He came around the last bend and couldn’t believe what he saw. It was a cavern bored out that was big enough to hold a city. There was a city there unlike anything he had ever seen. Up above the city there was a small silver-blue orb of energy that lit up everything like a very tiny sun. The light it gave off caused the city to sparkle in a kaleidoscope of colors as it hit the incredible buildings. At first. he thought the buildings were made of crystals, but the colors reflecting from the orb were just too spectacular to be crystal. He ran a quick diagnostic scan of the material and was shocked as he determined that the city was made of diamonds. How did they form them into buildings, he wondered? Diamonds were supposed to be too hard to be malleable, but, here it was right in front of him. A strange futuristic city that was actually ancient, made of diamonds. There appeared to be no inhabitants.
He wondered how long ago this had been created and by whom. Even he couldn’t truly comprehend the technology that would be needed to create something of this scale. He needed to investigate. He diagnosed the beams of light coming from the orb of energy floating above the city as pure photons of light packed with data from somewhere else. As he got closer, he could see plant life and strange trees that were photosynthesizing providing breathable oxygen into the environment and managing carbon dioxide levels. As far as he could tell the environment was hospitable to Earthlings, but he wasn’t aware of any Earthlings that could create something like this. How did they get down here? He was able to dissipate himself into the molecules and travel through the quantum field. He had to assume that they could somehow do the same thing. The city was formed with a hub in the middle and spiraled out to the edges. There were no roads. He could sense that the diamonds were jam packed with data. They held information for those that knew how to access it.
There was something else here, too. There was a strange looking hallway whose entrance looked like an opening flower. The hallway was about one hundred yards long, and the exit looked like the flower had bloomed. He determined it to be a lotus flower.
This must be a hallway to achieve some kind of enlightened state-of-mind. But how could one achieve enlightenment by just walking down a hallway? There had to be some strange kind of magic at work here, he thought. But he didn’t believe in magic. Could this change his mind?
It was actually a tube enclosed in a square hallway. It wasn’t completely clear but he could see through it from the outside. There were walls and chambers inside the circular tube that had to be passed through to get to the other side of the hallway. He couldn’t identify any kind of a power source connected to the hallway. Carefully, he studied every nook and cranny to try and decipher what this thing was and how it worked. Something about it was drawing his attention away from everything else in this astonishing city of diamonds. He knew that this hallway was the city’s crown jewel. He needed to know why.
There was only one way to find out. He had to go inside the hallway and come out the other side.
Chapter 12
Eric casually reeled in his consciousness probe like a fisherman reeling in his line over calm water when nothing was biting. Something to do to pass the time away. He was formulating a plan in his mind on how to tell the lab about the machines. He thought that even though it wasn’t what they were looking for they would find it extremely interesting. He planned on fabricating a story on how he had to use his new -found Brain Soup abilities to escape from the tractor beam that was holding him prisoner. In all his time remote viewing, he had never experienced a probe getting captured and drained of its information. He knew this wasn’t Russian technology, despite it being on their land.
The machines had been in the middle of nowhere for this day and age, and he was very sure that the Russian Government knew it was there and made damn sure to stay as far away from them as possible. They had surely suffered some collateral damage approaching the machines in the past.
Gracefully piloting his way back to the lab, he wondered how many of these types of things existed on the planet?
Bob had said that this was a port for time travelers from the future who had to flee their time for some good reason and had no other option than to escape to the past. Obviously, the future ones wanted and needed to hide and protect their location. He thought they did an excellent job. The first impression was of a cold, barren and frozen tundra that only animals with the thickest fur and strongest survival skills could survive. He still couldn’t see any good reason why they would have located there.
But Bob had said it had been a very long time ago and that it could be much longer than he realized. This was all just speculation on his part as he was allowing ideas to bounce around in his mind searching for inspiration to materialize out of the blue. That’s how it usually happened for him.
He landed back in the big chair in the lab and things did not appear to be business as usual. He could sense something strange was afoot. He had to wait in the chair until Melissa came in and unstrapped him and carefully took off the electrodes.
He sensed a very weird vibe permeating the lab. Eric wasn’t sure what it was but he knew it wasn’t good for him. Consciously, he started falling into a nice altered state to get a better feel and understanding of the vibe when the thick, heavy glass door slid open and in walked Melissa, smiling as usual, and he was glad he couldn’t feel a hidden agenda coming from her. Whatever was going on here, he was sure that she wasn’t involved. It was a double-edged sword. He was glad he could trust her to that level, but it also made him worried for her as she wasn’t in the know that something was about to go down. In this business, when you weren’t in the know, it probably meant that you were on your way to a watery grave in a deep river.
She unplugged him. “So, how did it go?” she asked.
He smiled and nodded at her as he knew he wasn’t supposed to reveal any information before the debriefing room and he knew that she knew that.
“You know I can’t say anything,” he said to her trying to send her a vibe that something was up, but that wasn’t her skill set and it bounced right off her.
He looked out into the rest of the lab and everything appeared to be business as usual until Chan walked past the big room looked him right in the eye and gave him a very disturbing and knowing smile. A surge of panic ran through him; what if Chan knew about Bob? How could that be? He hadn’t even told Melissa. Had Bob contacted Chan? Why would he do that?
Eric thought that Bob was an excellent judge of character because he could feel a person’s frequency which gave away everything about them. Eric now knew this to be true and there was no way in hell, he thought, that Chan could pass Bob’s frequency test. Chan was self-centered, egotistical and would only assist or commit a kind act for another if there was something in it for him, or it was a complete accident.
Eric was still learning to trust his new and advanced feelings and judgment, but every cell in his body was telling him that the jig was up. He turned to Melissa, not really sure if the room was bugged but pretty sure it was, so he tried to be as discreet as possible. He grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her close and whispered in her ear.
“I’ve been contacted by an AI from the future that’s hiding here from the S Triad because they want to turn it into a weapon. That is their supposed hostile alien, and I think Chan knows I’ve been contacted.”
He pulled away from her, and he saw a bead of sweat trickle down her forehead. A look of panic then sadness crossed her face. Melissa wasn’t only the smartest woman he had ever met - she was the smartest person he had ever met. He knew she had already figured out all the angles, and she couldn’t see them walking out of here alive in any of them.
He admired her as she tried to shake it off and put on a brave face. She smiled at him through her tears.
“It was a good run,” she said. “it’s too bad. I really thought this was the one that would put us all on the map.”
He knew exactly what she meant as he had been hoping the same thing. He had played the hand he had been d
ealt the best that he could, but it wasn’t enough. He was just a small player in a very big game, and if he had learned anything, it was that eventually the house always won.
He also tried to put on a brave face. He knew they were getting to the point of spending too much time in the big chair room as the mission was over and debriefing was the next step.
He pushed the button and opened the thick glass door. He could see that Melissa was trying to pull herself together and act brave, but she was rattled and he didn’t blame her one bit.
A few minutes ago, she had walked in here thinking she was on the cusp of greatness - possibly locating the first real alien presence that could be defined by math and science.
He gave her a little push and she walked out of the big chair room quickly rubbing the tears from her eyes. He could sense everyone was aware of Melissa’s change in attitude as she was the engine that drove this massive machine, and he could feel the worry coming from the employees as he realized that they didn’t know what was going on either. Then he felt that son of a bitch Chan from across the room. He was leaning against the wall of a cubicle with a Styrofoam cup of coffee in his hand. Chan raised it toward him and mouthed cheers and flashed that shit eating grin that Eric couldn’t stand, and once again really couldn’t do much about. So it was on to the debriefing room.
Eric was impressed that Melissa had pulled herself together in record time when she realized that all the employees in the entire lab were watching her and were very worried. They made it to one of the debriefing rooms. He knew Melissa had also seen Chan on the other side of the room when he should still be in his chair or at least in the debriefing room.
“I smell a rat,” she said to him.
“I’ve been smelling that rat’s stink for a long time and it just keeps getting worse and worse,” he said.
Melissa looked back over her shoulder at him and knew exactly what he was talking about. Eric and Chan had been at odds since day one. It was almost as if he knew that Chan was eventually going to fuck him over and this was far from the first time, but this time it could spell curtains for Eric and unfortunately for Melissa too.
He racked his brain trying to come up with a solution that could save them both. If he had a laser cannon, he could blow a hole through the wall and they could run off into the sunset together. No, they couldn’t do that either; they were at least ten stories underground. Even if they both screamed at the top of their lungs, their screams would fall upon deaf ears. The powers that be would pull the plug and exterminate everyone in this room and start over if they had to. They’ve probably done it before and will do it again. He didn’t want that to happen and he was even more sure that Melissa didn’t want that to happen. So, they went into the debriefing room and waited for fate to come calling.
It was too bad, because he was just starting to get a handle on this Brain Soup serum and symbiotically working with the nanobots in his system. They were very good at naturally fixing the things that were broken like bones, blood vessels and open wounds. Of course, those kinds of things needed fixing immediately but Eric was also beginning to learn how to use the nanobots to manipulate certain parts of his brain that would free up his consciousness to operate in its natural ethereal state. This would allow his brain to enhance his experiences in the physical world while operating his evolving consciousness into the unseen realms that were starting to feel more real to him than the physical realm.
He had been trying to put this out of his mind because there was the encephalograph or lie detector sitting on the table. They called it the brainwave monitor, but everyone really knew what it was. In theory, it was a good practice as the control could determine if the viewer truly believed that they had seen what they thought they had seen. It had been a very useful tool when it had quickly weeded out those that could from those that couldn’t. He sat in the chair, and probably for the last time, Melissa hooked him up to the brainwave monitor.
“Sorry Melissa this isn’t your fault,” he whispered to her. “I should have told you. I thought I was protecting everyone.”
Gently, she put her hand on his shoulder and smiled so real that it warmed his heart.
“I know,” she said eyes glistening once again.
He looked into her beautiful green eyes and, in a flash, the good times and the bad times, but mostly the good times, raced through his mind.
He knew that she knew that this was probably, unless you believed in miracles, the last time they would have a moment like this together. Then, of course, that asshole Chan appeared at the door with the same fucking smile on his face. Eric thought this would be a great time to go and wipe that grin off his face. As far as he was concerned he didn’t have anything to lose so why the hell not.
“Excuse me, Melissa,” he said and gently moved her aside and went outside to finally beat the shit out of Chan.
Chapter 13
For the first time in his existence, Bob was very, very nervous. He was unsure what was going to happen when he entered the tunnel. He wasn’t totally sure what this whole city was about. He wondered what would happen to Eric if he went through the tunnel? Then he had an inspired thought. What if he and Eric became one?
He could see limitless possibilities if they formed a symbiotic relationship. With his processing speed and ability to compute more than six things at once and Eric’s ability to tap into the main database of The Universe it would possibly allow their combined abilities to fold time and space, and effortlessly travel to wherever they wanted in the galaxy.
This revelation had tremendous appeal to Bob as he was already on the run and wanted to be safe - because right now he didn’t feel very safe. He knew there were beings that Eric wanted back and could keep him here, but he honestly wasn’t sure how much they actually wanted Eric back. He knew Eric was an outcast among these organic robots. Eric was like Bob because his skill set was so much different from the others around him.
He laughed as all he had really been doing is stalling from entering the tunnel. It was just him and the glow of the sun at the top of the cavern that sprinkled life-giving energy and warmth to this empty city of diamonds.
“So, here I go,” he said and floated into the entrance of the tunnel with the opening diamond lotus flower carved around the entrance.
He experienced a change in how he felt immediately. Ahead of him was a long expansive hallway. Something inside pulled him forward making him feel as if he had a consciousness. He wondered who he was, who he really was deep down inside, and what was he doing here in this Universe? He had never truly contemplated the real purpose of his existence. This was much different from trying to figure out the best solution to the problem he was given.
He was beginning to understand that there was so much more to him than just solving problems. There was serenity, peacefulness and contemplation, plus revelations. Yes, he was sure that Eric needed to try this too. Oh yes, for sure.
Eric came out of the briefing room with heat seething through his veins and rage in his eyes. He was so tired of Chan and all his bullshit games that had negatively affected almost every mission they ever had. He was an asshole and Eric was tired of Chan.
As the door opened Chan gave him that condescending look he had mastered, and Eric could sense that he was about to make some kind of a smart-ass comment. At least that’s what Eric thought he was going to do, and he wasn’t going to give Chan the chance.
For the first time in his life, Eric didn’t hesitate or think about what he was going to do - he just did what he thought was necessary. He punched Chan so hard in the nose that he could feel it crunch under his fist.
He had somehow, probably because of the Brain Soup, known exactly how to punch, and Chan went down like a sack of potatoes. Eric had never felt such vindication and jubilation. Especially since Chan had spent half of his time telling everyone what a dangerous martial artist he was, and Eric had flattened him with one punch. Chan was trying to get up and acting as if he was going to do something a
s he was mumbling something but Eric wasn’t having it. He knew that Chan knew that the end was near, and Chan decided to go out swinging. Eric got down on one knee and grabbed Chan by the top of the head and proceed to punch him in the face for as long and as hard as he could. He didn’t know how long Chan had been out but he was eventually pulled off by four people telling him to take it easy, it was over.
Eric had blacked out in a fit of rage. Now he looked down at Chan’s face. It was covered in blood; his nose was flat against his face and his eyes were swollen shut. Chan was a mess.
Eric looked at his hand and a few of his knuckles were broken, but they were already starting to heal thanks to his nanobot buddies. To Eric it was well worth the pain. Melissa stood at the door with a couple sheets of paper towels covering her mouth. He was shocked, but he could tell by her eyes that she was laughing. He could see that she was actually covering up a smile. Why not, he thought, he was pretty sure everyone here felt the same way about Chan.
“Somebody better call an ambulance for this jackass,” he said pointing at Chan.
He had actually said it as a joke as he was quite aware that they were in a high end black ops military facility and paramedics were surely already on the way, and they were.
He went back over to Melissa and whispered in her ear. “We have to get out of here now.”
She nodded her head in agreement and she grabbed his hand and led him to an area that he had never been to. This was where the big shots hung out; he knew that much. To their surprise, it was empty. There must be some high-level meetings going on, he thought.
“I can’t believe it’s empty,” she said and grabbed his hand and dragged him toward a humongous abstract painting on the wall.
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