No Geek Rapture for Me_I'm Old School

by Jonelle Renald

  “Step 6. Using the service elevator to exit Noonan Hall, Ethan and Kit will join Enoch in the iCon HQ building to help oust Chase from iCon. Dr. Adjani’s team will stick to their cover as visiting scientists and will exit Noonan Hall in the confusion following the explosions. They will drive the thirty miles back to McLeod for their return to Ismarsettehka.

  “Step 7. Once Ethan and Kit arrive at the iCon lobby, I am to leave the building, riding Maru to the back entrance of Noonan Hall, where we will take the service elevator to the sub-basement and be prepared to portal out, joining the rangers standing guard. Under no circumstances am I to remain in the iCon HQ after their arrival. I am not to engage in any fighting there, no matter what I see, except in situations where I must defend myself. And I have pledged my obedience in this matter to Enoch.”

  Mia said out loud to the red horse, “And for all things which don’t go according to plan — and both Ethan and Enoch say to plan that things won’t entirely go according to plan — keep in mind primary objectives and don’t get drawn away trying to fix secondary failures. Stay on plan as much as possible, and obey all commands that Enoch or Ethan might give, immediately.” Mia took a steady breath in. “And pray for protection and favor. Please God, help us, help us, help us.”

  After the review of the mission plan, Mia and Maru had still not reached the bottom of the stairs, but they were just above the skylight and copper roof line of the iCon building. At this height, she could look into Chase’s office. He wasn’t at his desk, so Enoch’s effort to get his attention away from his computer must be working according to plan.

  “When do I start becoming a diversion?” Mia thought. “If everyone’s off-site at the business meeting, who is left in the building that will see me?”

  She didn’t realize it, but she had already been seen by several Barrow Heights citizens and had become the star of a series of soon-to-be viral videos and photos on social media. One video was shot by a woman who was in the old Edgestow College campus parking lot near the gymnasium, recording a shaky video of a red horse and his rider, both in armor, descending out of the sky. Another video was shot by a man who had been driving his pickup down Edgestow Avenue in front to the iCon building and nearly ran into a light pole trying to watch what was happening in the sky above him before he started recording with the camera in his phone. Several other people saw him recording and then saw the red horse cantering in the middle of the air. And what happened in the middle of the air afterward made even better video. Everyone was uploading video to various social media platforms, where they almost immediately went viral.

  Inside the Security Resource Center off the HQ lobby, two iCon security guards who were still on-site could now see Mia and Maru on their monitors. They were hastily conferring, trying to decide what to do.

  — “What is going on here!? How did that get up there?”

  — “Doesn’t matter! We need to do something.”

  — “Is it trespassing for someone to be in air above the parking lot?”

  — “Maybe not, but it won’t take long until they will be trespassing on the ground for real!”

  — “One of us has to stand guard in the lobby.”

  — “Obviously! That is where the horse is coming in for a landing.”

  — “You go out there now! I’ll call Cezary and Amunson.”

  Still descending the stairway in the sky, Mia was unaware of these reactions to her presence. She and Maru are now about seventy feet above the ground. She thought, “Should I shout out a message or some kind of warning? I didn’t think I’d need to announce myself. And what would I say? No one to hear me anyway.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Mia saw something moving. She turned her head to look, and after a moment, what she saw gave her a terrifying sense of deja vu. Just like on that moonlit night on the ledge on Mount Graham, it took a moment of staring straight at the something coming directly at her to make sense of what it was. Once again, her brain needed to catch up with what her eyes saw. A velociraptor had jumped straight toward her, with mouth open, its teeth bared, and claws extended!

  No one on Enoch’s council had expected it, but CEO Damien Cezary had not attended the iCon quarterly business meeting after all. He had been in his office when the phone call from the security guard in the lobby rang. At the same moment he picked up the receiver to the phone, he saw Mia out the window of his office. Morphing into his thirteen foot tall velociraptor form as he ran, he had raced toward the balcony connected to his office. Shiny bronze skin shimmering in the sun, he made a prodigious leap over the railing then glided toward the rider on the red horse, prepared to do battle against this threat coming down out of the sky.

  The sight of the incoming diabolical creature froze the pit of Mia’s stomach. The velociraptors in the blockbuster films (not even half the size Cezary was now) had evoked terror enough in movie audiences with their fierceness and intelligence. This raptor was so much larger, with sharper fangs and talons, hypnotic eyes, a protruding dome of a brain case as proof of its greater intelligence. And an absolutely evil heart. And this time it wasn’t just going to land next to her. The raptor was about to attack her, and there was nothing between her and the incoming danger, nothing to take cover behind, absolutely nowhere to run but into a head-on encounter with her adversary. Cezary’s attack had transformed the unseen staircase into a fencing piste angled upward into the sky, its narrow dimensions making a duel unavoidable. This was Mia’s worst nightmare. Worse than her worst nightmare, because there was no waking up possible here. She was trapped within the confines of an invisible staircase, forced into a throw down with a diabolical raptor with no one to provide aid or assistance. And it would be a throw down for the loser — a throw down off the staircase in the sky. In Mia’s estimation, there was very little chance of victory, or even escape. She tried not to imagine herself and Maru lying smashed on the ground, Cezary bending over them with an open mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. And she did her best not to directly look the raptor in his hypnotic eyes.

  Like it or not, ready or not, the bout had begun. She was entering the scariest duel of her life. Of anyone’s life.

  Maru had also seen Cezary. Rising up on his hind legs, he wheeled and began to climb back up the stairs. She could see that the red horse was trying to reach a point higher than the attacking raptor, which was committed to the initial trajectory of his glide. (Given the small size of his wings in relation to his body, the raptor couldn’t respond and fly higher now that he was already in the air.)

  Now above the raptor, Maru wheeled around to face the threat, screaming a challenge to the monster fifteen feet below. Cezary landed awkwardly, skidding to a stop while trying to launch an offensive at the same time. Mia wondered, “Can he see the stairs or did he just aim for the spot we were at?”

  To take advantage of the awkward landing, without hesitation Maru launched himself forward, rushing down toward Cezary before the raptor could stabilize his footing. Mia herself was caught off guard by the sudden move, and it was all she could do to grab the saddle horn and reins with one hand while trying to keep the lance gripped tightly in the other as she struggled to not fall off. The red horse’s two front iron-shod hooves connected with the raptor’s flank, creating a large gash, smoke boiling out of it. The thirteen-foot tall birdlike dinosaur hissed in pain and switched its tail back and forth like an angry cat. Mia could only hang on while the two battled, but she kept an eye out for any opening to use her lance. She prayed the raptor wouldn’t move in close enough for her to need to use her saber.

  Maru continued to strike out at the monster while the raptor maneuvered for a jump onto the back of the tall red horse or to sink its teeth in a leg while Maru was rearing, biting, and kicking. Fortunately, Cezary was on a lower step, still at a strategic disadvantage.

  After several attempts to find an opening or weak spot in the horse’s attack, Ce
zary jumped high overhead, spreading his wings to start a glide over Maru’s head, which was down and out of position to prevent it. Mia could see he planned to land on the step beside Maru’s flank, out of the range of hooves and teeth. Alarmed at the maneuver, she also saw an imposed image of the conclusion to the raptor’s landing, before it happened — claws injuring Maru as it grabbed him by the neck, then a vicious downward bite that severed his spinal column, like he had done to the deer he’d caught on Mount Graham. She couldn’t let that happen! Based on this advanced notice and moved by anger and fear, she immediately acted on the warning. She positioned her lance to fend off the raptor’s landing, her experience with fencing helping her to be certain the silver tip of the lance would find its mark, and with sufficient strength behind the stroke to make a difference. She heard herself shouting, “No. Way. Will. You. Hurt. Maru!”

  More effectively than she could have been on her own, Mia succeeded in injuring Cezary. The force of its leap and the weight of the raptor’s gigantic body did what Mia’s strength alone could not have done. The tip of the lance broke through its scaly skin, creating a deep gash along the side of its pointy head, neck, and shoulder, the silver metal itself creating additional damage. With the wound smoking as if acid had been poured on it, the raptor screeched and stumbled to the step below. Seeing proof that she could be effective battling against the monster, Mia was encouraged to continue her attack. Maybe there was a chance for them getting out of this alive after all! Maybe she was going to have a chance to be an eshet cha-yil, a strong and valiant woman after all.

  She stood up in the stirrups and started aiming for the raptor’ head, repeatedly striking over and over with the lance. The raptor dodged and twisted away from most of the strokes, but the exchange gave Mia a feel for how this bird-like monster moved. Strategically, she made a large move with the butt end of the lance while keeping the point steady, hoping the raptor would move his head to evade an attack, but instead move into harm’s way. And her plan was successful. The feint moved the monster’s head into the range of the second stroke, and the point of the lance entered Cezary’s eye. In a smoking burst of steam, his eye was destroyed, and the giant raptor screamed and involuntarily jumped backward, landing on his side. Maru turned and kicked with his back legs, driving Cezary off the stairway and into a free fall. Shrieking in pain, he morphed back into his human form as he fell seventy feet to the pavement below. Landing about forty feet south of the lobby entrance door, he abruptly stopped screaming and lay absolutely still.

  Rushing toward Cezary, the two security guards who had emerged from the lobby intending to intercept Mia stood next to the body, then bent down to take a closer look. But neither one ever touched him or tried to offer aid. After a brief moment, one tore off into the parking lot, and then in another moment, the other raced to follow. Both jumped into a black iCon patrol car. Tires smoking, they sped away.

  Mia and Maru hurried down the remaining steps to the pavement and stood for a moment at the bottom of the staircase, looking back to the spot where Cezary had landed. There was no movement of any kind from the downed Watcher, so she turned Maru’s head toward the entrance of the building. Still breathing hard, she was not sure what to do next. Without waiting for Mia to direct him, the red horse stepped toward the building, and when the automatic doors glided open, ducked his head to pass through both sets of doors in the airlock. He paced across the white travertine floor of the two-story-high space which was utterly empty and silent except for echoes of his iron horseshoes on the hard surface, the jingle of metal on metal, and the creak of the leather tack. Mia stopped Maru at the bottom of the grand staircase, positioned so she could keep an eye on both the lobby and the stairs.

  A moment later, Mia heard someone yelling off to her right. She turned her head to see Skip Morrison waving his arms, the sound of his YSL Chelsea boots echoing in the lobby as he stomped out of the glass entryway to the Communications Department area. “You filthy terrorist! What have you done to Cezary?! Who are you? And what are you doing in here? You can’t bring that dirty animal in here! You have to leave NOW! Get out! Get out!”

  Maru moved away from the grand staircase to block Skip’s progress into the lobby. Mia sat silently on Maru’s back, wondering if he would recognize her, but he didn’t seem to. He was becoming hysterical, waving his arms, trying to make Maru move by shoving his head (which was a total failure). He repeatedly pointed to the front door, screaming, “Get OUT! I’ve called 9-1-1, and you are going to be arrested for murder, and then sued for any damage your beast has done to this building.” Maru responded by lifting his head away from the offending hands, but he didn’t move a single hoof.

  Skip kept shouting, “Get out, you terrorist! I’ve called Security, and they’re on their way. Get this filthy animal out of here IMMEDIATELY!” The red horse gave his arm a strong nip, so he gave up trying to move Maru by shoving his head. Stomping around to the horse’s flank, he stood next to Mia’s foot, shrieking up at her at the top of his lungs. “Get out, you terrorist!” In reply, she took the blunt end of her lance and thunked his forehead, once. His eyes rolled up in his head, and he fell in a heap, unconscious. Maru lowered his head and gave Skip’s shoulder a shove. He groaned a little. “The sheriff will take care of you once they get here,” Mia said.

  Mia heard a noise at the top of the grand staircase (two stories above), and looked up to see Chase in a black silk suit watching what had happened with Skip. Just then, an explosion went off, the blast rattling the plate glass windows in the lobby and the floor swaying slightly. Mia looked out a north window and could see a dark cloud drifting away from Noonan Hall. Sofia’s explosives had been detonated successfully!

  Hearing the sounds of sabers clashing, she turned back, looking up once more. At the top of the two-story high red-carpeted grand staircase, overlooked by a sunlit portrait of Damien Cezary, Enoch was dueling with Amunson, who had morphed into his giant beast form. The eleven foot tall Minotaur with the head of a bull and body of a giant roared in pain as Enoch stabbed his side. Then the metal of their swords clanged as Chase tried to break through Enoch’s fierce attack. Unable to overpower the smaller man, Chase spread his wings and jumped from the top of the two-story staircase down to the lobby floor, sword drawn. He ran to confront Mia.

  Red eyes glowing, his monstrous bovine head towered several feet above Mia’s, even though she was seated on the back of Maru. She could hardly bear to look at his ugly head with its gray bumpy skin, snout and ears like bull — and those disgusting pink-rimmed long slits of the second set of nostrils set between his black eyes. Terrified and lacking confidence in her ability to succeed in this duel, she pointed her silver-tipped lance at the huge winged beast covered in black fur in spite of her fear, preparing to fight no matter what. She whispered to herself, “Eshet cha-yil. I’m a woman of valor.”

  Laughing, Chase came to a stop in front of her, standing with both hands resting on his hips, mocking her. The situation reminded her of the pictograph she had seen in the cave on Mount Graham, the rider confronting a giant in front of the stargate. She hoped that long ago the other rider’s story had come to a happy ending, that he had defeated his adversary. She wasn’t sure how her own story would end.

  “The mask you’re wearing can’t conceal your identity from me, DOCTOR Maria Marwitz,” Chase bellowed. “I’d know your spistah stink anywhere! Do you think you can duel with me and come out the winner? Or even survive the bout? Don’t be fooled by your previous experiences! Up until now, we had plans for you. Before today, we were keeping you protected and alive, but all that’s changed now, kelba eresh! If I can’t recapture you today, I will kill you, my pretty. And your little horse too.”

  Running down the two story grand staircase, Enoch shouted, “Mia! Don’t listen to Talmai!” while he attempted to catch up with the giant and protect Mia from his attack. Just then, Ethan and Kit ran in through the front lobby door, their mission to
destroy the soul-rendering transhumanist materials in Noonan Hall completed.

  Responding to the interference, Talmai growled and roared the mind control trigger word at Mia. “Pollyanna!”

  Unable to move after hearing the MK Ultra command, Mia froze. In her time at Ismarsettehka, she’d made some progress in pulling down portions of the poisoned thought tree that was the source of the control over her mind. But directly confronted with the command, her remedies proved to be incomplete. She became paralyzed, feeling shackled, her body unable to respond to the signals her brain was sending to her body. But unlike earlier episodes, she didn’t black out and remained aware of what was happening, even if she couldn’t move. Hidden behind the giant, Enoch was running up toward, but she couldn’t see him. But she heard him shout to her again, “Mia, resist him!”

  She closed her eyes, and tried to escape from the attack on her mind, attempting to loosen the chains of the implanted control in her mind by taking a mental step back from the current situation. She kept changing her perspective until she brought to mind the statue of Jesus the Shepherd King as it was sitting in her living room. She concentrated on Jesus holding the little lamb, protecting it from all harm, providing it with safety. She whispered, “The Lord Jesus is my shepherd.”

  The giant rushed forward, menacing her and Maru with his sword and claws. Maru screamed a challenge and reared, but then turned and galloped toward the front lobby door. Mia was able to hang on, but as the horse pivoted, she dropped her lance. Ethan ran toward Mia and Maru while Kit ran directly at Talmai, swinging his saber in an attempt to slash the beast’s sword hand. Chase bellowed and stopped running to block Kit’s stroke, roaring, “You exceed your authority, unborn makklu-kan. Be gone!” The giant grabbed the front of his shirt, lifted him up off the floor, then threw him the entire width of the immense space. Shattering the plate glass window as he was thrown out of the lobby, Kit landed a few feet from Cezary’s body. Still frozen, Mia couldn’t go help him or even voice an objection to what had happened to her son even though her mind was screaming in protest.