by Peter Repton
Just as he was about to get back into his Mercedes, he noticed a young redhead struggling to get the filler cap off her red Vauxhall Corsa at the next pump. David decided to go to her aid when she managed somehow to release it herself. David climbed into his seat and drove away towards the top of the hill, passing a man on a strange three-wheeled motorbike along the orbital ring road. David drove in the direction of the beckoning moon. He drove along the crest of the ridge for almost two miles then turned off down a single-track road to the right and through the small and quiet village of Risby.
David stopped in a remote, elevated spot. He had parked here often, once with Sarah long ago to get a good view of the Hale-Bopp comet many years before. He looked out across the River Ancholme valley to the East with his engine still running. The sky now was cloud-free, the first clear night for a long time. The air was so clear he could see the lights on the Humber Bridge in the distance. David often crossed the bridge to the main dialysis unit at Hull on the opposite side of the mighty river.
Until a few years previous, this had been the longest suspension bridge in the world. From David’s high vantage point, he saw the beautiful full moon rising over the Lincolnshire Wolds. He gazed across the River Ancholme valley and could make out the features of the craters on the moon. They gave the bright distant orb an illusion of having a face. The bright moon was suddenly replaced now by a new brilliance dazzling him and forcing him to close his eyes tightly shut. The light appeared to originate from somewhere just above the car and shone in a wide circle covering a radius of over twenty feet around him. It must be the spotlight of a police helicopter he thought for a few seconds. Then in an attempt to locate the cause of this sudden incandescent surreal white light, David thumbed the control button on the door of his Mercedes, trying to open the side window with the intention of sticking his head out to see just what the hell was going on. The window obliged when he pressed the control. It started to slide down, stopping half way as the power failed. The engine then died as well and at the same time, all the cars lights went off. David felt a crushing pain in his head like nothing he had ever experienced before. The pain intensified, and he involuntarily screamed out aloud. Then he felt his stomach left behind in a sudden upward movement. The car was slowly rising into the air. He panicked as his Mercedes continued the slow ascent. His muscles felt paralysed; David could not move his arms or legs an inch.
David felt the same as in one of the dreams he often had when he would imagine an intruder to be inside his house and creeping up the stairs. In this dream it was always the same, he would try to shout out aloud to frighten the intruder away. Trying to alert his wife Sarah to the danger, but he could never move at all. His mind seemed to be awake, but his body and muscles were still fast asleep. The dreams always ended up the same way, with him waking up screaming in the middle of the night and Sarah frightened half to death by the sudden disturbance. But, that was before his new frightening dreams took on their apocalyptic nature a few weeks ago.
Now his terror was rising more as he realised he could only move his eyes, David looked out of the half-open car window to his right with utter amazement. The car passed through a narrow aperture blocking out the light from above. He could see out into the distance beyond for a few brief seconds. He was now at the same height as a block of flats that bordered the town’s market area almost three miles away. These were thirteen stories high, about one hundred and twenty feet. The last thing visible was the perfect reflection of the full moon on the surface of a small but elongated lake in the distance.
A loud whirring noise lasted for a few seconds and then the only remaining sound was a continuous, low pitched humming in the background. The car door opened and powerless to resist, David got dragged from his seat. He tried to open his eyes to see, but the light with a greater brilliance than the sun forced them closed again.
David then experienced something beyond anything encountered in his thirty-six years. He heard a soft voice, a gentle, sweet voice. He could not determine if it were the voice of a male or a female such was its tonal quality. The voice said to him.
‘Do not be afraid.’ David had never heard a voice quite like it before, and yet, in a way he recognised it.
‘Please, do not be afraid. I am with you.’ It was so warm and soft and sweet that it made him feel like a child comforted by his mother. The most incredible strangeness was that he did not hear this voice through his ears at all. It had emanated from deep inside his head. For a split second David thought he had gone insane or at the least, he must be imagining all this. That was it; he must have dozed off while looking at the moon and was now dreaming this whole thing. He would have to pinch himself somehow to wake himself up and then he could drive home to Sarah again.
‘You are not dreaming.’ the voice spoke to him softly again, somehow reading his mind.
‘This experience is real, and you must not be afraid. I will reveal all a little step by a little step in due course, just like a baby learning to walk. But not for a while yet, now you must now try to relax as forced telepathy of this kind may damage you. When you wake, you will not remember this, but I promise you’ll be alright.’ David tried to mouth the words.
‘Who are you? What do you want?’ But still, he could not move at all.
‘I have been the one providing you with insight so far,’ the sweet voice cooed, ‘But the one who has taken you now has other plans for you.’ David felt his back touch a cold metallic platform and he was gently laid down face up, powerless to resist. Then something sharp pricked the back of his neck. Two seconds passed before he lapsed into unconsciousness. Just a little over half a mile away, on the banks of a small lake, two anglers had settled in for a night fishing session, with large carp as their intended target.
They were already camping at the lakeside for the previous two days in a particular kind of tent called a Bivvy. They had just put fresh baits out into the lake and set the audible bite indicator alarms on their rods. They both enjoyed many good nights sport on the water. During night sessions, they would usually drink six or seven cans of beer. Darren, the younger of the two anglers, spotted the brilliant light in the sky first. He told his mate Steve to look towards the object. The intense light went off after about forty seconds, leaving them both dazzled, and with spots in front of their eyes. Steve decided to report the strange sighting to the local police station on his new cell phone. He got into contact with a rude desk clerk, who upon hearing his slurred speech swore at him and hung up. The nearest bite alarm screamed as a hard running fish took one of the baits. Both men were preoccupied now. Neither of them heard the low pitched humming sound. Nor saw the large black silhouette that blotted out a circle of the starlit sky. The shadow passed away over their heads and moved in the direction of Fred Wilkes farm to the south. It passed over Messingham Sands towards the farm where it deposited the silver Mercedes and soon afterwards it also dropped off David Kempston somewhere else.
43
Mark Wainwright demanded a short break for his client. Wainwright needed one too after David's astounding claim of his abduction. Barry Smith went outside for a much-needed cigarette. Ford rushed into the nearby incident room with an excited look on his face and blurted out aloud to Wilson.
‘This guy is a fucking wacko after all. He’s gone stark staring mad. The loony bastard not only claims aliens abducted him, but that the little green fuckers have given him some mission to fulfil to save us. Jesus Christ, how fucked up is that?’ Taking a deep breath, Ford continued.
‘Kempston says once again that he is completely innocent of any crime. But this guy Sammy who did it is in league with Satan. Can you believe all this shit, Wilson? Are you listening to me?’ Wilson was still staring at the photograph of the missing redhead.
‘I hear you sir; I knew he was a maniac when I saw him holding the severed head of that lovely wife of his. I am concerned for the life of Lucy Higgins; has he admitted what he has done to her yet?’ Andrew answered with genuine
concern in his voice.
‘No such luck he claims he got whisked away and remembered nothing until he woke up wet in a field on Sunday evening. Then he said he headed straight home to see his wife when you and Robert’s tried to apprehend him. How convenient eh?’ Andrew just nodded.
‘Right, after his tea break I am going to have another go at him,’ Ford left Wilson alone in the incident room. He saw Roberts taking a cup of coffee into the recording equipment room.
‘Can you believe what he just said in there to us, under bloody oath as well, can you imagine what he will say next?’ Robert's shook his head, disappearing back inside and closing the door. Unknown to Ford, Robert’s had used the break to upload via his phone a copy video of the morning’s interview onto YouTube. He intended to do the same with the next session. Then if he felt it appropriate, he would upload this one also giving Bob Staples a link to both of them.
The same group from earlier reconvened in the interview room. Ford started interrogating David. His opening gambit was laced with sarcasm.
‘Kempston do you think you could get your E.T friend to verify your alibi of where you were on the fifth of May,’ a chuckle from one of the correctional officers echoed around the room.
‘That is not currently possible, but I feel it in my bones Raphael will be here very soon,’ another loud chuckle from the guard as David glanced up at Robert’s through the glass window.
‘Now I will tell you what he Raphael has revealed to me so far especially about all these increasingly violent volcanic episodes reported in all the newspapers and causing panic. I will also reveal what that means for all the rest of us as well,’ David said as the guard stopped chuckling.
‘I have a gifted insight into the way of things. These volcanic events are the beginning of the end of days for us. Long before humans walked this Earth, a great many repeated volcanic events of an unimaginable size time have and time again resulted in the near total extinction of all life on this planet. Some were huge flood basalt events and the others were massive single volcanoes such as Yellowstone and Toba. They released billions of tonnes of ash into the atmosphere.
Ash in the form of dust particles blocks out sunlight and this inhibits photosynthesis in plants. The plants then all die and cause the entire food chain to collapse both on land and in the sea. Sulphur oxide causes acid rain to fall that then poisons all species. Despite all this mega death; in this universe, nothing goes to waste.
Plants and trees and other inanimate life absorb energy from the Sun as they live and grow. But when they die, this energy remains stored and stays in them. We know that this energy over time converts into coal and oil. We burn them as fossil fuels thus releasing their energy,’ everyone in the room became silent and was so enraptured with David’s delivery. You could have heard a pin drop.
‘With animate life forms, the situation is much different,’ David paused for just a few heartbeats before continuing.
‘All mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and all creatures that move absorb energy. They grow from tiny eggs at the moment of conception until their time of death. Then upon death, they unleash an invisible burst of powerful energy into the atmosphere. Many religions are aware of this and various faiths over many millennia call it the liberation of the soul. Human vanity leads them to believe it is only our species that have a soul, also that the soul travels to a place of wonder. But they are incorrect. It is a release of energy accrued during life then released upon death into the atmosphere. Physics has proved energy never dies or gets wasted in the cosmos. This energy then rises up to a membrane that I will call a veil for simplicity. Vessels arrive from outside of the veil to collect, enhance and process it. When processed it becomes powerful and becomes what our scientists now call Dark Energy,’ David looked into everyone’s eyes in turn including Robert’s on the other side of the window. He could see they were all stunned but noticed the obvious scepticism on Jack Ford’s face. David took a sip of the glass of water provided for him and went on.
‘This continuous release of Dark Energy produced by the death of living beings when processed becomes the propellant that expands the universe. The birth of new stars and eventually their life-supporting planets maintains this process to colonise space over vast periods of time. Hence even our deaths will create life. The deaths of future generations of living beings will propel the universes expansion. These occasional mega extinctions, wars and pandemics help to speed it up.’
David took another sip of water, knowing it almost time to end his revelation. He knew they could not absorb much more. His final statement was most profound.
‘Scientists are aware of this invisible darkness that surrounds the visible cosmos because it makes up the greater part of the universe, but they do not understand its source. It is into this darkness that we all must go. When we pass into the dark upon our death, it appears at first to our human eyes as a bright light. But it is, in fact, total darkness. The light we think we see is our dying eyes getting confused by the release of our inner energy into the void. Every one of our ancestors exists in this darkness around us as a pure energy form. This energy propels us forwards throughout time and space,’ David paused again as if hearing a voice in his head and his hooded green eyes widened a little.
‘These mass extinctions not only speed up the expansion of life on our planet but on many other life supporting planets as well. They erase all the old dominant species that then get harvested to make way for the new arrivals that will come to replace them,’ David’s eyes glazed over and lost their bright green gleam as he held his head in both hands. His nose then suddenly started bleeding and then he collapsed onto the floor in a heap, and for a long time, no one reacted.
44
Bob Staples, the expert geologist had just finished taking a shower. Now he was using a comb and an electric shaver trimmer to tidy up his black flecked grey beard. Seeing his reflection in the mirror, Bob saw he looked a lot older than his sixty-two years now, his dark brown eyes were surrounded by shadows, making him look so tired. Bob had not slept much since the start of the revelations, he was running now only on fear and adrenaline.
There seemed to be a lull in the escalation of global events with only moderate swarms now of earthquakes coming out of Yellowstone. Bob assumed the magma chamber was still pushing hard upwards as it expanded. It was a similar story over in Indonesia where Toba was getting more active by the day. A massive dome started to form on one side of Samosir Island due to the enormous pressures within. Bob decided to make himself some breakfast before heading down to the Mosque to pray as today was Friday the Muslim holy day. Bob switched the coffee pot on after taking some eggs from the fridge. Then he heard his laptop chime to tell him that he had got mail. Unable to resist his curiosity, he wiggled the laptop touch pad to bring the screen to life.
‘Mr. Staples please check out these links,’ was the simple message from an unknown sender in the United Kingdom who was called Paul Roberts. Highlighted in blue were two underlined web links to YouTube under the heading Kempston Insights. Staples clicked the first and immediately decided to give his breakfast a miss.
Further to the South in Denver, Nick West was eating his breakfast in the campus dining room and thinking about his previous lunch date with Lisa. The lunch went well, so he had invited her over to his place for dinner tomorrow night. Lisa hesitated a little before accepting. Nick could not get his earlier conversation with Bob Staples out of his mind.
Nick after finishing the last of his pancakes and jelly took out his cell phone and called Bob. The call went to voicemail, so Nick left a message for Bob to call him back. Nick left the dining room to head for his class when his cell rang.
‘I am leaving for England Nick. I am packing a few things then heading down to Seattle, getting a flight out to Newark New Jersey and from there I will be catching United Airlines flight bound for London Heathrow. The English guy Kempston is a prisoner now. I have just seen his latest revelations captured by a video. I have to
meet with him in person as I have many unanswered questions. I just have to go Nick.’
‘Bob what on earth are you saying? You must have lost your mind. That guy is a criminal, a monster that has butchered his wife and at least two other women. What the hell can he tell you? How to Halal kill your girlfriend?’ Nick was shouting now and attracting worried looks from nearby students.
‘I don’t believe he did those things Nick, I know evil exists, but not in him. Not this man. He sees things before they happen, I think he has this gift for a good reason,’ Bob said with almost admiration in his voice.
‘His gift as you call it appears to be the decapitation and mutilation of women. They are not qualities that impress me,’ Nick said shocked by Bob's decision.
‘Well I leave soon and I will keep in touch,’ Bob paused, ‘Farewell my friend we have enjoyed some splendid times together. I will cherish those memories as we get nearer to the end.’
‘Hold on Bob old buddy. Look how about I go with you? If you think it is the end I do respect your opinion; I would rather be with you than anyone else,’ just then an image of Lisa came into his head, but he dismissed it.
‘I can fly from Denver to New York, meeting you there at Newark airport. That will be shorter than your flight from Seattle, but I can be at the airport in an hour. I travel real light when I have nothing left to live for,’ he smiled into the phone.
‘That is gracious of you Nick; I will appreciate the company. I will send you the link to the videos so you can see what I saw then I will see you in New Jersey,’ Bob hung up. Nick turned on his heels away from the direction of his classroom and went back out of the campus heading for home deciding to postpone the dinner date with Lisa, perhaps for good. He called her.