"3 years, 4000 people, and 2 billion dollars. You know If this doesn't work, we're finished."
The two men peered out into the night desert, at a testing rig 40 miles away from their little command cabin. All around them, scientists and soldiers stood staring out little windows, all of them wearing black welding glasses.
Robert's nerves wouldn't allow a repsonse to the General's statement. However he was right, the country had invested too much into this project for it to end in a dud.
"By the way, I overheard one of your boys say something about 'atmospheric ignition'. What was that about?"
Robert's shoulder's relaxed. "They're still talking about that, huh?" he said with a little chuckle.
"Detonator's charged, sir!" one of the scientists shouted from the back.
Robert put on his welder's glasses, "Well, general," he said moving closer to the window.
"While we were discussing the project, we discovered that there was a chance—" He paused for a moment to look at the General. "—A low, near zero chance. That the chain reaction might never stop and eventually... set fire to the atmosphere."
The cabin seemed to grow silent in that moment.
[Detonation in T-minus— Ten.]
[Nine.]
"Wait, are you saying that there's a chance this could end the world?"
[Eight.]
Robert didn't answer him, his attention was focused on the rig in the distance.
[Seven.]
On the 13 pounds of weapon-grade plutonium waiting to blow up.
[Six.]
On the culmination of all his life's work.
[Five.]
[Four.]
"Oppenheimer! Answer me goddamnit!"
[Three.]
[Two.]
"One."
At first there was nothing, and then...
Fire.
A pillar of fire the color of the sun roared into the sky, engulfing night in the flames of day. A blinding white light tore through the windows, forcing Robert to cover his eyes with his hands.
"And now I am become death," Robert whispered, slowly dropping his hands to lay witness to the monstrosity he had birthed onto the planet. "The destroyer of worlds."
"We-we did it," a soldier whispered.
"We did it!"
Cheers erupted in the cabin. Soldier and scientist alike crowded around Robert with words of congratulations. However something was off.
The General was the first to notice Robert's pale expression. "It's supposed to be doing that, right?" he asked, looking out the window with furrowed brows.
Robert shook his head, making way past the now silent crowd to get a look outside the cabin.
'This can't be,' he thought dropping to his knees.
The explosion wasn't subsiding, in fact it seemed to be expanding at an ever increasing rate. What was first a pillar of flame was now a sea of fire, surging towards them like wrath incarnate.
The others in the cabin had figured out what was happening by now, and were rushing to get into their vehicles. However that would not help them. Even if those military cars could turn into planes, it still wouldn't be enough.
A hand rested on Robert's shoulder, snapping him out of his daze. "Oppenheimer, on your feet, we're moving." It was the general.
Some of the scientists were crying as they made their way into the vehicles, because they too knew that everyone was doomed.
"Leave me here, General," Robert whispered, staring in disbelief at their impeding doom. His mind was a unstable hodge-podge of emotions; pride, fear, guilt, sadness. This was the unmaking of the world, and as hard as it was to believe, it was by his design.
The general attempted to get him to his feet, however Robert had already made up his mind. He would die here, at the very least the first to suffer at the hands of his own mistake.
The general nodded, as if understanding what Robert meant to say. "In the end, I hope you know that this wasn't your fault alone," he said, already making his way to his viehicle. "But the whitehouse will need a strawman to point at," he added, "I'm sorry."
Robert began laughing, a sad crazy sort of laughter. 'The white house? You really don't understand just how done we are, do you?' he thought to himself, stretching his arms out to the sky.
As the others drove away, he remained a solitary figure kneeled in the desert sands. A single man standing off against a wall of fire.
...
Death was quick and painful. As good a punishment as prometheus could've ever asked for.
Oddly enough, even in supposed death, the familiar sensation of conscioness still weighed heavily on him.
Although he had not the capabilities to observe reality around him or determine the passing of time, his thoughts fired as quickly and as frequently as ever before.
In this dark void of nothing, atleast he had those to accompany him, so that he may forever ponder on the role he had played in ending the world.
***
『Build compilation complete.』
『Rebooting user...』
Robert was unsure how long he had remained an untethered entity; whether it was a few seconds or several hundred years, but what he did know was that existence felt... cold.
『Welcome user.』
'Huh?'
『Body reconstruction was successfull.』
'What? What's going on? Who's talking?'
『Dna editting and replication has depleted radiation reserves.』
'No, this isn't a voice. And I'm not seeing this either. These are... thoughts.'
『First objective: Collect radioactive samples.』
'First of all, where am I? Heaven?'
'Pfft, who am I kidding, after what I did I shouldn't even be joking about that. Then I suppose I'm in hell then?'
'But why can't I see?'
『A mutation attempt has been detected.』
'What? By who?'
『Insufficient radiation available to complete ☼Light Sensing☼ mutation.』
'Hmm, Light sensing mutation?'
Robert took a moment to process that.
'I take it that whatever this thing is, recognized by want for eyesight as an attempt to mutate.'
'I understand what all these words mean, but why? Is hell such a cruel place that I need to work for even my basic senses?'
『Radiation reserves critically low!』
『Collect radioactive samples.』
'Yes, yes. I know.'
'I can... feel that their low.'
Not wanting to waste too much time pondering with insufficient information, he decided to try and get a grasp of his body's shape.
He used the cold sensation he was experienced, to try and map out his vessel's perimeter, and just as he had expected, he was not in a human body. He had an irregular shape, as if it were nothing but a puddle on the ground.
'But can I move?'
『A locomotive expression has been detected. Syncing to locomotive system...』
And just like that, he was moving. Oddly enough, it was just like walking, not the physical act of it, but the mental processes involved.
However, without any of his senses, he had no way of knowing how fast he was moving, or which direction he was moving in for that matter.
After a few minutes of aimless movement, a warm sensation washed over him. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before. Like honey on the tongue, a siren's call to the ear, the fresh smell of spring to the nose.
『Unpure Low-Grade radioactive sample has been collected!』
『Processing...』
'That's what collecting a radioactive sample feels like? It's like... drugs.'
『2 Rads have been processed.』
『Begin incomplete ☼Light Sensing☼ mutation with available radiation?』
'Incomplete? Then I need more samples to see properly?'
'Hmm, but it doesn't matter. We'll do with what we have for now.'
Robert reached out to the area of his consciousness where these messages kept coming from.
'Accept.'