by Tobias Roote
It must have showed in his face, because Annie took hold of his hand, reassuring him. Her strength had returned, and with it, her calm assurance that all was well with her world which, for the most part, included Frank Garner and everything he was and did. She would go wherever he did, her love for this man unfailing in its resolve.
- 26 -
Zeke arrived at the Fortress at 08:20 am in his new A-Grav car, a fast streamlined shuttle that used some form of cell technology the boffins had put together for propulsion. They had taken the anti-gravity technology and geared it to set heights so that they could develop a multi-level freeway within the cities.
Pod had disabled the Fortress shield as well as all of fields within the buildings, including personal shields. There were no additional responses from security, which made Zeke wonder what was going on. The Fortress was supposed to be properly manned and secure ; yet, here he was not even being hailed on the communication channels set aside for arrivals.
Pod confirmed that Ferris was still there and in his office, no further information was available. For some reason, all monitoring systems seemed to be giving unreliable results. Zeke suspected that the scattering technology, employed by the Pentagon, was also employed here in an upgraded format. He also believed, but Pod hadn’t confirmed either way, that there were other advances not declared and utilised here. He would have to tread carefully.
The rest of the rebellion had been resolved. All of the other conspirators had been picked up and it just left Ferris to be collected. They could have done it by D-Field transfer, but Zeke thought it better to manage it himself. Pod had its hands full with managing just about everything in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on President Garner.
It had been a close run thing ; disabling the rebels while also having to be in a position to coordinate the removal of all of the officers and sergeants. Any of the men who knew what the objective was, that would follow orders and were suspected of being complicit in the conspiracy, had been transferred to Pod’s Island location. They would then be monitored by the additional Hover Globes Pod had manufactured until something could be done about them. That would be up to the new President to deal with.
The enlisted men had wandered around for a bit. In the absence of any superior, or communication equipment which had also mysteriously disappeared, they eventually phoned home to be told to stand down and return to barracks. Only one unit had to be intercepted by Pod, as they attempted to carry out the last order given. All of them were removed to the island.
Schaeffer, probably the most prominent military figure in the Pentagon, couldn’t exactly run and hide and was relieved of his command on arrival in Washington. He had travelled with his co-conspirator Jake Jefferson who, after trying to assassinate President Garner, was swiftly transported together with Schaeffer by Pod to the same location as the others, who were left in the cavern where Pod first built the T-ship.
There was nothing there, but water and game. The island was far from shipping lanes and there were no communication facilities. They were, in effect, imprisoned, and only Pod knew the exact location.They would remain there until such time as order had been restored, when the new President would have the opportunity of dealing with them, however it was deemed acceptable.
Zeke noted that the Fortress, normally a hive of activity, was now almost silent except for a few guards on the roof and realised that the place had been shut down in anticipation of the coup. He smiled.
He knew where Ferris’ office was and made his way to the floor where they had their meetings. Ferris liked his position as CIC of the Fortress and had availed himself of every convenience on offer. Ferris’ office was a place of grandeur, Zeke realised, more like the Oval office, than a General’s.
Zeke found him sitting in his chair sucking on a large cigar, immaculately turned out for a victorious arrival at Washington’s most famous of houses. Strangely, he was not surprised at all at Zeke’s arrival. He actually appeared pleased to see him.
“Well ! If it isn’t the ‘alien minder’ himself. Glad you could drop by, Zeke.”
“That’s good, Ferris, because I came here to tell you your plot to overthrow the government failed this morning. Every single conspirator has been rounded up without a shot being fired. Now, that’s a pretty poor show for an ex-Marine, wouldn’t you say ?”
“Oh, I guessed it would,” Ferris agreed. “Those goons thought they could run a country. I knew they couldn’t run a spoon race. They were just the cannon fodder, in true Marine style.”
Zeke was astounded. He hadn’t considered Ferris to be anything other than an over-promoted sergeant. To even consider that he could out think some of the top bods at the Pentagon came as a surprise. Yet here he was, cool as cucumber, telling him they were goons and he knew it. It must be the Alacite he has been taking, thought Zeke.
“So, what has it all been for, then, Ferris ? You didn’t look that stupid when we first met.”
“What it’s been for, Mr Callaghan, is money and power. I have amassed quite a nice fortune selling technology on the black market. You would be surprised at how many people will pay for exclusive developments coming out of the Fortress. Stuff you are not even aware of.
You see, Callaghan, I discovered something quite important about the alien patterns that we were given. They had been handed to us as was, no improvements, no design changes. They were originals. Don’t you think that strange ?”
Zeke knew that Zirkos and Ship had modified blueprints for themselves, but wasn’t going to correct Ferris on that point. Better for him to continue to thinking as he did.
“Not really, Ferris, it represented a massive advance on our technology,” Zeke replied wondering where this was going.
“It’s strange, Callaghan, an alien race superior to us, using blueprints it had copied from thousands of other species with technical know-how, only used them as they were designed.” He pointed his cheroot at the piles of drawings and blueprints on his desk representing the latest technology on the planet.
“The reason, my Ferrazine friend, is that the aliens were users, not innovators. They had what they copied and could build, but they couldn’t modify a darned thing. They were just mobile factories ; obtain raw materials, manufacture and utilise.”
He stood and walked around the desk to put himself level with Zeke.
“The scientists here were all innovators. Do you realise what happens when you give a new toy to these guys ? They tear it apart and don’t put it back together until they have understood every single component. Then they redesign it and build it anew, but better. They know the technology so they find different applications for it.”
Zeke knew differently. They had plenty of modified applications, but these weren’t shared with the scientists because Zirkos had insisted they made their own way in progressing the technology. They had in fact, done exactly as predicted and Zeke realised that Ferris did too. so, what was this about ?
Zeke prepared for an assault by Ferris. He knew he was probably as fast or even faster than he was. He had seen the medical reports and had never considered that Ferris would be a threat to him. He regretted that now.
“Oh, you look surprised, Zeke. You with the all-seeing, all-hearing Alien and his compootah. Ah yes, sorry I forgot, he’s gone off hunting for his brothers and sisters. Ha ! well, it’s just you and me, then.”
“You can’t win Ferris, you’re on your own. If you resist me, you will be hunted down, there’s no escape for you here.” Zeke tried to talk him down, at the same time preparing himself for the showdown he could see coming.
Ferris wasn’t finished. “I agreed to be you, Zeke. I took the Ferrazite and incorporated it into my body, I let the scientists do what they had to do. They kept me alive by blood transfusions as my body began to mutate, but unlike you I haven’t stopped, Zeke. My brain is as powerful now as any of the scientists that work for me, my body is tougher even than yours. I’m not impregnable, I can’t sto
p a bullet, but I know I can squeeze the life out of you.”
“Well, I wondered if you were man enough to give it a try, Ferris. You didn’t do so well the last time.”
Ferris laughed. “I don’t need to try, Callaghan, I have already beaten you. Besides, I have more important things to do. I only waited because I knew you would come personally and I had gone to so much trouble to prepare a nice surprise for you.”
Zeke didn’t understand what he meant. He could easily match him, it wouldn’t be pleasant, but he wasn’t going to just let him go.
Ferris turned and walked past him with his new lightening speed, pressing one of the buttons on his jacket. He was still only yards from him, and Zeke wondered if he could take him before he got to the door.
As he moved to cut him off and tackle him, Zeke unexpectedly bounced backwards hitting a forcefield that had suddenly activated between them. His speed of impact rebounded Zeke all the way back to the desk.
Unhurt, he stood and looked around to find a way to reach Ferris before he walked out of the door.
“Ah, you thought to take me, Zeke. Well I could give you the opportunity, but I know there are more troops on their way in and you were just the advance party, so I don’t want to hang around and play-fight with you, even though I can beat you with my improved skills.”
Walking up to the field Zeke felt its pressure against his hand. He tried to push through the field, but as he did so, he felt it move towards him.
It forced him to step back pushing him further into the centre of the room.
He angled across in an attempt to find the edge of the field, or to reach one of the side doors, but it was already blocked off there by another forcefield. Moving back towards the desk he found he couldn’t reach it, another forcefield had activated behind him.
Zeke was now completely trapped in a cubed forcefield. One he didn’t have the override codes for, unless Pod responded to his call for help. He was mentally calling it, but there was no response and he wondered if the signal was being blocked by Ferris, probably, he suspected grimly thinking that Ferris had planned this all well.
“You won’t get away, Ferris, there isn’t a place in the world you can hide,” Zeke shouted at Ferris as he was disappearing through the door. At the same time he was mentally calling for Pod’s assistance with desperate urgency.
Ferris turned to reply. “Oh, but I will, Zeke. You see, I have enough new technology to keep me safe from Garner and his new Space Council and without your friendly alien around to protect them, there’s nowhere for them to turn. I have been stockpiling new technology and if the world wants any of it, they will have to ask me, nicely !” He chortled.
Ferris backed into the room a little to deliver his ‘coup de gras’, “but you won’t be around to see any of it.” He pointed towards Zeke, “that’s a completely new design of forcefield with the combined crushing power of Cheyenne Mountain all in the space of a few cubic yards !”
Zeke could see the fire in the man’s eyes. Sensing the maliciousness of his mood, Zeke realised he had greatly under estimated the man, as well as a lot of other things. A moment of clarity forced itself on Zeke as he realised you cannot expunge evil from a world just by giving people the ability to protect themselves. His naivety had created this monster and now the world would suffer unless he could escape. Which seemed more and more unlikely as Zeke fought the combined pressure of the forcefields.
“I had this forcefield especially developed as a final gift for you, Zeke. Initially, I just wanted to beat you to a pulp, but as my abilities grew, the desire to do so was overtaken by a greater ambition - to rule this planet. I have you to thank for that, Zeke. You set it all up beautifully for me with your dealing with both Russian and Chinese resistance leaving me with an open-door to expand my own ambitions.”
Ferris sucked on his cigar blowing the smoke out. He was now so close the cloud of smoke reached the force field. It spread out in a thin cloud screening him temporarily from Ferris, also subtly showing Zeke that he was trapped in an airtight container.
Ferris went to walk away again, his final words to Zeke were,
“Now, you should see what this forcefield does when it gets to a point where there is nowhere else for you to go !” He laughed as he walked casually back to the office doorway in preparation for leaving seemingly not in a hurry to go.
- 27 -
The man was right ! Zeke could feel the pressure building now to the point he was feeling uncomfortable. His personal shield, which had no override code, was working still, but there was just him and it against the massively powered forcefield. He tried mentally controlling his shield to get it to expand, but there wasn’t enough power in the unit to hold it. Instead, the shield began to shrink under the crushing pressure and the power drain.
“Sorry, Zeke,” Ferris was chuckling. “I would love to stay and watch your ‘crushing’ defeat, but I have to leave for my Swiss mountain retreat.” He laughed again and waved.
“Bye bye, old chap.” Ferris jestingly faked an English accent.
As he left, the door closed behind him, while Zeke felt the pressure continue to rise as the battle between the forcefield and personal shield continued to grow. He physically had nowhere to go. His body was being squeezed in a vice, the air pressure increasing, his breaths getting shorter as the ability to take a lungful of air became more and more difficult. He began to see stars as oxygen starvation began to take hold.
He had maybe a few seconds before his ribs collapsed puncturing the lungs. Already his shoulder joints felt as if they were compacting and he knew they would, in turn, crush his spine. Knowing all this did nothing to help him as he felt himself dying inch by inch.
He could no longer breathe as his body began to buckle under the pressure. The shield was still holding back much of it, but when that gave out, he would be turned into a red pulp of bone and tissue. ‘So much for the added strength of the Alacite in his system’, he thought
The idea of Ferris winning, drove him to one last mental scream for help.
‘PODDIE !’
***
Ferris chuckled as he made his way on to the roof. That Zeke, he thought, so cocksure of himself, even without the alien around to protect him, or ‘zap’ him out of trouble. Callaghan had greatly underestimated him, he reasoned to himself, he had indeedy !
Callaghan had walked into the carefully laid trap that Ferris had waited so long to spring. No, he wasn’t going to gamble everything on a trial of strength. His plans were too far along and if there was the smallest chance that Callaghan had enough ability and strength to overpower him, he did not intend to risk it. No, not for him a Superman vs Goliath test of strength, he had no time for all of that. He had more important things to deal with.
Anyway, outsmarting the bastard was much more satisfying.
He was still chortling when he got to the last set of stairs.
He reached the roof where his personal A-Grav ship awaited, walked up the ramp. The soldiers who had stood guard outside jumped in behind him while the pilot, who had been waiting for Ferris to arrive, proceeded to take off.
The small ship was fast, much faster than anything available to the Military. It was also Ferris’ own personal limousine.
As the Gravjet slipped through the air, continuing to build speed ready for the sonic boom, Ferris dialled his Swiss Fortress, their new HQ, which housed his small team and scientists. The manufacturing had been dispersed around the world so it couldn’t be tracked. Even if it were, the new forcefields they had designed were far superior to the ones the rest of the world was using.
Goeth’s face appeared on the screen.
“It all went according to plan, then ?” he asked.
“Absolutely,” he crowed.
“Zeke Callaghan is no more. We are safe from him, he hadn’t even learned how to use his new abilities. The forcefield was more than enough.”
“Good, then we are on course for world domination withou
t any more interruptions,” Goeth smirked triumphantly. “When that alien gets back we will deal with him too.”
Having watched the growing power of the General, Goeth had wisely decided to align himself with a rising star. He used his influence with the other scientists to encourage a more secretive arrangement with their technological breakthroughs on the grounds of protecting the Earth’s interests from alien interference.
He had succeeded Jannson by murdering him and, being considerably brighter and more ambitious, had joined in a formidable partnership with Ferris. Together they represented an unopposable force.
“I will be there in a few hours,” Ferris announced, signing off with a click of the button.
He gazed out of the window at the world below and before him as they flew at low levels to avoid higher flying aircraft still using antiquated jet fuel.
It was much less crowded down here, than up there. They could still hit something, but the newly designed forcefields installed on hisGravjet would ensure that, if they did, he probably wouldn’t notice.
His plans had just moved ahead in a big leap. Confusion ruled in the US. The attempted coup had distracted them enough to allow Ferris to remove the last of their links with America, and now he would replace their oppressive world leadership with his own. With the alien gone and Callaghan dealt with, there was literally nothing to stop him from achieving his ambition.
Even the newly formed Space Council were playing into his hands, providing added technological growth that would leapfrog them into space where his dominion could expand. Ferris had no doubts that he could achieve everything he desired. The Ferrazine in his body was continuing to improve his metabolism, he would probably live for many, many years and his mind was becoming his greatest asset. It was why he didn’t want a trial of strength with Callaghan, he valued his growing mental strength more than proving anything at a physical level.
He would continue to build his forces and equip them with the latest technology. When he was ready, they would take that puny little Space Council and toss them all into outer space with a tractor beam.