“The bastard that sold us that rot gut acid, we ought to settle a score with him,” said Diamond.
“Eh.” I made a sound, waving it away. “We've got bigger fish to fry. I'm just glad we didn't drink the stuff. What about the other bottle?”
“Mine? Get rid of it!”
“Well, wait a minute. Do you have a scanner?”
“There's a stationary one mounted in the back of the ship.” I got up and found the second bottle of whisky and went to the kitchen, opened it and poured a few ounces of the golden liquid through the scanner. As the scanner sifted through the elements its counter lit up with green light. The counter read: ethanol. It passed as real whisky. I tasted it. The thirty-year-old whisky claim made by the shop owner was dubious. But it was pretty good. I took out two shot glasses from a kitchen drawer, grabbed the bottle and went back to the cockpit, handing Diamond a glass. I poured him some whisky.
“So this stuff is the real thing?” he asked, eying and sniffing it with suspicion.
“I don't know about the real thing as far as high-end liquor is concerned but it won't eat a hole in your gut or sear your pipe going down.” I poured myself a glass and we clinked glasses and enjoyed our whisky.
After a few hours, I got up to wash myself and my clothes. After doing that, I went to the dining area and took out a bottle of water and drank it down. Tepid water never tasted so good.
“Hey, Diamond.”
“What?” he called from the cockpit.
“Come to the Skypad Hotel, Suite 110 on Wednesday. We'll go over the plans one more time. Chip, a friend of mine will be there too. And another agent I'm working with.”
“Sure thing!”
We didn't escape unmolested but we did escape in one piece. I'll take what I can get.
The next day when we reached Remus station I went to a web kiosk and messaged Darkman, letting him know to meet at our temporary suite and at what time and location.
After that, I was watched the news feeds while hanging out in the ship while Diamond went to stock up on supplies. I was amazed. The protests were becoming a wild movement, a phenomenon beyond what anyone expected. Vartan had done her part. Now it was time for us to do ours.
I watched with reserved fascination as the protests seem to grow bigger and wilder right before my eyes. I checked the voice mail message on my data pad. It was from Ms. Vartan. She mentioned that I would be given a special pass to enter. I had a better idea. I dashed off a message back to have the pass changed to James's name and another for Chip.
And I inquired as to whether a personal ghosting shield was available and ready for an agent to use by the day of the convention. I fervently hoped the answer would be yes. That way I could do my job without being seen. A half hour later Robin called me directly.
“Bob? Ms. Vartan says she's having Darkman bring the ghosting shield. He'll explain to you how to use it. It's brand new technology, a prototype. It still has a lot of bugs that need to be worked out. Of course, you also are aware of the danger of using them right now?”
“Radiation poisoning? I'm aware.”
“Of course, we feel that will only be a problem if you wear these shields for longer than twenty-four hours and have them in regular use.” Often times companies said things like this all of the time to avoid liability but Robin was being as honest as she could with me. “You are sure you're willing to take the chance with this piece of technology?” she asked.
“Unless there's a better way of sneaking in under their noses to disable that stargate I don't see any other choice I have.” Secretly I was delighted, rubbing my hands together.
“You don't know how much we're indebted to you, Robert.”
“Oh, I know. Trust me on that one.”
Two days later it was October 29th. The day was nearly at hand. It was time to assemble.
Chip, Diamond, Darkman and myself were in the dining room of the suite. Darkman had swept in late that evening, wearing a dark gray suit and coat. I got a good look at him, finally. He wasn't imposing in his size but he had a carriage and a look that was intense and all business. He had a pale, hard face and well defined features. His eyes were large and black with black hair cut very short. He rarely blinked and stared hard at everyone and everything as if drinking in all information around him and memorizing it. He was an alien, though he was well disguised as a human male. He reminded me of Tulos with a grittier edge.
I saw Jonah peeking in at us with fascination from the living room as Pam shooed him away from the door. I got up and locked the door and we got started. Darkman first opened a small box. Inside lay the personal shield. The other two watched intently as Darkman pulled it out of the box. What it consisted of were four rings, or two bracelets and two anklets and a small hand device to clip somewhere on my clothes.
“This thing is full of bugs. But it's the best they've come up with at the lab to date. They're still working on improvements for later versions.”
“I'll take what I can get. Just as long as I can get in there without being seen.”
“That's the thing. You'll be invisible but this ability it lends you right now is unstable. Which means that you won't be one hundred percent invisible. At times you will come into sight or view at times when the device is being taxed heavily. This will be especially so when you are in bright lights, direct sunlight or around any type of advanced mech that is on the lookout for anyone using this kind of device. The vast majority aren't equipped to detect you by sight but a few are. Count on some of them at the convention to be able to detect you if you aren't careful in your movements.” I felt a twinge of pain in my heart at hearing that. He then instructed me on how to operate the shield. It wasn't difficult.
“You may feel slightly nauseated too as a side effect. Or not. Different effects on different people.” When he activated the device and handed it to me I started working the device and could see my sight flicker and the air seemed to wobble slightly around me. I did feel a little woozy. I wished I'd had time to get used to it.
“Look, mom! Dad is invisible!” I could hear my son running from the door to find Pam. That got a chuckle from all of us guys in the dining room. There was a reddish tinge to the bubble of energy that enveloped me. Diamond and Chip smiled appreciatively.
“I just think of all the trouble I could have gotten into if this existed back when I was with Firewake,” said Diamond. I started lifting up objects, throwing them and catching them.
“Are there certain energy fields that would be dangerous to use this around?” I asked, now a disembodied voice.
“So far that is an unknown. This is a brand new application of this technology being used on a living being. Let's just say you're the first lab rat,” said Darkman.
“Well this will be interesting,” I said, setting up the schematics on a table for them to examine.
“Yes. Very,” said Chip. I turned the device off.
“Okay,” I said, now standing by the window. The others whipped their heads around to find my voice. “Let's go over the plan again now that I'll be using the shield to get inside.” I was glad I didn't have to go through the abandoned lift again. “Diamond and Chip, both of you have passes to allow you entry into the main conference room where the stargate is located. Chip, I want you to monitor and watch how things are going down outside with the protests. I've noticed that they aren't allowed so close by the convention center anymore so any effect they may have might be muted in a couple of days.”
Chip gave an affirmative.
“Diamond, I need you to watch what is happening in the main conference room, all of the activity with the gate. We'll all keep in contact with each other by communication transmitters. Keep me appraised of everything going on in that room. I will be in the Lissler Room directly under the gate where its inner workings will be most vulnerable. I'll disengage the gate's main cords to temporarily put it offline.”
“But I've been wondering about something,” said Diamond. “if all you have to do is sabotage the gate b
y its cords underneath why bother with the key and the cube at all? What exactly is that thing going to do once you place it into the gate?”
“The cipher will scramble the gate, in effect, lock it down permanently so that nothing can travel through. While cutting cords can achieve a similar effect it will only be temporary and some of the substances powering the gate are dangerous. If we simply cut the cords the gate will eventually start operating again, plus, the gases escaping from those cords will make the auditorium hazardous. The gate's disabling will be permanent once the cipher is placed inside. You see, what we'll be doing is slowing down the gate's power when it gets started up to usher in any ships waiting on the other side.”
“How would ships even get through it anyway?”
“It's big enough for a command ship to get through, fighter ships would have no problem. What the files revealed is that the biggest ships like gorgons won't be coming through this gate. They're pretending that this is some innocent, historically momentous time in human history for science and technology. It will be a historic time for humans, alright, but not for our benefit. What is really going to happen is that loyalist ships will be coming through. Those fighter ships will be the first vanguard assault on the city. They will assault everyone here at the convention site and Seaport before moving on.”
“But they'll be destroyed before they make it out of the city,” said Chip. Diamond looked doubtful.
“Not if they have the kind of powerful shields I've seen demonstrated on loyalist alien ships in the recent past,” said Darkman.
“What have you seen?” I asked.
“That their shields can hold up to the current firepower being used by human battle ships and frigates. We captured one a year ago and Ms. Vartan is having it taken apart, examined and reassembled in her lab. Their defense technology is definitely more advanced today. So any disabling we'd be able to do with the plasma cords would be temporary until we can utilize the cipher and the key to shutting the gate down.”
“Why can't we just blow that mother up then?” asked Diamond.
“That will be the last resort. There's a contingency plan Vartan will have me or another agent waiting in reserve to carry out if our current plan doesn't work. But Vartan wants this gate shut down with minimal loss of life. Blowing it up will cause monumental loss of life and damage. She's ruthless but not completely without heart.”
Ruthless was right.
“Once I disable the cords, here,” I pointed to the holo-images on the table, “I will need your eyes and hears on the protests and the main floor. I need to know that the protests are still working as a distraction. After I cut the plasma cords on the bottom, I'll come back to the main floor and sneak in through the crowds, slip the cube into the gate with the key in the cube and the gate locks up. Anything coming through that gate near that moment will be lost in the nether-space of the wormhole that connects it to whatever other stargate might be out there. If programmed to do so, this cipher will self-destruct inside the gate and break it, hopefully giving time for people to flee the area.”
“Good.”
“Darkman, are you still planning to neutralize the stealth security drones?”
“That's still my plan. There are several high-security drones that until recently were hidden from my knowledge that they will be deploying at the convention secretly. I'll be there early to disable some of their functions.”
“But won't someone be alerted to the fact that they aren't reporting or functioning the way they should?” Asked Chip.
“Normally, yes, but I don't intend to destroy them or take them out. I plan to temporarily disable them and reprogram them. I have my own spy drone that I helped build at the lab to help me.” We continued to bang out the plan to the very last detail until we were all crystal clear on how things would go down, minute by minute.
The team was assembled. The plan was finalized. After Halloween it would either be a triumph or a literal Day of the Dead.
9
October 31, 2154.
My changed perspective on the world and my close encounter with the third kind, still locked away in a vault in a secret lab, was fueling my calmness, strangely enough, even in the face of certain destruction and the exploding chaos spreading throughout the city. Many protestors had escalated their tactics and were throwing smoke bombs and fire bombs and were being stunned, beaten, shot with rubber pellets or inundated with tear gas and arrested. Everything was escalating.
The day after our first U-net meeting I explored the new and experimental personal shield incorporating the ghosting technology.
I attached the thin metal bands, one to each of my arms and the ankle bands on each ankle. I slid the levers on each one and each of them gleamed briefly with green light. Pam eyed me curiously as I put my clothes on. I looked up to glimpse Maddie also peering in at me and the shield with interest before leaving to speak with a new bodyguard who was standing outside the suite door.
“And you're sure these things won't kill you? You won't develop cancer or anything?”
“I'm sure I won't,” I said kissing her firmly on the mouth. She wasn't deterred.
“Bob! I'm being serious! I hate this. I wish the government would do something about all this, Why do you have to get so deeply involved?”
“There are those in government and in large corporations who've been compromised. And some of them are actually aliens in human disguise. Right now, I don't know who to trust.”
“So how do we tell who is who? How extensive is the problem?”
“I'm not sure. Most people can't tell yet. But U-net is working on it. I don't think it's so extensive that it can't be rooted out but we have to move on this. We can't wait on others. I've come to the conclusion that fighting this has to start with the people, not the government. It has to be a grassroots effort.”
“I'm just scared because I don't know what to do. I wish there was something I could do.” I was sure there was a way Pam could help me in this fight. I had to think about it. I gazed at her, thinking about this moment that should have come far earlier. I intended to correct that right now.
“What is it, honey?” She asked.
“Pam, sit down. There's something I should have told you a long time ago.” We both sat down on the chaise by the living room window.
“Remember when I went back to Langrenus a few years ago on a business trip for the company?” She nodded. “Well, I went there to investigate some strange sightings there among the mining companies.”
“The lights there were unusual.”
“Right. The reason why was because of the experiments being conducted on the miners out there at one particular mining company named Hussa. I found out about Hussa and went to the mine to investigate the situation and I found the proof. People in tanks, Pam, people who were science experiments gone awry. Horrible things! And then I was caught and experimented on myself before I escaped.” Her face drained all color.
“My God! You never told me that!”
“I know. Because I wasn't ready to talk about what happened to me. It was a terrible violation. But something positive came out of it. How long that will last, I don't know.”
“What was that?”
“I was given some kind of serum made from alien DNA, Pam. And I swear, after that incident, I'm able to sense when I'm around them if they're near. Even when they are disguised as humans.” I looked at her for some time letting it sink in.
“So. . . this is almost like x-ray alien vision for you?”
“Sort of. It's an advantage that I'm learning to embrace.”
“But Bob, what will happen to you in the future because of this? I mean, what if we have another baby with all this new DNA swimming around?”
“To be honest, I've had my regular medical examinations and so far nothing negative has developed.” The truth be told, I hadn't had a truly thorough examination in a long time. The unwanted one at Triskelion, the sole exception.
“Bob! You should h
ave told me sooner. Don't hide these things from me. If we are going to get through whatever comes in the future we need to be on the same page. I can't support you if I have no idea what's going on.”
“I know. You're absolutely right. I was wrong for not telling you. I won't make that mistake again. All the things I've been doing, what I'm about to do now is going to stop them from getting their hands on planet Earth.”
“Tell me everything you can. Not just bits and pieces,” she scolded. “Don't try to protect me from the truth. People can't make proper decisions or be strong allies if they don't know the truth.” And I did just that. Including about Ellen Vartan taking over the company from her father and about the growing strength of U-net.
I felt a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. My wife was my partner in life. I should have trusted her more.
“How can I identify an alien disguised as a human. Or a good one from an enemy?” she asked. That was an excellent question that I wasn't sure how to immediately answer. I pondered it for a few minutes.
“Well, barring super alien sense, which I never asked for but seem to have right now, I'm not sure.”
“Tell me what are some characteristics of these aliens. You said there are three different races of them.”
“One thing I've noticed with many of them is that their eye color is usually yellow or purplish. Those seem to be the dominant eye color. A rare eye color among them is red. The Glia race has wings. The Miku have tentacled appendages hanging from their faces, being a race of water people. The Suwudi tend to have darker skin. They can withstand enormous amounts of heat and look slightly more humanoid, being the desert race of their species. They're all able to disguise themselves very well but they tend to be double-jointed, thinner, specifically the Suwudi and the Glia. I would say, perhaps watch for movements that may seem inhuman or odd. Though, I don't think it's likely you'll find absolute proof of any by this way. All I can say is just be very alert and aware of your surroundings.” Pam nodded slowly. I could see her mind turning the information over.
“It's a start.”
Mission: Blackguard Conspiracy Page 12