The Sol 3 Agenda

by Brian Kitchen

  “Arise my lady,” Ahmed said. “I am your humble servant Ahmed. My family has served the Aos Si from the time you first came here from the stars.” Neither Joshua, nor Mohammad could understand what Ahmed said, for he spoke in the ancient Domari language, an Indo-Aryan language, with similarities to Romani. The woman understood it, however, for climbing out with Ahmed’s help of what obviously wasn’t a sarcophagus, she answered him in the same language.

  “Who are you people? Why are you dressed in that strange garb? If you serve me, then you should be in the uniform of Imperial service. And why do the others not pay me homage?” She fired the questions at Ahmed in rapid succession, as he respectfully withdrew some paces away from her.

  “Why do you speak to the Jinn? It is forbidden!” Mohammad who’d also moved away, was shouting in Egyptian Arabic at Ahmed. He suddenly grabbed Ahmed’s arm and started to drag him back towards the door. “You will be cursed!” he warned Ahmed, when he tried to resist him.

  The woman at first didn’t understand what Mohammed was saying and then the microcomputer chip she had implanted into her brain translated. She then turned to face Mohammad, at the same time drawing the weapon from its holster.

  “You dare to speak to a servant of the Aos Si in that tone! Unhand him this instance! I am Fionnuala, the Nemhain of the Aos Si and you too, will serve me, or die! Make your choice!” she roared at him in Egyptian Arabic.

  Mohammed had recognized the Nemhain as one of the Jinn and the fact that she had seemingly arisen from the dead, made her a Shaytan-Jinn, a demon. He released Ahmed and drew the dagger that he had had concealed on his person and rushed towards Fionnuala. Well before he had reached her, Fionnuala had raised the weapon, pointed it at Mohammad and fired it. A beam of high energy shot from the long barrel of the weapon and struck Mohammad, instantly vaporizing him. Joshua gasped in horror, as did Ahmed, who then fell to the ground in prostration.

  “Why do you not prostrate yourself,” Fionnuala questioned, turning to face Joshua who was rooted to the spot. Joshua wasn’t a coward, but even so his voice trembled a little as he answered her. Her weapon was pointed at him and he had no idea whether she’d use it again.

  “I don’t know your language, ma’am, but I mean you no harm,” Joshua said raising his empty palms upwards. Fionnuala’s memory chip translated the English that he’d spoken in and she lowered her weapon.

  “You are different to him,” she pointed with her free hand towards Ahmed, speaking now in English, “and also the one who tried to kill me.”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “You’re the one who released me from the stasis module, aren’t you?” Joshua nodded, now realising that the woman must have been in a state of suspended animation. “You knew which symbol to touch. How is that?”

  “Well ma’am, I touched it accidently,” Joshua answered honestly. “I recognized what the symbols were. They’re Pictish and I wondered what they were doing in an Egyptian tomb. Now I realise that it isn’t a tomb and probably not even Egyptian,” Joshua realised that he was rambling on, which he always did when he was nervous. “But what the hell it is I don’t know, and Ahmed seems to speak a language that you understand, though I’ve never heard him speak it before.” Joshua stopped talking when Fionnuala raised her hand to silence him.

  “What is your name?” she asked him.

  “Joshua Freeman ma’am, well, Doctor Joshua Freeman actually, ma’am, but not of medicine, I’m a Doctor of Philosophy, an archaeologist, specializing in the archaeology of human evolution,” Joshua realized that he was rambling on again and stopped talking. The woman was studying him very closely, scrutinizing him with her deep blue eyes. Beautiful women made Joshua feel uneasy, as he didn’t know how to relate to them, never having had the opportunity to do so before. In fact, if the truth be told, his experience of women since reaching adulthood was minimal. He didn’t have a girlfriend, in fact no women friends at all, although he would have liked one. More than one if possible.

  Joshua like so many academics had buried himself in his work and knew that it was his own fault that he didn’t have any friends, male or female. His mother had sheltered him and although he’d attended the local school, he’d not been involved in out of school activities. He wasn’t a sporting type and as his mother tended to keep herself to herself and didn’t encourage visitors, Joshua had had quite a lonely life. Life with Henry Freeman, his uncle, when he had gone to live with him after Joshua’s mother had disappeared, had been in the stuffy atmosphere of Oxford academic life. Henry had employed a private tutor to school Joshua and even when Joshua had gone to Harvard at the tender age of 13 years, he’d not experienced the normal life of an undergraduate student. He’d lived with a professor and his wife who Henry knew, in an equally stifling environment.

  Fionnuala continued to study the weedy-looking young man before her. She realised that somehow Joshua must have had the ability to open the prison that she’d been confined in. Both the stasis module and the small pyramid that it was contained in, had been her prison for a very long time. How long, she did not know, but the information now flooding into her memory chip, indicated that it must be around twelve thousand Sol 3 years at least.

  “How did you get into,” she paused, thinking how best to describe her place of confinement, “this er pyramid?”

  “Something made me touch one of the carvings on the door surround, it glowed with an intense blue light,” Joshua explained looking nervously up at the woman.

  So, Fionnuala thought, he has the Aos Si gene. Only those who had the right genetic makeup would be able to open the doors. He must be descended from the Aos Si who had colonised Sol 3.

  “Good, you will accompany me and escort me out of here,” Fionnuala replied, replacing the weapon in its holster and then turning and picking up what Joshua thought was a spear, from where it still lay. “Do you know how to use one of these?” She asked, handing it to him.

  “Just throw it?” Joshua asked, handling it awkwardly. To his surprise the woman smiled at him and shook her head. “It’s not a spear?” Again, the woman shook her head. “A ceremonial staff?” he then guessed.

  “No Joshua, it is an energy staff, a weapon, just like my energy pistol,” Fionnuala explained to him, tapping the holstered weapon. “The amber button is to switch it on and power it up, the red button is to turn it off and the green button fires it,” Fionnuala pointed in turn to what Joshua had thought were jewels on the staff, but which apparently were buttons. Joshua nearly dropped the staff; he’d never handled a weapon before. “And you there, grovelling on the floor,” she then addressed Ahmed. “Arise, you will accompany me too.”

  The entrance door to the chamber had remained open and so Fionnuala led them out of the chamber and into the tunnel, followed first by Joshua and then in turn by a still trembling Ahmed. Up the tunnel they walked until they reached the entrance door to the pyramid.

  “The control switch for the door is there,” Fionnuala told them, pointing to a slightly different coloured area of stone by the door frame, that Joshua hadn’t noticed earlier. ”You must put your hand on it, Joshua.” When he gave Fionnuala a querying look, she said in explanation. “I am unable to operate it. This was my prison you see.”

  Joshua nearly hesitated for a moment, but having seen what had happened to Mohammad, he did as he was told and then stood aside for Fionnuala to go through it first. The Nemhain stepped out into the sunlight and threw both arms out.

  “Free at last!” she screamed at the top of her voice. Joshua looked around him, judging by the position of the sun it must be about mid-afternoon, he thought and then he saw that the other Egyptian diggers were coming towards them. They stopped a few yards away from them, looking in amazement at Fionnuala, who after all was a very striking figure. She removed her helmet and shook free her mid length strawberry blonde hair.

  “Who is that?” Mustafa demanded to know, pointing at Fionnuala.

  “I am Fionnuala, the Nemhain of the Aos Si an
d you will prostrate yourselves before me in respect, whilst I decide how best you will serve me,” Fionnuala commanded, answering Mustafa in the same Egyptian Arabic that he had used. Karim another of the diggers walked forward to stand next to Mustafa.

  “Where’s Mohammad? Where’s my brother?” He demanded to know.

  “He’s, he’s er…” Ahmed tried to tell Karim, but the words failed him.

  “What this fool is trying to tell you is that he’s dead,” Fionnuala said, turning her head slightly to address Karim.

  “Dead, dead! What do you mean? How did it happen?” Karim wanted to know.

  “There was an accident,” Joshua lied.

  “No there wasn’t,” Fionnuala corrected him, shaking her head. “I meant to kill him; my aim is very good.” The energy pistol was now back in her hand and she was moving it from side to side, ready to kill any of the diggers if they made any attempts to attack her. They’d all be dead before they reached her and especially if she put the weapon onto an area blast setting. Karim made a move as though to attack her and was only saved from instant death, by an approaching noise coming from the sky above them that made them all look up to see what it was.

  Joshua’s eyesight was extremely poor, but even he could see the helicopter which was rapidly approaching them. It had a large main rotor, stub wings and a 3-blade tail rotor and was completely black. Suddenly something shot out of the pods mounted on the stub wings.

  “Get down!” Fionnuala screamed and without hesitation Joshua dived to the ground.

  Chapter 15

  Cornwall, July 1985

  “So, you’re saying that I was the Badhbh and that my great niece is the Badhbh in Waiting,” Cath said quietly to herself when Padraig had finished telling her of her former life and what had happened to her. “It explains some of the strange dreams that I’ve been having and the flashbacks which have been occurring more frequently over the past few years.”

  “You’ve been having flashbacks, Cath?” Morann asked concernedly.

  “Yes, and I also thought that John was familiar to me, but couldn’t quite place him, now I can see the resemblance to John Senior. In my nightmares, that Andromedan was taking possession of me and then there were the dreadful scenes where he discarded my body to take possession of John Senior,” Cath told them with an anguished look on her face.

  “Don’t talk about it Cath if it is too painful,” Morann quietly advised her, but Cath shook her head.

  “No, my demons need to be exorcized once and for all, Morann,” Cath said and then began to recount what had happened. “It was Terry who came to see me. He said that John Senior had sent him. He paralysed me quite easily, I trusted him. Then that thing, JT took possession of me. I was conscious, but I couldn’t fight him. I remember it all, how I then went to see John and the Andromedan then took possession of him. I saw it all. Then I was left to die, but the experimental medical nanobots that I’d developed and was trying out on myself, must have kept me alive. I then vaguely remember someone eventually coming and picking me up and I also have vague memories of a medical team of androids somewhere, working to save me. They obviously succeeded as I’m still alive.”

  “Yes, Cath you were taken a medical facility,” Padraig told her. “They managed to save your life, but your brain was damaged, and you had seemingly lost all memories of your previous life, but it seems that they are now starting to return.”

  “As I said,” Cath told them. “I’d developed some new experimental medical nanobots with greater repair properties. It has obviously taken some time, but they seem to have repaired my neural pathways.”

  “But Terry’s alive,” John said. “We saw him, didn’t we Morann. How can that be possible?”

  “Terry’s body was put in a stasis pod on the Andromedan’s shuttle,” Cath explained. “I can remember now. I or rather JT whilst he was using me as his host, put him there. I don’t know what the Andromedan’s intentions were, but I do know that during the war against the Fomoire the Andromedans were trying to develop cyborgs.”

  “You think that Terry is a cyborg, Cath?” Padraig asked.

  “I think that there’s a very strong possibility that he is.”

  “That could be helpful,” Padraig then said. “We have no idea what the new host is that JT has taken, although we have suspicions that it may be a man called William Geacher,” Padraig said turning to Aengus, who nodded. “If Terry is a cyborg and JT is still using him as a bodyguard, then if he is with this William Geacher, that confirms our suspicions. We need access to the VarTech super computer to try and locate where they are.”

  “Well both John and I are the sole shareholders in the VarTech Corporation, so that can easily be arranged,” Cath told them. “Conn doesn’t know John, so I will have to notify him. At the same time, I will be telling Conn that I am transferring all my shareholding in the VarTech Corporation to you, Kate.” Kate looked at Cath.

  “Why Cath?” Kate asked.

  “Because you and John are the future. It’s both your destinies, just as your additional destiny is to be the Badhbh, Kate. Now I think you all need to go to Trentbury.”

  “Why Trentbury, Cath, er grandmother?” John asked.

  “Call me Cath still, John, it’s what I’ve got used to. As for why you all need to go to Trentbury, well it’s because it’s where Conn and VarTech Corporation HQ are located and also the super computer.”

  “But I need to see how Dave is, I need to get home,” Kate said, looking anxious.

  “I know you do, Kate, and Morann, Padraig and John will help you get there, won’t you?” Cath asked, turning to look at them.

  “Yes Cath, we’ll do all we can,” Padraig promised on their behalf. “We need to keep a fairly low profile however and so we could do with some transport.”

  “I can help with transport,” Cath said, looking over to Aengus. “Show them the Maserati.”

  John accompanied Padraig and Morann to go and look at the car, whilst Kate stopped with her great aunt as she wanted to have a private word with her. As soon as they’d all gone, she turned to Cath.

  “Can I trust these people?” she asked her.

  “Morann and Padraig I now know I’ve known most of my life . They’re members of the Fianna, which was once the bodyguards of the Triumvirate and John I now know is my grandson. I have no reason to distrust any of them and would suggest that you trust them too. You’ll need all the help that you can get, and I’d trust the Fianna with my life as I’ve done so many times in the past.”

  “Well in that case, I’ll go with them. I need to get home and see how things are with Dave.”

  “It’ll be risky, Kate,” Cath warned her great niece. “Special Branch are sure to be watching your home.”

  “I know, but it’s a chance that I’m willing to take.”

  “So be it. At least I know you’ll be in safe hands.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  “It’s this year’s model,” Aengus said handing over the keys to the black Maserati Quattroporte to Padraig. “It has a full tank of petrol; oil and the tyre pressures have also been checked.”

  “Reckon it’ll do?” Padraig asked, turning to John and Morann.

  “Yes, it should get us to Trentbury ok,” John answered. “How long will it take?”

  “Five or six hours depending on the traffic.”

  “Ok then, we’d better get going.”

  “I’ll bring it around to the front of the house,” Aengus told them, as they walked off back to where Cath and Kate were saying goodbye.

  “Here, Kate,” Cath said handing her a satellite phone. “You ring me when you get to Trentbury and let me know how Dave is getting on.”

  “I will do, I promise.”

  “Thank you again for your hospitality, Cath,” John told his grandmother.

  “Stay safe, John and when you see your father again, remember me to him.”

  “That’s if I can find him, Cath, he’d disappeared shortly after I left Earth back
in 1969. I don’t even know if he’s still alive.”

  “Knowing your father John,” Cath said with an enigmatic look on her face, “he’s still alive and I’m sure you’ll meet up with him very shortly.”

  “I hope so Cath.”

  “Keep in touch John.”

  “I will,” John called back as he followed the others to where Aengus had parked the car.

  “The way Padraig drives, you might prefer to sit in the back with me,” Morann was telling Kate, when John got up to the car. Kate & Morann, got into the back seats of the car, whilst John got into the passenger seat, beside Padraig.

  “Are you navigating when we get to Trentbury?” Padraig asked John. “We need to go to Abbot’s House first.”

  “What? My grandfather’s old house?” John asked. Padraig nodded.

  “It’s your house now John,” Padraig told him. John hadn’t thought of that.

  “Wouldn’t he have left it to Cath?”

  “No, John. She inherited Trevaskis House, but of course it was destroyed. She owns the estate it stood in however and will no doubt do something with it in good time. I can’t see her ever moving from here however,” Padraig said as they all turned and waved goodbye.

  They made excellent progress and seemingly very soon, they were approaching Plymouth and John realised that he must have dropped off.

  “Enjoy your nap?” Padraig asked. John nodded and glanced into the back of the car where he saw that Kate and Morann were asleep too. “Thought I’d take the X38 to the other side of Exeter and then join the M5 to Birmingham. Should make up some time on the motorway. This car’s a goer, that’s for sure.” Padraig told him.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

  It was sometime later when they were speeding down the M5, that the Time Quake occurred. It had been a beautiful day, with hardly a cloud in the sky and it was only mid-afternoon, when suddenly the sky went pitch black. Not gradually, but as though they’d suddenly entered a very dark tunnel. The car started rocking violently from side to side and Padraig jammed on the brakes and steered onto the hard shoulder at the side of the motorway. Fortunately, nothing had been behind them to run into the back of the car. Weird lightning was now flashing all around them, not the normal lightning that you see, but lightning which seemed to oscillate, getting faster and faster, until there was a loud booming noise and then silence. As suddenly as the sky had darkened, the sky cleared again, the lightning vanished, and the car stopped rocking.