Them? Who are they?
Chuhang frowned as he stared at the two lines written on the floor. He was about to ask further questions, but the hand fell silent, refusing to respond no matter how hard he tapped on the glass container.
"Ugh! D*mn it!" he cursed, frustration evident on his face. It felt like he was interrupted mid-thought, leaving him irritated and unsatisfied.
"Can't you at least write something comprehensible?!" He mumbled, though realizing he could actually make sense of the second line.
"Vivian, is there anything unusual happening in Power Chamber II?" he asked.
"No, Major. All systems are reading normal," replied Vivian.
After a brief moment of thought, Chuhang decided it was best to check it out himself. After all, with such strange occurrences, it wouldn't hurt to be cautious.
Before leaving, he secured the glass container by stacking two dining tables on top of it. The added weight would make it nearly impossible for the hand to escape.
With that precaution in place, he and Vivian proceeded toward Power Chamber II.
---
Power Chamber II didn't actually supply the base with any energy. It had a different purpose: to house a weapon known as the *Zeus Staff*.
"Vivian, if they'd spent a little more time refining the particle accelerator, perhaps things might have turned out differently," Chuhang mused, tracing his fingers along the equipment before him, lost in thought.
"Major, the Earth Federation invested ten years trying to enhance its efficiency but never succeeded," Vivian responded.
The particle accelerator was originally designed as a means to create high-speed charged particles artificially. While it was initially a scientific tool, it eventually held promise in the pursuit of limitless energy.
The Mars base was constructed with the hope of realizing energy self-sufficiency. However, despite the completion of the particle accelerator, it only operated at 30% efficiency—far below the 100% required for true energy autonomy. In the end, the project was abandoned in favor of the Dyson Sphere initiative.
*If only we could use the Zeus Staff against that giant cockroach,* Chuhang thought aloud.
"Major, the Zeus Staff is a particle beam weapon with twenty times the power of the Patriot MAX model," Vivian explained. "It's unlikely the creature could withstand it."
Chuhang nodded. The *Zeus Staff*, in a sense, was a byproduct of the particle accelerator project. The destructive potential of a near-lightspeed particle beam attack was undeniable. Unfortunately, its downside was its immense energy consumption.
---
Suddenly, a sharp, grating noise filled the air, piercing Chuhang's ears and making his head throb as though under extreme pressure.
"Aah!" he groaned.
As the sound faded, the hallway outside the chamber echoed with a dreadful scream.
Chuhang's face tensed as he instinctively drew his sidearm, assuming a defensive stance. "Vivian…"
"Understood, Major!" Vivian responded swiftly. In sync with Chuhang's gaze, she sealed the doors at both ends of the chamber hallway and summoned the patrolling combat robots back to the base's interior.
The agonized screams continued, seemingly coming from the walls.
Chuhang took a look at the video feed Vivian provided but saw no life forms.
"Major, it's coming from inside the wall," she informed him.
*Inside the wall?* Chuhang held his breath, cautiously stepping closer and prying the door open to enter the hallway. The screams grew louder, more visceral, and sent a shiver down his spine as he advanced. He gripped his gun tightly, his hands trembling slightly.
He quickly retrieved tools and began chiseling into the white wall, each blow breaking away more of its surface. Soon, he broke through, revealing… a woman.
Her body was entwined with several wires embedded in the wall, each thread of metal piercing her, making her agony unbearable.
"Don't move!" Chuhang commanded, attempting to calm her struggling form.
She writhed in pain, unable to stop the blood that trickled from her wounds. Without a second thought, Chuhang carefully cut the wires binding her and hoisted her over his shoulder, rushing her to the medical bay.
---
In the infirmary, the woman lay unconscious on the medical bed, the anesthetics keeping her sedated. Thanks to Chuhang's quick actions, her life was no longer in immediate danger.
"Vivian, are you certain this uniform is from *Cosmic Homeland I*?" Chuhang asked, glancing at her tattered blue uniform. On her right chest was an unmistakable Earth insignia.
"Yes, Major. Based on the database, it's a third-generation uniform developed in 2050, the last model produced."
*Thirty years ago?*
Chuhang studied her features. She had the physical characteristics of a human from Earth, with short golden hair and fair skin, possibly of Western descent. He couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed—he would have preferred someone from his home country. But he quickly brushed off the thought. After all, at least she was human! Things could have been much worse.
"How's the cellular activity in her body?" he inquired.
"Based on the data, this human female appears to be around 25 to 30 years old," Vivian reported.
Chuhang was momentarily taken aback. Her uniform was from thirty years ago, but her age suggested she was no older than twenty. Could there be a hidden cryo-chamber within the walls of the base?
Dismissing the notion, he decided to wait until she awoke to find out more.
"Major, there's something else I need to report."
"What is it?" he asked.
"The arm you placed under the glass container—it's gone."
*Escaped? How's that possible?!*
The weight of those tables would require Chuhang's full strength to lift, not to mention the fact that it was also encased in glass.
"When did it happen?" he demanded.
"Right after that soundwave," Vivian explained, projecting a video onto the screen. "When the soundwave hit, I momentarily lost connection with the base's systems. By the time the link was restored, it had vanished."
The projection showed an empty glass container, the tables above it untouched, without a hint of movement.
So, it hadn't broken the container to escape. It had simply… vanished.
Had it traveled through time? Chuhang wondered.
"It's not impossible, Major," Vivian responded, shifting the projection to show the *Zeus Staff*. "According to the Kovulber Paradox, activating a particle accelerator could theoretically tear through spacetime, colliding our world with a parallel one. It could even lead to demonic invasions from other worlds."
Chuhang frowned, trying to recall anything about the Kovulber Paradox. "I don't remember such a paradox."
"It's the work of a science fiction writer," Vivian replied, an uncharacteristic hint of a smile on her face.