The Otherlings and the Crystal Amulet

by S V Hurn

  They timed it just as the guards were crossing each other to each side of the structure. Dorathy, being far more agile, climbed the staircase three steps at a time while Jobar continued over the greenery to approach his target from below, with Henry and Coolie following suit.

  Dimitri came to a stop just beside Magnus, head lamps glowing in the cold musty shaft. Dimitri took a tool out of his pack and pried the doors open into housekeeping and food service areas. Getting their bearings and turning off their lights, they were off down a long hallway that ended at a door leading to the main gallery. Even with the lights brought down to a soft glow, this area was quite impressive to anyone who might be visiting, with its huge domed ceiling that twinkled a starry sky above and the globes of all the planets they controlled floating above their heads. After a short moment of gazing upward they moved quickly to the back where they knew there would be a lone guard at the security desk. Magnus shot a bolt of electric shock into the side of the guard’s head and he slumped backwards in his chair.

  Outside Dorathy found her target and fired her silent weapon and before the guard knew what hit him, he was face down into the pavement. A moment later Jobar, fumbling with his weapon, missed his target—the guard was about to fire back as he had a clear shot, his finger on the trigger. A split second longer and Jobar would have been dead if not for Dorathy’s quick reaction time. She fired one shot from above, and the guard went down. Jobar looked up at her, his face pale as a ghost as he waved her on to proceed to the back of the building, where hopefully they would meet with Henry and Coolie.

  Dimitri stayed to tackle the outside security feeds, while Magnus was running down the hall where he met his first obstacle. Magnus ripped into the security mechanism that controlled the elevator to the sublevels.

  This was his art, his passion, his purpose in life. He had managed to break into some of the world’s most secure locations, from online hacking to on-sight infiltration. There was nothing that lay in his path that he was not able to overcome. Ever. Until now.

  Dorathy met Jobar as they approached the back side of the massive structure, Jobar struggling to breathe the cold thin air as he climbed the steep grassy embankment toward the back. Trying to speak between deep breaths he said, “Thought I was dead there, you came from above like an angel to save me, thank the maker!”

  Dorathy patted him on the arm. “We need to go, and I hope our friends were as successful.”

  Coolie and Henry managed to take down the guards with very little effort. As they turned the corner towards the back, they unexpectedly came face to face with a guard that had been assigned to cover the back wall of the capitol building. By pure instinct from a career serving in the military, Henry punched the stunned guard directly in the throat then shot him as he gasped for air, rendering him limp on the cold damp grass. Just then Henry could make out the black shadowy figures of Dorathy and Jobar, with only the starlight to illuminate their approach.

  Out of breath and cold, they made their way back to the front entrance of the building, knowing their time was limited. They waited patiently in the shadows of the immense clawed feet adorning the base of this giant bird of prey standing watch over the controlled masses.

  Inside things were not going quite as planned. Magnus tried desperately to get around the firewalls of the security system while Dimitri stood guard at the security desk, already having the visual monitors from outside security cameras running old feedback in a repeated cycle. Dimitri sat at the chair mostly hidden by the huge desk; he had dawned the cap of the fallen guard who lay limp on the floor, now beneath the desk, occasionally turning his gaze back to see if Magnus had succeeded.

  Magnus, with sweat on his brow, finally managed to break the seal and the door hissed open. Dimitri rushed to his side and they entered the elevator with only one setting: down. As the doors closed, Dimitri voiced his stress, “Fuck, you British prick, what took you so goddamned long!”

  Magnus looked up at Dimitri. “Take that stupid cap off your head, you look like a fucking wanker!”

  The elevator came to a stop and the heavy metal doors slid open to a small area that was lit with an eerie red glow, revealing a glass door with its own security safeguards. Just beyond was a small room which was filled with the most advanced quantum bits Magnus had ever seen, filling the room from floor to ceiling with the most advanced computing systems ever known to mankind, from any dimension.

  Magnus blew a long low whistle as he tossed his bag onto the floor announcing, “This is going to be a real bitch but with a little finessing she will eventually unlock and give up all her little secrets to me.” Dimitri thought, he really needs to get laid.

  Magnus immediately got to work, his nimble fingers attempting to coax the lock open, his small portable computer being hard-wired into the locking device, his fingers flying over the flat console. Minutes seemed to pass like hours—suddenly the door slid open with a rush of super cold air, sending a chill up their spines. Magnus whispered, “Ah, climax!”

  Dimitri rolled his eyes. “Just get in there and find that location so we can get the hell out of here!”

  “Patience my fat Russian friend, one cannot rush these things.”

  They slowly pushed past and up the aisle when Magnus spotted the correct area for a hard-wire penetration into the appropriate mainframe. He plugged in and let his console scroll the millions of files until it chimed—they had successfully downloaded the information they sought.

  Magnus winked up at Dimitri. “Piece of cake.” Then he added, “While we are here, we really should download everything pertaining to the origins of this New World Order.”

  Dimitri knew they were running out of time and possibly luck but also knew he never wanted to come here again. “Then find it quickly!” They both set out looking and found one console that seemed to be estranged from the rest. “Here it is.” Magnus whispered, already plugging into it.

  Moments later the red lights started to strobe. “Oh fuck,” Dimitri groaned, “that cannot be a good sign!”

  Magnus softly announced, “Almost there . . . just a few more seconds and . . .”

  Dimitri yanked the cord out and shouted, “We are getting the hell out of here now!”

  Magus gathered his equipment and hastily put it in his bag as they both sprinted towards the now-closing glass door of the elevator. They slipped through, Dimitri getting hung up by his robust frame tripped and slide into the back of the elevator as the door rapidly slid shut and shot them to the main gallery.

  They immediately bolted out, running past the security desk, Dimitri shouting, “What about getting out of the main lobby, we never tripped the door locks!”

  Magnus knew it was pointless now to having a stealthy departure, so he grabbed a heavy metal chair and smashed it into the glass doors that led to the outside and the grand staircase, sending shards in every direction. Now alarms were blaring, deafening all other sounds of fast-approaching air and ground support. The group waiting outside were stunned at the sights that seemed to be coming from everywhere. As they waited in the shadows they saw their partners in crime sprint past them and down the stairs. They followed and made a bee line to the ship that was already poised for takeoff. Brenda was shouting, “Jesus Christ, what the hell!”

  Henry zipped past her up to the forward cockpit, throwing himself into his seat and making the connection to their ever-faithful ship. It hovered momentarily as Jobar was the last to enter. Brenda slapped the interior and the hatch shut as shots hit the almost invisible hull, ricocheting in every direction.

  Ships of all sizes descended quickly onto the group as they flew sharply from side to side deflecting weapons being fired at them from all angles. Dorathy was chanting to herself, her hand pressed against the inner hull of the ship for support—please help us . . . please get us out of here.

  Suddenly the ship sent out a massive electromagnetic pulse and every ship that had been pursuing them fell from the sky like poorly designed paper airplanes, sent cr
ashing to the surface. One particular ship tumpled out of control and went careening into the capitol building itself, exploding on impact.

  CHAPTER 46

  Kore was not accustomed to being awakened in the middle of the night and groggily answered an urgent sounding call. “Slow down at once, you are making no sense whatsoever!” She tried desperately to understand the babblings over the loud sounds of static from a very poor connection. The person tried hard to make himself clear on the other end, shouting into the receiver.

  Slowly as the fog lifted from her mind, the only words she could hear sent her into a contorted posture of dismay. Her voice steady in an angry sea, her eyes glowing red from the reflection of the glowing embers, the only words she could utter were, “Tell me the ship has been captured!” The answer she got was not the answer she wanted. Kore ended the call by throwing her communicator into the fire pit. She sat and stared as it hissed and sparked, as its components melted from the heat.

  Dorathy finally opened her eyes after Henry gasped, “We’re outta the woods!”

  As the planet’s atmosphere faded away to the clarity of an expanding universe, Brenda in her usual manner scoffed, “Can someone please tell me what the hell that was all about, because I sure as hell don’t have a clue why we are all still here!”

  Henry shook his head. “My readings tell me, that was an impressive EMP our faithful ship emitted.”

  Jobar was still shaken by the events, stammering, “Your ship saved us . . . how is that possible?” Patsup had a blank look on his face as if the current events had shocked him to the core.

  Dimitri smiled at Magnus. “I think we all need a drink after that.” He lumbered to the aft cabin.

  Henry shot back, “Pour one for me too!”

  Patsup sat quietly, as he had never seen such a display of utter disrespect for his precious NWO.

  “How can you be so jovial and obtuse to what we have done here tonight?”

  Jobar and Coolie rubbed the sweat from their eyes and started to laugh uncontrollably, the stress getting the better of them. Jobar playfully shoved his younger brother. “Relax! All this will be forgotten as people go on about their dull daily routines!”

  Patsup snapped back, eyes glaring, “You are a bunch of terrorists.”

  Jobar shot back, “You are living in a very small box; it is time you grasp the bigger picture my dear ignorant brother.”

  Patsup crossed his arms tightly around his chest, staring in the opposite direction and fighting off the tears.

  Dorathy winced as the air around her became too hostile for her to bear and stumbled to the aft cabin, her knees giving out from under her as she clutched a chair and fell into it. Brenda on her heels, seeing the look of a stress that had become more than Dorathy could bear poured her dear friend a drink and placed it in her hand. “Here baby, drink this, it will help.”

  Dorathy looked up at Brenda. “When can we get off this roller coaster?”

  Brenda took a seat. “Look . . . What I have learned over the last few years is life is a journey, and so far, it has been a hell of a ride.”

  Dorathy bit her lip; her head was spinning, her emotions raw, and she could only muster, “Yeah . . . I guess so, but I’m exhausted. I just don’t know how much more I can take.”

  Brenda wore a sympathetic smile. “There are not too many people who can say they experienced what we have managed to accomplish. But hey, now it gets really interesting . . . we go and get that crystal amulet.”

  Dorathy’s thoughts of yet another invasion forced her to throw back the rest of Jobar and Coolie’s moonshine, wincing from the burn as it hit the back of her throat.

  The light of dawn was slowly creeping into Kore’s darkened room, casting long hazy shadows and sending a beam of sunlight into her tired eyes. She had sat the entire night trying to reflect on the night’s events. She stared into the charred remains of her communicator, a contorted blob of melted plastics and metal covered by blackened ashes. She tried desperately to compose a plan to finally capture her fugitives but knowing her commitments to her office would take all her energy, she struggled with her priorities. Her New Western Ordinance lay in ruins from the massive electromagnetic pulse and she feared chaos would return to the region if they . . . if she . . . didn’t act quickly to re-establish power over the masses. She grew weary at the thought of the insurmountable amount of work that lay ahead of her, knowing she must put all her efforts towards rebuilding before things got too much out of control. She blew out a long breath and slowly stood. I will get you my pretties . . . in time . . . but not today.

  The group sat around the table as Magnus decrypted page upon page of data that they had managed to download before their untimely departure. “Whew, when applying a search to this information it is truly unbelievable what the NWO has accomplished over the millennia. Their treachery runs deep; they have been desperately trying to hide something . . . but I just can’t seem to get a handle on it.”

  Henry peered sideways at the screen. “Looks like we have enough to go over to last a long while, but I think for now we need to concentrate on the task at hand. We need to find the Prime Minister and relieve her of her crystal amulet.”

  Magnus understood. “It shouldn’t take me very long to cross reference the main headquarters directory to her private residence.”

  Hours passed and Dorathy was lying beside Henry, trying to feel safe in his capable arms, but she could not shake the vision of Alex. She had befriended Henry, accepting his caring gestures, trying to come to grips with the loss of her life as she knew it. She looked at Henry now as he slept beside her. He was a kind man, a strong man, but he seemed to have a hole right through the middle of him that she dared not try to fill. She wanted desperately to embrace this new adventurous life she had been given but felt trapped knowing that only death or the success of this mission would eventually bring her to the other side . . . to Alex. She wept silently in the soft glow of Henry’s room, feeling the coldness of space creeping into her bones.

  Dimitri and Magnus sat in the main lab going over the information they had managed to extract. Dimitri, in his usual manner with feet propped up, head back with eyes closed, was staring at the back of his eye lids and was starting to doze off when Magnus shouted, “Eureka, I found her! Got the bitch!”

  Dimitri almost tipped backwards. “What . . . where?”

  Magus threw back the rest of his drink. “Look at this small fortress of a home.” He brought the holographic image up of her stone castle at nearly the top of the steepest mountains on the planet. Her home was literally built into the side of an outcropping with a sheer cliff that dropped hundreds of meters to the valley below. Dimitri looked, frowning at the prospect of having to go mountain climbing, not seeing any other way to access the home that looked much like a fortress, its natural protection being its placement, teetering on the edge of a deathly abyss.

  Dimitri moaned. “Of all the places to live she chooses this.”

  CHAPTER 47

  Kore was dead on her feet; her nightmare was just beginning to unfold. The capitol lay in ruins, the uprising a tsunami, building power from its epicenter and spreading destruction. The masses threatened to rise against authority to embrace freedom, removing control from the clutches of the New Western Ordinance. The pain in her head was only matched by the seething desire to catch those who were responsible for this devastation. Hours seemed like days as she worked hard to regain control. She was exhausted, her hierarchy spread too thin and she was losing hope that her world would ever be the same—so she went home and waited.

  The group sat around the main lab, ready to infiltrate Kore’s home. After hearing reports of the mayhem they had caused, they felt confident that control was slipping through the fingers of the NWO as they tried to tighten their grip.

  After a quick trip for supplies to a popular destination, they knew everything was changing at a rapid pace—the people were taking control back after thousands of years of repression. Jobar
and Coolie knew business as usual was a whole different kind of normal as they managed to collect the needed items from a merchant. The inhabitants were running around hoarding supplies for what was going to prove to be the long haul.

  Thoughts went to his sister and her children. What kind of world would they grow up in? He desperately wanted to fetch her but knew she would be fine for the time being, as she had always kept herself prepared with a hidden stash of food and weapons in her sublevel bunker. She had always kept it under lock and key, never mentioning to anyone of its existence. Mares was always full of surprises; Jobar smiled at the thought of his obstinate sister. He stood wearing a climbing harness, bundled up with heavy clothes to protect from the bitter cold outside, the ship perched precariously on the edge of the frozen jagged landscape. The gale force wind cut through them right to the bone.

  Henry had wished Dorathy could stay behind on the ship, but he knew only too well that only she had the power they would need and whatever the circumstances were, he knew she had to face her demons. Dorathy’s voice, carried away by the howling wind, shouted, “Henry I have to go down there, she has in her possession the one item that might be able to tell me why I’m here!”

  Henry wouldn’t persuade her otherwise and he knew she was right. He said prudently, “Stay close to me.” He knew that Dorathy was far from needing his protection but felt obligated to offer it nonetheless. Coolie and Patsup anchored the ropes into the frozen rock, their faces being blasted by the freezing wind whipping the ropes as they fought to tighten them up. Jobar went over the edge first, gripping the rope in his gloved hands, allowing the slack to gradually take him to the bottom—which was some one hundred meters below where Kore’s stone fortress sat built into the side of the mountain, with very little level surface area.

  Once at the bottom, hidden by the shadows of the oncoming of night, Jobar secured the rope and waited as one by one, his friends repelled down to join him.