by Alten-Steve
Meteorology Lab, University of Miami
7:50 a.m.
The Meteorology Center is a beehive of activity as dozens of technicians from the Earth Systems Management Agency track Super-Cane Kenneth, its monstrous eye less than twenty miles offshore.
Bruce Doyle stares at the cyclone’s image on his screen.
Sweet Jesus, it’s heading straight for Biscayne Bay …
Two floors down, Special Agent Collin Shelby sips his coffee as he waits for the latest encoded dispatch from UMBRA headquarters in Virginia. Twenty hours earlier, Lauren Beckmeyer’s fiancé had placed an unsecured communication from Miami Beach. Satellite eavesdropping had immediately zeroed in on both subjects, who had headed north and were given shelter in a Delray Beach home registered to a retired airline pilot going by the name of Frank Stansbury. This last bit of information was quite disconcerting. What if it’s another biological attack …
Shelby’s communicator vibrates. He places the sunglasses on his face, reading the encrypted message appearing across the inside of the tinted lenses.
ALERT: SUBJECT’S VEHICLE TRAVELING SOUTH ON
SH-95, HEADING FOR MIAMI.
FLOOD ZONE.
Shelby rubs his sleep-deprived eyes. ‘Flood Zone’ was UMBRA’s term for killing the subject and all witnesses. Whatever act of terrorism this Lauren Beckmeyer and her accomplices were planning had to be something big.
The government assassin checks his weapons, then grabs his rain gear and heads for the door.
Inside the Limousine, Miami Beach, Florida
9:36 a.m.
Immanuel squeezes Lauren’s trembling hand.
They are seated in the back of the swaying limo, along with his mother, Ennis Chaney, and Dr. Mohr’s wife, Eve. The two bodyguards are up front, praying the autopilot will guide them to their undisclosed destination before Super-Cane Kenneth pummels them to death.
The wind is howling so loud, the rain beating on the exterior with such force that communication is impossible. Only the former president knows where they are going, and he refuses to say.
After ninety minutes of steady driving, they exit the Smart-way interstate and snake their way through streets flooded with ocean and rain.
Twenty minutes later, the vehicle abruptly stops.
The rain has eased, the wind turning to a high-pitched whistle, as if they are parked in a tunnel.
Immanuel presses his face to the bulletproof glass. Through the foggy window he sees a brick wall. ‘Wait a second … I know this place.’
Chaney checks his watch. ‘You should. It’s one of the emergency vehicle passageways at the MTI Bowl.’ He taps Kurtz on the shoulder. ‘The eye of the storm should be passing over us any moment. When it does, pop the gate and drive us straight onto the field.’
‘Yes, sir.’
Immanuel’s heart races. Jacob’s orchestrating something … but what?
Lauren stares at him as if they’ve just met. ‘You should have told me … Manny.’
‘I couldn’t. Try to understand, it was a lifetime ago, it’s not who I am.’
‘I don’t know who you are anymore. Do you even love me?’
‘Lauren—’
The wind stops howling.
Ryan Beck steps out of the vehicle, aims his laser rifle, and blasts open the locked gate. Kurtz guides the limo up the concrete ramp, using the vehicle’s reinforced front bumper to bash through the unhinged iron doors.
The limousine climbs a river of water, then drives onto the flooded football field.
Kurtz maneuvers to the fifty yard line and parks. Moments later, the rain stops and the wind ceases blowing. Wisps of blue sky and sunshine warm the drenched field.
They are within the very eye of the storm.
Everyone climbs out of the car, sloshing in calf-deep water.
Lauren looks toward the heavens. ‘How is this possible? How did you know the cyclone’s eye would pass directly over this spot?’
Immanuel Gabriel’s insides are trembling, his mind screaming at him to run, to get the hell out of this stadium while he still can.
‘Look!’ Kurtz points to the approaching western eye wall.
An object has emerged from the foreboding lead gray vortex, the sun’s rays shimmering off the mirrorlike gold panels of its dagger-shaped bow.
The Balam …
Immanuel drops to his knees, hyperventilating as he recalls Jacob’s words. ‘ … the wormhole’s closest mouth will pass outside Mars in a week. To rendezvous in time means we’ll have to leave Earth’s orbit in ninety-eight hours.’
The Guardian’s starship hovers high over the flooded field, then descends, its landing gear splashing onto the flooded field with a walloping thud, its dissipating force field sending waves rippling in every direction.
Ryan Beck is supporting Dominique, who is close to fainting.
Lauren stares at the object, slack-jawed, then spins around to face her fiancé. ‘The Popol Vuh … the legend of the Hero Twins! All this time you knew … you knew you’d be leaving me!’
‘It’s his destiny.’ Jacob descends from a ramp located beneath the starship, Dr. Mohr in tow. Seeing his wife, the teary-eyed NASA scientist slogs through the flooded field and hugs her.
Jacob stares hard at Chaney, his azure eyes violet with anger. ‘I was very specific. The girl wasn’t supposed to be here.’
‘Don’t blame me,’ rasps the former president. ‘Your brother insisted.’
The white-haired twin turns to his brother. ‘Say your good-byes, Manny. We have to board the Balam before the eye passes.’
‘I’m not going,’ Immanuel states.
‘You have no choice.’
‘He said he’s not going,’ Lauren says, stepping in between them.
Jacob ignores her. ‘Manny, you must trust me, there’s nothing for you here. Even if you did stay, Lilith Mabus would hunt you down, and all would be lost.’
‘No.’
‘Then you leave me no choice.’ Jacob slips into the nexus and grabs his twin from behind, subduing him in a full nelson as he forcibly drags him toward the starship.
Immanuel enters the zone, struggling against his overpowering foe. ‘Let … me … go—’
‘For once in your life, trust me!’
‘No!’
‘Humanity’s future depends upon you fulfilling your destiny—’
‘You’re wrong! I wasn’t meant to go! Lauren loves me!’
‘Lauren’s as good as dead.’
‘What?’ A tsunami of rage washes over Immanuel, drenching his muscles with adrenaline. Whirling around, he grabs Jacob’s head in his hands, drops to one knee, and flips his brother over his shoulder, slamming him onto the flooded turf.
Both Hunahpu tumble free from the nexus.
Dominique reaches into the fray, separating her two sons. ‘Jacob, stop! Leave him be. Manny … my God, Manny, your eyes!’
Jacob stares at his twin. Immanuel’s irises are radiating a striking azure blue, just like his own. ‘It’s happening. He’s changing—turning full Hunahpu. Manny, everything will become clear to you soon, but we have to hurry if we have any hope of rescuing Mick.’
‘Mick’s alive?’ Dominique grabs Jacob by his shoulders. ‘How do you know? How can you be sure?’
Immanuel takes Lauren’s hand. ‘Jake claims he speaks to him.’
‘You’ve been speaking with your father? How? Why didn’t you tell me?!’
Jacob glances over his shoulder at the approaching eye wall. ‘We don’t have time for this, we have to hurry. The Balam’s force field can’t manipulate the storm much longer.’
‘You hurry, I’m not going anywhere.’
‘Manny, our destiny’s on Xibalba!’
‘Yours, not mine. I was meant to stay behind. Think about it. The Balam should have opened for me, but it didn’t.’
‘You weren’t full Hunahpu then.’
‘Neither was Mick, but it opened for him.’
‘We don’t h
ave time for this nonsense.’ Jacob turns to Kurtz. ‘Salt, stun him!’
Kurtz shakes his head. ‘Manny said he wants to stay. It’s his choice.’
‘Pep—’
‘Back off, Jake. Let the kid choose.’
Jacob approaches his brother, becoming desperate. ‘Manny, listen—please, it takes two people to resurrect our father and save the Nephilim. I can’t do it alone.’
‘Then take me instead,’ Dominique demands.
‘Mother—’
‘I said, take me!’
‘Impossible.’
‘Impossible? Don’t you tell me impossible! I’ve kowtowed to your every whim for twenty years. I’ve dedicated my life to you and this … this Mayan mythology, all in the hopes of seeing Mick again. Now you’re going to take me to see him!’
*
Collin Shelby hurries through a river of rainwater streaming down the tunnel’s concrete incline. He stays close to the brick wall, remaining in the shadows, as he scans the group of people in the scope of his XE-29 sniper rifle.
Isolated at midfield … like shooting ducks on a pond. Uh-oh … what’s this? He focuses on the three EMP suits worn by the two bodyguards and one of the women. Have to use the tungsten rounds.
Shelby loads a tungsten dart into the chamber of his rifle, then switches the trigger from taser fire to explosive bullets. Unlike old-fashioned bullets, these lethal projectiles contain the latest biocide, nanoswarm EPI-46, a fast-spreading, human flesh-consuming agent. Any contact ensures a lethal strike.
The UMBRA assassin steadies himself as he aims the crosshairs of his scope.
‘Think about it, Jake,’ Immanuel pleads. ‘For six years you’ve been devising strategies for defeating the Xibalban sentry, and you’ve never won. Didn’t it ever occur to you that they know we’re coming, too?’
Jacob stares at his twin, pondering the thought.
‘You say you’ve been communicating with our father. How do you know Lilith wasn’t eavesdropping? Maybe that’s why we lost the first battle, because Lilith was listening to Mick.’
‘Yes … it’s possible.’
Manny takes Lauren’s hand. ‘You once told me Lilith was your soul mate. Well, Lauren’s mine, and I’m not leaving her.’
Dominique nods. ‘I’m coming with you, Jacob. Case closed.’
Jacob turns to her. ‘Okay, Mother. Say your good-byes quickly.’
Dominique rushes to Immanuel, hugging him as hard as she can.
‘Ma … thank you. I love you.’
‘I love you, Manny, I love you, too.’ She hugs Lauren. ‘You take care of him.’
‘I will.’
Jacob hands Dr. Mohr a microdisk. ‘This will allow you access to everything you’ll need. I don’t know what’s going to happen from this point on, but all of you are fugitives. Go now, before Lilith finds you.’ He looks at the big African-American bodyguard. ‘Take care of my brother, Pep. Lilith won’t rest until she finds him.’
Ryan Beck nods. ‘Do what you were born to do. We’ll watch over them.’
Jacob embraces Manny, whispering into his ear. ‘Remember the young lady named Bright, whose speed was far faster than light. She went out one day, in a relative way, and returned the previous night.’
‘Why are you telling me this?’
‘Because your actions today will create a new fork in the road of space-time. Where that road leads is up to you. I hope you’re ready to face its consequences.’
‘It’s what I choose.’
The edge of the storm reaches the stadium, its 196-mile-an-hour winds causing the folded-down arena seats to flap open and closed, the sound echoing across the empty arena like a flock of cackling geese.
Immanuel nods at the Balam. ‘Go find our father.’
Jacob takes Dominique by the crook of her arm and leads her into the starship, the portal resealing behind them.
Waves form on the flooded field. The wind howls in Immanuel’s ears as the starship’s engines power up. Salt grabs the Mohrs, Beck takes Chaney. ‘Move! Everyone in the limo!’
Immanuel turns to Lauren, who is smiling at him, tears in her eyes. ‘I love you, Immanuel Gabriel.’
‘I love you.’ He reaches for her—
—a scarlet explosion splattering his face. He falls backward, Lauren collapsing against his chest in a shattered heap.
Kurtz wheels around, his smart-glasses instantly retracing the line of fire. Zooming in on the target, he fires, the laser burst from his rifle igniting inside the tunnel, vaporizing Collin Shelby into a wisp of organic ash.
Manny holds Lauren, his fiancée’s life gushing from the still-expanding scarlet gap in her waist. ‘Lauren! Lauren!’
She glances up at him, unable to speak, her face pale and drained.
‘Oh, God, Lauren, don’t leave me!’
The hazel eyes glass over. The pulse in her neck stops beating.
‘Oh, God! Oh, God, help!’
Kurtz scans the stadium with his smart-glasses. ‘We’re sitting ducks out here. Pep, grab Manny.’
Lauren Beckmeyer’s remains continue disintegrating in blood-soaked clumps. Immanuel releases her detached upper torso and stands in rigid defiance against Ryan Beck’s grip and the blasting wind, his fists balled, tears streaming from his azure-blue eyes as he looks up and screams, ‘Ja—cob!’
The gold starship continues its majestic ascent into the swirling heavens until it disappears into the diminishing blue eye of the storm—
—leaving him behind.
A wisp of thought, in the consciousness of existence.
The site of the gold-paneled starship on that distant moon did something to me.
Michael Gabriel’s anguished soul seemed to cry out to me for your mother, or maybe it was Bill Raby’s tortured heart, refusing to go on without his Jude.
Whatever it was, I had finally had enough. Aiming a high-energy taser at my head, I pulled the trigger—
—and awoke!
Bill Raby was gone. I was Michael Gabriel again, still aboard the Guardian’s pod, only my vessel was no longer moving through space, I was hovering over the alien moon.
Moments later the pod landed in the domed subterranean facility.
Before me stood the Guardian survivors, behind them the Balam.
The wormhole …
The time loop …
Am I conscious, or is this all a dream?
Am I Michael Gabriel or Bill Raby?
Where am I? On a moon somewhere in the Orion Belt, or lying unconscious in solitary confinement back in my cell in Massachusetts?
Michael Gabriel? One Hunahpu?
Bill Raby? Osiris?
Jacob, are you there? Are you real, or are you part of the delusions?
Michael?
Dominique?
God, why must you torture me? Why must you …
The white fog! Two pinpoints … angry violet eyes, stare at me from within the nexus haze.
‘One Hunahpu …’
Her shadow appears, her form pushing forward … cocoa skin … so intoxicating. The Abomination! How could I have let my guard down?
‘Come closer, One Hunahpu, so that I might taste your soul.’
No, please … God! God help me!
‘God? God is like eternity, his existence cold and lonely. Bathe in my heat, Michael, and let me thaw your mind. Crawl into my womb as I entwine your being. Inhale my breath as I caress your lonely soul.’
No! I am Michael Gabriel. I am One Hunahpu. I am in control. I control my mind, not the Abomination. My mind is a safe haven.
‘The Guardian have deceived you, Michael. I am not your enemy, I am your salvation.’
… I will focus on the echoes of my mind and not the coos of the Abomination. I shall control my mind, and the Abomination cannot hurt me. I shall retell my tale to my sons, and occupy my thoughts—
‘No more tales. Our destiny together begins anew as we await the arrival of your sons.’
Boys, can you hear me? Jaco
b? Stay away! The Abomination knows you’re coming!
‘The cosmos has turned a deaf ear, Michael. Now, there is only us.’
No! God is out there, God will help me!
‘God? God is dead, Michael—
—a mere wisp of thought, in the consciousness of existence …’
PART 7
AFTERLIFE
God is testing us, to see if we can
kill the Satan within us …
—FROM NIGHT, BY ELIE WIESEL
Darkness cannot drive out darkness,
only light can do that.
—MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
Each of us makes our own prisons,
and each of us has the ability to set ourselves free.
—JULIUS GABRIEL
Love is all you need …
—THE BEATLES
36
ABOARD THE BALAM
The 722-foot-long starship cruiser, Balam, is divided into two main decks. In the lower deck, located midships to stern, is the propulsion chamber and its twin power cores, with extensive feeder assemblies and circuits growing out of the bulkheads and deck. Designed into this compartment is the Balam’s massive solar plant, with links to the ship’s recycling water supply with distillers, gravity mats, and a myriad of machinery responsible for the starship’s force field and weapons system.
At the heart of the vessel is the Balam’s central processing cortex and its immense biochemical brain. Sealed within an immense chamber of gelatinous liquid, this beehive of nanocircuits crackles with energy. Neuroclusters fire in the isolated darkness like a million fireflies. Fluid-filled sensory vacuoles branch out from the biochemical organ, interconnecting every neuroprocessing center within the ship.
The rest of the lower deck is devoted to the hyperdrive system and ‘scoop’ that channels tachyon particles from space into the vent-style gills located along the ship’s wings, essentially ‘pulling’ the Balam through the cosmos.
Embedded in every bulkhead, ceiling, and deck are artificial gravity node emitters, set to normal Earth gravity. Inertia dampeners protect flight crew operators from possible injuries caused by sudden acceleration, deceleration, or rapid changes in direction. Voice controls in each room can adjust ambient light, humidity, and temperature controls.