Essence: The E.S.T. Org. (5 page)

“Mr. Macken! Welcome!” Nicky’s dad said as he answered the door.

“Thank you Mr. Hernandez. Is Nicholas home?” Mr. Macken asked.

“Why yes he is. Nicholas? Mr. Macken is here,” his dad called out to Nicky.

Nicky’s stomach sank. He thought to himself,
“Oh no, I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to stay in that facility again.”
He came out of his room to see Mr. Macken.

“Nicholas, it is good to see you again. Your parents have allowed another visit to our facility. Is that not great news?”

“Do I have to stay there overnight? Can’t I come back home today?” Nicky asked.

“Well Nicholas, it is very far away, but I assure you, you will be back soon. Now get some clothes for a few days. I will be waiting outside.”

“Nicholas, Mr. Macken only wants to help you. Do not worry. They can be trusted. Now, go get your things,” Dad said.

Nicholas was escorted into another dark Prius by two men. “Okay Nicholas, just like before we must darken the windows and put up the divider.”

“Where’s Mr. Macken?”

“He is in another vehicle.” A dark divider rose separating the back seat from the front seats. Nicky could not see out of the side windows either. A gas was released into the car, and after a few minutes, Nicky was knocked unconscious.

Nicky awoke, once again, and found himself in his replicated room from home. But this time, laid out on the dresser was a pair of dark blue coveralls.
“Great. Now I get to look like all these other guys. I wonder what tests they have for me now,”
Nicky thought to himself.

Another unknown man with similar physical features to everyone he’d encountered at the facility, entered the room. “Nicholas, are you ready for the tests?”

“Yeah, I’m ready … let’s go.”

Nicky was led to a different room in the facility. Like most of the other rooms, this one had the same white lacquer like finish to every surface. However, it was much smaller measuring about ten feet long by ten feet wide. Mr. Macken was waiting for him.

“Hello Nicholas, these set of tests will be a little different than what we have done in the past,” Mr. Macken explained.

“Okay, how are they different?”

“Well, most of today’s tests will be less physical and more cerebral. Please sit. Now, close your eyes and extend your hand. Good.” Mr. Macken pulled out a knife and slammed it down on Nicky’s pinky, cutting it off.

“Ahhhh …!” Nicky screamed in dismay. “What did you do?!” But as Nicky cried, Mr. Macken asked him to look down. His finger had already begun to regenerate.

“I am sorry Nicholas, but I had to see if the curative process was viable. And apparently it was.”

“But I don’t understand,” Nicky said puzzled.

“You see, Nicholas, we have experimented with a procedure so that you may heal in such a manner.”

Nicky was still in shock, “But why hurt me?”

“Again, I apologize for my methods. I was almost sure the curative process would be successful.”

“Almost sure! I don’t want to be here anymore!” Nicky stood and shouted.

“Nicholas, please settle down. I will not hurt you again, I promise. Also, please understand your parents have signed waivers, so you must remain here until we are ready to send you home.”

“My parents would never do that!” Nicky yelled angrily.

Mr. Macken was fully aware of what an angry Nicky was capable of doing. “They understand that your mission for your country is much larger than just you. Again I am terribly sorry. It will not happen again. You have my word. Now, please sit down.” Nicky glared at Mr. Macken and reluctantly sat.

“Are you ready to continue?”

“Yes.”

“Good, do you see that gentleman sitting down over there?” he pointed at a man sitting about fifty feet away.

“Yeah, I see him.”

“Okay, now concentrate on his face and tell me what happens.”

Nicky could hear a voice in his head, «Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.»

“I heard a voice counting down from ten,” Nicky told Mr. Macken.

“Very good.”

“Tell me how?” Nicky asked.

“Well, you have the ability to communicate telepathically with humans, not just animals.”

“Wow, really? Can I make his mind explode like in the comic books?”

“No Nicholas, I am afraid not. You can only communicate. Now, please close your eyes. Do not worry. I am only testing your mind. You have my word. Picture total darkness in your mind. No sound, no feeling, only focus on your breathing. Now relax and listen to this word … ko-kí.” Mr. Macken paused for a few seconds. “What do you see?”

Nicky started to become visibly disturbed. “I see a terrible war. Indians are being shot and are dying around me … I don’t like this.”

“Concentrate, Nicholas. Tell me what you see,” instructed Mr. Macken.

“I don’t want to see it anymore.” Nicky opened his eyes. “What was that?” Nicky was sweating and breathing heavily.

“These are memories that you can recall from the essence that has merged with you.”

“But I don’t understand,” Nicky said.

“These memories formed part of the life of a Native American who lived many years ago. You can access these memories,” Mr. Macken explained.

“What? You said I had been merged with animals? What do you mean a Native American?”

“It is true Nicholas. You have been merged with a man. His essence is part of you now.”

“How could this be? I don’t want this. I don’t want these memories. You have to reverse this.”

“I am sorry for your distress Nicholas, but once the merger process has been finalized, there is no way to reverse it. You must learn to live with your new abilities and connections.”

“But I don’t want to.”

“I am sure you will work it out. Well, Nicholas that is all for today, you may return to your room.” Mr. Macken abruptly stopped the conversation.

Now back in his room, Nicky was still shaken by the images in his mind, the cutting off of his finger, and the knowledge that he was somehow merged with another man.

Nicky knew he was being monitored; he just sensed it. This was strange considering there were no visible cameras in the room. He yelled out, “Can I get an Xbox and a TV in here?”

An unknown voice could be heard through a speaker, “As you wish.”

Video Games always had a way of clearing Nicky’s mind, no matter how badly he felt.

“Thanks!”

Nicky stayed up almost all night playing on the X-box. Only a couple of hours of sleep later, someone knocked on the door.

“Good morning, Nicholas.”

“Good morning pasty dude number 147,”
Nicky thought as he smirked. “I know, it’s time to go,” Nicky said.

When Nicky arrived at the Creation Room, Mr. Macken informed him things would be a little different today. “Nicholas, today I would like you to take over the Creation Room.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Whatever you can imagine, the Creation Room will try to simulate. It is all yours. I will be back in a few hours.”

The first thing Nicky thought of was a movie theater hooked up to an Xbox. “This is awesome!” After a couple of hours of playing Halo, he grew bored. Next he thought, “
Whitewater rafting on a jet ski? Why not?”
Drenched from the experience, he thought, “
What’s next
.
Hang gliding
!” He was soaring over a mountainous area. When he finally landed he started to feel a little sad. He started thinking of those he missed so much.

Nicky tried to re-create home. He missed his family. He even created simulations of his parents. He hugged them, went outside to play some basketball with Sue and Becky, and finally he imagined their last trip and the cave that he fell into.

There it was, right in front of him, the cave. It scared him a little, but he was so curious he had to go in.
“Could it re-create what was in there?”
Nicky wondered. He jumped in the opening and walked until he saw it. The bones and the weapons were there just like he had seen so briefly in the cave before.
“Everything looks smaller than I remember,”
he thought.

“Interesting is it not, Nicholas?” he heard Mr. Macken’s voice behind him.

Nicky jumped. “Yeah it is.”

“Tell me Nicholas, why are you so curious about this place?”

“Well, I just wanted to see what’s down here.”

“I see. Well, since you are so curious, I suppose I should let you in on a little secret. We created the cave for a higher purpose.”

“What do you mean you created it? For what? Some kind of trap?!”

“I would not necessarily categorize it as a trap. You see, many came before you. They were unable to survive the essence merging process. Some of their bones were discarded here as you can see.” Mr. Macken pointed to them.

“But why?”

“To entice young curious types such as yourself.”

“So the cave was created to trap kids so you could experiment on them? But … but … I could have died?”

“Well Nicholas, we do not use the word die. Your journey does not end when the vessel expires. It is simply a transition.”

“You mean like the man and the animals that were merged with me?”

“Exactly. I promise, tomorrow all of your questions will be answered. Now, it has been a long day, please return to your room.”

Nicky had many more questions, but decided it would be best to just listen to Mr. Macken, for now anyway.

Nicky spent the rest of the evening doing what he does most nights; reading comic books and playing X-Box until he passed out.

The next morning Nicky awoke to the sound of gas filling the room. Nicky’s body was adapting to the gas. Larger and larger quantities of gas were needed each time it was used. But eventually his body relented. “Oh no. Not agai …” Nicky was out. When he awoke he could not believe his eyes.

Today

“Welcome back Nicholas!” As Nicky slowly opens his eyes, he looks around and sees the type of room he’d grown so accustomed to. It is cold and white, except now, there are three unusual structures above him that are clinging like stalactites to the ceiling. These structures are hanging three feet down and have an asperous rock like texture. Their metal like skin appears dull and faded. They look almost alive and seem to be slightly pulsating. At the tip of each is an ice blue, jagged crystal protruding from them like spears.

“This is our Essence Experimentation Room.” Nicky hears Mr. Macken’s voice. When he turns his head, he is shocked. Mr. Macken does not look human any longer! He, like several others in the room, are seven to eight feet tall, humanlike, but with elongated limbs. He looks like the stretched toy man Nicky remembers winning at a birthday party when he was younger. Their skin is similar to Nicky’s own skin pigmentation, but has a kind of glowing, reddish-pink color. Their faces remind him of the famous painting he once saw online called ‘The Scream.’ But still, their humanlike faces are different in subtle ways. Nicky always thought aliens would look like the little, green men from the movies, not so much like us.

He looks down to see blue glowing restraints and notices two others about his age restrained as well. “What is this … what are you … and where am I?” Nicky was visibly shocked.

“Do not be distraught Nicholas; here is where we perfect the merging process. Unfortunately, many had to perish, but alas we have our three. That is William and that is Isabella over there. You three were the only ones who survived the merging process. So, we are studying why and what makes you three different. And yes, you may have guessed, we are not human. We have the ability to alter our physical appearance. I will answer all of your questions, but right now, experimentation must continue.” A mask is placed over Nicky’s face and after several minutes, Nicky sleeps.

Nicky wakes up again to hear a strange language, not verbalized, but just like with the animals he had encountered before; it is telepathic. Strangely, he can understand them. There are fifteen of them in the room now. Mr. Macken is speaking telepathically to William. It seems that William also has the ability to understand them. Mr. Macken senses when Nicky is awake, as if they are connected somehow.

“Ah, welcome back Nicholas, I know you are a curious one. So perhaps I may enlighten you on our origins as they pertain to your planet. Your own country was originally settled by Europeans, eventually pilgrims and puritans arrived at your shores to settle here. For the most part, they were in search of religious freedom.

“We had no such concept as religion, but we had a strong difference of opinion on our world regarding the topic of essence. Essence is what you humans refer to as spirit. You see Nicholas, when your vessel, or body has perished, your essence leaves its vessel. Where it may go we have not determined. Our essence remains in its vessel until it is transferred to another.”

“You mean your spirit is stuck in your body until you get a new one?” Nicky asks.

“Precisely. On our planet we had the ability to create a new vessel.”

“So, how do you die?” asks Nicky.

“We do not perish as humans do. Unfortunately, we are unable to create new vessels on your planet. We began experimentation to transfer our essence to different vessels, be it human or animal, hundreds of years ago. We have not been successful yet, and are only limited to what you would consider 700 to 800 years in our current vessels. So we must be expeditious in our task.”

“Seven hundred or 800 years! You guys live that long?”

Mr. Macken continues, “Yes it is true. I assume relative to humans, it is long. But there are other species Nicholas, where 700 or 800 years is a relative drop in the bucket, to use a human idiom.”

“So if your body dies you’re stuck in it until you can transfer your spirit?”

“Correct.”

“Well, why not go back to your planet where a transfer is possible?”

“Unfortunately our transporter was destroyed when we landed here in the seventeenth century and our available aircraft are unable to travel into deep space. But even if we had the ability to travel there, we would not be welcome by those we left behind, and we would certainly be imprisoned. Leaving for a long period of time was unlawful. We do not procreate as easily as, for example, humans do.

“Again as stated,” Mr. Macken continues, “We landed in your country at a tumultuous time. We were taken by the tenacity of the native people. Much like those Europeans who first landed here, we wish to acquire power and land so that we may eventually live in peace, without fear of humans and in our true forms. The forms you now see before you. As we learned from the Native Americans, we would never be accepted as we truly are. So by using our unique abilities, we have infiltrated all facets of the largest domestic and foreign governments and the most powerful companies on your planet. We simply take the essence of those in powerful positions, terminate their vessel and replace them, as your parents were.”