The Zondon: Terrorists and Aliens (an International Suspense Thriller)

by RobCharters

  However, being the dreamy one, they never did view May Lin as having such a promising future as her twin -- Sue Ling already had a flourishing business -- so they were half way resigned to whatever path she chose. The profession of 'history professor' wasn't their first choice for May Lin's career to begin with. That was her own idea, and now she had abruptly abandoned that.

  But at least it was for the sake of marriage.

  But marriage to who? A cho bo lan backpacker one? Okay, an archaeologist, but one who doesn't seem to be keeping busy at his profession. Is his family rich?

  There was a dowry.

  You've known him how long?

  Actually quite a long time, May Lin said, though she didn't specify when and where.

  Okay lah! Marry him, but if you kena sai, don't come home crying, ha?

  All the preceding was said only to May Lin, not in Ernie's presences. To Ernie, it was smiles and nods, especially when he presented them with a hefty dowry, compliments of Les Armstrong.

  So, they gave their blessing. Both Ernie and May Lin believed they were secretly pleased to be able to count a European son-in-law among their family members.

  Ernie's parents were different and the visit much more pleasant. There were no pointed questions. It was just a chance to get to know her, and to tell her all the cute stories about Ernie's childhood.

  Now, as for the big date, it was just a matter of when and where. But for now, they had to dash to London to meet Les, and travel from there to South Korea.

  Wisdom had told them through the crystal that North Korea was to be the next staging point. The email Ibrahim intercepted gave a clearer picture.

  They met Les and Thomas at Heathrow, and got their boarding passes for the long distance flight to Seoul.

  Thomas had asked to come along. The rest decided he could be of value as he also knew Stanovitch in his time and could help anticipate some of his moves.

  After checking in, Ernie sent a text message from his mobile phone to Ibrahim, who immediately logged on to the Internet, found the passenger list for the flight they had just checked into, and changed their names. This time, he had a list of ordinary names to go by that Ernie had compiled for him. 'Fred Flinstone' and 'Bilbo Baggins' would have been too easy to spot.

  They boarded, the plane departed, they had their in-flight supper, and began to settle in for the night.

  Les decided he rather enjoyed this life of relating to people over whom he had no control. To be sure, the new mental attitude took some getting used to. At first, he had been apprehensive and was sure it would cramp his style. He had become dependent on his ability to dictate his environment, how people related to him and how they responded to his desires. This was a brave new world full of surprises, but also a few pleasant ones. People liked him for who he was without the fa?ades, and he was also learning to appreciate them for who they were. Life was an adventure.

  There was just one thing that bothered him. He began to voice this to Ernie.

  'So, we don't know what our mission actually is, do we,' he said, barely audible over the hum of the craft.

  'We only know one step at a time,' said Ernie.

  'That's just it, isn't it.'

  'What are you getting at?'

  'With Stanovitch, I was always in the dark. I assumed everything was for a good cause, and all that, and all along he was hiding some bloody hideous agendas,' said Les.

  'And so?'

  'I still feel like I'm in the dark. We only know one step at a time. How do we know that the final step isn't some ultimate evil or other?'

  Ernie though a while before he answered.

  'You have to develop confidence.'

  'How?'

  'The more we use the crystal, especially to look at the stars, we gain that much more knowing -- you could even say, an intimacy with the Supreme One. Remember that it's the Supreme One, who, by His existence is the definition of right and wrong, and good and evil, and all that. Also, think and remember over the memories as Zondon. Just remember what we were all about, and how different it was from the vibes we felt from the Glaat.'

  Les remembered. In his Zondon past, as Draz, he was one of those who had less exposure to Glaat influence, so the essence felt by the Zondon from the Glaat wasn't as remarkable to him. But now, having been under that same influence, the difference was stark.

  'Don't just depend on memories though, Les,' Ernie went on. 'After all, we were only reflections of His essence to begin with, and sometimes dimly at that. It's best to look at Him as directly as possible -- or from more than one point of reference. Look at the stars some more. They express the various attributes of His essence almost directly. Here, take a shot at the crystal.'

  He handed Les the crystal along with his baseball cap. It was night, and Les had the window seat, so he took it, put his coat over his head to shield out the lights inside the plane and looked.

  * * *

  Now that the group had begun moving separately they had discovered yet another feature of the crystal. It had a mind of its own, and would come and go when it chose, now appearing in Ernie's coat pocket when he needed it, and then, by Ibrahim's laptop at just the appropriate moment, or in Rosa's purse.

  Rosa, along with Ed and Nitaya were visiting the Garden Tomb, the site that Evangelical Protestants believe was the burial place of Christ, when suddenly she was startled by an electrical hum coming from her purse. She almost dropped it as though it had turned into a snake, but another part of her went into action almost before she knew what she was doing.

  She was already wearing a straw sun hat, so the action of putting the crystal on her forehead looked as natural as opening her purse and applying make-up. As soon as she did so, her eyes were drawn upward.

  There, not far above the garden and the crowd of tourists, she clearly saw a crystal probe.

  'We're being watched,' she said to Ed.

  'Where?'

  'A Glaat probe is up in the sky, right about there. You probably don't see it.'

  'What's it doing?'

  'Oh Edmond!' said Nitaya.

  'Looking at us I guess. It's probably been searching for us. But how does he know what I look like?' wondered Rosa.

  'Who?'

  'Dr. Stanovitch.'

  'He knows what I look like,' said Ed. 'And he guessed we'd try to get to Joseph through his brother in Jerusalem. It's a good thing that...'

  'Shhh -- he can read sound waves in the air.'

  'We go inside cave?' suggested Nitaya.

  That struck them as a good idea.

  Inside the tomb, Rosa took out a note pad and wrote:

  'We can't go back to the house. He doesn't know Ibrahim, but he knows the house.'

  'If we go back to the hospice, he'll think we haven't found the house yet,' wrote Edmond.

  'What about Ibrahim?' whispered Nitaya.

  'I'll communicate with him,' said Rosa.

  The crystal could be used for communication without being detected by a Glaat probe. Rosa expanded the consciousness sphere to include Ibrahim, and communicated to him the situation. It was agreed that the three move into the same guest house they had occupied before they met Rabbi Simcha.

  Ibrahim told the rabbi, and he called the Lutheran Hospice and told them that three of their company would be returning, and could they let them have their old rooms? Also, could they hold with the checking in formalities until later, as the three were rushed for time, and had an engagement.

  The group had built up a rapport with the management, so they readily granted the rabbi's request. That way, the three were able to walk in as though that was where they had been staying all along.

  After the Glaat thought he knew where they were staying, and that they hadn't located the Gilderman home, he would probably leave them alone, which he did. Dosh did, after all, have better (or more evil) things to do than to gaze at the roof of the Lutheran Hospice all day.

  Later, they paid
the front desk for one night, and moved to the Ron Hotel, over by Zion Square. Ibrahim stayed at the Yeshiva. Now, both Rosa and Ibrahim used stealth mode whenever they went out anywhere.

  Chapter 41

  Not only was Ibrahim's English making rapid progress -- he could now hold his own in a conversation -- but now he was also picking up Hebrew. There were enough similarities between that and Arabic to give him a head start, and enough also to tie his tongue at inappropriate moments with words from the wrong language.

  Rabbi Simcha was a patient teacher. He had picked up Arabic in his younger days when he had Arab neighbours.

  Now, Ibrahim had a question for the rabbi.

  'Yes, Avraham.' That was the name the rabbi chose to call him.

  'The first part of the Bible, that starts "In the beginning", what's it called?'

  'That's what it's called. In The Beginning, or as we say in Hebrew, B'resheet.'

  'Can you tell me what it means?' inquired Ibrahim, not sure himself what it was he wanted to ask.

  'It's the account of creation. Have you read it?'

  'Yes, I have, but is there more that I must study more deeply?'

  'There are several ways one can study it. One begins with reading the text to understand the plain meaning. That, perhaps you have done. You could read the commentaries of rabbis, such as Rashi, or else you can study it as the Kabbalists do,' answered the rabbi.

  'Huh?'

  'You don't know what Kabbala is? Of course you don't. Where would an Afghan boy learn Kabbala? Kabbala, Avraham, is a system of understanding each letter of the Tanach, or Holy Scripture. Every letter has a numerical value, and therefore each word can be seen as a number. Every number has significance. Also, the positions of certain letters is important. Words can be found hidden in the text. For instance, by counting every 40 letters at the beginning of the five books of the Torah, one can find the word, "Torah".'

  Ibrahim's intense interest prodded the rabbi on and on, until he had shown him several alpha-numerical charts. Finally, about two hours later, Ibrahim was left pouring over a Hebrew copy of the Tanach.

  The reading in plain Hebrew was slow enough, let alone trying to count and add up the letters.

  Ibrahim kept the copy of the Tanach handy until his next opportunity to use the crystal. What he saw then, took him by surprise.

  With the heightened awareness and instant calculating ability of his extended Zondon mind, the letters added up and sometimes, regrouped, and wove themselves into something almost like a computer program complete with variables and function calls.

  Ibrahim read in amazement, and realised he was remembering the voice of Zizz, from the liquid atmosphere of the planet Zuz, telling the story as he now read it. Thus prodded, he could even remember the parenthetical remarks -- things added by Zizz that weren't actually in this text -- but the rest was inferred by the rendering of the numerical values and hidden words and concepts.

  The following is as close as can be rendered in simple English:

  In the beginning, the Infinite One, exercising His attribute of Justice in limitless intelligence and splendour, created space and matter by voicing His Word. However, it had no form, for it consisted only of dense solidness, as no time nor energy existed. The only energy there was, was the Infinite One, and His energy force brooded over the denseness to give birth to other energy forces that would occupy multidimensional existence.

  Voicing His Word, The Infinite One, who is the epitome of justice and limitless understanding spoke, 'Let energy become', and energy became. The Infinite One was pleased. In 'becoming', the dimension of time was added, enabling movement. Thus, the denseness gave way to photons that carried that energy. He separated the light from the darkness, causing their common gravity to make the separation between the areas where combustion was taking place, and where no combustion was taking place. The parts of space near the combustion, the Infinite One called 'day', and those distant from it, He called 'night'. With the Vortex, time, energy and material space coexisted, and thus ended the first stage of creation and thus the dawning of a new age.

  And the Infinite One, who is the epitome of justice and exactitude said, 'Let all matter be fluid and moving, and let there be a separation between those with positive charges and those with negative,' so, out of the combustion, came atoms, in which the negative particles and positive particles interacted to cause fluidity. All matter was divided into moving particles, those forming the nucleus and those particles that orbit and interact with the energy forces. So time and space interacted through the vortex to cause movement, and all space was divided into photons, atoms and molecules, forming solids, liquids, gases and energy. Stars and galaxies were formed. Thus ended the second age, with the dawn of the third age.

  As the planets were forming, the Infinite One, who is the epitome of justice and limitless understanding released life spores, which travelled through space, flowing here and there, wherever they could find a life sustaining environment in which to land and burst into life. Those that landed on suitable planets, burst open, and life began to grow on those planets, beginning with vegetation. Thus ended the third age, with the dawn of the fourth age.

  As the stars and planets were organised into their set courses, the Infinite One, who is the epitome of justice and exact logic set the planet of the Vortex in its solar system, and caused a moon to orbit it, and decreed that the position of all the stars in relation to this planet would be the measure of times and seasons. Thus ended the fourth age, with the dawn of the fifth.

  And the Infinite One, who is the epitome of justice and governance said, 'Let intelligent life begin to form, beginning in the denser atmospheres, and moving into the less dense atmospheres, and let them inhabit the planets where the spores have begun the life process.' So, the Zish came first, and other inhabitants of the denser atmospheres, followed by the Giant Gleamon, and then the travelling species, the Glaat, and finally, the Zondon. The Infinite One was pleased with what He saw, and said, 'Be fruitful, multiply, and travel to, and occupy all the life sustaining planets, except for the planet of the Vortex.' Thus ended the fifth age, with the dawn of the sixth.

  And the Infinite One, who is the epitome of justice and purpose turned His attention to the planet of the Vortex, saying, 'Let this planet be inhabited with numerous life forms that reproduce after their kind to replace the former.' (For corruption had already begun in the universe, beginning with the Giant Gleamon that formerly inhabited the planet of the Vortex, and spreading like a plague to the Glaat. But, to protect the Vortex, the Infinite One, who is to be feared, exercising His attribute of relentless justice, caused a meteorite to strike the surface of the planet so that all the Giant Gleamon perished, and with them, most of the other life forms. Some of the smaller creatures, including a few species of the Smaller Gleamon survived.) So the planet was replenished with newer life forms. The Infinite One was pleased with the outcome.

  And the Infinite One, who is the epitome of justice, governance and order said, 'Let us crown our creation with a species designed after Our own pattern, who will be the key to all We have made. He will have authority over all life on the planet of the Vortex, and the solar system in which it orbits.' So He created a creature that was a wonder to behold, patterned after Himself, that reflected His own attributes and would grow into the capacity to commune with the Infinite One as a personal friend. First He created the one, and thereafter, dividing him into two, so that he and she were male and female, like the other creatures.

  Thus ended the sixth age, with the dawn of the seventh, in which the Infinite One, who is the epitome of justice and order rested from His work of creation...

  ...So it was that the Infinite One, combining both His attributes of Justice and Mercy, formed from elements native to the Planet of the Vortex, a creature patterned after Himself, and energised him with His own Energy Force. The Infinite One, who is the epitome of both Justice and Mercy, planted a garden, saying to the planters
, 'Plant every tree that is pleasing to the eye and appealing to the taste, and nourishing to the human species.' So they planted trees that bear beautiful, delicious, nourishing fruit, and the tree bearing wisdom of life they also planted in the middle of the garden, and it grew and flourished in midst of the other tree, that bearing the knowledge of good and evil (planted in secret by one of them, the servant of the enemy).

  From that point on in the text, even though Ibrahim could still understand the depth of the narrative, it no longer followed word for word the story as told by Zizz.

  But Ibrahim was sure that Zizz related much more than this. There was no mention of the Great Pyramid at all here. Ibrahim even began to wonder if this were the last story Zizz told before he left on the mission, or if it was the first part of a longer story. As much as Ibrahim tired, he couldn't remember the rest.

  If nothing else, it did set off something in Ibrahim's subconscious mind. That night he had a vivid dream about the rest of Zizz's story. The language spoken by the Zondon and the Zish is so specific that when used for telling stories, it can include enough detail to provide exact three-dimensional images of the scenes being described. That's why the visual image of the Pyramid and Sphinx had struck him as looking familiar, because Ibrahim had not only heard the words of the story, but had also seen the story happen in his imagination. Now, he was dreaming it.

  But as soon as he woke up, the entire dream fled from his mind. He was so frustrated that he wept and beat his pillow. When he came down for breakfast the Yeshiva students wondered if he had been crying because he missed his mother.

  Chapter 42

  Arriving in Hamburg, Joseph went directly to the Grand Hotel, and asked for a Mr. Henri Rasheed, Aziz's assumed name. Calling up to the room, he followed the agreed protocol and Aziz invited him up.

  After exchanging the usual greetings and ordering coffee and refreshments from downstairs, they went directly to the subject at hand.

  'What preparations have you made for your part in Operation Nostradamus?' asked Joseph.

  'We have seven teams ready to go. Five are to board various flights that we have designated, which they will hijack shortly after take off and fly into various targets, such as the White House in Washington D.C., the Capitol Building, the Pentagon and the two World Trade Centre towers. Two teams will carry out ground attacks, both in Washington D.C.'