Project Aura (15 page)

"Do you feel it?"
he asked Jackson as she joined him.

There was an essence about the place, like smoke drifting across a battlefield, except this was on the virtual plane. There was also a sense of an intelligent presence, but there was nothing on the virtual plane that Dalton could see.

"Yes."

"Ever felt this before?"

Jackson had much more time operating on the v-plane, from her time at Grill Flame, the original remote-viewing unit at Fort Meade, the predecessor to Psychic Warrior.

"Yes."

Dalton turned, facing her image.
"What is it?"

He almost didn't hear her as she replied.
"The Droza."

"What?"

"A legend. From before the time of my people, the Gypsies. It’s a legend I heard of as a child."

"What are you-"

Dalton's question was interrupted by Kirtley.
"I've got satellite imagery of a villa he owns nearby, about thirty kilometers away. But I don't know how to-"

"Give it to me,"
Hammond's voice cut in.

Dalton and Jackson waited, then the imagery appeared between them, floating like a hologram as Sybyl relayed it. A villa in the countryside. High walls. Guards armed with automatic weapons.

"Where is this?"
Dalton asked.
"Give us something so we can jump there."

"Wait one,"
Dr. Hammond said.
"I'm having Sybyl spatially orient and expand to include your position."

A new image appeared between Dalton and Jackson.

"You’re located at the red arrow. The villa is the green."

"We're moving,"
Dalton said. He jumped, arriving just short of the villa, checked his position, jumped once more until he was directly over it. As soon as Jackson was next to him, he went down into the courtyard.

"Let's split up,"
he told Jackson.

Dalton didn't wait for an acknowledgment feeling comfortable working with Jackson. He moved forward, through a wall, still a disconcerting experience, but not much more than everything else on the virtual plane.

Valika had been down in the Aura operations center several times and had witnessed the progression from a rough cavern hewn out of the igneous rock to its present incarnation. The chamber was a quarter mile into the side of the volcano and resembled a spacious movie theater for a very elite group of viewers. There were twenty chairs spaced fifteen feet from each other on a sloping floor. The chairs had high backs and footrests and were made of the finest leather. Behind each chair was a computer with a technician monitoring it

At the very rear, Souris was seated in her own chair, leads connected to the top of her head in the appropriate places. The members of the Ring were gathered round as she went through the procedures to initiate Aura. A half dozen people in white coats monitored machinery in a balcony above the main floor, controlling the master computer. The dog and pony show was about to begin. Valika had once heard an American officer call a formal presentation that and she thought it quite appropriate.

"You won't see or feel the field until the computer shows it to you," Souris said. "The frequency it's set on now is perfectly safe."

The lights dimmed, flickered, then came back at a subdued level.

"The power requirement is one issue we need to resolve," Souris said. "The field currently requires tremendous input. We use enough energy in one half-hour session to light a small city for twenty-four hours. When we use the portable Aura transmitter, we only have about three minutes of transmission time before we completely drain the batteries. We have several promising leads in research that we think will pay dividends in that area."

Valika shifted her feet as Cesar frowned. Souris had no idea how to work people. Valika had known scientists like her before; people who felt their research should be unfettered by such constraints as politics or funding.

Valika's skin tingled very briefly.

"Aura is now all around you," Souris said, her eyes closed. A slight smile twisted her lips.

"Will we have to put those things on our head to see it?" Naldo asked Cesar.

"No." Souris's voice was a whisper. "The connector that allows you to view Aura is built into the headrest of the chair. All we are doing is giving you a window into the virtual plane. You will not travel there as I do. Go to your chairs and you will see what I am seeing."

Reluctantly the surviving members of the Ring, led by Cesar, each took a chair. Souris indicated a different chair for Valika, one like her own. A technician attached leads to Valika's head. She had done this before and ranked it the equivalent of flying in terms of fondness. Valika leaned back, feeling her body sink into the leather. The tingling sensation, stronger this time, passed through her. The American's voice came out of small speakers built into the headrest.

"The chair is now beginning to transmit a frequency that will orient your mind to the Aura field. Close your eyes and relax."

Valika was overwhelmed by a sudden weariness as if all energy were being drained from her body. Her eyelids were like sheets of lead, clamped down, darkness encompassing her world. Souris's voice was very distant.

"You are now sliding into congruence with Aura. We’re going to give you a very simple demonstration of what the virtual plane is like."

Valika blinked as the room grew brighter. But she wasn't in the room. And her eyes, she could swear her eyes were still closed, but it was difficult to tell. The light took on form. Saba. But she was above it. At the very top of the volcano. She'd been here before, marching up with the island security chief to scout out the sniper positions. But how had she-

She turned but there was no sense of movement, just the panorama changing. There was no sense of her body. She looked down and saw a human form, but one without features, with flat white feet on the volcanic rock. No, check that, the feet were floating a couple of inches above the rock.

"Now let me give you an example of what Aura can do,"
Souris said.

A white plank appeared in front of Valika, extending about twenty feet into space and ending at nothing. Then a square shape came into being at the end of the plank, coalescing into a building, floating in space. The door swung open.

"Go ahead,"
Souris urged.

Valika tentatively took steps out toward the building. She had no sensation of moving but the door grew closer until she was inside. It looked exactly like the courtyard at Cesar's mansion.

Suddenly other shadowy figures, still in their chairs, flickered into view.

"You can now see each other in your virtual world,"
Souris said.

The avatars shifted form until Valika could recognize each. Cesar was to her right. The other members of the Ring appeared. Their faces were expressionless but identifiable.

"This is the safe mode of Aura,"
Souris continued.
"With a little bit of experience we can get to the point where your body receives external feedback, so that your senses other than sight can function as if you are really there. Which would make this—“
the chamber flickered for a second, then a dozen naked women appeared, some lounging about next to the pool, others strolling provocatively-
"more than just a show. It would be real to you."

There was a slight click, then Souris's voice came back.
"I am sorry, Valika, about this display. Senor Cesar said I must do something his comrades would appreciate."

"Can I speak to you?"
Valika felt herself say the words, but couldn't hear them.

"
Yes. We are on a private link. This demonstration is designed to go for another ten minutes. Quite disgusting."

Valika could see that two of the women next to the pool were now kissing. The men's shadows were watching avidly. "Can I leave here?"

"
Where would you like to go?"
Souris asked.

"What are my options?"

"This Aura field covers a little over a mile in width. You can travel anywhere on Saba inside the field. I can also generate various scenarios from the database, much like this room, for you."

The courtyard flickered, then was gone. Valika stood in a room she immediately recognized. Her mother and father's apartment in Moscow. A dingy, two-room affair overlooking the square, across from the university where he was a guest lecturer.

"I designed it from photos Cesar gave me,"
Souris said.

Something came into being to Valika's left and she turned. Souris was there.

"Why this?"
Valika asked.

"Cesar said it was the last time you were happy,"
Souris said.

Valika remembered talking to Cesar late one night, after she had foiled an attempt on his life by a rival gang. They'd both had too much too much and she'd said too much.

"The others are only able to see the display I put on,"
Souris said.
"They would need the leads on their head, like you have, in order to have an avatar. I did not think them ready for that. The forms you saw in there were just projections."

The door started to swing open. Valika felt a surge of excitement anticipating her mother, immediately feeling foolish for such a thought.

"Who are you?"
There was surprise and shock in Souris's voice as a strange man walked in.
"How did you get here?"

The man was tall and thin, his form not quite solid. He looked at both of them and settled into the chair that had been her father's.
"My name is Jonathan Raisor."

Valika was surprised to see his mouth move as he spoke. She turned to Souris.
"What is this?"

The man looked about.
"Not bad, but couldn't you have come up with something a little fancier? Your comrades viewing the women by the pool are enjoying themselves. I did not think it wise to interfere in that presentation. Still, I can't complain. This is the first chance I've had to sit down in quite a while."
He laughed, a manic edge to it.
"As a matter of fact this is the first time I’ve had a body in quite a while."

"Who are you?"
Valika asked, sensing that Souris was at a loss for the strange apparition.

"I told you my name."

"That means nothing to me,"
Valika said.

"I am, was, part of an American experiment like this."
Raisor waved an arm about.
"A bit different though."
He looked at Souris.
"You know what I’m speaking about. What you're doing here is very interesting. You're opening a window between the virtual and the real worlds. Straddling it so to speak."

"You're from Bright Gate,"
Souris said.

"Very good. You get the prize. The key thing is tense, though. I was from Bright Gate."

"They’ve progressed far in the last two years since I left HAARP,”
Souris said.
“Jenkins ran Bright Gate while I was running HAARP."

"He knew much but he was just a pawn,"
Raisor said.
"He’s no longer with us."

"What happened to him?"
Souris asked.

"I killed him."

Souris did not seem surprised.
"Why?"

"He betrayed me."

"What should we do?"
Valika's voice echoed inside Souris's mind on the private link.

The man smiled.
"I can hear you. I’m far more in the virtual plane than either of you. And you are far more in the real than I am. I saw what you did to that man in the courtyard. And I know who Cesar is. And I've heard of the Ring."

"How?"
Valika demanded.

"I worked for the CIA."

"Who do you work for now?"
Valika asked, noting the tense. She felt exposed, with no weapons or body to fight with.

"Me. I believe we have common enemies."
Raisor got up and went over to the bureau. He picked up the wedding picture of Valika's parents.
"Interesting. You've done a good job."
He closed his eyes.

Valika felt pain in her head and she involuntarily gasped. Raisor's right hand was at her head, unnaturally extended. The fingers were in her skull. She jerked back.

Raisor opened his eyes and looked at Valika
"Your parents. This was their apartment. They are both dead now."

"How do you know that?"
Valika demanded.

"As I said, I have more power than you do. I can reach--"
he put a hand out toward her once more and she took another step back--
"places you know nothing of.”

"How did you do that?"
Souris asked, indicating the picture in his hand and then Valika. "
We're not on a level to interact with the projection or each other. I've been working on getting to that point, but it's eluded me."

"You may not be at that level, but I am."

"Tell me how?"
Souris was excited.
"How are you being projected? What did Jenkins change in the program?"

"'Projected'?"
Raisor mused.
"Interesting choice of words."
He tapped his chest.
“This is me."

The room faded for a second.
"It's too soon for the energy to be this low,"
Souris said.

"I'm drawing quite a bit of your power,"
Raisor said.
"I assume you don't mind. What is HAARP?"

"We have to return,"
Valika told Souris. She considered what he had just said and realized the only control they had over this man was turning off the Aura transmitter. He may have talents on the virtual plane, but he needed their power to exercise them.

Raisor put his hand up, indicating they should wait a moment.
"What is HAARP?"
he repeated. His arm extended, as if it was made of rubber, toward Souris, reaching for her head.

"A projector like this,"
Souris said quickly, moving back.
"Developed by the Americans. I'm surprised you never heard of it. Or saw it if you were with Bright Gate and operated on the virtual plane."

Raisor was nodding as if something finally made sense to him.
"Now I know what she saw that she wasn't supposed to."

"Who are you talking about?"
Valika demanded.

Raisor ignored her.
"I think we can help each other."
He looked at Valika.
"Talk to Cesar. Tell him I can take Aura to the next level."

"In exchange for what?"
Valika demanded.

"I will tell you next time we meet. But I assure you that we can be very useful to each other. You've seen some of my powers. I have others you haven't even thought of."
He looked at Souris. "
Or perhaps you have thought of but haven't been able to accomplish yet. I have some things to check on. I’ll be back here in thirty minutes."

The room snapped out of existence. Valika felt her body seem to fade, then come back, stronger than before. She felt the seat, could hear the sound of others stirring, smell the feint odor of the leather. She blinked, eyes adjusting to the dim lighting in the room. She ripped the leads off of her skull, not caring about the hair that got torn out with them.

She swung her legs over the side and stood, feeling dizzy. She could hear the members of the Ring exulting over the experience, congratulating Cesar. She walked to the rear of the room where Souris was peeling one of the leads off her skull.