by Reilly, Jim
“James, we don’t care about the reason they do it,” Steven told him. “We only want to know how to get out of here. Can you open that hatch so we can get out through there?”
“Steven, my analysis told me there is no passageway outside that hatch. There’s only solid rock. To make matters worse, I can’t access the ship’s computer to control the ship’s movement to put it in a better location.”
Hailey said, “The vibration we felt earlier must have been a movement of the craft, and apparently, we’re not at our last location. We could be any place or at any depth.”
Steven ordered, “James, open the hatch, and we’ll start digging our way out. We can’t stay here.”
“Steven, you are now four hundred meters under the ground. Judging by the thickness of the rock and the quantity of air left, you would only last a day if you were to dig, and if you are lucky, make it about five to ten meters at best with what little tools you could make with what’s in this ship.”
“James, when will the craft be closer to ground level? Can you determine when and where the next move is?”
“No Steven, I don’t have access to the information from this craft’s computer. I’m locked out. I can’t so much as turn on a light. Even if I could have access, many of the systems, like the air filters were destroyed in an apparent explosion. I do, however, see a schedule, and the ship was to be closer to the surface in about fifty-nine years, one hundred and forty-two days, eleven hours, and twenty-four minutes. That’s all I can tell you.”
With a sigh and feeling dejected, Steven asked James, “How much time do we have here?”
“If you limit your movement, you could stay alive for about thirty-eight hours.”
“Great then, I guess this is our grave. I suppose, if I had told my friends growing up in Kansas that I’d someday be buried in an alien spaceship, they’d think I was crazy. Well look at me now.”
Hailey then offered, “While I was still trying to comprehend the humor of your time, I might have come up with an idea.”
“For your information, I was trying to be ironic. Anyway, what’s your idea?”
“Why don’t we three enter the blue liquid chambers and ride out the approximately sixty years until we are closer to the surface? If people find us in the meantime, great, but if we have no other options, I’d rather wake up in sixty years then die thirty-eight hours from now. I don’t see any other options.”
Steven was hesitant, “I just spent a thousand years in one of them, and I’m not looking forward to being put on ice again.” But after a minute of racking his brain for any other option, he conceded, “Ah…All right, let’s get the chambers ready. Why die now, when we can postpone it.”
As Hailey and Steven prepared the three chambers, Hailey said to James, “There is an injured man on the ground, can you please see what can be done? But know this, we have very limited medical supplies to help him.”
The James Connor program turned toward the man now sprawled on the ground, and told him, “I’m not going to lie to you, after analyzing your condition, and considering the situation at hand, unfortunately you don’t have much time left. You might have about six minutes left at best. I am sorry.”
“My name is--”
‘I know who you are. You are Cameron Cho, the third child of Jennifer and David Cho.”
“You are very familiar to me. Are you the James Connor my parents knew who left during the last abduction?”
“Yes. Well, technically I am a computerized reproduction with all the memories of James Connor. I like to think I am a better version of him.”
Having a hard time speaking, Cameron tried to ask, “Could you tell me how long…I’ve been…here?”
“Please don’t try to talk; you need your strength and it might be painful for you. As far as the length of time you went missing to this moment, you had been reported missing nine hundred and sixty eight years ago.”
A tear ran from Cameron’s eye as he comprehended that the people he loved were all gone, and, even though briefly, he was still alive.
“I have achieved virtual files of your memorial service, news accounts of the search for you; I even have a message for you from your parents recorded for your benefit in case you returned after your parent’s death. If you’d like, I can play the message.”
“Message…please…”
‘Very well,” James said. James then had Steven put his headset on Cameron so he could view the message.
After a moment of dizziness, Cameron found himself on a beach on the North Shore of Long Island. He recognized the place from his youth. He remembered going there with his family to enjoy a sunny day. They would go there on a hot summer day to cool off in the cool waters of the Long Island Sound. There were also evenings they’d just go there at dinner time to eat along the shore. This place had many memories for Cameron; it was fitting the message was recorded there.
As he got used to his surroundings, he noticed he was standing, not sprawled on the floor, and without the injuries he had sustained. In the hologram he reached to feel his injuries but noticed he was standing there whole. He then was startled by a voice he recognized, his mother, “Cameron, if you receive this message, I am happy you found your way back. Is that really you?”
Cameron couldn’t believe the clarity and real life look of the surroundings and the people in this reproduction. He took a deep breath and could smell the salt in the breeze coming off the water as it brushed back his hair. He then reached down and came back up with a handful of sand and tiny rocks prevalent on the beaches on the north shore of Long Island.
The holographic Jennifer repeated, “Cameron, is that you?”
Realizing this was an interactive program, he replied, “Yes, Mother, it is me.”
“Good,” said an older version of his mother than he had known. “We were worried that you would never show up. The United Nations Security Group’s investigation concluded that you were disintegrated by an Ancient Visitor weapon in a fight with remnants of the Followers of Divinity. We both knew that didn’t happen that way. Mine and your Father’s hope, and I can’t believe I’m saying it, is that the Ancient Visitors or whoever somehow took you, and you’re alive. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but that is all we have to hold on to.”
A teary eyed David Cho added, “In our hearts we feel you are still out there somewhere. We only hope that you find your way home someday and find peace. We’ve never stopped hoping you would come back and walk through the front door. Not for a second. Our love for you is stronger than any distance between us.”
“I know you are not real, but I’m going to say it anyway,” said a gradually weaker Cameron. “I am sorry I put you through this. I didn’t realize the consequences my investigation would have until it was too late.” After pausing a moment he asked, “What was the outcome of my investigation?”
Jennifer told him, “Bodies were found at the ruins at Pergamon, and Dr. Ken Lewis reported you and a woman were also present there. Your partner, Agent John Ryan determined you and a Taylor McGrath were disintegrated in a firefight. He also determined the remnants of the Followers of Divinity were attempting to infiltrate the United Nations Security in an effort to engage in a terrorist act. Along with your presumed death, Inspector General Sanchez, with some of his entourage was killed in a separate event. Agent Ryan determined the two were connected. Anyway, the case was closed.”
“That’s not how it happened,” said a dejected Cameron.
“We believe you son,” David told him with fatherly concern. “In any event, if you are speaking to us now. You have somehow made it back, and we are grateful for that.”
Jennifer then said, “Well then, maybe we should let you know what is going on with the family. Since you left, your brother Andrew and his wife Denise now have two more kids totaling five. Your sister finally settled down. We thought that would never happen. She and her wife adopted two adorable twin boys who have grown to be excellent college baseball players. I, alo
ng with your father, eventually went back into various government positions. Now we have retired and both teach part time at Stony Brook University.”
An extremely weak Cameron curiously asked, “Do you still have the house? The one I grew up in?”
“Of course we do. It’s been updated with new technology since you were here last. We’ve all gotten accustomed to it, except of course your father. He never liked technology.”
A disgruntled David blurted out, “None of the doors have doorknobs. They just open up when you walk up to them. I like doorknobs.”
This gave Cameron a chuckle as the program nailed his father’s personality. He didn’t laugh long, however, with the life draining from his body.
Even though he knew the parents in front of him were not his real parents, he said what he wanted to say before he couldn’t anymore, “I’m sorry.”
“You said that already,” said Jennifer.
“I’m sorry for pushing you away. I should not have pushed the people I cared…about…away--”
Jennifer responded to him, but Cameron couldn’t hear anything anymore.
James turned off the message from Jennifer and David.
Steven rushed over and said, “Damn, I was hoping we could get him in the blue liquid chamber hoping whoever finds us would be able to save him.” He then carefully and respectfully picked him up and put Cameron in a chamber to preserve him until they were found or when duration was complete. It was then that the knife he received from Sha’nay fell out of his pocket. Steven, not thinking, picked up the small knife and put it in his own pocket.
James told him, “Nothing could’ve helped him. However, I feel he found peace in the end. If I know his parents, they got through to him.”
Hailey, also disappointed in Cameron’s death, told Steven, “The Blue Liquid Chambers are ready for us. It’s time to get in.”
“Right,” Steven replied, and then he turned to James. ‘We need you to watch over us and make sure we wake up again. Can you do that?”
“I will monitor the blue liquid chambers and make sure that they are working efficiently. They seem to be the only system I’m not currently locked out of. With any luck and an efficient power source, I’ll be there when you awaken in about sixty years. I hope you have a pleasant sleep.”
That’s when Steven heard Hailey start to cry. Realizing she didn’t have the experience with long duration hibernation and its repercussions that he had, he told her to ease her distress, “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy losing so much time, because I don’t want to lie to you, but if it is a choice between dying or not seeing you for a long time or ever, your family and friends would rather wait for you than not have any hope of seeing you again. My parents were mortified that I had disappeared, but they were in total euphoria when I returned. I guess, what I’m saying is that they’d rather you be alive than dead.”
“I understand why we are doing this; it was my idea, but it’s hard to grasp in my mind. When you add that we don’t know what we’ll find out there when we emerge from this craft, I wonder if it would be better to die here of asphyxiation than what faces us sixty years from now. We could find that the world is nothing but a charred mess with humanity in disarray. Or, we could find a world populated with Ancient Visitors. Or worse, we could find nothing at all. Maybe I’m not as much worried about the future as I am sorry I’m not out there fighting the Ancient Visitors as they attack Earth. Come to think of it, I’d rather be out there fighting and dying with the rest of mankind than taking a long nap here.”
Understanding how she felt, he expressed, “If you want to say we fought the good fight and now it’s time to lie down to die, I’ll go along with it. Hey, we fought with Satan, and for a lack of better words, an alien race. We fought the good fight. We can meet our fate, here and now. Or maybe, the fight isn’t over, and sixty years from now, mankind needs us more than ever. I would be willing to offer myself up to mankind again. We are one big family, and we should be there for one another.”
With her tears now dry, and her self-doubt extinguished, Hailey agreed, “You’re right, we need to do this. James, please take care; we’ll see you in sixty years.”
The two each climbed into a chamber and submerged into the tub and blue liquid swallowed them then the lid closed them inside the chamber.
James checked each and was satisfied as to the performance of the chambers. He did, however, feel alarmed, when he started to detect intense bombing runs up above. It shook the craft and moved things as it intensified.
The people around Kaiden came out of their trance and again were meditating. Kaiden, though, stopped and stood up to look east toward the Ancient Visitor ship. After a deep and slow breath, he opened his arms and raised them to the sky.
Raphael thought, “This is the hour we have been destined to participate in. My brothers, if I shall fall or not rise to the occasion, please forgive me.”
Gabriel told him, “I have little doubt in you, my brother, for that matter, any of you. So let’s join with mankind and do His will.” He then left the Temple Mount.
Following Gabriel away from the Gold Dome were Michael, Uriel, and Raphael, each heading in a different direction looking to face the Ancient Visitors now converging toward Jerusalem.
Belial returned to the massive ship along the beach off the shore of Israel. His anger only intensified the further he traveled from Pergamon. He ordered bombing raids over the whole planet. When he reached his command center in the ship, he ordered, “Kill every last human, I have no use for them now. Rid them all. Let them burn in a sea of fire.” Belial then ordered his subordinates to lay waste to Earth.
In his ear, he heard from a dark and cold presence, “Yes, kill them all. When you are done with them, it would be time to then lay waste to your former brethren. They have no right being in the same presence as you. They followed Him instead of you. Still, for you to claim the throne from the Ruler of the Realm, they must be extinguished as well. Only you and your followers have the right to enjoy the Realm for all of eternity. You can then rewrite history, and will be the one worshipped for all time. The Ruler will be erased from history, and no one will remember him.”
“I want them to bow down before me, the angels and the Ruler. Every ounce of me has nothing but hate for them and their Ruler. They have enjoyed the Realm while we wondered throughout this existence in these ugly shells. We deserved better, and that’s what I will get from Him. Our people will replace his in the Realm.”
“You’re ready now to assume the throne like I promised you so long ago. Every one of its riches is to be yours to do as you please. The Realm’s inhabitants will be yours to rule and their existence is subject to your will.”
After a moment of feeling greed for power run through every ounce of his being, Belial told the voice, “I feel it’s near. I sense He will appear soon to face me.”
“First you must eliminate the One. This must happen before you enter the Realm. You will find him at the Temple Mount.”
“It’s taken care of. Solmun will succeed and then no one will stand in our way as we re-enter the Realm.”
On the Temple Mount, Kaiden still stood there with his arms out. Then he spoke to the people, “It’s time to let go of your anger. Your fears. And your wants. Those words have no place to dwell in the coming kingdom. Instead, let love come from your heart and spread to all. Most of all, forgive those who need it, for that is the most powerful force in all of the universe and the Heavens. You need not want more than forgiveness and love.”
In the crowd nearest to Kaiden, a man hid among the others who stood in alliance with Kaiden. He had always hidden, but he didn’t need to slither in the darkness. No, he hid in plain sight because he wasn’t only a chameleon; he was also a master manipulator. He schemed his way in, influencing all who came in contact with him. He may look like anyone, but deep down he was a beast.
He has always been with mankind. From the early beginnings he’s been there to egg someone on
, make someone feel disenfranchised, or start a fight. He wasn’t always the corrupt leader; sometimes he was a dictator’s right hand man who would ply that despot with insidious ideas.
Other times he was an Inspector General, a copy of a United Nations Security’s Johnny Ryan, or at the moment, Juan Chi, President of the Council of Nations. Someone sitting a few steps from Kaiden, the one he was sent to eliminate. This day, he had his target within sight, and he inched closer second by second.
Solmun was always obedient to Belial going back to before Satan, Belial, and all the Ancient Visitors were cast into this existence by the Ruler of the Realm. When the Ruler created free will, Solmun experienced exhilaration, as he was now able to question the Ruler. He was then drawn towards a creation that was a result of free will, the Adversary or Satan. That adversary of good, who favored evil, opened Solmun’s mind to a world of knowledge he was denied by the Ruler of the Realm. He looked at existence in a new light. No more was he satisfied with what he had because he always wanted more.
When Satan, Belial, and the other Ancient Visitors were banished into this existence, he grew to hate the Ruler along with the others. At every turn, he listened to Satan to each thought he put into Solmun’s mind. Eventually, the once good follower of the Ruler became a bitter unsatisfied disciple of evil and its manifestation, Satan.
When Belial ordered Solmun to be among the ones to infiltrate mankind, he obeyed his master, even though the thought of being among mankind made him feel disgusted. His work led him to be a right hand man to some of the most horrific humans to walk on Earth. Rarely did he start anything; he always got others to do the evil work for him. He may not have been the kings, presidents, or dictators who ordered the horrific acts, but he was involved. He didn’t convict a suspected witch, but he was a witness against her. He wasn’t the one who built the concentration camps, but he helped with coming up with the idea. He also didn’t plan terrorist acts, but he did ignite their passion for their causes.
