First Light: Book one of the Torus Saga

by Berg, Michael

  “Well. Those don’t look old,” Lyle said pointing to the multiple holographic projectors all showing the latest news concerning the recent events and providing advice about the heightened state of security in the United States. As they were about to enter, two men suddenly pushed past them both very eager to be inside. “Hey….”

  “Don’t worry,” Jenna said noticing Lyle’s disdain. “You’ll get used to that sort of thing.” Once inside they were shown to a booth table behind some curtains in the far corner. “This is nice. Keeps it private for us.” They sat down immediately in front of a unique statue set into an alcove in the wall. “Demon statue with protection,” Jenna said seeing Lyle look the figure up and down. “See there?” She pointed to a small urn placed in front of the statue figure filled with food, trinkets, and some other items. “Those are offerings made to keep the demon spirits at bay.”

  “Yes I know,” Lyle replied. “I have seen similar figures in my work, but none quite like this. I cannot make out or be sure what the headdress on the demon is for. It almost seems out of step with the rest of it. To be frank, more like a space helmet for want of a more accurate description. And see the inscription here? Translated it reads, Demon Lunar. What is that? Moon demon?”

  “Szechwan beef, pork dumplings, egg rolls...and green tea madam and sir,” the waiter said placing their meal on the table in front of them. As they ate, they discussed the merits of the statue behind them between mouthfuls, both intrigued by its’ appearance and keen to speculate on the truth of its’ meaning.

  Suddenly a man appeared at their booth as they sat sipping green tea at the end of their meal. “Please let me stay, sit with you a while.”

  “What? Why?” Lyle asked him as the man did not wait for an answer but just sat down next to him.

  “You must let me stay. People are after me,” the man said. “Much trouble.”

  “What trouble?”

  “Friend already taken, others look for me.”

  “Why?’ Jenna asked.

  “Better you not know details but to say I have important information they want. Just make out I am friend you see.” He pulled the plate of left over beef to himself and began eating as if he was sharing a meal with them.

  “Hey. We don’t want trouble,” Lyle said trying to force the plate away from him.

  “No, no. You not get trouble. Just friend you see.” He took the plate back and leaned low over it scooping food up with chopsticks. Two men paused outside the thin curtains separating the booth from others in the restaurant. All three of them pretended to be busily eating and drinking doing their best to ignore the potential intrusion. After the men had gone, they took up where the conversation had left off.

  “Why are you in trouble?” Lyle asked.

  “Information I have, they want.”

  “What information?”

  “To do with ancient memories. Dangerous information, powerful.”

  “Powerful. What do you mean?”

  “Cannot explain here. Trust me, I am not bad, good you see. Look.” He pointed to the demon statue behind them. “Demon. Strange, yet a coincidence I meet you here. I think we are meant to meet.”

  “What about the demon?” Jenna enquired leaning closer in towards the man.

  “This demon connected to power. Much power.”

  “Yes. But that is myth. Stories,” Lyle added.

  “There is truth in demon. Can you help me? I must escape.”

  “We can help you. Fong can get us out of here.” Jenna rose from her seat and pushed past the curtains heading for the kitchen. She returned a minute later. “Fong will help. This place has a tunnel that can take us under the building next door and out into an alley behind it. We must leave now. I think I saw those two men again.”

  “Then you can tell us more,” Lyle said getting up out of the seat.

  “I will tell but we need better place where nobody can listen.”

  “We’ll go to my place,” Jenna said. “I live near California Avenue just off Hyde Street.”

  “Good,” the Chinese man said. “Get away from inner city.” The three of them made off to the kitchen, Lyle first checking to see of the way was clear. It wasn’t.

  “Walk beside us,” Jenna said pushing the man to the right. They slowly walked the few yards to the kitchen door but were seen.

  “Hey you,” one of the men shouted. “Stop!”

  Jenna, Lyle, and the Chinese man broke into a run as they burst through the swing doors to the kitchen. Fong was waiting inside and directed them to what looked like a tall cupboard. “In here,” he said, as he gave the Chinese man a wink. They hurried inside to find a false back to the cupboard leading to stairs going down into a tunnel. As Fong closed the door behind them, the two assailants came into the kitchen looking around. “Gentlemen, how can I help you?” They said nothing but continued through the kitchen before leaving by the rear door to the alley outside.

  Chapter 3

  “This is HAARP station Alaska. Come in HAARP Norway.”

  “This is HAARP station Norway. We register your call. Standing by for instructions.”

  “OK Norway. We have you on-line. Please stand by for a resonance settings update.”

  “Standing by.”

  “We are engaging resonance generator now and increasing to eleven point zero Schumann.” Tobias Engelmann flicked an array of switches bringing the entire array on-line. The massive antenna array covering an area of seven acres deep within the Alaskan wilderness hummed into action, accompanied by a faint glow.

  “Norway. Set your array to eleven point zero Schumann in the one eight zero giga hertz bandwidth. We are requested to heighten status.”

  “OK Alaska. We copy that. Band width set, array engaged.” The antenna located in the northern region of the Scandinavian country hummed into action, sending a similar faint glow into the Arctic night sky.

  “Norway. Maintain this frequency until further advice,” Tobias added.

  “Confirm that Alaska. Heightened status engaged and holding until further advice.”

  Tobias looked out the station window across the valley illuminated by the glow of the HAARP array. A blanket of stars with a half moon shone above with the Pole Star looking almost close enough to touch. As he watched, the star seemed to be getting closer, confounding him for a moment. When the Pole Star then appeared from behind the light, he realized it was not actually the star itself, but a HyperJet on its’ way to the station. Runway lights then flicked on automatically sending bright beams heavenward and a few moments later the jet made landing. Tobias quickly checked all instruments then put on some outdoor gear to go and meet the visitors. With a heightened alert status, such visits were not unexpected, but somehow he felt unsure of this sudden visit to the station by what no doubt would be military officers. Two Skidoos were located just outside the main doors to the station, but he did not to take one, instead deciding to walk the hundred yards to the hanger at the end of the runway.

  Three officers each armed with laser pulse rifles emerged from the hanger - their large figures could be seen in the glow coming from the array. “This is a turn up,” Tobias said aloud to himself, pausing for a moment. He could not think of why these officers needed to be armed.

  With still about fifty yards between him and the three officers, he suddenly heard them yell. “Stay there! Remain where you are! You are under arrest.” He stopped where he was, for a moment wondering why they would demand he not move and also be placed under arrest. Then he ran. He knew something was very wrong and he had seen keys were in the Skidoo ignition of whichever one of the tow he decided to take. Responding to his actions, the officers opened fire as he ran towards the Skidoos amongst a volley of their laser pulses. One struck the ground right beside him, sending him scrambling onto the seat of the first snow vehicle. He turned the key, bringing it instantly to life and he accelerated away taking the only road out of the station.

  One of the officers took a Skidoo in chase whilst
the other two entered the station command center throwing all vicinity lights on. Two rows of high intensity bulbs alongside the road illuminated Tobias and his pursuer as they threw snow high into the air behind each speeding vehicle.

  “They’ll alert anyone and everyone. How am I going to get out of here?” He turned left into a forest of aspen trees he knew well. There were numerous paths he could take through the terrain to try and lose his pursuer, so he rode on powering between tree trunks, under low hanging branches, and over half frozen creeks. The officer fired a few shots from his pulse rifle now and then, but was mostly concerned with negotiating the track through the forest.

  Tobias was racing, his heartbeat almost in his mouth and with the officer now some one hundred yards to the rear. He took a sharp right turn dropping into a small gully, and then he killed the Skidoo headlight and continued on, chancing his way in the silvery moonlight.

  He decided his only option for a way out of here quickly and secretly, would be John Matheson, a friend of his and a bush pilot who lived by a river four valleys away from the station. There was no other option for Tobias. All his belongings were back at the base and he would risk certain arrest should he decide to go back and retrieve them. Tobias knew he could make the ten-mile trip to John’s cabin as the fuel cells in the Skidoos were rated to two hundred and fifty miles.

  After ten more minutes of riding by starlight and having passed around the end of a low ridge in the wide valley, he switched the headlight back on and powered up the engine. Almost at the same instant, a brown bear appeared directly in front of him in the light. In this racing state, Tobias was fast with reflexes in going around the bear. “What the hell are you doing here?” he yelled. “Everything’s going bloody weird tonight.”

  After a while travelling as fast as he dared, he could see the river shining under the starlight, like a silvery ribbon cutting its way through the valley. When he neared the cabin, Tobias could see Matheson’s plane parked on a gravel bar jutting out in a bend of the river, and a minute later he arrived and jumped off the Skidoo almost before he had reached a full stop.

  “John. John, you there?” he shouted. John Matheson appeared on the verandah of the small hut, silhouette against the light beaming out into the night from inside.

  “Yeah. Is that you Tobias?”

  “Sure is mate. Can I come in?”

  “Of course. What’s the problem?”

  “I was chased out of HAARP station.”

  “What for? You work for them.”

  “I don’t know. They fired at me with laser pulse rifles.”

  “Come in. Let’s have a drink. I reckon you need one.” He led Tobias into the hut and poured two glasses of Tennessee Whiskey. “Sit here by the fire and tell me about this.”

  “I just don’t know. It was working fine, and we went to heightened weapons status. I was monitoring the situation, and then a HyperJet landed. They told me to stay where I was and that I was under arrest with rifles poised and all. I made a runner. Jumped on the Skidoo and took some short cuts through the forest to get here.” He finished off his whiskey and felt a little more relaxed.

  “Why would they want you like that?” John asked.

  “Cannot figure out why. Was just doing my job.”

  “Maybe you know too much about the array. That is a pretty sensitive thing there. Perhaps they want to keep it quiet and with this situation developing…who knows.”

  “They could be looking to upscale the military and bring in a new team to combat or perform some operations. But why take me out?”

  “You know them. One minute you are all in sync with the authorities, next moment you are virtually a criminal, all because you have too much information in your head.”

  “You mean silence me? Why would I talk?”

  “That’s why I left the service a few years back. I was getting to know too much for their liking. If you ask me, they had another agenda going. Better to be safe than risk any information getting out.”

  “They will be after me forever. John, I have to get out of here.”

  “I bet I know what you are going to ask next. Can you fly…?”

  “Can you? Look, I know you don’t fly at night, but just think. They’ll be combing these valleys anytime soon. They cannot risk me getting away. Perhaps they’ll take you for good measure…well, on their part. The file on you must be extensive.”

  “Yeah, you’re right there. It would be very extensive. You are in luck. I just installed a long-range fuel cell system in the old DeHavilland Beaver and it is ready to go. I was going to go on a flight in the morning before dawn but I guess we’ll just have to bring it forward a few hours.”

  “What time is it?”

  “Just after eleven. Grab that gear out on the verandah and I’ll meet you at the plane in a minute.”

  “Are you sure John? Look mate, I have brought you into this.”

  “Tobias. We are good friends. Doing this is OK. If I cannot help you, then what am I good for?”

  The engine was revving hard with the Beaver swaying under the power whilst being held back by the brake. John gunned the accelerator to full and then let the brake off, sending the plane immediately rushing over the gravel bar in the river. With a heave on the control stick they became airborne barely fifty yards later, sending them soaring into the night sky. He kept the throttle at maximum to gain altitude before leveling off a bit once they had reached sufficient speed to stay in the air. “I’ll stay low in the valleys for a while on an easterly trajectory and keep us under any radar. Once we are over the Tok Highway, I’ll get us to ten thousand and it will be straight flying from there.”

  “Where will we head to?” Tobias asked.

  “I can fly us at least three thousand miles in this thing. We can be near Vancouver before lunch time tomorrow.” He flicked the switch of the GeoScope, used to navigate the way through tight terrain. “I normally only use this thing for rainy and foggy days. Never tried it at night before.”

  “Isn’t that a bit risky?”

  “We are going to have to take that risk. We don’t have a choice. It would be way too hazardous flying at night without it.”

  They flew on for a short while longer in silence until John spoke. “OK. Let’s go to ten thousand feet,” he said turning off the GeoScope as they crossed the Tok Highway. The Beaver’s engine then went to full throttle as he pulled back on the controls, taking the plane up a thirty-degree pitch. As he did, the on-board radar confirmed his unspoken fears as three blips showed clearly on an intercept course coming fast. Tobias saw this and immediately knew what was happening.

  “No problem,” John said. “I have a handy little gadget I made for this plane that will help us.” He flicked a couple of switches located on a small box at the bottom of the flight control panel. “They won’t see us now, unless they catch us visually by sight. This little baby has some pretty high tech photonic microchips inside. They will see this plane continuing on the same heading. Same thing will happen too if they try satellite tracking. We are now emitting a distortion field that will even fool them. Ha, you could almost call it a cloaking device.” He altered their course to turn southwest, whilst the homemade radar scrambler sent out a signal to the HyperJets showing them continuing southeast.

  The pilots aboard each of the HyperJets continued their pursuit maintaining the same direction, and soon John and Tobias reached altitude on a heading directly for Vancouver Island.

  Chapter 4

  They had made their way on foot taking an alternating path from China Town, through the Tenderloin, then along Hyde Street in an attempt to conceal their precise destination. No sign of the two men could be seen as they approached the front path of Jenna’s typical wooden San Franciscan house. She unlocked the front door and hurried them inside. Lyle and the Chinese man, who still looked nervous, sat down in the lounge room whilst Jenna went to the kitchen to make some coffee. “Now. First of all, tell us your name,” Lyle asked.

  “Chan
Lee.”

  “OK. Chan Lee. I am Lyle. What is this about power? Dangerous power?”

  “I will tell you only if you promise to not tell anyone else,” Chan replied.

  “We’ll keep a secret, won’t we Jenna.”

  She had returned from the kitchen. “Coffee pot is on.”

  “Jenna. This is Mr Chan Lee.”

  “Hi Mr Lee…um, Chan. I am Jenna. Yeah, I’m good with secrets. But this meeting. How come you seem willing to feel safe with us and potentially give us some secretive information?”

  “It is because I can sense your good. I am a man who is aware of the energies people have and both of you have good energy. And…I am also very much aware of coincidence in life taking us to places we are meant to be. This is what I have felt since I first met you. What I say is very special. Hardly known to anyone. It starts with why these explosions take place.”

  “Nuclear ex…?” Lyle began.

  “Yes. Yes, they are for a special reason. They seek to limit the freedom of people.”

  “You mean the authorities?”

  “Yes authorities. They have an idea but are not sure on all details. You know those bombs went off near the experimental research place for new energy.”

  “I have heard of that place,” Jenna chimed in. “What about it?”

  “Yes, me too,” Lyle added. “What about it Chan?”

  “They have almost unlocked secret of potential universe energy using vortex amplifiers. Many die to prevent this information coming to light. And there are others who also want this knowledge and are not the authorities. They are making these explosions now to scare people so they can bring in this new technology as a way to say they are protecting them.”

  “What information are you speaking about?” Lyle began to get a little impatient.

  “Linked to ancient memories and the secret of awakening energy potential. They do not know how to understand, but some of us, very few, have knowledge. Not all information but key. Key to put with other information and work out this puzzle.”