Western Pacific Ocean, Mariana Trench

Undisturbed for many millennia, the guardian’s autonomous sensors detected artificial signals on the periphery of their range. Recognizing them as active scans, monitoring systems immediately sent an order for full activation of the entire installation.

The Guardian woke up from its digital slumber and analyzed the data; its mission was to protect the contents of the vault and never allow it to fall into the enemy’s hands.

Following its logic tree, it armed the self-destruct systems and waited for further developments. If the correct authorization was not supplied within a predetermined time, its orders were to destroy every atom of the vault’s content, denying it to the enemy.

The cold logic that governed it did not care how that explosion would devastate the fragile balance of this world, and how it could start a chain of events that would make the entire planet uninhabitable.

Miles above the installation, on the surface of the planet, humankind went on with their daily lives—oblivious.

***

Washington, D.C.

The White House, Oval Office

President Craig Garner was not looking forward to the next meeting on his schedule, but no matter how much he disliked the person he was about to see, there was no way around it. This was one of the downsides of being a career politician. You had to make compromises all the time and were a slave to a schedule, and even the most powerful man in the world could not change that fact.

Precisely at the correct time, his secretary opened the office door.

“Mister President, Vice President Cain is here to see you.”

“Show him in, Mrs. Stiegler.”

A few seconds later an impeccably groomed man in his 60s entered, with the perfect fake smile plastered on his face. He would have liked to know what was the man’s secret, to always look so good and confident. In the last year, he noticed many new wrinkles on his own face. In addition to that, whatever black hair was there when he was sworn in, it lost the battle since then, and then the gray hair conquered almost his entire head.

“Craig, how are you doing?” The Vice President shook his hand, while the light of the afternoon sun reflected off his unnaturally white teeth. There it was, the thing that made him always uneasy in his presence, no matter how much the Vice President smiled and acted friendly… it never reached his eyes. They looked dead or maybe similar to the eyes of a great white shark, calculating, cold, and predatory. A long time ago, he accepted the fact that they will never be friends, but maintaining cordial relationships was one of the essential requirements of this job. As was a glass of whiskey, which the Vice President accepted with another smile.

There was a long-established ritual to these meetings; at first, they talked about family and day-to-day life in general, until it was time to discuss the real reason why the Vice President requested this meeting.

“Craig, you have delayed this for some time now, but we have to do something about Michael Freeman.” The Vice President said in a serious voice. Its intonation carefully modulated so it sounded as if his request was the most sensible thing to do.

“Philip, you know as well as I do, that the man saved countless lives; for God's sake, he even saved mine. This whole country owes him a debt of honor.”

The Vice President lifted his hands, gesturing for the President to calm down.

“I know that Craig, and I fully acknowledge that the man is a hero, but we cannot allow his past actions to cloud our judgment about the incredible danger he represents to this country. He does not answer to anyone and is in sole possession of some advanced technologies that we still do not even understand. In the past, we have declared individuals as national security threats for far less.”

The President shook his head. “I talked to the man and looked into his eyes, which is why I believe he would never do anything to harm this country. You read his service record, even the classified parts, he is a patriot Philip—a true hero.

The Vice President sipped his whiskey and nodded. “Be that as it may, it still doesn’t explain the technology he’s in control of. We suspect that it came from some research his father, Dr. Robert Freeman, a renowned scientist, did secretly. But we cannot even talk to them since they both fell off the face of the world, nowhere to be found. Don’t you understand that if Michael Freeman changes his mind, changes his intentions, and decides that the current political structure no longer suits him, he has the ability to end us all? Jesus, Craig, we cannot even see him coming, let alone stop him. Additionally, some of the other world leaders are having the same thoughts, they are scared and scared people do dangerous things. Besides, if he is such a patriot, why is he hiding? Why didn’t he share that technology with us? That fact alone makes his intentions highly suspicious.”

The President walked to the cabinet and poured himself another glass of whiskey. “That’s fear talking; you need to trust in people a bit more Philip. Stop being automatically suspicious and afraid of those that are outside your sphere of influence. Remember, we were elected to serve the nation, not to rule our citizens. Michael Freeman is not a danger to us, why is it so hard for you to understand that?”

“I understand Mister President, but it would be foolish not to take some preventive measures, in case things don’t go in the direction you hope they will. We owe it to the people, the same ones that elected us to keep them safe.”

President Garner closed his eyes, wishing that few of the things Philip Cain said were not logical, but they were.

“Okay, Philip… but nothing active or offensive. Like you said, just in case… you have my permission.”

Vice President Cain smiled approvingly. “It’s the sensible thing to do Craig—the right thing.”

A little while later, after his visitor left, the President finished another glass of whiskey. It was his third today, and it was still a long way until the evening; something he caught himself doing far too often lately, but with all the stress of the office... sometimes he really needed it. The Vice President was logical and probably saw his suspicion as a prudent course of action, but for some reason… it felt wrong.