Hunters: A Trilogy (20 page)

‘Anyway,’ the old man was saying, ‘we made contact with a very powerful member from one of your endless Governments, a man who was using the war in that area to cover up their true mission, a mission centred on investigating the gas and mineral deposits lying hidden under that wretched and beaten land. We touched him about eight years ago and the response we received was extremely positive. It was almost as though he had been waiting for us.’

‘What do you mean, you
touched
him?’ questioned Ken.

George smiled at his baffled audience, and then beguilingly explained. ‘We touched him like you were touched by the bathroom mirror, Kenneth – when you were frantic with fear and worry about Michael. We showed you things that eased your mind and made you understand. We have touched you with coffee, with food and with alcohol. We have also touched you with dreams. There are many ways that a person can be touched, but they have to need to be touched, their minds must have good intentions and they must have a pure heart.’

Ken sat there and mulled that one over for a while. ‘Touched me?’ He closed his eyes for a brief moment and listened to the sound of emptiness echoing through his mind. Ken didn’t quite like the sound of that word, ‘touched’, but supposed that he’d just have to live with it. He wasn’t sure if it was the effect of George’s words or perhaps a slight breeze caressing the back of his neck, but either way, he felt decidedly chilled. He felt the hairs on his arms and neck rising, and subconsciously hunched his shoulders in defence against the eerie feeling.

George smiled knowingly at him. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘this particular gentleman had all of those things and much more; he had good intentions and a deep sense of unease about the activities of his masters. A thick root of distaste had grown within him and he abhorred the secrets he knew about the ravenous Hyenas who dominated the world leadership. He knew an awful lot of secrets about an awful lot of people, and he was ashamed!’

George said the man’s name was Wilson and that he liked him a lot, even though Wilson liked a drop of the hard stuff, he was still a good man. ‘We showed him a dream, a dream very similar to the one that both of you witnessed…’ he said, pausing for breath. Sitting in silence, he ran his hand downwards over his head before finally rubbing his eyelids with those bony fingers. As his fingernails reflected the desert’s light, they seemed to be nearly transparent, George looked almost ghostly in his frailness. Looking up, he said, ‘The dream moved this man deeply, he truly understood it, and so we showed him the device…’

Then, like some wizened magician, he reached into the pocket of his brown corduroy trousers and removed a small, silver case. It was exactly like the one Ken had seen in the dream. In the flesh he saw it was more like a mobile hard-drive for computers, than a cigarette case, only much thicker, and it came fitted with two snake-like leads, which hung limply from its shiny metal body. The blue glass top was dull, as though in waiting for some form of power to ignite the captivating glow he’d seen in the dream. He held out his hand and without hesitation, George passed him the object. Ken grasped it fervently.

He felt the warmth from where it had been in George’s pocket, but he also felt something else resonating within its slender form. It felt like a thrumming magic, barely perceptible and probably imagined, but it was there in his mind nonetheless. Ken turned it over in his hands, only just containing a slight tremble, which had started in his head and was now heading down his arms. There were no markings on the machine and it was incredibly light in construction, one of those objects that when touched transmits a feeling of the most exquisite function and quality, very rare, hugely expensive and extremely desirable. It felt like a jewel. ‘Let’s have a look at it…’ Mike’s softly-spoken request shook him from his stupor. Shaking his head, Ken reached out and passed the silver case over to his friend.

‘Nice, very nice indeed,’ Mike said, ‘it’s totally simple but extremely efficient!’ He sounded like a heart surgeon making a casual comment about the latest titanium aorta pump. ‘My guess would be its some kind of hydrogen fuel-cell, although it’s hugely advanced in comparison to our current standards,’ he said, so softly that it was as though he was speaking to himself.

Ken had seen him in this mode many times before, when he had caught Mike unawares, perhaps fiddling with some device or another in the corner of his little workshop back in their office on the base. ‘Back in our old world, back then before the storm and all of this madness had started raining down on our stupid heads!’ The thoughts echoed along the empty corridors of Ken’s mind as he watched Mike.

Looking up from the machine, his friend whispered: ‘We would still have a problem getting the ones on Earth to fit in the back of a pickup truck, that’s if you were brave enough to drive the bloody thing, of course.’

George nodded, saying: ‘Yes, that is correct, they had the basic design that we had passed on to them, but, as I have mentioned, there were those who deliberately slowed the technology down, they are the reason why you still have an unused device in your hands.’ He raised one of his own hands and gently massaged his temples with a thumb and forefinger. ‘What makes it even worse,’ he murmured, ‘is the fact that their dismissal of the technology will ensure your race is destined to stay locked within its present archaic chains forever. If they had bothered to embrace the ideas we had given them, then all of this…’ he lifted his face to the heavens and pointed at the sky, ‘…would soon have been within your grasp, all of those places that lay beyond your imagination, all of them and many, many more. With some development of the device, you would soon be able to reach them all!’ With a final despairing shake of the head, he said, ‘Well, now that does not really matter anymore, does it? Things have taken a turn for the worse!’ There was coldness in his tone that Ken had not heard previously.

George held out his hand and, somewhat reluctantly, Mike passed the machine back to him. With the same sleight of hand he had shown when producing the device, George made it disappear back into his trouser pocket. He made his way over to the edge of their rocky ledge, sat down and allowed his legs to hang over the side. Ken and Mike joined him; it wasn’t long before they were sitting a thousand feet up in the air, legs dangling over the void below. Ken found the situation to be totally bizarre. Here he was, sitting on the side of an ancient holy rock and looking out at the remains of planet Earth, whilst right next to him there was a crazy old man who happened to have some of the most advanced technology ever known to man, casually stuffed into his trouser pocket.

As they sat, with George telling them about the unfolding events of his tale, his two students stared out into the far distance and listened to his voice. He told them that his man on the inside, so to speak, had informed his masters of the great dangers facing Earth, and of how he was in possession of the solution. He sent all the diagrams, details, ideas and calculations to them. Over a number of years, all manner of information was forced up the chain of command. The watchers waited in desperation for the Hyenas to initiate the programme, they waited for the radical changes that would revolutionise the tiny planet’s perilous future, saving it from its own suicide.

George said it had become apparent that those who held the power on Earth did not really care about doing what was best for the vast majority, no – the fact that the demise of the planet’s fossil fuels would cause huge power shortages, which would very quickly lead to an all-out, civilisation-ending war, seemed to be of little consequence to them. In fact, it did appear as though a large amount of Earth’s leaders would have been more than happy to have that as an outcome.

With a small grimace, George whispered: ‘We found this attitude to be totally unacceptable, their short-term view and utterly selfish designs based upon creating a one-state-world were nothing short of ridiculous. Your planet would be plunged back into the Dark Ages, and without the means to produce power, the Dark Ages are where it would remain forever!’ He explained that he and his kind had begun to bombard the Earthlings with views and forecasts of what lay ahead for them if they continued to resist the technology. ‘We cannot allow the powerful few to destroy the future for billions of others – we simply cannot do that!’ George looked at them helplessly with his arms held out, the white palms of his hands turned upwards. It was almost a gesture of failure.

Then, he smiled and said, ‘More positive news, thank goodness, was not far away…’ Rising carefully to his feet, George suggested that perhaps they should be heading back. Ken, still feeling the coldness on his neck, agreed immediately.

After gathering their belongings, George told them to lie down and close their eyes. With some trepidation, Ken did as he had been asked and stretched himself out to lie next to Mike. Hearing George ordering him to prepare himself, Ken lay back, shut his eyes and waited for the dizziness to arrive. It wasn’t to be long in making an appearance.

***

Later, after having made their miraculous jump back to the cinema, and then dazedly wandering back into the lounge, the two men were once more seated upon the red couch and listening to George as he gave them further information. He explained that after a long time spent prevaricating, the people on Earth had begun to show the first chink of understanding – some light had finally started to appear in the darkness belonging to the current night of the Hyenas’ previous stubbornness.

Half-smiling, he said, ‘At last there had been a positive response from the men in suits. An urgent meeting was scheduled so they were able ask us all the questions they wanted to. We did not hesitate, we had no choice and they had no time. It was to be the beginning of the end-game, “Shit-or-bust”, I believe the quaint term used to describe this particular situation, would be?’ He looked at them seriously, saying: ‘We sent a Team to meet them in the ancient building, where you started your journey, your trip to join us here, Kenneth.’

‘You mean the SD building. George, you met them there – when was that meeting?’ Ken wanted to know, he had to get some sense of time, normal time, back into his logic.

George smiled, and almost as if he’d read Ken’s mind, said, ‘Yes, I understand. It was almost three years ago now...yes, that’s about right, three years, I think?’ He shrugged. ‘They came to us and we met, we talked, and we showed them everything. All of the events, all of the information and all the knowledge we had, it was all shared with them. We explained in minute detail about the unfolding catastrophe that lay before them, we talked in depth about their usage of oil and about how we would be able to cure their problem with the device.’ He tilted his head to one side and the action made him appear almost childlike.

With a shrug, he continued. ‘We showed them the device, we explained its immense power and how it should be used. They had been very interested in that, the power of the device and of the intermediate fuel, almost more interested than they were in its abilities as a hydrogen cell, but we put their interest down to the insatiable curiosity of your race...What a terrible mistake we made there!’ He puffed his cheeks out in anger and defiance. Expelling his annoyance, he said, ‘It was yet another colossal underestimation on our behalf, an underestimation about the true nature of the beast!’ His lined face crumpled even more as he uttered that last sentence.

Falling into silence, he turned and watched the monitor, which now hung in the air behind him, having appeared as if from nowhere. Ken and Mike followed his gaze. The huge screen showed them images of people gathered in offices and talking on mobile telephones, all engaged in furious conversations or email messaging. None of them looked to be remotely happy. There also appeared to be some kind of a meeting, Ken did recognise some of the people who attended, not by name, although it was obvious they were big-wigs. But since he’d never really paid much attention to politics and suchlike, he wasn’t able put his finger on exactly who was who. Either way, it was obvious they were of importance. He watched the silent images as the handful of shiny limousines with their blacked-out windows slid onto the driveway of some grandiose mansion, hard-eyed security men swarmed about the place as the suited ones made their way inside. At least twenty men and several women sat around an enormous table.

One by one they rose to their feet and addressed the others who were present in their private gathering. In the end they held some sort of vote – all of those present held their hands aloft in a sign of agreement to whatever it was that had been proposed. Within minutes, the entourage had filed out of the room; after exchanging solemn handshakes they all left the mansion and returned to their vehicles. In no time at all, the final limousine had slipped from the driveway and disappeared from view.

Ken looked down from the screen at George. ‘Who the hell were that lot, and what were they doing? That looked to be a pretty damned serious meeting.’

George snorted, saying: ‘They, my dear friends, are the Hyenas – they are the real power brokers of your world! Some are in the public eye, whilst the rest remain hidden in the shadows, but nothing of any major importance ever happens without their say-so, nothing! They are members of the most exclusive club on Earth, and you cannot buy your way in – they are the most powerful people in this parallel!’

Ken shook his head in amazement, he’d heard of such things but had never really put much credence to the rumours, and yet he’d just watched that very club holding a meeting before his own eyes.

He listened as George began to talk again.

‘So, as you have seen,’ he said, ‘they held a secret meeting, and when they realised that we were not going to just give them the technology, and that we wanted to oversee its development, they obviously came up with another plan, one to which we were not privy, because we were not paying attention!’ He shook his head in anger, before continuing. ‘Anyway, after several long sessions spent trying to persuade them, we realised that things were going nowhere. It began to appear as though they did not believe us, their attitudes made us feel like we had some hidden agenda, and their off-hand manner began to make our Team of Teachers feel as though they were phoney!’ He shook his head again, incredulously this time. ‘It was terrible, and so we extracted all of them, all of the Team, we took them from the building and from the planet, and we sent them home! All of them left, all except for one man – only Jonathon stayed behind.’