BY: MAURICIO ESCOBAR
2. TRANSFER
Sergeant Dylan Harper finished tightening up the suit as the howling of the alarms started as if announcing a fanfare. Before fitting his head into the helmet, Harper gave a last glimpse at “the Vault”, right below his feet.
As he looked down, he briefly noticed the shadowy human figure materializing in the bright interior of the tank, a clear signal of the completion of the entanglement. He adjusted the oxygen mask and locked the helmet and waited for the alarm to go green.
Tense seconds elapsed before the final dive.
The Vault was an enormous tubular container covered of transparent Plexiglas, white and shiny in any direction and with a shape resembling a gigantic straw and the height of a three story building. As the transit was completed, water started pumping into the cylindrical chamber, drowning the contours of the ghostly dark floating figure materializing in its interior.
Harper approached the panel on the top of the chamber and introduced the code; then it was matter of pushing the release button and the Vault would be open. The level of the liquid rapidly arose as the subject, now fully solid, was floating weightless in it; then the release button lit in green. The Sergeant opened the oxygen valve, grabbed the first aid kit case, breathed deep and jumped down.
The floating body floated still and immobile in the water. Harper found that strange. Usually the “relocs” showed up in the Vault very agitated and chasing for oxygen; but this one was floating still in seated position, still like resting on an invisible chair with the head still lying sideways. Harper realized quickly that the relocation had been that much sudden, that much abrupt, that the subject had materialized preserving the same position he had before the transfer. But unexpectedly, the body started to rotate and fall towards the bottom of the pit; Harper forced himself to swim down faster. The water was forming whirlwinds as the body came closer to the bottom. If the body got caught in the strong spiral current it would be pushed hopelessly out of any reach. Harper straightened his body in an action that resembled a skydiver plunging into the air to cut the fluid resistance to a minimum, but the fall of the body was rapid, as if it was being pulled down by heavy ballast. He then observed the body stretching out, losing that original sitting position and plummeting. In effect, he noticed something attached to his wrist, a rectangular object that was pulling him down as if it was weighty as a stone.
Harper’s helmet spitted bubbles when he involuntarily cursed. The calculation of the counterweights was wrong. Something extra had been passed through; an extra weight in the transfer.
If the weights were wrong the time of extraction reduced considerably. Even if the procedure were to be successful, the entanglement could end up being so defective that…
Then, he realized it.
The computer would recognize the weight discrepancy and activate the emergency system. As this thought crossed his mind the whole Vault trembled. Harper looked up as a sudden whooshing sound coming from above shook the entire structure. It took him a few seconds to understand what he was seeing. The level of the liquid was moving towards him.
“No!”, he thought.
He looked down again. If the body hits the bottom there would not be a second chance of recovery…
He breathed air deeply and took the oxygen tank off of his back and dropped the first aid kit as he boosted himself down as hard as he could. The water above kept descending. On the other side, Harper imagined the alarms playing their own orchestra, the emergency light bulbs of Gershon’s container blinking in red and the computer panels sending error messages in cascade.
He was not going to make it.
Bubbles kept ascending from the liquid twisters, blinding Harper’s vision. He only could make sight of a shoe describing turbulent curves in the middle of a violent current that was into the shiny bottom of the tube; beyond the blinding light were the other side and also any chance of recovery. The sergeant then stretched his arm until it cramped out.
All it took was to touch the cold skin…
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