other dead and were both going through hell.
Richard helped me to my feet. I could barely stand. My will to live had been taken from me in that blast. Even the part of me that hoped you survived was pushed down with thoughts that even if you did, we would never see each other again. What I saw outside in that sky was the beginning of the end. What I saw when the piece struck the mountain was the end.
There was not much said as Richard led me down a small set of stairs to a large elevator door. He pressed a red button and a voice came over a speaker above our heads. The voice was from a man, he sounded young and frightened. His voice was trembling as he asked us to identify ourselves. Richard gave his name and service number. Immediately the young man’s voice changed to one of relief. The doors to the elevator opened and we stepped inside. There were no buttons to press there. The elevator began its decent on its own. After a few moments Richard began talking to me.
“ I’m sorry.” Richard said softly. “You need to know something. You need to know the truth of what I did.”
I didn’t understand what he was getting at, but his tone; it was as if he was guilty for what had happened. He looked at me like a prisoner repenting for his sins before execution. I don’t remember saying anything to him. I was still in shock and my mind was not right. After a pause he swallowed deeply and started talking again.
General Davalos was made head of Naxum Research soon after it opened. The job was to have gone to General Pierce who was head of Factor Twelve. The official story was that Pierce retired, but Luis believes he was forced out because of the incident with the Awakened Project. The little I knew of the general was that he was a war hero and a scientific genius. Most people believe it is impossible to be as strong and as smart as General Davalos was, but he was living proof they were wrong.
He did not look like a scientist, tall and built like a tank with a squared jaw he was almost action figure like in his appearance. He spoke like a commander in the heat of battle, but every world he spoke was well thought out. It was him and his team that helped to discover the new energy source and was tasked by President Gardner to work on the Global Science Initiative. General Davalos respectfully turned it down wanting to return to his work with the military.
I only personally talked with the general twice. Once was when I began my job at Naxum, the second was after Clara’s parents died. He took notice of my distraught and spoke to me for almost an hour. I respected him for that and looked upon him kindly ever since. Pretty much everyone respected General Davalos except the few who were loyal to Pierce, they were soon sent packing.
When I saw the general walk through the door I no longer respected him. He knew what was happening and would have had to sign off on keeping everyone in the dark about what was going on. Everyone else was trying their hardest to respect the man and the chain of command. I did not care anymore.
“ You coward…!” I yelled rushing towards him from my bunk. “You knew they would die and did nothing, said nothing. We could have saved them!”
A group of soldiers held me back but I could see they did so reluctantly. It was then I noticed he had come alone. There were no military police or guards of any kind. The barracks had cameras and he would have known how angry we all were and yet he came down there to address us alone. The general just looked at me and then panned over the crowd.
“ I am not going to blame what happened on global command.” General Davalos said sternly. “The meteor the science teams were tracking was on a collision course with earth. The order was given to secure specific citizens and personal in the bunkers. This was kept from the public and from you. This facility can only support a specific number of human beings. Therefore, we were unable to bring anyone else into
Richard helped me to my feet. I could barely stand. My will to live had been taken from me in that blast. Even the part of me that hoped you survived was pushed down with thoughts that even if you did, we would never see each other again. What I saw outside in that sky was the beginning of the end. What I saw when the piece struck the mountain was the end.
There was not much said as Richard led me down a small set of stairs to a large elevator door. He pressed a red button and a voice came over a speaker above our heads. The voice was from a man, he sounded young and frightened. His voice was trembling as he asked us to identify ourselves. Richard gave his name and service number. Immediately the young man’s voice changed to one of relief. The doors to the elevator opened and we stepped inside. There were no buttons to press there. The elevator began its decent on its own. After a few moments Richard began talking to me.
“ I’m sorry.” Richard said softly. “You need to know something. You need to know the truth of what I did.”
I didn’t understand what he was getting at, but his tone; it was as if he was guilty for what had happened. He looked at me like a prisoner repenting for his sins before execution. I don’t remember saying anything to him. I was still in shock and my mind was not right. After a pause he swallowed deeply and started talking again.
General Davalos was made head of Naxum Research soon after it opened. The job was to have gone to General Pierce who was head of Factor Twelve. The official story was that Pierce retired, but Luis believes he was forced out because of the incident with the Awakened Project. The little I knew of the general was that he was a war hero and a scientific genius. Most people believe it is impossible to be as strong and as smart as General Davalos was, but he was living proof they were wrong.
He did not look like a scientist, tall and built like a tank with a squared jaw he was almost action figure like in his appearance. He spoke like a commander in the heat of battle, but every world he spoke was well thought out. It was him and his team that helped to discover the new energy source and was tasked by President Gardner to work on the Global Science Initiative. General Davalos respectfully turned it down wanting to return to his work with the military.
I only personally talked with the general twice. Once was when I began my job at Naxum, the second was after Clara’s parents died. He took notice of my distraught and spoke to me for almost an hour. I respected him for that and looked upon him kindly ever since. Pretty much everyone respected General Davalos except the few who were loyal to Pierce, they were soon sent packing.
When I saw the general walk through the door I no longer respected him. He knew what was happening and would have had to sign off on keeping everyone in the dark about what was going on. Everyone else was trying their hardest to respect the man and the chain of command. I did not care anymore.
“ You coward…!” I yelled rushing towards him from my bunk. “You knew they would die and did nothing, said nothing. We could have saved them!”
A group of soldiers held me back but I could see they did so reluctantly. It was then I noticed he had come alone. There were no military police or guards of any kind. The barracks had cameras and he would have known how angry we all were and yet he came down there to address us alone. The general just looked at me and then panned over the crowd.
“ I am not going to blame what happened on global command.” General Davalos said sternly. “The meteor the science teams were tracking was on a collision course with earth. The order was given to secure specific citizens and personal in the bunkers. This was kept from the public and from you. This facility can only support a specific number of human beings. Therefore, we were unable to bring anyone else into
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