NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 11: Chapter 11– The Gate Engine
Chapter 11– The Gate Engine
Behind them, the door sealed itself again. From the inside.
The metal hissed shut with a hydraulic sigh. Rayn spun, heart thudding. No button. No handle. No release. Just smooth steel and the blinking red light of a lock they hadn't touched.
"We're not alone," Milo whispered.
Rayn didn't answer. The corridor ahead stretched into flickering white light, walls lined with tubes and dark windows. The whole place smelled faintly of ozone and something burnt long ago. This was no abandoned ruin. It was sleeping.
And now it was waking up.
---
They walked carefully. The deeper they went, the colder the air became. Every sound they made seemed louder than it should've been. Boots on tile. Breathing. A soft electronic hum.
Rayn's fingers brushed against one of the walls. It buzzed faintly. Alive. The lights overhead pulsed in time with something deeper. Rhythmic. Like a heartbeat.
"This place isn't dead," Rayn said.
"No," Milo replied. "It's waiting."
They passed a shattered observation room. Inside, consoles lined the wall, their screens cracked but still faintly glowing. Dust hung in the air like fog. In the center stood a cylindrical tank filled with black liquid. Tubes snaked into it from every direction.
Rayn stepped in. He wiped a screen with his sleeve. It flickered.
[REDACTED LOG ACCESS]
[ENTRY: TEST GROUP 12C - SUBJECT RAYN KAEL]
Rayn's breath caught. He tapped the screen again. More logs. Hundreds. All under his name.
"It's you," Milo said quietly.
Rayn swallowed. He opened the first log.
---
LOG 1 - Initial Transfer:
"Subject demonstrates high survival response. Quantum stability remains uncertain. Cross-thread bleed detected. Recommend Merge Trial retest."
LOG 5 - Behavioral Anomalies:
"Subject reports memories not belonging to current thread. Suggesting external consciousness exposure or premature Hollow Root contact."
LOG 12 - Collapse Protocol Activation:
"Timeline divergence exceeds projected safety limit. Subject instability increasing. Doctor has approved Gate Engine reactivation."
---
Rayn pulled away.
"They used me. I wasn't just a survivor… I was part of this."
Milo looked pale. "What's the Hollow Root?"
Rayn shook his head. "I don't know. But they were afraid of it. And they thought I could… hold it off."
Another console beeped softly. A nearby monitor blinked to life.
[INITIATING GATE ENGINE LOG REPLAY]
A woman's voice filled the room. Calm. Controlled.
"This is Doctor Arlen. Final log. If you're hearing this, the containment has failed. The Gate Engine did not hold. The Root is leaking through the splits. Reality will begin to fracture within hours."
A pause. Static.
"Subject Kael is the only one who's made it through repeated merges without complete disintegration. We believe he might be the anchor we need. Or the last thread."
Static again. Then silence.
Rayn stared at the monitor.
"Doctor Arlen… she knew this would happen."
Milo stepped closer to the cylindrical tank. "So they built a machine to split timelines... and tried to trap whatever this Hollow Root thing is inside the cracks?"
Rayn nodded. "And I was part of the experiment. Over and over. Until it stopped working."
"And now it's loose."
Rayn didn't respond.
---
They kept moving.
The next hallway sloped downward. Emergency lights flashed along the floor. Every so often, the walls would shudder—a low vibration, like something massive shifting far below.
They passed sealed doors labeled with codes.
[LAB 3A - MERGE CHAMBER]
[OBSERVATION DECK - GATE ENGINE CORE]
[SUBJECT STASIS HOLD]
Rayn froze.
"Back up," he said.
Milo stopped.
Rayn pointed at the last door.
[SUBJECT STASIS HOLD]
It was slightly ajar.
He stepped inside.
The room was cold. Not just temperature-wise—something deeper. Like all the warmth had been pulled out long ago. Glass pods lined the wall, each filled with thick mist.
And one was lit.
Rayn approached slowly.
He wiped the frost from the window.
His stomach dropped.
Jun.
Frozen inside. Her body suspended in the mist. Eyes closed. Pale. Still.
Milo gasped. "Is she…?"
Rayn stared.
Her face was peaceful. But her body… older. Worn. Her clothes tattered.
There was a date on the terminal next to the pod.
Stasis initiated: 6 months ago.
Rayn backed away.
"That's impossible," he whispered. "She was with the others. We left her. She was alive."
Milo shook his head slowly.
"Different Jun. Different thread. Maybe this is where the original one ended up. Or another version."
Rayn turned, breathing hard.
A soft noise echoed from behind the room.
Not mechanical.
Wet.
Milo raised his flashlight.
It flickered.
Something moved behind the far stasis pod. A shape. Too tall. Too thin.
The light died.
Rayn grabbed Milo's arm. "Move. Now."
They ran.
Back into the hallway. Past the sealed labs. Past the Gate Core.
Behind them, the air twisted. A sound like a bone breaking echoed down the corridor.
They didn't look back.
---
They didn't stop running until they reached another control room. Rayn slammed the door shut. Locked it. They collapsed against the far wall, panting.
"Something's still alive in there," Milo said.
"Watching us," Rayn added.
He turned to the nearest console. Smashed, but functional. A map of the facility flickered onscreen.
It showed multiple levels. Most were offline.
But one blinked in red.
[GATE ENGINE CORE - ACTIVE]
Rayn stared.
"The machine's still running. After all this time."
He looked at Milo.
"We need to shut it down. Or restart it the right way. If we don't, more versions of us will keep collapsing into this thread. And eventually…"
He didn't finish.
Milo nodded slowly. "Then let's find the core."
Rayn took one last look at the screen.
Then they opened the next door.
---
End of Chapter 11