Children of the Source

by Condit, Geoffrey

  The day went well, and after lunch I joined Victoria at a woodcarving class lead by the Big Bear, Fred Lopez. A gentle giant who spoke his mind. Straightened me out a time or two. Man had a ethical compass always pointing true North. Greg Lopez’s older brother.

  Coming out of class we were surprised to hear the beating of helicopter blades headed our way. Carson’s command chopper put down on the road next to the airplane barn. Hensley, General Carson, Colonel Randolph, four guards and, last of all, Ren climbed out of the chopper. I said something in Irish I didn’t know I knew. Victoria looked at me sidewise, and at my request ran to get the council and her mother. I headed to the soldiers, my heart beating in my throat. This couldn’t be good. All I could see in my mind was a black parachute settling in the twilight on the ground. Didn’t make any sense.

  General Carson, face, an irritated mask, glared at Hensley and Ren. Derek, face impassive, stood to one side with the four guards. Three of them I knew personally. The pilot nodded to me, and I nodded back. Captain Jack Howard didn’t get to fly much.

  “Will?” I said.

  “Jamie. Ren, here, has a fantastic story that Mr. Hensley has bought into about you being able to melt a rifle into a puddle with your mind.”

  I laughed. “Sure. I do this regularly as you know, General.” I looked at Ren. “Melting things with my mind. Yep, sure do.”

  “Don’t be a smart ass, Jamie,” Hensley said, “We have proof.” Lips thinned, nostrils dilated, his eyes turned triumphant.

  “From Ren, a murderer and horse thief. I am impressed. Where’s your proof?” By now our council and Judith had arrived. There was something wrong here. Something terribly wrong. My mind searched.

  Ren stepped forward and grabbed my left forearm. “This is from the aliens.” He held up my arm with the cuff. Carson’s eyes locked with mine.

  “So where is this melted rifle?” I challenged.

  Ren grabbed a shovel from inside the chopper walking unerroringly to where we’d buried the mess. He cleared away the dry weeds and began to dig. “See, we have a dangerous liar here, Mr. Hensley. General Carson. The man is a secret alien planted here to welcome them.” He dug down a foot and grabbed the melted rifle, pulling it out and shaking the dirt away. He threw it on the ground at my feet. “Who’s the liar here, Jamie?”

  “Are you able to do this, Jamie?” Carson asked, astonishment at what he was seeing.

  “Yes, I am.” I said quietly. “Ren deliberately shot my daughter. Fortunately I was able to destroy the rifle and repair the damage to Victoria.”

  “You will arrest this man, General,” Hensley ordered, voice hoarse.

  I reached out, touching Hensley’s arm, and knew. I put up a protective shield around Carson just as the first shot rang out. I pointed in the direction of the rifle shot. The second shot was followed by a distant shriek. The first bullet fell harmlessly at Carson’s feet. The second bullet entered my body. I doubled over, working my sound shield in my body. Blood spurted on my shirt below my heart as I worked a reversal in time. I opened my bloody hand with the fifty caliber bullet in my fingers, and threw it at Hensley, hitting him on the side of his forehead. He sat down hard, my blood smeared on the side of his face.

  I turned to Derek. “The sniper is a Marine Gunnery Sergeant. His spotter was killed in the parachute drop. The sniper is stunned. He will remain that way until you find him.” Derek left with two soldiers.

  I turned to Hensley, terror stark in his eyes. “Arranging the assassination of a General Officer of the United States Army. And lowly me. Why?” My body returned to normal. I took a deep breath.

  Carson hefted the bullet and then retrieved the bloody one meant for me. “Why?” His lips tight, eyes dangerous.

  “You can’t touch me,” Hensley said, voice rising. “I’m the Chief Deputy ... ” No empathy for anything but his own self-importance.

  Carson hauled him to his feet. “You think you can arrange murder and get away with it? You’re not back in Washington D.C. You are out in the wild west and I’m your Judge Roy Bean. Talk.”

  “God came to me in dreams and visions and told me ... ” Hensley saw the incredulous expression on Carson’s face. “No, it’s true. He said in several dreams that Jamie was evil and a powerful agent of the Devil, and you are his ... ”

  “How did you convince your boss to allow this to happen?”

  “I didn’t need to. I have the power.”

  “All by your lonesome. You and God.” Carson let the bunched shirt go, and Hensley sat on the ground. Ren started to run. The third guard collared the large man, but was struck away. I pointed at Ren, interrupting his balance. He fell, struggling to get up.

  “Don’t,” I said. “Your body won’t work.”

  “You are of the Devil, and if not that, a powerful alien in disguise,” Ren shouted. He stopped trying to get up and turned to the General, voice hard, words fast, “You’d better seriously consider what you have here in Jamie. A dangerous superman or a precursor of an alien race that could take control of the Earth and reduce us to slaves.”

  “No. The aliens mean us no harm,” I said. “They are witnessing what is happening, and may decide to leave, considering. You’re a real pair. God and the Devil. What next?” I could see Ren/Locus’s Entity laughing at the massive joke played on Hensley. Appearing to Hensley the way he saw God in his mind. Knowing his primitive beliefs about good and evil. Impressing and reinforcing his message about how he wanted Hensley to see and react to me. Making sure in vivid dreams and visions that Hensley got the message. Ren was already programmed to do what he did. They played the rest of it out. A man in the seat of power and willing to use it. Religions and cults can get started that way. Scary.

  Carson stood tossing the large bullets in his hand and studying me, lips turned down and brows knitted. I had a lot of explaining to do. I hoped he would listen. Fortunately, I’d never done anything violent toward anyone. None of us had. A big plus for us. The guard bound Ren and Hensley’s hands behind their backs. I released the hold on Ren’s balance and he sat up.

  Derek and his men returned, surrounding a dazed man in brown camouflaged fatigues. A ruined sniper’s rifle - tripod, barrel and scope melted and sagged. The wood looked exploded. One of the soldiers carried a backpack and a black parachute. The man stood there, slowly returning to normal waking consciousness. He blinked, swallowed, and looked around. Alarm registered when he saw General Carson and Colonel Randolph. Then he looked straight ahead and said nothing.

  “Meet Gunnery Sergeant Harry Akin, United States Marine Corp,” I said. “Military trained assassin. All legal and okay.”

  “Gunny? Is our friend right? Your name and rank?” Carson asked conversationally.

  The man stared straight ahead, lips tight.

  Derek leaned forward. “Talk. You’re facing a Military Tribunal in a Military Region. You know what that means?”

  “I’m a dead man.”

  “I wouldn’t bet on your good health right now,” Derek said. “Who are you?”

  “You have my name and rank.” He smiled ruefully. “Here I was due to retire next month.”

  “What are you doing shooting a General Officer and a civilian?” Derek said.

  “I was given my targets. I don’t ask a lot of questions.”

  “So it’s all okay. Just shoot who you’re told to shoot?” I said, astonished.

  “I was told the General was in cahoots with the aliens, and you were an alien who needed to be dealt with.”

  “So you assumed the aliens meant to do us harm and take over the world?” Carson said.

  “Why else would they be here?”

  “Been looking at too many TV shows,” Derek observed, lashing the man’s hands behind his back.

  “Who was to take my place?” Carson asked Hensley.

  “I was hoping for Major General Oscar ‘Bull’ Harold. A righteous man.”

  Carson shook his head. “A religious fanatic. Constantly preaching his bigoted v
ersion of Christianity. Just what we need. A man more than willing to start a war.” He shook his head. “General Jansen, Sixth Army Commander, wouldn’t have him in his command.”

  Hensley’s lips curled. “Everyone is replaceable.”

  “Just what we need. The wrong people in power. Creating the disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan which nearly destroyed our military. Allowing Wall Street to run wild and almost destroy the world’s economy.” Carson started for the chopper. “Let’s get these prisoners to the Fort. They are to be kept in isolation from everyone and each other. I have some phone calls to make. Derek, you have some favors to call in. Let’s go.” He stopped at the chopper and turned to me. “We have some talking to do, Mister.” I nodded.

  Later that evening Judith and I took a walk. We stopped at a bench and its sheltering pine tree. “I have something for you,” I said. I fumbled in my pocket and retrieved a ring, holding it up for her to see. A silvery looking ring mounted with an odd blue stone which glowed slightly, illuminating a faultlessly clear interior where a swirl of liquid smoke moved constantly in curiously beautiful patterns. “It was in the box with the cuff. Recognize it?”

  Her mouth opened in amazement. “It’s our pledging ring. A living stone. One you gave me while making the new worlds. The Four Planet Federation.” Tears stained her cheeks.

  I repeated the words we’d spoken so long ago, and watched her lips follow mine, “With these words we charge our bonding, giving freely to you as you do me. To share and celebrate our potentials, our hopes and dreams. In this becoming we pledge our trust, our love, and our caring to each other and the adventure that is our relationship.”

  I slipped it on her finger next to her wedding ring. A perfect fit. “Kodus and Marta say the memories and knowledge of their lives will be part of ours, and we will have to resolve some issues that haven’t be addressed.”

  “Like?”

  I held her hand and admired the ring. “Your Entity being the Queen of Adora for so many lives. There are those who will want it back. Your identity was masked during the making of the Four Planet Federation, but for some reason it will be known again. I will have to deal with Kodus and the leftovers of the eugenics problem. Somehow there are pieces that need to be laid to rest. But what they are I don’t know.”

  “Or the players.”

  “That’s a big problem. I have no idea. Like Ren. Hensley is still a mystery to me. They have a trial coming up. I’ll be called to testify. It’s a mess.”

  “Fortunately there are no defense lawyers, jury or reporting press. Isolation is the best tool we have,” Judith said. “All this might keep a lid on things.”

  “Amen to that. So nothing by accident. Do you have any memories from your Entity and Marta we can access?” I kissed her rings and then automatically placed my forehead on her hand. I’d always done this since we had married but never understood it. Until now. This was the salute used to show respect to the Queen of Adora.

  She looked around, eyes searching the dark at the forty-five degree angle upward. “Mator said there was a couple that integrated themselves with your people. They were moles from Akenton’s group used to gather intelligence. They were never found.”

  “They may still be there unless they’ve changed. The Entities, if they still believe in eugenics, could create continuing personalities to follow in their footsteps.” A scary thought. “Also this couple could be a recipe for disaster if they have the sound language.”

  “How would you know?” Judith asked.

  I picked up a pine cone, feeling its shape and weight. “There is a way. Those that have it carry themselves differently. They often look different. The trick is finding how they believe. We have to make sure you have the Sound Language so you can protect yourself and others. There is a point beyond which I cannot go.”

  “Whoa. How do you know this? You’ve been two places at once, even at different times. Who says you can’t be more? Is there any end to the knowledge and abilities of an Entity? Perhaps those limitations are simply a matter of belief. The doors you have opened may be just the beginning.” Judith fingered her ring. The blue smoke swirled within.

  Just the beginning. “I think we are about to be introduced to the aliens.”

  Judith said, “Do we have enough information?”

  “Gawd,” I said. “Do we ever have enough of that? If someone had told me Ren/Locus existed before all this happened, I’d suggest they were crazy. Also the Sound Language. But it’s all real. You know what really scares me?”

  “What?”

  “Consider that they have kept my cuff and your pledging ring for how long for this moment. That says a great deal. This hasn’t been by accident. What next?”

  We didn’t have long to wait. Somewhere in the middle of the night, a disc-shaped spacecraft landed silent as a moth next to the airplane barn. Daylight brought everyone to examine the craft. A curious patterned rich green which looked more fabric than metal, but felt hard to the touch. The body was seamless with no windows or openings. It stood on four, five-foot tall legs, making the craft fifteen feet high.

  Our people milled around the spacecraft, touching and speculating. Bob Hardin arrived with an extension ladder. He placed it against the side of the craft and began to climb. Several of us grabbed the ladder as it slid sideways off the slick side. Judith and I watched as our people explored the outside of the craft. “What is it, Jamie?”

  I felt her warm hand in mine. “I sense an insect crying for help.” I tilted my head, trying to explore. I knew this was a time yet to be. Something was happening even now. A fragment. One of those real points of time that you know will be yours in the future. But I couldn’t make contact with the Being, only sense its extreme unhappiness. I shook my head. Nothing else made any sense around it, except the intense distress of the Being.

  “How odd. An insect in distress.” Judith rubbed her square chin.

  “A spider to be exact.” I shrugged.

  “You said a time yet to be,” she said.

  “Not out loud.” I looked at her. Sharing thoughts. Exact words. Not often done. What was I missing? A sense of urgency meaning time. I couldn’t touch the Being in a time line. I had no choice but to wait. But with my mind I promised help and relief when our time lines intersected. Then it was gone. Like it had never been.

  Florence ran a hand over a hump on one of the legs and the craft began to hum. Everyone stepped back. Then two sections of the ship, each three feet wide folded down with built-in steps. The interior of the ship lit, showing chairs, viewing screens, and consoles within. Laith, Helen, and Florence went inside. “Whatcha got there?”

  Someone pressed a button and a screen came to life showing a small city with mountains, evergreens of a type we’d never seen, and a mountain lake. There were no roads, but park-like green belts with small two to three trains cars that traveled on what we assumed were rails that couldn’t be seen. We saw small groups of people, but no pets as we think of them - like dogs and cats.

  No music sounded, but the feel of weather - wind, rustle of leaves, and sense of their sun and clouds pervaded the screen. Like we were there.

  The fascination with the craft and the screens captivated everyone. There were many buttons to push, and they all showed different aspect of the planet or planets. We weren’t sure. Animals, plant life, and the seasons introduced themselves. We watched houses and buildings being built, but in ways we hadn’t imagined. They were built into and with the landscape. We saw no poverty or gigantic masses of people or vast cities. No industrial or manufacturing areas.

  They’d obviously gone beyond the gimme stage, the need for religions and cultures that breed themselves into poverty for countless bizarre reasons. Knowledge was one, not fragmented. Everyone, every civilization, needs a motivating reason. Perhaps they were experiencing an entirely different reason, one we’d never encountered before because we weren’t mature enough to open doors to allow such a reality to happen. To bring our two realities to
gether might present problems never considered before. But our way of living at Cheshire might blend with theirs as we were beyond the gimme stage and consistently sought to explore the whole nature of reality, not just the physical one. But then again we were unknowingly the alien’s outpost in our world. The unfolding was slowly taking place. Just not in the way I expected.

  The idea that Entities or Souls were these spiritual giants giving birth to personalities and encouraging them from above or within to greater spiritual development was a lot of nonsense. Entities or Souls proved to be in various states of maturity with agendas all their own. How they treated their personalities depended on many factors; from their maturity to the desire to use them to learn through experience, some quite horrendous without regards for what we would consider quality of life or justice. So what type of Entities were behind the personalities of the aliens? Were some of them still secretly enamored with eugenics? I knew they enjoyed power and what could be done with it. From Kodus’ memories, I knew he could be merciless and quite brutal. As the Queen of Adora, Marta commanded the unquestioned obedience of a world. I needed to access more memories of Kodus, and see if Judith could awaken some of Marta’s. If I could be in several places at once, could they? How many had the Sound Language? I felt a vague uneasiness. If we were the welcoming committee, what were we welcoming?

  In twos and threes our community watched everything the consoles had to offer. There were two buttons that had symbols on them that responded to no one. One had the symbol of Kodus on it. The other one we didn’t know.

  We sent a messenger to the fort. In short order Carson’s command chopper settled on the road near the spacecraft. Bob Hardin, our messenger, had hitched a ride back. Carson and Derek Randolph were the only ones aboard except the pilot, Jack Howard. I escorted them onto the spacecraft. A couple of hours later, Carson pointed to the symbol for Kodus, and looked at me. I had hoped to do this alone. “I don’t know what’s going on here but this might hold some answers. This Kodus was a so-called past life of yours?”