5 MINUTES EARLIER
The President stood alongside some RCA engineers and technicians, studying the machine called Ryan. Ryan was placed inside a glass cylinder that spun around continuously. The glass was filled with cold air so as to minimize the impact if he actually exploded. The President and the others around him were all captivated by the technology before them. They had never seen anything like it in their entire lives.
"What is it?" The President asked the engineer next to him.
Bob shook his head, "We don't really know, Mr. President. All we know is that this technology is truly amazing!"
"How so?" The President asked.
"It heals," A beautiful woman walked towards the President.
"Mrs. Katelyn Bonnier, it's nice to meet you." The President stretched out his hands for a handshake.
The woman shook the President's hands, "The bomb or Ryan, whatever you call it, I think that it's healing."
"Are you sure?" The President was alerted. "And do you mean healing like a typical human being?"
"Yes, and if it heals completely, we have absolutely no idea what it would do to us." Katelyn answered. "Before the machine was placed inside the cylinder, we tried to open it up, but it let out a powerful electromagnetic pulse that shut down every electronic machinery right here in the RCA. That's when the AI in that machine came online. It requested we put Ryan inside a freezing container and so we put him in that cylinder."
"Then what?" The President asked.
"It requested us to connect Ryan's electrical system to our source of power, and we did." Bob replied with a nonchalant glance.
"What?" The President exclaimed, "So, what you're trying to tell me is that right now, we are using our generator to charge a technology that belongs to the Terrorists?"
"We had to do it. The AI threatened to incinerate our entire facility to dust." Bob added, "Once we connected our generator to the bomb, something incredible started to happen. Something not ordinary."
"What?"
Katelyn continued, "The machine started to grow."
"A machine growing? That sounds impossible." The President folded his arms. "If he grows, just how powerful will he become?"
"We have no idea what kind of technology Maekun has designed, but if it grows just like living organisms do, I do predict and increase in its power."
"How big did it get?" The President asked a new question. He hated the idea of feeding the enemy's bomb with his own electrical power.
"Well, we measured an increase of 2.5 inches on every external dimension which includes; height, length, breadth, width etc. There was also an increase in the length and width of it spider legs. 1 inch for the width and 3 inches for the length." Bob replied to the President. Although, his measurements might not be accurate, he was pretty sure that they were close to the real thing.
All of a sudden, the alarm system at the RCA came on! At first, the President and the engineers at the RCA thought that it was probably a minor problem, but when the other alarms continued to ring out too, they all headed to the control room to find out what the problem was.
"What is happening?" The President asked a worker in the control room.
"The enemy drones are headed our way! And from the looks of it, there a lot!" The worker replied.
"How many exactly?"
"21, 22… 23, 24, 29... There's quite a lot of them!" Another worker replied, "There are probably more than 45, Mr. President. What do we do?"
"Tell General Harland to get our fighters ready! Arm all fighters with the MEG-16!" The President replied before turning to face an officer behind him, "Lieutenant Galvo, get your men ready and advanced to the wall! We'll shoot them down from there! Falafel, get my family into the jet and get the hell out of here!"
"Yes sir!" Falafel replied and exited the room.
He headed to the President's room and gathered the family together. He told them the bad news and his plan to get them out of here, but they were hesitant. "We have to leave now!"
"I am not leaving my husband here!" Lynnette's mother replied.
"Ma'am, I'm afraid you have no choice!" Falafel shook his head.
"It's just a Terrorists' attack! We've had so many of those before and we were quite victorious in destroying their troops!" Sophina pouted, "We can win this! There's no need for us to go away!"
"That's where you're wrong, ma'am. The enemy has developed a very dangerous technology that is capable of ending nations! I don't think we stand a chance against them this time! We have to leave, if you stay, you'll only be a burden to the President!" Falafel grabbed Sophina and Enry's hands, pulling them away.
Lynnette turned to face her mother, "Mom, you should go. I don't think it's safe for you to stay."
"Are you going to stay here?"
"Yes, Mom. I'll stand by Dad's side, so you have nothing to worry about," Lynnette assured her mother.
"Oh! My sweet-sweet girl!" The mother hugged her daughter before following Falafel and her children. Meanwhile, Lynnette ran to the RCA facility where she spotted a woman staring at Ryan as he slept in the glass tube. He had gotten quite bigger than before and his appearance was a little more ferocious.
The woman standing before the glass tube heard some noises and turned back to see Lynnette looking in her direction. "Aren't you the President's eldest daughter? What are you doing here?"
"I'm here for a friend," Lynnette replied.
"Oh, you mean the bomb?" Katelyn turned back to face the cylinder as Lynnette walked to her side. "What was he like? This machine."
Lynnette smiled, "He was funny and never once behaved like a machine. He protected me always without regards for his own life."
Tears fell out of Katelyn's eyes, "He sounds familiar. My husband's name was also Ryan. He died three years ago from a very deadly virus. I couldn't stop him from dying... How I wish I had died instead…"
Lynnette's eyes moved towards the woman's name tag – Katelyn Bonnier. "Bonnier? As in, Ryan Bonnier?" Lynnette moved her gaze from the woman beside her to the hibernating machine in the cylinder.
"Ryan Bonnier was my husband," The woman replied.