Hidden system

Lien stood in a dimly lit room, near a partially open door, looking to see if anyone was walking down the corridor. It was quiet and dark. Lien carefully closed the door and turned back to the room he was in.

Lien was in a small and almost dark room located on the lower floors of the research center. Together with him in the room were Kelis, Tera, Axel, Nix, and Eric.

- “Everything is quiet,” - Lien said.

- “I think you’re exaggerating. Even at night, Sena is asleep,” Nix said.

- “If we miscalculate, we’ll all be replaced on this project. Well, we’re not exaggerating, Nix,” - Kelis replied.

- “I think I’ll start,” Axel said. – “I analyzed the information Eric gave us, and it definitely concerns the time pillars.”

- “How did this happen? "Did someone give them data on our project?" - asked Tera.

"They just happened to find some ancient records concerning the Pillars of Time," - said Eric.

Axel turned on the computer and showed photos of ancient books and other records.

- “These records indicate that with the help of pillars you can move to certain corners of the world,” - said Axel.

The images that Axel showed were drawn living beings similar to people and pillars to which these people are drawn. It shows how people stand in the center of four pillars and how they disappear. It shows how they appear in the center of other pillars surrounded by strange figures above them.

- “The only condition that is needed for movement is the presence of other pillars at the point to which you need to move,” - added Eric.

- “That is, we can move from our pillars to others… But, do those other pillars even exist?” - asked Lien.

- “I have two thoughts on this. Either some country is hiding the fact that they found the pillars, or the other pillars were never found. "And if we got to where they are now… that would give us an advantage in this project. Additional tihirax, or other TDCs… Who knows what's near the other pillars," Eric said.

The room fell silent for a few seconds. Everyone began to ponder Eric's words. Lien was thoughtfully looking at the images on the computer. He was distracted from everything around him and looked at one image after another, looking for what was bothering him at that moment. However, Kelis broke the silence. Because of this, Lien, and the others present in the room were distracted and turned their attention to Kelis.

- "No! We will not risk everything! According to our calculations, we have enough tihirax to make three time jumps. Three! If everything goes well, one jump will be enough for us. But, if something goes like this... we will only have two jumps in reserve..."

- "Kelis is right... We have no more opportunities for experiments. No matter how tempting it would be to go to other pillars, we cannot risk our project because of it," - Tera added.

- "How is the movement system activated?" - Lien asked confidently.

Everyone in the room looked at Lien in surprise.

- "I agree with you. We won't risk the project. But I want to know how the relocation is going," - Lien added.

The research center employees went to the floor where the four time pillars were hidden. They did not turn on the general light, but made do with flashlights.

They approached the pillars and began to illuminate them.

- “On each pillar there is a mark with the pillar number in the Xarak language,” - said Axel.

- “Yes. Here is the first, second, there is the third and fourth,” - Lien pointed to the symbols on the pillars, which meant numbers in the Xarak language.

On the first pillar was a time compass, which had to be turned to move with the pillars at a particular time.

- “The regulator that allows you to choose a destination should be on the fourth pillar,” - said Axel.

Everyone approached the fourth pillar and began to carefully examine it. Time had not spared this pillar, it was badly destroyed, and it was difficult to see anything on it. Most of the symbols and markings had been erased.

- "That's not possible. We won't see anything here," Kelis said.

Lien carefully began to look at the pillar. He came closer and began to feel with his hand the part of the pillar where the symbols that had previously been written there were partially visible.

Lien found something. He carefully looked at the pillar in this place. He shone a flashlight at it closer. Lien took out the keys and began to scrape the sand that was stuck in the gaps of the pillar control system.

- “Hey! What are you doing?!” - Kelis said in fright.

However, Lien did not listen. He enthusiastically cleaned the sand from the pillar. With each second it became clearer that there was a control panel there. Lien finished cleaning and he pressed one of the buttons.

- “Stop!!” - Kelis shouted in fright.

Silence reigned around. Lien looked at Kelis in surprise.

- “Everything is fine. There's no tihirax inside for them to start..." - Lien said calmly.

Kelis breathed a sigh of relief. However, he was still angry.

- “Whatever it is, you can’t safely put pressure on everything at once!” - Kelis said.

- “The main thing now is that we found this system…” - Lien said.

A flashlight illuminated everyone present. It was Sena who had come down.

- “What are you doing here?” - asked Sena.

Everyone present looked around and looked at Sena in fear.

- “You know that meetings without my knowledge are prohibited,” - added Sena.

- "Tomorrow is an important day. We're going to launch the pillars. Everyone’s nervous. Can’t you just come and take a look at the project? Or did you think we’ve been secretly making some kind of deal here?" - said Kelis.

Sena looked at Kelis silently for a few seconds.

- “If you have already looked, then it is time to part”.

Hearing these words from Sena, the team dispersed. Some went to spend the night in one of the research center offices, some went home. The launch of the time pillars should start tomorrow. There's only one month left until the end of the world.