone adored her, even her boyfriend Dave loved her even more. She made detailed field study on the quake site for more than 3 years and travelled around the world to collect sand samples from Sahara to find its significance. she crunched the numbers in her head and started calculating and weighing.

And then she got a message from a person called the 'Traveller' who seemed to be an omniscient human even though he was not with her. It was as if he could be anywhere on the Earth at the same time. He asked of her. She refused.

And trouble came.

Multiple assassins pursued her. Burning her house and slashing her family, they never stopped looking for her. She ran and ran. She was supposed to meet Dave at a Conference at Singapore. And on the way back, she got attacked by several gunmen.

"Get in the car, quick!" A hooded man drove up to her.

She had no choice. She boarded it and the man drove her away fast, although the assassins were behind her. She lost her phone. She couldn't call Dave in time.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked the driver.

"Shut up and focus. Stand up, remove the backseat. Do it!" the driver ordered.

She did and she saw a huge silver gun laced with red lines like lavalines.

"Take it and shoot them down," the driver ordered.

"I never handle a..."

"Do it or you'll die," he interrupted. "We will die." He corrected.

"The canisters are artilery shells. Take one, insert into the gun and aim at one of them. Fire at them accurately. We need minimal damage," the driver said.

"Who are you?"

"Shut up and shoot..."

"Maybe I should drive..."

"You have no idea where you are going to, Jane Soutaine," the driver pronounced her name ever so carefully and dangerously.

"You know my - " she trailed off. The car swerved. A blast hit near them, tearing down a street lamp. The assassins had gone violent now. "Mother of..."

She fired. Blinking purple streams of light replaced the lavalines red and a jet of red energy slammed on one of the pursuers' cars. The car engine died and caught fire. The gun cooled down to red lavalines again.

She dropped the gun. She never knew she could use a gun, besides she was able to fire a gun that accurate.

"Take the other car off our tail, or we can't make it safe," the driver commanded.

"Are they dead?"

"If they aren't, you would be," the driver said.

She nodded even though she knew the driver couldn't see her gesture (probably too busy avoiding the messy traffic right now). She inserted another canister and aimed at the next car. Her finger closed on to the trigger. Purple lines began to take over the red lavalines once again.

Then she paused.

The driver of the assassin's car was smiling evilly at her.

He's Dave, her boyfriend.