Our final installment.

11:55 PM

Hilario threw the switch.

The machine rumbled to life. And then…

Cough COUGH COUGH BANG SPUTTER BANG BANG!

It failed. Catastrophically.

Shade and Hilario Vandenbergh ran through the cavern to escape the coming blast. It’s too bad they would never appreciate the irony; the DDF agents hadn’t caused the unique piece of flebotnum ore code-named “Black Swan” to be fused to a higher energy state—they had rendered it useless altogether!

The ARCTIC device was ruined.

Hilario Vandenbergh’s plans were ruined.

Marcus Shade remained a man lost in time.

There was no cross-dimensional shifting of Earth’s lifeforms.

And Jason Smith stayed right where he was when the meteorite came crashing down nearby.

The impact blast acted like a bomb; shards of glass from a storefront, bits of metal from a vehicle, branches from a tree, they all were hurled about in the ensuing shockwave.

Begin Broadcast…

“Hello? Hello, Meagan. This is Tim Eager reporting live. Grim news on the shore front today, where a meteorite of all things has struck this sleepy village unexpectedly. Jason Smith lies dead on the side of the street, covered in blood spilling from countless wounds covering his lifeless body…”

Fade to black.