F
U T U R E B A R R I E R
( The
3rd Novel )
Secret Technology,
Unrequited Love, Absolute Vengeance
© February 2019 - Written by David Wicker
Please do
not reprint without permission
 CHAPTER 89 -
"What Of Tyr ?"
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* * *
This chapter is Rated: TEEN
As I marveled at my apparent impervious ability to any sharp objects at least, back in the desert, the pilot had been able to reach someone and a ride was prepared. Strangely afterwards there was some type of sonic boom, so deep in tone he more felt it than saw it. Instinctively he looked to the sky, but only the moon was out and it looked normal.
So he did not see the phenomenon of the solar flare. But it most definitely DID affect his phone. After his call a notice appeared and said, "Out of service area."
"Odd." he commented to himself and tried raising the cellphone in all areas, even standing up on a nearby dune to get zero results.
"My phone gave out." he said to no-one in particular. Then went back into the cave where the three others were, still trying to rouse Tyr.
"Did you reach anyone ?" Dr. Seisbee asked.
The pilot nodded, "Yes. They're on their way. But then my phone died."
Danielle reached in her pocket for her own phone. "Mine's out too. Who's your provider ?"
"Magna Carrier."
Danielle answered that, "Mine is Silver Circuit. Dr. Seisbee, is your phone out too ?"
He pulled his forth to see he also was not receiving any inkling of connection.
"Who is your provider ?" she asked him.
"Golden Cable."
"Margot ?"
She pulled her phone, also no connection. "Copper Waves."
Danielle crouched down and put her phone on the ground. So did the other three. She then spoke in a worried tone, "I can understand one ISP failing, but not 4-different ones and all at the same time in different parts of the world. I wonder if it has anything to do with our archeological find. Did it do something - worldwide ?"
"The Sky Stones ?" Seisbee asked.
Danielle nodded.
He stood to regard a wall and spoke, also in a concerned tone. "You know, there are many things in this universe we don't understand. Were we to take flashlights for instance and bring them 1,000 years to the past, they would be considered nothing short of magical."
He continued, "Today. we put three innocuous engraved stones together and they created a very bright light. Not using any energy or source we understand. For all sakes and appearances, magic ! And yet ... why ? Why would something like these even exist ?"
Margot took a stab at answering it. "Maybe as part of a test ?"
Seisbee turned to face her, "A test ? What do you mean, dear ?"
Margot held out her hand and explained. "Mice in a maze are rewarded for solving the labyrinth with a bit of cheese. Isn't it possible that these Sky Stones are a test - a test of humanity, to see if we've progressed far enough to meet certain criteria ? And we passed that test, by having that purple light shine from them. We could only pass this test by doing the following."
She held out her fingers now. "One, that we had tools strong enough to dig through the Earth to find these 3 Sky stones, scattered across the desert. Two, that we are intelligent enough to know that all three stones must be put together."
"Three, that they can only be put together in a zero-G environment. That would be impossible for anyone else to do before space or aerial flight. And lastly, four, that we are intelligent enough to have made gloves or some other protective equipment so we do not burn ourselves placing the three stones together."
Dr. Seisbee added, "And these four things are definitely a mark of an intelligent and civilized race. Hundreds of years ago this would've been impossible. Much like we are mining Antarctica for oil now. Years ago our technology was just not powerful enough to do this."
Danielle spoke, "But today, we can. And that light - "
Seisbee interrupted, "That light could've sent a signal or message to someone - or something - in space or maybe it was even registered beyond our galaxy."
The pilot joined the conversation now, "What was the message do you think ? That the stones would send to them ?"
Danielle touched her forehead in thought. "It can only be one of a few things. One, that we are intelligent enough to meet this super-race, and maybe aliens from another planet or galaxy will come to visit us and share their technological wisdom."
Two, the other, that as a species we are intelligent enough to solve this puzzle and because of this, it makes us a dangerous species to the galaxy, and must be eradicated for it now, or three, worse still ..."
Margot leaned forward, "What could be worse than total genocide of humanity ?"
Danielle spoke with fear, "Harvesting. That we are now 'ripe' enough - ready to be harvested by them. Possibly for consumption and our delicious intelligent brains."
That drained the blood out of everyone's faces there.
They were quietly contemplating this when suddenly they heard a gentle moan. It was the girl they found, Tyr ! She was regaining consciousness !
* * * Back one-million years in the future, Murphy saw the life signs wink out for HUM. He fell backwards in fear, to a chair and rolled it back at an angle.
"That's - impossible." he said breathlessly.
The other attendants to the computer started to check and recheck figures to see if they were accurate.
One approached Murphy. "Sir ?"
"Yes ?"
"Readings are correct, sir. The being we met earlier, Hum - his - or it's - the life sign reading is correct. They are no longer registering activity and we must assume Hum's readings are dead. Like him. Ceased to function."
"What now ?" Murphy asked no-one in particular.
"Sir ?"
He faced the attendant, "What now ? Hum was nothing short of a giant, a demigod sent from another dimension to aid us. We already lost several good men and women sending them through the Gate. I can't see our luck improving any if we sent more of our own people. What can be done to retrieve this infernal plugin now !?"
The attendant quavered in fear and mumbled incomplete words.
Murphy stood up and stretched, his bones weary from standing earlier for so long.
He leaned over the console to blearily look at it.
A moment later a strong voice spoke straight through the device, "This is a poor funeral." it said.
Murphy's eyes widened in excitement at recognition of the voice, "Hum ! You're still alive !"
Hum laughed slightly, "I never died. I did run into Darceon though, and he - for lack of a better word, 'scattered' me. I'll need a few days to regain cohesion. It is my own carelessness to believe the boy was unprotected. But apparently Darceon has a plan with the plugin so he will remain by the boy's side until its fruition."
Murphy hit a button to reply, "What's his plan, Hum ?"
Hum's voice sounded strange now, as if it were rapidly traveling in reverse down a corridor of infinite depth and darkness. "I need to recover. Recover. ... cover." it said in a strange and eerie echo, and then was silent.
. . .
Antony, still minus his pinky finger that Dempsey had cut off had indeed made his call, to 9-1-1 !
He claimed that he was robbed at gunpoint by three thieves and that one cut off one of his fingers when he refused to cooperate. And he described Pritchart, Dempsey, and Petrov exactly. He also stated what license plate of his own vehicle that had stolen that they were in.
Once he relayed all this information, he tapped on the receiver to hang it up, then made another call to schedule an emergency appointment to a hospital regarding surgically reattaching his pinky finger that he had in the icebox. Then he would call up his sister to have her drive over to pick him up and go to that self-same hospital.
END OF
CHAPTER 89
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