“What cave base?” Axel asked and Rolf straightened, stepped to the side and waved his hand over the surroundings.
Rolf had described their location pretty accurately. It was indeed a giant cave base. Axel tried to stand, but quickly realized that his hands were handcuffed behind the chair back and his ankles were also cuffed. He glanced to Alena and realized she was also handcuffed by her wrists and ankles. Since he was facing her, he could not fire a bolt of energy from his chest.
Axel was confused. He turned back to see Rolf standing just a few feet away, still grinning. He noticed Tom and Colonel Smith standing not far away from a team of Green Berets. But then he saw Freyja and Freyr.
“What’s going on?” Axel asked, perplexed as he struggled against the cuffs. “Rolf, help me get up!”
“Sorry, Axel, but I can’t,” Rolf said with a frown.
Axel’s eyes met Alena’s and they reflected the confusion and panic that he felt.
“Axel, calm down!” he heard Dawn’s voice. He did calm down. Dawn was there. Good. She could explain things. He turned to find her and Rolf took a step back to reveal Dawn standing about thirty feet away. Axel smiled, but then he noticed Mr. X standing on her left and some very strange looking white humanoid thing standing on her right.
“Dawn!” Axel shouted. “What in the world is going on?” he demanded.
“Just calm down,” she said.
“She’s betrayed us,” Alena spat. Her eyes jumped from Dawn to Tom. “See! All of your capitalist friends are the enemy!”
“Stop,” Axel said to Alena and then turned back to Dawn. “Dawn let me up.”
“Okay, Axel,” she said as she walked toward him. “I’ll let you up.” She finally reached them and squatted down beside Axel. She placed a hand gently on his cheek. “I’m so glad you’re alright.”
“Don’t trust her Axel!” Alena said. “She’s clearly working with them!”
“I’ll always trust Dawn,” Axel said.
“Damn it Axel!” Alena shouted. “She is a fascist, just like the rest of…” but suddenly Alena stopped talking. She just stared up at Dawn.
Dawn stood and looked down at Alena. “You were saying?” she asked.
“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen,” Alena told her. “I don’t understand why Axel would ever want me when he could have you.”
Dawn turned to Axel. “You should listen to her Axel,” Dawn smiled.
Alena turned to Axel. “Yes, Axel,” Alena said. “Dawn is perfection.”
Dawn threw back her head and laughed. “That’s much better Alena.”
Axel turned to Dawn. “Okay Dawn,” he said, a little spooked by Alena’s sudden change in attitude. “What is going on?”
Dawn shrugged. “I am controlling her will,” she said.
“Controlling her will?” Axel asked. “What are you talking about.”
“You’re about to find out,” Dawn said as she stared at Axel. A smile spread across her face as he spun around and walked away. Axel and Alena felt the cuffs snap open as Dawn used her powers to unlock them with her mind. The two stood.
“Wait!” Mikhail shouted. “Don’t let them up!” He and the Aryan twins took a step toward Axel and Alena.
“It’s alright, Mikhail,” Werner said as he held up his hand. “The Queen has them under control.”
“Queen?” Mikhail asked. “What are you talking about, Queen?”
Dawn reached Werner and turned back around.
“He’s talking about me,” Dawn said. She then turned to Werner. “So what now?” she asked.
A smile spread across Werner’s face. “I’m glad you asked,” he said. “As I was explaining before, beneath this lake is a giant machine, designed by our friend Dave,” he said with a nod to Dave, who stood nearby, but did not say a word. “It was constructed here, however.”
“What does it do?” she asked.
“It will take the consciousness of every man, woman, and child on the planet,” Werner said.
“Even yours?” Dawn asked.
“Yes,” Werner said. “I am glad to sacrifice myself to save humanity. To create a society free from war, free from murder and crime. Free from the genocides we’ve seen from monsters like Hitler and Stalin and Mao. From my own father.”
Dawn could see he meant it. The disgust was evident on his face. “But do we really want to destroy free will?” she asked.
Werner raised his head to stare at her. “Free will?” he asked. “Free will is nothing but an excuse for humanity to be selfish. When given free will all humans do is oppress others. Steal from others. Murder others. All for their own gain. It doesn’t matter if you are a Nazi, a Communist, an 18th century slave owner, a mobster, or the jerk who cuts in line getting off the interstate.”
Dawn nodded.
“This is the only way, Dawn. This is the only way to save humanity. We now have bombs that can wipe out the entire planet.”
“Like the z-bomb,” she said.
“Precisely,” he smiled, giddy almost like a child. “And it was the z-bomb that your team brought us from Antarctica that is going to power the machine.”
“Wait!” Freyja shouted. “You sent them to attack our base?”
“Sent is a strong word,” Werner said. “But I engineered it. With Kammler’s help.”
Freyja looked at her brother.
“So Kammler is on board with this?” Dawn asked.
“Oh, no,” Werner said. “That’s why he sent you to stop us. He thinks he was playing you. Getting you to be his tools. He didn’t realize that we needed you to come. That you, Dawn, are the only human with the power to control the entire will of the planet. Everyone’s consciousness will be downloaded onto a super computer like the one you experienced in Vietnam. You will be able to tap into it all. Control it all.”
“What do you mean Dawn is the one to control it all?” Mikhail asked indignantly. “You told me that we would control the will of the planet,” he said as his hands encompassed the Aryan twins.
“Well, I lied,” Werner said.
“Lied?” Mikhail asked.
“Yes,” Werner said with a chuckle. “Do you really think that Dave and I would give over control of the planet to three sadistic psychopaths like you? We’re trying to prevent your kind from getting control.”
“That’s it!” Freyja snapped. She bounded up the steps toward Werner. She reared back to punch him with her metal arm, but he was too quick, grabbing her around the throat. He began to squeeze harder and harder as she gasped for breath.
“Stop!” Freyr shouted as he too bounded up the steps. But he suddenly halted. Dave had taken control of both his and Mikhail’s minds.
Freyja reached out desperately with her human arm and grabbed hold of Werner’s shirt, ripping it open.
Dawn gasped when she saw what was revealed under Werner’s shirt. There was another face there, in his stomach and two more arms that had been folded up. The eyes of the face popped open and the arms spread out, as the fingers flexed.
Werner threw Freyr to the ground. She laid there gasping for breath. Werner turned away from Dawn in shame.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he said softy. Dawn placed a hand on his shoulder.
“It’s alright,” she said.
Werner sighed and then turned back around. It was a little freaky for Dawn to see the stomach face staring up at her.
“As I told you, I was born a cripple,” he said. “My father, Colonel Arnulf, had his scientists experiment on me to find a way to heal me. Not only heal me, but make me better. Make me an Aryan super soldier like Freyr and Freyja. He succeeded.”
Werner looked Dawn in the eyes. “When he healed me though, he healed not only me, but the twin brother that I had absorbed during my mother’s pregnancy. His face and arms came forth. His mind works,” Werner wiped tears from his eyes. “I can hear his thoughts. He can hear mine.”
“And your strength?” Dawn asked.
“My fat
her said that I was the strongest of any of his creations. Of course that was before Rolf,” he smiled. “I heal fast too. I mean, impossibly fast.” He looked down at Freyja still struggling to get enough oxygen into her lungs. He bent over and snatched the knife from her boot. He slid the blade across the palm of his hand, gushing blood. Dawn marveled as the cut completely healed up right before her eyes.
Freyja’s eyes popped wide as she realized she would not be able to kill him. She pushed herself to her feet and rushed to her brother. He turned to her and she began to shake him as if to wake him up. “We’ve got to go Freyr!” she shouted.
Suddenly she stopped, let her brother go, and quietly turned to face the others. Dawn knew that Dave had taken control of her will just like the others. Dawn swallowed hard. If she didn’t act soon, the entire Earth would be nothing but slaves.
“Werner,” Dawn whispered. “We don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, we do, Dawn,” he replied. “It’s the only way to ensure there aren’t a million other Hans Arnulfs. I mean just look at your own country. The land of the free and home of the brave, completely infiltrated with Nazis and Communists, all plotting take over. And they aren’t all immigrants either. The real movers and shakers are U.S. born, power-hungry madmen. All using the might of the United States for their own gain. The International—as you call it—will never let the elected officials actually run things. They represent a state beneath a state. A deep state so to speak. They have already killed one President and they will kill or politically destroy any others that get in their way, even if they have to create scandalous slanders about them. Even if they have to frame them or stage false emergencies.”
“But killing billions isn’t the answer,” Dawn argued.
“You’re right, but we’re not killing them,” Werner said. “We’re saving them from themselves. Their collective consciousness…” he paused and then corrected himself. “Our collective consciousness will give you near omniscience. You will be a goddess.”
“Saving them?” Dawn asked. “To be slaves? I don’t really want to be a goddess. I mean, I was raised to love Jesus.”
Werner glanced at the people standing obediently before them. “You don’t seem to mind having your friends do your bidding,” he chuckled. “No, Dawn, it’s over. It’s time to begin.”
“Sorry, Werner,” she said. “I can’t let you do this. And for the record, I would never make my friends my slaves. They’re not under my control. We were just pretending, because I didn’t want them under Dave’s.”
“What?” Werner asked in disbelief.
“I simply used telepathy to secretly let them in on the plan,” Dawn explained.
Werner looked at Axel as a bolt of blue lightening burst from the hero’s chest, slamming into Werner and frying him like Axel had fried Werner’s father. Werner’s body collapsed to the floor charred black and smoking.
“I am sorry Werner,” Dawn cried as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Axel was weakened from the loss of so much energy and collapsed as his legs folded beneath him. Rolf hurried to his brother, placing a giant hand beneath Axel and lifting him up into his chair.
Tom and Colonel Smith turned to the four mind-controlled Green Berets, but fortunately the men did not move. They still stood at attention.
Alena quickly dashed to Axel’s side. “Are you alright?” she asked.
“Yes,” he nodded. “I just need a minute.”
Then all attention turned to Dave.
“This is very disappointing Dawn,” the shiny white alien said. “We did not want to control your planet. We wanted an earthing to do so. But you have given us no other choice. We must bring peace to this world.”
“Slavery, you mean,” Dawn snapped.
“No matter,” Dave said ignoring her. He turned and peered out of the giant opening at the beautiful lake. “We shall do what is necessary.”
Suddenly the placid waters of the lake began to rumble, causing ripples then waves. In fact, the entire base began to quake. Dawn and the others watched as giant metal beams rose from the water. The beams were curved, like long claws. As more of the objects broke the surface of the lake, it became clear that the beams formed a massive spherical-shaped machine as wide as four football fields and as tall as the Statue of Liberty.
“What in the world?” Tom asked rhetorically as the giant sphere began to slowly rotate. The rotation speed gradually increased and everyone soon noticed a small blue light illuminating in the space at its peak, between the tops of the metal beams. The light was small, but as the machine rotated, it began to grow.
“Shut it down Dave!” Dawn shouted.
“That is impossible, Dawn,” Dave replied.
“I’ll shut it down,” Colonel Smith sneered as he drew his sidearm, leveling it at Dave before squeezing the trigger three times. Dave’s head bounced to the side with the impact of each round, but otherwise he appeared unfazed by the bullets.
The alien turned to Dawn. “It is precisely this immediate resorting to violence that doomed our planet and would doom yours if we do not take control.”
Smith marched forward, toward Dave, undaunted in his task. He squeezed the trigger again, but again the bullet did not hurt the alien. Dave turned to him. “That is enough Colonel.”
“It’ll be enough when you’re dead,” Smith shouted, but before he could pull the trigger again, Dave raised a white hand and a blue light leapt forth completely vaporizing Smith. All that remained was gray ash floating in the breeze.
“No!” Dawn screamed.
“You killed him!” Rolf shouted.
“No,” Dave replied. “We attempted to take control of his will. But Dawn protected him from that. As she is protecting all of you.”
“That’s right!” Dawn spat. “We aren’t going to be your slaves.”
“Even though we abhor violence, we will use it if necessary,” Dave told them. He then turned to Mikhail and the Aryan twins. The three began to move.
Team Blitzkrieg plus Alena, readied for the attack, but the evil super humans weren’t the only ones Dave was sending after them. Alena heard rifles raised behind her and spun to see the four Green Berets preparing to fire.
“No!” she shouted and in a flash was moving toward them.
“Don’t kill them,” Axel muttered weakly.
Alena was able to divert the Berets’ rifle barrels upward before they had a chance to squeeze the triggers, sending the bullets flying over her friends’ heads. She then turned back and removed the magazine from each weapon. She was in the midst of them now, fighting all four American soldiers in hand-to-hand combat.
The four worked as a team to encircle her and slowly squeeze inward. Knives flashed in their hands and Alena drew her swords. She wanted to listen to Axel. She certainly didn’t want to kill the men. She realized that it wasn’t really them that were trying to kill her. It was the alien Dawn called Dave, but she couldn’t let them kill her either.
“Forgive me,” she whispered and was just about to slice through the Berets, when they all suddenly gave a jerk, before collapsing onto the ground unconscious. Alena turned to see Axel standing—though leaning against the chair for support—his hand held up.
“They should be alright,” he said. “But they are going to have one heck of a headache when they come to.”
Axel stumbled and Alena dashed forward, catching him before his body hit the ground. “Rest,” she said as she helped him back into the chair and giving him a kiss on the cheek. Axel nodded.
Alena looked up at the fight in front of her. Through all of the fray Dawn stood like a statue. Her hands were held up in front of her, like she was pushing something away. She stared unblinking at Dave and Dave just stared back at her.
Alena saw Rolf defending Dawn from Freyr and Freyja. The Aryan twins were attacking the giant from either side. They were good fighters. Very good fighters and Alena knew Rolf needed help. But then her eyes fell on Mikhail. A blast of ice had frozen Tom�
��s rifle and the American agent had dropped it and drawn his pistol. Five shots slammed into an ice shield that Mikhail had created out of thin air.
Alena knew Tom would not be able to defeat Mikhail. In fact, Tom was seconds from being killed by the Russian. But Alena could defeat Mikhail and in the process of saving Tom’s life, she could get the revenge she so desperately wanted.
Alena flashed toward Mikhail, swords raised. Mikhail noticed her from the corner of his eye and was able to duck his head, saving his own life. But Alena didn’t completely miss. Her sword cut a deep slice into his back and he fell forward.
“Go help Rolf!” Alena shouted at Tom. “I’ve got this.”
Tom nodded, gratefully and then rushed away to help his friend.
Rolf was holding his own against Freyr and Freyja, though the two Nazis were getting in some good blows. Rolf was larger and much stronger than either of them, but they were faster and perhaps more importantly, cold hearted killers.
Rolf spotted Tom as the older man dashed toward him. “We have to protect Dawn!” Rolf shouted to Tom. “Only she can stop the machine.”
Tom stared through the opening at the giant metal sphere spinning faster and faster, the blue energy having now spread from the top of the machine to about halfway down the sphere. Tom then looked at Dawn. She stared unblinking at Dave and Tom suddenly realized what was happening. Dawn was fighting Dave, but not physically. The two were fighting inside their minds.
Chapter 23
Dawn raced through the blackness. She didn’t know where she was going, but she knew that if she did not shut down the Omega Alpha machine, the world as she knew it would end. She refused to allow humanity to simply become one giant collective like she had seen on Dave’s home world. Sure war, suffering and death had ended, but what was the point of living if you had no free will?
Dave controlled the machine, thus in order to shut it off she knew she had to slip into his consciousness and find the kill switch. She didn’t know exactly how to do that, but somehow doubted it would be a large red switch marked “Omega Alpha Machine Shut-off.”
The International Page 16
