Earth Must BE Stopped

by Saxon Andrew

  • • •

  Zak printed the two-video-conversations and put them in his suitcase. He went back to the living room and was surprised that Jil was changing her appearance back and forth at incredible speed. She was right; she was very good at being able to focus her mind. “Good! Very good! Now we can start teaching you how to change your appearance to being invisible.”

  Jil smiled, “Once I got the hang of clearing my mind of everything but the image I wanted, it became much easier.”

  “This is going to be harder. You’re going to have to focus on an image you don’t know and can’t see.”

  “Say what?”

  “I’m going to allow you to read a comic book called the invisible man. I want you to focus on it, especially at the panels with the invisible man speaking. All you’ll see is a dialogue box, but I want you to imagine the one talking. You will read it slowly twenty-five times and let me know when you complete the assignment. Don’t rush it; take the time to focus on those panels.”

  “But…”

  “Do it!” Zak handed her the comic book.

  “Don’t I need to see this character as an invisible woman?”

  “If you can make that happen, certainly. But if you can’t, go back to visualizing an invisible man.”

  Jil opened the comic book and thought Zak was half-a-bubble off level. This was ridiculous. But she started reading and focusing.

  • • •

  She was going through the comic book for the eighteenth-time when she started imagining the form of the invisible woman under the dialogue boxes in the panels. By the twenty-first reading, she looked up, smiled, and thought, change! She looked in the mirror and smiled, as she shouted, “ZAK!”

  Zak walked into the living room and looked around. He saw empty woman’s clothes sitting up on the sofa, along with a depression in the cushions on the couch, he shook his head, “Were you able to be a woman?’

  Jil’s image appeared and she smiled, “I did.”

  “Go invisible again and see if you can see me in my invisible form.” Both vanished, and Jill saw Zak standing to her right. He saw her as well, “You can add features to this form if you work on it.”

  “What kind of features?”

  “I have clear, sharp, points to come out of my hands and feet that allow me to climb walls.”

  “Show me.” Zak held out his hands and Jil stared at them. “You added these by focusing on them in your limbs.”

  “Yes, but it’s not easy. You must first get the invisible image stuck in your mind. You should now start changing back and forth from your normal colony image and your invisible image.”

  “Please explain to me how human DNA can be made transparent,” Jil requested.

  “Actually, it’s not really human DNA doing this.”

  “Oh?”

  “There is a sea-creature on Avalon that looks very much like an octopus on Earth, but instead of releasing a cloud of black ink into the water to hide, it turns transparent. It is the DNA of that creature that I’ve modified to work with human DNA. With all the developments in changing our DNA by mimicking different images, this wasn’t as difficult to develop as you might think. However, it can only be used by those that have been given the shot I gave you earlier. That shot greatly enhances the mimicking ability you received from the guild. Another benefit of being invisible is that scanners just pass through our bodies and don’t detect us.”

  “Shouldn’t I be using Jil’s image.”

  “No, I’ll discuss why after you can make the change to invisibility instantly.”

  Ka’s eyes narrowed, “Something’s going on, isn’t it?”

  “There is. But you don’t need to be distracted.” Zak went into the bedroom and came out with a royal blue stretch suit, “Put this on and then get to work, please.” Jil stared at him and then started removing her clothes, after Zak went back to the computer. She looked at the mirror and smiled slightly; Zak was right, she did look better.

  Chapter Four

  Zak sat back on the sofa, while Jil read the pages he printed out from the Guild Master’s video conversations. She didn’t look up and her expression didn’t change as she read it…but…he saw her anger in the way she held her body under tight control. She finished reading and turned her eyes to him, “This is interesting,” she said with no emotion.

  “Do tell.”

  “As I see it, we only have two-options.” Zak waited for her to continue. “We don’t go on this cruise and turn down the contracts.” Jil paused for a moment, “Or…we go but we don’t go as Zak and Jil.”

  “The first-option is safer for you.”

  “Not really, Zak.”

  “Ka, I’m the one they want to remove.”

  “How will they know you didn’t tell me what you did? They won’t take the chance that I know about it. Besides the Guild Master wants me removed because of my longevity at Number One. The reason option-two must be considered is we’ll be prime targets if we remain in the colonies.”

  Tal exhaled slowly, “You’re probably right; the new President is pretty paranoid about the former president’s assassination getting out. I do think the Guild Master won’t make a move against you in the colonies; I saw in the initial meeting that he fears you.”

  Jil shrugged, “I guess; however, the new president will force him to act. It looks like our neighbors are the best option if we choose to take the cruise. We’ll have to take their places.”

  “I’m surprise that you and I both agree on that,” Tal responded.

  “We can’t take their places too early; I’m sure the Guild Master will contact them before they leave to make sure they understand their assignment. That won’t give us much time to mimic them and transfer their thought patterns.”

  “It won’t be as hard as you think, Ka; with your new talent, we’ll be able to mimic them pretty quickly just by looking at them. It’s changing back and forth from them to invisibility that concerns me.”

  “That shouldn’t be an issue, Zak.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because focusing on the invisibility image is completely independent from their image.”

  Zak chuckled, “But getting back into their image could be an issue.”

  Jil lowered her shoulders, “You’re right. But their memories should make that easier. We’ll work on it in the dark during the cruise.” Jil paused and asked, “I’m assuming you do have a set of transfer bands available.”

  “I do.”

  “So, we do it tonight before we shove off in the morning?”

  “Works for me.”

  “How about around midnight?”

  “Do you have a way of getting inside their house unnoticed?” Zak asked.

  Ka nodded, “Leave that up to me. You could just walk up on your targets because you were invisible, but I had to break through a target’s defenses.”

  Tal smiled and bent at the waist, “I kneel to the mistress. We can cease using Zak and Jil’s names. We don’t need to get them in our minds and mess up.” Tal walked to the bedroom and took a band out of his suit case. He came back and put it over Ka’s head, “I’m erasing Jil’s memories. May I assume we’ll be breaking in invisible style?”

  “You might want to leave her memories for the moment.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m thinking if we mess up at our neighbor’s house, we might have to use Jil and Zak to get on board; we might need them.” Tal thought about it, then shrugged and put the bands away. It was getting dark and they looked around the house, “Are you taking that suitcase with you?”

  “I’ll make sure it’s not seen when we cross the street.”

  “You know they have a spotter trained on our house?”

  Tal nodded, “But it’s not trained on the house next door. I’ll go through their back yard to come up on them from the side. I’ll meet you at the break-in point and go back to get it once we have them under control.”

  “Are you going to take them
down, Tal?”

  “That’s my specialty; just get me in.”

  • • •

  Tal checked his spy-device and watched for the Guild Master to contact the neighbors. The Guild Master spoke to the neighbor across the street at eleven pm. Tal put the device away and told Ka the contact had been made. He went out the back door at mid-night and went over the back fence in an instant. Ka left the house with him but went around the back of their house and crossed the street. This invisibility mode added so much to her bag of tricks; the spotter would not detect her in her invisibility mode. She went to the neighbor’s front door and began inspecting the locking mechanism. She smiled, they were pretty crafty; the old lock had been changed to one of the new state-of-the-art magnetic locks. If the lock was tampered with, it would emit a high-pitched alarm. She tapped her arm and pulled an invisible device out of it. She pressed a small button on it and it suddenly appeared, losing its invisibility. She glanced to her right and saw Tal moving toward her from the house on the right avoiding the spotter from seeing his bag. He dropped his leather bag in the shrub and moved up next to her. He watched what she was doing and saw she had place a cupped shaped device over the magnetic lock. The small green light on the device changed to red and then disappeared. Ka turned to him and nodded. Tal pulled a dart-gun out of his arm and held it in front of him. Ka put both hands on the door and pushed gently as Tal raised the gun. The door began swinging in silently until it moved over the carpet, where it made a swooshing noise. She pushed hard, and Tal rushed in behind her. He instantly scanned the room and saw the male assassin staring at the now open door. He lunged for a gun on the desktop he was sitting behind but Tal hit him with a dart just before his hand reached it. The man froze instantly, and his head fell to the desk. Tal rushed into the living room and headed toward the bedrooms but stopped suddenly; there was a light coming out from under the bathroom door. He silently went beyond the door and waited. Ka lifted on the door to close it quietly. She watched Tal and, after three-minutes, the female assassin opened the bathroom door, stepped out, and headed toward the living room. She saw her partner with his head on the desk and sneered, “I told you to go to bed!” He didn’t respond, and Tal shot her with a dart. She remained standing a moment and Tal quickly moved her to the floor. “Get over here, we don’t have long.”

  Ka rushed over, and Tal put a transfer band around her head. He put another one around the paralyzed woman’s head and pressed the green-square on it. Ka closed her eyes as the memory transfer began. Tal rushed over to the male, placed the transfer bands, and sat down in a chair next to him.

  Tal’s transfer was completed in less than fifteen-minutes; he took the bands off and put them in his pocket. As soon as they contacted his body, they became invisible. He went over to Ka and she still had her eyes closed. “You need to hurry up!”

  Ka responded while she kept her eyes closed, “The transfer is huge. I’m just a little over half-way done.”

  “You only have about ten-more minutes before you’re going to have to end it!” Tal said urgently.

  Ka shook her head and he saw her eyes tighten. Ten-minutes later, he reached for the bands, just as Ka opened her eyes and took off the transfer band. Tal ripped the one off the female’s head and Ka said, “WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?!”

  “Look at her.”

  Ka looked at the female and saw most of her legs were missing and the process was moving up her body faster. She jerked her head around to the man at the desk and saw most of his body was gone. “WHAT IN HEAVEN’S NAME HAVE YOU DONE?!”

  The dart I used on them has a specially designed virus. It causes instant paralysis and then starts consuming the host’s body.”

  “What would have happened if I didn’t finish the transfer?”

  “Ka, when the virus reached her midsection, I would have ripped the band off your head.” Ka’s expression turned angry. “No, you wouldn’t have been infected, but you would have felt her mind die when the virus reached her lungs and heart.” Tal lowered his eyes, “That is not something you’d want in your head.”

  “Don’t we need to get out of here and away from this virus you’ve released.”

  “No, the shot I gave you immunizes you from the virus. Anyway, the virus will die within five-minutes after it completes the destruction of their bodies.”

  “What would happen if they were discovered by someone who wasn’t immunized?”

  Tal raised his shoulders and tilted his head to the left, “There would be no witnesses.”

  “But you’d leave the residue of their bodies to be investigated, Tal!”

  “No, not a problem, the virus changes their bodies into oxygen and nitrogen. The virus will then consume itself and leave no traces.”

  “Holy jumping genets! Lord save the world from genetic scientists!” Ka responded.

  “Hey, I have it under control!”

  “That’s what every scientist says before his creation wipes out a continent!” Ka replied sarcastically.

  “Why did it take you so long to make the download?”

  Ka shrugged, “I wish I didn’t do it!”

  “Why?”

  “That woman is an evil bitch!” Tal started shaking his head, as Ka continued, “She’s been in the Assassins Guild for more than fifty-years and she enjoyed inflicting horrible pain on the ones she targeted. She even planned to kill her partner before going back to the colonies and take the Number One ranking in the guild for herself.”

  “Ka, I only wanted you to take the memories from the couple they eliminated to mimic. I see now why it took you so long. I only took the memories of the man they killed.”

  Ka stood up from the floor and remarked, “That might be a mistake. What happens if the Guild Master attempts to contact these two during the cruise to get an update?”

  Tal shook his head, “You’re right; I didn’t think it through. If that happens, you’ll have to take the call.”

  “There’s also the issue of Zak and Jil not showing up for the cruise; how will the Guild Master interpret that?” Tal was silent as he thought about it. “I think we have no choice but to get Zak and Jil on the ship,” Ka said interrupting his thoughts.

  “And just how are we going to do that?”

  “Well, we’ll board the ship as these two first. We’ll then use our invisibility to leave the ship and then board as Zak and Jil. We’ll put a do-not-disturb sign on the first room we check in and then leave to board as Zak and Jil.”

  “There might not be enough time to make that happen.”

  “Tal, think it through and you’ll know we don’t really have an option. We’ll put their luggage in their transport, along with Zak and Jil’s luggage under it. We’ll have to make it work or the Guild Master will know something is not right. He’ll start looking for us in the colonies if we don’t get them on board.”

  “Can you still mimic Jil?”

  Ka suddenly transformed into Jil, “That’s not a problem. We need to go through the memories of the new identities and leave early in the morning.”

  Tal smiled, “I can see why you’re Number One. You see things faster than I do. Let’s go lay down and start the learning process.” Ka nodded and went with him to the bedroom.

  • • •

  The alarm sounded at five am, and Ka opened her eyes. Tal saw her expression and asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “They kill the best people to mimic, Tal. Zak and Jil didn’t deserve this and neither did Sig and Lis.”

  “Nobody deserves to have their life ended, Lis. Everyone in the colonies lives among wealthy predators, and just like ancient humans, they sometimes stumble on a predator. Being a good person, or even a bad one, doesn’t insulate you from any civilization’s predators. Wolves, tigers, and crocs killed ancient humans and it didn’t matter if they were good or bad. Modern humans are killed by other humans.”

  “I guess you’re right. I just hate it.”

  “You have to see things in the proper perspective to
maintain your sanity.” Tal said softly. “Humans have always had predators to deal with; the modern predators just happen to be a lot deadlier.”

  “We need to get moving, Sig! By-the-way, it appears this new couple was just as affectionate as Zak and Jil.”

  “I see that,” Tal replied. “You might find it interesting that the assassin that took Sig’s place detested the woman partner. They would have never pulled off being affectionate.”

  “I can understand why; she was a hard-hearted demon.”

  Tal quickly added, “They didn’t have to show affection, Lis. No one on the cruise knows them.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “That’s why Sig and Lis were chosen, Lis; it’s the only reason that makes since.” Lis thought about it and knew he had to be right.

  • • •

  They arrived at the cruise terminal and saw the giant starship long before they arrived; it was gigantic. Tal paid for the parking and moved the transport as close as possible to the giant ship and parked between two-large-haulers delivering supplies for the cruise in order to hide it from being seen from the boarding ramp. They grabbed their luggage and walked to the boarding ramp. A porter rolled a cart up and smiled, “Your names, please.”

  “Sig and Lis.”

  The porter scanned them with a portable device and smiled, “I’ll deliver your luggage to your cabin. Welcome to the Morning Star and enjoy your trip.” Sig took Lis’s hand and they walked swiftly to the boarding ramp. Twenty-minutes later, the officer in charge of the boarding announced loudly, “YOU MAY START BOARDING NOW. YOU’LL RECEIVE YOUR CABIN NUMBERS ONCE YOU ARE INSIDE. WELCOME ABOARD!!”

  Sig and Lis were the tenth and eleventh passenger to board and they were whisked up the escalator to the top of the ramp. A bright light flashed, and they heard, “Sig and Lis, cabin number 4012.” A crewmember stepped up and smiled, “If you will follow me, please.” They were taken to their cabin where their luggage had already been delivered. Sig put a do-not-disturb on the door handle.