So; that morning, Brock called his trusted bodyguard on the intercom. He turned off his cell phone and picked up the Knofer. Then, he walked out of his office, wearing a tan inconspicuous suit and dark glasses. He proceeded down the private staircase, four floors to the parking garage. As he opened the stairwell door, his guard Briggs escorted him into the black stretch limo and drove him to one of his five corporate airlifts for the short flight to Seattle.
Chapter 16
Semitri
Inside a remote warehouse, some fifty miles south of Seattle, Washington U.S.A., two special service guards crouched, in front of a double door entrance, which connected the warehouse to an old missile silo. An unbearably loud screeching continued to render them helpless. When it stopped, they took their hands from their ears, got up and rushed through the doors into the silo. They froze on the ledge, looking at a hundred foot tall Carrier beast, transforming before their eyes. The wet looking, fish like creature, which they had tied against the silo’s walls, ten hours ago; was no longer passive and quiet. It was alert, and, obviously, mad. They watched it morph, into a horrific thick snake, some fifteen feet, in diameter. As the Carrier reduced in thickness, the chains around it fell to the floor.
“Holy shit! What the hell is going on?”
“Damn if I know…”
“Get the chain extender.”
“Screw you! I’m out of here.”
Guard one, turned and began running, back through the doors and down the hallway, leaving his partner stunned. Guard two, heard a hiss behind him and wrenched around, to see the animal was almost directly above him. In that instant, he reached for his revolver. He stepped backwards; but, the snake was very fast. It slithered up, through the doorway, darting past guard 2, and splintering the double doors after guard one. It stopped just in front of the running guard, who stopped in terror. He stood shaking, red faced, and unable to move. The snake reared its head back; and, with one sweeping motion, its huge mouth engulfed and swallowed the screaming man. Then, out of the corner of its eye, the animal saw sunlight shining in, creeping toward him through the windows, which lined the outer walls of the main warehouse. It snapped back and recoiled. In one unbelievably fast move, it raced back through the doors and swallowed up guard two, on its way back down into the dark bottom of the silo.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Twenty minutes or so passed, before a gray stretch limousine pulled up to the warehouse and parked. A driver got out, opened the rear door and Marion Brock stepped, from the dark interior into the bright sunlight. He placed his hand on the driver’s shoulder.
“Thanks, Briggs; quiet here; isn’t it?”
“Yes, Sir; that it is…Should I wait for you?”
“Yes, please; and Briggs, notify InVoy that I’ve arrived at the site. Tell him I’m surprised…It appears I am the only one here.”
“Yes Sir.”
Brock walked some one hundred feet, up the path to the old brick building. Thirty years ago, this was his family’s Pacific Coast military distribution site, for ammunition supplies. As he unlocked the front door, his phone rang.
“Yes…?”
“Sir, Stevens here, I beg your pardon. I thought you were coming, directly here, to me.”
“Stevens, you can be a pain in my ass. I am going to make sure all is well. I don’t see any guards, by the way.”
“Sir, there were two assigned. Perhaps they are in the silo. Regardless; you need to come here!”
“Well, that’s not going to happen. You work for me, you know. I’ll check this out and get there, when I can…”
Brock cut the call and walked onto the huge warehouse.
“Hello...Hello!” His voice echoed. “Christ, what’s next? Hello!
He walked quickly, some 100 yards, and stepped over the splintered double doors, at the other end of the building. In the entry hallway to the silo, he saw a cap and shoe. When he reached to pick them up, he heard a loud strange squeal, coming from within the silo. Instinctively, he reached for the phone and dropped it. As he bent down to pick it up, he saw the creature swell up beside him, and he froze. Some force he never felt before was holding him. He couldn’t utter a word or move a muscle. He saw something that literally made him wet himself. A snakehead at least ten feet wide, appeared up from the silo, turning and slithering toward him. His shoes remained glued, to the floor; and, while Briggs was outside the front entrance, Brock was incapable of uttering a sound…Mother of God, he thought, rolling his eyes…What are you?
The snake moved around the outside of the hallway and coiled, wrapping himself, so Brock was in the center of the circle. His mouth opened to show Brock his darting tongue and large, glowing, orange teeth. Then it lowered its head and closed its mouth, staring at Brock’s terrified face. With a nod, the snake released Brock’s invisible binding; and, it watched, as Brock lifted his foot and let out a whisper of a scream, “Christ, what the hell are you; you sick viper!”
The snake looked deeply into Brock’s eyes and seemed to smile.
“Hello Marion; it was wrong of you to think you could bind me here. Do you not know what you see?”
“No, I do not know what I see.” Brock turned, spinning in a panic, studying the great beast and looking for an escape route. But, there was nowhere to go.
“How is it, you speak? I don’t see your mouth move…Shit!”
The snake seemed to chuckle. “I am Semitri. You want me to help you...”
Brock gasped and seemed to recognize the voice. He squinted and began to relax, “You mean, you are the beast…”
“I am Semitri. You knew I was not to be tied, or restrained, in any way.”
Brock watched as the snakes coils began to change. Semitri’s head retreated slowly, into the coils as they solidified into pearl white walls, all around him. Within seconds, the billionaire was no longer in the hallway, surrounded by a snake; he was inside the Carrier, Semitri.
“Now Mr. Brock, meet you...”
“What are you talking about? Where am I?”
As he stood in the middle of the white room, a door appeared and opened. The clone of Marion Brock walked out, toward him.
“Jesus…And what the hell are you, for God’s sake?”
“Hello Marion…I am he, who you sent to get the vials of C.P.T. months ago. Don’t you remember?”
“What is this? You are mine, then; just a clone.”
“Frankly, it’s all very simple.”
The clone paced around Brock.
“I have been trapped, within this thing, for all that time; apparently feeding it. But, in return, he fed me. I have learned a great deal. Have you ever heard of ‘a compatibility’?”
“You work for me, you know. Christ you are me!”
“No, actually; I work for me. I have negotiated, with our friend here that, he can have as much of us, as he wants. In return, I run the Brock Empire. You see, by cloning yourself, you opened up a whole new world, for our friend here, and me. If I clone more of us-you, and let him hold the clones within him, he will gain unlimited power, and give us-me, whatever we want; or, something like that…Hah! So, he and I have agreed not to kill you.”
“What do you mean, whatever we want?”
“Watch…Semitri, please supply standard furniture, monitors, bath suite and food; my favorites, please?”
Everything appeared magically, from nothing. And, all of a sudden, C-Brock was wearing the same clothes as Brock.
“You see…Sit; enjoy.”
“Christ, how?”
“First, the most important thing you must remember is that Semitri, here, and his buddies, suck sustenance out of us, which they consider more than food. You and I have something that, if he can keep or get more of it, well he will be all powerful, to his own kind. So, you see; he will do anything we ask; I ask, that is. You just have to sit here; and, they’ll give you anything you want.”
Brock snarled at him. “So you think I’m just going to stay here. I’ll make my own deal.”
“Well, that’s the catch, I’m afraid. You see your strength is much more intense than mine, or any clones. Now that you are here; I am afraid he has no intention of letting you go; especially, since you tried to imprison him. Think of it this way, my brother. You can have as much of whatever you want. You will find it’s not all bad. Our friend here will take good care of you.”
“Why you twit. You think I’ll let this happen? I don’t control my empire, because I’m stupid.”
Clone Brock walked, briskly, toward the door. He waved and said, “He will keep you fat and happy. That is the least I owe you, for what you did to me, my brother”
Brock turned, looking around the room and yelled, “Release me!”
Then, he turned and walked out the door, into the warehouse.
Semitri spoke calmly, “So you are in fact, the great Marion Brock. Welcome…I have gotten to know your brother quite well, over the last few months…Impressive; your refusal to quit. We have many things to discuss. Sit, eat and we will talk.”
Meanwhile, Clone Brock found his way out and down to the limousine, where Briggs waited.
“Sir, I was beginning to worry.”
C-Brock smiled, as Briggs opened the door.
“All is as it should be.”
“Should I take you to Stevens now, Sir?”
“Yes; to Stevens. And update me on all issues, that you know of.”
Briggs closed the doors, started the Limo and it sped off to Brock’s Time Travel research base.
Chapter 17
Jake’s Mate
Jake Burns sat within a Carrier, as it sped through the volcanic ocean of inner Earth, toward the Northwestern U.S.A. and Oregon Particle Accelerator Sciences’. He tried not to think about the ride; rather, he concentrated on the labyrinth of challenges before him. As he studied a few notes, a voice spoke, distinctly; and, an image of a young woman’s face appeared on the Carrier wall.
“Hello Jake Burns. We meet again.”
“Well then; hello again.”
“I am Carrier 1111.”
Burns did a slight double take, and then replied, “All right; yes. Your friend Alinflavor said…”
“You mean Allenfar.”
“Yes that’s it; he told me that we may meet again. He said you and I are ‘compatible’. He said that you have a crush on me, or something.”
“How flattering; but, not quite…You may call me Miriam…‘A Compatibility’ is quite different, from a crush. You will come to understand.”
“Well, are you and I; you know, having a thing right now…I mean…?”
“Yes; whenever you ride within me, we share.”
“Well, you see, funny you should say share. I did want to talk with you, about that. I mean, we really aren’t, are we?”
“I am not sure I understand.”
“And, I am not sure how to ask this. I don’t mean to be rude. It’s just that I need to know what you know, in ‘a two-way compatibility’. That is to say, I am requesting a real sharing, a two-way communication between us.”
“We reserve that experience for GGMs, alone, as stated in treaties between us. And then, there is the issue of genetic code.”
“I have been told I have quite an unusual genetic sequence. I am confident I will be okay.”
After a moment of silence, Jake noticed part of the Carrier’s wall began to play 3D video of his childhood, family and early career experiences.
“How did you get these? They are events that had no videos recorded? This is impossible.”
“The video you see includes some of your own thoughts. I can show you some of mine like this.”
“There is a great sense of urgency about what I ask. The fact is; I need to know what you know and understand as you do. I am charged with finding a solution to our mystery, about the Sidron and the man named Marion Brock.”
“If I input, directly, into your brain, it would be a great stress; you would, most likely, die…”
“I have no choice in this. I am willing to take the chance.”
When we traveled in time, months ago, I experienced our ‘compatibility’ and notified our Grand Council Tyree Masters. One visited your GGM, recently; and has has conveyed much to him. Our council approved our further interactions, with limits. Beyond their set boundaries would violate synergistic treaties.”
“We both want the same thing, to correct the Sidron and stop Marion Brock.”
“My assignment is to stop one of our own kind, Semitri, and to return him to the Grand Council. I must find out how and why he is using the Sidron, and why he has allied with a surface man. He has already found a way to cut out our hive mentality. If one of us experiences ‘a compatibility’, we all should.
You may ask your questions and watch the walls. That is our offer.”
The wall video began playing a detail of the shooting in the morgue at Andrews, eight months ago.
“I investigated this murder. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here now.”
“Months ago, three of your doctors and a girl walked into that Carrier room 2210. She was part of your hospital’s morgue. The bullets from the guns fired, killed that Carrier. Afterward, Carrier 2211-Semitri, had taken Marion Brock and a clone of Angela Bellos away, for rehabilitation. The girl expired. Semitri dropped off our tracking ability, and hasn’t communicated since. It is not unusual that we rehabilitate members of your penal system, in solitude. But it has been much too long. Our kind is very comfortable with periods of solitude. Right now we have 263 Ever-Life convicts, undergoing rehabilitation within correctional Carriers.”
“Why haven’t you shared that fact with us, before now?”
“You don’t share every human discourse with us, either. By treaty, as far as Ever-Life knew, we were completely responsible for rehabilitating Marion Brock. You are to be notified, only if the rehabilitation is successful. If it is not, we would disposition Mr. Brock. After the girl clone died, we didn’t hear from Semitri. We never knew what happened to Brock. We had no contact. Only through working with the new GGM, within the last 24 hours, did we confirmed the breech in the Sidron; and, only within the last hour, have we recorded unexplained signal waves from Carrier 2211”
“How did you receive signals only now?”
“He acquired ability to time travel .Our kind gives off special signals, when we do so.”
“My God, this video shows so much detail of the murders. I could have used this that day. How do you get the camera angles?”
“Everything within a Carrier is recorded from all angles. It’s standard procedure for us. By treaty, we give all pertinent inputs to GGM for processing.”
“Holy crap, no wonder Gordon knew everything. We could use that for judicial purposes on the surface… Well, first things first then. I have to find a man named Hamil Stevens. His last location was the Oregon Particle Acceleration Sciences lab-O.P.A.S., in Seattle Washington. We think he may have caused the Sidron breach. How fast can you get me there?”
“Twenty-six minutes, twenty-two seconds.”
“Meantime, do you have a history file on him; and, please play everything you have on Brock, too.”
“Displaying now, Sir.”
Burns sat, watching and comprehending all he saw; while, at the same time, he wore an earplug and listened to various Knofer inputs, regarding many Ever-Life security matters.
Miriam
Chapter 18
The Father’s Trip
At precisely 8 a. m., the three Fathers met in Kristos’s room within Bello’s office suite; and then, they all walked back into GGM ‘s private lab. As they stepped through the door, they also walked through a film like membrane that had no substance. It was more like the light of a security system. Once through it, they felt invigorated somehow.
“Dr. Bellos,” James called out.
All three scanned the room and began examining different things.
“It looks different in here somehow,” Ahmir said, “more subdued. The colors see
m to have a silvery tint or shade? My friends, we are in strange quarters. That, light or, whatever it is, seems to have changed the look of everything.
“We are inside a balloon of some sort?” Kristos said. “It looks like it’s pushing outward over everything, but not moving anything.”
Then, they all fixed on the sculpture in the far corner. It was a floor to ceiling glowing fishlike statue.
“Ok,” James said, “what is that? It looks wet.”
“It’s glowing.”
The statue seated on what looked like long tentacles, protruding from its bottom. Each shaped into an upright lounge chair.
There was a pop, and Mathew Bellos entered the lab.
“Good morning gentlemen. I brought traveling supplies.”
Bellos reached in his bag and took out an extraction syringe and three Knofers.
“What do you mean?” Ahmir asked.
“First, here; these are hand held computers; sort of. They can answer any questions, if we get separated. Please look into the red spot, on the front…That’s it…Now, you are securely linked to our time period. And, each one has a defense mode, which would kick in, as a failsafe, if there is a threat.”
“What do you mean?” James asked
“Please, think clearly,” said Bellos.
“Sorry; what?” asked Kristos.
“Those little ‘units’ run on pure knowledge; and, each is now programmed to your individual thoughts. In some cases, emotions can over ride thoughts, as you know. Therefore it is important to try to focus; concentrate, if you have a problem. Don’t let your emotions cloud your thinking. That is what ‘S’ was trying to tell you…Anyway, if defense mode does kick in, the little unit there should read your imprint, and the Carrier will return you to itself.”
Ever-Life the Two Book Set: The C.P.T Incident and Time Trust Page 34
