I'd never seen the city this active, like, ever. Not even when the fusion reactor had an accident had it been this active. There were thousands of soldiers directing civilians into bunkers or other secure locations.
"And yet, it's my squad they choose..." I mutter as I look down at the other soldiers, the autopilot letting me be inattentive to the wheel. "Like, literally, what are the odds? 1 in a million? There are tens of thousands of squads, and yet the higher-ups chose mine."
Deciding to use this free time for something actually useful, I ordered the on-board AI to scan the security footage of cameras near the 'hole.' A few minutes later, a projector begins displaying the street on which the 'hole' is located, and I see it.
The hole forming, that is.
It was enrapturing, genuinely. It started with a flash of light that briefly stunned the camera, and then, lightning. Lightning of every color sprang forth from the light, scorching the ground and then healing the damage. A wave of faint blue light escaped from the light, sweeping for a few dozen feet before dissipating. And then, the lightning began to move, it rotated increasingly faster and faster until a hole formed. Small, at first, before quickly growing into the hole I had seen on the news.
But it was different. The tapestry of colors and indistinguishable patterns had not yet formed. The patterns were swirling, inverting, growing, and shrinking, before finally solidifying into what I had seen before.
I couldn't tell you how many times I watched the process; it was beautiful, mesmerizing, and even calming. My training kicked in the moment I detected that last thing. A foreign, unknown, and possibly hostile device or weapon or transport, making me feel calm? Bullshit.
"Something is wrong here..." I muttered as I watched it again.
A soft voice suddenly rang out, making me jump slightly. "We have arrived at your destination, David." It was the onboard AI assistant. I had dialed it to a minimum of verbal interaction, cause I like peace and quiet where I can get it. Given how it spoke to me, we must have been here for a few minutes.
Turning off the projection of the 'hole,' I put back on my helmet, take a deep breath. "This better be worth my vacation." I step out of the car.
I see it instantly, it's smaller than I thought it was. Roughly the size of an air car. It was even more stunning in person. I even froze for a moment. I had to force myself to look away. When I looked at it, I heard a chorus of sounds. Not from my ears, but from my eyes. It's impossible to describe, I saw colors that don't exist and heard a melody. I saw something resembling purple, but darker. Not literally darker, it didn't get closer to black, it got... deeper? It's impossible to describe with words.
The purple I just failed to describe, for example, made a constant, quick beat. Like someone playing the drums well but aggressively.
Looking around, trying to look at anything other than whatever was in front of me, I saw the automated defenses had booted up. Every automated turret, every barrier, every laser trap or wall, all primed to fire at any moment. Hundreds of barrels were pointed at the 'hole', every single one of them enough to shred a foot of steel in seconds.
However, this didn't make me feel completely safe. We were dealing with the complete unknown here. I thought they would have brought out at least one mech. Sure, they cost a lot to use, but this is a literal tear in space-time that has colors that make noise.
Looking around more, I eventually found Jayden desperately trying to convince a group of people not to try and touch the "portal to the Warp," as they called it. I think they're on some hard drugs. Zooming in confirmed it. They were wobbly, eyes dilated, and kept babbling about the "warp" or some shit.
"Need any help? Or do you enjoy your thoughtful debate with the crackheads?" I say to Jayden through the squad comms.
"GET OVER HERE AND HELP ME!" Jayden practically roared through the comms.
Walking over to help deal with the cognitively impaired crowd, I mutter, "Ok, ok. Don't gotta yell." Thankfully, my eardrums were spared from Jayden's loud wrath; the comms have an inbuilt volume cap.
As I approached, I began hearing the 'conversation' more clearly.
"NO. You cannot touch the hole."
"But it looks like those old-timey manga I used to read! it'll lead to another world of magic and mystery, just trust me...!" I watch in confusion as the man stumbles. "I volunteer to be the brave first adventurer into this hostile and dangerous land!"
"What the fuck is the guy on about? He thinks this is a manga?" I say to Jayden as I approach.
"Oh, thank the gods you're here. Help me push these guys outside the barriers, I'm sick of this shit."
And so, two soldiers, armed to the teeth in combat armor and weapons that could kill a tank of the past, began the tedious process of pushing both young and old crackheads away from what is probably the most dangerous thing since nuclear bombs.
*30 minutes of wrangling crackheads later*
"Well, that was painful. How did that take longer than flying across half the city?"
"Do you understand now why I was panicking? Whatever shit they were on made them as stubborn as mules and half as strong."
"Remind me never to piss off weebs when they're on crack, or meth."
"Might have been steroids."
"Steroids? Really? You think they can get access to steroids that make them that strong?"
"... fair point."
"When are the others gonna get here, by the way?" I say, checking the time on my HUD. "It's been like 45 minutes since you called me."
"Good question, lemme check." Jayden pulls out his phone, checks something, and then curses. "I uh, I forgot to call them."
I simply take a deep breath and sigh from the very depths of my soul. "Jayden, you've got to be fucking kidding me."
"Now, I know this sounds bad-"
"Jayden. You woke me up in the middle of the fucking night, on my vacation, for the most important event in human history, and forgot to call the others?"
"...yes?"
"Nathan is gonna fucking kill you, you know that?"
"...yeah..."
"Alright, might as well call them now. You do that while I try to figure out what the hell this thing is." I say while turning to look at the 'hole.'
"You know what?" I say, looking away. "I'm not gonna stare into the abyss, cause I felt it fucking with me earlier. Don't look at it too much. I only felt it while I saw the recording of it forming, but hey, can't be too cautious when it comes to..." I gesture in the direction of the hole, "that. Plus, I ain't paid enough to care."