THE GATE KEEPER

by JULES GABRIEL

  ‘Step on it and face your destiny.’ The Same voice I have heard prophesied.

  It sounds like my voice but at an adult peach.

  Up in between the ceiling and the wall I could see a small camera. At the four corners of the room in between the ceiling and the wall lays small devices which resembles of speakers.

  ‘Phil do not be afraid of it, instead embrace it.’ The voice from the speakers encouraged.

  ‘Who are you?’

  ‘The last time we met was five years ago. You came from the past and before we could finish our dialogue they attack you. Our last conversation was about the uncertainty of the future. Then you were gone.’ The robotic voice advocated his side of the facts.

  Memories of dreams rush in like madness through my head. Surreal image dash through and I was strike by dizziness. Heavy stomach of vomit rushes through my oesophagus. I forcefully suck in the sour taste as I tighten the valve of my throat. I stand still and breathe for a while. ‘Oxygen is the most important cure’, my mum use to say when I felt like throwing up.

  ‘Are you ok?’ the machine requested.

  I remain mute. I stand still, close my eyes and reopen them again. Ahead a striking black suit shimmers under the white light of the room across. Flashbacks of my dream mimic what was in front of me. It felt as if the dream was real. As if I had been here before. As if the place was mine and the displacement of everything. As if it was done by me.

  ‘I can locate a pattern of land sickness. Have no fear as it just normal after your memory had been force to absorb vital information while in a coma.’

  Unstable and wobbly I struggle to walk towards my target. I took in precious air. Focus on what was ahead I knew I had to reach it. I staggered along as I made headway. At times my wobbly body sent unrecognised objects on the table flying. Inevitable it became to prevent the table from hitting me at my side. Every step taken my leg felt heavy.

  ‘Attach to the suit there’s a tube and if you suck it you’ll manage to get water from it. In between the skin layers of your suit you’ve got water in store.’ The machine introduced me to a new and reliable technology.

  Finally I was there. Staring at the shimmering futuristic uniform which stood tall underneath the bright light I admires its power of authority, before I proceed on my final step. It was position in an authoritarian manner, as if superior and vital than all the kit that was in the room.

  I took one last breath before I made the last step towards the metal mannequin in the exquisite uniform. The room was like a walk-in wardrobe. The dizziness persists as I drag my feet towards the mannequin. I pause and rest before my last step.

  I was there....One last step....You can do it....

  I made one final move and I was there. I undress the mannequin. I slowly got in the suit. Unexpectedly it fit me.

  Awkward I was carried away by a low flapping noise. I remain still and trace the unusual sound. Up and moving fast was one of the man-made insect I saw at the train station. The robotic dragonfly which Philip had detailed its true purpose. The spying machine head straight and further inside. It comes to rest to the cylindrical container I had been resurrected from.

  I realise that I was no longer in pain. It was healed as promise by my clone self who spoke to me in a trance. The healing process was amazing.

  ‘You didn’t think it would be easy for you to hide from us?’ A female idled anxiously.

  ‘We’re close.’ The master’s assassin said from behind.

  He stands up in his black military suite armed with state of the art military gears. Eager to make his master proud he produced a joyous smile on his face. He pulls his night vision down from his forehead to his eyes. His surrounding became pale green.

  ‘I know, he’s all mine and I shall not fail.’ The assassin overconfidently concurred to his master.

  Red light came to life. He alerted his master of his readiness by a simple nod and smile for approval. His employer and master gestured back. The bulky, muscular and tall man walked towards the back. He pressed a button on the wall near an incline back door. A small orange light from the ceiling came to life. It shimmers and flickers as the air from outside sip through the opening of the back door which slowly moves downward.

  He made a final check before the flight. He made sure that the harness attached to his back pack was secured. There was no room for clumsiness. His life depends on the chute hidden in the back pack. He quickly tests his breathing mask which overhangs at his neck.

  The plane shakes and adjusts through a short burst of turbulence. The muscular man hold firm to his position by gripping firmly to a safety metal harness in the ceiling. With a gap wide enough and the door opening at a vertical angle he slid out.

  He dive at a forty five degree angles and head for the hard ground miles below. He put his hands tight at his side and allows gravity to play its part. At one side of his night vision he could monitor his speed and distance to the target.

  After all, the robotic dragonfly had led them to the hidden house buried underground. His velocity increases. At one and a half minutes he had covered three miles. Approximately half a mile to the target he releases the parachute. Safely and smoothly he lands a few metres near the target.

  Like a thief he stealthily gets rid of the parachute by detaching it from his back pack. He rolled on the rough surface and quickly lays flat on his belly. In the dark he waits and seeks for movements at the two entries.

  There was a tube which was attached to my suit. I suck it and drink the natural fluid with appetite. Slowly the thirst fades away. The vertiginous and hallucination slowly dispel. I try to focus where I had heard it. I must have been dreaming.

  ‘Sad, you can hear us but you can’t see us.’

  Am I losing it?

  Yet it was true. The same voice had dictated me of what I was experiencing. Doubts cross my mind about whether I was right in the head. Yet I could not see anyone but I could hear her. The similar voice of the beautiful martial artist I once fought.

  It felt as if she was with me in the room. Watching and waiting for me to mentally brake down. I could not make sense of everything.

  Then I could sense someone in the room. I could feel the hair on my neck erecting. Quickly I turn around but all I could see was the nude mannequin. Behind the statue was the wall with an escape route which leads skywards.

  Suddenly my legs collapse under my weight. I felt dizzy and the back of my neck was in agony. I try hard to stay focus. I blink and fight through the blackness which came and goes. It was now that I realised that someone or something had whacked me from behind.

  ‘Amazing isn’t it?’

  The same voice I had heard previously. Maybe I was not crazy as I have thought I was?

  ‘You can’t outrun us.’ There was a slight pause. ‘….possibly, thinking and seeking for your sanity? Aren’t you? Don’t worry you’re not insane. Maybe if you did stare harder you could have seen us.’

  Then I felt a hand tapping my shoulder.

  She had said it. I was right all along. I had felt their presence. How did they manage to camouflage themselves? Have I been given a new type of drugs that hide reality? Stare harder she had said.

  Seek for the truth before your eyes and you shall see.

  I could feel the pressure of what appears to be the palm of a hand on my left shoulder. The four fingers and the thumb resting comfortably as she says, ‘You don’t have a choice in this matter. Give us what we want or face greater unbearable circumstances. Believe me, we’re good at erasing your past and we both know it can be done if we go back to your creator. Let me think....,’

  Seek for the truth, I remind myself and something came to my head. I slowly lift my head and focus ahead. The harder I stare the more I could see it. Distort images of several figure-like human. Except that it seems that their body had manage to bend light. My eyes became watery that I had to blink.

  Then she carry on ‘...in your case it shall be your lovely mother.’


  My vision went blurry and then it came back. I could not see them. Yet I felt the absence of the normal and the presence of the abnormal. Immediately I knew I had to do something. My right hand instinctively went for what I believe to be an invisible hand which I could only sense its presence. I seize it. I twist it brutally. Then I quickly drive it towards me in a circular motion while still kneeling. I felt an invisible being flying by. Moving into the circular motion I had sent it to, I release the pressure and let it go.

  I sense the fall. The sound of a falling body onto the concrete ground follows by the cry of agony and broken bones. I stare at the floor and something flickers from an unexplainable surrounding colour into a black suit. Then it camouflaged with its background and disappears again. As if it wasn’t there.

  I close my eyes. Take a deep breathed while my head try to get round the unbelievable. I open my eyes. Move closer to the fall. Without hesitating I put my left foot onto what I believe was an invisible being. My boots slightly sink into the fleshy parts.

  A sudden pressure of agony explodes at the back of the fleshy part of my right thigh. It naturally forces my body into a kneeling position that my right foot lost its grip. Another unexpected sudden blows comes in contact with my left foot

  I wanted to dive on the floor for mercy. But I could not. Absorbing it in like a fully grown man I went down like a sack of potato. I scan for my attacker. I was on my own. I wonder if I was being deceived by my own eyes. Perhaps I was drugged which I was certain I wasn’t. Forcefully my left foot had given up on me, I strained myself.

  On the floor I instinctively turn on my back. Deep inside I felt an extreme desire to identify my attacker. Though the oddity of the strange circumstances where beyond my understanding I had to at least try.

  Something in the shape of a foot presses me to the floor. I focus at the pressure on my chest. Amazing, finally I could see it. Somehow the being had bend light. I trace the strange camouflage upward and notice that it was a man. It moves to what appears to be a camouflage arm.

  As part of the skin become visible I realised what it was doing. Exposing its identity I recognise a black suite. It removes its ninjustu’s mask and reveals himself.

  ‘Surprise, surprise, thought you could get away that easy,’ Mcneil frowningly expressed.

  Behind him the two figures I had not noticed did the same. The beautiful martial artist and the other gate keeper who came for me. I kick Mcneil in the balls. His eyes went skyward through his skull. His mouth open wide. In agony he mumbles out senseless words as he had grabbed his balls and private parts. He went down on both of his knees as if dying for a prayer.

  His two colleagues, Reynold and the lady I admire made a move but I was too fast. I was up and running for the stairs. The mannequin’s belly slide out. On the slide there was a gun. The AI of the building had made my day. I grab it. Click the side button to increase its fire power to its extreme. I point it towards them.

  In panic the two came to a halt. They try to spread. Too late, I thought. I was aiming, had a lock on the target and ready for action. Reluctantly I press the trigger for the sake of self-defence. The lady dive for the floor and Mcneil try to flank me.

  Light flickers and all three fly backward. Everything went flying around. The two who were hiding for cover on the floor were lifted and thrown backwards. The enormous pressure of anti-matter being release from the gun sent me backward near the flights of ladders.

  I get up and head for it.

  The katana lady opens her eyes and search for her inner strength to get on her legs. Unconsciousness had pinned her down for a while. How long had I’ve been in this disgraceful position? One side of her face had been embracing the floor. With both palm of her hands on the floor as if preparing for press up, she tries to lift her body a few inches off the floor. She glances around searching for any sign of life.

  All the strong mortal men she brought didn’t even show a sign of life. They had been stripped of their weapon. She had failed them. The mission was yet to come to an end. She had to finish the mission. For her the mission was a priority. Better to fail die trying than retreating, her master’s indoctrinating ideology flash to her mind.

  She shook her head and stand up. Ahead in the room where the mannequin was she realised that the man-made model was nude. The uniform was gone. She scans the room for it and it was nowhere to be found. She closes her eyes and search for her inner strength.

  In her mind the katana lady focuses on what her memory had gathered. She was after an exit point. There you are. Her mind had spotted one behind the mannequin. Bolted to the wall was a ladder. It head upwards. She thought of the possibility of tracking her nemesis.

  She personally allowed her subconscious to believe that the boy must have used this secondary escape route. The primary one they have use would have been too far down the room. It would have compromise his position. Beside the last time he fired at us he was near the mannequin and the ladder. She conceived thoughtfully.

  Inexperience and young as him, she ponder, I would have made an exit. She envisions herself as the one he had called boy. Yes, he would have easily made mistakes. He would have panic thus prone for mistakes. The exit, it must be, it’s the only way and wise idea that make sense for headway.

  She got up on her fours. Make a run for the ladder behind the nude mannequin. The katana lady run pass the statue and jump on the ladder. With immense speed she climbs and ascends for what she thought might be the escape route.

  The air becomes fresher the higher she moves. Halfway through it felt cold. It felt like the warm air from inside disperse from the one drawn in from above. She embraces the cold fresh air and realise that she was closer to the surface. She searches for pattern of evidence and recognise that the hatch was open. Finally she breaks free.

  She remains still at the edge of the ladder. Stealthily she scan for disturb ground, watching for sign of movements and listening. Outside was pitched black. She got out of the hole, allowing the light from below to show her the way. Behind she could hear the sound of footsteps on the pebbles.

  She steps out of the light. The katana lady went the opposite direction of the hole and scan around. Her eyes spots movement but it disappears instantly. She runs through thick darkness. Towards where she had seen the moving figure vanished. She follows her sense of hearing as footsteps crack the pebbles.

  19

  I had crawled out from the underground ladder and gulp in fresh air as I had stared at the clear night sky. Admiring the shining stars from above before I came to a halt. Though the danger was still not far behind and below, I had sensed a new threat. My eyes had failed me through the impenetrable pitch black but I swore that my ears had picked something afar.

  It must have blend in. Among the noise of my footsteps through the desert pebbles and the rhythmic of the gusting wind, I instinctually come to a halt. Let it be silence, I thought. Stealthily I dive to the ground. I remain still while I stayed all ears of my murky surrounding.

  Nothing yet, it all went dead silence as I begin to doubt my hearing. I wonder if perhaps I was over reacting. The gust had come and gone. Silence rule for a while. The arid land felt dead. No nocturnal creatures embracing the night. Then I hear the same sound I had heard and could not distinguished among the distorted gusting sound of the wind.

  The cold gust kicks in again and swallows the faint unknown sound. I notice that the temperature had dropped. I began to feel cold. Somehow the kick in adrenaline have prevail my mind from my cold surrounding. As if sensing the harsh condition of the low temperature my special suit starts to warm up. It felt like it was trapping my body heat and recycling it within the suit.

  Silence dominates the uninhabitable land for one more time. This time I could hear it. A faint distinctive sound far over the dark horizon could be heard. The strange sound of blade rotates without any fierce roaring of an engine. I remain still to confirm my suspicion. The wind kicks in and there was a mixture of a third distinctive sound.
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  No, it can’t be! Impossible, I thought. A chill of fear paralyse the whole of my body. Pebble nearby crackles from my left flank. The unbearable weight of someone or something was moving on it. It seems to be moving fast as well.

  Something cold presses against my left chick.

  ‘Move and I shall turn you into ashes.’ Someone whispered to me.

  I try my best to calm myself and not to do anything stupid to jeopardise my life. Death had knock on my door once again into another form of challenge. I clear my mind from the fear of dying. I had to think of something good. Someone I care for.

  I saw her face before he kiss her. The day she betray our new found love to Michael. The face I had fall in love with. The love which I fear I could never cherish just like the one I could never had before. Never give in my mum had told me. You fail first you train and come back stronger with a better attitude to win her over. I wanted to see her face again. Above all I wanted to live.

  In my mind I try to focus on the possibilities of disarming my nemesis. Each move I visualise I could see myself being check mate. Nobody is faster than a speeding bullet.

  ‘Fascinating isn’t it?’ The assailant said.

  There was a pause. The gust come and goes. The sound of the rotating blade got closer.

  ‘Here he is. The powerful entrepreneur and inventor, in person also believe to be our saviour against the oil polluting machines. A ghost to his enemies, mystify being among the environmentalists and a god to the technological revolutionists.’

  With my head facing the ground I asked, ‘then, which one are you?’

  The assailant stealthily walks backward and in front of me, still pointing the weapon at me. I slowly raised my head towards my assailant. The man pointing the gun at me had painted his face with green, black and brown military charcoal. On his forehead laid a military style night vision binocular.