Nexus of Time

by Mark Riverstone

  "I hope you are right."

  "Right or not, there aren't any other choices. You haven't provided me with any research options, Walter. No new technologies, no new plans and no change of behavior from the skin spawns our field agents are tracking."

  "That is what has been bothering me," worries Walter.

  "I understand your concern, but things are unfolding in our favor."

  "Based on what we know and perceive. I am trying to rethink everything."

  "Is this relevant to the situation we are discussing?" suspiciously asks Mr. Nix.

  "If all timelines existed at the same time in their entirety from the beginning to the end, the universe would be a solid mass. Which means each timeline doesn't represent time or history, but is a representation of one state of the universe's whole. So, events in time might not be a factor of what is happening now, but instead represent the changing state of the universe from all timelines. We are not experiencing history, but the entropy of the universe."

  "You're saying we experience universal chaos..."

  "Yes. Chaos that is continuous and constant. From your perspective, things seem to maintain a constant state since the Grey's bunker assault. Nothing new has come to fruition, and you are moving in the same direction as planned. But things are still in constant chaos. We are just not seeing it."

  "Are you suggesting I'm blundering forward into a situation that has changed?" asks Mr. Nix.

  "It feels like it, doesn't it?"

  Nix thinks about what he is saying.

  "How does that apply to what we are doing? I can't make adjustments if I am unaware of change. If I make changes without understanding why, that is as foolish as ignoring changing circumstances. The only course of action I see is to continue to use skin spawn spies to infiltrate the Greys and perform another attack."

  "My gut is telling me otherwise."

  "No offense, Walter, but I could use a more optimistic attitude from you. And something more scientific than your gut intuition. Maybe Burt is a better choice to lead this place."

  "Sorry, Nix. I'm too old to be optimistic for no reason."

  "Well, I have good news. Cryptic news."

  "From where?"

  "From whom. Captain Nemolopolus finally got back to me. He responded to our warning that the Greys might find them."

  "What did he say?"

  "He said he sent out a party invite to the Greys, and they showed up, but their car broke down and couldn't leave. So, their car is now in his garage. You understand Nemolopolus better than I do. I'm guessing he meant they showed up but got nothing."

  "Sounds to me he let the Greys find him, disabled the Grey ship, and now has control of it."

  "If that is true, how did he do it?"

  "Only he knows."

  "Yeah, I hate that. The science he has could revolutionize our tech."

  "That's exactly why he doesn't share."

  "Walter, we are facing the Greys, and Nemo is on the sidelines."

  "I think you are being short sighted, Nix. Nemolopolus may want to stay neutral, but being human puts him on our side."

  "So how do we get him in the game now?" sincerely asks Mr. Nix.

  "Wait and let it play out. As soon as he sees himself part of the solution, he will get involved."

  After a long moment of silence, Mr. Nix stands and moves to the door.

  "Walter, if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. You've been tucked away in this office for weeks. I think it's hampering your ability to do research and causing your imagination to go wild. Spend a couple days socializing with the rest of the personnel, then let us get you set in a proper lab space."

  Pit Stop

  Chapter 15

  The Barge, Artic Ocean.

  The massive Barge's rectangular top hull floats on the surface of the ocean. It is spotted with secured hatches, containment boxes, a couple small geodesic radars, and a massive rail gun embedded into the surface near the center.

  Two workers in hazmat suits pull wheeled cases with radiation symbols on them. They walk over the deck surface to the back corner where a large panel is opening, exposing a compartment. At the compartment edge, they look in and see it filled with sea water and rails crisscrossing right beneath the surface. There are two large ducts at each end of the compartment allowing sea water to flow through.

  One hazmat worker speaks into his suit communicator, "Bridge, flush uranium collector compartment."

  As the two side openings seal, water drains from the compartment. The lowering water level exposes yellow tinted amidoxime coated polyethylene fibers hanging in bundles from top rails and attached to bottom rails that crisscross the compartment. The two workers drop the cases into the draining water, and climb down a side ladder. They grab the two cases and open them. Inside are coils of the same fiber that hang from the rails, except colorless.

  A worker runs a Geiger counter over the hanging yellow fibers, "An abundant yield of seawater uranium. Let's get them detached and hang the clean bundles."

  They both remove the clean coils from the cases. One worker speaks into his communicator, "Bridge, release fiber bundles for extraction."

  The rails at the top of the container lower. Then, the clamps holding the tops and bottoms of the hanging bundles release, causing the yellow fiber bundles to fall and bunch. They collect up the yellow fiber bundles, coil them into the radiation cases and seal them. They then take the clean fiber bundles and connect them to the clamps on the rails.

  "Bridge, fiber bundles attached. Raise rail."

  The rail rises back up to the top of the compartment, extending the fibers to their full length. One worker climbs up the ladder. The other worker grabs each case one at a time, and hands the cases up to the worker at the top of the ladder. Then the second worker climbs up the ladder out of the compartment.

  "Bridge, we're clear. Flood and seal the compartment."

  Side ducts unseal, allowing sea water to rush back into the compartment and flood it. The top panel of the compartment closes, making the surface hull solid again. After grabbing the hazard cases, the workers wheel them across the hull.

  "Bridge, unsecure top hatch seven."

  In the direction they walk, one of the sealed hatches opens upward, allowing the workers back into the ship.

  On the bridge command deck, Captain Nemolopolus stands in a room full of command personnel manning controls, monitoring and managing aspects of the Barge. The personnel wear various ranks of a dark blue uniform. At a center island console, a three-dimensional holographic map shows the whole barge in the middle and the water surface running across the entire holographic map space, simulating the actual surface water. The piece of equipment resembles the navigation holograms found on Grey craft.

  Captain Nemolopolus calls out, "Are they back in the ship?"

  "Yes, Captain."

  "Secure the hatch, then prepare to submerge."

  "Yes, Captain."

  "Captain to extraction crew, how did the yield look?"

  Response comes over bridge speakers.

  "We collected more than enough uranium from the sea to replenish the reactor Captain."

  "Excellent. Thank you."

  Captain walks over to a radar and satellite monitoring station. "Simone, we've been still for two hours. Is the Grey cloak tracker we developed still working? Is it true you are picking up a trace global pattern?"

  "Yes, captain. There are four hundred Grey escort class craft flying in formation thirty-two hundred meters apart at an altitude of sixteen hundred meters, at subsonic speed in a latitude loop around the Earth. They triple their speed over oceans, then slow when traversing land masses. I believe it's a mapping grid. Since we started tracking them, they have circled the northern hemisphere from pole to equator, and I speculate moving into the southern hemisphere once they complete their northern global circle. I will analyze and consolidate the results."

  "Thank you, Simone. Once you complete analyzing the data, forward it to me." Nemo
lopolus steps away and calls out, "Begin dive and continue bearing presets to North Pole. Set depth at eight hundred fathoms. XO, you have the bridge. I'll be in my ready room."

  The executive officer responds, "Aye, captain."

  Leaving the bridge, Captain Nemolopolus wanders through carbide passageways, over a ramp toward the center of the ship. As he reaches a large double door that slides open in both directions, Captain Nemolopolus grabs his head in agony. He hears a loud low scream of pain, but there is no sound. The scream telepathizes into his head. Once it subsides, Nemolopolus shakes it off and enters through the double doors.

  Inside is a large warm earth tone colored room. A couch, chairs and tables made of various types of wood in exotic furniture designs are reminiscent of styles from around the world. Unique lush plants overflow their pots while UV lighting units help them grow, shining from the carbide ceiling. The floor is wooden tiles covered with large oriental rugs. A beautiful carved chess set and table sits in one corner. Arranged around the room among the natural elements are advanced electronics, computers and control systems. Nemolopolus goes to one of the controls, presses some buttons, then speaks.

  "Caleb, what is going on? Is Ying ok?"

  A woman's face appears on a screen and responds.

  "I guess you heard him scream."

  "Well, heard is the wrong word, but yes, I felt his telepathic cry. I ask again, is he ok?"

  "He is experiencing a fever, and his skin lesions are expanding. I gave him a pain suppressant and covered him with cold compresses. I'm worried, Captain. This is beyond my medical knowledge. We need to get someone here soon, or we might lose him. His symptoms and problems are cropping up without warning and becoming more frequent."

  "I'm working on getting someone. Tell Ying I'll be by later for a visit. Keep him comfortable. Did he get any more translations done?"

  "He's been working on them, but his periods of being able to concentrate are getting shorter. I don't want to push him."

  "Neither do I. Let him do what he can. Just keep him comfortable."

  "Yes, captain."

  Captain Nemolopolus disconnects, then moves to a huge dark oak desk topped with the most sophisticated monitor setup: cameras, curved monitors and a 3D holographic platform that displays a three-dimensional hologram of the ocean floor, including sea life. He takes a seat on his leather executive chair behind the desk, looks around his room and talks to himself.

  "That radiation signature better be where you say, Walter. I need you and Dr. Black here, now."

  Serene Interruption

  Chapter 16

  Mr. Nix's Office, Colorado Mountain Facility.

  Mr. Nix is in his private office with a large window wall overlooking a biodome of lush vegetation, lit with artificial light simulating the evening hours. A bird flies off a branch and lands on a groomed lawn path. He sits at his computer reading dated reports. The file he is reading minimizes, and the monitor background image of playing puppies is replaced by a video of Captain Nemolopolus. Mr. Nix is not surprised by this.

  "Captain Nemolopolus. I have a complaint. The terahertz processors you supplied us with aren't fast enough to stop you from hacking into our systems."

  "They are the faster that any computer system used by a nation, corporation or individual. No one has hacked you, correct?"

  "Yes, a bearded techno pirate on my computer screen which I am talking to right now."

  "Nice quip, Mr. Nix. The Barge is always ahead of the curve. The Barge computer's computation processes use lasers aligning liquid crystals molecules. We gained command and control of your computer before it could determine if we had permission. However, if anyone other than myself had accessed your system, I would upgrade your entire network for free. But no one else has done that, have they?"

  "So, to what do I owe this direct communication? The last message you sent was cryptic."

  "Did you understand it?"

  "Walter assumed it meant that you lured a Grey craft searching for a Zeus Box, disabled it and took control."

  "Professor Tomb is a smart man. I could use him. He is correct."

  "How? How did you take a ship?"

  "The defensive field surrounding the ship best protects against energy and blast effects. Photon weapons, lasers, et cetera, but its biggest weakness is physical attacks. Greys consider those type of attacks crude compared to the energy weapons of the highly intelligent species the Greys generally face. It is why their ships can survive the proximity of a nuclear blast, but can fail if they crash into a planet's surface or massive asteroid. Add the fact that when their ships are underwater, the shield modulation has to compensate for liquid passing through it, causing their shield to be even more susceptible to material strikes. One of our defenses is a Mach 12 amphibious Gatling railgun with hypervelocity iridium projectiles. A few strikes from the HVPs, and the shield fails, a couple more, and the ship has enough holes to bleed out life support. It is just a matter of salvage at that point."

  "What I could do with that firepower."

  "What so many could do, which is why I don't share it...even for the right price. Your Navy has traded us for our HVP research which I believed they used on projectiles for their railgun prototype and even applied to traditional weapons."

  "Other than giving me gun envy, what is the reason you are contacting us?"

  "The ship we salvaged supplied us with quite a bit of tech and information we did not get from the stripped Grey craft you traded with us many decades ago. That includes the cloaking tech you so thoughtfully removed."

  "I had good reason."

  "I'm sure you did. But what we discovered is of interest to you. Of such importance, I'm willing to supply it to you for free."

  "You are giving us free tech? What's the catch? You don't give tech for free."

  "Oh, I'm not giving you tech. Just the information I acquired from the tech."

  "Information? On their ships?"

  "On their actions. We deciphered the electromagnetic signature the Grey's cloak leaves behind as it passes through the atmosphere, or water."

  On the screen in place of Nemolopolus' face appears a globe rotating with lines over it, covering every land mass in an intricate and precise geometric grid covering the entire Earth.

  "The lines you see are where we found the residue of their movement. The lines represent routes taken. As I move the grid in for a closer look over a land mass, the United States, you can see they crossed over every mile of every state. These are not just flight paths of travel. No, something much more specific."

  "Do you think they are looking for hidden facilities or lost skin spawns?"

  "No, Mr. Nix, if that was their goal, the pattern should evolve and become more centralized as they narrowed the search. No, the grid is too broad yet specific. Done for one purpose."

  "Which is...," prods Mr. Nix.

  "They are scanning, mapping, and cataloging every inch of the surface. With this, they could determine where every human was residing, our water sources, electrical sources, transport routes, food supplies, factories, air and military holdings. This is detailed up-to-the-minute recon."

  Mr. Nix ponders, "This mapping is crucial if they are planning a focused assault. I've conjectured they plan to attack humanity with skin spawns. This allows them to decide where, when and how to attack for optimal effect and damage."

  "I cannot say what form of attack they plan, or if that is their plan. What I know is this information is more important to the Committee than me. Consider it a gift."

  "Have you shared this with anyone else?"

  "I will be sending the same information to organizations comparable to yours in Russia, China, England, Germany, India and Japan. However, I don't think they will understand the information as much as you. Have you told those nations' agencies detail on the Grey deep-sea colony you destroyed?"

  "Not yet. How did you know?"

  "The question is why you thought I didn't know?"

  "I will f
orward this new information to the Committee Council. It supports my belief that they are planning a skin spawn ground assault. Thanks for sharing, Nemo."

  "You are welcome. I downloaded a copy of the global schematic to your server. It is under your user access in your classified files marked 'mapping the world'. I hope you can benefit from it."

  "So do I."

  Captain Nemolopolus disappears from the screen as the playing puppies background returns.

  Mr. Nix opens the map grid that Nemolopolus left on his desktop, studying the Grey's flight grid around the earth. Nix then opens a communication console on his computer. He then enters Colonel Kaliber's name in the contact call and waits.

  After a minute, Colonel Kaliber's face appears in the console. He is in the field in fatigues and sunglasses.

  "Kaliber here. What do you need?"

  "Are you busy at the moment?"

  "I'm out tracking skin spawns hiding in Atlanta. But they are currently immobile and inactive."

  "I need you to contact our scouts and field spies, from this installation or any other Committee post. If they are not on mission, request that the available ones get in the field. I want them to do what you are doing: track all known skin spawns, and see if they are showing any movement or coordinated efforts that might hint to preparation for an assault. Try to cover as much of the continental US as possible."

  "Sure thing, Commander Nix. Are you heading into the field as well?"

  "Not at this moment. I want nationwide general surveillance based on a lead. However, if this brings to the surface what I am expecting to arise, then I will head out into the field."

  "What should I tell the men in the field to keep an eye out for?"