by Summer Lee
Solomon gave Eric a puzzled look. “So, everyting dat happened over te past couple of hours is no longer on video?” He tried to put it in as simple terms as he could so that Eric wouldn’t have a problem understanding him. Just in case.
Eric couldn’t stop nodding. “Yeppers, my buddy. All taken care of. Didn’t I just say that? Was it out loud or do I need to say it again? My brain feels funny. Man, it’s hard to remember what I just said!”
Solomon stood up and approached Eric, slowly. “Eric. Dere are people who want to arrest us just outside and probably a floor down from where we are. I don’t tink we can go dat way. Do you and your other buddy have another plan to escape, in case the front and back doors are cut off?”
“Heck, yeah!” Eric answered while looking around the elevator. He then smiled, stared at Solomon, and used his index finger to point up.
Solomon sighed. “Dat’s where you were trying to get te, when we struggled. So we need to climb on top.”
Eric leaned in close and whispered. “Yes, sir. That is exactly what I’m talking about. If we don’t hurry, we are gonna be locked up for a long time and then my buddy won’t be able to help us anymore. We have to go up. From the sounds of the officer type people, I would say that we have to go… now.”
***
It took some convincing for Solomon to climb through the opening in the ceiling of the elevator, and out on top. It wasn’t easy for him, because of how tall he was, while Eric climbed up like a monkey. He moved fast and was sure of himself, like he had practiced his moves several times.
Once on top of the elevator, Eric replaced the cover and looked up. “I’ll climb up and throw you a rope down, unless you’d rather climb up the same way I’m going to, then you can follow me,” he said.
Solomon shook his head. “I’d rather climb a rope, but how can you lift me? I am bigger than you.”
“Don’t worry about the small stuff,” Eric replied, with a gleam in his eye. His confidence, made Solomon feel slightly more assured.
Without another word, Eric grabbed the thick cable and proceeded to pull himself up, as he used his legs to wrap around the cable to prevent himself from slipping. The muscles in his upper arms stood out and Solomon knew that he was trained well for his mission of trying to destroy the project. Someone wanted the project to fail at all costs. They obviously put a lot of thought and planning into the sabotages.
After a few minutes, Solomon got impatient and kept looking down to see if anyone made it to the elevator yet. He knew they would have to pry open the doors and probably either climb up or drop down to the elevator, depending on what floor they accessed it from.
A few seconds later, the end of a rope fell at Solomon’s feet. He grabbed it, looked up and gave the rope a tug, to make sure it could support his weight. Even with all of the new idiosyncrasies that Eric was exhibiting, Solomon still felt that he could trust him completely. He wrapped the rope around his hand and tried to climb it. He didn’t have the kind of upper body strength that Eric did, so it was hard.
“Wrap your foot around the rope and do the same thing with both hands!” Eric’s voice echoed through the elevator shaft.
Solomon winced, thinking that the police would find him for sure. He quickly did what he was instructed to do and inhaled deeply. “Okay!” he yelled back.
The roped started to move slowly upward at first. Then, it picked up speed to move at a steady pace.
Solomon was up to the top of the shaft in no time. He noticed some sort of mechanized system that appeared to have been there for quite some time. There was a small passage to either side of the huge metal bars that ran across the top. Solomon saw that the elevator could only go so far underneath the bars. There was plenty of room for several people to navigate through.
Eric disappeared down the darkened corridor, leaving Solomon hanging. He tried to swing the rope and managed to make it move just enough so that he could get his foot on the nearby ledge. After struggling with trying to pull himself over with just his foot, he made it and timed it just right so he could let go of the rope and land with half of his body in the corridor.
He had to almost crawl through the darkness, wishing he had a flashlight. He felt a bit of a chill, as he realized that the night sky was overhead. He stretched upward and looked at the stars and the beautiful Harvest Moon. He then saw Eric standing near the edge of the building.
“Time to go, man,” Eric said, quietly for the first time. “Down here.” He pointed down.
Solomon walked cautiously over to where Eric was and glanced down without getting too close to the edge. He saw a mattress on top of what appeared to be a van. At second glance, there might have been two mattresses.
“No,” he said, without thinking, as he turned toward Eric.
Eric shrugged with a half-smile. “Suit yourself, buddy.” He then jumped over the edge of the roof and landed on top of the first mattress. Once he hit, he rolled off and onto the concrete alleyway. He popped up holding his shoulder. He looked at Solomon. “It’s our way or their way,” he said, pointing out to where Solomon could see the reflection of all of the red and blue lights coming from the front of the building.
Eric climbed into the passenger side of the van. Soon afterward, Solomon could hear the side door sliding open. It was a good thirty feet, easily. Solomon thought about the consequences of not following Eric. He thought about being wrestled to the ground and taken to jail with no bond. He also thought about Ingram being so disappointed in him that he made sure he would stay in jail. He had the resources to do it.
The van’s engine started and Solomon knew that Eric’s buddy was driving. His curiosity got the better of him as he decided he needed answers more than his freedom.
Taking several deep breaths, he looked up at toward heaven. He connected with God with a pleading look and then jumped.
Chapter Eight
As Solomon fell, he subconsciously tried to reach out for something to break his fall. He landed with a significant thud on the mattress instead. His momentum caused him to roll off, just like Eric did. He hit the ground but did not pop up as quickly as his friend had. He groaned as he managed to stand and fall forward—into the van through the open side door.
“Cool, Solomon!” Eric exclaimed from the passenger seat. There was plenty of bedding in the back of the van, along with several pieces of electronic equipment and duffle bags.
Solomon was dizzy and felt a tightness in his stomach. He wanted to get off the crazy ride he was on.
“I never expected you to be on our side,” said a familiar voice from the driver’s seat. Another familiar voice. “If I would have known that you and Eric knew each other, I would have approached you before Jeremy got a hold of you.”
He thought he was going to pass out with everything he had been through recently and almost did, but hearing the voice made him hold on to consciousness so he could identify who it belonged to.
The van took over slowly, so as not to draw any unwanted attention. They drove for what seemed like a good half hour until the van stopped.
“I wish you would say something, Mr. Dancer,” the voice said, with almost a sense of urgency. “You’re starting to freak me out.”
Eric was abnormally quiet, as he looked out the window and hummed an unrecognizable tune.
“I’m sorry,” Solomon said. “I do know you. Don’t I?”
“You don’t recognize my voice?” the driver replied, with a chuckle. She took off the seat belt and turned to face Solomon. It was Colonel Andrea Sanderson. “Do you remember me now, Mr. Dancer?”
“Oh my gosh.”
***
Solomon was in complete shock as he was guided into what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse several miles outside of the city limits. There were several condemned signs all over the structure and the surrounding area.
As Eric drove the van into a different section of the warehouse, Sanderson took Solomon through a small entrance in the back, where there was no door.
A part of the aluminum wall slid to the side to reveal a much bigger surprise.
Sanderson left him at the entrance to what he assumed was some kind of huge telecommunications center, equipped with state-of-the-art computers, surveillance, and several other forms of technology that looked too advanced even for the Project Interstellar to own. He glanced at a couple of the monitors and noticed that they displayed various areas from the inside of the project building.
Many people were rushing from one area to another. Some had headsets on and appeared to be talking to someone, while others were frantically entering data into computers and checking into other devices. Solomon was overwhelmed.
To one side was a set of wooden stairs that led to an upper office. He surmised that the warehouse was once used for some kind of production of a certain product, because he saw boxes piled up in one corner with the words, Summer’s Peaches.
He stood perfectly still, expecting to wake up from his fantastic dream any minute. He would be sorely disappointed when he realized that it was no dream. It was actually happening.
Sanderson approached Solomon. She wore a black jumpsuit and black tennis shoes with matching gloves. Her hair was pulled back into a bun as usual and she still wore no makeup.
“Are you alright, Mr. Dancer?” she asked, looking unsure as to whether she should tell him anything more.
“No,” he answered, looking around and then ending up glaring at her. “I don’t believe I will ever be alright again. I don’t know what te make of all of this. I am hoping dat you have more than enough explanations for me, so I don’t tink I’m going crazy.”
She smiled and said, “Follow me.” She then headed past all of the people and machines on the floor and headed straight for the stairs. When she got to the base of the stairs, she turned to look at him. He nodded that he was still behind her.
She opened the door to the office, which had a huge window overlooking the floor. She entered and sat down behind her desk. There were several plaques and pictures from NASA on all the walls. Solomon entered, looked around, and slowly sat down in the wooden chair in front of her desk.
“I’m sorry,” he said, still in a daze. “Do you want me to close te door?”
She shook her head. “There’s no need, Mr. Dancer. I have nothing to hide from the people down there. It appears that I have nothing to hide from you anymore, either.”
He sat on the edge of his chair, filled with desperation to have answers, so he could make sense of everything happening. “Oh, please tell me what’s going on. I don’t know if my mind can process what has happened in te past few days. I thought I was getting the opportunity of a lifetime, not a trip into te Twilight Zone.”
Sanderson laughed as she leaned back in her chair, interlocking her fingers in front of her. “I know you have a lot of questions. Why don’t you allow me to explain first, and then you can ask about anything I don’t cover.”
He nodded in agreement.
“Good,” she replied, with a firm tone in her voice. “There’s a small refrigerator behind me to your left. If you get thirsty, help yourself. You don’t have to ask.” She cleared her throat. “Let me begin by saying that I am in charge of the Seattle chapter of an organization that I guarantee you’ve never heard of. We’re the Global Peace Initiative or the G.P.I. for short. I will never state the organization’s name again because that’s not the important part.”
Frowning, he looked out the window and then sat back in his chair.
She continued, “We were originally set up by some extremely wealthy people in 1960 because they didn’t believe that the U.S. government had the right ideology to lead this country into prosperity. President John F. Kennedy was one of the founding members.” She lowered her voice and her words trailed off; then she said, “Now you see why he was really assassinated.” Returning to her speech, she said, “Unfortunately, because the organization was still new at the time, the plan was found out and the rest is the history that certain people want you to now know.”
Solomon looked on in disbelief. He hoped there was some way she could prove it, but said nothing.
She sighed and sat up straight. “We don’t have accurate records from that time frame, but I can assure you that the facts are there. The organization wants nothing more than to reveal the lies and bring to light the truth to anyone who will listen. There are still many prominent members who have taken extreme measures to keep our activities hidden. Some have notions regarding our existence, but we are very good at covering our tracks.”
“If I may?” he interrupted. “I know you said you would answer all of my questions, but I really must ask at least dis one.”
She nodded.
“Where does Eric fit into dis?”
She grimaced. “I was going to get to him, but I suppose I’ll answer that one now. We followed his and your exploits concerning the Harvest Moons last year. Eric was more than willing to sacrifice himself for the cause but when we learned about his dreams, we assumed that his connection to what was going on was bigger than any of us had realized.”
Solomon walked over to the refrigerator, got himself a bottle of water, then returned to his seat.
She waited for him to sit back down, then continued, “I’m not a big believer of things like that. In fact, I’m not a big believer of much that I can’t see in front of my face, but we retrieved the record of his dreams from Dr. Seymour Caladasian. Very nice little gadget he had, but money talks and it’s in our possession now. I do want to offer my sincerest condolences on the loss of your sister and Isabella. We tried to save Isabella too, but we were too late.”
Solomon remained expressionless, as he took a sip of water.
Sanderson cleared her throat and looked abnormally relaxed. More so, than when he first met her. “When we recruited Eric, he was more than willing to join our cause, but felt that he should have the appearance of sacrificing himself. That is what went down.”
He frowned. “Interesting!”
“It took some convincing on his part, but we told him that we would eventually recruit you, as well.”
“You were pretty sure of yourself,” Solomon said, with some disdain.
She grinned. “We try to be as prepared as we can for as long in the future as we can. Yes, you could have said no. You can still say no, Mr. Dancer.”
“What happens to me if I do say no?” he asked, with some trepidation. “I said before dat you can call me Solomon. Do I disappear because I know too much now?”
“No, Solomon,” she responded with a catty tone. “We are not a terrorist organization, nor are we the mafia. That’s not how we work. We would simply erase your memory from the moment that you found out Eric was alive and dropped you back off at the project. It’s a safe procedure. We have a 100% success rate.”
He took another sip of water. “Why is he… like dat? I mean, when I knew him, he was very different.”
“I knew you were going to ask that,” she answered reluctantly. “Once we recruited him, he wanted to use the dream machine more times. At first, there was little to no effect. After several uses, he started to display a distinct hyperactivity and resorted to what we can only decide is almost juvenile behavior. Before you blame us, remember one thing, Solomon. You admitted that you are having trouble grasping everything that has happened over the past several days to you. Add to that what you went through last year, and you would be a prime candidate for this kind of mental regression. The strain of losing his sister, preparing to sacrifice himself and then not, plus losing Isabella, whom he was growing quite fond of, was enough to push him over the edge. He still holds onto previous knowledge and can distinguish between who his friends are. He even holds on to the belief that God is actually an entity who protects the faithful.”
“He is not te only one who believes in God, Andrea. I believe with all of my heart because I have seen His work. I will not judge your beliefs and I expect you to return te favor.”
“Fair enough,” she returned, wit
h a smile. “I’m sure as a student of the stars, you’ve seen many strange occurrences that even the best scientists can’t figure out. I’m also sure you’re not ignorant to all of the bizarre weather patterns and natural disasters that have been appearing in places never before seen until recently.”
“Yes,” he answered with a sigh. “I keep up on all of te natural and unnatural phenomena concerning te stars and planets and how they affect our planet. Eric, Sybil, and I were sure dat the end of the world was going to happen last year, if someting didn’t show otherwise. It wasn’t the right time, biblically. Try looking at the moon tonight when it’s rising in the east. You might notice something different.”
“How so?”
“The low-hanging moon will look very big. This is a trick of the eye known as a moon illusion.”
“You’re joking.”
“It shows we are at the end of this age.”
“I’ve heard that not even the angels in heaven know the end time,” she said, with confidence. “Before you say anything about that to workers, allow me to research all belief systems. I’ll see what they have professed and if it has some basis for truth.”
“Sounds fair.”
“As a scientist, I have to know something exists, before I can add it to my own research or dismiss it.”
“Dat’s impressive,” he added.
“Why does it seem impressive to you?” she miffed back. “Is it because I’m a woman and can’t be impressive unless I’m normally showing a body part?”
His eyes bugged out. “What?”
“Never mind. I don’t want to know the answer. I obviously digressed from the topic.”
“It is because you are human with humanly urges.” He winked.
Clearing her throat, she composed herself to continue. “I’m sure you noticed the back-to-back Harvest Moons.”