She took a moment to take in the room. She acknowledged the technicians who were busily stabilising the Traverser in preparation for her Father’s visit.
There were several consoles and back up consoles on the ground level. There was a mezzanine level full of cabinets containing the super computers that she had ‘acquired’ from DARPA. Compared to her world, the machines were ancient and obsolete but with a lot of tweaking they were working perfectly.
The Traverser was entering its final phase; she could feel the pulses of energy emanating from the machine. She was grateful that her TDI afforded her protection against the intense spikes of radiation. Her skin felt the warmth and tingled slightly which caused a shiver to travel down her spine.
She was always in awe at the appearance of the wormhole. It wasn’t actually a hole at all, it was shaped like a sphere and it sparkled with thousands of lights which were the countless stars of countless galaxies in layer upon layer of Universes through which the wormhole penetrated.
She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, she wondered why she felt so apprehensive. She had a deep and foreboding feeling which she just couldn’t shake. She felt a lot better once she had finished her exhalation.
Her Father’s visit was unexpected, especially since she had just finished sending the last of their current stock of organs through to him. She hoped that he would be pleased with her efforts and couldn’t wait to tell him personally about her latest prize.
She watched as her Father stepped out of the sphere which instantly de-activated. He appeared to be confused and disoriented and he stumbled slightly as he moved towards her.
She felt saddened by how much her Father’s appearance had deteriorated and how obvious it was that he would soon need the rejuvenation. She saw the signs of ageing weighing heavily upon him, the white shock of thin wispy hair, the deepening lines furrowing on his face. She noticed that his normally tall physique was now somehow diminished by a pronounced stoop.
She stepped forward and grabbed his elbow to support him. She was surprised by his reaction.
“Get your hands off me, I’ve come to see my daughter,” Oppenheimer said gruffly as he walked past Susan and looked around the vast chamber of the Traverser room. “Where is she? I need to see her urgently.”
Susan fought back her tears. She knew that her Father’s dementia was worsening she just didn’t realise how much worse.
“Father, I’m your daughter,” she said as she managed a smile. “I’m Susan, you came to see me.”
She watched as her Father turned slowly and examined her as if he were examining one of his lab rats. She saw the recognition finally wash over his face. He coughed nervously as he walked towards her.
“Yes yes of course you are. It must be the damn light in this place or maybe the inter-dimensional travel had me a bit confused – in any case don’t dilly dally I want to see this facility of yours.”
Susan was pleased that the man that she knew was still there after all and he was fighting against the growing cloudiness in his brain.
“I think you will be very pleased Father. Did you oversee that last shipment? I know the quality is poor but I do have a surprise for you.”
“I saw the last shipment and I have examined a sample, the quality is poor as you say but I have our top geneticists working on them, I believe we will achieve a ninety five percent recovery.
“Now, what’s all this about a surprise? It had better be good news Susan; we are losing thousands to JPDL every day.” Oppenheimer shook slightly as he spoke.
Susan could clearly see that the stress of running Mundus Nova was literally killing her Father, she tried to keep her voice low and she smiled as she lightly touched her Father’s shoulder.
“I have secured two young healthy donors and they are being prepared for the extraction as we speak. These specimens will be perfect for us Father.”
Susan could see a tiny spark in her Father’s eyes; she could tell that he was pleased.
“Is one of them female?” he asked excitedly.
Susan was surprised by her Father’s reaction.
“Yes. Why do you ask?”
“The President has put me under a lot of pressure to source a suitable candidate for his wife,” Oppenheimer said as he started walking away from Susan.
“No. Those organs will be mine. The President’s wife can wait!” Susan said as she felt a flush of anger rise within her.
“Don’t be ridiculous Susan, the President’s wife will have those organs and that’s all there is to it. Who do you think has been allowing us to carry out the harvest?”
“Allowing us to carry out the harvest? What do you mean? We have sacrificed everything to satisfy those despots and protect their precious hegemony. I deserve those organs I have worked my arse off; I will not allow them to go to anyone else.”
Susan resisted the temptation to stomp her feet like some spoilt child, she needed to retain her dignity no matter how much she wished she could throw a tantrum.
Her Father turned towards her. She could sense the darkness within him; his face was mask of rage.
“How dare you speak to me like that? You will obey my wishes or suffer the consequences Susan. Daughter or not, you work for me and my word is final.
There were several technicians in the Traverser room and Susan felt a sense of shame and anger when she realised that she had been berated so fiercely by her Father in front of her sub ordinates.
Her face blushed and she was just about to respond when she heard the ubiquitous sound of the elevator. She turned and was shocked to see the Doctor and her personal assistant standing outside of the elevator and it was plain that they were hostages to the two men who were pointing weapons at them.
She moved towards them with her hand outstretched.
“Gentlemen, we have been expecting you, welcome to Mundus Nova, I…”
“Step aside Susan I’ll handle this,” she heard her Father say as he pushed past her to confront the intruders.
“Who are you people? What do you want?”
“We are Federal Agents, are you the man in charge of this place?”
Susan could tell that the Agent who spoke was the leader and that he was visibly upset. She saw that he was now aiming his weapon at her Father and that her Father showed no fear as he moved closer to them.
“Yes, my name is Doctor Oppenheimer and you may as well put away those weapons, they will not work in this room.”
* * *
Baxter was a bit surprised at the Doctor’s comment.
“Is that so Doctor? Do you want me to test that theory?” he asked as he began applying pressure to the Glock’s trigger.
“If you wish, but you should at least introduce yourself before you try and kill me.”
“Very well, my name is Special Agent Baxter and this is my associate Agent Thompson and I suggest that everyone in this room co-operate fully in our investigation, we are shutting down this entire facility.”
“I don’t think so Agent Baxter and I would appreciate it if you would let my people go.”
Baxter was amazed at how unfazed the Doctor appeared. He turned towards Thompson who was standing behind him with his weapon aimed at the orderly.
“Do you think he’s bluffing?”
It was at that moment that he felt the searing pain in his shoulder and then heard the distinctive sound of a silenced gun firing.
He reached up to where the pain was and he felt the moisture as his blood started seeping from the wound. He turned back towards the Doctor. He could see that the woman behind Doctor Oppenheimer had shot him.
The pain in his shoulder joined the throbbing pain in his head. His vision blurred as he struggled to come to grips with the fact that he had been shot.
The last thing he saw before collapsing on the floor was that all of the technicians had weapons and they were pointing them at Thompson and himself.
“They lied,” was all Baxter could manage to say before he passed out
and hit the floor.
* * *
“Hold your fire,” Oppenheimer yelled as he held up his hand to warn the technicians who were keen to shower the intruders in a hail of bullets. He stepped closer to the downed agent and smiled as he bent down and felt for a pulse.
“Good, he’s still alive. Susan can you please disarm Agent Thompson and please free Günter and the Doctor. I think it is time for our unconscious friend here and Agent Thompson to become organ donors.”
“Yes Father, it will be a pleasure,” Susan said as she disarmed Thompson. She pulled a box cutter out her pocket and cut the zip ties on the captives. After handing the gun to the Doctor, she smiled at her assistant.
“Günter, please take Agent Baxter back to the theatre and remove his organs while they are still fresh, I’m sure his friend here would love to witness the operation,” she said as she smiled at Agent Thompson.
“You will never get away with this Oppenheimer; we have back up agents swarming all over this place I…I…,”
Oppenheimer backed up slightly when he was confronted by the angry agent and smiled as Günter smashed the back of his skull with the Glock, instantly silencing the Agent. He turned towards his daughter.
“Susan, I think now would be a good time initiate a lock down and a purge.”
Forty Nine
A faint glow from the much smaller personal Traverser which Michael held cast an imperceptible shadow on the wall of the mezzanine level of the control room on which they had materialised.
Michael held Sylvan’s hand, he had used his abilities to shield both her and Justen from the effects of inter-dimensional travel.
As soon as they had materialised however, he sensed danger and was alarmed when he realised that there were only two of them standing on the mezzanine.
Somehow Justen had materialised on the ground floor level and was being held by Susan Smythe.
“Let me go, I want to see Mr Baxter, he’s hurt,” Justen said as his arms flailed uselessly against the woman who seemed very confused and angry.
“Where the hell did you come from?”
“Get your hands off my son,” Michael heard Sylvan scream. She had shaken her hand loose from Michael’s and was now running towards the stairs which led down to the ground floor. Unfortunately as soon as she had made it to the bottom of the stairs she was seized by two of Oppenheimer’s men.
At the same time he heard the shouts of four more people, two had come out of the elevator and another two had entered through the lower level stairway entrance. He could tell that they were government agents.
They started shouting demands as soon as they arrived, but it was the distinctive voice of Professor Oppenheimer which Michael recognised over the shouts. He knew what Oppenheimer’s plan was as soon as he heard his words.
“All of you drop your weapons or she will kill the little boy!”
His voice received an instant response as all of the agents instantly froze in position and looked at each other and then reluctantly threw their weapons onto the floor.
He saw Oppenheimer nod to his men who picked up the weapons and herded the four agents over towards Smythe.
Michael knew that Oppenheimer was not bluffing; he saw that Ms Smythe was holding a gun to Justen’s head and that Oppenheimer was moving back towards the Traverser.
He realised that if Oppenheimer activated the Traverser, anyone without a TDI implant would be instantly killed by the intense radiation and from this distance he did not know if his abilities could save Sylvan and his son. He had to act fast. He had to distract him and get closer.
“Don’t move Oppenheimer,” he yelled as he walked towards the stairs. He slipped his personal Traverser into his pocket as he walked.
“Ah yes, the mutant, you must be very hard to kill and very resourceful, I tossed you into that wormhole. How did you get here?” Oppenheimer said as he continued inching further back towards the Traverser console.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you Oppenheimer and I said not to move.”
“I’m afraid you must be confused mutant. I know that little boy is your son Justen, and if you take one more step or even twitch a muscle, my daughter Susan will kill him, and my men will kill your girlfriend as well. So you see mutant, you are in no position to make demands.”
Michael was about to respond when he noticed that the lighting in the room was beginning to flicker wildly. He sensed massive amounts of energy emanating from his son. He knew that if Justen were to react in any way to Oppenheimer’s threats he would be killed.
“Justen, it’s okay, Doctor Oppenheimer won’t hurt you or your Mother, I won’t let him,” Michael said and at the same time he sent a telepathic message to Justen.
He could tell his message went through as the lights ceased flickering and Justen had stopped struggling.
“Okay, Oppenheimer, it looks like you hold all of the cards, what do you want?”
He heard Oppenheimer let out a snort of derision, he saw his face contort for a second but then it relaxed again as he let out a long breath as if he had changed his mind about his response and decided to take a different tact.
“I think you are mistaken Michael. I don’t want anything. Mundus Nova however, needs fresh organs, lots of fresh organs. Our world is dying, your world is dying. This is not your world.
Join us; use your abilities to help us gather as many organs as we need. You’ve seen how pathetic and primitive these lesser humans are, they don’t deserve to keep their organs, and they are just wasting them.
This is just the beginning Michael, I am ready to launch an all out offensive on the entire planet; we will take control and harvest everyone.
“The continuation of our World is paramount, and besides, we will be doing these people a favour.” Oppenheimer said as he sneered at the Federal Agents.
Michael smiled to himself, he knew his tactic was working, he knew that it would not be long before the outcome would be realised, the outcome that he had seen in the vision that Oolax had shown him.
He was prepared.
Fifty
Justen had stopped struggling against his captor as soon as he received the message from his Father.
He needed to persuade Ms Smythe to allow him to be closer to his Mother. He saw that she was crying so he knew that he could convince her to let them be together.
“Can you please let my Mummy stand next to me, I am really scared,” Justen said as he looked up at Ms Smythe and smiled meekly as he started to quietly whimper. “I promise we won’t be any trouble.”
He could tell that she was initially unmoved by his performance so he started to break into a complete sobbing routine, complete with him rubbing his nose on her sleeve.
“Alright, cut it out! Klaus bring his Mother over here and you can hold the gun to his head, this is a silk blouse I don’t want this disgusting child’s snot all over the damn thing,” Ms Smythe said as she handed Justen over to Klaus.
Justen reached out his hand to his Mother and felt comforted by her touch. He knew that they were all in danger and that his Father had a plan to save them. His Father would also need his abilities when the time was right.
He stood with his Mother near the elevator door. He was worried about his friend Mr Baxter, who was lying on the floor with a pool of blood forming beneath him. He hoped that whatever his Father’s plan was he would do it quickly because he knew that his friend was hurt badly.
From where he stood he could only see his Father from the neck up as the rest of him was obscured by a half wall which acted as a safety barrier on the mezzanine level.
He listened intently as the conversation ensued between his Father and the strange looking old man.
Suddenly he received another psychic message from his Father.
Justen, I am going to have to leave you very soon. I want you to focus all of your energy on the device I showed you. It’s in my pocket, can you sense it?
Justen slowly nodded his head and then began concen
trating as hard as he could on the strange object that his Father had shown him before they arrived in the control room.
Good, you need to hold on tightly to your Mother and I want you to promise me that you will take care of her for me.
He was just about to answer his Father when he inhaled sharply in shock. The bad man, the one called Stringer, the dragon that he thought he had slain, was standing behind his Father with a very large knife in his hand, the same knife that he was going to use to hurt his Mother.
He felt sick in the stomach when he saw the masses of flesh hanging loosely off the monster’s black and charred face.
He screamed at the top of his lungs.
“FATHER, LOOKOUT HE’S BEHIND YOU!”
He saw his Father calmly turn to confront the monster.
Justen felt confused, he did not understand his Father’s reaction, nor did he understand what his Father said.
“I have been waiting for you Stringer.”
He saw Stringer swiftly spin his Father around and press the blade of the knife against his throat.
Justen seethed with anger as he heard the distinctive cold hard voice of the monster.
“Oppenheimer, you screwed me!”
Justen looked at the strange looking Doctor who seemed surprised at the monster’s statement.
“Mr Stringer! How nice to see you. I hardly recognised you. What happened to you?”
“Fuck you Oppenheimer! I’m going to make you all pay for what you did to me.”
“Now listen here Stringer, there is no need for violence. Calm down, I have convinced Michael that it is in his best interest to join us. As you can see he really has no other option,” Oppenheimer said smugly as he continued moving back towards the console.
Justen knew that he was referring to him and his Mother.
“I don’t give a shit about you or your precious Mundus Nova. By freq locking my TDI you weakened me. That little kid beat me. He did this!”
Justen could see the pain and anguish on the monster’s face but he didn’t care, that man had tried to hurt his Mother and now he was going to hurt his Father. The anger inside of him quickly intensified into a white hot rage.
The Immortal Harvest Page 30