by Kip Hartzell
Jay moved cautiously in that direction. The Professor lifted her head up by her blonde hair. Her face was bruised and she looked unconscious. He let her head fall back to her chest, and turned to one of his minions.
“The Master wants to see this one for himself. See that she does not die.”
The man did a zombie-like response, and began checking her for life signs, while the Professor moved to another room.
“Now’s the time to move,” Jay said in Rhe-A’s head.
“Not yet, stand by.”
“Why? We knock out the guard, snatch her up, and we’re out of here.”
“I’m getting some anomalous readings, stand by.”
Jay fidgeted as he waited, wondering why Rhe-A was taking so long. He moved to the doorway where the Professor went, and peeked in. He was on his knees, softly chanting, Abaddon, over and over, with a small crystal skull held over his head. A shadow began to coalesce in front of the Professor. He then caught a wisp of Rhe-A’s thoughts, confusing, analytical, studying. Wait! he thought, she’s studying, she’s stalling. Jay stepped back on some shards of glass that cracked and echoed. The Professor stopped and looked his way. His black ovulid eyes stared at him, as if he could see him. Jay held his breath. The professor slowly turned back to his chanting.
Jay quietly moved around the possessed human male, kneeling down, he began to untie Shelly’s bonds. “Rhea, how could you? I trusted you.”
“Jay, get out of there. You are jeopardizing everything.”
The rope dropped to the floor, getting the guards attention. Shelly jumped up and punched the guard to the ground, and then took off running toward the staircase. She heard footsteps running up to meet her. She turned and saw Jay running up to her.
“Jay?”
“Shell, come with me.” He took her arm and led her to the opposite doorway, to the room where he had the waiting car. He looked back to see several men and women dressed in black suits, running in to the room. The guard was up, and firing his projectile weapon at the new comers. They ducked for cover. A light blast came from the dark doorway where the Professor stood. The blast was energy focused, and hit Shelly in the back. She lunged forward and fell as Jay tried to catch her. They both fell to the floor.
Bullets and light beams splattered around the room, knocking large chunks plaster off the walls. The unprotected guard took a dozen rounds, that pinned him to the wall. The Professor was driven back into his dark room, while a second guard sprayed bullets around like a water hose. Jay looked down to see Shelly spit out blood, while he dragged her out of the crossfire. The hole in her chest was two fingers wide, causing her pale skin to become paler by the second. Jay put his hand on the wound to slow the bleeding. But, he knew, it was no use. He felt Rhe-A kneel beside him. She shimmered into existence as the gun battle continued. One of the new comers was hit in the leg, Jay watched a comrade drag him out of the line of fire.
“Rhea, Help her.”
“John?” Shelly quietly said over the chaos.
Jay put his ear close to her face. “Shell, it’ll be okay. I’m here.”
“John, I’m so cold.”
“I’m here, Shell -Rhea! Do something, please.”
Rhe-A had a befuddled look on her face. “I don’t know if I can, or should.”
Shelly gave a convulsive gasp. Several bullets racked across the wall over their heads. He laid her head softly on the floor. The rage weld up inside of him like a volcano. “Help her,” he demanded. He took out his pistol, and ran screaming crazily across the room. The black-suited people stopped firing, and watched as Jay plunged into the dark room firing continuously. The Professor was caught off guard by the frontal assault and took several hits before being driven deep into the room, and out of the only intact window. He crashed out of the window and out of sight. Jay ran to the window, squinting, he peered down to see no body. He looked all around, but saw no sign of him. His unexpected charge flushed out the last guard, and he was quickly cut down by a wall of bullets.
Jay turned to see several people enter the well-lit room.
“Jay?” a middle-aged woman said, as she walked toward him.
“Shh,” Jay said, holding up a hand for her to stop. She did so. He took a step forward, and kicked the crystal skull the Professor had been using. It was fist sized and gray. He picked it up. He had never felt so much grief, loneliness, or was it despair. All he knew for sure was they were not alone in the room. Jay closed his eyes and projected his mind, his feelings. “There you are, you Bastard.” He fired his beam weapon, at first, it appeared to be at nothing, and then a shadow formed as the beam sliced through it, the wall, and then the concrete.
The short bipedal shadow didn’t move, but it was unaffected by Jay’s weapon. The new comers joined in. Again, it seemed to have no effect, except to make the shadow more noticeable. Its bulbous head and thin arms and legs, slowly moved toward Jay.
Here, but not here, Jay echoed in his mind. Something he had seen, they were here, but not here. Spacial dissociation, they appear to be in one place, but are actually in another. Jay swept the beam to the right, large pieces on wall were cut and falling to the floor. He swept the beam left. The creature appeared to Jay as a blurry double vision. “Concentrate your fire on this shadow,” Jay said to the group, as they reloaded their weapons.
Both shadows moved closer to Jay. The group moved up, and around Jay. The noise was overwhelming, while large chunks of building fell, leaving a gaping hole in the building wall. He increased power to his weapon. The creature screamed in frustration, sucked the skull up, turned, and then jumped out of the hole in the wall. They stopped firing, ran to the creature’s exit, and looked down. It was gone.
“Jay, what was that?” The woman asked, from behind him.
“I’m not sure, Colonel Masters. Shell!” He ran out of the room and over to where Rhe-A kneeled beside her.
“Rhea, can you do something? You owe her for using her as bait for your little experiment. Damn you, help her.”
Rhe-A was visibly shaken. Something Jay thought he would never see from a hardened Atlantean, thousands of years old.
“I’m sorry, Jay. I’ve done what I can to make her comfortable. I can’t do much more, here.”
“Shell! Oh, my God,” the middle-aged woman said, kneeling down and cradling the dying woman.
“Mama,” Shelly said, weakly.
“It’s okay baby, Mama’s here, now. You’re going to be fine.” She yelled back at one of her subordinates. “Get an evac helicopter here, now.”
Jay put his hand on Rhe-A’s arm, and calmly said, “Can you heal her?”
“The weapon used is something I haven’t seen before. It not only tears away flesh, but continues to do so, like venom spreading. I’m waiting on a response from Chrysalis on how to proceed.”
“To hell with them. You’ve acted on instinct before, sharing your DNA with us, making us who we are.”
“Yes, and see where that’s gotten you!” Rhe-A raised her voice for the first time.
Shelly gasped a dying breath. Colonel Masters looked Rhe-A in the eyes. “Please, help my daughter.”
Rhe-A looked down, and took a deep breath to calm herself. “She is special, and warrants further study,” she said, in her normal analytical voice. She then took the bracelet and placed it on Shelly’s chest. The aura of symbols floated above her. The symbols flickered so fast, as to be almost imperceptible. Rhe-A used her mind to make the process go faster. Once she got the results she wanted, she waved the bracelet down on her body. A light, barely noticeable energy field cocooned Shelly’s body.
“What did you do?” her mother asked.
“She’s in a stasis field. As long as she’s in it, her body will be suspended in space-time. She will not get any worse, but neither will she get better. I need my lab to properly diagnose and treat her.”
“Who are you?”
Jay interrupted. “After what you’ve seen today, it probably wouldn’t be too much of
stretch if I told you she was an Atlantean.” He expected a laugh, or a, you’re crazy, look.
“So, I finally get to meet one,” was all she said.
Now, it was Jay’s turn to look perplexed. “You know about them?”
“We know of them. Before I was on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I was in charge of Watcher-Section-18.”
“We have no record of this organization,” Rhe-A said.
“That was the intention. We communicate personally because we know how tech savvy you are. The organization has been around for hundreds of years, observing and studying, recording by crude methods as writing and pictures. Although, we don’t know as much as we would like. We have a lot of hand written sightings of your activities. A battle is going on between you and an enemy. Destroyers, I believe you call them. We have encountered them in the past, as a matter-of-fact, all these people you see here, are ones who have encountered either your kind, or the Destroyers. That’s pretty much the only way to get into this club, unless you’re me, and pry too much.” She got quiet for a few moments. “There’s a war coming, isn’t there?”
“The war’s been going on since the beginning of your time. We feel it will soon come to a climax.”
Jay reached down and took Colonel Master’s hand, and said, “Abigail, we need to get Shell to Chrysalis, trust me, we will do all we can.”
Blonde hair fell in her damp eyes. “You know, she talked about you all the time. How happy you made her, how angry you made her. I believed she loved you, nonetheless.”
“I love her, too.”
The Colonel looked down at her helpless daughter. “I was in Greece for a meeting, when she called. She wanted to see me. We met at a little cafe, where she showed me an artifact she had found. I recognized it, and tried to take it from her. She got very angry, because she knew I was lying to her. I didn’t realize anything was wrong, until she wouldn’t answer my calls. She doesn’t stay mad at me for very long. We went to investigate her hotel, when one of my men spotted you asking the desk clerk about her. We decided to follow you here, trust me, that wasn’t easy.”
“Well, I’m glad you did.”
Rhe-A calculated her words carefully. “A time may come, when we may have to call on the governments of the world to help save the planet.”
“If you do your best to save my daughter, I guarantee my support.”
Jay took Shelly from her mother’s arms, and picked her up. “Abigail, we need to go. I still have your cell number, I will keep you informed.”
Abigail stood up. “Jay, are you an Atlantean?”
“Nope, just have a few of their genes.”
The Colonel smiled, and leaned forward to kiss Shelly’s forehead. The tingling of the force field made her twitch. “Go, and God’s speed.”
Jay carried her through the next room, and to the window seal. He stepped up, and then off into nothing.
Abigail gasped. Rhe-A turned back. “We will keep you apprised of her condition. the brain was not damaged or deprived of oxygen. Once I can isolate the extra invasion, I’m confident I can levy an antidote.”
“Thank you. Uh, what is your name?”
“Rhe-A.”
“Rhea.”
“Close enough.”
“I always thought that was a pretty name.” She looked as though she had another question.
“Is there something else?”
“No, I just thought you people would be taller.”
Rhe-A smirked, stepped on the ledge and disappeared.
Chapter Twenty: Worst One Ever
The shuttle bay door opened, and a prepared medical crew came and took Shelly to Rhe-A’s laboratory. John and Athene-A met Jay and Rhe-A as they came out into the hangar.
Athene-A hugged Jay.
“How was your...vacation?” John sarcastically asked.
“Worst one ever,” Jay replied, releasing his Grandmother. “Still didn’t get to see the sights.”
John turned to Rhe-A, who, uncharacteristically looked away, as if embarrassed. “Thanks for bringing him home in one piece.”
Rhe-A looked surprised at the praise. “You can thank the Great Creator for that. He doesn’t follow instructions very well. You have read the preliminary report?”
“I watched most of it. You did well, now we need a personal briefing. Shall we go to your lab?”
“Go on ahead,” Jay said. “I’m starving.”
“Well, let’s get you something to eat,” Athene-A said, as if he were nine years old again.
“She acts really strange when he’s around, like some kind of regression,” John said, watching them walk away.
“We all do,” Rhe-A said, and then started walking toward her lab.
Shelly lay on a table. The bots had removed her blood-stained clothes, and cleaned and sterilized the new larger stasis field. The bots placed a white, tissue regeneration blanket on her. John walked up to the table as Rhe-A went to her instruments. He couldn’t help but feel the same way he did when his mother was in stasis after the accident in Settler’s Field, that took so many lives.
“How much time do you have to do surgery once the field comes down?”
“None, her body functions stopped when I initiated the field. I’m going to do stasis surgery.”
“Isn’t that risky?”
“Always, since most instruments interfere with the field and overload. I will have to lower small sections of the most critical areas, and do repairs by conventional means. This could take a while.”
“You are the best. I have complete confidence in you.”
“Thank you...my confidence...has wavered recently.”
John looked her in the eyes. “You made the right decision. Never be afraid to preserve life when you can. If she survives, we may have a viable physical link to the US government, and with that, a link to the rest of the world’s governments. The more I study our situation, the more I believe, that if we’re going to have a chance, we’re going to need their help for the upcoming battle. Why were we guided to this particular planet so far from our home? Why here?” John trailed off, talking more to himself than to Rhe-A. He looked down at the sleeping beauty. “She looks like- “
“You are right. I thought it best not to tell Jay this was a person in a Temporal Dissociated state. He might make different decisions, or react differently to future situations, if he knew who she really was. Of course, all this depends on whether I’m successful, or not.”
“Alright,” Jay said loudly, as he came into the room with a drink and very large sandwich, “is she awake, yet? I brought her a sandwich, too.”
“No, Jay,” Rhe-A sadly said. “The situation is dire, it will take all my skills to save her. But, it will take time. I’ll do my best.”
He walked over to the stasis field, and sat the extra sandwich down next to her. “Can I stay?” Jay asked, not looking away.
“I can operate with multiple distractions.”
“That, means, yes, Jay,” John said, taking his arm and leading him to a row of computer consoles.
Rhe-A continued programming, even when Delphi-Apollo and Athene-A walked in. Apollo made his way to Rhe-A and excepted instructions. He gave Jay a wave and continued with preparations. Athene-A sat down on the other side of Jay. They were quiet for some time. Jay slowly chewed. His attention was drawn to Drof’s family journal that sat on the console in front of him. His mind flashed back to his first history/memory feedback link. He put his hand on the ancient book.
“Jay, is there something wrong?” John asked.
He didn’t say anything at first. “You don’t suppose you-Gramps, uh, you, kept a journal, do you?”
“I... I don’t know.” John looked confused.
“If the history/memory feedback is linked to only a few, then something must be tying things together. I think you might’ve left a journal behind to give us a direction. Of course, all the mention of tracker skulls has to be the prize. We need to go back to Vegas.”
Luminescent c
olors flashed against Rhe-A’s face as she struggled to stay ahead of the poison. Apollo worked on repairing physical tissue, while she fought to control the poison’s deadliest effects. It was literally eating away flesh and bone. If left unchecked, there would be nothing left of a body. “John, I’ve isolated the pathogen. It’s genetic in nature. Call Maya, I may need her expertise.”
“Right away.” He flicked a finger at a computer. “When do we leave?”
“You are not, and neither is Grandma. If Dad saw you two, he’d have a stroke. Plus, I’ll have to go the conventional way, so I don’t draw any more attention to myself.”
“I understand, but the Destroyers know who you are now, you’ll need protection outside this facility.”
“Well, pick somebody.” Jay heard a sizzle, and then the smell of singed flesh. He turned toward the surgical procedure, only to see Maya standing behind him. “Jeez!” He jumped up and backed away.
Her coal black hair was split down the middle and the ends hung just below the ears. Her blood black eyes stared at him like waiting for that long-awaited steak at a restaurant. He saw no fangs when she smiled at him from a silky alabaster face, a discernible contrast from the normal Atlantean tan skin. Her eyes retreated to blue, while she spoke, “Rhe-A, you called.”
“Yes,” she said, without looking up. “I have a new genetic pathogen I need identified.”
Maya strolled over to the operating table so gracefully, Jay wasn’t even sure she took steps. “Hum, she looks like-”
“We’ve ascertained that,” Rhe-A cut her off. “Now, time matters in this case.”
Maya’s anger slightly flared, but she understood, knowing this would be easier if they talked mentally, but she knew Rhe-A would never let her in. She rarely ever let anyone in. Maya quickly pulled up her own screen and began manipulating with her mind and hands. “Interesting, a Destroyer construct. A phasic nanite that duplicates enormously fast. Using the living tissue as fuel and replication. The agoam crystal powered stasis field seems to disrupt their activities.”
