by Toker, Dor
“You mean the children?”
“Yes.”
“We’ll take care of them, we’ll guide them through all the stages. The moment the planet will finish its role, there’s nothing to prevent us from interfering with its functioning. Once the developmental process is finished, no new statistical map is created for the planet, and it’s free to write its own history.”
“You will guide them?” asked Adam with more than a hint of sarcasm. The voice retained its dignity and refused to be dragged into an argument.
“In any event,” she continued to explain, “as I’ve said earlier and as your friend Joseph have discovered long ago, based on the charts of tectonic plate movements on Earth, the planet’s expiry will take place only five hundred Earth years from now. The great evil will reach your area long before that.”
The knowledge struck Adam like thunder: ‘She’s familiar with Joseph and his research as well. Does Joseph know her?’ “My friends, where are they?” he asked.
“They’ve managed to escape. Elizabeth’s people picked them up in an aircraft you call ‘ground hovercraft.’ Actually, they’re waiting for your return.”
The answer calmed Adam, and he felt his thoughts were becoming clear again. “Let’s do this,” he announced following another moment of mutual silence, “get me back to Earth and get the assassin and the corporation chasing me off my back. I have no intention of dying anytime soon, and if I may use your way of describing reality, unless he stops chasing me, the chances I’ll find my death are not insignificant. Unless you can tell me, even with a hint, what the completion of my chain involves, at least direct me to someone who can help me find out what it is. Once I find the answer, we’ll conduct another conversation, and I’ll give you my final decision. This is my best offer, take it or forget about ever getting my help.”
The light inside the sphere, which protected him dimmed for a moment, then steadied once more. Adam assumed she was communicating with her supervisors. “All right,” she finally said, “it appears we have no other choice, right?”
“Right,” said Adam, “you don’t.” The sphere of light in which Adam was sitting began to draw away from the moon it hovered next to. At first, its movement was slow and smooth, then it began to accelerate.
“Allow me to offer you a small gift before we part,” said the voice, “perhaps it will improve the way you perceive me/us a little and will assist you, as you’ve demanded, in your struggle with the assassin and the other threats posed to you.”
“I’m listening,” said Adam. Another small body, less than an inch in size, began to formulate next to him and floated in space beside the light sphere. Adam extended his hand and touched it gently. The body split and evaporated in every direction. “What is that?” he asked the voice.
“Since humankind has mastered nanotechnology engineering, few have learned to utilize the power of the Learning Nanobiological cells. They’ve already begun to study you and are very impressed. You will learn to communicate with them with the aid of your brain implant, and they will help you develop it. You must have already realized that the implant is related to the assignment you are intended to perform.” Well, Adam hadn’t realized that and immediately filed the new information without betraying his ignorance. He’ll have plenty of time to think about everything the creator had unknowingly revealed to him. The tiny particles merged into a dot of light once more, then hovered toward him and penetrated through his right eye into his brain. He closed his eyes and slept, a dreamless sleep returned to engulf him. An instant before he lost consciousness, he mumbled to the creator: “You asked me earlier who was chasing you. Well, I thought of a bigger question. If you were the ones who created us, then who created you?” The creator didn’t answer and Adam continued: “Here’s my gift to you: if even a shred of us was created in your image, don’t go too far in your search for what is threatening you. Evil is in your midst,” and he sank into the liquid darkness around him. Just before his mind turned off, he heard the voice telling him: “Thanks for the clue. We are now investigating amongst ourselves in order to try and locate traitors. You’ve already justified our confidence in you.”
*
When Adam woke up, he found himself lying on the desert ground. A hovercraft was parked next to him. He rose to his feet and approached the aircraft’s entrance. It slid open, and Joseph’s head peeked from inside. He nodded to greet the scientist. Joseph extended his hand to Adam, who hesitated, then rejected it. Instead of a handshake, he offered the scientist a warm and grateful embrace. Joseph gave him a wide smile and once they disentangled themselves from one another, cleared a path for him so he could enter through the door. Behind the bearded scientist, he was welcomed by the warm smile of Elizabeth, who was sitting in the pilot’s seat. She rose toward him, embraced him, and he returned her embrace. For the first time in a long while, Adam allowed himself to release the pressure trapped in his body. He detached himself from his teacher, guide, and friend and found himself face to face with Natalia, who smiled at the sight of his embarrassment and kissed him on the lips. He returned her kiss, filled with joy. “Everyone needs his own Baba Yaga,” she said and he was excited when he perceived he was surrounded by people who’d bound their future with his, people who were important to him as he was important to them. People who cared for him and were there for him. Friends.
He sat next to Natalia and fastened his seatbelt, then they held hands. Meanwhile, Joseph sat in the co-pilot seat and started the engines.
The hovercraft rose into the air, then glided smoothly and silently away.
*
Sato folded the laser gun he had just used for the clean and quiet assassination of the senior European politician’s lover with quick efficiency. The laser beam was so thin and precise, that it was doubtful whether it would be revealed in the post-mortem operation, which will probably not be conducted for the unknown concubine of the German politician. He decided to let go of his lover, as part of the preparations for the tax returns of the work calendar year nearing its end, and Sato handled it with the usual secrecy that’d become his commercial trademark. A dot on his eye-screen let him know a message was waiting. He did not address the blinking dot until he’d packed his weapons inside a foldable suitcase, only then did he open it. The message was sent by one of the web agents he’d activated. It said that the youth he’d been chasing on and off for the past two years, the one he’d almost captured in the desert almost three weeks ago, was making his way to the Jewish Reservation. While he was reading the message he received two more simultaneously, both from web-agents working for him as well, each mentioned a different destination the prey was headed to. Sato knew the information he’d just now received was problematic and that at least two of his agents were wrong and were possibly deliberately misled. He kept receiving additional updates, probably erroneous as well, and Sato felt there was a hand guiding this act of confusion and deception. He quickly reached a decision and turned to his private hovercraft. The place the youth was least likely to go to was the contractor’s dwelling place and Sato’s senses told him that’s exactly where Adam was headed. He himself wasn’t able to explain how he’d reached the conclusion, perhaps because that’s what he would have done and perhaps because it was the only place that wasn’t mentioned in the barrage of updates he received regarding the youth’s intentions. The hovercraft lifted in the air, then made a sharp turn toward the northeast.
Chapter 33
For many years, the creators have ruled the universe. They spread in the regions of space by colonizing planets that had suitable conditions to sustain life.
The realization they were not alone began to dawn upon them, like a thin and steady trickle, when signs of life from distant planets disappeared from their home-world screen all at once. The destruction was slow but intimidating, and they had called it “the ultimate evil” since they did not know what had caused the worlds of the distant planets to crumble. They tried to contact the approaching evil in va
in because in the meanwhile contact with more and more worlds had been severed. It was a young creator, a child in the terms of his own species, who’d managed to calculate the exact time remaining before the destruction would reach the original home-world. He brought his discovery to the attention of the leaders and added to it a recommendation for a possible course of action. The young creator suggested that new worlds should be created, ones in which the creators will form various intelligences which will develop until they will be ready to take the leap to the next level and equal their makers’ consciousnesses. This will bring about two results: first of all, the continued existence of intelligent life after the great evil will consume the home-world. “We will create worlds that will develop at a pace more rapid than that of the destruction’s,” the young one explained, “additionally,” he added at once, “there’s a reasonable probability that one or more of those new intelligences will find answers regarding the dangerous entity’s identity and perhaps will even find a way to stop it.” To his surprise, the leaders of his nation accepted his offer and immediately set about materializing it.
The creators calculated (in the terms of their own home-world) the amount of time necessary for the created world to mature enough to allow the creation of intelligent life, and what each species needs to undergo in order to develop into entities whose intelligence equals that of their creators. Many of the worlds that collaborated with the creators were made in such manner. The mixing of various species that had developed and matured enriched intelligent life and helped its continued advancement. In each such system of creation, the creators had changed certain data so that the intelligent beings developing in it will be diverse, different and unique. Each planet they’d created was a maze of chains and loops, events and discoveries, all related to one another, all intended to prepare the created to reach the yearned for leap and reach a higher intelligent consciousness.
That young creator had also calculated and found the correct time for the making of the last world, after which no more time would remain for intelligent entities to reach the yearned-for leap before the great evil engulfs the home world.
Earth was the last created world. Its time of expiry was set very close to the moment in which the ultimate evil, as the creators had named it, will reach the home-world.
An excerpt from the legend of the creators according to the Kner-Odin tradition
Chapter 34
Elizabeth landed the hovercraft on the foot of the Ararat Mountains in ancient Turkey, next to the shores of Lake Van. The four disembarked from the small aircraft and stretched their feet, stiff from two straight hours of sitting in the hovercraft. Adam and Natalia walked by themselves toward the trees of a nearby grove. “Don’t go too far,” Elizabeth instructed, “there are several decisions we need to make as soon as possible.” Joseph remained by her side. She walked round the hovercraft several times and tried to organize her thoughts. Elizabeth had no doubt the assassin was getting closer and will very soon catch up with them. She wasn’t sure Adam was ready for the confrontation that awaited him, but knew that sooner or later he would have to face his pursuer. She hoped to be by his side when that fateful time comes.
“Come and sit down,” called Joseph. She stopped and sat beside him, on a wide ledge next to the hovercraft. “You’d better stop running around,” he added.
“I can’t,” Elizabeth admitted, “I’m worried.”
“We’re doing the best we possibly can.”
“I don’t know, Joseph,” Elizabeth admitted, “I’m wracking my brains trying to think what else we can do to make them stop chasing him.”
“They won’t,” answered Joseph, “you know they won’t. Sooner or later, he’ll have to face the threats on his life, and I only hope we’ll be able to be there, by his side. We’re simply prolonging the inevitable.”
“You’re probably right,” Elizabeth admitted, “but I can’t stop worrying. You trust her?” she asked, and Joseph immediately knew she was referring to Natalia. He smiled and placed his hand around her hips. She placed her head on his shoulder and cuddled next to his body.
“Adam trusts her,” he said, “and as you well know, gaining his trust is not an easy task.”
“That’s right,” Elizabeth admitted.
“Something happened between them on Mars.”
Elizabeth smiled. “Something on Mars,” she repeated his words, “you know what that sounds like?” Joseph smiled as well and relaxed his body. Only now did he realize since Adam had returned to earth he’s been tense and alert and had not allowed himself any rest. His mind and senses were constantly on tactical mode and fatigue threatened to bring him down. “Are you feeling unwell?” she asked and gently caressed his ribs. He paid no mind to his physical condition, even though his brain implant sent his eye-screens an alert that he must quickly connect himself to a tissue construction unit.
“Nothing an inner-nucleus construction unit (Inside Nuclear Tissues Constructor ©) won’t be able to fix,” he answered her. The basic first aid kit in the hovercraft contained a standard unit, and Elizabeth helped him to interface with it. As soon as he was connected, Joseph began to feel the itching sensation that accompanied the work of the tissue constructors inside his body. According to the inner-scan report that appeared on his eye-screens, the fracture in his shoulder, caused by Sato’s kick, did not mend properly, as well as the two broken ribs. Additionally, his body was covered with abrasions and purple-red hemorrhages. Even though at least twice the normal amount of nano and micro cells was now flowing in his blood, his improvetegrated body was still unable to handle the multiple injuries without external interference. Joseph relaxed in his seat and allowed the ‘garage’ (Garage ©), as the kit was commonly referred to, to mend all that needed mending. “What did he tell him?” he asked Elizabeth.
“Tell?” asked Elizabeth.
“The creator,” Joseph explained, “what did the creator reveal to Adam about himself and about us?”
“First of all, why are you so certain it’s a male and not a female creator?”
“I’m not really sure,” answered Joseph, “in all probability it is a ‘he’ and a ‘she’ and neither.”
Elizabeth agreed with him.
“I think he’s changed.”
“You think that he… that she’d somehow changed him?”
“I don’t think so,” answered Elizabeth, “she wouldn’t have risked such a radical change that would hurt the chances of his mission. But he was somehow changed. He’s more focused, more wholesome. As if something else is leading him, not just the desire for vengeance that had drawn him till now. Have you noticed the fact he’s no longer being led?
Elizabeth nodded, “now, he’s the one leading.”
And after some thought, Joseph added, “Actually, she may have avoided making radical changes, but simply made some subconscious adjustments.”
“I think he’s starting to realize the immensity of the responsibility he carries on his shoulders.”
“I hope you’re right,” said Joseph, “the zero hour is approaching.” Elizabeth immediately realized he was referring to the planet’s expiration time (Zero Time Expiration of the Planet-Z-TEOP). Joseph didn’t know what would happen after that point in time but assumed the mechanism moving the tectonic plates was also responsible for the functioning of the remaining elements comprising the Earth. Once the mechanism ceases to operate, the Earth might finish its role in the universe.
“He must choose,” said Elizabeth.
“Not choosing is also a choice,” Joseph mentioned.
“We’re getting back to the same old argument,” Elizabeth was angered, “the life of the human race is more important than the life of the individual.”
“Not as far as that individual is concerned,” said Joseph, “besides, we can’t even be certain that if he plays his part at the right time and place, he’ll actually be able to save the human race.”
“He will improve it, he will make us better,” sh
e said.
“Better than what?” asked Joseph and the angry Elizabeth did not answer. She rose from her seat and began to march back and forth, surrounding the place where Joseph continued to sit. “We don’t know anything about the change and its implications. She sat next to Joseph once more and placed her head on his shoulder. Joseph wrapped her with his hand, and they continued to sit like that, close and silent, and their proximity soothed them a little.
*
Adam and Natalia walked side by side, along the shores of the Turkish lake. The pastoral views that surrounded them did not ease the tension they both felt. Natalia held Adam’s hand, and he who took it without turning his head. “I told you I’ll find you,” she said softly.
“You have,” answered Adam, “I knew you’d come.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” answered Adam, “you were watching us when we entered Dr. Khaled’s clinic.”
“But I was wearing a mask and was far from you,” Natalia was amazed, “how did you know it was me?”
“I recognized you immediately,” said Adam, and added, “and I’m glad you’re here with me.” Natalia leaned on him and felt the warmth of his body. She recoiled and stopped him.
“You’re burning,” she said, concerned, “are you ill?”
“No,” answered Adam, “I’m not. I’m simply changing.” His eyes clouded for a moment and to Natalia it seemed that they were pulled back.
• Report to the Nagid
• Report
• The area is secure. No immediate threats detected. Minor secondary threat. Threats in the perimeter, ninety out of a hundred