Shadow Warrior: Destiny of a Mutant

by Larry Townley

  Will also admitted to Volnar that he had been romantically involved with Sareena. Volnar did not want to see his sister hurt when Will left, so he asked Will to break up with her, so Will reluctantly agreed. Will divulged his identity as a Guardian and a Terran to Sareena - he felt he owed her that, and she agreed that it would be best if they were not together. Will never forgot about Sareena and their time together.

  ***

  All together, Will spent close to 2,000 Earth years acting as a historian. The Altrusian historians were like children on Christmas morning each time Will brought them the results of his research.

  Each time Will returned to Altrusia, it was as if no more than a few seconds or minutes had passed. Will often spent months, and sometimes years, between assignments as a historian. Between his assignments as a historian, he continued with his primary duties as a Guardian. Will thoroughly enjoyed being a Guardian and protecting others. As the Shadow Warrior he became even more of a legend among the different star sectors.

  Chapter 63

  Extraterrestrial Contact

  One day several months after Will had completed his latest assignment as a historian, Portak summoned Will to his chambers for a conversation.

  “Will, there is something we need to discuss,” Portak began as he often did without preamble. “As you know Earth was not to be contacted for at least another eight-hundred years by an alien race due to its immaturity and planetary development.”

  “Yes, I’m well aware of this.”

  “What you may not be aware of is that over the last several thousand years, Earth has been visited on numerous occasions by alien races, mostly for research and scientific purposes.”

  Will was genuinely surprised. “I did not know this. There are many legends on Earth that speak of strange creatures or vessels being observed over the millennia; some even describe contact with the aliens, and a few involve humans being abducted and taken aboard the aliens’ spacecraft. There are many cave drawings near my old home in England that were drawn by our ancient ancestors which depict some of these creatures. But, as I said, these were believed to simply be legends made up to explain phenomena that otherwise could not be fully explained.”

  “My friend, even legends usually have some basis in fact. I know that different alien races have traveled to Earth for research purposes with the Universal Council’s permission, with strict orders of no contact. However, on occasion, there has been prohibited contact that was made contrary to those orders by some of the more hostile and belligerent races, most of which involve planets that have not joined the Council. The Council has ordered me to look into this and stop these unauthorized contacts immediately.”

  Will was stunned, and it showed on his face. Even though he knew there were numerous sentient beings in the universe, he had not thought that any of the Terran legends regarding alien contact or sightings were true.

  “In fact, the Council and I have decided to let you be the person to handle any of these incidents that occur. They will still allow authorized research vessels to study Earth, as long as they don’t violate the no contact edict. Some sightings of these spacecraft will be unavoidable, as not all spacecraft have cloaking technology, but the no contact edict will be strictly enforced and violations dealt with swiftly and severely.”

  “It would be my pleasure,” Will said smiling.

  “Somehow I knew you would say that,” Portak replied, also smiling. “In limited circumstances you will be permitted to make contact with those persons in positions of authority as a point of contact to notify you of any unauthorized contact that you aren‘t aware of. But, anyone you come in contact with will have to have that portion of their memory blocked to prevent them from ever discussing their contact with you under whatever parameters you establish.”

  “The Council and you are very wise indeed. You can count on me.”

  “I know I can, my friend. I know.”

  ***

  Over the next several hundred years, Will made infrequent trips to Earth to prevent unauthorized contact between an alien civilization and the inhabitants of Earth or to bring to justice those who had violated the no contact rule.

  During this time Will’s mother and brother passed away; he never took the opportunity to see them before they died, but their descendants flourished.

  On one such trip, in 1888, Will returned to what was now known as Essex Manor. Some of his descendants still lived at the Manor home, but they had also opened part of it to the public as a museum and art gallery on a limited basis. Edward had indeed increased the value of Will’s initial investments, and the Essex family descendants were some of the wealthiest in Europe.

  The portraits that Elizabeth had painted adorned many of the walls of the estate. Upon seeing the portraits, he felt sad at never having seen his family again.

  Elizabeth had gone on to become a very famous portrait and still life artist in her time. Her works chronicled the Essex family at different stages in their lives. Will was able to see what Edward, Elizabeth, and the children looked like as they grew older. Some of her other works of art included portraits of the various members of the royal family from her time period. Some of her work even hung in Buckingham Palace.

  While perusing the art gallery, he noticed an attractive young woman, who was about 25 years old with long, curly blond hair, wearing a stylish blue dress, staring at him intently. As he moved around the room, so did she. The young woman did not try to hide her obvious interest. As Will moved behind a sculpture of David, the girl was surprised to see that Will had disappeared when she came around the sculpture to look for him. She was even more surprised when he came up unexpectedly behind her.

  “Is there something I may help you with, young lady?” he asked her.

  She let out a startled yelp. “Dear Lord! You scared me half to death!”

  “I’m sorry about that, but I was curious as to why you were staring at me so intently.”

  “I…I was not!” she said, her cheeks turning red. “I mean, I, well…you look exactly like the portrait of one of my ancestors.”

  Will looked confused. “What portrait would that be?” he asked.

  “Come, I’ll show you.”

  The girl escorted Will into an adjoining room, and showed him a portrait that Elizabeth had painted almost 400 years earlier. Will was shocked to see a painting of himself fixed in a gilded frame hanging on the wall in front of him. He recalled the conversation where she had asked him to sit for a portrait and he declined. Obviously, Elizabeth must have painted it from memory after his visit. The resemblance between him and his portrait was astounding.

  “One of your ancestors? Then you must be…?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m Emma. Emma Essex. And you are?”

  Will was taken aback at hearing that this young woman had been named after his mother, but his face remained impassive.

  “I’m David. David Porter,” he said, as he proffered his hand, which she took. Will had used a mix of his father’s first name and his mother’s maiden name.

  “Nice to meet you, Mr. Porter. Now, I apologize for being so rude, but the resemblance between you and my ancestor was somewhat startling. Are you related to our family?”

  “No, I’m afraid not,” he lied. “My resemblance to your ancestor is just a coincidence.”

  “Of course,” she said, with a placating smile, not totally convinced. “Sorry to have troubled you.”

  “No trouble at all.” As she turned to leave he asked, “Out of curiosity, whatever happened to the chap in the portrait I seem to resemble? What was his name?”

  Emma turned around and smiled, happy to answer the question. “His name was William. William Essex. To answer the first part of your question, that is one of our great family mysteries as no one really knows. According to our family history, he left home at eighteen, and was not heard from again until he was in his mid-thirties, which was in the year 1497.

  “At that time he returned home for a couple of
months and stayed with his brother, Edward, and his family. That portrait of him was painted by Edward’s wife, Elizabeth, during that visit. In fact, all of the family portraits in this gallery were painted by her. While he was visiting his family, he told his brother that he was a successful spice and jewelry merchant and reportedly gave his brother a large amount of jewels that allowed him to buy this estate. Some of the stones eventually made their way to the royal family and became part of the crown jewels. He also fell in love with a woman named Hanna Chapman. When he left, she was supposed to go with him, but at the last minute she changed her mind and didn‘t go. She eventually married a wealthy banker that her parents introduced her to a few years later.”

  Will was a little shocked at learning this bit of information, and saddened at hearing Hanna‘s name again. He had wondered what had become of her, and hoped that her marriage had been happy.

  “In fact, Elizabeth painted that portrait of her behind you.”

  Will turned and saw the portrait of Hanna hanging on the wall behind him. She looked beautiful. The sight of her portrait instantly brought back his memories of their time together, as well as her scent and her touch. He turned away from her portrait quicker than he meant to, but Emma didn’t seem to notice.

  “After he left that time, he was never heard from again. He supposedly returned to Asia where he told his family his businesses were located. But, there has never been any proof that these businesses ever existed in Asia, or anywhere else for that matter.” She paused for a few seconds and then continued, “In fact, I’m named after their mother, who died several years after his final visit.” Will became saddened again at the thought of his mother’s death.

  “Thank you so much for that information. Well, I must…”

  “The really strange thing,” she continued, seeming not to have heard him, “is a family legend regarding what really happened to him.”

  Will was intrigued by this and wanted to know more.

  “What legend would that be?”

  “On the day he left, his brother offered him a horse to ride to the docks in nearby Ravenglass where he was to board a ship back to Asia, but he chose to walk instead.”

  “I admit that seems strange, but what of it?” replied Will, remembering the day vividly.

  “Unbeknownst to him, his nephew and niece, Miles and Emily, decided to follow him through the woods, surprise him and bid him a final farewell. As they were awaiting his approach, they hid at the edge of the woods, he looked around, changed into some kind of black clothing, and flew into the sky like an angel. But, you know how children are. No one in the family believed them, but until the day they died, they both swore this was what they had seen,” she said with a smile.

  Will was completely stunned. He had not dreamed that his niece and nephew had followed him and observed him fly back to his spacecraft. He had not thought to scan the woods with his vision or hearing powers prior to flying back to his starship cruiser, mainly because he was thinking about Hanna. He would never make that mistake again.

  “Yes, children can have quite the imagination,” he said, forcing a smile. “Well, I must be going. Thank you for your hospitality, Emma.”

  “My pleasure,” she said, smiling as well. She turned and left Will by himself. A few minutes later, he left the estate and returned to Altrusia.

  ***

  From a distance Will watched the human race progress in many areas - from science to art; literature to medicine; engineering to communications, and in many other ways. He could not wait until the day the human race was ready to accept that they were not the only sentient beings in the universe and become part of the intergalactic community. However, he knew that day would be a long time coming as the Earth’s inhabitants still had a lot of maturing to do.

  In addition to his duties as a historian on distant worlds, he also became one for his own planet. He marveled at Earth’s rich history. From the ancient Greek philosophers, Plato and Socrates, to the building of the Great Pyramids in Egypt, and the Great Wall of China. From the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, to the discovery of the New World by the European explorers, to the brave travels of the Pilgrims to the New World to be able to worship in freedom. From the founding of the thirteen American colonies and its Revolutionary War with his native England, to the rise of the United States of America.

  From its inception, Will was intrigued by the concept of America and its ideals of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom from tyranny and oppression, and the pursuit of happiness. Another quality of the Americans that impressed Will was their strong desire for peace and their willingness to go to war to maintain that peace.

  He watched the struggles of the African slaves as they fought to win their freedom, and the Civil War that almost tore America apart at its core by pitting brother-against-brother, father-against-son, neighbor-against-neighbor, and family-against-family. Will thought of the many worlds he had visited where slavery still freely existed, an institution he believed was wrong, but was forbidden to interfere.

  As America became a dominant power in the world in science, engineering and invention, various alien races began to take notice and several expeditions were sent to study this up and coming civilization. Will’s job was to keep this in check and to make sure that the alien researchers simply kept their missions one of pure research and nothing more.

  While America and the rest of the Earth rolled through the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, Will kept a watchful eye on things from a distance when his primary responsibilities permitted.

  More and more Will was kept away from Earth by his Guardian duties in his assigned sector and quadrant, which had increased in size and number with his myriad of successes. Will was now such a legend throughout the known universe, that the mere mention that the Guardian known as the Shadow Warrior might become involved in some type of interplanetary dispute was often enough to squelch it.

  One day Will approached Portak with an idea he had for dealing with any issues that may arise on Earth as they related to alien researchers and hostile alien races.

  “I know we discussed this many years before, but my idea is to secretly and privately contact the leaders of the major peaceful countries, such as America, Britain, Canada and Australia, and provide them with a way to make contact with me in case they need my services. I would not tell them more than they needed to know, of course, and I would make it so they could not discuss me in any way with anyone except their successors.”

  “As long as you put these safeguards in place, you have my consent,” said Portak.

  Chapter 64

  60,000 Feet Above Nazi Occupied Germany

  1943 A.D.

  The weather was cloudy with a slight breeze from the southwest. Will and his team had left well before midnight from Fort Benning. After their briefing the night before, Will had teleported to the White House to brief President Roosevelt. The president reminded Will that he and his team needed to not only recover the aliens but their ship and weapons as well. The aliens were to be brought to the U.S. for debriefing by top U.S. scientists. Will simply advised the president he would do his best to accomplish his mission.

  Will and his men were flying in a C-47 transport plane which was similar to the one they had utilized in their practice jumps. The difference was this plane was pressurized and considerably more comfortable than a standard C-47. Will’s team also thought it odd they had not seen the pilot or co-pilot at all. They had observed the Colonel go in and out of the cockpit a few times, but no one else. They blew this off to the secrecy involved in this mission, and the less the pilots knew the better.

  Even stranger was that they had not stopped for refueling at all. But again they simply assumed that the plane was equipped with extra tanks for extended flights. They figured the pilots would refuel on the flight back home.

  Just then, Will exited the cockpit and announced that they needed to get ready as they would be over their jump site in approximately one hour. They all
donned their insulated jumpsuits over their German uniforms and were advised to make sure they had all of their gear. Each man helped his partner with putting on his parachute and double-checking to make sure it was secure, and that each man had his gear.

  To make sure that they wouldn’t get nitrogen narcosis, they made sure they had been breathing pure oxygen for the last hour before reaching their destination. Although Will didn’t need to do this, he put on his oxygen mask to eliminate any potential questions from his men.

  They weren’t sure if it was their nerves, but the plane was eerily silent as well - too silent for a standard C-47.

  Hauser finally asked, “Colonel, how’d they make this plane so quiet?”

  “The Army has been experimenting with a new baffle and muffler system for its bombers and transport planes over the last couple of years. This one is a prototype. Seems to be working pretty well, don’t you think?”

  “Yes, sir.” A little too well, thought Hauser.

  The minutes seemed to slowly tick by. They watched Will as he donned his gear. He appeared calm and serene, as if he were going walking on a beach instead of preparing to conduct a rescue mission of a group of aliens from another planet that were imprisoned in an impregnable Nazi facility. However, seeing him composed but focused helped them to remain calm as well.

  “Fifteen minutes, gentlemen,” Will said as he looked at his watch. It was 0500.

  Before Will had announced the time left before they were to jump, the hours and minutes had seemed to trickle by; now it was as if someone had turned on a waterfall.

  “Three minutes, gentlemen. Let’s get ready.”

  As a team they moved into their jump positions and hooked into their static lines. Will again acted as jump master, and would be the last man out. Will opened the door to the plane. Hauser was even more shocked how quiet the plane was - he couldn’t hear the engines, even with the door open.