Chương 150: Chapter 148 – Blackwood, The Gift That Keeps on Giving

"So Regina and I are some kind of keys to Shirley's hidden operating system. Same with Elena and Alex, Seraphina and Celestia?" Roxie asked, looking skeptically at the group. The last twenty minutes had been a whirlwind of explanations about prophecies, timelines, and potential extinction events. She carefully listened and weighed every detail, but her mind just could not wrap itself around this current detail.

"So what do we open? I mean, if we're keys, then we must open something."

"Each key pair opens access to specific domains of information and system capabilities," Shirley explained.

"For example, Alex and Elena, as the Science Pair, can access technical and operational information about my systems. Seraphina and Celestia, as the Guardian Pair, have access to information specific to Thai's general wellbeing. However, full access to any domain requires it to have been unlocked by the designated key pair."

"So what is Regina's and my superpower?" Roxie asked, a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Well, from what I know, your superpower is your ability to shapeshift, making you both very special," Shirley replied.

"If you are referring to what information you have unlocked, that would be the security and tactical operations."

"So, we're what, basically bodyguards?" Regina asked, rolling her eyes.

"In a manner of speaking, yes, but it also opens up access to some very crucial data regarding past events that led up to the first mass extinction event," Shirley responded.

"You mean to tell me this is not the first time a mass extinction event has happened?" Elena asked, looking at Alex.

"The site, the remains we found — they were part of one of those extinction events?"

"You're getting ahead of yourself with assumptions, Elena," Shirley cautioned.

"What you found at the archaeological site was not the mass extinction event itself, but it was a result of it. Alex, if you wouldn't mind giving me access to the large monitor on the wall, there is a recording I would like you all to see." Alex got up and went to the keyboard and typed in some commands, allowing Shirley access to the video monitor on the wall.

"Shall I dim the lights?" he asked, snickering.

"If you would like, but it is not necessary," Shirley replied.

"When everyone is ready, I will begin the video."

"Go ahead, Shirley," Alex said, taking a seat. The group watched the monitor as it sprang to life. A young woman appeared on the screen, unlike any most had seen before.

"Hey, is she human?" Celestia asked out loud to Shirley. Shirley paused the video in order to answer.

"Yes, Celestia, she is the original breed of human. If you would all kindly refrain from questions until the end, I will be happy to answer them then," she stated flatly. Celestia's excitement quickly turned to embarrassment.

"Sorry, Shirley, I forget myself sometimes," she said softly.

"Please continue." Shirley resumed the video. The group watched as the young woman took a seat in front of the camera and adjusted it so it had her and the room in full view.

"My name is Rachel Sisson, and today is May the second in the year two-thousand thirty," she began. Her hands fidgeted slightly with a pen as she spoke.

"I'm recording this from the secure lab at Morrison Research Facility. Section C, if that matters to anyone who might find this." She glanced over her shoulder before continuing, her voice dropping slightly.

"The President's announcement today..." She stopped, running a hand through her dark hair.

"No, I should start with the facts. That's what Dr. Chin always says. Start with what we can prove." Rachel straightened in her chair.

"Fact: Our atmospheric monitoring stations have recorded a forty-seven percent increase in toxic particulates over the past month. Fact: Three more weather stations went dark last week. Fact: The ocean acidification levels have..." She swallowed hard.

"The numbers don't even make sense anymore."

"And today, President Blackwood went on national television to tell us everything is fine. That these are all 'natural fluctuations.' That the scientists warning us are 'fearmongers' and 'enemies of progress.' He stood there, smiling that smile of his, while half the Eastern Seaboard is under evacuation orders." She leaned closer to the camera, her voice barely above a whisper.

"They're shutting down our lab. Not just ours… all of them. Any facility doing climate research or atmospheric monitoring is to be shuttered. They're calling it 'resource reallocation for national security.' But we know what it really is." A sound off-camera made her jump slightly. After a moment, she continued.

"Dr. Chin says I shouldn't record any of this. That it's too dangerous. But somebody needs to know the truth. Somebody needs to know that we tried to warn them." Rachel's expression hardened.

"And somebody needs to know what he did. What Blackwood and his people did… when they had the chance to stop it, all of it. Every time we brought them evidence… every time we showed them what was coming..." She shook her head.

"They didn't just ignore us. They made us the enemy." Another noise, closer this time. Rachel glanced at something off-camera, then quickly turned back.

"I have to go. But I'll record more when I can. If... if anyone finds these recordings, you need to understand what happened here. How we got to this point. And why some of us are working on a different kind of solution now." She reached toward the camera, then paused.

"One last thing. If you're watching this and you still have time to act… don't trust him. Don't trust Blackwood. No matter what he promises, no matter what he says... he's not trying to save anyone but himself." The recording ended abruptly.

"What the hell was that?" Regina said.

"Blackwood? How? They are not even the same species!"

"Regina, I understand your reaction, but that is not the end. If by the end of the video clips your questions remain unanswered, I will be happy to answer them," Shirley said.

"Please continue, Shirley. I'm sorry, I thought that was the end," Regina replied. The video flickered to life again, showing Rachel in the same room, though the lighting seemed different. It appeared to be more emergency lighting than standard overhead lights. Her appearance was more disheveled, her eyes carrying dark circles beneath them.

"May twenty-third, twenty-thirty. Morrison Research Facility, Section C... what's left of it anyway." Rachel's voice was hoarse, tired.

"They came for the servers yesterday. Government officials with armed escorts, demanding all our data. Dr. Chin had already..." She glanced around nervously.

"Let's just say they didn't find what they were looking for." The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. She pulled her lab coat tighter despite the visible sweat on her forehead.

"The temperature hit one hundred twelve degrees today. In May. In Massachusetts. The sensors we managed to hide are showing atmospheric toxicity levels that should be impossible, but..." She laughed, a hollow sound.

"Impossible seems to be our new normal." Running a shaking hand through her hair, she continued.

"Blackwood's on TV every day now. Today he announced the 'Prosperity Through Progress' initiative. More industrial expansion. More 'freedom' from environmental regulations. More..." She stopped, taking a deep breath.

"More lies."

"The things we're seeing in the data..." Rachel's voice dropped to a whisper.

"The ocean dead zones are spreading faster than any model predicted. The Arctic ice..." She shook her head.

"Dr. Chin's team is working on something. Something big. They won't tell me what exactly, but I've seen the equations. The energy calculations. Whatever it is, it's like nothing I've ever..." A distant crash interrupted her. Rachel tensed, listening. After a moment, she continued, speaking more rapidly.

"Three more researchers disappeared last week. Just... gone. Security footage erased. No records. Like they never existed. But we all know. We all know what happens when you ask too many questions." She leaned closer to the camera, her voice urgent.

"If anyone finds these... if there's anyone left to find these... you need to understand. What's happening isn't natural. None of it. The storms, the quakes, the die-offs… they're all connected. And they knew. Blackwood and his people knew what would happen. They had the reports. They had the proof. They just didn't care." Another crash, closer this time. Rachel looked over her shoulder, then quickly back to the camera.

"I have to go. But first… Dr. Chin told me something today. Said sometimes the only way forward is sideways. I don't know what that means, but the way she said it..." She paused, considering her words carefully.

"Something's coming. Something bigger than all of this. And I think... I think maybe that's what they're really afraid of." The video cut out abruptly, ending in static. The video quality was noticeably worse this time, the image occasionally breaking up into digital artifacts. Rachel appeared even more haggard, her lab coat stained, a small cut visible above her left eye. The emergency lighting cast harsh shadows across her face.

"June seventh, twenty-thirty. I..." She glanced at something off-camera.

"Location withheld. The facility's gone. They torched it last night. Everything we couldn't save is just... ash." Her voice cracked slightly.

"Three of our team didn't make it out. Johnson. Rivera. Peters. They were just... they were just trying to save our research." She wiped her eyes roughly with her sleeve.

"The nuclear facility in Arizona went critical yesterday. Blackwood's people are calling it 'operator error.' But we got the real data before everything went dark. The containment systems were deliberately disabled. They're accelerating something. Creating chaos on purpose. But why? What could possibly be worth...?" Rachel stopped suddenly, listening. After a moment, she continued in a hushed tone.

"Dr. Chin finally showed me what they've been working on. God, I still can't believe... it shouldn't be possible. The equations, the energy signatures... they're talking about bridges. Not across rivers or oceans, but across..." She shook her head in disbelief.

"If I hadn't seen the test results myself..." A door slammed somewhere nearby. Rachel jumped but continued speaking, her words coming faster now.

"Blackwood knows. That's why they burned the facility. His people found something in our data. Something about quantum signatures and dimensional... They're coming for all of us now. Not just containing anymore. Not just silencing. They're hunting us." She leaned in close to the camera, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Dr. Chin says there's no time left. The atmospheric degradation is past the critical point. The ocean dead zones are merging. The northern permafrost..." She swallowed hard.

"We're past the point of no return. Earth is dying. And Blackwood... he's going to let it happen. Because he thinks he can control who survives. Who gets to use the bridge when it's ready." Suddenly, there were shouts in the distance. Rachel's eyes widened.

"They're here. Listen … if anyone finds these recordings, you need to know. The project name is EXODUS. Find Dr. Chin. Find the others. They're building something in Sub-basement Five. A gateway. A way out. But Blackwood can't... he can't be the one who..." The door burst open off-camera. Rachel lunged forward, reaching for something, and the video cut to black. The screen went dark after Rachel's abrupt final entry. Regina had gone completely still, her face a mask of recognition and barely contained anger.

"It all makes sense now," Regina whispered.

"Shirley, are Michael Blackwood and Mordak Blackwood related?"

"My data shows there is a genetic link between the pair." She paused.

"Mordak is a direct descendant of Michael." She paused again.

"Based on the genetic information that has been collected, it appears that there are not many branches of the Blackwood family tree."

"What do you mean, not many branches of the family tree?" Seraphina asked, thinking she may already know the answer.

"It appears that for several generations of the Blackwood family tree, there were not many variations to the original DNA," Shirley began.

"To answer your question in plain terms, for several generations there was a significant amount of…"

"Inbreeding," Alex interrupted, in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Yes, Alex. In the early days, it would appear that the genetic markers show that the generations following Michael Blackwood were the result of some very incestuous relationships."

"So siblings, not cousins?" Mikale asked.

"It would appear, Mikale, that the incestuous relations were that of..." She paused.

"Give me one moment to compile the data." She fell silent for several moments.

"Ah, here we are. Sibling on sibling, mother and son, father and daughter — no new genetic information enters the bloodline for, it appears, one hundred and fifty thousand years," Shirley said.

"Eww," Celestia said, wrinkling her face.

"It's the same," Regina said quietly, then louder, "It's exactly the same playbook." She stood up, starting to pace.

"DOME? Mordak did the same thing with his 'Department of Goblin Excellence.' Different name, same purpose… total control through bureaucracy." She turned to face the group, her hands clenched.

"The way Blackwood dismissed those scientists, calling them enemies of progress? That's precisely what he did to you, Elena and Alex, and then Ray. That's exactly how Mordak handles anyone who questions him. First discredit them, then silence them, then make them disappear." She laughed bitterly.

"Hell, he even used the same phrases sometimes. I used to wonder where he got his ideas from."

"What do you mean?" Elena asked, leaning forward.

"Everything. The systematic demotion of women from positions of power, the surveillance, the way he twisted every crisis into an opportunity to grab more control." Regina's voice grew harder.

"I was Chief Operations Supervisor before Mordak took power. Within a week, I was demoted to junior agent. The only reason I stayed in the field at all was because he could use my shifting abilities. I was... expendable." She added, "Look at what he did to you and Alex. You said yourself, team members went missing, he completely smeared your reputations as scientists, destroying any and all credibility." She sighed.

"Then look at the public smear campaign he initiated against Ray. All those made-up charges, those horrible accusations. Who would ever take him seriously after that?" She glanced at Roxie.

"You want to know why we're the security key pair? Because we've seen it up close. Your experiences with him weren't as extensive as my one-on-one encounters, but he stripped you of your career before you were even out of the academy. The way they think, the way they operate. Mordak didn't come up with this strategy… he inherited it. Just like he inherited the money, the contempt, the superiority complex, the need to control everything and everyone." Regina stopped pacing, turning to face Shirley's interface.

"That's why you're showing us these, isn't it? Because history's repeating itself. Because Mordak is just following his great-whatever-grandfather's blueprint."

"Yes, Regina. It is because of your firsthand experiences with the current Blackwood regime that you and Roxie are uniquely better equipped to recognize the patterns of behavior. The video diary I just showed you only reinforces what you already knew to be true about Mordak and his MO. Seeing what the Blackwood history suggests, you would be better able to predict future actions," Shirley said, causing goosebumps to form on Regina's arms.