Galactic Satori Chronicles: Book 1 - Earth

by Nick Braker

  “God, I love your smile,” he said.

  Holy shit. I just said that out loud.

  Greg remained relaxed. Seph looked surprised and then blushed like he did earlier.

  “Thank you, that was sweet.”

  He wanted to tell her more but, as it always seemed, Tom was the master of bad timing for them. Tom walked in.

  “Greg. You’re late, son.”

  Your timing is crap.

  “Tom, I got it--” he started to continue.

  “Good, I didn’t think I needed to spell it out to you,” Tom barked.

  “No, sir. I mean, I got it. I am ready,” Greg said. “I’m ready.”

  Tom eyed him.

  “You’re ready? You haven’t shown me anything special in eight weeks. Today, you are ready?” Tom said dismissing him.

  Seph stood up.

  “He’s right, Tom. Let him show you.”

  Greg spun the chair around and stood up, standing next to Seph.

  “Test me,” Greg said.

  He already knew how Tom would test him.

  He’ll put me through some martial arts sparring, firearms, company policies, tactics, infiltration, interrogation techniques.

  Greg stopped there wondering why his mind felt the need to list everything out in his head like that. He had twelve other items Tom would want to test him with and even what he would do in the testing. He knew Tom like the back of his hand. Yesterday was different, but today the switch was on and Seph was indirectly the reason for it. She didn’t do anything to him but she had somehow helped ignite the fire. It wasn’t physical. No, she was just the catalyst. She had brought him out of the funk that he had lived in for too long. He loved his family so much but he was not going to endanger them and that meant letting go. He had finally accepted it. In a flash, his mind switched gears and he was now thinking about both Seph and Tom’s next comments. Some of it started earlier as if it were water flowing through a dam that had now broken completely open.

  Greg whispered to Seph.

  “He’ll say martial arts first.”

  Greg watched Tom think it through, coming to a conclusion.

  “Okay, I’ll bite. This way. Martial arts testing first.”

  Seph smiled.

  “I knew he would say that too,” she whispered.

  Greg exchanged glances with her and whispered back.

  “Come see me tonight, late, we need to talk. Say, around one?”

  She nodded.

  “Greg! Are you coming?” Tom said.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Chapter 15

  A ROMANCE REVEALED

  Earth - WSO Training Facility

  August 10, 1987 - 12:40pm

  Asher was surrounded. The five MPs took positions around him as if he were either a danger or would bolt at any second. Their actions indicated they had their orders and he was to be handled with all seriousness.

  “Carl, really?” Asher asked one of them.

  Carl was part of the escort and was walking just behind Asher. He stepped up quickly, moving next to him. Carl was six inches taller than Asher and fifty pounds heavier. He walked with his arms out to the side more than most due to the size of his muscles. Asher remembered several conversations between them about body building when they worked out together in the facility and he had learned a great deal on the subject from him.

  “Yeah, sorry, Ash. The good doctor has a nasty reputation. Her orders were to escort you to medical or our heads would roll. WSO gives medical personnel like the doctor a lot of leeway and power. If she wanted, she could have us in medical for prostate or colon exams every day. I will not get on her bad side. Regardless of what you might think about a woman doctor examining you in those areas, there is nothing fun about it.”

  The other guards laughed.

  “Agreed. Well, I guess I’ll go along quietly then and not put up a fuss,” he joked but turned serious. “I wouldn’t want you guys to get in trouble.”

  “Thanks, Ash,” he replied, somewhat relieved. “You do have a reputation for bucking the system, ya know?”

  “Me?” he said, feigning surprise. “Tommy Boy and I are just pals.”

  Carl shook his head at Asher.

  “Uh huh. If any of us called him that, we’d be in the brig.”

  The escort brought Asher up to the main medical facility in the complex. It was on the second level so they took the elevator from the galley and living areas.

  “Good luck, Ash,” Carl said. “You’ll need it.”

  The MPs waited for Asher to enter. He started to slide his badge over the scanner at the doorway out of habit but the door didn’t have one and it simply opened. He entered. Several medical personnel moved about a large whitewashed room. It smelled of chlorine and antiseptics. Three medical personnel were seated at various stations around the room which looked like a lab. An older woman sitting at a desk near the doorway stood up as he entered.

  “You must be Asher. You are late but I have orders to bring you in immediately. This way, please,” she said.

  “And you are?” Asher asked.

  “Doris Maynard, I handle patient scheduling and such. Nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you, Mister Carson.”

  “Just call me Asher.”

  She nodded and led him to a door on the other side of the large room. She knocked and then walked in.

  “Doctor, Mister Carson is here.”

  Doctor Nance was reading over some papers within an open manila folder on her desk. She closed the folder, stood and motioned for Asher to have a seat in a chair near her desk.

  “Thank you, Doris.”

  Doris left, shutting the door behind her.

  “Well, let’s cut to the chase. Did you just forget or intentionally disobey a direct order?” she asked.

  “I forgot. I was sidetracked,” he said.

  “Sidetracked? A bad excuse in my estimation. Expect disciplinary action as a result. I said morning, not after lunch.”

  “Wow, beautiful and feisty. I like the combination. Are you seeing anyone?” Asher asked.

  Disbelief and shock flashed across her face, but she covered it quickly. She wouldn’t let her guard down again for him, at least not intentionally.

  “I couldn’t believe the reports in your file but the entries in your psych profile are accurate. You are arrogant and immature, along with a host of other flaws,” she smiled sweetly at him, knowingly insulting him.

  “I have a psych profile?” he asked, teasing her. “Are you sure you have the right one?”

  He pointed to the folder on her desk.

  “Make sure it says Asher Carson,” he continued. “You must have someone else’s.”

  She did it again.

  She was staring at him looking bored but trying to be polite about it.

  Change of tactics.

  “I’m teasing, of course. The pain has really put me out of sorts. I apologize. I can barely move, hurting as bad as I am. I really wish I wasn’t feeling so bad, you’re seeing the worst in me as a result.”

  Her shoulders relaxed as if whatever tension she was holding was suddenly gone. Her demeanor changed and a look of concern crossed her face. Asher smiled inwardly.

  Compassion for those in need or hurting. I should have guessed.

  “Is there anything you can do to help me, Doctor?” he asked, holding his abdomen tenderly.

  She stepped around the desk and put her hand on his shoulder.

  “Let’s take a look. I need to assess your injuries. After that, I can help you. Let me get you on one of the exam tables.”

  “Thank you, Doctor,” he said, standing up gingerly while grimacing the whole time.

  A half hour later, Asher left medical and headed to his next training class. It was on tactics, led by a former Navy Seal now working for the WSO. He was rather looking forward to the class as his mood was remarkably better thanks to the pills the doctor had given him. She said they generally lasted twelve hours but he was excused fr
om any physical activity. The doctor didn’t know him well yet, but he was determined she would get that opportunity.

  That night, Alexandria received a call from Tom. Her secretary, Taria, had taken the call initially stating that Tom had something important to report. She sat behind her desk, working well into the evening again. She hated her office. It was huge, way too huge for her but rank was about perception and it was one of those things that came with the job. Taria had entered after transferring the call and had closed the blinds for her as the sun began to set, glaring brightly into her office. She nodded at Taria, mouthing the words thank you. She waited until Taria had closed the door, leaving her alone with Tom on the phone.

  Alexandria loved her job but more reports of deaths across the globe had come in today. The strain of the last several weeks was taking its toll. She would have to get some rest soon but right now Tom had something important to tell her or he wouldn’t have called this late.

  She was already irritated and now her hair was no longer willing to stay in place, forcing her to keep pushing it out of her eyes. Her dark gray business shirt and skirt were wrinkled from the long day in the office and she was tired and hungry.

  “Yes, Tom?” she said.

  She could hear her own shortness in her question.

  “Working late again, Ma’am?” he asked.

  “The aliens are,” she snapped.

  “Agreed. Well I have some incredible news. You will find this hard to believe but Greg just went through twelve of WSO’s best of the best tests and nearly aced every one of them. He wasn’t perfect, mind you, but Alexandria, you know as well as I do, no one has ever done that before. Tomorrow, I’ve got him lined up for more tests to finish the rest of the program. He’s been completely unfocused for over eight weeks and then I have to track him down because he’s late for class. I found him in the galley talking with Seph today and he tells me he’s ready.”

  “Did he cheat on the written tests?” she asked.

  “Nope, I gave them to him myself.”

  “What about the physical tests?” she prodded.

  “He soundly beat his instructor in sparring, his firearm skill rating was 99% and--”

  Alexandria interrupted him. “What about the others?”

  “Right now, they don’t know anything has happened. I have kept Greg and Seph isolated from everyone all day. I wanted you to hear about this first. Fisk is beside himself in disbelief. I don’t know what this means and, frankly, I’m concerned it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. How can one human, overnight, go from sub-par performance to breaking every high score set by some of the best trained men and women in the organization?”

  Tom sounded worried and elated at the same time. She had worked with him too long not to notice all his nuances.

  “If he is now like what the four girls appear to be, I’m ecstatic. If it’s something sinister, we’ve got to get to the bottom of it. We have to know if we are being set up,” she said, a little too firmly.

  “I’ll give you my best estimation. I genuinely think Greg is exactly who we think he is. An average guy who’s just been given an incredible gift but we can only hope the aliens behind it are on our side,” he said.

  “Dear god, I hope you are right but I can hear it in your voice. You really don’t trust any of them, more than I. They are either trying to help us or destroy us from within,” she warned.

  “I know. I know,” Tom said but then went quiet.

  His voice betrayed his worry.

  “Ma’am,” he continued. “I don’t think Asher has made the connection yet that we had WSO agents at his girlfriend’s funeral. At some point, he will. I was wondering if we should tell him before it dawns on him.”

  “I don’t see that it will make a difference for him. For me, though, it has been one of the biggest reasons I believe these four young men are on our side. I think the aliens killed her for a reason, possibly trying to get to him. These eight young people were pulled into this for good or ill but I choose to believe for good.”

  She paused taking a breath and letting a sigh escape her lips.

  “Back to Greg. Figure out what triggered this. Maybe that will help us understand it,” she ordered. “You have to get this right, Tom. We all have to. Too much is riding on this next batch of recruits. We are stretched too thin. Our agents are in nearly every country investigating these deaths and we keep coming up with nothing but dead bodies with missing glands. No aliens, dead or alive, have been found or even seen, except by these eight young people. They are the key, regardless of what my superiors or you are telling me. I know it in my gut and I’m going to go with it on this one. You understand what I’m saying?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Call me at any hour if you find out anything else.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Good night, Tom,” she said and hung up the phone.

  “Greg has broken through this,” she said aloud, though no one could hear her.

  She pressed the button that contacted her secretary outside.

  “Taria, go home for the day. Thank you for staying so late,” she said.

  “Good night, Alexandria. I hope you get some rest this evening. Don’t stay too late yourself,” Taria responded.

  Taria’s voice was filled with worry. Taria was just looking out for her wellbeing but, between Tom and her, it would be prudent to take their worry to heart. She needed the rest but there was really no way she could stop working. The aliens weren’t.

  “You too. G’night,” she said, cutting off the connection.

  Tom hung up the phone. He sat at the very desk Alexandria had used to break the news to the four that they were officially declared dead. He leaned back in the recliner and rubbed his temples with one hand. The day’s events were a revelation. Alexandria had been right about them. They were special and she had called off the interrogation because of it. A team of agents had poured through public and private records on the eight of them the moment they picked up their trail at the sorority near Cambridge. WSO was involved the very night all of them had disappeared.

  His boss was one smart lady and had created special teams to deal with differing alien scenarios. Teams were always standing by in the event unusual activity occurred. Tom laughed. The word unusual had become relative now.

  She had agents on the ground within hours of the abduction and they found several bodies dead, in a pool, with their glands cut out. The few witnesses they had claimed seeing bright lights in the sky and hearing loud noises. One of the witnesses had even stated seeing a spaceship. His agents had carefully questioned the witness and reported back to him that there was, indeed, a ship and that the woman had reported several humans were abducted by being pulled up into the bottom of it. Asher’s Camaro and the seven girls’ personal cars had been the only people they could not find bodies for. The Camaro was the clue that led them to Evansville and then to family members who told them that he and three friends had headed to Massachusetts. They also learned his trip was for the express purpose of speaking with a scientist named Dr. Julian Vance. Both of his agents who handled Asher’s girlfriend’s death and the interview with the doctor confirmed the same story. They were both mentally controlled, resulting in blackouts. Unfortunately for his girlfriend, her blackout led to an accident that killed her. Asher had been heading to MIT, looking for answers which meant Asher knew something over eight months ago.

  Tom rubbed his temples some more.

  He’s a determined young man.

  After the interviews and evidence gathering were done, Alexandria had ordered the sorority destroyed and they were to make it look like an accident. Granted the order of events was skewed by a few hours but it was enough to fool the local authorities. They were kept out of the loop from the beginning and then the families were told of the accident. Some of the smarter local authorities or news agencies involved were suspicious but, having the full weight of his organization behind them, they could apply enough pressu
re to keep people from prying. Reports were changed and stories dropped. It was never foolproof but it was enough to stem the tide and hold back the flood a little longer. Eventually, they would make a mistake and it would all get blown wide open, but he hoped that day never came.

  The really big questions were still unanswerable. What if more than one alien race were involved? The ones killing people on the planet could have an enemy and that enemy could be the ones helping them. It was obvious someone was helping but the nature of who was secretive for some reason and apparently years in the making. For example, these girls were involved nearly 15 years ago. Their stories state they were changed at age five.

  How could one alien race know that far in advance that Earth would need help against another alien race invading them present day?

  It made his head hurt but fortunately they had a think tank whose job it was to figure these things out. So far, they had come up with nothing useful.

  Tom stretched, trying to release the tension and ease the headache that was forming.

  Seph and Greg will be upset with me. I can only hope they understand.

  Both of them were being held on level 15, where only a handful of high ranking people had access. They were in separate rooms. It was only for the night until he could get a handle on what had happened to Greg. Did something trigger it? So far, it didn’t look like he would make any headway on what that was. They both seemed surprised by Greg’s sudden change but yet there it was right in front of them.

  Asher had already changed but he refused to recognize it. Tom was sure of it. Asher’s abilities had already manifested on the firing range, when they had fought each other, and in the influential leadership he demonstrated every day. Asher’s time on the alien ship was the tipoff. From the unprecedented memories the girls possessed and their ability to communicate intricate details and observations, Tom had gotten an amazing picture of Asher.

  He rubbed the back of his neck. He needed to get some rest, so he headed back to his quarters.