The New Reality

by Stephen Martino

  Specific lab equipment immediately drew their attention. Whether it was an incubator, centrifuge, or mass spectrometer, as long as it was powered by electricity, the creatures seemed interested. The equipment that did not have an electric source was summarily overlooked.

  A few of the bugs took special interest in a proton accelerator. At first they scurried around the foot-long oval machine while examining it with their antennae.

  One creature crawled to the machine’s underbelly. After wedging its two articulated front legs adjacent to where a small wire inserted into the proton accelerator, the bug began to glow brightly with a blue hue that could have blinded some unsuspecting onlooker.

  Within a second, a light at the top of the proton accelerator turned green, signifying that it had been activated. The machine then began to emit a low rumbling noise that initially scared the bugs surrounding it. They jumped back but after a brief pause slowly edged their way towards it.

  Other pieces of electrical equipment in the lab also came to life. Before long, the entire area became alive with the lights and sounds of modern technology. It was a chaotic harmony, which only the bugs could appreciate.

  As the bugs continued to interfere, much of the equipment began to short circuit. Some began to catch fire. Others spun out of control until their motors burned out or knocked to the floor, breaking upon impact.

  As one piece of equipment failed, the bugs turned to something new. The cycle continued until everything lay in ruins. Within a quick span of fifteen minutes, millions of dollars of equipment had been rendered useless.

  The destructive powers of these creatures were immense and their appetite for trouble seemed insatiable.

  Once they destroyed the lab’s entire stock of electrical equipment, the bugs crawled back on the floor, searching for their next target. Frantic once again, they scurried around with no apparent direction. Without any further electrical machinery to attack, they held their antennae up high, hoping to sense their next prey.

  One of the bugs stopped moving as it detected something interesting.

  An air duct.

  It was located on the ceiling just above them. Infusing the area with fresh air, the duct helped prevent the atmosphere from becoming stagnant in the morgue.

  The bugs quickly ran across the floor and up the walls.

  Instinct or programming? It was uncertain.

  As if it were a race, each scampered as quickly as their little legs would take them. Running over one another, cutting each other off, or simply pushing another away, the bugs did their best to be the first to arrive.

  Upon reaching the air duct their eyes began to glow.

  Freedom.

  The duct led out of the room and connected to the rest of the Neurono-Tek building complex.

  With only a quick pause, the bugs were moving again, scurrying up the air duct and out of the room.

  Neurono-Tek’s Achilles’ heel had been found and the bugs were more than happy to pierce it.

  Chapter 9

  Jonathan Maloney sat at the edge of his seat, excited to divulge all he knew but hesitant to do so because of its delicate nature.

  “You see,” he began to say, “ever since the outbreak of The Disease, I’ve been following it. From the Dodecanese Islands of the Aegean to Bodrum in Turkey, I have personally seen the destructive path of this illness.”

  These particular places Jonathan mentioned were the most devastated by The Disease. With their entire populations wiped out, they had become universally synonymous with The Disease’s destruction . Like a tornado, it had the ability to demolish everything in its path.

  Marissa was particularly intrigued. Because the places Jonathan mentioned were off-limits to even the NIH’s staff, she definitely had her curiosity piqued by what he had seen.

  “And there was one thing in common about all of these places,” Jonathan said. “Death was the inevitable outcome: red, bloated, and stiff. That’s how I found many of their inhabitants. It was a shame to see such a tragedy.”

  “But all of those places had restricted access,” Marissa finally blurted, unable to sustain her enthusiasm. “How did you gain entrance to them?”

  “You aren’t some kind of spy?” Samantha exclaimed.

  Jonathan smiled.

  “No, no. I’ve been called a lot of things in my day. Many of them I vowed I would never repeat. But a spy? No, I can assure you I am not that.”

  Alex, too, remained skeptical. He knew there were certain hot spots that both the Turkish and Greek governments deemed restricted for foreign access. The Dodecanese Islands and Bodrum were at the top of this list.

  “Let me just clarify something first,” Alex said. “Were you actually at these particular places or just surveying them remotely from an aerial view?”

  “No, I was there,” Jonathan answered nonchalantly. “I touched the ground, smelled the air, and walked amongst the buildings. Beautiful as they were, death overshadowed all their aesthetic qualities.”

  “Then, are you a governmental agent?” Alex asked.

  “I have no governmental ties,” Jonathan said with his usual quick cadence, “nor do I have any relationship with the Queen of England or the Prince of Monaco. I am just an ordinary man on an extraordinary mission.”

  Despite the circuitous answer, Alex did believe him. A good judge of character, he felt Jonathan was true to his word and had more to offer. They just had to have a little patience.

  Jonathan looked at each of them before talking. “You just assume that I went there after these places had been totally quarantined. The truth of the matter is, I was there before their governments fully realized what had occurred. A simple visa was all I needed.”

  “Are you some sort of psychic then?” Samantha joked.

  “I have no extraordinary powers,” Jonathan admitted, “I am just a regular guy who has been blessed with a little knowledge.”

  Jonathan took out his leather-bound Bible and held it out in front of him, tightly within his left hand. As if drawing strength from the book, his pale freckled face seemed to become aglow in its presence.

  “You’re not some religious nut?” Samantha scoffed.

  “A Millerite to be correct,” he rebutted.

  “That’s it!” Samantha blurted. “I’m outta here.”

  She immediately stood up and began to walk to the door.

  “I know what happened on Astipalea,” Jonathan finally said in a direct manner.

  No longer roundabout in nature, he knew a direct approach would be needed in this situation.

  “Can you just take a seat and let the man talk?” Alex said. “I thought patience was one of your virtues.”

  “I’ll give you patience,” Samantha said. Begrudgingly, she finally sat.

  “Despite what you have heard on the news,” Jonathan said after he had everybody’s full attention, “Astipalea was not a military testing facility nor was it consumed in some underwater volcanic eruption. Its destruction was no accident, but the scourge it bestowed upon the planet was.”

  “Are you implying Astipalea is the source of The Disease?” Marissa asked.

  Though the NIH acknowledged Astipalea could have also been infected with The Disease, they had made no connection with it as its epicenter. They were just like the general public: at the mercy of the media for information regarding the island’s destruction.

  Marissa felt as if she could kick herself. What appeared unlikely only a minute ago seemed all too obvious at the present time. The thought had briefly crossed her mind, but she had been too involved with the details of her work to see the big picture.

  “As you may or may not know,” Jonathan explained, “Astipalea was once just a simple island where fishing and tourism provided the mainstay of its sustenance. In fact, I signed on as a fisherman before The Disease ever came to fruition.”

  “Then you knew about The Disease before it started?” Alex asked.

  “Not specifically, but I knew something was on its w
ay. And that something could change the world as we know it.”

  An aerial image of the butterfly-shaped island before the entire area had been vaporized appeared in front of them.

  Samantha had pulled up the image from their central data banks. Still skeptical of Jonathan, she wanted to confirm his testimony.

  Under the image were bold titles such as Location, Animal Habitat and Mean Temperature. Samantha scrolled through the words with her hand and touched those that she wanted to read more about.

  The conversation stopped as she did her own investigation.

  “Says here,” she interrupted, “prior to Astipalea’s destruction it had become a volcanic research facility.”

  Samantha looked at Jonathan, “I thought you said you were a fisherman.”

  Jonathan thought of his words to be exact. “We are all fishermen of men, but in fact I was simply doing as I said, catching fish.”

  “He got you there,” Alex commented. He then scrolled through the titles and came to Exports. “You see here. It says the major export of the island was fish.”

  “A fisherman I was,” Jonathan added, “however, the island did indeed become a research facility, but not for volcanism.”

  “But it says right here—” Samantha insisted.

  “Do not blind yourself with the obvious,” Jonathan rebutted, “for sometimes the answer you seek can only be found in the most inauspicious places.”

  He placed his prized Bible on the end table and gazed upon it as if it contained the answer.

  “So what research were they doing?” Marissa asked.

  “The funny thing is I never exactly discovered everything they were doing. The answer eluded me the whole time I was there, but I can tell you this: they had no interest in volcanoes.”

  “Then what was it?” Marissa asked again. “What were they studying? Some plant or a sea creature?”

  “It was not a tree, beast of burden, or some other animal native to the island. Man was their sole and only test subject. Their volcanology project provided just a cover, a ruse to hide the truth.”

  “And how do you know this?” Marissa asked.

  “Though at times I kept myself inconspicuous, I made myself conspicuous enough to uncover a few answers. You see, I spoke to many of the people seeking medical help from their hospital.”

  Jonathan paused a second. The faces of both friends and acquaintances he had made on Astipalea briefly ran through his mind. These were difficult memories. He had trouble focusing, knowing they had all met a premature death.

  “I worked with most of them and knew their families,” he went on to say, holding back a lump in his throat. “They all visited the hospital for different reasons: broken bones, backaches, or even the common cold. The odd thing was that some of them left with bandages in seemingly random places on their body.”

  “What do you mean bandages?” Marissa asked.

  “There was nothing elaborate about the dressing. However, what intrigued me was that they were there. I may not be a physician, but I do know that you should not enter a hospital with the sniffles and leave with dressings along your spine, skull, and abdomen.”

  Alex turned to Samantha. “Does it say who was funding this research? Is there a name behind this volcanism project, even if it was just a façade?”

  Samantha scrolled through the data on the holographic image. Despite her speed-reading, she could find nothing.

  “‘Private Donation’ is all it says,” Samantha responded.

  “Did you see any cargo ships with a logo?” Alex asked Jonathan. “Or was anyone on the island wearing something that could identify the source of the funding?”

  Jonathan shook his head. He then allowed a little smirk. “And there was no tell-tale sign of that little UAA falcon either,” he then said to keep their interest.

  Alex and Samantha leapt from their seats almost immediately. Instead of blurting out what they knew, both kept a calm composure and let Jonathan continue speaking.

  But how did he know about the falcon?

  “Though I did not see the bird on Astipalea, I did manage to notice a few men bearing the emblem while in Turkey and Greece.”

  “Nothing on the island though,” Alex conceded, without giving Jonathan the response he was most likely expecting. “Dead-end. How about your friends? Can you give us any more information about them?”

  “At first they started missing work. I just assumed they had been drinking too much or had been partying until the wee hours of the morning. It was not an uncommon occurrence. A fisherman’s life was a difficult one, and many turned to the bottle as a result.

  “But they weren’t drunk,” Marissa said. “What did you see?”

  “Their work ethic suffered first. Usually a bunch of hearty men, they began to slow down and complained of muscle aches. Many, in fact, went back to the hospital, but those who decided to fight through it turned red throughout their body, like they had been baking in the sun for too long.”

  Jonathan shook his head. “That was just before they died.”

  “But you survived?” Alex commented. “How come you didn’t get The Disease or die in the island’s explosion?”

  Jonathan glanced over to the Bible. Though it could not speak, the book obviously held more answers than he let on.

  “Well, let’s just say this,” he explained briskly. “I just knew my time was up and my visit to the island was complete. Three days before its explosion I left for Bodrum, Turkey, never to return again.”

  This information given to them by Jonathan was a start. Alex now surmised that The Disease must have been man-made and the island may have been intentionally destroyed to prevent its spread. But who designed it and why?

  It was also obvious to Alex that the UAA must have been asking the same questions. He knew that its leader was a classic narcissist who held himself higher than his people. If the UAA were able to discover the answer before anyone else, its leader, Ari Lesmana, could capitalize on it for his own dangerous purposes. The world’s suffering would be his gain.

  Alex also realized the UAA would do anything to stop their competition. The terrorist attack at Neurono-Tek had been a testament to that fact. He and his company would have to be extra vigilant. Not only was time against them in finding a cure, but now an egotistical narcissist hell-bent on stopping them would be interfering with their research.

  Just the kind of challenge Alex Pella relished!

  “Too bad everyone died in the explosion,” Marissa lamented. “It would have been nice to have at least one person with some inside knowledge.”

  “And that is the main reason why I’ve requested your assistance,” Jonathan emphatically responded.

  “Someone survived!” Marissa shouted in pure excitement.

  “His name is Guri Bergmann,” Jonathan said. “I neither know what his role was in the experiment nor his relationship to Astipalea. What I do know is that he is in Crete and will most likely give us some answers.”

  Before Alex could say anything, Samantha already had Guri’s picture holographically displayed in front of them.

  The man could by no means be considered handsome. Nebbishy, troll-like, and homely were a few of the first adjectives that came to mind when looking at him.

  He wore silver rectangular glasses, and his eyes almost closed during the contrived smile he made for the picture. With a slightly chubby face, salt and pepper colored beard, and a highly greased comb-over, he was a man who could not easily be forgotten.

  Even Jonathan said, “I think I would have remembered him if I’d seen him on the island.”

  “Take a look to see where he is on Crete,” Alex said.

  “Well, I can take a guess it’s not on a date,” Samantha responded.

  They all could not help but chuckle slightly at Samantha’s candid remark.

  A map of Crete appeared with a star located at its northeastern tip on a town called Sitia. Samantha touched the star, and a larger map of the boating community
came into view. A small red dot discernibly overshadowed one of the houses.

  “Well, there you go,” Samantha said. “Ask and I shall deliver.”

  “How about you get me some coffee then,” Alex joked.

  “Very funny!”

  “I wonder what he knows?” Marissa said aloud.

  “Well,” Alex responded while standing up abruptly, “we’re going to find out right now.”

  He looked back towards his desk and said, “Phil!”

  A holograph of the man appeared where the map had been.

  “Yes, Dr. Pella?”

  “Could you have Tom make preparations for the Stratoskimmer? My friends and I need to take a little road trip.”

  “Yes, sir!” And his image disappeared.

  “Samantha, I hate to say this,” Alex said as her gave her a wink, “but I’m going to have to leave you here with the corpse.”

  “Good,” Samantha said, “it’ll probably provide me with more mental stimulation than you ever could.”

  Despite Alex’s excitement about this adventure, he did realize the risks of traveling to Sitia.

  He turned to Marissa and Jonathan.

  Looking at them both seriously he said, “I want to let you both know that if you come with me it could be dangerous. Besides being at an increased risk of acquiring The Disease, we may have some unwanted company from the UAA.”

  As Alex spoke, Marissa and Jonathan were already on their feet. Staring him straight in the eyes, both looked as if to say, “What are you waiting for?”

  Chapter 10

  The air-conditioning duct barely made the hot and muggy air tolerable. Sweat clung to their skin like a wet towel. It was like being in a sauna but without the luxury.

  They were two miles under the eastern coast of Yemen in a poorly lit cavern that contained just enough oxygen to breathe. The working conditions were so deplorable that the heat made the Sahara look like an oasis.

  “So water from the Arabian Sea is scheduled to fill this entire cavern tonight?” Ari asked with his usual swagger. However, wearing a heavy hard hat and stiff blue coveralls made his usual fluid motions seem almost mechanical.