Dr. Thorne's fingers danced over a hidden console as the technicians fastened the Anti-Matter Jade plates to the capsule's hull. Behind the complex equations of pressure stabilization, she buried a sub-routine titled "Protocol 0: Absolute Containment."
"If he closes the rift, he's too dangerous to let back up," she whispered to herself. "And if he fails, the explosion of the anti-matter core will act as a secondary seal. Either way, the GDF wins."
The sub-routine was linked to Arthur's heart rate. If his vitals spiked too high, or if he attempted to divert the capsule's energy into his own D-Core, the Jade plates would implode, crushing everything within a five-meter radius into a singularity.
Arthur stood at the threshold of the capsule. He paused, his Dimensional Sensing picking up a discordant hum in the machinery. It wasn't the sound of pressure; it was the sound of "Endings."
He looked back at Dr. Thorne through the reinforced glass of the command center. He didn't say a word, but his crimson eyes flashed with a mocking brilliance. He knew.
"The seal is tight, Dr. Thorne," Arthur said through the comms, his voice dripping with irony. "I hope your 'safeguards' are as robust as you think they are."
Beside him, Seraphina felt the tremor in the future. Through their Symbiotic Link, she saw a vision of the capsule collapsing into a ball of grey fire. She reached out, her hand trembling as she touched Arthur's arm.
"It's a trap, Arthur," she whispered, her Void-Silver eyes wide with terror. "The threads... they end at the bottom. There is no path back."
Arthur leaned in, his forehead touching hers for a brief second. "The path back is for those who still believe in gravity, Seraphina. I'm not going back. I'm going through."
He stepped inside and the heavy circular door hissed shut, locking with a finality that sounded like a coffin lid. The crane began to lower the capsule into the moon-pool, the black, freezing water of the Pacific swallowing the metal sphere.
As the depth meter began to spin—1,000 meters... 3,000 meters... 7,000 meters—Arthur sat in the center of the cramped cabin. He placed his hand on the floor, feeling the hidden "Protocol 0" humming beneath the jade plates.
"You want an explosion, Doctor?" Arthur smiled, his skin beginning to crackle with grey, oily lightning. "I'll give you a Big Bang."