The Immortal Harvest (39 page)

“The continuation of our World is paramount, and besides, we will be doing these people a favour.” Oppenheimer said as he sneered at the Federal Agents.

Michael smiled to himself, he knew his tactic was working, he knew that it would not be long before the outcome would be realised, the outcome that he had seen in the vision that Oolax had shown him.

He was prepared.

Justen had stopped struggling against his captor as soon as he received the message from his Father.

He needed to persuade Ms Smythe to allow him to be closer to his Mother. He saw that she was crying so he knew that he could convince her to let them be together.

“Can you please let my Mummy stand next to me, I am really scared,” Justen said as he looked up at Ms Smythe and smiled meekly as he started to quietly whimper. “I promise we won’t be any trouble.”

He could tell that she was initially unmoved by his performance so he started to break into a complete sobbing routine, complete with him rubbing his nose on her sleeve.

“Alright, cut it out! Klaus bring his Mother over here and you can hold the gun to his head, this is a silk blouse I don’t want this disgusting child’s snot all over the damn thing,” Ms Smythe said as she handed Justen over to Klaus.

Justen reached out his hand to his Mother and felt comforted by her touch. He knew that they were all in danger and that his Father had a plan to save them. His Father would also need his abilities when the time was right.

He stood with his Mother near the elevator door. He was worried about his friend Mr Baxter, who was lying on the floor with a pool of blood forming beneath him. He hoped that whatever his Father’s plan was he would do it quickly because he knew that his friend was hurt badly.

From where he stood he could only see his Father from the neck up as the rest of him was obscured by a half wall which acted as a safety barrier on the mezzanine level.

He listened intently as the conversation ensued between his Father and the strange looking old man.

Suddenly he received another psychic message from his Father.

Justen, I am going to have to leave you very soon. I want you to focus all of your energy on the device I showed you. It’s in my pocket, can you sense it?

Justen slowly nodded his head and then began concentrating as hard as he could on the strange object that his Father had shown him before they arrived in the control room.

Good, you need to hold on tightly to your Mother and I want you to promise me that you will take care of her for me.

He was just about to answer his Father when he inhaled sharply in shock. The bad man, the one called Stringer, the dragon that he thought he had slain, was standing behind his Father with a very large knife in his hand, the same knife that he was going to use to hurt his Mother.

He felt sick in the stomach when he saw the masses of flesh hanging loosely off the monster’s black and charred face.

He screamed at the top of his lungs.

“FATHER, LOOKOUT HE’S BEHIND YOU!”

He saw his Father calmly turn to confront the monster.

Justen felt confused, he did not understand his Father’s reaction, nor did he understand what his Father said.

“I have been waiting for you Stringer.”

He saw Stringer swiftly spin his Father around and press the blade of the knife against his throat.

Justen seethed with anger as he heard the distinctive cold hard voice of the monster.

“Oppenheimer, you screwed me!”

Justen looked at the strange looking Doctor who seemed surprised at the monster’s statement.

“Mr Stringer! How nice to see you. I hardly recognised you. What happened to you?”

“Fuck you Oppenheimer! I’m going to make you all pay for what you did to me.”

“Now listen here Stringer, there is no need for violence. Calm down, I have convinced Michael that it is in his best interest to join us. As you can see he really has no other option,” Oppenheimer said smugly as he continued moving back towards the console.

Justen knew that he was referring to him and his Mother.

“I don’t give a shit about you or your precious Mundus Nova. By freq locking my TDI you weakened me. That little kid beat me. He did this!”

Justen could see the pain and anguish on the monster’s face but he didn’t care, that man had tried to hurt his Mother and now he was going to hurt his Father. The anger inside of him quickly intensified into a white hot rage.

He used the rage to focus on the device in his Father’s pocket. He could see the faint glow emanating from the device and sense the rage from the monster who was threatening to kill his Father.

He saw that he was holding a small silver device in his hand. It looked like one of the cigarette lighters that his friend Crystal owned. He did not realise the danger that they all faced until he heard the gasp from the group of men which were holding them captive.

He could see the panicked look sweep across the old Doctor’s face and the sheer look of terror on the face of the woman they called Ms Smythe.

“Now don’t do anything foolish Mr Stringer, why don’t you come down here so we can discuss things rationally, I can release your freq lock and you can return with us. I will have my best geneticists work on you,” the Doctor said as he turned his head and nodded to a man who was standing next to a computer console.

Justen did not understand the Doctor’s actions but he could see the resigned look on both his Father’s and the monster’s face and he sensed what was about to happen.

He summoned all of his energy and directed it at his Father’s pocket and then he heard the words which sent a chill down his spine.

“Sorry you’re too late, the lightning fried my TDI Oppenheimer, and there is no going back. I’m doomed to die on this shit hole of a planet and I’m taking you all with me.”

Justen saw Stringer flick open the top of the device and throw it at the old Doctor who screamed in frustration and threw his arms up in the air as if willing the monster to do his bidding.

“NO Stringer – WAIT!”

At the same time he heard his Father’s voice stream through his mind.

Justen, do it now!

Justen’s mind merged with his Father’s and together they created a massive energy bubble which encompassed the entire room.

From Justen’s point of view, time appeared to slow down.

He saw the old Doctor catch the device which was thrown at him. He had a look of pure terror on his face as he turned and ran towards a growing spherical bubble which had formed near him.

He heard all of the bad people, including Ms Smythe scream and grab the backs of their necks before collapsing onto the ground and began writhing in agony.

All of the FBI team had broken loose from their captives and were scrambling for the weapons that had been dropped. Justen thought that this was a futile endeavour.

He looked up at his Father and gasped in terror when saw that his throat had been slashed by the monster’s blade. A shower of blood sprayed from his Father’s neck as the monster threw him to the floor of the mezzanine like discarded trash.

The monster was laughing hysterically at what he no doubt considered his final act of revenge.

Justen squeezed his Mother’s hand tighter and looked up at her face. He could tell that she was terrified. Her eyes were closed and she was mumbling softly to herself.

His heart broke when he received the final message from his Father as it seeped into the deepest recesses of his mind.

I love you son

At that moment the energy bubble contracted.

He felt that tingly feeling again as he and his Mother dematerialised – a split second before the anti-matter weapon detonated.

Sylvan writhed in agony. She was both blind and deaf. She could not breathe. She clawed at her throat in a vain attempt to get air. She had an intense pain in the back of her neck.

She could hear the similar struggles of others in the room with her. Her mind was confused and disoriented.

Her vision became blurry and she convulsed in a frenetic coughing fit as her lungs burned from a lack of oxygen.

Slowly her hearing was returning and she could hear a strange metallic sounding voice. It was speaking in language she had never heard before and through her blurred vision she thought that she imagined an odd glowing sign floating in the air above her with strange red symbols. They were constantly changing.

The symbols and voice were strangely calming and she was almost mesmerised by them.

Suddenly they changed colour and then disappeared. It was then that she felt the cool flow of air across her face and the pain in her lungs began to subside.

She consciously calmed herself by taking huge gulps of air as she looked around at the strange room and the other people who were also gulping air.

She recognised that the others were the FBI agents that were in the control room with her and Justen.

She could not see Agent Baxter and it was then that she realised with horror that both Justen and Michael were also missing. She began to panic and started calling out for them.

“Michael, Justen where are you?”

JUSTEN WHERE ARE YOU??

She was startled by the soft voice of a woman.

“Sylvan, it’s okay; it’s all going to be alright, calm down.”

Sylvan was scared and confused. She thought that she recognised the voice. She turned slowly and looked into the kind eyes of a woman that she thought she would never see again – her Grand Mother.

“Am I dead?” She asked quietly, “Is this heaven? Where is Justen? Where is Michael?”

The woman smiled at her long line of questions and put her hand up in front of her as if to signify that she wanted to hold her hand.

“Come Sylvan please sit and I will tell you everything I…”

The woman was interrupted by one of the taller agents. He seemed angry and obviously demanded answers.

“Okay lady, I am Agent Durning of the FBI. Where the hell are we? Where is Senior Special Agent Baxter? What have you done with the boy? Where are our weapons?”

Sylvan could see that the Agents’ demeanour had little effect on the woman and she calmly smiled at him.

A large golden bench materialised in front of them and Sylvan’s Grand Mother sat down and patted the bench.

Sylvan’s legs were trembling, she realised that her whole body was shaking and her mouth was so dry she had no saliva in her mouth to swallow.

The woman held out her hand and a silver cup materialised and she handed it to Sylvan.

“Here sweetheart have a drink, you must be exhausted after such an ordeal.”

She sipped the cool pleasant tasting drink slowly while she took a good look at the woman who looked and sounded like her Grand Mother.

She had the same gentle smile and soothing voice. Her face and arms had wrinkles. Her body was rounded with gentle curves and a bosom which Sylvan remembered fondly, had given her comfort when she was given one of her frequent, soothing hugs.

She turned to Agent Durning, “This is my Grand Mother, and she died when I was a girl.

“I understand your anger and confusion Agent Durning. I am very upset and confused and I don’t think we are on Earth. I am not sure where we are but I’m sure my Grand Mother knows.” She said as she smiled and turned towards the old woman.

“Nana, can you please tell us where we are and where are the other people who were with us?”

The old woman smiled and her whole face lit up as she laughed loudly and put her right arm around Sylvan and squeezed her shoulders.

“You were such a delightful child and I can see that you have a very special little boy. Your Mother must be so proud.”

Sylvan froze at the mention of her Mother. She had conflicted feelings about the woman who had tossed her and her son onto the streets which ultimately led to her current predicament.

“Now, now dear, don’t be so hard on your Mother, as you know, being a Mother is not easy.”

“Don’t tell me that you can read my thoughts as well,” Sylvan said defensively as she tried to move out of her Grand Mother’s embrace.

The old woman held her tight and gave her an extra squeeze and placed her left hand on Sylvan’s knee.

Sylvan had noticed that Agent Durning had been joined by the rest of his team and they all stood around her and her Grand Mother. She could tell that they also had a lot of questions. She shot an enquiring look at her Grand Mother who knew instinctively what was required of her.

“It’s okay Sylvan; I think it’s time that I gave you and your friends some answers.

Hello everyone, I guess you are all very curious and I can sense that you all have questions burning away inside of you. Please make yourselves comfortable and I will try to answer those for you.”

The old woman stretched out her arms and three more golden benches materialised. She waited for everyone to be seated and then took a deep breath. She exhaled slowly and closed her eyes.

She opened her eyes slowly and smiled. Her outward appearance began to change.

Sylvan heard the surprised gasps from the group as the old woman’s features slowly melted away and they were awestruck as the alien looking creature immerged.

Sylvan quickly stood and moved away from the bench. She was scared and surprised by the response of the group as the first words were spoken by Agent Durning.

“Ha! I knew it! Aliens are behind all this. I knew it all along,” Durning said as he looked around the rest of his team. Sylvan saw the sheepish looks on their faces but did not understand the significance of their reaction.

Sylvan watched as the alien stood up, she noticed how tall and thin he was, at least she assumed it was a he although she was not really sure.

The most noticeable feature of the alien was his colour which was a strange purplish hue. He had a large head and large eyes which seemed to convey a sense of serenity and kindness. This made Sylvan feel a lot better and she moved towards him with her hand extended.

“Hello,” she said. “I kinda knew that you weren’t my Nana, but it was nice to be reminded of her. Thank you for that memory – I have so many questions. What is your name? Where are you from? How do you speak our language? Where is…”