Cobalt: The First in the Trinity Series Novels

by CG Blade

  “Yes Ter. I believe it was thought to have been a sort of mind torture at the time.”

  “Correct. It was a Psychotropic—or Psycotronic mind control, as it was often referred to back then. In 1994, they resumed studies with HAARP in Alaska and used microwave transmissions to beam energy waves to nerve signals in the brains of subjects. The thinking was that a mood enhancing wave of 7.83 Megahertz to the human brain would calm the population down, make them as humans say, “feel good’.”

  “Ter what if John Everett Nelson Ray’s grandfather had unlocked the key to that? If he died without finishing that study wouldn’t Ray or someone else pick it back up maybe not for the same reasons but nevertheless still look into it?”

  “It would be a possibility Petra.”

  Ray Nelson was still a great scientist and he unknowingly and unwillingly propelled humanity into the next phase of their evolution. It may have been for good or evil purposes that this experiment continued while he was frozen. She—Petra—was probably not even possible without his early research his vision and his Grandfather. Ray had a lot of catching up to do and would need a lot of help doing it. Petra wondered about her father and what role he really played and what role Cooper played in all of this. The three of them were around the same age at the time, knew each other and all had the same interests. This was going to be a very interesting conversation with Cooper when he wakes up from his slumber she thought as the last of the doctors and team left the area headed for the Med Lab.

  Petra looked around the room and walked towards the last tank that was unopened while Jackie said her goodbyes for the night.

  “Petra great job tonight you could have been a doctor,” she said proudly laughing to her while Emily was in the background commemorating her. “By the way we got the last of the microchips out of everyone here today so we’re all free and clear. Oh and that chemical compound you wanted us to look at it’s a go. Do what you need to with it.”

  “Thanks Jackie and Emily. I’ll be in touch.”

  Petra switched off her Comset and started to wipe the glass clean on the last remaining tank sitting next to the double doors that led out of the room. “I should have known” She stared into the frozen world that was someone’s home and solitude for years. Petra was amazed it didn’t click before. Everything in this room and the world made sense to her now. “Well I’ll be damned, Ter—”

  “Would you like me to add ‘damned’ to your list of—?”

  “Yes Ter you’d better do it and while you’re at it add ‘Bitch’ to that list as well.”

  “Yes Petra.”

  “Why didn’t I realize this sooner, Ter?”

  “You can’t know everything Petra.”

  “I’m still a woman aren’t I?”

  “Good point.”

  The mummified rotting remains in the third tank were female. Her body had withered and decayed over the years and she was barely recognizable. Petra covered the tank up with a cloth she had found and pulled the remaining plugs and tubing out of it. She changed slowly from the feet up into her black armor. Her blonde hair slowly turned darker shades of cobalt as she made her way out of the tunnel system and out of the back of the town’s general store.

  “This secret escape door looks familiar Petra”

  “Sure does Ter, sure does.”

  Petra put her two left forefingers together to her lips and let out an ear-piercing whistle. Eight of her new friends were quickly invited to her next party and hovered around her like watchful guards. She walked down the middle of Mercury again on the way to her buggy and passed by an old and broken weathered and worn out sign sticking up out of the dirt that partially read REPLICA OF STONEHENGE-50 FEET AHEAD-FUN FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY!

  “It’s not so fun anymore Ter.”

  “No Petra. It wasn’t for those lost souls.”

  “I’m gonna need a big boy Ter.”

  “Yes my pleasure Petra.”

  Petra looked down to see a small black device in her right hand. She walked over by the outside rim of the Stonehenge replica and tossed the device into the middle in one fluid motion while continuing to walk with the drones towards her future. About fifty feet from her Hover-Buggy, she pushed a black button in her right palm with her thumb. There was a thunderous three-hundred foot orange and white mushroom cloud behind her that lit up the whole town and everything around for a mile and a half. The stone monument flew in every direction as the shaken earth enveloped the platform and caused a crater the size of a small city block. The dust cloud and shockwave tore most of the buildings down around it causing a massive circle of destruction.

  “That was da bomb Ter.”

  “All this new memory and still no humorous.wav files were downloaded? Jackie and I are going to have a serious talk when you get back.”

  Chapter 28

  CONSTERNATION

  A young handsome and clean Ray Nelson now dressed in scrubs was introduced to a brave new world by Bar, Jackie, Emily and to his own mortality strapped to a gurney with hot red liquid flowing onto drip pans underneath. They slowly showed him to his future. A future where Cobalt was possible and to a future he helped build with his team of scientists over twenty-five years ago. They also showed him his ugly present. There were videos and files of his present exploits and rants and possibilities of a new future. It was ironic that his past was the thing that was exploited by the vengeful and the greedy and the corrupt but not his present future. Not now.

  Ray Nelson’s nine lives had collided in an instant by the touch of a unique blonde woman who once took a sucker on a stick from him and said “Thank You” with her big five-year-old smile, donning hanging pigtails, a blue dress, and saddle shoes. That little blonde girl was speeding along wearing her shiny cobalt leather outfit eastward through Nebraska on I-80 in her Hover-Buggy. Her blue streaked hair was blown straight back by the cool spring breeze hitting her in the face. It was the center point of the “Flying-V” formation and she had four drones on either side of her as the sun was coming up over the dew covered corn and soybean fields that had recently been planted. The drones were whining and buzzing like a swarm of bees dodging buildings bridges and poles to keep up with her in the fast lane. It was a renewal of sorts and a new awakening for her and it was going to be a bright and sunny day coming up in May. She had one more mission to finish before she lay back down inside the safety and warmth of her gelatin incubator.

  There was a sign up ahead on the highway that read ‘Lincoln 20 Miles’. Pulling off the highway Petra drove her buggy into a Fructose Mart lot located in a small sleepy town. Heads of drivers and patrons turned as her eight hovering friends followed her every move. People were running away and screaming as the drones broke several pieces of the Fructose Mart’s windows and damaged Cruisers in the parking lot trying to follow Petra into the store. She had to tell them to “stay” as they now seemed overprotective of her like guardians or well-trained Mastiffs.

  “Where’s your Twinkies at? I don’t see them,” she asked looking over the shoulder of a middle-aged man at the counter dressed in a Fructose Mart labeled red and orange shirt. His colored pants and hat fashioned out of paper made him look more like a circus performer. This Fructose Mart smelled of fatness and happiness.

  “Sorry miss. Those won’t come in until tomorrow. The carrier was late getting here today,” he told her in a kind but sorry voice.

  “Damn,” Petra murmured to herself.

  “There’s a banana right there on the counter in a brown basket,” Ter suggested.

  “Okay give me that banana and I’ll have—” Petra was scanning the shelves behind the old man.

  “Your thyroid and pancreas are going to throw you a party,” Ter proclaimed.

  “What are those Little Debbie’s?”

  “Your organs were actually happy for you for 10.6 seconds if that’s possible”

  “You want one?” the man asked. “They’re chocolate is that okay?”

  “Yes that’s okay—Phili
p K...is it?” Petra was eyeing his gold name badge hanging off his loose shirt. “And no, I want the whole box,” she said sternly but smiling at him. She was all teeth and gums in her approach.

  “Yes, miss. Anything else I can do for you?”

  “No thanks,” she told him now getting frustrated with his slow approach.

  “That will be 108 credits miss.”

  “What?! Are you kidding me?” she asked with eyes and mouth wide open.

  “No miss. The banana is hard to get its eighty credits alone…”

  “Well, okay then…” She swiped the ripe banana off the counter and dropped it back into the basket with two forefingers from which it came and it landed with a small thud. She quickly swiped a red streaming beam going across the counter with an electronic microchip in her palm paying him for the broken windows and crumbling building structure in the process. She got back into her buggy with her box of Little Debbie’s cream filled chocolate cakes. As she sat in the buggy chewing a moist creamy cake, she noticed a small hardware type store a block away on a corner of the street. She told the drones to “stay and be good” and jumped out of the buggy. Petra entered the store and returned several minutes later with a box of tall, tin looking cans.

  “Let me see…which one are you?” she said to herself eyeing one of the drones like it was a blank canvas holding her chin and straining her eyes. “You’re going to be…”

  “What about Terprise?” Ter asked.

  “We’ve already got one of those,” Petra told her. “I hear that name a lot.”

  Petra stood staring at the drones deciding which patriotic paint scheme to go with.

  “I know” Petra said staring at the drones “How about Patrick? Yep Patrick, that’s it”

  “Patrick?” Ter asked.

  “Yes Ter. Patrick Henry. You know a Patriot and a Revolutionary.”

  “Good choice”

  Petra stood in the Fructose Mart parking lot spraying and painting George, Benjamin, John, Patrick, Thomas, and her other newfound hovering friends with various names and sayings from the Revolutionary War. The black WASP paint job and RC logo lettering was gone forever. In their place was “Live Free or Die” and “Don’t Tread on Me”. The blue buggy headed east on I-80 with Petra’s red white and blue painted stars and striped tear dropped whining drones behind her. They followed closely ever vigilant as she swallowed another Little Debbie cake. The cool air was wafting over her face as she came upon a town called Ashland halfway between Lincoln and Omaha off Route 66. It looked like any Midwestern town in any Midwestern state white picket fences and all. By 2076, almost every house looked the same and every house had the same trees in the same size yard. Petra drove off Route 66 onto Boyd Street and parked in front of an old white colonial style house with black shutters and giant oak trees in the front yard. The neighbors’ houses were close enough to hear the drones’ annoying whining sounds and the waking people in the houses within a block radius all opened their doors and curtains to see what was a buzz at 6:00 a.m. in the morning. Most of the houses looked the same to her. They all had the same rooflines and the same paint jobs. They all had the same shitty front doors.

  “Atrocious,” Petra muttered. “Simply atrocious” She stared distastefully at the redundancy.

  Stepping out of the buggy she quickly morphed into her blue Army Dress uniform and held her Officer’s Cap in her hand standing on the occupant’s driveway. Petra’s Dress Blue uniform consisted of a dark blue jacket top with a matching skirt and white shirt with and black tie. Gold pin striping circled the ends of her long dark sleeves. Her medals were proudly pinned to her chest and her cap was layered with gold piping at the bottom. Her rank insignia shone protruding from her cap and shoulders. Rounding out the ensemble were shiny black flat shoes and black nylons with black piping up the back of the legs.

  “You hear that Ter?”

  “Yes Petra. Sounds like marching and high pitched whining.”

  She could hear multiple sets of footsteps coming from the south with another familiar noise. The footsteps got closer and started to sound like they were in rhythm with each other. The whining noise was getting closer as the sound turned the tree lined street corner towards her from the west.

  “Someone called the authorities.”

  “Sounds like WASP troops Petra.”

  “Yep sure does Ter.”

  The corner of the street was now clearer as the sun rose over the horizon. Petra could see the silhouettes of about six men marching quickly towards her in unison. Four drones with WASP colors hovered over them following their every move.

  Petra’s eight freedom fighters turned to look at her hovering in their own little heat filled campfire circle. They wanted confirmation and a visible sign from their master. Petra threw down her cap and looked to the heavens. She resembled an Egyptian princess praying to RA the sun God. She tilted her head back and put her two left forefingers together again. She placed them to her lips and let out a high-pitched whistle.

  “UN—leash Hell boys!” she yelled to the sky above her.

  The six men all dressed in WASP blackened uniforms and their four drones were now three driveways down from her and getting closer. They started drawing their guns and the drones with them looked as if they were prizefighters getting ready for a bout. They suddenly all became still as Patrick and the boys propelled five feet above the ground seeking out their targets. Small silver cylinders ejected out of six of them and heat seeking missiles left the other two drones—John Paul and James—flying out of the front of their patriotic steel casings. Two of the four WASP drones went down immediately and blew up in a fiery loud explosion of molten metal and smoking shrapnel scattering across driveways and lawns. Petra quickly changed into her Cobalt armor and walked towards what was now a bloodbath in someone’s yard. Neighbors who were outside earlier commenting on the situation shaking their heads were now inside their houses locking their doors and windows. The six soldiers were being tore apart at the joints by the small silver surgeons with their barbed laser filled corrosive needs. Some of the soldiers that were still alive screamed and begged to die as the other two WASP drones went down never getting a shot off in the whole blood filled scene of chaos. Multiple yards and their respective driveways were destroyed in smoking stinking ruins as Petra walked up to each of the soldiers and sent them back to where they came from with both of her Colts.

  She turned away from the carnage with her loyal knights following closely and changed back into her Dress Blues. She continued walking across the yards and driveways to her destination up to a set of cracked grey concrete steps and politely knocked on a worn out wooden door of the colonial style white house her buggy was parked in front of. The drones were now at the street hovering over the blue buggy as quietly as they could for drones.

  “May I help you—miss?” the man who opened the door just a crack asked. He seemed visibly shaken from the explosions and carnage down the street.

  “Yes sir you may. May I come in please?”

  “Do I have choice?” he asked reluctantly from behind the slightly open door.

  “No, sir,” she replied with her bright Army uniform snapping to attention and her hair up inside of her cap bearing her rank insignia proudly.

  “You’re a First Lieutenant aren’t you?” he asked still trembling with his voice shaky at best.

  “Yes I am sir. Can I speak with you? It’s a matter of importance—sir.”

  “You won’t—kill me will you?”

  “No sir!” She saluted him with honor and dignity eyeing him down. “May I please come in sir?”

  He slowly opened the door. He was a large two-hundred pound bald African American man holding a spilled over coffee cup wearing red stripped pajamas and red fuzzy bunny slippers. There was a pair of black reading glasses on the tip of his nose and a Vidset playing the news in his right hand at his side.

  “Nice slippers sir,” she told him eyeing his feet with a big smile.

  “Thank
you Lieutenant,” he replied as he opened the door wide for her and she stepped inside.

  Chapter 29

  EXTRICATION

  Mr. Roger Harrison sat next to First Lieutenant Petra Kayden Dace in a rented blue Hover-Buggy cruising along I-65 on their way to Dublin Ohio with the eight newly formed freedom fighters closely behind in formation. The last seven-hundred miles of the seven-hundred and eighty mile trip had been a somewhat bumpy one to say the least. There were a lot of questions that were being asked by this sixty-two-year-old man with greying eyebrows and green eyes who was wearing a black pinstriped suit and a windblown red tie. Petra’s bluing hair fell over her face in the late afternoon breeze as her GPS guided them towards their destination. Mr. Harrison had kissed his wife goodbye ten hours earlier that morning as she shed a tear in each eye for both of them and wished them luck. Mrs. Harrison kept her eyes glued to the Vidscreen hanging in their living room as she would for the next two days watching with anticipation and hope.

  “Just a minute sir,” Petra said as she turned the buggy off the highway once again eyeing another Fructose Mart.

  “I’ll be right back.” She got out of the buggy and told Patrick and the others to stay put. She returned several minutes later with a large crate the size of rolling luggage. She put the crate in the back of the buggy and fumbled around for something. Jumping back into the driver’s seat, she turned to Mr. Harrison. ”Would you like a Twinkie, sir?” she presented him with a golden cream filled sponge cake wrapped in plastic.

  “Why I sure would young lady thank you,” he told her smiling and patting his ever-growing belly. He peeled the plastic apart as the two of them enjoyed the creamy goodness as they pulled out of the lot.

  “It looks like the both of you need an orange,” Ter told her.

  Petra burst out in laughter aloud and had to explain what that eruption was to Mr. Harrison in eye opening detail.

  That afternoon the blue buggy pulled into a grassy five-acre lot in Dublin. The front of the residence was chained shut with padlocks at its massive iron gates. The wrought iron rusty steel pieces were adorned with ornate letters ‘RC’ on both sides. The six-foot high brown stone covered walls jutted on either side of the large gates that stretched outward from the center across the lot for hundreds of feet. In the back through the gates, Petra could see what was once a beautiful well-kept mansion was now a three story worn out memory. It had four massive white pillars in the front that were holding up dark wooden balconies and a flat roof with a railing. It reminded her of another building she knew so well. The windows were a massive sight peppered throughout the front of the mansion and were all drawn with red curtains and broken glass. Dense woods surrounded the entire back of the mansion and sides of the lot.