Antler Plan (A Konrad Loki Thriller Book 1)

by Joonas Huhta

  Say something neutral, say something neutral. “That is if we don’t strike ourselves down with the tragedy of unrealized potential.”

  Theo spread his hands. “But you’re watching history in the making! You’ve got to ask yourself: do you want in, or are you out?”

  Are you offering me a job? “That’s a good question. But shall I take you to the Cave?”

  “Ever heard of Plato’s allegory of the Cave?” Theo pressed on.

  “One of my favorites,” Konrad said and saw a glimpse of his students, their tired eyes begging, ‘Stop torturing us.’

  “As we are prisoners, chained to our limitations of senses, I’ve begun to drag us out of the cave into the world above. I’ll keep returning back to shadows and free other prisoners from bonds. And the only question remains, who am I?”

  “The Good Shepherd?”

  “Exactly! Intelligence has its way of putting the right minds together at the right time to crack cosmic secrets. That’s the formula for the atom bomb. Even though we never become God and omnipotent, we can be messengers to ourselves. The shocking, seismic shift will crack down the Cosmic Cave, and everybody will earn salvation. When we have broken down and beaten the laws of physics that dictate that all intelligent life within the universe will necessarily face the ultimate death.”

  Konrad nodded. “It’s called evolution, but we don’t know its direction. The law of evolution says that when the environment changes life must leave, adapt, or die. If our universe freezes, there aren’t many options left. It’s always a choice between adapting and moving.”

  “You Finns are smart,” Theo said, glancing at his wristwatch. “A bit savage for my taste, but smart. I’m glad you had time to listen to an old man’s testimony. Let’s get a move on.”

  Konrad listened to Eric’s voice in his ear. “Good. My car is parked outside. Green Volkswagen. The key is in its place. It’s not an Aston Martin, only a piece of shit I happen to love more than my wife…”

  There was distortion from a verbal fight in the connection.

  A solemn silence ensued.

  As Theo was putting winter clothes on, Konrad’s eyes locked on something invisible. He missed Ruut. Her death was like a stone grinding between the hemispheres, utterly incomprehensible.

  Why did you promise to return?

  47

  GIDEON LOOKED FORWARD to more basic training that qualified him to be ready for anything. But this was the first time ‘anything’ meant the risk of getting killed. Since there was no action in sight, he walked over to Patrick Praytor who tinkered with a digital display on a giant telescope.

  “What is that for?”

  “Stargazing. My father taught me everything about the night sky. My every question mattered, he never failed to deliver a satisfying answer. We are all children when we turn to the night sky’s gloomy enigma. I’m going to do the same for my child. We all communicate with a reality beyond human perception every day. The universe is not dark and full of a void when you realize that no matter where you look—it’s light all over.”

  Gideon crossed his hands. “I’m an exception. Stars don’t mean anything to me.”

  “Then you haven’t yet grasped that we are all light collectors like this telescope: the more light you collect, the further into space you’ll see and the further your understanding of yourself increases.”

  Gideon leaned forward.

  “Man is only a wolf in a sheep den without reasonable future in sight, other than killing. We are animals, but spiritually something much, much greater. There are two kinds of people—the ones who illuminate the path of humanity and the ones using darkness to divide humanity from itself.”

  “I don’t believe there is no possibility to muffle the human horror story,” Gideon said.

  Patrick cocked his head left and rolled his eyes to right corner of the ceiling. “I’m going to tell you a secret. The wood where you and your mother and that professor went is one place you should have paid more attention to. I have been there. I found there someone who brought much joy and meaning to my life. I remember I had to shield my eyes against the sun’s floodlight between the knots of branches. Those who reach there are privileged. While the grown-ups take paths and paved official ways, the children and young people use back routes and shortcuts, which is why you managed to move quickly and undetected. The Dark Forest Floors may seem evil and inhospitable, but every trap hides a treasure in its labyrinthine core. The forest studies us also. Do you know what that place is?”

  “Tell me.”

  “Heaven. Eden. No matter the name, that’s the place we’ll arrive at when we grow spiritually.”

  Gideon shuffled his feet. “I have spent half of my life there. It’s no heaven.”

  “You must see the forest for the trees.”

  “What does that even mean? That I should be intelligent enough to see something invisible? Intelligence isn’t seeing a forest for the trees. It’s looking at the other way.”

  “There are hidden meanings in the woods that dwell beyond our conceiving eyes. We can learn to see them just like man has learned to see the universe by crafting the grain of sand. Our planet earth is blessed with land and sea in just the right balance because technology requires land to prosper. Would we be launching rockets into space with Hubble-eyes if there were water everywhere? Just like the way humanity has mastered glass, by seeing higher meanings in a grain of sand, we seek the very truths of the universe. Through the grain of sand. The distant and the close have become deliciously tangible with telescopes and microscopes. Sand is our magnifying glass to the universe. And what does this all mean in your situation? You, Gideon, have already begun polishing the proper instruments, which could hold answers to your questions. You are the instrument of life and death.”

  Gideon stayed quiet for a while. “I don’t know where to start. I don’t know who to trust.”

  “Reprogram yourself. Do you think there are desperate situations in war?”

  “Hell, yes.”

  “No. There are only desperate people. Do you think there are learning problems?”

  “I believe so…”

  “No. There’s only bad teaching. You are the teacher of yourself. The whole reality is that we are the teachers and prophets of ourselves. Do you think there are good or bad people?”

  Gideon considered the question. “I guess I see what you’re trying to say…”

  “Right. We aren’t good or evil; it’s just the way we are.”

  Gideon sank into a thought, tracing his temple back and forth with a forefinger. It crept up on him, an emotional wound, devouring his skin’s heat with an icy blow, invisible and less substantial than the wind.

  “My life is a ghost voyage.”

  “Everybody suffers,” Patrick replied. “Focus your life on what fuels you, what engages you, what fulfills you, and you’ll find your meaning.” Patrick examined the telescope carefully, wiped off dust. “God, The Glassblower of the Universe, knew immediately the scale of failing as matter spread out into space, and man came forth and started to play with it. He has always been helping us so that we could find Him.”

  “Who gave you that idea? Your father?”

  “My dad is a huge fan of stop-motion animations. As I grew up, he always reminded me how bringing dead puppets to life was the closest thing to magic. You could play God, create worlds and laws and characters as you liked, and dictate the plot. But deep inside he knew that his passion wasn’t in bringing puppets to life, rather in band-aiding his mind’s scars, which gave the feeling of control. He wanted more. In the war zones, he saw drifting ruins of souls, and he realized that he wanted to blow life on the same kind of heartless objects, who had jinxed themselves on the different forms of Jihad.”

  “I would like to meet your father one day.”

  “I’m glad to hear. He’ll be here in ten minutes.”

  “Cool. But what’s your big plan?”

  “Shedding light, of course,” Patrick said. �
��Stars are falling tonight.”

  Gideon pretended he had understood. “Where?”

  “Israel. They have been waiting for their savior with tongues in their cheeks too many years. Meanwhile, killed quite too many because of the expectations.”

  “We are going to the Middle East?”

  “We’re assembling the team and equipment.”

  “Is my father coming?”

  Patrick looked down. For the first time Gideon saw some hesitation in him.

  “Gideon. Your father is dying.”

  “What?”

  Patrick placed a hand on Gideon’s shoulder.

  “I know this is difficult. A parent dying is always a terrible blow, I can tell it from experience. But he is waiting for you.”

  “What’s going on? He can’t die just like that.”

  “I’ll give you two some privacy.”

  Gideon stared at the wall.

  “Go,” Patrick said. “Your father has some interesting things to say.”

  48

  IN THE CRADLE of dusk, a blue moment shrouded the world. Time seemed to stand still as Theo and Konrad exited an army Volkswagen and gazed at the sky, where an airplane flew overhead, heading east.

  “There goes your Savior,” Theo said.

  “Finland’s?”

  “Let’s put it in perspective and anti-clockwise: Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine…” Theo took a quiet sigh. “All around to China and North Korea. Russia shares borders with more countries than any other state in the world.”

  “I’m not following.”

  “When that plane lands in Moscow, new winds will blow inside the Kremlin. His visit to Lapland changed him quite profoundly.”

  “Did something happen?”

  “With one handshake, we achieved more than all the leaders of the world combined. We agreed we would not throw our world into darkness for the sake of the children and the planet.”

  “Nobody buries the hatchet that easily,” Konrad stated. “Never in the history of all humanity has East and West come together and agreed on a solution to war.”

  “Solutions to one problem must be solutions for all. Global challenges require global solutions. Answer them accordingly, and we ascend.”

  “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

  “Want to have a sneak peek?”

  Konrad lifted an eyebrow, theatrically.

  “War has changed. You’ll notice the effect in the news of how one man can affect world peace.”

  “With all due respect, is this a concern for our homeland security?”

  Theo entered the Cave and started walking down the road. Konrad rushed behind.

  “Humor me,” Theo said. “Tomorrow you’ll wake up, and you’ll feel freedom unlike never before. The Russian fighters will have stopped insulting your airspace. Tension isn’t mounting by the minute. You have more time to spend with your family. I see you have a ring on your finger. Do you have children?”

  Konrad didn’t answer.

  “Now it’s the best time to create a big family. Like it so far?”

  “What’s the catch?”

  “Devil lives in the detail,” Theo said. “Saving the planet isn’t done in suits and ties on negotiation tables. It’s putting efficiency before bureaucracy. Ignoring long-term global problems is what leaders are most skilled at. But now the genie of morality is out of the bottle, and it’s not going back in. It will make our most desired wish come true.”

  “Which is?”

  The elevator’s doors opened.

  “Heaven,” Theo said.

  Konrad scratched the back of his head. “You mean global unity?”

  “Correct.”

  As the elevator descended, Konrad contemplated the flash behind Theo’s eyes. Like he was saying, ‘You can agree with me or you can be wrong.’ And that was an understatement.

  Theo’s smile was crazed and carved to kill.

  KASPAR’S ROOM WAS quiet and dark; only a candle burned on the table. Anxiety blossomed in Gideon’s chest. He wanted to cry, but gathered his strength and frowned his concern.

  Kaspar’s chest was calm, almost like he was asleep. “Hey, son.” His voice was eerily quiet, and his soulless stare made Gideon’s heart flutter.

  “I’m not going to last long, so listen carefully...”

  Gideon gulped.

  “I’m proud of you. I feel terrible that I never said how much I loved you. I guess showing my real emotions is my greatest weakness.”

  “Why are you proud of me?” Gideon asked. “I haven’t achieved anything in my life.”

  “A man’s value is not his achievements. It’s about being ready to act for the greater good. Patrick praises your attitude. You’ll make an everlasting impact on the world affairs. You possess a great gift. Use it with great care.”

  “Honestly, Dad?” Gideon felt his father was delusional.

  Drops of dark wax crawled down the sides of the candle. The waning flame set deeper shadows in the hollows of Kaspar’s eyes.

  “It’s not the first time you’ve communicated with the dead,” Kaspar said suddenly. “You’ve done it before, haven’t you?”

  A paralyzing chill passed over Gideon’s skin. He tipped his face toward Kaspar. “Dad, are you dying?”

  Kaspar’s eyes and mouth opened as if enthralled by a ghost. Before Gideon jumped back, he could hear his father’s last whisper: “Bring back the dead.”

  An emotional shock stopped Gideon’s breathing. A hand landed on his shoulder. He spun around.

  Patrick Praytor.

  “Stay the hell away from me,” Gideon said.

  Patrick took a step forward, his hands up.

  “Don’t come any closer.” Tears ran down Gideon’s cheek. “I don’t… I don’t understand.”

  Patrick closed the space between them and took Gideon into a tight hug.

  Gideon trembled, he tried to protest, but then the emotions came on to him in waves. “Do something! My father can’t die.”

  Patrick held him tight. The last emotional trigger went off in Gideon’s chest, and he let it out. After a minute of crying his breathing was stabilizing.

  Patrick spoke. “I’m sorry you had to go through it, but our enemies left no choice. That was an example of what they’re capable of. They have invented a way to steal identity and affect the stream of consciousness.”

  Gideon felt like a total mess.

  “Don’t worry, crying is good. You defuse your anger and regain control over yourself.”

  “What happened to my father? Who did this sick thing to him?”

  “Russians.”

  “But we just prevented bad things from happening, didn’t we?”

  “Gideon. You need to understand that what happened to your father happened a long time ago. You only saw the last remains of him. The ghost in the machine.”

  “He said something about bringing back the dead, and that I possess a gift.”

  “Part of his speech was a genuine echo of your father. Something triggered vivid memories. Words people have said to him, music he has listened to, his most painful experiences, traumas… all that have haunted him and what he hasn’t thought in years, resurfacing. Little glitches of the brain. It can be very confusing and disorienting, believe me, I know. But…”

  “What?” Gideon asked.

  “Your father was right about you. You can bring back the dead. Finish your training, and I’ll show you the actual depth of the rabbit hole. You have, after all, made it possible for other families to carry on their lives in Russia. Their lives have been as miserable as if they were dead. Now the rest of the world awaits you.”

  Gideon’s scalp prickled.

  “Come,” Patrick said. “Get past this, for your dad died long ago. We have no time to waste. Let’s meet my father.”

  49

  THE MOTHER OF all distractions, the Veteran thought.

  Every piece was in its place against all the odds. It was ti
me to rise on the stage, and throw the true voice and captivate the audience.

  And reveal the future and role for each of us.

  50

  JULIA LOKI STRAIGHTENED her black, tangled hair and white coat in front of the mirror. Her eyes were exhausted, pulled down by heavy bags, and homebound paleness made her look already dead.

  She never overcame her fear of public speaking. Many times, her career seemed disrupted with sleepless nights, tears shed or held back. But thank God Patrick helped her through her anxiety.

  She had helped him to create a New Neural Interface with preset parameters. It was a challenge of the far future, but they were centuries ahead of time. Patrick had provided her valuable information about the distinctive potential of different matter and insights into the human brain and body. From those blueprints, she could solve utterly miserable human problems and forge the next stage of human and moral evolution. Just by directing magnetic energy into the brain, she could incept fake memories, affect cognitive processing, and even remove God from the belief system.

  With light, she could take one brain cell at a time into full control. Photoreceptor cells existed in nature everywhere, but humans had them only in the eye. Through them she sent a rich diversity of biochemical messengers, bringing in the Word, and making specific cells responsive to light. Shedding was all about delivering pure light deep into an organism.

  Patrick’s commitment and faith impressed her. He never tried to convert her to think like him. She felt free because of that. People didn’t like being told what to do. All advice given to people was hard to take in. Even harder to act on it. But any advice suggested, rather than insisted upon, fell easier on open ears.