Anomaly Ascending

The Singularity Rift

One: Anomaly Ascending

Timothy Linnomme

Soon, there will be no place to hide…

Contents Copyright Timothy Linnomme 2014

Published by Timothy Linnomme at Smashwords

This novel is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to people or places living, existing or deceased is purely coincidental.

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Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty Three

Chapter Twenty Four

Prologue

Time Frame: Irrelevant

Even if humankind had the means to describe it, they still would have fallen far short in that endeavor. It simply came to be through means unknown and it was not only immune to the entropy caused by time, it was a violation of nearly every law of physics in this universe. It didn't as much travel versus appearing and disappearing from the universes and places it had visited and the number of places it had visited was immense. There was no initial sign of intelligence behind its actions and no concrete purpose but that eventually would change. Change began when the dimensional rift appeared inside the event horizon of a black hole; the singularity was in process of devouring a Class B star and though the rift was immune to the gravitational pull of the black hole, the massive and constant barrage of stolen matter both permeated the rift and warped its form into something new and unique… and dangerous. Instead of a relatively simple rift the approximate size (including diameter) of a sewing pin, it elongated and warped under the assault. The ends of the rift were twisted as they were bent around until they connected with each other and then fused. The original straight lined rift was now a Möbius strip of (relatively) massive proportions and this alteration allowed it to accrete even more of the matter striking it. With no advance warning, the (altered) rift winked out of existence…

…The place where it now appeared was a location where nothing bounded by the laws of this universe could survive. It was only centimeters from the singularity core but it turned and shifted in blissful ignorance of where it was now located. It closed the gap until a collision occurred. When something that could trap even light came into direct contact with something immune to the near penultimate gravity of the singularity, the status quo could not be maintained, sustained…or constrained. The singularity blew apart in a massive explosion which also destroyed the star it had been consuming. In the midst of the conflagration, the (singularity) rift once more ceased to be…

…When the rift came to be yet again, it was no longer simply a dimensional rift; in addition to its universe spanning expanse, it had gained a gravitational well and what matter it had accreted. The accreted matter allowed it to create interfaces between what it was and the myriad places it had visited. Since the dimensional rift had gained some singularity properties, it was now a singularity rift. It had been (relatively) large before but in its current configuration, it was now huge. It was now a Möbius construct as long as four centimeters of Number Two pencil and of the same diameter (at least from a frontal perspective), but when viewed edge on, its size rapidly fluctuated as the energy contained within the Möbius construct pulsed in random sequences. Things were almost all set for it to cause no end of trouble; all that it now needed was the right place to be…

Inner Oort cloud - Time: Irrelevant

As time passed, humans learned more and more about the solar system, but as one planet after another was discovered, it took more of a push to break new ground in that area. Unmanned spacecraft did flybys of the outer planets, adding reams of data to what had already been observed, but even the most powerful telescopes were still constrained by their LEO (Low Earth Orbit) locations. Even if they had been able to see with better clarity than they now possessed, they still would have not been able to make sense of what they might have seen…

The Oort cloud was largely built upon hypothesis, but so far it had beaten off all challenges to its existence. The theoretical location of this cloud was anywhere from two thousand to fifty thousand AU from the sun, so even its inner boundary was nearly fifty times the distance of the orbit of Pluto, an assuredly bleak and cold place of residence.

… It didn’t really care too much about where it was located but at some point, it simply…came to be within the rock strewn galactic sea that was the cloud…

…It appeared in the inner Oort cloud after leaving some other place it had visited. Despite its size, it had a disproportionally large gravity well thanks to the singularity aspects it had gained; it quickly captured some of the detritus floating around to form a shield from the other rocks and slush balls that were around. It twisted and sparkled, but now it was surrounded by its captured entourage as they danced according to the rules of gravity and science…

*

Los Angeles, CA January 24, 2019

Zoning Variance and Building Code meetings were a necessity regarding any sort of urban center, but this one would thankfully be only a formality. The consortium behind the proposed high rise office/business complex had ‘convinced’ those with the final say that they would make the building quake resistant, but more importantly, they would create jobs along with various panoramic views through the (recycled) plastic infused one way mirror glass. (Despite their absence in the halls of power, the green contingent (especially the fringies) could cause no end of trouble to those who walked the halls.) The name for the massive complex proved to be more contentious than the hearing for the variances, but that issue had been solved with an online contest. The building would be called the Terra Sun Complex, a global sounding name to partially hide the fact that the investors in the structure hailed from the Middle and Far East. The ground was cleared and leveled and inspected for any potential faults before excavation began. Sixteen building support pedestals were seated in the bedrock and reinforced with a series of heavy duty coil springs and internal lateral support bars. Installing the supports was a specialized task, but once they were seated, the rest of the construction kicked into high gear. The finished building would have three sublevel floors and thirty above ground (minus the thirteenth floor of course.). The sublevel floors would be a parking garage and two levels of maintenance, what physical plant presence deemed to be necessary and storage. While all three sublevel floors were built using PolySteel composites including no shortage of support pillars, only the parking garage received any design/appearance upgrades. The support personnel would have their own entrance into the sublevels, their own parking area and floor access through standard elevators located near the outside perimeter of the building.

There was at least one cold reason behind the location of the Staff Elevators; the four support stanchions for the elevators were also serving as extra building support in case something from the sky made an unwelcome landing there; the planners didn't give a damn about the people who might get killed in the process. They wanted to provide a unique experience for those with money to spend and hiding the little people could only add to the potential mystique. The 29th floor would contain luxury suites for those who could afford to stay there. One of the perks involved with the suites was that the occupants could be transported by helicopter to the roof of the building if they wished; there was no reason why they should have to enter the structure the same way the little people did. The 30th floor was going to be off limits to all but those with appropriate access.

The crowning jewel of the building was going to be two elevators located near the center of each floor. No expense was spared in design and decoration of the split elevator complex to minimize their impact on the building as a whole; there would be no steel doored Otis style elevator monoliths for those being immersed in the Terra Sun experience. In this place, the central elevators would be an extension of the luxury the building owners wanted the visitors to feel; the plain and ugly looking metal boxes were for the workers…it was a whole new level of ostracism. Not only were the workers not to be seen, they weren't to be heard either or serious repercussions would result.

*

Inner Oort Cloud Time: Irrelevant

The singularity rift had a relative stable location where it was, but that was about to change. Various sized objects floated around the anomaly ranging from the size of a human fist to several planetoid sized masses, but not all of them were of concern. A near solid chunk of rock was about the size of an elephant while one chunk made of rock and ice was about the size of an elephant herd. In addition to herd and elephant, there was dagger. Dagger was only thirty to fifty meters in diameter, but was almost seven hundred meters long and was composed mostly of rock. Dagger had some albedo issues and an appreciable spin on its short length. The final local player was nearly the mass of earth’s moon, but its consistency was that of a rock-speckled slush ball. Moon travelled in a somewhat predictable path around the singularity rift while the other three players maintained static positions…

…despite the vast area that the cloud occupied, there were potentially millions of objects within the cloud if not more. At this distance from the sun, the gravitic effect of the star was negligible. As a result, the objects present were usually left to their own devices; in most cases, the objects floated where they were or moved in a predictable fashion. Collisions did happen, though; while a single collision usually wouldn’t alter the status quo, multiple collisions were a different matter. Planetoid was even more massive than moon, but the countless collisions it had suffered over time had left a deep crevasse upon its surface. Planetoid had no shortage of ice on its surface or in its composition, but most of it was rock. It was knocked out of its position by a glancing blow from a fast moving rogue piece of rock; the collision was enough to start Planetoid's movement inward. Once it had been dislodged, even the negligible gravity of the sun had an effect. It headed inwards at an increasing amount of speed; a marauder was on the loose…

…by the time planetoid had reached the inner area, it was moving at a relatively fast clip. It had only one path left to take; it would become a rather spectacular comet once it made it into the area around Mars, but its path of egress was blocked…

…planetoid smashed into herd with a considerable amount of force but elephant was caught between them and then smashed into the crevasse of planetoid. Herd was pulverized from the impact, but it had slowed planetoid down. Pieces of herd bombarded the singularity rift, but they were too small to have any sort of effect; some of the pieces actually entered the anomaly. Planetoid was now headed towards moon, but dagger had also been disturbed from its position. Several larger pieces of herd had caused dagger to now spin end over end as moon was approached by planetoid. The collision between moon and planetoid was of little consequence; all that happened was both objects lost a little surface ice, but the impact had slowed up planetoid even more so that it was almost stationary. The singularity rift was now in the crevasse of planetoid and its gravity field was playing havoc with the fissure in planetoids mass. Dagger impacted almost perfectly in the crevasse of planetoid as it shoved elephant aside. The crevasse fractured all the way through planetoid which cost it about a third of its mass but the larger part continued on its trip to the inner solar system. Elephant had been freed as a result of the collision while dagger once more achieved equilibrium minus about one hundred meters of length; it found a spot near the smaller part of planetoid. The impact of dagger against elephant hadn’t damaged either of them that much, but the impact against the singularity rift was more than sufficient to cause the anomaly to once more wink out of existence…

Chapter One

Los Angeles, CA May 4, 2019

Even though 9/11 was now largely confined to the history books, the lessons learned from the attack hadn't been forgotten. The PolySteel for the sublevels along with the other infrastructure for them was first to be completed; with the two storage levels in operation, supplies could be moved directly into the structure without taking up valuable external space. As soon as the PolySteel was good to go, the scaffolding around the building arose like a strange sort of beast. A semi-rigid frame for the exterior was the first thing completed behind the scaffolding; next, metal spanners were installed, tested and then built inwards towards the center core of the building. Another major selling point would be the elevator system in the complex. It would be centrally located and accessible from every floor and they wouldn't look like elevators from without or within. The elevator shaft was there to serve multiple purposes. It was a sixteen meter internal diameter partially hollow cylinder with a one point five meter thick semi-permeable composite coated in three layers of a carbon nanotube/graphene fiber overlay. The material was rated as being able to stand a massive air impact and the carbon fiber surface would provide the least possible resistance (and all needed lubricant) for the split elevators running up and down its surfaces. The East and West Elevators would be independent of each other once in place and would be confined to their respective sides except for crossover points on the eighth floor and the twenty ninth floor and split access from ground level. (Roman International Bank had leased the whole floor and wanted the physical connectivity and the Luxury Suite level was connected for security reasons.)

The splitting of each floor would allow for two unique areas that could increase the number of tenants at least from the fourth to the seventh floor. The ninth floor to the twenty eighth floor was reserved for those who could afford to rent an entire half floor. As such, the advertising blitz was merciless and far reaching. The high rents were offset by even higher visibility and the potential to attract the big money consumers. The twenty ninth floor contained Luxury Suites for those who afford them. As an added value, those renting the suites would be flown to the building via helicopter if they wished. (Clearance had already been approved for two helipads on the roof). The guests would then be able to take the elevator directly to their suites and would be given VIP treatment all of the way; they would be secure from the little people.

Another compromise that had to be made regarding the Terra Sun Complex almost killed the whole project but Los Angeles held its ground until it gained what it needed. Because building space in the downtown area went for such a premium, the City of Los Angeles couldn't afford to spend the money needed for a government service annex needed there…until the Terra Sun project arrived. When the Complex was finished, the second floor (Both Sides) would become a place for government services from the payment of city business taxes and Parole Officer Cubicles to a full authority CPS reporting facility and a FBI Annex.

The Front Desk Security would be responsible for corralling the people who needed such services and moving them to the second floor. Through the marvels of both digital technology and RISC computing power, it would be possible to stop the elevator on the second floor and only there. Security would also be on the second floor to keep tabs on the citizens arriving there and to make sure none of them got any ideas about exploring the rest of this place…

The thirty first floor (both sides) contained Flight Control Personnel and some necessary helicopter supplies including a machine shop and a small fuel storage facility but the thirtieth floor (both sides) was classified regarding its use and only accessible with a key card. It was easy for the TSC owners to say 'No Comment' for twice the rental fee for the whole floor and a promise that nothing illegal was going to occur there.

*

Once the massive numbers of spanners were temporarily in place, it would be time to install the elevator shaft. The technology for moving the elevator up and down was so new that the patent document ink had yet to dry. Why couldn't a magnetic levitation system work for an elevator like it did for a train? After a few major (and a lot of minor) modifications, the dream became a reality. While it cost energy to move the elevator up the shaft, energy could be reclaimed from any downwards motion. The energy would be captured and then stored in a battery array for later use. In case of an electric failure or fire, the Terra Sun people set up the exterior elevators as a fire escape route. In order for the exterior system to qualify as such, it was required to be powered separately from the rest of the building.

The central elevator shaft was going to be carried by a heavy lift helicopter down a closed off route to the building with the bottom section attached to several trucks. Moving the shaft had been tricky; the vehicles on the ground had to keep pace with the helicopter in the air to prevent the shaft from travelling. Once the entourage was on location, it would be in the hands of the helicopter. Each story of the TSC was just short of eight meters plus the needed padding between floors so before the shaft could even be installed, the helicopter would have to raise it up to three hundred and forty meters (three hundred and thirty meters plus ten more for absolute clearance.). It took six tries before the shaft had entered its proper location and eight long and grueling hours before it finally touched the bottom (The emplacement receptacle filled with the necessary wiring and pass through access was built in Sub Level Three as an end cap connector. Though Sub Level One and Two (Maintenance) could be accessed from the central elevator system, those buttons were dark unless the proper keycard was inserted.). The most crucial aspect of the construction had been completed. Once the spanners were sorted out and fully connected, the TSC would be ready to become another crown jewel in downtown LA. The connecting of the spanners looked like it might be time consuming work and while the TSC owners had needed funds to deal with a time constraint, they refused to spend their money on wasted time so, after a cost/benefit analysis was performed, four structural steelworkers were hired.

*

If this job isn't the shit, I don't know what in hell is! Louis Farland had been doing this sort of work for a little more than half of his fifty years. He had never expected to become a structural steelworker but the union wages plus the bennies couldn't be beat…for the most part. His job had cost him his marriage but not for any of the more familiar reasons. Even with the safety equipment that was mandatory, sitting three hundred or four hundred meters in the air welding beams or the equivalent had its dangers and he refused to quit doing his job. What in hell would I do then? This is all that I have done for most of my adult life! And so it went; Louis got to sit in the clouds where the air at least felt like it was cleaner but you also became more aware of your own mortality. Ignore the harness biting into your skin; it’s you versus danger and yer gonna win…If you say yer prayers before you fall…you can tell Saint Pete you gave it your all.. Louis was a diehard union man to the core regarding his work, but what he did outside of five times eight was his own business. In his younger years, he had automatically voted Democrat because of their support for the unions but his son and daughter had showed him the error of his ways. They would be white collar once they finished college which was exactly what Louis wanted; they would get a decent wage without having to man a picket line. While he didn't fully agree with the book his daughter had given him, it actually did open his eyes and instead of blindly voting the party line, he actually thought about the issues confronting him. One of the first things he did regarding this new empowerment was to check a box stating that his union dues couldn't be used to support a political candidate. Louis found it ironic that he had this job because of the tax breaks given to the people who wanted this thing built. Louis almost never got any sanctioned overtime because of what he would cost in wages and while this was no exception, Louis couldn't help but laugh inside. His line of work could be dangerous and he had seen his share of falls; he had come close to falling a few times himself.

There was no open scaffolding here; there were actual walking areas and he would be getting full union wage for this shit! This wasn't fiftieth floor work in the open; this place had only thirty floors above ground and it was built in a strange way. There were no girders that Louis could see but all he did was his job; it was up to the white shirts to figure out the big picture of things.

The central elevator pole was massive, black and shiny but Louis concentrated on only the work he was supposed to do. There were a shitload of things called 'crossovers' which would eventually become floors and ceilings and walls but they first had to be connected. The fasteners looked proprietary to Louis which made him laugh even harder inside; there was no welding to be done! Instead, Louis and the three others assigned to this job were given a carriage container of fasteners and a crimping tool that looked a bit wider than normal. This assignment looked like it would be like a Mechano session versus any heavy duty work. The crossovers on the separate floors were easily able to hold his weight and the needed connection points were all within reach without any climbing. Click, snap, snap, crimp. The last piece of equipment given to the workers was an Android OS Tablet device. A proprietary app on the unit had a digital schematic for each floor and it showed every place that needed a connector. Once you cleared a floor, the tablet would beep and call up the next one above (or below) you. Click (Align the two pieces to be connected), Snap, Snap (Insert one male and one female fastener assembly.), crimp (Connect the fasteners). Once the fasteners were connected to each other, only a special prying tool could separate them. Even though Louis might have considered this work laughable, he always put forth his best effort when doing something. The other union people would sometimes call ones like him 'Gung Ho Joes', but Louis didn't believe in milking the union clock like others did. By the time his counterpart on top made it 'down' to level twenty six, Louis was up to floor eight on the same side from sublevel three. He was walking along at his favorite 'Git 'R Done' speed when he thought he saw something sparkle for a moment on the central elevator shaft. Did he actually see something there? Louis wasn't much for wasting time but something to break the monotony of the fasteners and something to take his mind off of a certain big picture scenario was welcome. As Louis fastened more and more of these crossovers together, he suddenly realized there was no real welding involved with this building whatsoever. The outer building shell was made of prefabricated pieces of steel which meant that nonunion help could be used to emplace them. When you added that to the spanners and crossovers, it meant that his job might become obsolete… that was a rather unsettling thought, but there was that momentary sparkle again….

*

It came into existence once again but it knew that something was wrong. It had become used to having a panoramic three hundred and sixty degree view of its surroundings so the blocked vector locations were a shock. It was some sort of mesh that blocked its unobstructed view but it could neither push the mesh aside nor fully see through it and it became annoyed. It wasn't bounded by any universe which it had visited so why had that changed? When it moved in the opposite direction of the perceived blockage, it eventually encountered the same thing though it was further away. It was asymmetrically located within the confines of this trap and the resulting positional imbalance could tear it to shreds if it stayed here for too long. There were only two main directions where it could see and even then it still detected a boundary beyond which it couldn't traverse. How was it going to escape from here? When it moved up very close to the black mesh (that was what had trapped it!), it could see outside of it but only through the holes between the layers of mesh. There was something on the other side of the mesh; was it its captor? It put most of its current efforts into seeing past the barrier; if this was one of its captors, it would make them pay…

*

Louis hadn't been seeing things; there was something behind the black layers of mesh covering the elevator shaft. He had never seen anything like this for such a construct; elevator shafts were supposed to be dark gray metal posts covered with a thin layer of lubricant and they weren't supposed to be this large. The surface felt smooth and a little oily to the touch but there wasn't any oil on the shaft surface. Louis could feel the power already active in this building thrumming through his feet. He was now only fifteen centimeters away from the black mesh surface but whatever it was on the other side sparkled and flashed as it spun in a single location. It was amazing that Louis could even see anything through the layers of mesh on the shaft. He thought about reporting this to the powers that be but he found it hard to take his gaze away from what he had found. It reminded him of these over the top pictures you could find on the internet with very little problem. Louis had been a latecomer to the internet so what would have been of no consequence to a kid was often undiscovered country for him. If Louis was good enough, maybe Santa would send him that laptop computer he liked. It wasn't really in Santa's hands anyways; his son and daughter treated him well. Louis carried his tool belt whenever he was on the work clock and today was no exception. His favorite tool was a heavy beaked hammer which was his cure to many problems arising from his work or from daily living. What the flat end couldn't flatten or knock into place the pointy end could knock out of commission or make someone think twice. He had been warned after hitting a punk on the head with the hammer but Louis jealously guarded what little was his. What would he do with a laptop computer anyways? It wasn't like he could pack it along to work without getting razzed over it and the desktop PC he had at home worked fine. That matter departed his mind because the thing inside the mesh was flashing and glowing even brighter than before…

*

It had somehow decided that whatever was looking at it through the mesh barrier was one of its captors and that they were gloating over what they had accomplished. They wouldn't be laughing after it was done but how did it know what was on the other side of the mesh? It had never interacted this way with a universe before; why was it doing so now? Things had changed since it had collided with the 'star destroyer' but what was that? When it once more saw the leering visage watching it from the other side of the mesh, it lashed out with as much mass as possible through the gaps in the mesh…Its captor had now been absorbed into it and the abrupt entry of them into it was enough so that it could pull free of the mesh wall…nothing was going to interfere with its existence…but how did it know it existed?

*

There was no one to witness what had happened a few moments ago but there had been a bright flash of radiance that was outside of the mesh for only an instant of time. When it abated, all that was left of Louis Farland was his hardhat and his work boots. There were no more flashes of light from inside the mesh construct but also no more Louis.

*

The other three workers didn't pay Louis' absence any mind because without Gung Ho Joe present, they could milk the clock even more. The boots and hard hat weren't found until some detectives arrived to investigate the abrupt and rather odd disappearance of Louis Farland but when all was said and done, there wasn't much else the police could do. They had found no evidence of foul play, no proof of any criminal doings and nothing to indicate that Louis Farland was out of his mind. With those conclusions, the LAPD had more important things to worry about. Despite having the necessary legal building permits for the TSC, protestors were showing up in increasing numbers with the usual complaints and slogans. Though there was the First Amendment, there was a local ordinance in Los Angeles that prohibited the blockage of egress of normal traffic in the area. The odd disappearance of a contract worker from the TSC didn't even slow things down.

The elevator lift devices were also layered in carbon fiber and after initial testing they were rated at a maximum load of forty five hundred kilograms. Though the elevator cubicle was still an elevator, the TSC people spared no expense in disguising that as much as possible. Since crowding was perceived as an aggravation that might make people less inclined to shop, the cubicle contained one hundred and twenty five cubic meters of space and four meter square elevator doors. The elevator controls were placed on either side of the door in a symmetric split design. The elevator ceilings had the required breakaway panels but the TSC owners had the panels painted by some of the best street artists they could find. There were fifty five mural sets in the storage part of the TSC; once a week, the elevator ceiling murals would be changed. As each wave of workers was set loose upon the new building, the TSC was transformed into a thing of architectural beauty. By the time the scaffolding came down, the various floors were now under control of the interior designers while the roof helipads were freshly marked with fluorescent paint. The ground floor entrance into the TSC was done in a golden colored marble while metallic highlights were used to create a sun on the floor between the Security kiosks. The north and south entrance doors were made with clear plastic sheathed crystal. The plastic coating had been manufactured to a mirror shine but it also was bullet resistant. The doormen not only were as deferent as could be to the patrons, they also had security backgrounds as an added level of safety. The riffraff were not welcome in this place and the building owners would enforce that aspect of things to just short of an illegal line. They were upstanding members of this city after all.

*

Los Angeles, CA September 14, 2019 09:00

Louis Farland's disappearance had disappeared into the morass of news stories a (relative) long time ago; he had his fifteen minutes in the limelight and it was time to move on to more important matters. The TSC was ready to open on September 13 but it was delayed until Saturday to sidestep any superstitions. The official opening of the TSC for business had attracted a rather large crowd for such an event. Though the LAPD didn't like it, the TSC owners had enough pull to get what they wanted regardless of whatever logistical nightmares happened as a result. The ribbon cutting ceremony was the official opening of the TSC but a VIP event had emerged on Friday purely by accident. When the suite guests were settled into their lodgings, several of them demanded what they considered to be their right (their word of mouth description of their experiences could make or break an establishment); they wanted to shop the stores before the little people flooded through like the diseases that they were. Since most of the vendor /sales areas were ready to roll, the VIP request was granted. The official opening ceremony was a success and as the crowd began to disperse, the LAPD was only too happy to lend a hand to that enterprise. The Terra Sun Complex was open for business!

*

Many of the TSC clients (That term was used in place of 'renters' or ‘tenants’) weren't the ultra-high end ones the TSC wanted, they would be tolerated as long as they obeyed the rules and paid their rent on time. The TSC quickly kicked into high gear after the grand opening. The veritable swarms of people on the ground floor were a very good sign. There were two waiting areas off to either side (west or east) for those needing government services. As soon as forty people were assembled, the elevator car (depending on availability) arrived to take them to the second floor. More Security was on the second floor to make sure no one wandered off. Departing the second floor was the same as arriving there; as soon as forty people were assembled, they travelled down and then out the door. Though there was only one elevator car on each side, their speed was unequaled. The carbon fiber on carbon fiber made any other lubricants unnecessary; the elevators could climb the two hundred and fifty six meters in less than ten seconds on a straight run so even the groups of people going to the second floor didn't really slow things down. The third floor is where the luxury began. Both sides of the whole floor were filled with eateries from the upscale to the edgy and chic and while the main feature of Three West was an enormous wet bar for thirsty customers, it was Three East that had a Culinary Arts School on premise. In exchange for a lower price or faster seating, customers at some of the places could try what the Culinary School produced. It wasn't as much of a crap shoot as people thought because the school was under the onus to serve upscale and inventive fare.

The fourth level was a mini mall with a variety of medium and upscale clients. It eventually would become a gift mecca for both genders of human. The fifth, sixth and seventh floors were split up among various business and consulting firms ranging from accounting to Tax Services and most everything in between. The eighth floor (the only place where a public East-West crossover existed) was occupied by the TSC's anchor tenant. Roman International Bank (or RIB) was exactly what its name implied. RIB was only allowed into the USA after being fully vetted by the SEC and the FDIC and even though it was called a 'contingency fund', all parties involved knew that it was an indemnity account to make sure RIB toed the line.

RIB was originally going to set up in NYC but that was before Los Angeles applied the screws so to speak. NYC has snow and inclement weather; we lack both of those things. You have earthquakes though. This is the modern age; you don't have to squat on your pile of money anymore. Los Angeles will give you faster access to Asian markets and Central and South America are right down the coast. Where would we stay? There happens to be a place being built which could use a client like you for its latest project. We can offer a whole floor for your concern…designed to your taste of course. Okay.

RIB had most every sort of banking or investment service on the eighth floor and had requested the pass through walkway so that both sides of the floor could be connected. The TSC knew that if this enterprise didn't go flat broke, it would be generating a lot of money and what better way to keep its upper level clients safe than to have banking services in the same building? RIB provided free account services to the businesses above the eighth floor (modest fees were charged those on the fourth to seventh floor. The third floor initially refused the services because of the fees involved but when the eateries plus the Culinary School banded together, a compromise was reached regarding the fees.)

From the ninth floor to the twenty eighth, each piece of floor was rented to a single business entity at a higher than average rate but that was offset in part by the profligate spending of the glitterati traipsing through this new shopping mecca. There were Cruise Line Offerings, Commercial Space Travel (and other kinds of) Consulting, jewelry, clothing, Real Estate Offices, Sculpture importers, Domestic Design, Electronic Goods and even more. The plan had worked beyond the TSC owners' most liberal predictions; people were drawn to this place like moths to a light. When the glitterati kept plugging store locations in the TSC, that brought even more people in to see what the hype was about and once that started, it was almost an independent process. As time progressed, minor problems were quickly addressed. Extra security put an end to most of the stealing that was happening; the TSC soon had a list of persona non grata people that the TSC Security enforced. Because of the influx of moneyed people, the TSC became a favorite target for vagrants but external walking security was the solution to that issue. Several of the hired help had to be fired to bring the rest of them into line; unionization of the TSC workers would not be tolerated. When the TSC was called on that aspect of things, the TSC produced all sorts of proof that criminal entities wanted to infiltrate the TSC in order to gain a foothold as a client or even worse. There was RIB to consider and even if the investigative agencies thought that this matter reeked of bullshit, there was nothing they could do unless a direct complaint was received and the TSC staff was out of risk takers for the near future. Relatively minor labor disputes aside, the TSC was doing well.

*

Where in hell was he and what had just happened? He had been looking at a sparkling something inside of the elevator shaft and then…this. What exactly was this? He felt the sensation of movement here but he didn't need to breathe and as far as he knew, his heart wasn't beating. Was he dead? It was his very belief in God that caused him to discard that answer. If he were actually dead, then he would have had a chance to speak in his own defense. There was nothing to hear in the silence, nothing to touch or feel or taste; only his eyes worked in this place and everything was too bright at the moment to see anything. He closed his eyes and rested for a while longer…he hopefully would be allowed to see at some point…

*

…Though it exulted in its escape from the trap and the capture of one of its captors, it was still incapable of looking at the bigger picture of things. It had only been a generic dimensional rift before being slammed with a torrent of matter and then suffering gravitic pressure on the matter that caused it to warp.(The rift construct itself was ultimately immune to the singularity but the matter now contained within it had undergone some fundamental changes.) The rift was now permanently altered in its internal composition. While it still maintained its general immunity to the places it visited, the accretion of altered matter inside of it moved through the connections the rift had made and each time that was done, the matter formed both an interface from and a bridge connected to the …Singularity Rift. It only required a small amount of matter to create the connections and interfaces and the process was retroactive except for one place it had existed. The carbon fiber trap would eventually be readdressed and when it found out that a logical bridge couldn't be created to connect to that place…anything could happen as a result. This was undiscovered country for the SR. The bridging process became geometrically progressive as various units of time elapsed. It was running at a ratio of one to one within seconds after escaping the carbon fiber trap, two to one within a Gravik of Sletorns, five to one by a very significant passage of time and a full blown ten to one ratio by (three quarters) (darkness imposed) and regardless of what the singularity rift did, it would eventually have to deal with that point in time where it had been trapped. Until that time occurred though, it had a myriad number of other places to explore. The mass it had collected from its time in the singularity permeated the place it occupied and was slowly but inexorably connecting itself to as many places the singularity rift had visited, was visiting and eventually would visit. There was no triage performed regarding what places would be the easiest to accept or the least dangerous or that made the most sense; it was a process that was as enveloping as the near countless places the SR knew existed. It shimmered and sparkled on the desolate plane it had discovered…

Los Angeles, CA September 27, 2019 09:56

Gloria Livingstone was all young and voluptuous woman but when she wanted to get some place in a hurry, she could adopt a man’s stride even with her 155 centimeter frame. She wasn't worried about her entourage or bodyguards being able to keep up because it was time to shop and be noticed at the same time. She had tried to rein in her profligate spending ways but she had given up on that task because you could hire people to do that for you. The Money Manager and Investment Broker were two very wise choices she had made (though they were recommended by her mother.). Money that was out of sight was saved versus being spent.

When had she, her family and their Siggy Oh's (California Speak for Significant Other) first hit the big time? Like, duh!! Life with the Livingstones had been running for years and between the shows, her Fairy Tale Wedding (Which became divorce rather scandalously soon) and the assorted endorsement deals/product plugs had made Gloria and her entire immediate family very wealthy. Gloria had two sisters (Grace and Gillian), a brother (Gerald), her mother and stepfather (Genevieve and Stephen Birner) and two half-sisters (Gabrielle and Ginger). On the way up the ladder, Gloria had learned several things. Even a raunchy porn video could be spun for publicity while ghost written tell all’s sold well and created even more publicity. When the wedding occurred, Genevieve Birner was able to sell the exclusive rights to the wedding and the photos for almost twenty million dollars. When the inevitable backlash occurred regarding the divorce barely two months later (especially the whereabouts of the money earned for an exclusive), Genevieve Birner stashed the cash and then ran interference for her daughter. Once publicity and paparazzi photos were released featuring Gloria and a man with a much more generally popular image (Alberto Keyan), the wedding furor died out shortly after. The digital age had produced a slew of devices to make life easier but it had so far created at least two generations of humans with a drastically deficient attention span.

The Livingstones/Birners would never have gotten away with their swindle in an earlier time but that earlier time would have meant far less of a haul so maybe they could have skated back then too. The time for wandering trains of thought was done; Gloria was at the Terra Sun Complex. It was time to see how much she could make the little people squirm before spending her money. She could see the camera flashes operating even as she made her way to the elevator; she would not only score some new duds for her wardrobe, she would be in People Magazine and the National Enquirer for the next issue. Livingstone meant living well; fuck the pundits while you play your fans for the fools that they are!

*

Los Angeles, CA September 28, 2019 08:37

Daniel Minden had a hard time containing his excitement at times but he liked to travel and today he and his mother would be going to someplace new. He willed himself to be still until he got to sit in the metal thing (it was called a car but Daniel had problems grasping everyday concepts.) and when the metal thing stopped making noise, he would be in the new place. My name is Daniel Minden; my last name means mountain in some other language which was some other language before that. I have two older half-brothers and an older half-sister. I am not allowed to play with any of my half cousins. I live in Los Angeles and though I am old enough to drive, that is something I will never be doing because I can't even call a light what it is named. The traffic light was a colored glowing thing to Daniel and mountain would have been a good way to describe him. Daniel was only sixteen years old but he was two hundred and fifteen centimeters tall (over seven feet) and every part of him was massive from his shovel sized hands to his size twenty shoes. His half siblings were a lot older than he was because he was a pregnancy that wasn't supposed to have happened (by his mother’s former companion). His mother had been forty six when Daniel was born and though she wasn't expecting any more children, she was as devoted to Daniel as she had been to her other children. Daniel had been only five when he was diagnosed with severe learning disabilities and from there, his life (and those of his mother and siblings) had been turned upon its ear. Daniel was gentle and nonthreatening at base level but children can be vicious and cruel and even Daniel had limits regarding his patience. The last time Daniel had been in anything approaching a regular school was the age equivalent of fifth grade. Daniel was already adult sized then and when the teasing became too harsh and excoriating, Daniel responded in kind. It was fortunate that the three kids recovered from their injuries because the State of California had been ready to institutionalize Daniel. Since that time, Daniel had been home schooled but that was an erratic occurrence. The one thing Daniel enjoyed more than anything else was travelling by any means available. His mom was first worried about Daniel being hurt or killed out there but she soon realized that it would be worse to keep Daniel contained in her small house. She had made Daniel a placard he could show to people if needed that identified who he was, where he lived and his mental condition.

It was time to travel now. Daniels mother (Her name was Danielle) had that purposeful look upon her and she smelled like authority. After making sure his clothes were clean and had no embarrassing rents in them, Daniel got into the passenger side of the car making sure not to hit his head in the process. Daniel was taught a version of VSE (Visual Surveillance of Extremities) used by nerve damaged humans for detecting injuries but for Daniel, it applied to his clothing and most every sort of inanimate object. If he was of a shorter height, perhaps he wouldn't have to regard so many inanimate objects as the enemy. There is nothing normal about you, freak! Daniel had no understanding regarding the idea of height expressed in measurable units but he knew when he would have to duck or contort in most any given situation and while the concept of 'new' clothing was lost on him, he understood the purpose of clothing. It was fortunate that Daniel lived where he did because in exchange for running tests on him and studying the output, a lot of expense of taking care of Daniel was defrayed; there was a lot of Daniel to take care of at times. Daniel was the exact opposite of a picky eater and would eat whatever he was given (except for shellfish; they gave him hives) but his size meant that extra portions of food were needed to make a full meal. Clothing (especially shoes) was a whole new level of frustration. Daniel and his mother were in good with several thrift stores in the area so getting clothes usually wasn't a problem but how in hell could she afford to buy size twenty shoes? In that case, Danielle had no other choice than to seek financial help from her other children. While her daughter was always quick to step up to the plate, getting money from her two sons was like pulling hen's teeth. They say that your children are no longer your responsibility after they turn eighteen; is there a cutoff age for parents? Corbett was her eldest son and he worked in the Investment Broker field and Darren owned a full service gym. Danielle would eventually get enough money for Daniel's shoes but why did her sons have to stress her out like that? Were they trying to kill her?

Your son is rather unique Mrs. Minden; functional autism at this level is an extremely rare occurrence. Have you provided for his future? She had been strongly encouraged to give her son to the State to raise but Danielle made up her mind when she visited one such 'place' that had been recommended. The smell of shit and piss and vomit was pervasive regardless of how much disinfectant was being used. When she saw a facility 'resident' restrained on a bed while covered in shit that was more than enough. Her choice had been far from easy; there had been times when she broke down and cried but only when no one could see her doing so. She taught Danny to use the toilet, to dress himself with clean clothing and to groom himself as needed. Danny had an electric razor because he cut himself repeatedly even with a safety razor and he knew how to take a shower and use soap and shampoo. He even managed to learn proper table manners and to use polite words most of the time. Any learning past the bare basics of survival would probably not be likely. Daniel could remember what he had heard but books made no sense to him. It was disconcerting when Daniel could recall something that happened when he was only a year old and it was scary (to a lot of people) that Daniel had jet black hair and green eyes that appeared to have their own fire at times.

Daniel might have made a good poker player (if he could understand what the cards meant) because his expression was almost always neutral; no one could pierce that barrier or gauge how Daniel would react to something. Daniel could smile if he wanted, but like the books, the meaning of such an action was lost on him. A smiling Danny could possibly be the most dangerous Danny of all. Why is that? Because when Danny is smiling, it doesn't mean he is nonthreatening…it only means he has learned the action without the meaning behind it. That matter might not have been of any real consequence if Daniel had been slow and pudgy like he was when he was younger but his half-brother owned a gym. Danielle knew that Darren made sure Daniel was fed while there but he also made Daniel use the weight machines and do some minor cleaning…but Daniel was mostly on the weight machines. Daniel was lifting weights at least three times a week there so that he would stay out of Darren's way. Danielle knew that Darren also had a life but she wasn't sure if making Daniel exercise like that was such a good idea. The result of using and doing everything from wrist curls to free weight barbells and no shortage of Bowflex equipment, other fixed weight machines and plenty of time with the boxing equipment (minus any ring presence) was that the potentially slow and pudgy Danny was now sculpted like a God of yore with the muscles (yes…and the looks) to match. Danny (no…Daniel) weighed a solid one hundred and thirty five kilos and when that was added to his hair and eye color, his hulking frame was enough to put people on edge. Things would have been better if Daniel could have adopted a default friendlier expression but you had to learn something like that to use it and Daniel couldn't learn that way. What would happen to Daniel when he became eighteen? The image of that person covered in shit was enough to make Danielle worry but she also wouldn't be around forever. What would Daniel do then?

Daniel had silently watched the people swimming at the gym for two days before donning the equivalent of a swim suit and trying the new activity out for himself. Though Daniel wasn't exactly the ideal body shape for swimming, his shovel hands allowed him to haul ass through the water. The women there laughed at Daniel's monstrous size but Darren made damn sure none of the ladies approached Daniel with their barbed claws. The laughter of the women was harmless because they laughed with his half-brother.

Darren, do you realize that your half-brother could easily break an average sized human being in half? Why did you let him use the weights?

I sure as hell am not going to let him sit around on his ass all day watching TV; the way I see it, I am doing him a favor. Some of the women there even think\ he is cute.

You had best not be encouraging that--

I am not doing so; I have told the single women that he is off limits; that should take care of the issue.

Darren got a chance to rethink that situation after the LAPD showed up at his gym. Apparently, another male gym member decided that Daniel was a threat to his status and he was quickly going to establish a pecking order. When Jermaine's initial attempts failed to have any visible effect, he tried a more direct approach. Now most of the laughter was at Daniel and that became the status quo for a while…until Jermaine decided to put his whole weight on the business part of the machine Daniel was using. The next thing Jermaine knew, he was over a meter higher in the air than before and before he could vacate his perch, he was staring into a pair of luminous looking green eyes and a poker face expression.

Leave me alone.

When Daniel released the lift lock on the machine's weight section, the abrupt shift knocked Jermaine on his ass, He quickly rose up in anger and slugged Daniel hard in the back but the sensation was like hitting a brick wall. Jermaine was one hundred and eighty centimeters tall and around eighty kilos but he was physically outclassed. He was picked up off of the ground by his neck to once more look into those eyes…but there was no anger in them; there was nothing that he could perceive in those green eyes except how they glowed. It made him feel a fear that went way beyond the physical.

You will cease bothering me or you will be hurt.

Daniel cast Jermaine away as if his assailant weighed nothing. Jermaine flew for three meters before painfully hitting the ground.

The police gathered witness statements and determined that Daniel had acted in self-defense but Daniels action had solved two problems instead of one. Daniel was no longer bothered by anyone in the gym and that included the single females who now needed no encouragement to keep their distance. Daniel had gained a nickname that was never used to his face. Since Daniel had moved so fast that Jermaine had no time to react and was of a hulking size, Daniel was now called 'Python'. Jermaine never came back to the gym.

*

Why are we here, mother?

I have to let some people know how we are doing so they can help us out later.

I am doing fine; why do they need to know this?

It is how things work, Daniel; I have very few of the answers that you seek.

What good are answers when they only create more questions?

This was yet another one of those times when Danielle was surprised at what Daniel had said. There were times when Daniel would say things as if he understood something of the outside world but as quick as she noticed such things was as quick as they disappeared behind that visual wall Daniel had erected. After she and Daniel returned home, Daniel might yet again wander off for a while. Danielle was initially worried about this but the more often Daniel returned alive, the less worried she became. When she asked Daniel what he did when he roamed, he only said that he looked at things a lot because they looked at him first.

*

Terra Sun Complex - The Reduction Syndicate September 28, 2019 10:07

Stanley Girard Isengylle had yet to break the habits ingrained within him but hopefully he would be able to make the needed break over time. He was wearing a perfectly pressed white button shirt, a perfectly conservative looking tie,