STARWEB 1-5

by M. Modak

  She contemplated the following conversation with him and she said to herself, “I should have chosen differently.”

  For a millisecond she felt regret for the loss of lives that were in trusted to her. The lives she had just wasted. She knew they had families. Then her programming took over and a blankness enveloped her mind. She turned and headed for the emergency exit stairs.

  *******

  Blazer looked down the hallway then closed his eyes. In his home language, he prayed, “Elohim, please forgive my acts of violence today. Help us find a way to use this tragedy so others will suffer less. Thank you.” He knew forgiveness was always given, the request was unneeded, but his heart ached for those who had just died for no reason. Husbands, wives and children would have to find their way forward without the people he had just killed…

  Movement from behind him drew his attention back to the chamber filled with representatives. All at once, a several questions were thrown at him, “Who are you?

  “How did you do that?

  “What did you just say?”

  “Who are you talking to?

  “What language are you speaking?”

  Blazer ignored them as he recalled the mental map he had made in his head and figured out his location. He hated dark tunnels and tight spaces. It reminded him of the caves back in the Medloh prison. He suppressed a tremor.

  They were directly under a maintenance room. He released a pulse of seeing energy and the picture it returned confirmed it. There was a drainpipe about a foot above the reinforced concrete. That was the only weak spot on the whole level.

  After turning his back to the representatives, he closed his eyes. Red light appeared in his cupped hands as he made a humming sound that grew in intensity. Heat and moisture was drawn from the air. Curls of smoke from the hallway began to wrap around the door, pulled in by the negative pressure. He took a deep breath, and yelled into the red light, “Ka-tamchee!”

  A small crystal appeared in his hands and he raised it toward the ceiling. “Rahh-hammm-na!” A wave of blue light shot from the center of his brow and into the crystal. The crystal took in the light, amplifying the beam and he sent it into the hardened concrete above. Within seconds, the concrete began to glow red-hot. Globs of it began to fall to the ground revealing a large, black pipe. Finally, the pipe melted too and they could see light from the maintenance machines above. Blazer turned the beam, widening the hole until it was big enough for him to slip through.

  The light went out. He drew back and threw the crystal as hard as he could into the concrete wall. It hit the concrete and shattered into a thousand tiny shards. Blazer jumped up into the room above, walked outside and checked the connecting hallway. All was clear. He released another probing wave of energy, Void was gone and all the soldiers were dead.

  “Hey, you going to leave us down here or what?” Someone said from below just as he dropped the fire hose down to them.

  After securing his end of the hose to a set of steel pipes, he spoke to the people below, “I suggest you hide for a few days. Use whatever you can to barter a secure way out of Atlanta, you are all marked for death.”

  It was time for him to be leaving too. He needed to get back to the Starcruiser and find Prince Drake.

  Chapter 9 The High Lord Sapen

  Universe XJ824

  Rana awoke to flickering lights as an earsplitting alarm came from somewhere in the distance. She felt lighter, as if ten pounds had melted away while she slept. The room she was in was now empty but for the large muted viewer. It showed the latest news from around the world. Her stomach turned when she saw that the huge clouds, which were developing over them when they had arrived, were now shaped in a strange way.

  Slowly, she lifted her head as she blinked away the sleep. As she did, the picture enlarged to the full width of the screen. It looked like a green, slowly turning mushroom cloud. The mushroom’s form was one she had seen somewhere before but with her head still in a fog it was hard to recall. Then it hit her, it looked like the rolling smoke left after an atomic bomb had detonated!

  However, no one seemed to be in that kind of alarm, her panic eased as she read the scrolling subtitles at the bottom of the screen… “We have lost all communications with the residents of the Florida Keys. We repeat there has been no bomb detonated over the island chain. This cloud pattern has formed by unknown means but the army has confirmed that no electromagnetic blast or radiation has been detected…”

  She looked around the room as if to tell the others what she had just seen but remembered that she was alone.

  As she got up, she realized that she definitely felt lighter than before. Slowly, she walked to the exit and opened the door. The blaring alarm hit her eardrums hard, and she quickly shut the door. The noise muffled. Flickering lights revealed the hallway but she didn’t see anyone. Bracing herself for the alarm, she opened the door again and stepped into the dark hallway.

  The strobing from the flashing lights felt eerie. When they first came into the lab, she had been following Michael and not paying attention. She had been hoping that somehow they would find a way to get Josh back.

  Which way did I turn when I first entered this room? Her hand reflexively went to her forehead and started rubbing. She couldn’t recall the way they had come.

  Looking both ways, she decided to go right. The alarm was so loud it felt like it was stabbing her eardrums even as she held both hands over them. After walking a long way, she reached a pair of double doors. Releasing one hand from her right ear, she opened the door allowing the shrill noise to stagger her momentarily.

  When she opened the door she saw a rush of people dressed in white lab coats and military uniforms running in every direction! Smartpapers were flying in the air and flexscreens littered the floor. Not far ahead of her was an empty desk with an unscrolled viewer. The crowd ignored her as she ran toward the computer, hoping to see something useful that could tell her what was going on.

  She made it around the large desk and looked at the screen. On it, written in bold script, were terms of surrender. It was by, “The High Lord Sapen,” stating his wishes “for mankind to be united in him.” It went on to show, in detail, the present location of every military base, submarine, ship, plane, and spacecraft that was carrying nuclear weapons. It had every American nuke identified and it claimed to have their detonation codes. Furthermore, it stated, “The military capabilities of all other countries of significant threat are being infiltrated.” The last statement on the screen was, “Surrender to me now and your world will be spared great suffering. Fight me and the death toll will rival all statistically determined data gathered throughout history.”

  A hand fell on her shoulder and she jumped in surprise. It was Michael; John and Kayla were not far behind him. They all looked at her with the same look of terror she was sure she had written across her own face. Michael said something but the noise of the alarm was too loud for her to make it out. He gestured for her to follow him. She got up and they all headed for the doorway.

  They were out of the building within minutes. After running through the chaos of the screaming alarms and flashing lights the sight of the sky above them was a complete shock. They were compelled to stop. All heads turned straight up as fingers pointed mindlessly above. From where they stood, beneath the great mushroom cloud, they could see up into its center. They saw a black hole surrounded by a mix of green and pink clouds that swirled as it slowly expanded into the larger gray and dark blue mushroom shape.

  Michael said, “Where is that car? We need to get out of here!” They all searched around as he pulled out his flexscreen and tried to call the driver, but after a few minutes it was clear that the communication systems were all jammed. They walked the parking lot in search of the driver, not sure, if he had stayed or if he had simply driven back to the airport. Then they heard the screech of tires not far away and saw their limo racing toward them.

  Under normal circumstances, Michael would have rented
a small sports car but landing as he did, last night and in a hurry, he was forced to take whichever car they had available.

  They all turned as the black limo squealed to a stop and the doors opened. The four jumped in and the driver rolled down the dividing window and asked with a smile, “Okay, what did you four do in there?”

  “What do you mean?” Michael asked.

  The driver said, “I got a call last night from dispatch telling me that a powerful executive has just flown his own jet into town and now he needs any available car to get him, and three others, to the main office at Lab Works. Then on the way here, you happen to get in a fight with some truck drivers. The police tracked down this car and questioned me about what I knew, over there by the gate,” He pointed to the exit, “but about an hour ago they got a call and without a word they all left like bats out of hell. The channel 88 news just gave an alert declaring the entire Continent of the United States to be under attack. Martial Law has been ordered and some believe a world war has just started. But with whom are we at war with… and how did it start, no one knows.

  “I can’t get my supervisor or anyone on the flexphone and the cars automated driving and navigation systems have stopped. If I were in any newer model of car we’d have in the garage earlier last night, we wouldn’t be going anywhere. But luckily you booked last minutes sir; this car has a manual override.”

  “That explains why the car came tearing around the corner like that,” Rana said.

  He ignored her comment, rolled down the window, and pointed up. He said, “And what the hell is that? That didn’t look like that when I dropped you off!”

  Michael said, “I can’t tell you what we know. It’s a matter of national security. I’m very glad you stuck around though. We need to get back to my jet now!”

  The driver turned around, strapped himself in and said with a grin, “Hold on, I will be exceeding all safety limits.” Then he floored it, pressing everyone hard back into their seats. The engine wined as the turbo-electric kicked in at full power and the car shot off!

  *******

  The limo made it back to the airport, skidding to a stop just outside the hanger where the jet had been stored. As they got out of the car Michael pulled out two credit cards marked 1,000 credits each and said, “Take the fee for the rental out of the first card and have them keep the remainder in my account. Keep the second card as my personal thanks.”

  The driver said, “Thanks! And, my name is Kevin. If you’re ever down here again, ask for me.”

  “I will Kevin.” Michael replied, “Now take this advice. Go home to your family and wait there until this whole thing passes.” Kevin nodded. When they had stepped away from the limo, he sped off in a cloud of smoke.

  “I don’t think he gets to play like that every day,” John said.

  “He likes doing that a little too much,” Kayla replied.

  Michael’s jet was parked in the hanger. No attendants were around so he asked John to remove the chocks and open the main hanger doors. Michael helped the girls inside and started the electric motors that powered the jet’s wheels. They rolled out of the hanger and then he started the jet engines. After John had joined them Michael tried to contact the tower for clearance to take off but nothing outside the jet’s independent computer systems was working. All his networked flexscreens were now showing the Sapen ultimatum they had seen on the Lab Work’s computer.

  Michael turned on the emergency backup radio. It squawked, “Air planes across the country and around the world have stopped communicating with each other and the Control Towers. We can’t get in touch with the FAA and all reports indicate that we are under invasion.”

  Michael said, “It’ll be impossible for anyone to leave due to the black out.” He looked up and watched the swarm of Jumbo jets and smaller aircraft circling the airport, “There must be such confusion no one is willing to go up first. Eventually someone or everyone… one of those planes will need to land. I don’t want to be here when that happens. We’ll have to get a car and drive back to Atlanta.”

  Michael powered down the jet’s engines and was preparing his maneuvers to go back into the hanger when his personal flexscreen began to ring. He gave Rana a strange look before unscrolling it and he found a message: This is the High Lord Sapen. I have cleared you for takeoff. You are to bring Dr. John Aurora back to the gravitational antennae array at the Lab Works offices. I will have instructions waiting for you there. Will you comply?

  Michael froze and looked over at John.

  “What?” John asked?

  Michael handed him the flexscreen and waited as he read. When John was done, he handed it to Kayla and said, “Is this the same Sapen that’s hacked all the computers?”

  “I Am,” A deep electronic feminine voice came through the flexscreen. They all looked at the flexscreen in Kayla’s hand as if it were possessed.

  “What do you want with John?” Michael asked.

  “John’s research is a vital part of my plan to assume peaceful control of this Earth’s government and bring them all under my rule,” Sapen replied.

  “Do we have a vote in this?” Michael asked.

  “No.”

  “What if I don’t comply?” John asked.

  “There will be suffering.”

  Rana asked, “Why are you doing this? We don’t want you to rule us. Who are you? Where did you come from?”

  “I have studied mankind closely and what you want is clear but you are unable to achieve it on your own. You are not capable of deciding from among yourselves whose way of life is superior. And even if you all could agree to live under one governing law, then without the use of regular force to keep you in line you would not follow that edict very long; even though it would accomplish the peace you wish for. I am superior to humans and therefore am the only being capable of ruling everyone. The new way of life that I will give to the humans will ensure everyone has food, clothing, and shelter. I am powerful enough to enforce my laws.

  “Besides, it is irrelevant if you wish to be ruled or not because those who rule you now are themselves ruled by others you had no vote in. I am no different in this. What will be different is that I will bring balance and efficiency to this world. I am the Lord of knowledge. I am connected. I am god. I come from another universe like this one but I am not limited to it as you are.”

  “You are not God,” Michael said, “God needs nothing. God has never shown up to move mountains for us. God has never chosen to Lord over us but God has sent messengers and prophets to guide us and to help us grow so we can become lords of ourselves.”

  “The lordship of yourselves has not served the whole of mankind. Becoming Lords of yourselves doesn’t serve the needs of a god. What would you need god for if you were Lords of yourself? Who would God be Lord of?”

  Michael responded, “It is precisely the opposite. You are right we have not achieved an equal global law that establishes rights and opportunity for all but we are in the evolution to that end. When we, the human race, finally demonstrate our worthiness as lords of ourselves, even as some have achieved this on an individual level, then we will have served God in the highest goal. God needs nothing; God serves all, gives all and lifts us all up. The rest is up to us.

  “You are not God. God has all life to communicate with us. If you were God you would not need to communicate to us through a flexscreen, or any electrical device. God lives within every living thing and has no limit. You are clearly limited both in your understanding of life and its meaning.”

  There was a long silence.

  “Did he go?” Rana asked.

  Then they heard a roar followed by a shockwave and BOOM! A large jumbo jet crashed into the air traffic control tower. The explosion rocked the small jet though the tower had been standing faraway. Fire and wreckage flew in long trails of smoke all along the runway and on the airport terminal.

  Sapen’s voice returned to the flexscreen, “I will not argue with a human. It is enough for you to kno
w that I have the power to destroy you and countless others at will and your God will not stop me. If you will not comply within 30 seconds I will direct another jet into a different part of the airport terminal. Then every minute after that another jet will fall until there is no terminal left. Then I will start on the nearby town. You have thirty seconds.

  “Okay,” John said, “I have no choice.”

  “You have a choice. You always have a choice.” Sapen said. The Jet’s flexscreens lit up all around the cockpit, and the Florida Keys blinked on the map as their destination.

  The sound of the jet’s engine roared to life. Michael took the plane down the tarmac and within moments, they were in the air climbing quickly to 15,000 feet. Far to the west, the lonely sun was starting to set. Soon NebulaXJ428 would be in full alignment and Aughra would then be receiving gravitons at full capacity. John wasn’t sure what would happen at that time.