F
U T U R E B A R R I E R
( The
3rd Novel )
Secret Technology,
Unrequited Love, Absolute Vengeance
© April 2019 - Written by David Wicker
Please do
not reprint without permission
CHAPTER 98 -
"Flight To The Sun"
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CHOOSE A
DIFFERENT
CHAPTER TO
READ ]
* * *
This chapter is Rated: TEEN
Dempsey was scratching his chin as he guided my wheelchair. I knew this because I could hear it, a sound like scratching wood.
Finally we came before three sets of double-doors. One had a universal male sign, one like a target for darts, the other a female sign. He chose the middle one which was unlit storage. Inside I could see all kinds of items for restraint. He quickly pulled out a strait-jacket and a length of cloth from a roll.
He undid the handcuffs and with a strength I could not hope to overcome, directed my arms from behind and placed them firmly in my lap, then he bundled me up in the jacket with my arms folded into the wrappings, finally gagging my mouth with the cloth, tying it around the back of my head. Then he dropped the open cuffs and keys to them in my lap.
I groaned slightly, being in more than just a little bit of pain from these new tight wrappings. He was just getting ready to push me through the door with the male sign when a walkie-talkie on his person buzzed to life.
He picked it up in his massive hands and talked into it. "Yeah, whattya want ?"
He then stuck it up against his ear. The volume was so low I couldn't make it out. But then I heard a sound like stretching leather and I knew he was smiling over his meaty beard and then clicked it closed.
"Well shrimp," he said, addressing me. "Change of plans."
He pulled out another piece of cloth and blindfolded me. He did a thorough job on that too, I truly couldn't see anything at all. Then I felt him repositioning the wheelchair, and suddenly giving it a a hard push shoved me through while he stayed on the other side.
The double-doors whacked open, noisily smacking the sides of the wall hard and the momentum carried me in, tied in a strait-jacket, blindfolded, and still tied up with a gag over my mouth. Behind me I heard a soft click as clearly the double-doors were locked again.
In seconds despite my lack of sight I realized I was not alone. I could hear quiet footsteps approach and the sound of hushed laughter and quiet curiosity.
Then it was quiet. So quiet you could hear a pin drop. Shockingly I felt a warm finger trail down the side of my face. I jerked back to the unexpected touch causing a small peal of laughter from the unseen, clearly all girls I could tell from the sounds.
Apparently Dempsey shoved me through the female logo sign instead of the male sign. I wondered if he or I would get in trouble for this and - what were these girls going to do to me !?
. . .
Tyr was making good progress back at the hospital. While she couldn't find her clothes she had entered a few rooms where other girl patients her similar age and body size slept, taking their clothes, and working her way towards the exit.
But as she was going, she was drawn to this one room. She went inside but no-one was there. Instead there was this very large machine fastened to the ceiling with the name of "LINAC."
It had a computer panel that came down, a swing arm to carry this massive box, and a triangular black cone on the end.
She suspected it had something to do with radiation as it had the universal logo for that.
With an almost coherent voice quietly and directly whispering in her ear, she turned on the machine and set the 24 levels to a specific setting. Then more being led than following, she stood directly in the path of the beam invisibly shooting from the cone.
A high whine emitted from the machine and she was bathed in high radiation. She then stretched out her hands to see she had a small loop of energy, like back in the cave. She directed it to her side and a portal opened up, this one to home. She hurriedly stepped through it as the radiation machine burst into flame and sirens went off of a fire in the hospital.
Tyr had successfully returned back to Wanabee, back at home, but her Mother nor anyone was anywhere to be seen.
She reached into her drawer to pull out a cellphone. Quickly thinking of Dev, she hit the auto-dial to call him. Back in the hospital along with Dev's personal possessions, his phone lit up silently amidst being in a storage tray alongside everyone else's. But it made no sound.
Tyr, frustrated, tried several more times. Then giving up she would call Harold, Dev's Father, as she also had his phone number.
She easily reached him. "Hello ?" he started.
"Harold ?" she spoke.
He recognized the voice. "Tyr ! Are you back - home now ?"
"Yes. Where's Mom ? I can't find her anywhere."
Harold sighed and leaned back against the wall to talk to her, "Your 'disappearing' trick really frightened your Mom. She's here in the Cherry Tree hospital recovering."
"I know where that is. You've got to take me with you !" Tyr insisted.
Jim shook his head, "No, remember, Harold, we're on an important investigation."
Apparently she could hear him as she retorted back, "But I can help !"
Harold frowned, "I'm sorry, Tyr. Your Mom is fine and being looked after. We're trying to find Dev right now. We think he's being held here in the hospital against his will. I'll call you later to let you know what happened."
With that he clicked the phone closed. Tyr was still speaking while he was, "Dev is missing ?" but it fell on deaf ears.
Tyr was tempted to call right back but decided against it. Instead she went to the internet to look up Cherry Tree Hospital and to see if there were any strange or unusual stories about vanishing patients.
All she could find was comments from patients that were helped. All positive. She went to the kitchen to make herself a cold glass of Tang and then returned to the computer to earnestly search some more.
* * *
Back to the future, final preparations were being made. A pilot was chosen. He was outfitted with the highest technology this century could afford. A suit that could withstand absolute zero temperatures and hottest heat like from the sun. The suit also had a large number of items to 'rescue' the owner should mishap befall him.
A series of rockets were positioned all over the suit for simple gliding through space or to use like an ejector seat on higher settings. Inside the suit was a very comfortable 70 degrees at all times. A light powder was entered through the air supply which carried nutrients and vitamins should the pilot suddenly be unable to eat food because of being stranded in space.
The suit also had a 'life' of 10-years. That is, you could leave someone in there, enable suspended animation, and the suit would keep them alive for 10-years until rescued.
The rocket he would be flying was considerably more complex. Special flanges were measured within the space of a small Fermi. It used the newest propulsion system making use of controlled bursts of anti-matter as Earth-based fuels had long since been exhausted.
It was time.
Millions of people watched on their wristwatch or entertainment screens back home. He waved on the camera and then was inserted into the ship.
A pad of very dense Duranium was provided for the ground in case of accidental antimatter bursts. And then a vocal checklist began. A pretty, female, almost child-like voice spoke in breathy whispers over the audio.
"Ground Station, we are go, here. Countdown 3-minutes. Confirm ?"
There was a burst of static as audio channels were calibrated so the pilot could both send and receive.
Docking clamps shifted counterweights and rotated to new vectors showing that the rocket indeed was ready for launch.
Her voice added, "Range Coordinator Control. Checksum initial Alpha. Confirm ?"
There was static again though this time it was severely suppressed.
Lights suddenly appeared on the sides of the rocket, a warning that an antimatter spread was going to be used for ignition and to stand clear of the blast pad.
"Chief Engineer, follow procedure, vector delta niner seven. Confirm ?"
A gauzy haze appeared over the rocket to clear it of any microbiotic particles that might affect flight. This white fog washed over the rocket for a full minute before dispersing.
"Thrust Vector, you are go. Start program initial status, alpha charlie fiver six ... activate on my mark ... Mark."
The countdown was now down to 15-seconds now. The live audience in the distance that had been watching was steadily gaining in volume of back-chatter and enthusiasm.
"10-seconds." her sweet and timid voice spoke through the speakers.
Then it was the countdown proper, "9. 8. 7. 6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. Launch. You are clear for launch, Icharus. Godspeed."
Suddenly all audio channels were blasted with a strange high-pitched static as the antimatter engines fired up. A weird and natural visible distortion appeared at the tail end of the rocket as the antimatter ignited. For a moment it was like someone had taken a photo of the rocket and twisted it, like the scene were made of rubber.
"Antimatter spread good. Level off to one two fiver percent. Confirm ?"
And then the rocket took off, at such a high speed that it carried the stabilizers and strut arms nearly a mile high up into the air before they fell back to the ground. This was expected though as both stabilizers and arms provided their own landing feet and using their own inboard miniature rockets perfectly returned for safe re-entry.
"All assistant and support craft have landed. Send recovery team, confirm ?"
The rocket was now miles above the Earth, clear completely of the atmosphere and headed straight for the Sun.
"I am seeing a two sixer distortion in array seven - dampening field, over ?"
Everyone cheered and screamed and carried on. It truly was a majestic flight and the mass of fans expected admirable success.
Then her quiet voice repeated with more urgency, "Confirm, please ? I am seeing a two sixer distortion, seventh dampening array. Mission control, are you there ?"
The audience grew quiet. While no-one really knew what that meant, for her to repeat it, and urgently, clearly there was a problem.
Then her voice was frantic, almost taking up the entire microphone, "Mission Control, we have now a three eight distortion in the fifth array of launch. I need a flight termination order. Confirm ? ... Confirm !"
Suddenly a very loud and masculine voice overtook her quiet voice on the microphone.
"What's wrong ?" he asked. The audience watching was now completely still and listening.
Her voice off the microphone was barely heard. "Three major distortions in the array dampeners. If unchecked the rocket could burst and antimatter spread could re-enter the atmosphere."
From the audience that was once cheers, there was now loud hub-bub of this dreadful news.
"Sir ?" her voice was shrill and frightened.
Then his deeper voice, "Negative on flight cancellation. Adjust anti-matter spread for 74.35% field coverage. That should re-align the head and avoid a galactic fissure."
She spoke quieter and in more control, "Confirm. Adjusting dampeners - seven, four, dot, three, fiver - spread enable. Mark. Command sent."
Everyone in the audience continued their silence, listening on to see if this disaster could be avoided.
But no, "Sir !" she said loudly. "Computer is not matching projected time tables with coded entries. Rupture in dampeners extending. Sir. Sir ? Sir ! We now have galactic fissure. I repeat, we DO have galactic fissure. We must abort !"
The deeper voice bellowed through the speakers, "Abort ! Abort ! Security code, charlie delta epsilon alpha zero zero zero. Send ! Send, goddammit !"
Then an oddly friendly voice spoke, almost like he was talking into a paper cup, "Pilot, are you there ? We are experiencing minor technical difficulties here back at base. There is no danger, but do you think we can get you to eject ? Over ?"
The pilot's voice spoke, more annoyed than anything else, "I'm rapidly approaching the corona. What kind of problem is there ? Over ?"
The voice laughed heartily, "Pilot, there is no danger. Slight deviation in times table. Wouldn't want you to land on the moon, now would we ? I promise we'll get you home in time for tea ... Just ... eject." The voice paused to sound a bit more assertive, "Pilot. Can you eject, please ?"
The pilot sighed, "Alright. Ejecting."
There was a moment of silence and a new high-pitched sound was barely heard from the sky. The unmistakable sound of an in-atmosphere fissure. One like this occurred a thousand years ago. Shiny black rain fell from the sky for a full month that burned anything it touched.
The pilot then spoke again, "Eject failed. Going to backup ejection. Standby ..."
A moment later. "Failed. Attempting 2nd backup ejection module."
A short time later, "Also failed ! Ground control, administrate !"
"What the hell is wrong !?" This time it was by Murphy. Hum who was watching the whole procedure with unblinking eyes., turned his gaze to compare two charts.
Finally Hum spoke, "Of all the stupid ... !"
END OF
CHAPTER 98
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