Himalayan Mountains, Mount Kailash, Tibet
“I am not sure it was wise to threaten the man’s progeny.” The ever-annoying Caretaker spoke as he offered his opinion on Aen’s recent volley. “If anything, you will anger him and put you former family in grave danger.”
Aen merely smiled as he went about preparing the neural interface for a new session. He had a bit of an advantage in the last little bit, but he had to learn more. Combat training, mixed martial arts, both human and Lyarran techniques were on the docket tonight.
“He won’t dare, he can’t take the risk, but I haven’t done much more than ensure their safety. If anything, I’ve made him more determined to find me.”
“And why would you do that?”
“Because the harder they push, the more mistakes they will make.”
“And your visit with the Major?”
“I removed their conscience; without it they lose their ability to think rationally. It would have been merely a matter of time before she returned to the fold and guided them to find us. By far, Emily Phillips was the brightest person in that project.”
Aen sat himself in the chair and let the machine consume him as he gave himself over to his companion to expand his mind. With a hum, the interface began and he was lost in a trance to a lifetime of learning and experiences. Hours began to roll by, and Aen sat undeterred in his resolve to absorb it all.
Instead of monitoring Aen’s progress, Caretaker moved on to another task, one that it had worked on while its charge had been occupied or away. It hovered over a single control panel the whole time as it repeatedly attempted to access a long dead system. This time it was making some progress; such a revelation that Caretaker had failed to take notice of Aen completing the interface and coming up behind it to observe.
“What is an Amarra?” Aen asked, causing the hologram to shudder in surprise and making it run a full diagnostic on its sensors to see how his proximity alarm hadn’t been triggered. In the time of a few seconds, it had run everything and found no errors. Flagging the incident as worthy of further review, it filed it to the side and kept working.
“It is, how you humans say, the ‘Ship of Pilgrimage.’ It is the frigate that brought the Lyarrans across the great divide and to your shores, and has been long dead for close to a thousand years.”
Aen turned back to begin making some adjustments on his armour, but wasn’t finished with his queries. “So why the sudden interest in it now, or did you think I hadn’t noticed you working away for the past bit?”
Once again, Caretaker was taken aback by how observant this creature was. It had thought it was so careful on what it was doing, guarding the work so as to not tip him off. This incident too was flagged for further review; what an intriguing being!
“If it satisfies your curiosity, I am attempting to resume contact with the Lyarran Council. Ameia was amongst the members of the Grand Council, thereby having a seat in it, and the ship has the ability to link up to join an adjourned session of said council. Seeing as we have been out of contact with them for an extreme length of time, and the recent events leading to you, I surmised this is as good of a time as any to try.”
Aen was indeed curious and wondered what this AI might hope to accomplish other than report on the state of things. From his studies, he knew that all council members were female; as were all leaders in the Empire; and those worlds that didn’t have female representatives were assigned one. So the fact that an AI was trying to dial in seemed like a major faux-pas. There was something else in Caretaker’s agenda, something more he wasn’t sharing that was driving this new obsession and Aen was a bit worried on what it could be.
“And where is this ship?” he asked.
“From our current position, it is five thousand, eight hundred and sixty-nine kilometers South East.”
Aen measured in his head as he tried to follow an unseen map. “That would put it somewhere in the Pacific, wouldn’t it?”
“Indeed, very impressive!” the machine cooed. “It lies four point two four kilometers under the surface and has been without power for some time. I believe the last time it was holo-linked for the Council was six hundred and thirty one years ago.”
“And you think the Council will allow an AI to participate?”
Silence. Aen had caught the machine in its own arrogance and it couldn’t process it. With a coy smile he knew he now had the opportunity to peak in on this grand meeting.
“And seeing as we both know that they would see your intrusion as severe, they might be more receptive to me; seeing as I am the great ‘Harbinger’ and all.”
“An interesting observation, one I am sure you have contemplated for some time.” Caretaker replied at last. “But I am far from being able to raise the Amarra, never mind restarting her dead power core to dial in to the Council.”
“But when you are,” Aen said with a smile, “I have an idea for that problem too.”
Rocky Mountains, Utah –
Military Installation Code Named White Rock
The warm feel of the autumn days turned cold as snow began to fall and winter began. The days shortened but still there was much to do. General Patterson stood at the window of his office and looked down to the valley below thinking of the task that still loomed before them. It had been months since the creature had showed itself, and it had taken the whole time to get his new tracking team up to par. Now everything stood silently.
Repairs to the facility had been complete; now only the color of new brick told the tale of what had happened, that and the temporal disturbance that was once the morgue. It had never been right, even though the men that had disappeared stumbled out in a haze a few days ago thinking it had been a few hours not almost a year. The men were now in the remade infirmary, most undergoing psychological tests to make sure they could cope with what had happened.
Patterson was unsure of the next step, only that there was one that needed to be taken. But he was being doubly sure that he was as cautious as can be; the threat levied by the creature still weighed on his mind and heart heavily. It was crystal clear that there would be no compromise with him; it was stay away from his family or the General’s would pay with their lives.
A knock at the door startled him, rousing him from his thoughts.
“General?”
He looked back at Sergeant Davis. She had been a rock of strength for him and the team. Always cheery, always getting her work done and always looking to help however she could and kept them all on the right path. He silently wondered how much longer she could keep it up as the stress here mounted by the day.
“I checked into contacting Major Phillips as you asked, but she’s gone AWOL. The staff at the hospital said a strange-looking soldier came to visit her and she left the very next day. No one knows where she is.”
“Interesting.” Patterson mumbled. “Very interesting.”
“Sir?”
“This creature is very creative; very crafty. Davis, this thing has done the bait and switch with us. It seemed like he was focused on his family, when all the while he distracted us to remove the one who knew the most about him.”
“So now what?”
Patterson turned back to the window and began to ponder. “That is the question, my dear.” He said quietly before remaining silent.
Davis took this as her cue to leave and snapped a quick salute off before walking away just to air on the side of caution. Things had been drastically different since the retrieval plan had gone south a few months back. Everyone was on pins and needles and the tension in the project was so thick it could be physically felt by touch. There was no escaping it, at least not in her mind. Everyone was afraid of the retribution this creation of theirs could rain down upon them. There was no measurement of his potential, and that was the truly frightful part! Every contact with it had shown exponential growth in its abilities, th
e last of which had been staggering. In a few short minutes, it had not only ambushed highly trained soldiers, but it had played with them like toddlers with no fear whatsoever. Davis had noticed the General’s behavior change since that day. There was fear in his eyes, real fear, and it was growing daily.
Bristol County, Massachusetts
Sitting on the roof of an old shop downtown, Aen watched unseen as his former wife went about her daily life. It had been a long time since he had seen her, and the hole in his soul that was eating at him won out. He assumed her routine to be the same: coffee at her best friend’s house in the morning for a few hours and then off to pay bills and shop. This is the point where he now saw her and his heart felt as broken as it ever had.
Over three years had passed since he last saw her, and he was awestruck at her beauty as she strolled down the downtown sidewalk. She had grown her hair out—before it was cut just above her shoulders—and had a happy bounce to her step. Her face showed a slight smile, but the pain of loss was still evident behind the clever facade. Every fibre of his being wanted to reach out to her; the old longing for her was overwhelming, but he remained in the shadows above.
Who was he to interrupt her healing and her new life? Her husband was long gone and he was the furthest thing from what she needed. Aen was frustrated; love is an impossible emotion to suppress. His mind began to race and think about what ifs and unrealistic situations. Painfully, Aen wondered if true happiness would ever be there for him again. Aaron Foster and all that he was no longer lived. All his dreams and possible futures were gone. But realizing this and actually dealing with it were two different things.
To Aen, it was painfully obvious he was still, and possibly always would be, linked to his former family. The love he felt for his wife and daughter wasn’t something that one could simply walk away from. But how does one start over? How does the pain of heartbreak go away? Once, Aen thought the answer was time, but obviously that wasn’t it. After not seeing her for so long, all the familiar pangs of love, lust and comfort washed over him. He wondered if he lived a thousand years if his feelings for her would ever change.
Krista, his one great love. As she stopped and chatted with a friend on the street, he continued to watch her every move. Her beauty was staggering to him. In all this time, the only thing that had changed was that her ring finger now lay bare. The ring! Aen often wondered what happened to his wedding ring. Krista’s was obviously in a box at home, hidden away to hide the emotions it brought with it. But his, where was his?
Had they cut it off him and simply thrown it away? Was it in some kind of storage locker in that dreadful mountain building? Or had someone taken it and claimed it as a trophy or souvenir? There was no way to know….except maybe kicking in the door of the project that spawned him and pillaging it until he found his forsaken treasure. And if he did, then what? How would having the ring help him? How would it help her love him again?
There was no way he would win, in any scenario he thought of. The greatest love of his life was right in front of him, but it might as well have been on the other side of the planet. Happiness; at least in the form of his wife and family; was unattainable and he highly doubted if he would ever feel that way about anyone again.
Aen stood up, whispered a sweet goodbye to her—one that she would never hear—and vanished. Below, Krista looked up to where Aen had been as she felt her heart pull her eyes there instinctively. It had been a long time since she had felt a draw like that on her soul. A smile drew on her lips, a warm feeling gripped her heart as she thought of her beloved husband looking down on her from above. It was comforting and unexpected, but more than welcome. It had been hard on her the last while, but she was back on her feet. Emotionally, she was far from moving on but at least she was able to try. To her, happiness seemed to be right around the bend.
Nile Valley Basin, Egypt
The desert sun beat down on him relentlessly, but Aen hardly noticed it, his body immune to temperatures and their affects. Over the last few months, he had begun experimenting with his newfound powers in down-times. Here in the heart of the Egypt was one of those times. He had found the Lyarran burial site along with the artifact he was after and now awaited the arrival of the hunter team that he encountered a few weeks ago in England.
So he sat in the pile of limestone rocks, waiting for his adversaries while lifting and stacking rocks of varying size. One, two, and sometimes three at a time, he stacked the rocks with his mind. Patience was never his strongpoint, and he had to keep his mind occupied as he waited for them to find him once more. He had a rock, about two feet in length, lifted to eye level when an idea hit him, so Aen decided to try something different. While holding it afloat, he gripped it with his mind and began to squeeze it; imagining there was a giant vise winding tightly around it. Aen felt his heart accelerate and pour energy through his body, but saw little happening to the rock.
Then, he saw portions of it begin to crumble and fall away. It was working! He reached out with his hand and imagined it held the rock and quickly closed his hand into a fist. Immediately, the chunk of limestone exploded and crumbled to dust! He was about to pat himself on the back when he heard the shuffle of boots around him; they were here!
With a quick referral to his gauntlet sensor, Aen rose and readied himself against his next trial. This time he would face them head on instead of employing stealth!
“I count eight of you, Avery Wilson; did you lose your nerve from our last encounter?” Aen hollered into the wind as his voice echoed off the canyon walls.
“Subject 54, you are surrounded with no strategic means of escape!” a different voice shouted. “Surrender is your only option!”
Aen smiled fiercely, they sent the man he most wanted dead to apprehend him; this was almost too good to be true. He looked around the canyon rim and noted the placement of four snipers along with the four more at the entrance that meant to block his escape.
“Surrender?” Aen laughed at the voice. “What would be the fun in that, General Taylor? They must have been desperate to find me if they sent you?”
“Our mandate is to bring you back alive,” the general shouted, “Don’t make me go against orders!”
“You have nothing to threaten me with, Jenson.” Aen began to walk towards the entrance way as he felt the first sniper round strike his left shoulder. To his surprise, he felt nothing as the body armor he was wearing—thanks to the ingenuity of Caretaker—absorbed the impact and the bullet simply glanced off. “You already killed me once, and I highly doubt that you or your freaks have the means to do it again!”
With his right hand he reached up and thought of grasping the general by his fatigues and raised the man into the air, telekinetically. As Taylor’s body was pulled from his feet, four rounds in succession struck him hard; one impacting him in the side of the head. But Aen didn’t even flinch as the round simply struck his flesh as if it were iron and flattened before falling harmlessly. With his hand still clenched, he pulled it close to his body to bring the man he detested closer.
“Hello, good doctor.” he snarled as they were face to face. “Your monster would like to speak to you!”
“Do what you want to me, our people aren’t afraid of you and your race!” Taylor spat back. “This is our world and we will beat you!”
Another shot rang out and clipped him in the back; his armor absorbing it as well. With his other hand, Aen grabbed a large limestone boulder and hurled it in the direction of the sniper sending the hybrid soldier scrambling for cover as it struck the rock face and shattered.
“Not too bright, these freaks of yours.” He almost laughed in the general’s face. “You would think they would take fewer chances with you so close?”
“They know what needs to be done and they are better prepared than you think!” the older man said with a sly smile on his face as a blade came flying through the air and sliced into Aen’s s
houlder, stopped only by the hilt. With his concentration lost, Taylor was dropped to the ground and he scrambled backwards to get clear of the hail of knives that rained down on the creature.
One by one, they struck Aen and sunk into his body; a few he was able to deflect away with his T.K., but there were too many hitting home. Sinking to his knees, Aen doubled over as more than twenty blades stuck out from his body.
“Not so tough now, are you?” gloated the general triumphantly. “My ‘freaks’ are armed with blades forged from the very metal of your people’s ship. Obviously you aren’t immune to your own technology!” He turned to his men and barked; “Put a few more in him then get in there and scrape him up; we got a plane to catch!”
Three more knives struck true to the prostrate target with little or no reaction. Aen sat unmoved, but surprisingly unhurt. The knives had cut right through his armor and cut into him deeply, but had done no damage whatsoever. In fact, he had to restrain himself from laughing as some of them actually tickled. He heard footsteps approach him and suddenly Aen got the idea of becoming the proverbial IED!
Waiting for the perfect time, Aen sent light pulses of energy out from his heart to use as sonar as he kept his eyes shut to better sell the ruse. Four different soldiers were approaching and he readied himself by applying the slightest of pressure to the knives from the inside of his body and lightly pushing outwards. At last, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he pushed hard with his mind to trigger the blast!
—
Taylor’s heart pounded in his chest like the engine of a freight train; the thing he created was insanely powerful and it had him at his mercy for a brief moment. Now it was over, the plan had succeeded and the target had been neutralized. Taylor stood where he had retreated to, twenty or so feet above the motionless monster, and watched four of the hybrids fetch their trophy when he saw the light well up from him. Before he could warn his troops, all hell broke loose!
Rise of Aen Page 14