First Light: Book one of the Torus Saga

by Berg, Michael

  “Are they stones? Tablets? Carvings? Crystals? And what is it about vortex amplifiers – what are they?’

  “The amplifiers can increase the energies in vortexes and create a means to harness or use these energies. And no. Not crystals or the like. Some information is written and others are figures with coding as pictograms.”

  “This sounds a bit last century to me,” Jenna said. “A bit like mythology.”

  “No, not myth,” Chan replied. “This is true. Knowledge is only held by some.”

  “Why haven’t we heard of this before?” Lyle enquired.

  “They say nothing. Why would they? Such things make them rich, powerful.”

  “Sounds like the old oil cartels and the manipulation of information for new energy that took place during this century. I have researched all that as part of my job at Berkley.” The coffee pot sounded and Jenna left to go fetch it from the kitchen.

  “Is there any cultural significance to this?” Lyle asked. “Something in legend?”

  “No. Not really,” Chan replied. “Some of this is from old China long before their development at the start of this century. Other is found in different countries. Spread across the globe.”

  “Do they have teams working on this?”

  “Yes, teams. Some are even already experimenting with technology to try to make it work. But they fail so far. They only know so much. And the others are trying similar – they are a dark group.”

  Jenna returned with the coffee pouring them each a cup. “I heard you from the kitchen talking about technology experiments. I have worked on some complex ideas in the past few years. What are you talking about?”

  “I cannot say precisely,’ Chan answered. “I know only a piece of the puzzle.”

  “Where are these pieces?” Lyle asked intrigued from his career-based perspective.

  “I do not know all of them, only some. Some are secrets in China, other in US, and other places. That is all I know.”

  “Where in China?” Lyle recalled a recent trip to the Asian conglomerate of nations.

  “Near Dunhuang. Gobi desert.”

  “I have not been there. Dunhuang, I must look it up.”

  “Yes do. I know I can trust you. I could sense that when you rescued me and I am sure you are the ones I am meant to meet. There are ancient caves of faith on the old Silk Road. Go there. You might find something.”

  “Really, why do you trust us?” Jenna asked.

  “I was told that I would meet two people here in San Francisco today who could help.”

  “How would anyone know it would be us?”

  “No person is certain on that. My inner being senses told me it was you when we met. You were sitting by the Demon and in the statue is a small clue, and since I saw you talking about it, I figured it must be you. Sometimes life events just lead you to wherever you are meant to be…without question. I have experience with this and now I am experiencing it again with you.”

  “That’s a bit sketchy,” Lyle added.

  “So be it,” Chan replied. “But I take a chance you see.”

  “Well. Maybe that was a good chance to take. I study culturally significant sites and Jenna here is a propulsion scientist.”

  “See, good idea to come with you. Go to Dunhuang and look about the old town.”

  “How will we know who to ask?” Jenna enquired. “The entire thing sounds vague. Why would we even embark on such a journey?”

  “This choice is yours, but I can sense you are already giving it great consideration. If you travel to Dunhuang, find a man as I said in old town. Then look for tattoo on left side of face. Dragon head tattoo. He will help you.”

  “What about the events in the US? And why should we do this? It is all very sudden and seems a bit unreal?”

  “Alaska. Experiment station built right on top of clue to this puzzle. The authorities know this site is special. They just don’t know what for. And please, do not see this as ‘unreal’ as you say. It is very real and I am confident you can help.”

  “So what details do you know?” asked Lyle.

  “I can tell you just this.” He handed him a piece of paper with some Chinese style lettering. “First you translate. But only some know translation. This not traditional Chinese. Believe this is right. This is not about computers or machines we have today or have ever had. It is information that when all details come to light, then those with information can find this energy. And the Song peoples in China had a spirit in life relevant to this understanding. This too is relevant. Perhaps research the Song to discover more.”

  “More coffee?” Jenna offered.

  “No thanks,” Chan replied. “I must go and tell others of this meeting and what happened to my friend.”

  “Is that dangerous? What others?”

  “Yes, a lot of danger, but it must be done, otherwise this effort is all in vain. These other people are working to help prevent this information coming to light for the authorities in not only this country, but also in China and elsewhere.”

  “Do you have a copy of this code?” Lyle waved the piece of paper toward Chan.

  “Yes some information, but not here. It comes to light for those who are aware of understanding. You go to Dunhuang, seek dragon head tattoo on left side of face. He will tell if you can help. We have people watching. We must be sure to keep it secret. There are dark others too who are not the authorities.”

  “Don’t worry, we are not authorities, or the others,” Lyle said smiling at Chan.

  “I go now.” Chan got up and Jenna showed him to the door. Even though it was getting late, from the position on the hill looking back towards the city center, a throng of people and traffic could still be seen.

  “Where will you go?” she asked him.

  “Down Hyde Street to the bay. Someone will come get me.”

  Chan left keeping to the shadows as he made his way downhill towards the water’s edge. An historic cable car passed him by, bells chiming as it then made a stop just past him. Two men got out looking the street up and down and this made Chan feel very nervous. He hid himself deep in the shadows of an apartment block main entrance for a few minutes until the men had moved on, and then quietly and quickly traveled the remaining half-mile down to the bay. Here he made contact with an associate and was quickly taken inside an old warehouse nearby Fisherman’s Warf where he then boarded a high speed boat without lights taking him out over the water past Alcatraz to be lost in the darkness.

  *************

  Jake stared at the carved stone he held in his hand, his thoughts lost to theories and information he and Raynie had been going over for the past couple of hours. His eyes rested on some very small inscriptions that appeared to be Chinese lettering. ‘These I just cannot figure,’ he thought to himself. Raynie was taking a shower, so he was alone in the kitchen. ‘A stone located here in Australia with Chinese lettering?’ He thought of the research he had undertaken in the past six months recalling how some information was about coding of some type and how it was sourced at various special sites. ‘Why was this site potentially one of those?’ he asked himself. It seemed co-incidental where the very place they had chosen to meet could be one of these sites. ‘Why this place?’ he asked himself again. Thoughts and ideas were tumbling around in his mind and he was not sure if it was beginning to actually confuse himself. Then he recalled their talk last night and the idea that someone must be ‘aware’ in order to decipher any of this stuff. ‘Aware of what?’ he wondered.

  “You look deep in thought,” Raynie said entering the kitchen.

  “Well yes. But at least now we have something tangible to work with,” he replied. “It is a start, but what to do next?”

  “You know, Lyle might be able to help us. He’s due in Australia anytime now.”

  “Yeah, he might shed some light with all his work on cultural sites, but I have a hint this might even be somewhat beyond him. Well...at least to some extent.”

  “You know we we
re to meet him in Sydney, but with all this snow, I think we might be stuck here for a few days longer. I think we should bring him in on all this stuff now. He can help us I’m sure.”

  “Hmm…the thought had crossed my mind. To bring him in on it I mean.”

  “Good idea all up. Maybe we should call him. See what he is up to or where he is?”

  Lyle’s Holographic Phone sounded, “Hi. Lyle here.”

  “Hello Lyle. It’s Raynie, how are you?” A three dimensional image of her appeared resonating over the device.

  “Raynie. So good to see you! I am great. How are you?”

  “Same here. Always good where I come from. Where are you? On your way to Sydney?” HyperJets were equipped to take calls at any time.

  “Um…no. I am in San Francisco.”

  “San Francisco. Whatever for?”

  “Well, I met this person during descent from space…the space station. We struck up a bit of a friendship and sort of hooked up. I am at her place now.”

  “Ah…her place?”

  “Yes. Her name is Jenna. Jenna Atkinson.”

  “Is she nice?”

  “Very nice. And…we have just had a very interesting time together.”

  “I don’t really want the details…”

  “Nothing like that. We have been talking about some very interesting stuff and met a strange man. A Chinese guy called Chan Lee. He gave us some odd information.”

  “Odd?”

  “Yes odd. Information about some coding tied in with energy forces.”

  “That barely makes sense.”

  “I know. It barely makes sense to us, but there is something in it worth a further look.”

  “Say again, codes and forces?” Raynie stopped and thought for a moment to consider what she was just told.

  “I reckon you and Jake might like it, considering the research you guys have been doing.”

  “Well, we are stuck in snow here. Biggest storm in years so we cannot get to Sydney right now anyway. Would be at least two or three days. Most arterial transit lines near here are blocked.”

  “Yeah. I’m going to stay here with Jenna a couple more days. We’ll think about this stuff we have just been given and decide what to do with it. Hang on a minute.”

  Jenna interrupted his call. “I’m not due back for a while. We have a top priority project on but I asked for some leave, just to have a chance to get my head clear.”

  “Hey Raynie. Jenna just told me she has some time off work, so yeah, I’ll stay here a few more days yet.”

  “That’s OK. We can meet up in a week say. Jake and I have something to work on.”

  “OK.”

  “Right, we’ll call you in three days and make some solid plans.”

  “Sounds good. Looking forward to seeing you guys. Bye for now.”

  “Bye sweetie.” Raynie ended the call and switched to the online video news to get an update. The device changed mode to show a newsreader giving updates on both situations - the explosions and the storm. After a minute or two of viewing, she decided there was nothing new on either front and switched off.

  “Any news?” Jake asked her looking up from where he had just stoked the fire with more wood.

  “Strange. Lyle is San Francisco and has met someone called Jenna Atkinson. They were given some information he thinks we might be interested in. He is staying there a few more days and I told him we would meet in a week.”

  “In Sydney?”

  “Yes.”

  “What info?”

  “Something very much like what we are looking at here.”

  “Really! We need all the help we can get. I have been going over this stuff in my head again and again and not getting far. What I can’t figure is the reason why this stone would be here. Nothing explains it. See the inscriptions here just under this pictogram? It looks Chinese.”

  “Perhaps Lyle can shed some light. He said he, and Jenna met this Chinese guy Chan Lee who gave them the information they have.”

  “You’re right. We should leave it until then.”

  “Good idea and you know another idea? We could go for a ski again. The sky has cleared a lot and there are only flurries of snow now. Let’s go out and have some fun.” They put their ski gear back on and headed back outside from the kitchen, making way to the gate at the back of the house, to the open fields beyond.

  Chapter 5

  John and Tobias were flying high over the Dixon Entrance just south of Prince of Wales Island and were making good time with their flight. The sky was crystal clear with stars and a half moon making for an almost metallic gleam off the ocean waters thousands of feet below. Green light illuminated the scene from above as the Aurora Borealis made a light show in the sky and both men were now used to the smell of the old Beaver’s engine. “I love those lights,” John said as they both gazed at the spectacle above them. “We’ll be out of US air space soon.”

  “Strange they show this far south.”

  “You have a point there, but I have seen some unusual activity coming out of solar weather readings online. Maybe they are a result of a large solar flare.”

  “What about interference from the flare?” Tobias asked.

  “Hey, where is your head? The place you’ve just been working at provides shielding for this type of thing nowadays.”

  “Oh yeah. Slipped my mind for a bit. All this action has left me a little dumbfounded.”

  “I’ll put the Beaver down at Port Hardy then we’ll make it to Vancouver by road from there. I estimate we have about four hours flying time left so we should arrive around six in the morning. A friend of mine can hide the plane for us just in case anyone comes looking.”

  “Been trying to figure why those guys wanted to arrest me so badly, still have no answers. It is not like I was privy to any sensitive information up there. I just was a station operations guy. You know, flick switches on and off, monitor the array, and make a few commands.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up over it mate. I reckon like we said earlier - they just want you to cover their own backsides. Anyone with any details on the place is never let go lightly, and with these detonations happening I guess you had to make some adjustments to the array.”

  “Yeah. I had to tell Norway to upscale their frequency to. Up to eleven Schumann.”

  “Eleven. Man that is high. I reckon something else is going on. Eleven could almost interfere with anything. Was there a terrestrial reflection, some wide spectrum spread?”

  “No. It was a straight beam up, with no cover for land based systems. I suppose a frequency like that might have damaged their systems as well. And what about this nuclear thing off California? I wonder what it is all about.”

  “No idea, but it has to have something to do with those mid west bombs. Sounds like there is some heavy stuff going down.”

  “You’re telling me. And now we are both in on it. Sorry mate.”

  “No problem, I did want some action, been a little quiet up there recently, but maybe this is too much action.”

  “So what you going to do?”

  “I’m coming with you. There is nothing back there for me now. The authorities will put a trace on me, so I should hide this plane. Poor old Beaver, has served me well, but someone else will find a use for her.” A signal on the flight control dashboard told them they had reached Canadian air space. “I’ll leave this thing on,” John said tapping his radar scrambler. “It is likely the US are going to be all over Canadian air control to track us.”

  “Will they be able to?”

  “Not if I can help it.” He turned the plane to the left. “I’ll take us down to three thousand feet over the Hecate Strait and hug the east coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands.”

  High above them at over fifty thousand feet, a squadron of military HyperJets headed northward towards Palmer in Alaska, with their lights making a diamond shape as they flew in formation.

  Three hours later they could see the northern tip of Vancouver Isla
nd as dawn’s first light caressed the snow capped peaks of the Coastal Mountains on the mainland of Canada. “We should be at Port Hardy within the hour,” John said taking the plane even lower to an altitude just under two thousand feet. “I’ll radio ahead to my friend there and tell him we are coming.” He engaged the plane’s radio, the first time he had used it the entire flight. “This is Old Beaver, come in Sound Man.”

  “Sound man?” Tobias was curious.

  “Yep. We use call signs up here. Saves giving away our registration number or name.” He went back to the radio, “Come in Sound Man.”

  Almost a minute passed. “This is Sound Man. You’re up early Old Beaver. What can I do for you? And…what you doing in these parts?”

  “Um…we have had to leave somewhat in a hurry. Can you help us?”

  “Sure Old Beaver. Fly on in. When are you arriving?”

  “About forty minutes Sound Man. I’ll bring her down just up the valley from your position.”

  “OK. Copy that Beaver. See you then.”

  “All good,” John said turning to Tobias. “We call him Sound Man because he spends so much time out in the sounds fishing. I guess you know about the Beaver.”

  “Yeah. Figured that one.”

  The plane came down with a hard bump and John strained the controls to bring it to a halt in time before they hit the rock face looming up in front of them. He cut the engine and made a turn with the last of the plane’s momentum as they rolled along the gravel bar.

  “Nice landing,” Tobias said, glad they had made it safely.

  “Pretty run of the mill,” laughed John knowing what Tobias was going through. “Most passengers who only travel Beaver Air now and then say that. I’ll just grab my little gadget and we’ll be off.”

  “There’s Sound Man over there,” John said as he pointed over to the left where he could be seen standing in front of a small clump of trees. Both men had disembarked the plane and had been looking around for almost a minute.