1 Chapter 1: The sound of a clock that began with an explosion
Before you begin, read the two auxiliary chapters found in vol. 0.
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His footsteps came out in the hallway on the way to his lab. He often received looks from his fellow investigators, looks of envy and contempt, but these looks never affected him, after all he grew up being looked at that way.
His name was Alek Gusev, a scientific researcher from Russia. Since he was a child he had the obsession to help humanity with his scientific and technological advances, and that is something that he easily achieved at the age of 24, creating a powerful functional solar reactor. He won the Nobel Prize thanks to being the first scientist to create an artificial sun that works in a stable way, that sun was used to power the reactor.
For years he studied and experimented with what was at hand. When he was in college he was able to build an electric generator using recycled materials, the generator had the capacity to power an entire house.
Unfortunately, at that time Alek's life was not easy, since he was always financially limited. He barely had enough to pay his college tuition and living expenses.
Due to how strange and obsessive Alek was, his family turned their back on him, everyone believed that he would not get anywhere, but right now, that boy who was ignored by his own family worked in a large company hidden from society. Company whose job was to create both biological and technological weaponry.
"What type of compounds should be used for this...? The management of the artificial sun is going well, so there is no need to intervene in the biological compounds that keep it stable, but in case of any failure..."
Alek was thoughtful as he walked, almost always his mind kept working. Something that was always present in him was the fact that he was not a normal person, he was born with a talent of one in a billion.
His ability to lock himself in his own world and ignore others was masterful, so much so that he could sometimes forget to eat or go to the bathroom.
"Good evening Doctor Gusev"
A woman greeted Alek, but he didn't reply and kept walking. That was something that made the woman look at him with contempt.
"Moron"
Alek listened to what the woman said, he was ecstatic for a moment before his lips released a small sigh.
(I already know it)
Alek told himself. His way of socializing was not good at all, he almost always kept quiet, locked in his own world, away from the hustle and bustle of others. It had been more than twenty years since he spoke normally with another person, but that could not happen again, rather, he did not have the ability to speak normally with another person.
"72% Hydrogen, 27% Helium, 1% Xenon, 0.5% Oganeson and 0.5% Radon. The elements I need to keep the artificial sun stable..."
After standing still in the same place, locked in his world, Alek began to babble strange words that a person outside of physics and biology could not understand.
Seconds passed and Alek realized he was wasting time on his thoughts, so he walked back towards his lab. His walking style was calm and relaxed, like when you feel free enough to walk through a war camp without paying attention to the slaughter. Honestly, Alek was a man who didn't care about other people's lives, not even the lives of his family were worth anything to him.
He was always someone who saw death as something natural, something that one day he will also have to witness in front of his eyes.
If they were to ask you, are you afraid of death? He will only respond with a bunch of scientific and technical words, which hopefully those more specialized in the subject will be able to understand.
"If the gravity of the earth is 9,807 meters per second... the new containment chamber will be able to work... the artificial sun has the same magnetic field so..."
Once again, while deep in thought, Alek entered his lab. The place had, like the floor and the ceiling, bright white walls, in addition to the different furniture that decorated it, tables, chairs, paintings made by great artists, this was the sacred sanctuary of Alek, the place where he could feel free, the place where he could feel important.
"Okay... to work"
Alek took the robe from the side of the door, put it on and went to the sterilization room, where all the malicious bacteria that cling to the clothes are eliminated.
When he got to the room, the doors opened as if by magic, well, more than magic it was a simple automatic door. Already being in the room, Alek closed his eyes and let the strong breeze in the room remove all the impurities from his clothes, once the breeze stopped Alek opened his eyes again if he went ahead.
When he got to the next door it too opened automatically. Ignoring the strange sense of danger he felt, Alek enters the last room of his laboratory, the containment chamber, where the artificial sun that he managed to create with so much effort was located.
Just seeing the beautiful artificial star made Alek want to cry from how proud he felt. That beautiful star that shone in an intense sky blue color was capable of giving energy to the entire continent, but great rewards also come with great problems, and that is that if the artificial sun that Alek created is destabilized, it could be extremely dangerous for all of Europe.
But for the luck of the European continent, Alek has controlled and stabilized the artificial sun, so the chances that it will spend all its hydrogen are almost zero.
"Well my dear plasma friend, it's time for your maintenance"
Alek put on his protective gloves and began to change the strange steel containers that were housed in the lower right part of the containment chamber.
Since the chamber was dry from the 5 cubic meters Alek had to make several trips to bring the steel containers.
"Hydrogen 70%"
Alek slowly removed the container of hydrogen and put it on the ground. For this moment nothing had to fail, the necessary precautionary measures were being taken, so nothing out of the ordinary should happen.
From where he got the hydrogen container, Alek placed a new one with great care that this one does not receive any hit.
"Helium 27%..."
Again and as he did with the hydrogen container, he removed the helium container and placed a new one. With the other containers the same thing happened, with the greatest care in the world, Alek finished the maintenance of his artificial sun.
"Good..."
A small sigh of relief escaped from Alek's lips, he knew that if he failed in his maintenance task the artificial sun would stop working. To summarize it, you just have to imagine an electric light bulb turning off, it is the same thing that would happen to Alek's artificial sun if its elements do not feed it.
After the maintenance Alek left the holding chamber and headed to the room where he normally creates the biological compounds that keep the artificial sun stable. These compounds are replaced every ten days, since in most cases the compounds do not support the load of stabilizing the sun and die within ten days.
Upon arrival, Alek put on protective goggles and reinforced latex gloves that he modified himself. You always had to be careful with this type of thing, since there can always be a flaw which can cause everything to end in misfortune.
When Alek finished putting on his gear, he looked around and saw different glass containers that house living organisms. All those organisms were part of the research that Alek was carrying out, research that had to do with the regeneration that the human organism possesses. Somehow I wanted to discover if it was possible to increase the regenerative and healing capacity of the human being.
"Alpha, Beta, Aleph 0"
Alek began to name the organisms in the containers as he walked past them. He appreciated every little physical detail of every organism, even though most of them have the appearance of an alien.
A few seconds after Alek observed his experiments, he walked to the largest table in the center of the room. The table held various professional chemistry instruments, obviously provided by the company Alek works for. Some had strange colored liquids, most had a green color and what appeared to be a slimy texture.
"Testing... testing...
Alek held up a small hands-free microphone and attached it to the collar of his robe.
"February 12, 2037, Monday... it's... 2:35 a.m. Attempt number 74 to improve the productivity of my artificial sun. So far it's capable of powering the entire European continent, but I have a feeling that I can increase the energy it produces"
Alek held a test tube in his hand, which had a yellow liquid in it.
"I think... it's possible to add another element to the sun, but I haven't figured out exactly which one yet."
Alek poured the liquid into a chemical holder and quickly grabbed another test tube containing a green colored liquid as fast as his hand poured it into the holder.
"The reaction is not as expected"
Alek noted that the liquids had no reaction to each other and quickly began writing on the board behind him.
Although his way of writing was a disaster, you could see that he enjoyed what he did, despite the poker face he always has, you could see the passion with which he handled his work.
"If I lower the concentrated Ph..."
Every word out of Alek's mouth could melt the brains of any normal person listening to it. The simple fact of being able to talk to him was a legendary achievement, there were times when he turned down dates with beautiful women who were after the money he had earned with his effort, but luckily Alek is not so naive with that guy of things.
"Hey?"
A light beep coming from Alek's left wrist made him stop his work.
"What the fuck?!"
Alek's eyes widened in disbelief at what he saw, though he still had a poker face. His watch showed an alert for overheating and spending excessive energy on the artificial sun.
As soon as he saw his watch he ran off in the direction of the holding chamber. Alek wasn't that athletic, so he got tired if he did a lot of physical exertion, but that didn't stop him from reaching the camera in less than five seconds.
Upon entering he saw how the sun shone brightly, at the same time expelling small waves of plasma, which with luck the giant container could resist.
Alek wasted no time heading to the area where the steel containers were located. He opened the hatch and removed all the containers without being careful. He took the container of hydrogen and opened it to observe the content, but...
"This is... Rubidium..."
In the container where the hydrogen was supposed to be, there was a large amount of liquid rubidium, something that caused the sun to overload.
Seeing the rubidium, Alek's gaze changed. Despite having a poker face, you could clearly see the anger he felt at the way he was looking at the container. Instantly Alek remembered the woman who called him an idiot a few hours ago, she had left the lab, so it is very possible that she is the one who sabotaged the hydrogen container.
"Seriously... I never expected this"
With those last words the whole place was illuminated with an intense blue light and a great shock wave began to devour the place. Little by little the artificial star began to expand in the earth's atmosphere, absorbing oxygen from it and becoming larger. Absolutely everything in its path was disintegrated without exception.
Before long the star's expansion reached the core of the earth, where the two merged, finally causing all the magma that was hiding to shoot out into the earth's crust.
From a distant view, it could be seen how the star devoured the planet, and how it turned a red color until it could not resist anymore and exploded into a billion pieces.
The blast wave spread so much that it managed to destroy part of the planet Jupiter and completely devour the planet Mercury.
-In a strange place-
Everything was darkness, nothing but darkness. Always and forever, darkness will reign in that place.
He slowly opened his eyes, he felt confused, he was sure that he was completely destroyed by his own creation. But at the moment of death he felt a strange sensation of electricity going through his body, as if all his cells were changing.
"Where I am..."
Alek got up from the ground, and tried to look around, but nothing, there was nothing, just darkness, or so it should be.
Out of nowhere a white light appeared a few meters in front of him. Alek was never one of those who believed in gods, he didn't even know if there was something after death, so he didn't know if this was the path to hell or just a trick of his mind. But despite everything he walked towards the light.
Every step he took echoed in the place, the ground was full of what he appreciates to be water, but he wasn't sure since everything was dark.
He was only halfway there when he felt something grab his leg. Alek looked down and what he found...
"Something like this..."
The place lit up in a bloody red color, and there he could see who was imprisoning him. A person, completely covered in blood. This person was holding tight to Alek's leg and didn't seem to want to let go. Apart from the person, the entire floor of the place was covered in blood, and voices began to sound.
"You killed us"
"Because of you I'm dead"
"Sinner!"
"Assassin!"
As the voices rang out, hundreds of thousands of people began pouring out of the blood on the ground, each ready to take Alek with them.
Seeing this, Alek kicks the face of the person who was stopping him from continuing. As fast as the person let go, Alek ran in the direction of the light, but it was too late, the forgiver held him tight and dragged him into the blood.
The last thing heard was the ticking of a clock... and a piercing scream, a scream... that turned into a baby's cry.
