Will’s order was met with a mix of “yes, sir” and “aye, aye, sir.”
“Not much on sweet talkin’ is he,” said Henry Hess, in his Brooklyn-tainted accent, to the group with a chuckle after Will went inside of his tent.
Hess got nods and chuckles all around in agreement.
“Seems like an okay guy…for a colonel,” said Hammond with a smile.
“I sure wouldn’t want to piss that big bastard off. He looks like he could rip off your head and shit down your neck without breaking a sweat,” said Jaime Serrano.
More nods in agreement.
“This guy must have some serious juice to get all of us here from all over the planet in two days,” said Thomas Schultz.
“I guess when he told us this mission was sanctioned by the president he wasn’t bullshittin’,” said Hauser. More nods. “Well, let’s stow this gear and get to his tent, I don’t think he likes to be kept waiting.”
The team finished stowing their gear, and then proceeded to Will’s tent. Upon arriving, Hauser knocked on the door and waited to be invited in. “Enter,” came Will’s voice from inside.
The ten members of Will’s team paraded into Will’s tent and stood at attention.
“At ease, men. Take a seat,” Will said, indicating they should sit in the chairs that had been provided for their briefing. Will stood in front of them in front of a briefing board covered by a piece of cloth to prevent them from seeing what was on the board until the briefing began.
“Gentlemen, I’ll be brief. First of all, I appreciate all of you volunteering for this mission. Before we get started, I’m going to give you one final chance to bow out and return to your previous duty assignments with no questions asked. No one will think less of you.” Will waited a few seconds to see if anyone would take him
up on his offer. When there were no takers, he continued.
“I thought as much. After reviewing your military records, I would have been surprised if anyone had wanted to leave. However, after I tell you what this mission is about, some of you may change your minds. But, I must warn you, this mission is classified Top Secret, and can never be discussed with anyone outside of this room. Is that clear?”
Again Will was met with a chorus of “yes, sir” and “aye, aye sir.”
“In fact, there are only two people in this world who know specifically what this mission is about…me and the President of the United States. And with the exception of you gentlemen, it must stay that way.”
They nodded in agreement.
“As I told you when I met with you a few days ago, you were offered this opportunity based on your German-language skills and your commando training. Due to the nature of this mission, both of these skills will be used, especially your German-language skills. Which is why from this moment on, we will be speaking entirely in German to prepare you for the mission.” Will then switched to flawless German.
“Are any of you gentlemen aware of the recent attacks on American and British forces by the Germans, specifically the destruction of several bombers and tanks in the last few weeks that was executed with a new German weapon?”
Most of the men nodded that they had not, but Chuck Schechter spoke up.
“Sir, some of my fellow pilots and I heard about the attacks on those bombers but most of it was just rumor. Supposedly the Germans shot ‘em out of the sky with some fancy new weapon that looked like a blue light or somethin’. We heard there wasn’t even any wreckage found.”
Schultz then said, “And I heard a rumor about some tanks being destroyed the same way. Supposedly out of twenty tanks, only four or five made it back, and they were also talking about some new German weapon that didn’t leave any wreckage.”
“Gentlemen, unfortunately they are not rumors. The Germans are using a new weapon that utilizes an advanced blue-light laser that instantly and totally vaporizes any carbon-based substance it comes in contact with by reducing it to sub-atomic matter.”
All of the men looked stunned at this revelation.
“But, sir,” said Hauser, “how in the hell did the Krauts develop a weapon like that? It sounds like something out of a comic book or space movie.”
“I never said the Germans developed the weapon, Captain. I just that they were using it against American and Allied troops.”
“Then who did develop it, sir?” asked Schechter.
Will sighed deeply before he began.
“The technology was developed by an advanced race of alien beings from another galaxy that crash landed on Earth several months ago. The Germans captured these aliens and have learned how to use their weapons. They also have the aliens, who are still alive, at a secret location in Germany, along with their spacecraft. Our mission is to recover the aliens, their spacecraft, and their weapons.”
Upon hearing this, all of the men looked stunned. A few of them chuckled nervously as if they thought Will was joking.
“Sir, begging the Colonel’s pardon, but are you serious with this bullshit? Sir.”
“Do I look like someone who would be joking about something like this?” said Will with his wilting stare.
“No…no, sir! But what you’re sayin’ is impossible!” said Schechter.
“Gentlemen, I can assure you that I am deadly serious about this. However, if any of you wish to back out now, I will understand completely.”
Although there was a considerable amount of trepidation and disbelief on their faces, no one stepped forward to leave. Schechter looked like he wanted to add something, but he kept his mouth shut.
“Fine. Now that I have your attention, let’s finish the briefing,” continued Will.
Chapter 43
Planet Altrusia
Medical Wing
1480 A.D.
Will and Portak entered the medical wing and were directed to the last room on the right. The room they entered was huge and similar to an operating room but with highly advanced diagnostic equipment and monitors.
Will was introduced to the lead doctor, Pak’tow, who would oversee the procedure from start to finish. Pak’tow informed Will that his vital signs would be monitored from the instant the procedure began, until they were sure he was stabilized. He also explained that the procedure would be painless, and that Will would be awake during the procedure so they would be able to monitor his progress more accurately.
Will was also told that at the first sign of anything going wrong, they would shut down the procedure immediately. With all of that said, they were ready to begin.
Will was placed on his back on a levitating surgical table, similar to the bed in his chamber, and the two Krelian nurses who were assisting Pak’tow helped Will onto the table and secured him to it by using bio-magnetic hand and foot restraints, as well as ones that went across his chest and head, to prevent him from moving around during the procedure. One of the nurses cast a lingering gaze over Will’s muscular body. Will caught her stare, and he winked at her. She winked back at him as well and smiled.
The surgical table itself served as both a futuristic life support system as well as a system for monitoring vital signs during the procedure. Will’s vital signs were normal, and, much to the doctor’s surprise, he showed no signs of stress, such as an elevated blood pressure, pulse, or respiratory rate.
The delivery system that would be used to introduce the nanocytes carrying the Infinitum into Will’s body would be in the form of an odorless, tasteless gas. As soon as Will was secured to the floating table, a clear acrylic-like box engulfed the entire table, enclosing Will inside, and oxygen began flowing through the ventilation system. A clear cylinder of an alien design, which contained the nanocytes, was then placed against the acrylic-like structure. Within seconds the cylinder had morphed and became part of the box that housed Will.
Once in place, the gas containing the nanocytes was released inside of the box with Will. Will had been instructed to breathe normally as it would take a few minutes for the nanocytes to course through his body and de
liver the Infinitum to his DNA strands.
***
Inside of Will’s cells the billions of nanocytes carried their miniscule payload to Will’s DNA. The artificial intelligence inside of the tiny machines recognized that the DNA strands they were entering were alien, and that they contained mutated genes that had affected the host’s DNA. However, they were not programmed to determine how this mutation would react by the introduction of the Infinitum but simply delivered it as instructed.
After the Infinitum was delivered into Will’s DNA, the nanocytes proceeded to the natural excretory systems of his body to be flushed out.
The Infinitum began doing what it was designed to do - it attached itself to the host’s DNA and began replicating itself to enhance the host‘s natural abilities to a higher degree. It did this without any problems. However, after it attached itself to Will’s mutated DNA strands, it did something that it was not supposed to do - it reacted to the mutated alien DNA strands and it also began to mutate! The Infinitum then began to replicate itself at a rate a hundredfold faster than it had been designed to do!
***
The first indication to Pak’tow that something was wrong was when Will’s blood pressure, pulse, and respiratory rate went off of the charts. Immediately Will began to convulse and his body started arching off the table. Portak watched in horror as this happened. Will’s brain wave activity was extremely elevated as well.
“Do something!” Portak shouted.
“Turn the delivery system off now!” Pak’tow barked to one of the nurses.
“Doctor, the delivery system is empty! All of the nanocytes have delivered the Infinitum into his DNA!”
“Get him out of there now!” shouted Portak.
“No, we cannot chance it. We must let this run its course!” Pak’tow replied.
As they watched in horror, a strange thing began happening. Will’s body, which was already muscular, started becoming larger and denser, and his muscular definition increased at least three-fold. His biceps, triceps, latissimus dorsi, pectorals, and quadriceps, all became larger and more thickly muscled. He gained thirty pounds of rock solid muscle in seconds.
Suddenly, Will broke free of his bio-restraints as if they weren’t there. Pak’tow, Portak and the nurses moved away from the acrylic box just as Will shattered it like it didn’t exist. The nurses screamed as this happened.
“That’s impossible!” exclaimed Pak’tow, “that box was made of tyrilium and was virtually indestructible!”
Will then stood on unsteady legs and used the floating table to balance himself.
Portak looked at Will’s body to see if it had received any cuts from breaking the tyrilium. There were none.
“What have you DONE to me!?” Will shouted at Pak’tow with a wild look in his eyes.
“I…I don’t know. Nothing like this has ever happened before. There should not have been any violent reaction or seizure by your body to the nanocytes. I will have to do some tests to determine what happened.”
“NO! Stay away from me!” Will screamed.
“Will, please! We will find out what happened. You must trust the doctor!” Portak said.
Just then Will doubled over but not from pain. The Infinitum began replicating at an even faster rate until every cell in every organ in Will’s body contained it.
Will then stood up and said, “I have to get out of here!”
As he started moving towards the door, he began running so fast that he became a blur. His body hit the metal doors before they could open and totally destroyed them. In an instant Will had disappeared.
Pak’tow and Portak ran to the doors that Will had just crashed through and looked left and right down the long hallway and saw nothing. They then looked at each other in dismay and were speechless for several seconds.
“Great Nim’lah! What happened, Doctor?” Portak asked in frustration.
“I have no idea, but we need to find the Terran to determine exactly what occurred,” replied Pak’tow.
“I agree. We need to find him fast before he hurts himself or someone else.”
Surveying the damage caused by Will, the doctor replied, “From the looks of that door, I don’t think hurting himself is too much of a worry.”
“I will have the Commander activate the tracking device in his wrist band at once.” Portak said and immediately headed to the command center as fast as he could go.
Chapter 44
Altrusian North Pole
Will was still traveling at hyper-speed, but he did not realize it for several seconds. When he had first ran out of the medical wing, he had not been able to think clearly and was not even aware of how fast he was moving. He continued running, and he quickly came to one of the facility’s exits and ran through an open door that someone had just entered before it could close. They were not even aware of his presence, just the slight wind he created as he passed them on his way out of the sliding door as it started to close.
Within seconds of exiting the facility, Will began slowing down as the Infinitum started to stabilize in his body and he was able to think more clearly. As he stopped, he looked around at the alien landscape he had entered. When Will had arrived on Altrusia a couple of days earlier, he had seen that it was clearly spring on Portak’s world. However, it appeared that the climate had changed drastically and the planet was now in the middle of winter. The cold wintry wind was blowing the heavy snow all around where Will was standing.
Will looked around and could not see the facility he had just left a few seconds before. Will then realized that although he was only wearing the light-weight clothing he had been dressed in during the enhancement procedure, he did not feel the cold at all. Will did not realize that in the few seconds he had been running, he had traveled more than 5,000 miles and was now standing at the northern pole of Portak’s world! Will looked at the wrist bracelet he was wearing, and noticed that it was lightly glowing.
Will remembered there was a tracking device in the bracelet, and they would be able to locate him pretty quickly.
Will then recalled that something strange and unexpected had happened in the medical wing during the procedure. It flooded back to him: the gas entering the enclosure, the convulsions, breaking out of the box, destroying the doors, and moving at incredible speed to the location he found himself in now.
Something tells me these weren’t the enhancements they were expecting, Will thought. Obviously the Infinitum reacted unexpectedly with my mutant DNA and produced this…effect.
Will then looked at his chest and arms and was surprised to see how much larger and more muscular they were.
I wonder what else was enhanced?
Will walked over to a large boulder laying a few yards west of him, and he quickly calculated its weight and density just by looking at it and moving it slightly. He estimated that it weighed more than 30,000 pounds. Will reached down and grabbed the boulder, and with absolutely no effort at all picked it up, tossed it into the air about a hundred feet and then caught it like it was a balloon! He did this several times, each time throwing it higher and higher.
Will put the boulder back on the ground and looked around him. He quickly determined the route he had taken to the northern pole and decided it was time to return to the facility to meet with Portak. He turned and began running again at hyper-speed towards his destination.
***
As soon as he had exited the medical wing in such a dramatic way, Portak had run to the Command Center where they began tracking him immediately.
“We have his location targeted, Commander!” one of the young lieutenants cried out to Commander Nik’sah.
“What’s his location, Lieutenant?” asked the Commander.
“Sir…this can’t be correct. It shows his location at the northern pole, approximately 5,000 miles from this location!”
“What? Are you sure, Lieutenant? That’s impossible!” replied the Commander. “Holographic image display! Now!”
The lieuten
ant immediately activated the holographic image display, which appeared on a table top in the middle of the command center. It was a holographic, three-dimensional display of the entire planet of Altrusia. It focused in on the tracking device’s homing signal until it showed a holographic, 3-D image of Will at the northern pole of Altrusia.
Portak looked shocked. “Great Nim’lah! That is impossible. Are you absolutely certain, Lieutenant?”
The lieutenant looked at his console and then answered.
“Yes, sir. The tracking device is functioning properly, and its coordinates are correct.”
The Commander and Portak watched Will in fascination on the holographic image display just standing wearing the light-weight clothing in the barren, frozen wasteland of the Altrusian North Pole.
The Commander was the first one to speak. “Lieutenant, what is the temperature and wind speed at his location?”
The lieutenant checked his control monitor before answering.
“Sir, it’s currently negative eighty degrees with a twenty mile per hour wind, which makes it approximately negative 130 degrees!”
“He doesn’t look affected by the cold at all, Commander,” Portak stated.
“How is this possible, Portak?”
“I don’t know, but I will find out,” Portak replied solemnly.
The Commander and Portak continued watching the holographic image display and watched Will pick the boulder up and toss it in the air and catch it several times.
They looked at each other in dismay.
“Great Nim’lah!” exclaimed the Commander, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Then, suddenly, Will disappeared from view, and the HID was unable to track him any further.
The lieutenant looked at his control monitor again.
“Wait, sir! The target is on the move…and moving extremely fast.”
“Where does he appear to be headed?” asked the Commander.
Shadow Warrior: Destiny of a Mutant Page 16
