The Infinite Evolution - Conversion (36 page)

Jade rolled out of bed and was
thankful she was still wearing the same clothing from yesterday and
not some embarrassing pair of pajamas. After Jade finished with her
morning hygiene, she walked out into a corridor that connected to
the giant chamber. Jade proceeded down the corridor observing the
numerous holoscreens and lights, when a group of young men in
bluish uniforms walked by and failed to acknowledge her presence.
Jade found this to be quite rude, mostly because two of these young
men she found attractive. As Jade shook it off and realized this
was certainly not why she was here, she decided she needed to find
Serafina. As Jade emerged from the hallway and into the giant
sphere of technology, she found Serafina working on a nearby
holoscreen. While Jade walked over to Serafina’s location, she
continued to thankfully remind herself that this was indeed real
and not a dream.

“
Good to see you are awake,” said
Serafina.

“
Yeah, thanks, I usually don’t sleep that
long.”

“
Do not worry. You needed your
rest.”

“
I guess, so what are you doing?”

“
Just working on some calculations regarding
your planet’s population.”

“
Sounds exciting,” said Jade.

“
It is not.”

While Serafina finished her
message, another one came up advising her she needed to meet with
Izri right away.

“
Excuse me, Jade, I will be right
back.”

“
Ok.”

As Serafina headed up to Izri’s office, Jade
accessed one of the terminals and started to poke around, but
quickly realized there was not much she could do because of all the
restrictions. Jade decided she would restrain herself and not try
to hack anything; the last thing she wanted to do was aggravate the
aliens.

“
What do you need?” asked Serafina?

“
Telmar is dead,” responded Izri.

“
What!”

“
Telmar is dead. He was murdered
and we did not capture his program. He is lost for
good.”

“
How do you know?”

“
What I am about to show you is
considered highly classified, understand?”

“
Absolutely.”

Izri typed in a few keys on a nearby holoscreen and
a recording of the encounter between Telmar and Melchior started to
play and ended immediately after Telmar’s death.

“
How did you get this?” asked
Serafina.

“
We received it from Telmar as soon as he made
contact with who he thought to be Zaccai.”

“
He sent you this?”

“
Yes, via his PIC, which recorded the whole
thing, such a loyal member of the Floaters.”

“
It did not sound like it. From what I saw, it
looked as if Telmar was working with Melchior. That traitor
sabotaged Adam and placed Reece, Jade, and I in danger.”

Izri looked directly into Serafina’s eyes and said,
“He was nothing close to being a traitor. We told Telmar to
sabotage Adam in order to gain Melchior’s trust. It was a minor
risk for a greater gain.”

“
I do not understand, are you saying you made
Melchior believe Telmar was a rogue Herder that no longer wanted to
work for Prime 2?”

“
That is correct. But keep in
mind we did not know Melchior was leading the Guardians. We had our
suspicions it was a council member, but we were not sure. Once we
realized Telmar was using Jade as the patsy, we ordered him to
stop, and to cover up the false connections he had developed
between her and Adam. Telmar did not know of Jade’s importance, and
for that I am to blame. This was obviously the point where Melchior
started suspecting Telmar of something, but we could not jeopardize
Jade. We never suspected Melchior was going to spot check his
Guardians as he did with Telmar.”

“
Do you think Melchior knew Telmar was a
Floater, working undercover as a lost Herder who later became a
false Guardian?”

“
I do not suspect Melchior knew,” said
Izri.

“
Why is Jade so important?” asked
Serafina.

“
That is something you do not need to know at
this juncture,” said Izri forcefully.

“
I see, well we must show this video to the
council or better yet to Zaccai.”

“
No, we have not yet identified the motives
behind all the council members.”

“
How are we going to do that?”

“
That is where you come in
Serafina.”

“
What do you need me to do?”

“
First, I need to identify the Floaters from
the Guardians when it comes to the eleven other council
members.”

Serafina interrupted and said, “You mean
thirteen.”

“
No, I mean eleven. Shiphra was
killed after she resigned and Corinth has been
recycled.”

Serafina responded with a shocked look, “How?”

“
No time for that. The members of the council
who have identified themselves as Floaters are Quartus, Mileva,
Willow, and I. The Guardians that we know of are Melchior and
Uzziah. The unknowns are Abner, Oshea, Elymas, Kyria, and
Zaccai.”

“
May I ask where Shiphra stood?”

“
Shiphra was a Floater, Corinth was a
Guardian.”

“
I knew Shiphra would never have been so close
minded I will miss her greatly,” said Serafina with a mournful
tone.

“
I will miss her, too,” said Izri
as he placed one of his hands on Serafina’s shoulders.

Taking comfort in Izri’s gesture Serafina asked,
“Where do we go from here?”

“
For now I need you to join with Oliver’s
team.”

“
Isn’t his team heading to
Australia?”

“
Yes.”

“
How will this help me identify the unknown
council members and their agendas?”

“
There are certain Herders who
are involved with the virus outbreak who may have important
information. You will infiltrate their kindred and portray yourself
as one. Once you gain their confidence try and identify if they are
truly receiving their orders from Prime 2 or Melchior. Their
identities will be downloaded to your consciousness at your next
resting state.”

“
Are we not able to access who the Herders are
on this planet?”

“
Perhaps, but we cannot be
certain where their true loyalties lie. There is some concern that
the very programmers who designed and now maintain it may be
manipulating Prime 2’s program. Either way we must eliminate the
suspicion and determine if there are any Herders who are biased
towards one certain faction.” Izri looked down at Serafina’s tattoo
and said, “I am sorry to ask this of you, but that tattoo must go.
If there is a Guardian within the Australian kindred and they see
that, your cover will certainly be blown.”

“
I will have it removed
immediately.”

“
One last item which needs to be addressed,”
said Izri.

“
And that is?”

“
Do not become personal with
Spencer. I told you what your connection with him was only because
I did not want you to be confused as to why you may have personal
feelings towards him. We need to keep this on a professional
level., Are you grasping what I am saying?”

“
Yes, you do not need to worry about
it.”

“
Good.”

“
When do I leave?”

“
Now, get a new vehicle and head to the
airport. You will fly out of JFK, after meeting up with Oliver’s
team, and all of you will head to Australia together. Oliver will
brief you on mission specifics.”

“
What about Jade.”

“
I will take care of Jade, and at some point
return her to Reece.”

“
When will that be?”

“
Hopefully no more then three
days. I need to speak to her about a few things. You just need to
focus on the task at hand.”

“
I will.”

“
Good, now get going. Have a safe
trip and take care of yourself.”

“
Will do.”

Serafina turned towards the exit
and walked out wondering how she was going to suppress her emotions
for Spencer. As she approached Jade, she started to feel a real
concern for her personal safety. Serafina did not feel comfortable
leaving Jade with Izri. She was not certain of his true intentions.
Serafina knew there was more to Jade than people were letting on
and certain specifics she still had not yet discovered, “But what
were they?” she asked herself.

“
Hi Jade, having fun are we? You
did not try to hack into any of our databases, did you?”

Not knowing Serafina was joking Jade responded with
the utmost seriousness, “No, ma’am; I would never.”

“
Calm down, I was only playing
with you.”

“
Of course,” smiled Jade feeling slightly
relieved, “Would you like to get something to eat with
me?”

“
I would love to, but I need to get
going.”

“
Can I come with you?” asked Jade.

“
I wish I could take you, but I will not be
able to.”

“
Why?”

“
Because I cannot. But do not
worry, I will not be gone long and while I am away Izri will look
after you.”

“
Izri, that’s that old guy who was being a
jerk when we first arrived here. I don’t want to stay with
him.”

“
Do not worry. Its only going to
be for a few days, until we get you back with Reece.”

“
A few days? Why can’t I go back
now? What does he plan to do? He’s not going to, like, dissect me
or anything?” asked Jade with a concerned look.

“
What are you talking about? No one is going
to dissect you. Why would you say such a thing?”

“
I don’t know! I figured because you’re all
aliens, isn’t that what you aliens do?”

“
Jade we may be from different
planets, but our biological makeup is the same as yours. So trust
me, the last thing we are interested in is dissecting you,” laughed
Serafina.

“
Oh, I’m glad you think this is
so funny,” snapped Jade.

“
I am sorry, I did not mean to
laugh. Please, trust me. You will be fine. Izri just wants to ask
you a few questions and explain some things to you, ok?”

“
Do I have a choice?”

“
Yes, when he speaks to you, do not listen and
if he asks you questions, do not answer.”

“
Ok,” laughed Jade, “I can be
difficult.”

“
I am sure you can, but do not feel you need
to, and I promise I will see you soon,” said Serafina as she walked
over and gave Jade a hug.

“
You better,” replied Jade while hugging
Serafina back.

As Serafina walked down the
stairs and headed towards an equipment locker, Izri called for Jade
and asked her to meet him in his office. Jade reluctantly complied
and found disappointment in what she saw. Jade imagined Izri’s
office to be more sophisticated looking, but it was simply an
average sized room with one holoscreen, a square table with three
chairs, and a small wall safe. The only stylish object in the
office was the symbol Jade kept seeing throughout the complex, a
horizontal figure eight. On the backside of the table sat Izri who
was sipping a cup of coffee and reviewing some
documents.

“
Hello, you asked to see me?”
said Jade as she stood outside.

“
Yes, I did, please come in, have a
seat.”

Jade walked up to the closest
chair and right before she pulled it out, it moved itself, allowing
her to sit.

“
What is this, some type of automatic chair?”
asked Jade.

“
No, our species is telekinetic
and telepathic. We can move and say things with our mind,”
explained Izri.

“
I know what telekinesis and
telepathy are.”

“
I am sure you do. Listen, Jade, I think you
and I started off on the wrong foot.”

“
You think?”

“
Yes, and I want to apologize.
This is no excuse, but I have had quite a stressful last couple of
days. I am sure you can relate to that.”

“
I can,” replied Jade wondering what Izri was
trying to get at.

“
Would you like anything to drink or
eat?”

Jade sat there as her stomach growled, but felt she
was going to keep it to herself for now and try to get something
later. “No, I’m all set.”

“
Are you sure? You appear to be
hungry.”

“
What? Are you, like, reading my
mind?”

“
Absolutely not. The only time we read
someone’s mind is if we have their permission or we suspect them of
a crime. I do not have your permission and you have not done
anything illegal. I asked because I heard your stomach
gurgling.”

Feeling a little bit embarrassed
Jade responded, “Oh I see. Well I’m a little bit hungry, do you
have any cereal or something?”

“
We certainly do,” smiled Izri as he reached
over to his holoscreen and typed in a few keystrokes. It should be
here shortly. I also took the liberty to add some orange juice,
eggs, and fruit if that is ok with you?”