“The drug,” said the man as he made injection motions with his hand to his arm. “Pictures big money. Buy the drug.”
“When?” asked Merk.
“Flood in arch. Same day,” answered the man. “I remember. He sad.”
“Very sad,” said Merk. He thanked the man and turned to walk back to his hotel room.
Merk was now certain that Amos had been manipulated. It would not have been conclusive proof in a court of law, but Merk didn’t believe it was a coincidence that the one thing Amos had obsessed about — the striking resemblance between Emperor Titus and Romano — was a fraud.
Perpetrated by whom?
He intended to find out.
I’ll go back to London and visit all of our usual hangouts. Someone at one of the internet cafés might remember seeing him with—
Something hard struck him on the back of the head. As he slipped into unconsciousness, his last thought was that he wouldn’t have to travel back to London get answers.
*******
When he woke up, he found himself restrained to a chair in a tiny room. He kept his eyes closed in an effort to hide that he was now aware of his surroundings. A man was talking on a cell phone, but his voice was so low that Merk could only make out bits and pieces.
“Asking questions…copies of sketches…girlfriend…old man.”
There was a pause — the man was waiting for instructions.
“Understood,” said the voice. “I’ll need cleanup.”
Merk heard the man cock his gun and knew he was about to be killed. Opening his eyes, he sat upright in the chair. “Why did they pick Amos? Just tell me why!”
“He was a true believer,” said the man as his finger tightened on the trigger. “He wanted to kill the Antichrist.”
Merk squeezed his eyes shut and braced for the bullet that would soon rip through him. The gun had a silencer, but he still jumped when he heard the pop.
He felt nothing.
Believing he must be in shock, he opened his eyes and stared at his midsection. There was no injury.
He heard the sound of something heavy falling to the floor and saw the man lying in a crumpled heap, bleeding from the mouth and nose. Standing next to the body was a female with a face he recognized.
It’s one of Romano’s faith healers — Arkani!
“The man who attempted to assassinate President Romano — who was he to you?” she demanded.
“He was my friend,” said Merk. “He looked after me for many years when I lived on the streets. I was looking for proof that some sort of mind-control was used on him.”
Arkani smiled. “You’re Merkowitz,” she said. “The one who visited him in the asylum.”
Merk looked at her with his mouth agape. How does she know that?
“Records indicate that immediately after your second visit to the patient, he made a miraculous recovery,” said Arkani. “But you knew he would get better, didn’t you?”
Merk shrugged.
“Analysis of his remains showed his system contained a nanobyte that was modified to his individual vital signs in order to administer a precise amount of antipsychotic drugs,” she said. “It enabled him to function without manic episodes, but it did not alter his belief that Romano was the Antichrist.”
She paused again, waiting for Merk to explain himself, but he kept his eyes downcast and would not answer.
Lifting his chin, she detected his heart rate increasing. “The nanobyte used Vambir technology. How did you come by it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he shouted. “I came here to prove that my friend was the victim of mind control — nothing more!”
“Oh, but there is so much more,” she insisted. “We’ve been searching for the hidden nest of Kevak’s hybrids. They moved from the monastery in Russia and set up house somewhere else. Where are they now?”
Merk shook his head. He could not move his hands and feet, but that didn’t matter. He could still move his tongue, and he pushed it up past where his teeth met his gums and felt the tiny rubber cylinder. Using the tip like a pickaxe, he dislodged it.
“What’s that in your mouth?” she demanded.
She attempted to grasp his head as he chomped on the rubber cylinder.
“A suicide capsule, eh?” she asked. “I’ve been told that went out a century ago. No matter. Try as you might, I won’t allow you to die — not just yet.”
She grabbed Merk by the hair and pulled his head up. After pinching his nose and applying pressure to his jaw, she could see the partially chewed cylinder in his open mouth. A black substance was oozing out and spreading rapidly. The spit in Merk’s mouth became thick, and the pores of his tongue began to emit blood.
She held her hand a few inches from his mouth and transferred glowing material from her palm to his lips.
“There, there,” said Arkani. “Whatever poison you’ve taken will soon be neutralized.”
Merk knew she was inches away from him — this would be his only chance. If Arkani was permitted to torture him, he would eventually tell her where the lifeboat was, and Devonna’s life, along with the lives of everyone else at the Arctic station, would be forfeit. Summoning all of his strength, he lunged at her hand and bit down. As he sank his teeth into her flesh, he viciously shook his head in order to eject as much of the foul material from his mouth into her system as possible.
She backhanded him with such force that he went him flying across the room, still restrained to the chair. Her wound began to burn, but she assured herself that the nanobots in her system would soon counteract whatever poison had been introduced into her bloodstream.
“You can’t infect me any more than you can kill yourself,” she boasted. “Be healed! I cast thee out, Satan! Ha! Do you have any idea how many times I’ve said that?”
She stared at him with a contemptuous smile, patiently waiting for the nanobots to render the poison harmless.
But the burning in her bite wound continued to grow. Merk’s chest heaved as he coughed up copious amounts of blood. His eyes met hers, and he flashed the same mocking smile that she had given him moments earlier.
His coughs came to a sudden halt, and he slumped over lifeless in the chair.
Running to the sink, Arkani instinctively washed the wound, but the burning continued to increase and was accompanied by new pain sensations throughout her body. She turned to open the door but lost her balance and fell hard to the floor. As she dragged herself toward the door, she could sense acrid fluid seeping from her nose and eyes. Giving in to panic, she breathed deeply to get air into her lungs, but the deeper she breathed, the more fluid entered her airways.
*******
Private Function, Washington, D.C.
Director Kerkorian felt the buzz of the one-way pager attached to her belt. “Please excuse me,” she said.
“No rest for the wicked, Therese?” asked one of the attendees.
“None whatsoever,” she answered with a smile as she exited the room. When she was certain no one was within earshot, she used a burner phone to dial the number left on the pager. Although these were primitive forms of communication, they kept her nefarious activities hidden from official government channels.
“Three casualties — one is ours,” said the voice on the other end. “Contagion level five.”
“Disinfection protocol Gomorrah,” she ordered.
“But we could learn—” protested the voice.
“Disinfection protocol Gomorrah,” she repeated.
“Understood,” said the voice.
As she returned to the soiree, her pager buzzed again. Damn these subordinates!
But when she checked the number, it was a different one than before. “What is it, Three?”
“A new anomaly has been detected, One,” said Three. “In the Arctic Circle.”
RETURN
Lifeboart, Arctic Circle
March 24, 2049 AD
“Wormhole formation!” shouted Emanui above
the emergency sirens. “It’s close — less than fifty miles away!”
“Suit up in full solar protection gear!” ordered Jasper.
They ran to the shuttle bay and split into two groups. Jasper piloted the first shuttle, accompanied by Nadia and Devonna, while Emanui, Tariq, and J’Vor followed in the second.
“Get the med-pods online,” said Emanui over the radio.
“Do we know how many came through?” asked Jasper.
“Not yet,” answered Emanui.
The occupants in both shuttles could hear a string of bips and bleeps over the radio.
“What’s that?” asked Devonna. “Morse code? Who even uses that anymore?”
“No!” exclaimed J’Vor over the radio. “It’s the Vambir Korta Code! Father taught it to me as a boy! Standby!”
“It’s addressed to the current occupants of Kozheozersky,” said J’Vor. “I don’t understand.”
“Kozheozersky?” asked Devonna.
“A monastery in Russia,” explained Jasper. “It was our base of operations before moving to the Arctic Circle.”
“But if you moved the lifeboat after Kevak and the others left for Vambiri, wouldn’t they assume you were still there?” she asked.
“No,” said Jasper. “They knew about the relocation plans for the lifeboat.”
“The message contains information that we already know,” said J’Vor. “It’s a warning that four Vambir adolescents activated a bridge to Earth and are now at liberty somewhere here.”
“Any heat signatures?” asked Tariq.
“Nothing,” said Emanui, “and we’re at ground zero of the anomaly.”
“Keep checking,” said Jasper. “The area will be crawling with military aircraft soon, and we need to be gone by then. They’ve become extra vigilent with their readiness to respond to anomalies after the glitch they experienced in Wyoming.”
*******
Four hours later, Kevak deactivated his space suit’s cloaking device. He had watched as several groups of air shuttles and jets scoured the area for signs of life and had waited until the radar in his arm panel indicated that there were no more in the vicinity. Although the sun was high in the sky, his opaque helmet shielded him from the deadly solar rays as he made his way toward the lifeboat. His suit’s tracking device extrapolated the vapor trails of the shuttles that had first arrived at his coordinates, which would have surely been J’Vor and the others at the lifeboat. It would take him around three hours to reach the lifeboat using his suit propulsion and suspensors like a hydrofoil over the flat, icy terrain. All was proceeding according to plan.
*******
“Bogey approaching on foot!” exclaimed Tariq.
“I’ve got eyes on him!” said Emanui.
The Vambir insignia on the suit, along with the opaque helmet assured them that this was either Kevak or one of the Newlunders. As the figure entered the hatch, any doubts were swept aside when it raised a gloved hand and made the sign of the cross just before removing the helmet.
“Father!” cried J’Vor as he embraced him. “Why didn’t you signal to us when we were at your landing site?”
“We knew that Jirza and the others would sense the anomaly,” explained Kevak. “We wanted them to believe that only a message was transmitted. Any military planes in the region would have reported that no heat signatures were detected.”
“I emailed a warning to the Newisla as soon as I discovered proof that Jirza and Tolum had fooled us into believing they were merely tools of the rogue Vambir,” said Emanui. “Did you ever receive the message?”
Kevak shook his head. “When the ship was pulled through the wormhole, many of the computer systems short circuited. All incoming messages were lost, and we eventually discovered the truth about the siblings independently.”
They all listened in stunned silence as Kevak told them everything that had happened since the Newisla returned to Vambiri.
“The Christ was transported through the wormhole to Vambiri!” exclaimed J’Vor.
“According to Ikato,” said Kevak, “he is resting until the universe has need of Him again.”
“So this Ikato was responsible for the cosmic disaster that caused you to evacuate Vambiri all those thousands of years ago?” asked Tariq.
Kevak shrugged. “The experiments he carried out were mandated by the Council. If Ikato had refused, they would have found someone else, and that might have resulted in the planet being torn completely apart. Everything happened as it was meant to happen. Ikato kept a community of Lowcaste children hidden from the Council, and thanks to that, there is a thriving new generation on Vambiri being raised by the Newlunders. When they reach maturity, they will not only raise their own children but will also integrate the Newlunder embryos into their family units. The caste system no longer exists.”
“All of those Bible stories that you read to me in the cave outside of Bazna, Father,” said J’Vor. “This Ikato played a hidden role in so much!”
“Ah,” said Kevak, “but was he the composer or merely the conductor? Detractors will claim the former. Having gotten to know him, I would say the latter.”
“Fifteen years ago, archeologists located the Ark of Covenant,” said Devonna. “When it was announced that the cuneiforms contained on the tablets had been carved out with a laser, the entire find was labeled a hoax.”
“Their careers were completely destroyed,” recalled Tariq.
“Hopefully their reputations can be restored after the truth is known,” said Kevak.
“What’s to be done about Jirza?” asked Emanui.
“And what about…the others?” asked Jasper, embarrassed to mention Kwetz by name.
“Do you know their whereabouts?” asked Kevak.
“Unfortunately, yes,” said Emanui. “Jirza and her cohorts are ministers to America’s newly elected president. They cured him from stage four cancer when he was within hours of dying, and they subsequently performed faith healings throughout his campaign.”
“The healings are genuine,” said Kevak.
“We know,” said Jasper. “We collected nanobot samples just after they arrived but have not been able to propagate them in sufficient numbers to match their abilities.”
“It takes a long time without a host,” said Kevak, “which is what brings me here. I will undergo transmutation. After the process is complete, I will be able to directly infuse all of you with the superior hybrid nanobots.”
“Will we also become transmuted?” asked Emanui.
“Yes,” said Kevak. “The hybrid nanobots will retain the best traits from each species.”
“Then we will become like Jirza and the others,” said J’Vor. “We will be able to tolerate sunlight.”
“And you will be able to heal others,” added Kevak. “President Romano won’t have a monopoly on that anymore.”
“We’ll also be able to travel through the wormhole,” said Tariq. “We discovered that nanobots keep the cell nuclei intact.”
“Yes,” said Kevak. “Our two worlds will soon become much closer. Before we knew about transmutation, all travel from Vambiri to Earth was forbidden.”
“Jirza found a way around the travel ban,” said Jasper.
“She worked out how to activate the wormhole after hacking into Ikato’s log. You can’t suppress knowledge,” mused Kevak. “If we were to burn all of the mathematics books and pass laws against its teaching, eventually, the discoveries by Pythagoras, Newton, and Einstein would be resurrected by some future mind with the right mix of intelligence and curiosity.”
“What do you require to achieve transmutation?” asked Devonna.
“Blood must be introduced into my system,” said Kevak. “I would prefer to have it administered intravenously as opposed to ingesting it — the smell is repugnant to me.”
“When, Father?” asked J’Vor.
“Immediately,” said Kevak. “There is not a moment to lose.”
*******
“Your space suit
does not look comfortable,” said J’Vor as he adjusted the angle on Kevak’s bed. “Wouldn’t you prefer to take it off?”
“No,” said Kevak. “It is necessary. Ikato assures me it will provide the perfect environment for transmutation.”
J’Vor attached the blood transfusion bag to the receptor above the bed. “What’s going to happen?”
“I’m not sure exactly,” said Kevak. “I’ve been told I’ll experience a burning sensation and elevated respiration in the first seconds. After that, I’ll be in semi-stasis for the duration of the process.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier if we placed you into a stasis pod?” asked J’Vor.
“No. Stasis will stop the transmutation entirely. Semi-stasis will allow it to proceed at a safe pace.”
“Are you ready?”
“Not yet,” said Kevak. “I want to tell you about Kwetz. During his time on Vambiri, he became reacquainted not only with me, but also his mother, Vrin. You remember the dire condition she was in when we discovered her. Sadly, even Vambir medical technology is limited in what it can do for her. She is unable to walk and is in a fair amount of pain most of the time. Kwetz underwent nanobot infusion on Vambiri in order to become a Touch Healer. He was able to give Vrin some relief, but not nearly as much as she needed. It was then that Jirza talked him into traveling to Earth so he could return with superior hybrid nanobots to treat Vrin. That’s why he went along with everything. But Jirza only needed his communication device with Pocatello to ensure they landed at precise coordinates. Kwetz is now marooned here, and all he can do at this point is to play along with things and hope that Jirza decides to return to Vambiri as promised.”
“I understand,” said J’Vor. “I am glad that the three of you were given some peaceful years together to rebuild what had been lost, and I will pray for his safety.”
Kevak stroked the side of J’Vor’s face. “May Iam bless you, my beloved son.”
J’Vor took Kevak’s arm and pressed his fingers against the white skin to find a vein. “You’ll feel a little stick now.”
As soon as the blood entered Kevak’s system, he took in a deep breath, and his eyes opened wide. J’Vor saw that the pupils were dilated, and as Kevak predicted, his respiration increased.
The Nosferatu Chronicles: Return to Vambiri Page 18