********************
TIME - 5.40 PM
LOCATION - TWO KILOMETRES WEST OF TORONTO, AUSTRALIA
Katie stepped out of her newly hired red Ford Capri, holding a small piece of paper in her hand. She looked at the paper, then rotated it to orientate herself. The map indicated that, to reach the "X" she had to turn left and travel about five hundred metres. Katie scanned the direction that she was headed and all that she could see was a private road that was no more than a dirt track. The road lead into the bush and quickly disappeared amongst the trees. Katie decided to continue on foot, from here on in the chances of her being discovered were great, but what she would discover Katie had no idea. She got back into the car and drove a short distance down the main road, then pulled over and lifted the bonnet. This would give the impression that her car had broken down, thus making it less suspicious. The night was closing in fast and visibility decreased in proportion. As she strode back to the private road, Katie gripped the infra-red binoculars in her black jacket pocket. Soon it will be her only means of vision.
She struggled with every footstep along the dirt road and her feet were barely discernible under the thick veil of night. The moonlight, what little of it, shone between the foliage in a desperate attempt to light Katie's way. After walking some three hundred metres, she felt it was time to use the binoculars. Katie removed from her pocket what appeared to be a thick pair of sun glasses and placed them on her face. She pushed one of small switches that laid across the top of the binoculars and immediately her vision was clarified. Now, she could clearly see the road that stretched into the distance, the cluster of trees that bordered the road and something else that was previously invisible; a beam of light that cut across the road about half a metre in front of her waist.
Katie froze on the spot, it was an infra-red motion detector. There were several others that cut across the road and through the bush at regular intervals, some fifty metres apart. Her greatest fear was what laid behind her, how many of these beams had she already broken? Slowly she turned around to view her previous trail. Katie was rewarded with a scene of road and bush and no beams. She sighed with relief, another step and the whole mission would have been blown. To find security devices such as these out in the bush is extremely unusual and whatever lay beyond, should answer many of her questions.
Katie bent down and crawled under the beam, then continued on her way. She marched on, ducking under the beams as she went while being cautious of any possible guards that may be in the area. She followed the edge of the road, but kept in the small scrub that sided it, to avoid detection. Eventually she came to the end of the road where it finished at the edge of a rock wall. She pulled out the map and rechecked her position. According to the map, the illusive "X" lied at the end of this road. Why was there was nothing here?
Katie surveyed the rock-face and found that it belonged to the side of a small mountain range. The rock-face was near vertical for over fifty metres before it angled away out of sight and extended a hundred metres in either direction. In frustration, she swore under her breath.
A bright light penetrated the dark, almost blinding Katie. It came from the road behind her and bobbed up and down in an irregular fashion. She ducked into the bushes and hid. The light was getting closer and brighter, then it separated into two distinct beams and lit up the rock wall like daylight. The light was then complimented by a deep mechanical sound that increased to aloud clamour. Finally, Katie caught sight of the monstrosities that attacked the peace of the natural bushland; it was two large trucks. The heavy vehicles came right to the rock wall and stopped only a few metres before it.
Katie was puzzled, what were they waiting for? Was there a secret hideout somewhere on the hill face, or was this just a meeting place to transfer supplies? Quickly her questions were answered!
A large section of rock wall moved into the mountain about two metres, then split in two. A dominant source of light came from the split that drowned out the headlights of the trucks, then the split grew in width until it was some ten metres across. Katie pulled of her binoculars, this is not what she expected! The rock wall was a large door to some infinitely sized chamber beyond. Katie had to get inside. From her crouching position, Katie noticed a place under the last truck where she could hide. Swiftly, she dashed to the back of the truck and clung to its underbelly.
********************
Ryan sat on a futuristic chair that was so reclined back that he almost laid on it. He wore a silver and black uniform that had markings on his shoulders and chest, these displayed his rank of Admiral. The chair was erected upon a pedestal that centred a large octangular room. The room was fifty metres across and ten metres deep at the centre. As the roof and floor extended to the eight walls, they closed in on themselves to leave eight vertical faces, each three metres high. The room was alive with electric activity; blots of power shot from node to node that lined the internal surfaces of the room. This was the neuro-channel centre for the Master Access Computer that controlled all functions of Intersect. Mac, as he was better known, was the heart of the entire organisation and without him, nothing could run. Mac's memory and processing units formed a layer, three metres thick around the neuro channel centre and he was a million times more complex than the human brain. His inventor, Professor Michael Cheng was the leader in artificial intelligence on Carillia and Mac was his incomplete masterpiece. Ryan discovered Mac's blue-prints from the files on the Eagle and decided that Mac would be the ideal nerve centre for company.
A powerful dominant voice echoed through the centre. "Excuse me, Admiral. I am sorry to interrupt our work, but I have identified the security breach we experienced yesterday."
"Good work! Contact Charlie, he will be interested as well." Ryan said.
A computer generated, three dimensional image of Charlie's face appeared before Ryan. "G'day Ryan, what's up?"
"Mac has identified our security problem and your input on this matter would be helpful."
"Excellent, go ahead Mac!" Said Charlie.
Mac's voice boomed though the room. "Our intruder is an American F.B.I. Agent named Katherine Mitchell."
"F.B.I.! How the hell did they get this far?" Charlie said in amazement.
"Agent Mitchell is working on a missing persons case that coincides with our recruitment loss from the American division. I have been monitoring the progress of this case for security reasons, but the F.B.I. records show no possible security breach. Also her investigation within Australia is not recorded on any of their databases. So, either Agent Mitchell is operating freelance or her superior is withholding the information from the Bureau."
"Do Agents often withhold information during an investigation?" Ryan asked.
"No, it is considered an act of treason!" Mac replied bluntly.
Something ate at the back of Ryan's mind when he heard the intruder's name. "Can you give us a three dimensional image of Agent Mitchell."
"Certainly, I will re-run the scan I did from the company building."
Before their eyes, a perfect image of Katie generated and displayed her running out of the computer room door.
"KATIE?!!!" Ryan said in astonishment.
The head of Charlie looked straight at Ryan. "Do you know her?"
"Yes, we had dinner last night."
"You what?!"
"I know, I know. It was a stupid thing to do, but I couldn't resist. She was so beautiful!"
"I thought it was one of the Intersect staff you went out with?"
"I'm sorry I lied to you, but I didn't think it really mattered. I've given ten years of my life to Intersect and I think that I deserved one night off. Besides, I wasn't going to see her again!"
"I must say, you do have very good taste, but an F.B.I. Agent!" Charlie was astounded by Ryan's foolish security breach.
"How was I supposed to know? Look it's too late now, the damage has been done. What we have to decide is what to do about it?"
Charlie was the first wi
th a suggestion. "We could erase her memory of us?"
"Yeah, but it's not always one hundred per cent effective. Especially on people with a high I.Q. and she's definitely no idiot." Ryan pondered momentarily as an idea came to mind. "Mac, give us a run down on what history records we have on her from Carillia."
"Are you sure that is a good idea Ryan? Her marriage and death records will be included."
"I know, I know. Go ahead Mac."
"Katherine Jane Mitchell. Born on the twenty eighth of June, nineteen sixty seven, in Boston, Massachusetts. Went to school at..."
"Skip that bit Mac." Ryan interrupted.
"....Yes, Admiral. She was inducted into The Federal Bureau of Investigation, on the ninth of February, nineteen hundred and eighty six and graduated on the twelfth of December, nineteen hundred and ninety two. Went missing in the field of duty, on the tenth of April, nineteen hundred and ninety five and presumed dead. Her body was never recovered from the scene of the Hill Lane Massacre in Sydney, Australia."
Ryan's heart stopped in shock. "Oh my God, I've killed her!" He bowed his head in shame.
"Ryan, do you know what you have done?" Charlie's generated image increased in size to include his whole body, then went to Ryan's side. "Your little night out has changed Katherine's future, she was supposed to die last night but you interfered didn't you?..." Ryan nodded. "...And she is still alive?..." Ryan nodded again. "...Your girlfriend is wondering around changing history as she goes. Who knows what has been done to the future and worse the space-time plane? The universe could be tearing apart as we speak."
"No, no. It couldn't be. Not now, not after being here for ten years!"
"Open your eyes Ryan, it's too late. You can kiss the universe goodbye."
"Wait a minute, just wait a minute! Mac, what was that last thing you said?"
"Her body was never recovered from the scene of the Hill Lane Massacre in Sydney, Australia." Boomed Mac's voice.
Ryan's face was filled with astonishment. "No it couldn't be!"
"What? What is it?" Charlie was anxious to know what was going through Ryan's mind.
"The Hill Lane incident was caused by me. This was recorded from the future and therefore this happened in the past, the real past. Was I really meant to be here?" Ryan questioned himself.
"What real past? What are you talking about?" Charlie became frustrated.
Ryan stood up from the chair and faced Charlie's image. "Charlie, I always thought that my being here wasn't part of the normal sequence of time, that my influence on the world's current events would irrefutably change time and thus change the future. But according to the history records I was here, now, in this time frame."
"What if you have changed the future and the records we have, have changed in accordance?"
"No, the records in the future would change, not ours. They are fixed as is, in their own time loop. Whatever we do to the future's events, whatever changes we make cannot affect what records we have of the future."
"Ryan, that damn scientific mind of yours, is confusing me again."
"Charlie, I was meant to be here and Katie's death was meant to happen."
"Are you sure of this?"
"Yes, it's the only explanation."
"Then what do we do with Katie, she's supposed to be dead?"
"There is only one thing to do, we inducted her into Intersect!"
"Do you think she is acceptable for recruitment?"
"Yes. She's intelligent, healthy, fit, a perfect specimen." Ryan turned to face the invisible spectre. "Mac, give us a trace on Katherine Mitchell."
"Yes Admiral. Tracing now." There was a short pause before Mac continued. "Location, sector one, one, eight of the Australasian continent. Now moving in a southern direction at a speed of..... Admiral, I have lost contact."
"What do you mean, lost contact?"
"The trace source has concealed itself from my scanners."
"How is that possible?" Ryan was confused.
Charlie's image questioned the invisible spectre. "Mac, you said Katie was investigating our recruitment loss. Is that correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"Was one of them Howard Kenning?"
"Yes, Mister Kenning was the last that she investigated." Replied Mac.
Charlie confronted Ryan. "Howard was investigating the location of Bane's hideout and on his last communication, he reported that he had found the hideout. Twenty minutes later, Howard was dead and the local authorities were investigating the incident. I'm sure it was Bane's dirty work that caused his death. Anyway, Katie could have found the location on his body and used it to stumble upon Bane's hideout."
"According to the New York Police Department, personal belongings were confiscated by the F.B.I. but the F.B.I. records do not confirm this." Boomed Mac.
"I'm convinced that Katie is at Bane's hideout and the best thing to do is destroy the base and Katie with it. That way we can eliminate two problems at the same time." Charlie concluded.
"NO!" Ryan protested.
"We can't beam her out of there because of the force field that Bane has put up. Ryan, it's the only way."
"No! I'm going down and getting her out."
"You can't jeopardise your life for one girl, when billions of lives depend upon you!"
Through the excited atmosphere of the Neuro Centre, an ancient mystical voice resonated through the ether, exclusively to Ryan's ears. "Follow your heart."
"I've given enough of my life to the multitudes, now it's time to do something for myself. I know this is going to sound foolish, but I love her..." He stared straight at Charlie's image. "...and I won't let Bane destroy her..." Ryan stormed off in the direction of the entrance, "...so don't try to stop me."
"Love her, what are you talking about? Ryan, don't do it! Stop, it could be a trap!" Charlie's image ran after him.
Ryan stopped and turned around. "Charlie, you forgot...." He thrust out his arms and two gold bracelets appeared on his wrists. "....I'm indestructible."
Charlie shouted. "You know when the Bracelets are off, you're as mortal as I am and you can't be sure if what that thing said was true. Ryan! Ryan stop!"
With only one thought in his mind and one desire in his heart, he turned around and left the neuro-centre.
********************
Two burly men unloaded futuristic weapons and supplies from the back of the truck. Katie's arms were numb from clinging to its belly and moving to a new hiding place was becoming paramount. Finally, the two men completed the unloading of the truck and closed the doors then left. Katie dropped to the floor like a dead weight. She shook her arms to regain circulation, then scanned the area for other occupants. When she was satisfied that the chamber was clear, Katie slid from under the truck and ran to an adjacent wall. The chamber was sixty metres across and three hundred metres deep, while the roof soared twenty metres into the air. Beyond the truck were five unusual looking aircraft that dominated the enormous chamber. The first was as large as an oil tanker and had two protrusions that extended from the top of the craft. It sat upon three frames that Katie presumed were the undercarriage, but the frames lacked any wheels and beside the immense craft were four smaller crafts. Each were the size of a jet fighter and were similar in shape and yet different, they also sat on wheel-less frames. Katie had never seen the likes of such aircraft in her life and as her imagination began to run wild. An explanation for such strange crafts was as fantastic as their appearance - these had to be spaceships.
Katie crouched as low as possible as she followed the wall. As Katie moved beside the overwhelming spaceships, she couldn't help but be in awe of the mighty machines. In the distance she could see maintenance crews that appeared like ants on the larger ship and the squadron of fighters also had its compliment of maintenance staff. Soon, she came to a door in the wall behind her and after a brief examination, she found that it had no door handle. Katie stood in front of it and abruptly the door opened to one side. She pulled out her service revolv
er and proceeded through the opening. On either side, extended a long corridor that followed the wall that she had just passed through. Apart from Katie, the metallic walled corridor was empty and she cautiously proceeded down it. Along the opposite wall were several doors and each refused to open. Eventually, she arrived at a "T" junction and carefully, Katie glanced down both directions and again, no one was to be seen. Before her was a door different to the others, larger and reinforced with cross bars. She stood before the door and it opened sideways while omitting a quiet hiss.
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