“There is a crane at the top with a mobile work station and they lower the crew down on a cable,” Sam replies.
"Interesting, they have not sent anyone down to get us. They must be waiting for us at the top," says Chase
Slowly again they moved up the endless shaft ladder. Sam’s legs began to shake. Ally and Chase were bred for demands like this. They climbed effortlessly up the ladder trying not to get too far ahead of Sam who was over sixty years old and although in good physical condition this was an effort beyond human ability. Ally noticed it first and then Chase yelled out, “There is a break in the ladder.”
The sun shaft never really needed any repairs and really was only used as an exhaust vent. To the world above the air shaft was an armory, a large square building with a sun roof, and a few marines standing guard outside, certainly not an unusual site in the DC area; besides, the building looked very official. Chase and Ally looked at the break; a section of almost ten feet was missing from the ladder.
“There is about a ten foot piece of the ladder missing, maybe Ally could stand on my shoulders,” Chase said.
“I think I’m going to be just short,” Ally replied. “I have this cord I used to rest with,” Sam offered. “Very good Sam, hand it here.” Sam hands it up to Chase.
“My legs are starting to give out Chase. I need to find a way to sit for a few minutes. My legs are trembling,” Sam said.
“Here’s what I want you to do Sam. I want you to sit on the top rung of the ladder, secure your legs under the next rung, then I’m going to get on your shoulders and then Ally is going to get on my shoulders. Do you understand?” Chase asks.
“I guess that will give my legs a little rest; you may break my spine and collapse a vertebrae or two, but go ahead,” Sam smiles.
Chapter 31 Charles made sure that there was a warm welcome prepared for the three of them. Besides he and Ivan there were 25 Guards with various weapons all stationed around the enormous hole. He said, “I want none of them hurt until I have Sam’s notes, is that clear?”
“I understand,” Ivan said.
Both Senators Lee and Bennett join Charles at the top of the ladder.
“You’re sure there is no other way for them to escape?” Lee asks.
“No,” said Charles, “Unless they’ve developed a way to fly, or pass through solid matter.”
“Who knows what Sam has done to them,” Kathryn says.
“I can’t believe that Sam has kept us out of the loop on all this important research. It was his responsibility not to keep secrets,” Senator Lee brought out. “He and Beneizen were always so open about new ideas; I just don’t understand what happened?” Lee says.
Charles looked at both of them. “I think they wanted to take this project into the public sector. There are millions to be made on this technology. Why did Beneizen leave and hide himself where no one can find him?”
“It's an interesting question, isn't it? But Beneizen has often taken leaves of absence and we should wait for him to reappear before we judge him. We don't really know what this technology is. I'm just saying until we see the notes right now this is all speculation,” Senator Lee proposed.
Charles responded, “I don’t think so; I think the two of them were planning this from the beginning. He and Sam wanted the public’s money, it's just pure greed. Think of the possibilities with this technology. You had ink jet printers, then 3D printers with plastics and other materials, and now a 3D printer for human DNA. Just create a new body for yourself. Get a new leg or an arm or an organ. You always wanted to be blue-eyed; get new eyes. You could even buy your own family printer. Think about this. Your wife or husband makes you angry. Chop off a hand in a rage. Then print a new one, problem fixed. Can you even fathom the financial impact of such a device? And I'm not even sure that's the half of it. I suspect the technology is something even more advanced. Think of it, machines that are made of actually living cells. Sounds like an oxymoron, but try to imagine; you might be able to program this DNA to become anything you want. You could have a living car taking you to work. The childhood transformer toys are not only a reality, but it could be the property of anyone who could afford to buy it.”
“That’s a little paranoid don’t you think? Beneizen had plenty of money and so does Sam. I don’t think either of them ever bought a thing. Both Beneizen and Sam are Buddhist’s or something. I hear Sam even spent a year in a monastery after leaving the military,” Lee offered.
“But I need that technology,” Charles grumbled. Kathryn said, “I feel we are losing control of the whole situation, it’s not going to be easy to get that information out of Sam, and besides how much technology do you need, We really do have to ask the questions about what helps us as human beings and what makes our condition worse?”.
“I agree, but did we ever have it, control that is?” said Charles.
One of the Guards comes over to Charles and says, “We can see them now. A sniper could take them out.”
“What is the matter with all of you? I want them alive, not dead! Does everyone understand NOT DEAD?” Charles explodes.
"I thought you wanted them dead, I'm confused," Ivan says.
"Yes, but not right now, not until we get what we need from them," Charles snaps.
"Make up your mind," Ivan says, disgruntled. There is silence. Ivan is amused but his face starts to twitch again, but torturing Charles a bit brought a slight smile.
Chapter 32 “What are we going to do when we get to the top?" opened Ally. “You know they’re going to be waiting for us.”
“We do nothing. We go up and meet them, they are not going to kill us,” replied Chase.
Sam said, “You're right they aren’t going to hurt us right away. They want my notes, and in truth you have them Chase. They are locked away in your memory banks. Beneizen will give you the key to open everything, which is one of the reasons you need to find him.”
“This was really stupid! We escape up a huge air shaft into the waiting arms of Charles Dean, I’m not impressed,” Ally spits out as she looks up at the next set of ladders.
Chase climbs up and stands on Sam’s shoulders. It was amazing to see. Chase stood straight up and never even wavered in his balance. Ally climbed up over Sam and stood on Chase’s shoulders. There was no fear, no timidity, it was handled with confidence. Ally pulled herself up onto the next section of ladder and hung down and Chase hung from Ally.
“Alright Sam now climb up over the two of us,” Chase said.
Sam looks up, “You’ve got to be kidding!
“Don’t look down, just do it,” Chase says.
Sam starts to climb over Chase and Ally. He climbed over them like a very thick rope.
“Don’t use my chin as a foot rest,” Ally complains. “Let him, it won’t hurt you a bit,” Chase says. “It’s not your chin,” Ally complains.
Sam grabs onto the ladder with his arms and legs still shaking. He hugs the ladder and suddenly becomes very dizzy and starts to fall back. Chase sits up, catches him and says, “Easy does it old man.” Sam recovers and once again pulls himself up the ladder. “I’m alright,” Sam says and climbs up a few rungs making room for Chase and Ally and then again secures himself to the ladder with his harness. They climb over him and continue the long climb.
Ally says, “I still don’t know what good this is going to do. They’re up there waiting for us. They can paralyze us with an impulse gun and they can shoot Sam. This is really dumb. There is no plan here.” Sam reminds them, “They won’t kill us until they have my notes, and they can’t get them out of Chase, only Beneizen can. “So they won’t kill us, we just climbed up for two miles for nothing. They take us back down again and torture us. Sounds wonderful and I have a serious headache.
What a plan?” Ally says sarcastically. She looks at both of them. "No plan, it figures."
“Ally, have a little faith in your fellow mechanical man,” Chase says.
“No Chase, faith is just stupid, and a good p
lan is what we need. I’m a realist,” replies Ally.
“Very human, do you have a solution?” Chase asks. Sam says, “I don’t know how much longer I can continue.”
"Why don't you go back down? Charles won't kill you if he thinks you know where the files are. They want that technology and will do anything to get it," Chase suggests.
"I’ll continue, it's closer to the top than the bottom," Sam responds.
Now they could see the rim of the shaft as they came closer and closer to the top, and as expected they could see the reception party waiting for them. “Ally, I do have a plan but you must listen very carefully to exactly what I say up there,” Chase spoke silently, directly into her mind.
They climbed out of the great vertical tube. Charles and company were waiting for them and says, “I wouldn’t try anything, there are 25 Guards with weapons all pointed at your heads. That certainly was an act of futility, unless you were looking for exercise.”
“I don’t believe we have met, my name is Chase.” Chase extends his hand and they shake. Then he says, “And you are…?”
“I’m Congressman Charles Dean, Speaker of the House of Representatives,” he replies pompously. “Why are you holding us? Is there something that we’ve done wrong? Chase begins very loudly. “What are you talking about?” Charles asks. “I mean we are human beings and we are Americans and you are holding us without due process, and that is against the law,” Chase explains to Charles. “What is this crap, you’re the property of EOJ, you’re just a machine built to carry out our instructions, but you’re now broken, but I’ll tell you what; I want Sam’s notes, and I’ll let you all go,” Charles bellows. “I destroyed them, all of them,” Sam says.
“That’s most unfortunate, and did you make a copy?” Charles asks.
“No! They are destroyed,” Sam tells Charles. “That’s most unfortunate,” Charles is furious. He is trying to control his anger. He looks at Sam who is standing very close to the rim. He looks over at Ivan and nods his head. Ivan raises his gun and fires at Sam who falls backward over the rim and down into the long black hole he had worked so hard to climb up. Chase and Ally are horrified; as a matter of fact everyone is horrified.
“What have you done?” Chase moves forward to attack Charles but Ivan puts the stun gun to Chase’s head. Chase communicates directly to Ally and they begin to rapidly move in a very special way. Houdini, the great magician, practiced a way of moving that was imperceptible to the human eye. People just could not follow that rhythm of their movement. Combined with their ability to move twice as fast as any human being and before Ivan could pull the trigger they appeared to have vanished to everyone in front of them including Ivan.
They moved out of the building, down the front steps and right into the welcoming arms and ceaseless questions of the press. Charles and his Guards came running in close pursuit. The front of the armory had a beautiful façade and a large staircase that led down to the street. Charles yelled at the gathered press, already milling around them, saying, “Don’t talk to those two, they are criminals.” Chase and Ally were already completely surrounded by the press, the subject of a score of microphones, videos and flashing cameras.
Ivan says, “Don’t worry, they won’t get far, I believe Sam destroy the physical notes but placed them digitally in escaping fugitives.”
“By the way, Ivan, How did killing Sam make you feel?” Charles asks.
“Much better, I need little homicidal sport, you know, that's what we humans do well. We kill each other. We spend trillions of rubles developing more and better weapons to kill each other,” Ivan says as his face twitches. “Aren’t you worried what Ally and Chase might say? The FBI is down there with the news organizations and networks.”
Charles replies, “Conspiracy theories keep the public distracted,” he smiles and continues as he looks at the scene and says, “Everyone gets their fifteen minutes of fame, maybe even a robot.”
Chase and Ally were inundated with questions being fired at them from all directions. “Who are you?” Who are they? What is this building, why are they chasing you? shout various members of the press. Someone asks, “Is that Congressman Dean?” The microphones were being continually pushed right into both of their faces. And then a friendly face appears in the crowd.
Juan appears holding up his badge screaming, “FBI, out of the way!" “It’s me man,” Juan says to Chase, “Come with me, I’ll get you both out of here.” The press, being persistent in nature, continued to put pressure on Chase and Ally to speak to them as Juan herded them out of the crowd, into a big black SUV and away from all the pursuit.
Deep in the air shaft Sam hangs by one arm on one of the rungs of the ladder. He fastens himself to the ladder with the harness that still hung from his tired and battered body. He says to himself, "Ivan you are a crappy shot. The question is did you miss on purpose?" He looks down the long shaft into the earth’s core. He assesses his wound and again says to himself, "You’ve got to be kidding, I'll never make it back to the bottom and I don't have the strength to climb back up, I think I’ll take my senior nap now.
Chapter 33 Juan sat between Chase and Ally in the back of a black SUV, two FBI agents dressed in black suits sat in the front seat looking official.
“Good to see you man,” Juan opened.
“Cut the act, Juan,” says Chase, as he looks at Juan and wonders,” just who is this guy?” “Who and what are you Juan? You’re not my best friend, you were my handler.”
Juan took out FBI identification and showed it to both Ally and Chase. There was long silence “So,” Juan paused and said, “Are you willing to answer a few questions?”
Chase didn’t say a word.
Juan says, “I was made your partner in the NYPD to keep an eye on you for the FBI who for some time have suspected the purposes of EOJ and that the President himself is a Guard. You were sent to kill me because I was onto Congressman Dean. You’re not a human being, and you’re not an American. You’re a thing,” Juan said.
“That’s supposed to get us to talk to you?” Ally interjected.
“You’re pretty for a ‘thing,’ you’re Ally, right?” Juan asked.
“Yes that’s right, and I'm not a thing. I'm a cybernetic synthetic organism and just as much alive as you are, maybe more so. I don't judge or have prejudices against others, as you seem to,” Ally responds. "Your girlfriend is a bit prickly for a robot," Juan snickers.
"I'd be careful about what you say about others," Chase stands up for Ally, "and she is not my girlfriend."
Ally looks hurt, "And why not, you kissed me?" “I’m a friend of Sam’s,” Juan says looking closely at Ally.
“A friend, that’s hard to believe,” Chase shoots back, “Sam is dead, a Russian addition to the EOJ central committee named Ivan Kolinski just shot him." Juan is stunned, “Oh,” he says and falls back in his seat silent for a moment and then becomes very angry and says, “The problem with you Chase is that you have no sense of right and wrong, you have no morals, and you have no values. That makes all of you Guards dangerous. If it was up to me I would have had all of you destroyed when we first found out about EOJ.”
Chase replies, “We didn’t kill Sam, humans did. Guards only kill who or what humans tell them to kill. These are your morals, not ours. But, in fact, Ivan shot Sam. You claim I don’t know what my values are? Where are your values or you should ask, what are your values? Now, where are you taking us?”
Juan says, “You know this is all a big game, the FBI knows about EOJ, EOJ knows about the FBI knowing and this is why you were sent to kill me. I’ve been heading up an investigation into the real objectives of EOJ. You know I liked Sam. He saved my life and I promised him that I would not destroy either of you. He said that the two of you were special. So! What’s so special about a piece of garbage like you or it,” he says, referring to Ally?”
Chase remains very still and does not speak. Juan continues aggressively, “You’d better start speaking or I’m going
to…”
Chase instantly grabs Juan by the throat and repeats, “Where are you taking us?”
The FBI agent, in the front seat who had been watching the action, responds by placing a gun to Chase’s forehead. Ally instantly takes the gun out of the agent’s hand, removes the clip from the gun and drops it to the car floor. “Don’t do that,” Ally says. Chase let’s go of Juan’s throat and repeats in a slightly louder voice, “Where are you taking us?” Juan grabs his throat and strokes it saying, “Where would you like to go? Frankly, we just wanted to talk to you.”
“Right, we want to go to a large hotel and be placed in a suite on a high floor; we will then speak to you,” Chase says.
“Sure, no problem; but this is Washington and there are no high floors, any preference, any specific hotel?” Juan asks.
“No,” Chase responds.
The three of them are quiet. You can feel the tension between them.
“This is twice you’ve threatened to kill me,” Juan complains.
“Juan you're way too dramatic. I was just tickling your throat,” Chase retorts smiling and continues, “if I had wanted you dead, you’d have been dead in less than three seconds but you’ve been playing both sides. I just read your files. As my handler you’re getting treatment for your sick daughter and you're an FBI agent spying on EOJ, naughty, naughty!” Chase explains mildly.
Juan replies, “You know I tried not to like you. I tried not to get close to you, knowing you were a machine, but you are under my skin. My precious sick Maria adores you. She wants to marry you when she grows up, I don't have the heart to tell her you're a robot so there must be something very likeable about you, Chase.”
“I’m not a machine. I too am a cybernetic synthetic organism. I’ve been kept asleep and manipulated like a machine for reasons that were not known to me before. Now I’ve been awakened. Juan, are you sure you’re not the one walking around in waking dreams, asleep, unable to perceive reality. How do you know you’re not? I didn’t know I was grown in a test tube, have no family, and was ‘a creation,’ but how do you humans know that you aren't all someone’s experiment. My dream was that I really thought you were my partner in the NYPD; that I was a Jew from Long Island, had parents, and was normal except for having headaches and then one day I awakened as though from a deep dream. Don’t judge me!” “Wow, Chase, what memory chip was that stored on?” Juan says sarcastically.
Sentinels of the Cosmos Trilogy Page 14