A while later as they drove north through Georgia, they mapped out their route to the west - first deciding to leave the main transit in Atlanta, then proceed via Tennessee and Illinois before turning left through Iowa, South Dakota and Montana. Then they were to head due west through Wyoming and Idaho, and onto Oregon, before changing to a southerly direction taking them to northern California.
By the time they had reached the halfway point through Georgia en route to Atlanta, the authorities at Kennedy Space were on full alert to their absence and to the missing Torus. The recently appointed officer in charge of authentications had also advised the space center they had fugitives in their employ, but they had been too late to stop them.
Just before nine that night, Lyle and Jenna stopped at a motel on one of the old roads just outside of Springfield, Illinois.
“Lyle?” John was contacting them a short while later. “How did you go?”
“Like clockwork…thanks to Jenna. We are in Illinois.”
“I think we should turn your devices off. The authentications might give them a way to track you. When you get to California, give us a call. Even if I don’t answer straight away, I will get a message. How’s Jenna?”
“Fine…sleeping, she is exhausted.”
“OK. Tell her the news. We’ll talk when you get here.”
“Alright, until then.”
**********
Agent Eight was in a usual angry mood as he drove around northern California looking for Raynie and Jake. He had tracked them along the lonely road leading from Lassen Volcanic National Park into the lower altitudes towards the west. He was now relying on a rough idea they were in the area near Chico. As he entered the town from the east, the familiar scattered signal again showed they were moving and he realized he would need to maintain a vigilant chase if he was to apprehend them. He turned northwards, skirting the town, on an intercept course. His efforts to de-scramble their signal had proven useless, but his determination made him resolute in finding them.
He tracked them further north, passing through Siskiyou County, then further as they traveled on into Oregon. Onward relentlessly he followed them into Washington State and then saw the scattered signal approach the border with Canada. “I’ll get you there,” he said aloud, and he immediately contacted border authorities to give them orders to apprehend the two fugitives. Unbeknown to him, John had contacted The Fixture to arrange a meeting just south of the border inside the United States.
He watched the signal continuously with growing hatred, leaving his vehicle to drive itself. This time there would be not even a morsel of remorse. If he found them and they led him to others, he would then kill them. They were of no more use anyway. All he wanted was to find the leaders of their organisation or whatever it was, so he could claim a grand prize. ‘Then,’ he thought, ‘that supervisor bitch will take me seriously.’
The Fixture had no trouble crossing through the border controls. He had sufficient technology to pass through unhindered, using a dummy chip with fake Canadian credentials. He was waiting for the others at a café just a few miles into the United States. Ten minutes later the John, Raynie, and Jake arrived. “Nice to see you again,” he said shaking John’s hand. “Ah, you must be Raynie,” he shook her and. “And Jake. Nice to meet you. Let’s not waste any time.”
The Fixture led them outside to his vehicle, parked at the rear of the café, “Get in.” All four adults entered and sat down in his vehicle. “This is going to hurt a bit,” he said as he prepared the same instrument he had used to remove the chips from Tobias and John. “But…I’m sure a little bit of pain is worth it to you.”
“Sure is, we hate these bloody things,” Jake replied. “Do Raynie first.”
The Fixture positioned the extraction instrument and slowly inserted the end of it into her arm. She winced and let out a small cry as the instrument dug into her tissue and pulled the chip out.
“There it is,” he said showing her the tiny chip held by the claw like end of the instrument. “Now Jake.” He did the same for Jake, who also winced but remained silent. “OK, you are now free, but we have one more thing to.”
Agent Eight was closing in - he was five miles from border control.
“Now I need to destroy these little bastards,” The Fixture told them. He took out the small kiln he used to destroy the chips, and powered it up. “We can only kill them with high heat. OK, say bye bye to your chips.”
They both said ‘bye bye and good riddance’ as The Fixture placed them inside and shut the cover. Within a few seconds, the chips were dead. “You can relax now.” Raynie and Jake both had a little laugh, as they now felt happy to be free of the chips and of the dreaded Agent Eight.
As the signal disappeared completely from the holographic readout, Agent Eight did exactly the opposite to Raynie and Jake. He almost had them and now all evidence of them was gone. He exploded unable to control himself as he saw his dreams smashed. He swore and swore as his mind twisted and his body did the same. His vehicle continued to drive on until it stopped at border control. He got out unable to contain himself, continuing his cursing and attracting the attention of others at the location. They watched as he lost his composure more and more. They saw him end up on the ground twisting and rolling about like a madman. They saw him finally get up seething. An officer approached him to see what the problem was, and Agent Eight shot him dead. He began shooting at others indiscriminately, sending them dashing for cover, and then he turned the weapon on himself, for a brief moment wanting to blast his own head into oblivion.
He hesitated and as he did so, four military officers who had rushed to the scene, took the opportunity to seize him. He had now become a prisoner of the system, and so they took him away to be detained and to be charged with murder. Agent Eight had lost, his megalomania being his downfall.
**********
When they reached Chico, Lyle tried his holographic phone to contact John, and by chance, he answered, “Hello Lyle, where are you?”
“In Chico, where are you?
“Same.”
“Good. Come to the Northern Café in the center of town. As soon as we finish this talk, reset your device and wipe everything.”
“Will do. See you soon.”
“See you soon. We have quite a tale to tell you.”
Chapter 33
After the Reno event, operations at HAARP had increased to a level where the installation was abuzz with military personnel and their accompany machines. The Radome was constantly in action and the antenna array was now permanently switched on. The specialized team had taken charge of proceedings, completing all readiness tasks for the booster system to be fully operational. They were the only personnel at the site, who were aware of what was about to happen, and most were feeling anticipation about the power they were about to unleash, whilst others still had some apprehension.
Little did the public realize they were about to have their lives changed forever. Soon, their individuality would dissipate - their freedom of choice would be gone, and their daily lives would become a product of whatever the authorities decided. Now, it was only a matter of days until this would all come into effect and people around the world would begin to be entirely at the mercy of just a very few. This agenda suited those in government through Asia, through Africa, across the Middle East, throughout Europe and Britain, in all of the Americas, and in the Pacific nations. Society had evolved to include too much choice and too much uncertainty, despite the authorities gradually manifesting seizure of market and consumer control, out of sight of the many. The way ahead was for a trans-human world – a world where people became part machine and they had the machines to make it happen, to change human evolution, and ultimately to control minds.
Secretly hidden at military bases across the United States and in all other countries, machines designed to re-enforce the new state of law and order, lay idle, waiting to be initialized, waiting to impose. Any sense of individuality was their target and s
oon they would be deployed to wean out those seen as dissidents, to wean out the last filament of self, and to bring in the new method of compliance.
He watched her looking at him with a look of utter contempt on her face. Agent Eight sat there with a bland face free from any expression, his natural way of being anyway. Superior Officer One could barely speak, so enraged she was with his failure. All she had were four names, and they would do everything they could to avoid identification. They were basically at square one and this infuriated her.
She did not care for Agent Eight in the past, and she cared even less now. He looked like a pathetic little man whose dreams had been shattered and she wanted to make sure it was true. She herself had superiors to report to and Agent Eight’s failure was, in part, her responsibility. She despised him for this as she considered how it might affect her own status, fearing she might be relocated lower down within the high rise.
For a moment she reconsidered her position, longing for the sanctity at home when she listened to music, but she quickly was past this and began shouting at him, “What a bloody useless waste of space you are! In fact, I have a good mind to send you there and open the airlocks. Then I will be utterly free of you forever!”
“You have been charged with murdering an officer of the military, and whilst your pathetic little dreams of power may have enabled you to consider murder as just part of your work, when it comes to the military, you are very much mistaken. What to do with you? I am at a loss. You are to face charges for your major bloody stuff up, and personally, I hope they give you the longest prison sentence they can think of.” She fell silent for a few minutes to consider what she could do.
“I have no reason to come to your defense. None! And…nor will I. I am going to recommend you serve your sentence as far away from me, from this…as possible.”
“What do you...?” Agent Eight began.
“Shut up you little bastard! I do the talking now. Only me. Let me think about what I can do to get rid of you.” She fell silent again, this time for longer.
“I know! I am going to recommend you serve your sentence a long way from here. Fortunately for you there is a little flexibility in how you are to be treated, but just a little. What use are you sitting in prison wasting time and money? None. In fact, you are barely any use at all! But…you can be assigned for rehabilitation.” This last statement weighed heavily on Agent Eight. He had never seen himself in need of rehabilitation.
“The authorities have no room, no space, and no bloody use for little idiots like you! But…there is one option, just one.” Agent Eight knew what was coming.
“Yes. Space! That is where I will send you. Far, far away into space. Then I can be free of your smarmy little mouth and free of you pathetic little brain. You don’t deserve it. If I had my way entirely I would just throw you away, but I cannot. The authorities in their ever vigilant view of efficient practice would not like you wasting away in jail and wasting money, so space it is. Get yourself ready you bastard. You are going in two days. Yes two days until I am rid of you for good. I’m sending you to the Asteroid Belt – the furthest asteroid I can find will be your new home. Do you like that? I expect not! Well tough! Your pathetic inability to carry out such a simple job has earned you desolation. And don’t think you will be in charge of anything when you get there, because you won’t. We have just the job for you…if you can manage not to screw that up as well. How does the sound of being a guard appeal to you? None, I expect. Then good! The last thing I want is for you to feel good, or whatever it is you feel. Now get out of my sight – I don’t ever want to see you again. Guards! Take this pathetic piece of rubbish to Edwards, and throw him on a spacecraft.”
Agent Eight hated her for this. He hated her almost more than he could imagine hatred, and he immediately began planning his escape from the asteroids. The guards then seized his arms and took Agent Eight away as ordered. Within forty-eight hours he would be beyond Earth’s atmosphere on his way to the Asteroid Belt.
**********
Finally, they were all together again. The adversity of recent weeks had taken a toll on their spirit – Chan had told them they that it was a test of their tenacity. As they discussed the Reno event and its repercussions, they fell silent for a few minutes thinking of Ryan. He had given them his undivided commitment to aiding their cause and his death weighed heavy on their hearts. Despite only having known him for a short time, they had connected with him and his insights through his meditations. Chan was the only person present who had never met Ryan, but he too felt saddened at his passing. “We must understand that in life, many are given to the afterlife so as to aid the growth of others. We should show him the respect so deserving for his positive affirmations and commitment to the progression of awareness, and not let his passing go un-noticed in our spirits.”
“Afterlife?” Asper asked him.
“Yes, there are those amongst us who hold a strong connection to this energy.”
“But there is no proof of anything like an afterlife…”
“Indeed, there is no proof. Life has become a tirade of focusing on proof as a way to conceptualize our meaning, but as you all now, proof can be a very malleable thing. And at times I question my beliefs and this leaves me no closer to a decision, but if I am to understand my truths, the afterlife becomes a notion of feeling. There is no evidence, no proof of such things – it is a case so much of wait and see…hmm, or feel.”
They all had dinner together on the first evening of reunion, part as a celebration of Ryan’s life – they at least owed him that, and in part as a way to reconnect.
When the dawn came, Chan said they might focus on the remnant energies from Ryan – the energies he had given them. They all decided it was best not to watch of any news, not to think of the recent devastations wrought upon so many innocent people, and not to think of what might happen in the future.
“It will give us energy to be in the now moment, to be in our present hearts and minds, and to focus more on anything we see or feel as an intuition,” he said.
Then he turned to Jenna and told her she must show them the Torus. “It is time. We were not of mind to discuss this last night for our focus on Ryan was a requirement for our further intuitions.”
Jenna revealed the Torus to all present. They just stared at it, the magnificence of it being a diamond fashioned into a perfectly smooth object with inscriptions seeming to be just below its’ exterior surface, began to have an impact. Even in this relatively benign state it worked magic upon their hearts, lifting their spirits further.
“Chan. You told us in China that you were unaware of the Torus being an actual object and we felt you were referring to it as something we each hold within us.”
“Indeed. Your understanding at that time meant that it was best you did not see it as an object for it could then have tempted you into thinking of it as an object of affection. It is not an object of affection. It is beautiful and ever so pleasing to the eye, and my intuitions at that time told me for you to see it as an object of meaning, of activation, and so much part of all of you. Since that time, you have all experienced events bringing you to this place where you are able to view the Torus. The Torus represents cycles of life. Do you understand?”
“Um...a little,” Lorraine said being the first to reply. The others agreed.
“When I speak to you John, and you Tobias, and to you Asper, and to you Lorraine, I am of the heart that even though you were not involved with the journey like the others, I am feeling you have been brought here to this time from a journey whilst not apparently similar, yet very similar. It is based on your expectations and on your hearts’ intentions. Do you understand this?” They all nodded in agreement. “Good. Now we must continue and we have much to do.”
“But the Torus looks…um, deactivated if anything,” Lorraine said.
“Believe me, it is not. Its’ very discovery is part of the activation process so commenced by your friends here.” Chan looked at R
aynie, Lyle, Jenna, and Jake in turn with a look on his face reminiscent of similar times where he advised them during travel along the Silk Road route. They each had a feeling, a gut feeling, that Chan was saying a lot more to them than his words indicated.
“It is important for us all to understand now that very much more needs to be done.” Without giving anyone a chance to ask why, he continued. “Those who also seek the Torus do not really know why, and fortunate for us, they found it for us. They appear to have a limited knowledge and this was sufficient for them to play a part in its activation, through its discovery. From there, they have no idea what it means or how it works, but…they do know it is significant. And…such minds residing in limited understanding are still affected greatly by the ego and so they would try to manipulate the Torus for their own ends…to satisfy their ego.”
“Can the Torus stop them?” John asked
“No. It is not the place for the Torus to choose. Negativity is the way of their egos. Such a view is not correct. They can though, use it to enhance their power, but in a limited sense. Think if you will of the saying that human beings only use a certain percentage or part of their brain. Well this is often true, for many who are afflicted with this condition, are ruled by the brain, and so miss almost all of the connection it has with their heart.”
“We have overlooked one major aspect of this Tours,” Jenna said, thinking she was changing the direction of the conversation a little. “How did it get to be on the Moon, um in the Moon?”
Chan sensed the ambiguity behind the question for indeed it had crossed the minds of all present, other than Chan. “It is not so much away from what you have learned. It is not removed from your sense of material things either. It is a case of both, in harmony.” Still Jenna showed a little confusion, also mirrored on the faces of the others.
First Light: Book one of the Torus Saga Page 37
