“At the moment, I must insist that the nullifier stays active. As for what happened to you, Benji put you to sleep,” Agarwal said as she pointed to a tall man who stood in the corner of the room. He was a handsome, Indian looking man, dressed in silk pants and a short sleeve shirt, both light green. He looked like a teenager.
I glared at the research center's leader, waved my hand and said,” How did you hide all this from me”
“The hologram, alone, is very effective. We reinforced it with a psi-illusion to fool clairvoyants. Your associates have a difference of opinion as to whether we should deactivate the nullifier. Mandisa says that you are no threat. Toris Sirus disagrees. I have reviewed the information that we have on you. You were the hero know as Artemis. You went missing five years ago. The public was told you gave up your duties after, what your world calls, the Cleveland Disaster. Artemis I may have tended to trust, however, many Warriors went missing on our world after they went rogue. So you can see why I am reluctant to trust you with your full powers. As for going back to the Other Earth, this may be the only functional portal unit in the world. If we were to use it as a transit portal, we could not repair it. I am sorry, but you will have to go back to the site of the portal that brought you here,” she said.
“What if there was a way for you to generate a transit portal without damaging the portal unit?” I said.
“That is not possible,” Agarwal said.
I looked at Toris. She shook her head. Agarwal stared at her and said,” You have solved the Kargaren Effect?”
“What is the Kargaren Effect?” I said.
'It is the energy feedback created by a transit portal that damages the portal unit. The greater the energy used to create a transit portal, and therefor the longer it is active, the greater the feedback. Theoretically, is is possible to divert some of that energy into the fabric of space time around the portal.
Despite numerous, usually disastrous, attempts it was never successful,” Agarwal said.
“Her lord, Forty-Five claimed they were weeks away from being able to generate a transit portal band not damage the unit. Did he lie?” I said.
“Lord Forty-Five would never lie!” Toris said.
Malko laughed and said,”Perhaps he changed while over on the Other Earth, but the Forty-Five I knew could lie with the best of them.”
“How so?” I said.
Malko stood up and said,” For one, he was not stripped of his warrior abilities because of his threat to the Hegemony's power. That story given out by the Hegemony to placate the masses. His real mission was to capture Warriors or other extra powered that the Hegemony deemed dangerous. He would, inevitably, kill his target, even when it was not necessary. That is the real reason his warrior abilities were stripped form him.”
“That is not true. He took care of me. Protected me!” Toris said.
“For his own gain,” Malko said.
“I was never good with people. When we went to the Other Earth, it was worse. He took care of dealing with people,” she said.
“Regardless, if you have made such a breakthrough, we must have it,” Agarwal said.
“I won't tell you,” Toris said with a defiant voice.
“You will,” Agarwal said.
Toris slumped over in her chair. I looked at Benji, he met my eyes and nodded. I did not like that at all. I blocked Benji when he moved toward the sleeping woman.
“What is going on?” I said.
Agarwal walked over beside Benji. She shook her head and said,” You started this when you suggested that their was a way to generate a transit portal without damaging the portal unit. Toris Sirus revealed that she might know of the means to do that. I will not allow her near the portal unit, unless, I can trust her. Benji can insure that.”
“I thought the Southern Alliance respected people's rights, at least more than the Northern Hegemony,” I said.
Agarwal laughed and said,” The Alliance, as well as the Hegemony, exist in name only. We survive on our own here. We here have worked with the leaders in the city and the surrounding area to maintain a livable life. If she can help us develop a means to access the Other Earth, it will not only allow you to return there, but open a possible means of commerce. Our technology is far more advanced than there. From what we have seen of that world, I am sure both governmental and non-governmental groups would be willing to deal with us.”
I was sure of that. The question was whether that was a good idea or not. If we went back to Alaska, there was a chance that Jacobs and/or the military would not let us come back. Once they knew that the healer was on our Earth, they might not bother to let us through despite the threat of The Destroyer.
“I am under a time constraint. As long as Toris's mind is not damaged, go ahead,” I said.
Benji spoke for the first time in almost a whisper,” I will suggest to her that the best way to get the knowledge of the location of the healer is to help us. Her own desire to please her Warrior lord will fuel her decision.”
“How long will your influence last?” I said.
“As long as her desire to please him lasts,” he said.
Then, I thought, it would last the rest of her life.
It took Toris less than a day to explain both the theoretical basis for the changes to the portal unit to allow it to be used to generate a transit portal without damaging itself. Agarwal said it was the work of genius. Unfortunately, they estimated that it would take at least a month to make the needed modifications to their portal unit. They were able to make enough changes to prevent most of the damage from the generation of a transit portal. Agarwal's team decided that they had the spare equipment and expertise to repair the portal unit, if Toris stayed. That was their price to help us.
Mandisa, Malko and I stood in the containment room facing the portal aperture on the far wall. The Warrior insisted on coming with us. Agarwal's people supplied him with a containment suit. Agarwal stood in the control room, separated behind us by a transparent wall.
Toris was not happy with the decision that she should stay behind. Agarwal promised that they would allow her to return to the Other Earth after they repaired the portal unit. Toris made me promise that I would tell Forty-Five that the healer was on my world. And I would, after I found the healer and Apollo was healed. That part I did not tell her.
They generated a viewing portal first.. It lasted only a few moments, but it showed an empty back yard. It would take a few minutes before they could generate a transit portal. A blue mist was released into the room. We were told that it would kill all life, bacterial and viral in the room. Malko and I rose a few inches of the floor, and I lifted Mandisa off the floor, to allow the mist to reach the soles of our boots. My uniform and the suits my companions wore protected us. I heard the fans pulls the mist out of the room.
“Usually, I would run at least one test before we had someone go through the portal, but I understand that, for you, time is of the essence. Good luck. Tell your authorities that we would like friendly contact with your world,” Agawal said.
I had promised to do just that. Whether the United Nations and the Indian government would allow that was out of my hands. The fear of infection, given what the power virus had done to the world, would be an issue. The potential introduction of advanced technology would be be another issue. Those issues were not my concern. My concern was to get back to my world and let the Agency know that the healer was on our world. The question was whether she could be found in time and how to placate Jacobs and the American government.
“Portal activation in five seconds,” I heard Agarwal say over my comm link.
I put an arm around Mandisa with my TK field. The portal aperture flared with a white light and after it faded we saw the yard, fortunately, without people. We only had a few seconds before the portal closed, so Malko and I flew through the portal. It closed just a second after we passed through it.
“Control, this is Tarlok. Do you read me?” I said over my comm link.
A few seconds later, I heard the voice of Judith Mycroft over my comm link,”Ms. Tarlock, we read you. What are you doing in India?”
“That is a long story. What is Apollo's status,” I said.
“He is a prisoner at Fort Greely. The American government has refused to allow us access to the surrounding area. It refused to acknowledge the existence of the base. The Committee does not want to go public with the it,” she said.
Damn the secrecy, I thought. If the Committee goes to the Security Council, it will have to go public with the existence of the base, and then, the Americans will go public with the threat from The Destroyer. I still thought it was best to alert the world of the danger, but was not my call, at least not at that point in time.
“Tell the Director that I am coming in with Mandisa and a friend. Tell him we believe that Vala Grein is somewhere on this world. I am going stealth,” I said.
“Will do,” Mycroft said.
I put a hand on an arm of Mandisa and lifted off. Malko followed me. I kept our speed just short of the speed of sound so that no sonic booms were generated. Once above most of the atmosphere, w accelerated and went sub-orbital. We slowed to an almost stop and descended slow enough to avoid any friction heating. An hour later, we descended through the predawn sky over New Mexico. We headed for a spot about a mile from the Agency's headquarters. At about a thousand feet above the pre-dawn desert I dropped stealth mode. Directly beneath us, I “saw” through a holograph of the desert floor a large door slide open. We dropped through the door, which slid closed after us.
Once we landed on the metal floor, the ceiling closed and the lights came on. The metal room was twenty by twenty by twenty feet. A door slid open on one wall and led to a lighted corridor.
“Welcome back, Ms. Tarlock,” Mycroft said over my comm link.
“It is good to be back. We will need to be quarantined,” I said.
“Everything will be ready, just follow the tunnel to the Agency,” Mycroft said.
Malko leaned down and put his hands on his knees. I scanned him and saw that his bio-field's energy had fallen to half what was normal for him.
“Malko, are you alright?” I said.
He straightened up and said,” Yes, the flight too a lot out of me.”
I had felt his power when he went all out, but it was short lived. If he was willing to go up against The Destroyer, or anyone else, he would have to be used strategically and be well rested.
“Follow me,” I said as I walked to the tunnel.
The tunnel was all metal, ten by ten feet. Lighting panels in the ceiling came on as we walked past them and went out afterward. Security Chief Hernandez and four security guards, all in full, self-contained body armor and armed with energy weapons, stood at the end of the tunnel. Hernandez had wrist nullifier in his left hand.
We stopped about ten feet away from the group and Hernandez walked over to us.
“Ms. Tarlock, it is good to see you,” he said.
He looked at Malko and said,”Before you enter the headquarters, you are required to put this on.”
Malko looked down at the nullifier and then looked into Hernandez eyes. I knew that he was not going to cooperate.
I reached out and took the nullifier from the Security Chief's hand and crushed it. Hernandez eyes widened for a moment and the guards aimed their weapons at me. Hernandez raised his right hand to tell the guards to stand down.
“The Director will not like this,” Hernandez said.
“I don't care what the Tenneth likes or does not like. No nullifier,” I said.
“Then we are at an impasse,” Hernandez said.
“Ms. Tarlock, I will hold you personally responsible for your companion's actions,” I heard Director Tenneth's voice over my comm link.
“Understood,” I said.
“Mr. Hernandez, please escort Ms. Tarlock and her companions to the isolation area,” Tenneth said.
Hernandez said,” Follow me.”
The entrance to the headquarters slid open and we followed him through the it. The guards followed us.
Chapter 21: Tuesday, July 27, 6:00 AM Mountain Daylight Time
I stood in the isolation area in a white cloth hospital gown as a nurse stuck a cue tip up each of my nostrils. She then asked me to open my mouth and she swabbed my checks with another cue tip. She did the same for Mandisa and Malko, who stood beside me, similarly clothed. A null stood next to the nurse, also in an isolation suit. He nullified Malko's and my powers to allow the nurse to take a blood sample from each of us. The nurse, like wise, took a blood sample from Mandisa.
I heard over the intercom, my ear bud had been taken, Director Tenneth voice,” Ms. Tarlock, I would like a word with you in private.
I went to the same interview room that we used to first talk to the Visitors, closed the door and sat down. The image of Director Tenneth appeared on the monitor on the side wall
“I do not appreciate you countermanding my order to have a nullifier placed on your friend from the Other Earth. You know we don't trust non-Agency powered, especially one from another timeline. How do you know we can trust him?” Tenneth said over the intercom.
“I trust him and we will need him to convince Vala Grein to help us, besides, the fact that he will be a valuable asset when we have to deal with The Destroyer,” I said.
Several seconds past before the Director replied,” It is on your head. It seems that we have two problems coming together. Last night an American drone over Fort Greely stopped transmitting. We were pigging backing the drones transmissions. We have a team outside the military security area. They detected a momentary disruption of the base's distortion field. The disruption was caused when a cloaked vehicle landed. The military got another drone up quickly and it additional heat signatures. All communication with base ended shortly after that. Now, brief us on what happened to you.”
So, our two problems appeared to be merging. I explained what happened in Alaska and of the Other Earth. Ian Jacobs and Doctor Torres where from the Other Earth and Jacobs was a depowered Warrior known as Forty-Five. His goal is to find the healer and force her to restore his full powers.
“Despite our warning that the base may have been compromised, The American government denies any knowledge of the base and refuse us permission to send any Agency personnel there. American military have blocked all access to the base, but none of them have gone into the base,” the Director said.
“They don't believe us?” I said.
“They appear to have convinced the Administration, including the President, that this should be dealt with internally, that portal technology and, perhaps the existence of a healer, presents opportunities too important to give up,” he said.
“What about the danger from The Destroyer?” I said.
“President Humphrey has personally given me assurance that they will give us any aid they can to deal with The Destroyer, once she becomes a imminent threat. She does not want to start a panic,” Tenneth said.
The idiot, I thought. All this secrecy will only lead to more death and destruction. However, as much as I wanted to free John, at that point, the most important goal was to find Vala Grein.
“When can I get out of here?” I said.
“Doctor Franks told me that it would take at least two days to verify that you are pathogen free,” the Director said.
“I can wear my uniform. The outside can be decontaminated. I can't waste two days in here,” I said.
“And what will you do? The holographic image of the healer that you gave us was scanned into our system and we have begun a search. Even your 'sight' will be of little use if you don't know where to look. And, although I would like to send you and a strike team to rescue Apollo, our hands are tied. Once we find the healer, we will have leverage,” Tenneth said.
That was a start, I thought.
“We asked Abilola about Malko. She told us that he was a loyal Warrior, until he took Vala Grein away. She advised us that as long
as we were helping Malko find the healer, Malko should cooperate. Once we find her, Abilola was not sure what the Warrior would do. I don't trust him, but we can use him. I expect you to make sure once we find the healer, that he won't cause any problems,” Tenneth said.
I nodded. Like Director Tenneth, I did not know what Malko would do if we found the healer. I hoped the Warrior would work with us to free John and have the healer restore his abilities. If not, I had to have a plan to deal with him. I hoped I would not need such a plan.
“Tell Malko that we want to speak with him shortly,” Tenneth said.
“We will need the translators,” I said.
“We have analyzed them and you will get them back when you leave. You and Security Chief Hernandez will carry out the interview. We can use you comm link to tap into your translator and he can listen in. He can attest to Malko's truthfulness,” Tenneth said.
I left the interview room and found Mandisa and Malko as they sat across from each other on the lower bed of one of the bunk beds. He had his translator in his ear and she handed mine to me.
I walked over to them and Malko said,” When can we begin the search for Vala Grein?”
“We must be medically cleared. That should be within two days. The Agency is using all available resources to find her. Once we do, we will have to find a way to free Apollo and restore his powers,” I said.
“After that, we will go home,” Malko said.
“If you wish, however, we could use your help to deal with The Destroyer. If she is not stopped here, she may decide to return to our world,” I said.
Malko folder his arms across his chest and said,“ I will do whatever the healer asks of me.”
I hoped she would ask him to help us. I explained to Malko that the Agency would like to speak with him and that I would act as a translator.
An hour later, I sat with Malko in the interview room. On the other side of the window sat security chief Hernandez. At first, the questions concentrated on what Malko knew about the healer and her mindset when she decided to leave her world.
“It was my suggestion that she go to your world. She became increasingly upset that she could not use her healing abilities. Even though she tried to make the world safe from rogue Warriors, the Hegemony limited her ability to help people at large. Also, she deemed herself a failure when she could not help stop The Destroyer,” Malko said.
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