by S. E. Meyer
“Man I feel like hell.” Frank tried to sit up, but couldn’t and settled back into the bed. “I need a drink and a goddamned cigar. Alright, help me up and get this damn chain off me.”
“Are you sure Frank?” asked Jenny, “you look a little sleepy yet.”
“Okay, a few minutes, but only a few, I have a lot to tell you both and we really need to get out of here as soon as I’m able to walk.” John and Jenny could both see the concern on Frank’s face.
“So what is this place?” asked John as he tried to take the shackle off Frank’s ankle.
“Old underground military lab. It was decommissioned after the cold war fizzled. Adam had a few contacts at the Pentagon, a few guys he served with I guess, and we picked it up at a military land auction for next to nothing.” Frank paused for a moment. His strength was slowly coming back to him and his voice was returning to a more regular tone. “It needed a lot of work of course. I mean those military guys don’t leave anything behind when they shut a place down. Anyway, we decided it would be a good place to do our own private research and fixed it up.” John was still fiddling with the shackle. “The key for that should be back on the table where you got the needles.” Frank nodded in the direction of the small room and John quickly returned with a key.
“Private research?” questioned John with an eyebrow propped up in a quizzical look as he unlocked the shackle and removed it from Frank‘s leg.
“Ah, much better.” Frank was able to reach down and rub his ankle, which had become raw from the metal rubbing against it. “Yes John, I discovered….something. We can talk on the way, we really should leave.”
Jenny and John helped Frank off of the bed. He could now stand on his own with only a little help. “Who locked you in here?” John asked as they escorted Frank back to the first room they explored when they entered the lab.
“Adam and Brent did. Wait, we can’t leave without a few things.” Frank limped over to a stainless steel tray table with several syringes on it. “We’ll need all of these, here, we can put them in this,” he said to himself as he picked up a small black case from the lower shelf and quickly placed it on top of the tray table. “We’re also going to need a few of these.” Frank opened a cupboard and revealed a touch pad that was behind the door. He quickly typed in a password and a false door opened behind the back cupboard wall.
“You mean Adam and Brent, your partners?” John looked at Frank with raised eyebrows and disbelief in his voice.
“Yes, my partners. Or at least they used to be.” Frank shook his head as he pulled a small safe out of the empty space behind the back wall and placed it on the tray table. After sequencing the correct numbers on the dial he opened the small safe door and pulled out four small vials with a clear liquid inside. He slipped the vials into his jacket pocket. There was also a small cloth bag that he pulled out of the safe and put in his other jacket pocket. “Okay, we can go now.”
They helped Frank climb the ladder, steadying him as he ascended, and within minutes they were back outside. The first signs of dawn were approaching with a faint light in the east and dozens of nearby birds were starting to make a racket. “Let’s leave my car here, it will look less suspicious if it isn’t missing.”
“Technically you’ve been missing for a week Frank.” John responded.
“I mean missing from here. Trust me; it would be less suspicion if it stays.” The three of them walked as quickly as they could while helping Frank down the path back towards John’s car. They hurriedly got inside and John drove the car back towards the main road. Within a few minutes they were leaving Old Mill City.
“Where to?” asked John as they turned back onto the highway.
“I need to stop by my house and grab a few things.” Frank responded. John turned towards Frank’s side of town. He kept glancing back at Frank through the reflection in the rear-view mirror as he drove. Frank looked younger, fresher, more alive, which seemed strange considering how he had looked minutes before, and the fact that he had been stuck in a lab for days.
“So what’s going on here Frank?” John finally asked. “Are you in some kind of trouble? Why did Adam and Brent lock you up back there?”
“Trouble? Well, yes sort of.” Frank rubbed his hands along his thighs and let out a deep breath. “Adam and Brent turned on me, they’ve changed…they’re…” Frank trailed off.
“There’s something different about you Frank.” John held a solemn expression and made eye contact with Frank in the mirror. John could see deep concern across Frank’s face. He turned onto Frank’s street and slowly made his way down towards the house at the end.
“Stop!” Frank suddenly yelled. “Stop, stop. Stop the car now!” Frank said again, more urgently. John hit the brakes hard enough to move Frank forward a little in his seat.
“Jesus, John. Do you have to be so conspicuous?” Frank barked
“Well, what the hell Frank? You’re yelling in my ear to stop like I was about to run over your own mother or something. What is going on Frank?”
“Turn around, we can’t go to my house.” Frank looked to be in a panic. “Turn around, turn around….. now. But slowly, we don’t want to attract any attention. Let me think, let me think.” Frank tapped his forehead with his closed fist and John slowly pulled into the nearest driveway. “Oh shit, “Frank blurted out as he pointed down the street. “There, look.” Just then a black SUV with dark tinted windows came down the street toward them. It slowed down as it reached the driveway where they were parked, then almost stopped directly behind the trio. The SUV suddenly re-gained speed and continued down the street out of sight. “We need to get the hell out of here,” Frank said in a panic. John backed out of the driveway and headed up the street away from Frank’s house, but in the same direction as the SUV. He turned at the first intersection he could, trying to put as much distance between them and the SUV as possible. Jenny looked at Frank with a concerned expression. It was her turn to probe Frank for answers.
“What’s going on Frank? Who was that?”
“I honestly don’t know, but I know they were looking for me and they didn’t have good intentions. I can’t really explain how I know.” Frank put a strange emphasis on the word how. “But I know, and I know that those men, or whatever they are, are very dangerous.” Frank kept looking behind him nervously out the back car window. Can we go to your house?” Frank asked looking at John.
“My house?” exclaimed John. “You want me to take you to my house?” he asked a second time, as if in disbelief. The way Frank was acting and the way Frank had said ‘or whatever they are’ wasn’t sitting well with John. He really didn’t like the idea of getting more involved, and leading dangerous men to his house left an anxious feeling in his gut.
“It’s probably the last place anyone would look,” Frank pleaded, deciphering John’s thoughts. “Adam and Brent never knew that we became friends, or anyone else for that matter.”
“Fine,” replied John. He was using a firm tone now. “But when we get there you’re going to tell us exactly what’s going on. Deal?“
“Deal”
John took the next left turn and started heading towards the other side of town. He could feel the cinch in his gut tightening again as he remembered the SUV that drove past his house at lunch. Frank kept looking out over the back seat behind him through the window. He continued to nervously do so all the way to John’s house.
“How about some coffee?” Jenny asked as the three of them made their way into the kitchen and seated themselves around the table.
“Sounds great but I’d take something stronger if you had it.” Frank hinted.
“I’ve got a little brandy, would you like some?” asked John, thinking it was a little early for Brandy, but considering what Frank had just been through he decided not to say anything.
“Sure, with ice would be great.” Frank settled into a kitchen chair and crossed his legs. John poured Frank a glass of brandy while he and Jennifer filled two mug
s with fresh coffee. There was a long silence and the tension was growing as John and Jennifer waited for Frank to tell them what was going on. Frank took a long drink from his glass and let out a sigh.
“Where do I begin? Well, as you know John, I have always been very interested in archeology. I became obsessed with the Mayan, Mesopotamian and Sumerian civilizations. They had highly sophisticated civilizations you know, and a very advanced knowledge of medicine, which is what fueled my obsession. Being a man of science, and a doctor, I wanted to know everything I could about them. I wanted to know everything they knew. A few years ago I was in the Yucatan Peninsula, near one of the old Mayan ruins. I was invited on a dig not far from Belize in Naranjo, Guatemala, on the eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. A new temple pyramid was found that was the oldest in the area to date, so I took the opportunity to help with the dig. While I was there I found a very unusual artifact.” Frank pulled the cloth bag from his pocket and revealed what was inside. He held up a small pyramid. It looked to be very old, and at the same time, the most beautiful thing John and Jenny had ever seen. They stared at the smooth sides, with perfectly cut lettering and hieroglyphs. Symbols and engravings covered its entire surface. It was only about three inches tall and four inches across the base. It appeared to be made of stone, but had the look of obsidian glass with such a dark, deep black, color that you could lose yourself in it. It had a brilliant gold reflective sheen, typical of the most expensive obsidian, but this was more dazzling than anything the three of them had ever seen. “This is what I found.” Frank spoke slowly and intently as he placed the pyramid in the center of the table. “This is the cause of all the trouble. After years of trial and error deciphering the language, which wasn’t Mayan at all, but a cross between Sumerian and something much older, I figured out what was written on this stone.”
Frank took another drink of Brandy and looked around the room. Do you happen to have a cigar John?”
“Yes! I do have a couple in the garage.” John quickly got up and left the room. He was back in less than a minute with two individually wrapped stogies. “Here you are.” John handed Frank a cigar and pulled out a lighter for him. Frank puffed away at it a couple times and then settled back into his chair.
“Well, go on, what was it? What did you find?” Jenny finally asked after waiting what seemed like an eternity for Frank to begin speaking again.
“Well, first it held a map. Not just any map, more of a diagram. A schematic if you will, of the human brain. By taking transparencies of each of the four sides of the pyramid plus the bottom and then overlapping them in different ways, I found complete pictures of each region of our brain and explanations of what they were for, including parts of the brain we don’t even use.”
“What do you mean?” Jenny asked
“You see we only use about ten to twenty percent of our brains, depending on who you ask. The other eighty percent is just wasted space, or so we thought.”
“So are you saying that the ancient Mayans used more of their brains than we do?” asked John.
“No, but based on what I found, I do believe that some of them did. However, the Mayans did not invent this procedure. They would have had to learn it from somewhere, a more ancient civilization. The pyramid itself is of Sumerian origin, so it could predate five thousand BCE. We’re talking about more than seven thousand years ago, maybe more. The Mayans may have understood it, but the knowledge locked within is much older, and I have no idea why a Sumerian artifact was sitting in a Mayan pyramid. I also discovered an entirely new written language on the pyramid that I have still not been able to decipher. It would seem to predate any other language that had been previously studied. It was described on the stone as the language of the gods!” Frank was getting excited and continued speaking intently as he leaned closer. “What I did find was a hidden process to unlock the mind and open the other senses, which would give us the ability to use over 90% of our brain. It also promised abnormally long life. This was knowledge that only the highest of ancient priests would have known. Well, the temptation was too great. I needed to experiment and see if I could recreate what had been accomplished millennium ago. My excitement was for our patients at the center John. I thought maybe the formula could be used to aid in our research of brain diseases. Plus I have to admit, I was curious about what this all could mean. We had the lab in Old Mill City, so I brought everything there and went to work. Once I had perfected the process exactly as described on the pyramid I took miniscule amounts and began testing animals. I wanted to make sure it was safe. Then I began to experiment with alternate variations of the ingredients and the overall process. I came up with a new formula, different from what was on the pyramid, but the results were amazing, as you have witnessed yourself John.”
“Me? What do you mean?”
“John, the reason I am telling you all of this is because the formula I developed, the one that has given us all the breakthroughs we have seen and experienced. The formula we are using at the center is my own variation of the one taken from that very stone. That’s why we have seen such amazing results recently. Some of the ingredients were not only stopping the disease John, like you have been led to believe, but it was completely reversing the effects of Alzheimer and Parkinson disease altogether!” Frank paused a moment as he stared at the small pyramid, his index finger pointing at its tip and then he ran his finger down the smooth, polished side. “I couldn’t resist the temptation so I made another serum exactly as described on this pyramid. I started taking injections and followed the process exactly how it was laid out,” he continued, “I began to notice its effects almost immediately.” Frank ended with such a note of excitement his voice trembled on the last word. He paused a moment and then continued his story. “I explained all of this to Adam and Brent. They immediately wanted in on my little experiment too, as you can imagine. Soon we found strange things began to happen to us. We found that we could communicate with each other without speaking. We could move small objects with our mind through telekinesis. We needed almost no sleep, so we would read books on things we wanted to learn about and would be able to recite every word once finished. We also found that we could insert thoughts into other people’s minds.
“You mean like mind control?” John interrupted.
“More like mind suggestion, but yes the effects are the same,” Frank said as he looked directly at John for a moment. “These injections that I took John, are the very same injection you took last night. I had to do it in order to communicate with you, open your mind a bit. Meeting you in your dreams wasn’t working. I wasn’t able to communicate with you clearly since your mind would not accept that I was really there. I had to be able to actually tell you where I was, and convince you to get me out of the lab,” Frank explained.
Jenny interrupted this time. She had been staring at the floor while listening to the story, but stood up and walked to the coffee pot to re-fill her cup. “Your kidding right? You’re saying that you can use more of your brain than the rest of the world?”
Frank just smiled and looked down at his glass. “I know it’s hard to comprehend.” Frank continued to stare into his glass as John and Jenny watched him. There was a slight blue spark in his eyes and then the last of Frank’s brandy floated up to the top of his glass and then higher into the air. It remained in a perfect circle until it was above all of their heads, and then it changed. John and Jenny both watched the liquid in shock as it changed into the form of a star for a few seconds and then it took on the shape of a horse. “Seeing is believing, isn’t it?” Frank said puffing on his cigar. The fresh smoke trailing away from them suddenly formed into a long fence line and the amber colored horse began to gallop alongside it. Both John and Jenny could not take their eyes off of the beautifully shaped brandy horse as it galloped back down to Frank’s glass and jumped in with a splash. Their jaws hung in amazement. “Cheers,” Frank said and emptied his glass with one swallow. There was another long moment of silence while John and
Jennifer tried to grasp what Frank was saying before Jenny finally spoke.
“Frank, this is totally amazing, even hard to believe if I hadn’t just seen it for myself, but what does it have to do with you being locked away in that lab?”
Frank let out a deep sigh and his expression turned very solemn. “That’s where the problems come in. Adam and Brent started injecting themselves several times a day. They believed that if one was good, more was better. They started to go crazy, talking about starting a new breed of human race that would rule the world. They started planning meetings with their military contacts. I decided to put an end to it and I stopped making the serum. That’s when things really got bad. They completely went mad and threatened my life. They stole all of the serum from the lab at the Center, although it’s not even the same formula. When I wouldn’t cooperate they locked me away. That’s why it was so important that I get out of there. I don’t know where they went, but I knew if I was still there when they came back, they were going to either get the formula out of me or kill me in the process.”
“So do you think the men at your house were trying to find this thing, this artifact you brought back?” asked John.
“Yes, definitely, they were looking for it. I don’t know anything about them other than they were different in some way. You will most likely be able to understand this better now that you know what happened to me. I was able to feel their thoughts and intentions. They want the pyramid, and I could tell that they will stop at nothing to get it. I also felt like they could do great harm to get it, and one more thing.” Frank paused.
“Yes?” John and Jenny both said in a question.
“The thoughts in my head and the feelings I was getting isn’t what concerned me the most.” Frank paused. “No, what was most concerning was that they didn’t feel right.” Frank was speaking much more quietly now. He placed a strange emphasis on the word right. “I’ve had a chance to be around people since this happened to me and today it just felt…different,” Frank said pausing again before he said the last word. “My guess is Adam and Brent have made some interesting friends through all of this. That’s the only thing I can think of. The events have to be related to Adam and Brent, and their plans somehow,” Frank said.