Return of the Clonsayee

by Elaine Bassett

  As Dimitrios made his way home, he wondered why he was on the surveillance footage in disguise. He had asked Anjoleah to replay it several times. In the brief second that a picture appeared and then disappeared, Dimitrios was certain it was his image on the screen. He was annoyed by the headache as he climbed the front steps to his house. Nothing that he took to get rid of the headache seemed to help. He wished he had answers, but his mind was drawing a blank. He simply couldn’t remember. The tiny bits of memory kept slipping away.

  It wasn’t long after Dimitrios walked through his front door that he saw Wayland walk through the open gateway on the monitor and heard a knock. Dimitrios called for him to enter. When Wayland didn’t open the door, Dimitrios realized the Journeyman wouldn’t enter without someone actually opening the door. He put down the folder in his hand and walked to the front door. He opened it and stepped aside to let the young man enter.

  Dimitrios closed the door and they walked into the front room. Dimitrios sat down in his favorite chair. He invited the Journeyman to sit across from him on the couch. Wayland hesitated and then decided to sit down.

  Dimitrios sat for a moment before he prodded Wayland for information. “So, you mentioned you wanted to talk to me.”

  Wayland briefly looked down at his boots and then at Dimitrios. “Yes, Sir.” He cleared his throat. “I need to talk to you, Sir.”

  He had Dimitrios’ undivided attention. “Go on.” Wayland fidgeted, took off his hat and set it on the couch. Dimitrios thought: He’s stalling. What does he need to say?

  Wayland stumbled on his words. “Sir, I’m not sure how to address this issue with you. I’m trying to figure out how to approach what I need to say without causing distress.”

  He looked at Dimitrios who was staring at him. Wayland couldn’t figure out what Dimitrios was thinking. The man was always a mystery to him.

  Wayland decided to start at the beginning. “The other day when you came to Natalie’s, Sir, she was worried about you when you left.” Dimitrios sat back in his chair. He crossed his legs and rested his elbow on the arm of the chair. Wayland continued. “So I followed you.”

  Dimitrios raised his eyebrows. This ought to be good. No wonder the young man is having a hard time telling me this. Hmmm, maybe now I will get some answers.

  Wayland, not receiving a comment from Dimitrios, continued on. “I caught up with you as you were leaving Cassia’s and I watched.”

  Dimitrios blankly stared. Go on--what did you see me do…?

  Wayland could feel his heart racing as he spoke, “I followed you through a few of the sectors, but I thought you might have sensed someone watching so I…”

  Dimitrios sat forward. “You what?”

  Wayland swallowed hard as he stood. He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out Reiko. He handed the marble-like object to Dimitrios.

  Dimitrios scowled at Reiko. “You had me followed?”

  Wayland nodded. He reached over, picked up his hat and placed it on his head. “Yes, Sir. I did. I’m sorry, Sir.”

  Dimitrios looked at Reiko and asked, “Did you watch this?” He didn’t get an immediate answer from the Journeyman.

  Wayland looked him in the eye. “I believe you should take a look, Sir.” Dimitrios stood and walked the young man to the door. Wayland touched the front of his hat. “It scared the willies out of me.”

  Dimitrios stepped aside and let the Journeyman walk out the door. Dimitrios closed the door and squeezed Reiko in the palm of his hand.

  Dimitrios thought as he stood in the entryway: Well, this has been a very interesting day to say the least… He walked in his office to put Reiko in his vault. Dimitrios then went to his medicine cabinet and reached to take out the aspirin bottle. As he picked up the bottle, he noticed the corner of a small folded piece of paper that was wedged between the shelf and the back of the cabinet. Dimitrios set the bottle down on the counter. He reached back into the cabinet and pried the paper out from the shelf. He unfolded it. The paper showed a map and in his handwriting was his name and address. A piece of tape was stuck on the bottom of the page. He carefully extracted the piece of tape from the paper and held it up to the light. The adhesive on the tape held an outline of a Pod token. He threw the paper and tape in the trash. Dimitrios took two aspirin from the bottle then placed the bottle back on the shelf and closed the cabinet. Staring at his reflection in the mirror, he tried to remember why that piece of paper was in the cabinet. He thought: Why would I draw a map and write my name and address on paper then place it in my own cabinet? That’s weird.

  Dimitrios walked to the kitchen. He took a glass out of the cabinet and poured it full of cold water. He took the aspirin and chased it down with the water. He cleaned up and gathered his things. Dimitrios thought: I hope Wayland doesn’t decide to follow me. He walked out the door and headed back to his office. Dimitrios hoped that he would be able to find the answers he was desperately seeking there. He decided to walk through a crowd of Sojourners. As he walked, Dimitrios pondered if he even wanted to find out what was stored on Reiko. He began to worry about what was on the chip the councilman had given him and if it was all inter-related somehow. He wondered: What exactly have I done? Why am I having these terrible headaches? It makes it impossible for me to think clearly… He resigned himself to the fact that with Reiko’s data, maybe now he would get answers. No matter how bad the evidence was; it was time for him to get to the heart of the matter and face the truth.

  He ran up the steps and into the empty lobby of the building. Several dim lights were on, though they were barely adequate. Dimitrios made his way toward his office. As he walked around the corner, the security guards who were on duty spotted him from down the hall and briskly walked in his direction. Once they reached him, they asked if everything was fine. He assured them it was. Dimitrios watched the men walk away. As soon as they were out of his sight, he turned on the lights in his office and immediately started to work.

  Dimitrios sat at his desk and reached for his technology tablet. He turned it on. He put the necessary precautions in place to insure that whatever he had been given would be contained. He put the councilman’s chip inside the tablet and typed his secret access code. Continuous program codes scrolled across the screen in columns. As Dimitrios watched, the symbols flashed and flickered for some strange reason. Before he even had time to delve into the information, he knew that he’d at some point in time designed this program himself. He recognized the program on the screen, but he had no idea why it was created. Questions kept running though his mind: Why did the Sojourner councilman have this chip? How did he obtain this sensitive coded information? Did he ask the man to keep it and return it at a later date?

  Dimitrios was the world’s best cryptographer. He had been fascinated by secret codes all his life. He knew this code was one that he alone had developed. No one could crack it.

  He pushed away from his desk. Dimitrios stood and walked around his office as he went over the facts. The current events were sending shivers up his neck, first the councilman then Wayland. It was apparent that he’d lost a span of time from his memory. Obviously the amnesia was from solving and recreating the universe’s most notorious criminal mastermind’s plot. One question still remained, how did he do it? How did he, Dimitrios Kulakov pull this off and actually survive? He had no memories to tell himself the answers that he needed.

  He sat at his desk and thought about Reiko. He pondered about the information Wayland offered and thought: Do I really want to watch the reenactment of what happened that night? Dimitrios wrestled with that dilemma as he put his elbows on the desk. He closed his eyes. Do I really want to continue torturing myself by not knowing?

  Chapter 56

  Joseph was sitting at his desk when he received an update on the scientist who had been extracted from the weapon. He opened the hospital’s file and began to read. He rose from his desk then walked to his father’s office door. He waited for Donovan to acknowledge him.

  W
hen his father glanced up, Joseph held the folder out and said, “I just got this update on the condition of the scientist.”

  Donovan motioned for him to come in his office. “I know. It looks grim. We need to decide how to handle this. He didn’t make a full recovery. The man has some paralysis and deformed limbs. He will remain in a wheelchair the rest of his life. The doctors are still working with him, to attempt getting a better picture of his prognosis. We’re fortunate that he’s still alive.”

  “Well, we need to ask if this scientist is actually worth the expense it will take to rehabilitate him.”

  Donovan looked his son in the eyes and said, “We’ve come a long way in our research thanks to this man. We’re not finished with him. Do you hear me?”

  Joseph snarled, “Whatever. I think you are making a huge mistake to spend so much time and money on that guy. It’s the weapon we want to develop. That’s what we need to invest in.”

  Donovan stood and leaned over his desk. “Every good leader knows you invest in your people. If you don’t have the loyalty of your people, the empire will fail. Obviously I’ve taught you nothing. Very little gets through that thick skull of yours! Come on.” Donovan walked around his desk and out the door.

  Joseph inhaled and then blew out a long breath before he followed his father. He thought: When is the old man going to step aside and let me take the reins?

  As they walked down the hall, men and women stepped to the side to let the two men pass. Joseph figured out where they were heading as they walked out a door and got in his father’s vehicle. Donovan sat in the passenger seat. As Joseph slid into the driver’s seat, his father began issuing orders. They headed for the foreign soil outside their compound.

  Joseph stopped in front of the perimeter gate. He realized it was new, completely different. Donovan climbed out of the vehicle and pressed a secret code into the new keypad. Immediately a soldier dressed in camouflage jumped down from the nearest tree to greet them. When the soldier approached the gate, he saluted Donovan. He pulled the gate open and stood aside so they could drive through. Joseph looked back in the mirror, watching the soldier close the gate.

  Joseph drove like a maniac on the dirt road, through the heavily treed area. His skin always tingled as if he was being monitored. The urge to escape made him drive faster.

  Donovan wasn’t impressed. “Are you trying to get us both killed?”

  Joseph reached the training facility. The officer on duty had already been alerted to their approach and had opened the security gate. Joseph parked the vehicle in front of the largest building. He got out then walked around to the other side of the vehicle just as Donovan was walking up to the front door. A security officer opened the door for Donovan and stepped aside. Once his father entered the building, the officer let the door close. Joseph growled at the officer's incompetence as he opened the door for himself. Donovan was already halfway down the hall by the time Joseph caught up to him. They continued toward the closed double doors together. Donovan opened the right door and allowed Joseph to enter the room first. The room was filled with scientists working on various projects. Joseph walked around the room observing what they were working on.

  Donovan came up beside him. “Each group of scientists is working on weapons of warfare to ensure that we are able to protect our investments and allies. Do you know who made all this possible? You guessed it. This is his vision. He even invented the weapon that ultimately imprisoned him. That man was genius enough to figure out how to get himself out.

  “Not only that, but he’s the scientist who collaborated with one of our operatives on what tools were needed for the recent jailbreak. It was that mastermind who developed all but one of the specialized tools used in the scenario that devastated and confounded the Sojourners. How exactly he did it, even we don’t know. It can’t be recreated and he’s not telling. Now do you just want to pull the plug on everything you see around you?”

  “It’s not that I want to pull the plug. I want to invest in the weapon that was used on him.”

  Donovan shook his head. “You still don’t get it. We can’t complete the weapons without him. The last 10 years of armament work is spread before you, and you don’t want to continue investing in the man? What should we do then, scrap this project? Not even his assistant can complete his work. What you are proposing is asinine.”

  He took Joseph around to the different projects and explained each one to his son. When Donovan finished with the tour, he looked around the room until his gaze stopped at Joseph. “Someday soon all this is going to be yours. You are going to be in charge and will have to keep ahead of the game like I have all these years.”

  He motioned for Joseph to follow him out the set of doors. They walked outside to the vehicle. This time Donovan walked to the driver’s side and Joseph slid into the passenger seat. Joseph grudgingly gave him the keys. When his father pulled up to the first gate, he patiently waited as the guard opened it for them. As he drove by, the officer saluted. Donovan drove at a moderate speed along the road.

  Joseph noticed the treetops swaying in the sky even though there wasn’t much of a breeze. He figured the trees were discussing their presence amongst themselves. He thought: One of the first things I ought to do when I take over is cut this creepy forest down. Once they stopped in front of the perimeter gate, the guard let them through. As Donovan drove on the premises, the guard saluted them.

  Donovan said, “This is how I expect you to drive. Not like some maniac.” He parked, got out and went inside the building, straight to his office. Joseph followed.

  **********

  Nxy paced back and forth. She was anxious for adventure, the excitement of the score. She had been so close, until Joseph came to stop her. That effort may have been her last chance to go for something really big! She thought the caper over in her mind and played out different scenarios of how she could escape. She was ready to do something bold and fearless on her own. Nxy despised the fact that she now had someone else in charge of her. She liked to think of herself as a free spirit, not a caged one. She scoffed, they weren’t even married, possibly never would be.

  She suddenly thought of her baby who made it all worthwhile. This baby was the golden ticket. Nxy prayed it was a boy. It terrified her to think of the baby as being a girl. The thought of a girl growing up like her made her cringe. She thought: No, it’s a boy. I can feel how strong he is when he kicks. Just like a soldier. This child is going to be a natural leader. I’ll see to it.

  Another thought crossed Nxy’s mind. Dolores would be leaving to go to the lake tomorrow. For the next couple of days she would have to entertain Joseph. Why in the world do I want to do that? He’s just going to get in the way, trying to boss me around. I can see my freedom slipping away. She busied herself around the house taking care of things that were on her to do list then prepared to go to the dining hall.

  **********

  Donovan walked into his office and sat down. He pointed to the door for Joseph to close it. Just as Joseph turned to close it completely, two of Donovan’s goons made a racket as they ran to the door.

  “Wait Boss, wait!”

  Joseph was annoyed. He thought about closing the door anyway but figured he was too late, that his father had already heard them. So he opened the door then stood to the side as the “gruesome twosome” twins came bursting into the office like excited puppies.

  In unison they spoke, “Boss, the shipment came in from the Hub today. They didn’t make their quota. What do you want us to do?”

  Donovan was furious. “Then the pawns won’t eat. Privileges are now restricted. That’s final. They will have to be punished! They won’t eat again until they make up double for today and their quota for tomorrow. Now get out of here. See to it!”

  The two goons looked at each other stunned, not knowing what to do next. What Donovan expected, would be an almost impossible task to carry out. One of them thanked Donovan as they backed out of the office. Joseph closed the doo
r behind them.

  All around the compound, rumbles were heard as the food line was shut down. A few fights broke out as those who were not receiving food tried to grab the rations that had already been handed out to others. When Non was told of Donovan’s commands, he sent in reinforcements and called curfew. Everyone scattered. The pawns ran for their clan’s building.

  Nxy had finished her meal and was walking back to her home. She noticed the sudden flurry of activity around her. She stopped a pawn to inquire as to what was happening. When he told her what had transpired, she was furious with Joseph. If he had let her score tonight, this wouldn’t have happened. The score she’d been working on was enough to put them comfortably over the limit. She changed direction and headed straight to the Boss Man’s office, ignoring curfew. Once she arrived, Nxy stormed into the building then up the steps to Donovan’s office. She paused to regroup herself, suddenly becoming calm. She knocked on the door.

  Donovan and Joseph looked at each other, wondering who would dare defy curfew. Joseph stood and opened the door. When Joseph looked into her eyes, Nxy understood he was livid with her.