Tellurian Suns:
Seeing the Light
Cameron Sutter
Smashwords Edition
Copyright ©2009 Cameron Sutter
This book is also available in print at http://stores.lulu.com/cameron-sutter
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real people or events is purely coincidental.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Cover picture from www.nasa.gov
Contact me:
cameronsutter.author@gmail.com
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http://sites.google.com/site/telluriansuns
Dedicated to and made possible by my family, especially my inspiration—my wife, Milexis.
To Ben and Dan: This is proof that the boot switched puddles.
Chapter 1
“Are you ready for this, old man?” Bulldog asked over the radio.
“You’re only as old as you feel, kid” Hawk answered. “Alright everyone, let’s do this,” Hawk said over the radio.
He crept from the shadow closing in on the nearest satellite dish as several other black figures did the same. Pulling out two explosives, he taped them to the base of the dish.
Hawk looked around and saw other figures that were hunched over placing explosives at the base of other nearby dishes. Other team members ran wires between the dishes and connected them to the explosives.
Scanning his team, Hawk’s gaze stopped at a young man in jeans and sandals. The sandals flipped up the desert sand with each clumsy step. Another wore an untucked Hawaiian shirt. He looked around again at the others. He realized that few if any were dressed in all black. He could see someone’s white socks nearly glowing. One girl had pink gloves. Hawk shook his head at their carelessness and finished strapping the explosives to the satellite dish. He connected a radio receiver. All set. This is for Amy.
Hawk looked outside the fence that surrounded the satellite array. High in the air he saw a small green light hovering, but couldn’t hear the whirring of the motor that he knew was coming from the light. Heart pounding he unrolled a small thin screen and watched himself from the point of view of the small helicopter. He panned the camera to the left with his finger against the screen. There was movement inside the building on the second floor. A person inside turned on a light and stood next to the window with his hands propped on his hips. The green LED on the bottom right of the screen turned red. Hawk looked up and the light on the helicopter was also glowing red. Motion detection works great.
“Bulldog, you got company.” After a few short seconds the guard was no longer standing in the window and the light bulb exploded leaving the room dark. Never misses a detail.
Hawk looked around and saw everyone with their thumbs up. He returned the signal and followed the others back to the shadows and under the fence where they came in. They began wading through sage brush away from the complex. The potent smell of the sage flooded Hawk’s nostrils. He tried to ignore it and focus on the mission. He remembered what he told his team the first time: “It’s not over until we are all safely home.”
Suddenly Grasshopper’s weak voice cried out, “Help, I’m stuck! Hey guys, help!”
Hawk’s heart sunk as he wheeled around. I knew this was going to happen; it was just too easy. It’s never this easy when you’re babysitting a bunch of college kids. Grabbing another man by the chest and pulling him, Hawk trudged back to help.
“Hurry, help me!”
“Shut up!”
The two that returned to help began pulling their comrade violently. Hawk looked up at the mini helicopter and saw the green light turn to red. Dogs barked, a siren sounded and shouts came from the building. “Bulldog, we woke The Man. Get out of there. We’ll wait for you behind the hill.”
“That’s what an old man would do. I’ll take care of it,” Bulldog’s voice replied over the radio.
“Just come back alive, man.”
Glass windows shattered and bullets bounced off metal as the sound of machine gun rounds echoed from within.
Hawk looked back down at Grasshopper who was still struggling to get under the fence. “Cut his shirt off,” Hawk commanded.
“No, it’s my pants I think.”
“Cut ‘em off.” The other man drew his knife and violently began cutting him free. What a wuss. Stop squirming so much. And shut up.
The barking got closer and Hawk whipped out his Ruger 9mm handgun. He waited calmly and watched with heartless satisfaction as Grasshopper flailed more frantically the closer the dog came. Hawk let him squirm a second longer and fired once. The barking stopped.
“Nice shot.”
“There’ll be more. Let’s go.”
Again he smelled sage and heard the sound of dogs clawing on the fence closer to the building.
“Sparrow, blow it,” Hawk commanded into the radio.
A British voice responded, “Yes, sir.” That’s one thing I have to change. If it calls me ‘sir’ all the time, it will definitely get annoying. The remote controlled helicopter suddenly moved from its hovering position and turned to follow Hawk.
Time for fireworks.
Loud explosions sounded in Hawks ears, screaming through his eardrums. The dogs yelped frantically. Hawk couldn’t contain his child-like interest to watch the explosions. He turned around and folding his arms to watch the scene, Hawk’s heart leaped for joy. We’re one step closer. Just a few more of these. The falling satellite dishes screeched against other fallen dishes and their concrete bases.
As they all hurried away, Hawk heard dogs whining and people shouting threats in the now silent night. The smell of burnt gun powder floated on the dry desert wind and smothered the smell of the sage brush.
“Dude, did you see that, Hawk? That dog was about to cross the fence and boom! He almost jumped out of his skin,” exclaimed Grasshopper.
Chapter 2
A loud bang on the floor above him broke Mantis’ trance. He opened his eyes and sighed. They are probably jumping off the couch again, he thought. Loud music and muffled talking and shouting seeped through the ceiling. He looked over at the incense burning. It was just a stub now. He unfolded his legs, got up from the bean bag chair, and walked over to the wool blanket that was hung on a rope in the middle of the room, dividing it. The bright white light beamed through it even though it was folded over. Mantis drew back the blanket and looked towards the light source. He stood there for a moment, soaking in the good vibes from the light, and then replaced the blanket and walked up the stairs.
Opening the basement door, he almost got hit by a pizza box carried by a shouting, drunken man. The stench of beer and various drugs followed him like a cloud. People were talking on the couches in one corner and others were standing next to the TV, cheering on the man playing Guitar Hero. A frown formed across his face and his shoulders hung low. Walking towards another room, he heard screams from upstairs. The ceiling creaked as people jumped around. In another room couples were making out and the thick cloud of smoke was enough to make Mantis cough. In yet another room he heard laughs and breaking glass.
“The dog came this close...”
“Man, I saw that guy coming and...”
“Did you see that explosion? Best explosion ever!”
“Dude, when Sparrow spotted that first guy in the building...”
What have we become? Look at them all. No one cares about why we just bombed that place. They just care about the explosion, and the killing, and the party afterward. He went to the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge. The fridge reeked of old meat.
“Yo, Mantis. We rocked tonight, right?”
“Why do you always stay at HQ, Mantis?” “Yeah, you should come with us next time, dude!”
We have lost our purpose. Now we are savage terrorists. Mantis opened the front door, looked back sighing, and plopped down on the front porch stairs. Is there at least one of them that cares? A dry breeze blew by as Mantis sipped from his water bottle. One? The porch light shone on the sage brush across the road and the solitude in every direction.
Time dragged slowly as Mantis sat and thought. He blocked out the yelling and the music and the smells. The dry wind blew through Mantis’ hair. He thought about all he had done for the people inside. He had shown them the truth about extraterrestrial life and the frightened leaders who were trying to cover it up. He had given them a purpose in their lives. Most of them would have never left their office jobs, but Mantis showed them a better life. They were free and fighting for a good cause; a cause that would change humanity forever when they were done. They would learn so much from the Grays. The Grays would change the world and this small group of people would be hailed as heroes, Mantis had taught them. The GAFF would be famous around the world as the only group brave enough to stand up to The Man and help the Grays against all hope. And these people—disciples—had given Mantis all their worldly possessions so that they could be a part of this cause. And this is what they’ve sunk to now: a bunch of drugged-up terrorist hippies with a blood lust.
The wind blew again and carried the smell of incense to Mantis’ nose. That’s a special meditation incense…is someone...is someone meditating...? Mantis sniffed again. No marijuana even. It’s probably Hawk, if anyone. He’s a true disciple; the only one I’ve got. Mantis looked at two large, cloth tents in the front lawn as they blew in the wind. The incense was coming from the tent to his right. He slowly walked to the door and stooped to look in. A dark figure sat facing the side tent wall with his legs crossed. Slowly the figure’s chest and shoulders rose and fell. It was Hawk. Hawk slowly turned his head to look at Mantis.
“Sorry,” Mantis stuttered.
“Brandon.”
“I didn’t mean to disturb you.” Mantis’ voice faltered. He tried to leave, but his foot knocked something over. He stumbled as he tied to put it back. “I’ll leave you alone.”
“I...killed a dog today,” Hawk confessed. Beside him a small green light caught Mantis’ eye. Sparrow sat idle on a small box next to Hawk. Man, he takes that little creation of his everywhere since Panda disappeared. It’s his own little best friend. Hawk continued, “I didn’t think beforehand. Just bam. I didn’t feel anything afterward either.”
Mantis looked at the floor, shuffling his feet. Here he goes again. He looked up at the top of the tent nervously and then over at the burning incense. He shrugged, “Well why did you do it?”
Muffled screams and shouts came from the house.
Hawk turned his whole body towards Mantis who had stepped completely into the tent. “Well, it was going to bite Grasshopper. So—“
“So you saved your friend. Just because Panda ...” he stopped himself. He rubbed his chin, contemplating what to say next. Exhaling, he continued, “Look, animals aren’t gods, or higher beings. We need to respect them, yes, but they were put here for us. Plants and animals are for our benefit. The Grays will teach us how to better balance our use of the Earth’s resources, but they are meant for us to use. Some people just use them wrongly.” Mantis’ heart beat faster and his palms sweat. He knew he was walking on thin ice talking again about these things with Hawk. He had to make Hawk understand to interpret the Grays’ teachings correctly, but for the last few years, Hawk was a bad temper waiting to either beat your head in or break down and cry. The tent windows and doors flapped in the wind and grazed Mantis’ arm, helping him relax.
Hawk looked away. “Only a few more satellite sites left and the barrier field will be destroyed. The next one is pretty far away. When do we head out?”
Mantis sat next to Hawk and stared out the tent door. “Hawk, you don’t have to—“
“Kenny.”
“Sorry. Kenny. I’m just so used to calling everyone their animal name...anyway, look Kenny, I’m sorry. I know it still hurts. You feel like you’re missing half of yourself. I shouldn’t have brought her into this like that. Sorry. But your beliefs about animals aren’t what she believed and they don’t come from the Grays either. But if that’s the way you want to live your life, I support you. I’m your friend.”
“Yeah, it still hurts.” Hawk paused, and Mantis braced for the rush of emotions coming. “Sometimes I feel so alone.” Hawk shook his head back and forth as if clearing his head of bad thoughts. “I’m sorry, too, Brandon.”
The din from inside the house was enveloped by the music growing louder.
Mantis started telling Kenny his frustrations about everyone’s partying attitude. He explained how almost no one cares about what he teaches them or the path he shows them. He thanked Kenny for believing and following. Kenny said he felt the same way and that’s why he had to come out here to the tent. Kenny related the details of their success that night and how he had to save Grasshopper again.
Mantis smiled at Kenny, knowing Kenny could not see his smile. He is older than me, and yet he respects me like his elder. Although at the rate he seems to age, he could be looking younger than me soon. He is an obedient follower and is becoming a powerful leader. The Grays will need a strong human leader.
Someone inside turned the music off and some lights went out. Mantis commented blankly that the party seemed to be ending. Kenny only nodded.
Kenny looked down at the ground. “Have you ever thought that ours isn’t the only glowing stone?” Suddenly lifting and tilting his head and waving his pointer finger in the air, Kenny said, “What if there are other groups out there just like GAFF that are doing the same thing? That can’t be the only stone of its kind.”
Mantis shook his head. “What?”
Kenny sprung to his feet. “Well, what is the stone? ...You’ve always told us that the stone is a gift from the Grays—a sign that they are coming back someday.”
“And...?”
“Why would we be the only ones, Brandon?” Turning and waving his hands, Kenny added, “There has got to be others out there. What if someone gets his hands on the Grays’ stone and he doesn’t know what it means? Maybe they’ll chop it up into glowing rings or necklaces.”
“The Grays have never made me aware of any other stones. Have they told you anything about others?”
Kenny shook his head.
Mantis stood up. “I suppose it’s possible. But where would you look? Are you going to put an ad on Craigslist? ‘Anyone that has a stone as bright as the sun email us. Our alien friends are coming and you need to help.’”
Nodding his head enthusiastically, Kenny said, “We have to do something.”
Lightly grabbing Kenny by the elbow, Mantis said, “We are, Kenny. We are getting close to destroying the barrier shield. Just a few more satellite arrays. You said it yourself. And then the Grays will be able to approach Earth.”
Kenny sat back down and shook his head. “You’re right. We need to focus on that.”
Sighing, Mantis remembered something. “Look, Kenny, remember Spider?”
“Yeah, he left us for bigger, better things.”
“Exactly. He knows people—he says—that know more about the stone. We’ll give him a call and maybe you can find out more about the stone.”
“That would be great. Thanks, Brandon.”
Just then, Mantis noticed that Sparrow’s light turned from green to red. “Uh, Kenny? What does it mean when its light turns red?”
“Right now it means someone is in the basement with the stone. Probably just someone that wanted to feel its energy.”
Sparrow suddenly made a noise like an alarm clock going off. His motors spun into action and he hovered up off the box a few inches.
“And what does that mean?” Mantis asked. “Is it The Man? Is the FBI here?”
Kenny chuckled quickly. “Luckily for us, no. But it does mean that whoever was there moved the stone. Ya know, I told them not to touch it.”
Chapter 3
“This is it, team. No talking out loud from here on out. We only use the psy-gear. It’s working for both of you, right?” Zeck said tapping his plastic headband. “Good. Now you know what the goal is: retrieve the Sun Stone inside the impregnable Fortress of Wackiness from these extraterrestrial advocates. If possible, we don’t want any casualties. The pistols are just for protection. Just in case. We’ll leave the jeep here behind this hill and walk. Now these people are crazy, especially Kenny Lincoln. We don’t know what he—or any of them—is willing to do, but we know he is capable of great madness. Keep a sharp eye and stay close. Now, the Stone’s in the basement so we’ll go in the back and sneak our way down there. Let’s make this one count! Let’s go.”
Here I am, the Avenger of Righteousness, at 4:00 in the morning: stealing—nay, taking back—the first of the Sun Stones from the harbingers of evil in the middle of the desert. And I remain calm.
From the top of the hill Zeck saw that the lights were on in the house. He was about to turn back and wait some more, but the sun would be up soon. They had to act now. Blake took out his binoculars and after a moment said he saw no movement inside. Zeck popped his knuckles and kept moving forward.
As the three of them stalked closer, Zeck began visualizing his victory. He saw himself sneak through the door to the basement. He saw himself grabbing the Stone with his two comrades looking at it in amazement. He saw Lincoln waking up as they were trying to escape and him flooring Lincoln with one swift punch.
Zeck took a deep breath and focused. What if all the crazies wake up? I wish there were more than three of us.
Zeck looked at the other two. He noticed that the Orion patch on Blake’s shoulder was falling off. The patch was black—like the uniform—with a white border. Each star in the Orion constellation was a white dot with a thin white line connecting the dots and drawing the picture of the Hunter. How is it falling off already? he wondered. Does he take his uniform clubbing? This is only our second mission. Zeck dusted the Orion patch on his own shoulder, though it needed no dusting. He adjusted his white uniform. He was the only one with a white uniform and had to have Vinny special order it. It was his symbol, he told Vinny.
The back door was left open and the screen door was unlocked. Some of the lights were left on, but Zeck heard no noise. I guess this fortress isn’t so impregnable. They truly are crazy.
They entered quietly. Zeck pulled out his pistol and turned on the laser sight under the barrel. Bodies were strewn all over the furniture and the floor. The smell of moldy food, rancid meat, beer and marijuana burned his nose. Dead?
He heard a computer simulation of Blake’s voice in his earpiece. “They must have had one killer party.”
“It appears that they are all alive, sir,” said Ryan’s computer-simulated, British accent. “Or at least most of them.”
They waded through the bodies trying not to wake them. Zeck’s eyes followed the laser sight’s dot over the bodies and the food and clothes left all over the dusty furniture and dirty floor. “Let’s find that basement and get out of here. Don’t count your chickens, but this might be easier than we thought. I guess alien wackos can be hippies, too.” Blake and Ryan looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders in mocking confusion.
Finding the basement door, they made their way down the stairs. There was a bright light coming from the bottom of an otherwise dark stairwell. The smell of beer was replaced by an overpowering stench of incense. That’s the strongest stuff this nose has ever smelled. Crazies must have a special store for extra powerful incense.
The basement looked like a meeting room, but instead of chairs there were bean bags in a circle with candles and incense in the middle. The rug was tie-dye colored and in the middle of the room hung a blanket of psychedelic patterns. The blanket acted as a curtain, poorly shielding the rest of the room from the bright white light behind it. The light escaped the blanket on all sides. It had been folded in half but the light pierced right through like a plastic shower curtain.
“Bugger, it looks like the sun is on the other side of that blanket,” Ryan exclaimed out loud, but in a whisper.
Would they be smart enough to have booby traps? Cameras? “Careful men, even though these crazies are alien worshipers, they might have traps.”
Zeck pulled the blanket aside with his free hand and a brilliant light immediately flooded their senses. Zeck looked away and the other two shielded their eyes.
“Even if there were booby traps, mate. I don’t think I’d be able to see ‘em.” said Ryan.
Zeck felt a strange warmth like a flood of righteousness coming from the Stone. I can barely see where it is. Waiting for his eyes to adjust and not looking directly at the Stone, Zeck began seeing that there was an altar of sorts in the middle of the room and on top lay the Stone.
“Is it hot?” Blake asked.
Chapter 4
“I don’t have a good feeling about this, Kenny,” Mantis blurted.
“Sparrow, go take a peek down the basement and see who moved the stone.”
“Yes, sir.” It responded and went flying out the tent window. “Stop calling me ‘sir.’” Hawk said shaking his head. I really need to change that.
Mantis visibly became more nervous as the seconds passed. To put him at ease, Hawk pulled out his roll-up computer screen, unrolled it, and watched Sparrow’s video feed. Seeing the video had the opposite affect that Hawk was hoping for: it made them both more nervous. There was no one in the basement and the Stone’s light no longer lit either side of the partitioned basement.
Hawk powerfully stepped out of the tent door. He looked around the desert and saw only darkness.
“I don’t hear any sirens or see any flashing lights,” said Mantis, sliding out of the tent. Hawk ordered Sparrow to search the house for the stone.
“It can’t be the FBI, because they wouldn’t be arresting people silently,” Mantis continued.
“Yeah, I don’t think this is the police. They came for the stone and now Sparrow can’t find anyone in the house. It’s gone and so are they!”
Hawk charged through the front door and yelled, trying to wake everyone up. A few heads raised and fewer still got up and asked what was going on. You guys are pathetic! They stole it right out from under us. How’d they do it so quickly? And without us noticing! Reaching his room in a panic, he found his Ruger, and checked the clip. Six or seven bullets left. They were gone by the time the camera noticed them? How?
Back in the group of people, there were a million questions being bounced through his head, but Hawk blocked them out, trying to focus his own thoughts on what to do now. Something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He walked to the window in the next room, pushing aside several people.
There it was, jostling up and down in someone’s hand and running towards the top of the hill down the road. Hawk was relieved that he now knew where it was, but at the same time was enraged at the thieves who took it. Without thinking, he shot at the thieves far in the distance, knowing he wouldn’t hit them. The shattered window and seeing himself lose control of his rage made the situation worse.
Tightening his belt, he yelled, “Sparrow, come. Now.”
“But who could it be? No one knows about the stone,” Mantis said.
Someone from another room yelled, “Screw the anti-alien activists.” His mumbles trailed off into some unintelligible rant about the government.
“Hey, did the cops come?” mumbled someone else getting up.
Hawk hurried out the front door jamming the gun in between the back of his pants and his belt. He looked right and near the top of the nearest hill, not too far away, he saw a bright light jiggling up and down rapidly. Ha. They’re not very good at hiding it. Sprinting to the driveway—Sparrow right behind him—he threw himself into a car and slammed the door. His heart thumped in his ears. He fiddled with the keys and muttered, “Please start. Come on. Start!” The Cadillac sputtered and moaned, but then the engine fired. “Yes!” Seat belt just in case.
The car tore out of the driveway backwards. He revved the engine, threw it into drive, and spun the tires before the car finally headed down the road. The smell of burnt tires hardly passed through his mind. I can’t shoot left handed. Hawk looked at Sparrow hovering in the passenger’s seat. Worthless thing. “Why didn’t Bulldog think to build you with arms?”
Sparrow didn’t respond.
“Sparrow, when we get close, go find somewhere to hide and stay with them. When they get where they are going, make sure you stay somewhere where you have a signal ... and don’t even think about calling me sir!” He opened both front windows and turned up the music. CCR! You couldn’t ask for a more perfect song at a time like this.
As all but two of the thieves made it over the top of the hill, Hawk was close enough to see one dressed all in white. Only hesitating to worry about being ineffective with his left hand, Hawk fired. The two that hadn’t made it over the hill yet, turn to look back. Hawk fired again, badly missing. The one in white aimed towards the car and Hawk saw a small laser pointer’s dot playing on his car hood. “That’s right, go for the car, idiot. I’ll get you all and then I’ll get Amy’s stone back!”
Hawk turned to his mechanical friend. “Sparrow, go.”
While his head was turned, Hawk saw something fly into the air out of the corner of his eye. He whipped his head around to see what it was. A jeep suddenly came flying over the hill and landed nearly on top of Hawk’s car. Without thinking, he swerved to the left. Hawk didn’t even have time to breath before the jeep smashed into his right side and sent his car rolling over the jeep and spinning in the air until it rested on its hood by the side of the road.
Hawk lay there for a few minutes, stupefied. Time for fireworks, he thought sarcastically. Elton John’s Rocket Man was blaring in his ears. His neck ached. His arms were tense and as he tried to move them, pain spidered throughout his body. His right leg felt useless and limp. “Seat belt just in case,” he muttered. “Ha!” He unbuckled, opened the door, and dragged himself out of the car, cutting his arms on the glass. The smell of sage brush tickled and annoyed his disoriented senses. “Ya know, I really liked that Cady.”
He got to his feet, grabbed the car for balance, and muttered, “That jeep from hell is going to get his.” He winced from pain and began wobbling down the road. He threw up his arms and whispered into the rising sun. “You will get yours, jeep! I will find you and avenge my Cadillac. Then I’ll get Amy’s stone back.” He shook his head in pain and tried to jog back to the house.
His jog was strained because of the pain in his right leg, but he was able to jog a little faster and less awkward as he got a hold of his senses. You ruined my Cadillac, you took Amy’s stone, and my neck hurts. That jeep is going to pay dearly.
When Hawk burst through the door everyone stared stopped what they were doing and stood silently, waiting for some explanation. Everyone was up now. Hawk could see that some were preparing for war while others heated up pizza and coffee. Still others talked excitedly and some stared blankly at the wall. And seeing that Hawk was not in the talking mood, the questions began.
“What happened?”
“Are you alright, Hawk?”
“Why are you limping?”
“Did you get it back?”
“Hawk, you don’t look good. What happened?”
“Who were they?”
Hawk approached Bulldog, limping. Everyone else in the house, it seemed, was circling around him and waited for answers. He pulled out his gun and checked to make sure it hadn’t been damaged in the wreck. He didn’t hear what Bulldog was asking him, but he slowly looked into Bulldog’s eyes and blurted, “I need to borrow your motorcycle.”
“You’re crazy, old man,” Bulldog replied, shaking his head.
“He’s right, Hawk,” Mantis made his way through the crowd.
Hawk looked at Mantis and exhaled slowly. “They’ve got Panda’s stone. I’m going.” Hawk continued somewhat un-intelligibly that he wasn’t asking for permission and they couldn’t stop him.
“Hawk, I’m going with you,” Bulldog demanded.
“No.” Hawk said with fatherly sternness that told Bulldog not to insist. He began anyway, but Hawk cut him off. “It won’t take long. Take care of everyone; they need you.”
Chapter 5
Deep in a narrow tunnel, Sarah ran her hand along the wall on her right as she walked toward the bigger cavern. Dirt fell to the ground as her fingers drug across the stone. The sensation of old, worn stone drew a smile on her face. This is so cool. She glanced to her left to see if one of the guys had noticed her smile. She was walking ahead of the group just far enough so that no one saw her smile, but she quickly looked straight ahead with a serious stare just in case. Pushing aside an array of spider webs, a musty, dank aroma filled her nose. The lanterns and flashlights from behind her lighted the way. Her left palm sweat inside her white, leather glove, but her right hand could feel the stale, dry air. The closer to the end of the tunnel they got, the faster her heart beat.
How many thousand years has it been since anyone has been down here?
Entering a larger cavern, the two soldiers that the Brotherhood sent to escort the candidates walked to the middle and began setting up some equipment. Nick Malnick, her up-line, had called them nanos and explained something about being injected with nanobots that enhanced their performance, but Sarah didn’t quite understand. He said they were very fast and strong, and that the Brotherhood was quickly developing other improvements. When they were finished setting up the tall, thin metal cylinder, they gave each prospective recruit a pair of very dark glasses and turned on the machine.
A soft whir like a small fan echoed off the walls. Lasers began shooting out of the cylinder and bouncing of the walls and ceiling. Sarah realized that this was one of the tests that Nick had told them about; an easy way to get rid of the lesser candidates. She dodged quickly as a set of lasers came near her. Others ran back towards the tunnel or pressed themselves against the walls. More and more lasers shot out of the cylinder. Some of the candidates stood motionless, mocking those that fled. Another set of lasers approached Sarah, but she was unsuccessful at dodging, and for a second her heart stopped. She cringed, waiting for the pain, but felt none. The lasers passed over her and caused no damage or pain. They were harmless. Sarah was embarrassed. More spun towards her, but this time she didn’t move for the incoming set of lasers. The cavern was small enough that lasers reached the ceiling and all the walls. Calming her heart, Sarah told herself, this is the coolest thing. The Brotherhood has so many cool technologies. I can’t wait ‘til they let me join. She looked over at two of the possible recruits who hadn’t moved. One grinned mockingly. She quickly wiped the smile off her face and stared at the machine.
The lasers shut off. A red light on the cone on the top of the cylinder turned green and they were directed to put the glasses on. Immediately Sarah’s view through the glasses digitized into a grassy plain with mountains in the distance. She couldn’t see the cave walls, only grass, hills, and mountains as far as the eye could see. The sun was just coming up behind a high mountain and the only few wisps of clouds in the sky were floating away. She saw a small trickling stream nearby.
The others were looking around, just as fascinated as she was. Lifting the glasses, she saw the dark, plain cave walls again. The two nanos wore no glasses, but Sarah wondered if they could see what the rest of them were seeing. Replacing the glasses, she could see them in the grassy field, but could not see the machine that generated this view.
Just then, Nick appeared in the middle of the field. Whoa! That’s impossible! How did he get here? Taking off the glasses, again only the cave walls stared back at her and there was no Nick. Putting them back on, she watched as Nick walked around the grass, surveying the group of recruits. He too wore a pair of glasses. He was thin framed, but strong and the way he talked was intimidatingly nonchalant—or secretive—Sarah couldn’t tell which.
Nick spoke slowly and calmly, almost mocking the prospective recruits. “Welcome to Poverty Point. This is one of the ancient—and hidden—Brotherhood hideouts. As far as we can tell, the Brotherhood hid one of the Sun Stones somewhere in these caves, but keep your wits about you, because anciently the Brotherhood was very good at...let’s say making it difficult to get to the Stones. So consider this a proving ground. It is your last trial before you are inducted into the Brotherhood. Anyone who makes it back alive will be hired, so don’t kill each other off down there.
“Now when you have found the door, you will need a key that the nanos are carrying. They will open the door for you.” Walking over to an invisible computer, Nick rested his left hand on an invisible table and grabbed an invisible mouse with his other hand. He looked at a computer screen that Sarah couldn’t see, moving the mouse. Then he suddenly looked up, his hand still on the mouse, poised to click. “There are so many people in this world and every one of them will eventually die, but how many of them can say that they have truly lived their lives and made their dreams come true? This is your chance to achieve something magnificent. Now bring us back that stone.” And with that, Nick’s finger hit the mouse and he was gone.
One of the nanos walked to the middle of the room, pushed a button, and instantly the mountains and grass vanished. Taking off the glasses and passing them to the nanos, Sarah’s eyes had to adjust to the darkness again. There was only one exit from this cavern besides the tunnel they had come in through. The fifteen or so recruits funneled toward the next tunnel, whooping and yelling their battle cries. Sarah paused at the entrance, finding herself moved by the end of Nick’s speech. I want to say that I lived my life.
Sarah was the type of girl that would never catch herself dead in high heels, but if someone would dare say she was a tomboy, she’d slap him. Her hobby and aspiration in life was to climb ladders—social ladders. She was the president of her class in high school, and of her sorority in college. And the sweet irony that was provided by this opportunity to climb to the top of a secret brotherhood, being a woman, was too much for Sarah to pass up.
She preferred guns to getting her hands dirty with hand-to-hand combat, but after being trained with them, she was too lazy to go through the process of getting her own and never felt the pressing need to own one. Standing at the entrance to the dark tunnel, though, she suddenly felt that pressing need as if it were the darkness itself surrounding her.
She caught up to a small group of recruits that she recognized from some of the earlier orientations. Their conversation was casual yet excited, but not overbearing and arrogant like most of the others.
“How are we going to know the door when we see it?” One man asked the other two in the group.
“And how are we going to see a little glow-in-the-dark stone with all the light that this baby puts out?” Said another, pointing to his large flashlight.
Recognizing an opportunity to mentally overpower her peers, Sarah stayed with the group. The three men were named Morris, Starsky, and Luther. In the excitement of the moment, no one offered more information than his name, so Sarah followed suit. Since the highly embarrassing day that Sarah started wearing the white glove on her bad hand, she had something of an anxiety attack every time she met someone new. This time she was able to let it pass without escalation after none of them asked about it or even seemed to notice it.
Walking quickly down the tunnel and coming to a ‘Y’, they listened as the group of recruits that arrived before them was arguing over which way to go. Some of them walked down the left tunnel without continuing the argument. Others contended sharply that one way was the right way. More recruits followed the assured voices of other leaders down one or the other tunnel and quickly Sarah and her group were the only ones at the ‘Y.’
She convinced them to go to the right for no particular reason and soon the tunnel opened up to a large, open, dark, cavern. Others in front of them held out their hands to stop them from moving any further and pointed to the ground in front of them. Sarah looked and noticed that there was no ground in front of them! Looking quickly to her right and left, she saw that at the mouth of the tunnel there was a rectangular cliff big enough for a dozen people, but then it dropped off into the darkness. The nearest thing she could see with the scarce light was a wooden bridge with handrails that lay parallel to the cliff about fifteen feet away.
“It’s too far to jump,” one said.
Just then there was a creaking sound in the distance straight ahead, but it was gone as soon as it was heard. As all of the recruits recoiled towards the cave, one shouted in excitement, “I think that was me guys! Check it out.”
He corralled everyone to the left side of the cliff, pointing at a rectangular stone that looked like a button, jutting out of the floor. It was darker than the stone ground around it, which was darker than the ground around that. He stomped on it emphatically and the creaking again sprang from the distance. He removed his foot and the creaking continued for a few seconds and then stopped. This time he held it down for several seconds and the creaking became louder and quicker, but then it stopped.
“It sounds like the bridge is moving way over there,” Morris concluded.
“Why
isn’t moving right there where we can see it?” asked
another.
Luther answered, “The bridge is
probably split into sections. Maybe there’s something that will
spin the section that we can see right here to us.”
Everyone seemed to agree that Luther’s idea was good enough and they began scouring the floor for another button. The rectangular cliff wasn’t very large, though, and in mere seconds someone else had found another button. This one was on the right side of the cliff and looked exactly like the first. The recruit who found it triumphantly planted his foot on it and everyone watched as the section of bridge that their lights reached creaked and spun swiftly, stopping just an inch from the edge of the cliff. Shouts of joy rang through the cave as everyone congratulated the boy, but instead of celebrating, Sarah was the first on the bridge.
She tried to step lightly, but her quick reflex to get on the bridge before the others was not conducive of controlled foot work. The wood cracked and creaked as she put both feet on it and the wooden hand rail felt like it would fall off at the drop of a fly’s wing. Because of her speed, however, no one else made it to the bridge before it began swiftly spinning back the way it came and away from everyone’s light. Cursing herself for not having her own flashlight on, Sarah careened backward right into the hand rail which cracked and snapped. The spinning of the bridge pushed her harder into the feeble rail and it crumbled under her weight. As it fell into the dark abyss, she flung her body to the side and landed on the edge of the bridge, inches from an endless fall.
The bridge stopped spinning so that it was perfectly parallel with the cliff again. Sarah kept her eyes closed and purposely breathed heavily, groping the edge of the bridge, trying to tell herself that she was on it safely. Still lying there, the reality of what just happened sunk in, and she clung with her life to the bridge, unmoving. The others called out to her, but she could only manage a feeble whisper.
Gaining composer, she yelled back that she was fine and slowly balanced herself to her feet. “What happened?” She yelled out, her voice echoing into the darkness.
“Sorry, my bad. I took my foot off the button.”
As she mumbled to herself, one of the recruits yelled over for her to get ready, because they were going to spin the bridge again. Crouching down and grabbing on to the edge of the bridge with one hand and the rail on the other side, she exhaled nervously.
The bridge spun back swiftly without problems, and the boys filed on.
“This isn’t going to hold all of you!” Sarah exclaimed. “Some of you wait there. I think I saw a connecting bridge when it spins back. The rest of you can get on the second time.”
One of the boys approached her arrogantly. “Listen, woman. I’m not going to—“
“Do what she says, idiot,” Starsky interrupted, smiling at her.
Smiling a fake thank-you, she turned toward the darkness. Deep somewhere in her heart she was truly grateful, but on the surface she was thinking, How dare he defend me like that! I don’t need defending. I can stand up for myself. She quickly put it out of her mind and focused on the bridge spinning and holding on.
When it stopped this time, Sarah could clearly see two sections of bridge, one on each side of the section she was standing on. Before anyone could make it to one of the other sections of bridge, one of them called out, saying he found something. Everyone stopped and looked at the middle of the bridge on the wooden flooring. There was another button just like the others. “Hold on,” the man said before he pushed it. The bridge swung back to perpendicular with the cliff and the recruits on the bridge stared blankly at the ones on the cliff.
The recruit holding down the button warned again that he was going to let go of the button. Sarah braced herself, but nothing happened. The bridge remained motionless.
“It didn’t pop back up. I’m going to push it again. Hang on.”
As he pushed the button again, the bridge creaked back to its original position. Sarah started feeling dizzy, but dug her feet hard into the floor to secure herself.
“Cool,” said Luther. “This button will keep the bridge there.”
“But now which way?” asked another.
“I think I see a cliff over that way. I’m going left,” said the boy who argued with Sarah earlier.
Just to spite him, Sarah decided to go right, but being in the middle of everyone, when they all went towards the left, she was compelled to go with them or be knocked to the ground—or worse. They all shuffled carefully onto the next section of the bridge and one of them found the button in the middle. Without asking if everyone was on, he hit the button and the bridge swung quietly to rest at another cliff.
Following the flow of the group, Sarah heard the creak of the first bridge spinning back toward the mouth of the cave. Glad to be back on solid ground, Sarah stopped and watched the others. Morris, Starsky, and Luther found Sarah and stayed behind with her.
The cliff was larger than the first, but there was no entrance to another tunnel that they could see at first. Sarah had seen it almost right away, but had said nothing. After a few moments, the others realized that about ten or fifteen feet up, there was another cliff and the entrance to another tunnel. The cliff face was rough enough that it would be possible to climb up to the entrance, and no sooner had the recruits realized there was an entrance up there than they jumped on the wall and began climbing frantically to the top like an army of ants racing to food.
Starsky and Luther were about to join them, but Morris told them that Sarah thought it was back the other way. Like obedient children, they turned with Sarah and got back on the wooden bridge. Sarah smiled within herself. She had already gained control over these weak-minded fools. They would already follow her blindly. That was too easy, she thought musingly.
The other group of recruits that had waited to get on the first section of bridge, had now passed them, going from the original section of bridge, perpendicular to the cliff, straight to another section that had been controlled by the first button they had found. They left the bridge perpendicular to the cliff, and Starsky called out to one of them to spin the bridge for them to pass.
One of them walked back to the section of bridge, spun it so that it connected to the section that Sarah was on, and after Sarah and her group had passed to the next section, he spun it back and rejoined his own group.
Sarah thought to take out her flashlight, but decided against it. The other three provided enough light that she didn’t need her own. It gave her a measure of power over them that she didn’t want to pass up.
Arriving at the end of this section of bridge, they ran into darkness, but could see a perpendicular section of bridge far away. Luther spotted another section to their right that they could reach if they spun the one they were on. Finding the button in the middle of the bridge, Starsky bent down and slowly pushed it into the wooden floor in a way that made him look like a little kid, waiting for something magical to happen.
The next section of the bridge was a dead end like the last, but by spinning it they reached yet another section of bridge. Again they had to spin this next section of bridge. This time it spun to the left. Sarah walked calmly to the next section of bridge, trying not to show her extreme excitement. She felt like an explorer, or an adventurer like Indiana Jones. Her heart beat faster with each section of bridge that she passed. It was almost like a game, or a puzzle, and she was having the time of her life. This dark, enclosed wonderland awakened feelings and dreams that she didn’t realize she had. But she couldn’t let anyone else see that. Strong emotions can open the possibility weakness, which she could not afford in her journey to the top of the Gadianton Brotherhood.
The section of bridge that they were currently on was lined up perfectly with another section so that they didn’t have to spin it. They walked from this one to the next thinking that it was too easy. At the end of the new section, they saw that this one too was lined up with the next one. Their luck ran out, though, and at the end of this section, they ran into nothingness. Without even looking to see if there was a connecting section of bridge perpendicular to them, Luther spun the bridge. This one moved very slowly and creaked loudly. It sounded like the wooden braces were breaking below them. Several failed escape plans that would lead only to them falling into the darkness flew through Sarah’s mind. In their current position, there was nothing that they could really do if this section of bridge broke. They would certainly be doomed. As she pushed herself for a solution and tried to calm her ever-heavier breathing, the creaking grew louder and more piercing. She wouldn’t look at any of the others, but she was embarrassed to know that they definitely saw her and her fear. Were they scared too? She didn’t take the time to notice them.
And then it stopped. The bridge finished its slow quarter turn as calmly as stagnant water. Sarah exhaled deeply and hustled off the bridge onto the rock cliff, grateful to get off of wooden bridges and onto something more solid. The cliff was even smaller than the one at the mouth of the tunnel, and the only thing to look at was another tunnel. The tunnel’s entrance was carved into a rectangle with perfect 90 degree angles. Sarah was still flustered from the bridges so that she didn’t stop to appreciate the craftsmanship. Instead, she led the other three into the tunnel almost speed walking.
Her left hand was sweating in the glove; a sensation she always hated. Normally she would have slinked into a bathroom or a corner and take her hand out to let it breath, but there was nowhere that would have afforded her privacy in this small tunnel. She didn’t want to call attention to it, and so far none of her three lackeys had noticed it—or mentioned it at least.
The tunnel was only a few yards long and ended at a dead end. Anxiety filled Sarah again at the thought of going back to those bridges so soon. Luckily, though, Morris spotted something that made them stay. The shape of a door was cut into the stone, but the wall was flat. There were no other marks and no apparent way to open the door. On the right-hand wall a carved circle encompassing a shallow, scorpion-shaped imprint stared out at them. Although it would have been hard to tell that the imprint was a scorpion, it was familiar to Sarah and the other three; it was the Brotherhood’s symbol.
“We found it!” Luther and Starsky gave each other a high five.
Morris turned to Sarah to congratulate her. She gave a relieved yet calm smile, not wanting to show on the outside that on the inside she was jumping up and down and shouting for joy. She wasn’t all that surprised that she had found the door. The other prospective recruits were probably lost in some dark tunnel somewhere.
Luther radioed the nanos for the key to open the door.
Sarah imagined her return to Nick. She saw his proud face congratulate her. Her ascent had already begun; Nick would probably make her his number two after such a speedy recovery of the Sun Stone. She would get all of them back for him before anyone else in the Brotherhood knew she was there. She would be hailed as a hero and be made their leader. And with that power ... her thoughts trailed off as a nano arrived.
So quickly? Did it—err he—fly?
Without a word, he walked over to Sarah and placed a red rune in her hand. She made sure to hold out her right hand so the glove wouldn’t be seen. She examined it in her hand. It looked like a jewel that shined beautifully with the lights from the others’ lamps and flashlights. It was intricately carved into a scorpion, tail poised to strike.
“It’s sapphire,” Morris declared. “Pure sapphire throughout.”
Wow, she thought. Incredibly beautiful ... and worth a fortune. Sarah took the rune and placed it into the scorpion shaped imprint in the carved circle on the wall. It fit perfectly in the hole. For fear of such a precious gem falling, she held her hand on, looking to her left at the door carved into the wall, expecting it to open. It did nothing. Not knowing exactly what to do, she strained to turn the mechanism and when that failed, to push it into the wall using only her right hand. Her shadow danced in the lamps’ light on the wall. It’s stuck! Well, after thousands of years what do you expect, Sarah. She motioned to the three men behind her and stepped back. Starsky was the first to step forward and with both hands, easily pushed the carved circle into the wall. It went inward several inches and then began turning by itself. It turned a quarter turn to the left. The circle pushed itself back outward until it was flat with the wall.
The door on the adjacent wall slid backward and then slowly to the left with loud grinding that shook the floor. Sarah turned and saw the brilliant, blinding white light seeping through the opening door. She covered her eyes, but one of the nanos handed her a pair of glasses. Behind the glasses, she saw only darkness around her—even staring at a lamp—except for the light coming from the room. It’s so bright. Glorious. She felt a strange warmth emanating from the room. It was the feeling of a warm summer’s day. It hit her senses like a wall. She began to feel that all was good in the world and that she was capable of anything. She stared in awe at the light.
Suddenly her own fear overpowered the warmth, suppressed it. It’s a ruse, a trick. Don’t fall into its power. She noticed the small shadows in the corners on this side of the door that the Stone’s light did not reach and drunk in their coldness.
Luther ran into the room like an excited child. “No! The fire,” Morris blurted out and lunged toward Luther. It was too late. The three left outside the room stared at each other as the nanos shook their heads in silence. With the light from the room, Sarah saw the worried look on the faces of both Morris and Starsky, but noticed in contrast that she herself felt no worry for him at all. She knew what would happen, but it was Luther’s own fault, she told herself.
It all happened in slow motion. No sooner had the door opened at Luther ran in, than jets of flame shot out from the walls and floor. Luther screamed high and long. Sarah could not see into the room because of the bright light. ...4...3...2...1...now. The fire stopped.
Morris and Starsky scrambled into the room after the flames died down. Sarah calmly entered the room that was still scalding hot. Morris and Starsky squatted down to look at Luther, but didn’t dare to touch him. He made soft whimpering sounds as he curled into a ball. The foul smell of burnt flesh stung her nose. She curling her mouth in disgust and flared her nose at the smell. Fool, she thought. He deserved that. Sarah was not looking at him; she was staring at the middle of the room, or trying at least. Squinting behind the glasses, she tried to make out the form of the source of the light. It was a small rounded object from what she could see. What a sight! It’s so small. How is that possible? And to think, we are the first ones in centuries to see it again.
A feeling of peace poked at her heart, trying to enter.
Chapter 6
“Zeck, we need you right away, chap. We have an uninvited guest.” Ryan’s voice sounded in Zeck’s earpiece. The computer simulation even conveyed the urgency in Ryan’s voice.
Zeck popped his knuckles. “Alright, what have you got?”
“Blake and I found an intruder in the Stone room. I wager it is the alien bloke who shot at us. We have him here now…and we need help,” Ryan said.
“He already made it to the Stone room?” So, the hawk has flown from his nest. “I told them we should have tightened security here. You never can be too safe with glowing Stones of righteousness in the bosom of the stronghold of Hope.”
Zeck made his way to the Stone room and saw Ryan and Blake aiming their Beretta pistols at the intruder who had his arms raised in defeat. The Stone was in a darkly tinted glass container, but the light was seeping out all over the room. When Zeck got close enough to see who the intruder was, he smiled mockingly at the man’s red bandanna across his forehead, his ripped jeans, and dirty t-shirt. Is this it? The harbinger of evil? He looks like a hippy prophet. No. This can’t be the Kenny Lincoln. He looks too young. He’s supposed to be 40 something.
Lincoln’s head was cocked to one side and stared fiercely at Zeck. A thin trail of blood trickled from his hand down his arm and he was breathing slowly, calmly.
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