Carl Dominic stood at the end of a dead-end dirt road somewhere in the middle of a desert staring at a sign with a large red 'X' painted on it. It was midday and hot. The surrounding desert was scattered with scrub brush. In the distance he could see mountains that looked like large dark pimples scattered about the flat desert; late afternoon storm clouds were forming around their tops. Behind him his parked van was still running and in it sat his cameraman, peeved at being dragged on this wild goose chase of an assignment.
His being here had started with a meeting with his boss who gave him directions to this very spot. There were no other instructions; just that someone would meet him here. That was all he knew. When he pressed for more information, he was simply told ‘to get his butt out there’. With all the excitement about the arrival of the Kan-ji, the last thing he wanted was to be sent to the middle of the desert where he would most likely meet with some crazy who's spent his life studying sand. Strange, though, how his boss didn't seem too happy about it. His boss hated him, and normally would be beaming with joy at sending Carl out on a dead end assignment. The instructions didn't include the exact time he was to meet his contact, so he settled back into the air conditioned van to wait.
It was dark when Carl woke with a knock on the side window. He could barely see the shadowy figure standing outside the van. “Kan-ji!?” he mumbled wiping the sleep from his eyes.
“Ravi! Wake up!”
“Wha…What's going on?”
“We have a visitor. I think it’s a Kan-ji.” Ravi sat straight up eying their visitor outside Carl’s window. “Doesn't look like a Kan-ji to me.” He pointed out front at a team of armed uniformed men. Light began pouring from an opening garage door.
“Military! We're on military property! We got sent to a military base? I wouldn't put it past Jamie to set us up like this.” Carl moaned. Jamie Fann was his boss, and the assignment editor for one of the lowest rated cable news channels.
“They don't look very threatening.” Ravi said seeing that the soldiers weren’t paying them any attention. There was another knock on the window. Carl opened it to a smiling, black haired, olive skinned man. “Hi, I'm Joshua Wells. You must be the reporters we've been expecting.”
“Ah… hullo, Carl Dominic and this is Ravi Vilrashna. What's this all about?” Carl started opening his door but Joshua held it shut.
“Please, I need you to park your van in the back of that transport.” Joshua pointed to the now opened garage door. Carl saw it was really the back end of a large transport helicopter. He wondered how such an oversized helicopter could have landed this close to them without the turbulence that usually goes along with it. Maybe it had been somehow hidden in the flat, scrub covered desert, but he seriously doubted it and made a mental note to ask this Joshua character about it.
He drove up the ramp, guided by a man in a gray jumpsuit. The opening was easily large enough to handle his van. By the time he shut off the engine, more soldiers showed up securing the van with straps. This time he stepped out without any resistance, heck they didn’t even pay him any attention. Ravi climbed to the back to gather his camera gear.
Joshua met him outside. “Where's your partner?” he asked.
“He's getting his gear together.” Carl replied as he noticed more armed men guarding the perimeter. Joshua called one of them over and said a few words. The guard then jogged up to the van. Carl looked questioningly at him.
“Your van won't be coming with us. We’ll help your camera man… Ravi, bring whatever equipment you need.” Joshua told him.
They waited, and while Joshua talked into his headset Carl had a chance to survey the scene. It was a moonless night. The only light came from the open door of the cargo helicopter. Besides the helicopter, there were 3 boxy vehicles spaced around the area. If Carl didn't know better he would have thought they looked like snow cats, but instead of tracks, they sat on makeshift helicopter skids. Beyond the perimeter he could see a small lit area on the other side of the transport. It was difficult to determine its distance in the dark desert night.
Ravi trotted down the ramp with his camera on his shoulder followed by the soldier carrying his equipment bags. The cargo ramp began closing the moment they stepped off.
“Gentlemen, I'm sorry for all this secrecy but we are not very popular right now.” Joshua said as Ravi joined them. A bluish flash lit the landscape beyond the helicopter. It was followed by a crackling sound, like the sound of lightning. Joshua quickly turned in that direction… then saying a few words in his headset he turned back to them. “We'll have to talk later… follow me.” Joshua commanded as he rushed them to one of the boxy looking vehicles.
Carl looked at Ravi, who smiled back… this wasn’t turning out to be the boring assignment they were dreading… and hustled after Joshua as more blue crackling flashes blossomed in the distance.
Joshua held the door open for them to climb in. Carl counted 6 chairs facing forward like a private jet, except the seating areas were much more generous. Two of the seats were already occupied by men straining to see what was happening outside. The soldier carrying Ravi’s bags followed them in dropping the bags at the back before climbing forward to sit next to the driver. Joshua closed the door, securing it from the outside.
Ravi sat in the back; a good spot to film. Carl took a seat in front of the passengers and soon discovered why their vehicle was on helicopter skids as it silently lifted. Looking out the window he saw the transport helicopter and the other boxy transports ascend with them. Not finding a seatbelt, he reflexively held tight… after a few moments of no sensation of movement, and seeing his two new companions sitting rather casually, he relaxed. His fellow travelers looked different as night and day; one wore jeans and a light pullover while grinning at him. While the other had a sour look on his sweaty face, and wore a suit that struggled to cover his round frame.
Turning his attention back to the windows, he saw that the shadowy shapes of the other two vehicles were still floating next to them in the darkness. They didn’t seem to have any apparent means of propulsion. It was eerily silent. Suddenly, one of the vehicles just disappeared… Carl blinked, thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him in the darkness. When he looked again, the rest were gone. He looked back at Ravi to see if he saw the same thing, but he was busy rummaging through his equipment bags. Outside, there was nothing but starry sky.
“Hi, I'm Alec McCoughe and this is Jack McDon.. I mean Jack Fitzsimmons. You must be the reporters we’ve been expecting.” Alec broke the silence. Carl looked from the window to see Alec standing next to him with his hand extended. He shook it. Standing up himself, he turned and reached over the seat to shake hands with Fitzsimmons… he just gave him a blank stare. Carl self consciously pulled his hand back and looked at Alec… he just shrugged.
“I'm Carl Dominic, this is Ravi Vilrashna.” Carl introduced as Ravi pulled his head out from his equipment bag and waved.
“What happened out there? What were those flashes?” Alec asked.
“It looked like lightning, but blue and not coming from the sky. I noticed there was some sort of camp out there. I hope no one was hurt.” Carl said.
Alec smiled, almost in relief. “We just came from there. Joshua set up a dummy camp. He dumped some empty hulls of planes and trucks… along with some solar lights. Looks like that decoy camp saved our butts.”
“OK… so how did you come by this Kan-ji technology?” Carl asked as he realized that this had to be the same organization that made that mess in D.C. a few days ago… Joshua must be their ringleader.
Alec looked hurt. “This isn't Kan-ji technology, this is our technology... have you ever heard of a company called GraviTych?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t say that I have.” Carl searched his memory… and he prided himself on his memory. “So what kind of technology is this?”
“You could call it anti-gravity. At least it works like anti-gravity, but in reality it’s more like a gravity jet.
”
Carl stared at him. Anti-gravity? That was far-fetched. He would have heard of somebody inventing it... heck the whole world would have heard of it… if it was real. Something wasn’t right. “So if this is really anti-gravity... why hasn’t this been all over the news?”
Alec acted like he was punched in the gut… his reaction taking Carl by surprise. Alec then told him about his invention, GraviTych, the girls, the Kan-ji and the events leading up to now. Carl took notes, asking questions while Ravi recorded it all. After the impromptu interview, Carl turned to Fitzsimmons. “What about you?” he asked Alec's silent partner. “Alec said your name was Jack Fitzsimmons... you wouldn't be the Secretary of Commerce Fitzsimmons, would you?”
Fitzsimmons looked up from staring at the floor. “Yes, that's me. There's really nothing more for me to add.” He went back to staring at the floor, his hands twitching.
“Well, I’m going to try to get some shut-eye. Our plans don’t call for us stopping at any motels on the way and it's going to be a long day tomorrow.” Alec broke the awkwardness of the moment as he returned to his seat.
Carl didn’t mind, it was obvious he wasn’t going to get much from Fitzsimmons. Anyway, he was tired and the bags under Alec's eyes reminded him they were all tired. Looking down at his seat, he dreaded another night sleeping in a car seat, or plane seat… that was until he saw Alec reclining to an almost vertical position.
“I must say, Joshua thought of just about everything. He said they salvaged these chairs from the first class cabin from a passenger jet they were refurbishing.” Alec told him before shutting his eyes.
Carl wasn't ready to sleep just yet. His mind raced. How could anti-gravity be invented yet no one on Earth cared about it? And how is it that the Kan-ji didn't have anti-gravity themselves, yet be on all the TV and radio stations touting their wares… while telling everyone on Earth how much more advanced the world would be once the trade agreements were signed? What about that blue lightning show? Somebody was definitely out to kill them. Those weren't fireworks he saw. And how were they just able to fly away without those attackers seeing them? He looked around the cabin to see Ravi and Alec sound asleep. He couldn't tell if Fitzsimmons was sleeping or not… Fitzsimmons reminded Carl of one of those people who slept with their eyes open; he definitely didn't like his look. He finally drifted off to sleep with thoughts of angelic looking pirates shilling flying cars on TV.
Carl woke with Ravi shaking his shoulder. He looked up to see the door open and Joshua standing just outside it.
“Good morning Mr. Dominic.” Joshua smiled holding out a Styrofoam cup. “You drink coffee?”
Carl stepped outside and gratefully accepted the coffee. Taking a sip he looked around to find they were parked in the woods… at a camp site.
“I'm sorry for not having more time to talk with you last night, but we had some unwelcome visitors, and a quick exit was in order. I changed our plans so we could spend some time to talk this morning… before our upcoming meeting.” Joshua told him as they walked to some folding chairs surrounding a camp fire. “Please sit, you too Mr. Vilrashna.” Carl was amazed that Joshua remembered Ravi's last name, heck, it took him almost a year to get it right.
“You didn't happen tell anyone where you were going yesterday, did you?” Joshua asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee. Carl looked at Ravi then they both shook their heads.
“I sent the instructions directly to your station... to a Mr. Fann. Is that name familiar to you?” Joshua asked.
They nodded.
“Now I know why you got this assignment.” Ravi said to Carl. “I always knew Fann hated you, I just didn't realize how much. Oh, and by the way, thanks for bringing me along.”
Carl grinned. He and Ravi had been a team for 5 years now, going from station to station… and he knew Ravi wouldn't have missed this for the world.
“Who attacked us, the military?” Carl asked.
Joshua shook his head. “I'm not sure. It wasn’t our armed forces. But those blue lighting flashes were definitely Kan-ji like. From what I know about them, those came from their side-arms… that meant it was a ground attack. What I know of the Kan-ji is… is that they don’t fool around. They would have attacked with full force… probably an air attack. That leaves Mr. Fitzsimmons' people. What do you say to that Jack?” He looked at Fitzsimmons, who was leaning against the transport with his arms crossed.
“I've been locked up in your compound for the past couple of days.” Carl could hear irritation in Fitzsimmons voice.
“I'm not accusing you. I was just wondering if you might know if anyone in your organization would have the wherewithal to plan such an attack.”
“If that's what you’re asking. Of course there is, and I sure wouldn't put it past them.” Fitzsimmons replied as he moseyed over to the fire to sit in one of the empty chairs.
“Do you know of this Jamie Fann?” Joshua asked Fitzsimmons.
“No, not personally. The truth is that we have agents, or at least people, embedded in just about every TV and radio station.”
Carl looked at Ravi making sure he was getting this recorded.
“Who do they report to?” Joshua prodded.
“That would be the Office of Technology Stabilization. Elizabeth Savage is in charge. Her number one man is Jeffery Lewis. Alec, I believe you've met him.” Fitzsimmons looked at Alec who had just joined them.
“You wouldn't be talking about that Creep? The same guy who tried to kill Sheldon and capture my wife?” Alec said coldly.
“I had nothing to do with that.” Fitzsimmons defended. “As far as I’m concerned, he went rogue. When I heard about it I tried to stop him… that’s when I found out things were no longer under my control.”
“Why would they attack us?” Joshua asked.
“I wouldn’t know.” Fitzsimmons replied grabbing a cup of coffee, since no one offered him one, before walking away… apparently losing interest in their conversation.
“I baited the other camp site with a transmitter. I've had a theory about the Kan-ji abilities to track radio signals. Remember that they weren’t able to find the ALEC’S DREAM… that is, until we were in radio contact with them.”
“Interesting. So you think they’ve been tracking us by RF transmission?” Alec asked.
“If so… how come their not tracking us now?” Carl looked at the headset on Joshua’s head.
Joshua smiled. “It’s another little invention by Alec.” Carl saw Alec blush. “It’s called sub-space communications… Alec would have to tell you how it works. Technically, it’s all beyond me, but whatever it’s made of, gives us an unlimited range of communication without radio waves.”
Curious, Carl thought. Wouldn’t the Kan-ji have been advertising this sub-space communications? Maybe these guys are for real.
“I want to let you know what our plans are. The five of us will fly in on a single transport, while the other two transports will follow us in. Of course they’ll be cloaked.” Joshua was interrupted by Carl spitting out his coffee.
“Cloaked? You mean like radar cloaked?” He didn't want to believe what he was thinking… as he recalled the ships disappearing the previous night.
Joshua called over one of the pilots, and after a brief discussion the pilot entered a transport… a moment later it practically disappeared. Carl could still see a faint distortion, sort of like heat waves, where the transport once was. He was at a total loss for words. Ravi was up filming the area where the transport vanished. When it suddenly re-appeared Ravi practically fell on his back in surprise.
“As you may have guessed, Alec has amazed us beyond our expectations.”
Alec blushed and they began their adventure.
Alec's Dream Page 51