The Final Option
Page 12
“You're going to sacrifice the entire Earth just to satisfy your blood lust?!” Geogyn asked. “Erasing you will be the quintessential definition of correcting a mistake.”
Chu-Li-Fan was confused. “You were scanned, assassin. You have no steel on your person that constitutes your possession of a firearm. What are you going to erase me with, a slingshot?”
Geogyn observed her arrogant stupidity. He unsheathed his Rectifier from its holster.
“I don't need a gun, slingshot, or even a pebble to erase you.” Geogyn had an apocalyptic look. “All I need is my eraser.”
Chu-Li-Fan was still bewildered. “What's that, a water gun?”
Geogyn thought about the amount of seconds it takes for history to correct itself after the erasure. I need at least eight seconds to escape out the rear venting port about one hundred yards from here.
If he was too slow while escaping through the temporal transition, he would become genetically meshed with the mountain.
He had no fear, or concern. His mission must be completed.
“I will be the only one burdened with remembering your foul stench,” Geogyn told her, and fired.
She was hit. The clock was running on his exoneration.
Chu-Li-Fan was struck, and frozen. Geogyn turned and began sprinting down the rear corridor, to the port opening.
She began her process of de-existence, by reversing life. Since she was a younger target, her life rewound quicker than most.
Geogyn was racing temporal correctness. Once Chu-Li-Fan reverts to a zygote, the proses would begin its correction, without her existence; nullifying her influences on the Earth, including the tunnel he was using to escape. She had been reverted to a preadolescence stage, and getting younger quickly. Geogyn had about twenty four yards to vindication. This was one of those times he literally ran for his life.
He was getting closer, but she was getting younger. At times his infallible execution of completing a mission without care of consequence was detrimental and deadly.
He was sixteen feet away when she reverted to toddler stage. This was going to be close.
It would have taken a split second to begin rebuilding the timeline when she became an infant, and that's where she was. Geogyn was five feet away when the tunnel began to close from existence. He had to dive, to escape.
Non-existence happens quickly. Geogyn saw the tunnel carved into the mountain, for Chu-Li-Fan's underground facility start to disappear.
It was instantaneous. The mountain filled in. There was no hole that existed without the existence of Chu-Li-Fan. It happened while Geogyn was in mid-dive. He almost beat the temporal switch.
Fortunately, his momentum carried him most of the way through. He was poised to do a tuck and roll, at the end of the dive. The sole of his left boot wasn't as lucky as he was. It fell victim to temporal annihilation. The sole instantly meshed with the edge of the obsidian of the mountain. It halted all momentum by ceasing the dive, and the body executing the vault.
Instead of Geogyn landing on the other side of the mountain, he was abruptly stopped by temporal reconsistancy. He was violently jerked, ceased from propulsion, and slammed, face first, into the side of the mountain.
He lay on his stomach, with his left boot sole integrated into the mountain.
There were pandas there. They looked at him curiously. They wondered where he came from. Since he was no threat, and they had no reasoning skills, they went on doing panda things. They stopped noticing him after a second, or two.
“In some dimension, I bet they're happy they got their environment back,” Geogyn said to himself.
Even if the animals could understand the concept of temporal augmentation, they didn't witness the events.
Geogyn looked back at his left boot.
Great. Because of my boot, I am literally part of this mountain, he thought, not realizing the bloodshed, and slaughter that could've happened, if he had been a second too slow.
He began pulling away from the mountain. Since his boot was amalgamated into the stone, it was like trying to yank your nose off your face. It didn't budge.
He had to take his boot off.
I'm glad the conversion element of this mission is complete. It would look deviant with a bodiless lower leg hopping about, he thought.
He pulled the boot off, and finished the easy part of the mission. He was built for assassination. Hiding, and waiting for an extended amount of time, was going to be unbearable.
“Well, the beginning of an arduous journey breaks ground with one step,” he spoke to himself as he made his way out of the city of Jilin by way of the river. The next target? A desolate area, where not a soul would run into him. The cold of the Gobi Desert. It was going to take a while to walk to his destination, but he had an entire two years for the timeline to catch up to its current channel.
Even with as many inhabitants as China had, Geogyn didn't see too many people.
It's obvious the main population is in the major cities. This is the country. You still have citizens in the country, but it's scarce, he thought, as he didn't encounter many bodies as he continued his quest.
His internal clock was atomic. He knew where and when he was at all times. Two years to wait was excruciating when it was impossible to lose track of time. His construction wouldn't allow him. Fifteen minutes would be laborious if you watched the second hand, from the initiation of waiting until the agonizing fifteen was complete. Imagine two years.
He knew his temporal doppelganger existed, unaware of his being. He had to avoid himself.
He knew what he was doing at this time, but erasing Chu-Li-Fan might have caused a butterfly effect. If something as insignificant as a butterfly flapping its wings could cause a tsunami on the other side of the world, what could something as radical as erasing a person from existence do?
He found a cave in the desert, and dwelt there out of sight. He needed no food, and he stored energy from the sun, while walking in the sand, and rocks.
He found a cavity to hibernate in and replenish his energy. He slept, and recharged himself. Since he didn't need constant upkeep like a typical human, he slept in the dark.
Although it was the largest desert in the world, the Gobi had seasons. These solstice and equinox times were extreme, but he was made to endure adversity. He was just conscious of his personal clock. His one torment. He may have been invulnerable, physically, but this put his mentality to the test.
He made it through all the calamity of living a dual, forbidden existence in a singular continuance chronology.
He became active two months before his doppelganger even fathomed to attempt this harrowing quest. His dimension was about to converge with natural congruity. It wouldn't fade away. It would be an abrupt on ramp to the freeway of time. It would've never been when time merges.
When he became active, he had to find a way to travel from the Gobi desert to Nicaragua in two months, without personal transportation, or money. His N.O.S.E. gear did not aid in his quest. Invisibility wasn’t an exigent factor in travel. Without a left boot to make his illusion viable, the subterfuge would be disadvantageous anyway.
He acquired (more like stole) appropriate garments to guise himself as a merchant marine, and hitched a boat ride to a port near the Marrabios mountains.
He hiked to the entrance, and realized he had arrived on the actual day his doppelganger had begun his excursion. After two years of avoidance, he was about to create an irreconcilable paradox in the last minutes of his mission.
He heard Val-Koorin say, right about now! Loudly, indicating he knew of his presence, and to stay where he was.
He remembered stepping back from Val-Koorin in confusion. It took two years to have his riddle answered. It was only in this timeline his quandary was acknowledged.
He watched himself attempt the temporal journey. He wanted to prepare himself for the pain that was about to commence, but if he did that, the duality would tear the delicate fabric of time asunder.
He felt apprehensive, but he let himself endure Purgatory.
He heard his own screams coming from the partially closed portal.
When it was closed fully, Val-Koorin said, “Duality is inert!” He walked up to Val-Koorin, as he was still looking at where the portal used to be.
“That must have been difficult watching yourself braving that, when you understood the pain you were about to endure.” Val-Koorin spoke to Geogyn without looking in his direction. He was still gazing at the former portal opening.
“My mission is complete, Lord,” Geogyn said to Val-Koorin.
“I knew it was complete before you entered the portal,” Val-Koorin confirmed. “I delved into your corrected time vortex, earlier. It made my decision more accessible. I knew I had to send you in order to congeal the paradox.”
Geogyn had an uncertainty. “How were you able to know the outcome of my mission, when I didn't have a clue of what it was to even make a decision to attempt it?”
“I created you to be indigenous with the humans of this era. They are in my image, but they are not as advanced as me,” Val-Koorin explained to a confused Geogyn. “Humans think analytically. I think ethereally.”
“You think celestially?” Geogyn asked.
“Where do you think humans acquired the word heavenly from? Latin is not the original language. It was the language all others were based off of, so people could communicate. I transferred many words from my race to give humans a head start. They would still be grunting if I didn't kick start Homo sapiens’ language.”
Geogyn was in wonder at first. He began to adapt the ethereal way of thinking to understand Val-Koorin's marvels. Being who he was didn't make his works impossible. The ethereal way of thinking made them necessary. It was easier to think without the prison of analytics. He felt the knowledge he acquired, or better yet, bestowed upon him, evolved him.
“I have one favor to ask of you, Lord,” Geogyn began his request. “Could you alleviate the memory of the initial leg of my journey from my mind, or better yet, obliterate it?”
Val-Koorin said, “You haven't evolved enough to where you can block the memory of harrowing experiences. Don't stress about an achievement you could never attain. You live much longer than a normal human, but evolution won't be at that level until long after you've gone.”
“So, I am not Armageddon.” Geogyn pondered on his longevity.
“You are Armageddon, Geogyn,” Val-Koorin confirmed. “Don't get the definition mixed like all the masses. It doesn't mean the end of the world. Armageddon is the final battle fought between the forces of good and evil. You are Armageddon as we speak. With your astounding attributes, and you possessing the Rectifier, as you call it, you are the apex of Good.”
Geogyn felt the weight of actuality burden his comprehension. It was a difficult task to realize certain axioms. As hard as it was to hear, it was fact. He was Armageddon. All the adversaries, like Chu-Li-Fan, were the proverbial evil he was correcting.
As Geogyn was contemplating his crusade, Oswalt ran to them.
“Lord, Geogyn, we have a disturbing problem!” Oswalt spewed, out of breath.
“Calm yourself, General Oswalt,” Val-Koorin harmonized his trepidation. “Explain your alarm.”
“They were waiting for our team! They slaughtered every last one of them!” Oswalt reported.
“Who was waiting for your team?” Val-Koorin asked. “Time dictates the causality of their targets. I don't even know where I would request a strike in the future.”
“Someone must have guessed then because they got this one right,” Oswalt speculated. “My entire team is dead, Lord.”
“Who guessed correctly, Oswalt?” Val-Koorin reiterated.
“I have no clue of their identities, Lord,” Oswalt admitted. “The helicopter snapped a picture of the assailants during the extermination.”
Oswalt showed Val-Koorin the picture transmitted from the MI-8 Hip.
Geogyn saw Val-Koorin gazing at the foreign picture, and offered to assist.
“May I examine the picture, Lord?” Geogyn asked Val-Koorin, with his hand out.
Val-Koorin handed Geogyn the picture. When Geogyn scanned the depiction, ghosts returned to haunt him.
“Looking at the dismay drenched across your face, you know these people,” Val-Koorin assumed.
“Yes, I know them, Lord. They are a squad from the mercenary assembly called Ghost Alpha,” Geogyn said, “A battery that died years ago. I guess time does augment existence. My old comrades, their name is… Dark Ice.”
Chapter Fourteen: Job 34:11
“Who is Dark Ice?” Oswalt inquired.
“What do you get when you mix water with extremely thick soluble powder?” Geogyn asked him.
Oswalt was confused with the question. How did that conundrum answer his query? “You get gel.”
“That's how we described their squad,” Geogyn answered. “They’re super-eminent and illustrious, but they were also dead.”
“Well, those illustrious, dead guys obliterated my team!” Oswalt conveyed with astonishment.
“They died right in front of my eyes protecting President Nelson,” Geogyn explained.
“President who?” Oswalt asked.
“You erased him, on your initial quest,” Val-Koorin interjected. “How could the team protect someone who never existed?”
Geogyn finally came to terms with understanding the consequences of his actions. One erasure could affect thousands or maybe hundreds of millions of people. It didn't matter how gargantuan or miniscule the effect was. That was the reason one man could alter billions of inhabitants with expediency.
“They are a devastating life augmenting force,” Geogyn began. He pointed at an individual in the image. “That one is called the Propagander. He can force you into believing killing yourself is a good idea.”
Oswalt never heard of a human with such power.
“That female there is called Scrap,” Geogyn continued. “She has a sixth-degree black belt in Hapkido and Thai boxing, but that isn't the primary reason she could kick your ass. She can see your movements two seconds before you could even form the thought in your head to attempt the blow. If you try to scrap with her, you've already lost. Hence her moniker.”
“That's why she was able to break all of my team’s necks,” Oswalt said. “I knew it looked like she expected the counter of their strikes before they even attempted them. She had a sort of script to their fight in her mind, so she just knew.”
“That Ghost Alpha soldier is named Harm,” Geogyn continued to inform Oswalt.
“Let me guess,” Oswalt interrupted. “He can punch you into another continent?”
“He doesn't damage you, physically,” Geogyn corrected him. “He can put a malady on you. Any terminal disease he can imagine, and he can accelerate the epidemic to its finality in minutes. That's why he's called Harm.”
“That's why it took only a team of four to slaughter an entire squad,” Oswalt realized. “What does the last one do? Blow up your mind?”
“The mind-blowing commando's on a different team. Quantum is the defense element of Dark Ice. He can retard any projectile propelled at the team, and send it to a dead dimension, striking nothing.”
“How are we supposed to beat the Dream Team?!” Oswalt asked, with dread and frenzy.
“Val-Koorin designed me to defeat any human, paranormal or otherwise.” Geogyn tried to ease his mind. “It won't be easy, but it will be possible.”
“You're that good,” Oswalt speculated.
“He is the epitome of good,” Val-Koorin answered his question. “He will have trials and tribulations along the way, but if he can keep his belief, he will emerge victorious from his suffering. Job was in the same situation, and he overcame di
sastrous adversity through faith. It's almost like cheating. He has me on his side.”
“Having God in your corner must be beyond angelic,” Oswalt told Geogyn.
“You are correct. I have the ace in the hole,” Geogyn attested. “I have to prepare for this blitzkrieg-like assault.”
“The target drop zone is the Marrabios Mountains, in Nicaragua,” Ron conveyed to the chopper pilot transporting Dark Ice to their undisclosed location. They were in the general area, but only Ron knew the bearings.
“Why are you doing this, Ron?” Owen asked desperately.
“I'm doing this to scratch an itch, Owen,” Ron answered. “We spent too much on defense against Geogyn, and no matter how long it's been, he will come for us just when we slack, because the threat was so long ago. Geogyn doesn't have a statute of limitations, Owen. He's still coming. We finally have something to stop him.”
“You can't just let this go,” Owen said.
“Let's say I'm a paranoid kook, but I follow your suggestion to let this go,” Ron said. “When Geogyn's hands are around your neck, we could revisit this discussion at that time, but I'll only say one sentence then, 'I told you so.'”
“It would be better to be alive to laugh at your paranoia than to be dead, and not laugh at all,” Owen acquiesced.
“So, now you understand my reasoning?” Ron asked.
“You've told me nothing,” Owen reported to Ron. “What is this… dastardly plan?”
“Dark Ice is going to find Geogyn,” Ron began.
Owen interrupted to kill talk of the frivolous method before it began. “I know Dark Ice is the most devastatingly feared squad we have, but even they don't have the prowess or skills to assassinate Geogyn Kai.”
“If you stop interrupting me, and let me finish my thought, then maybe you won't perceive me as an idiot.” Ron became agitated. “They're not Geo's assassins, they're bait.”
The logic was sound, but the intention confused Owen. “Why are our stellar commandos bait?”
“They would be the only commandos stellar enough to lure Geo back to our home turf, without dying in the process,” Ron explained.