Children of the Source (21 page)

    I steeled my stomach and mind.
  Those Beings - human, animal, plant, and mineral - that I could restore to their former genetic selves I did.  Those that could not be restored I asked permission to end their suffering and send them on to the Other side.  Some requested this, but others I could only restore marginally.  And I did.  Beings from the Other side helped.  By the time my team and I were done, any vestige of sympathy for the eugenic faction had vanished. 

    I went back to Nelon and Tellus who had been secured together.
   These were the best of Akenton’s supermen and women.  Flawless physically and mentally - incredible to see.  Beautiful and strong.  Full of vital energy.  But without scruple and ethics.  Fanatics and fundamentalists in every way about eugenics.  Devoid of sympathy and empathy for those they practiced on … 

    And completely dangerous.
  They looked for every advantage, every weakness, and followed through.  Super men and women without mercy, pity, or any of the redeeming attributes that make us human.  Their cunning and ruthlessness were legendary.  The public knew and feared them in every way, praying their lives would never intersect.  I knew all of this, and would break them publically leaving them howling and begging for physical death.

    I mounted the great stage with the display screens to magnify both what they had done and what would be done to them.
  I beckoned.  Nolan and Tellus were led up onto the stage, and chained naked to the standing cross pieces.  They struggled briefly testing their bonds of thick metal rings.  I stood before the great chair facing them.  Tens of thousands of people thronged the area around the stage.  Then Marta, the Queen, entered and sat on the carved wooden throne to one side.  The entire throng of people went down on their knees as one holding their hands palms open toward their Queen in absolute silence.  Marta nodded and raised her hands palms outward toward her people.  The people stood and intoned a deep sound.  When Marta nodded they bowed, went silent and looked expectantly at me.  “These are the ones you feared, Nelon and Tellus, and now they will experience all they have done to you and the other Beings of Adora.”

    I raised my right hand, and one of the great screens came to life with images more real than anything physical.
  These images carried the emotions - live in every way - and projected them out.  A terrified child shrieked as Tellus used a sound instrument to change her DNA and create feathers to grow through her skin.  I pointed to Tellus, causing the same sound link and she began to grow feathers.  A deep throated scream escaped her. 

    On a second screen Nelon caused a man’s hand to turn into a cat’s paw with claws.
  The man stared at his hand eyes wide with fright, and began twisting with all his might on the restraining table.  He managed to claw Nelon before he was subdued.  I pointed to Nelon and before his eyes his left hand began to alter, fingers shrinking into a cat’s brown and white furry paw with claws.  Next Tellus caused a man’s healthy strong arm to wither into something unrecognizable.  I pointed to her right arm and it began its transformation.  Tellus began to moan.  Feathers still grew.  We moved to animals and other Beings they had violated, bringing each atrocity to fruition in their own physical bodies.  Frantic fear and disbelief of what was happening ruled their eyes and voices.  I carefully chose every example in such a way that their bodies could accept each indignity without overwhelming them totally.  Some would call it cunning torture.  I called it justice, as did the throng of people around us.

    In two hours they slumped in their bonds, reduced to a something barely recognizable as human.
   I looked to Marta and she nodded.  I pointed at Nelon who ceased breathing.  Tellus followed, slumping in physical death.

    In the close darkness, I lay there next to Judith, astonished, sickened and alarmed by what had happened.
  I knew the events were real.  I had reduced Nelon and Tellus to something less than human.  Where these personalities went after such a gruesome and painful death I didn’t know.  Why their Entities didn’t intervene causing an earlier death was beyond me.  They were certainly capable of doing so.  Powerful personalities like Nelon and Tellus living the hell they inflicted on others must have made an impression.   Maybe that was the reason for no intervention.  The Entities wanted to know, living the experience through their personalities.  But what about revenge? 

    We experience an Entity like Ren/Locus and we wonder what they’re capable of doing.
  They can travel through time and circumstance seeding their personalities wherever they wish.  Why not go from Adora to Earth, and indeed  knowing the aliens would make their way back, come at this time to seek redress for what they believed had been a horrible and unspeakable act?  Kodus and Mator had made serious enemies in their war on eugenics, and now they might come back to visit them, with their new personalities.  Me and Mary.  We’d need Charles to help as he led the eugenics movement.  This was not an ending, but a warning.

12

    The morning dawned cool with scattered clouds, and the promise of a gathering monsoon afternoon with thunderstorms.
  The smell of ponderosa pines and their green soothes and leaves us relaxed and peaceful.  Breakfast smells of flapjacks, oatmeal, and grilled elk decorated the air as we filed into the Dining Hall.  I felt surprisingly good considering my nightly experience.  I enjoyed the flapjacks, grilled elk, and goat’s milk with oatmeal and honey. 

    It wasn’t long before Judith looked up at the sound of Carson’s command chopper.
  Then the dying whispers of the blades came to a halt.  Judith patted my hand and smiled.  I grimaced and finished my oatmeal, the experience of the night still fresh.  We carried our trays to the deposit area and headed out the door.  Laith and Helen joined us. 

   Charles and Mary were already visiting with the General and Colonel Randolph.
  Victoria and Abe joined other children checking out the chopper, climbing inside and out under the amused supervision of Captain Jack Howard, the pilot.  Eli Benson watched from the corral with his mule Baldy.  In two’s, three’s and more the entire Cheshire population arrived except the outer perimeter guard.  As Mike Rosen and his team swept the outer areas, a spooked coyote scampered into the woods raising a flight of birds in the pines.  Carson raised a hand as he saw us approaching.  I waved back.

    I felt my mind roaming, searching the area.
  My small talk with Carson and Derek was distracted and disjointed.  I apologized and excused myself.  I wandered to the Main Gate and being alone spread my consciousness out.  Rather like sending parts of myself in different directions, but also in different times.  There was something ... something out there but blocked.  A mind that kept itself blank consciously or unconsciously thus shielding its location. 

  
 I sent a portion of myself to the main alien spacecraft.  Severin and Astera sat in a conference room, and looking up startled as I entered the room.  That they could sense my nonphysical consciousness told volumes.  But I was drawn to a room further into the craft that held an essence.  One attached to a crying insect.  A spider pleading for release.  But from what and who?  I examined the room, a simple but comfortable abode with personal touches.  About the size of a modern hotel room.  But I didn’t get  gender, age, or much else.  There was a shielding going on here, too.  I was expected. 

    I went back to Severin and Astera who acknowledged me warmly.
  I communicated my pleasure at being there.  They took me to a room off a corridor and I knew it to be mine, set up to introduce me to myself and the Four Planet Federation.  To feed and widen my knowledge base.  I moved around the room exploring the items and images there. 

    Fifteen minutes later they returned and said they were ready to leave for the meeting.
  I thanked them and went back to my body.  Other portions of myself I’d sent exploring  returned with no information I could use.  I went back to the General, Judith and the group and told them the aliens would be arriving shortly.  Carson nodded briefly and continued in the conversation.

    In ten minutes a fifty foot disc-shaped craft landed close to the airplane barn.
  This time eight aliens filed out of the craft,  Severin and Astera in the lead.  Dabir was not there.  I sensed a very faint current of animosity in the cheerful group.  Like an almost undetectable deep thread, which ran for an instant unshielded.  Then it disappeared with its source.  I introduced the General and his staff to Severin and Astera.  The other six aliens proved to be scientist- technicians.   Severin and Astera made those introductions.   I recognized four of the six, and acknowledged them.  One of the other two belonged to The Thera.  A woman, like Astera, ageless, toned flesh, eyes bright.  Short golden hair.  “Krifin,” she said with a warm smile.  I bowed my head.  Perfectly shielded.  Part of the training.

    The sixth alien, a small balding man with great pouches under his eyes, thin white arms and a potbelly walked over to me.
  I laughed, and gathered him in a great hug.  “Lara,” I said. 

    “Jamie.”
  Brother.

    “You know each other?”
  Carson said, very alert, wary.

    “General, we’ve known each other in other times.
  He has a lot of knowledge about how things work physically.”

    An uncomfortable Carson turned to Severin.
  “Why have you come?”

    “To help you repair and rebuild your country, General Carson.
  We have technologies that can accelerate your recovery,”  Severin said. 

    “And eugenics?”

    Severin nodded.   “Jamie told you of our experience with Adora.  Unfortunately there are ... individuals who want to repeat the problems of Adora on Earth.”

    “That’s your real reason for being here.”

    Severin stood silent for a long moment.  “May we show you what happened on Adora, General?”

    Carson nodded.
  Severin beckoned to one of his companions who handed him a rectangle screen fifteen by eighteen inches.  He touched the side of the screen.  Carson backed up at the images of  deformed men, women, and children, then animals and plants.  “These are some of the horrors of eugenics, General.  I don’t know how to put this, but those that did this on Adora are currently trying to do this on your planet.  Having been part of this history, we would like to prevent this on Earth. To prevent it from going any farther than it already has.”  He stopped.

    “Are they capable of doing that here?”
  Carson swallowed while studying the images.

    “These individuals don’t have the knowledge of Adora, but they do have the desire and intent.
  It is only a matter of time before they are able to copy this.”  Severin ran a lean hand through his grey hair.  “You’re already seeing this with plant and animal genetics and pharmaceuticals that do more harm than good.”

    “Is this some sort of reincarnation thing?”
  Carson looked at Derek, me, and then at Severin.

    “In a manner of speaking, General.
  We are all part of larger wholes that send out portions of themselves to have lives on physical worlds.  These larger Beings have interests, values and intents that can be quite diverse, General.  To put it simply, they are not all spiritual giants.” Severin stopped.  “You minored in math at West Point, General.  You also have a Masters in Geopolitical Studies from a Colorado University.”

    “How did you know?”
  Carson looked astonished.

    “There are no real secrets, General.
  People deliberately hide things from each other and themselves, but there are no real secrets.  It is all out there if you know where to look.  Since you were  a math minor, please consider the Entity as the set and the personalities as subsets.  There can be many subsets.”

    “And these Entities were once and maybe still are subsets of other Entities?”
  Derek asked.

    Severin laughed.
  “True, Colonel.  There is no end to it, and development.  There are Entities who create worlds like Adora, the Earth, whole solar systems with all their components.  These are usually cooperative efforts.  There are Entities so vast in their complexity they include whole worlds with all their species.”

    “We are pretty small potatoes then,” observed Carson.

    Severin blinked.  “There are no small potatoes as you say.  Every Being from the tiniest creature to the most developed is important and has a say in your world.”

    We heard some swearing at the Main Gate and saw Burt Clark manhandling skinny Nick Ryan down the road toward us.
  He wasn’t pleased.  His K-12 slung across his chest, Burt carried an ancient shotgun and a crossbow, and was literally kicking Nick’s backside in our direction.  The young man stumbled and fell in a heap at our feet.  Burt saluted the General.  “Found this bugger sneaking up on Cheshire’s perimeter, sir.  Jamie said he’d be up to something.  He had these.”  He waved the weapons.

    Astera said, “Who is he?
  Why the weapons?”

    “A religious fanatic,”
  Derek said.  “Tell us why you’re here, Nick.  You know better than to ever lie to us.”

    “Religious fanatic?”
  Astera looked to me.

    “Our knowledge is fragmented and compartmentalized, Astera.
  Religions are belief systems based in legend and myth with heroes and their histories, often controversial.  They have formulas that require the believer to accept and characterize life in certain rigid ways.  They often deny knowledge that is plainly evident.”

    Astera shook her head.
  “Peculiar, limiting, and primitive.”  She smiled at Nick.  “And this one’s belief system?”

    “An extreme version of where those believing in anything else means they can be discredited, damaged or killed.”

    “Hence the weapons,” Severin said.  He turned to Nick.  “Who were you trying to hurt or kill, Mr. Ryan?”

    Nick, eyes wide with fear and wonder, stared back at the aliens.
  “Do you have Jesus Christ on your planet?”

    Severin looked at his people.
  Lara, eyed Severin and Astera, and said to Nick, “There are  Souls or Entities who put on spiritual workshops to teach spiritual lessons.  The Christ story was one of these.  Buddha and Mohammed too.  There are others also.  That is as simple as I can make it.  They were not intended to create religions.”  He frowned at Nick.  “No.  We had no need for such workshops.  We do not fragment our knowledge as you do.  I don’t know if that makes sense to you, Nick.  Probably not.  All knowledge is one.”

    “Who were you intending to kill, Nick?”
  Derek asked, piercing eyes raking the young man.

    Nick’s shaking finger pointed at me.
  “This one.  The Great Blasphemer.  A man who can raise the dead, cause the weather to do his will, heal all manner of sicknesses and injuries.  A man who creates Pillars of Fire, melts rifles and stops bullets in midair.  A man with God-like abilities yet denies Christ.”

    “A wee bit dramatic, Nick,” I said.
  “There are usually a basis for legends.  I just don’t know what they are.”   

    Carson said, “Were the weapons operational, Sergeant?”

    “The shotgun had no shells, sir.  The crossbow probably not.  The string is frayed, and he had one bolt that is warped.”  

    A chill went through me.
  It wasn’t adding up.  I had no clues or answers.  Suddenly Nick lunged at me with a large military combat knife.  He uncoiled like a striking rattlesnake.  The blade struck my lower right ribs, glancing, but oddly I found it being guided deeper by a force outside of Nick.  Someone from The Thera, the Sound Language.  My energy block struggled until with the utmost effort I broke the connection, and the second energy withdrew.  But I couldn’t find an energy signature or the direction from which it came. 

    Blood covered my hands as I forced Nick’s hands back.
  A burning determination in his brown eyes locked with mine.  Tellus.  Nick belonged to Tellus’s Entity.  Crap.  Revenge.  I shook my head and with the knife away from me, melted it into a dripping mess.  Derek struck Nick on the back of his head with his pistol.  The man collapsed in a heap.

    I walked away with Judith and Astera.
  Standing there I put up a shield, and probed the wound, stopping the bleeding.  Because of the secondary energy, the wound was much more extensive.  I worked slowly and carefully knitting myself back together with the Sound Language.  Though I kept my shield up, I allowed Astera to lend her supportive energy.  For which I was grateful.  Judith merged her energies with mine.  I needed that.  It took a good fifteen minutes to repair the damage and realign my energies.

    We walked back to the General, Severin and the group.
  My hands were still bloody, my blood.  “Unnatural Being, you should be dead.” Nick spat, spittle decorating my shoes.

    “Not from your lack of trying,”
  I agreed.

    “He’ll hang for this,”
  Derek said.

    “Can you send him back East instead?”
  I asked.

    “Why?”
  Carson looked incredulous. 

    “In another time I publically tortured him to death.
  He doesn’t realize why he wanted to kill me.  Just had this overwhelming desire to do so.  He put a religious spin on it to have it make sense to him.”

    “Tit for tat?
  What’s to say he won’t sneak back to do it again?”  Carson asked.

    “I can’t answer that,” I said.
  “I just know killing him this time isn’t the way to go.  Will you please consider it, General?  It could go a long way to healing a problem.”

    “No guarantee, Jamie.
  Nick, if I sent you back East, would you come back for Jamie?”

    Nick sat there, mouth open.
  “You would spare me after I did this?”  He stared at the combat knife, now a wrinkled puddle of metal on the ground, and then up at my bloody hands and shirt, and shuddered.