King of the Dark Mountain (16 page)

“I’ve told you before, I don’t think the energy would have worked the way you thought it would with those things.”

Melton glared at him, “And I’ve told you that we know that it would. In the whole sorry story of the human race, never had the real cream of humanity been gathered in their essence to get this energy augmentation. We had everybody’s genetic material gathered together here and now this hillbilly has wrecked the whole thing.”

“Your so called cream of humanity has only one thing that makes them stand out as far as I can tell and that’s money.”

“They’ve proved their high worth by having it, as any honest social scientist will tell you. Cream rises and in all cultures and at all times the accumulation of capital is the acid test of worth.”

Richard shook his head, “When can I go home to my family?”

“When you figure out a way to make right what your boyfriend here has messed up.”

“You said that energy burst comes around once every ten thousand years, so how in the hell are we supposed to fix it?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they caught enough of it on the other side so that we can energize the vessels. When sleeping beauty here wakes up tell him to get working on it, if you ever want to go home.”

“I did what you wanted. It’s not right to keep me here,” Richard yelled.

“If you’d done it right, you’d be on your way home,” Melton said. “I’m coming back here in the morning. You tell him he needs to start thinking about how he’s going to get his little sister to help finish the project.”

“He didn’t even know she was involved. Maybe if you had been more forthcoming with us, the outcome would have been better for everybody.”

“We told you all you needed to know, and it was a wash. Next time we will make sure it gets done right or else.” With that, he stomped out of the room, Erickson trailing afterwards. Richard slammed the door after them. Hez made a sound and threw an arm off the sofa but did not wake up.

Several hours passed, while Richard diligently searched for some information on his laptop. Hez began to make some noise, and Richard came over and encouraged him to wake up. “I need you to come round, Hez,” he said urgently.

Hez opened his eyes and blinked at him, He managed to pull himself up on the couch. “What happened? I saw Ellie; she was standing on a platform like me. She told me to... shit, do you know what happened?”

“They managed to shut everything down when they saw you weren’t pulling the energy over. Now they’re pissed as hell. I’ve been going over some notes they gave me awhile back. Did they ever explain to you about the vessels?”

“Vessels… I don’t think so, what is that?”

“They got all these captains of industry to make genetic contributions which they had put in place to get the most intense part of the stellar blast when it came. That’s why they told you to bring it all the way down to the center of this mountain. That’s where it’s all been placed.”

“Yeh but Ellie told me to send it to her. I just fed her as much as I could.”

“She was supposed to loop it back to you, so the whole planet could get lit. Instead it just fed the Appalachians.”

“Genetic contributions, do you mean like a sperm bank or something?”

“It’s more advanced than that. One time Melton hinted to me that they’d created embryos from just guys.”

Hez started at him, dumbfounded, “You’re kidding.”

“No, they borrowed material from chimpanzee eggs or maybe it was from pigs, mixed genetic material from two men and voila supermen zygotes.” Hezekiah burst out laughing, Ewing frowned and went on “The thing is they thought if they could light up those genes they could produce their precious super race that they’ve been whacking off about ever since Darwin.”

“So now what?”

“They think they can infuse that crap with whatever Ellie managed to bring down over there.”

“I thought they were competing with the setup in New Hampshire.”

“I think it’s all just one big master project.”

“Why keep that a secret?”

“You got me. Maybe they thought if they compartmentalized it they could keep their ultimate goals a secret. I mean if it got out that they were planning to replace the current version of humanity with their tricked out version, that wouldn’t go over too well.”

“And guys like us wouldn’t cooperate.”

Richard grimaced, “Yeh, well they’ve kinda got me by the balls there you know?”

Hez nodded, “Yeh, but you’ve fought them when you could despite everything.”

“They said I had to get you to work with Ellie to get the thing done, you know the vessels bathed in the creation light or else.”

“That’s odd, seems like they could just go over and dump that shit into one of those mountains. Man they were lit all the way from Maine to Georgia. Ellie did a hell of a job; I wish you could have seen it.”

“There must be some reason they want her cooperation. Anyhow I figure why not give it to them? So they get their jazzed up genetic crap, I don’t think it’s going to give them what they think. And even if it does, it will take a generation for the things to grow up. By then, who knows what will be going on? And in the meantime, you and I can get the hell out of this pit.”

“Yeh maybe, but it’s risky. What if it does go according to plan and they just annihilate the whole human race to make room for their super freaks?”

“I don’t know, man, but I don’t know how much longer I can stand being in this place. I’m telling you,” Richard said running his hands through his hair. He threw himself down in a chair and added, “Geez, I know I need to keep an eye on the bigger picture, but I’m kind of feeling unglued.”

“I know, what you mean. Maybe I can get them to let us go over to New Hampshire; I’ll tell them I need you to help me get the thing done.”

“It’s worth a try, though old Melton would probably keep me here out of spite,”

Hez nodded. “Well I’m holding a few more cards, since they need Ellie’s help to get their project back on track. I imagine their sperm donors are going to be pretty ticked off when they find out they didn’t get what they paid for. If we can move it along for them, maybe something will turn up that will help us turn it all around.”

“You managed to throw a pretty good kink in the works tonight; maybe another opportunity will arise to do it again.”

“You can thank Ellie for that, but regardless, they’ll be more suspicious next time. We’ll just have to put up whatever resistance we can for as long as we can.”

“Without even knowing if any of it will make any difference in the long run.” They exchanged a grim, but determined look.

Hez stood up, and staggered a little, “I’m feeling a little woozy still. I think I’ll go over to my room and try to get some more sleep.”

“Yeh Melton said he’d be here in the morning to get started on phase two. I need to get some sleep too; it’s been a really long day.” Hez continued towards the door, making his way slowly. When he got to the door, he turned and gave him a wan smile, then disappeared. “Good night brother,” Richard said softly, wondering what the next few days would bring for them. If I could just get out of here, he said to himself and went off to get some sleep as well.

Chapter Fifteen

Ellie lay propped up on some pillows. Ted sat beside her bed, holding her hand. She gave him a wan smile. “You did really good Ellie,” Ted said and squeezed her hand.

“What about Hez? Do you know anything about how he’s doing?”

Ted shook his head. “We are trying to get information, but they’re in some kind of communication shut down.”

“What do you mean? Haven’t they always been?”

He sighed. “It’s complicated. But right now I don’t want you to worry about any of that. You need to get some rest.”

“I feel really tired, but I want to find out about Hez,” she said and closed her eyes. “Who was that woman who was with you when it happened?”

Ted looked at her in wonder, “How did you know I was with someone?”

“She has a connection to Hez.”

“I don’t see how that could be. I just met her; she’s married to Richard Ewing, the writer. He’s been missing for some time. She thought I could help her locate him.”

“You can. He’s over there with Hez. He was watching when Hez brought it down. They wouldn’t let him up on the platform but he was nearby.”

“Are you sure it was him?”

“Yes, I know who he is. I’ve read some of his books. I see why she came to you; he was telling her in her dreams to go seek you out. She didn’t listen for a long time, but finally, she remembered the message from the dreams and came to you.”

“That’s interesting. So this will certainly be helpful to Mrs. Ewing. She’s worried sick about her husband.”

“She should be. Those people are not planning to let him go. He’s seen too much of their set up. It’s the same with Hez. They plan to get rid of them, after …”

“After what?”

“After they get what they want. They’re going to come over here. They will ask for my help to finish their project. If we don’t help them they’ll kill Hez and Ewing. But I think they plan to kill them no matter what.” She began to cry silently. Ted squeezed her hand.

“Go to sleep, my dear. It will turn out alright.” She nodded and seemed to drift off momentarily. Ted sat with her a few more minutes and then gently released her hand. Samantha Ewing was waiting for him in the next room.

“How is she?” She asked when he appeared.

“Very weak. She may never fully recover. There’s not much that we know about the lasting effects. I thought because Ellie is such a strong person and experienced with some unusual occult practices it might not take such a toll, but it looks like I was wrong,” he said the last part nearly choking on the words.

Samantha came over and patted him on the back. “She will probably just need time to recover.”

Ted nodded and gave her a grateful smile, “She told me something that will be very interesting to you. It seems she sensed the presence of your husband with Hez during the ceremony.”

“Are you kidding?” Ted shook his head. “Was she sure?”

“She’s familiar with your husband’s writing and given the extraordinary power of seeing that is granted during the ceremony I think you can count on it.”

“Where are they? Does she know that from the vision?”

“We know where they are,” Aleister said coming into the room. The two of them turned to him. “They’ve just made contact. They want to talk to Ellie.”

“Ellie said they would,” Ted said slowly

Aleister looked a little surprised, “So she’s conscious.”

“Barely, she drifted back to sleep after speaking a few words to me.”

“You’re in contact with the people who kidnapped my husband?” Samantha asked incredulously.

“They’re sponsors of the project on the Kadistan side,” Aleister said in a matter of fact tone.

“Do you know what they do?” she asked acidly.

“We don’t approve of some of their methods, but we all have a common cause. At least, we thought we did until Ms. McCane found herself unable to connect to them at the crucial moment.”

“You told her to keep it on our side; I bet they’re not too happy about that.”

“No, they’re really not. I tried to explain to them that it was either that or the whole thing would be a wash, but they don’t think I’m being straight forward with them.”

“Are you?”

Aleister nodded, “I made the decision when I saw that Ellie couldn’t pass the energy back to them. It was a tactical maneuver. It had nothing to do with our misgivings about their…” he shot a glance at Samantha, “methods.”

“They’ve had my husband for almost a year. We haven’t been able to get a word to him. They’ve threatened doing terrible things to his reputation. It’s awful.”

“Yes, they don’t have the same value for civil liberties that we do. I’m sorry to hear that they have resorted to such devices.” 

“You didn’t know they were kidnapping people and threatening their families?” Ted asked sternly.

“We knew we needed them if we wanted to light the whole planet when the energy came down. Now it looks like they were engaged in some type of peripheral project that has thrown their whole contribution off.”

“So what is the peripheral project?” Samantha asked

“We don’t really know. “

“And yet you cooperated with them anyhow,” she said bitterly.

He shrugged, “We had a short window of opportunity to get things in place. We were thinking in terms of a whole paradigm shift for the human race, so we had to use the resources that were available. Sometime early in the planning process, they approached us and suggested sharing information and strategy. They had already isolated Ellie and her brother as the most promising candidates to do a massive energy transmutation.”

“They studied your work on the subject and though you disguised her identity in your papers, it didn’t take them long to figure it out. They kept an eye on her and her brother. I believe they even augmented her skills when they were able. They tracked her during her travels and even found ways to direct her to certain key locations which they thought would also enhance her talents.”

“All without letting her know anything about it,” Ted said.

“If she had known, it would have caused her to put up defenses that would have made her role more problematic. You should be grateful, those augmentations are probably the only reason she’s still alive. There’s just no way she could have transmuted that much power without their preparing her these past few years.”

“They shouldn’t be allowed to just interfere with the lives of anyone they want,” Samantha said.

“Perhaps not, but like I said the stakes were extraordinarily high.”

“I don’t think we should offer them any help until we find out what the nature of the peripheral project is,” Ted said.

“It may be hard to get that information out of them. These people have an enormous amount of power and influence. We think they’re connected to the wealthiest men on the planet. They’re used to asking the questions and not having to answer to anyone.”

“Do you have any idea why Ellie couldn’t transmit the power back to them?” Aleister asked.

Ted shook his head, “Do you?”

“I’m not psychic, but when I went up there tonight onto the platform it was like I walked right into her mind. I could see what she was seeing.”

“So what was it?”

“Just mountains of darkness. We exchanged information with them all through this. We told them what we thought they needed to do to get those mountains ready. We told them repeatedly that the area they wanted to enhance had to be clean. We told them how to do it. It took us at least four years to get these mountains over here prepared. We assumed they were following the protocol. Obviously we were wrong.”

“So you think that it was just a problem with getting the space prepared?”

“Maybe, but it’s also possible that they put something inside to interact with the energy when it came down.”

“So what difference does it really make?” Samantha asked.

“We don’t know for sure, but it could have all kinds of unforeseen consequences. “

I’ll bet those people think they’ve got it worked out so they can have the benefits without any costs to themselves.”

“Which is their usual
modus operandi
isn’t it?” Samantha asked.

“They’re going to want us to share what we did manage to save from the blast. “

“Why should we? We got our mountains ready and they didn’t,” Ted said.

“They’ll try to take it, if we don’t share it. I know these people. They have all kinds of resources that they could bring to bear.”

“But what if they intend to get rid of us once they get what they want? Did you ever consider that?” Ted asked.

“They’re not psychopaths. They’re just interested in being players in the next paradigm.”

“They were the master minds behind the present one and look where that led us. I think we need to think in terms of eliminating them as an influence.”

“There’s no way we can do that.”

“Why not? We have the power and they don’t.”

“But they have my husband and Ellie’s brother,” Samantha said softly.

Ted shot her a worried look. “I realize that.”

“But you think we may have to sacrifice them,” she said.

“No one’s going to get sacrificed. We’ll deal with these people and work out a plan that will work for everyone,” Aleister said.

“I love my husband, I would do almost anything to get him back, but if that means the world continues to be run by men who have brought the whole planet to the point of annihilation with their endless greed, what good is that? We’ll all be dead if we let them continue to exercise power.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes I do. I know them very well from what they’ve put me through this past year. They would do the same thing to every wife and mother out there and think nothing of it. I think you should refuse any further cooperation.”

“You’re an amazing woman, Samantha,” Ted said, his eyes glowing with admiration.

“Amazingly short-sighted. These men cannot be circumvented. You know how ruthless they are, we will negotiate with them or they will find a way to destroy us,” Aleister said.

“I think Mrs. Ewing is right Aleister, you can cooperate all you want and we’ll still be destroyed.  Fighting them is the only way now.”

“I have to talk to my superiors. In the meantime, I don’t want you mentioning this to Ms. McCane. She’ll just be needlessly upset, and she’s already weak,” Aleister said and quickly left them.

“I’m in awe of your courage, Samantha,” Ted said when they were alone.

“I just know what we’re up against. Believe me; I’ve had many long nights to consider the matter. I knew I couldn’t go to the police or any civil authority. I knew they would bribe or threaten or even annihilate anyone who tried to help me. I assumed that they were always watching me. I even took showers in the dark so it wouldn’t be easy for them to get nude images of me. I wouldn’t allow myself to bring any new people into my life for fear they were working for them. I have lived in a personal kind of police state this past year and I truly believe they would gladly put all of us in the same mental state. They don’t even have to be able to do most of it, but just the threat of it would keep us all in fear, which gives them control. I think we caught a break when Ellie didn’t give them the star energy, and we have to do everything we can to make sure they never get access to it.”

“I think you’re right, but we may have a hard time convincing the likes of Aleister.”

“I know, but it’s what Ellie does that really matters.”

Aleister came back into the room suddenly. He held out a cell phone to Ted. Ted gave him a questioning look, took the phone and put it to his ear. “Ted, .I’m doing alright. I just wanted to tell you so you wouldn’t worry about me, while you’re doing your work.”

“Irena, sweetheart it’s so good to hear your voice. I’ll come to the hospital as soon as I can.”

“No, you shouldn’t worry about me. Karina is here with me, and I’m feeling better. They said they wanted me to tell you not to worry.”

“Who told you that honey?”

“I’m feeling a little tired now. I’m going to let you go now.” The phone went silent.

“Irena, Irena?’ Ted said, but there was no answer. He handed the phone back to Aleister. “Who made her call me?”

“It doesn’t matter. We just wanted you to know that she’s conscious and doing better.”

“I want to go see her.”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible. I’ve gotten word that we’re going to have a top level meeting shortly.”

“What kind of meeting?”

“There are some bigwigs coming over from the other site. They’re going to want answers and we want to make sure that everyone is on the same page about what to tell them.”

“What do you mean? Ellie won’t be able to tell them anything. She’s in and out of consciousness.”

“That’s going to be a problem. They’ll want to talk to her about how the thing went wrong.” Aleister considered for a moment. “We could try giving her something to help her come round.”