WolfgarVanterra
Timekeeper
This short story, is actually a prequel to a novel I'm working on entitled 'The Blind Chronicles'.
Hope you enjoy...
The Best Offense
By: *************
Writing as: Wolfgar Vanterra
In as much as they had done, there would be no applause or medals given. They were nameless faces who had saved a ravaged world. A ravaged world in another time that had been twice removed from yesterday.
September 13, 2017. 6:53PM. He could hear their pounding against the door of the QMD chamber with an unbridled fury. He would be the last taken, though not if fate had anything to do with it. Dr. James Schroeder stepped upon the QMD chamber's platform and silently, though filled with trepidation watched the timer descend to zero. The sensation was astounding, as his mouth fell agape and emitted nary a sound. The chamber was dark now with the exception of another timer descending to zero. The seconds slipped away uncaring as to the events occurring just beyond the door at the opposite end of the large room. The timer struck zero seconds sending a small electrical charge along a pathway of wire, where it ended at a small micro-switch that sat alone in a dark corner on the floor. The electrical charge triggered the device that instantly executed its program and dialed the telephone number that had been stored within its program matrix. The number dialed rang the receiving telephone once, which activated the power system that it had been attached to, now activating a Fission device that had been hidden within the compound that housed the QMD. Hell hath no fires, which burn like the sun, as it kisses the earth, which cometh from man's arrogant hand.
June 5, 2004. 9:43PM. Detectives Drew Fontaine and Paula Gerrard went silent as the woman began to cry upon the shoulder of her husband. They slowly stood, knowing there were no more questions to ask. The distraught couple had been told that their daughter was missing from a pool party just five houses down. Kathryn Brown had vanished in the midst of a crowd, and they had no clues as to why. She was an 'A' student and liked by everyone with no connection to the usual street gangs that plagued the neighborhood in which she lived. Her boyfriend was a suspect but was then dismissed, as he had instigated the call to the police, and was showing signs of major concern as well. Both her parents and her boyfriend stated that it wasn't like her to just go off and not tell anyone, but now she was missing since six thirty that evening without a word to anyone. Fontaine and Gerrard excused themselves and walked out of the home, stating that they would call if they received any news about their daughter. They sat back in their unmarked car for a moment and looked at each other, displaying upon their faces a look of little hope of ever finding the girl alive again. Kathryn Brown was just one of over a thousand such disappearances that had occurred in the past four years in Illinois alone, bringing the total nation wide to more than two hundred thousand, and all being exactly the same. Fourteen-year-old children disappearing without a trace in the company of a crowd, while attending a pool party.
March 3, 1910. 1:53PM. Dr. James Schroeder opened his eyes with an audible moan. The blazing sun's light burst upon his optical nerves with a tremendous amount of intensity, sending pain reeling through his brain. He rolled painfully over to his left feeling as if he had been ripped to shreds then forced back into one piece violently by an unimaginable force. He reached his right hand slowly to his left wrist and felt lightly, where he was relieved to find the small device still attached. He knew that logically it could not have been removed except if his arm had been amputated, and that would have meant defeat in itself. He slowly and again painfully stood up from where he lay, and looked around. He surmised that he was in the Sahara desert by the look of the terrain, and after swallowing the liquid in the small vile he took from his labcoat pocket began to walk in a northwesterly direction. He knew eventually he'd come to a city, and from there, he would get to the states with only the time taken to arrive as an unknown factor. As he walked along the unmarked sand dunes, he mused over his predicament and the events, which had brought them about. It had been the viewers misreading of their projection that had truly been the culprit, for if they had only taken their time in interpreting the projection they had made, they would have seen this ELE for what it was. Yes, it was the end of humankind, but not by the accepted reasons so many had prophesized. Again, what arrogance man has for himself.
August 10, 2004. 9:22AM. Captain Aruki Sakura stepped to the podium that was centered at the front of the police squad room, and once he had gained his officers attention began to speak. It was solemn at best, but very to the point. In so many words, he simply told his officers that they had to find something, anything, about the recent disappearances of children that had now become an epidemic. He finished by introducing two FBI agents from Washington, D.C., and an INTERPOL agent that had come from England, allowing each one to speak in turn. They each delivered their information on the events which had been occurring, as well as their opinions, though as with the task force representing the state of Illinois, they hadn't a clue. All that had changed was the number of missing children, which had grown to over four hundred thousand missing over the past four years globally. Captain Sakura then retook the podium, and introduced a new strategy that had been formulated in a joint effort to end the abductions. The FBI in conjunction with INTERPOL, and a joint national police task force, would begin to use undercover officers as decoys, to try and infiltrate the group responsible for the abductions, hopefully bringing an end to the hysteria that was wreaking havoc across the globe.
October 20, 1929. 11:47AM. Dr. James Schroeder had by now accumulated millions in funds from his investments in the soon to collapse stock market. His primary investments were made from monies he had recovered from hidden troves which, according to historical records, had been taken by force and never found. In the years before 'Black Thursday', the boom in treasure hunting had become one of great acceptance, and Dr. Schroeder simply capitalized on the era of discovery to mask his knowledge of man's past. He now knew what was to take place, and quickly liquidated his investments into cash monies, which would allow him the ability to rise above the great depression era that would soon bring about the ruin of many entrepreneurs. He knew that there would be questions as to how he knew, but would simply pass it off as intuition, as did a sparse few of the investors of the time who were spared the ravaging of the failed financial market. It would never be known as to whom had made such sound financial actions, since most of the investments made were of an anonymous nature, which for the time, there had been such financial activities recorded. All the funds that Dr. Schroeder would accumulate over the years would be put to good use in areas that would never be questioned. The monies that he had secured were now sufficient enough to allow him the ability to begin putting his scheme into action, and over the next fifty years he would concentrate on preparing and constructing all that he would need to insure his plan would not fail. All this would be done in complete secrecy, as the world went about its normal development, with Dr. Schroeder waiting for the opportune moment to begin the first phase.
February 10, 2005. 8:43AM. It had been months since the unified task force had been in effect and still the abductions took place. The task force was stumped and left in the dark as to how the missing children were being selected. Not a one of their undercover operatives had been taken, with the number missing now reaching more than half a million. Where the problem lay, was that the case files were of missing children of fourteen years of age. Never any younger or older, and all displayed an excellent academic ability. The case files began in 2000 and so far had run for five years with new cases coming into the task force center now tapering off. The children were not however talented in such areas as theatre or music, nor were any physically or mentally challenged, it seemed that they had only good grades, with the majority being very athletic. Yet, there was no other connection or motive for their abductions. Their parents were mostly of the middle class, and their occupations ranged from construction workers to secretaries to doctors and lawyers, to great a range to have anything in common. With the cases beginning to slowly decrease, the united task force was becoming desperate in their attempt to put an end to the dilemma.
January 1, 1980. 12:03AM. Dr. Schroeder stood on the rooftop of the building, and looked out over the city in celebration, with his gaze stopping at Navey Pier. His tuxedo afforded him warmth from the frigid breeze, though it wasn't a necessity. He had now finished his preparations for the coming tests he would have to perform, in order to calibrate the machines he had constructed. He was more than happy to be living in a society, where people disappeared everyday, which would make his task all the more easy to accomplish. He smiled, and then held the glass of champagne up to the sky in salute, then finished the beverage finally tossing the glass to the floor of the rooftop. He turned and proceeded to the door of the lift, which would take him to the awaiting party below in the penthouse suite he had rented for the occasion. It was not so much in celebration of the New Year, but in the completion of the first stage of his plan, which made him smile even more.
June 23, 2005. 6:53PM. The international task force was elated, as well as fearful, for one of their undercover officers was now among the missing. It was something they had hoped for but now were filled with mixed feelings. They had placed a tracer on the officer, hoping that once they had been taken, they would be able to track and find them anywhere in the world utilizing surveillance satellites that had been dedicated for use by the task force. Only now, a new problem had arisen, in the guise that the signal had completely stopped transmitting the night of the disappearance. No matter how the satellites were tasked, the signal could not be found placing the task force to face the same dilemma as before. It was now on their priority case list to find something, anything that would lead them in the right direction to solve this unified case once and for all. True, there were a number of missing person case files, with thousands more occurring each day and world wide, and even though it sounded somewhat harsh, there was now a police officer involved in the disappearances. Police officer Janet Weller was now among the missing children, though she was actually twenty-six years old. She had been in numerous Internet sting operations and had been the perfect operative for such police activities. Barely standing five foot at ninety pounds fully clothed, she was the perfect woman for the job. Her long brunette hair and deep dark eyes added to the look that she had used on many an occasion over the Internet on a eye to eye system hookup. She would enhance her look at times, with pigtails in fluffy hair ties, or in a ponytail and burettes. She would finish the ensemble with a mid-drift top usually displaying a character from some children's storybook. Most of the predator's on the NET could hardly resist the temptation, as someone obviously had done. The task force had only three things to go on. All the children were straight 'A' students, athletic, and vanished while attending a pool party with a large crowd about them exactly as their officer had been. Nothing else that was detailed had any connection at all.
July 4, 1980. 9:00AM. Dr. Schroeder sat into the control seat facing the large monitor that measured forty feet in length by thirty feet in height, and then activated the entire system within the large cathedral ceiling room with a single word. The control seat began to rise into the air upon a hydraulic lift, until he was able to view the exact center of the monitor, which was beginning to display an array of data symbols across its face. The symbols being read by Dr. Schroeder were the lines of tasking code being transmitted by his stealth satellite that he had placed into orbit above the earth five years earlier. It had never been detected and it never would be, even after NASA had completed their Daedulus station in 2015. It was simple technology, at least to Dr. Schroeder, who had invented the technology of refractory EMP, and it was this technology that allowed the construction of the DRG and the QMD. It was not the QMD that would be utilized in the second stage of his plan but the DRG, which he would now begin to calibrate through a series of tests. He keyed in a command on the touch pad located on the left arm of the control seat, and smiled slightly as the seat turned to the right until it had been aligned with a set of twelve monitors set into the wall. He issued a voice command causing the monitors to come alive with twelve separate angular views of a certain longitude and latitude placed under surveillance by his high orbit satellite, that would change with each revolution of the earth. He smiled again, as he keyed in another set of commands and watched as the DRG performed its task. He could see it was still off some, and issued another voice command that brought the control seat back to the floor, shutting down the system.
August 24, 2005. 8:37AM. Officer Janet Weller opened her eyes slowly. It had been three days since she had used them, and although the room was filled with low level light, it still hurt. Her head felt as if it had been beaten with a claw hammer, and her body felt as if it had been whipped with a razor blade. She tried to move but found it impossible, even though she kept telling herself over again to do it or die. She tried hard to clear her eyes as she could now hear footsteps approaching along with voices that were hard to discern. She couldn't keep her eyes open any longer, as she could feel herself falling back into unconsciousness, with the voices fading along with the sensation of being touched.
May 10, 1982. 10:17PM. Dr. Schroeder was now more than satisfied with the calibrations, and knew that all he had to do now was to set up the place for the third part of his plan. He had made reservations to fly to Beijing in the morning, where he would then travel to Malaysia, where his target area was the South China Sea. It would be more or less a vacation for the good doctor, since he had been working non-stop on his project for more years than he cared to remember. Now the time had come to complete the second phase of construction, which would allow him the ability to calibrate the entire system. If he adhered to his time line, he would have the system ready for final calibration within ten years, giving plenty of time for the final testing. It would be then that he would activate the entire system network, where his plan would enter its third phase of operation. His only thought was that it had taken so long to construct the first half of the system, but knew that with the materials he had to work with, and the time frame he had to work within made it more difficult than he had first thought. Such were the plans of mice and men he mused to himself. He shut off the lights in his room, and then gathered his suitcase and briefcase. He then proceeded to leave the room and enter the car waiting to take him to the airport, where he would wait until his flight time.
November 10, 2005. 10:53AM. The international task force that had been assigned to find the missing children had been disbanded, and each member returned to their prospective duties. Detectives Fontaine and Gerrard had been placed back on their usual homicide cases, but they hadn't dismissed the missing children in any way, shape, or form. On their own time they would continue the investigations, even if it were only on the cases that concerned their own jurisdiction, but continue they did often to the point of total exhaustion. It was beginning to way on their performance as police officers, as well as on their personal lives. They could not however, just give up and forget about the children that had been taken. They could not give up on one of their own. Officer Janet Weller was still out there somewhere, and they needed to find her dead or alive.
August 5, 1985. 11:15PM. Dr. Schroeder had secured the property he had been after. It was more than sufficient to fulfill his needs, and fit well into the parameters of his plan. He secured a boat and made his way to the newly acquired property. He had brought with him three small metallic cases, which he would use to establish a security perimeter around the edge of a buffer zone he would survey over the following year. Once the security perimeter had been established, he would then install his refractory EMP system masking the security perimeter and its defenses. Once he had accomplished the first stage of the installation, he would then be able to transport the machine equipment and finish the final construction to its completion. He had more than enough time, leaving himself a testing window in which to calibrate the entire system to perfection. Once all the systems had been calibrated, he would then be able to enter the fourth stage of his plan, knowing that all he had done to this point was just the easy parts. The toughest part was yet to be accomplished, but knew that he could not in any way fail, not now. Not this close.
September 2, 2005. 7:41AM. Janet Weller awoke to the sound of someone screaming, and instantly her police persona came to the fore. She sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed she had been resting on, but then just as quickly braced her arms upon the bed to steady herself, as her head began to pound furiously. She stood as fast as she was able, but reeled to the point where she fell to the floor on one knee, fighting back the nausea she felt building inside her, and forced herself back to her feet. She shakily made the door and turned the door handle finding it unlocked, and stepped out into the hallway that she found to be unguarded. Again she heard the scream and quickened her pace to where it seemed to originate from but then stopped, as she could now hear laughter mixed with the scream. Her head was pounding fiercely and she was now using the wall to hold herself upright and steady, and though she tried as hard as she might she could not stand any more and fell to the stone floor unconscious once more.
March 21, 1990. 11:43AM. Dr. Schroeder had by now set the primary foundations of the twenty buildings that would be used. The security measures had already been in place for more than three years, and had been tested thoroughly by live tests. The property he had acquired was a strong draw for those of a criminal persuasion, and though they had the usage of the most modern technology available for the time, they failed to penetrate the security perimeter no matter the strategy or tactics used. He began to construct the main structures starting with the main machine housing, knowing that he had to transport the rest of the machines within the next year in order to finish within the time line he had projected. With the machines in place and at full operating potential, the rest of the structures would be finished well ahead of schedule. It would be then that he would be able to commence with the final testing and calibration of all the systems involved, where he would then prepare for the fourth phase of his plan. He stood for a moment and stared off into the setting sun. Time was indeed on his side, as far as the construction of the buildings and the machine systems were concerned, but he contemplated the final phase, which could prove disastrous if he had planned wrong. Within his thoughts he reminded himself of the inescapable seven-percent solution, yet hoped that it would be on his side.
September 8, 2005. 8:15AM. Janet Weller awoke from her deep sleep, not to a scream or laughter, but to total silence. It was eerie to hear nothing at all, and for the moment feared she had lost her ability to hear, but the rustling of the sheet that covered her removed her trepidation. She sat up upon the bed, crossing her legs in front of her, and this time emitted a sigh of relief that her head and body were clear and ready to face what ever came her way. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, and slipped her feet into the soft leather footwear that had been placed near the corner of the bed on the floor, and proceeded to exit the room she had been in for how long she could not say. She walked down the hallway which she recognized again finding it unguarded, and made her way down to the end and out the large arched opening that led out to a very well developed garden. Some of the flora she readily recognized and some she did not, but smiled warmly to their beauty. In the center of the garden was a large fountain with five large streams of water that shot up into the air, falling back upon themselves as Koi swam unfettered within their cascade. She then stopped for a moment and wondered if what she had heard the days before was only in her imagination. She was sure she had heard other voices, especially recalling the scream that had been followed by playful laughter. She wondered now if it had all been a dream, since no matter where she looked, there was no one to be found. She wandered around the garden finding it immense, as the sun basked her skin sending shivers of delight across her skin from head to toe.
April 1, 1995. 10:00AM. The main machine systems had now been set into place, and Dr. Schroeder now had begun the final construction of the rest of the complex. He would at times stop to gaze upon a passing jetliner or an occasional propeller driven plane that would fly overhead, but would quickly return to his endeavors knowing that time waited for no one. The construction of the complex was continuing right on schedule, as the second story to the southwest wing was put into place. He had only three more buildings to construct, where he then would be able to enter each building in turn and add the final touches. The secondary machine housing would be the last place finished, since it would be there that he would have to begin the underground development. It would be no easy task, yet with the main machine housing in operation, at least to the point where the primary machine systems were functioning, he would be able to accomplish the feat without much difficulty. All, if the time schedule were adhered to without falter, would be fully completed and operational within three years, and the final testing could begin.
September 9, 2005. 8:15PM. Janet had by now wandered back into the room she had left, and sat upon the bed. She had examined all there was within her sight, and found nothing out of the ordinary. A table with lamp, a few books of literature, paper and pen, and a chest of drawers with an assortment of clothes that fit her perfectly. Still, she had not heard word, or laughter one. It couldn't have been her imagination, especially when she rubbed her knee, indicating that she had taken a fall, which to her recollection had been when she had passed out sometime in the hallway she had explored previously. She lay back upon the bed, with the soft pillow propped up upon the headboard, and emitted a sigh of frustration. Where had everybody gone off to she wondered, having the question answered as the sounds of people began to build in the distance, turning into words and as well happy laughter. She sprang to her feet, immediately ran to the door of her room, and quickly flung the door open. Children. Hundreds and hundreds of children, happy, well feed, and very much alive.
June 8, 1998. 1:04PM. Dr. Schroeder sat back in an old wooden lawn chair on a beach located just below the west wing building of the complex. It had been finished the day before up to and including the power supply station within the machine systems structure. The first transfer tests would begin the following morning, which would allow him to calibrate the entire system completely. With the calibrations completed, he would then return to the states and begin the fifth phase of his plan. To be sure, this would indeed be a very delicate action in the overall scheme that he was undertaking, since any error that might occur would prove disastrous. Not for himself since he had interwoven such a redundant systems logic into the overall plan as well as the machine systems he would utilize, but for the transfer target he would soon be acquiring for the completed project to function. It wasn't in as much as the amount of transfers that would occur, but the allotted time frame that they would occur within, for there were only so many seconds within a minute and so many minutes within his window of opportunity in which to make the transfers complete. His stealth satellite could be re-tasked at any moment to suit his needs, but once tasked and set for a certain area it could not be changed until the last transfer had been completed. He sat and gazed out over the sea that stretched out to the horizon, until the sun had completely vanished from view. With the last shades of hue that gave a hint that there had been a day he rose from the wooden lawn chair, and proceeded to the main machine housing within the complex.
October 30, 2005. 7:14PM. Janet Weller had by now spoken to most of the children, including the two who had taken care of her. Most of the answers she had been given were vague at best with many questions still unanswered. She had been told that she had been the only one who had arrived with great difficulty, since most only recalled their arrival, and being met by the others who had been here before. Though she asked why it had occurred to her and not anyone else, the children could only answer that she would have to wait for Zee to come, and that he would answer all her question as he had for them. She had been told that once Zee had spoken to her, everything would then become clear. She found not a one who was afraid or wanting to return home, which made Janet think that they had been brainwashed to some degree, giving the scenario a most sinister twist.
January 1, 2000. 9:00AM. The machine systems were at full power and the satellite stationed in place. Dr. Schroeder sat in the control seat and issued the command that raised him into position. He keyed in the code he had entered before and waited until the control seat was now facing the twelve monitors once again. He keyed in another code set, and then issued the command to begin the transfers. The system jumped into action silently, and within a mere three minutes had completed all of the transfers that had been scheduled for this particular window of opportunity. He issued the command that returned the control seat to the main monitor, and could now see that the one hundred transfers that were plotted had been made with perfect clarity and accuracy. The monitoring systems of the second station begin to display the presence of activity within the complex at levels that exceeded his set parameters. Everything was falling into place as he had planned, now all that was left was to complete the transfers, and then set the final phase of the overall plan into motion.
November 2, 2005. 9:15AM. The knock at the door awoke Janet from a fitful sleep, as she had been dreaming of herself falling through an abyss of water that had no end. She slowly stood from her bed, finally answering the second knock on the door. She opened the door and exhaustedly stared at the two smiling children on the other side of its threshold. They had invited her to breakfast, where soon after, they would commence to familiarize her with her surroundings. She had been told that she would be taken on the grand tour of the entire complexity with the exclusion of the main machine housing, since no one could enter the building except Zee. Janet wondered who this Zee was, and what his connection to these children could be. No one could tell her when he would arrive for his next visit, so she would have to try and function as an integral part of this child community, until she could get the answers she was looking for.
February 4, 2005. 8:13PM. There from within the machine housing came the transmission of light into each dorm indicating that Zee had arrived. Janet knew this as well, for most of the children had informed her of what would occur as he arrived. They also had told her that Zee would address the new ones first, then speak to the others whom had been here the longest. Only Janet stood as the only newcomer that Zee would speak with. She was taken by several of the children to the main doors of the machine-housing complex, and then left there alone where she would soon speak with Zee. Janet had in her mind to let this Zee know up front that she was a cop and to instantly place him under arrest for kidnapping. She pushed the idea away just as quickly, knowing that she was on his turf and could easily be done away with and soon forgotten. She planned on letting Zee speak while being given the grand tour of the machine housing, where maybe if she were lucky, she'd be able to find some form of communications set-up in which to radio for help. Her attention turned to the doors that were giving off a sound of being opened, as they swung into the building where Janet could see a figure approaching her. The figure moved with ease and authority towards her from quite a distance from within, and though she could not see any details to his face, his confidence was striking.
Janet swallowed audibly as Zee came to stand a mere few feet from her, and smiled down at her. Compared to her, he was a giant. Standing six foot even at near two hundred pounds, he dwarfed Janet with ease, yet his demeanor was more alarming than anything else was, for he was polite and soft-spoken with a smile that could warm anyone. He smiled down at Janet, and then turned slightly sideways, beckoning her inside the machine-housing complex. She entered the building with some trepidation that grew in intensity as the doors to the complex began to close behind her.
"So you're the one they call Zee"! She spoke as she walked along side her prime suspect.
Dr. James Schroeder chuckled lightly, then cleared his throat. "Yes, I'm the one they call Zee, though it's more a misunderstanding that came from the first ones brought here". He chuckled again.
"You find it amusing"? Janet asked with a touch of anger to her voice.
"Yes, in a way". He glanced down at her as they continued to walk down the immense hallway. "When I came here the first time, the first ones had asked who I was, and what I was. I replied that I was the last of my kind. I did tell them my name, but somehow they took my philosophical answer to heart, and started calling me Zee. The nickname just stuck, and they've been calling me Zee ever since".
Janet could see in the distance that they were approaching a junction in the building that was as large as the hallway that she and Zee were traversing. "So then what is your name"?
"My name is Dr. James Edward Schroeder. I'm a Physicist. More or less, This way". He pointed to his left and the two proceeded in the direction he had turned to.
"More or less"? Janet asked with a nervous twitch to her voice, thinking that there were those who worked for the government that had devised some nasty things.
"Yes. I graduated from Berkeley, but fancied myself more an inventor than anything else. I came into the employ of an A.E.D.T. tech firm in California. They were into some very radical thinking. That was my first and last job until…well, until I arrived here".
"Speaking of arriving, how was it that I got here, and why was it so difficult"? Janet gazed about the hallway and noticed what appeared to be pillars of a crystalline nature, filled with what looked like a glowing liquid.
"You were brought here through a dimensional rift gate, or DRG which was created by a dimensional riff generator controlled and operated from the states". He looked down at Janet, looking for a reaction of disbelief, which came right on cue. "It was guided by a satellite in a high orbit above in space, which had locked on to your reflection on the surface of a pool. The moment it had locked on to your reflection, the DRG sent a tagging signal to your location via the satellite locking on to the longitude and latitude of your exact location. When the earth made another revolution, and in that I mean a revolution per second per second, the generator sent a highly concentrated EMP. Let me explain." He pointed in another direction and they both turned in unisance. "All matter is made up of atoms, with each atom consisting of a group of smaller particles. The DRG has the ability to distinguish the difference between these particles, and disassemble them within a strict flow of a cohesive stream of an EMP. The primary flow of the EMP literally places all atomic particles in a stasis like field, then pulls them back up into the satellite, which, as another revolution passes, transfers the collected and altered stream to another location, reassembling them via a refractory EMP. Kinda like jumping into a pool, and climbing out of another one somewhere else. Only the pool surface is the deflection point for the DRG, and for why it was so difficult for your transfer, the only thing I can think of is that something you were wearing caused a slight disruption of the EMP field." They approached another large set of doors that begin to open as they grew nearer.
"So that's why all the children disappeared while attending a pool party. It was the pool surface that you used to abduct them"! Janet knew now that there was more to what was going on than anyone had ever thought.
"Exactly! You know? Now that I see you in this brighter light, you don't look much like you're a kid"! Zee smiled lightly, thinking that he may have been had.
Janet smiled back at Zee, as her lips pursed. "I'm not. I'm a twenty-six year old police officer, and you're under arrest"! She smiled bigger now, cocking her head slightly to the right while placing her hands behind her back.
Zee laughed out loud rocking forward slightly, and Janet could not help but join in, since she knew the irony of her statement. "Well, I guess we have a bit of a dilemma don't we". Zee smiled down at Janet who smiled back and sighed audibly.
"That we do Doc! That we do. So why the abductions"? Janet asked her question as they both walked through the now fully opened doors and stepped into the brightly-lit chamber that housed the power station of the entire island complex.
"Why? Because I needed an army". Zee looked down at Janet and saw her face straighten completely showing concern.
"An army? Is this about some world domination plot you've got planned"? She poised herself defensively as Zee motioned her to enter what appeared to be an elevator lift.
"World domination has something to do with it, but not all of it. Come on Officer…by the way, what is your name"? He had stepped into the lift and was now motioning her to join him as he asked her name.
"It's Janet. Janet Weller". She held her position and stared at him with apprehension.
"Well then come Officer Weller. I've something to show you". He again motioned for her to join him in the lift, where she hesitated for a moment, and then entered the lift coming to stand next to him and watched the door of the lift close, where it then began to descend.
"So why children"? She had placed her back against the side of the lift giving her some room to defend herself, in case the need would arise.
"I needed the children, simply because they are just that. Children. People over the age that they are would have been too old to train, and I have only twelve years now to train them properly". He stood in his same position, but turned his head toward Janet and smiled, knowing she was probably thinking some very horrible thoughts.
"Train them? Train them how"? She stood away from the side of the lift, placing her hands down by her sides, keeping her gaze on Zee without flinching.
"In the use of those". Zee pointed straight ahead causing Janet to turn her gaze, where her eyes fell upon machines beyond anything she had ever seen or imagined.
"What the hell are those"? Janet walked up to the transparent door of the lift and stared in awe, at what appeared to be robots of sorts.
"Those, are Cyclones. Self-contained, cybernetically enhanced, armored military personnel carriers. APC-5150s. Quite the thing to halt an invasion. Each one is capable of staving off an entire army. Any army. I hope". The lift locked into the floor allowing the door to open. Zee stepped out of the lift and then turned to Janet holding out his hand to her. She stepped from the lift and placed her hand in his. He took her hand gently, and led her down the center of the hanger where the machines stood within their housing. "Impressive aren't they".
"Very. But why"? Janet spoke as if in shock, which was more than the case.
"Why? I'll tell you. When you thought that the plan was for world domination, you were half right". Janet stopped abruptly and yanked her hand from Zee giving him a look that could kill. "No Janet, not my plan. You see, there are those who have been called remote viewers. They have the ability to view the future under certain conditions. Some of these viewers tried to view the future as far as possible. September the twelfth of two thousand seventeen was as far as they could view. I was working within one of the testing facilities of the tech firm I worked for on that date. It was the most vicious attack in earth's history. In less than twenty-four hours, more than a billion lives were lost. The devastation was unparalleled by any comparison. They had come from a star system so close to us that we didn't even contemplate it being possible. They came with the sole intent of eradicating our species from the universe itself it seemed and all because of an AM radio transmission that was sent out into space in the thirties. On the following morning after their initial attack, I had stepped onto the only known Quantum Matrix Driver platform in the world, and sent myself here to the early part of the twentieth century. It was more an act of desperation, since no one even I knew if the QMD would even work. I'd either end up here, or I'd end being pulverized into atomic dust. Or beyond. I brought with me three small hand held systems within my lab coat, and one small vile containing another of my firm's developments. Once here, and once I knew that I had actually arrived, I took out the vile I had brought with me, and ingested the contents. They were xenonates, which immediately began to replicate. As they replicated, they began to copy every cell of my body and then replaced them, turning my body into total machine". They reached the center of the hanger bay and stopped, where Janet slowly sat upon the floor. Zee lowered himself down upon one knee, as he placed his right hand on her left shoulder.
"You're a machine"? Janet stared into his eyes in shock.
"A cyborg more or less". He smiled at her, then sat down upon the hanger bay floor in front of her.
"And the children"? Janet asked with fear in her voice.
"Oh no! They're one hundred percent human. The Cyclones won't respond to a machine. They only respond to human thought, which is transferred through a device located in their helmets. That's what I meant by them being trained. Over the next twelve years, they'll train in the use of the Cyclones to fight against the invasion that is soon to come". Janet looked into Zee's eyes and could see within them a distance, as well as a look of forlorn hope.
"So all of the abductions were in preparation for war. That I understand, but do the children"? She asked while glancing over the impressive machines that seemed to be standing at attention awaiting their orders to advance.
"They do. And they accept what they have been asked to do. I explained the importance of why they are here and why they were chosen. They understand everything very clearly". Zee stood up and offered his hand to Janet, where he then helped her to her feet.
"And what exactly is it that they clearly understand Zee"? She asked her question as she and Zee made their way back to the lift.
"Well, they understand that they will be the only chance that we have to survive the invasion. Plus, they also truly understand the old saying with the heart of a true soldier".
"And what old saying would that be"? Janet asked with a look of understanding as well as curiosity displayed upon her face.
Zee turned to Janet and smiled while speaking. "The best offense, is a good defense"! They both entered the lift and prepared to return to the island surface.
******************
To RainmanTime and Jaxon, if you read this. The questions I have asked, is so that when 'The Blind Chronicles' is finally published, the information within that pertains to Quantum whatever, is as accurate as possible. This also stands for those who say they are time travelers. I need questions answered for accuracy in the writing. I myself? Have no real desire to travel in time.
Take care........................ /ttiforum/images/graemlins/devil.gif
Hope you enjoy...
The Best Offense
By: *************
Writing as: Wolfgar Vanterra
In as much as they had done, there would be no applause or medals given. They were nameless faces who had saved a ravaged world. A ravaged world in another time that had been twice removed from yesterday.
September 13, 2017. 6:53PM. He could hear their pounding against the door of the QMD chamber with an unbridled fury. He would be the last taken, though not if fate had anything to do with it. Dr. James Schroeder stepped upon the QMD chamber's platform and silently, though filled with trepidation watched the timer descend to zero. The sensation was astounding, as his mouth fell agape and emitted nary a sound. The chamber was dark now with the exception of another timer descending to zero. The seconds slipped away uncaring as to the events occurring just beyond the door at the opposite end of the large room. The timer struck zero seconds sending a small electrical charge along a pathway of wire, where it ended at a small micro-switch that sat alone in a dark corner on the floor. The electrical charge triggered the device that instantly executed its program and dialed the telephone number that had been stored within its program matrix. The number dialed rang the receiving telephone once, which activated the power system that it had been attached to, now activating a Fission device that had been hidden within the compound that housed the QMD. Hell hath no fires, which burn like the sun, as it kisses the earth, which cometh from man's arrogant hand.
June 5, 2004. 9:43PM. Detectives Drew Fontaine and Paula Gerrard went silent as the woman began to cry upon the shoulder of her husband. They slowly stood, knowing there were no more questions to ask. The distraught couple had been told that their daughter was missing from a pool party just five houses down. Kathryn Brown had vanished in the midst of a crowd, and they had no clues as to why. She was an 'A' student and liked by everyone with no connection to the usual street gangs that plagued the neighborhood in which she lived. Her boyfriend was a suspect but was then dismissed, as he had instigated the call to the police, and was showing signs of major concern as well. Both her parents and her boyfriend stated that it wasn't like her to just go off and not tell anyone, but now she was missing since six thirty that evening without a word to anyone. Fontaine and Gerrard excused themselves and walked out of the home, stating that they would call if they received any news about their daughter. They sat back in their unmarked car for a moment and looked at each other, displaying upon their faces a look of little hope of ever finding the girl alive again. Kathryn Brown was just one of over a thousand such disappearances that had occurred in the past four years in Illinois alone, bringing the total nation wide to more than two hundred thousand, and all being exactly the same. Fourteen-year-old children disappearing without a trace in the company of a crowd, while attending a pool party.
March 3, 1910. 1:53PM. Dr. James Schroeder opened his eyes with an audible moan. The blazing sun's light burst upon his optical nerves with a tremendous amount of intensity, sending pain reeling through his brain. He rolled painfully over to his left feeling as if he had been ripped to shreds then forced back into one piece violently by an unimaginable force. He reached his right hand slowly to his left wrist and felt lightly, where he was relieved to find the small device still attached. He knew that logically it could not have been removed except if his arm had been amputated, and that would have meant defeat in itself. He slowly and again painfully stood up from where he lay, and looked around. He surmised that he was in the Sahara desert by the look of the terrain, and after swallowing the liquid in the small vile he took from his labcoat pocket began to walk in a northwesterly direction. He knew eventually he'd come to a city, and from there, he would get to the states with only the time taken to arrive as an unknown factor. As he walked along the unmarked sand dunes, he mused over his predicament and the events, which had brought them about. It had been the viewers misreading of their projection that had truly been the culprit, for if they had only taken their time in interpreting the projection they had made, they would have seen this ELE for what it was. Yes, it was the end of humankind, but not by the accepted reasons so many had prophesized. Again, what arrogance man has for himself.
August 10, 2004. 9:22AM. Captain Aruki Sakura stepped to the podium that was centered at the front of the police squad room, and once he had gained his officers attention began to speak. It was solemn at best, but very to the point. In so many words, he simply told his officers that they had to find something, anything, about the recent disappearances of children that had now become an epidemic. He finished by introducing two FBI agents from Washington, D.C., and an INTERPOL agent that had come from England, allowing each one to speak in turn. They each delivered their information on the events which had been occurring, as well as their opinions, though as with the task force representing the state of Illinois, they hadn't a clue. All that had changed was the number of missing children, which had grown to over four hundred thousand missing over the past four years globally. Captain Sakura then retook the podium, and introduced a new strategy that had been formulated in a joint effort to end the abductions. The FBI in conjunction with INTERPOL, and a joint national police task force, would begin to use undercover officers as decoys, to try and infiltrate the group responsible for the abductions, hopefully bringing an end to the hysteria that was wreaking havoc across the globe.
October 20, 1929. 11:47AM. Dr. James Schroeder had by now accumulated millions in funds from his investments in the soon to collapse stock market. His primary investments were made from monies he had recovered from hidden troves which, according to historical records, had been taken by force and never found. In the years before 'Black Thursday', the boom in treasure hunting had become one of great acceptance, and Dr. Schroeder simply capitalized on the era of discovery to mask his knowledge of man's past. He now knew what was to take place, and quickly liquidated his investments into cash monies, which would allow him the ability to rise above the great depression era that would soon bring about the ruin of many entrepreneurs. He knew that there would be questions as to how he knew, but would simply pass it off as intuition, as did a sparse few of the investors of the time who were spared the ravaging of the failed financial market. It would never be known as to whom had made such sound financial actions, since most of the investments made were of an anonymous nature, which for the time, there had been such financial activities recorded. All the funds that Dr. Schroeder would accumulate over the years would be put to good use in areas that would never be questioned. The monies that he had secured were now sufficient enough to allow him the ability to begin putting his scheme into action, and over the next fifty years he would concentrate on preparing and constructing all that he would need to insure his plan would not fail. All this would be done in complete secrecy, as the world went about its normal development, with Dr. Schroeder waiting for the opportune moment to begin the first phase.
February 10, 2005. 8:43AM. It had been months since the unified task force had been in effect and still the abductions took place. The task force was stumped and left in the dark as to how the missing children were being selected. Not a one of their undercover operatives had been taken, with the number missing now reaching more than half a million. Where the problem lay, was that the case files were of missing children of fourteen years of age. Never any younger or older, and all displayed an excellent academic ability. The case files began in 2000 and so far had run for five years with new cases coming into the task force center now tapering off. The children were not however talented in such areas as theatre or music, nor were any physically or mentally challenged, it seemed that they had only good grades, with the majority being very athletic. Yet, there was no other connection or motive for their abductions. Their parents were mostly of the middle class, and their occupations ranged from construction workers to secretaries to doctors and lawyers, to great a range to have anything in common. With the cases beginning to slowly decrease, the united task force was becoming desperate in their attempt to put an end to the dilemma.
January 1, 1980. 12:03AM. Dr. Schroeder stood on the rooftop of the building, and looked out over the city in celebration, with his gaze stopping at Navey Pier. His tuxedo afforded him warmth from the frigid breeze, though it wasn't a necessity. He had now finished his preparations for the coming tests he would have to perform, in order to calibrate the machines he had constructed. He was more than happy to be living in a society, where people disappeared everyday, which would make his task all the more easy to accomplish. He smiled, and then held the glass of champagne up to the sky in salute, then finished the beverage finally tossing the glass to the floor of the rooftop. He turned and proceeded to the door of the lift, which would take him to the awaiting party below in the penthouse suite he had rented for the occasion. It was not so much in celebration of the New Year, but in the completion of the first stage of his plan, which made him smile even more.
June 23, 2005. 6:53PM. The international task force was elated, as well as fearful, for one of their undercover officers was now among the missing. It was something they had hoped for but now were filled with mixed feelings. They had placed a tracer on the officer, hoping that once they had been taken, they would be able to track and find them anywhere in the world utilizing surveillance satellites that had been dedicated for use by the task force. Only now, a new problem had arisen, in the guise that the signal had completely stopped transmitting the night of the disappearance. No matter how the satellites were tasked, the signal could not be found placing the task force to face the same dilemma as before. It was now on their priority case list to find something, anything that would lead them in the right direction to solve this unified case once and for all. True, there were a number of missing person case files, with thousands more occurring each day and world wide, and even though it sounded somewhat harsh, there was now a police officer involved in the disappearances. Police officer Janet Weller was now among the missing children, though she was actually twenty-six years old. She had been in numerous Internet sting operations and had been the perfect operative for such police activities. Barely standing five foot at ninety pounds fully clothed, she was the perfect woman for the job. Her long brunette hair and deep dark eyes added to the look that she had used on many an occasion over the Internet on a eye to eye system hookup. She would enhance her look at times, with pigtails in fluffy hair ties, or in a ponytail and burettes. She would finish the ensemble with a mid-drift top usually displaying a character from some children's storybook. Most of the predator's on the NET could hardly resist the temptation, as someone obviously had done. The task force had only three things to go on. All the children were straight 'A' students, athletic, and vanished while attending a pool party with a large crowd about them exactly as their officer had been. Nothing else that was detailed had any connection at all.
July 4, 1980. 9:00AM. Dr. Schroeder sat into the control seat facing the large monitor that measured forty feet in length by thirty feet in height, and then activated the entire system within the large cathedral ceiling room with a single word. The control seat began to rise into the air upon a hydraulic lift, until he was able to view the exact center of the monitor, which was beginning to display an array of data symbols across its face. The symbols being read by Dr. Schroeder were the lines of tasking code being transmitted by his stealth satellite that he had placed into orbit above the earth five years earlier. It had never been detected and it never would be, even after NASA had completed their Daedulus station in 2015. It was simple technology, at least to Dr. Schroeder, who had invented the technology of refractory EMP, and it was this technology that allowed the construction of the DRG and the QMD. It was not the QMD that would be utilized in the second stage of his plan but the DRG, which he would now begin to calibrate through a series of tests. He keyed in a command on the touch pad located on the left arm of the control seat, and smiled slightly as the seat turned to the right until it had been aligned with a set of twelve monitors set into the wall. He issued a voice command causing the monitors to come alive with twelve separate angular views of a certain longitude and latitude placed under surveillance by his high orbit satellite, that would change with each revolution of the earth. He smiled again, as he keyed in another set of commands and watched as the DRG performed its task. He could see it was still off some, and issued another voice command that brought the control seat back to the floor, shutting down the system.
August 24, 2005. 8:37AM. Officer Janet Weller opened her eyes slowly. It had been three days since she had used them, and although the room was filled with low level light, it still hurt. Her head felt as if it had been beaten with a claw hammer, and her body felt as if it had been whipped with a razor blade. She tried to move but found it impossible, even though she kept telling herself over again to do it or die. She tried hard to clear her eyes as she could now hear footsteps approaching along with voices that were hard to discern. She couldn't keep her eyes open any longer, as she could feel herself falling back into unconsciousness, with the voices fading along with the sensation of being touched.
May 10, 1982. 10:17PM. Dr. Schroeder was now more than satisfied with the calibrations, and knew that all he had to do now was to set up the place for the third part of his plan. He had made reservations to fly to Beijing in the morning, where he would then travel to Malaysia, where his target area was the South China Sea. It would be more or less a vacation for the good doctor, since he had been working non-stop on his project for more years than he cared to remember. Now the time had come to complete the second phase of construction, which would allow him the ability to calibrate the entire system. If he adhered to his time line, he would have the system ready for final calibration within ten years, giving plenty of time for the final testing. It would be then that he would activate the entire system network, where his plan would enter its third phase of operation. His only thought was that it had taken so long to construct the first half of the system, but knew that with the materials he had to work with, and the time frame he had to work within made it more difficult than he had first thought. Such were the plans of mice and men he mused to himself. He shut off the lights in his room, and then gathered his suitcase and briefcase. He then proceeded to leave the room and enter the car waiting to take him to the airport, where he would wait until his flight time.
November 10, 2005. 10:53AM. The international task force that had been assigned to find the missing children had been disbanded, and each member returned to their prospective duties. Detectives Fontaine and Gerrard had been placed back on their usual homicide cases, but they hadn't dismissed the missing children in any way, shape, or form. On their own time they would continue the investigations, even if it were only on the cases that concerned their own jurisdiction, but continue they did often to the point of total exhaustion. It was beginning to way on their performance as police officers, as well as on their personal lives. They could not however, just give up and forget about the children that had been taken. They could not give up on one of their own. Officer Janet Weller was still out there somewhere, and they needed to find her dead or alive.
August 5, 1985. 11:15PM. Dr. Schroeder had secured the property he had been after. It was more than sufficient to fulfill his needs, and fit well into the parameters of his plan. He secured a boat and made his way to the newly acquired property. He had brought with him three small metallic cases, which he would use to establish a security perimeter around the edge of a buffer zone he would survey over the following year. Once the security perimeter had been established, he would then install his refractory EMP system masking the security perimeter and its defenses. Once he had accomplished the first stage of the installation, he would then be able to transport the machine equipment and finish the final construction to its completion. He had more than enough time, leaving himself a testing window in which to calibrate the entire system to perfection. Once all the systems had been calibrated, he would then be able to enter the fourth stage of his plan, knowing that all he had done to this point was just the easy parts. The toughest part was yet to be accomplished, but knew that he could not in any way fail, not now. Not this close.
September 2, 2005. 7:41AM. Janet Weller awoke to the sound of someone screaming, and instantly her police persona came to the fore. She sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed she had been resting on, but then just as quickly braced her arms upon the bed to steady herself, as her head began to pound furiously. She stood as fast as she was able, but reeled to the point where she fell to the floor on one knee, fighting back the nausea she felt building inside her, and forced herself back to her feet. She shakily made the door and turned the door handle finding it unlocked, and stepped out into the hallway that she found to be unguarded. Again she heard the scream and quickened her pace to where it seemed to originate from but then stopped, as she could now hear laughter mixed with the scream. Her head was pounding fiercely and she was now using the wall to hold herself upright and steady, and though she tried as hard as she might she could not stand any more and fell to the stone floor unconscious once more.
March 21, 1990. 11:43AM. Dr. Schroeder had by now set the primary foundations of the twenty buildings that would be used. The security measures had already been in place for more than three years, and had been tested thoroughly by live tests. The property he had acquired was a strong draw for those of a criminal persuasion, and though they had the usage of the most modern technology available for the time, they failed to penetrate the security perimeter no matter the strategy or tactics used. He began to construct the main structures starting with the main machine housing, knowing that he had to transport the rest of the machines within the next year in order to finish within the time line he had projected. With the machines in place and at full operating potential, the rest of the structures would be finished well ahead of schedule. It would be then that he would be able to commence with the final testing and calibration of all the systems involved, where he would then prepare for the fourth phase of his plan. He stood for a moment and stared off into the setting sun. Time was indeed on his side, as far as the construction of the buildings and the machine systems were concerned, but he contemplated the final phase, which could prove disastrous if he had planned wrong. Within his thoughts he reminded himself of the inescapable seven-percent solution, yet hoped that it would be on his side.
September 8, 2005. 8:15AM. Janet Weller awoke from her deep sleep, not to a scream or laughter, but to total silence. It was eerie to hear nothing at all, and for the moment feared she had lost her ability to hear, but the rustling of the sheet that covered her removed her trepidation. She sat up upon the bed, crossing her legs in front of her, and this time emitted a sigh of relief that her head and body were clear and ready to face what ever came her way. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, and slipped her feet into the soft leather footwear that had been placed near the corner of the bed on the floor, and proceeded to exit the room she had been in for how long she could not say. She walked down the hallway which she recognized again finding it unguarded, and made her way down to the end and out the large arched opening that led out to a very well developed garden. Some of the flora she readily recognized and some she did not, but smiled warmly to their beauty. In the center of the garden was a large fountain with five large streams of water that shot up into the air, falling back upon themselves as Koi swam unfettered within their cascade. She then stopped for a moment and wondered if what she had heard the days before was only in her imagination. She was sure she had heard other voices, especially recalling the scream that had been followed by playful laughter. She wondered now if it had all been a dream, since no matter where she looked, there was no one to be found. She wandered around the garden finding it immense, as the sun basked her skin sending shivers of delight across her skin from head to toe.
April 1, 1995. 10:00AM. The main machine systems had now been set into place, and Dr. Schroeder now had begun the final construction of the rest of the complex. He would at times stop to gaze upon a passing jetliner or an occasional propeller driven plane that would fly overhead, but would quickly return to his endeavors knowing that time waited for no one. The construction of the complex was continuing right on schedule, as the second story to the southwest wing was put into place. He had only three more buildings to construct, where he then would be able to enter each building in turn and add the final touches. The secondary machine housing would be the last place finished, since it would be there that he would have to begin the underground development. It would be no easy task, yet with the main machine housing in operation, at least to the point where the primary machine systems were functioning, he would be able to accomplish the feat without much difficulty. All, if the time schedule were adhered to without falter, would be fully completed and operational within three years, and the final testing could begin.
September 9, 2005. 8:15PM. Janet had by now wandered back into the room she had left, and sat upon the bed. She had examined all there was within her sight, and found nothing out of the ordinary. A table with lamp, a few books of literature, paper and pen, and a chest of drawers with an assortment of clothes that fit her perfectly. Still, she had not heard word, or laughter one. It couldn't have been her imagination, especially when she rubbed her knee, indicating that she had taken a fall, which to her recollection had been when she had passed out sometime in the hallway she had explored previously. She lay back upon the bed, with the soft pillow propped up upon the headboard, and emitted a sigh of frustration. Where had everybody gone off to she wondered, having the question answered as the sounds of people began to build in the distance, turning into words and as well happy laughter. She sprang to her feet, immediately ran to the door of her room, and quickly flung the door open. Children. Hundreds and hundreds of children, happy, well feed, and very much alive.
June 8, 1998. 1:04PM. Dr. Schroeder sat back in an old wooden lawn chair on a beach located just below the west wing building of the complex. It had been finished the day before up to and including the power supply station within the machine systems structure. The first transfer tests would begin the following morning, which would allow him to calibrate the entire system completely. With the calibrations completed, he would then return to the states and begin the fifth phase of his plan. To be sure, this would indeed be a very delicate action in the overall scheme that he was undertaking, since any error that might occur would prove disastrous. Not for himself since he had interwoven such a redundant systems logic into the overall plan as well as the machine systems he would utilize, but for the transfer target he would soon be acquiring for the completed project to function. It wasn't in as much as the amount of transfers that would occur, but the allotted time frame that they would occur within, for there were only so many seconds within a minute and so many minutes within his window of opportunity in which to make the transfers complete. His stealth satellite could be re-tasked at any moment to suit his needs, but once tasked and set for a certain area it could not be changed until the last transfer had been completed. He sat and gazed out over the sea that stretched out to the horizon, until the sun had completely vanished from view. With the last shades of hue that gave a hint that there had been a day he rose from the wooden lawn chair, and proceeded to the main machine housing within the complex.
October 30, 2005. 7:14PM. Janet Weller had by now spoken to most of the children, including the two who had taken care of her. Most of the answers she had been given were vague at best with many questions still unanswered. She had been told that she had been the only one who had arrived with great difficulty, since most only recalled their arrival, and being met by the others who had been here before. Though she asked why it had occurred to her and not anyone else, the children could only answer that she would have to wait for Zee to come, and that he would answer all her question as he had for them. She had been told that once Zee had spoken to her, everything would then become clear. She found not a one who was afraid or wanting to return home, which made Janet think that they had been brainwashed to some degree, giving the scenario a most sinister twist.
January 1, 2000. 9:00AM. The machine systems were at full power and the satellite stationed in place. Dr. Schroeder sat in the control seat and issued the command that raised him into position. He keyed in the code he had entered before and waited until the control seat was now facing the twelve monitors once again. He keyed in another code set, and then issued the command to begin the transfers. The system jumped into action silently, and within a mere three minutes had completed all of the transfers that had been scheduled for this particular window of opportunity. He issued the command that returned the control seat to the main monitor, and could now see that the one hundred transfers that were plotted had been made with perfect clarity and accuracy. The monitoring systems of the second station begin to display the presence of activity within the complex at levels that exceeded his set parameters. Everything was falling into place as he had planned, now all that was left was to complete the transfers, and then set the final phase of the overall plan into motion.
November 2, 2005. 9:15AM. The knock at the door awoke Janet from a fitful sleep, as she had been dreaming of herself falling through an abyss of water that had no end. She slowly stood from her bed, finally answering the second knock on the door. She opened the door and exhaustedly stared at the two smiling children on the other side of its threshold. They had invited her to breakfast, where soon after, they would commence to familiarize her with her surroundings. She had been told that she would be taken on the grand tour of the entire complexity with the exclusion of the main machine housing, since no one could enter the building except Zee. Janet wondered who this Zee was, and what his connection to these children could be. No one could tell her when he would arrive for his next visit, so she would have to try and function as an integral part of this child community, until she could get the answers she was looking for.
February 4, 2005. 8:13PM. There from within the machine housing came the transmission of light into each dorm indicating that Zee had arrived. Janet knew this as well, for most of the children had informed her of what would occur as he arrived. They also had told her that Zee would address the new ones first, then speak to the others whom had been here the longest. Only Janet stood as the only newcomer that Zee would speak with. She was taken by several of the children to the main doors of the machine-housing complex, and then left there alone where she would soon speak with Zee. Janet had in her mind to let this Zee know up front that she was a cop and to instantly place him under arrest for kidnapping. She pushed the idea away just as quickly, knowing that she was on his turf and could easily be done away with and soon forgotten. She planned on letting Zee speak while being given the grand tour of the machine housing, where maybe if she were lucky, she'd be able to find some form of communications set-up in which to radio for help. Her attention turned to the doors that were giving off a sound of being opened, as they swung into the building where Janet could see a figure approaching her. The figure moved with ease and authority towards her from quite a distance from within, and though she could not see any details to his face, his confidence was striking.
Janet swallowed audibly as Zee came to stand a mere few feet from her, and smiled down at her. Compared to her, he was a giant. Standing six foot even at near two hundred pounds, he dwarfed Janet with ease, yet his demeanor was more alarming than anything else was, for he was polite and soft-spoken with a smile that could warm anyone. He smiled down at Janet, and then turned slightly sideways, beckoning her inside the machine-housing complex. She entered the building with some trepidation that grew in intensity as the doors to the complex began to close behind her.
"So you're the one they call Zee"! She spoke as she walked along side her prime suspect.
Dr. James Schroeder chuckled lightly, then cleared his throat. "Yes, I'm the one they call Zee, though it's more a misunderstanding that came from the first ones brought here". He chuckled again.
"You find it amusing"? Janet asked with a touch of anger to her voice.
"Yes, in a way". He glanced down at her as they continued to walk down the immense hallway. "When I came here the first time, the first ones had asked who I was, and what I was. I replied that I was the last of my kind. I did tell them my name, but somehow they took my philosophical answer to heart, and started calling me Zee. The nickname just stuck, and they've been calling me Zee ever since".
Janet could see in the distance that they were approaching a junction in the building that was as large as the hallway that she and Zee were traversing. "So then what is your name"?
"My name is Dr. James Edward Schroeder. I'm a Physicist. More or less, This way". He pointed to his left and the two proceeded in the direction he had turned to.
"More or less"? Janet asked with a nervous twitch to her voice, thinking that there were those who worked for the government that had devised some nasty things.
"Yes. I graduated from Berkeley, but fancied myself more an inventor than anything else. I came into the employ of an A.E.D.T. tech firm in California. They were into some very radical thinking. That was my first and last job until…well, until I arrived here".
"Speaking of arriving, how was it that I got here, and why was it so difficult"? Janet gazed about the hallway and noticed what appeared to be pillars of a crystalline nature, filled with what looked like a glowing liquid.
"You were brought here through a dimensional rift gate, or DRG which was created by a dimensional riff generator controlled and operated from the states". He looked down at Janet, looking for a reaction of disbelief, which came right on cue. "It was guided by a satellite in a high orbit above in space, which had locked on to your reflection on the surface of a pool. The moment it had locked on to your reflection, the DRG sent a tagging signal to your location via the satellite locking on to the longitude and latitude of your exact location. When the earth made another revolution, and in that I mean a revolution per second per second, the generator sent a highly concentrated EMP. Let me explain." He pointed in another direction and they both turned in unisance. "All matter is made up of atoms, with each atom consisting of a group of smaller particles. The DRG has the ability to distinguish the difference between these particles, and disassemble them within a strict flow of a cohesive stream of an EMP. The primary flow of the EMP literally places all atomic particles in a stasis like field, then pulls them back up into the satellite, which, as another revolution passes, transfers the collected and altered stream to another location, reassembling them via a refractory EMP. Kinda like jumping into a pool, and climbing out of another one somewhere else. Only the pool surface is the deflection point for the DRG, and for why it was so difficult for your transfer, the only thing I can think of is that something you were wearing caused a slight disruption of the EMP field." They approached another large set of doors that begin to open as they grew nearer.
"So that's why all the children disappeared while attending a pool party. It was the pool surface that you used to abduct them"! Janet knew now that there was more to what was going on than anyone had ever thought.
"Exactly! You know? Now that I see you in this brighter light, you don't look much like you're a kid"! Zee smiled lightly, thinking that he may have been had.
Janet smiled back at Zee, as her lips pursed. "I'm not. I'm a twenty-six year old police officer, and you're under arrest"! She smiled bigger now, cocking her head slightly to the right while placing her hands behind her back.
Zee laughed out loud rocking forward slightly, and Janet could not help but join in, since she knew the irony of her statement. "Well, I guess we have a bit of a dilemma don't we". Zee smiled down at Janet who smiled back and sighed audibly.
"That we do Doc! That we do. So why the abductions"? Janet asked her question as they both walked through the now fully opened doors and stepped into the brightly-lit chamber that housed the power station of the entire island complex.
"Why? Because I needed an army". Zee looked down at Janet and saw her face straighten completely showing concern.
"An army? Is this about some world domination plot you've got planned"? She poised herself defensively as Zee motioned her to enter what appeared to be an elevator lift.
"World domination has something to do with it, but not all of it. Come on Officer…by the way, what is your name"? He had stepped into the lift and was now motioning her to join him as he asked her name.
"It's Janet. Janet Weller". She held her position and stared at him with apprehension.
"Well then come Officer Weller. I've something to show you". He again motioned for her to join him in the lift, where she hesitated for a moment, and then entered the lift coming to stand next to him and watched the door of the lift close, where it then began to descend.
"So why children"? She had placed her back against the side of the lift giving her some room to defend herself, in case the need would arise.
"I needed the children, simply because they are just that. Children. People over the age that they are would have been too old to train, and I have only twelve years now to train them properly". He stood in his same position, but turned his head toward Janet and smiled, knowing she was probably thinking some very horrible thoughts.
"Train them? Train them how"? She stood away from the side of the lift, placing her hands down by her sides, keeping her gaze on Zee without flinching.
"In the use of those". Zee pointed straight ahead causing Janet to turn her gaze, where her eyes fell upon machines beyond anything she had ever seen or imagined.
"What the hell are those"? Janet walked up to the transparent door of the lift and stared in awe, at what appeared to be robots of sorts.
"Those, are Cyclones. Self-contained, cybernetically enhanced, armored military personnel carriers. APC-5150s. Quite the thing to halt an invasion. Each one is capable of staving off an entire army. Any army. I hope". The lift locked into the floor allowing the door to open. Zee stepped out of the lift and then turned to Janet holding out his hand to her. She stepped from the lift and placed her hand in his. He took her hand gently, and led her down the center of the hanger where the machines stood within their housing. "Impressive aren't they".
"Very. But why"? Janet spoke as if in shock, which was more than the case.
"Why? I'll tell you. When you thought that the plan was for world domination, you were half right". Janet stopped abruptly and yanked her hand from Zee giving him a look that could kill. "No Janet, not my plan. You see, there are those who have been called remote viewers. They have the ability to view the future under certain conditions. Some of these viewers tried to view the future as far as possible. September the twelfth of two thousand seventeen was as far as they could view. I was working within one of the testing facilities of the tech firm I worked for on that date. It was the most vicious attack in earth's history. In less than twenty-four hours, more than a billion lives were lost. The devastation was unparalleled by any comparison. They had come from a star system so close to us that we didn't even contemplate it being possible. They came with the sole intent of eradicating our species from the universe itself it seemed and all because of an AM radio transmission that was sent out into space in the thirties. On the following morning after their initial attack, I had stepped onto the only known Quantum Matrix Driver platform in the world, and sent myself here to the early part of the twentieth century. It was more an act of desperation, since no one even I knew if the QMD would even work. I'd either end up here, or I'd end being pulverized into atomic dust. Or beyond. I brought with me three small hand held systems within my lab coat, and one small vile containing another of my firm's developments. Once here, and once I knew that I had actually arrived, I took out the vile I had brought with me, and ingested the contents. They were xenonates, which immediately began to replicate. As they replicated, they began to copy every cell of my body and then replaced them, turning my body into total machine". They reached the center of the hanger bay and stopped, where Janet slowly sat upon the floor. Zee lowered himself down upon one knee, as he placed his right hand on her left shoulder.
"You're a machine"? Janet stared into his eyes in shock.
"A cyborg more or less". He smiled at her, then sat down upon the hanger bay floor in front of her.
"And the children"? Janet asked with fear in her voice.
"Oh no! They're one hundred percent human. The Cyclones won't respond to a machine. They only respond to human thought, which is transferred through a device located in their helmets. That's what I meant by them being trained. Over the next twelve years, they'll train in the use of the Cyclones to fight against the invasion that is soon to come". Janet looked into Zee's eyes and could see within them a distance, as well as a look of forlorn hope.
"So all of the abductions were in preparation for war. That I understand, but do the children"? She asked while glancing over the impressive machines that seemed to be standing at attention awaiting their orders to advance.
"They do. And they accept what they have been asked to do. I explained the importance of why they are here and why they were chosen. They understand everything very clearly". Zee stood up and offered his hand to Janet, where he then helped her to her feet.
"And what exactly is it that they clearly understand Zee"? She asked her question as she and Zee made their way back to the lift.
"Well, they understand that they will be the only chance that we have to survive the invasion. Plus, they also truly understand the old saying with the heart of a true soldier".
"And what old saying would that be"? Janet asked with a look of understanding as well as curiosity displayed upon her face.
Zee turned to Janet and smiled while speaking. "The best offense, is a good defense"! They both entered the lift and prepared to return to the island surface.
******************
To RainmanTime and Jaxon, if you read this. The questions I have asked, is so that when 'The Blind Chronicles' is finally published, the information within that pertains to Quantum whatever, is as accurate as possible. This also stands for those who say they are time travelers. I need questions answered for accuracy in the writing. I myself? Have no real desire to travel in time.
Take care........................ /ttiforum/images/graemlins/devil.gif
