Your team raises their weapons. Katariki looks around—for a second, it seems like he's going to resist. But then he raises his hands.
"Fine. Let's play it that way. I'll come peacefully, for all the difference that makes."
Brett moves in close, and handcuffs Katariki. "The new boss's word is law, huh?" asks Katariki, with a wry smile. "Well, if you have any questions…no. Too late."
He looks up, into the sky, and you follow his gaze. There, above you, the air is beginning to distort, and tear itself apart.
Next
The first traces of the portal appear several yards above the rooftop, a pinprick of blinding white light that slowly, steadily, begins to grow. From nowhere, a howling gale rises up, yanking at your hair and your clothes, powered by the disruption caused by the appearance of this anomaly.
"It'll take a few minutes before it's big enough for the Surgeons to pass through," yells Katariki. From your trip to the future, you know that, if you do nothing to collapse or stabilize it, the portal will likely explode, destroying much of the building you're standing on. And then the Surgeons will pour through anyway, regardless. The image of an aerosol can comes to mind: break off the nozzle, and the valve it contains, and the pressurized contents of the can will pour out, impossible to stop.
On the other side of that spot of light in the sky are thousands upon thousands of alien beings, ready to begin their journey to Earth. And then, like a scream in your mind, their voices pour through that portal, in a great howl of victory.
Your human mind is incapable of processing this sound that is utterly alien, utterly other. It seems to cut through your thoughts, through the tissue of your brain itself. You press your hands to the sides of your skull, trying to do something, anything at all, to hold your mind together.
Next