F
U T U R E B A R R I E R
( The
3rd Novel )
Secret Technology,
Unrequited Love, Absolute Vengeance
© January 2019 Written by David Wicker
Please do
not reprint without permission
CHAPTER 86 -
"Two Paths"
[
CHOOSE A
DIFFERENT
CHAPTER TO
READ ]
* * *
This chapter is Rated: TEEN
I didn't think the plugin extended to the whole planet !
"All of Earth ?" I questioned Darceon.
He nodded his head.
. . .
Back with Hum, he had exited the Gate and found himself on a street corner only a few miles from where I lived. In front of him was a lemonade stand set up by a little girl sitting on a chair clearly made for her diminutive size.
"Lemonade mithter ?" she asked whistling the words slightly as both her two front baby teeth were missing.
"Indeed." Hum replied, agreeably.
But instead of grabbing one of the glasses, he took the whole glass pitcher and started to drain it away.
The little girl shrieked in fear and in seconds her Mother was out there.
"You, you freak ! What are you doing to my daughter's lemonade stand !? You - you Get out of here - right now !"
But Hum was unimpressed. Instead he picked up one of the remaining filled glasses and brought it to his nose. "Pure lemon. Nectar of life." he purred contentedly. Then looked reproachfully to the little girl's Mother.
He pulled out his little TAU generator and quickly tapped a message into it with the same hand that held it. He then reached into his pocket and pulled forth a piece of paper that wasn't there earlier.
He silently read it, then addressed the woman. "Your daughter is going to die before you do - 30 years from now. I can fix it so you die before her, would you like that ?"
That shocked her. She painfully fell down in the children's chair to ponder what he just said as the little girl continued to scream at his frightening visage.
As this had taken the steam out of the mother's anger, Hum wasted no time in finishing off the remaining plastic cups of lemonade. He looked around thirstily but there was no more. Angrily he tapped the table in the middle - but with such force the cheap wood was neatly split in two and the lemonade stand crumpled before him.
He then pointed a long and clearly alien bony finger at the fearful Mother, "Think about it." and with that he left down the street.
. . .
A good distance away a government funded astronomy organization had observed a strange phenomenon in space, and it was recorded so it was no trick. Played back it showed a strange sight indeed. It appeared as if a beam of intense energy left the sun and pummeled straight into the side of a plane that was at a steep descent.
Two scientists at the station were already on the phone to their superiors to state what they saw.
"That's impossible." was the reply on the phone.
Matthew, one of the observers at the station defended, "I know what I saw."
The voice on the phone was thoughtful now. "Matt, you say the beam left the sun and hit the plane, right ?"
"Yes, that's about the size of it."
"You're certain of this ?"
"Yes, of course I'm certain."
"You do realize that is impossible."
"What do you suggest then ?"
The voice on the phone was quiet for a moment. Finally it offered a different view.
"What if ... the beam didn't come from the sun, but from the plane ... to the sun !"
This was not considered ! Matt was beside himself with surprise, "Well, that would be, that would have to - it would take an incredible energy source to leave Earth's atmosphere to hit the sun the way it did ! And it would depressurize the plane, too."
The voice on the phone agreed, "Indeed. But I believe that is the more likely answer rather than the sun choosing to shoot a random beam at a random plane. Get some scanners on it and contact me the moment you have a location of where that plane went down."
. . .
Back with the archeologists, the two girls were just now approaching where Dr. Seisbee was. One of the girls, specializing in medical treatments immediately when to examine the unconscious girl he found. She touched the girl's lip, checked the temperature of her forehead and even ran her fingers across her clothing.
"This is - impossible." she said, finally standing.
"What do you mean ?" Dr. Seisbee asked.
She explained, "Her lips are moist and actually kind of cold to the touch. That's impossible in this climate. Her clothes, badly chosen for this climate, also have a lower temperature than would be standard for this arid environment. And she's running a fever, apparently just being out in this normal desert heat. She is not at all native to this country - not even remotely !"
She scratched her chin thoughtfully, "Offhand if I had to guess, I'd say she just appeared here. And I don't know how. Let's - get her into safety and maybe when she regains consciousness, she can answer some of these questions."
The four agreed so Dr. Seisbee, herself Danielle, the pilot, and Margot all picked her up and headed for a cave nearby.
Once inside the pilot spoke at once. "I've lost a good plane." he said, and apparently was unaware that if Dr. Seisbee had not attempted to put the 3 artifact stones together, the plane would've been able to make a safe landing.
Dr. Seisbee was sympathetic but didn't want to admit to the pilot that it was his fault as he clearly could not foot for the charge of a new plane. He put a supportive hand on the pilot and spoke glibly. "There must've been a problem with the flight."
* * *
The pilot nodded, readily agreeing to this. "Yeah, cheap metal or something."
"Let me see if we can get someone out here." and the pilot pulled forth his cellphone to make a call. He receded slightly into the darker area of the cave to make his call. Not getting a signal at all he huffed past the trio and went outside where the shade of the cave was still keeping the area cool and made a successful call then.
Danielle was still puzzled by this mystery girl they found and brought into the cave.
Gentle persuasion including some light slapping in the face did not wake Tyr though. Dr. Seisbee reached down to her right hand to see if there was an identifying bracelet or rings when suddenly a dim ring of light appeared around Tyr's wrist !
"Did you see that !?" he asked breathlessly.
"Static electricity ?" Margot asked watching the illumination.
Seisbee shook his head, "No. That's - this is something I haven't seen before. Like - life energy. See the way it dances around her."
Danielle pointed, "Look. It's getting weaker. And sure enough the ring of light around her wrist was staggering like it was having trouble staying together and in seconds dissipated into the darkness.
Dr. Seisbee leaned in closer to look but the light was gone. "That was no static electricity."
Danielle who had been observing all this time spoke, "She's not responding to normal stimuli. I would say she's in a light coma. She needs medical help or she could slip into an even deeper coma."
. . .
Back with Darceon and me, he started to say something but then jerked back as if aware of something I wasn't.
He held up one hand defensively. I watched as a curious mechanism in his fingertips rotated from needles to little metallic tubes.
A mist was appearing behind me. Darceon jerked me off of the bed and threw me on the floor as a beam of purest yellow light shot forth from one of his fingertips what now could only be a type of laser gun, ineffective as whatever was appearing was not yet there.
"Stay close." he said and bid me to stand behind him.
The mist quickly formed and a strange and tall fellow appeared. There was the faint scent of lemons.
While this tall fellow was a complete stranger to me, Darceon immediately recognized him and spat out angrily, "Hum ! How is it possible !?"
Hum gave a slight and polite nod to me, then darkened his tone, "Darceon. You are a fool. You left a signature trail a mile long. Had you not decided to appear here it would've taken me days, possibly a week, to find the boy. As it is, I received a message - " and he held up this device that looked like a sort of calculator.
"I received a message that you were here. So I created a small and temporary gate to lead me right to you."
Darceon took one hand to push me further behind him. "Don't interfere ! Isn't that the motto of you time priests ? Not to interfere with human history ?"
Hum sat on the edge of the bed innocently and shrugged, "Usually, yes. Our job is to stay out of human history, Darceon, Except as such when humans tamper with time travel. but you have made that now impossible, haven't you. This can all be cleared up if you'll just give me the boy."
Hum looked at me peeking around the edge of Darceon. For my benefit he spoke in a stirring and friendly tone, "No harm will come to you, boy, but the plugin must be removed. It is not yours and you must return it. This can be done back at Chronosphere. And life will then proceed as it is intended."
Darceon shook his head, "I'm not done with him yet."
Hum's tone took a sour expression, "Done yet tampering in this world ?"
Darceon raised his voice, "Redefining ! Can't you see I'm redefining Earth history here ? With this boy as the catalyst, the Earth will be cleansed of all disease, hunger, oppression, injustice, avarice, and war."
Hum's yellow eyes narrowed, "Darceon I know you too well. You HAVE never done anything in your existence that did not in some way benefit you or Tyr."
"Tyr !?" I spoke out suddenly.
Darceon turned to face me slightly. "It's complicated. I'll explain later."
But now Hum was standing and holding out a hand to me.
"You, boy, come with me and we'll end this nightmare. I'll even take you to go see Tyr if that is your wish. You deserve that much."
Darceon threatened, "Leave now, Dev, and you will never see your parents again. Oh you might see Tyr as Hum promises, but stone cold dead, I'll see to that ! You better honor our contract ! Stay with me and all will go according to plan."
"Come." Hum offered, unimpressed. "He's not as powerful to do all that he says. He's lying to you."
"Stay !" Darceon demanded.
Hum raised his voice now, directly to me, "Don't you see, human ? He derives all of his power from - "
One of the metallic tubes in Darceon's finger shot forth an exceedingly bright light directly into his chest. Hum nastily melted like wax in seconds and strangely what was left turned to sweet-smelling lemon vapor.
"Boring boring." Darceon muttered to himself. Then turned to face me, "Wasn't he starting to bore you, too ?"
"You - killed him !?" I asked incredulously.
"Him ?" Darceon asked, as if surprised. "Hah ! Not him. He's an immortal, like myself. Oh that might set him back a few days, but he'll return once he attains cohesion again."
"That sounds nasty." I offered.
"Indeed." Darceon spoke absently, but then went straight to business. "But now it's time to transform you into the next stage." With a metallic click, his fingers rotated back from metal tubes to sharp surgical needles. He hovered one finger above my exposed neck.
I asked, "Will I still see my Mom, Dad, and Tyr - alive again ?"
Darceon nodded, "Yes, you will, provided you do everything I expect of you. You are bound by our contract, remember ?"
"What - needs to be done ?" I queried.
"I need you to open the gates." he said solemnly.
"Gates - the Pearly Gates of heaven ?"
He laughed, retracting his finger, "No, nothing so dramatic." He then looked around comically, "Why, you don't believe in God do you ?"
I was quiet and didn't answer.
He smiled and pointed up, changing the tone of his voice to one of secretive confidence, "You know, that man with the long beard in the clouds you humans seem to think dictate both your moral and spiritual lives ?"
"I think it's more than just that." I told him with severity. "There is the Bible, God's own words and commandments are printed there."
He shook his head and grinned, "You simply have to love humans and their naive ways - like babies crying for their half-filled bottles of purest Mother's milk and Thorazine - if only I had the freedom to ... " and his voice trailed to a growl.
"Freedom to ?" I asked him.
Darceon scowled, "Never you mind. Let's get you ready for the next stage of evolution."
END OF
CHAPTER 86
Return
back HOME
prev chapter
Share This
Email
Facebook
Twitter
Read Request
My Library
Subscribe
Flag Writing
