Bermuda

by Karim Soliman

  "Move! Move! Move!"

  Having no idea how Powell made his way back in this deadly passage, Heather found him right in front of her and Daniel. The marine grabbed Heather by the hand and threw her over his shoulder. "Don't look back! Run!" He cried at Daniel as he dashed as fast as he could in the cracking corridor.

  A few meters ahead separated Powell and Heather from the light. She could hear her fellows' yelling voices, hurrying Powell up. "Shit!" Powell growled, a shower of rocks falling just before the corridor entrance, almost blocking the only exit. He let Heather down saying, "You can make it through this opening!" He pointed to the only vacancy of air left by the fallen stones. The only way to pass through was to crawl. "Move it! These stones won't stand for long!"

  The idea of creeping below these rocks was terrifying, but the light beaming through this rabbit hole together with Powell's yell pushed her forward. The rocks above scrubbed her head as she crawled, small stone particles falling on her, making her scream as she recalled the sight of rocks piling over her friends.

  "Keep moving, Heather!" Powell's voice came from behind her. He pushed her feet to move on.

  "Give me your hand, Heather!" It was Daniel's voice from the other side. She reached out with one arm and pushed herself with the other. When Daniel's hand caught her, she stretched the other arm, closed her eyes, and let herself be dragged outside the corridor in the open air.

  She was gasping, sweating, and sobbing. "Come on!" Daniel helped her get up on her feet. "We're almost there!"

  Almost? She came back to her senses while Tolarus was pulling Powell out through the hole. The van-like aircraft, which had brought them up the mountain, was still luckily in its place.

  "Into the aircraft!" Nathaniel translated Tolarus's Latin cry. There was nothing ahead but the mountain edge. Nobody needed an invitation to survive.

  From inside the flying craft, Heather watched the devastation of the Atlantean colony. The mountains were bombarded by huge missiles falling from the sky. Many similar crafts fled the collapsing mountains, carrying Atlanteans inside.

  "Watch out!" Powell hollered.

  Barely missing their aircraft, another missile resumed its flight until it reached its final destination at the mountain, making a huge explosion that shook the craft with its shock waves.

  A cloud of dust and smoke covered the whole Atlantean valley. Heather kept her eyes fixed on the stunned Tolarus, who was watching his people's last refuge turn into one huge rubble. His Latin cry didn't even need a translation from Nathaniel. It was pure grief, pure fury.

  "All is over now," Jay muttered as he gazed at the collapsed mountains. Heather wished she could lie and disagree, but she couldn't. Their only hope to leave this island was buried beneath the largest pile of rocks she had ever seen.

  27. Mind Blown

  Five teammates she had lost in this damned mission so far.

  It was supposed to be a scientific expedition to reveal the secret behind the mysterious disappearance events in Bermuda Triangle. Many theories had been postulated based on scientific assumptions, and that was why the government had sent a team of scientists and engineers; the best in their specialties she knew. She had taken part in their selection for the Bermuda unit a few years ago.

  She had taken part in sending them to their doom.

  For the hundredth time in an hour, Heather rolled on her mattress, trying to sleep in some Atlantean safe house after one of her most dreadful days. She had thought of the first day in Bermuda as the worst in her life, but seriously, she should have waited for the second day to judge properly. Oh God! Two days! Two unbelievably long days that had devastated her physically, emotionally, and even mentally.

  The room had no windows for the sunlight to stream through, as the case was in most of the rooms in the heart of eastern mountains. She surmised it was close to sunset. The brutal bombardment of the northern and western mountains had lasted for three hours. Three whole hours. She had watched those mountains collapse, the green plains covered with debris and dust. She and her team—the few remaining—had to stay in the aircraft with Tolarus, waiting for the gray cloud to dissipate. But the surrounding air was not cleared yet. Landing on such terrain meant they escaped from being crushed by mountain rocks to die by suffocation.

  "Heather," Susan whispered. "Try to sleep."

  Heather rolled to the other side to face Susan, who lay on a mattress next to hers. "Am I making so much noise?" Heather asked in a low voice, trying not to wake up the rest of the sleeping crew. Nobody had slept properly in the last forty-eight hours. Those damned gray humanoids had left them on a plain floor on the first day.

  "Your breath is heavy and you roll too much," Susan said softly. "Let it go, Heather. You're burning yourself out."

  Heather allowed a pale smile. Susan continued, "I know you feel responsible for the whole team, but you're burdening yourself beyond your capacity. We all feel grieved for those who left us, but there was nothing we could have done for them."

  "Thanks, Sue." Heather appreciated Susan's attempt to lift her mood up, hoping this would make her sleep at last.

  Heather rolled again to her preferred side to sleep on. She took one deep breath, trying to relax. All her trouble was because of those gray-faced aliens. Those liars. That Akmenios blabbed too much about his race's peaceful nature, unlike the homines who had the lust for power. That rascal had filled her mind with his bullshit.

  No, he's not a rascal. He's a killer. A cannibal.

  Escaping the island was on top of her wish list. Now she would add something else: watching Akmenios's head crushed under the same massive rock that had buried Linda and Walter.

  "You know what I would do if I could turn the clock back?" said Heather without looking at Susan.

  "You would have refused the Bermuda mission, no doubt," Susan replied. Heather could imagine the smile on Susan's face.

  "I would have hired marines for this expedition." Heather closed her eyes. "Except for Powell, we are all useless here."

  * * *

  In his subterranean headquarters, Akmenios monitored the attack aftermath.

  "We should postpone the hunters' raid," said Cudelios.

  It was not the scenario Akmenios had planned. He wanted to take advantage of the chaotic state of the Atlanteans after the crushing assault, but the attack had consumed so much energy beyond their expectations. Razing those mountains to the ground required more missiles than estimated, and hence, power reached serious levels at their side. It would be unwise to deplete their scarce energy reserves.

  "You're right," Akmenios seconded. "Which gives us some time to have another session with the hominum." He gazed at Burke, who was still tied in his seat, fidgeting.

  "Don't you think we should untie him for a while?" asked Cudelios. "Keeping him tied on this seat for a long time is worsening his restlessness. This may impair his mental focus."

  Akmenios knew what his deputy meant by impairing Burke's mental focus. It might produce blurred scenes from Burke's mind.

  "His tired mind will decrease his chances of invading mine, like in the previous session," said Akmenios. "This time, I will get all I want to know, whatever the defenses implanted by the Shomrunk are."

  Akmenios held the two upgraded head devices and walked slowly towards Burke. "Ready for another session, hominum?" he asked his prisoner in English.

  "My name is Burke," he taunted. "Burke, you jerk."

  "Am I supposed to find that funny or irritating, Burke?"

  "You're not supposed to find anything because you're too stupid to understand that."

  "You really don't mean this, unless you don't know what the word 'stupid' really means." Akmenios adjusted the head device on Burke's head. "You know how I define stupidity? Having a brain like yours and not fully utilizing it. Your race is the stupidest I have ever seen, Burke. You barely use one-millionth of your brain powers."

  Akmenios put his own gadget as well and looked at his deputy, who waited for his s
uperior's mark to start connecting the two minds.

  "And that's what happens when you possess unexploited resources," Akmenios went on. "Someone else comes and uses it for his own benefit. Don't you think it's fair?"

  "Go to hell," Burke snarled.

  "You'll never learn," said Akmenios. "Such emotional reactions consume much of your brain power." He turned to Cudelios. "Now."

  * * *

  Like the previous time, Burke had no idea how it had happened. He just knew it did.

  The last thing he recalled was that he had been sitting on this cold metallic chair for long hours. Damn! Those humanoids were so cruel. His buttocks would suffer from sores.

  Now, there was no chair. He was on his feet, untied, standing in a dark familiar office. He stared at the desk stacked with books and papers and grabbed a plastic name tag thrown on the floor.

  "Dr. Jeff Burke, College of Earth and Energy, School of Geology and Geophysics," he read out loud.

  "Did you miss your office, Dr. Burke?"

  Akmenios's voice came from behind him. Burke suddenly found him standing by the window hidden by the curtains.

  "So, I'm sleeping once again," Burke scoffed. "And now, we are inside my mind."

  "Your body sleeps biologically, but your brain never sleeps."

  At last, Burke spotted the light key beside his desk. He clicked it three times, but nothing changed. Why were his places always dark in his mind?

  "So, why did you bring us to my office?" Burke wondered. "What's particular about this place?"

  "It's not about the place, Burke. What matters is the time."

  Time? Burke's eyes got wide. He rushed to his desk, trying to find any indicator of the current date, a newspaper, a paper calendar, or an old cell phone in the drawer. Last time he had been in the university was. . .

  "Nine years ago," Akmenios completed Burke's train of thought. Burke was not that astonished after all he had experienced so far.

  "I scanned your memories, Burke," said Akmenios. "Do you remember what I told you before about your 'imaginary' relative? That implanted memory did not exist in your mind nine years ago."

  When did Akmenios scan his memories? They had just started their session a few moments earlier.

  "This upgraded device is more powerful, even than my expectations," Akmenios answered Burke's unspoken queries. "Your mind has never been this transparent to me."

  "You brought me nine years back when somebody did implant this memory inside my mind. Right?" Burke ignored Akmenios's bragging and tried to focus on understanding what was going on.

  "You're not that stupid when you use your mind," said Akmenios.

  Again Burke ignored the gray humanoid's comment and said, "So, what do you expect? Someone knocks on the door, greeting me with a smile, Hi there, I'm the Shomrunk and I want you to go to Bermuda to find your imaginary relative. Is this really your plan to find him?"

  "It will happen more or less like that," said Akmenios. "From what I see in your memories, the Shomrunk is going to contact you at any second."

  At any second? That seemed so close. The notion of meeting that mysterious creature face-to-face unnerved Burke, to be honest.

  "Don't worry," said Akmenios. "He won't harm you. You will see his reflection in your memory, not him in person."

  "He won't harm me as you will." Burke feigned a smile. "What does he look like? Don't tell me he is ugly like you."

  "Most probably you haven't seen his real form. He can take any shape he wants."

  Any shape? That would open a long list of shocking possibilities. "He might have been one of my acquaintances and I had never noticed that."

  "He could have been your father, but you would never know. Even if he showed you his real face, he wouldn't let you remember."

  His father? That would be interesting indeed. Wait a minute. Some details don't add up. "Then what's the point of scanning my memories if the ones we're looking for are deleted anyway?"

  "You are not bad for a hominum," said Akmenios. "Nobody can totally erase any memory from your brain. From our studies on your race, your brains keep everything; every memory, every person, every feeling, every conversation, every word. Recalling those memories depends on where your brain places them. What the Shomrunk does is transfer certain memories to the hidden chambers I told you before."

  "So, we are now in one of those hidden chambers." Burke exhaled heavily. "The one that harbors the moment when the Shomrunk contacts me."

  Akmenios nodded. "If my calculations are correct, he is contacting you in—"

  A knock on the office door cut the humanoid off.

  "Damn!" Burke rubbed his head with both hands. "Are you sure it's him?"

  Burke had never noticed any reactions on Akmenios's face in any of their previous conversations, but now he could swear he saw an expression of tension in the humanoid's narrow eyes and mouth.

  Another knock on the door.

  "Don't you want to open the door yourself?" Burke addressed Akmenios.

  "Just ask him to come in." Akmenios lowered his voice, his narrow eyes glued to the door.

  "What?" Burke scoffed. "Scared?"

  "Do it."

  "You're either a coward or a liar. What happened to the crap you've just told me about?"

  Akmenios turned to Burke without saying a word. Burke continued, "His reflection won't harm, remember?"

  "I'm not quite sure. You feel good now?"

  "Not quite sure of what?"

  "That it's just his reflection."

  "Oh shit! What do you mean?"

  Burke almost stopped breathing when all of a sudden, the lights were on. Someone turned the squeaky doorknob, slowly pushing the door open, confident footsteps clicking on the floor.

  "You were expecting me, weren't you?"

  The familiar voice petrified Burke, a shiver running down his spine. Right now, he was staring at the last face he expected to see.

  Heather's face.

  28. A Form of Life

  "What? As if you both have seen a ghost," Heather taunted.

  At a loss for words, Burke gaped at her as she stood by the doorstep. What the hell does this mean? He shot Akmenios an inquisitive look, yet the humanoid was standing still.

  "You don't remember we knew each other a long time ago, do you?" Heather addressed Burke, a playful smile on her face.

  A long time ago? What sort of a silly joke is this? And what happened to the gray freak? Burke contemplated the astounded humanoid, who seemed to have feelings after all. Why doesn't he say anything?

  "It's not her." Akmenios's creaky voice sounded weaker than any time before.

  "Should I feel better now?" Burke looked from Akmenios to Heather. "Because this means it is. . . him?" Please say no. Please tell me that all Akmenios's folly about the so-called Shomrunk is nothing but a delusion.

  "Himself." Akmenios just squashed Burke's faint hopes.

  "Not his reflection?" Burke asked, his eyes still on the shape of Heather. "But how?"

  Heather laughed. "I can imagine your confusion, Burke. Even this Griseo thinks he understands what's going on, but he really doesn't."

  Griseo? Burke peered at Akmenios, part of him hoping that she wasn't referring to the gray humanoid. Because if it was true that Akmenios didn't understand, then Burke could safely presume he was in some really deep shit.

  Suddenly, he burst into laughter.

  "You're not just a coward and a liar," Burke sneered at Akmenios's helplessness. "You're also a jerk."

  The gray-faced humanoid did not seem offended by Burke's mocking words, his eyes fixed on Heather, or what looked like Heather. He is not in charge. The gray jerk is terrified, Burke reflected. Quite an eye-pleasant sight for him.

  "He's a jerk indeed." Heather nodded with a wicked smile. "Actually, I want to thank him for the power he has provided me with."

  Both Burke and Akmenios stared at her in astonishment. "The head device?" the humanoid spoke this time.

  Heather
chuckled. "The upgraded version is much better. I never felt my connection to Burke's mind that strong."

  It's not Heather for sure. Burke was still trying to grasp the situation. But why her? "It seems you're trying to hide your real ugly face."

  Heather laughed again. "My real face? Akmenios didn't tell you, did he?"

  "Tell me what?" Burke turned to the gray-faced freak.

  "A Shomrunk doesn't have any," Akmenios said, his eyes still glued to Heather's.

  Burke was aware he was asleep, aware he was inside his own mind, aware of the heat flaming his brain. A Shomrunk with no real face? Seriously?

  "What the hell are you?" Burke scanned Heather from head to toe. She was flawless, same slender shape, same height, and same pretty face. All looked like her, except for the weird smile and the seducing voice.

  "You see, Burke." Heather slowly approached him. "This universe harbors many forms of life, and I'm just another form that you'll never understand."

  Instinctively, Burke stepped back. "What form?"

  He swallowed when she stood right before him. "An unusual form to you. A form that has no body of flesh and blood like yours."

  "What are you made of, then?" Burke warily asked.

  Heather, or the Shomrunk in Heather's form, lowered her eyes. Obviously, she was giving her answer a thought before she lifted her gaze at him again. "I'm not sure if I can simplify this to you; I'm like a quantum of energy, a wave or a force that is obsolete on its own, but given the proper medium, you'll see and feel it."

  A quantum of energy? A wave? A force? What was she talking about?

  "I told you; you would never understand." Heather arched one eyebrow. Her mind—the Shomrunk's mind, if it had any—was connected to his. That was how she was reading his thoughts. That's why she's answering me, Burke realized. This conversation was not verbally happening like a real one. Their minds were connected, and somehow, the transmission of thoughts was not one-way.

  "Have I told you that you are smarter than the rest I've met so far?" she scoffed. The proximity of such a creature that might tear up Heather's skin to show its true ugly core made him flinch.