King of the Dark Mountain

by Galili Black

  “And they probably don’t even know about each other,” Hez added.

  “That’s unlikely, they wouldn’t just happen to build compatible devices. Somebody knows,” Ewing replied

  Hez jumped up and started pacing, “I have to get home; my sister is in that other place. I don’t think they would ‘up’ her or anything, but who knows.”

  “You’re going to have a hard time getting home without a passport.” Ewing pondered. “I will have to find out a few things to see what we can do. At least we know that you’re not a spy now, which was their main concern.”

  “But I’m still an outsider who’s stumbled into their top secret playhouse, that’s got to put me at risk.”

  Ewing sighed, “It definitely complicates things, but try not to worry. I just need to do some research. You’re free to stay here and rest for a while. There’s a bedroom over there and eat whatever you want in the kitchen area. I have to go now and give a report.”

  Hez smiled, “I’m really tired. I didn’t sleep much in the hole where they put me last night.”

  “They put you down there? Did Melton give you the old ‘we’ll fill the pit with your worst nightmare’ bit?” Hez nodded. Ewing giggled, “It’s bull, they say they can do things that they aren’t able to do in order to scare people. They can’t simultaneously make you feel scared and make you forget that they told you that the whole thing is fake. They really like the idea of putting contrary mutually exclusive ideas in the minds of people and creating some hyper state of anxiety or something, but it doesn’t work. Fear requires faith.” He frowned, “That’s a funny idea, isn’t it?” He gave Hez a bewildered look and then added, “Anyhow, I gotta go.” With that he headed for the door.

  “Hey Richard?” The man turned. “Thanks for everything.” Ewing nodded and disappeared through the doorway. Hez was happy to find a shower stall near the bedroom, although it bore an uncanny resemblance to the tanning bed device turned up on one end. Once he stripped down, he stepped into it with a little hesitation; however the water pressure was strong and the hot water did a lot to restore his sense of well-being. After the shower, he threw himself onto the bed and even though he was afraid for Ellie and himself, he managed to fall asleep.

  His dreams were troubled, however. He kept hearing Ellie calling for him, but he could not find her. He was running and running, and not really moving or getting anywhere. Finally, he found himself back at the farm and discovered that a single purple crocus had bloomed in the back yard where Gran had planted it years ago. It was first up every spring. Just as he was reaching down to touch it, he woke up. When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to see Ewing rummaging through his closet.

  He sat up, “Do you know what day it is?”

  Ewing turned to him, “It’s Thursday. I’m trying to find some clothes that might fit you. I’m a little taller than you, but I think my shirts would fit.”

  “That’s okay; I’m not planning on sticking around long enough to need a new ward robe.”

  “Well we need to talk about that. I see you found the shower, good. Come on out when you feel like it. I have some things I want to show you.” With that he left him alone again. Hez lay back down on the bed for a few moments. Whatever you have to tell me, I hope it’s good news. He thought of Gran’s little crocus from the dream.

  He wondered if Ewing would understand that a little flower meant more to him than all the fancy gadgets these people were hatching in this infernal mountain top in some god forsaken land. The fact that some other people, hatching gadgets in a land that he used to think was not altogether god forsaken had caused him however inadvertently to wind up here was not lost on him. What was the connection between the two groups of gadget freaks he wondered? Were they actually the same group, spread out over the planet like a disease or competitors?

  He got out of bed and went into the main area. Ewing was standing and staring into the fake fire. Hez slid into the chair at the table. He could see the fire flickering in the other man’s glasses. Ewing didn’t speak for a moment; finally he turned to Hez and said, “I’m afraid you may be stuck here for a while.”

  Chapter Ten

  “Ellie, if I had told you immediately about the situation we’re facing, do you think you would have believed me?”

  “You mean that day when I met with you and those two men?” she asked. He nodded. “Probably not, I think all of you were trying to make it clear to me, but it was strange to me. It’s becoming less so.”

  “It’s often the way, It’s like that quote from Alice, about believing so many impossible things before breakfast. It takes practice for the mind to grasp things outside the norm of the previous world view. All that you’re experiencing here is moving you into a different type of reality.”

  “I have the feeling you’re trying to find a way to tell me some terrible news. Whatever it is, Ted, it’s alright. I know we’re in desperate straits.”

  “It’s about Hezekiah, He came here.”

  Her face lit up and she said, “I knew he would come, where is he?”

  “We knew he would come too, Ellie. In fact, we were counting on it. Hez has just as many extraordinary talents as you, talents we need to exploit, I’m afraid.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He’s been sent on a mission?”

  “A mission?”

  “Where?”

  “We managed to get him through to them. I know this is hard for you to hear. We wouldn’t have designed such a plan, if time were not so short and the stakes so high.”

  “And he agreed to go on a mission for you?”

  “If we had filled him in, it would not have been possible to get him through. Or if he got through, they would have spotted him immediately for a spy. We had to send him in without any debriefing.” She gasped, and Ted took her hand firmly, “If we’d tried anything else, it would have made it even more dangerous for him. This way they may not spot him for a time.”

  “He’ll be spotted for a lunatic, if he doesn’t actually become one,” she said, bitterly.

  “Not necessarily. They’re fairly large, much more so than us, we think. He may be able to get some information and get out without attracting much attention.”

  “How do you plan to get him back?”

  “That’s where we’re hoping you will be able to help us. We think we can amplify your thoughts enough to send him specific information about how to get back.”

  “It’s worth a try at any rate. How long has he been over there?”

  “We plan to make the first contact with him after forty-eight hours have passed. That will be in a few hours. We’ll get you ready to send to him, and hopefully he’ll be in some type of mental state to receive what you send.”

  “Okay, sounds good.” The color returned to her face and she shot him a grateful look. “If I can do something for him, it makes it better, you know?”

  Ted smiled at her, “Try not to worry. Hopefulness will go a long way towards ultimate success.” She nodded.

  “Do you think he’ll be able to learn anything useful if we can get him back soon?”

  “We think so; we have some ways of enhancing memory, once we get him back. Anything he learns can be amplified we think.”

  She nodded, “You guys are just full of amazing mental enhancing skills.”

  “We had to be, remember we were just dabbling, taking our time until we stumbled upon how far their research had taken them. Afterwards, we played catch up for a number of years. We’re doing our best to keep it safe for all our subjects, but lately, we’ve realized that if we don’t move more quickly it won’t matter,” he threw out his hands in a hopeless gesture.

  “Can you be more specific about what you found out?”

  “We aren’t sure exactly, none of it is set in stone, but there are indications that they have a target date for mass annihilation.”

  “On the order of?”

  “Probably more than 95%.”

  “Of humanity?”
Ted nodded. “How?”

  “That’s where we need further research to be sure.”

  “You must have some idea about that.”

  “Some idea isn’t good enough. We need the specifics in order to have any hope of defeating their plan.”

  “When and how do you think? I mean you must have some idea.”

  “Not really.” He paused, then added, “They seem to think they can manage it without wrecking the planet at the same time. And we’ve gathered from some communication we’ve managed to intercept, that they feel confident about the viability of their post-apocalyptic plan. We just haven’t been able to find out the means. That’s where we’re hoping Hez will come back with something.”

  “If you’d told him maybe he could have gone in there looking for it.”

  “It’s too well guarded for anyone to approach it directly. If they even suspect someone is in the vicinity of their doomsday machine or whatever it is, they would just annihilate them.”

  “So you’ve already sent other people in?” He nodded. She bit her lip, “I just wish … well never mind, it doesn’t matter, we’re all in this together now. Maybe he’ll find out something and maybe we’ll be able to get him back.”

  “We will. We must.” Ted replied.

  *

  “What do you mean I’m stuck?” Hez demanded.

  “Listen,” Ewing’s voice dropped and his two eyes bored into those of the other man. “We have to figure out the safest way to maneuver. These people here, they don’t fool around. One wrong move and that’s it. I kid you not.”

  Hez blew out some air, “Why would you let yourself get involved with a situation like this?”

  “Why would you? Forget it, it’s not important. We have to work together now. Melton didn’t believe me when I told him you weren’t a spy. And that’s a problem, because the dude pretty much runs things around here.”

  “Did you tell him I came here from New Hampshire?”

  “No, I didn’t tell him much, but this room is probably bugged.

  If it is, they know everything any way. I never know what they know; I think that’s how they like it.”

  “Then we’re screwed anyway you look at it.”

  “No, there’s a way we can get some leverage.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They run tests on people, if you pass, you get to live, I think you could pass.”

  “Are you talking about that mind melting chair Melton tried to strap me into before? I told him I wasn’t going into the thing.” He gave the other man a skeptical look, “have you been in the thing?’

  Ewing shook his head, “They picked me because they knew my work. They said I was whatever they call it, Cripton-ready. It means primo homo sapiens, worthy to carry on.” Hez gave him a disgusted look. “Oh I know how Third Reich-ish it sounds, no doubt about it, but the thing is we’re here in this underground laboratory and we have to get along with their twisted ideology in order to survive.”

  “How long have you been here?”

  “A long time, almost a year.”

  “What about seeing your family, you ever get to do that?”

  Ewing grimaced, “My family tells people I’m doing research whenever anyone inquires. My agent thinks I’m holed up somewhere, writing my greatest epic ever.”

  “Does your wife know the truth?”

  “I don’t know how much she knows. We weren’t able to talk before they took me. I imagine they’re continuing to keep her terrorized one way or another. They’re good at tapping into people’s fears, and Samantha has a deep suspicion of all government agencies. Ever since our college days, she’s been that way. Maybe she knew it would come to setups like this one.”

  Hez shook his head, “So they found you in the United States and brought you over here?”

  “No I was doing a lecture tour in Europe. Samantha and I were sort of doing a second honey moon. I’ve become kind of a fad among younger European readers apparently. It was wonderful at first. We’d answer questions from young Parisians, Berliners, and others about dystopias and my thoughts about where humanity was headed. You know how college kids always dig those kinds of discussions. I was wrapping up the tour, was sitting in my hotel in Budapest, when they arrived. It was weird; the hotel concierge said some people were there to see me. He acted like it was no big deal, I guess those types always act like everything’s no big deal.”

  “Probably because everybody else is always making a big deal about stuff to them, “ Hez said.

  “Anyway, Samantha was out buying souvenirs and so they made their case to me. I couldn’t understand them at first. Their English was impeccable, but it was just so far outside of anything I’d ever encountered. I listened to them but the whole time I was thinking I’m calling the embassy as soon as these jerks get out of here. Instead after they were finished talking, I just left with them.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they got to me. You know how Melton gave you that routine about the pit with your worst nightmare?” Hez nodded. “They didn’t have a physical pit to show me of course, so instead they showed me a virtual pit I could be thrown into. They brought up some photos on their laptop that they had already manufactured,” His face grew white at the memory, “Terrible images of me and … anyway, I just realized that I was totally at their mercy. The best I could hope for was to try to spare Samantha and our kids the horror of seeing images like that spread over the internet.”

  “And that’s how you came to be here?”

  Ewing nodded, “Yeh, that’s my story. It wasn’t just that they could make pictures that didn’t look a bit photo shopped, that totally were, it was some hoodoo that they performed.”

  “Hoodoo?”

  “Yeh like making physical stuff morph. They explained to me how they were now the masters of the material because they’d figured out how to manipulate ordinary matter and my only chance of survival was to play along with them. Because in a very short amount of time, they were going to be the only game in town.”

  “So they could basically just kidnap a prominent writer off the street and there was no way to fight back?”

  “I couldn’t see any way. I think at first I was in shock, you know? It was all so bewildering. I thought well maybe I’ll get a handle on it later and get my life back.”

  “But you haven’t?”

  Ewing shook his head, “They weren’t speaking metaphorically when they said they were going to be the only game, soon they will be.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They’re going to come out to the world, soon announce that they’re the lords of creation or some jacked up shit, and that’s going to be that.”

  “What a nightmare.”

  “Yeh, because you know whatever these clowns are cooking up, it ain’t going to be anything good for most of humanity.”

  Hez nodded. “Geez, what if your room is bugged?”

  “I think they know I’m not their most enthusiastic recruit. One of these days, they’ll probably strap me into the magic chair and erase my memories. Sometimes I think that might even be a good thing. I wouldn’t miss Sam much, if I couldn’t remember her.”

  Hez grabbed him, “Don’t say that, you have to keep holding onto your … mind, your real self.”

  Richard shrugged, “Well, they really want me to persuade you to get into the chair, and I wish I could tell you Hez that I think you should hold out, but I really don’t think so. It’s a miracle they’re even offering you the chair instead of offing, upping whatever you want to call it.”

  “How can you say that?”

  “Because I have to. If I don’t talk you into it, they’ll force you in. You don’t have any great books that you’ve written to prove yourself. Not that mine are so great by any objective standards, but for some unknown reason, Melton’s a fan so I get to stay around at least for now.”

  “I told Melton and I’m telling you, there’s no way I’m getting into that chair willingly.”
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br />   “I think they were going to try to hold Ellie over you. They might not know that you know that she’s across the Atlantic. So tell them you don’t give a damn what they do to her. They might play some screams. They’ll sound like Ellie; they can pull what her voice really sounds like out of your head, even without the use of the chair. But if you hold out against that, that could impress them. I’m not saying it will, but it might. They appreciate cold heartedness, so maybe that would cause them to keep you around.”

  Hez nodded, “Okay, it’s worth a try.” He slapped Ewing on the arm, “Thanks, man” he said.

  “Don’t thank me yet. We’re still buried here in jungle land, you know?”

  “Yeh, maybe we’ll just wind up ‘wounded, not dead.’”

  “Here’s hoping,” Ewing smiled a grim smile. “They said they’d give you until tomorrow, but I think they’ll come for you tonight.”

  “Yeh well I’ll meet them.”

  “Make your honest stand.”

  They exchanged a look of true companionship, bound together by words from their younger lives. Later Hez would say that he knew from that moment on that neither he nor Ewing would ever get into that chair. They would die for the sake of understanding a song like that, because to live without the power of such a thing wasn’t any kind of a life anyhow. They spent the next few hours, listening to some other songs, drawn from many decades past. Most of them were rock songs, because Ewing’s uncle had schooled him in the genre in ways similar but not the same as Hez had schooled himself. They knew a lot of the same songs, though there were some that Hez barely knew; songs that veered more towards the really heavy metal type.

  Gran wasn’t typical of her generation in many ways, but she did have the usual leeriness of the satanic posturing of some heavy metal bands. When he tried to wheedle a copy of Highway to Hell out of her by arguing it was old school anyhow, she said, “Your dad got it when it was new. And I’m not saying that led him down the wrong road, but it certainly wasn’t pointing him in the right direction was it?” She bought him The White Stripes Album instead. “Best to stick with your times, kiddo,” she laughed when he reluctantly offered the title as his second choice.