“Listen carefully, GGM-TBN. You have precisely 1.75 time hours to complete the trade for the hostage. It is essential, for continuation of our cooperation, with your species.”
Bellos replied quickly, “Who is the hostage?”
There was no answer.
“Please reply,” said Bellos again. “What about our passenger to trade?”
Silence filled the cabin. They all waited; but nothing happened. Then Bellos took his Knofer from the slot and called Swanson. His image appeared life-size in the Carrier.
“Mathew, I take it you heard? We have received the same instruction here.”
“What do we do with Brock, Sir?”
“I will detail, after you arrive. We know InVoy wants the serum and Brock, but what else? I wish I could say.”
“I thought they had vials.”
“Yes, and someone we need…Damn! Why Brock thinks he can do this is beyond me. I’ll meet you at the dock. We’ll drive to the checkpoint. Security is fine, but we have no idea where we go from there. See you soon.”
“Sir, there is something else.”
“Yes?”
“It appears we have a mole in the Complex.”
“Perhaps…”
Communication ceased.
General Facts Regarding Carriers:
1] Each time a Carrier travels, it burrows through rock, lava, or the liquid molten ocean of inner Earth. It can shroud itself within a bubble-like protective shell, and as it moves forward, the rock displaces itself, back behind the Carrier, leaving no evidence that it was there. Alternatively, without the bubble shroud, Carriers move through rock like fish swim, but spinning around, swirling, capable of reaching speeds close to that of a rocket in space. In that case, it may leave a tunnel and not displace the rock or lava.
2] Carriers have been around for millions of years and those that have matured, have grown large enough to burrow tunnels that are a half mile in diameter, but there are no records indicating how big they can grow.
3] Carriers and humans share a synergistic relationship. When a Carrier travels with a human passenger, it absorbs an indefinable sustenance, which humans alone contain. After an adult Carrier has accumulated enough human sustenance, it may be stimulated to secrete a thick, juicy gel-like goo, from its skin. In that case, they leave permanent tunnels, with their offspring glued to the tunnel’s walls. The gel sticks, indefinitely; except for those few that grow large. They find their way to Earth’s core, where they grow and prosper as adults, in a hive environment, by withdrawing magnetic power from the center of Earth .
The greater the sustenance; they derive from humans; the more gel they can secrete. It’s their way of reproducing. The goo contains trillions upon trillions of microscopic offspring; organisms that may or may not grow to become larger Carriers. Adults mature into many sizes. Rule of thumb is the older, the bigger.
4] Very few tunnels exist without gel, but those that do, remain lifeless, and function as vents, allowing magma to reach the surface.
5] Treaties are negotiated with Eve r-Life, by the Carrier hive hierarchy, which bind them all to the subterranean colonies. The treaties govern over all Carrier behavior. Basic governing agreements include: A] to communicate with the Ever-Life GGM, as is requested, via direct mind interface. B] to take passengers from any one point, in the colonies, to another, like public transportation on the surface. In return, each Carrier derives sustenance from each passenger and shares it with the hive mindset of their species.
Based on Treaty 91776, called the Michael Plan, Carrier hierarchy agreed to provide ‘instant information’ to the standing GGM, regarding whereabouts, pertinent events and hive activity. But it is all done ‘in trust’, really. Certain questions have come up in treaty council meetings, which remain unanswered, including what the Earth’s core is really made of; why the great beasts don’t go into it; and why sunlight is supposed to kill Carriers? Fundamentally, it is an accepted fact, throughout Ever-Life, that the large Carriers are at the top of the food chain below Earth’s surface. New treaties/agreements are negotiated in an annual council meeting with a Carrier ambassador-a Tyree Master, in the deepest hottest known Carrier habitat, the Core Post.
6] Smaller sized Carriers not only engineer and construct their own hive communities, but also they build all the new habitats of the Ever-Life colonies’. They are capable of completing tasks, which might take the surface years to construct, in only a few hours.
7] Carrier offspring supply utility and insulate the colonies from the intense heat and magnetic radiation output of Earth’s center. The waste of the microscopic Carrier gel lights, sanitizes and supplies oxygen into the air, as byproducts of their metabolism. They maintain a mean temperature of sixty-five degrees, throughout the entire subterranean colonies. For well over 10,000 years, modern Ever-Life has endured, prevailed, prospered and grown, within the environment provided by Carrier species.
8] There are very few special Carriers that are enablers of time travel.
9] All Carriers have a hive mindset, and no one in the general public of the Colonies knows to what extent they understand humans.
10] The biggest mystery regarding all Carriers is that colony anywhere has been able to study one. Even the Carrier that died during last year’s C.P.T. incident disintegrated completely before any doctor could examine it. There are no factual estimates of how many offspring exist, or why certain ones mature to function in one way while others grow to enormous sizes and function in other ways.
11] The vast majority of Carriers live and reproduce at the microscopic level. The really big ones reside below one hundred miles within the bowels of Earth.
13] It is an acceptable miracle, to all citizens of Ever-Life, that each Transport Carrier can provide anything that a human traveler requests, instantaneously.
14] Ever-Life’s Post Staff Hierarchy are the only ones who have privy to updated maps of hive locations; and even those are constantly outdated.
15] Except for scheduled transports, no one knows where or how often any Carrier moves within the planet.
Chapter 23
Ever-Life
Dr. LuAnne Rather walked with Angie Bellos through the meticulous tunnel system, below Andrews Hospital, and onto a people mover, toward Ever-Life’s medical laboratory. Angie held the railing as the moving tram took them past one area of particular curiosity to her. Angie looked keenly, across the walkway, through a large 30-foot by 20-foot pink tinted glass and saw men and women, dressed in monk like garb, sitting at desks, with their backs to her.
“What are they doing over there? It looks like an adult school class of some sort.”
“Well, not exactly; that’s book finishing. It is where the books, like the one you are holding, are written, proofed, and bound. Only the greatest of our successes are prepared in those books. Then is shipped to an Ever-Life post commander, all over the colonies, where they are stored for medical reference.”
“Everyone seems so focused.”
“Yes, they are dedicated, patient; honestly, I could never do that. I’d get too bored.” LuAnne giggled. “Each one of them is trained, committed; and, every book is hand written. What has always amazed me is; if you tried to compare the handwriting between them; even an expert couldn’t find any difference. Of course, they don’t have much fun, as I see it. What you see them doing there is what they do, all the time. It is truly a calling. They take their life work very seriously.”
“Why not just photocopy the books? Don’t you have printers down here; or do it electronically, an ebook thing?”
“Yes, we have similar processes; however, over eons, these scribes have accepted the task, to guarantee every single character, in each manuscript, is perfect, for history. They hand write them. No error, of any kind, is tolerated. Not only does each book contain a case study and specific directions for reanimating life; but also, each one is a masterpiece, a priceless art treasure and historical reference, for future generations…By the way, have you
read that book, you are holding, yet?”
“No, not completely; but, I hope to make time.”
“Here we are dear; come on; watch your step.”
Dr. LuAnne escorted Angie off the tram and through glass double doors, into Ever-Life lab-202. The bodies of Richard Bellos and Rachel Sheldon arrived one hour earlier.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Angie said.
“Not if you have never been here.” Dr. smiled. “You must be tired. Do you feel well enough to do this, right now?”
“I’ve got my second wind; I think. Besides, I have no idea what time it is.”
LuAnne led Angie into a chamber of secrets. The lab had an outer room, off of which, there were four separate work chambers. Chamber 2 was a clean, well-lit, warm environment, with two gurneys and an operating table that looked like glass; but, when she touched it, Angie startled, “My god, this feels warm and cushy, almost lifelike.”
“Actually it is alive. Most everything, here, is alive; a subject for another time; but nothing to be afraid of.”
There were a very few strange looking instruments. The curved walls themselves displayed video and audio information; and when touched, the screen image became 3D holograms. There were no wires or plugs anywhere, in the lab. Dr. Richard and Rachel, each lay on two separate stretchers; but they had nothing hooked up to them. There was only a small, round, quarter size, metallic coin, stuck to the underside of their left underarms, which monitored and maintained their body temperatures at 34.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Angie, would you take Mrs. Sheldon there, to the next room, through that door.”
“Mrs. Sheldon? Please no; I don’t think I can right now.”
“I’m sorry; it’s okay; I’ll do it.”
A moment later, LuAnne returned.
“Doctor, I’m apologize,” Angie said. “I am a nurse; it’s just that he’s a relative, and Mrs. Sheldon; after what just happened; I just can’t.”
“Not a problem; no explanation needed.”
“Who are you working on, first?”
“Dr. Richard; maybe he can help with Rachel.”
LuAnne brought Richard’s genetic records up on monitors.
“What do you mean?”
“Richard has been a part of Ever-Life for quite a while, you know.”
“No, I didn’t. I thought he was the mortician at the hospital.”
“He was; he is; but he has also been with us, for a long time, as was his grandfather was, and your father is, now. Dr. Richard had been working on the duplication and tran-stosis programs, for years. He was doing many experiments of his own; even as your mortician. I hate to think he has to go through this procedure again. Yes, we will do him first. Maybe he can give us insight to something we may miss, otherwise. His knowledge is probably better than ours is, combined?”
Angie looked perplexed, but listened intently.
”Since I’m not familiar with anything here, can I ask, ‘what exactly is Ever-life?’”
“It is the name of our network of colonies’. And it’s a program, which we began long ago, to improve quality of life. As it evolved, the goal has become ‘everlasting quality of life’. We don’t seek to conquer death, really. Our objectives are to keep postponing death’s inevitability, by controlling life’s processes, thru genetic manipulation; rather than death’s deteriorations controlling life’s limits. In many ways, it’s not much different than modern medical goals on the surface; but we have been at it, for a much longer time; and, we have a lot more discoveries to share with ‘up there’. I hope that makes sense.”
“It is all quite a bit to take in.”
“Yes; anyway, you will find some things familiar, and others, not so much. We have two procedures, which we are going to address, today. One is duplication; the other is tran-stosis. It is important for you to understand the difference.”
“Okay…”
“ In order to be ‘duplicated’; one has to have a particular genetic code.”
Dr. LuAnne slowly pulled the gurney’s sheet back, revealing Richard’s body, wearing nothing but a loincloth. Angie jumped a little.
“I can’t believe I just met my grandfather, and now, he is here, like this.”
Angie took a breath.
“What do you do first?”
“I know this is hard for anyone, even a nurse… First, with Richard, we are not duplicating, we are reviving him. This process is ‘tran-stosis’. You may know it as reanimating, or cellular activation. And it also includes thought reproduction.”
“Tran-stosis, hmm; why not duplicate? I mean, look at the bullet holes…”
“Because; although, our technology may be futuristic, by your standards; unfortunately, one can only be duplicated once; and, the doctor has already undergone the process before.”
Angie giggled sarcastically, “…Another thing they didn’t teach us in nursing school.”
“Sorry?”
“It’s not important. Okay; so tran-stosis; how do you activate cellular growth?”
“Well, principally, you know the concept of jolting a heart, when electric shock is administered to defibrillate?”
“Yes, fibrillation-electrical signals gone wild, the heart does not pump, it flutters, out of rhythm. It may stop beating altogether.”
“Exactly, so we administer electric shock, to de-fibrillate, and stop the fluttering, zap it back, into normal rhythm. Or, f it is altogether stopped, the hope is to start it beating again.”
“Basic nursing to us, too; I understand?”
“At the same time, we rejuvenate individual body cells, not just the heart. If a cell dies, we can shock and nourish it back to health too.”
“Really; so, can you stop the aging process?”
“You are way ahead of me, thinking that. Let’s stick to this patient.”
“Sorry; how does that work?”
“We are going to send cell doctors, inside of him; to make a house call on every cell in his body. They are sort of machines, but not. I believe your ancient researchers coined the phrase, Nanites, or Nanoprobes, on the surface.”
“What do you call them?”
“We call them, Fix-its; but Nanites is fine. Anyway, we grow them. We don’t build them; and they are not part of any semiconductor chip technology. They are organic, and constructed based on a patient’s DNA. We program them with directions. We inject; they do their thing, and each cell’s synaptic profile is defibrillated and reactivated. Then, they nourish each cell back to health.”
“That is what you are going to do, here?”
“Yes, partly; listen, Angie, I am sorry you had to witness the shooting in the morgue. But here, you will see the wonder of Ever-Life. You ready?”
“Wonder of Ever-Life huh?” Angie nodded, questioning.
LuAnne went to the glass refrigeration cabinet behind her. She withdrew a five-inch by seven-inch mirrored box. In it, were four, small, clear cylindrical syringes, covered at one end.
“I hate needles,” Angie said.
“We gave them up, long ago,”
Angie picked up and studied a cylinder. “We had courses on Nanite technology, but ours are micro chip based, not organic. I never got close to the real thing before; much less, witness anything like this.”
“Each Nanite is about a hundredth the size of an average cell. We have organic computers that construct and program each one, based on many variables: cause, time of death, medical history, and most of all, each contain the information of the patient’s DNA.”
“Organic computers?”
“Yes, for all practical purposes down here, they are as alive as we are; and quite fascinating to work with. I am sure you will learn as you go.”
Angie smiled respectfully. “I hope so. I could spend a lifetime studying this alone. What is the next step?”
Angie handed the cylinder to the doctor.
“As they are injected into the blood, the Nanites self-circulate, while they multiply to the same numbe
r of synaptic connections in every system of the body. Then, they position and synchronize, to deploy-activate, as close to the same time as possible. Just to give you an idea of the magnitude here; we calculate between 500-750 trillion synaptic connections, in the average human body. So, the Nanites have to multiply very quickly.”
“Woe,” said Angie, “the wonder of medicine.”
“Yes, it is unbelievable to me, at times, too. After the successful defibrillation, they feed and nurse the individual cells. Once the cells are functioning normally, the Nanites dissolve. They expel, as waste, through normal body secretions and digestion. They leave no trace. If activation does not happen with the first charge, they will try again. If no success after three cycles, we inject again.”
“So they can multiply that fast, and attach to every single nerve’s contact?”
“Yep, every one, bone, muscle, fat; any organ, brain, blood… I am sure I left something out; but, the point is, all of them will defibrillate in unison.”
Angie watched, as LuAnne sprayed her hands with a peculiar pink colored aerosol that dried on contact.
“This is a combination of a sterilizing wash and surgical gloves.”
Then, Dr. Lu picked up a cylinder and took the small cap, off the top. Each cylinder was a one-inch diameter by five-inch long clear material, but not plastic or glass. Carefully, she touched it against Dr. Richard’s chest, just below his breastbone. Angie saw her squeeze the cylinder gently and heard a poof. The doctor repeated a second injection, into his right inner thigh. Angie stared at the body.
“When will we know?”
“Watch the wall monitor,” LuAnne said.
She touched the screen, and a full size hologram of Richard appeared a foot above his body. The two studied the hologram, and watched the Nanites spread.
“They look like a swarm of bees,” Angie said.
Ever-Life the Two Book Set: The C.P.T Incident and Time Trust Page 15
