Livingston pondered these thoughts like he was having a conversation with the question. You might not think it was so, but he challenged himself this way often. Not because he had doubts, but because he believed self-analysis was a way to maintain balance, to be centered, to re-focus and to be certain of the path you’ve chosen. But so far, there was no path.
Livingston pulled his transport into the parking lot of an old building that looked like it hadn’t had a visitor in months. If he had a passenger in the transport they might have wondered why they wasted time driving across town late at night to such a drab place; it had an old industrial, boring, dilapidated look about it.
As was his custom, he didn’t hesitate, but got out of the transport and walked straightaway to the front door, opened a panel mounted on the adjoining wall and pushed the red button. A retinal scan identified him as Colonel Edward R. Livingston, commander of Special Forces Unit CE-#24; a fingerprint scan verified the retinal scan and the front door lock buzzed indicating he had a few seconds to enter.
He entered and made his way to the conference room in the west wing. He entered the dark room knowing he wasn’t alone; he purposely didn’t turn on the overhead lights. Instead, he took a seat at the table and turned on a small lamp that cast a very faint glow that pushed back against the darkness.
“We should begin, I have another meeting after this one,” said Livingston. Before an answer came, the building’s security system indicated someone else had entered the building. Carter, Livingston’s friend from the military, slid through the front door into the lobby and made his way toward the conference room.
“It seems my associate, Mr. Carter, has already arrived.”
Carter entered the dimly lit room and came to an abrupt stop. “I came a little early,” he said, “I didn’t know you were meeting with someone else. I’ll wait in the lobby ‘til you’re through.”
“That won’t be necessary Carter, I’ve never kept secrets from you before and I don’t intend to start now.” His reply was Livingston’s way of indicating the meeting could begin.
In the corner of the room stood a Desredeedese Shade. To say that it stood might be a misstatement — hovered might be more accurate. Those who deal with the Shades often describe them in terms that are not technically correct; but, sometimes that’s the best that can be done. Such was the case when Livingston invited the Shade to say what he had on his mind. Livingston knew what he meant, and the Shade knew what he meant, but whether Shades spoke, or had a mind like other sentient physical beings is unknown and possibly beside the point entirely.
Shades are not altogether physical, but they are also not completely ethereal either. They’re known to communicate with wholly physical beings when necessary and had done so on many occasions with Livingston, who considered them an ally. Livingston didn’t make alliances lackadaisically and the Shades were no exception. Years earlier he had researched them extensively, only to find that not much was known about them. Legends abound, but facts were few and far between. He did know this however; sometimes the absence of information could be just as telling as its presence.
Nowhere in all the reports, legends, myths and factual statements regarding Desredeedese Shade encounters was there ever an implication of impropriety, dishonesty, evil intent, or any other consistently negative description. He found them to be extremely intelligent beings who were quick to observe, slow to make friends and uncommonly faithful. Livingston had more confidence in the Shade’s integrity than any other beings he had ever encountered; he placed trust in them like no other, with the exception of his friend Carter.
“My name is Enoi,” began the Shade.
No one ever gets used to conversations with a Desredeedese Shade. When they communicate it’s as if words are not spoken into the air, but the Shade places the specific sound frequencies to communicate each word directly against the listener’s ear drum, to impart a resonance that creates pristine sound unlike any other; clean and unaltered by background noise.
“At your request we directed Anonoi to accompany your daughter and friends to Lake Mendinfore Park,” he began. “He followed them up the mountain road and communicated to us that they arrived safely, spent the day at the lake and were preparing to leave. After that we have had no contact with him. It is highly irregular for a Shade to disappear Mr. Livingston; we fear something has happened to your daughter and friends, and to Anonoi.”
Livingston looked at Carter to explain, “While we were cleaning up after our operation with the Shumbrans, Joules and her friends decided to spend the day at the lake. I asked Enoi to send someone to watch after them. Carter, Joules and her friends didn’t come home from the lake. I thought they might have rented cabins for the night but they didn’t come home yesterday and I still haven’t heard from her.” Livingston was a hardened military man but this matter involved his daughter and there was an uncharacteristic hint of emotion in his voice as he spoke.
“Day before yesterday the security staff at the hotel told me Joules and the group hadn’t returned,” replied Carter. “I spoke to the wait staff at the restaurant and one of the waiters overheard them making plans to go to the park, so I took a sweep team up there yesterday while you were busy with the other matter. I met with the park manager who verified they had been there. He also indicated they left before sundown two days ago. I asked him how he knew that and he said he remembered because the young men started playing their instruments and it turned into an impromptu concert; hundreds of people had gathered around to listen.”
“The manager said they were swamped with orders for food and drinks up until the time they quit playing, which he recalled was a little over an hour before sundown. They didn’t spend the night there, I asked him; the manager checked his log book and they weren’t listed. After talking to him we left the park and searched along the road headed back to town.” Carter hesitated for a moment and then continued. “We found tire skid marks at several locations spaced over a third of a kilometer of roadway. Based on their patterns, it looked like they were made by a ground transport losing control around the turns just below the park entrance. I think it’s safe to say those were made by Wayne’s vehicle.”
“What else did you find?” asked Livingston.
“We found more skid marks at another turn and then tire impressions going off the side of the road, just before a hair pin curve. But those last marks weren’t like the others.”
“How so?” asked Livingston. Enoi listened without comment.
“All of the other skid marks were near the inside of the road near the lane line, or right on the edge of the pavement around outside turns. But the last set went into gravel adjacent to the pavement, but they weren’t curved like the rest; they went straight off the side of the mountain. Livingston, my team spent hours yesterday looking for some sign of wreckage. We deployed a repelling team from the lip of that cliff where we found those tire tracks and searched the brush and trees with all the way down the mountain. There was nothing. Except for those skid marks and those tire impressions in the gravel there was no other evidence Joules and her friends were on the road back to town. They seemed to have vanished.”
“That’s not probable,” replied Livingston, “any other thoughts?”
“Yeah,” said Carter, “I think the brakes on Wayne’s Nomad failed, or they were tampered with.”
“What makes you think they were tampered with?” asked Livingston.
“I looked over Wayne’s car when it was in the parking lot at the hotel,” said Carter, “it was immaculate. That vehicle is far from new, but you would never have known that judging from its appearance. It’s been perfectly maintained and not just the appearance; the door locks were greased, the fluids were all at the proper levels, I know because I checked. The engine compartment was clean and the wires and belts were in good condition. Even the undercarriage had been maintained; it was coated with a fresh layer of bitumen spray to prevent corrosion.”
“I thought about
that when we were scouring the brush on that mountain. The more I thought about that Nomad the more I believed the brakes didn’t just fail. After we finished searching the mountain side we went back to the park to look around. Gravel in one of the parking spaces was coated in four places with mineral oil; those four locations were spaced about the same distance apart as the wheels on Wayne’s vehicle. Livingston, I think someone drained the hydraulic fluid out of the brake system while Joules and the others were at the lake.”
“That explains the skid marks around the curves,” said Livingston, “but it doesn’t explain how a large transport, six young people and a Desredeedese Shade disappeared without a trace.”
“Mr. Livingston, I believe Mr. Carter’s assessment is accurate,” said Enoi. “I also believe that wherever your daughter and friends are, Anonoi is still accompanying them. I will take my leave, and should I learn anything pertinent to your daughter and friends or your investigation, I will be in-touch.” At that Enoi moved through the conference room doorway and proceeded down the hall.
“How does he get out?” asked Carter.
“I don’t know,” replied Livingston, “and I don’t know how he got in.”
“Don’t you think that’s a security issue?” asked Carter.
“An issue yes; a problem no. Besides, what could we do about it? Come on, let’s go out for some coffee and breakfast. I need to clear my head then go home and visit with my wife.”
“What happened?” he asked himself again, on the way to his transport. “What could have happened to them?” The probability that Anonoi was with Joules was of some comfort to him, but not enough. Livingston started his transport, brought it to hover elevation and drove out of the parking lot with no answers. But this much he did know — the Shumbrans were somehow involved in Joules disappearance. He had already completed one operation against the Shumbrans for trying to assassinate his daughter at the museum. One thing he knew for an absolute certainty; he wasn’t through with the Shumbrans, not by a long shot.
CHAPTER FOUR
DARK LIGHT
Dark light occurs throughout all the known universes and galaxies. In fact, it is the most prevalent form of light, or so goes the theory espoused by Gorman Dictourie, a scientist on Timtoria-17. Gorman, who uses the initials RT instead of PhD after his name; says the RT stands for Remarkable Thinker — an idea he got from watching a contraband movie from Terra Bulga starring a scare crow, a lion, a tin man, and a young girl. Gorman unsuccessfully petitioned the local university twelve times to start an RT program there, but believes there is little hope of initiating such a program until he proves his theory on the existence of dark light. (Good luck with that old boy.)
Although dark light is believed by Gorman to occur almost everywhere, it may be obscured by the occurrence of electromagnetic radiation, especially in the range of 400 to 700 nanometers, which is the visible light spectrum for animal species and most beings in the white light universes, including human beings on Terra Bulga. Gorman thought certain other ranges of light may also obscure dark light if they are the visible spectrum to a particular species or being, and if that species or being did not develop and live in the presence of dark light.
During a presentation of his theory on dark light, Dr. Dictourie’s discussion of the idea that certain other beings might see or detect other ranges of a different type of electromagnetic spectrum rankled some closed-minded PhDs in the audience who proceeded to lose their composure and began to openly heckle Dr. Dictourie. Gorman, who is a very patient man, allowed the heckling until it began to grossly interfere with his presentation.
At that point he picked out the most egregious heckler by name, Dr. Lars Enfilmilt, and addressing him from the lectern reminded him that Mantoids were able to observe physical things relative to their entire solar system owing to the uniqueness of their eye anatomy, but they could also observe particle streams emitted by Jump Starters — particle streams that are invisible to other beings.
Dr. Dictourie had correctly guessed that someone (that someone being Lars Enfilmilt) might try to profane his presentation with a ridiculous argument so he was prepared. He reached into the bag he stowed in back of the lectern and produced a Jump Starter Particle Stream Detector which he then held high in the air for everyone to see. “If you have one of these,” he said, “you can detect what Mantoids see naturally with their own eyes. So, you see, the occurrence of dark light, perceived only by dark light beings in dark light universes is not so far-fetched as some close-minded milliworts would have you believe.”
Everyone in the audience knew milliworts were small creatures on Helfinium who appeared to have no organ that was functionally equivalent to a brain. Enfilmilt and his small band of hecklers became very quiet, and a visiting representative from the local university is said to have looked quite pleased with the exchange. Rumor has it the words, “Dr. Enfilmilt is an arrogant toad,” were spoken by someone who wished to remain anonymous.
To make the subject of dark light even more interesting (or objectionable depending on your point of view, limited as it may be) Gorman went on to point out that our eyes register the appearance of objects because light is reflected from them into our eyes where it is detected by specialized cells that initiate signals to our brains – every scientist acknowledges this to be true. Now the more interesting part!
“What if,” postulated Gorman, “there are species of animals, and beings, who only see and reflect dark light? They couldn’t see us and we couldn’t see them. In fact, our worlds might be camouflaged from each other unless — for some unknown situations — when the dark light and light light worlds share a wee bit of some 'light' spectrum.”
The insinuation of a spectral overlap was not lost on his audience of deep thinkers.
Gorman continued, “If our respective visible spectrums of light somehow overlapped at times we might catch a glimpse of inhabitants in the dark light world – a plausible explanation for those things you think you see out of the corner of your eye, but when you look, nothing is there; nothing you can see anyway.”
This idea made many people in the audience very uncomfortable, at least those intelligent enough to follow Dr. Dictourie’s line of reasoning. Several conference attendees were casually glancing around the room as if to glimpse an unsuspecting 'dark matter being' while striving to be less than stupidly obvious; they were all unsuccessful. Gorman hesitated for a brief moment as the idea settled in on the brains of the attendees, many of which were squirming uncomfortably in their seats (attendees not brains).
He then pointed out that the dark light worlds would be made up of objects whose matter reflected dark light virtually 100 percent of the time, and if that were the case, whole solar systems and universes might exist in our proximity that we could not see. This statement put a whole new level of uncomfortableness on the idea of budging up – the occurrence of two universes overlapping to form a mixing zone. The mixing zone phenomenon had been well documented by the scientific community for a hundred years, but they hadn’t ever considered they might be mixing with some unseen universes with unsavory inhabitants. Who knows what might be out there!
Rumor has it (and that always makes it true, doesn’t it) Gorman Dictourie’s comments were overheard by a visiting government dignitary at the conference, who mentioned Gorman’s comments to a high-ranking official in the military, who mentioned it to a high-ranking member of Parliament, who thought it wise to mention it to the Prime Minister. That series of preposterous communications led to a very secret, need-to-know basis, military access only, research project called DLDS, or Dark Light Defense System as it was NOT called in public since the government didn’t acknowledge its existence. Sound familiar?
Years later a high-level government official was quoted as saying, “The best time to prepare for an enemy is before you know they exist.” As crazy as it seems the idea is not without some infinitesimal smidgeon of merit. Of course, not knowing THEY exist categorizes THEM as an enemy, not an al
ly. I’m confident these ideas are taught in military academies throughout the universes. Wide acceptance of these armament truisms keeps most military personnel neatly on the same playing field; the one that goes boom. That’s their job – deal with it.
Needless to say, such ideas are very good for defense contractors. Can you imagine the size of the budget allocated to prepare a National Defense Plan against a dark light enemy you can’t describe (because you haven’t seen him) and you have no idea what His military capabilities are? The possibilities are endless — which is a hint at the size of the allocated budget. Think slingshots or nuclear lasers, little tiny beings or monstrous giants, plant-like soldiers that reproduce on the battle field from spores or animal-like soldiers with who knows what capabilities, well-mannered easily entreated beings with a sense of morality, or seriously-depraved vicious killers with no regard for life. As I said, the possibilities are endless. It is a defense contractor’s dream come true.
Not only did Gorman Dictourie, RT get a boatload of grants from various private universities and government entities to study the dark light phenomenon (the term phenomenon being prematurely bandied about as if dark light had already been discovered and just needed a little extra verification), he received a substantial amount of money from a long list of defense contractors who hired him as a consultant to help prepare for something he hadn’t discovered yet (if you read that last bit again it will make the same amount of sense it made the first time). That’s akin to receiving an engineer’s pay when you’ve just enrolled in pre-Kindergarten.
The insanity accompanying dark light became mind-numbing and was exceeded only by another ridiculous phenomenon that occurred on Terra Bulga known as pet rocks. Gorman received so much attention the local university decided to start a new program called Developing the Remarkable Thinker. Dr. Dictourie received an invitation from the President of Timtoria-17 University to teach the class. He gladly accepted on the condition that he, and those who graduated from the class and ultimately received a diploma, could use the University-approved designation RT, standing for Remarkable Thinker, after their names.
Jump Starting the Universe Book Bundle Page 37