The World After

by Sonador Snow

  “Practically all governments and institutions will be too busy dealing with the chaos that will follow. People won't be able to drive a car or even open the doors to their own homes without satellite connection and deactivated brain implants. Finding food and surviving will become the main priorities.” Masterson was ecstatic. “If this doesn't help the masses to see the bad side of this new world order, I don't know what will. I see cash returning very quickly as the only means of payment. Yes, there will be chaos, public disorder, hunger and epidemics that will cause serious casualties, but we'll be there to make the transition as painless as possible. Is the plan about that ready, Hans?”

  “I think so. As you all know, back in 1995 I took part in tests with under-skin and brain implants that were enforced on Spanish prisoners. Back then, we discovered a strange phenomenon: if a signal of 118 MHz is sent to these implants, the diseased fall into a lethargic sleep for eighteen to twenty hours. This is something I think we can use to reduce to a minimum the shock caused by what we're about to do.”

  “I know Jinhun had that part of the plan ready, as he left me the files before he left to pick up Taylor.” Akio Fukuzawa looked at a piece of paper in front of him. “Basically, what his study suggests is that we use their own system and broadcast a signal with 118 MHz frequency worldwide just before we shut everything down and destroy the satellites. According to the notes of Jinhun, he's expecting within six hours of this happening all people with implants to fall into a deep sleep for at least eighteen hours. This means that they will witness the shutting down of everything around them and will see the fire balls that come from the sky when the falling particles enter the lower atmosphere, but after that they will sleep during the most critical moment of the entire plan.”

  “What is this most critical moment?” Ademar Gamejro asked.

  “When all implants go dead. We expect this to happen between ten and twelve hours after the satellites go down.” Hans Grossmayer explained. “Unfortunately, there is something we won't be able to avoid. A serious percentage of people will get skin cancer when their implants stop emitting and transmitting signals.”

  “…those who bare the mark will get covered in oozing wounds…” Ademar Gamejro mumbled.

  “What?” Masterson asked puzzled.

  “Book of Jonah,” Carolina explained, “This is a rough quote from the Bible that describes the Apocalypse. In fact, this whole passage is very curious and a closer look will show you how many 'coincidences' from present reality can be associated with what it says there.”

  Obviously not touched by biblical matters, Vladimir Apalikov changed the subject. “Is everything ready for the plan of action once we destroy the satellites?”

  “I'd say yes,” Masterson answered. “We already sent more than half of the six hundred and sixty-six people that know about this plan to different key cities around the world and their training was good. They will try and relieve the chaos as best they can. But, of course, it's hard to predict what exactly will happen and where. We're all ready to help towards a painless transition of the societies, but it's up to the common sense of people not to cause too much damage to each other. Our goal is to limit to a minimum the casualties.”

  “How can you be sure in the first place that you have the right to give all these human lives away and to take the destiny of all humankind in your hands?” Ademar Gamejro asked.

  “Father.” Carolina rose from her chair. “So you don't think that this so called New World Order is evil enforced upon us all? You maybe think it's normal for a handful of people to control and guide the destiny of everyone else how and in what direction suits their own interests. That it's normal for someone to know when I eat, when I shit, when I have sex, when I'm happy, when I spend money. Don't you think that the millions that were sacrificed for this order to become reality don't deserve revenge? Maybe you don't agree that the whole of humankind these days is designed so it can satisfy the thirst for money of this handful of chosen ones.” Carolina leaned over to her father's face and in a determined voice added, “No father, we don't want to control the destiny of everyone or to make people live according to our beliefs. We want everyone to take responsibility for their own lives, to live their own lives as they understand it and without intervening in the personal matters of others. People must return to long-forgotten values like love, compassion, goodness and creativity, all of which stand in the way of the ones in power now to control the destiny of everyone. Our leaders don't want smart and intelligent people; they want sheep that can be led by shepherds and rounded up guided by watchdogs. Every piece of personality is nearly erased from the daily human behavior, and those that oppose or refuse to succumb become targets of the ATU. No, father, all we want for everyone is what God gave us as his main gift – free will!”

  Everyone sat quietly while fiery Carolina finished her monologue. She took a deep breath and sat back down but still nobody dared speak. To break the silence, she asked Akio Fukuzawa, “When can we expect Jinhun and Taylor here?”

  “If everything's okay, they should make it before sunset.”

  “Free will,” Ademar Gamejro said to himself, but all eyes turned towards him. He looked at his daughter with tears coming down his cheeks. “What have I become? When did I lose myself, who am I, what do I believe? I see it now, every minute of my everyday life was arranged and orchestrated by someone else. At what time I drink coffee, when I go to work, when I eat, where and when I sleep, even with whom. I must say I'm ashamed. In fact in the last few years, I even had to wait for permission as to where and when I could see my own daughter. Oh, God, how did this happen?”

  “It's okay, Pa, I always loved you and I know you're not the man they want you to be. That's why they targeted you in the first place. You're too good and too smart for them.” Carolina hugged him, and father and daughter stayed like that for at least a minute.

  Fifteen minutes later, the atmosphere in the conference room was much brighter, and after a short break, they gathered again and sat around the table to continue their discussion.

  “Before you go into details about your plan, can I ask you a question, Mr. Fukuzawa?” Ademar Gamejro received a nod of approval and he continued, “How come forty years ago when you were working for NASA, you knew then what was coming and decided to put this virus in the software?”

  “To be honest with you I only guessed in what direction humanity was going to develop. However, all indications were there that what has already happened was going to. I started work there in 1980 and decided to put this virus in in 1984, two years before I left. Before working for NASA, I was hired to develop a CIA project, a special project for their Bureau of Human Behavior and Analysis. I don't know if you're aware of that; but, even before I was born, way back in 1946, the government of the USA gave the green light for brain electrodes to be put in newborn babies by their doctors without the knowledge of their parents. However, the results of this experiment were not very satisfying and the experiment was frozen until it suddenly became of great interest fifteen years later.”

  “In 1973,” Ademar Gamejro said.

  “I see you know what I'm talking about.”

  “Yes, that was the year in which the influential Bilderberg Club initiated the creation of the Trilateral Commission. Only a month later, the prime minister of Sweden at that time, Olof Padme, ordered two thousand Swedish prisoners to be chipped and brain implants to be placed in their heads. So in 1974, the first brain implants were officially activated and placed inside humans. In fact, the project saw more than three thousand prisoners being chipped as the operation took place simultaneously in Stockholm, Sweden, and Ohio, USA.”

  “I see you know your history very well, Minister. However, there was another project going on at that same time, and for it, I was asked to make the software. CIA's project Phoenix was launched during 1974, and basically the whole idea was to experiment with miniature brain implants on agents, soldiers and other people of interest. Basically, the idea
was that, through signals sent via these implants, people from a distance would be able to control and change the brain functions of the objects. The successful tracking of where they were was only the tip of the iceberg. The main interest for the ones in charge of this secret experiment was to find out what the possibilities were to control and change the mood and behavior of the objects, and how far they could push. This was when I foresaw what lay in the future for all of us. It simply took me ten years before I was brave enough to try and do something about it.”

  “That sounds awful. I can't believe how we all allowed it to happen right under our noses.”

  “Well, you just needed a push from your daughter to see what kind of life you were leading for the past several years, so you'll be surprised how skillful and effective the methods used by all these agencies are.” Akio Fukuzawa added, “At the end of the day, I couldn't predict in '84 if I would even be alive forty years later, and the virus I created would become active only if certain commands at certain times are given, so I didn't see any harm in doing that back then.”

  Masterson spent the last few minutes listening to a broadcast from the Indian Army to see if there was news about Jinhun and Taylor, but now he switched off the radio and, in a decisive tone, said, “Okay, now we cleared the air of all the ifs and buts. I think it's time to look in detail at the plan of action over the course of the next week or so. We have so much to do and we shouldn't…”

  At that moment his words were lost as a red lamp over their heads lit up and a deafening siren filled the air. Everyone instinctively put their hands over their ears, while Hans Grossmayer shouted, “We're under attack!”

  Fifteen

  Shimi Levy was sitting in the passenger area of the Agency's plane. It had landed in Itanagar about two hours earlier. The eight companions the director took from Hong Kong also arrived with him, but now they were out on their first field mission. Shimi Levy was alone and he liked that.

  The director of the Agency for Tracking the Untraceables looked ancient to all of his colleagues and operative agents. Many wondered how he was preserving his vitality and ability to control everything and everyone. At the age of seventy-eight, he was nearing retirement even with the advanced medicine of the twenty-first century. The doors were locked and Shimi Levy knew he was alone, but if someone was able to see him at this moment, they would find out his secret of the past fifteen years.

  The left sleeve of his shirt was rolled up and the ugly pale skin of his arm had been revealed. The veins running near its surface were easily visible and many red dots on them hinted at abuse. In his right hand, Shimi Levy held an elongated syringe holding the secret of his physical and mental strength at such an advanced age. Doctor Yao had prepared this cocktail of steroids, blood plasma and adrenalin especially for him, and for more than a decade, the director of the Agency was addicted to it.

  He stabbed his arm and released the thick liquid inside his vein with a sigh. After he cleaned his skin of a little blood, he rolled down his sleeve and put the empty syringe in the ice bag containing nine other full syringes. Feeling much better after his daily dose, he walked to the minibar of the plane and poured himself a generous amount of wine. Then, with a perky leap, he sat on the little sofa, tasted the alcohol and, with a command from his brain, switched on the big TV screen in front of him.

  Soon a grainy picture appeared. He was looking at two 'Predators' and the partly cloudy sky behind them. The two military helicopters with the archangels and Lucifer flew from Itanagar about twenty minutes earlier. They were heading towards the swamps of the National Park. Shimi Levy gave all the orders needed for this mission to be rushed forward without any further notification to the local authorities. He was convinced after the latest events that the Yuyuan's mysterious base was situated somewhere in the swamps. An opportunistic person like him immediately saw the potential in this to test the young men upgraded and modified for this kind of operation. For once, he rushed things without examining the area or the possible resistance carefully.

  Shimi Levy leaned back watching the steadily advancing Predators. He emptied his glass and refilled it with another pleasant sigh. He felt his heart leaping; the cocktail of drugs must have reached it. Levy's face broadened into a smile.

  Using the intercom connecting him with the helicopters, he said, “I don't want the choppers to alert our little birds out there. Once you reach the periphery of the swamps, land and use the wings to search the area.”

  “Roger that,” was all Lucifer's pleasant voice answered.

  The wings Shimi Levy was talking about were one of the latest military prototypes developed by the combined efforts of scientists from four different countries. These were skin-like wings, which were fitted to a soldier's back and had sleeves to his hands. The big breakthrough with them was that they were big enough to be able to carry airborne a normal size man for hours. Their completely silent fuel tanks were very light and economical, plus every time the winds were favorable, one could simply turn them off and use what nature provided.

  The two helicopters reached the edge of the swamp area, and Lucifer tapped the pilot's shoulder to point to him where he wanted them to land. A small hill guaranteed that the green surface wouldn't be covering treacherous water or soft mud, and soon the two experienced pilots landed the machines close to each other. The eight tall and somehow similar looking men gathered to one side to discuss something. The men that flew them here knew better than to interfere.

  After several minutes, they got back to the choppers and started equipping themselves with the wings. This latest military innovation was not known to the pilots, and they looked with curiosity as the men in front of them were putting their hands into the sockets that were going to control the spread and direction of the black wings. Inside the sockets, there were also buttons for manual control of the fuel tanks. The person using this ingenious invention was in charge when to use it.

  Once everyone on the small grassy field looked like real archangels, Lucifer gave his orders. “Gabriel, Michael and Rafael are coming with me. We'll search the area west of here, and you four,” he faced the other archangels, “search carefully the area to the east. Split the ground in sectors and don't miss anything. If you find something, don't take any action until I come to evaluate the situation.”

  The archangels nodded. Without any further discussion, they all ran downhill for a dozen steps, spread their artificial wings and rose up in the air. The two pilots stood motionless with mouths wide open. They saw the two groups of four splitting in opposite directions about fifty feet above their heads.

  Back on the plane Shimi Levy filled his glass with what was left in the wine bottle and made contact with the commander of the Indian Army in Arunachal Pradesh. He listened to a short and to-the-point report from the man and, without making any comment, cut the line dead and lit a cigar.

  The director of the ATU had no doubt in his mind that Taylor Swansea and his Chinese friend were trying to reach the swamps. This time he was here and he was determined not to make any mistakes. He closed his eyes and imagined the pleasure he would feel once the man that escaped from his grasp so many times knelt in front of him.

  Shimi Levy was very confident, and he knew that things were much different. In the past year, he was tempted many times to go to Hong Kong and take from Yao the young men for whose creation he had made many sacrifices. Now this was done, and before he was to leave this fucking, decaying world, he was going to leave with new order and new leaders, leaders he started to work on many decades ago.

  He sat back in the comfort of the leather chair, drank from the wine and put the cigar to his mouth. Life was good. He couldn't wait for Lucifer to contact him with the news.

  The four archangels that headed east didn't have much luck with their search. Despite Barachiel's ability to see through surfaces, they couldn't find any trace of the Yuyuan base. The four of them searched area by area for over an hour, but still there were no results.

  Th
eir brothers that headed to the other end of the swamps didn't have much luck either, or Lucifer would have called them using his telepathic abilities. The two search parties paid special attention to every small cluster of mangrove woods, thinking that any kind of entrance to an underground level was likely to be found there, but there was nothing.

  Finally, a breakthrough was made when in one of the clusters of trees Selaphiel spotted movement. He was the other member gifted with telekinetic abilities. After withdrawing to a safe distance, their group contacted Lucifer and the others. While waiting for their brothers to join them, the four archangels split, and very soon their closer inspection confirmed that three armed men were hidden inside the trees.

  Just as they gathered on a piece of ground hidden from the three men by very tall grass, they were joined by Lucifer and his companions.

  “Well,” the tall, handsome man said. After hearing the report, he looked at each and every one of his seven brothers. “Bring them to me, alive.”

  Lucifer was supposed to contact Shimi Levy the moment they had a hit, but he deliberately ignored that and, with anticipation, waited. He didn't have to do that for too long, as it turned out. Once Gabriel and Michael came down over the surprised men from the sky, it took them less than a minute to disarm them and tie their hands.

  Lucifer landed gently right next to the three horrified prisoners. His soft smile could hardly warm them as his eyes remained expressionless and stone cold.

  “Anything?” he asked.

  “Not here. They must be only out on watch, but this means that the entrance must be close by,” Uriel answered. “They're not talking.”

  “Oh, really.” Lucifer's smile disappeared. With a lightning quick jump, he landed right behind the middle man and, with a quick twist, broke his neck. The body of the Indian boy in his late teens collapsed to the ground immediately.