Machines of the Gods

by William B Lyons

  Diamond Jack got back to the car, only to find it empty. He frantically looked about to see no sign of life anywhere. “Eddie? Where in the hell are you? Answer me!”

  There was no reply. The only new noise was the distant sound of police cars and other emergency vehicles fast approaching. Behind him, there were several office buildings and a strip mall—all dark and empty. However, Eddie’s brainwaves were still strong. The man was somewhere close, but there was no time to zero in on his present position.

  Diamond Jack gritted his teeth with rage and adjusted the alien weapon to a different setting. “You should have stayed with me, you punkish coward!” He activated the gun again and then fired into the complex behind him. This time, the weapon’s spinning barrels ejected bullet-like projectiles that tore into the brick and concrete before exploding. Flashes of blinding light and booms from dozens of explosions tore into the night, turning the entire city block into a burning hell. “I hope you roast in my eternal fire!”

  The gun kept running. More explosions lit up the night sky. A roaring wave of fire and destruction swept through the next city block as well. In fact, it was like a sea of fire for hundreds of feet in each direction. Even the gas station on the corner and the oil tankers behind the station went up in flames, adding to this giant inferno. The area was now a blinding ocean of flames.

  Eddie, while hidden behind a concrete wall in the basement of the building nearest to the street, silently prayed as fire engulfed the room above. Blast after blast echoed around him as flames licked over everything. Now he knew what hell must have looked like. But, perhaps he’d survive this if he stayed where he was—just maybe he would.

  Outside, Diamond Jack could now hear the sounds of sirens close by. There was no time to hang around any longer. He’d have to finish off Eddie later. However, there was more important work left to do. He again sighed in frustration. He then turned off the freakish weapon and climbed back into the car before heading off into the darkness.

  Chapter Twelve

  Steve sat quietly on the couch in the den and gazed into the television screen straight ahead. With all of the lights out, the flashing images being broadcasted on CNN seemed even more eerie. The news about the raid at the General Dynamic’s factory was being aired in a commercial-free segment.

  He leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. It appeared that Neil had messed up again. Many men had been killed in this raid, and Diamond Jack was still on the loose. Not only that, but this ultimate bad guy would probably feel betrayed by him as well. Oh yes, there was much to be considered now. “Damn!” he yelled in frustration. “If it’s not one thing, it’s another!”

  “Steven, are you all right?” Helen asked as she walked into the den from the bedroom.

  Feeling guilty about using profanity in his mother’s house, he looked back toward the staircase and swallowed. “I’m sorry, Mom, I didn’t know that you were still awake. They raided a building over in Arlington and were met with heavy resistance. Many people have been killed and fires are still burning in several places. A twenty-story building was also leveled. It’s a nightmare over there. What’s worse, nobody knows where this maniac will strike next.”

  Helen just looked down at Steve. Her bottom lip was starting to quiver again. “Honey, I was headed in here anyway. I just got a call from the hospital. Roy is passing. All of his internal organs are failing and his brain is starting to swell. The doctor is saying that death will come at any moment now. I’m so sorry.”

  Steve took a deep breath and then stood up. His eyes had tears in them again. “Well, we better get going then. I want to at least say goodbye.”

  “I understand. We can call the pastor on the way to the hospital. I have his number on speed-dial.”

  ***

  Neil angrily walked down the corridor leading to the Central Control Room. He was fuming. Not only had his enemy escaped, but Diamond Jack had made fools out of all of them. Even worse, their failure had been broadcast on every major television network in the country. And if all of this was not bad enough, people were starting to view Diamond Jack as a freedom fighter. In fact, reports were still coming in about hundreds of individuals in the streets cheering this guy on.

  Jenny White appeared from one of the side hallways as Neil passed. She quickly caught up to him. “What in the hell happened out there?”

  “It’s on the news! That maniac came at us with some stuff this world has never seen before—some kind of super gun for starters. Unfortunately, the news cameras captured most of it as it happened. Now, everyone knows that we cannot protect them from this freak. We’re in a hopeless situation.”

  “Well, I have better news. About three miles south of the General Dynamic’s plant, our forces intercepted their truck. The military was taking no chances and hit it with three bazooka blasts. They then sprayed the flaming wreckage with machine gun fire. None of the terrorists inside survived, and all of the disassembled weapons were destroyed too. Diamond Jack is on his own now.”

  He looked over at her. “Is that supposed to make me feel better? Forty-six men were critically injured tonight, many of them may not survive. Then, what about the eighteen men who were killed? And for what? Diamond Jack still got away. He could hide out for a little while and then start up all over again. Remember, we still do not know who is financing this guy. We don’t have the orb either. Diamond Jack probably still has it. There is so much to consider here.”

  “Not everything so bad. Eddie Wexler escaped from that maniac tonight. He was found hiding in the basement of a burned-out furniture store. He crawled out and waved down a military transport vehicle that was sweeping through the area.”

  Neil stopped in his tracks. “Where is he now?”

  “The man is in my office. I was just heading there now.”

  Neil frowned with rage. “You brought him down here! This is the most secret government facility in the world. How could you have been so stupid?”

  She turned to face Neil. “For the past two days, he’s been designing space-age weapons for our worse enemy—a former cohort. He probably knows more about what’s going on than we do. I think that it is a little too late to keep a cloak over his head. Besides, what about those brain-scrambling drugs you told me to give to Steve? Can’t they be used on this guy too?”

  Neil shrugged and then turned away, heading toward her office. “I hope that this guy can help us.”

  Jenny quickly caught up to Neil again. “He will be able to tell us what other weapon designs Diamond Jack may be able to quickly construct. Maybe he’ll know what else that maniac is planning to do. Finally, he could give us an idea on who is financing Diamond Jack. This could be some kind of nationwide conspiracy.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” He pushed open the door to Jenny’s office and looked down at Eddie Wexler, who was seated on the couch in the corner. “Good evening, I’m Agent Neil Stone. I hope that you were not injured during your last thirty-six hours with that killer.”

  Eddie stood. “No, I’m okay.” He grabbed Neil’s hand, voice still trembling. “I thought that I was dead three different times tonight.”

  Neil sat down on the couch. “Mr. Wexler, I know that I do not have to tell you about the danger this guy possess. With your help, we can stop him.”

  Jenny put her hands on Eddie’s shoulder. “Please, anything that you can tell us will be of great help.”

  “Start with that super ray gun he hit us with tonight,” Neil said. “I’m talking about that super gun that laid waste to some of our finest military hardware. What are we dealing with?”

  “It is a type of atomic gun with multiple attachments. I saw designs of that thing when I was going over many of the alien blueprints. The weapon operates on the bases of energy. The cartridge mounted on the bottom acts like a miniature nuclear reactor. The battery in that reactor generates unbelievable power. The gun then somehow compacts this ene
rgy and releases it at rapid speed. Also, each attachment is connected to a different setting. Actually, this thing is many different weapons all in one.”

  Neil shook his head in disbelief. “What about the shopping center? Explosions were heard that sounded differently from the energy blasts.”

  “Drill bullets,” Eddie replied. “They can be fired from a regular gun as well as that super gun. They are built out of light weight metals and are aerodynamically designed to spin rapidly while in flight. When they hit a target, they drill into the object and then explode with tremendous force. Some of these bullets can be made without an explosive cartridge to cut down on the weight of the projectile in order to increase its range.”

  “So that’s what they hit us with from the towers,” Neil whispered.

  “What was that?” Eddie asked, thinking that he’d missed something.

  “Nothing, nothing at all,” Neil replied.

  Eddie swallowed again. “That creep also has those things that act like shotgun shells. However, they explode in mid-flight and release dust-sized pellets that shoot out in all directions at close to the speed of light. They’ll shred almost everything in a three block radius. He used that on you guys outside that tunnel tonight.”

  “Wow!” Neil blurted in frustration, wondering what he could use to combat these new and fiendish devices. “We never stood a chance against that alien stuff.”

  Jenny sat in a chair across from Eddie. “What other weapons do you remember seeing on the blueprints?”

  Eddie looked down and leaned forward. “I saw things that I still do not understand. However, there was this one device that I call a sphere of death. Its radius is about two hundred feet. And according to the descriptions on the blueprint, this thing can shoot extremely powerful bolts of energy down from space at individual targets on the ground. Remember, all of these weapons have super battery systems that never run down. They can fire continuously for years.”

  Jenny glanced over at Neil for a couple of seconds before looking at Eddie again. The situation was even more serious than they had believed at the very beginning. Time was a great factor now. “About how close is Diamond Jack to building this super weapon, and how does he plan on launching it into space?”

  Eddie put his head into his hands. “The weapon exists now and could already be in space. I think it came from inside that space ark on the moon.”

  “What!” Neil yelled and stood up. “How can that be?”

  Eddie took a deep breath. “I believe that aliens built this thing long ago. It may be hidden anywhere. Diamond Jack somehow plans to digitally take control of this device when it gets in range. I asked him about what in the hell was going on, and the man flew into a rage and threaten to kill me on the spot,” he whispered. “Jack also had three other strange devices in the truck of the car. I don’t know what they do, but he said that this was only the beginning.”

  “Good God!” Neil blurted.

  Eddie stood up too. “There is more, this guy often puts some kind of helmet around his head. He then uses it to read minds and download information from computers directly into his brain. This process causes the man to have severe headaches, though. He is presently injecting something into his veins to counteract this. Unfortunately, it is causing him to mutate into some kind of monster. The guy is literally changing by the day.”

  Neil pointed at Jenny. “Get Steve Miller down here fast. He found this guy once, maybe he can do it again!”

  “That’s good thinking,” she replied, turned around, and left the room. She had the cell phone in her hand before making it ten feet from the door.

  Neil faced Eddie again. “Go ahead and make yourself at home. If you need anything, just press the red button on the wall behind you. Someone will be here in just a few seconds.”

  “I do have a question, Mr. Stone.”

  “I’m listening.”

  “When Diamond Jack first found me in the park, he already had these strange gravity disks. He also had that super gun. If I’m the only one who can understand the inscriptions on those alien blueprints, who showed him how to build the devices he already had when he found me?”

  Neil frowned. “You were not the first one he brought in to help him. About three weeks ago, he kidnapped an electrical engineer from Texas Tech University. He forced him to translate those alien inscriptions. When the man tried to escape, Diamond Jack went into a murderous rage and literally bit the poor guy’s head off. Those steel teeth of his cut through the guy’s neck like a meat grinder. The police found the victim’s body in a back alley on the south side of the city. The man’s head was tossed into an open window at a café on Jim Miller Road. The nighttime crowd was put into a hysterical fit because of that stunt.”

  Eddie slowly sat back down, feeling a little wheezy. He now knew that he’d made the correct decision in escaping when he had. “I was lucky as hell.”

  “Yeah, you are blessed to still be alive.”

  ***

  Steve gazed down into his father’s pale face and squeezed the man’s limp hand. This was perhaps the last few minutes he’d have with his dad. Before, his father had seemed only to have been asleep. Now, the man had death on his face. His head was beginning to swell, while his cheeks had sunken in. Trickles of blood leaked out of both ears and around the tape that covered his eyes. Gurgling noises came from deep within his open mouth too.

  Helen walked up behind Steve and hugged him. She too was weeping in sorrow. “The paster will be here shortly. He’s been expecting my call all evening.”

  All of the machines and monitors measured Roy’s decreasing heart rate and blood pressure. The nurses moved around the bed and wiped his head with alcohol. Dr. Chong came into the room and took his pulse before feeling the man’s swelling ankles.

  Steve looked back at the doctor. “How much time does he have?”

  Dr. Chong looked down toward the floor before glancing back into Steve eyes again. “No more than a few minutes. It’s almost over.”

  “I see …” Steve replied, voice trembling. He then glanced back at his mother. “Why can’t these machines keep him alive just a little longer? I’ve seen people last for months, perhaps even years with no brain activity at all.”

  Dr. Chong moved closer. “Not in your father’s case. The same condition that is destroying your father’s brain is also dissolving his lungs and kidneys too. He’ll soon not have any internal organs at all. This is a very strange disease. Only a few people in all recorded history have ever had it.”

  “Is he in pain?” Steve asked.

  “No, at this point, he is incapable of feeling pain of any kind,” Dr. Chong replied. “He is just sleeping. I’ll stay with you two until the end. I can promise you that he is not suffering.”

  “Thank you…” Helen whispered. Tears were now running down her cheeks.

  Steve looked down at Roy and back at his mother. “You know, just this evening I would have done anything or paid any price to save Dad’s life. I tried to devote my energy on modern medicine or space-age science to perform miracles. However, I should have been relying on prayer. In the Bible, Jesus soothed the masses, healed the sick, and even raised the dead.”

  “Roy will be happier in heaven than here,” Helen whispered. “Think about it, even if he could somehow survive this, he’ll live in pain and will also be disabled. In addition to that, what about his wishes? Your father and I have had conversations about situations like this many times. He has told me repeatedly that he would never want to live on machines. It is better this way. He’ll soon be gone and there is nothing anyone can do to stop God’s will.”

  Steve looked down at his ailing father. “Perhaps Dad was not meant to survive this condition. However, I know of fantastic devices that could possibly help others. I’m still not giving up on what the future holds. We have unbelievable technology now. It should not just go to waste.”


  Helen touched Steve on the shoulder. “Don’t talk about these things. Let’s just make the most of the few moments we have left with him.”

  Steve looked back at his mother momentarily before turning to face his father again. He then suddenly remembered that he should not be talking about top-secret information in front of the doctor either—not even at a time like this. “You’re right,” he whispered, taking his father’s limp hand and closing his eyes. “I have a special prayer for Dad.”

  “Let us all pray,” Helen whispered, moving to the other side of the bed and taking Roy’s other hand.

  The door behind them opened. A middle aged man with graying hair walked into the room. He quickly looked down at Roy with sorrow.

  “Reverend Henderson,” Helen whispered, “we were just about to have a prayer.”

  Reverend Henderson walked over to the bed and placed his hand on Roy’s forehead. “I’m glad that I made it in time. Roy and I have known each other for over fifty years. We grew up together, you know.”

  Helen smiled. “Yes, I know. You were the one who introduced us, remember?”

  Reverend Henderson knowingly nodded, thinking back to that summer day so long before. “I think that I did a pretty good job of match-making. You two were made for each other.”

  Dr. Chong’s cell phone started vibrating. He took it out of his pocket, looked down at its screen, and frowned. “This is an emergency call that I have to take. I’ll be back in just a few minutes.”

  “I understand,” Steve replied without even looking around.

  Dr. Chong walked outside the intensive care room and lifted the phone to his ear. “What is going on, Mr. Stone? This is not a good time at all to be communicating with me.”

  “Is Steve Miller still there?” Neil asked.

  Chong looked back through the intensive care room’s window at the group praying over Roy Miller. “Yes he is. Steve’s father is dying as we speak. At least give him some respect and dignity.”