At the Edge of Light

When they first arrived, everyone’s reaction was a mixture of pride, celebration, confusion, horror, and fear. Because of what we had been trying to achieve, the first reactions were completely expected. To those of us who noticed the unplanned incident, however, terror was inevitable. I was the closest to them that night when we finally put our theory to the test. The micro-wormhole was stable only for a moment, but it was enough.

Next came the excitement. I remember the thrill and the long nights without sleep. We left the original project as a front and focused on them. Of course, we first referred to them as it. It was shapeless, shifting between a liquid and solid mass, and… No, there are no words that could describe it. The next weeks were spent tirelessly trying to understand it. What fools we were. The only thing we could see from the start was that it reacted violently to any source of light. It seemed to almost avoid it. But besides that, there was nothing we understood.

Then there were the dreams. They were all so vivid I didn’t realize I was asleep. And the things I saw there… After only a few weeks, I didn’t have to be asleep to see them. They overlapped and mixed with reality. More than once someone had to slap or shake me back to normal. They were worried. I could see the mistrust in their eyes. Nevertheless, my work was more important than my health, and so I continued to work for them. Or was I supposed to work on it? I can’t tell anymore. That was a month ago. Now everything is clear and I know what must be done.

They were kept in a secure section of the lab, with reinforced walls and only one way out. But the real security, the only reason any of us felt -more or less- safe, were the lights. They outlined the true cell within the room, and left no spot unlit, except for where they rested, at the edge of the lights. The room was so secure, there were six backup generators besides the main power supply. Only a handful of people knew this. I was one of them, and I just finished strapping the explosives to the last one.

Everything was ready. I entered the building, talking my way through security, and reached my office. There I took out the detonator of my briefcase. I looked around the room and saw a shadow crawl up the wall in front of me. It was restless. I smiled and pressed the trigger.

I expected a much louder explosion. The blast was muffled by the thick walls and the several levels over my office. Just the moment before the low rumble reached my ears and the floor trembled slightly, all lights went out. The darkness was comforting. I took a deep breath and felt the now familiar call of a winter’s wind at the back of my mind. The power is out, I thought, it is time.

The moment of peace was shattered with the buzzing alarm and its pulsating red lights. I moved quickly to my desk, took out my emergency gun, and placed it in my right pocket. Next, I took a flashlight from the bottom drawer. Without any emergency generators, those red lights wouldn’t last long. Before I left the office, I used the telephone and put the final pieces of the plan into motion.

The corridors were a blur of lab-coated figures running back and forth. Most were on their way to the emergency stairs that would lead them to the surface. I turned and headed in the opposite direction, pushing and maneuvering against the tide of panicked faces. The blinking red light tainted the world around me, and every step, every movement, was like a still photograph in a sequence of captured moments. The faces and clothes in the crowd were all different, but their eyes were the same. Dark eyes, almost black, driven mad by fear. Those were eyes looking for a way out before they lost all the light they had left.

I finally reached the end of the hallway. There would be far fewer people beyond this point. I took a sharp turn to the right and then left to find the door that led to the lower level. My security code wouldn’t work, of course. Just in time, the lights and alarm went out. So there was no more power in the building. I took out my emergency key -which worked only on a power outage emergency- and opened the door.

Everything was pitch black. The flashlight I held in my right hand was turned off. Again, I felt the comfort and the embrace of the dark. A chill crawled up my back. When I looked in front of me, I could clearly see the steps that… no. I could not see them. There was no light for my eyes, but there was something else, and in my mind, I could sense them. I made my way down the stairs without hesitation.

I reached the lower floor quickly. I could hear the rush of steps in the distance, but they were fading quickly. The corridor ahead of me was deserted. The air was colder. No one thought heating this floor was really necessary, since -at least officially- no one worked or used the equipment down here. Under normal conditions, the floor was close to unreachable. Even I had access only on a very specific schedule.

There was an echoing howl from the end of the hallway. I had to hurry. I moved quickly, almost enjoying moving through the darkness. After only a few minutes I was finally there. The glass room was normally flooded with light, but now it was completely swallowed by darkness. Even in the pitch black of the entire floor, this room was impossibly darker. There was a soft thump against the steel door. I could sense them on the other side.

It is time. I inserted the key into the lock and put my hand on the knob. Set us free.

The images came rushing and pushing and charging all at once, conjuring obscure visions of deserted plains, frozen deserts, and a lightless sky. Somehow, it sounded promising. I smiled and unlocked the door.