Authors: David Clarkson
Confused and more afraid than ever, Emmy
panicked. Without thinking, she squeezed the trigger of her rifle in a last
ditch attempt to end this by killing General Tao. An impotent click notified
her that the bullet chamber was empty.
Charlie was the first to pick up on what
had happened and he too squeezed the trigger of his weapon.
Nothing.
‘He’s betrayed us,’ the scientist said.
‘He can’t have,’ replied Emmy.
She searched Esteban’s eyes and could
read nothing in them. Then she turned to Jimmy. Unlike the soldier’s, his eyes
gave everything away. He had already seen the future. Esteban had betrayed
them.
‘You bastard!’ she shouted.
She ran to the soldier, but his reflexes
were too quick for her. He deftly blocked the swing of her arm and pushed her
into the path of the general. Charlie tried to make a move but was met by the
business end of Esteban’s rifle.
‘This one
is
loaded,’ the soldier
said.
Emmy tried to struggle, but the general
could perfectly intuit her every movement. He was so in sync with her actions
that her every attempt to break free just embedded her more deeply into his
grasp. Eventually, she felt herself so strongly restrained that she could no
longer move at all. It was at this moment that he pulled out a knife, pressing
the cold metal blade against her throat.
‘Jimmy, help!’ she screamed.
‘I’m sorry,’ replied the young psychic.
‘It’s over. We’re dead.’
She could see the truth in his eyes. He
had already seen it. One by one they were to have their throats slit, whilst
their betrayer would flee like a coward.
Away from the turmoil in Tibet, the chosen
eight were re-materialising at target destinations around the globe. They did
this with mixed results. One died upon entry as he teleported into solid rock
and another did not re-emerge at all. Only six were successful and even then
they were not prepared for the physical stress that the process placed upon
their newly acquired bodies.
The act of teleportation does not just
expend energy, it expends energy-matter. Upon their re-emergence the Chinese
super soldiers found themselves in a critical state. Without replenishment
their bodies would decline rapidly. The only way for them to hold off a
complete molecular destabilisation was to absorb the energy-matter of another
living being.
When the body is at its weakest, it goes
into survival mode. Nothing matters apart from staying alive. This was the case
with the remaining men. Despite them having no intention of surviving the
mission (to do so would be impossible) they needed to be at their strongest in
order to put their terrible plans into action.
They each reached out with their
radioactively enhanced senses probing and searching for any energy source that
could easily be extracted. Once they found what they needed, they gorged
themselves on it. They drained the life-force from their victims like psychic
vampires.
The feeding did not only return their
strength, but enhanced it beyond anything they could have imagined. Their auras
glowed with the explosive potential within their bodies. They were demigods. On
a whim they could release all of that energy in one devastating act of
destruction. In essence, they were living atomic bombs. It was time to find
their targets.
The general felt his blade glide across Dr
Rayne’s neck as easily as running the zipper on a jacket. Her gargled attempt
at a scream bubbled and frothed in her windpipe as the blood flooded her lungs.
He savoured the moment that life left her body, basking in ecstasy as he
watched her eyes roll back in their sockets. Her lifeless corpse slipped
through his arms and landed in a crumpled heap at his feet.
Then she was back in his arms. The fear
had returned to her eyes and her screams became real once more. He had
experienced the ghostly preface and now it was time for the live event. His
fingers tightened around the handle of his blade in anticipation.
Ever since he had first heard about Emmy
Rayne and her research, Tao had dreamed of this moment. He always knew that
replicating her work would never be enough. Only when she was dead would he be
able to wield the power she had created unopposed. Little did he know that what
he believed to be his moment of glory was actually the instrument of his
downfall.
The bullet tore away a large portion of
his skull and brain before he even had time to register it. Death was
instantaneous, but it was not quite the end. The world around him took on an
opaque, minimalist simplicity. All he could make out were shapes of differing
brightness depending on their energy density. Four glowed intensely in front of
him and another, slightly less so, lay below him. This was his body.
He wanted to shout out, but was
paralysed. He no longer had substance or form. He was nothing but a disembodied
spirit floating on the astral plane. When the light came, it did not occur to
him that it was another disembodied spirit that had sought him out, propelled
by an unexplainable and irresistible magnetism. He only knew that he longed to
be a part of it.
The two lifeless entities converged,
creating an opening in space and time. Their spirits passed through, never to
return.
***
Emmy stood rigid, frozen with shock. The
body of General Tao lay at her feet and Esteban stood, as emotionless as before,
with the smoking gun in his hands. It was Charlie who broke the silence.
‘What just happened?’ he asked. ‘A minute
ago you were ready to betray us. Both Jimmy and Tao saw you do it. This isn’t
possible.’
Esteban lowered his weapon.
‘If I’ve learned one thing from hanging
out with you guys, it’s that anything is possible,’ he said. ‘Back in
Australia, I managed to change the fate of one of Jimmy’s visions. Before that,
we were led to believe the kid was infallible. It didn’t take long to figure
out what had changed. It’s Emmy.’ He pointed at the scientist. ‘The future is
never straight forward when she’s around.’
With the initial shock subsided, Emmy was
able to regain composure. She approached Esteban and slapped him across the
face. Although it stung her palm more than it did his cheek, she found the
action satisfying nonetheless.
‘You bastard! You absolute bastard. I
really thought you’d betrayed us.’ She then relaxed before adding; ‘thanks
though. It’s about time you contributed something meaningful to this mission.’
‘About time? I’ve been running this show
from the start. If it wasn’t for me there wouldn’t have been a mission in the
first place.’
Before they could continue their
argument, Charlie stepped forward and interrupted them.
‘Er, guys, I wouldn’t start counting this
as a success just yet. We’ve still got eight human bombs to contend with and
possibly something even more urgent.’
He pointed to the command console, where
a red LED had begun blinking. Although the console was labelled in Mandarin, Esteban
was able to figure out what the problem was.
‘We’ve got incoming,’ he said. ‘I don’t
think command would risk sending in a plane and a missile would never make it
through the mountains. My guess is a drone.’
‘He’s right,’ said Jimmy. ‘It will hit us
in under two minutes.’
Esteban turned to Emmy.
‘Can you get it with the tulpa?’
‘Not in two minutes. It would take me
longer than that just to get into a trance.’
‘You don’t need the tulpa,’ said Charlie.
‘We’ve still got astral capability right here. The pods are through that door
and they’re no different to what we used back at Jackson’s Hill. I’ll control
your trip from here. You can overload the drone before it has time to release
its bombs.’
‘I’m on it.’
Charlie pressed the door release and Emmy
quickly slid into one of the pods. By the time she achieved separation they had
just seconds remaining, but time behaved differently for the astral traveller.
Her consciousness was heightened to such an extent that from her perspective
she had far longer at her disposal.
The drone was moving fast, but with her
accelerated thoughts it was nothing but a submarine in a sea of treacle.
Pushing out with her consciousness she allowed her disembodied energy to mingle
and interact with the mechanics and circuitry of the airborne craft. She
recalled her mantra from that night three years earlier when she had first
interacted with a material object while in her astral form.
I am energy; I am electricity.
I am energy; I am electricity.
I am energy; I am electricity.
She could feel the atoms of the drone
begin to break apart. First slowly, but once the chain reaction gained
momentum, the entire craft spontaneously exploded in a fireball of pure energy.
An instant later she was back in the
projection pod, but it felt like she had brought the explosion with her. Smoke
filled her lungs and sparks danced over the machinery around her.
Jimmy came running in with a fire
extinguisher and covered the machinery with a protective layer of foam before
the sparks could take hold and turn to flame.
‘What happened?’ Emmy asked. ‘Did it
work?’
Charlie came to the doorway.
‘You got it, but we have a problem. The
explosion caused a power surge and it has shorted out all the pods. The entire
chamber is dead.’
‘They can’t be,’ replied Emmy. ‘We need
the pods to find the general’s suicide squad. Without them, we’re lost.’
‘It’s over,’ said Charlie.
‘We can’t just give up,’ she replied.
‘What else can we do? There are eight
human bombs out there and we have no way to pinpoint their exact locations.
It’s too late. General Tao will have his war and he will win.’
‘There has to be a way.’
As the scientists talked, the
conversation was already familiar to Jimmy. He had heard it before during his
vision back at the monastery.
‘The EMP,’ Jimmy said, following the
script from his vision.
Emmy shook her head.
‘That won’t work,’ she said. ‘It only
works on astral travellers, not living flesh. Besides which, we already
destroyed it.’
‘No, he’s right,’ said Charlie. ‘It’s the
principle, not the equipment. The radiation affects the body on a metaphysical
level. It changes not the atomic structure of those infected, but the energy
contained within those atoms. If we could broadcast a signal calibrated to
match the exact frequency of the radiation we could send out an electromagnetic
pulse that is tailor made for our targets. It would zap the living energy right
out of their bodies.’
‘We have no means of delivery,’ said
Emmy. ‘Those bombers could be anywhere right now. How could we get to them?’
‘We don’t have to go to them. This base
is designated with the highest clearance level. We have access to everything. I
can control China’s entire satellite network from this room. The satellites
will relay the signal.’
‘We don’t have full coverage,’ said Emmy.
‘There’ll be gaps.’
‘It’s still our best shot. I can also
hack into some civilian satellites to boost the signal. MTV may yet save the
day.’
‘Okay, just tell me what I need to do.’
***
It was time. The six remaining members of
Tao’s infected group of super-humans had all converged on their targets. Once
their goal was met there would be no trace of the attack. There would not be a
single piece of evidence for the shocked nations to act upon. Their leaders
would call for war, but without an enemy, their aggression would eventually
turn inward. Paranoia would tear these nations apart.
Among the targets was The Pentagon. By
removing America’s military heart, the country would lose all international
standing. They would be forced to pull out all of their placements around the
globe in order to defend their home soil. The man who would be responsible for
this was now known only by a number. His previous identity had been left behind
with his former, crippled body.
Number One surveyed his target from afar.
In an instant he could teleport himself past all of the installation’s
defences. Once inside, there would be no need to replenish the energy expended
by the small leap in quantum position. His life-force did not need to be
prolonged any further. When he re-materialised he would do so in a burst of
uncontained atomic energy. It would be like the building had swallowed an atom
bomb.
He looked up at the clear blue sky and
felt the sun warm his face for what would be the last time. This moment
belonged to him and he intended to savour it. Closing his eyes, he began the
final countdown in his head.
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
O...
The rush came sooner than anticipated and
it did not feel how he expected it would. It was not like his previous
teleportation. That first time had felt like a leap, but this time he felt like
he was being pushed.
He concentrated his thoughts on reforming
his physical body, but nothing happened. The landscape around him altered
drastically and he had no idea where he was. It was as if the world was out of
focus. Everything was only visible as shades of light and dark. Something had
gone wrong.
It was clear that he could no longer fulfil
his duty and his first instinct was to return home. That was when the light
came. As soon as he was aware of it, he felt drawn to it as if by some unseen
force. When the portal opened, he had already forgotten about his mission.
***
‘Did it work?’ asked Emmy.
Charlie looked up from the console to
meet her gaze.
‘I don’t know. How do we tell?’
Emmy shrugged.
‘We could ask Jimmy.’
The scientists turned around but could
not see their friend. It seemed that they were both alone.
‘In the corner,’ said Charlie, who was
the first to spot Esteban crouching down low to the ground.
At first they thought Esteban was hurt,
but the truth soon became apparent. The soldier was unharmed. Jimmy lay still
on the floor beside him. Emmy ran to them and as soon as she looked in
Esteban’s eyes, there was no need for her to ask the question.
‘The plan worked,’ the soldier told her.
‘The signal took care of the infected. All of the infected.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Emmy. ‘I didn’t think.
I mean, we were out of time. There was no other way.’
‘I know,’ Esteban replied. ‘And I think
Jimmy did too. His sacrifice has saved countless millions. His mother has cause
to be extremely proud.’
As the soldier’s words hung in the air,
the thought hit them both at the same time.
‘Oh, shit.’