Savant ; Rising

by Hatchett

  “It happened,” Karen replied. “You better get used to it because I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot of unusual sights over the coming days. Time to go home.”

  With that, Karen turned and headed toward one of the cars which had driven from Millbank purely to take them back.

  Up in the terminal building, the PM nodded to her principal Specialist Protection Officer from Specialist Operations 14 (SO14), the Protection Command within the Metropolitan Police responsible for protecting royalty, government officials and diplomats.

  She was whisked away to a black saloon car with blacked out windows and was driven back to Number 10.

  7

  The Airbus H155 executive helicopter landed gracefully on the lawn at The Manor before the pilot shut it down and the rotors started slowing.

  Word had spread and there was a small crowd who had gathered on the terrace outside the kitchen to welcome the new arrivals.

  The doors were opened, and Damian stepped down to the ground and turned to pick up Jess as John climbed down from the other side of the aircraft and retrieved Jess’s wheelchair from the storage compartment. John was fifty-one, well dressed, around five feet seven feet tall with a wide round and cheerful face, strong nose and a double chin, which went with his not inconsiderable gut which was always straining against the buttons of his shirt. With his light coloured and thinning hair, he wasn’t a picture of health, but he enjoyed life to the full.

  His wife, Paula was slim, slightly taller than John and a good-looking woman with a chiselled face, blond hair cut in a bob and bright blue eyes.

  Di and Paula then climbed across the seats and out of the helicopter before all five of them made their way towards those waiting on the terrace.

  The new arrivals had only been with these people the previous day, but it seemed like ages ago, and they were treated as if they were long, lost family members coming back together. There were hugs and kisses all around, although the centre of attention was Jess. Everyone wanted to know if there had been any developments in her recovery, and she had to constantly remind everyone that she’d only been gone twenty-four hours.

  They were shepherded through the concertina doors into the kitchen, where Hilda was waiting with a big smile across her face and the promise of a fresh pot of tea and some sandwiches. She ordered them to take a seat at the large oak table while she sorted things out.

  Most of the group sloped off back to the barn to continue their work, but the two Harry’s took a seat on either side of Jess.

  “It was kind of you to invite us here again so soon,” Paula addressed the Harrys’, “although I’m not entirely sure why.”

  “It was Harry’s idea,” Harriet pointed out.

  “Yes, it was my idea,” Harry confirmed. “It might sound a bit stupid, but despite only knowing you all a day or so, it just didn’t feel right not having you around, especially when there is so much going on.”

  “Tell them the real reason,” Harriet prompted.

  This got everyone’s attention and they all looked to Harry for an answer.

  “It’s difficult to explain,” Harry said. “Ever since we parted yesterday, I’ve felt very uneasy. I can’t put my finger on it, but something doesn’t feel right, so I wanted to make sure you were all safe, and the only way to really do that, was to have you here with us.”

  “I don’t think we have too much to worry about,” Damian suggested. “Mason has been bagged and tagged and will be sent home for his punishment. The alien’s leadership want to talk.”

  “Yes, but we don’t really know what they want,” Harry replied, “and what happens if we don’t agree? We’ve already seen some of their technology, and it far surpasses our own.”

  The group were silent for a few moments, thinking back to the carnage wrought by Mason and his Stormtroopers the previous day.

  “From what Joshua told us, they want peace,” Paula pointed out.

  “Yes, but can we trust Joshua?” Harry asked. “Anyway, he is just one voice and has little or no power, so his view is largely irrelevant.”

  “IT IS BETTER TO ASSUME THEY CANNOT BE TRUSTED…UNTIL THEY CAN.”

  “I agree, Jess,” Harry confirmed. “They have to earn our trust. Until then, they’re still the enemy.”

  There were nods all around the table.

  “Talking of Joshua, where is he?” John asked.

  “I spoke to Robert this morning,” Harry said, “and according to him, Joshua has been helping MI5, explaining how the recovered alien technology works. Through Robert, I made a request to the PM that we be given access to him, but so far, I’ve not had a response. The PM has apparently reminded Robert that she wants to continue our truncated conversation and that she also wants to meet Jess.”

  “MEET ME? THE PM? I’M HONOURED.”

  “You might well be Jess,” Harry stated, “but I wouldn’t be in a hurry to advertise your gifts just yet. We wouldn’t want you to be taken away for tests and observation.”

  Jess blanched and shivered ever so slightly.

  “THEY WOULDN’T WANT TO UPSET ME.”

  “No, I don’t think they would,” Harry replied, starting to laugh. “It’d be like kicking a hornet’s nest.”

  8

  The shuttle carrying Mason and his Stormtroopers left the Earth’s atmosphere with barely any turbulence. The leading edge of the craft had transformed after take-off into a cone shape, which made slicing through the atmosphere much smoother, and allowed the craft to hit the necessary speed to escape the planet’s gravitational pull.

  Once in space, the outer skin acted much like a giant solar panel, although millions of times more efficient. So efficient in fact, that no other energy source was needed to run the craft, although there was a back-up energy source in case of need.

  The craft accelerated in the vacuum and headed towards the huge Mothership with the two Inter-Galactic Cruisers stationed on either side of her.

  The Mothership looked just like a larger version of the shuttle, around ten miles or sixteen kilometres in length, enough to stretch across London from Acton in the West to Canary Wharf in the East. It was also four miles or six and a half kilometres wide and one mile or just over one and a half kilometres tall. All sides were curved, tapering towards each end so that it looked like a massive zeppelin balloon. It was also covered in the same malleable silver skin as the shuttle and was able to alter shape as and when needed. It was not possible to see anything of its interior, just the rippling and colour variances of its outer surface.

  The Mothership had sixty floors, each twenty-five metres high, although some floors such as the hangars from level 51 to 58 were double height to hold all the other smaller spaceships. There were nine residence levels, with the leaders on level 4, Stormtroopers on 5 and 6 then engineers, scientists, medical and menial workers. As with every civilisation, there was a hierarchy, and although level 4 was smaller than level 12 due to the curvature of the ship, there were far less leaders than menial workers so the sizes of the residences on level 4 were significantly larger and more opulent than those on level 12.

  Other floors included farms, food and entertainment, medical, engineering, power, weapons, control, armoury, manufacturing, laboratories, engineering, maintenance and prisons.

  The Inter-Galactic Cruisers by comparison were around half the size of the Mothership and although they had exactly the same outward appearance, internally more of the floors were taken up with weaponry and hangars than laboratories and farms.

  Mason, his Stormtroopers and the Courier were the only occupants on the shuttle. No guards were required because the prisoners would not be able to free themselves from their bindings. The shuttle did not need piloting; the Courier had projected his instructions to the craft’s artificial intelligence mainframe while they were still on the ground and it would carry them out automatically.

  “You could join me and save yourself,” Mason offered the Courier.

  The Courier turned to look directly a
t Mason but said nothing.

  “Last chance,” Mason threatened.

  The Courier still did not reply but continued to stare blankly at Mason. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

  “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Mason threatened.

  The Courier looked away.

  The shuttle approached level 51/52 of the Mothership without slowing and it seemed that it might crash into the side of the larger craft. Instead a section of the Mothership’s outer skin morphed to form a circular entrance which allowed the shuttle to pass through before closing again behind it.

  The shuttle came to a stop and continued to float where it had stopped without touching anything. A new doorway appeared in its side in a different place to when it had landed on Earth and a horizontal walkway morphed from the ship and attached itself to a nearby platform.

  The Courier stood, and at the same time, the chair restraints released Mason and his Stormtroopers, then all the seats morphed back into the structure of the craft.

  The Courier glided across the floor of the ship to the doorway and then out onto the walkway towards the platform. Mason and the Stormtroopers followed, although they had little choice, their silver restraints pulling them inexorably along, never more than ten metres from the Courier.

  The Courier glided onto the platform and changed direction, heading towards the centre of the Mothership. The glide sped up automatically until they were moving at around fifty miles an hour.

  If they had looked around, they would have seen that they were in a massive double-height hanger which covered the whole floorspace on this level of the ship. There were thousands and thousands of shuttle-like craft of different sizes and purposes floating yet unmoving in the air, and the odd Laakuu going about their work.

  The Courier and his prisoners could have covered the entire four-mile width of the ship in less than four minutes, but their journey only lasted thirty seconds before they arrived at one of the transfer hubs dotted all around the ship. The transfer hub looked like an elevator car but there was no shaft leading up or down. Instead, hundreds of tubes about ten inches in diameter ran from the car at various angles and in all directions. The courier stepped into the car and instantly disappeared before his essence was automatically whisked down one of the tubes to level 60, the lowest floor of the ship, where he re-appeared and emerged onto another platform. Mason and his six Stormtroopers arrived a split second later. They were now on one of the two prison levels.

  “Last chance to change your mind,” Mason stated, but the Courier just ignored him and began to glide past blue cubes containing individual Laakuu until he arrived at a large holographic screen, which lit up with a feint bluish hue at his approach.

  Using his mind and claws, the courier viewed the screen and scrolled through various data pages and controls before implementing some amendments. He then nodded slightly, and the screen went blank.

  The Courier turned and watched as Mason and the six Stormtroopers were forcefully glided along the floor past existing cubes before stopping around six metres from each other, close to the outer skin of the ship.

  Blue forcefields, much like the containment unit which had captured them in Downing Street appeared, except this time, they were each left with their own space of four metres by four metres.

  Mason watched as all the walls except for the one next to the outer skin of the ship turned opaque, preventing him from seeing anything within the ship, although anyone outside the cubes would still be able to see in. The fourth wall remained transparent, giving Mason a spectacular floor to ceiling view of space, somewhere the Council no doubt intended to send him in the very near future. Getting ‘spaced’ was just a brief command away and the thin wall between him and his current view would disappear, and he would be gone.

  Parts of the cell wall flowed inwards to create a recliner, a small unit used for cleaning, a toilet facility, a desk and chair.

  The restraints around Mason’s wrists and ankles then unwound and reformed as small silver balls and hovered for a second before racing off back to the Courier.

  Mason rubbed his sore wrists and ankles, flexing his hands and stretching his legs before slumping down on the recliner to wait. He gazed through the transparent wall at the Earth, floating in the endless darkness of space, a glorious ball with shades of blue, white, brown and green. It would soon be his, he had no doubt.

  9

  Harry’s mobile phone rang, and he pulled it from his trouser pocket. He looked at the screen and saw that it was Robert calling so he pressed the green ‘answer’ button and raised the phone to his ear.

  “Robert, good to hear from you,” Harry began. “How are you?

  “Hi Harry. I’m fine, recuperating well. No lasting effects and I’m not mad…well, no more tapped than I was before all this happened. I thought I’d just give you a quick call to let you know that the PM has agreed that you can have access to Joshua.”

  “That is good news. When can we see him?”

  “As soon as you like, but there is one proviso.” Robert said.

  “Let me guess, she wants to meet Jess.”

  “Yep, and she also wants to see you and find out more about your Underground movement.”

  “OK…I guess, but when exactly can I see Joshua?”

  “I suggested you could send your helicopter to pick him up straightaway. If I’m being honest, I think they’re sick and tired of him already, and can’t wait to be rid of him. Oh, and just so you know, he’ll be escorted by a couple of MI5 goons from what I can gather.”

  “Where is he?” Harry asked.

  “You’ve been given clearance to land on top of Thames House in London, MI5’s building. They’ve just installed a new pad on the top of the building and can’t wait to try it out.”

  “So, we’re the guinea pigs?”

  “Yep!”

  “OK, tell them two hours from now,” Harry requested.

  “Right, I’ll pass it on, and they will be waiting on the roof.”

  “Thanks Robert, speak soon.”

  With that, Harry rang off and explained to Harriet and his guests what was happening. He then rose from the table and went in search of his pilots, no doubt enjoying a brew and a chat somewhere in the barn.

  “THEY’RE IN THE BARN,” Jess’s voice box announced.

  Harry stopped and looked at Jess with a smile on his face before shaking his head and continuing on to the barn.

  10

  “Shit!” Matt Stevens exclaimed as he put his phone away.

  “What’s the matter?” Karen Robbins asked, worried that they were in trouble for some reason.

  “We’ve been assigned another babysitting job,” Matt said in disgust. “I was hoping to get away early today as I’ve got things on tonight. I guess I’ll just have to cancel.”

  “On a promise?” Karen asked wickedly.

  “I wish!” Matt replied, with a smile.

  “What do you mean, babysitting job?” Karen asked, her smile turning into a frown. “Haven’t we done enough babysitting for one day, not to mention the hassle of getting to and from Oxford?”

  “It looks like we’re the go-to people for guarding aliens today. We’ve now been ordered to shadow and protect that freak Joshua.”

  “Where to?”

  “No idea. We’ve just been told to pick him up from level 4 and make our way to the helipad on the top of the building where we’ll be picked up.”

  “By whom and for how long for?”

  “No idea. Come on, let’s go.”

  Matt and Karen left their office on level 2 and headed towards the lifts. Once the car arrived, they boarded, and Matt pressed the number ‘4’ button. The door closed, and the car began to rise, passing level 3 and stopping on level 4. With a ping, the doors opened and they both entered the corridor and headed down to the Technology department.

  Karen knocked on the door before holding her key card against the scanner which let them both in.

  They w
ere met with broad smiles and a few sniggers. Word had obviously got around.

  Joshua was standing in the middle of the room, obviously waiting for them, a sly grin on his face. The Laakuu in control of this human body had chosen well; at six feet three, he towered above most of the people in the room. He was also lean and handsome with dark wavy hair and movie-star looks.

  The Laakuu underneath was vain, egotistical, self-centred and felt immensely superior to the humans he used on a frequent basis for his own entertainment. He had found early on that he enjoyed sex and he didn’t care what shape, size or sex his partner or partners happened to be, so long as they fulfilled his needs and adored him. Variety was definitely the spice of life for Joshua and there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t try.

  “Have you brought your handcuffs?” one of the smiling technicians asked jovially.

  “I thought he was on our side,” Matt replied.

  “I guess it depends which way the wind is blowing,” another technician replied.

  “So why do we need the cuffs?” Karen butted in.

  “Depends if you’re happy to have his hands wandering all over you,” another female technician put in. “He’s been trying to grope all the women around here…and some of the men,” she added, beginning to laugh.

  Karen frowned, and her top lip automatically rose up in disgust at the thought of Joshua’s wandering hands. “Cuff him Matt!” she ordered.

  “Now, now, there’s no need for that,” Joshua cooed, “I promise to be a good boy.”

  His voice was smooth and oily, and set Karen’s teeth on edge.

  “You’ve got one chance, buddy,” she threatened. “You touch me, and you’ll have sore balls and you’ll be cuffed so tightly you won’t be able to feel your hands ever again.”

  “Oh, I do like a strong woman,” Joshua responded. “I tend to find they’re up for anything and make a lot of noise. I don’t mind you handcuffing me if that’s what you’re into.”

  Karen turned away in disgust as the technicians and agents around her tried to control their laughter.