The New Reality

by Stephen Martino

  Alex went over to the heated rock pit in the center of the room and set the control panel to steam. Its bottom began glowing red and heat instantly started to exude from the rocks. He then sat on a bench in the exact opposite corner of the room and leaned back as if relaxing.

  William did the same without asking any questions.

  Alex slowly laid the infrared disrupter next to him on the bench. There could be no miscalculations now as the window of opportunity would last only a few minutes.

  William quickly opened his eyes after feeling someone shove his shoulders. No one was there and Alex appeared asleep on the bench. What was going on?

  He again felt the same shove and heard someone say, “Let’s go!”

  Is this place haunted?

  William jumped up, afraid the sauna had some sort of poltergeist. “Alex,” he quickly said, “I think there’s a ghost in here!”

  He suddenly felt someone grab his shoulders but again no one was there. He began to tremble in his shoes. Nothing at all scared him as much as ghosts, and he certainly didn’t want to stick around and see what they had in store for him.

  Before he could run out of the sauna, he turned and saw his body still laying on one of the benches. He must be dead and had turned into a ghost! The sauna must have been a death trap.

  “Get a grip,” Alex said. “I can guess what you’re thinking. No, we’re not dead. I just set the infrared disrupter on a light-freeze mode. It’ll only last five minutes before the whole thing overheats and melts down. Let’s move.”

  What a relief! William sighed.

  Alex grabbed him by the arm and escorted him out of the sauna and into the adjacent closet. The door opened but to their eyes nothing moved. It was a surreal feeling to push and move objects without seeing anything change. In essence they were ghosts, moving unperturbed throughout the bathroom without being seen.

  “On the count of three,” Alex said, “we’re both going to slam against this back wall here until it breaks.”

  Fortunately, the closet had shelves only at eye level and nothing stood underneath except a long bar meant for hangers.

  “One, two… three,” Alex counted. The thinly plastered back wall collapsed under their weight as they vaulted themselves into a cramped and dark passage.

  William and Alex got to their feet. Blackness enveloped them like an impenetrable dark cloud. From seeing nothing move, to now seeing nothing at all, sent their senses into a frenzy. The whole ordeal, at first, seemed disorienting, but after a few seconds Alex again grabbed William by the arm and led him down the passageway.

  “I have the layout memorized from the architectural specs,” Alex said. “When we reach the wall ahead of us in about twenty feet, we’ll make a sharp right and continue walking straight for almost a quarter of a mile. That’ll lead us directly to the hangar. Hopefully, there’ll be something I can fly to get us out of here.”

  William offered no complaints. The plan appeared sound. Now if they could only execute it without getting killed.

  They continued walking in the dark until Alex’s hand hit a wall in front of him. “Time to turn right and the exit will be straight down this way,” he whispered.

  Alex’s voice brought William some relief. Between the pitch black and the utter silence of this passageway, it created a sensory deprivation-type chamber that slowly drove him mad.

  They scurried down the passage until Alex’s hand came across another wall. Fortunately, upon hitting it a hollow sound echoed back, indicating that only a thin piece of whitewall separated them from the hanger.

  Plus, time must have run out. It definitely had been over five minutes since their escape and the infrared disrupter must have melted down by now. The UAA guards watching them should have noticed their absence and probably already set off a silent alarm.

  Alex dug his fingernails into the wall and slowly prodded at it until he created a small hole. Their eyes welcomed the refreshing beam of light as it entered the dark passageway. Alex’s retina needed to adjust a second before he could look through the hole.

  “What do you see?” William asked.

  Alex’s eyes finally came into focus only to notice the enclosed hangar had been essentially vacated except for a few planes. The place could easily hold at least a hundred airships but only a couple remained. Where had they all gone?

  Right now it didn’t matter.

  What did matter were the two UAA soldiers who were on guard about a hundred feet from their position.

  What to do? Sneaking up on them through a wide-open hanger would be impossible while simply charging their position would prove suicidal.

  “What do you see?” William asked again.

  “A hanger with a few airships,” Alex whispered. “You remember how you were once an all-state lineman?”

  Puffing out his chest he responded, “What do you mean once? Once an all-state lineman, always an all-state lineman.”

  “Good. In order to get out of here we have to take out two UAA soldiers guarding the nearest Stratoskimmer.

  The revelation unfortunately blew some of the steam out of William’s response. However, at this point he would do whatever was necessary to escape. The thought of meeting the same gruesome demise as Guri provided him all the courage he needed. “Let’s do it,” he said, mustering his confidence.

  Alex tilted his head back and grabbed the videre lens out of his right eye. With no others option available, this would have to suffice. Placing it on his hand, he inverted the lens from its natural convex shape to a concave configuration. Upon doing so, a realistic holographic image of Ari Lesmana giving one of his longwinded speeches projected from it. Albeit without audio, the visual would hopefully be sufficient.

  Before William could make a comment, Alex said, “Make a small hole in the wall along the floor. I want to slide this projection out so that it can catch the guard’s attention.”

  William complied, understanding full well where this plan was headed.

  Alex bent down and slid the videre lens along the floor and into the hanger after William made the hole. He then looked out through the hole that he made and saw the holograph was in perfect position about a foot from the wall.

  Doing his best Malik impression, Alex shouted through the small hole in the wall, “Excuse me. Yes, excuse me soldiers.”

  The two guards immediately turned towards their position. Surprised, they both pointed theirs guns at the holographic image. However, upon realizing their mistake, they shouldered their weapons and marched over to greet the Malik.

  “I believe they bought it,” Alex whispered. “It appears they think that they are receiving a transmission from Ari.” He waited a few moments as he watched the soldiers approach their position.

  William positioned himself next to Alex in a three-point football stance, waiting to spring into action. He knew this flimsy, plaster wall in front of him would certainly collapse with little effort. He held his breath as he visualized his next move. There was no time to be scared nor was there any time to second-guess Alex’s plan. What he did in the next minute would determine not only their fate but the fate of the entire planet.

  The two soldiers greeted the holographic image of the Malik with the proper gesture and awaited his next command. However, when they saw his mouth moving without sound, Alex immediately perceived the suspicion in their eyes.

  Before the soldiers had a chance to react, he immediately nudged William’s shoulder and said, “Hike!”

  William instantaneously leapt to his feet and with a roar barreled through the wall as if it were paper mâché. In the same motion, he tackled both soldiers with the skill of an all-pro lineman. The two UAA guards were taken totally by surprise and had absolutely no time to react. Before they could mount a response, William slammed both their heads into the floor, knocking them unconscious.

  Alex grabbed both the soldiers’ weapons as William got to his feet. They then instinctively began to run straight to the nearest Stratoskimmer, almo
st expecting either to be shot or at least have a gun pointed at them along the way. Neither occurred and they scurried up the ship’s steps without further interruption.

  “We made it,” William gasped.

  Unlike the eloquent décor of Alex’s Stratoskimmer, this one was Spartan by comparison. Apparently utilized for troop transportation, the hull contained only cold, metal benches along its walls.

  Alex ran up to the cockpit and took the pilot’s seat. William followed, huffing and sweating as he sat in the chair adjacent to him.

  “Nice work,” Alex commented. “Now let’s get out of here!”

  All out of any other tricks or gadgets, Alex gave a sigh of relief as he safely flew the Stratoskimmer out of the hanger and up into the stratosphere.

  Chapter 41

  The roar of engines and the magnetic tug of low flying air ships instantly gave Samantha goose bumps. Not that she feared dying, but all of a sudden death seemed so final. Plus, she wished she had at least said goodbye to some family and friends. She also wished she could have told certain people to go shove it, but now it was too late.

  She knew communicating with Dr. Howard at this point would be futile. He had failed to curtail the attack. Hopefully, he and the NIH would have better luck finding the cure.

  Samantha sat back in her chair and watched the screens around the bunker waiting to see explosions, smoke, and bright flashes of light. Commander Gorman had done it. He must be smiling ear to ear right about now, gleaming at the fact that he got a chance to blow something up.

  She wondered what type of upbringing could forge such an adult. Had he been beaten as a child? Did his father never show him any affection? Was he teased by his classmates? At this point it didn’t matter. Commander Gorman was about to destroy Neurono-Tek and possibly the only means to finding a cure for The Disease.

  “Dr. Samantha Mancini!” a familiar voice resounded from her central console. “I convinced the Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Fine, to personally call off the air strike!”

  As air ships continued to fly above the Neurono-Tek complex, the words brought her little solace. Had they not gotten the message, or had Commander Gorman overridden the chairman’s authority?

  Samantha did not say a word, expecting the first bomb to drop any second.

  “Dr. Mancini,” Dr. Howard reiterated, after waiting a few seconds without a response, “are you still there?”

  The blare of the sirens and roar of the engines ceased almost at once. Never had quietness sounded so refreshing. Never did she think anyone could convince such a boneheaded man as Commander Gordon to change his mind. She would live another day.

  Dr. Howard had saved not only Neurono-Tek but also millions of other innocent people afflicted by The Disease. Samantha felt a great sense of relief and let out a large sigh, exhaling all her inner angst in one breath. It was as if her whole body instantly went limp with exhaustion and could no longer hold up its own weight.

  You know what, she thought, I am going to tell all those people I can’t stand to shove it anyway, even if I’m not going to die any time soon.

  “Dr. Howard,” Samantha finally said after a long breath, “I owe you my deepest gratitude. I cannot thank you enough for what you’ve done.”

  “Who knew an old goat like me still had a little power left on Capitol Hill?” Dr. Howard joked. “Now you have to do me one favor.”

  “Anything.”

  “Find that cure.”

  “Yes, sir,” Samantha answered, ending their communication.

  Chapter 42

  Once they were safely flying above the Atlantic Ocean, Alex took one of the silver, secure transmission pads from the Stratoskimmer’s console and placed it on his lap. Ever since escaping all he could think of was Marissa and Jonathan. Had they escaped? Were they captured? Were they still alive? The weight of these questions bore down upon him as he reconfigured the transmission pad to assure its security.

  William sat back in the copilot seat, exasperated by their recent experience. With his adrenaline rush long gone, he too wondered what happened to both Marissa and Jonathan and respected Alex’s ability to remain calm and continue working even after all that had just occurred. Though not saying it, he marveled at his friend’s mental fortitude and overall physical endurance.

  “Marissa,” Alex said, talking into the square transmission pad. “Marisa,” he repeated.

  “Alex!” a voice immediately responded, though her image did not appear on the screen. “Thank God it’s you! Are you, William, and Guri alright?” she asked. “I’ve been so worried about you guys! I didn’t know what happened to you and have been waiting here at the rendezvous point for almost twelve hours.”

  Alex knew that this would not be the best time to discuss their recent escape nor the details of Guri’s death. Instead, he simply responded, “We’re safe and I have sent Tom in a different Stratoskimmer to come pick you up. How are you and Jonathan?”

  Marissa then went on to explain how Jonathan had succumbed to The Disease. Putting all emotion aside, she continued, “Before he passed, he found something very interesting. Taking into account the sun beams that looked like strands of DNA in John’s cave at Patmos, Jonathan seems to have discovered the next layer to the code. Let me send it to you.”

  A three-dimensional double helix appeared on Alex’s transmission pad. “It’s definitely DNA,” he commented, eye-balling the image, “but I can already tell you that it’s way too short to code for any type of protein.”

  “I assume you have a sample of your own DNA on file at Neurono-Tek?” Marissa asked.

  “I have over a billion samples of DNA on file,” Alex responded, “including everyone who works at Neurono-Tek.”

  “Good,” Marissa said with some relief. “Based upon Jonathan’s last interpretation of the Bible code, I believe this strand of DNA has something to do with you and the cure for The Disease. Let’s see what we can find if you cross-reference it with your genome.”

  “Sure,” Alex acknowledged, accessing Neurono-Tek’s secure genetic files. Such a small piece of DNA. What could it mean, and what could it have to do with me?

  Alex again thought about what his parents told him about being genetically unique as he accessed Neurono-Tek’s central database and cross-referenced the DNA with both his and a sample of a random thousand people.

  A cursory examination provided him with no indication of its significance. Because the entire human genome possessed over 250 million base pairs that formed the interlocking steps of the double-stranded helix, this sample containing only a hundred seemed almost inconsequential.

  “O.K.,” Alex commented. “It appears the genomic sample you provided me can be found somewhere within everyone’s 46 chromosomes. In fact, the hundred base pair combination is located on average about ten different times in any given individual’s DNA.”

  “That doesn’t make sense,” Marissa acknowledged. “But the Bible code made it seem like we’d find the answer right away.”

  She could hear William grumble a few derogatory things about the Bible code and how their efforts had all been for naught.

  “Let me rethink this whole thing,” Alex said while running a few different options on his transmission pad.

  Multiple color-coded strands of DNA then appeared on the pad with the areas of interest highlighted red. He enjoyed viewing them this way as it enabled him to visualize different possibilities all at once.

  “If this DNA doesn’t code for anything,” Alex said aloud, “let’s at least see what other things can be found near it.”

  He then manually began inputting commands into the transmission pad. Ten different strands of DNA appeared. Again they had been color-coded, but now the words intron, exon, coding, noncoding, telomere, and junk appeared above specific sections.

  The DNA spun along its axis like a top while Alex watched in a hypnotic trance, waiting for an epiphany.

  “I bet what I’m looking at is supposed to be a promot
er region,” he finally said after concentrating on the image. Alex then pressed the screen and it displayed a whole new strand of DNA. Following a cursory review, he went on to examine another sample.

  After looking at a dozen more images, he was convinced that the DNA strand of interest given to him by Marissa always stood conspicuously close to a section of DNA that coded for a protein. Though the protein was always different, its position wasn’t.

  It has to be a promoter. But what makes this sample so special? There still doesn’t seem to be anything so unique about it.

  “I wonder where this DNA strand of interest is located in my DNA?”

  The entire screen went blank except for a single segment of DNA. Alex nearly jumped up from his seat with excitement. All the worry, angst, frustration, and exhaustion immediately left as a rush of adrenaline zipped through his body like a shock of electricity.

  “That’s it!” he announced.

  “You found something?” Marissa eagerly asked.

  “Let me just analyze the adjacent DNA found next to it to see what gene it activates,” Alex anxiously answered. “And once I find the gene, I can see what it codes.”

  The DNA image on the screen was immediately replaced by that of a three-dimensional protein. Reminiscent of a haphazardly built Tinker Toy model, the protein’s building blocks known as amino acids were represented by differently colored spheres, which were attached to one another by thin black lines. The structure spun on its axis as Alex watched in awe.

  “What is that?” William asked as he nudged his body next to Alex’s.

  “The cure!”

  Chapter 43

  Sitting atop a mountainous ridge in the south of Yemen, a grand resort house overlooked a breathtaking view of the Arabian Sea. Once owned by a wealthy entrepreneur, the vacation home had become the possession of the UAA when he was deemed to be a political dissident by Ari’s internal military police.

  The former tenant ended up in a pauper’s prison after he spoke out against the Malik’s failing economic policies. However, the truth of his words was suppressed by the government-controlled media, and he was summarily incarcerated because of his political insurrection.