Opaline-a FalmouthVerse Side Story

Well, back for another round, are we? I'm hardly surprised. Most people who hear the story are unable to resist coming back for more. My life is just that interesting. People are unable to tear themselves away from the tale of this country's rightful ruler, after all.

If I may, I would just like to put in a word for some of my associates, being falsely held behind bars or in hard labour. Remember them in your thoughts, and ensure that they get out someday. They only did what was right and good, after all, removing the false monarch from his throne and returning this nation to its rightful place in history.

After all, what is our country if not one ruling over everybody else? Look at us. We used to control a quarter of the planet's surface area, and here we are reduced to a few scattered island and this place whilst we clutter it up with buildings and excess people.

Take that Sunny girl I've mentioned a few times. Her mother's American. Why did she come over here instead of staying in the land of burgers and fries? They've got lots of space with nothing in it. Yes, I know she's married to a British citizen but that's hardly the point. The poor dear must be so confused. No wonder Sunny cannot speak proper English. A shame, really.

But I am getting off the topic, I know. I need to return to the topic or else things will get very silly indeed. So we shall return to the topic immediately.

When I had left off the last time, I had just arrived outside the building, and was about to enter with the rest of my team. The world wasn't ready to see what we were about to see in that place, but I shall save that for later.

Once we entered, we closed the doors behind us, with the lorry having its own security detail to hold the enemy back. If such an enemy existed. I've rather given part of the story away, haven't I?

We moved forward through the entrance area. This was a dark, dimly lit corridor with an office on one side (empty, of course). Those overhead lights that hadn't burned out were flickering or on the verge of failing entirely. This was going to be a problem, one that I did not want to deal with.

So, I switched my torch on and fitted it to the underbarrel attachment slot of my rifle, like so. I then ordered my fellows to do the same. Remember that this was the late 1950s; although the first night vision goggles had been developed during the Second World War they did not see widespread use in the British Army until the 1960s. Thus we did not have any.

We began to move forward, carefully checking the corridors for any signs of life or other problems. I had no real idea what to expect as I moved through those corridors. What was concerning was the large amounts of moaning I could hear in the corridors. Was somebody injured? Or something worse? We had to be on alert and be cautious.

We finally came across the source of the noise as we advanced deeper into the facility, where the corridor reached the main chamber. The rail access was at the other end of the building, so we only then encountered rails.

Lying on the floor was the body of a member of the security team sent in before us, and leaning over him was another person- possibly a researcher based on his clothing (a labcoat from the looks of it).

I called out to them to identify themselves. No reply. So I called out again.

Just then, the researcher began to get up, and turned around. His eyes were bloodshot. His skin was pale. His gaze was vacant. And there was some sort of rainbow like substance around his mouth, alongside blood.

I had barely any time to register what I was seeing when suddenly he charged at me, screaming the foulest noise I had ever heard. I didn't hesitate, and pulled the trigger. With a hail of bullets the thing was brought down.

I walked over, training my weapon on them in case they got back up. They didn't. But that confirmed what had happened to the other team.

They were dead. Their bodies were scattered on the floor, and there was little hope of their recovery now. All we could do was give them a proper burial when all this was over.

As we pushed deeper into the building, we could see more of this rainbow coloured substance all over the place, as if it had leaked. But from what?

Luckily, one of my soldiers found the source. A large drum. The exact same one I'd guarded earlier that day, as a matter of fact. It had a large hole in it, which was how it had leaked out and presumably affected the people in the room.

And then it got worse. We came across the control and research room, which had some notes left out. We studied them, and soon discovered the truth about what had been happening in this room. What British Railways had been trying to hide.

Remember how I mentioned earlier that we had often wondered how machines are sentient? They had been trying to figure out how that worked, and believed they had found the answer.

The container I had guarded? It was filled with spectra, which was apparently the liquid form of this magic- the document also made reference to this thing called gold dust, but they weren't experimenting on that. They were trying to figure out if there was anything special about this spectra.

Unfortunately, they had made many serious errors in doing so. When they had taken it for analysis, the canister had first leaked, then exploded. This had resulted in spectra leaking everywhere, and turning many of the people inside the building into those things I encountered earlier.

And it had leaked into Derby's water supply, which was why I had encountered all the people behaving strangely. The spectra was slowly changing them into something else.

Suddenly, the radio lit up with traffic. Messages were coming in from fellow guards and workers. The gates had been breached by a burning lorry being crashed through them, and these things were swarming through the works site. If we didn't escape soon, we would be unable to leave. And I had no intention of dying that day.

We left the room and headed back for the exit, but as we did the blasted screaming started up again. The things had woken up, and somehow somebody had rung the dinner bell for them. It was most certainly time to leave.

They soon approached us from all directions. We resorted to staggering fire, with our group moving backwards in one row and forward in another. This allowed us to cover all angles and ensure our lines did not get broken.

We were almost to the door when suddenly things went wrong. A group of the things had appeared near one of the spectra storage tanks, and one of my men opened fire on the assembled monstrosities. Unfortunately, the fact we had rifles was a problem here.

Ever heard of overpenetration? It's when a round goes straight through the target instead of stopping in them, where it should. With rifles it can be a problem due to high stopping power, and that's what happened here.

The bullet went clean through the target and out the other side, hitting the tank they were standing in front of. It also hit a pressure release valve, which began to malfunction.

As we put down more fire to bring the monsters down, the tank was even more damaged. We were about to move through the door when it happened.

I don't completely remember what happened next owing to the confusion involved, but what I do recall is that there was a shaking in the room, followed by an enormous explosion. I focused on what was going on, but it was hard with all the noise in the way.

The tanks had seemingly ruptured, which was a serious problem. That stuff was starting to spill out, and so we had to run as fast as we could.

But we were pinned down. What I do recall is seeing the substance arcing down towards me, and being certain this was it.

But I shall have to fill in the rest for you another time, as once again we seem to be out of time. This seems to happen rather a lot, don't you think? It's perplexing, that's what it is.

But at least I can now return to something of quiet. Lunch is coming up, and as it is a Sunday they let prisoners who have been good eat actual food.

That includes me. The final part of my story will have to wait until you return, next time.