The Phoenix Egg

by Richard Bamberg

  “Won’t be needing that.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The index and contents. Like you said, I can remember all of it, just as though I’d written it myself. This is damned spooky. How was someone able to keep this level of technology hidden away while it was being developed?”

  “I guess the same way the government classifies everything in the interest of national security,” Caitlin said.

  “Somehow, I don’t think it worked that way. There are too many players in this game.” John paused, and then continued, “You know, I’ve been thinking.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah, I’m concerned about your safety.”

  She reached out and put a hand on his. “I know. You’re such a dear.”

  Her words came through both the air and the device, and while he’d begun to connect emotions with words, this time it was pronounced. Her speech had feelings attached, but her unspoken words were saturated with emotional content. The intensity of her emotion surprised him, and he felt an inward rush of feelings that matched hers.

  Caitlin jerked her hand back from his as if she’d been burned. The emotion he’d been receiving disappeared instantly.

  Her eyes met and held his. “My God. I had no idea.”

  “Neither did I.”

  Slowly, as if he were afraid of frightening her, he stretched out his hand and cupped hers.

  With the first contact of her skin, he felt her emotions flowing back over him. There was a warmth, a caring, to them that he’d never felt from anyone. It was nearly as intense as the emotion he’d felt toward her all those years ago in the Canyon. But there was also a fear in her emotions.

  “What’s wrong? What are you afraid of?”

  Her face mirrored her emotions, and for a moment, the fear overwhelmed the other feelings. “This is wrong. It shouldn’t be able to do this. Nothing was mentioned about this capability in the file.”

  She was right. The detailed capabilities of the device made no mention of emotional transfers. “Whoever tried these out before apparently never touched.”

  “But the theory of operation didn’t predict anything other than a straight flow of communication. This is too much like reading your thoughts.”

  “I know. Do you want to stop?” he asked.

  “No, I....”

  She suddenly laughed, and her fear disappeared.

  “What is it?”

  “I was the one who wanted to explore its capabilities and yet as soon as we discover something we didn’t know about it, I freeze up.”

  “It’s understandable.”

  “But how does it work?” she asked.

  “Well, we know it uses the necklace as an antenna for both brain and radio waves. Perhaps by actually touching, we’re getting a more direct coupling between the circuits.”

  “Then would more contact intensify the connection?”

  “Shall we see?” he asked.

  Caitlin raised her other hand and held it out. John raised his and their fingers intertwined. The intensity did grow, not geometrically, but not linearly either.

  He could feel how she felt, feel her warmth toward him, feel her concern for his safety, her love. It was like nothing he’d ever imagined. It was like being a child again when your mother was taking care of you. When no matter what else the world might do to you, the love of this one person would always be there. It was the feelings you have when your dog sits by your side and places his head in your hand. It was like sitting on the beach and watching a golden harvest moon rise over the surf. It was all that and more. Her emotion swept over him like the tide, it enveloped him in a warm embrace, and for the first time in years, John felt like there was hope for the world, that not everything was cynical and cold. There was a bond between people that could be good; a bond that could bring friendship and caring and love.

  At first, he tried to deny his feelings for her but found them impossible to hide or disguise. He accepted her feelings, feeling them warm and thaw his own emotions until he was able to return everything she gave him with equal intensity.

  John watched her face soften and blush with a warmth that brought tears to her eyes.

  There was so much he wanted to tell her. But words were unnecessary. Even as he had the thoughts, his emotions flowed outward at a pace words could not maintain. His fingers loosened in hers but didn’t break the connection as they traveled up her arms. He swept her into his arms, and they held each other in a loving embrace.

  Her breath was hot against his neck. It tickled tiny hairs and caused an erotic sensation to work its way across his skin. He turned his face toward hers and exhaled softly. A moment later, he felt her response to his breath send a similar sensation through his mind. His lips brushed the surface of her skin, and they marveled at the intimate touch. Her lips touched his earlobe, and they shivered.

  Simultaneously, their faces turned, and their lips met, softly, gently, as if neither could withstand a sudden burst of new sensation.

  They undressed each other, hurriedly, but careful to never break the intimate connection between them. Their love play was soft, gentle, but with an intensity neither had ever experienced before. As their skin-to-skin contact grew, the more intimate their link became, until when he entered her body their sensations merged and there were no longer separate feelings only mutually combined emotions.

  Much later, they lay together on the sofa. Her body was stretched out atop his. Sweat dampened her hair and formed tiny rivulets that ran down her cheek and dripped onto his. She kissed him on each eye, her touch a gossamer mist.

  She placed another kiss on his lips and stretched backward. The hard surface of her cyber phone pulled from between them and hung between the tight flesh of her breasts.

  He didn’t have to open his eyes to see all this, but then he did open them. His locked on hers and for a moment he was looking at himself staring up at him. He blinked, and the double awareness slipped away.

  “You needn’t speak.” Her lips didn’t move from their lazy smile.

  “I know,” he replied. Then he finished his thoughts in wordless communications. “I could lie here forever.”

  “As could I,” her touch said.

  “You were so right. This is too precious a thing to destroy.”

  “I didn’t know how precious.”

  “We have to make sure it gets released properly. The government would fuck it up, and a company would try to monopolize it,” John said.

  “What else is there?”

  “We can transmit the information freely. Give it to everyone, every country, every person. Then there’ll be no point in their hunting you and no way for them to misuse its powers.”

  “Yes, the Web. We can transmit the file over the Web to everyone. Once it becomes public knowledge, no one will be able to patent the technology or copyright the information.”

  She moved against him, and he smiled as he felt her discomfort. “I know. I don’t want to break the connection either, but we’ll have to sooner or later.”

  She laughed. “Yes, won’t we? I’ll be right back.”

  Caitlin disengaged and rolled off him. As she stood, she trailed her fingers across his chest, twisting a clump of chest hair as she did. Her emotions fell away from his senses as she drew back until finally, she broke the contact.

  She gasped and swayed on her feet with that sudden lightheadedness from standing too soon, and he felt an almost nauseous wave pass over him.

  He reached toward her.

  “Oh my God,” she said aloud.

  Her fingers dropped back to brace herself against his chest. Instantly, their emotions melded again.

  “This is going to be tougher than I thought,” she said.

  “Yes, try again. We can’t go through life joined at the hip.”

  They laughed simultaneously.

  One finger at a time, Caitlin eased off his chest. The sensations thinned gradually, and when her index finger finally broke the connection, she waver
ed again, but this time she smiled down at him. “Goodness, this could become addictive.”

  “But such a sweet addiction,” he answered, his voice low and filled with unaccustomed emotion.

  “Yes. I’ll be right back.”

  She padded naked out of the living room. He watched her until she disappeared down the hallway.

  He stood and moved to the dying fire. An emptiness hit him as if he was no longer a complete person without Caitlin’s touch on his mind. He threw a couple logs on the fire, and then looked around for his clothes.

  A minute later, he heard the sound of the toilet. He pulled his shirt on and was amazed at how limber his injured shoulder felt. The heat of their passion had melted away its stiffness.

  Caitlin walked casually back into the room. Her smooth, easy walk expressed how comfortable she was being naked in front of him.

  He held out both hands as she approached and they joined hands, linked emotions, and kissed tenderly.

  “I love you,” he said.

  “As if I didn’t know.”

  “I just thought I’d put the emotion into words.”

  “I love you,” she said.

  They dropped their hands, separating in the smooth, fluid manner of couples who had been lovers for years. Their emotions separated again, but each time the pain of decoupling was less, as though their bodies had finally realized that the separation wouldn’t be permanent.

  She picked up her garments that were strewn about. After stepping into her panties, she slipped on her bra and reached behind to fasten it.

  “Let me,” John said and let his fingers brush her back.

  She shuddered with the contact. “I never thought getting dressed could be so sexy.”

  “Neither did I.”

  They dressed slowly, each helping the other with various items until they stood facing each other fully dressed, but filled with a desire to start over.

  “There’ll be time later,” she said without speaking.

  “Plenty.”

  “Are you hungry?”

  “For you? Famished.”

  She smiled and kissed the air in front of his face. “You’re sweet, but aren’t you hungry for food?”

  “Grizzlies and crocodiles.”

  “What?”

  “Lions and tigers.”

  Her face grew puzzled, and then she caught his mood. “Something wild, eh? Well, I may be able to arrange it. We need a few groceries, too. I’ll take you for lunch, and we’ll pick up some things while we’re out.”

  “Someplace close?”

  “Why close?”

  “So we’ll get back quicker.”

  Her eyes almost glowed with her agreement, but she said, “Nonsense, we need to rest, and we should talk.”

  “We can talk here.”

  “You know I won’t be able to talk business while touching you. No, there’s a restaurant I want to take you to. It’s not far. We can be there in ten or fifteen minutes.”

  “Okay. Come to think of it, there are a few things I should get.”

  “What kind of things?”

  “Oh, you’ll see.”

  Caitlin took her purse off the table and loaded the notebook back in it. John pulled on his shoulder holster and got his coat from the newel post. He removed Caitlin’s coat from the closet and held it for her. She slipped her arms in; her fingers touched his and sent another shiver through them both.

  “Man, this is going to change everything. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to these intense feelings every time we touch,” he said.

  “Nonsense, you’ll get used to it, but you’re right about it changing everything. There’s a new world coming.”

  ***

  “Holdren here.”

  Holdren was tired of the phone calls. For two days, they had contained nothing but electronic surveillance hits on the Maxwell woman or that Blalock character. Every time they deployed a quick response team, it was only to discover that once again their quarry had eluded them. It was beginning to seem like a big game, but one where only the quarry knew the rules.

  “Mr. Holdren?”

  It was the barn.

  “That’s what I said. What do you have for me this time? Did they purchase theater tickets? I know, they bought a pair of cruise tickets on a charge card and will be spending the day touring the bay.”

  “It’s nothing like that, sir. I’m not sure it’s even reportable.”

  “Get on with it then.”

  “You wanted to hear of any transmissions on a particular frequency.”

  Holdren was immediately alert. “You have a transmission?”

  “Yes sir, but it’s not in the area we were expecting to find it. In fact, we wouldn’t have noticed it at all except that we had ordered VORTEX 13 to search for it and forgot to tell it to stop looking after it left the target zone.”

  “Vortex 13? The SIGINT satellite?”

  “Yes, sir. That’s the one.”

  “Where did the signal originate?”

  “Colorado, near Schriever Air Force Base. It could be just a test transmission by the research boys out there. They’re always playing around in C-band.”

  “Just how close to Schriever was the signal?” Holdren asked.

  “Ten miles, give or take a mile. We can’t be more accurate until VORTEX makes another pass. The signal occurred at the limits of its detection range, but it’ll be back in view in about an hour.”

  “Don’t you have any other satellites that can cover the area?”

  “Not that can pick up signals as weak as this one. It was a very low power transmission,” the watch officer said.

  “Look, Maxwell’s parents have a home in that area. I need to know whether the signal came from there or not.”

  “Well, there is something else we could try.”

  “What?” Holdren asked.

  “The house was unoccupied at last report; in fact, we did a close look at it a few days ago. There was no sign of activity, and the house was only a few degrees warmer than its surroundings.”

  “You have a satellite that can get me a thermal image?”

  “One moment ... yes sir, GEO 3, is coming into view now.”

  “Link it to my computer. I want to see this for myself,” Holdren said.

  “Yes, sir.”

  Holdren hung up the phone and opened his notebook computer. It woke itself up.

  “Link up,” Holdren ordered and placed his left thumb on the ID pad.

  The watch officer was on the ball for a change. As soon as the link was made the thermal image of a house nestled in trees appeared on the screen. It was immediately obvious that it was much warmer than its surroundings.

  “Close up,” he ordered.

  The image enlarged until it filled the screen. The quality of GEO 3’s imager, designed to locate schools of fish at sea, was such that while he couldn’t see sharp shapes, he could make out individual heat sources within the structure.

  As he watched, two of the images moved.

  “Got you.”

  CHAPTER 24

  The electric tingle of John’s ring woke him to a room filled with an intense darkness. He lived in the city for so long he’d forgotten how dark the country could be. His hand automatically reached for the gun on the nightstand. Wrapping his fingers around it, he raised it to point at where he suspected the door to be.

  The door didn’t open.

  The house was silent, although occasionally he’d hear wind whistling around the eaves. He lay still, waiting for his eyes to pick out shadows. Nothing, just a hint of light from the windows and a dim, blue-green glow from his left. In a moment, he recognized it being from the alarm clock on Caitlin’s side of the bed.

  He fumbled for the glasses and earpiece he’d left next to his gun. They clattered against the wood and slipped out of reach. Mumbling to himself, he stretched and gripped the frames. He set the earpiece against his right ear and pulled the frames over his eyes.

  The image flickered i
n the right lens immediately. For a second he wasn’t sure what he was looking at, then his eye adjusted to the low light levels and he made out the two Chevy Suburbans parked in the driveway.

  Doors opened, interior lights flooded the snow swept scene. Men stepped from the vehicles. Men carrying assault rifles and wearing flak vests over black uniforms.

  “Damn!”

  Caitlin moved beneath the covers. Her bare skin touched his side. The connection was made, and her emotions swept into him. She was afraid. Her dreams were troubling, dark and foreboding. He wanted to wake her gently, to hold her tight until the fear subsided.

  But there wasn’t time for anything.

  He flipped the covers back and shook her roughly.

  “What?”

  “Time to go. We’ve got company. You have about thirty seconds to dress. We have to leave now!”

  John switched on the nightstand lamp, hit the floor, and grabbed for his clothing. There wasn’t time, he ignored his briefs, but pulled on his pants, stepped barefoot into his boots, tugged them on, and pulled a tee shirt over his head without releasing his handgun.

  “They’re here?”

  “You bet, lots of them. They’ll be at the front door in less than a minute.”

  Caitlin got out of bed, and John tossed clothing toward her. “Dress fast. Let’s go, no other lights, we’ll have to feel our way downstairs. We’ll wait for them in the hall.”

  She pulled her pants over her bare buttocks and slipped into a wool cardigan. As her head popped out, John tossed her boots toward her. She caught them, sat on the edge of the bed, and pulled them smoothly on.

  John tugged on his shoulder holster with its spare magazines and went to the door. When he touched the door handle, the alarm sent another jolt through his finger. He took it off the door, safed it, and jammed it into his pants. Opening the door, he waved for Caitlin to hurry up, and then moved to the top of the stairs.

  Caitlin took the Mossberg pump from beside the bed and hurried after him.

  In his shades, John could see the rear Suburban pulling to the side of the driveway and slowly moving past the lead vehicle that had run across his makeshift road barricade.