by Max Swan
Richard glanced at the men standing about thinking they must be part of Octavian’s entourage. As he looked away from the last man, in the corner of his eye, he thought he seen a dark shadow move. He turned back sharply, the man stood there not betraying anything suspicious.
The Doctor noticed Richard’s odd behavior. “Is something wrong, Professor?”
“Guess I’m not used to my new brain yet,” he said.
Octavian asked, “Do you remember anything about your captivity?”
Richard shrugged. “I was kidnapped to extort money from my father in-law. That’s what they told me anyway, but I never seen any of them. Even the man who helped me escape,” he pointed to his head, “whom did this to me.”
“Given what you know now, do you believe the kidnapping was for the purpose you described?” Octavian said.
Richard shook his head. “No, obviously they had someone take my place. But I don’t know why. The whole thing is… weird.”
Octavian lowered his head breaking eye contact. “Yes, it is. What if I told you that you had been kidnapped by extra-terrestrials? Possibly, the same ones who attacked us.”
“I’d say it doesn’t make sense. Why kill millions of people, then give us the greatest scientific discovery in human history?” Richard said.
“We were hoping you could tell us,” Octavian said, wrinkling his nose.
“The guy who rescued me said he wanted to me to pass along some information to someone. But I still don’t know what information or to whom it’s supposed to go,” Richard said feeling useless.
The Doctor said, “I think I can help there. The object in your brain is some kind of electrical device. I think it’s possible that it contains the information you’re meant to deliver.”
Octavian stiffened looking up at the Doctor with wide eyes. “Can you remove it?”
The Doctor shook his head. “To remove the implant would kill Professor Starr, and even then we may damage the device unwittingly. The best way would be for the Professor to access it for us.”
They turned and looked at Richard, making him blush.
“Me? How do I do that?” Richard asked.
“Your brain is connected to this implant, so it stands to reason you should be able to access it. We have to find a way,” the Doctor said.
“How?” Octavian asked.
“Hypnosis maybe. I have someone coming this afternoon to try it with you, if you don’t mind Professor,” the Doctor said.
“No, not at all. I admit I’m curious,” Richard said.
“Good, it’s worth a try,” Octavian said standing. “Meanwhile, I don’t want you to worry about a thing. This hospital will take good care of you, and get you well again.”
Richard reached out and shook hands with Octavian, saying, “Thank you, Your Highness, I appreciate it.”
The Prince nodded and walked out, followed by the Doctor and his entourage. All bar one man who stayed looking at Richard with a strange grin, and tilted head.
They stared at each other for tense moment until Richard said, “May I help you?”
“Rishard, how’s my friend?” the man said in a familiar husky voice.
Richard froze and turned pale. “W-What?”
The man who looked in his forties, wearing a dark suit, walked toward him. Richard found the man’s appearance seemed to flicker like a piece of old film, and the feeling that something horrible lurked beneath the facade made his body tremble.
“Ah, Rishard, for a while there I was worried you wouldn’t make it,” the man said sitting on the bed where Octavian sat.
“You… You did this to me?” Richard asked, gripping the arms of his chair tightly feeling his rage grow. “You turned me into this fucking freak!” he shouted.
The man smiled and reached into his coat producing a syringe. “Now control yourself, or I’ll give you something that’ll help.”
Richard stared at the syringe knowing it held the drug he’d been given as a prisoner.
Suddenly, the door opened and a nurse poked her head into his room. “Is everything OK, Professor?”
Richard looked from him to her and back again, realizing she had no idea he had a visitor.
“I’m OK,” he mumbled.
“Are you sure? I can give you something to help if you’d like?” she said, and smiled.
Richard sighed deeply. “I want to be left alone. Is that too much to ask?”
He glared at the nurse, so she nodded quietly and left.
“Good, Rishard, you’re human emotions won’t help you,” the man said.
The syringe suddenly disappeared out of his hand, as if it didn’t exist.
“Why did you do this to me?” Richard asked.
“To carry information, like you agreed.”
“I didn’t agree to this,” Richard said pointing to his head.
“Oh, don’t be like that. Your brain a thing of beauty, Rishard. Soon your intelligence will increase beyond anything ever seen on this world. You’ll be a god among these pathetic Schleeman,” the man said.
Richard rolled his eyes at the oversell. “But didn’t do this for my benefit, did you?”
“Soon, your civilization will be gone. All traces of your past will be turned into rubble and dust.”
“Everything?”
The man nodded. “A new master will then rule this world, and it’s for them that you exist. When the time comes, you’ll be sitting at their right hand in glory, while Schleeman grovel at your feet.”
“So all the data is in the implant?” Richard asked, and the man nodded. “And I can access it?”
“Once your brain is healed, you’ll have knowledge that’s greater than anything known in this universe. You’re my gift to them,” he said, and bowed.
The vague statements of this creature confused Richard. His references to new masters must mean an invasion is coming, Richard thought. He shivered, thinking about the destruction caused by one UFO a few months ago. Imagine a whole fleet of them, he thought, we’re fucked! If I’m going to fix it so I’ll survive whatever’s coming, he thought, the time to act is now.
*****
Blake getting hurt had slowed the refit, because he had to recuperate before he could get back to work. However, the stubborn man returned to work a week after his surgery, much to Nadirs frustration. Blake shrugged it off, saying the refit is more important than his health. Paul is now back on Ship, so they had more hands to undertake the next phase: making the outer crystal shell. The sphere they mined on Earth is still attached to the GFM in the mining rig. So Paul and Blake used lowered the sphere out of the rig, and walked it to Enginelab. The platform slowly followed them a meter off the ground. They didn’t talk much in this time, as in the mining rig, as they were never really friends. However, Blake did have something on his mind.
Walking down a wide corridor, he said, “God, I hope the fucking spheres intact when we pull the cover off, lots of bullets were flying around down there.”
Paul did a double take. “You mean nobody’s checked it yet?”
Blake shrugged. “I don’t think anyone’s had the stomach for it. I know I didn’t,” he smiled at own his joke.
“Shit Blakey, you love the theatrics don’t ya?”
Blake laughed. “Didn’t seem right until you were back on board anyway. It’s our sphere, ya know. We busted our asses to get this thing.”
“You busted a lot more than that. I think you win,” Paul said, and smiled slightly.
Blake laughed again. “You know, you’re all right for a Greeter.”
“You’re scaring me now, Blakey.”
“Since that day, I haven’t seen you and… well, I wanted to say thank you for saving my arse down there.”
“You would’ve done the same for me. Think nothing of it,” Paul said, trying to be gracious.
Blake suddenly stopped, so did the GFM carrying the sphere. “I can’t. Here you were thinking I was trying to kill ya, and you still saved me. T
hat says something about you, Major.” “All it says is that you’re the only one who can build the qdrive,” Paul said rolling his eyes.
“Don’t give me that shit, Major.” Blake held his hand out, and Paul looked at it stunned. Paul took it and they shook hands firmly. “You’re all right, Major, a pain in the arse sometimes, but all right.” Paul suddenly reached up and began fiddling with Blake’s AMM helmet, prompting him to bat him away, saying, “What the fuck are ya doing now?”
Paul smiled. “I thought for a moment that Vaman might be back.”
“Oh, fuck off then. Jesus, you Greeters are full of yourselves,” Blake said and started to walk forward again.
“But Blakey, part of AMM helmet protocol is to investigate any unusual behavior,” Paul said calling after him.
“Fuck off, before I my fist hits your unusual face,” Blake growled, making Paul laugh as he followed along.
The trip to Enginelab is slow as they don’t want the sphere to move too much during the journey. They eventually reach Enginelab to find Nadir, Dexter, and Lt Huang waiting next to the new qdrive housing built from modified shipping containers. The top of the housing already open, and as Blake drew near he began working the remote. The GFM rose into the air, and it stopped over the qdrive housing. The sphere hanging beneath it in its blue cover, rocking slightly. Blake and Lt Huang entered the housing, and shut the door. Paul, standing next to Nadir and Dexter, watched the sphere slowly lower inside the housing from above. Blake removed the covering and inspected the xelion crystal closely as Lt dragged the covering out.
Once she returned inside the container, Paul heard the deep voice of Blake from a nearby intercom. “The sphere’s perfect, Major, not a scratch on her.”
“Thank God for that, now keep it that way,” Paul said feeling relieved.
Blake lowered the crystal sphere into position. They unhooked it from the GFM, and Lt appeared at the door and threw the remote at Paul whom caught it. After pressing a few buttons the GFM ascended out, and floated behind them and landed on the floor. Nadir hit a button on a station nearby, and the qdrive housing roof closed, sealing itself tightly.
The intercom buzzed again. “OK, we’re starting now,” Blake announced.
“Confirmed Gordon, good luck,” Nadir said into the intercom.
Paul said quietly to Nadir and Dexter, “Blakey is enjoying himself, I see.”
“Yeah, I’ve never seen him so happy,” Nadir smiled his skin crinkling around his black eyes in approval.
Blake shouted many orders to the Lijuan, who ran around the inside of the shipping container filled with equipment like a gymnast. They marked the sphere, and began drilling holes into the crystal. Once the holes were drilled, they rammed black-tubes inside them, and used a special connector around the outside to seal the tubes in place. When they were finished, the tubes surrounded the sphere at equal distances. The tubes ran from the sphere to a portable workstation surrounded by protective glass. Once they had tested all the connections, Blake and Lijuan took positions at the workstation.
“OK, let’s begin,” Blake said to Lijuan who smiled and nodded.
Blake tapped a switch on the portable workstation, and it began to make a loud humming noise. Inside the crystal sphere, where the black tubes were connected, the tubes started to feed inward. The station pumped diamond dust into the crystal via the tubes. As the diamond dust pulverized the crystal, the tubes began feeding toward a point in the absolute center of the sphere. Lijuan monitored the integrity of the crystal as the black tubes moved inward toward the center, looking at the readouts with savage intensity. Any weakness in the crystal could cause it to crack, or shatter, at any point.
“Slow it, Captain,” she warned at one point.
Blake looked toward her monitor, and turned a dial, the tubes slowed. The sphere shook, and made a rattling noise that made them feel nervous. After fifteen minutes, all the tubes met in the center of the sphere.
“How’s it lookin’, Li?’ Blake asked.
“Some minor cracking near the join points as expected, but otherwise it’s intact,” she said.
“Good, take the diamond and crystal dust, and add it to the element115 mixture. I’ll prepare the sphere for the next phase,” Blake said.
They walked to the side of the portable station and opened a door, pulling out covered barrel. They pushed it to mixer, and Blake left the Lijuan to it. She put-on a head mask, because breathing diamond dust is nasty way to die. Opening the lid of the barrel, she grabbed a tube, and began sucking the contents into the mixer. While she did this, Blake pushed a barrel of liquid to the back of the portable workstation, and connected it to the plumbing that came off it. He repeated with another barrel. It took him several minutes ensuring all the connections were tight, and he rechecked the tubes connected to the sphere as well. Lijuan rejoined him behind the station, and with a nod they readied themselves to start.
“Colonel, we’re about to start the next phase,” Blake reported.
“Received and understood, Gordon,” Nadir replied.
As Blake worked the console, thick white fluid ran through the tubes into the center of the sphere. They could see bubbling as the liquid began to dissolve the crystal. Blake begun withdrawing the tubes, and the dissolved area inside the sphere began to expand.
“Temperature stable,” Lijuan reported.
Blake activated another switch, helium pumped inside the sphere making the liquid began to spin, picking up speed. The spinning agent formed a perfect sphere inside the crystal, and grew larger as the tubes slowly withdrew. Once the tubes had pulled back to the right depth, all the contents were evacuated from the sphere. Once it emptied, he initiated a neutralizing agent to wash out the inside, and like that the first stage of the qdrive build ended.
“OK, you can come in now,” Blake said on the intercom.
The three men walked into the housing, heading straight for the crystal sphere. The engineers had perfectly hollowed out the inside of the xelion crystal sphere ready for the heart of the drive.
“Wonderful job, you two,” Nadir said turning back to look at Blake and Lijuan.
“Thanks, Colonel, but this was the easy part,” Blake said.
Chapter 16
Over the next few weeks Richard had definitely began noticing changes in himself. He thought with a clarity that he had never known before, had never thought possible. Interactions with others became increasingly tedious for him due to the stupidity he now seen so glaringly in others. Even the people that were considered smart by their peers would bore him with their endless prattle. Thankfully they discharged him from the hospital and he was set up in an apartment owned by The Pedigree in Berlin.
They were waiting for him to give them something, but the Vaman that made him had ordered him to keep his mouth shut. Richard had come to learn that the Vaman was an assassin, sent to kill the alien that had impersonated him. What really amazed him was that when he was being held captive he was actually on some kind of space vessel on the moon. In fact he felt a little disappointed he didn’t get to see more than just the inside of that fancy prison. The Vaman had stuck close to Richard since it rescued him from the other aliens and brought him back to Earth.
This had proven very useful as its mind control abilities in were beneficial on many levels. There was nothing the Vaman couldn’t make people do, and given how his changed appearance made people afraid he needed a Vaman wingman. Four months locked up in a prison left him with certain needs that the Vaman seemed happy to indulge him in. However he sensed the Vaman was not happy about something so he asked him straight out one morning as he ate breakfast.
“I haven’t completed my mission, and it bothers me,” the Vaman said.
“You mean to kill the alien who was pretending to be me?”
“Yes Rishard. It burns inside me and I cannot rest until it’s done.”
He turned and looked at it sitting on a couch at the far end of his apartment. It still appeare
d like that plain looking forty year old man. He said, “You’re not thinking of going back to that space ship? They’ll be waiting for you now.”
The Vaman replied telepathically, “What choice do I have?”
Richard sighed thinking, “I don’t understand you. All you have to do is wait until the Garan’s get here, and you’re home free. Why bother with this alien?”
“My masters have programmed me for this mission, and as long as it remains undone I will never be able to rest.”
Richard crossed his arms to his chest and pouted for a moment. Then he thought, “Going up there is suicide you know. Then what’ll become of me?”
“You’re cunning enough to look after yourself, Rishard,” the Vaman said with more than a little pride.
The Vaman had told him the aliens were trying to rebuild their engine and that’s why they were still here. Octavian had told him the imposter seemed anxious to get his hands on plutonium and he knew that’s why they had impersonated him at the University. The doorbell suddenly chimed and Richard looked at Vaman puzzled as he had not been expecting anyone. He walked over and opened the door and to his utter surprise there stood Dr. Marcus Smythe. “Marcus? What the hell are you doing here?” Richard said as he reached out and shook his old boss’s hand.
Marcus was staring wide eyed at his enlarged bald head and said, “Richard, m-my you look... different. What happened to you?”
He shrugged, “I’ve been reborn, but I know it takes a little getting used to.” Then he guided him to the lounge area of his apartment where the Vaman sat looking at Marcus with distaste. The lounge area consisted of two leather couches with a coffee table between them, jutting out from a gas fire place which was off. They both sat opposite each other with Richard sitting next to the Vaman. “I wasn’t expecting you, that’s for sure. How’s Kerry and the family, all well I hope?”
Marcus smiled a little saying, “Yeah everyone’s fine at home. We’ve missed you that’s for sure.”
Richard rolled his eyes and said, “From what I’ve read on the internet I find that hard to believe. I mean: ‘The kinky professor’? You really dropped the ball on that one, old bean.”
“I think the title suits you quite well, all things considered,” Marcus said with a chuckle.
The Vaman shrieked in Richards mind, “Let me kill this fool now.”
