Intervention: A Science Fiction Adventure (24 page)

“How long now?”

“Three more minutes.”

“Good. Let’s
transform the interior to the hospital and me to look like a doctor.”
The computer once again transformed the interior of the craft, now to
look like a room in a hospital. With Christopher’s suit altered to
resemble a doctor, the illusion was complete.

“I can add a hologram
of a nurse if you’d like.”

“Good idea. Please
do.”

“One minute,” the
computer stated. Christopher became somewhat anxious. He cared for
Cindy and wanted her realization of her true whereabouts to be as
untraumatic as possible. “Her oxygen supply has been completely
exhausted. We’re in position.

Cindy’s voice could
be heard again. “That’s it, guys. My oxygen’s gone. Don’t
feel bad, you did everything you could.”

A few moments later the
computer announced, “She’s passed out Christopher. I’ll be
shifting her in now.”

A transparent outline
of Cindy floated into the interior of the craft. She gently drifted
over to the bed where the computer lowered her. As Christopher
watched, Cindy’s barely visible outline became more and more solid,
until she was once again in her natural state.

“We need to dress her
in a hospital gown.”

“Like this?” the
computer asked as he replaced Cindy’s long john looking garment
worn under her space suit with a typical blue hospital gown.

“Yes, that’s
perfect. Christopher then took a step back to see if everything
looked just right. “Oops, I almost forgot! Her watch.” He quickly
removed her wristwatch. “There, that should do it. How long before
she regains consciousness?”

“I’ve dramatically
increased the oxygen content of the interior so it shouldn’t take
more than a minute or two.”

Christopher looked at
Cindy lying in the bed. She looked like an angel to him. He was happy
to see her again and so thankful to be able to help save her life.
Cindy was special to Christopher,
very
special.

Christopher stood at
Cindy’s bedside while the holographic nurse stood checking the
connection on the monitoring equipment beside Cindy’s bed. The
scene appeared to be what one would expect of any typical hospital
room. Cindy moved her head to one side as she slowly began to regain
consciousness. She moaned, and Christopher began to try and act like
a doctor by placing one hand gently on her wrist as he looked at his
watch as if taking her pulse. She rolled her head and moaned again as
she struggled to come out of her slumber. As soon as she opened her
eyes, she asked, “Where am I?”

“You’re going to be
all right,” Christopher replied. Cindy struggled to get her wits
about her. She looked around her trying her best to put two and two
together.

“How did I get here?
They must have gotten to me somehow. But how?”

“Please Cindy, you
need to rest.” The holographic nurse picked up a chart and appeared
to be writing down the readings from the monitors onto her chart.
“Cindy,” Christopher asked, “How do you feel?”

“A little groggy, and
I have a headache. Otherwise I feel fine.”

“You’re lucky to be
alive, Cindy.”

“I don’t
understand. There was no way they could have gotten to me, so how did
I get here?” Christopher looked at her for a moment. “Well?”
She asked. She seemed to have totally revived, so there was no time
like the present.

“Cindy, what I’m
about to tell you will no doubt come as a shock to you, and at first,
I doubt you’ll believe what I’m about to tell you. At least not
until I prove it to you. So I’ll go slowly and one step at a time.”

Christopher removed his
surgical mask, and continued. “I’m not your doctor; it’s me,
Christopher Adams. Remember?”

“What are you doing
here?” Cindy asked, still just a little groggy.

“First I have to tell
you, Cindy, I didn’t mean much of what I said that day at the
briefing, but I knew we were all being monitored, and if I was going
to do anything to stop them, I first had to make them believe I was
with them. I was worried that if they thought you might go public,
they might try to eliminate you. I’m sure that’s what happened.
Your tether didn’t break; it was cut. It was an easy way to get rid
of you and easy to make it look like an accident. Who would ever
know?”

“But how did I get
here? I was so far out I could barely see the shuttle. I remember
running out of oxygen. I should be dead. There was no way for them to
get to me, and there were no other ships anywhere near us.”

“Actually, there was
one. You just couldn’t see it. It’s the one you’re on right
now.”

“Come on,
Christopher. I may have been unconscious, but I still know the
difference between a hospital and a shuttle.”

“I didn’t say
shuttle. Here, I’ll prove it. See the nurse there? She’s a
hologram. Computer, eliminate the nurse.” The hologram of the nurse
was discontinued and she vanished. “She was just a hologram created
to make the illusion of being in a hospital more believable.”

“We’ve had
holographic projection technology for years. I have to admit she did
look rather real. That doesn’t prove anything.”

“All right. Watch the
monitoring equipment. Computer, remove the monitoring equipment.”
The monitoring equipment vanished. “What about that?”

Searching for a
rational explanation, Cindy responded, “Same technology,” and
pointed to the window outside, which appeared to be a beautiful
afternoon.

“Computer? Would you
change the image in the window to what is really outside?” Suddenly
looking out the window, Cindy could see only stars.

“That one’s easy,”
Cindy said confidently.

“How about if I have
the computer make your hospital gown vanish as well?”

Cindy quickly turned
her gaze directly to Christopher and with a bit of fiery defiance in
her eyes stated, “Don’t you dare!”

“So you believe me
now?”

Cindy was still
skeptical. “Then I suppose all this, I mean the room and all, isn’t
real either?”

“No. This was all
fabricated so as not to shock you when you regained consciousness. I
felt it best to break it to you a little bit at a time.”

“Thank you,
Christopher.”

“Computer, would you
return to where we were this morning in the foothills?”

“Yes. We will arrive
in a few moments.”

“Who was that?”
Cindy asked.

“That is the
computer. It runs this craft and everything in it. Computer, say
hello to Cindy.”

“Hello, Cindy. It’s
a pleasure to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet
you, too. Where exactly are you?”

“I am all around you.
I am an interracial part of this craft. I am an advanced artificial
intelligence. We have arrived, Christopher.”

“All right, Cindy,
brace yourself for another shock. You’ll be perfectly safe; it just
comes as a bit of a shock the first time. Computer, would you shift
us outside?” Christopher was shifted outside. When he realized he
was alone, he asked “Computer? What happened to Cindy?”

“I thought it best to
provide her with a suit like yours for her safety. I thought she
might like a little privacy to change.”

Christopher was a
little embarrassed he hadn’t thought of that, although he wasn’t
used to interacting with women. “Yes of course. I guess I hadn’t
thought of that. Thank you.”

A few moments later,
Cindy appeared next to Christopher in her new suit. “Wow! Now
that’s quite an experience!” Cindy exclaimed.

“You’ll get used to
it. Take a look.” Christopher said as he motioned for Cindy to look
behind her. She turned and saw the craft hovering just a few feet
from her.

“Oh my god!”

“It’s all right,
Cindy. That is the craft that made it possible to save you. Beautiful
isn’t it?”

Cindy was obviously
shocked. “It’s incredible. Where, I mean how, well, where did it
come from?”

“That’s a long
story. Come with me.” Christopher walked back to the stream he had
seen earlier that day and sat on the large rock as he had before.
“Have a seat,” he said as he indicated another rock for Cindy to
sit on. “Thousands of years ago, a large spacecraft on a mission of
exploration visited Earth. It was carrying an advanced race of beings
on an information gathering mission. While observing the people of
earth at that time, they realized that the primitive people were
developing technology faster than they were gaining wisdom. The
leaders used these advancements to enslave their people to secure
their own lavish lifestyle. The beings of this race knew that left
unchecked, the human race was headed for disaster. Unable to stay
themselves, they left the craft behind. They implanted several of the
women with what is best explained as a gene-altering substance that
would go unnoticed and be passed on to future generations. It would
remain dormant until the time was right. Then, once activated, the
next born would have very advanced abilities. Not like a superman or
anything, but with very advanced learning abilities.

“The computer in the
craft was left with a set of instructions to follow. The computer,
with the use of a holographic projection and a few other tricks,
posed as Ra, the god of the sun and instructed the Egyptians to build
the great pyramid. The computer provided the plans to be followed, as
well as a simple means of moving the huge stones into place. When the
pyramid was finished, he had them bring all the building instructions
to a location in the surrounding desert. Once there, the computer
destroyed all the documents with what the primitives saw as bolts of
lightning. Inside the pyramid was an empty chamber beneath the
Queen’s Chamber where the craft could wait through the years for
the right time to emerge.”

“How did it get into
and out of the pyramid?” Cindy asked.

“Dimensional
shifting. The same way you and I got out of the craft. As the
computer explained it to me, an object or person is shifted into
another dimension. Not quite all the way, but almost. Although there
are many other dimensions, for this purpose they use a dimension void
of everything, even light. That way they aren’t distracted by
anything in the other dimension and are still able to see the faint
outlines of this dimension, used for navigational purposes. Like you
just experienced, everything turns transparent. This same type of
shift allows the craft to become invisible to the naked eye as well
as radar or any other type of sensor.

“My mother was the
gene carrier to be activated, and I am the result. Operation
Down-size is the disaster this race had foreseen. With the aid of
this craft and its abilities, it is up to me to stop Operation
Down-size. Now I guess you’ve become part of it as well. We have a
lot of planning to do if we’re going to have a chance to stop it.”

“I think you already
know how I feel about Operation Down-size. I’ll do anything I can
to help,” Cindy added.

“About the suit
you’re wearing. It’s a little more than just something to wear.
It has some amazing attributes. For instance, pick up that rock there
and throw it at me.” Christopher pointed to a small stone by
Cindy’s feet.

Cindy bent down and
picked up the stone and paused. “Are you sure you want me to throw
this at you?”

“Trust me.”

Cindy tossed the stone
at Christopher and about an inch short of its target, a shield of
light surrounded Christopher, deflecting the stone onto the ground.
“It’s an automatic shield of some sort. It activates
automatically when it senses anything approaching you faster than two
miles an hour. It also activates when you get nervous or afraid by
sensing the chemical changes in your skin.”

Cindy smiled. “I
think I’m going to like this better than my old space suit.”

“There’s more,”
Christopher went on. “It acts as a two-way telepathic radio with
the craft’s computer. All you have to do is think the words and the
computer can hear you. When the computer talks to you, you just hear
the words in your head.” Christopher then gave it the real test. He
didn’t know, but just seemed to sense it would work, so he gave it
a try. He thought the words, “Cindy, can you hear me?”

Cindy looked at him,
then he could hear her words as clear as day. “Yes, I can. It’s
incredible,” she thought.

Christopher announced,
“We better start working on a strategy.”

“Have you come up
with any ideas yet?” Cindy asked.

Just then the computer
interrupted. “Christopher, I am sensing a small aircraft heading in
this direction. I’ll shift both of you in now.” Both Christopher
and Cindy turned transparent, and a moment later were back inside the
craft. “I’ve gone to stealth mode and taken us out of the earth’s
atmosphere for safety,” the computer informed them.

“What happened to the
hospital room and all?”

“The interior is made
of a liquid metal that is controlled by the computer. It can be
transformed into any shape desired. Like this chair.” The shape of
a chair formed out of the floor once again. “Would you like one,
too?”

Cindy suddenly put her
arms around Christopher and gave him a big kiss. Startled,
Christopher asked, “What was that for?”

“That was for saving
my life.” Then Cindy kissed him again. “That was just because I
wanted to.”

Christopher didn’t
know what to say. He wasn’t used to this kind of interaction and it
was his first kiss. “Another chair for Cindy, please.”

“We need to start
working on our strategy. We should go somewhere that we can’t be
disturbed.”

“Anywhere in
particular?” the computer asked.

“How about on the
surface of Mars?” Cindy asked.

“Christopher?” the
computer asked.

“Well, I doubt we’ll
be disturbed there. Let’s go.” In no time at all they were on the
surface.

“Is there any way I
can see outside?” Cindy asked. Almost instantly the interior wall
became like a window, giving a three hundred and sixty degree
panoramic view of the Martian surface. “I didn’t think I would
ever get to see this,” Cindy said as she walked around the entire
interior looking at the planet’s surface. Christopher indulged her
for as long as it took for Cindy to be satisfied.