Shock appeared on the doctor’s face. She turned and fled the Pit. She had begun to cry.
“Great, now what are we going to do? All this scientific stuff is over my head,” Lisa moaned.
Malcolm stepped over to the nearest person sitting at a computer station.
“What’s your name, son,” Malcolm asked the mid-twenties geek.
“Robertson, sir,” the young man replied pushing back his glasses and standing up. “Wes Robertson…is my…name,” he stuttered.
“You’re going to explain everything we ask, okay,” Malcolm said and pulled him towards the group. “Can you do that?”
“I’ll do my best sir,” the man replied and moved over to the cluster of people standing at the top deck of the Pit. He stood in-between Lisa and Kaley
Malcolm was pretty sure Robertson agreed to help because it was the closest he would ever get to the pretty and sexy women in the group.
***
“First question,” Kaley quickly asked. “What is this Algerian Megalith?”
“Why it’s one of the vortices,” Wes explained. “It’s where the last event took place.”
“Okay, what are vortices?” Kaley quickly asked.
“Vortices, or if there is just one, a vortex is part of the earth’s magnetic field,” Wes told the group. “You do know about that, don’t you?” He asked as he looked at the skeptical look on their faces.
“Explain the magnetic field,” Simon ordered and rolled his hands.
“Okay,” the geek responded. “Follow me to that whiteboard over there and I’ll show you.” He pointed to the easel about twenty feet away. It was inside a clear glass enclosure which was a meeting room. It also contained a table and chairs.
“Great, we’re going from binders to pictures,” Kaley said sarcastically.
“Be nice,” Simon warned his charge and wagged his finger.
***
“This is the earth,” Wes Robertson said as he drew a circle on the whiteboard. “The earth’s magnetic field looks something like this, but you just can’t see it.” He drew concentric elliptical lines emanating from the earth. “They extend far out into space,” he added.
“Hey, they look like the lines on that monitor over there,” Lisa pointed to the back wall.
“Yes, you are right. We track them all the time,” Wes responded.
“Okay. Why do you do that?” Lisa now asked.
“The earth’s magnetic field is extremely important for our survival because, among other things, it prevents solar winds and cosmic rays from eroding the atmosphere. If we were to lose our magnetic field, we would eventually look like Mars. We know that Mars lost its magnetic field millions of years ago and became a barren planet,” the geek told them.
“Huh,” Lisa exclaimed. “Where does it come from? I mean what makes the magnetic field work?”
“Just so you know,” Wes said, “it’s sometimes called the geomagnetic field and is caused by the motion of molten alloys in the outer core of earths’ crust.”
“Yes, I’ve read about that,” Malcolm suddenly burst out. “In fact, scientists now believe that everything on the planet reacts to the magnetic pull of the earth in some way or another. Plants, animals, rocks, humans and even the weather can be affected by changes in the magnetic field.”
“So how does this tie into this event?” Kaley asked in a confused voice.
“I think you might know that the North and South Poles move from time to time,” Wes Robertson said. “It’s not usually a big deal though. People have been using compasses since the eleventh century and we still can get to where we were headed, but they do move. We have been monitoring their movement since 1972, when this facility was setup.”
“I see,” said Kaley. “So the magnetic field is constantly changing, right?”
“Yes,” he replied cheerfully. “In some places on earth, the concentration of magnetic strength is very high. These areas are called vortices. Now are you getting the picture?”
“So the magnetic field can affect the weather when a vortex is most active. Is that correct?” Kaley asked.
“That’s about it,” the geek said with satisfaction. “As I said it can affect anything, especially anything organic. People, fish and even animals tend to lose their sense of direction almost immediately. The ocean can even lose its rhythm.”
“How is that possible?” Kaley asked.
“Actually, we are not really sure. The vortices might be an anchor to hold the magnetic field to earth, or just a higher collection of magnetic belts that are randomly placed,” Wes Robertson responded. “In either case the higher concentration of magnetic pull affects everything it touches. Magneto-reception is the sense that anything alive has. It allows the organism to detect a magnetic field. Most scientists believe that comes from a common element found on earth called Magnetite. It is found in a bird’s beak for example. A homing pigeon is a perfect example. Magnetite is found in anything alive.”
“So there can be complete chaos at any time somewhere inside a vortex, right?” General Stone asked.
“Sounds like someplace I never want to be,” Lisa let out as a chill went down her spine.
“Well, the bad news is that there are more than one Vortex,” Wes added. “So pretty much, there could be many possible disasters going on all the time.
“How many are there?” Kaley quickly asked with concern.
“There are actually twelve vortices spread all over the world. Some are quite famous,” Wes explained.
“Name one.” Kaley challenged.
“The Bermuda Triangle?” Wes Robertson replied seriously.
“I think that I’m going to have to sit down,” Lisa quipped.
Chapter Nineteen
“But I thought that the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ has never been proven as anything more that an anomaly and has been pooh-poohed as a myth by most scientists,” Malcolm argued reasonably. “Are you telling me that there are eleven more places on earth where these strange things happen?”
“Yes, there are,” Wes stated flatly. “The Bermuda Triangle gets the most attention because of all the traffic in the area. Most of the others are in more remote areas.”
“Okay, I’ll bite,” Malcolm tossed out as he opened his arms and leaned back in his chair skeptically. “Where are these other vortices?”
“The Earth has five major circles of latitude,” the geek explained. They are: the North Pole, the South Pole, the Equator, the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.”
“I’m guessing that the North and South poles are vortices,” Malcolm calculated.
“You are correct,” Wes responded.
“What about the others?”
“The Tropic of Cancer cuts right through the Bermuda Triangle. There are four more vortices along that parallel. The Dragon’s Triangle just east of southern Japan is also fairly well known. Then there is the Hamakula Hawaii Volcanos east of them in the Pacific. The Karachi Indus River vortex had an incident just last week, and the final Tropic of Cancer anomaly is the Algerian Megalith.”
“That’s the one that is going on right now,” Lisa shouted out with excitement and bounced up and down in her chair, much to the delight of Wes Robertson.
“I think you all are catching on,” Wes exclaimed.
“What about the other five vortices? Tell us where they are located before we move on.” Simon quickly asked in a more excited voice.
“Okay,” Wes quickly agreed. “Along the Tropic of Cancer there is: the Wharton Basin just west of Australia and, the Loyalty Islands which is north of New Zealand. Then there is the Easter Island Megalith, the Rio de Janeiro Vortex, and finally, the Zimbabwe Coastal site.”
“The word megalith keeps coming up,” Lisa noted. “Please explain your definition of what it means,” the professor of history and archeology asked.
“A megalith is an ancient stone structure like Stonehenge,” Wes explained. “It was usually built for religious reasons and placed in an a
rea where ancient people felt something pulling their senses. Many are built on land located inside vortices.”
The general now spoke. “Weren’t all these sites described in an article written by a guy named Ivan Sanderson in 1972? It was called ‘the Twelve Devil’s Graveyards Around the World’,” Simon pointed out.
“You read the dedication on the wall over there,” Wes replied knowingly.
“This sounds like a science fiction story,” a frustrated Kaley said and flapped her arms.
“Wait, I see monitors for each one of those sites on the back wall,” Malcolm commented.
“I told you, we track all the vortices,” Wes reminded them.
“What are all those different colored dots on the big monitor in the middle?” Lisa asked.
Those are where the events that have occurred over the last several years are marked,” Wes explained. “Each year is noted in different colors. Blue is this year.”
“My God!” Lisa exclaimed loudly. “There are about ten times more events this year over last year.”
“Yes, we know, but we also know that many aren’t natural. Most of these events are set off by one of the people who hold a device and is using it as a weapon.”
“And the government wants us to find these people and put a stop to them,” General Stone explained to come full circle.
“How the hell are we going to do that?” Kaley complained.
Chapter Twenty
“Tell us about the event that occurred inside the Algerian Megalith so we have an idea about what we are up against.” General Stone asked thoughtfully.
“See that monitor on the far left?” Wes inquired as he pointed to it. “It records what we think happened. Usually, most, if not all, of the evidence is gone when we finally get someone to the sites to collect forensic proof. But this time there were plenty of people who were watching a strange cloud move around in the empty desert sky. Everywhere it floated, people, animals and even birds seemed to lose their ability to navigate. Since it was well over 120 degrees in the desert, many people and animals just wandered around and eventually died of dehydration.”
“The next event listed is the sinkhole in Florida that we were at this morning,” Malcolm noted. “But isn’t that outside of the Bermuda Triangle?”
“All the vortices are more like a blob than a triangle. The exact edges can pulse and move. Some of it may have to do with the amount of Solar wind pushing against it, we don’t know.”
“The event before it says that several ships near Karachi seemed to light up like a city and suddenly veer off course and disappear,” Lisa said as she read the monitor.
“The disappearing ships are the most common natural event,” Wes explained. “The next most common natural event is loss of direction. A sinkhole is odd, and this one was manmade,” Wes informed everyone.
“Hum, how can you tell the difference between the ones which are natural and ones which are manmade by a weapon?” General Stone asked for clarification.
“In essence, we can’t,” Wes replied. “But we have learned a few tricks.”
“Like what?” Malcolm quickly asked.
“Take a look at the monitor for the Devils Triangle off the coast of Japan,” Wes told them and pointed. “Please notice that two of the magnetic lines are glowing. One is over the sea, but if you will notice, one is also located on the small island of Iwo Jima. There should only be one line glowing in the Devils Triangle or any vortex at any time. Two at the same times means that one is manmade.”
“Can you tell which one?” Malcolm asked curiously.
“The pulse of the manmade influence on the magnetic line is less prominent and not as bright,” Wes explained. “The manmade event is the one on the left over the island.”
“What does it mean?”
“It means that someone is activating one of the weapons and very soon the alarms will be blasting again,” Wes explained.
Chapter Twenty-One
“This all seems like some type of spooky paranormal activity,” Kaley squawked with apprehension as she waved her arms in the air. “Are you sure that this isn’t some type of black magic or something more sinister like visits from aliens or something?”
“I didn’t say that there weren’t other major unsolved mysteries concerning the vortices,” Wes quickly replied. “There’s an awful lot of unexplained activity in all the affected areas. But most of what happens out there we’ve been able to rationalize scientifically.”
“I’ve read stories about ghost ships and planes,” Lisa said with a shudder.
“There’s that,” Wes agreed and nodded his head. “We think that those are an image that is trapped in some electrical disturbance caused by the magnetism, but we haven’t been able to prove it yet. All we know for sure is that there is always a grey fog involved whenever a ghost image materializes. It’s almost always at sea as well.”
***
As predicted by Wes Robertson, the alarms went off two minutes later. The MAD team rushed to the open back of the Pit so they could see as much as possible. One of the techs had been able to reroute a satellite over the area of concern. The monitor showed a clear image of Iwo To, the island that was previously known as Iwo Jima until 2007.
Suddenly a severe weather system appeared and crossed over the small island. As the satellite image moved in, a clear path of major destruction made from a typhoon became evident. It had crossed the eight square mile island made famous during World War II. The storm had left nothing standing.
One of the other tech people in the room suddenly shouted. “There’s possible loss of life here. The current Japanese census says there are over a thousand people living on the island as well as some Japanese military installations.”
“That was a jihadist event then,” Wes Robertson quickly exclaimed.
“Why say that?” Kaley asked.
“The Effort has better control of their events,” Wes explained. “They can pinpoint a location and what kind of natural disaster to initiate. The jihadists are still experimenting and don’t know what they will produce or where it will appear inside a vortex. They have not found the key to aiming it.”
“So that’s why they attempted to steal the codex from the Effort,” Kaley blurted out as she suddenly understood why they committed the robbery. “They think that the Effort’s weapon is complete and theirs is not.”
“That’s true,” Wes agreed. “The Effort’s weapon is the finished product and very efficient. We have the same problem the jihadists have with the weapon we possess. The exact same things happen when we use the weapon.”
“That makes me wonder if someone is sharing information with the jihadists,” Malcolm said with concern. “Otherwise how can you explain that?”
“I would agree,” General Stone announced.
“It’s worse than that,” Wes Robertson explained. “Every time one of us uses the weapon, the number of strikes by the regular magnetic grid doubles. We’re at a point where there is a strike every hour. The vortices also seem to be growing. It’s like the world is facing magnetic overload.
“This just keeps getting weirder and weirder,” Malcolm uttered and threw up his arms in frustration.
“May we see the weapon you have?” General Stone asked. “Maybe that will give us some clues on how to proceed.”
“You’ll have to ask Dr. Darby,” Wes said shyly. “She’s the only one allowed near it. She has the only key.”
“Crap,” Kaley exploded.
“Get Colonel Jacobs over here,” General Stone said hotly. “She’s his problem to deal with.”
Wes Robertson picked up a phone and punched in a number. “You’re needed in the conference room immediately,” he said. After a few seconds, he added a few heated words. “You’re her supervisor asshole. Get out here.”
General Stone was getting the picture. Colonel Jacobs was a weak inefficient leader and Dr. Darby had taken advantage of that. She controlled him and did what she wanted.
Colonel Jacobs came running into the conference room. General Stone made him salute. “I want you to bring Dr. Darby here and explain to her, in front of everyone, that she will answer our questions without hesitation and be civil at all times while we are here. Is that clear colonel?”
“Of course, sir,” he replied calmly, but his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down like it was trying to escape his throat. He motioned to one of the computer geeks nearby. “Go get Dr. Darby,” he ordered.
“Those are not my instructions,” the general spoke in a voice that could freeze Lake Michigan. “You go and get her colonel,” he ordered.
***
It took ten minutes for Colonel Jacobs to complete his minor task. Dr. Darby finally entered the room with red eyes and a defiant look like she had been kidnapped and was fighting back. It was now absolutely evident that the colonel and the doctor hated each other.
“Did you explain everything to Dr. Darby?” the general asked politely.
“I did my best,” the colonel responded as he brushed lint off of his jumpsuit. “Whether she obeys or not may be another story.”
General Stone then turned to the doctor and spoke solicitously. “Dr. Darby, we need you to tell us everything you know about the weapon and we need you to do that right now,” General Stone said reasonably.
“You don’t have the clearance nor do you have the authority,” Dr. Darby spat back brazenly.
“I can call the President,” General Stone threatened in an overly calm voice. “Is that enough juice for you?”
“Go ahead, I don’t care,” the doctor said and crossed her arms defiantly. “I’m not a teacher.”
“I know what’s bothering her,” Kaley said in an evil voice, “she needs an attitude adjustment.” The lethal Kaley stepped forward and brought up her hands to a fighting position. “So let’s do it.”
“I’m going to warn you that I took Martial Arts at the University of California,” Dr. Darby croaked and assumed a fighting position.
“My training was a little more practical,” Kaley Wells spat back and then attacked.
The Oracle Philon Page 8
