The Mendelssohnian Theory: Action Adventure, Sci-Fi, Apocalyptic ,Y/A (6 page)

There was nothing Emmanuel Sato hated in life more than the
waiting time between contracts. It was difficult for him to deal with the
idleness that enveloped him as soon as one job was completed and before another
one was ordered from him. Therefore, he did his best to undertake new
assignments before he would finish the current contract he was working on. If
he had a diary, all its pages would probably be completely full. A contract
within a contract; one assignment was not yet finished and he would already
gather information and equipment for the next one. Often, the contracts
contrasted with one another, and he had to wipe out enemies who ordered each
other’s annihilation, without knowing they hired the same assassin. But
normally, he did not encounter such dilemmas. He thought of himself as a clog
remover, a plumber opening the pipes of destiny for people who wanted to
advance in their lives and were blocked by others with a higher rank or social
status. At least that was how he had regarded himself in the beginning, until
he’d earned himself a name and a status among the small community of
professionals he contended with from time to time, when he was hired to wipe
out or protect those beloved by the paying corporation. Twice a year, he would
set aside some time, two days each time, to pay a visit to his mother’s grave
in the city of Kokura on the southern island of Kyushu in old Japan, and that
of his father in Yamagata in northern Honshu. His father, he didn’t know
because he had died in what was known as the most severe nuclear accident of
the year one hundred and forty-eight in Fukushima, shortly before Sato himself
was born. Years later, he heard it was not an accident, but a planned act
executed by an extremist Chinese-Korean faction to which the death of his
father and others was merely a negligible side effect for achieving their goal.

The lives of Sato and his mother had not been easy since that
day. She found it difficult to provide for herself and after her son was born,
the difficulties intensified and threatened to overcome her. She worked several
jobs and rarely saw her son. When he was mature enough, she registered him to
their district’s military school and by that, assured her son’s destiny. In
spite of his young age, the boy’s abilities immediately stood out. He was a
great shot and specialized in hand to hand combat and fighting in enclosed and
open areas. He was closely familiar with most weapons and used them to
perfection. When he was fifteen, he had already conducted his first
assassination. It was a forty-year-old man who had been declared as the enemy
of the state and Sato performed the assassination with precision, without
leaving a mark. After that, no one could doubt his capabilities any longer, and
he began to serve as a lone assassin.

Sato worked by himself and loved it. He did not feel any need
for teamwork. The rest of the soldiers in his unit were also very comfortable
with him working by himself. His expertise and secrecy did not go unnoticed in
the eyes of his commanders, and they entrusted him with sensitive missions that
demanded the use of extraordinary means, and abilities he alone possessed. At
the end of the process of his military advancement, he was taken under the wing
of Admiral Yamamoto, the commander of the great Eastern superpower’s Special
Forces guard and became his man for special missions.

Sato became the Admiral’s main executioner in and out of the
borders of the Chinese-Japanese superpower. The annihilation tasks he was given
were always performed with pinprick precision. He never hurt anyone who was not
supposed to be hurt, and no one has ever managed to locate him or the place
from which the annihilation instruction had come from. The admiral trusted him
with everything while the admiral’s subordinates grew more and more intimidated
by him. He did not talk much; his gaze was always serious and tranquil. He
aroused a feeling of discomfort in many people and they tended to avoid him,
which suited him just fine. Sato preferred to be secluded, to perform his job
efficiently and then return to his secrecy, as if he was a sand crab hiding in
a hole he had dug for himself, then lunging at an innocent prey that happened
to pass by, grabbing it to the darkness of its lair.

No one knew that Sato had a purpose in life. While his mother
had accepted the death of her husband with the same restraint, which typifies
the culture and tradition she was born and raised in, Sato was unwilling to
come to terms with the truth about his father’s unnecessary death. The day his
mother told him how his father had found his death, Sato took an oath to avenge
the killers. He was thirteen then, too young to vent his rage on those
responsible for his father’s death, but old enough to commit and mark the
targets for his vengeance.

At the age of thirty-seven, when he had already served as the
most senior super power agent under the command of Admiral Yamamoto, Sato felt
that he was ready to execute his revenge. He targeted five men who were,
according to his meticulous investigation, responsible for his father’s death.
Four of them were members of the terrorist organization that had conducted the
bombing in the nuclear reactor in which his father had been employed; the fifth
was their commander. When Sato executed his revenge, the five were soldiers in
the China-Japan army. The political changes in the area had led to the merger
of the Chinese, Korean and Japanese armed forces, which became one vast army
spread across about a fifth of the Earth’s surface, on both land and sea. The
five former terrorists had become, following the union decision, regular
soldiers in the superpower’s army and Sato easily located them one after the
other. He annihilated them with the patience of a hunter. For seven years, he
had assassinated the common soldiers, one after the other, covering his tracks.
Their commander, he left for last. The man, Zhi Sou was his name, had risen up
the ranks in the meantime, playing the political game inside the ranks of the
army and using every possible opening to improve his position in the hierarchy.
He’d already reached the rank of Vice Admiral when Sato had assassinated him.
Sato did not manage to hide this murder from Admiral Yamamoto, who was
personally acquainted with Zhi Sou, and was forced to escape from the army and
from the wrath of General Yamamoto. He did not change his profession, but from
that day became an independent assassin for hire. He was expensive but
distinguished himself as the best the profession had to offer. People from all
over the world hired his services. He worked alone, no one has ever seen him,
and supposedly, no one even knew of his existence. He received his work orders
directly through the web into the private interface in his body. The rumor of
the ‘Hachiman’, as he was called in the web journals, passed by word of mouth
so there wasn’t any danger of him being located. He had paid large amounts of
money to maintain this situation. He had no enemies because he could not be
held accountable for the sudden death of the people he was hired to kill, apart
from Admiral Yamamoto, who had sworn to kill him when he’d found out about the
death of Zhi Sou. The circle was partially closed when the admiral, in his new
role as the security deputy director-general of the Yavnsen Corporation, had
ordered an assassination from him. But the former admiral himself wasn’t aware
that the assassination he had ordered would be performed by Sato. He’d merely
made contact with ‘Hachiman’, the ghost warrior. The press attributed at least
a hundred and thirty-seven assassinations to the ‘ghost’ over a period of three
years. Sato was the only one who knew the real number was much higher.

‘Hachiman’ quickly folded the laser gun he had been using
just a few seconds ago. The target, the wife of a man who had cheated and was
cheated herself, was lying on the edge of the swimming pool in her own house.
The money had already been deposited in his web account, camouflaged by dozens
of fake names and identity numbers. He tapped his middle finger and authorized
the money transfer, official Mendelssohnian dollars. When a miniature bulb blinked
on the retina screen in his eye (Eye Improve ©), he was hoping it was a new
work order. He blinked and enlarged the screen. The message included only the
name of the target, how much the ordering party was willing to pay for it and
an asterisk, pointing out the fact that the target should preferably be
captured alive. The name meant nothing to the ‘Hachiman’, but this was not
unusual. He’ll track him down. The amount was much higher than his usual fee,
which was significantly higher than that of any other assassin as it was. He
was surprised by the asterisk. He was almost never asked to bring in the target
alive. This meant the assignment would be more difficult, hence the higher
amount that was offered.

He never asked what it was all about or why? It was none of
his business. He tapped his middle finger to indicate a positive answer, placed
the folded gun in his bag and retreated in a low crawl.

Once more, he succeeded in avoiding spending time without a
contract.

Once Joseph found out that Adam had managed to evade his pursuers
and was headed to Amsterdam, he alerted whoever he needed to alert of Adam’s
imminent arrival. From now on, someone else will need to assist the boy. He had
done all he could, now he would need to concentrate on misleading his enemies,
Adam’s pursuers. He landed his hovercraft in the Amsterdam harbor, some
distance from where the commotion the charge of corporation agents had created
just a few moments ago. From a safe distance, he followed the failed attack
attempt and the agents’ continued searching for the escaping boy. He was highly
impressed by Adam’s ability to evade his pursuers time and again and was very
pleased with the fact that once more, they had been unable to capture the boy.

Professor Joseph Stein was the scientist who had managed to
calculate ‘Earths expiry time’ (EET), as he’d called the collapse of the planet
into itself, following the eruption of the viscid Asthenosphere layer, combined
with the magma of the planet’s core, above the Lithosphere. Of course, in the
beginning he had encountered disbelief and scorn from his colleagues in the
scientific community. Various counter arguments and proof were raised to refute
Professor Stein’s analysis, but when a year after the publication of his
findings, a series of eruptions across the mid-Atlantic ridge had raised the
surface of the ocean by over six feet, more and more voices were heard in
support of Doctor Stein’s hypothesis. Following the series of physical changes,
large parts of the African and South American continents were flooded, as well
as the lower areas of Europe and the Low Countries. The Mediterranean had
nearly doubled its surface. Hundreds of thousands of people and animals had
been killed and millions had lost their homes. It was a reminder of the
temporary nature of life on Earth, and human colonization efforts outside the
home planet intensified. Volunteer colonies on Jupiter’s moon Europa served as
a type of experimental balloon in anticipation of further attempts to transfer
human beings in vast space shuttles beyond the solar system. But Joseph
believed the solution did not lie with the establishment of one negligible
colony or another. The answer lay with Adam. The destiny of the entire human
race lay in the hands of a boy. The spreading of the tectonic plates was too
orderly, accurate and measurable, it had to be planned and timed.

Joseph interfaced with the hovercraft’s computer and
reexamined the condition of the tectonic plates. Even though he had checked the
movement graph less than six months ago and knew exactly what the change values
would indicate, he could not help himself from checking once more. According to
the matrix he’d created, the Earth had approximately five hundred years of
existence remaining, unless unexpected changes take place, such as an unmapped
object, changing its course and hitting the Earth from space, or nuclear
activity on the surface of the planet or its vicinity.

Even though there was little time remaining, Joseph realized
that the boy was still incapable of handling the assignment he was destined to
perform. Adam was not yet ready, and his biomechanical stopwatch had not yet
fully developed. Joseph also didn’t know how the hell one could cope with the
vast challenge of saving humanity?

While Stein was sunk in thought, the attacking forces had
dispersed and disappeared in the watercraft and aircraft they had arrived with
a few minutes before. The people who had gathered, at a safe distance so they
could watch the events out of harm’s way, also returned to their own affairs.
For the time being, Joseph decided to sever all contact. He knew that Adam was
now in good hands, the best he could wish for.

The cabin’s door was swallowed into the adjacent wall with the
silent sound typifying enclosed and air conditioned spaces. To the small room
into which he had been led two hours before, entered two men wearing
close-fitting black suits that covered their bodies and heads. Without saying a
word, they signaled for Adam to follow them with cold politeness. Stunned and
powerless, he rose and joined his guards.

They marched silently down a wide corridor, passed several
closed doors and finally stopped in front of a door that appeared exactly like
that of the cabin he had just left. One of the guards raised his arm and
extended the back of his hand toward the door. Adam immediately realized,
without any explanations, that the guard was doing that to allow the
recognition of the chip implanted (implachip ©) inside his hand. He recalled
with a smile the implant his father had in his hand and the frustration he’d
expressed each time he needed to open a door manually. The memory of his
deceased father was like a sharp blow and he felt his feet buckling under him.
It’d been a long time since such an intense memory of his dead parents had
engulfed him and the pain stabbed his back and travelled down to his legs. His
guards noticed his collapse and hurried to support him before he could fall
down. He clung to them for a brief moment, regained his breath and steadied
himself. The door was swallowed into the wall and the three of them entered a
large white room. The guards let go of him and went out of the room silently,
leaving him alone. Adam felt he was standing in the middle of a sealed white
cube – the walls of the white room where barren of shelves and paintings, a
small table and simple looking armchairs were the only furniture, the sensation
was definitely unpleasant.

“You may sit down,” the voice of a woman was heard behind
him. He turned around quickly and stared at a woman with the darkest skin he
had ever seen. Like most women in the world, she was ageless, tall and slender,
her face curiously angular and her large dark eyes appearing like two fiery
brands. The woman ignored his embarrassed stare, walked past him and sat in one
of the armchairs. When she’d passed him by, a gentle and unfamiliar scent had
engulfed him for a moment. He followed her example, sat on a different armchair
and waited.

“Do you have any idea why you’re being chased?”

He heard the trace of a foreign accent in her English, but
could not recognize its origin. In spite of the fact that each superpower had
maintained a single main language, English remained the official
world-language. Besides that, the translation implant (Transplant ©) in his ear
allowed him to understand any spoken language on the face of the globe. “No one
is chasing me,” Adam answered decisively.

“Really?” the woman sounded amused, “so who were they?” she
pointed up toward an unspecified direction.

“Who?” asked Adam, “oh… you must mean the people I’ve stolen
the hovercraft from. I guess they wanted it back.”

“And they would have taken it back had we not interfered.”

“Oh, yes,” Adam remembered, “thank you for that.”

The woman nodded and a thin smile stretched across her face,
“Adam First,” she said appreciatively, “half the world and its French sister
are after you.”

Adam lunged from his place abruptly. “Where do you know my
name from?”

“Settle down, kid,” the woman said, “if I were one of ‘them’,
you wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”

“Who are you and what do you want from me?”

“These are not the right questions,” said the woman, “what’s
more important to understand is - who are you, Adam?”

The boy hesitated before answering, “I’m the last base,
aren’t I?”

“Is that what Joseph Stein told you?” the woman asked and
Adam noticed a worrisome cloud passing over her face. But the cloud immediately
evaporated and she regained her composure.

“Do you know Joseph?” Adam was surprised. The woman didn’t
answer, but her smile betrayed her satisfaction of his confusion.

A suited guard entered the room, carrying a tray with food
and drink. He placed the tray on the table between them and immediately left
the white room.

“You must be hungry,” said the woman, “eat and we’ll continue
our conversation later.” Adam hesitated for a brief moment, and then began to
devour the food. It had been a long time since he had last eaten and the smell
of the food reminded his body just how famished he was. The woman followed the
devouring boy with amusement, poured him some water into a large glass and
leaned back with great satisfaction.

Once he was done eating, he wiped his face with a wet wipe
the woman had offered him and stared at her pointedly. “You’re hiding here,
aren’t you?” Adam felt that the woman was hesitating whether or not she should
answer. “They’re chasing you as well,” he half guessed, half determined,
“that’s why you are here, we are here, below water.”

Hesitation was apparent on the woman’s face before she
answered: “Once you are willing to learn about us, perhaps you will also learn
more about yourself and the role you are destined to play.”

“I have a role to play?” Adam asked sarcastically, “so this
is all a game, or a play?”

“You can definitely view all of this as a game that’s larger
than life itself,” the woman answered, “I’m Elizabeth, Ellie, as everyone here
calls me. Before we continue, I have to inform you of two unpleasant things.”

“OK,” said Adam and sprawled himself comfortably in the
armchair. He waited for her to speak, but was not at all ready for what the
woman actually had to say.

“Your friend Naomi was killed when she tried to run away from
the agents that abducted you.” Adam felt as if an arrow had pierced his heart.
He lunged from his seat again, his muscles tightening, ready to continue his
escape. His body was filled with pain and tears welled in his eyes. Ellie
wanted to embrace him, to comfort him but knew that the second thing she had to
tell him was just as bad. “I’m sorry,” she said, “I know how much she meant to
you.” She saw how much her words had influenced Adam. The thought of rescuing
Naomi had given him strength during his flight, provided him with the necessary
motivation to survive, matured him. Now, right in front of her eyes, she saw
the confidence he had demonstrated leaving him; he became a child again. ‘Hang
on,’ she called to him in her heart, knowing that what she had to tell him next
was even more significant. She cleared her throat and said, “Take a deep breath
and hold the air in your lungs for as long as you can.” He did as she requested
and Ellie placed her finger on the side of the boy’s neck. All at once, all the
tension he’d experienced from the moment he had begun to run was released. She
supported him and helped him to sit in the armchair once more. “Relax, lean
back and listen to everything I have to say,” he nodded slowly and Ellie
continued to speak: “I’m really sorry to be burdening you with such terrible
news. I did not choose to be the bearer of ill tidings, but I have no choice
and neither do you.” Adam continued to sit silently, his face became
expressionless and Ellie wasn’t sure if anything she was saying was penetrating
the mask of indifference he was now wearing. She continued anyway: “Naomi was
taken by the kidnappers to a hiding place where she was bound and tortured as
part of their efforts to discover where you might go. They did not need to
torture her, it would have been sufficient to have her interfaced to find out
everything she knew, but no, they’ve decided to torture her and finally, to
murder her as well, when she tried to escape.” Ellie drew silent once more and
studied Adam with concentration. It appeared to her that with every new piece
of information, his face had become more indifferent. “I’m telling you this
because I want you to realize everything they have done to her, was done as an
act of intimidation, declaring: ‘watch out, we are not taking any prisoners
while coming after you.’ I hope you understand what this means.” Adam nodded
his head. He wiped his tears angrily and straightened in the armchair.

“What was the second thing?” he asked her in a dim voice.

“The second thing?” Elizabeth was momentarily confused.

“You said you have two things to tell me.”

Ellie marveled over the boy’s equanimity and his voice froze
the blood in her veins. The boy was angry and it was a good sign that the
information had been assimilated by him and immediately transformed into pure
emotions. He needed to be angry, but Elizabeth was missing the sorrow that
should have accompanied the anger. His reaction had been too balanced and
restrained. “Your parents,” Elizabeth began, then stopped.

“What about my parents?” asked the boy, “they’re dead.”

“I know,” said Ellie. “I don’t know what you know about the
circumstances of their death, and it is important that you know everything.
Your mother and father did not accidentally die. They were murdered.” She
examined Adam, seeking a reaction to her words, but not even a trace was seen
on his face to indicate he had heard her words. Adam directed a cold and
indifferent gaze at her. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Really?” asked Adam because that was all he was able to
utter at that moment. He had been busy for so long in blaming his parents for
neglecting him and leaving him by himself. He was angry at them and the anger
had clouded his senses, but it had also guided him and directed his way. The
knowledge that someone else was responsible for their death and his condition,
even though Amir Lev had already raised similar suspicions, shocked him and
pulled the rug from under his feet. He was flooded with guilt and his eyes
watered. He turned around from Elizabeth and stared at the white, barren wall.
Ellie approached him and extended her hand toward him, but half way, she
stopped herself, hesitating. Her hand was almost placed on his shoulder, then
she lowered it and stood still next to the youth. Finally, she gave up, turned
around and left the room, leaving behind an angry boy who had become a man all
at once by this new revelation.