Light of the Last

by Chuck Black

  Drew sat back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. Jake had hit the nail on the head. Drew had been trying to figure out if Ross was good or bad from the day he met him.

  “No. I’m not sure, and the truth is…that’s a big part of my concern. I’m so isolated from the rest of the agency that I’m not sure who I’m really working for.”

  Jake looked straight into Drew’s eyes just like he always did when he wanted Drew to really grab hold of his next few words. “If you find yourself in a place you can’t fix, to heck with clearances—you call me and I’ll be there. And Fortress will be right behind me.”

  Drew smiled. He realized that this assurance from Jake was exactly what he was looking for and needed. He stood and pushed his hand out toward Jake.

  “Thanks, Jake. You’ve always been there for me, even when—” Drew choked up. “Even when my dad couldn’t be.”

  Jake grabbed Drew’s hand, pulled him in, and hugged him. “I never needed my own son…I’ve got you.”

  The rare moment of tenderness came and went quickly, but Drew had no idea how much he needed that.

  —

  On his way back to Fortress East, Drew detoured to New York to check in on Ben. He had received a message that appeared urgent and couldn’t imagine what his genius buddy would consider urgent. His mind swept through the entire gamut of possibilities, from discovering a new widget to alien ships landing at NexTech.

  He arrived at the office just a few minutes before the end of the business day. He was able to see Ridge, Jester, Crypt, and Piper and brag on their work creating Witness, his leather jacket turned smartphone.

  “Hey, guys, show Drew the glasses,” Ben said as he continued working at a station nearby.

  Jester opened a case and lifted out a very impressive set of sunglasses.

  “Excellent…and they even look cool,” Drew said.

  “Since we didn’t trust ourselves to design ‘cool,’ we started with a pair of Oakleys and went from there,” Crypt said.

  “Your entire visual interface with Witness will be through these glasses. You can configure the display any way you like,” Ridge added with pride.

  Drew took the glasses and put them on. His vision immediately filled with icons, menus, and a variety of sensor displays. The shading automatically adjusted to the brightness of the room. “This is impressive. How do I clean this up and rearrange items?”

  “Just look at what you want to move or change and tell Alice,” Piper said, pushing her own glasses back up the bridge of her nose. “The glasses are linked to her through a Bluetooth connection.”

  Drew looked at the weather widget. “Alice, remove this widget.” The widget immediately disappeared. He smiled and nodded. “Well done, team! Mr. Belvedere will be very pleased!”

  They took a few minutes to explain all the features to Drew, and then Crypt, Ridge, and Jester grabbed a few things and started to leave.

  “We also just finished our beta version of mobile Alice,” Piper said with a grin. She looked at Ben, who was mesmerized by something on his screen. “Hey, Chider, you want me to stick around and help with the upgrade?”

  Drew saw the hope in her eyes, but Ben was oblivious.

  “Thanks, Piper, but I got it. You guys have a good night.”

  Piper flashed a sheepish smile at Drew, then left to catch up with the other three.

  Drew wanted to smack Ben. “What are you doing? Are you seriously that clueless?”

  Ben looked up from the screen. “What are you talking about?”

  Drew pointed down the hallway, where Piper and the rest of his team had just turned the corner. “Her!”

  Ben looked at Drew as if he were talking in some foreign language.

  “We are quite the pair,” Drew said, shaking his head. “I can’t keep my girl, and you don’t even know girls exist.”

  Ben turned back to the screen. “Alice, upload your mobile version into Witness.”

  Drew gave up and tried to focus on what really excited Ben. “So you finished mobile Alice. This is awesome. With the glasses and the upgrade, Witness will be fully functional and autonomous.”

  Ben turned from the computer screen and looked at Drew. “This isn’t why I’ve called you here.” His eyes started to gleam. He looked around Drew as if to make sure no one was left in the room, then stood up and motioned for Drew to follow him to his office. Inside, Ben shut the door and looked at Drew. “I did it, Drew!”

  The excitement in his voice was unprecedented. Drew didn’t dare jump to conclusions. There was no telling what Ben’s quirky mind might be thinking of, but he could only hope.

  “Did what, exactly?” Drew asked.

  Ben could hardly contain himself. He began pacing back and forth, smiling from ear to ear. “With Alice’s help, I finally solved Dr. Waseem’s missing equation! I did it!”

  “Wait…wait…” Drew grabbed Ben’s arm so he could look him in the eye. “Are you telling me that you actually got the LASOK to work? Is that what you’re saying, Ben?”

  Ben grabbed Drew’s arms. “Yes—the LASOK works! I’ve successfully accelerated light, and I can now precisely control the increase in speed. It works, Drew!”

  Drew froze. He was excited and frightened. Did he dare hope that the invaders were real, not some fabrication of his subconscious? Or would he discover with absolute certainty that he truly was schizophrenic and would have to deal with this mental disorder for the rest of his life? He was almost too afraid to find out.

  He turned his head and looked at the image called Validus, who stood in the corner of Ben’s office. He stared back at Drew, his stoic expression impossible to read. Though Drew wanted desperately to be free of the schizophrenic prison his subconscious had created for him, he wanted Validus to be real…He needed Validus to be real. What if the LASOK overwhelmed the imagination of his subconscious with truth so that Validus disappeared forever? His heart ached as if he were about to say good-bye to a close friend—a friend who had risked his life for him time and time again.

  “Drew, did you hear me? I did it! The LASOK works!”

  Drew shook from his emotional stupor and smiled at Ben. “That is incredible! I knew you could do it!” He hugged Ben, then pushed him back while holding onto his arms. “You are the man, Benjamin Berg. You are the man! Have you seen anything?”

  Ben shook his head. “I haven’t used the optics yet, just measured the increased speed a few times.” He looked a little nervous, and Drew realized that he was just as anxious about finding out the truth as he was. “I decided to wait for you to test the optics.”

  Drew nodded.

  Ben took Drew into the LASOK lab after they were certain no one in the building would come looking for them. Ben fired up the LASOK, and Drew noticed that there was a lot less tweaking and a lot less time required getting it ready compared to the original LASOK Dr. Waseem had built.

  When Ben was ready, he stood back with Drew, soaking up the technical masterpiece before them. A powerful argon laser reflecting off multiple mirrors, the orange glow of a plasma generator pulsing through a series of glass tubes, power supplies, test equipment, LCD displays, and a host of new equipment and interfaces that Drew couldn’t even begin to guess at were all humming with life, ready to give rebirth to a new technology.

  Ben took a deep breath. “I’ve installed two sets of external mirrors that will give the LASOK direct images from the outside. One set looks north down the street and the other looks south. I’ve arranged the images so that we can do a split-screen image, seeing both directions at once. And just to make sure we don’t miss anything, this time I’ve installed a high-speed digital video recorder that is post lens acceleration so we can capture everything we see. The hard part is going to be finding the exact speed that was tuned in to the invaders. I’ve got it tuned to approximately the same speed as Dr. Waseem’s LASOK when it exploded. This screen here is a display of what’s being recorded.” Ben looked at Drew. “No need to use the view finder and risk anot
her plasma accident.”

  “Very thoughtful,” Drew said. “Let’s do this.”

  Ben opened the orifice that let the visual imagery into the LASOK. “Alice, begin video recording of LASOK imagery at three hundred frames per second.”

  “Recording,” Alice responded.

  “Can I see the raw imagery coming from the mirrors?” Drew asked. “That way I can tell you if there are actually any invaders, and you can tune the speed until you see them through the LASOK.”

  “Great idea,” Ben said. “Here are the controls to align the mirrors. These two images are what is being directed into the LASOK.”

  Drew watched the images closely. Since it was the end of a business day, the streets were full of activity, and it wasn’t long before Drew saw multiple dark and light invaders. His heart began racing as he called out each incident. Ben swept through the range of speeds, searching for the perfect setting.

  After six unsuccessful attempts to lock in on any invader, Drew’s heart began to sink.

  “I don’t understand,” Ben said in frustration. He checked his equipment and verified that the system was indeed working.

  “Last time we had to overload the system to reach the speed that allowed me to see them. Are you sure we’re there?” Drew asked.

  “Positive. I’ve been able to increase the speed of light another ten percent beyond what Dr. Waseem’s LASOK could reach. And my adjustments are twice as precise. It should work!”

  Drew’s tenuous hope began to fade. They tried for another thirty minutes on another ten invaders and still got nothing. On the last attempt, Drew wasn’t even hopeful anymore. He came to the inescapable conclusion that he truly was schizophrenic. He stepped away from the image mirrors.

  “Whoa!” Ben said.

  Drew looked at the mirrors. “Sorry, buddy, but there aren’t even any invaders out there right now.”

  “Maybe not, but look at this,” Ben said pointing to the people. Wherever there was a person, there was an aura around them, almost as if they were emitting light from their skin.”

  “What is that?” Drew asked.

  “I’m not sure. It only occurs in a very narrow range of speeds. I missed it on all of the previous scans and just stumbled onto it now.”

  A woman with a dog walked through the field of view. The woman was glowing, but the dog was not.

  “What in the world is going on?” Ben asked.

  He carefully tuned the speed down until the glow disappeared, and then for one split second, the dog began to glow but the people did not. Ben tried to retune the speed, but the woman and her dog turned a corner and disappeared out of view.

  Ben turned and looked at Drew, bewildered.

  “Don’t look at me…You’re the genius,” Drew said, still fighting the ache of truth about the invaders. Years of struggle just to find out it was all in his mind.

  Ben scratched his head and tried to retune back to the speed where the people were glowing. It took him another five minutes before he found it. They stared at the images for a long time.

  “What do you think it is?” Drew asked.

  Ben shook his head. “Not sure. It could be just a visual anomaly, but…” He pursed his lips. “No…it’s too consistent. It’s the exact same speed every time. It’s always there. And the dog…” Ben thought for a moment. “Alice, replay the sequence with the woman walking her dog.”

  They watched until they saw the people quit glowing.

  “Advance at twenty-five percent normal speed,” Ben commanded.

  When the dog began to glow, Ben froze the image and recorded the speed at which light was being accelerated.

  “Wow, that is just 4.3 meters per second slower than when the people were glowing. My adjustment isn’t that fine. We’re lucky to have even caught it…whatever it is.”

  “Yeah…lucky.” Drew walked over to a chair and sat down, unimpressed with this new “anomaly.”

  Ben spun around in his chair, and the two of them just stared at each other for a minute. Drew noticed that Validus and two of his team had disappeared through the wall to leave him and Ben alone.

  “I’m sorry, Drew. It should be working. I’ll keep at it until we get it.”

  Drew forced a smile. “I don’t think we’re going to get it, Ben. But I guess we can look at the bright side. There should be some amazing spinoff technology from your research.” He rallied himself for Ben’s sake. “You’ve done great, Ben. Your work is truly amazing.”

  Ben forced a smile back at Drew, displaying the same disappointment he felt. “I’m not giving up, Drew. I’m sure there’s a logical reason for it, and I will find it. There’s a lot left to discover about this machine.”

  Just then Alice spoke into Drew’s earpiece. “I’ve just detected two new messages from your contact.”

  Drew froze. “Alice, what contact are you talking about, and how do you know there is a new message?”

  “I watched your last interaction online and ran an algorithm to determine the sequence. Would you like me to erase this smart prediction procedure?”

  Drew looked at Ben. “Your Alice is scary smart.”

  “Kind of like having me in your head, isn’t it?” Ben said with wry smile.

  “No, Alice, don’t delete. Display messages.”

  The first message read: Priority 2. Package delivery to Washington, DC, Steam Cafe & Pizzeria, 1700 17th St NW, 10:30 p.m. Authenticate “rain.” Authenticate “ice.” Package to follow.

  Drew checked his watch. He had just over four hours to get from New York to Washington, DC.

  “That’s ridiculous,” Drew said out loud. There was no way he could catch a flight in time.

  “The second message is the location online of an encrypted file. Would you like me to download it?” Alice asked.

  “Yes, Alice, and transfer it to a USB drive. Can you decrypt the file?”

  “Perhaps. I can give you an estimated time of decryption once I receive the file.”

  “Make it so,” Drew said.

  “What’s up?” Ben asked.

  Drew looked at Ben. “Can I borrow your car?” He figured if he left immediately, he could drive the 220 miles and just make it in time.

  “Sure. Where are you going?” Ben reached in his pocket and threw him the keys.

  “Thanks. Washington, DC.”

  Drew caught the look in Ben’s eye. It was the same look that he remembered seeing back at Rivercrest High School when he was an outcast for causing the death of the star quarterback, Joey Houk. A look of compassion and friendship.

  “I should probably go with you,” Ben said. “You know, to make sure my car stays in one piece.”

  Drew couldn’t help his smile. It was only a priority two, a simple drop of some data. He could leave Ben in the car a few blocks away and then return. There would be no danger to Ben.

  “Yeah, you probably should. My driving has been a little rough lately.”

  Ben nodded. “Alice, save all LASOK data recorded, and secure file with my authorization for access only.”

  “Complete,” Alice replied.

  Ben quickly shut down the LASOK. Ten minutes later, Drew and Ben were navigating toward Interstate 95 south. Alice helped Drew bypass the worst of the traffic, and before long, the lights of New York City were diminishing in the rearview mirror.

  Drew looked over at Ben, thankful once more for a friend who was willing to bear his discouragement with him.

  21

  PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY

  “Jayt and Brumak, you two provide protection for Carter as he travels.”

  The two angels left to catch up with Carter and Berg as they exited NexTech. Tren, Persimus, Crenshaw, and Rake were still in the LASOK lab, waiting for Validus’s next orders.

  “The rest of you get to Carter’s op location and evaluate the threat before he gets there. I don’t want any surprises. I need to make a dash to Malak’s headquarters and make sure he’s ready if we need him.”

  “You exp
ecting trouble?” Tren asked.

  Validus hesitated. “Always, but after my last visit to see what Ross was doing, I think we may need those legions sooner than we think.”

  “Commander, why didn’t it work?” Rake asked as he examined the LASOK. He seemed fascinated by the machine. “Isn’t this machine how Carter was able to see into our realm in the first place?”

  “It was never going to work,” Validus said. “Not the way they wanted it to.”

  “Why not?” Persimus asked.

  “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,” Crenshaw said.

  They all looked at him.

  “Elohim would never allow a machine made with human hands to be able to peer across the fringe into our realm,” Crenshaw said.

  “He’s right,” Validus said. “It is not the way of Elohim.”

  Tren went over to the LASOK to examine something.

  “But what about Carter?” Rake asked. “Why did it work for him the first time?”

  Tren turned around. “Perhaps it never did.”

  Drew enjoyed Ben’s company. They talked a lot about the LASOK and came up with a few more options they could try before giving up on seeing the invaders. They also became excited about how the technology could revolutionize many aspects of the industry.

  Drew saw an Exit sign and checked his watch. They were making good time. He took the exit.

  “Why the detour?” Ben asked.

  Drew didn’t reply. He knew it was foolish, especially with Ben there, but he couldn’t help it. His detour was less than two miles off Interstate 295, so it was a minimal diversion.

  He pulled the car over to the curb just across the street from a duplex in East Greenwich near Philadelphia. He scanned the windows of the home, hoping for a glimpse of the one woman who stirred his soul, who drove him crazy. The one woman he could never have.