THE GATE KEEPER

by JULES GABRIEL

  He went for the back of the airmobile and was back with a pair of old running shoe. He noticed how I couldn’t stand properly. He quickly examined each side of my feet. Then he cleared it of any visible protruding and foreign particles. ‘You’re lucky that I keep my old running shoe in the back.’ He said as he feed my leg through it.

  In agony and exhaustion I remained mute.

  He hands over the mask and says, ‘wear it you’ll need to hide your identity for now.’

  My saviour helps me to wear it.

  He also hand me his black coat, ‘wear this one as well.’

  My saviour grabs me by the arm pit which rest on his shoulder and help me to move on, while I limp. I noticed that our vehicle had gone through a close mall and came to a halt at a concrete wall. We went across pieces of broken glass and debris of busted concrete wall and construction metal. We move through a fire exit door.

  The katana lady had searched for the suspects in every angle which were visible to where she was. She had focused her search on every dark corner of the streets near the accident. She had used the air-bike’s main beam of light to hunt beyond the pitch black.

  She assessed every angle of the damage done. Their survival probabilities as it stand. Careful attention was taken into consideration as she urgently investigates deeply. The violent impact of collision had made her felt confident and at ease to rule out death.

  On the other hand she felt compel to find proof of facts. She had no intention to jeopardise her job. Put her reliability for the task into the light of the hierarchy. She wasn’t prepared to allow their escapade to turn her into a mockery. Factual assurance was her insurance that she felt could only satisfy and justify her inner ego.

  In the end her instinct had predicted that they must be trapped. Maybe crushed inside the vehicle by the rubbles of the crumbly building. If they were wounded and on the move they may naturally be draggy.

  Pain is a natural killer of the survival instinct.

  They couldn’t have survived it…nobody can…Impossible, she persuaded herself.

  Before she attempts to make her move sceptical memories of booby trap brought in hesitation. She put her hands on the water proof screen in front of her on the air-bike. It comes to life as yellow circle appears under each finger.

  ‘Welcome Agent Taylor. What can I do for you?’ the computer aboard asked.

  ‘Access to all the indoor and outdoor footage of the accident into the building ahead,’ agent Taylor inquired.

  ‘May I ask? What is your clearance?’ the computer aboard demanded.

  ‘Priority for mission genesis… important suspects I need to trace…Start from the moment their vehicle crash into the building.’

  ‘A moment, I shall send your details to the headquarters and they shall authorise permission of the data captured on the cameras to be release,’ the computer responded.

  The screen went blank and the speaker turns mute. Agent Taylor inspects the unlawful entry. Part of the wall was smash to the ground. Massive window which once served as a way to influence passer’s by to enter the retail shop was shattered. Danger of irregular sharp pieces of glass and other debris remain a threat for her soft Japanese shoes. She stays intact on her air-bike.

  Then the screen comes back to life.

  ‘Authenticity passed. Authorisation accepted.’ The computer assured agent Taylor of her request. Then it carry on, ‘Warning, danger of broken pieces of glass, metal and other sharp objects scattered at a radius of fifty metres. The place is also a hazard to electricity. Extreme Caution is needed when approaching the building as it may collapse or explode.’

  An eagle landing on a star appears on the screen as it rotates. Underneath it the word GATE KEEPER appears. Agent Taylor touches the screen and manipulates the image to her advantage. She watches the crash through the building. She takes a different approach and angle from different cameras. In each camera file she would watch it, slows it down and play it again.

  At a touch of the file relating to the camera outside the retail shop, she could see the accident over and over. The airmobile would spin wildly and hit an oncoming car. She carefully watch as an oncoming vehicle fly off the road and into the camera. The file went blank.

  She turns at the angle where she thought the camera must have been located. On a metal poll behind her there was evidence of the accident. A quarter of the poll bends with the effect of the blow. She notices that the poll was force rearward. She looks up across to where the bending poll was facing. She traces the evidence to a new whole in the building’s window at its third floor.

  She manipulates another camera’s file which deals with her suspects. She watches it cautiously but most went blank after the crash. She grins as she impatiently tap into a different file hoping that she would be successful in finding an answer. Somehow she found one that still plays. She forwards it until there was movement from the crash site.

  Not one but two of them. She brings the moving pictures closer. She monitors their every transaction with precision. After absorbing their every move she rides the air-bike in a small alley in between two buildings.

  At the main road where the accident occurred, droid barricade and control the air access route. On its side the word POLICE was engraved. Attached on each edges of its oval shape were blades which rotate to the direction it moves. Above and below it, were two small cameras which produced live footage at angles coverage of three hundred and sixty degrees.

  We were outside and my saviour says, ‘We’re safe for now. We’re in the back road. Across is the underground.’

  Siren of police airmobile hovers over us as they patrol the dark sky. We stand still and move across as they clutter away. My saviour leads me into a group of people who were literally across, minding their own business, moving up and down. In between the busy crowd straight ahead lays an escalator which leads us into the underground.

  Along the queue of the normal citizens we managed to camouflage ourselves with the moving crowd. We courteously descend deep as if best friends with me leaning for support. Overhead I assumed that the camera in the ceiling within the tinted semi-circle was taking shots of us. Big brother was watching and I could see them in every corner of the ceiling.

  Vulnerable targets we had become though we were in a crowded urban area. The camera could easily pick me leaning on him at every floundering step I made. Suspicious target can easily be seen through a crowd, I thought.

  We walk on a futuristic platform which had a train waiting for passengers. It was quite big. Nearby there were other platforms and other trains. Cluttering passengers moving in and out of the train made the underground look crowded.

  ‘Just on time for our train but we must make it inside or else we’re doom,’ he warned me.

  Behind I heard a low motoring sound. It gets louder as we head for the train. I wanted to see what it was. I quickly glance at it.

  ‘Do not think of it?’ My saviour said nervously as he holds and squeezes me tight at his side.

  ‘Of what?’ I asked innocently.

  ‘What’s behind us…? If you turn it shall take pictures of your face, analyse and send more of them after us.’

  Memories of what I had seen at a glance came at a flash. Amazing machine tinted by black and dark military green. Underneath its smooth oval shape I had seen an open sort of portal. It had released some sort of insects which I believe to be dragonfly. The head and rear of the machine seems to harvest rotating blades. Its length was approximately half my height. Then the sound of the monitoring droid perishes as it head farther away from us.

  ‘What are they?’ Like a child I foolishly enquired.

  ‘Droid which fight and collect data for the police but the gate keepers can intercept it. If we’re found we’re dead within twelve hours.’

  We walk in and he carefully put me in a passenger’s sit. I laid my head to rest with the window and close my eyes.

  Out of the alley way the katana lady reach behind the retail shop.
She quickly manipulates the screen and reaches out of the file from a passing droid. The timing under the moving pictures displays that the machine had been in the same spot a few minutes ago. She fast forward and the camera on the droid had gone underground.

  On the platform there were two men familiar to the two she was after. Agent Taylor rewinds and replays the parts. One of them had turn to glance at the camera. She rewinds that part and freezes it in time. She smirks as she patiently studies the lines and shadows on his face. Their dress matches with the first two she had seen on the footage trying to disguise themselves in the retail shop.

  Ahead she could see the fire exit which she believes they had used to escape. Immediately she rides towards it and stop. Across it she could see the underground route they both took. She tardily rides with the flow of the crowds.

  At the escalator her bike automatically sounds the police siren once. The red and blue emergency lights flickers and remain on. Her air-bike comes to a halt. The crowd promptly step aside. She scanned her surroundings before she heads for it. With her katana in one hand, she jump off, slides in the middle of the two escalators which work in the opposite direction. Quickly she reaches the platform on one knee with one hand resting on the floor for support. The other arm stretched out straight, firmly holding and securing the katana.

  Cluttering within the underground air space were the droids. The silent predators stealthily flew around in search of vulnerable preys. Faces of the criminals of the States were encrypted within their software. As it moves over the crowd of passengers its motion sensor send and picked up high definition photos.

  Inside the Artificial Intelligent match and reject the photos. It examined each faces and postures of hidden faces. Suspicious suspects become priorities. Data which does not match with its encryption are simply recognised as the law abiding citizen.

  Underneath the droid near its camera, a portal had been opened and releasing swarm of robotic insects. Half a finger size with large wings they spread away. Apart and behaving solely, the robotic dragonfly dispersed within the crowd. Too small to be spotted, each gathers their intelligent under extreme cautious and diving speed.

  Their target has been registered as Phil Smith. On one side of their screen was the photo of the teenager taken while he descended inside for the platform. Each dragonfly navigates furiously within the crowd as it tried to match the animated faces against the still photo shot.

  I wish the nightmare would go away. I wanted to go home. I was missing my mom. The thought of Samantha was also unbearable in this unfortunate event. Feelings I never thought I had for her struck me though I had not known her that long.

  I feel movement along with a hissing sound. I open my eyes only to found the door shutting. The underground train slowly starts to move. Its speed quickly increases.

  My saviour stares at me and says, ‘Now I can start answering some of your queries you might have. First of all I’m Philip Shackleton. Please you may call me Philip.’

  Outside the katana lady watches the train as it departs. She could not see us but her instinct had brought her to the right place. She limps forward and vigilantly gazes through the train’s window.

  ‘Outside, the odd skinny model with long hair in the samurai suit, who is she?’ I asked Philip.

  Philip takes a peek behind him through the window and his face demonstrates how he was afraid of this genuine character. He slides himself in the opposite chair as if concealing for his life.

  He scarily looks at me and mumbles under his breath, ‘gate keeper.’

  The closest train to the main mother droid had started to move. One of the robotic insect had managed to fly and slip through the door in time. Second before the two opposite door kissed and lock. It had scanned exactly eighteen faces within two minutes within two coaches when it finally had a match.

  The train was on the move. The mechanise dragonfly took photo shots of the criminal and his accomplice. Its artificial intelligence analyse them and send it to the mother droid half a kilometre further away, at the platform. In the tunnel the train had picked up speed like a bullet in a barrel.

  Inside, overhead the two criminals the dragonfly glued itself to the ceiling. Through a transition of sleeping mode it saves its energy. The art of concealment and surveillance were at work.

  ‘Who are the gate keepers?’

  ‘They are the agents that dealt with any high security threat at a national level.’ Philip said worriedly.

  Puzzle I asks, ‘why am I a security threat to the country? I haven’t done anything wrong?’

  He looks at me deep in the eyes and says, ‘not yet, but in the future your action shall cost you the loss of friends while powerful men shall rally against you.’

  I was still confuse and hungry for the truth. I had to seek for more; ‘please what shall be my crime?’

  ‘Disobedience to the corporation….’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You’ve heard me….. Haven’t you sense it yet?’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘You’re different than the rest of the boys at the college. Successful at everything you touch. For the moment you’re a simple boy but you shall be the one to start it and lead us through it.’

  ‘Lead us through what?’

  ‘The global energy revolution…..’

  ‘Who are us?’

  ‘The people or shall I say the normal citizen who are not part of the corporation. You see a few decades from your time you shall be the one to stand against them. Corporation shall merge and control everything in our life. It all started in your time after a few oil drilling corporation merged and operate underground by buying their way into anything which didn’t go their way. Sadly, every regime and economic system such as the capitalist, communist and mix, rotted to the core. The corporation simply splash their money at the political leaders by sponsoring their campaign in return for obedience. Where they fail they would simply bribe them or simply put their main source of energy under siege.’

  The train comes out of the tunnel and rise over ground. The night sky was filled by the beauty of floating traffic with fancy mobile lights.

  I catch a glimpse of him, admire the night sky while I think about his story and ask, ‘How do I fit into the chaos of what you called the energy revolution?’

  ‘Do you see everything that surrounds us? You’re the key to make it all happen.’

  I stare at him trying to comprehend this madness and I ask, ‘how could it be?’

  ‘After a project that you work on for the government you took notice of a shadowy corporate force. You saw how the corporation aggressively oppressed developments and financial contribution to the newly good invented ideas. They bought off their competitor by buying their copyright in the name of technological advancement. This of course never really happened. Wonderful technological ideas with the power to change our ways of lives but so sad that the key for development got thrown down the drain.’

  ‘What kind of energy we’re talking about?’ I asked.

  ‘The train we’re on, do you know with what it works with?’

  ‘I assume it is electricity or fuel,’ I blurted out.

  ‘No, but it’s some sort of magnetism energy only used by the Japanese in your time. It’s a clean source of energy and it’s faster when it comes to intercontinental travelling. You help push this technology ahead so that it could get a green light. In the sky you may have seen those antigravity vehicles. I’m talking about those without the gravitational engine burning out. Well they actually works in a combination of electricity and magnetism. The third controversial source of energy you help developed was the cold fusion. This one could have brought an end to oil drilling.’

  ‘Cold fusion, isn’t it a myth discovered by Tesla and ridicule by the science community when two scientists proved it in the 1989?’ I asked.

  ‘The science community are at times a laughing stock. We’re nearly loses some greatest discoveries in the past, such as penicillin in
medicine and aeroplane in technologies. They try to ridicule it each time a discovery disapproves with their existing scientific laws. Usually if it doesn’t correspond with their academic knowledge they usually discredit the inventor.’

  I was amaze with Philip. The amount of information which my enemy had been scared to unleash he was making me aware of it. I took it in and enjoy the knowledge he was offering. Doubts clouded my mind as I thought of the impossibilities being possible.

  ‘Interesting but how does the cold fusion work in those machines?’

  He looks puzzle then smile and says, ‘fantastic question and the answer are simple. If the inventor who have no degree could understand this concept so could you. An American mechanic somewhere in 1994 created the water fuel injection system. This technology delivers water, ionised gases and non-combustible gases in the cylinder of an engine. Mix under pressure, the water which is made of hydrogen and oxygen produce some sort of energy. This same principle you somehow brought it to perfection in a hidden lab and workshop.’

  Soon the train was outside the city. Afar from civilisation and away from the sky scrapers we move through the lonely and dark arid land. Suddenly it slows down as if approaching a train station. I couldn’t believe what I was ascertained. Out in the middle of nowhere a town filled with moving lights grows bigger at the horizon.

  ‘We’re home at last. I shall heal you and we shall rest until tomorrow.’

  Suddenly the train come to a complete halt. Philip helps me to stand up. He rests my arms over his shoulder. Then he adjusts his walk with my limping and we walk out of the train. We went through a small crowd of passengers who immediately got on the train. Behind us I could hear the swishing sound of the closing door and the low magnetic mechanical sound of the moving train.