"Can I have a little privacy with my android, General, there is something I need to tell him."
"Yes, of course," he said, and headed for the hallway. "If you see or hear anything, yell."
"Okay, General," she said, as she watched him leave, and then turned to her android. "Cely, can you hear me?"
"Yes, Ms. Avery, I hear you," he answered.
"I am giving you a container, which I will place in your lower leg panel. You must not divulge this information or give it to anyone but me. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Ms. Avery, I understand."
She opened his leg compartment, placed the container in and taped it to the wall of the panel. After he shut it, she walked over to the safe where the AI chip was kept. She pressed the code which opened the safe, and grabbed the AI chip. She figured she would have to put it in at that moment to avoid any further tampering. As she began, Carver came back in.
"What are you doing now?" he asked.
"I'm placing the AI chip in, and changing the code. Only I will know it. That way if what Barkley is saying is true, my father won't be able to tamper with it."
"Good thinking," he said. "Well, I'll be outside if you need me." He
then went back out to check if Varloo was coming after him.
As she began to remove the back panel, she heard a noise behind her. She turned and drew her Berretta, only to face her father.
"Angelica, what are you doing? And why are you pointing that gun at me?"
"Lieutenant Barkley told me a story about you, and an alien named Varloo," she answered. "Father, you've lied to me!"
"Child, whatever are you talking about," he asked, as he came closer.
"You better stop right there, unless you tell me the truth. Carver and Barkley told me that you were abducted by aliens when you were a child? Is that true?"
He shook his head. "Yes, yes, but that was years ago, and I had therapy for that."
"Barkley says he's really from the future, and he's here to stop you from creating a hybrid race from Rocco and Clyde's genes, and from the alien's."
"What alien's?"
"The alien they had down in the research lab!"
"You've been drinking too much of that wine you like so much. You're talking nonsense."
"Is it nonsense you're here in this room now. And just why are you here, at 5:30 in the morning anyway. You know this was my project."
"I know, I just couldn't sleep, and I wanted to make a few changes to the AI chip before you put it in. You didn't put it in yet, did you?"
"No, I didn't, and it's fine the way it is."
"But Angel, it won't operate without the changes I need to make."
"You're lying!"
"Why would I lie to my own daughter?"
"Because you're not my father. You're an alien!"
"Boy, that Barkley has messed up your mind!" he laughed. "Please, Angelica, let me finish the chip."
"No," she said. "I don't want you anywhere near Cely. Now, go!"
"Angelica, please, why would you shoot your own father?"
"She wouldn't," Carver said, reentering the room. "But I would. You better leave, Louis, or I'll be forced to do what I have to."
"Very well," he said, and walked to the door. He turned to the two of them, and smiled.
"You both think just because you stopped me from what I must do,
that you've won," he stated. "But you will see you've made a big mistake. You need Cely to fly those ships, and without making the changes, he won't be of any use to you. Angel, I forgive you, because you just feel you need to protect your android, which I understand completely, but I no longer trust you, General Carver. You betrayed me by keeping my sister a drugged up prisoner for years. Don't think I don't know what you and Reynolds did to her, and the unspeakable acts you've done to others."
"General, what is he talking about?" Angelica asked.
"I'll explain later. Just get out, Avery, before I put a bullet in your head. You're relieved of the project, and you need to report to security to turn yourself in. If you don't, I'll have them hunt you down, and kill you instead."
"Well, General," he surmised. "I don't know how you'll finish your project now that I'll be in the brig."
"We'll manage fine without you," Carver replied, and cocked his pistol. "You've got three seconds."
"I'm going," he said, and left the room. He put his pistol back in its holster, as Angelica did the same.
"That was close," she said. "I guess Barkley was telling the truth."
"Yea, but now we have worse problems. This Varloo is on his way back, and he's not happy."
"What do we do?"
"Well, I want you to go to your apartment and stay there until you here from me. Call Dr. Reynolds, and have him meet me down in the research lab."
"But Barkley told me to stay with Cely."
"You're android's safe. Keep the chip with you, and hide it in a safe place."
"I hope you're right. I don't want this Varloo or my father to get a hold of it."
"I'll deal with Varloo, you just go," Carver said, as they left the lab.
She nodded, and headed towards her apartment. She rounded the corner; suddenly struck from behind, and fell to the floor unconscious.
Carver headed the other direction towards the research lab. He punched in the access code, and rushed down the stairs to where Dr. Reynolds already was. He turned towards his colleague.
"Have you found the Grey yet?"
"No," Carver said. "But I think he's coming back. Several of my men have been killed out in the desert."
"So what do you propose to do? The Cryonic weapons didn't work."
"I don't know," Carver said. "I'm out of ideas. That's why I called you down here."
"I think you should try to reason with him," he said. "He has five times our mental power, and you can't defeat him, even with an army."
"But he wants to kill us. We can't let him do that."
"If you give him what he wants, he may let us live."
"Or he may kill us anyway. What about that old nuclear warhead we have down in the storage facility? We can activate it."
"Surely, you can't be serious?"
"What other choice do we have? We can't let him complete his
agenda. If we give him what he wants, it will mean the end of the human race. With a bomb, at least other bases will survive. You better tell whoever's down there to get the weapon ready for deployment. We've got no time to lose."
"I hope you know what you're doing," Reynolds said. "If you're wrong, we'll all be dead anyway."
Reynolds began to walk away, when there was a loud humming noise. It intensified, until the point their heads and ears began to ache. They fell to their knees, and as Carver looked up towards the stairs, the doors flew off their hinges, and Varloo levitated towards him, landing on his feet in front of him.
"So, we meet again, General Carver," he sneered. "I warned you about interfering. I won't kill you, because I'll need your help to finish my plans. But Reynolds, I have nothing but contempt for." He walked towards Reynolds, and placed his four fingers upon his balding head, as he gripped his ears in pain. "How does it feel, Reynolds? To have your brains ripped apart from inside, the same way you did to Sarah and Louis all these years? It's time to pay your retribution for all those people you mentally and physically tortured!"
"He only did what I ordered him to do!" Carver pleaded. He went to grab his gun, but found his arm unable to move.
"Your puny instruments of death have no effect on me!" Varloo hissed. "Even if he did what you told him to do, he enjoyed every minute of it!"
"That's not true!" Reynolds cried. "Please, have mercy!"
"I had mercy once," he said. "Before you stuck me with needles, and used my friend Avery for a test subject! To think, I came back to help
mankind, and all you did was give me a reason to despise it. Now enough talk, Reynolds, pray to your god, if you have one."
He pressed his ha
nd against Reynolds' head, and he let out a terrifying scream, as blood ran from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. He fell to the floor, dead. Varloo turned towards the General, who held his hands up. General Carver was shocked, infuriated and distraught over his actions, and saddened at the loss of his friend. On the observation floor, Angelica woke up, and stared from the window at the whole incident. Varloo was unaware of her presence because his concentration was on Reynolds and Carver, and the mental strain on his mind while he levitated.
"Now, General," he sneered. "You will do exactly what I tell you to
do from this point on. If you resist me, you will do it against your own free will anyway. Will you cooperate, or do I need to control your mind as well?"
"You leave me no choice than to do what you ask," he said in despair.
"Good, that's more like it. We have much to do, and so little time. We've wasted too much time already. We need to be ready for the launch date."
"But I thought you were here to take over our planet?"
"Your planet? No, I'm here to correct what Balta started and couldn't finish. I have more work to do in the other universe. And then there's my children."
"Your children?"
"Hybrids, General, hybrids. With Ms. Avery's fertilized eggs, and my genes."
"What about the chimpanzees. I thought they were to become Tolarions."
"I don't know how that happened. I didn't create them, Avery did. The Tolarions were his idea. One of the blunders I had to correct this time."
"Walker said you were responsible for altering the future."
"He's half right. I'm here now to change yours and my future. You will begin production on the wormhole generator tomorrow."
"But we don't know how to build that kind of device."
"You will, with mine and Dr. Avery's assistance. You will get Ms. Avery to cooperate by allowing her father to complete the AI chip?"
"That might be harder than you think. She'll never go along with it, even if you threaten to kill her too."
"I have no intention of killing her, that would be counterproductive.
She will succumb to my influence. She and I are close friends in the future, and I'm really quite fond of her."
"I'm not so sure she feels the same way about you," Carver said.
"She will."
"You don't know Angel very well, do you?"
"She will cooperate, or you all will die."
"And you call yourself advanced? You're no different than I am."
"I'm very different than you. I don't answer to governments."
"Only to God."
Varloo laughed wildly.
"How little you know about God."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Surely as a man of science you understand there is no God."
"In your world maybe, not in mine."
"As you wish. Return to your quarters until tomorrow, and I will contact you. You're not to tell anyone I saw you. And if she tells anyone else, they will die as well."
"What's to prevent me from leaving this room, and sending the whole armada down after you?"
"Nothing, but they won't be successful. I'm relying on your own free will, and your ability to follow orders, General. If you don't, then I'll do what I have to. It is your choice alone."
"Well, I guess you have it all figured out. Just how am I supposed to know what I'm doing to build this 'wormhole generator?"
"I will tell you mentally what to do. You will be directed through your mind. Dr. Avery already knows the process, and Ms. Avery will learn just as quickly."
"So I'll be under your mental control?"
"Only while working; the rest of the time your mind will be yours alone."
"Why do I feel like I'm making a deal with the devil?"
"Do I look like your 'devil?"
"Devils have many faces, yours is just one of them."
"You are a very metaphorical man, Mr. Carver, unlike your great grandson."
"What do you know of my great grandson?"
"He would've become a great man someday. A starship captain, who gave his life for a friend."
"What do you mean would've?"
"You know I can't let his grandfather or father live. I can't let any of you live. It would interfere with the process of the hybridization. I need perfect specimens such as the Averys."
"You're going to kill my son and grandson, and you expect me to cooperate? Well, forget it! I'd rather you kill me now, and get it over with than help you!"
"Killing you would make no difference to your heirs, they'd still die. I might consider dropping yourself and your family off on some habitable planet somewhere if you help me. At least then you'd have a fighting chance."
"You would do that? How can I trust you?"
"You have my word, and unlike that treacherous Tolarion leader Balta Mr. Walker told you about, mine is as good as gold."
"I guess I could help you if you put it like that. What about the rest of
the people on Earth?"
"What do you care about them? You never have in the past. General, is the leopard changing the color of his spots?"
"No," he said, hesitating. "It's just that-"
"It's just that you can't see how I can kill all of those people? Well, don't worry, they won't die right away, and neither will you."
"The virus that Walker spoke of?"
"How observant you are, General. The virus has a unique quality. It effects you slowly, and only kills you as you get older. It is harmful to humans and my kind as well, but not to me because I am immune. Something about my hybrid anatomy. You see, I'm part human and part Andronian. But you already knew that, didn't you, because Dr. Reynolds told you. Ms. Avery and the doctor aren't immune, but one day she will find the cure. But I know the cure already, and will give it to her, when she agrees to help us."
"What about me? Will you do the same for me and my family when this is all over?"
"Of course, I'm a fair being."
"Fair enough to slowly kill off the human race."
"Say what you want, but you will help me, because the alternative could be far worse. I'll see you at 8:00 in the morning, General."
"8:00 it is," Carver mumbled, and walked out of the room.
He knew in his heart this whole deal was wrong, but what else could he do? He lost two squadrons of at least thirty men; and had no idea what happened to Walker. Avery knew about his sister and was prepared to help Varloo complete his plans. Now Reynolds was dead as well, his head
crushed like a pineapple.
For a man who was usually in control, he was at a loss on what to do. He decided to play along with the Grey's charade for now, until there was an opportunity to act. He began to wish Walker gave him some of the antidote, or at least one of the lasers. He knew Walker was worried about the technology falling into the wrong hands., but he could sure use one of those handy gadgets right about now.
As he walked towards his quarters, he was stopped in the hallway by Angelica.
"General, are you all right?" she asked, and grabbed him by the arm.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine," he said.
"I saw you down in the research lab with the Grey," she said, crying hysterically. "I saw him kill Dr. Reynolds!"
"Keep your voice down!" he yelled in a whisper. "I know what he did, I was there. You're not to say anything about it, understand?"
"But, General?"
"Do you understand?"
"Yes, but why?"
"Right now, this is between us. You're not to say anything to your fiancé either."
"What about Jack Barkley?"
"He hasn't returned yet, and I fear the worse has happened to him, or he is in league with the enemy. Go back to your apartment, and I'll see you tomorrow."
"General, what are we going to do?"
"Well, not panic for one. I need some time to think, and come up with a plan. Walker didn't give you anything before he left, did he?"
"No," Ange
lica lied.
"Well, hide the chip somewhere where only you know where it is, and I'll talk to you tomorrow. I think our friend Varloo has taxed his mental power tonight, and needs a rest. If I can somehow get to him before he regains his strength-"
"And how are you going to do that?"
"I don't know yet, like I said I need time to think."
"Well, good luck. I wish there was more I could do to help."
"Right now you're helping just by staying out of the way. This is up to me. I started this mess, and I'm going to finish it."
"You sure I can't help you? You know I'm a damn good shot with a pistol."
"No, it's best you stay out of it. If I fail, there's no point of you jeopardizing your life as well." Angelica nodded, gave the general a look of disgust, and continued toward her apartment.
He needed to prepare himself, and the best place he could think of was the armory. When he arrived, he loaded four Beretta pistols, an AK-47 rifle, grabbed four more grenades, and then headed back towards the research lab.
When he came there, he found it empty. He drew both Berettas, one in each hand, as he climbed down the stairwell. He heard a noise and
turned, firing a shot in that direction. He could see the silhouette of the Grey running in the darkness and into the back hallway.
"I know your power's weakened, Varloo!" he yelled. "Why don't you just come out and give yourself up?"
He listened, and heard the sound of small footsteps which ran into one of the rooms. He headed towards it, opened the door, and turned on the light. He could see Varloo as he ran out the other door, and fired four shots, one almost hitting his leg. He turned around and went back out, and as he did, threw a grenade. It exploded, sending debris throughout the hall, and destroyed part of one of the walls.
When the smoke cleared, he saw Varloo drag his leg towards the stairwell. Carver quickly fired off two more shots at him, and he fell onto the floor on his stomach. He carefully approached the Grey, and kept his guns upon him. Hidden from Carver's view, Varloo pulled one of the vials and a syringe from his belt, and injected himself with it.
Dimension Lapse III: Dimensional Breakdown (Dimension Lapse Series Book 3) Page 19
