The Final Reality (Alex Pella, #3)

by Stephen Martino

  “You care to take the wheel?” Tom commented, attempting to level out the ship. “I’ll kindly hand it over to you at any time.”

  Marissa grabbed William’s seat to stabilize herself as the ship began to rock. The jet engines fired as the electromagnetic dipoles in the native engines failed to depolarize properly in the unstable world grid.

  “Can you see anything out there?” Marissa asked, pointing out the windshield. “There’s such limited visibility.”

  “It’s not good,” Alex admitted. “When half of Saudi Arabia sunk into the sea, it caused a chain reaction setting off massive volcanic activity along the eastern coasts of Sudan and Ethiopia. The closer we approach, the denser the soot and ash becomes.”

  “As a result, we have to fly this ship as low as possible,” Tom said.

  “Between the soot-filled clouds and electromagnetic fluctuations, we can’t utilize our geo-guidance at any higher altitude,” Alex added, pointing to a fuzzy holographic image of the Persian Gulf above the flickering instrument panel.

  “It’s like you are flying blindly,” Marissa observed.

  “That’s why I insisted Christine sit with us here in the cockpit,” Alex admitted. “I suspect we may just have to eyeball the best spot to land, and she would be the best one to do it.”

  “Guys,” Willian said matter-of-factly. “Is this really what we want to be doing right now?” Feeling a little less airsick, he leaned forward getting closer to both Alex and Tom. “What are we really getting ourselves into? Just look at it out there. The Earth’s crust is crumbling all around, and we are flying straight towards a massive rift of active volcanos.”

  William took a deep breath. “I’m all for saving the planet. Hell. We’ve already done it before. I just think it’s too late now.”

  Marissa turned and walked back to the ship’s cabin without another word. She had no rebuttal for William’s comments; deep down she felt the same. Though she did not want to doubt Alex’s plan, it was difficult not to at least mentally second-guess it.

  This is the only option, Alex concluded. He knew there was no other choice. No place on the planet was safe. Even as they were leaving their hideout, he noted increased seismic activity in the area, indicating something more cataclysmic was on its way. Staying there any longer would have eventually proven suicidal.

  “Why don’t we wait until the crust slips and whatever finally happens to the planet happens?” William concluded. “Then we can land this bucket of bolts on whatever is still standing and hope for the best.”

  “There may be nowhere left,” Christine insisted. “If what I saw on the image was just a prelude, we’re all doomed if we can’t stop this.”

  William said no more. Letting the repercussions of her warning sink in, he slowly slouched back into his seat as he contemplated all their fates.

  The ship continued its descent. Land started to become visible through the soot and dust. The lower they flew, the more their visibility increased.

  “By my instruments,” Alex said while examining the hazy map above the dashboard, “we should be right over the dried-up lake bed of the Karun River and heading southwest directly towards the cradle.”

  “Eden,” Christine corrected.

  “Call it what you want,” William stated, “but I don’t see a thing down there that looks like any old river. Hell, the whole thing just looks like dune after dune of black-tinted sand.” He paused a second. “I hate sand.”

  As the holograph above the dashboard faded, Alex turned and asked, “Christine was there anything else we could possibly use to identity Eden’s location? Can you think of something more specific? The best I can do is land us somewhere within a five-mile vicinity of our intended destination. With these electromagnetic fluctuations, I won’t be able to pinpoint it more exactly than that.”

  “I just don’t know,” she admitted.

  “The seismic activity is getting worse,” Tom pointed out.

  New red dots representing active volcanic activity appeared above the dashboard. These dots were accompanied by a few others that began to spring up in northern Iraq and sporadically in Iran.

  “I don’t think you’ll have the luxury of walking five miles,” Tom concluded. “This whole region may be gone by then.”

  Alex looked out the windshield as the sandy landscape turned more rugged and crusty in nature. The remnants of broken-down ships and hallowed out oil tankers speckled the ground as they passed overhead.

  “We’re over the former Persian Gulf now,” Alex concluded. “I can’t make out much more than that down there. Plus, I’m no longer able to receive an accurate satellite reading of the area.”

  Alex’s voice rose in volume as the roar of the jet engines became more constant and monotonous in nature.

  How could people fly under such archaic conditions? William bemoaned.

  “Are you sure you know where we’re even headed at this point?” Tom asked with some concern. “I’m not making out much from that holographic map any longer.”

  Alex remained silent, not wanting to instill any further concern amongst his friends.

  “Wait,” Christine blurted. “There was one more thing that I can remember about the vision.” She leaned forward so that Alex and Tom could hear her clearer. “There were these three long, white pillars, each heading out in different directions, away from the cradle like separate rays of sunlight.”

  Alex thought for a second, recounting the history of the ancient pyramids of Giza.

  “You know,” he postulated aloud, “those pillars may have been covered with the same, polished white tura limestone that used to coat the great pyramids in Egypt.”

  “You mean the pyramids didn’t always look like blocks of piled sand?” William asked.

  “No,” Alex responded. “In fact, the pyramids used to be completely smooth along their edges and capped at the top in pure gold.” He contemplated the situation again. “I bet that’s what they used. What else could it have been?”

  “But that’s all I can remember,” Christine added. “Everything else you already know.”

  “It may be just enough,” Alex said.

  Tom looked in the distance, hoping to see any white line or evidence of what Christine was describing; in the soot-filled atmosphere, everything appeared gray, dull, and monotonous.

  “I don’t think that’s going to help,” Tom concluded. “It all looks the same down there.”

  Tom lowered the ship until it was flying only about 100 feet above the surface.

  “I still don’t see anything,” Tom again admitted. “Wherever those pillars are, they’ve got to be under thousands of years of crap that fell to the gulf floor.”

  The ship rocked hard to its right side, surprising all aboard with the sudden movement.

  “Everyone alright back there?” Alex shouted back to the hull.

  “Spiffy!” Samantha yelled back. “Just land this ship in one piece is all I ask.”

  That’s the goal, Alex thought.

  A faint white line began to holographically appear on the windshield off to their right side. Noting its sudden presence, Alex said to Tom, “Do me a favor and take over all the flight controls while I try to hone in on that signal there on the ground.”

  Tom looked over and saw the faint line flicker in and out of view. Without prompting, he changed the ship’s course and flew directly over its path.

  “That’s it,” Alex said. “I’m locking onto the unique quantum signal emitted by the quartz in the tura limestones. Because of the unreliability of our sensors, we need to be right on top of it to obtain an accurate reading.”

  William patted Alex on the back, proud of his longtime friend. He knew that if anyone could find the proverbial needle in the haystack, it would be him.

  “There’s the other two lines,” Christine exclaimed as their images became crisper. “They all converge on that one point. You found it!”

  “Tom, are you able to safely land us down there?” Alex
asked.

  Tom turned his head towards Alex. “With my eyes open or closed?” he grumbled. “Try doing this at night, under fire, and with the cockpit instrument dark.”

  “I’d opt for eyes open,” William interrupted.

  With the landing gear now engaged, Tom cut the jet engines and deployed the parachute just before hitting ground. The ship jerked upon impact and slowly came to a complete stop about 200 feet from where the three white lines on the windshield converged.

  The roar of the engines gradually faded, providing William with a measure of relief.

  “Good job,” Alex complimented.

  He then grabbed a large tan bag from a drawer along the side wall of the cockpit and placed it over his arm. “Let’s get out of here,” he said, “before time runs out.”

  The ship rocked back and forth for a few seconds just as Alex began to stand. He steadied himself on the seat so as to not fall.

  “I thought we landed already?” Marissa said, walking into the cockpit.

  “That wasn’t the ship,” Alex noted. “We better find what this cradle does and do it now.” He started to walk back to the ship’s hull. Before leaving the cockpit, he turned to his pilot. “Tom, you’ll be our eyes and ears out here. Good luck.”

  “As always,” Tom responded. “I’ll have the ship fired up and ready to go at your beckon.”

  “Samantha,” Alex stated. “There isn’t much time left. Do me a favor and grab the shield while I see what’s going on out here.”

  “Sure thing,” she responded. Hearing the urgency in his voice, Samantha understood the gravity of the situation. “Do you want me to take this contraption off of it first?”

  “No,” Alex responded as the stratoskimmer’s stairs descended. “Keep it on until the last moment. It’s concealing the shield’s quantum signal. The moment we take it off, if Julius is watching, the shield will guide him to us like a homing beacon.”

  Alex then took a rectangular object, reminiscent of a gray deck of cards, known as an etherometer and threw it like a Frisbee outside the ship. Within a second, it began sending a spectral and visual analysis of the entire area directly to his vedere lens.

  Grabbing an electric pulse gun from a pocket, he looked back to his friends in the ship’s hull. Everyone was standing silently, awaiting Alex’s next words. Their fear was palpable, and each time the ship shook from the instability of the ground underneath of them, it continued to escalate.

  “Everyone,” Alex said, “take one. These are modified pulse guns designed to send whomever it shoots into instant cardiac arrest.” Alex reached into the tan bag and handed them each an identical weapon. He then held up his own gun and said, “Before you fire, flick this switch forward to reveal the red dot. It will fully arm the weapon.”

  “Red means dead,” Samantha said.

  “Exactly,” Alex agreed. “And the rest is self-explanatory.” He pointed the gun. “Aim, shoot, and hope you don’t miss.” He paused while his friends fumbled with their weapons for a few seconds.

  “End of class,” he then said abruptly. “I’m afraid we don’t have time for more.”

  Alex gestured out the door and over to the crusty mound about 200 feet from them. “What you see over there is the cradle. Or what’s left of it. Let’s get there as quickly as possible. Watch your step and be careful not to break an ankle. The sediment on the ground will make walking somewhat unsteady.”

  As Alex spoke, William could not help but notice numerous red plumes of smoke and lava rising up over the far horizon. The thought of walking straight into Dante’s Inferno crossed his mind.

  “Let’s go,” Alex said as he ran down the steps while watching the readouts on his vedere lens.

  The others followed without another word. In single file, they all rapidly exited. Upon departing the ship, Christine felt a great sense of remorse fill her soul as she gazed at the barren landscape. Now a desolate wasteland, the area was a far cry from its previous glory. No longer the land of plenty, it appeared as if death itself had descended upon the area. The dim light trickling through the soot-filled atmosphere added to the site’s gray and foreboding appearance.

  A passage from Genesis echoed throughout Marissa’s mind the further they walked through this barren wasteland. Recalling God’s warning to Adam and Eve, she thought, “You shall not eat or even touch it, lest you die.”

  The mound appeared much larger upon their approach. What once seemed to blend into the mundane background now appeared more impressive standing next to it. The pillars extending from it also became much more discernable. Triangulating where all of these pillars converged on the mound, Alex surmised where the door to enter must be located.

  William scoured the area with his gun, pointing it in all directions. Though still with its safety lock engaged, his thumb rested nervously on it, waiting to flick it into action. The others, too, anxiously reconnoitered the area, almost expecting someone to jump out of the crusted soil and attack.

  Taking a monocle-appearing device known as an eavesdropper out of his pocket, Alex placed it on the front of the mound. He then ran it along the cradle’s side until a holographic picture emerged above it. Luckily, the electromagnetic interference was much lower on the Earth’s surface and allowed for such a device to work without significant difficulties.

  “I recognize this image,” Christine said. “Go a little to the left.” Alex complied; as he moved it accordingly, a V representing Eve’s womb came into focus. Alex turned to Christine. “Good job. You found it!”

  Alex’s words provided Christine with some vindication. Though her friends were all lost back in Philadelphia, her time in the cave and seeing the vision might in the end save millions, if not billions.

  The ground shook once more as a new red flume of lava cracked open in the distance. The roar of Mother Nature reminded them that time was swiftly dwindling.

  Alex then took out four spikes from his bag and jammed them one by one into the crust, forming a large square around the V. Once the last spike was in place, the tips of each began to glow green. A crisp red laser in the shape of a square formed between the four spikes. Slowly, the laser bore down onto the crust and vaporized the millennium worth of debris as it progressed. Smoke and dust spewed from the site.

  After about a minute’s worth of activity, the red laser disappeared, revealing a V displayed prominently on Eve’s womb. They were all humbled by the ancient site, staring at it with awe. Feeling rejuvinated by their discovery, Alex dropped the bag around his neck and took the shield out of Samantha’s hands.

  He then checked his vedere lens one more time. No one was in sight.

  “All clear?” Alex asked Tom, giving one last double-check.

  “Good to go,” the pilot’s voice echoed in his auricular chip.

  “Disengage the safeties,” Alex then ordered his friends.

  They all complied without argument. One by one their pulse guns hummed with activity.

  Alex then placed the shield directly on Eve’s belly, hoping for it to open the door. An indentation with the exact shape and dimensions of the shield let him know that it must be the correct area to place it.

  Nothing happened. Alex then attempted to turn and push it, hoping that something would occur. However, all attempts led to the same result.

  “I don’t like this,” William grumbled. “I certainly don’t like this.”

  Nor do I, Alex subconsciously agreed.

  “The decoupler,” Samantha pointed out. “Maybe that’s interfering somehow.”

  Alex both feared and hoped Samantha was correct. Though he certainly did not want to remove the only thing hiding them from Jules, he realized he had no other option.

  “Keep your weapons handy,” Alex warned. He then deactivated the decoupler and yanked it off the shield.

  I just hope Jules is far, far away.

  Alex again approached Eve’s belly with the shield. Before he had an opportunity to set it in place, the artifact slipped out of his ha
nds and stuck to the mound as if drawn by some unknown electromagnetic force.

  The earth suddenly shook more intensely. Unable to balance himself, William fell into the mound. Upon impact, he accidently pulled the trigger on his pulse gun. With a sizzle, it discharged straight up towards the sky.

  An extensive area of earth only miles away from their position had collapsed, creating a massive crater in the ground.

  “This is getting insane,” William said. “Why don’t we just let Mother Nature take its course and destroy this entire place? That will certainly turn this damn cradle off.”

  “There’s more to it than that,” Christine insisted. “Destroying it will not help. In my vision, it was revealed to me that the cradle must be properly deactivated in order to re-stabilize the Earth’s crust. Simply destroying it will do nothing.”

  “We must continue,” Terzin agreed.

  Gazing out at the ever-growing crater in the distance, William could not help but think the end was not much further away.

  Chapter 31

  Chapter_31

  “I located the shield!” Drew exclaimed, examining the holographic image of the planet’s surface below them. “Quantum signal’s 100% match.”

  “Good show!” Jules stated. “I guess we owe our late friend Murphy a bit of gratitude.”

  “If we weren’t close to the signal,” Drew said, “we would have never discovered it, especially in this electromagnetic instability.”

  Drew relayed to the pilot the shield’s exact coordinates. Still in a geosynchronous orbit around the planet, he adjusted the ship’s course so it headed directly above the spot.

  “Signal the other striker craft,” Jules ordered the pilot. “We’re landing immediately.”

  As reinforcement, Jules recruited the only other striker craft in the fleet that could safely reach such an altitude. Together, the two ships had remained in orbit, awaiting Jules’ next command.

  The pilot turned to Jules. “No can do,” he responded sternly. “We’re dead in the water the minute we hit the stratosphere. The ship will drop like a brick.”