by Reilly, Jim
“Sorry for the misconception,” he said. “The Bishop here is the one in charge. I merely assist him.”
The bishop leaned back on his chair and spoke to Cameron, “My son, we need to be discreet. You noticed all the cloak and dagger stuff going on around here?”
“I noticed.”
“The Pope had recruited me out of retirement because the feeling among local parishes was that now would be a good time for evil to re-emerge from the darkness.”
“What do you mean, re-emerge?”
“Scripture, as you know, helped in taking Bishop Terapion down. However, the story doesn’t end there. There is mention of others, other antichrists or other demons to tempt man. So I needed to put my ear to the ground, and sorry for my humor, but if I put my ear to the ground I’m not getting up again. No, I needed help. I needed people with experience who were looking for redemption as well. So I had Salvatore recruit some people for me, discretely. We found some who, like Salvatore, wanted redemption and so they were able to put their ears to the ground. In the guise of offering security help in the parts of the world where religion still breathes, we’ve had feelers out to take a temperature of the state of evil.”
“What have you learned?”
“By hard work, or perhaps by dumb luck, we have uncovered a conspiracy. We’ve stumbled on a group looking to recruit disgruntled individuals to be single cell terrorists. They look for people of religious faith who have yet to be enhanced. Maybe they feel enhancement is against God’s will. Once they have someone in their net, the individual is then hypnotized or drugged into carrying out the task. As you know, we’ve been able to infiltrate two of our people. You saw what happened to them. However, the curious piece to all this is we’ve found a connection to the Babylon Corporation. The result of what you, police officers, say: follow the money.”
“It doesn’t make sense. Why would Babylon have anything to do with regeneration centers being attacked? Even if it’s only directed at the government run and smaller privately run facilities to stifle the competition, it would be bad for business as a whole.”
The old priest thought for a second and replied, “I once saw a magician do a card trick. As a man of the cloth, I naturally don’t believe in magic but I watched the woman do the trick. She used simple misdirection and it fooled everyone watching including me, who knew it was coming.”
Leonardo spoke up, “When your Visor is reactivated, you’ll have the information we have found.”
“Great but I don’t get the connection to evil,” Cameron said. “Yeah, I know they’re bad, but not the bad you’re talking about. Biblical bad, that is.”
“Perhaps, it could be a coincidence,” the Bishop explained. “But then again, the Bible states in Revelations that there is an evil called Babylon the Great, an Idolatress and Mother of Abominations of the Earth. I don’t expect you to believe. However, I do hope you keep an open mind. Scripture helped bring down Bishop Terapion and the Followers of Divinity.”
“I’ll try.”
“By the way, we’ll keep the girl safe until you return.”
Before Cameron spoke another word, he felt a pinch in his neck and blacked out not before getting a glimpse of Taylor looking nervous.
Coming to, and again feeling the sting of a pounding headache, Cameron woke up to the warmth of a morning sunrise on his face while sitting on a bench. With his eyes squinting he noticed an enormous Ferris wheel across a river amid city blocks. Quickly realizing that it was the London Eye or Riverside Observation Wheel and that must be the River Themes, he was thus in London. “At least they dropped me off at a nice location this time, and left me a bottle of water.”
He, however, didn’t have much time to enjoy the surroundings as he noticed his reactivated Visor showing multiple communications marked as urgent. It was the news feed in the corner of his eye that grabbed his attention. The main story was the conviction of Edward Tanner, the Anti-enhancement orator whom Cameron had to arrest in St. Louis. Quickly, he contacted Johnny, “It’s me.”
“Where the hell have you been? You’ve been off the grid for forty-eight hours. A lot’s been going on around here while you were gone.”
“Fill me in.”
“First and foremost, Edward Tanner confessed to being the one behind the terrorist attacks in St. Louis, Peru, and Moscow. He knew details not known to the general public, like the old internet protocol and the attackers under a spell. Cameron, they even found the Ancient Visitor weapon used on Muhammad in Afghanistan. Apparently he had a recently deceased uncle who participated in the Jerusalem mission to take down Bishop Terapion. He must have taken it as a souvenir after the battle and Tanner found it after his death.”
Cameron thought for a second and blurted out, “Misdirection.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing. What else can you tell me?”
“Tanner pleaded guilty and his options were to get locked up for life or mind-wipe. He chose mind-wipe. Cameron, whoever wanted this to go away delivered it with a bow tied nice and big on it. Command is so satisfied that they want our closing investigation report by the end of the day.”
“Who led the interrogation?”
“Who do you think?”
“Will Davis.”
“Cameron, this is starting to look like a cover-up, but why would the United Nations Security Group want this swept under the rug? It doesn’t make sense.”
“When and where’s the mind-wipe happening?”
“He’s scheduled for noon, St. Louis time, at the detection center in East St. Louis.”
“I’ll meet you there. We’ve got to stop it. This is deeper than one man, and I don’t think Tanner has anything to do with it.”
Johnny met Cameron at the Transport Terminal and ordered a car to bring them to the Detention Center. On the way, Cameron filled him in on what he learned from his mysterious new friends about their conspiracy theory and the Babylon connection. He even opened up about his ties to Jennifer La Mont-Cho.
“Cameron, I hope the people at Babylon don’t have qualms with me if we put them through an investigation. I finally get my enhancement early next week. I’ve waited for a while. The wife got hers done last year. Believe me when I tell you that it definitely affects the relationship when one is more advanced on the evolutionary chart than the other. After her intellect advanced and understanding intensified, we have even less to talk about then we did before. She’s even come up with cute names for me. She calls me her Little Idiot. I’d like to finally be on the same intellectual level for nothing more than to have a good comeback to her digs.”
“That’s fascinating Johnny but let’s stay on course here,” Cameron said to stop the conversation from drifting. “I’ll send you the financial trail I received from my friends; please check them out. I’ll do some digging into Babylon. It’s important you keep your confirmation of Will’s presence in Taylor’s home under wraps.”
“I’ll hold that information until you say otherwise; now we’re here and it’s only 11:30 a.m.,” Johnny reported as the car pulled up to the old detention center. It was a facility with not much use these days. It was originally a place for violent criminals. Nowadays, new techniques in reprograming have eased the prison population, especially for the most violent. Given the choice of a life in prison or a mind-wipe, most choose the mind-wipe. This option guarantees that you don’t spend a day in prison; however, you lose all memories back to the time of your conception. Technology isn’t advanced enough to be able to select particular memories and delete them. As in the case of Edward Tanner, every memory will be gone and he would be brought back to the state before he learned anything for the first time.
Once inside the building, Cameron and Johnny raced to the medical ward where the procedure was done. As they reached the ward, people were filing out and they were met by Inspector General Sanchez, “It’s done.”
Disappointed, Cameron asked, “I thought it was going off at 12:00 p.m. central time. I tried to make c
ontact but I couldn’t get through to anyone. I needed to talk to him.”
“We were afraid his followers could react harshly,” the Inspector General explained. “So we had the procedure moved up in secret. It was done right, his family was notified. Besides, the investigation is over, there was no cause for questioning anymore. It’s time to relish a win and move on to the next challenge.”
While the Inspector General moved on to talk to the other officials there to witness justice being carried out, Johnny came back from inside of the room to speak to Cameron who was standing there deep in thought, and said, “Cameron, it’s definitely done. Tanner is wiped and now lying in his own piss and crap while having no idea where he is or who he is for that matter. Personally, I’d prefer doing the time. At least I’d know who I am. Then my family wouldn’t be troubled with retraining me like I was a baby. Cameron, are you listening to me?”
Still deep in thought as Johnny looked on, Cameron didn’t even notice that the Inspector General had come back. “Cameron, I’m talking to you.”
“Sorry,” said Cameron now alert. “What’d you say?”
“Are you going to take Cassondra’s generous offer to be enhanced? I know you have reservations about doing it, but a free offer like this doesn’t come around too often. Think about what it would do for your career. You don’t want to be passed by subordinates climbing up the ladder, do you?”
Determined to get to the bottom of this conspiracy and glaring at Will Davis as he walked out of the procedure room right passed him, he told the Inspector General, “I’ll look into it. Maybe it’s the right time.”
This put a smile on the Inspector General’s face while a shocked Johnny was dumbfounded.
Chapter 5
31st Century.
Using a computer-generated meeting hall, Marcus gathered all the Returned along with some guests to update all on the situation. A college auditorium setting served as the meeting site, and Marcus brought together the Returned that were now scattered around the world. All but a few were fitted with implants that enabled viewing of the meeting, but more importantly, access to the vast network of knowledge people of this time can access.
After some quick introductions, Marcus, a man with no patience for dillydallying, dove right into the heart of the matter. “This thing or whatever it is, may or may not hold a solid form. Or, it could appear to hold a solid form. Maybe he can move from a solid to metamorphous into an essence or something. We do know that he can take over a human host. He did that to Glenn Casarona. Lieutenant Hailey Johnson, please enlighten everyone on the encounter your team had with the entity?”
As requested, Hailey, using her mind, showed the people in attendance a virtual recording of the encounter she, Steven, Cynthia, and D’Shawn had with the entity now known, for all intents and purposes, as Satan.
As the second by second recording viewed, Marcus came up to the four. “Do you think this Prince or Satan character is beatable? I mean with the technology of this time. Ancient Scripture, if you believe it, only mentions God putting an end to him. Short of a holy intervention, will we at least be able to contain him?”
D’Shawn offered his perspective first. “On the Ancient Visitor ship, he was powerful. You felt it in its presence. It was a dark and cold manifestation. This was a weak version of him. He didn’t have anywhere near the strength.”
“He so much said it himself,” Cynthia continued. “The black hole must have zapped some of his power. I think if he had the power he had had on the ship, we’d be dead.”
Steven added with unease, “He is gaining strength. Somehow he feeds on the disenchanted, the ones who want more, and the ones who with a nudge would cross the line. He feeds on people who would be weak and turn to sin. I don’t know how, but that’s where he gets his power. He tried to turn me, and quite frankly, he knows how to get under your skin. Remember, he was aboard our ship. He knows who we are. More importantly, he knows our weaknesses. Trust me, he knows how to manipulate them.”
“Satan in Scripture means the adversary,” Marcus told him. “Maybe, the Ruler of the Realm is God and Satan is God’s adversary. Hopefully this means God will come down here to vanquish Satan.”
“That’s a common misconception my son,” said the partially enhanced Father Willie McDermott. He was obviously different than the fully enhanced he was standing with. He wasn’t as tall, he had one arm longer than the other, and his eyes were of two different sizes and colors. “He’s not God’s adversary, he’s ours. Satan was created by God. Man can’t kill him; we can only cast him away. Satan is the result of God creating free will. You see, we have the ability to choose to be in God’s good graces or we can choose to sin. When we choose sin, we choose to dwell in the house of Satan.”
Marcus thanked the quirky priest as he grabbed Steven by the arm to speak with him in private, “The other teams we’ve assembled have with them intellects in religion and religious Scripture fully enhanced. They are experts in every aspect. Are you sure you want to use, umm, Father Willie as your expert on your team? He’s nice and all, but a little off center if you know what I mean. Also, he’s not fully enhanced, and it may be beneficial to be more equipped with an enhanced.”
“It’s fine Marcus,” Steven retorted. “The man saved Hailey and me from Satan. When Father Willie spoke, Satan retreated. With that kind of power, he’d be an asset to our team.”
“Suit yourself,” Marcus relented. “It looks like the hologram is finishing, let’s get back.”
Seconds after the viewing, one of the Returned, Amil Datt, asked, “Steven my friend, what was it like to have him get into your head? Did he force himself upon you and made you think what he wanted you to think? Also, were you lured to think that way?”
“Honestly, what he brought up in our encounter wasn’t anything I hadn’t pondered in the back of my mind already,” Steven admitted. “He didn’t put those thoughts in my head, they were already there. I imagine the only thing he did was highlight them. That’s all he did. I did the rest.”
“Thanks, Steven,” Amil responded. “I’ll try to clear my mind before encountering him. Hopefully, it’ll keep him out of my head.”
“Keep in mind; he’s weak at the moment. He said so much himself. But be careful, the being was hard to corral in a weak state. He’ll be really hard to get once he regains his strength.”
With a will-do-nod from Amil, Steven yielded to Marcus, who then explained, “While he’s in human form, as you witnessed in the hologram, Satan has no qualms about hurting anyone. So stay alert. Finally, keep your ear to the ground and closely monitor the territory you’ve been assigned for anything that can lead us to him. He doesn’t seem the type to stay quiet for long. Report anything you learn.” With that, Marcus ended the meeting.
Marcus then brought Steven, D’Shawn, Cynthia, Hailey, as well as, Father Willie down to the Earth’s surface. While Hailey and Father Willie conversed, the other three along with Marcus marveled at 31st century Earth with its homes floating above the trees not touching the vast vegetation on the ground. As they witnessed ground based vehicles moving along roads, they also noticed highways in the sky with people commuting alongside cargo vessels. The most noticeable feature of the landscape however was how clean it was. There was no smog and the clear sky looked bright blue. Reaching the ground, they noticed every building, road, and sidewalk was so clean it looked as if they were just built minutes ago. As the doors of the transport opened, they breathed fresh crisp air they didn’t expect breathing in a city. The air was almost intoxicating as they refreshingly breathed in and out as if they were experiencing a most delicious piece of pastry.
Stephen and his team were brought to the old United Nations headquarters in New York City. After a tour of the headquarters, now a museum, Marcus cordoned off an unused section to use as a command center. It took time to set up, so in the in-between, Marcus ordered the internal computer system to be embedded into Steven, as well as in Cynthia and D’Shawn. Steven, still
wondering how Satan was so easily able to affect him, sat in the corner of the command center while Cynthia and D’Shawn were the first to go ahead with the procedure.
It was then, Father Willie offered to Steven, “The headsets work just fine you know. I personally decided to stay off the Grid.”
“The Grid? What’s that?”
“It’s what everyone with the implant is connected to. You have access to a vast amount of information and with just a thought, it’s downloaded into your mind. Also, your thoughts will be public knowledge. Everyone will be able to listen in to your most intimate thoughts. I hear it’s wonderful once you’re adjusted.”
Steven asked, “So you don’t have the implant?”
“No, I don’t,” he answered matter-of-factly. “There’s a good reason I don’t. It’s that I believe it inhibits free will, which is a gift from God. When you are on the Grid, people’s thoughts can be heard, millions of thoughts. After a while the thoughts merge together and you are reacting to situations not of your own beliefs but those of others. Free will lets us be us, good or bad. It also gives God a measuring stick on how to judge us.”
“Are you the only one, how do you say, off the Grid?”
“There are many who don’t get the implants. As a matter of fact, many people in the Peace, Love, and Serenity movement don’t partake in the grid.”
“Explain the Peace, Love, and Serenity movement. It was also mentioned in a message my parents left for me. Is it a religion?”
“No it’s not a religion, though, many in the religious communities belong to it; even the Pope is a member. It is a way of life and a way for us to live. Practitioners cleanse themselves of want of any kind, whether it’s want of materialism, want of self-achievement, or the want of acknowledgement, to name a few. There are varying levels of participation, but none there judge you if you don’t fully participate in the peaceful existence.”