Now Arriving . . .

Marcus reached into the sink feeling the cold water caress his hands, cupping the water he swiftly splashed his weary face. Looking up to see his harsh reflection staring back at him he tried counting the lines on his dark olive skin.

“Why am I here again?” He mutters in his heavy African accent, to no one but himself.

“Oh yes the promotion. Four years underground, waiting for the boss to show up when ever things get overloaded.”

Turning off the bathroom light, Marcus quickly strolls down the hall to the small one manned control room. His readouts show that as usually for him nothing is happening. He swiftly plops down in the cracked black leather office chair and rolls forward to the main controls.

Reaching for the log book and a pen lying near by he quickly opens up the logs and calls out to the Computer “E.M.C, what is your status?”

In a cold tone from the speakers placed in the sealing above him he receives his reply. “Electrical Matter Collector is working at peak conditions. It has been six-hundred-thirty-two days since the last transference. Do you wish me to power down and perform a full system diagnostic at this time?”

“What is local time?”

“It is exactly 2:32 am Europe Standard time.”

Shrugging to himself Marcus notes the information into his log before replying in a tone almost as emotionless at the computers.

“E.M.C. Proceed with eighty percent capacity shut down for a system diagnostic check.”

“Understood. Commencing shut down. Full power will not be restored until 7:34am.”

With that Marcus could hear the hum from the generators in the underground building begin to so slow down. He looked up beyond his consoles to the room that was before him. A simple steel lined room lay beyond the think glass-steal window before him.

“I swear with the way the boss acts I’m surprised I don’t see him that room more often.”

Hours passed and Marcus began to dose in his seat. His mind kept racing to images of James lying nude in a hammock. Now that would be the promotion he would prefer he thought lazily to himself. Just when the dream was going to move to the point Marcus wished was happing in the now a klaxon blare snapped him back to reality.

“E.M.C. Report!” Marcus shouted with a croaking shout.

“I repeat E.M.C. Report!” No reply. That’s when the terror of the situation struck him. The E.M.C. was dormant while it was in diagnostic mode, and the klaxon blaring overhead was telling Marcus that the boss was showing up.

Glancing at the monitor for a moment he realized he had been asleep for at least two hours, what could he get online? Nothing he could get nothing online in enough time unless he did a hard re-boot of the small complex.

Looking up into the once empty room before him he could see the first flecks of light emerging out of the nothingness. Like ever so tiny fireflies fighting to stay lit he watched as maybe a dozen or so of those lights winked on and off rapidly.

“Damn it if I don’t get things running he’s not going to have enough energy to materialize.” Speaking aloud during times of technical stress always seemed to help Marcus before, and this was a time for stress.

“He can hold on to that minimal pattern on his own for five minutes, give or take a minute. One minute full sprint to the surface to the back up generator. Gooses the system and force the main systems to blast online two minutes. Back down and let the system do the rest with not a moment to spare.”

Feeling the adrenaline pounding through his body he bounded out of the control room, down the short hallway, and up the long hard stone steps to the surface. Forcing his way out into the cold night air a chill ran up his spine as he trod barefoot across the wet grass to the generators.

What felt like life time long moments passed, as Marcus pounded the access code to the backup generators computer terminal.

{Access granted. Online in 43 seconds.} The terminal screen displayed for him.

As systems were booting up Marcus was already forcing the backup generator to slave to the main Generator. “Maybe I can trick the E.M.C. into thinking that it only just started shutting down. If that works I get full power, and can get back down below.” He spoke aloud as his fingers raced across the small keyboard in front of him.

Finally he had the generators kicking in and the computers running. {E.M.C. Online. Full alert status. Subject loosing cohesion. Input Procedure J.M.3. codes.}

“Fuck! Those codes are down stairs.” He took off running once again. A moment of relief came to him when he realized that the codes can only be inputted down stairs to begin with.

Moments later Marcus found himself deep below ground in the control room. Shoving the chair out of the way he quickly pounded the Procedure codes and hoped he wasn’t to late.

All he could do now was watch the show and hope for the best. Only a few of those tiny fireflies looking object were left before his eyes. He could hear all the generators begin to rumble to life as the room before him began to light up. Soon hundreds, then thousands of those electrical lights began to emerge. After a time it became to much for Marcus to stare directly into the room. The light was so bright he had to turn away and shield his eyes.

A few more moments passed and the klaxons finally stopped blaring and he could hear the computers voice once again.

“Subject J.M.4 has arrived with one-hundred percent stability. Electrical Matter Collector will monitor the subject’s status for one hour, and then shut down for emergency repairs.”

Turning to gaze into the room at the naked man standing before him Marcus reached for the intercom.

“Welcome home mister Marsh. Difficult time abroad I take it.”

Still crackling with energy James Marsh strode over to the wall speaker consol and flicked it on.

“It was challenging mister Dubain. Now if you would be so kind, fetch me a spare set of clothes, and while you’re at it contact the research team. Let them know I want every bit of information on Nano Sasaki and those she travels with. The next time she and I meet I plan on letting her watch as I fry each and every one of her friends.”