Fallback (The Adventures of Eric and Ursula Book 3)

by A. D. Winch

  Dear Jason,

  We have only met twice before but I hope that you remember me. My name is Ursula Benjamin. You came to my meetings about my grandparents. You told me that if I never needed help with computers I should come down. I need help but I can’t come down. As you can probably see from the envelope, I am in Spain. Claude, the man who I was with when you met me, told me to fight back and I have.

  Since leaving, Saint-Denis, I have found my friends Eric, Alexander and made a new one – a man called Johan. Together we are going to rescue my grandparents. I don’t know if we will succeed which is why I have sent you this memory stick.

  On the memory stick are a large number of files stolen from the organization that probably closed down your website and stopped your emails. This is VERY DANGEROUS information to own. I have been told to tell you, DON’T read this on a computer connected to the internet and DON’T save it onto a computer connected to the internet. Your life will be in DANGER if you do.

  My friends and I are going to rescue my grandparents. If we do succeed, please do not release this information until I ask you to. You will know that we have succeeded because I will leave you a message on the online forum at www.adventureandmysteryholidays.com. There will be a forum topic called ‘Morocco.’ My username is ‘yellowvest’ and my message will be, ‘I thought Essoaria was lovely.’

  If there is no message before the end of July, then we have not succeeded. I would like you to leak all these files over the internet but please MAKE SURE they are not traceable back to you.

  I know I am asking a lot but you seemed so very excited and helpful, when I met you, that I hoped I could count on you. I hope I am right.

  Merci beaucoup,

  Ursula Benjamin

  Jason put the letter down and grinned broadly. What an absolutely brilliant start to his day! He jumped off his bed and sent the flash drive flying. It landed behind his desk, and he had to hunt through the jungle of wires before he found it again. After placing it safely between his keyboard and a coke can, Jason logged on securely to his Virtual Private Network so no one could track his online movement. From this VPN, he logged onto another VPN and then went to the website that Ursula had told him to go to.

  He found the Morocco forum after a few minutes and scanned through the various posts. Halfway through the list, he found yellowvest's post from over two weeks ago. After much thought, he typed, Great to hear but where to go? Awaiting instructions.

  Life was going to get much more interesting.

  Andrea had booked them into a small villa hotel on the beachfront in the village Parga. It was a burgundy, two-storied building with views of the entire bay. The size was perfect for them; they all had rooms on the same floor and had use of a kitchen too. Ursula was sat in her room looking out at the people playing in the waves or swimming to the small island. It was a pleasant place to be, and she loved being so close to the sea, but she didn’t feel she was achieving anything by staying here.

  She finished getting dressed and switched on a laptop that Andrea had bought her. Since she had posted on the Morocco forum, she had checked for responses every day. Many people replied, but she knew none was Jason. Even though, Alexander had told her that no one spies on snail mail anymore, she was still worried that the package had been intercepted, and Jason was in the hands of the OSS.

  The forum page had grown longer, and Ursula scrolled through all the postings about Morocco. She scan read them all, but one stood out, Great to hear but where to go? Awaiting instructions. She looked at who it had been posted by and read Jason. The message meant that he had received the flash drive, and the thought made Ursula hopeful for the future.

  "It is time to eat," Andrea said, after knocking on her door.

  Ursula quickly left a message on the forum, There are so many places. Login daily to see what you can do, and then ran down the stairs two at a time.

  Everyone was already out on the small hill beside the hotel. They were sat around a plastic table in the shade of an olive tree and helping themselves to a selection of salads that Andrea and Mémé had prepared.

  "He’s read it," Ursula announced, sitting as far away from Eric as she could.

  "By he, I infer the man known as Jason," Andrea clarified.

  Ursula nodded.

  Alexander stopped pouring olive oil over his food.

  "What was his reply?" he asked.

  "Awaiting instructions."

  "It is discrete, and it is sufficient," Andrea added.

  Since Alexander had told her to, Andrea joined them for every meal time. At first it was disconcerting due to the mask she continued to wear, but they had all become used to it. Her grandfather had called her the ‘Phantom of the Opera’ on a number of occasions, but the joke was lost on Andrea.

  Ursula looked at her. Everyone around the table was wearing light summer clothes except for Andrea. She was back in her usual black leathers and a new band T-shirt.

  "Why is it only sufficient? This is great news. It means we can out the OSS whenever we want," Alexander said gleefully.

  "And that is the key phrase, ‘whenever we want.’ It would be illogical to release this data now."

  "Then when?" Ursula asked, failing to hide her disappointment. She looked over at her Granddad.

  Granddad Benjamin finished chewing his aubergine salad and began to speak, "It is nearly August, only five months until well…," he looked at Ursula and Eric.

  "The children will die," Andrea offered, and Mémé choked on her lettuce.

  "Erm, yes, that’s what I wanted to say. I would like to know what we can do to stop it."

  "There is nothing we can do, without assistance," Andrea said.

  Alexander joined the conversation, "I’m sorry. We have run all types of tests, but they are conclusive. In spite of how the children look, they are aging." Everyone looked from Ursula, who despite more grey hairs and crow’s feet looked like a normal teenager, to Eric, who looked greyer and tired but still young. "The plankton has slowed down this process slightly. We are also hopeful that the blood we have stored, fourteen pints from them, can be used in blood transfusions, when needed. A process that we will strongly believe will rejuvenate Eric and Ursula. However, we have no cure at our hands."

  "There is another way," Johan began. He was bruised and ached from his parachute jump but looked younger and was enjoying the Rosé wine. "We have mentioned this before, and I fear that it is the only way - we need to get alien DNA."

  "How do we know that will work?" Eric asked, crossing his arms and sinking into his chair.

  "We don’t but you have met Buddy Angel, no?"

  Eric nodded.

  "He is the same age as me but his physical condition is far superior to my own and most males of our age. How can that be? Perhaps he has had assistance from our extra-terrestrial visitor."

  "And maybe he hasn’t!" Eric countered.

  Johan ignored him and continued, "Your genetic make-up is not only human. A vet would not prescribe human medicine for swine but essentially that is what we are doing here. We are trying to solve your problem using our knowledge of human physiology rather than alien. We need similar samples to the ones I took many, many years ago of the dead alien. With these, we stand more chance of curing your condition."

  "We can’t sit around and wait for Eric and Ursula to…," Mémé could not bring herself to say the word. "We need to do something,"

  "If you had my knowledge, you would realize that there are many things we must do. Not just his one," Johan said without wanting to sound arrogant.

  "Then what are they?" Mémé asked.

  Up until this point, Johan had kept his thoughts to himself. He had decided that Eric needed some relaxation time, and he did not want to spoil that before Eric was happy again. After escaping the OSS, the boy had gone straight into battle with them, and Johan felt he had deserved some fun before he was put in harm’s reach again. On a purely selfish note, he felt the same.

  "You all know that
I worked for the OSS for most of my adult life. They say knowledge is power and if that is so then I imagine the OSS are worried about what I will do with my power," he stopped and coughed a little. The now familiar iron taste appeared in the back of his throat.

  "The OSS led by Buddy Angel, have been determined to create Identical Hybrid Beings for decades. They are what we now call clones. However, they do not want clones of normal people. They wish to create IHBs that are superior. For a while, back in the sixties, I thought I was making progress in this field, and I had planned to use the knowledge I had gained from the alien dissection. We were planning to splice together human and alien DNA to create a super army of soldiers. Before we had a chance to start, my wife blew up my research, and the project was delayed until Eric was captured.

  "Since that day, a vast number of tests and samples have been taken from Eric. All the OSS needs to do now is clone him, and they have enough to do so. It will take time but they’ll get there if they don’t run out of samples first. Ingrid has already done most of the work for them by splicing together human and alien DNA," he paused and took a sip of Rosé.

  "As we sit here and eat, the OSS is attempting to create IHBs in Djupidalur in Iceland; Pine Gap in Australia; Haarp Research Station in Alaska; and Diego Garcia in the Chagos Archipelago. I am sure that the project in Morocco will have been stopped after Eric was moved from there. It is possible that similar research is also being undertaken at Roswell, New Mexico, but I believe that the alien darts and the two pods take up most of their time.

  "There are problems with the cloning process, and we already know about them. The OSS is storing Eric’s samples as if they were completely human. As we have proven with the blood," he motioned towards a wind break. Behind it, nailed to the wall, were bags of Eric and Ursula’s blood, "it is not stored under normal conditions. They are also not aware of Ingrid’s Disc Five. On this disc, she explains about what happened to her test rats and how they died young.

  "At the moment, Eric and Ursula are unique and they are delightful young people who know the difference between right and wrong."

  Ursula’s eyes opened wide, and she looked at Eric.

  "However, the IHBs will be brainwashed from the moment they are born. Their lives will have one goal - the preservation of freedom and peace. Under the guidance of Buddy Angel, this will mean servitude and war. They will have no thoughts of their own. We will be quickly heading towards Aldous Huxleys’ ‘Brave New World’ where different people are born for different purposes." He dropped his head as if ashamed. "Now, I do not believe that this is freedom. This is not life. At the time that I was conducting my research, I did not recognise this.

  "When we left Morocco, Eric said that when we are ready we must attack. I agree with him. We must begin by attacking these research facilities and make sure they are never able to create IHBs."

  Johan coughed, and while he did so, Jerome said, "But this does not prolong the lives of the children."

  "I agree, Jerome. However, I do not think we can attack the cloning facilities without them. Their abilities are extraordinary. They will give us an advantage."

  "I’m happy to attack one," Eric said, tapping the table. "But we can’t attack all five. The first attack will be a surprise but, after the first they’ll know we are coming, and they will stop us."

  "I don’t propose that we attack all of them. In order to keep their Roswell base secret, the OSS actively supported UFO enthusiasts. They sent them parts and plans so they could build their own. I believe we should do the same. There are many groups around the world who actively oppose and attack research facilities. If we can send them money and the plans of these bases, they can assist us."

  "But do we have the plans for these bases?" asked Alexander.

  "Yes. They are on this memory stick," and Johan pulled the flash drive from underneath his shirt. It was still dangling from a necklace and, apart from to make copies, he would not remove it.

  Andrea added, "Legally the Meyer Foundation would be funding terrorism."

  Jerome leant forward and brought his hand down heavily on the table.

  "Jerome!" exclaimed Mémé as she caught her glass of water before it fell.

  "I’m sorry, but this is not solving the problem of the children."

  Johan nodded, "I agree but after we have destroyed the cloning facilities, then I think we should head for Roswell."

  "Back to Roswell?" Eric muttered, and his foot began to tap rapidly on the concrete floor of the yard.

  "I am truly sorry, Eric, but if we are to stand any chance of prolonging your lives then we need to find alien DNA," Johan replied.

  "Then we’ll lure it out. Set a trap and catch it."

  "Sadly, I do not believe that this will be possible. We will have to go back."

  Eric sighed with defeat. He wanted revenge, but he was not keen to return to the scene of his torture. He tried to control his emotions but couldn't and stormed off.

  "It will be impossible. We’re going to die," Ursula whispered to herself. She stood up silently and walked vacantly towards the hotel too.

  Mémé stood up and ordered the others in French, "Keep talking and sort this out. Those children are not going to die while I’m still alive. Excuse me while I go and knock some sense into the two of them."

  The others got up to let her pass, and she waddled away.

  When she had gone, they sat down again, and Alexander poured himself, Jerome and Johan some more Rosé.

  "Continue," Andrea told Johan.

  Johan took a moment to gather his thoughts before he spoke.

  "As I was saying, we need to acquire samples from the alien. If we can achieve this, I am convinced that we will find a cure. To do that, we need to go to Roswell. Eric must go, even though I understand his reaction. I am sure that he has met the alien and will be able to lead us to it."

  "How will we do that?" asked Alexander, throwing a look at Andrea. The memory of breaking into the base in Poland was still fresh in his mind.

  "We will need to create a diversion," Andrea answered. "This is the time that Jason must leak the contents of the OSS memory stick onto the internet. It is a data bomb. If it is done efficiently then media crews will head for the base."

  "I agree," said Johan, "but this will not be enough, we will nee…" He was going to say more, but a coughing fit took hold. When it had subsided, he wiped his mouth with his white handkerchief. It looked like the Japanese flag.

  "That's all well and good, but what is on the flash memory drive stick thing?" asked Jerome.

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  ***

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank many people for their help with this book and for their encouragement.

  Deborah for never shying away from splitting hairs, as I split infinitives. Her help is invaluable.

  My designer Kevin who never says no, even when I think I have asked too much. David, for being strong.

  My parents and Sue who gave me useful feedback on my first draft and spotted mistakes.

  Honza for letting me pick his brain regarding DNA and his suggestion of extracting brain fluid.

  April for grilling me about my life as a writer.

  I would like to thank Christophe for suggesting that the melted snow made everything look dull.

  To Adam, of Prague Youth Theatre, for all our useful chats as we tread similar but different paths.

  I would also like to thank everyone else who gave me valuable feedback.

  ***

  Note from the author

  This book is a work of fiction but contains aspects which, some would argue, are non-fiction.

  If you want to find out the fact behind the fiction visit www.winchad.com, sign up for my newsletter and get exclusive access to a ‘Fact behind the Fiction’ mini-book plus other great resources.

  All the other characters and events are entirely fictitious and any resemblance to real-life people is entirely co-incidental.

&n
bsp; If you have any questions or want to let me know what you think please do not hesitate to contact me at winchad@winchad.com or adwinchinfo@gmail.com or my website www.winchad.com.

  Thank you for reading,

  Antony

  A.D. Winch

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