The Legend of Things Past (Beyond Pluto SciFi Futuristic Aventures Book 1)

by Phillip William Sheppard

  —Jean Genet

  May 17, 2176

  Fort Belvoir, VA

  Donovan Knight

  The next day Donovan met McGregor in the cafeteria, but McGregor insisted that they eat at the fort. Donovan slammed his plate down at the table and scarfed his food down, wondering why McGregor didn’t want to meet him but unable to ask him why. Was he going to betray him? Did he decide not to help Donovan after all?

  Donovan saw Tracee watching him from the next table, but he ignored her.

  “Hey,” Colonel McGregor said when they were finished, “I just remembered. I left my watch in your room. Can I come and get it?”

  Suddenly, Donovan understood that Colonel McGregor was up to something.

  “Yeah, sure,” he said.

  They met in his room and Colonel McGregor pulled a small black device, rectangular in shape, out of his jacket pocket. He flipped a switch on the side.

  “There,” he said. “Now we can talk comfortably.”

  Donovan looked at him questioningly.

  “Oh, it’s a signal blocker and signal creator,” Colonel McGregor said. “It’ll block Tobias’s spying system within a ten foot radius. It’ll also send out fake signals to his system so that he doesn’t see any blind spots. He can’t hear us now.”

  Donovan was instantly euphoric. “You’re a genius!”

  McGregor shrugged. “I thought that’d be better than having to meet up in the middle of nowhere.” He dug into another pocket and withdrew another device, this one like a tiny bead that rolled between his fingers.

  “Here’s the microphone.” He handed it over. “It’s already recording and sending the audio to my computer.”

  “Perfect,” Donovan said. He was impressed. Hesekiel McGregor really was the smartest mind in technology. Donovan put the tiny dot into his pocket.

  “I need to ask for your help with one last thing,” Donovan said. “I need you to hack the fort’s security system and open the high security vault that houses the formula.”

  Colonel McGregor frowned. “How did you know about that?”

  “Tobias. He showed me the footage on my computer screen. That’s when he made the last offer for me to join him.”

  “I see.”

  “Can you do it? Can you open the vault so that the alarm doesn’t go off?”

  Colonel McGregor nodded. “Of course. I’m a genius, remember?”

  For what seemed like the first time in weeks, Donovan laughed.

  When the lights went out and the majority of people had gone to bed, Donovan crept along the dim halls to the high security vault. He approached the corner and paused before turning. He’d heard whispers. He chanced a quick peek.

  There were soldiers guarding the door to the vault. Four of them. That should be easy enough. They didn’t seem to be too alert. They were talking in low voices about what they would do when the graveyard shift was over.

  Donovan rounded the corner at full speed, shooting non-lethal bolts as he went. They all hit home before the soldiers even realized what was happening. They collapsed, e-guns clattering on the ground as they slipped from their fingers.

  Donovan moved quickly. It was only a matter of time before the shocks wore off. Donovan had set his e-gun to the lowest level—it would only last about five minutes.

  He stepped to the door and waited. It was Colonel McGregor’s turn now. It seemed like a long time, but only two minutes passed before the door slid to the side, revealing another door with a small screen set in its surface.

  Donovan tapped the screen and it lit up revealing a keyboard. He entered the code Colonel McGregor had given him. The door swung open.

  A blast of cold air washed over Donovan. The vault was freezing cold. Donovan stepped inside and went straight for drawer 695, where McGregor had told him the formula was stored.

  Sure enough, there is was. A test tube filled with what looked like water.

  Donovan closed the drawer and turned to leave when a group of soldiers rounded the corner. They paused for a moment, uncomprehending.

  Donovan was shocked, too. McGregor had blocked the camera system so that it couldn’t see him. So what were these soldiers doing here?

  There must have been a shift switch that they hadn’t known about.

  Donovan jumped into action. There was no chance of convincing them that he was supposed to have the formula—not with the other four soldiers slowly recovering from his volts and rising unsteadily to their feet.

  Donovan fired a round of shots, all of which hit the newcomers square in their chests.

  Donovan stepped over their bodies and turned the corner, only to bump into a fifth solider who was speaking into the headset that looped around his ear.

  All Donovan heard was the word “intruder.” Without really thinking, he punched the man in the face. The soldier’s head snapped backward and he reeled from the force of the blow. Donovan struck again, breaking his arm. He ripped the headset from his ear and threw it to the ground. He stomped on it until it was in tiny little pieces.

  Then he ran.

  There would be more soldiers. It would be Donovan against the whole fort. He ran to the nearest medical room that he knew of and locked himself inside. He found a syringe, removed the cap from the test tube, and sucked the formula into it.

  He discarded the test tube.

  He paused. He hated needles.

  He steeled himself, raised his arm, and plunged the needle into this leg, pushing the plunger down.

  An odd sensation spread through his limbs—a tingling.

  Within seconds, his sore muscles were no longer sore and the tiredness due to the late hour disappeared. With a new confidence, Donovan exited the room.

  He strolled down the hallway feeling sort of drunk. For no apparent reason he was really happy. He walked to the elevator at a leisurely pace. He pushed the down button and waited for the elevator that would take him to the basement.

  Once there he would steal a space ship and teleport to Lohiri.

  The elevator doors slid open, but Donovan didn’t go inside. There wasn’t enough room—it was packed with soldiers. They streamed out and attacked.

  Donovan swung his fists left and right, feeling an extra surge of energy that he just had to release. They all carried bulletproof and electricityproof shields. Donovan punched straight through them.

  Then he remembered that he was much stronger now. It was good thing they had the shields or Donovan may have killed them. He resolved to hold back to prevent serious injury. Nevertheless he still broke a few arms by accident.

  “Move out of the way!” A voice came from the left.

  The soldiers moved away from Donovan to allow General Umar to get through.

  “Knight!” he shouted. “What the hell are you doing? Why are you doing this?”

  “I saw you,” Donovan said. “I saw the meeting you had in the vault. I heard what you were planning to do. You lied to me—betrayed me. My grandfather was right. I’m better off on his side.”

  General Umar’s face turned bright red. Whether from embarrassment at being found out or anger, Donovan didn’t know.

  Donovan backed into the elevator and pushed the button for the basement. A few soldiers moved to stop him but General Umar commanded them to stop.

  “He’s used the formula. He’s too strong. Let him go.”

  The doors closed and Donovan was enveloped in silence.

  He stole the smallest and fastest space ship and left Fort Belvoir. He turned on the teleporter and zoomed through the wormhole.

  Chapter 13

  “There’s none so blind as those who will not listen.”

  —Neil Gaiman, American Gods

  May 18, 2176

  Fort Belvoir

  Captain Brian Umar

  Brian Umar was asleep when his father summoned him to his office. He hurriedly got dressed.

  He knew what had happened before he even got there. The news had spread like wildfire through the fort. There was far
much more activity than usual. Soldiers ran back and forth down the halls. Brian heard them talking about it as they passed him.

  Donovan had broken into the high security vault and stolen the formula.

  Brian couldn’t feel shocked. So many unbelievable, crazy things had happened in the last few days that he hardly believed that he could ever be shocked again. He only wondered why Donovan would do such a thing.

  Was he really that stubborn? Did he steal it so that he could go and fight Tobias on his own and prevent the battle from happening? Was he really that noble? Brian wasn’t sure, but he didn’t believe anything his father said about Donovan being a traitor.

  Jonathan, Natalee, and McGregor were gathered in his father’s office and they were all discussing why Donovan would react the way he had. Had they really misjudged him so?

  “It doesn’t matter that we trusted him,” the General said. “He’s our enemy now. When we attack Lohiri, we will aim to kill him as well as Tobias.”

  McGregor nodded, quickly accepting the plan.

  Natalee and Jonathan looked shocked.

  “Do we really need to kill him?” Jonathan asked. “Couldn’t we capture him alive? I mean, maybe this is all some kind of misunderstanding. Maybe he’s just trying to—I don’t know—prevent a battle from taking place. He was against it from the beginning.”

  Brian was surprised that Jonathan had the same exact idea as him.

  “I doubt he’s that noble,” McGregor said. “He comes from a line of insanity. He probably really did join Tobias.”

  “This can’t be real,” Natalee said. “This isn’t like him.”

  “And you know that after only knowing this man for a week?” McGregor said harshly.

  She was about to say something angrily when the General spoke.

  “That’s enough. It doesn’t matter. For whatever reason, Knight has betrayed us. We must treat him as we would any other enemy. And that means going for the kill. Is that understood?”

  There was a reluctant round of “yes, sirs.”

  Brian left the meeting thinking deeply. He thought his father overestimated the power his authority had over human emotions. The only one in that meeting who seemed likely to take a lethal shot at Knight was McGregor.

  Jonathan clearly admired Knight and saw him as a friend more than a General. And Natalee seemed to have some emotional ties to him. Brian wondered what had gone on between them in the short time that they’d known each other.

  In any case, Brian just couldn’t convince himself that Donovan had betrayed them. He couldn’t explain Donovan’s actions in a way that made sense, but he had a good instinct about people. Donovan was still on their side. He just had to prove it somehow.

  He went to Jonathan’s room and told him his plan. He didn’t know if it would accomplish anything, but Jonathan was more than happy to help.

  They broke into Knight’s room and searched it for clues.

  It didn’t take long for them to find the cameras.

  Jonathan sat heavily in the desk chair. “How come no one has ever found these? They weren’t even that well hidden. There’s a whole spying system in here. And this cord…”

  Jonathan held up a black cable.

  “…leads outside this room. The whole place could be bugged. Who knows who’s listening to us right now?”

  “Maybe no one found it because no one was ever looking for it,” Brian said. “I wonder if this is a military spy system—or something else.”

  They looked at each other.

  Jonathan’s face mirrored what Brian felt—eerie.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Brian said.

  They returned the room to exactly how it’d been before and rushed out the door.

  Suddenly, a hand was on Brian’s chest, pushing him back inside. The door shut behind them. It was McGregor.

  “Were you following us?” Brian asked.

  “Yes,” McGregor said.

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black device. He flipped a switch on its side.

  “What is that?” Jonathan asked.

  “A signal blocker,” McGregor said. “It blocks the spying system. No one can hear us now.”

  “Wait, how’d you know about the spying system?” Jonathan asked.

  “Donovan told me about it,” McGregor said. “He’s not a traitor.”

  Well, that was the last thing Brian had expected. “You’re a good actor. You seemed ready to have Knight’s head back there.”

  “Well, I had to act natural, didn’t I?” McGregor said. “Now, we have to do this quickly. I need your help.”

  Brian was stunned at the story McGregor told. Tobias had been spying on them all this time. Donovan had found out about it but kept silent to protect them all.

  “The spy system actually belongs to the military. I did some research—classified files. It was part of an initiative that Tobias launched years ago for so called security purposes. He’s been hacking the military for a long time. Watching our every move.”

  “We have to tell the General,” Brian said.

  “I did,” McGregor said. “He didn’t believe me. He thought that Donovan was making it up to keep him from attacking Tobias. He refused to even conduct a search.”

  “The fool!” Brian shouted, unable to stop himself. “He’s an absolutely stubborn prick! He put us all in danger for the sake of his pride! I swear to God, if that man wasn’t my father I’d strangle him.”

  “Calm down, Captain,” McGregor said. “Now that you two have actually found the system and can vouch for Donovan, too, maybe he’ll listen.”

  Brain mumbled under his breath, “Idiot old man.”

  He yanked the door open and they followed him out.

  When they reached the General’s office, Natalee was already there.

  “Can we have a word with you, General?” McGregor said.

  Brian let him take the lead.

  The General looked at Natalee. “Are we done here?”

  “Yes, sir,” she said bitterly.

  “Wait,” Brian said. “She should stay. She’d want to know about this.”

  Natalee looked back and forth between Brian and McGregor. “What is it? What’s going on? Is it Knight?”

  Jonathan shut the door.

  “Yes,” Brian said. “We’ve found something.”

  “Out with it, boy! What is it?”

  “The same exact thing that McGregor tried to tell you before,” Brian said, unable to keep the anger out of his voice. “Donovan is still on our side. Chaplain and I found a spying system in his room. The direction of the cords suggests that it stretches outside his room—it covers the entire base.”

  The General looked flabbergasted. “But—it can’t be—Knight was just saying that to…”

  “Look, you old stubborn fool!” Brian shouted, leaning across his father’s desk. “Listen to us or we’re lost.”

  The General stared at him in shock but didn’t say anything more.

  “The system,” Brian continued, “was installed as a part of an initiative that Tobias created years ago. He’s been spying on us the whole time. He’s always known our every move before we ever made it. He’s been toying with us. He knows we can’t stop him.”

  “Our only hope is Knight,” McGregor said. He pulled the signal blocker from his jacket and quickly explained its purpose. “His mission is protected so long as we keep it to ourselves. We must go on like everything is the same—as if we believe Donovan is a traitor.”

  “But,” Jonathan said, “surely we must do something else? We should look for the cure here on earth, like Donovan said. Maybe he was right and this was all just a distraction. Tobias doesn’t want us to find the cure so he’s trying to get us to believe that he has it with him, when really it’s hidden close to home.”

  “We can’t…” General Umar stopped and cleared his throat, as if the shock of his son’s rant had dried it out. “…We can’t carry out that massive of an operation without the
rest of the base knowing what’s going on.”

  “I’ll create a way to send everyone electronic messages that Tobias can’t see.”

  “Good.” The General began to gather control again. “Notify me when the message is sent. I will delay the attack by a couple of hours, but that’s all I can do without arousing suspicion. After that, we’ll proceed as planned—well, at least on the surface. Let the soldiers know that they must not shoot Knight to kill—only to stun and capture. If at all possible, try to miss him altogether so that he can complete his mission. We must all protect his cover.

  “I also need you to put together a couple of teams to search all known buildings that were of importance to Tobias.”

  “Yes, sir,” McGregor said. He left the room.

  “Sir,” Natalee said. “I want to go to Lohiri. I want to be a part of the attacking battalion.”

  The General stared at her.

  “Me, too,” Jonathan said. “I want to help Donovan. If his cover is blown and he needs backup, I want to be there.”

  “That fond of him are you?” the General said, an amused smile playing at his lips. “Go ahead. Serve me where you will.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Natalee said.

  “I wish I could be so noble,” Brian said, “but I’m afraid I’m not a very good fighter. I’ll stay and help out here.”

  “All right, soldiers, prepare for your parts,” the General said. “Get as must rest as you can in the next few hours. I’ll summon you when it’s time.”

  Natalee and Jonathan left the room.

  “You did a good job there, Father,” Brian said. “For a moment I thought your stubbornness would be the end of us.”

  His father smiled. “I have learned that being right isn’t always the best thing. Your mother taught me that. I just wished I had learned it before the divorce.”

  “Father…” Brian had never heard him speak of the divorce before. He had always avoided the topic.

  The General waved his hand as if to wave Brian’s words away. “Get on, boy, and help with the efforts. Either get some rest or help Colonel McGregor.”

  “And what about you, General?” Brian said. “Will you ever rest?”