Section 5.

[eureka_npcs]

A stray thought in the Congressman's mind is that it feels as though a significant portion of the Global Dynamics budget has gone to making staircases obsolete, requiring elevators to get anywhere through the use of passkeys.

Stark swipes his own passkey once the elevator clicks over Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Restricted, and the doors open.

Comments

[eureka_npcs]

"You're doing the right thing, Doctor Stark."

Farraday does his best not to care about the assault weapons pointing at the steel-titanium barricade immediately in front of him.

[eureka_npcs]

"I'm counting on it," Stark informs him.

As the two men step out of the elevator, a computerized voice orders,

"Step onto the grid for identity verification."

Over to their left, the technician gestures to the Global Dynamics logo set into the floor in front of Farraday.

Stark doesn't move.

[eureka_npcs]

The pyramid bas-relief of the Global Dynamics seal on the floor is now the backdrop to Farraday's leather shoes as even with his eyes closed he can see the light from the scanner recessed into the ceiling cover him and examine him from jugular to Achilles' tendon.

He passes whatever test it is that the scanner forces him through, and the Congressman moves forward unhindered.

Toward the barricade.

"Um..." in his first moment of faltering, "That's a radiation symbol."

[eureka_npcs]

He doesn't bother confirming it. Why waste time, when it's visible for anyone with eyes to see? Nor does he bother reassuring the other man. The Congressman had demanded exactly this, after all; let him deal with it.

Stark strolls up beside him and stands facing the barricade, studying the caution warning and the red 5 emblazoned on the metal door with abstract interest.

"Once you enter the chamber we'll breach containment. You'll have fifteen seconds to view the Artifact," he tells Farraday.

A precise beat.

"Any longer will exceed exposure limits."

[eureka_npcs]

From faltering to shock, "You're not going in with me?"

[eureka_npcs]

Stark glances at the other man.

"Could only afford one suit."

One corner of his mouth twitches upward in a wryly amused smile as he makes his point.

[eureka_npcs]

The barricade pulls back into the wall, opening a dark hallway beyond, and no one seems capable or willing to offer Farraday an explanation of what's about to happen.

So he enters, and it takes him almost forty minutes to put on the poundage of the protective gear he is required to wear.

Amber lights flick to life and start spinning as the first interior barrier is lifted.

He doesn't hear the warning sirens through the helmet creating the tunnel vision toward the final interior barrier.

[eureka_npcs]

He's leaning over the command screen at the observation station in the antechamber outside the barricade, both hands planted flat on the desk as he watches.

Stark lets out a short sigh, then announces over the communications link,

"Opening the doors now."

[eureka_npcs]

The door opens, and first it's

smoke.

Then it's a fire

suspended mid-air in a ball.

Farraday, Arnold and Artie to his mother and wife only, is agape.

[eureka_npcs]

Over the in-suit com, Stark's voice sounds almost flat.

It's probably just electronic distortion.

"Our tests have confirmed that it is terrestrial in origin," he reports. "We just can't figure out who created it."

"Oh, my God..."

[eureka_npcs]

[eureka_npcs]

Listening to this through the communications set that he's got pressed against his ear, Stark smiles slightly.

"That's one theory."