1 Prologue

A couple of nights ago…

"…. If I become the death" he pause grasping his breath, brushing aside the strands the wind has blown that get in his eyes "… the destroyer of this Universe…" his voice cracked as he looked intently at the woman at the end of the long library roof deck, the light provided by the full moon tonight is more than sufficient to recognize who she was and the stocky man a step behind at her side. "So be it, it is done then" He turned his back to her

He pressed the black small remote control. Instantaneously, the power around them flickered and in a couple of seconds, the machine contraption began humming in crescendo, the indicator lights coming to life.

"May God!, You are being selfish!" shouted the woman is biting down tears "what happened to the good of many outweighs the good of few … or one as you have put it so often?"

Hurt. He whirls back to her. His gaunt, bearded features are contorted by rage. Anger accentuated by the odd angle that the moon's dim light cast on him, anger that has been building fortnights ago.

"FACT!.. You knew it wasn't true" he hissed through gritted teeth "I had always put others before my own, even my family at times" he looked down at the blinking green lights of the remote control resting at his hands "I been devout, perhaps more than I ought to." He looked at the silhouette, at the attractive figure standing determinedly, her hair being played by cool wind waffling the early evening "I heck did his work, followed the scripture…" he paused, fighting valiantly to drown his sorrow.

".. and what did we have in return?" he continued calmly, the bitterness in reeking "… he let took my Patricia and the kids" the air smells is now permeated with warming electronics, the man, now standing besides the woman, slightly shifted his weight, the professor noted this and tensed "… who is in his right mind would allow anyone to die like that…" he exhaled rather forcefully, as if shrugging off the voice peppering his head "… buried alive, terrified, disappointed and forsaken by the God they loved more than anything else" his voice is broken. He shook his head rather violently, trying frantically to keep desolation under the surface.

"I've lost loved ones too, remember" she is crying now too "I'd love to have them back more than anything else." He paused also valiantly trying to control the emotion that threatening to engulf her "Trish was my sister, my only family"

The man did not reply, so she continued "… we need to let them go…" she pleaded " … they're in a better place now…" she pressed both palms together as if praying, beseeching "… Trish wouldn't want it to end this way. You said so yourself… many things could go wrong fast. Please, let's study the all possible consequences first…"

Silence but the winds

So she pushed forward

"You're gambling all our lives with this massive supernova energy that we could not control in the simulations" she wiped the tears stinging her eyes "and it's just to accelerate you to the speed of light" she paused, closed her hand open them "how much more do you need to go faster than it."

The stocky man's hand made a slow movement sideways down toward his hips "Our calculations' dead-ended on how we could control this artificial blackhole to sling you by… and an unstable one at that" the man just stood there like a rock. The woman felt her gut dissolve, as she felt she was losing the chance to …

"You could shred space-time and along with us with it…" her voice is trying in a last-ditch effort to summon all the rational thoughts into the man's mind "You are not that self-centered…"

He cut her off, bitterly "I'll rip it apart if I have to..." Looked at the woman one last time "…I'm done being nice…" his voice dropped a notch, almost a whisper, as if to himself. As if doubt finally catches him up "If I'm successful, everything shall be reset just fine and continues like it supposed to…" he finished with the thought, as if in solemn prayer, though not to Batala… and I'll be with Patricia and the kids again"

He abruptly turned his back on the two and clicked on the remote power button. The machine hummed excitedly and the archway brightened. The roughly rectangular space it framed came to life as if a movie was projected into it…"

The knees of the second man on the roof deck buckled as his subconscious flashed a memory of their last Christmas together, happy and content in their simple life. He was embracing his wife and their three children as they pose for the traditional photograph.

The professor was mesmerized by the baffling scene on the archway, it shows the daylight view of the same roof deck.

The realization of grave danger dawned on the security guard.

"Please!..." the woman was paralyzed by fear, sobbing. "Ted, for the love of God, do not do this!"

The professor throws his hand in the air. Jump into the daytime.

As he did so the wind suddenly become violent. The serene night sky was replaced by the thunderstorm that rages instantly as if on cue.

Panic-stricken, the guard sprang into action. Fired drew his service revolver …

Pop. The view under the arch wavered and then disappeared with it the professor

The floor shuddered, the building groaned and the explosion of light and an invisible force field rippled from the archway.

…. and emptied his rounds at the generator. Smoke fizzled where the bullets hit. The machine sputtered. The indicator lights on the contraption flickered and went out.

The woman and the security guard were thrown across the deck by the violent force.

The two were unconscious, the woman was lying face down, breathing shallowly. The man was on his back, blood is gushing from his head where it hit the retaining wall of the deck