As his flesh began to rot, what remained of his life’s energy left the closed confines of the base and was drawn as if by an invisible magnet to the closest, similar, newly released essence of a human being that was no more. When the two energies converged they opened up a wormhole in space and time. What passed through was not the disembodied consciousness of Colonel Rodman, but merely recycled energy. In accordance with the laws of thermodynamics, nothing is ever lost. It simply changes form. Human experience has a beginning and an end, but the energy is eternal.
Chapter 41
‘I want Lucy to do it,’ said Emmy.
‘Are you sure?’ replied Esteban. ‘We can’t afford for anything to compromise our mission. I think it would be better for you to go into this with your eyes open. Your subconscious mind is too...’
‘...unstable,’ she finished for him.
‘I was going to say unpredictable.’
‘Well, it doesn’t matter – my mind is made up. I know you probably think it crazy, but I will feel better with her by my side. It doesn’t matter that she isn’t real - just that she is there.’
This time Esteban did not object. Emmy was not a fighter. Neither was Jimmy, yet he was asking them both to go into battle with him. Who knew if any of them would survive what they were about to face. The least he could offer them was the ability to meet their fate on their own terms.
His plan was simple. He was to go in first and take out the EMP whilst Jimmy and Emmy found a way into the complex using the former’s psychic sense. The monks had volunteered to provide a distraction. In total they numbered thirty. Having dedicated their existence to meditation and peace, they carried no weapons and did not intend to engage in any form of combat.
With the possibility of astral spies watching the monastery, the safest way to the base of the mountain was via the network of hidden tunnels running through its interior. Despite the fact these subterranean corridors had not been used in years, Jimmy was able to guide everybody through and safely to the bottom without incident. Once in position, Esteban then had one last opportunity to rally his troops.
‘Are we all ready?’ he asked, leaving a pause at the end for Yonten to translate for his brethren. ‘Once we break cover we have to assume that we will be met with deadly force. There is a very real possibility not all of us will make it through this. If anybody wants to back out now, I will understand.’
Silence fell over the group. They were in this together and if necessary, they would die together.
‘Okay,’ continued Esteban. ‘The important thing is that we keep them busy. Do not take any unnecessary risks and watch each other’s backs. Once the EMP is taken down, the balance will tip considerably in our favour.’ He then withdrew two short range radios, which along with his handgun and a third for himself, was all he had managed to retain from their original kit. He gave one radio to Emmy and another to Yonten. ‘These are for emergency use only. Surprise is our best chance and for that reason we will need to maintain radio silence for as long as possible.’
The scientist nodded and the monk offered a delicate bow with his palms pressed together in front of him. Now everyone knew what was expected of them they fanned out to begin their mission. It was not long after they approached the base that the generators burst into life. Esteban’s stomach tightened as he waited to see if the shape that materialised was humanoid or canine.
It was vaguely human in shape.
He glanced over his shoulder to check how his friends were holding up. Jimmy was taking cover behind a large buttress of rock. With luck, this would shield him from the manifest astral being’s scope of awareness. Emmy stayed a little farther back so as not to interfere with the psychic’s intuition. They would both get their chance soon enough, but at that moment it was up to Esteban.
The CIA operative dropped to the floor and waved his arm as a signal to Yonten. The head monk then took a breakaway group of his brethren and headed toward the far side of the complex. The astral sentinel took the bait. It switched its position in an instant, blocking the path of the monks. They responded by spreading out, forming themselves into a wide arc around the traveller. As they raised their arms and joined hands Yonten led them in a slow, even chant.
The traveller was caught completely off guard. Although he had a physical presence, his perception of the outside world was no different to that of any other disembodied consciousness. He experienced the world like a three dimensional heat map, with objects acquiring visibility in terms of their requisite energy density level. Sounds were only comprehensible as vibrating waves, distorting the air that carried them.
The monks’ chant was a thousand year old mantra and the sound waves it emitted resonated perfectly with the electrical frequency of the astral being. The resulting vibrations literally shook the traveller’s concept of both time and space, confusing and immobilising him. He could neither move nor think. They had him trapped.
With the threat contained, Esteban made his move. He got back to his feet, taking a wide path, approaching the compound from the right flank. When he was within ten metres of the outer wall he was joined by Jimmy. This was not part of the plan.
‘Is something wrong?’ Esteban asked.
‘Just following orders,’ replied Jimmy.
‘But my orders were for you to wait until I took out the EMP.’
‘I’m talking about my...other orders.’
He briefly evaded eye contact, as if ashamed of his incredible gift.
‘Oh, I see,’ said Esteban. ‘In that case - tell me what you see.’
Up until that point, the young psychic had only followed his vision as far as joining Esteban, but it was not long until he received his next visual clue. He was to lead the soldier past a series of trip wires and security laser beams that he may otherwise have overlooked. Ordinarily, Esteban would have the equipment to identify and navigate these traps himself, but with no such tools available and the added camouflage of freshly fallen snow, the task would have been all but impossible without psychic intervention.
Thanks to Jimmy, they safely and swiftly made it to the concrete outer wall of the compound. The astral being was still incapacitated in a trance-like state due to the harmonious chanting of the monks, but its lack of progress had alerted whoever was in command that it was in distress. The generator coils once more whirred into life. Then in a flash the traveller disappeared, only to rematerialize back at its source. As if no more than a simple software error, the Chinese scientists had rebooted the system.
Back to full strength and awareness, there was no way that the astral being was going to fall for the same trick twice. Heavy duty blast doors opened at the front of the complex and a squad of nine soldiers emerged. These heavily armed infantrymen immediately began to lay down a line of fire directed at the monks. The holy men had no option but to flee for their lives, leaving fallen brethren behind as the infantrymen slowly advanced to finish the job.
‘We have to help them,’ said Jimmy.
‘No,’ replied Esteban. ‘We have to focus on the primary task. They have a job to do, as do we. We have to take out the EMP. Once we do that – Emmy can take over.’
Jimmy knew that his friend was right and received no direction from a sixth sense telling him otherwise. They were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. Without the tulpa they could never succeed, but until the enemy’s defences were immobilised against such a force, Emmy could not act. Though not harmful to her physical being, a blast from the EMP would severely disorientate her and leave her unable to conjure up another projection for some time.
The two men ascended a ladder leading to the roof of the compound. Again, there were trip wires, and again, Jimmy negotiated them with ease. Once topside, they found an array of satellite dishes. At the centre was a larger device, which resembled a lighthouse beacon.
‘That’s it,’ said Esteban.
He withdrew his gun. The device had an access panel that was encased in a protective shield, fastened with
a secure lock. In circumstances such as this, a bullet was as good as a key. Esteban raised his weapon to fire, but did not get to pull the trigger as something grabbed him by the scruff of his jacket and hurled him back towards the edge of the roof.
Jimmy did not have his usual relative luxury of foresight. This was one of those moments when his psychic ability was so acute that it directed his movements in real time. He saw Esteban hurtling towards the edge of the roof and reacted instantaneously.
Leaping into the air, Jimmy spread himself wide to arrest the soldier’s trajectory, deflecting him back onto the safety of the roof, whilst knocking himself over the edge. The snow immediately around the base of the compound was more compacted than the fresh covering adorning the rest of the area. Upon impact with the ground, he lost consciousness.
Esteban quickly reoriented himself, but his situation had improved little. It seemed pointless that Jimmy had even bothered. The soldier's gun was out of reach and he had no other weapon to use against an invincible foe. Without Jimmy, and with Emmy still rendered useless by the EMP, he was alone.
The one-sidedness of the situation was not lost on the astral being. Rather than move in for a quick kill, it advanced slowly, savouring the moment.
***
General Tao watched the unfolding battle with the emotional detachment of an apex predator. He was not the type to hesitate in ordering a man to lay down his life to further his cause. It was not, however, his men who were dying.
‘General, the monks are making a full retreat back into the mountains,’ said Major Heng. ‘Shall I order the men to stand down?’
‘You will do no such thing,’ the general replied. ‘All insurgents are to be eliminated.’
The major hesitated.
‘Do you have a problem executing your orders?’ the general asked.
‘No...sir,’ the major reluctantly replied.
He passed on the order to the squad leader over the comm. After doing so, he felt ashamed. It was as if a great weight had been placed upon his back.
‘Excellent work, Major,’ said the general. ‘It is now time to bring our work here to its natural conclusion. We will release the chosen ones.’
The eight remaining volunteers, who had appropriated new vessels for their life energy whilst dosed up on the psychic radiation, were brought into the command chamber. In turn, each one gave a salute to the general before vanishing into the ether. Once gone, there would be no line of communication between master and servant. General Tao was now fully committed to his nefarious plan.
***
‘Esteban, Esteban – can you hear me?’
The voice was coming from the soldier’s belt. He reached down and unclipped his walkie-talkie. Though slightly muffled, the voice coming through was undoubtedly Yonten’s.
‘I’m a little busy, right now,’ Esteban replied. ‘Jimmy’s down and I won’t be around for much longer. You’d be best to call Emmy.’
‘But you are the one that I can help, my friend. Many of my brothers have been executed. I managed to get away. I have found shelter where they cannot see me, but I can see you.’
‘So what’s the plan?’
The astral being was now standing directly over him and he fully expected the next words he heard to be the last.
‘Hold up the radio,’ said Yonten.
Esteban did so and to his amazement it had an instant effect on the hostile entity. Muffled verse flowed from the speaker of the device in his hands as Yonten recanted the disorientating mantra. It was not as clear as when the monks had chanted in unison so its effect was less powerful, but it was effective nonetheless.
The being’s movements became sluggish as it reached out to smite Esteban from existence. The CIA agent easily rolled out of the path of its arcing blow. It attempted several more times to impact him with its deadly electrically charged fists, but each time the soldier evaded the attack. Like an expert angler, he reeled the being in toward the centre of the structure until he felt his back up against the outside casing of the EMP control panel.
The chanting was cut short by the sound of gun fire. First from the speaker in his hand and then in echo from the surrounding mountain range as the sound waves caught up with the radio signal. By chanting, Yonten had inadvertently given away his position.
‘You bastards,’ said Esteban, but the entity standing over him could only see waves of phonic energy issuing from the soldier’s mouth. It neither heard nor cared what he had to say.
With cold steel pressing against his back, Esteban knew he had nowhere left to run. He straightened his body and braced for the attack. It came swiftly, but he was ready for it. He dodged to the right of the ball of solid electrical energy that was aimed straight at his heart. The astral being was committed and had no time to pull back. Its lightning ball of a fist collided with the EMP generator overloading its circuits to the extent that it burst into flames, lighting up the rooftop like a beacon.
The frustrated being turned to get another fix on its prey, but it did not find itself facing Esteban. In the soldier’s place was a much larger foe. If he had human eyes, the astral traveller would have recognised the beast before him from ancient myth and folklore. It was Meh-Teh – the tulpa beast more commonly known by the name of yeti. He did not stand a chance.
After making short work tearing apart its foe, the tulpa-yeti jumped down to the base of the compound. The power coils were already firing up, preparing to create a replenishable army of astral travellers to do battle with the creature from Emmy’s subconscious. The beast did not allow any such materialisations to take place. It raised both of its mighty fists into the air and then slammed them down onto the power coils, ripping them from their mooring as easily as a lumberjack fells a tree.
Upon hearing the roar of the beast, the Chinese soldiers abandoned their pursuit of the remaining monks in order to launch a counter offensive. They formed into three groups of three, surrounding the tulpa and triangulating their firepower in order to maximise its effect. Any mortal foe would have been blasted into oblivion.
The tulpa was not a mortal foe. The Chinese bullets had zero effect. In fact, with each impact, the resulting transfer of energy only served to strengthen the beast. Not that it needed this extra boost. It picked up one of the power coils it had earlier ripped from the compound and threw it into the path of three advancing combatants.
This left it facing just six men. Six hundred would not have made a difference. It swatted the soldier’s away like mosquitoes, sending bodies flying in every direction. If Emmy had been more in control, more aware, she would have exercised a degree of restraint. In the frenzy of battle all of her preparation had gone to waste. The beast was operated solely by her subconscious fears.
Seconds were all it took for the tulpa to see off the last of the danger. Once finished, it turned its attention toward Jimmy, who lay motionless on the snow. It crouched down and reached out with one of its huge arms, but when its fingers connected with the fallen man they had softened considerably. The beast had become human – or at least a projected manifestation of a human. With the hand of Lucy Skye, it delicately felt for a pulse.
There was none.
Esteban had now made his way over. Looking down at Jimmy’s still form, he immediately suspected the worst.
‘Is he...?’
The Lucy-tulpa glanced at him. It was a look of genuine affection and he could see Emmy in its eyes – buried but not lost completely.
‘Not yet,’ it replied.
Then placing its palm over the young man’s heart, it sent forth a pulse of pure energy, using its unnatural form as a defibrillator.
Jimmy coughed and sputtered his way back to consciousness.
‘What happened?’ he asked. ‘Is it over?’
‘Not yet, my friend,’ replied Esteban. ‘But I think fortune is now working in our favour. Our work is done. It’s time for Emmy to take over.’
The tulpa stared at him for a brief moment, confusion in its eyes.<
br />
‘My name is Lucy,’ it told him. ‘Now forgive me for leaving so abruptly, but I have a job to do.’
And then it vanished.
Chapter 42
‘Lock down the command centre,’ ordered General Tao. ‘We cannot allow that thing to get in here.’
‘I do not think we can stop it, General,’ replied Major Heng. ‘Surrender may be our only option.’
The general shot his subordinate a look of disdain.
‘Surrender – when victory is assured? I think you need to reappraise our situation here, Major. The chosen ones are making their way to the targets as I speak. It is Dr Rayne and her pathetic band of misfits who are heading toward irrevocable defeat – not I.’
‘But, General...’
‘Enough, Major Heng. We will make a stand here. If anything breaches the command centre, we will deal with it. Do you understand?’
‘Yes, General.’
The major returned to his command console and activated all of the fail-safes. Every internal door within the compound was sealed shut and the interlocking corridors flooded with poisonous gas. It may not be enough to stop a tulpa, but they could at least guarantee nothing human made it through.
Once sure there was nothing more that could be done, General Tao sat down at his desk and unlocked the small security safe hidden behind one of his drawers. From within, he withdrew a metal cylinder roughly a foot in length with a circumference of just two inches. He then unscrewed the top and removed a syringe from inside. The toxic substance it contained was glowing emerald green with the distinctive hue of astral radiation.
***
‘Where did she go?’ asked Emmy.
‘I don’t know,’ replied Esteban. ‘I was hoping that you would.’
The scientist shook her head.
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