Rookie Negligence

Complete rain fire and devastation of everything including Crey in its path of destruction. Nothing was salvageable from this catastrophe in front of him whether it was Crey or a metal wall. This happened….

No, Actually this was what Eyas imagined after comprehending the situation but the reality was different, a whole lot different. As he screamed the gun barked fire shots but instead of a hail of condensed blue fire he was expecting, just after at most three shots of energy which blasted straight into the wall in front, the automatic turret stopped unexpectedly.

'Whizzzzz….'

The sound of the machine rumbling and then breaking down stunned Eyas who was too shocked to react in time as he lay there in stupidness with his hand dramatically raised forward. Only after three seconds, did he manage to put up 'a lost' expression on his shocked innocent face as he stood up and ran forward to see what happened.

Just as he walked past the bend of the corridor, to his surprise there on the raised platform ( balcony) in front, an automatic turret was set up aimed in his direction. But right now it was lying there broken with the machine components destroyed from the base and besides that nightmare gun, Crey was sprawled down on the floor breathing heavily with his numb arms hanging down lifelessly.

Eyas was too shocked and unsettled to figure it out by himself. Is he truly a Callow or does he have some ability…..no, he shouldn't because why would he lie or unless…..? But then how? But even if he has, how could he face an anti-tank gun by himself? Confused he finally managed to yell out,

"W-what happened here?"

Crey, who was recovering his breath, slowly turned his head to Eyas as he exclaimed between breaths.

"Don't just….stand there. Come on! They… *gulping* will be on us in a few minutes. It's your turn now."

Crey slowly pushed himself to a standing position and hurried inside the watchtower control room. Eyas who still couldn't figure out what happened looked around but couldn't find out still how he managed to pull that off with useless numb arms despite the fact the gun had already begun to fire on before his arrival.

"Oi, You coming or not? "

"Y-Yes!"

Eyas doused his curiosity forcefully remembering that they are on borrowed time. He hurried forward and then quickly climbed up the raised platform to catch up with Crey. Inside like Crey said, it really was his turn as he glanced at the small frame computer which is probably the heart of this Watchtower.

Eyas didn't have to be told twice as he himself went towards the computer and started to tinker with it. Though Computers and Programming languages are basic things taught to every child from primary school just like other compulsory languages like English. But still, not everyone could claim himself as a wizard in it.

Crey was the same. He knew some basics but nothing more than that because where he was raised….he wasn't meant to learn these things. He had only one job to master at that....*sigh* just leave it.

Crey reigned in his thoughts forcefully as he shook his head and left Eyas alone to work peacefully in the last precious quiet time they had here. He began to check this small room and other things with the extravagant hope of finding a 'Power cell' here. Though possibility was next to null as everything here was on electricity supply, he still had to give it a try.

Some Five minutes later, it wasn't Crey or Eyas who recalled their due but an explosion just outside the tower woke both of them from their daze. One who was lost in fiddling with the computer and its network and the other who was marveling at the sophisticated tech and inner machinery of two super agglomerates.

Just after the explosion, in the next second suddenly the whole watchtower was turned off. Lights shut down to drown the whole metal building into darkness but in the next instant red lights illuminated the whole tower to further spook both Crey and Eyas. The dim red lights were more than to frighten both of them.

Crey turned to Eyas in terror, as he shouted loudly in anger recognizing red lights to initiation of self destruct sequence,

"F*ck! Were you not able to turn off remote Security Controls! What the hell were you doing till now?"

Eyas, who looked like he had f*cked up big time, flinched at his furious shout but still answered truthfully,

"I-I forgot to shut down remote controls!..... " He then gulped nervously but with each passing second, it seemed to dawn on him how much danger he had put them in. He quickly answered his next question,

"I was working….." he shook his head, "I have shut down the whole Tower including doors to not let those drones enter inside."

"...Can you shut the sequence now?" Crey inquired as he bet on his last hope on this young boy.

Eyas tried to hold it in but was unsuccessful as he nearly broke down into tears, mumbling barely aloud to let Crey hear it, …

"Once begun, It couldn't be stopped!"

Shock and Disbelief hit like a truck to Crey as he couldn't believe this boy. He forgot! And because he had shut the Tower down due to killer droids and Drones outside. Now, they are trapped here with self-destruction on, with no means to stop it. It was like they had imprisoned themselves in a self-exploding metal sarcophagus by themselves.

On the other hand, the invigilator groups monitoring the situation on the island from the ship, who mostly have their attention fixed on one special merit group, completely skipped the catastrophe faced by Crey and Eyas there. Their attention was so much ensnared, that downright striking self-destruction sequence in one of the watchtowers on their screen and that too coinciding with locations of two students - they missed all of this.

Though even if they have caught on, it would have been a tough call to save two students from the mass of a self-exploding metal tower where they have trapped themselves in. Maybe several Mechas together could resolve the issue but who knows!