“Anyway, this was all laid out eons ago. It is where Eli’s Zen Buddhism comes from. It is the reason he and Danny had to endure the childhood they did. Their suffering opened a void in each of them that allowed their special qualities to flow into and through them. Jason and Danielle were also chosen, but for different reasons. They were the grandchildren of scientists who were given keys to a better future but were not allowed to use them until the time was right. And it is why you, Mama and Papa, and Uncle Rick had to endure the things you did in your lives. I’m so grateful to you all, and I’m so very sorry for all of your heartache.”
Again Ariel stopped. Her eyes misted with tears. After another long pause she said, “I’m not going to talk about what happens there in the ice caves, because shortly you’re going to live it, and I’m afraid if I tell you, you might try to change things, and believe me, you can’t do that. What I want to talk about is my life now. I’ll be brief because there isn’t much time. The important thing is, I’m okay. That’s what you need to know above all else. I’ve had a struggle, but things are getting better. I’m on a planet called Indigo. That’s the translation at least. Yes, everything here is blue, the sky, the water, the glaciers and ice caps. It’s so beautiful you can’t even imagine it. We have three suns. They call it a triple cluster, or a trinary system, although its largest sun, Cerulean, is in its final stages, which isn’t good, but we have several million more years before we have to worry about it going super nova.
“These people are amazing. So beautiful, so peaceful and kind. They have discovered how to live together in harmony. Many thousands of years ago when they first ventured into the cosmos in search of company, they discovered a transit system that they believe was built billions of years ago by some master race. No one knows what happened to this race, but it has become the stuff of legend on Indigo; it has become their religion. The transit system is a web of sorts that spans the galaxy, perhaps the entire universe. What you on Earth call the Blue Light is part of that web. That’s how the people of Indigo came to Earth, searching for answers, searching for company. They believe that to discover the builders of the transit system is to touch the face of God. The reason they believe this, is because they have discovered that the Blue Light web is more than just a transit system. It is a living entity, autonomous, vital, and empathetic, a master creation that could only have been conceived and constructed by an omnipotent force. It humbles me to even speak of it.
Obviously the people of Indigo did not find what they were looking for on Earth. They are such a humble and innocent species, like children. It is why I have named them—in my own naïve, yet human way—the Children of Indigo. They laugh gently at me when I call them that, but I believe they are flattered, and I swear, it is true.
“They are a peaceful race yes, but are quite capable of fighting if threatened. Their existence is now being threatened by warlike beings that have no interest in finding the master race. They only want to use the transit system to plunder and pillage. They leave death and destruction wherever they go. Even here on Indigo.
“Not to worry, though. The Children of Indigo are very smart, and after many years of war—which goes against their nature as a species—they have figured out, at least temporarily, how to close off the transit system in their neighborhood, which is to say, the area in and around the Cerulean star cluster. The plunderers, however, have other means of interstellar transportation, but it is much slower. So we are at peace, at least for now.”
Again Ariel paused. Her brilliant blue eyes seemed to burn through the monitor, giving both Doug and Annie time to wonder if in some way Ariel had been, or might still be, involved in Indigo’s interstellar conflict.
“And yes,” Ariel continued, “everything that happened in your lives—in our lives—was planned. I am your child, make no mistake; but I am also a child of Indigo. And I am in some inconceivable way, a child of the Blue Light. I carry DNA that was forged billions of years ago by the creators of the web. It is a hard concept to grasp, but it is true. The DNA of a billion years of evolution is somehow woven into the fabric of my being. I am a hybrid. The people of Indigo long ago took an interest in Earth. I am not the first hybrid. There have been many. Mama, you are also a hybrid. The Children of Indigo tried for thousands of years to engineer a pure human/Indigo hybrid, someone with the intelligence and compassion to bring the people of Earth together. Mostly they failed. Humans just weren’t ready. They may never be ready. Earth’s own Christian religion is based on one of those hybridization experiments. You know the story; when Christ tried to bring peace and compassion to his people he was crucified. Biblical transcripts of his resurrection are essentially true in that witnesses described his body leaving the tomb and flying heavenward in a shaft of blue light. The Children of Indigo took him home.
After that the Children of Indigo kept their distance for a very long time, just watching, and hoping that when humans discovered technology they would change. They did change, but not for the better. Technology only gave us the tools to be more cruel and destructive.
“I am probably the most successful experiment with a human/Indigo hybrid to date, thanks to you, Mama and Papa. What happens over the next half century or so on Earth will determine whether humans will finally be allowed into the club. There are other races that don’t fit, some much more powerful than humans. But there are many that do fit, and they are working with the Children of Indigo to bring peace and continuity to a troubled universe.
“In conclusion, the people of Earth are being monitored, and helped, in spite of themselves. It has been a chore keeping you from destroying yourselves. You, Mama and Papa, and Uncle Rick, and the rest of you there in that cave have all been chosen, just as I was chosen. Some of you will not survive the days ahead. Some will. The hope is that the ones who do will go on to build a better future for Earth. I was chosen to be where I am, and to do what I am doing, for reasons that are too complex to articulate at this time. I don’t even know all the answers yet, but I’m learning more every day. I do not know if I will ever be allowed to return to you. These are the facts, and we cannot become emotional over them.
“Now please, send Jason, Danielle and Eli to my room. I have the last piece of code from Danny Wolf’s song. It is such a brilliant and beautiful song, but so very sad and prophetic. In essence it is perfect. I hope someday he will sing it for all of Earth to hear. I hope the human race will finally understand and learn from it.
“Remember, send only Jason and Danielle and Eli. They are the ones who must accompany me into the Blue Light.”
Jason and Danielle looked at each other. Neither had forgotten their dreams of late: walking with a child in a place so beautiful it made their hearts ache.
Tears ran down Annie’s face. She threw her arms around Doug and sobbed. “It’s not fair,” she said.
“This is the way it has to be, Mama,” Ariel said, as if she could actually hear her mother’s words. “Please, never forget that I love you all more than I can say. Now go, and fight, and help save your future.”
A massive explosion detonated directly above them, sending out a shock wave that shook the earth like a quake. Those in the control room staggered and went down. Equipment fell from racks and crashed to the floor all around them. Jagged cracks crawled across the ceiling as dust and debris sifted down from above.
Doug grabbed hold of a shelf and pulled himself to his feet. He was coughing and choking as the room filled with dust. “Annie?” he cried.
“I’m here.”
Doug felt around until he found her. The dust was beginning to settle. He helped her to her feet.
“I think I’m deaf,” Jennings shouted.
Jason and Danielle were at the door. Doug could see them through a haze of dust. They were looking anxiously toward the back of the cavern. “You know what you have to do,” Doug said. “Find Johnny and get the third artifact. And let Eli know he’s going for a ride. Make sure he has the spear tip.” He now knew why it ha
d been named the Spear of Destiny. Some things make sense only if you are patient. Doug’s mouth worked as tears streamed down his cheeks. “Please take care of our baby girl.”
“We will,” Danielle said and hugged Doug. “We won’t let you down.”
Jason took Doug’s hand. “Good luck,” he said. “I’m proud to have known you.”
Annie headed for the door. “No way am I letting my baby go without saying goodbye.” Then she was gone, sprinting toward the back of the cavern, dodging fallen rock and debris. Doug went after her, tried to grab her but missed. “You heard her, Annie. Don’t go in there—”
Another massive explosion cut Doug off. The earth shook, debris fell and dust rose.
And Annie vanished in a calamity of chaos.
CHAPTER 35
Beneath the Ice Caves. Northern Maine Wilderness. July 6th.
The chamber was much more massive than Nadia had at first imagined. Her initial thought was that it seemed more like a canyon on some strange alien world than a cavern beneath a mountain in the northern Maine wilderness. The air did not seem stale here, as one would expect of a cavern deep beneath the earth; instead, it had a freshness to it, as though it bordered the edge of some great sea. The ceiling spread out for what seemed miles above her between two massive canyon walls that seemed to climb all the way to heaven where wispy clouds scudded hastily across a deep lapis lazuli sky. Nadia had never seen anything like this on Earth. But make no mistake, this was Earth. Wasn’t it? It had to be. But how could such a place exist on Earth? Why had this never been discovered and exploited?
High up on the canyon walls the color was a solid vermilion, which gradually bled down like a million spilled cans of paint until the runs of color faded, bleaching to pink and then to off white. Nadia guessed the rocks up there contained high concentrations of iron oxide and centuries of running water had washed the color gradually down. But where was the light—which had a mild blue tint to it—coming from? She shielded her eyes with her hand, looked up and squinted. It was as if somewhere up beyond that amazing sky a sun blazed. Could she truly be standing at the bottom of some great and undiscovered canyon? Had the earth somehow split open here, causing a rent in its crust that had never been discovered and exploited by the outside world? Knowing human nature as she did—its penchant to wander and explore—she doubted this scenario.
No, this was something far beyond what she’d expected to find here. She’d looked at the Brotherhood’s satellite photos of this place a thousand times, studied them, compared them to Google maps—which were about as accurate as maps got—studied the geological surveys and the radar scans. This place simply did not exist, at least not on any map of Earth she’d ever seen. What was going on here?
Nadia remembered quite clearly the conversation she’d eavesdropped on at Ariel’s bedroom door before making the ultimate decision to leave the known world behind her and venture down into the unknown.
Someone created an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, Ariel had said.
Who created the Einstein-Rosen Bridge? Doug had asked her.
Someone in the far distant future, Ariel had replied.
Why did this someone in the far distant future create this bridge?
Ariel had answered with: Because they’re trying to save the past. If they don’t save the past, the future can’t happen.
What past are you talking about, Ariel?
I mean this past. This very moment in time. This moment in history. Someone is trying to destroy it.
Then Ariel had said: The book contains a code. As soon as I’ve deciphered the code I’ll need all the objects the three of you brought and the one Eli has. I’ll also need Danny Wolf’s song. It’s the final piece of the puzzle and the only way to open the big portal. But we have to hurry. Time’s almost up.
Nadia stopped, and tried to get her breathing under control. She knew in her heart that the only place the big portal Ariel had described could exist was down here in this amazing wonderland. The big portal must be the Einstein-Rosen Bridge. Ariel was planning on coming here and leaving to go somewhere else. There could be no doubt. Nadia scanned her surroundings more carefully, looking for any sign of something that might be a portal. She saw nothing.
The cliff walls were so perfectly vertical, so perfectly smooth, they might have been cut with some cosmic diamond edged blade; the staircase so precisely crafted it could have been sculpted from the canyon wall with lasers.
She descended the staircase carefully, reaching a point where two large A-s had been scratched onto the stone surface of the wall. Nadia had no trouble seeing them from a distance and soon she had to reassess her initial impression that they’d been simply scratched on the wall’s surface. She could tell by their careful craftsmanship that they’d been carved there with precision and love. They stood out like hieroglyphs on the walls of some ancient Egyptian tomb. She knew in her heart who had put them there and what they meant: Annie and Ariel. Doug’s twin obsessions. Nadia pounded her fist against stone and wept before moving on, downward, the weapon she’d brought with her held out before her like a scepter, her damaged fist dripping blood, mixing with her tears and leaving a trail of stains on the perfectly hewn, perfectly clean stone steps at her feet.
At the bottom Nadia moved out across the flat marble-like floor, smooth as the surface of a frozen lake. Somehow she knew which direction to go, as though she’d walked this route a thousand times before. Perhaps she had. Maybe she’d come here in her dreams, perhaps during the nearly year-long coma she’d suffered during her resurrection and reconstruction following the collapse of the twin towers. No one in the Brotherhood had ever adequately explained to her how she could have survived such a terrible ordeal or how they had brought her back from it. She’d had dreams during those dark times. No one could convince her otherwise, although some had tried. Most of the dreams she could not remember clearly, some were crazy moving pictures at the fringes of her psyche, but there were others, a select few prizes that had stayed with her always. This reality reminded her of those dreams. Suddenly Nadia’s life came into focus like never before. It was not beyond the realm of possibility to believe that her resurrection and reawakening had been due to something other than the Brotherhood’s talented medical team. She’d learned things while in their employ that before she would never have thought possible. For instance, she knew that supernatural beings did exist. One such creature had plagued the Brotherhood throughout its entire history, the very same creature that allowed Annie’s father, Edouard De Roché to come to power and to live an immortal life. And this same creature had hastened both Annie’s and Ariel’s existence. If these things were possible then why not resurrection?
As she moved across the floor she allowed her mind to wander, back to Doug, to the Brotherhood of the Order, to her triumphs and failures. She’d had her share of both. Her biggest success by far was in bringing Doug back from the brink, saving him so that he might go on to protect and nurture the most important person in human history. Nadia’s most colossal failure, on the other hand, was that she had not succeeded in killing Annie’s father. When she’d fired the kill shot she had been positive of her target. She had clearly seen him through his study window; she’d seen the explosion of blood when the .30 caliber round had struck his chest, and she had seen De Roché keel forward in his chair. She was good. She was very good, trained by the best assassins in the business, her skills honed to a razor’s edge so that when the time came there would be no mistakes. Her only regret from that ill-fated night was that she had not had time for a second shot. Normally she would not need one, but with De Roché there was too much at stake to leave anything to chance. One in the body and one in the head. She understood the rules and she had intended to follow them to the letter. What she hadn’t counted on was the efficiency of De Roché’s security force. Following the initial shot, their response time had been lightning fast, and taking the time for a second shot would have been suicide. As it was, she had barely escaped with her l
ife, dropping down from the tree she’d been perched in and running for her life.
The entire operation had been planned very carefully. A female cadaver from a local funeral home had been obtained by the Brotherhood and placed on the seat beside Nadia, and when she’d exited the vehicle she’d dragged the cadaver into the driver’s seat. Her car had been rigged with incendiary explosives. These munitions work bycombining the effects of powerful explosives and highly flammable materials, designed to completely destroy everything they came in contact with.
Within minutes of shooting De Roché, Nadia had detonated the automobile. She knew that fine ash would be the only surviving part of the cadaver, not nearly enough to do DNA testing, probably not enough to even recognize as human remains. For four years Nadia had believed she’d succeeded in killing the monster that nearly destroyed her life, and that his remaining associates would believe her to be dead as well. Now that had all changed. The phone call she’d received topside had proven it. De Roché’s people had somehow tapped into her satellite feed, broken through the Brotherhood’s nearly impenetrable security codes. Hearing the old man’s voice after believing him dead for so many years had shaken Nadia’s faith in the sanctity of the organization she’d given her entire life to. De Roché told her he knew everything about her, her organization, her failed attempt on his life four years ago, as well as her whereabouts since that fateful night. He said he knew where she was at this very moment. The only way he could have known such things was if he had a mole high up in the echelons of the Brotherhood. Nadia thought of Seth Randal and wondered. The idea that he might be a traitor chilled Nadia to the foundations of her being. She’d worked with Randal for years. She knew him, trusted him with her life. But she also knew De Roché. She’d worked for him long before the Brotherhood had saved her. She’d been under his spell and had experienced his perversions first hand. He was a puppet master with a nearly supernatural knack for getting into people’s heads and making them do things they would never otherwise do. Had he somehow gotten inside Seth Randal’s head?
Song of Ariel: A Blue Light Thriller (Book 2) (Blue Light Series) Page 32
