by Chucho Jones
The long, cracked wooden walls framed the thick humid interior where the team gathered around a dim light. Oliver’s heart was pounding strong, the beat echoed and resounded in his ears. For a second, he forgot the future he was living in and got taken back to his experiments with Dr. Dickens. The mix of technology and country made him feel right at home. He looked around and he didn’t feel alone – his family and crew seemed to share his enthusiasm.
“What the heck is this, more alien crap?” asked Leon at the site of the grand mercuranium platform. There was ringed frame that stood magnificently in the center of the structure’s construction. It was similar to the one they witnessed at the Gorgazon-X. Victoria held Chuggy tightly as the primitive creature whimpered at the site of the piece. Connor glided in front of them, and got into the middle of the platform. She gestured for them to get close.
Oliver took a detailed look at the structure as he walked the thin sleek mercuranium steps. The platform felt soft, almost liquid. Leon, Victoria, Laura, and Chuggy stood close to Oliver. Connor touched Oliver’s hand and began to connect herself to Oliver’s robot arm. Oliver felt accelerated. The low-lit room turned into a white blur. He looked at his arm, this time it was glowing white. A resounding voice echoed in his head.
You have a troubled mind, master Hawke. You’re keeping knowledge buried inside. You will have to let it out eventually. Let me help you. The thought crossed his mind in Connor’s tone of voice. Oliver raised his hand and activated the device. The ringed structure began to spin like an atom and energy came out of the palm of his hand as it surrounded the entire crew. Greg stood away from the device making sure their teledeportation rendered successful.
“We shall meet at the lighthouse master Hawke,” said the gentle robot. Light specs began to form in front of the crew, Oliver’s heart pounded as he felt an energy jolt run through his body, a fast ripping sensation produced a white-out in the environment.
Light aspects form again an imprinted image. A metallic structure, with tall rounded windows unfolded in front of Oliver. The boy looks around and again he feels the sudden rush of being in space. If only a few thousand feet above Earth the feeling is exhilarating. He looks at Victoria and smiles. He realizes the girls face shows unease, and he grabs her by the hand.
“Don’t worry milady, I will keep you safe,” says the boy in an attempt to court the young teen.
“Milady? You’re so funny,” says Victoria, in a soft chuckle ditching the compliment as she waved her hand away, making nothing of it. Oliver felt exposed and a rush of blood felt strong on his face. Leon stood behind the boy.
“That’s the spirit lover boy,” he whispered as he went passed the new struggling teen. Chuggy went rampant and began to jump around the structure, recognizing the infinity of space. Victoria flailed her arms in a call to attention. Laura walked towards the center of the room where a cocoon descended from the ceiling. The team gathered around. Inside the oval shaped container, they saw a biomechanical mesh. It looked like a sleek stylized synthetic version of a brain and a spine attached to a set of synthetic lungs and a heart. The brain began to change in luminous tones as Connor’s voice resounded throughout the entire complex.
“Welcome to the lighthouse. This is my true home,” said the voice.
Energy gathered around the synthetic parts and formed a beautiful female figure. Connor manifested in front of them. Leon seemed impatient at the site of the glowing beauty.
“I’m glad to finally meet you in person. I’m Connor. Omnimaiden, and Neo-maiden are my vessels. I live here in the light house to watch over F.A.M.I.L.Y.’s missions. It has been a while since anyone has been up here,” said the luminous beauty. From a floating deck she grabbed three straps with a squared interface in the middle, she extended her left hand out and started attracting the objects toward her. She then telekinetically drove them toward Leon, Laura, and Victoria respectively as they comfortably molded to their left wrists.
“This is called a ‘phase’ it’s an artificial intelligence platform that resembles collective consciousness. We deducted this is the edge you will need to fight the alien hive-mind and to keep track of your journeys,” said the maiden to the crew. Leon was still speechless at the beauty before him. Oliver was fascinated at the experience of being able to transcend time and marvel at Dicken’s discoveries in a distant future.
“Face, like a watch? is this a watch?” Asked Victoria aloof as ever.
“I’m glad you asked Commander Banks, this is much more than a watch. this is your lifeline. It has an intranet that holds the historical information required for your journeys,” said the luminescent beauty. Leon mouthed the word commander in silence as he grinned.
“Wait a minute I have a question. You said I’m a captain?” Leon asked.
“Yes,” responded the maiden.
“Then why is she a commander? I mean so far, we have: Master General Commander, and I’m the captain? Lady, I’m at the bottom of the food chain,” Leon argued.
The maiden approached Leon and placed her hand on his chest.
“We all have a role on this intricate act through time and space. In all due time we will all have a chance for greatness, but first you all must endure a quick training if we are to succeed,” said Connor, with a soothing and endearing gracefulness. Laura seemed to be on board with supporting her son.
“Come on, let’s cut the bullshit and get on with it,” said Laura, as she grew impatient.
“Damn it, ok! We’re in all the way. What’s next lady?” Leon asked Connor with some attitude. The maiden disregarded his natural human behavior and answered:
“You shall endure training. Meet Chance Reaper, code name the Mime.”
Just then, the pale stranger walked into the room with a confidence that represented their extraordinary importance to the group; but, it was Laura who shouted, announcing:
“I’m not going anywhere with this fucker!”
The maiden sizzled as light clouds and dust particles began to extricate outward from her body. Suddenly, the room shifted into a spherical grand hall. Everyone was standing around; unknowingly with no clue what was happening before them. Once again, confusion was present. Oliver began to question what lay ahead. Leon propped his palms on his knees and vomited. Oliver noticed that despite his uncle’s enhanced condition, he still had trouble with sudden jolting movements – a small cackle came out of the boy.
Oliver began to feel the humidity creeping up along the back of his neck. The room went dark and a full moonlight surrounded the artificial forest and foliage that unfolded before them. Chance and Connor got lost in the darkness.
“We better keep our eyes open,” said Victoria ever so slightly. The synthetic autumn breeze felt cold on Oliver’s cheeks. Cooing and howling sat the tone of the environment. mist surrounded the area. The team got close together back to back as they looked for a hiding spot in unison. Oliver wanted to charge his palm blast but his arm had no power to accomplish this.
“Fucking perfect! They’re giving us the rookie treatment.” Sending us to the gauntlet empty-handed. Let’s show these assholes what we’re made of,” said Laura, taking command. She scratched her nose and got on one knee as if wanting to create a game plan; Oliver got on his knee as well. He looked at his mother and took a deep breath.
“Mom, I’m sure we can take it slow. They’re trying to help us, remember?” Laura seemed to forget her neurosis for a moment. It became so hard for Chuggy to stay calm that she began running uncontrollably, looking for an exit as she got lost on the synthetic, yet real textured forest off in the distance. A screech of the creature was heard in the distant darkness before it stopped abruptly.
“Chuggy!” yelled Victoria.
“Your journey will be deceiving, you will have to remain focused to pull through,” said the ominous voice of the maiden, as it resounded throughout the field.
“It’s ok honey, we’re already here aren’t we?” said Laura. She was signaling her team to take cover
on top of a tree. Oliver noticed the combat-ready expression on her face. He sensed a sudden concern about his mother’s increasing anger, he knew there was no time to ponder it now. The environment suddenly changed into a cavernous ancient ruin with dim warm lighting. The team hit the ground hard, the tree dematerialized before them, and vanished into the ground, wailing echoes in high pitched tones where heard from around a dark corner, tens of pairs of glowing eyes manifested in the creeping darkness.
Laura took a step back to get into a comfortable fighting stance. Leon saw her reaction and got combat ready as well. Then, Oliver too saw the stout posture of the young scoundrel and remembered how good a brawler his uncle was – even if he couldn’t shoot straight to save his life. The eyes got menacingly closer as the wailing sounds resounded harder on the ancient hall. Before Oliver and Victoria had a real chance to react, the environment changed into a boring beige hallway of a rustic industrial facility that reminded Oliver of the dirtier and smaller Alphaville, and the way it smelled of sulfur and chloroform. The team seemed distraught given the hasty changes within the environments. Suddenly, they ended up at the Gorgazon-X. Kha Tse stood in front of them and they all started to launch themselves at her.
Laura began to rip part of the alien hag’s armor off with her bare hands. Victoria pounded as hard as she could on the alien’s back. Meanwhile Leon sucker punched her right on her flower-like jaw. Oliver realized that he wasn’t supposed to do anything. His logic dictated this was an emotional test as he understood that the journey ahead would most likely be filled with unexpected surprises. The simulation ended. The rest of the team held on to the alien dummy that quickly appeared they were extremely confused.
“Just as expected, you’re not ready to take on the hazards of continuous cosmic disruption. This is only a simulation, we need you all to synchronize and work together,” said the maiden with an affirmative tone.
“If you are to help us you need to learn how to sync with each other. Visceral reactions can jeopardize your journey. We cannot afford this,” Connor said to the team.
The boy remembered how Chuggy had lost Nanook in a matter of seconds and understood what the maiden was referring to. He didn’t speak a word, his mind calculated the possibilities that might lie ahead but said nothing to the group.
“I’m sorry, but maybe we can do it again?” He asked as kindly as possible of the maiden. He walked over to Victoria and the rest of the team, and held her from the side of her arm.
“Hey, come on. We can all go home if we do this,” he said, with a sense of nostalgia. As if home was an idea he could think about… his mother tried to see into his eyes but the natural glare of his spectacles only showed his determination to accomplish what it takes to get home.
“He’s right,” his mother said, “we need to stay focused. I know we’re all going crazy here, but Oli’ is right,” she said. Leon and Victoria just nodded and shrugged their shoulders accepting the matter. Oliver felt a heaviness in his stomach when thinking about their moment of agreeableness, it was a hint of jealousy that stung with a painful impression.
“We need to trust them,” he said, with a subtle hint of teenage frustration.
“Don’t worry master Hawke, this was just to show you the reality of your status. So far you have been lucky at best. You need to be prepared,” said the maiden as she floated away from the group.
“Being abducted by aliens, having my father killed, and getting lost in time is your idea of a lucky streak?” Victoria talked back in a hasty ramble.
“You’re alive child, and that’s also something to be thankful for. Now please commander, I advise you all to focus. We will begin with less subterfuge,” said the maiden as she vanished from the platform. Greg handed Laura a rifle, two laser guns to Victoria, shocking phatasfa, and lucky bat to Leon, placing the geo-thermal battery onto Oliver’s arm slot. He felt a rush go through his veins. The knowledge ran faster through his brain, and suddenly things felt much lighter. He felt powerful, energized. Leon looked at everyone’s weapons then back at his with an unpleasant grin on his face.
“Everyone gets future weapons and I get two sticks to fight with?” asked Leon, with frustration. The team sort of laughed at the matter; when suddenly the plain mercuranium environment changed into the broken future of sector six. Leon felt a sense of familiarity that made his knees weak.
“Real odds state that you will never be in your optimal condition for battle, so we gave you the best weapons for your fighting skillset,” the maiden’s voice resounded through the environment. Greg, stood menacingly in front of them as if taunting them to fight. Laura made a grin at the mechanical figure as it hovered in place.
“Ok, let’s do this again like we’ve survived through this shall we?” the mother said, as she cocked her weapon. She took a knee and began shooting at the robot. Greg opened an energy shield that came out of his chest. The thing created a holographic armor that protected him in the vulnerable areas like joints and glass casing. The fingers of his left mechanical hand retracted to create a cannon out of his arm. He shot back at the crew. Oliver quickly reacted and created a red energy field that protected him and his mother from the blast. Leon saw the chance to do something, he hurried through the side, but laser blasts shot at him from an unidentified direction. Victoria, quick to the eye began to shoot at the origin of the lasers in order to cover him.
“Go, I’ll cover you!” said the plucky teen as she fired left and right. Leon leaped through the rubble and broken technology that lay around the sides of the area, Laura kept Greg distracted. He got close and jumped next to the machine and activated his phatasfa. He shocked Greg from behind his knee, weakening it’s joint. The machine fell on its knee to the ground and tried to knock Leon out of the way but the scoundrel was quick enough to dodge the blow. The young man realized the potential of his body. Leon took a shot at the machine’s glass casing for a head. His bare fist hit the glass without breaking it but the blow was such that it rattled the positron brain inside their mechanical friend. Oliver felt a surprising rush to see his uncle’s new-found strength. Maybe he couldn’t break through walls but he seemed much more solid. The robot hit Leon and knocked him a few feet towards some debris. Laura took a shot and hit the thing. Oliver kept creating a force field for him and the rest of them, as Victoria kept covering them from the hidden shooter. Laura scanned her surroundings, she noticed a small turret in the distance. She cocked her weapon and took a shot. The thing blew up and fell into pieces on the ground.
“That pale mute must be hiding somewhere. I’ll scout the area. Keep yourselves in cover,” she said to the kids, as she got lost in the debris. Oliver saw an opening above them and decided to shoot at some weakened pillars next to it. The crumbling debris created a stronger hiding place for the kids. Leon seemed excited to be able to take the robot’s punches so he kept him busy in a sparring bout. However, the robot’s mechanical possibilities out maneuvered Leon every time. Laura began shooting at the robot from a hidden position. The robot became overwhelmed with all the attacks. Leon took a chance and shocked the machine’s energy core from under its chest with his phatasfa and the machine felt to the ground.
A few shocking disc grenades were then thrown to the ground. Leon was quick on his feet but he was thrown across the field by the shocks. He rolled on the ground and got up quickly, he was now very close to Oliver and Victoria. The mime appeared out of know where and quickly took Victoria’s weapons out of commission – not without getting a few kicks from the resilient teen. Chance was strong enough to take the blows and suppress the young lady. He then quickly grabbed Oliver by his arm and propped it up as the boy shot. A strong red beam shot into the sky. The mime placed a grenade disc onto Oliver’s arm, threw him across the field and ran over to Leon as he held his shocking knife with his right hand. The young scoundrel awaited his attacker and parried the first blow with his phantasfa. Chance overpowered Leon in fighting skills but the young scoundrel was giving him a good run for hi
s money, taking in every blow, and retaliating accordingly. Laura took a shot from her hidden spot and hit Chance on the shoulder. The distraction was enough so that Leon could take a swing at the albino’s jawline, knocking him to the ground. Oliver’s arm beeped, as the grenade began to shock him. The wielder began to absorb the energy but its glowing display began to go crazy. Flashes of light seemed to be coming in and out of the arm. Omnimaiden manifested to enclose the shocking explosion, Oliver seized and fell hard to the ground.
The mime got back up to keep fighting and get even with Leon. The maiden took the absorbing power and shocked the pale warrior with it. Chance fell to the ground – unconscious.
“Enough!” The maiden said, “we need to work on your specific weaknesses before you go into the field as a team.” She finally had caught the group’s attention. Chuggy came out from hiding and into Victoria’s arms.
The maiden got close to the group as she helped Oliver get back up. Laura ran towards her son and hugged him.
“Are you alright dear?” Laura asked.
“Yeah, I’m alright,” answered the boy, “I felt something strange inside of me, different,” he continued. The maiden looked at the group, Leon stood next to Laura and Oliver. The maiden looked the young man from top to bottom.
“You have a strong resilient body, the treatment agreed with you more than expected,” she said to Leon in a surprised tone.
“I had some work done when I was a child, by your beloved Dr. Dickens. Brought me years of misery,” said Leon in a dry tone. The room changed once more, this time the floors shifted upward like the maiden’s room back at the cottage. The team sat around again and a hologram displayed a circular matrix with eighty-one character slots and various symbols.
“This is the intro-phase, something Dr. Dickens worked on in order to create the Phantom technology. This can be applied to anything,” said the maiden to the crew. Oliver looked at the graphics and briefly jolted in joy.
“The matter-space-time reader we always talked about. Does it work?” the boy asked in wonder. His heart raced at the site of it, and the good doctor pondered that the secret to Oliver’s well-being would be deciphering the chart that was before him now.
