Overture (Earth Song)

by Mark Wandrey

  The sporadic gunfire from the crowd was overwhelmed by the sound of another helicopter swooping in. It swept in from the north, its pilot skilled at maneuvering around buildings and obstacle. Mindy did the only thing she could, she turned and ran. It saved her life.

  A horrendous roar made her look over her shoulder in time to see the helicopter unleash a hellish torrent of cannon shells against the surprised crowd. Mindy screamed in terror as the tightly packed crowd was torn to bloody shreds.

  She stumbled over a prone figure to land in the arms of a handsome police officer. "Gotcha," he said. She grinned sheepishly at him and he spun her around and up against a wall. "You have the right to remain silent," he read to her back as she was firmly cuffed.

  "What am I being arrested for?" she demanded.

  "Trespassing and participation in a riot," he said with an almost surreal calmness in his voice. When he had finished Mirandizing and cuffing her she was taken in hand by another officer who led her away.

  "DON’T YOU SEE THAT BLOODBATH BACK THERE?!" she screamed at the first officer. He looked at her with vacant eyes and that was when she noticed his uniform. It was torn in many places and covered with blood and filth.

  "Notice what?" he mumbled. A short distance away she was handed over to an officer in equally shabby plain clothes with a golden lieutenant’s badge flipped over his breast pocket.

  "Ma'am, my name’s Lieutenant Billy Harper. Do you understand that you are under arrest and have you been read your Miranda rights?"

  "Yes, on both accounts." she said dejectedly.

  "How long have you been with the Followers of the Avatar?"

  She was so startled that she didn't answer for a moment. "I'm not one of them," she finally said. He looked her up and down skeptically. "Do I look like the member of a cult?" Again he looked her over then nodded his head. She was simply flabbergasted. “How can you possibly think I’m a cultist?”

  “You were at the riot, right in the middle of it. I’ve seen stockbrokers, mothers, even kids in mobs just like that one,” he said and gestured in the direction of the fighting, “only this isn't fighting like yesterday, this is a slaughter.” She looked at him again and wondered just what this man had been through.

  “I’m with SETI; I’m here to see Dr. Leo Skinner. He was getting off that chopper when they attacked. I hope he survived.”

  Harper weighed what she said against his bullshit detector. She hadn't offered any of the rhetoric the cultists always spewed when caught. He was still wrestling with what he knew of the Followers of the Avatar and what he had seen them do. Only a few hours ago he’d heard that the cultist leader in the middle of it was none other than Gabriel, previously a police officer. Harper was trying to decide if he was going to communicate his personal knowledge to his commanders.

  “Put her in the back of my cruiser,” he ordered one of the officers.

  “Sir?”

  “You heard me. She might have information about our group of terrorists out there and I want to interrogate her.” Mindy eyed him suspiciously and soon she was in his backseat and they were moving through the tangled Manhattan traffic.

  After Lt. Harper had driven a while and gotten clear of the mayhem he pulled over next to a coffee shop and got out. Great, Mindy thought, he’s going to get doughnuts while I sit here in his smelly police car. To her surprise he came back and opened the door to let her out.

  “Let’s go have some coffee and talk. Are you hungry?”

  “I’m not going in there wearing these,” she said indignantly, bending forward to show off her handcuffs.

  “Oh, I forgot.” He pulled out his key and took them off. “Better? Come on, I’m hungry.”

  She wasn't hungry and her mind was working as she watched him turn and walk inside. She flirted with the idea of escape then decided against it. The last thing she needed was to get arrested for the second time in as many hours. Mindy followed him inside.

  “So, what do you want from me?” she asked once they were inside and seated at a small corner table. The shop was the kind of place where cops hung out. Hot coffee, warm doughnuts and cold sandwiches were the fare. On most days it would be a busy place, today only a few cops occupied the tables. Their eyes were vacant and staring with fatigue. A few showed signs of battle and some just stared at their coffee in shock.

  “Some answers,” he said as their coffee was being delivered by a scared looking man of Arab descent.

  “I just got here last night, what would I know?”

  “I'm guessing, but I’d say a lot.”

  She sipped her drink, a mocha cappuccino rivaling what she could get in Seattle.

  He continued. “I'm a detective; I get paid to notice things. I knew you were from out of town right away. Your dress, the way you hold your handbag like you believe New York is full of purse snatchers, which to some degree it is. You fit the profile as a cultist, and then again, you don't.

  “Anyway, you said you’re with SETI and, you were here to see Leo Skinner. That's the head astronomer at NASA, isn't he?”

  “I'm impressed.”

  “Yeah, some cops watch the Discovery Channel. So, add you to this 'satellite' in the park and that adds up to you knowing a few things. I'd like to know what you know.”

  “I’ve got a feeling you know quite a bit too,” said Mindy and sipped her coffee. “Why else would a police lieutenant risk his job to take a prisoner out for a cup of coffee?”

  He shrugged and took a bite of the sandwich that had just been delivered then shrugged. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours,” she deadpanned.

  Harper chuckled and took a good look at his ‘prisoner’. She was an attractive redhead with an infectious smile. Her eyes glimmered with a humorous intelligence that his ex-wife lacked, and that was something he enjoyed deeply. For the first time in months he realized how long he had been alone, and missed the company of a woman. That kind of longing could make a man lose his judgment.

  “Okay, I’ll go first,” he agreed and began to tell his story. He had no idea why but he told her everything. As the afternoon wore on he found himself telling her things he had told no one else. The time with Victor while he worked with the sketch artist. His personal revelations that more than one Portal existed. His meeting with Victor only days ago and his participation in the fateful battle just yesterday. She knew it all when he'd finished.

  “Wow, that’s quite a story. I can’t match it in scope, but I can tell you what I know.” The least she owed him was the truth, and that was what she gave him. He was attentive and enjoyed the story. She had taken risks as well, just not with a gun in hand. And like him she'd left behind a life with another person, not an easy thing. “So am I going to jail?”

  “That would seem rather pointless,” he said, looking down into his nearly empty cappuccino. She was amazed he could consume that much caffeine without passing out or at least trembling uncontrollably. He must have been born in Seattle, and just didn’t know it. “Do you know for certain that the asteroid is going to hit the Earth?”

  “The early calculations were easy. It’s crossing our orbit with an error factor of one lunar orbit or less.”

  “The distance between the Earth and the moon. That’s a big error factor.”

  “We thought so too, so astronomers began tracking the rock’s orbit. We’ll know without a doubt in about a week.”

  “With all the technology you have, it’s still going to take another week?”

  “The trick is, this rock’s coming at a very high rate of speed from a long way away. Before it changed course we knew where it would pass this year within a couple football fields. Now it’s a whole new ballgame. Astronomers track an object by watching how it changes location and doing the math. LM-245 is coming straight at us and it isn’t moving much side to side. That means we need more time to lock down its orbit. NASA has deep space observatories that could have provided detailed calculations, yet they refused all attempts to access that data or even shar
e their conclusions. The official position is still that the asteroid will not hit the Earth.”

  “I’m not reassured,” Harper said, “and this battle over the Portal tells me they're desperate to avoid losing control.” Automatic weapons fire and an explosion echoed down the canyon of buildings, making him jump slightly. "It looks like negotiations have broken down."

  From the direction of the park came another, louder explosion. Harper dropped a twenty on the table and they went outside. The sky was growing dark and bright flashes emanated from the direction of the park. "If people find out that asteroid is going to hit, this city is going to slide head first into hell," Harper said. All along the block, people could be seen loading their possessions into moving vans, trucks, cars and even motorcycles.

  He dropped Mindy off at her hotel and held the door for her to get out. She smiled shyly at him. “Are you going to get in trouble for letting me go?” she asked.

  “No one will even remember you,” he said as they walked up the stairs to the doorway. The doorman nodded and opened the door for them. “Except for me,” he said with his own shy smile, “I'll remember.”

  She was quite a woman and he was sorry he had to leave. For a time he'd forgotten yesterday and that he hadn’t slept in over twenty-four hours.

  Mindy stepped close and kissed him right on the lips. It was a quick kiss but still a serious one. “That’s for letting me go,” she said and turned to leave.

  “Wait!” he said and ran up behind her. She turned around and he kissed her with more authority. Mindy felt her legs get weak.

  “What was that for?” she asked huskily when he let her go.

  “That’s for not turning out to be a cultist, and not trying to stab me over cappuccino.”

  She laughed and shook her head. “You are the weirdest cop I’ve ever met,” she laughed.

  “You don’t know the half of it.” He handed her his card on which he’d written his personal cell number. She looked at the number then at the room key in her hand. She blushed brightly at what she was thinking. He saved her by saying goodbye and leaving.

  “Woof,” she said with flushed cheeks and sweat dripping down her back She hadn’t had a man make her that hot since she was in college. Up in her room she stripped off her dirty, smoky clothes and climbed into the oversized bathtub. She leaned back and sighed. The hot water began washing away everything she had seen and heard over the last few hours. Everything except Billy Harper’s strong arms around her waist and his hot lips pressed against hers. She shivered in the hot water, her nipples so hard they hurt when she reached up and rubbed them.

  Mindy bit her lower lip and her head spun. Her cheeks glowed red as she slid a hand down between her legs. “Oh God, what are you doing to me?” she asked the departed Harper.

  Later, finally clean and dressed in a complimentary terry robe, she lay on the bed listening to her voice-mail. A message from Harold in Seattle saying they should have the orbital solution on LM-245 in three more days. One from the hotel manager asking if she needed a wakeup call tomorrow. And finally from Leo Skinner.

  “Sorry to not call sooner like I said I would, but I was held up. The thing you are here to see was taken by a group of religious nut cases yesterday. I used it as an excuse to show up and help negotiate with the whack jobs. Call me back when you get in and we’ll meet for breakfast. My number is...”

  Mindy hung up and quickly dialed the number. “Skinner,” he answered after just one ring.

  “Hey Leo, it’s Mindy.”

  “Great to hear from you. Where were you this morning?” She sighed and told him while leaving out everything with Harper. “Good grief, don’t you young people have any judgment? We’ll have to make it lunch, tomorrow. They’re keeping an eye on me right now. How about the restaurant in your hotel?”

  “

  See you there,” she said and hung up. She looked up at the ceiling and could only see Billy Harper’s grinning face in her mind’s eye. “I’m in real trouble,” she said.

  April 26

  Victor had done his best to live in the good graces of God since that fateful day in Central Park. Today he was reaching his limits. There had been a fair amount of activity around their new “church” yesterday, and volunteers arrived all day with carloads of food and supplies. Now all the work was done, everything had been moved, and almost no one was around. He hadn’t seen any of his disciples for over twenty-four hours, and worse he was going crazy trying to figure out what was happening in Central Park around the Portal to Heaven! He wanted answers and there was no one to ask. His fear and loathing grew by the hour.

  When he’d gotten to the new church yesterday there were a few hundred faithful to help them move in, listen to him preach, and then have a meal. This morning there wasn’t half of the number from the day before, and they all acted like kids who had a secret they weren’t going to tell their parents. “What the hell is going on,” he grumbled in the bathroom as he brushed his teeth. The worst part was that he had to do the dishes. “The prophet of the Avatar shouldn’t have to do the dishes,” he said, then had at laugh at himself. “Then again, what could be better for His prophet than to scrub a few pots and pans and be reminded of what it is to be humble?” With a shrug he headed from the bathroom to the kitchen.

  Several hours and several towering stacks of dishes later he left the now deserted kitchen that still stank of cat chow mein and headed to his room. It was once the managers’ office and, next to the dining room, it was the biggest space in the church. As he came around the corner he collided with Kadru. They both went to the floor in a shower of papers. “I’m sorry, Victor!” she said and moved to retrieve some of her stuff. Victor was about to ask her what was going on when she coughed and put a hand to her head. He stopped and looked at her. Kadru shook her head, gave a little gasp and fell over backwards.

  “Oh, shit,” he said and slid over next to her. She was facing the ceiling, part of her body appeared painfully rigid, but one arm was jerking hard enough that he grabbed it to keep her from hitting herself. “She’s having a seizure,” he realized. “Someone, help!” he yelled down the hall. In a second he heard running footsteps and a couple of the faithful came to a surprised stop when they saw them. “Call an ambulance!” Victor ordered.

  “The police will show up,” one of them complained.

  “She’s one of my disciples,” he snapped back. “God will protect me, I don't fear the police! We can do our work even if I'm in jail, it makes no difference. Now call the ambulance!”

  “I don’t need an ambulance,” Kadru gasped, Victor’s head spin around. She was still lying there but she wasn’t shaking any more. Her eyes were wide as she sucked air like a fish out of water.

  “You need medical attention.”

  “No, there is little that the doctors can do for me now.” Her arms shook with the effort as she managed to sit back up. “I need to tell you something, can we talk in private?” Victor looked at the two faithful and nodded his head. They looked at each other then left them alone. “Can you get me to my room?” she asked, as she gathered up the items she had been carrying.

  “Sure,” he said and lifted her up. She couldn’t have weighed a hundred pounds and Victor wondered if she was this light when they'd first met. He couldn’t recall and then suddenly remembered how she always looked tired. As he walked with her, he spied that several of the things she was carrying were prescription medication bags. There were an awful lot of them. “So tell me what’s going on,” he said when they had reached her room.

  “I’m sick, have been for a couple years.”

  “Yeah, I figured out that much in the hallway.”

  She gave a weak smile and lowered herself into a chair with a sigh. “It’s a rare form of cancer in my brain that attacks the medulla oblongata, the brain stem. There is no way to operate and no one has ever been cured.”

  Victor took a deep breath and looked down at the floor. “Why do you take the faithful first?” has asked
God under his breath.

  “A couple months ago after my first round of chemo, I got up and left the hospital. I’d had enough. I went home, got my grandfather’s old .45 he’d used in World War II, and went to Central Park. I sat there in the North Meadow and prepared to end my life on my own terms. That was when I saw Shiva’s Avatar arrive.”

  “You were there too?”

  “Yes. I saw it appear. I saw the metal walls pop into existence. I saw you come up and demand to be let in. Then I saw the wall disappear. You confront the Avatar. You were not imagining things, Victor. There was something between you and it. Something spiritual! When I saw you on that street corner a couple days later, I had no choice but to follow you. It didn’t matter that the words you spoke were Christian. The Avatar was more. It was all religions; it was none of our religions. Anyway, I’m rambling, I need to take some medicine and get some sleep.”

  Victor brought Kadru a glass of water. She swallowed a disturbingly large handful of pills. He didn’t want to guess what kinds of chemicals they were. He took the empty glass back and she smiled at him before lying back in the little cot.

  “How long do you have?” he asked her.

  “Doctors said I had a good year or so, that was before I stopped treatment. The pharmacist that’s been keeping me in drugs says the only other person he’s seen with my sort of cancer only lived a couple months. It won’t matter, the asteroid sent by God is coming and His children will be through the Portal to Heaven. My fate was sealed when I caught this terrible curse, but as long as I still draw breath, I will fight to get us through that Portal.”

  Victor sighed and patted her hand. The medication was taking effect and he could see the lines in her face slackening as the pain was deadened. “Where did you get the money, Kadru? The money you gave us back before we had any money?”