A Chase Through History
Liam checked his watch, his heart pounding. The train to Rome was hurtling through the countryside, the rhythmic clatter of wheels against tracks blending with the relentless hum of his thoughts. The Vatican archives had whispered promises of truth, but the files Voss handed him screamed something else entirely: danger.
"You're too calm," Voss muttered, seated across from him. Her eyes flicked to the folder in his lap. "That's the kind of thing people kill to keep hidden."
"And yet, here we are," Liam quipped dryly, but his fingers tightened around the folder. Inside was the most damning evidence yet—proof that Musk's secret orbital fleet wasn't just about colonisation. It was about control, with the Vatican's ancient tech as the catalyst.
The train screeched to a halt at Termini Station. Liam and Voss exchanged a glance, then stepped into the chaos of Rome. Crowds surged around them, oblivious to the secrets hurtling toward revelation.
"Stick close," Voss said, her voice low.
Liam nodded, adjusting his backpack to conceal the stolen files. The Vatican's looming silhouette dominated the skyline, its ancient façade belying the labyrinthine mysteries within.
Into the Catacombs
Reaching the Vatican wasn't the hard part. Convincing the guards to let them into the restricted archives was.
"Official business," Voss declared, flashing a fabricated badge. The guards exchanged sceptical looks but eventually relented. They were inside.
The air grew colder as they descended the marble staircases. The grandiose halls of the Vatican gave way to narrow, dimly lit passages. Liam couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.
Voss stopped before a rusted iron door. "Beyond this lies the real archive. The one they don't advertise on the tour."
"Let me guess," Liam said, his tone light to mask his nerves. "The gift shop's around the corner?"
Voss smirked. "Not quite."
The door creaked open, revealing shelves lined with relics that defied time. Among them were scrolls depicting alien craft, diagrams of devices centuries ahead of their time, and coded manuscripts.
"What is this place?" Liam whispered.
"Evidence of a pact," Voss replied. She pointed to a mural on the far wall, partially obscured by shadows. It depicted figures in papal robes bowing before a celestial being.
As Liam moved closer, his heart skipped a beat. Embedded in the mural was a metallic object, its design eerily similar to the alien artifact he'd seen in Atlantis.
The Pursuit Begins
A distant noise shattered the silence. Footsteps. Liam froze, his ears straining to discern the source.
"We've been followed," Voss hissed, pulling him behind a column.
A group of figures emerged, dressed in black tactical gear. Their movements were precise, their weapons silenced.
"Who the hell are they?" Liam whispered.
"The Order of the Black Star," Voss replied. "They don't negotiate."
The lead operative scanned the room, barking orders in Italian. "Trovateli! Adesso!"
Voss grabbed Liam's arm. "Run."
They bolted through the labyrinthine corridors, the shouts of their pursuers echoing behind them. Liam's lungs burned as they turned corner after corner, each one leading them deeper into the catacombs.
"This way!" Voss shouted, shoving open a hidden door. They slipped through, slamming it shut just as gunfire erupted.
"Great plan," Liam panted, leaning against the wall. "Now we're trapped."
Voss smirked, pulling out a small device. "Not yet." She activated it, and a section of the floor slid open, revealing a tunnel.
"Convenient," Liam muttered, jumping in after her.
A Martian Revelation
Emerging into the open air hours later, Liam felt the weight of the underground finally lift. They were outside the Vatican, but far from safe.
Voss handed him a tablet. "While you were busy hyperventilating, I downloaded these."
Liam scanned the files, his eyes widening. "These are blueprints for the Mars colony."
"Not just the colony," Voss corrected. "The robotic workforce building it."
The images were staggering—Tesla's Optimus robots constructing towering biodomes on the Martian surface. But something about the designs was unsettling.
"These aren't just construction bots," Liam realised. "They're military-grade. Why would Musk need weapons on Mars?"
"Because he's preparing for a war," Voss said grimly.
The implications were chilling. If Musk's AI systems were sentient, and his robots were armed, then Mars wasn't a colony. It was a fortress.
The Genetic Twist
Their conversation was interrupted by a call from one of Voss's contacts, an exobiologist stationed at a secret lab in the Alps.
"You need to come now," the voice urged. "We've found something... unnatural."
Liam and Voss didn't hesitate. Hours later, they arrived at a remote facility hidden beneath a glacier. The lab was a hive of activity, with scientists poring over glowing vials of blood.
"This," the lead scientist said, holding up a vial, "is what radiation from the alien artifacts does to human DNA."
The results were staggering. Enhanced strength, heightened senses, rapid healing—but at a cost. The mutations were unstable, leading to unpredictable behaviour.
"These people are ticking time bombs," Voss said.
Liam stared at the screen displaying a test subject. The man's eyes glowed faintly, his muscles rippling unnaturally.
"What's Musk's involvement in this?" Liam asked.
The scientist hesitated. "He's funding it. These experiments aren't about saving lives—they're about creating a new breed of humans for his Mars empire."
The Unveiling
As they left the lab, Liam's mind reeled from the revelations. Musk's ambitions weren't just about wealth or power. He was reshaping humanity itself, exploiting the vulnerable to achieve his dream of domination.
The car sped through the mountain roads, the city lights of Geneva in the distance.
"What now?" Liam asked.
Voss handed him a USB drive. "We leak this. Everything—the experiments, the AI, the orbital fleet. The world needs to know."
But as they approached their safe house, a sleek black drone descended from the sky, blocking their path.
"What the hell—" Liam started, but his words were cut off by the deafening sound of the drone's weapon activating.
Voss grabbed his hand. "Run."