“Not sure, Captain. It appears to have been a power surge of some kind.”
The captain hailed the engineering section.
“Engineering, why did my lights dim just now?”
“Not sure, sir. We’re running a diagnostic on the system now.”
“Keep me posted.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Lieutenant, take us out of this orbit and back to our previous position one-hundred miles above the surface.”
“Aye, Captain. Adjusting orbital position now.”
As the lieutenant tried to comply with the captain’s orders, the ship’s lights dimmed again. This time, however, the shields and cloaking device started to fail as the previously undetected problem with the ionic propulsion tubules plasma seal weakened further. The lieutenant noticed this first.
“Captain! Our shields are going off-line and the cloaking device is failing! We are becoming visible to the planet below!”
The captain stood up from his command chair.
“Get us out of here now!” he barked with a controlled edge to his voice. But it was too late, for at that moment the ionic propulsion tubules completely ruptured, causing a catastrophic failure of the shields, cloaking device and engines!
Chapter 14
Ravenglass Village, England
October, 1480 A.D.
Five years had passed since the dreams and his experience in the cave. Since that night Will had not experienced anymore of the same dreams. Will was now eighteen and an adult. He still lived with his family and helped his father on the farm. Will’s father had mentioned to him a few times that he was old enough to start looking for a wife and starting a family of his own. Each time this was mentioned Will had told his father he was not ready for marriage yet.
The truth was that Will sensed it would not be long before he would be called to fulfill his destiny, no matter what or where that was, and he knew that it would not be fair to start a family when he knew his life lay in another direction.
Will’s strength, muscularity and speed continued to develop at an astonishing rate, as did his mental abilities and intelligence. He could now read, write, and speak more than five-hundred languages, and he could perform and solve extremely complex mathematical and scientific equations in his head. His physical dexterity and concentration were superb.
He had mastered the use of all manner of weapon - broadsword, bow and arrow, knife - and his accuracy and marksmanship were unnatural, even preternatural. His armed and unarmed fighting skills were second to none.
Although he knew he needed to be patient, he was slowly becoming impatient, and if the Elders did not make contact with him soon, he would have to consider his father’s suggestion of getting married and making his way in the world.
His brother Edward was fourteen now and had a strong back and broad shoulders like Will and his father. He and his brother often talked into the night, but Will could never bring himself to reveal to his brother what had happened in the cave that night. Nor could he bring himself to tell his brother of his abilities as he was afraid that Edward would be fearful of him.
Will knew that he would have to bear the burden of his destiny by himself without support from his family.
Planet Altrusia
Portak sat in quiet solemnity and concentration. All preparations had been made regarding the Terran. Portak knew it was time. He closed his eyes in concentration.
Ravenglass Village, England
October, 1480 A.D.
Will was sleeping soundly after a long day of back breaking work on the farm. As the night wore on, Will became restless. Will had just turned over onto his back when he once again started dreaming about the cave and the inscriptions again. However, this time it was slightly different. This time it felt so real, it was as if he were physically standing at the mouth of the cave as he had been that night five years earlier. He placed his hand on the symbols and the cave opened as before; he could feel the touch of the cold rock face under his fingers and the solid ground he was standing on in his dream. This time when he entered the cave, he saw the being who had previously contacted him standing before him.
“Good evening, Terran,” said Portak.
“Good evening,” replied Will. “Who are you?”
“My name is Portak, Terran. What is yours?”
“I am Will Essex.
Portak nodded. “It is time, Will Essex of Terra, to travel to the coordinates that I gave you five Terran years ago. Have you determined their location on your planet?”
“Yes. The location is in the Himalayan mountain chain. It is a long distance from my shores. I’m assuming that part of the test is being able to make my way there?”
“Yes, you are correct in that regard,” answered Portak.
Will simply nodded in affirmation.
“Then, I shall make preparations to travel to that part of the world as soon as possible,” Will said.
Portak replied, “When you arrive at the elevation I gave you, which is to be reached from the south face of the mountain, you will find a portal similar to the one you found that night five years ago. Follow the instructions you find there exactly as they are written. Once you enter the portal, there is no going back. You will be tested in several disciplines once you are there. The trials will not be easy, I can assure you.”
Will nodded. He had not expected any of this to be easy.
Portak continued, “I must warn you: the challenges you will face will require you to use both your physical and mental skills. There is a good chance that you could be killed as you navigate through each obstacle. If you choose not to do this, it is your choice. But, once you make your decision, there is no turning back.”
“I’ve already made my decision.” The look on Will’s face told Portak that he would face the challenges. “If permitted, I do have a few questions to ask of you.”
Portak hesitated, and then said, “Ask your questions. I will answer what I choose.”
Will nodded. “What am I?” he asked, making reference to the mental and physical abilities he possessed.
Portak paused and then simply answered, “A mutant born five-thousand years ahead of his time.”
The look on Will’s face indicated to Portak that he was confused by the term.
“Once every millennia, a child is born somewhere in the universe with aberrant or mutated genes. Your mutated genes imbued you with the physical and mental skills that you possess. The mutated genes that are present in each cell of your body are such that no one on your planet should have been born with your skills and abilities for at least another five-thousand of your planet’s years.”
“Has there ever been anyone else like me on my planet?” Will asked.
“No,” Portak replied.
“What happens if I pass the challenges I must face?”
Instead of answering his question Portak said, “If you pass the challenges, all of your questions will be answered. For now I cannot answer any more of your queries.”
Will nodded. “Then I will begin making preparations immediately. One last question: when I arrive at the base of this mountain, how will I know where to begin my ascent?”
“There will be an obelisk shaped rock formation to guide you. Good luck, Will Essex of Terra. You will need it.”
Portak then vanished from Will’s dream, and Will woke up in bed. Will knew that he must get some rest as his arduous journey would begin soon. He hoped that he would be up to whatever challenges he would have to face. With that, Will turned over and drifted off to a restful sleep.
***
A few days later, Will told his family that he had made a decision to leave home and start his own life. They were a little shocked that he had made this decision so quickly. He did not share the entire truth with them, especially of his contact with Portak or where he was headed. Instead he told them that he had decided to become a merchant seaman. He left for London within the week and would be part of a crew on a spice ship.
“Will, answer me truthfully: Shall I ever see you again?” she asked, as tears flowed like water from her eyes.
Will sighed deeply before answering her. “I honestly don’t know, Mother.”
His mother nodded her head and dabbed at her eyes with the sleeve of her dress.
“I’ve always known this day would come; that you would leave this place and seek your own way in the world. You will always be special to me, Will, and I shall miss you dearly.” She paused and then continued. “But, I know that your future does not lie in this place, and that you must find it far away from here. I know that you shall seek your destiny in a way that I cannot possibly understand. I just pray that I shall have the chance to see you again before I die.”
With that said she hugged Will tightly, kissed him on the forehead, and left his room.
As she left, tears fell from Will’s eyes. Will finished packing and tried to sleep, but his mind was flooded with too many thoughts for that to happen.
***
The next morning Will ate breakfast and bade his family farewell. His mother made him take a loaf of bread and some cheese with him for when he got hungry later. Over the years Will had managed to save most of the money he had earned unloading cargo from the ships coming into the port of Ravenglass. He left half of the money he had earned in a bag, along with a note for his parents to use the money as they saw fit, on his bed, and took the other half with him for his travel and other expenses.
Will began his voyage by walking towards the harbor in Ravenglass Village. He turned and looked at his family and home one last time. He then headed towards a large three-masted ship berthed at the end of the nearest pier. He had managed to secure passage on an eastbound spice ship heading towards London as a deckhand. Once they arrived in London, the ship would take on additional cargo, and would leave England three days later.
His journey had begun.
Chapter 15
Clandestine Anti-Aircraft Battery Placement
Near Stuttgart, Germany
August 1942
Corporal Freling had just gotten up to stretch his legs and take a smoke break. As he lit up his cigarette and slowly blew out a puffy white cloud in front of his face, he looked up in the sky, and for a second he thought he saw an object appear and disappear a couple times high above him. He blinked and rubbed his eyes and initially attributed it to the sun playing tricks on his eyes. However, after this phenomenon happened for the third time, he called to Sergeant Klausmann to come and take a look.
“Eric, come and take a look at this!”
“What is it, Johann? Are you seeing things again?” he asked jokingly.
“No, I’m serious! I think I just saw some type of aircraft directly above our position at about twenty-five thousand feet.”
At the mention of the possibility of an aircraft, Klausmann came over to Freling’s position and looked skyward to where Freling was pointing out where he had last seen the object in the sky.
After looking for almost a minute, Klausmann finally said, “Johann, have you been hitting the schnapps this early and didn’t offer me a drink? Next time you had bett…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Klausmann also saw the object in the sky appear and then disappear a couple of times.
“Mein Gott! What the hell was that? Go find Captain Goerner and advise him that we may have an enemy plane…or something…in the sky above us. Schnell!”
”Jawohl!”
Freling ran inside of the bivouac to find Captain Goerner to advise him of the situation. He found him in the small mess hall and advised him of the situation.
Heinrich began preparing the 105 mm cannon in case it was needed, while keeping an eye on the aircraft in the sky. Just then, it came fully into view and started plummeting towards Earth.
Krelian Research Vessel
“Lieutenant, get those engines back online now! Engineering, what the hell is happening here? We’re losing power to the shields, engine and cloaking device!”
“Sir,” came the excited voice over the shipboard communications system, “it appears there’s been a catastrophic failure of the ionic propulsion tubules! They have corrupted the main power core and taken the shields and cloaking device off-line!”
“Can you fix it?”
A pause, then. “Not in time to stop us from crash landing on the planet below.”
The captain was silent for a moment as he weighed his options, and then he barked his orders.
“Lieutenant! Sound battle stations! Have everyone on board prepare for crash landing! Communications, send out a distress signal! Security officer, make ready with shoulder and hand held weapons in case we are boarded or are able to evacuate! Prepare for impact in less than three minutes!”
Clandestine Anti-Aircraft Battery Placement
Captain Goerner, along with about a dozen of the men stationed at the encampment, came out in time to see the unknown craft falling rapidly towards Earth. He raised his binoculars to get a better look at the strange craft, and after getting a better look at it realized this was not an Allied airplane.
“Scheisse! Man your battle stations. That is not, I repeat, not an Allied aircraft. It looks like some type of…spacecraft!”
Upon hearing the word ‘spacecraft,’ all of the men looked at each other as if they had not heard the captain correctly.
“Captain, did you say ‘spacecraft’?” asked one of the men.
“I don’t believe I stuttered, Sergeant. Man your battle stations. From the looks of this thing it doesn’t appear to be attacking us. There is smoke coming from it, and it appears to be about to crash land near here!”
Krelian Research Vessel
Lieutenant Jae’nol was in the middle of a countdown indicating their altitude.
“6,000 feet! 5,000 feet! Sir, there is smoke coming from the engine compartment!”
“Activate emergency life support systems. NOW!” shouted the captain.
The Lieutenant did as ordered and continued his countdown, just as the emergency life support systems engaged.
“2,500 feet! 1,000 feet! Brace for impact! Now!”
Clandestine Anti-Aircraft Battery Placement
“Sir! It has crash landed approximately five kilometers northwest of our location!”
“Sergeant, I want every available man to head towards the direction of that craft, immediately! Ostermann, contact Berlin immediately and advise them of the situation! Tell them I will contact them with more information as soon as I have it!”
“Jawohl, Herr Hauptmann,” replied Ernst Ostermann, the radio operator, as he turned and ran towards the bivouac to use the field radio.
“Bring the trucks around now and let’s get there as quickly as we can.”
“Jawohl.”
The captain and his men then loaded into three troop transport trucks and headed towards the crash site as fast as they could go.
Chapter 16
The Voyage to Nepal
1480 A.D.
Over the next four months, Will made his way from England to other European ports, and then to the Mediterranean, each time offering his strong back and hands in return for passage and a small wage on an eastbound ship. Each ship’s cargo was different: spices, tea, silk or fragrances. He learned much about seamanship and commerce.
From the Mediterranean, Will continued eastward until he reached the Bay of Bengal in India.
In India he disembarked and bought a horse and supplies as the rest of his journey would take him across India, at least until he made it to Kathmandu. There he would travel to Nepal via the Narayani River. Once in Nepal he would seek a guide to lead him to the mountain he sought.
The terrain he had to traverse was so rough and unpredictable that it took Will several weeks to reach the Narayani River. He was able to offer his services as a deckhand to the captain of a tea laden ship heading nort
h on the Narayani. He sold the horse at a nearby village. A few weeks later he arrived in Nepal and sought out a local sherpa to guide him to the north face of the mountain known as Sagarmatha.
All of the sherpas he approached thought he was crazy for wanting to go to Sagarmatha, and all of them refused to take him. However, they were all intrigued by the white foreigner who could speak their language with native fluency. After a few days of looking for a guide, Will was advised by a shopkeeper that the only one crazy enough to take him to Sagarmatha was an old sherpa named Surya. Will got directions to Surya’s home from the shopkeeper, and headed in that direction.
Surya’s home, a mud and stone hut with a wooden roof, was on the outskirts of town. A few chickens ran loose around the front of the hut. Will knocked on the door, and old Surya came to the door after a couple of minutes. The old sherpa was wearing peasant clothing; a wispy gray beard covered his dirty face. Time had not been good to the old man. His sun-darkened leather skin placed him anywhere between fifty and seventy years old. Surprisingly he still had a full head of white hair, but no more than a dozen teeth in his mouth.
Surya was surprised to see a westerner at his front door, and even more surprised to hear him speaking fluent Nepali. Will explained his desire to travel to the south face of Sagarmatha, and the old man just looked at him like he had two heads; several seconds passed before he spoke.
“Why do you wish to travel to Sagarmatha, young one?” asked the old sherpa.
“Why is my concern. I only need a guide to take me to the base of the south face of the mountain. Once I’m there, you are free to return to your village.”
The old man looked at Will, his face unreadable, and finally replied. “I will take you to Sagarmatha as you request. It will take us about two weeks on horseback and mule to get there.” The old man told Will his fee, to which Will agreed. The old man told Will what supplies they would need to make the journey and where he could purchase them. Will thanked the old man and turned to leave when the old man spoke.
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