Ascension
Watchers
Book Twelve
of
The Levels of Ascension
Amy Proebstel
Copyright © 2020 by Cavaliers Publishing
All rights reserved. The events, characters, and entities depicted in this book are fictional. Any resemblance or similarity to any actual events, entities, or persons, whether living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. All inquiries should be submitted to [email protected].
ASIN: B08528FBWL Kindle Direct Publishing
Printed in the United States of America
First Printing, 2020
Website: www.LevelsofAscension.com
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/AmyProebstel
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Facebook: www.facebook.com/levelsofascension
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Books in
The Levels of Ascension
Series
Book One: Outside Ascension
Book Two: Inside Ascension
Book Three: Ascension Quest
Book Four: Ascension’s Call
Book Five: Answering Ascension
Book Six: Ascension Seekers
Book Seven: Ascension’s Lure
Book Eight: Above Ascension
Book Nine: Between Ascension
Book Ten: Ascension’s Gate
Book Eleven: Ruling Ascension
Book Twelve: Ascension Watchers
Book Thirteen: Ascension’s Truth
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my friends and family. You all have been so supportive in helping me carve out time in our busy lives to write and encouraging me to keep going. I’ve been so inspired by all of your thoughtfulness, and I hope it shows in my writing.
To the readers of this series, I greatly appreciate all of your kind words, amazing reviews, and support along the way. None of this would be possible without your enthusiasm for the world of Tuala.
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
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Preface
YOU HAVE BEEN placed as guardian of one of My prized possessions, the Ascension Gate. This not only allows you the ability to control movement across Tuala, but some of them also can be manipulated to access other worlds of My creation. Just as you have been placed in charge on the Tualan side, I have also appointed caretakers to the other side. Each world is in a different cycle of humanity, so it is inadvisable to seek out interaction between the worlds.
Some travel will always be unavoidable, so it is up to your discretion what you will allow. I trust in your ability, which is why your family line has been selected as the guardian. I treasure your skills, reasoning, and compassion to always choose the right path for the good of the District in which you have been appointed as caretaker. The prosperity of your District is directly proportionate to the leadership you display.
As always, I will be watching over your decisions. I will not interfere with your rule, as I have faith you will ultimately do what is best. Use your talents wisely, and you will always succeed.
Excerpt from the Elder’s Instructional Guide
Chapter One
“I DON’T THINK you should arrive here unannounced again, Yingun,” Debbon pointedly stated as he stepped into the Ascension Gate room at Manzanit.
“That’s pretty ungracious of you considering I just spent my entire afternoon hearing inane citizen complaints for Rasa.”
“Nobody forced you to do it. As I recall, you were quite insistent on staying even when Rasa told you to go home, so don’t get all self-righteous with me.” Debbon had stopped walking to address the matter with the other Elder before he sent him home to Gaud.
“I don’t understand why you are always so quick to defend the girl. If she were as capable as you keep telling me she is, then why would you have to come here to help her do her job?”
“Elder Rasa is quite capable, but she’s only been in charge for the past seven days. Your memory may be failing you, but I’m fairly certain you would’ve relied heavily on your father’s advisors when you first took office.”
“I was better prepared than that, not that you’d know since you were barely born by the time I was elevated to Elder.”
“Exactly, your father had many anons to instruct you in what to expect. Rasa was only given less than a mesan to learn everything she needed before Wilken’s untimely death caused her to take over. I wonder if you could have done as well as she’s done for herself with so little training?”
Yingun glared at Debbon yet kept his mouth shut on his next retort.
Debbon could see Yingun’s attempt to remain silent on the matter, barely concealing his contempt of Rasa. Rather than give this man any more of his time or energy, he stepped away from him to go to the Gate’s control console. He began tapping in the necessary coordinates to redirect the Manzanit Gate to send Yingun back to Gaud.
Even after the successful transfer, Debbon remained troubled by Yingun’s visit. Somehow the disagreeable Elder had been informed about the increased troubles in Manzanit. He just had to decide if it were only because Yingun had been responsible for getting the troubles started, or if he really had been assessing the situation for himself. These thoughts continued to roll through his mind as he left the Gate room to see if Rasa had managed to calm down after everything Yingun had said about her management of the District.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sitting in his massive, leather chair behind the equally large, mahogany desk, Stephen could not help but think about all that had transpired over the past few days. First, he had been thrilled when his workers had returned with the woman he had previously seen breaking into his facility to abduct Nealand Taivas. Finally, he would be able to extract the truth of the matter from her without reprisal. His men had been meticulously careful to not be seen by anyone, so their activity would not be reported. Nobody would ev
er know this woman was now in his permanent custody.
As per his instructions, the men had waited outside of their cargo van until the woman came near. When she passed them by on the sidewalk, one of them had stopped her for directions while the other came up from behind to inject her with Scopolamine. He had discovered from his many studies that this drug would not allow the woman to remember anything just previous to being taken by his men.
He would continue to use the Scopolamine during their sessions so she would not be able to incriminate him in the future since she would have no memory of the sessions he planned on having with her. This time it would not be his word against another; no, he would have these sessions videotaped so they would be indisputable.
“Dr. Gascon, where do you want her,” one of the men had asked.
“Put her in Room 426 where I can keep my eye on her,” he had instructed as he followed the men dragging the limp woman between them. After shutting the patient’s door behind him, he recalled standing in front of it, arms crossed as he watched the men lay her out on the stark white mattress. “Go ahead and get her into the inpatient gown.”
The men had looked up at him swiftly, hesitating in complying with the unusual orders. Typically the floor attendants were responsible for re-dressing the patients, and then only women attendants were allowed to undress a female patient.
“Do as I say!” Stephen had commanded again, impatient to get started. “Trust me, there’ll be nobody to complain about the break-in procedures where this woman is concerned.” He had stepped forward, eager to watch, hoping she would have some physical difference to support his theory about where she came from.
The men had complied with alacrity, one pulling the woman’s shirt over her head while the other wrangled her out of her pants. Both garments had been tossed unceremoniously onto the floor while the first man grabbed up the patient gown from the foot of the bed. He furled it out in preparation of putting it over her head when the doctor once again spoke.
“Take off everything, I don’t want to risk giving her anything with which she can hurt herself.”
Looking even more uncomfortable, the men set about to remove the bra and panties.
“I want that necklace as well,” Stephen had stated after the first helper managed to get the hospital gown over her head.
He had attempted to remove the necklace, but soon became frustrated at his inability to unlatch it. If he did not know better, Stephen would say it was literally slipping through the man’s fingers. “I can’t get it,” he admitted to the second man. “Here, you give it a go.” He stepped aside, keeping his eyes averted from him, and waited for his co-worker to complete the task.
“I can’t get it either,” he had finally admitted after his fifth attempt.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake, just break the leather cord from her neck, it can’t be that hard!” He had watched his men fail again and finally decided to take matters into his own hands. He recalled storming across the room, reaching down, and grabbing the necklace. He had vividly felt the warmth of the metal and the sharpness of the stones in his hand before he yanked, only to discover the pendant remained resting on the woman’s chest as if he had never touched it.
Feeling a trickle of fear now, as he had then, rushing through him, he had turned his fear into anger directed toward the men. “Get out! I’m going to begin my sessions with this woman right now!” He had slapped the woman’s cheek as hard as he could, pretending to attempt to wake her, knowing it was a futile gesture and merely an outlet for his frustration.
He recalled hearing the men leave the room and immediately decided to take advantage of his opportunity to examine the woman’s body while she was still drugged. He had been convinced there would be some physical difference in her physiology to help support his claim of alien life. He had turned back to the door, pulled out his set of master keys, and used one to lock the door from the inside to prevent any interruptions.
He had been planning this meeting for quite some time, a long list of tasks was firmly imprinted in his brain. He recalled stalking over to the bed, yanking the gown up from where it covered her decently, and pulling her legs apart. Using the speculum and flashlight from his pocket, he proceeded to give her a gynecological exam. He had even swabbed her for a Pap smear, carefully placing the cotton-tipped stick into the sterile tube before tucking it away in his pocket for later testing. There had been absolutely nothing remarkable about the exam except for the mostly healed scar indicating a rather recent birthing.
After examining every square inch of her body front and back, filling a test tube with her saliva, extracting several vials of blood, performing a rectal swab, and pulling several hairs from her head, he had discovered nothing unusual except for the necklace which could not be removed. He would have liked to extract the contents of her stomach, yet he detested the mess of it as well as knowing the drugs he would need to induce it would affect subsequent drug cocktails which made it not worth the trouble. He remembered glaring down at her sprawled body, his attention repeatedly being drawn to the sparkling stones feeling almost as if they were mocking him. If he had spent one more minute with that frustrating woman, he knew he would have ended up doing something he would have regretted.
Grabbing her wadded garment from where he had pushed it up over her head, he had pulled it down to decently cover her body. He had not bothered to reposition her body as anybody could sleep in strange positions, so he would not be suspected of anything on that score. With a disgusted shake of his head, he had bent over and grabbed in a careless bundle the clothing she had arrived in from the floor.
As he had straightened up, a scrap of paper fluttered down to the floor from one of the shirt pockets. More than a little curious, he had snapped it up and opened it to see two lines of hand-written words. Both then and now, he could not understand what the words were meant to stand for, but he still felt this was the first thing of value he had discovered since that evening. Congratulating himself over his coup, he had grinned from ear to ear as he unlocked the door and jauntily walked down the hallway back to his office.
Once in his private sanctuary, he had searched through the remainder of the clothing to see if anything else of value could be found. During his thorough inspection, he had come to realize there was something unusual about the quality of the cloth. When he had seated himself at his desk, he pulled out his lighted magnifying glass to get a closer look. Finally, he had to admit he had no idea what type of fiber the clothing was comprised of, which had set his heart to racing excitedly.
Then and now, he believed the clothing might actually hold the clue he needed to pinpoint the woman’s origin. He had decided to have the clothing tested for manufacture, origin, and any organic matter which might have attached itself to the cloth. Yes, this was definitely a solid lead that would require specialized attention. He had flipped through his Rolodex to find the phone number of one of his colleagues, Dr. Zhu Chen, who could quietly perform laboratory analysis for him.
Now, the lab results were in his hand. Apparently, his demand for a rush order had been heeded since it had only been three days since he had turned the garments over to the courier. He ripped open the manila envelope and withdrew the stack of papers, which he proceeded to spread out in front of him on his desk. The first page was Zhu’s conclusion and the descriptions of the tests he ended up running for the forensic analysis:
Testing concluded the fabric was composed completely of mammalian hair. Each species of mammal possesses hairs, which are composed primarily of the protein keratin, with characteristic length, color, shape, root appearance, and internal microscopic features that distinguish one animal from another. Considerable variability also exists in the types of hairs that are found on the body of an animal which includes: coarse outer (guard) hairs, the finer fur hairs, tactile hairs such as whiskers, and other hairs which originate from the tail and mane of an animal.
Because hairs can be transferred during physical contact, their prese
nce can associate a suspect to a victim or a suspect/victim to a crime scene. The types of hair recovered and the condition and number of hairs found all impact on their value as evidence in a criminal investigation. Comparison of the microscopic characteristics of questioned hairs to known hair samples helps determine whether a transfer may have occurred.
The examination of mammal hairs in the forensic laboratory is typically conducted through the use of light microscopy…
“Good grief, get on with it,” Dr. Gascon exclaimed in exasperation. He had already completed enough science classes during his years of specialized training to be sufficiently knowledgeable, and he certainly did not need to be reminded of the procedures for analysis. He skimmed through the rest of the page and most of the second until a phrase stuck out as odd:
Final findings conclude the fabric was comprised of animal hairs not currently known or cataloged into our database on Earth.
“YES! I knew it!” His hands began to shake with the rush of adrenaline, knowing his hunch had paid off, and he was going to become even more famous for his life’s work. He had to set the paper down on the desk to keep reading.
Not finding anything else, he turned to the next page, which was the blood analysis. The results showed an exceptionally healthy woman where all of the levels were in the high end of the normal range; she certainly was not suffering from any vitamin or mineral deficiencies. Likewise, the fecal sample showed nothing of much interest except some seeds which were of unknown origin, possibly too degraded to identify; another point in favor of his own conclusion. The hair, saliva, and Pap smear results all came back as completely unremarkable which concerned him not at all.
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