The world, who was watching intently on the edge of their seats viewed the graceful slow down of the seven containers as they started to align themselves. Jeffrey had a pod above them with a video camera trained down on the seven containers.
The team had built the beginning of Moon Base One to be three across the middle with two on each end perpendicular to the three. One of the two containers on each end had a special connector built into the side of the container in addition to the two on the ends.
The seven team members included ‘Coach’, John Jensen (on loan from the Guardians), Adarsh Venkatesh, Kris England who had gotten involved with the base after a stint in the police force, Bree Breeza and ReaLea Hurt.
This team had been through hell and back preparing for this operation and, by God, Penn was going to make sure they all survived it.
“Bree, make sure we are on track to bring your module in first.” While the team allowed the computers to handle most of the tracking, they were to be available for override or highlighting if there were issues quickly.
“Dammit John, pull that ship back a bit. I know the computer is happy happy, but I’m not explaining to Bobcat why we scratched his pretty container.”
“Penn, we have a janky video connection on container four.” ReaLea said as she watched the video link cut in an out and then felt the hesitation in the movement as they computer would stop movement each time it lost visual lock.
“Dammit.” Penn sighed, “Coach, suggestions?” He turned to the monitor Coach was on.
“Not a problem, we have redundancies on our redundancies. I’ll go to another channel and ReaLea and we will deal with it. Worst case, I go moon walking.” He cut off his channel.
Penn sure hoped they didn’t have to show the world their suits. They were far less bulky than anything he had ever been shown outside of the movies and frankly too form fitting. He was good, but a couple on the team were a bit too curvy for prime time in some countries while wearing those things.
During one session training in the suits, the team laughed about how their video show would go from PR to PoRn if the ladies stepped out.
Coach said he would take it for the team and go out in one of those suits. He claimed this would pull the attention from them to his elder ‘thirties’ body. Because ... no one would be able to pull their eyes away from his amazingly tight man figure.
That had caused Bree to snort out the coffee she had been drinking which was a pain all of its own to handle, but only caused the laughter by the rest to be more raucous.
The containers continued to come together and Penn watched them all doing the similar choreography that had happened in Paraguay, the south pole, the desert, during wind, rain and once they even tested it under sunshine.
Penn could feel Bree’s container link up with his and the scraping as the container twisted and connected tight. One minute later, Coach’s container connected on his left. Then John’s next to Coach and ReaLea’s behind John’s. Finally, Kris connected to Bree’s and Adarsh behind ReaLea’s.
“Hold!” Came from Adarsh. “I’m showing a leak between myself and ReaLea.
“I’m not seeing any warnings, Adarsh.” She supplied. Penn could see her anxiety as she checked if there was anything she could do to help him.
“Let me think about this, one sec.” He stepped away from the video and walked off screen. A minute later he came back on. “It’s a small issue with the seal. I’m going to back off a bit and disconnect.”
A few tense moments later he spoke again, “Ok, I’m disconnected, I didn’t suffer any significant air loss. Let me turn the container around and try the other side.”
Coach got Penn’s attention, “Maybe we missed something getting everything refurbished?” Penn shrugged and didn’t say anything but rather stayed glued to watching the monitor for Adarsh.
The team had no idea a huge portion of the world was watching and universally holding their breath.
The world could see the last container pull back and slowly turn a half circle to present the other connector and slowly move closer. Finally, Adarsh came back online, “I’ve got connection…I’m airtight!”
The whooping and hollering of the team was heard around the world.
TQB Base, Colorado - USA
Terry slowly regained consciousness in a cell. The bed wasn’t uncomfortable, but the fear he felt when he blacked out was back in a second. He stumbled up off the cot and swung around, backpedaling to put the rock wall behind him.
No one was there.
His mouth was dry and his pounding heartbeat overpowered his ability to hear any other sounds.
Vampires!
That had to be the answer. He felt his neck, but nothing was there. He couldn’t feel any marks.
Whatever he had gotten into, he was thinking he would never get out.
It was time to end it.
Looking around, he realized he no longer had his glasses. They were supposed to be something he could claim he needed in case he was found and then chew on the end to break the tiny glass capsule to ingest poison.
But the glasses weren’t on his body.
He moved over to look around the bed and couldn’t find where they might have left his personal stuff.
He heard a door open outside and immediately ran back to the wall, turned around and stared at the door with the tiny opening.
There was a knock on the door before it opened and a sharp looking man was in the doorway. Terry considered his chances to escape and was getting ready to attack the smaller man when he stopped him with a few, short words.
“Hello, I am Samuel…”
QBS Polarus - Mediterranean
Barb walked into the cafeteria and looked to see Frank at a back table talking with someone in what looked like a monk's robe.
She breathed deeply once and then exhaled. She walked by the tables smiling a couple of times to people who said ‘hi’ to her as she made her way over to Frank.
He was in a deep conversation with the man who had his back to her. The man put out a hand and turned in his seat to regard Barb. It was at this time that Frank noticed her.
“Sorry!” Frank stood up and reached over to pull out a chair, “My apologies Barb. Let me introduce Barnabas to you. Barb, this is Barnabas and Barnabas, this is my guest, Barb.”
Barnabas stood up halfway and bowed, “It is a pleasure.” Then sat back down to continue his discussion with Frank.
Now, Barb didn’t know what to do. She had hoped to ask Frank an important question, but it was rude to ask someone she didn’t know to leave the table and she didn’t know if what they were talking about needed to change around her.
Dammit!
Frank continued his conversation, “So, you are saying that Kamiko Kana learned to walk the Etheric from you?”
“Sadly, yes.” Barnabas agreed, “Not that I can walk it, but I was working on learning more for the last four centuries when…” The two men heard Barb gasp.
“Oh, sorry about that Barb.” Frank said, “I didn’t explain to Barnabas that you weren’t totally dialed into the UnknownWorld. I should probably explain more to you…”
“You won’t wipe her memories?” Barnabas asked, “Has Michael made a change to the Strictures?”
Frank shook his head, “Not Michael, Bethany Anne.”
“Truly? Another major change to the Strictures. It’s a wonder the whole thing hasn’t come falling down.” Barnabas opined.
Frank retorted, “Do you really have a clue? It’s like you throw these little comments left and right to see what blows up and how it lands. Sometimes Barnabas, I swear you are like a …”
“Careful Frank Kurns, where I come from…” Barnabas started only to feel a hand on his shoulder.
Stephen’s voice held a hint of rebuke, “And where I come from, Barnabas, you never threaten the person under the aegis of another.”
Barnabas’s shoulders seemed to relax, “Sometimes brother, the old ways still drag me down.”<
br />
Stephen left his hand on Barnabas’s shoulder, “Then maybe we should go and discuss the old times with a brandy?”
Barnabas smiled to Frank and Barb, “My apologies, I seem to forget myself. If you would forgive me, I’m going to adjourn with Stephen.”
Both Frank and Barb said their goodbyes. Barb watched until they were about half-way through the cafeteria before turning to speak to Frank who held up his hand and mouthed, “Don’t!”
She backed up a few inches in reflex, but noticed he was still watching the two until they went out the door, then turned to her, “Sorry, but they easily hear great distances and I didn’t know if you were going to talk about the weather or make a comment that would be a problem.”
“What did he just mean about four centuries?” She asked.
“Nothing about their hearing?” Frank asked.
“I’m thinking I can deal with hearing, but you are almost a hundred or over and he’s saying he has been studying something for four hundred. Who am I going to meet next, a thousand-year-old man?” She stated.
“Well, now that you mention it,” Frank said while pointing to the door, “one just walked out.”
“What? Who?” She turned to look where he was pointing.
“Stephen. That’s Michael’s brother. Both are somewhere near a thousand or more years old. Actually, I’ve pegged Michael as older than a thousand, but he get’s pretty cagey on his exact age. He’s like a woman that way.”
“In what way?” Barb’s eyes started drawing down into a glare.
“So, how old are you?” Frank asked.
“What? That’s not relative to the conversation, is it?” Barb asked, momentarily taken aback.
“Sure, I just said women don’t like to admit their age. We both know I am far older than you but you immediately didn’t want to tell me your age.”
“Well, I… It’s…” She rolled her eyes, “I’m thirty-seven and yes it is hard sometimes to admit that. You are three times my age practically and look five years younger.”
“Good genes?” Frank laughed at her when she stuck her tongue out. “Ok, I’m sorry.” He said.
“That’s ok, I deserved it. You made a rational assessment based on facts and I just proved you correct.” She exhaled, “Now, I want to know how I can help.”
“Excuse me?” Frank said.
“I want to know how I can help.” She said, “I’ve seen enough. I’m being wasted back at my other job. Oh, I know that I help, but your team get’s things done. I want to be a part of something that doesn’t hold back from doing what needs to be done, well, actually do you guys use torture?” She looked suddenly pensive. “Because, I’m sure I could get over it mostly, but I’m a little against torture.”
Frank looked at the woman trying to figure out where the conversation had gone off track, “Torture?”
“Yes. I tracked a lot of terrorist killings and the bodies all disappeared, or portions of them did and were never found. So, the rational explanation is the terrorists were killed certainly and possibly tortured.”
“Well, I can say ‘I’ have never tortured anyone.” Frank agreed and reached for his water to take a sip.
“That leaves a whole lot of people in the organization.” She replied.
He put his glass down and answered, “Sure, but honestly the person who is willing to torture the most is Bethany Anne. Well, Michael would probably be more willing but has less use for it.”
“She is the responsible party for the missing bodies?” Now, Barb was trying to equate the pretty woman she had met with the fact that she was a torturing psychopath.
“Oh, I’m sure she is responsible for many of them, but she didn’t ‘torture’ them, kill them and bury them somewhere. She probably tossed them into the Etheric.” Frank said matter of factly.
“What is this Etheric?” She asked.
“Think of it as another universe someone can walk through, if they have the right abilities.” Frank answered, “And you probably need to stop thinking of Bethany Anne as a torturing lunatic.”
“Psychopath.” Barb countered.
“Whatever. She isn’t one to go around torturing willy-nilly. She will do whatever it takes to get the end result she needs. If the person has been evil enough? Well, she isn’t squeamish.”
She looked around and then leaned close to Frank, “How can you be so blasé about torture!” She whispered to him.
Frank looked over at her while he took another drink then set it down, “Barb ... grow up! You’re thirty-seven years old. I’m a hundred, I’ve been in the dark side of life longer than two of your lifetimes. If you don’t think torture has saved millions of lives by this time, your pollyanna attitude isn’t going to work with this team. Go back to Washington, do your research and let the others deal with it. I get it, I really do. I won’t think less of you but if you believe that the reason the U.S. is one of the most powerful nations in the world is because we didn’t ever do anything ‘bad’?” He left the thought unsaid.
She leaned back, “I didn’t say that!” She was angry, partially because she knew he was right, but torture was just wrong!
Or, was it?
Frank exhaled, “Let’s say, just for example, that you come upon a scene where someone near and dear to you is lying bloody and half dead against a wall. Two of your friend’s guests have been killed and there is blood everywhere. The psychopath responsible for all of this destruction is working for yet another major psychopath who is wanting to overthrow the governments of most of the world. As part of his master plan he has a virus that is going to kill millions. You kill said psycho’s henchman and now you need a location. Do you arrest the first psycho who has already killed before so you can take him down to the police station? He admitted he was a murderer while you listened. So, you don’t have to guess if he is guilty. He has been personally responsible for probably in excess of a hundred killings over his life.”
Barb looked at Frank, “I would say you are being over the top with your example to see if I’m willing to say something is worth torture, but you aren’t, are you?”
“Remember that thousand-year-old man that grabbed Barnabas a couple of minutes ago?” Frank asked.
“Yes.”
“He was the one bleeding to death, sitting with his back to the wall in his own home waiting to be shot and killed by a bastard. Bethany Anne killed the henchman and then shot the Vampire that was trying to kill Stephen. There wasn’t a jail that was going to hold Reginald and I’m to understand he seriously needed to be killed. But, she wanted some information.”
“Whatever it takes.” Barb whispered.
“Bethany Anne will do whatever it takes.” Frank nodded.
“I can’t play it both ways.” Barb looked down and played with the knife on the table. “I want my nice and clean research job and then feel like I’m not responsible for the results my work causes.”
“If you own it, you sleep better. But own it and choose to do it, or own it and choose not to do it. But if you are a grown-up, you own it.”
She turned to face Frank a small smile on her face, “Where can I sign up?”
“Are you being a little spur of the moment, Barb?” Frank asked.
“Do I seem like a spur of the moment person to you?” Barb retorted, maybe a little more anger in her reply then she might have wished.
Frank took out his phone and sent a text message, it came back within seconds and Frank looked up. “Care to go to Argentina for a meeting with me?”
“Why?” Barb asked, “Who’s in Argentina?”
“Michael.” Frank replied.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Moon Base One - Dark Side of the Moon
Penn walked into the meeting container and grabbed a drink from the side table, “Damn, I’ll be happy when we have the next set of containers so we can get a bigger room.” He took a sip and quickly pulled it back, “Who spiked the punch?”
“Ah, that would be me, sir.” John Jensen
spoke up from beside ReaLea, “I had a wee bit of single malt scotch and somehow I was carrying it all secure and then tripped and poured half the damn bottle in the punch bowl.” His unrepentant smile let Penn know how sorry John really was.
Penn took another sip, “It’s good, but make damn sure you are able to function 24/7 because the boss can and will show up anytime, got me?” John nodded so Penn moved down and spoke with everyone in the group.
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