The Final Reality (Alex Pella, #3)

by Stephen Martino

  “Maybe you can find a clue that looks like a V-shaped star cluster or a depiction of Eve,” William yelled up to them as he and Samantha sprinted to the ground floor. “It got us this far.”

  Christine looked at every sculpture, mosaic, tapestry, and crystal as she ran, hoping to find an answer. However, nothing particularly grabbed her attention. Though in awe of the ancient history, none of it seemed as if it would help.

  After running almost half way around the room, Christine stopped at a glowing crystal levitating above a glass table. She had passed about twenty others along the way. Not that this one called out to her or seemed unique in any way, but she hoped that one of them might reveal some answers like the crystal under the Art Museum.

  As she moved her hand toward it, the ancient artifact began to glow brighter and become transparent. Inside, Christine could see a vivid scene of a bustling city. The pillars on some of the stone buildings reminded her of something that would be found in ancient Greece. However, with fluted ceilings and multiple levels displaying elaborate, multicolored carvings, they were also reminiscent of Indian architecture.

  The closer her hand approached, the more vivid the scene became and the more she became absorbed in it. She felt as if she were there, living amongst the people. As she touched the crystal, her mind drifted slowly away from her body. Unlike in Philadelphia, she was not totally immersed in the scene and could still feel her body and move her arm away from it at any time.

  Christine could hear the people speak, and she felt what they were thinking. Some were off to work while others conducted more mundane tasks such as shopping or even sightseeing.

  A large blast in the distance sent a chill down everyone’s spine as the mountain along the horizon erupted without warning. Though smoldering for years, this sudden explosion rocked the city and stopped her populous in their tracks. A bulbous plume of smoke shot up into the atmosphere, sending debris falling all around them. People began to scream and duck for safety in the surrounding buildings.

  Nowhere was safe. Christine watched as a dense cloud of ash and lava flowing down the volcano sped towards the city. Known as pyroclastic flow, it quickly enveloped the entire area, instantly killing all life while burying the city beneath the ash.

  Christine jolted her hand back, overcome by the scene.

  The crystal then rotated slightly to reveal a different scene. This one brought not much more solace. Ancient ships locked in battle rammed one another while its soldiers were engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Christine wanted to see no more. Already haunted with scenes of death and destruction, she felt overwhelmed and distraught.

  Backing her hand slightly further, the scenes slowly changed one by one. As if flipping through a magazine, she could stop at any time and view more. Hoping one of the scenes could provide some help as to what she was looking for, she continued to watch them scroll by in succession. While some remained violent, others appeared more mundane and depicted scenes of long extinct animals or even people doing daily chores on the farm.

  With one eye on the entrance to this massive room and the other on the crystal, Christine cautiously continued to scan the scenes, ready to run at any second.

  “You go that way William!” Samantha bellowed, pointing towards ivory-colored shelves full of small gadgets and scrolls. “I’ll examine these statues.”

  “Got it,” William responded. His eyes darted and head whipped back and forth, attempting to process as much visual information as possible. All the while, he felt an eerie sense that the room would erupt at any second with a barrage of rail gun pellets ricocheting around him.

  “You find anything?” Samantha shouted, looking up at the third floor.

  “Nothing,” Terzin responded. Pulling out random scrolls and touching every statue, portrait, or table she passed, she hoped something important may jump out at her.

  As Terzin moved from one item to the next, she did her best to remember any story she was told as a child that may help now. Recalling old myths, legends, and even bedtime stories, she rattled her memory hoping to jar something loose.

  Samantha bolted over to a large mosaic. The closer she approached, the more magnificent it appeared. A large intricately designed globe that must have been created from a million tiny pieces of tile formed an entire map of the ancient Earth. Atop different areas on this mosaic were unique marble representations of megalithic cities. The details in each were utterly amazing and their craftsmanship must have been completed by a master artisan.

  Examining them quickly, she hoped it would give her a clue as to how this room worked or where to look next. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the pyramids in Egypt. However, unlike the three that currently stood, a total of five megalithic wonders filled the space. There were also other spectacular ancient, architectural megalithic sites spotting the entire globe and a few on a large land mass in the Pacific that no longer existed.

  There must have been a pre-flood megalithic society that spanned the globe, she concluded. Though completely fascinated, Samantha needed to move on to the next exhibit; there were no further clues to be found on this map.

  A sudden tug on the shield pulled William to the side. At first, he assumed it was the rumblings of an earthquake but quickly realized the shield must have moved on its own.

  “OK,” he said, talking to the shield as if it were real. “What are you trying to tell me?”

  William stopped moving for a second and placed the shield in front of him. Slowly, he rotated his body, attempting to feel where it pulled him next. He then looked in the direction where he felt the greatest tug. With his arms held straight while holding the shield, he shuffled forward in that direction.

  The ancient artifact began to pull him harder towards a glass table standing on a single large marble stand. A magnificent representation of the solar system levitating above the table rotated around the sun. He could almost feel the heat emanating from the yellow glowing ball in the center. Orbiting around it were nine realistic-appearing planets.

  Taking a quick second to see if this was the shield’s intended target, William stopped to inspect it a little further. With spectacular detail, the solar system accurately portrayed the orbit of all eight known planets. It also had tiny little crystals representing the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter. A multitude of tiny ice-like spheres orbited past Neptune’s orbit, which most likely represented Pluto-like planetoids.

  The object that astonished William the most was a Jupiter-sized planet that orbited the sun at an extreme angle and brought it between Earth and Mars at its perihelion and far beyond Pluto at its aphelion. Though interested in examining the display further, he knew that he had no time to marvel at its lost mysteries.

  William held the shield closer to the solar system, waiting for anything to happen. It began to tug him further, towards a table about ten feet beyond this one.

  As William moved around the solar system, the pull on the shield became more noticeable.

  “Everyone,” William shouted while looking around the room, “I think I’ve got something!”

  As he scurried closer to the marble table in front of him, a large obelisk-appearing glass object in its center began to glow a brilliant red while the silver ball at its top sizzled and sparked.

  “This is definitely it!” William again reiterated.

  Wondering what he should do next, he remained still while his other companions joined him around the table.

  “What did you do?” Samantha asked.

  “You’re looking at it,” William exclaimed as sweat-filled anxiety poured over his brow. “I just walked over here and held up the shield. Then boom. This is what happened.”

  “Well, what do we do now?” Samantha asked.

  “Maybe, this is all I have to do,” William said. “Maybe the shield is doing its job.”

  A circular area on the floor around the obelisk slowly began to rotate in a clockwise fashion, moving William and his companions with it. Like a corksc
rew, the obelisk seemed to grow in length as they slowly descended to a lower level.

  “Keep holding the shield in front of you,” Samantha beckoned. “Whatever you’re doing, it’s working.”

  “Not like there’s any other option,” William responded as they slowly rotated further down to the room below.

  Silently, they continued to descend until low enough to reveal what the floor above them concealed.

  “And I thought I’d seen it all!” William declared in awe.

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  Jules threw his space suit and gravity wings to the side. Still goading Alex, he yelled again, “You and all your petty friends are trapped!”

  He then adjusted his leather sports jacket and grabbed a compact rail gun from one of its pockets. Jules understood that Alex was a formidable foe and to proceed without precaution would be a foolish endeavor.

  The entrance to the cave began to blur as the quantum disruptors Alex threw out of the doorway activated.

  “Hold your advance,” Jules announced to all the remaining WOGs. “This area is booby-trapped.” He touched the auricular chip in his ear. “I want the immediate vicinity thoroughly scoured by one of our scouts for any undesirables. Use the utmost of caution.”

  “As always,” a voice responded in the chip. “Consider it done.”

  Two WOGs still donning their spacesuits grabbed a pole attached to each of their legs. In unison, they threw them towards the door. A thin dome-shaped haze engulfed the area upon sticking in the ground. Green dots began to appear, spotting the landscape in front of the entrance along with four more in a semicircular distance from its opening.

  As the two WOGs assessed the situation, Jules reconnoitered the area. Smiling at the site of Alex’s prized stratoskimmer in flames and the charred remains of her pilot in its front seat, he felt great joy to see his foe’s means of escape neutralized. Jules could not help but recall how the ship was once a gift to Alexander by his late uncle Albert Rosenberg.

  What would my dear old uncle think of his gift now? He laughed to himself.

  However, as he gazed upon the dead WOGs all around the surrounding area, his favorable mood came to an abrupt halt. Their mangled and distorted bodies revealed that many died upon impact while the sizzling corpses of others depicted an equally painful demise.

  Alexander will not get away this time, Jules promised himself.

  “Colonel?” Jules asked. “How many WOGs have touched down and are still operational?”

  “Twenty-five, sir,” he responded, “including myself and the two scouts.”

  “Very well,” Jules responded. “I want sixteen of your men to surround the mound in order to make sure there are no surreptitious means of escape. I then want you along with four other WOGs to guard the door. When it is safe to enter the dome, I will personally take the remaining four to root out the pests inside.”

  The earth rumbled and shook, forcing Jules to speak louder for his orders to be heard.

  “If I may suggest,” the colonel offered. “How about I lead these men into the mound while you safely board the striker craft? This whole place is not safe, and you are too important to be lost if this area collapses.”

  “My dear boy,” Jules scoffed. “One thing I’ve learned in my life is that if something critical needs to be done with perfection, then I must do it myself. Alexander is my responsibility.”

  “Yes, sir,” the colonel responded without further argument.

  A loud explosion tore in half the WOG closest to the door. The other scout standing nearest to him fell backwards from the concussion.

  “Report,” Jules insisted.

  The scout on the ground slowly got to his knees. Because of the precariousness of the situation, protocol had it that he needed to remain unattended and alone until a safe distance from any undesirable anti-personnel weapons.

  “The ionizing dome must have missed one of the MAIs located on the ground,” the scout responded, still shaken up by the blast. “I’m not sure if the quantum disruptors concealed the device or if the MAI itself was designed to evade our detection equipment.”

  “Alexander,” Jules said to himself.

  The scout then slowly crawled back towards a group of WOGs who helped him to his feet. The man then said, “Mr. Windsor, I will have to neutralize the area before a single person sets foot anywhere near its entrance.”

  “Can’t you just blast those damn quantum disruptors and MAIs,” Jules insisted.

  “No, sir,” the scout responded. “Blasting the quantum disruptors could potentially create a deadly subatomic distortion, killing every living thing within a quarter mile radius.”

  “Confirmed,” the colonel agreed. “The distortion would alter the basic quantum structure of all living matter, ensuring a gruelingly painful death.”

  Jules shook his head and threw his pistol on the ground. Imbeciles, he thought. I’m completely surrounded by imbeciles. “And how long, pray tell, will this ordeal take? It’s not like Mother Nature will simply roll over and let us take our own bloody time.”

  “The effect of the disruptors will most likely last another few minutes,” the scout responded. “The ionizing dome’s electromagnetic field will quickly short circuit their power source. In the meantime, I will pulse the area in front of the mound with an additional subatomic destabilizing field. It will help ensure all undesirables are neutralized.”

  “Then let’s not waste any more of our precious time” Jules said. “Begin immediately.”

  Jules turned in disgust and looked out at the hellish environment. He could feel the earth move under his feet. Yet, his mounting frustration made the crust’s rumblings pale in comparison with what was brewing inside of him. Jules watched the smoke bellow out of the volcanoes as plumes of lava blasted into the air. In the far distance, the earth gave way and collapsed into the imposing sea.

  What a wonderful new world I will create out of the ruins of the old one, Jules fathomed, watching the impending destruction with great expectation.

  “Sir,” the colonel interrupted after a few minutes. “Quantum disruptors are powered down and all undesirables have been neutralized. You may enter the dome at your convenience.”

  Jules turned and picked up his compact rail gun off the crusty ground. With it held tightly in his hand, he reveled at the thought of finally ridding himself of Alexander. “Let’s go,” he shouted. “Assemble!”

  After barking out Jules’ orders to his men, the colonel, three WOGS, and the scout ran to the dome’s entrance with their rail cannons poised at eye level, aiming towards the door.

  Jules walked over to the entrance. Two WOGs immediately stood in front of him while another two positioned themselves behind. Each holding their rifle-like rail gun pointed towards the sky, they were ready for the assault.

  Jules looked ahead while raising his pistol up to his chest. “On a count of three we move half pace. One, two, three.”

  The five marched into the dome’s entrance, each now with their weapon pointed in different directions in order to maximize their killing radius.

  “Eyes open, soldiers,” Jules said as they approached the looming light at the end of the tunnel. “Shoot anything that moves.”

  As the tunnel began to widen, Jules ordered, “Full march!”

  Their pace quickened as they exited the tunnel and entered the vast domed room. Halted by the massive staircase’s banister, they stopped to assess the situation. Moving their guns in all directions, Jules and his men searched the area for any immediate threats.

  “Twelve o’clock!” shouted one of the WOGs.

  They all instinctively pointed their weapons forward and pulled the triggers. However, the electromagnetic field in the area nullified the effect of their guns, making them completely useless.

  Jules pulled the trigger on his weapon a few more times before giving the stand down order. “Holster your weapons,” he said. “They will be useless in here.”

  The
WOG in the front pointed to a turning obelisk in the far distance. “Sir, movement dead ahead.”

  “Let us—” Jules began to say.

  An ear-piercing smash curtained his statement as a large, sparkling crystal mounted on the wall above them crashed directly onto an unsuspecting WOG, electrocuting him in the process. He fell to the ground on impact as his uniform sizzled and his body burned. Death was instantaneous.

  The crystal’s shimmering shards momentarily blinded the rest of them in a blaze of searing light. The heat it produced felt as if it would boil them alive.

  Alexander! Jules surmised as his eyes watered in pain.

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  “What are those things?” William asked as they continued to rotate down to the lower level.

  No other words were spoken as they descended another twenty feet. Too captivated to speak, they all admired in awe the ancient technology standing before them.

  Christine pointed to a large beehive ship located in the distance. “They’re aircraft,” she said wide-eyed. “I saw this exact one in my vision. It flew like a bright ball of light through the sky and landed here in Eden.”

  She marveled at the ship’s beauty. “It is far larger and more impressive in person than I remember.”

  Christine reached out as if to touch it. Still feeling trapped between the vision and the real world, she needed to physically feel the ship in order to validate its authenticity.

  “They’re called Vimanas,” Christine explained.

  Samantha grew impatient and willed whatever was driving this ancient elevator to move faster. She looked at the ground and estimated the distance was still too high to jump. Plus, she did not want to risk a possible broken ankle when she figured the last ten feet of their decline would take at most another twenty seconds.

  “This whole lower level is filled with them,” Terzin noted with great pride for her ancestors. “And they’re all completely different in shape and color.”