The Mendelssohnian Theory: Action Adventure, Sci-Fi, Apocalyptic ,Y/A (23 page)

The light inside the sphere, which protected him dimmed for a
moment, then steadied once more. Adam assumed she was communicating with her
supervisors. “All right,” she finally said, “it appears we have no other
choice, right?”

“Right,” said Adam, “you don’t.” The sphere of light in which
Adam was sitting began to draw away from the moon it hovered next to. At first,
its movement was slow and smooth, then it began to accelerate.

“Allow me to offer you a small gift before we part,” said the
voice, “perhaps it will improve the way you perceive me/us a little and will
assist you, as you’ve demanded, in your struggle with the assassin and the
other threats posed to you.”

“I’m listening,” said Adam. Another small body, less than an
inch in size, began to formulate next to him and floated in space beside the
light sphere. Adam extended his hand and touched it gently. The body split and
evaporated in every direction. “What is that?” he asked the voice.

“Since humankind has mastered nanotechnology engineering, few
have learned to utilize the power of the Learning Nanobiological cells. They’ve
already begun to study you and are very impressed. You will learn to
communicate with them with the aid of your brain implant, and they will help
you develop it. You must have already realized that the implant is related to
the assignment you are intended to perform.” Well, Adam hadn’t realized that
and immediately filed the new information without betraying his ignorance.
He’ll have plenty of time to think about everything the creator had unknowingly
revealed to him. The tiny particles merged into a dot of light once more, then
hovered toward him and penetrated through his right eye into his brain. He
closed his eyes and slept, a dreamless sleep returned to engulf him. An instant
before he lost consciousness, he mumbled to the creator: “You asked me earlier
who was chasing you. Well, I thought of a bigger question. If you were the ones
who created us, then who created you?” The creator didn’t answer and Adam
continued: “Here’s my gift to you: if even a shred of us was created in your
image, don’t go too far in your search for what is threatening you. Evil is in
your midst,” and he sank into the liquid darkness around him. Just before his
mind turned off, he heard the voice telling him: “Thanks for the clue. We are
now investigating amongst ourselves in order to try and locate traitors. You’ve
already justified our confidence in you.”

*

When Adam woke up, he found himself lying on the desert ground. A
hovercraft was parked next to him. He rose to his feet and approached the
aircraft’s entrance. It slid open, and Joseph’s head peeked from inside. He
nodded to greet the scientist. Joseph extended his hand to Adam, who hesitated,
then rejected it. Instead of a handshake, he offered the scientist a warm and
grateful embrace. Joseph gave him a wide smile and once they disentangled
themselves from one another, cleared a path for him so he could enter through
the door. Behind the bearded scientist, he was welcomed by the warm smile of
Elizabeth, who was sitting in the pilot’s seat. She rose toward him, embraced
him, and he returned her embrace. For the first time in a long while, Adam
allowed himself to release the pressure trapped in his body. He detached
himself from his teacher, guide, and friend and found himself face to face with
Natalia, who smiled at the sight of his embarrassment and kissed him on the
lips. He returned her kiss, filled with joy. “Everyone needs his own Baba
Yaga,” she said and he was excited when he perceived he was surrounded by
people who’d bound their future with his, people who were important to him as
he was important to them. People who cared for him and were there for him.
Friends.

He sat next to Natalia and fastened his seatbelt, then they
held hands. Meanwhile, Joseph sat in the co-pilot seat and started the engines.

The hovercraft rose into the air, then glided smoothly and
silently away.

*

Sato folded the laser gun he had just used for the clean and
quiet assassination of the senior European politician’s lover with quick
efficiency. The laser beam was so thin and precise, that it was doubtful
whether it would be revealed in the post-mortem operation, which will probably
not be conducted for the unknown concubine of the German politician. He decided
to let go of his lover, as part of the preparations for the tax returns of the
work calendar year nearing its end, and Sato handled it with the usual secrecy
that’d become his commercial trademark. A dot on his eye-screen let him know a
message was waiting. He did not address the blinking dot until he’d packed his
weapons inside a foldable suitcase, only then did he open it. The message was
sent by one of the web agents he’d activated. It said that the youth he’d been
chasing on and off for the past two years, the one he’d almost captured in the
desert almost three weeks ago, was making his way to the Jewish Reservation.
While he was reading the message he received two more simultaneously, both from
web-agents working for him as well, each mentioned a different destination the
prey was headed to. Sato knew the information he’d just now received was
problematic and that at least two of his agents were wrong and were possibly
deliberately misled. He kept receiving additional updates, probably erroneous
as well, and Sato felt there was a hand guiding this act of confusion and
deception. He quickly reached a decision and turned to his private hovercraft.
The place the youth was least likely to go to was the contractor’s dwelling
place and Sato’s senses told him that’s exactly where Adam was headed. He
himself wasn’t able to explain how he’d reached the conclusion, perhaps because
that’s what he would have done and perhaps because it was the only place that
wasn’t mentioned in the barrage of updates he received regarding the youth’s
intentions. The hovercraft lifted in the air, then made a sharp turn toward the
northeast.

For many years, the creators have ruled the universe. They
spread in the regions of space by colonizing planets that had suitable
conditions to sustain life.

The realization they were not alone began to dawn upon
them, like a thin and steady trickle, when signs of life from distant planets
disappeared from their home-world screen all at once. The destruction was slow
but intimidating, and they had called it “the ultimate evil” since they did not
know what had caused the worlds of the distant planets to crumble. They tried
to contact the approaching evil in vain because in the meanwhile contact with
more and more worlds had been severed. It was a young creator, a child in the
terms of his own species, who’d managed to calculate the exact time remaining
before the destruction would reach the original home-world. He brought his
discovery to the attention of the leaders and added to it a recommendation for
a possible course of action. The young creator suggested that new worlds should
be created, ones in which the creators will form various intelligences which will
develop until they will be ready to take the leap to the next level and equal
their makers’ consciousnesses. This will bring about two results: first of all,
the continued existence of intelligent life after the great evil will consume
the home-world. “We will create worlds that will develop at a pace more rapid
than that of the destruction’s,” the young one explained, “additionally,” he
added at once, “there’s a reasonable probability that one or more of those new
intelligences will find answers regarding the dangerous entity’s identity and
perhaps will even find a way to stop it.” To his surprise, the leaders of his
nation accepted his offer and immediately set about materializing it.

The creators calculated (in the terms of their own
home-world) the amount of time necessary for the created world to mature enough
to allow the creation of intelligent life, and what each species needs to
undergo in order to develop into entities whose intelligence equals that of
their creators. Many of the worlds that collaborated with the creators were
made in such manner. The mixing of various species that had developed and
matured enriched intelligent life and helped its continued advancement. In each
such system of creation, the creators had changed certain data so that the
intelligent beings developing in it will be diverse, different and unique. Each
planet they’d created was a maze of chains and loops, events and discoveries,
all related to one another, all intended to prepare the created to reach the
yearned for leap and reach a higher intelligent consciousness.

That young creator had also calculated and found the
correct time for the making of the last world, after which no more time would
remain for intelligent entities to reach the yearned-for leap before the great
evil engulfs the home world.

Earth was the last created world. Its time of expiry was
set very close to the moment in which the ultimate evil, as the creators had
named it, will reach the home-world.

An excerpt from the legend of the creators according to the
Kner-Odin tradition

Elizabeth landed the hovercraft on the foot of the Ararat
Mountains in ancient Turkey, next to the shores of Lake Van. The four
disembarked from the small aircraft and stretched their feet, stiff from two
straight hours of sitting in the hovercraft. Adam and Natalia walked by
themselves toward the trees of a nearby grove. “Don’t go too far,” Elizabeth
instructed, “there are several decisions we need to make as soon as possible.”
Joseph remained by her side. She walked round the hovercraft several times and
tried to organize her thoughts. Elizabeth had no doubt the assassin was getting
closer and will very soon catch up with them. She wasn’t sure Adam was ready
for the confrontation that awaited him, but knew that sooner or later he would
have to face his pursuer. She hoped to be by his side when that fateful time
comes.

“Come and sit down,” called Joseph. She stopped and sat
beside him, on a wide ledge next to the hovercraft. “You’d better stop running
around,” he added.

“I can’t,” Elizabeth admitted, “I’m worried.”

“We’re doing the best we possibly can.”

“I don’t know, Joseph,” Elizabeth admitted, “I’m wracking my
brains trying to think what else we can do to make them stop chasing him.”

“They won’t,” answered Joseph, “you know they won’t. Sooner
or later, he’ll have to face the threats on his life, and I only hope we’ll be
able to be there, by his side. We’re simply prolonging the inevitable.”

“You’re probably right,” Elizabeth admitted, “but I can’t
stop worrying. You trust her?” she asked, and Joseph immediately knew she was
referring to Natalia. He smiled and placed his hand around her hips. She placed
her head on his shoulder and cuddled next to his body.

“Adam trusts her,” he said, “and as you well know, gaining
his trust is not an easy task.”

“That’s right,” Elizabeth admitted.

“Something happened between them on Mars.”

Elizabeth smiled. “Something on Mars,” she repeated his
words, “you know what that sounds like?” Joseph smiled as well and relaxed his
body. Only now did he realize since Adam had returned to earth he’s been tense
and alert and had not allowed himself any rest. His mind and senses were
constantly on tactical mode and fatigue threatened to bring him down. “Are you
feeling unwell?” she asked and gently caressed his ribs. He paid no mind to his
physical condition, even though his brain implant sent his eye-screens an alert
that he must quickly connect himself to a tissue construction unit.

“Nothing an inner-nucleus construction unit (Inside Nuclear
Tissues Constructor ©) won’t be able to fix,” he answered her. The basic first
aid kit in the hovercraft contained a standard unit, and Elizabeth helped him
to interface with it. As soon as he was connected, Joseph began to feel the
itching sensation that accompanied the work of the tissue constructors inside
his body. According to the inner-scan report that appeared on his eye-screens,
the fracture in his shoulder, caused by Sato’s kick, did not mend properly, as
well as the two broken ribs. Additionally, his body was covered with abrasions
and purple-red hemorrhages. Even though at least twice the normal amount of
nano and micro cells was now flowing in his blood, his improvetegrated body was
still unable to handle the multiple injuries without external interference.
Joseph relaxed in his seat and allowed the ‘garage’ (Garage ©), as the kit was
commonly referred to, to mend all that needed mending. “What did he tell him?”
he asked Elizabeth.

“Tell?” asked Elizabeth.

“The creator,” Joseph explained, “what did the creator reveal
to Adam about himself and about us?”

“First of all, why are you so certain it’s a male and not a
female creator?”

“I’m not really sure,” answered Joseph, “in all probability
it is a ‘he’ and a ‘she’ and neither.”

Elizabeth agreed with him.

“I think he’s changed.”

“You think that he… that she’d somehow changed him?”

“I don’t think so,” answered Elizabeth, “she wouldn’t have
risked such a radical change that would hurt the chances of his mission. But he
was somehow changed. He’s more focused, more wholesome. As if something else is
leading him, not just the desire for vengeance that had drawn him till now.
Have you noticed the fact he’s no longer being led?

Elizabeth nodded, “now, he’s the one leading.”

And after some thought, Joseph added, “Actually, she may have
avoided making radical changes, but simply made some subconscious adjustments.”

“I think he’s starting to realize the immensity of the
responsibility he carries on his shoulders.”

“I hope you’re right,” said Joseph, “the zero hour is
approaching.” Elizabeth immediately realized he was referring to the planet’s
expiration time (Zero Time Expiration of the Planet-Z-TEOP). Joseph didn’t know
what would happen after that point in time but assumed the mechanism moving the
tectonic plates was also responsible for the functioning of the remaining
elements comprising the Earth. Once the mechanism ceases to operate, the Earth
might finish its role in the universe.

“He must choose,” said Elizabeth.

“Not choosing is also a choice,” Joseph mentioned.

“We’re getting back to the same old argument,” Elizabeth was
angered, “the life of the human race is more important than the life of the
individual.”

“Not as far as that individual is concerned,” said Joseph,
“besides, we can’t even be certain that if he plays his part at the right time
and place, he’ll actually be able to save the human race.”

“He will improve it, he will make us better,” she said.

“Better than what?” asked Joseph and the angry Elizabeth did
not answer. She rose from her seat and began to march back and forth,
surrounding the place where Joseph continued to sit. “We don’t know anything
about the change and its implications. She sat next to Joseph once more and
placed her head on his shoulder. Joseph wrapped her with his hand, and they
continued to sit like that, close and silent, and their proximity soothed them
a little.

*

Adam and Natalia walked side by side, along the shores of the
Turkish lake. The pastoral views that surrounded them did not ease the tension
they both felt. Natalia held Adam’s hand, and he who took it without turning
his head. “I told you I’ll find you,” she said softly.

“You have,” answered Adam, “I knew you’d come.”

“Really?”

“Yes,” answered Adam, “you were watching us when we entered
Dr. Khaled’s clinic.”

“But I was wearing a mask and was far from you,” Natalia was
amazed, “how did you know it was me?”

“I recognized you immediately,” said Adam, and added, “and
I’m glad you’re here with me.” Natalia leaned on him and felt the warmth of his
body. She recoiled and stopped him.

“You’re burning,” she said, concerned, “are you ill?”

“No,” answered Adam, “I’m not.
I’m simply changing.” His eyes clouded for a moment and to Natalia it seemed
that they were pulled back.

• Report to the Nagid

• Report

• The area is secure. No immediate threats detected. Minor
secondary threat. Threats in the perimeter, ninety out of a hundred

• End report, create a cloaking zone around me, and continue
to look out for threats in the perimeter.

Adam blinked and embraced Natalia, she hugged him back with a
mixture of fear and enthusiasm. It’d been a long time since she had been
intimate with a man and was afraid to disappoint him. They held one another and
kissed passionately. Adam looked into her eyes and she felt she was melting in
his arms. All her fears melted as well. He led her into the grove by the lake,
and there they found a comfortable spot beneath the branches of an ancient oak
tree. They lay between its roots that protruded from the Earth. He took off his
protective suit and helped Natalia remove hers. He concentrated on her actions,
but part of his mind remained in tactical mode, trying to locate potential
threats. The fact they’d managed to evade danger so far did not say anything
about the future, and he didn’t want to be caught off guard. The computer
brain’s report was supposed to calm him down, but he still did not fully trust
it. The computer was loyal only to itself. He thought ‘spots’ was a good name
for it, at least that’s how he’d imagined the computer, remembering the red
dots of light that had saved his life in space.

Adam placed their protective suits on the ground, and they
lay on them. He led his hand across Natalia’s long body. She shivered at his
touch and kissed the hollow spot between his neck and shoulder. The fervor of
mutual passion ignited them, and they grasped one another. She turned him on
his back and sat above him. He rubbed his body against her pelvis and her long
thighs and she moaned with pleasure. She bent toward him, leaning her hand
against his chest, kissed him and with her other hand, led him inside her. She
closed her eyes while he looked at her with concentration. Her serious face
twisted with effort and a smile dawned on her lips as she moved her pelvis up
and down. Their movements, cautious and gentle at first, lost some of their
gentleness and gained the urgency of mutual need.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” he whispered and she opened her
eyes and met his steady gaze.

“Me too,” she answered. He turned her and pressed his body to
hers. She stretched herself with the pleasure at his touch. He disengaged
himself for a moment and turned her on her side. Then lay close to her and
penetrated her from behind, caressing her pubic hair and gently drumming it,
increasing his pace as his excitement grew. He felt elated and overwhelmed; as
if this was the first time he was with a woman. His other hand was under her,
and his fingers held her firm breast and hard nipple. She moaned again, and he
felt he was about to explode inside her, she climaxed and squeezed her hips,
then released and embraced him as he came to her. And when she felt he was
about to come, she squeezed her body once more and drained him. They lay
embraced for a long time after they were finished. She leaned her head on her
outstretched hand and caressed the back of his body with her free hand. He
gently ruffled her hair. “Come,” she invited him and rose, “let’s go swimming.”
She stood up and marched on the narrow beach strip. Adam looked at her while
she walked. She wasn’t ashamed of her nakedness and felt free and serene. He
rose and joined her. They dived into the cold and salty water of the lake, then
held onto each other and made love once more.

After they got out of the water and lay again in the shadow
of the grove’s trees, Natalia felt she was about to fall asleep. She caressed
Adam’s abdomen and chest while he lay on his back and gazed into her eyes.

“I’m not going to run anymore,” he said, and she tensed.

“I’m here to protect you,” she said and placed her mind in
tactical mode. Her eyes scanning the area without her head moving.

“I know,” he said, “but I’m turning back. I’m sick and tired
of not knowing who’s after me.”

“I can tell you exactly who’s after you: Sato. He’s the one
we tangled with in the Jerusalem market.”

“I’m not talking about the soldiers. I’m talking about the
one in charge, the person who gave the order to hunt me down.” Her feeling that
he had changed intensified. He’d become more serious, mature and introverted,
he was stronger and more focused than he’d been, and not for the first time
since they’d met again, she felt she was drowning within the powerful halo that
engulfed him.

“It will be very dangerous,” she warned and the fear she felt
snuck into her voice, “it’ll be a suicide mission.”

“I can’t spend my entire life running. Too many people were
killed to keep me alive. Enough, this ends here and now.”

“I once had a commander,” Natalia started, then corrected
herself, “he was more a teacher than a commander. He taught me a lesson I’m
trying to act upon to this very day. He said that in war, the desire for
revenge is a distraction. A real warrior clears his mind of any trace of
distraction.”

Adam thought for a moment before answering. “It’s not about
revenge, it hasn’t been for a long time,” he said, “this is bigger than you or
me. This is a war for survival.” He let his words trickle into Natalia’s mind
before adding: “I learned that’s what I do best.”

“I can help you with that as well,” she hurried to say, “I
won’t let anyone hurt you.” Adam smiled and caressed her cheek. She waited for
him to say something, to agree, but he merely continued to be silent and
smiled. She took her eyes away from him. “I’m not leaving you,” she let him
know.

“There’ll come a stage when you won’t be able to follow me,”
Adam explained, “a stage in which I’ll need to act on my own.”

“I hope it’ll never come,” she
whispered, and he leaned and kissed her softly. Then lowered his head and
kissed her nipples, which hardened at his touch. She shivered and wrapped him
in her arms, clinging to him, feeding off the warmth of his body. He felt
another erection rising but did not move from her body, attached to his. She
held his hardened penis and they lay like that, attached and filled with desire
until he whispered in her ear, “We need to get back to the hovercraft.” She
held onto him a bit longer, then resealed him unwillingly, the yearning for his
body already nestling in hers. They got dressed quietly and turned again toward
the hovercraft’s landing site, joining their hands together. Suddenly, Adam’s
eyes clouded again, and he stiffened.

• The Nagid?

• Report

• Danger to the left, three clicks, seventeen percent chance
of neutralizing successfully

• Help?

• Usage of alien dots increases success chances to
ninety-four percent

• Inspect and report

• Yes, the Nagid

From the corner of her eye, Natalia saw movement among the
trees to their left. She quickly drew her weapon and cocked it while turning
around and placing herself between Adam and the grove. From behind a wide
foliaged oak tree, an agent dressed in a stealth attack suit lunged at them.
She pointed her gun at him, but he was fast and couldn’t be traced by her suit’s
motion sensors. He bypassed her and approached Adam, who was standing and
waiting for him patiently. The agent aimed his weapon at his target. Natalia
shouted and jumped toward her loved one, trying to separate him from the
attacker. She felt a wave of resistance in the air and the agent was blown away
and bumped against a rock about fifteen feet away from them. While still moving
in the air, Natalia grabbed Adam, and they both fell and rolled onto the ground
until the trunk of a large pine tree stopped them. Natalia got off him and
hurried to the attacker. She saw that his face was distorted with frozen pain,
and he was lifeless. She moved to Adam and asked, “What happened? What have you
done to him?” Adam didn’t answer. He stood on his feet and approached her and
the agent that had attacked them seconds ago. When he’d reached Natalia, she
recoiled from him. “You control the nanos,” she said.