Diamond Sky Trilogy Box Set: Books 1-3

by David Clarkson

  ‘She was beautiful, wasn’t she?’

  ‘Like her daughter,’ replied the professor, in a rare moment of warmth. ‘It is easy to see how a man like Armareth could have become obsessed with her. Leave this matter with me and I will see to it that he stops coming here.’

  She replaced the picture.

  ‘Okay, but please promise me you will be careful. We do not know what a man like this is capable of. Whatever you do; make sure that Lucas knows about it.’

  ‘Do not worry about me and certainly do not worry about David Armareth. You have worked much too hard to let any distractions get in the way now. Just keep focused on your work and I will take care of everything else.’

  Despite feeling pride in receiving approval from such an esteemed quarter, Emmy could not help but feel suspicious of her grandfather’s intentions. The night before, he had threatened to pull the plug on the whole endeavour and now he seemed to be actively supporting her. Knowing him the way she did, she sensed he was keeping something from her.

  She decided that she would tread carefully and only report back the bare minimum of information from her findings. Until she figured out the reason for his apparent change of heart, she could not risk compromising everything for which she had worked so hard to achieve. Not when she was this close.

  ***

  The American military base at Shady Pines, 12 miles southwest of Alice Springs, was the source of much speculation among the town’s inhabitants. Some thought it was a top secret research facility, whilst others thought it was a prison camp. The more level headed of the population simply dismissed it as nothing more than a routine base established for the convenience of its isolated location. None of these people were able to confirm their theories as all 2000 of Alice Spring’s residents who carried US passports remained tight lipped. Of the 700 or so people who were known to work at the base, all gave the same story. Every one of them was a cleaner.

  Captain Peters and Lieutenant Schwarzmann met the general in his office. Their superior was on the phone when they were ushered inside and they both stood in silence and waited for him to finish. Mike overhead a few words of the conversation and he guessed it was about the mission they had been pulled in on their day off for. When the general put down the phone they stood to attention and waited for a salute before returning the gesture.

  ‘At ease, gentlemen,’ the general said, inviting the men to be seated.

  They exchanged a brief look of surprise before sitting down. It was the first time they had been granted the luxury of a seat during an audience with the general.

  ‘I understand that you two men are familiar with Operation Sleepwalker?’

  They nodded.

  ‘The program is about to enter live testing. You have been selected to take part in the next phase of the operation. There will be minimal risk involved as several successful trials have already been carried out. From what I hear, the potential is limitless. I want you boys to find out how we can apply this technology to our defence strategy.’

  Mike took time to consider his response. He had read the file and whilst the ideas it contained were extremely alluring, he did have his reservations. If what the general said was accurate then this would be the ultimate game changer. From a military viewpoint it was a dream come true as it could guarantee one hundred percent accurate up to date intel on any mission. The problem was in exercising restraint when using it. Spying on an enemy was one thing, but how long until the Government started using this against its own people?

  ‘Has the success of these first trials been verified?’ he asked. ‘I’ve heard claims about remote viewing before and it turned out to be nothing more than an acid trip. There is no way that I will sign up to any kind of medical testing; I’m a soldier not a guinea pig.’

  ‘There are no chemicals involved,’ replied the general. ‘The technique is purely based on meditation and the technology gives it an added boost.’

  ‘How much of a boost?’

  ‘Like I said; the potential is limitless. It took Apollo 11 three days to get to the moon, but I heard that these scientists can do it in seconds. All from the relative comfort of their laboratory too, I might add.’

  Mike took a deep breath to clear his head. Millions would kill to be in the position he was in and he knew that he could not take the responsibility lightly. He glanced around the office at the various mementos and trinkets the general had gathered during thirty years of campaigns both successful and otherwise.

  At one end of the scale were the medals and a letter of commendation from the President. At the other end were framed photographs of comrades long since dead. This told the true story of war. The medals were rewarded for honour, but they were paid for with blood. Men like Mike had pledged an oath to serve their country no matter what the risk. In the far corner of the room the stars and stripes hung proudly from ceiling to floor. America was calling and that was something he could never turn his back on.

  ‘We’ll do it,’ he said.

  ‘Excellent,’ replied the general, who then rose and shook both of his men by their hands. ‘If all goes to plan there may be a promotion for both of you. I know you will not let your country down.’

  The three men exchanged their final salutes and then Capt. Peters and Lt. Schwarzmann left to where a transport was waiting to take them directly to the test site. When Neil Armstrong had taken his first small step, he ushered the world into the space age. These two men had been chosen to pick up the baton and take that journey on to the next level.

  Chapter 5

  Lucy had been driving without a break for most of the day. There were at least another two hours before she was due to arrive at Alice Springs and she was beginning to wane. Her eyelids were feeling heavy and each time she blinked, the effort required to force them back open increased. She knew it was dangerous to be driving in this state, but was afraid to pull up by the roadside and nap as it was not long since the murder of a British backpacker on a similar stretch of highway had dominated the headlines.

  She checked her watch - four o’clock. That afforded her ample time to take a short break and still make it to Alice Springs before nightfall. Her map indicated that a roadhouse was located about 15km west of the highway. The detour would not have too much of an impact on her journey and she certainly needed the caffeine boost. When the turnoff came, she took it.

  ***

  Emmy was seated with star charts spread across her desk. The obvious question was; where to begin? The universe is vast behind human comprehension and only a tiny insignificant part of it has ever been revealed to astronomers. If there was intelligent life out there, it could be anywhere.

  There are many different theories about the conditions essential to producing life, and as such, certain planetary systems had been identified as the most likely sources. These did not interest Emmy, as she was looking for a different type of “life” altogether.

  ‘From a scientific standpoint it would be best to return to the site of the initial encounter,’ she said. ‘If my instincts are correct, I do not expect this to be an isolated incident.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ asked Charlie. ‘If you are thinking what I think you are, it may not be wise to get involved until we have more information at our disposal.’

  ‘And just how are we supposed to gather said information if we do not act?’

  Charlie was frustrated by his colleague’s resolve. He hoped to dissuade her from taking their research down this particular tangent. The word “soul” had been freely used since the experiments began and whilst Emmy was merely taking that line of thinking and developing it towards its obvious conclusion, the idea still made him feel uneasy. If she was correct in her hypothesis, it would not be long until the next encounter. On average, three hundred thousand people passed away each day.

  ‘Are you not worried that this could be dangerous? I do not think we should mess with ghosts.’

  Emmy let out an amused, yet somewhat immature laugh.


  ‘You have to be kidding me - ghosts are make-believe. If anything, what we are dealing with here is nothing more than a form of living energy. It’s no different to the transformation we have been undergoing ourselves.’

  ‘It is completely different. You and I are scientists carrying out experiments within a controlled environment. We are not...’

  ‘...dead people,’ she interrupted. ‘Is that what you were going to say? They may not be living in the sense that you and I are, but they are still people all the same.’

  ‘I just don’t feel comfortable with this. Some things should not be messed with.’

  ‘We’re scientists, messing with things is what we do. Besides, for all we know, I may have misinterpreted what I actually experienced. Perhaps I imagined the whole thing?’

  ‘That,’ said Charlie, ‘is a scenario I would greatly prefer.’

  ***

  Lucy drove for nearly 20km and still found no sign of the roadhouse. She pulled over by the roadside and took another look at her map. On closer inspection, she realised that she had been looking at the wrong intersection. Clearly fatigue was impairing her judgement, so she decided it was best to give up on the coffee idea and just try to get to Alice Springs as quickly as possible.

  She got back in her car and performed a quick u-turn only to find herself directly facing oncoming traffic. The vehicle heading towards her was a black hummer and would have no trouble surviving a head-on collision. Her simple hatchback would not fare so well.

  In a moment of blind panic, she thrust her foot down on the gas and swerved left, missing the hummer by just inches. Her car then juddered violently as its underside scraped against some sharp rocks on the roadside before coming to rest in a cloud of dust.

  Well, isn’t this fantastic, she thought.

  The car’s engine stalled and the only sound she could hear was her own breathing. Her hands were shaking and rather than trying to restart the vehicle, she thought it best to wait until her nerves settled. She checked the passenger seat and the urn had not been damaged nor spilled any of its contents, which was a relief.

  After taking a couple of deep breaths, she opened her door and swivelled her legs around until she was facing the road. The dust had already settled and apart from the fresh tread marks in the road there was no sign of the near fatal accident, which had only narrowly been avoided. As she thought about how lucky she had been, her mood improved and the initial feeling of shock soon subsided.

  ‘I guess I have you to thank for this, dad,’ she said. ‘I fear to think where I would be without you watching over me.’

  Even though he could not answer, Lucy knew that somewhere, her father was looking down on her and smiling.

  She stood and began walking in order to stretch her legs. She needed to keep occupied until she was ready to get back behind the wheel. As she passed by the back of the car, she noticed the sand around one of the wheels was wet and that this liquid patch was expanding. Crouching down on her knees, she took a peek at the underside of her vehicle. The source of the flow was a three inch gash torn into what she could only assume was the gas tank.

  ‘Looks like you missed that one, dad.’

  Rising back to her feet, she returned to the front of the car and unfolded her map onto the bonnet. The earlier lack of a roadhouse had confirmed which road she had not taken and by this she was able to deduce, albeit without certainty, which road she was actually on. This placed her at least twenty kilometres from the highway.

  She ruled out walking as there was no way that she would make it before nightfall and she did not want to be exposed once darkness set in. Instead, she turned her attention the other way, toward the direction in which the Hummer was travelling. According to her map there was a small farm only about seven or so kilometres away.

  She took her rucksack from the boot of the car and filled it with two water bottles, her mobile phone, the map and her father’s urn. There was no way she could leave him behind. She then applied a fresh layer of sun cream before taking back to the road, this time on foot.

  ***

  Emmy finished prepping the equipment and was on her way to see her grandfather when she saw the vehicle approach. She sensed immediately that something was not quite right. It was too late in the day to be receiving visitors and the car was certainly not local.

  When she found the professor’s study empty she began to suspect what was going on and her fears were confirmed when she made it outside to see her grandfather greeting the new arrivals. Two men stepped out of the car, both adorned in military uniform.

  ‘What is going on?’ she asked, hurriedly approaching the three of them.

  One of the men’s faces lit up when he saw Emmy. No doubt he did not expect to find a female scientist to be working at the observatory, especially one as young and beautiful as Emmy. She ignored his hand as it was offered, instead waiting for her grandfather to provide an explanation for the new arrivals.

  ‘Well?’ she asked.

  ‘Now, now, Emmy,’ replied the professor. ‘That is no way to behave in front of guests. If you would only show some manners, I was about to introduce you.’

  ‘Guests are usually invited. I was not aware that we were expecting anyone.’

  ‘There are many things you are not aware of, child, but that does not mean they are not necessarily so. I can forgive your indiscretion and I hope for your sake that our guests can be as accommodating.’

  The more forthright and Emmy therefore assumed, senior ranking of the two men took this as his cue to step forward.

  ‘There is nothing to forgive. I understand that the uniforms can be quite intimidating for some.’

  Emmy bit down on her bottom lip, closed her eyes and very slowly counted to three. The alternative would not have been quite so civilised.

  ‘This is Captain Mike Peters,’ interjected the professor. ‘With him is Lieutenant Bradley Schwarzmann. They have come to observe our research.’

  ‘Observe?’

  Emmy may have been inexperienced in such matters, but even she knew that when the military took an interest in scientific research, they rarely contented themselves with taking a backseat role.

  ‘You guys are the miracle workers,’ said Capt. Peters. ‘I would not even consider interfering with the work you have going on here. I do, however, think that we can learn a great deal by working together. We are here to offer our services by becoming your first test subjects.’

  ‘We don’t need any guinea pigs,’ replied Emmy. ‘I have personally taken responsibility for the live trials. Due to the complexity of the procedures involved and in the interests of continuity, it would not be productive to change things at this time.’

  The soldier looked to the professor for support. He had his orders and whether this scientist liked it or not, he was taking charge of the operation.

  ‘This is neither the time nor the place to debate the issue,’ said the professor. ‘I have already made my feelings clear on you subjecting yourself to these experiments and I have decided that professionals should take your place.’

  Emmy knew it was futile to argue with the old man. She could usually speak freely with him in private, but in the company of others it was neither respectful nor particularly wise to risk insulting the great Jackson Fox. Her only option was to play along and hope that the entire project would not be pulled from under her.

  ‘I apologise if I have spoken out of turn. This project is very personal to me and I simply want to make sure that it is handled in the best possible way.’

  ‘I understand,’ replied Capt. Peters. ‘I assure you that I will give you nothing short of my best.’

  He held out his hand again and this time she took it.

  ‘If this is going to work, you will have to trust my judgement. I do not know how much you know about what we actually do here, but you will not use any of the technology or techniques that we have developed until I think you are ready. Do you understand, Captain Peters?’

  �
��Yes, ma’am. Oh, and please; call me Mike.’

  Emmy then shook the hand of his colleague. Sure, she would play along for now, but she was adamant about one thing; there was no way either of these men was going to be hooked up to her machine so long as she could do anything about it.

  She waited for the soldiers to unload their bags and then went to speak to Charlie, whilst her grandfather showed his guests to their quarters.

  ‘This stinks,’ her lab partner said, upon hearing the news.

  Emmy could have thought of many stronger words to sum up how she felt, but she was still inclined to agree with her colleague. The worst part of it was that she had been betrayed by her own grandfather. She knew Pops resented not being able to take part in the experimental side of the research himself, but she never suspected for one moment that he would sell them out and to the military of all people. It was not even their government he had chosen either, but the Americans. Could things get any worse?

  ‘Why did he do it?’ asked Charlie. ‘Surely he doesn’t need the money and if it is about recognition, he is an even bigger fool, because once the army realises exactly what they have bought into they will take this entire project underground. We’ll be brushed aside to be replaced by a bunch of lab rats that aren’t even fit to teach grade school science.’

  This was the first time Emmy had seen Charlie lose his cool during the entire time they had worked together. Whilst he was still very young within the profession at just thirty years of age, he was eight years older than her and she respected him a great deal.

  ‘Only he can answer that,’ she replied, ‘and I will make sure that he does. Until then, we will have to be very careful. I do not want these Americans to know about what I saw on the moon. They are probably only interested in using this technology for espionage, so hopefully they will not ask too many questions about its non-terrestrial potential. The harder task will be in carrying on with our own research without them knowing.’