Triplicate #6

Back in Black

1

Most of the time, people can't understand when a significant chain of events have started, especially events leading up to and including one's death. If they could, then they would do something about it. When I was sitting in my hotel room in Las Vegas, I thought about this, whether or not continuing my mission was leading me on a one way ticket with eternity. I thought that maybe it was. I might have been right.

I thought about it when I stood on the roof of the Hotel Nevada in Ely, looking at a newly constructed building right next to it. I had a good vantage point, for the Hotel Nevada was six stories tall while the new building was only two. From what I could gather, the bottom floor was comprised of offices, while the top floor were apartments. The sign out front called the building TMG, which from what I had been able to gather referred to a company that called itself the Triplicate Management Group. I was in the right place.

I had been watching from the roof for three hours, ever since the sun had gone down. Ely was about a seven-hour drive from Las Vegas. I had left on the second of January, after giving the mysterious man a chance to think that everything was okay. My tracers tracked him to this building.

Ely was a small town in the southern rim of The Great Basin which was located in the northeast section of Nevada. It's a small town, just over five thousand people called Ely their home. Other than a few mines that had already gone under, the town offered nothing except being at the crossroads of three US highways. That fact alone kept the town in business, except for TMG, which seemed to had brought in some money to the town.

It was cold, just about twenty-five degrees. I allowed myself to feel the chill, at least a little bit of it. It kept me focused and awake. So far, I had seen nothing that would indicate that the building was occupied, not a car, not a light, not even a person walking around. I would be cautious, though, trying hard to keep myself concealed. This was a time for covert action, and I didn't want to blow it.

Off in the distance, I heard the faint rumbling of an approaching helicopter from the east. I watched as it flew in, careful to remain in the shadows. It slowly approached my location, and for a moment I had thought that I was discovered. Thankfully, I wasn’t, the helicopter was making a landing in the parking lot of TMG's building. I saw the TMG label emblazoned on the side of the craft, and knew that it was an official event.

I watched a man, the mysterious man, exit the building and make his way to the waiting helicopter. As soon as he was in and the door was shut, the helicopter lifted off and headed back to the east. I wasn't picking up anything worthwhile on the tracker that I had placed on him, so I stopped being concerned.

It was a far jump down from the Hotel Nevada to the roof of TMG's building. I landed as softly as I could, the lead from the hotel filled me with a rush of adrenaline that begged for some kind of action. I took a deep breath, knowing that action was the last thing that I needed at a time like this. It would be easier to just get in and get out with as much information as I could.

I had already determined which apartment was the mysterious man's. I made my way above it, and peered over the side. He had a balcony, which I used to my advantage. After I had slipped down onto it, I walked up to the window. I placed my hands on it gently and closed my eyes. I needed to determine what type of security system he had in place, and I was sure that it would be as secure as one could be. After a few seconds, I knew what I was in store for, and proceeded to go to work.

The first problem was the window. In order to break in, I would have to break the window, which would surely arouse some sort of suspicion. I wanted to avoid that at almost any cost. I would have to find a way to open the window without alerting anyone.

A quick inspection of the frame found a pressure switch that would surely activate once anyone tried to slide the window up. As far as I could tell, that was the only security device attached to the window. I stood there for a second, thinking. Then I got an idea. I could cut the window out at the edges of the frame, taking out the glass but not applying any pressure to the switch at all. All I would need was a suction cup and something to cut the glass with.

The suction cup appeared almost instantly in my left hand. A long bladed knife appeared in my right. The blade was laser sharp, it could slice the individual atoms off a piece of hair. But that wasn't it. Because I had control of myself at the molecular lever due to having an atomic-sized computer in every single cell in my body, I had similar control over the molecules of everything that I created.

Temperature is just a way of measuring the velocity of molecules, the hotter the temperature, the faster the molecules. Using that knowledge, I sped up the molecules in the blade of the knife, soon having a super-heated blade that would slice through the window as if it were butter.

I placed the suction cup on the window, got a solid grip, and proceeded to cut. Seconds later, I had the pane of glass on the floor of the balcony and had absorbed my tools. I was looking in the room, I knew what kind of security devices he had employed. One was a sound detector, which would easily be defeated by my ability to mask my own sound. The other device was a complex series of lasers that crisscrossed the room. That, too, would be easily defeated. The computers in my cells would create the illusion that I was transparent, when I laser came in contact with either my body or clothes-which were just an extension of my body anyway-it would be redirected from cell to cell until the proper position and angle was found, then it continue on it's way. Using this, I could walk through the room undetected by the lasers.

I carefully stepped into his apartment, into his living room. It was basic, a sofa, a coffee table, a bookcase, a television on a cart and a recliner. What I wanted to find probably wasn’t in this room. I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to find, but it wasn't here. I walked to the kitchen, past it, and then into hallway. I saw a door with a combination lock on it. That was as good a place to check.

Picking the lock was easy, and soon I was in his office. I tried to find something with a name on it, but I couldn't. Whoever this mystery man was, he kept his identity under wraps.

Unfortunately, I think he was expecting something because his desk, as well as his filing cabinet were both bare. He had a computer, and since it seemed to be my only chance, I risked turning it on. I found a disk opened it up so that the magnetic part was exposed. I touched it with my finger and then slid it into the disk drive. What I put on the disk was something of a computer virus developed by my own cells. It would be able to enter any encrypted files, anything on the hard drive or networks it was connected to and search for anything that I may need. Since one cell of my body carries the sum total of my being, my memories, my desires, everything, it will know what to look for. Thank goodness humans are essentially energy, especially the way that the brain works. Copying energy is fairly easy, at least in the place where I come from.

The disk went to work, isolating the computer from any remote access as well as doing a complete search of the files on the hard drive. A cursory manual investigation of the files turned up nothing, and as I waited the few seconds it took for the more in-depth search, I knew nothing would be there. I was, unfortunately, right.

After erasing the hard drive, I turned off the computer and made a quick check of his bedroom. All I found were cloths and traces of Triplicate. Nothing to indicate who he was or who he was working for or what they wanted. It was frustrating.

I made my way back to the window, but decided to head out the front door. The building seemed empty, so I wasn't in too much danger. If I were caught, though, I would be able to escape, I was sure of that.

I unbolted the door and stepped out into the poorly lit hallway. It looked the hallway of a hotel, to be honest. The carpet was thin with a faded blue and black checkerboard design in it. It had been walked on, by the looks of it, by thousands of people. I examined it with curiosity as I made my way down the hallway to my right, towards the stairwell. The carpeting was the only thing of color in the hallway, the lights above as well as the wall were totally white. Even the doors were white. It all seemed a little strange.

Since the building had only two floors, I was at the first floor in just a few seconds. I couldn't sense anyone, which was good. It would make my job a whole lot easier.

The access door to the first floor, though, was electronically and magnetically sealed. It was controlled by a device that accepted not only a retina scan, but also a fingerprint and an identification code. I had noticed that there was a separate access to the upstairs apartments, independent of the first floor. That would explain much, but that still didn't solve my current problem. I needed to get inside that floor, and I wasn't sure exactly how to do it.

At least for the first three seconds or so I wasn't sure how to do it. I made my way back to the apartment, eager to test my theory. Once back inside the mystery man's abode, I got right to work. Cutting thought the floor was easier than I thought, but when the I came to a foot thick steel plate, I know that I wouldn't be able to mask the noise from cutting through it. I was out of luck, no way in, except the obvious.

I was busy, though, and didn't notice the information that I was receiving from the tracers on the mystery man. They had stopped not more than fifty miles east of my position, and hadn't moved out of a thousand-yard radius of that point. The helicopter had landed, I was sure of it. Where the mystery man was, so I must be, too.

I wanted to get into that first floor, though. I really wanted to. It wouldn't happen, though, not tonight. I went back down to the access door and touched one of the buttons that I knew would be touched again. I left behind a few listeners for someone to find and carry inside. Hopefully, they'll find their way into one of the computers and it would have been just like me being in there.

I made my way back to my car and headed east, out of the obnoxiously small town. Ely didn't have a whole lot to offer, at least not someone who had lived in Detroit and San Diego and actually liked living in a place that had more than six thousand people living in it. ]

The signal strength increased the closer I got. I was entering a national forest, following a road that lead to a place called Mount Moriah. Slowly, the desert turned into forest, and soon, I was only a few miles from the signal's source. I decided to ditch the rental and go the rest of the way on foot.

The ground was beginning to slope upwards. It didn't affect my approach at all, but knowing that I was climbing the side of a mountain had it's own set of challenges.

I contemplated changing into "action jungle uniform," you know, for the effect, but black in the darkness of night seemed good enough for me. There was a moon out, but not one that would give

It seems that I have gotten ahead of myself. The last few days, except for that phone call with Jenna on New Year's, had been very emotionless. Sure, I was upset and angry at what happened to her and her friends, but I was having a hard time caring enough to invoke a substantial response. I felt strange, my mind was sluggish, my actions were more instinct than anything. I wasn't thinking, I wasn't caring, I was going through the motions.

In this national forest, near this place named Mount Moriah, no doubt named for the Mount Moriah between the Kidron Valley and Hagai Valley, between Mount Zion to the west and the Mount of Olives to the east, I was not sure if I was in control of my own actions. The last few days, the more I tried to remember then, the more they seemed like a blur. What had really happened? How was Michelle taken from me? Why were Jenna and her friends attacked? Why?

I couldn't answer any of it. I couldn't ever seem to remember just hours before, the trip from Las Vegas to Ely, and then to here. I was following a helicopter, but that wasn't it. I was following a man, that mysterious man I met on the top of the casino. If I found him, I found answers.

I thought that I was being duped into something, controlled from afar. I know it sounds strange and not all together sane, but nothing that I did seemed sane, at least from a twenty-first century point of view. It could be happening, it really could. That was the last thing that I needed, though.

The trees gave me adequate cover. They couldn't help me compose myself, though. The feelings I had, the way my body felt, it was like I hadn't eaten in a long while, or I had worked out to strenuously and had totally worn out my body. I was light-headed, spacey. I needed rest, at least that's what I thought I needed. Maybe I needed to stop this, to end my mission, to forget everything that I had been taught.

I couldn't do that, though. I couldn't turn my back on everything that I was. I needed to find this man, I needed to find out who he worked for, I needed the answers to the questions that attacked my mind as much as this strange new feeling.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. My head started to clear, at least for the moment. I could sense many people ahead of me, and beyond them, some sort of opening in the mountain. From here, it seemed to be a mine tunnel, some sort of access way into the heart of the mountain. Between me and it, though, were at least fifteen guards, guards that I would have to slip by or somehow defeat. I could do that, I had no doubt in either case, it just depended on what options I was given.

I had to clear my head first.

The closest guard-I was assuming they were guards out on patrol-was still over five hundred yards away, I had some time to develop my strategy. I kept my eyes closed, though, and took to the task of clearing my mind. I could tell something was wrong, something was affecting me. The feelings that I had were not coming from my body, their root was external. I let my body analyze the situation. I took deep breaths, calming myself, helping my body help itself. Soon, I had the answers that I needed.

There was a sort of field around this place. It seemed to be a magnetic field of sorts, but a strange, otherworldly magnetic field. Whatever was going on here wasn't supposed to be going on here, the creation of a strange field, a field that shouldn't exist in nature, at least this planet's nature. To compensate for the field, to block out it's strange effects on me, I lost range on my ability to detect things, so much that I couldn't tell where the guards from the patrol were any longer. My system worked very much the same way a sonar or radar system worked, only much more sophisticated.

It was something that I had to deal with nonetheless, and I was confident that I could.

Slowly the strange feelings began to fade, and I was returning to my normal self, whatever that meant. I opened my eyes, examining my immediate surroundings, ensuring that I was alone. I saw no one in my line of sight, but I heard something, a few sticks cracking, some rustling of the foliage. I heard the squawk of a radio break the relative silence of the mountainside. My heart skipped a beat, because the sound was not too far from where I was standing.

"Sweep Central to Sweep Gamma," I heard, confirming my guess that these were guards patrolling the area. "Sweep Gamma, progress report nine is overdue."

"Roger, Central, this is Sweep Gamma. Delay caused by investigation into anomalous noises in sector seven."

"Status of investigation, Sweep Gamma."

"Investigation negative, Central. Nothing outside of local animal life was discovered." I could swear that he was less than ten feet from me. I was cursing myself that I didn't hear or see him approach. It seemed, though, that he had no idea that I was there, either.

"Understood, Gamma. Status of Dark Side Sweep?"

"Dark side secure, Central."

"Understood, Gamma. Report current Omega levels."

I heard Sweep Gamma rustle for something, then the squawk returned. "Omega levels slightly above tolerance levels at .98 standard."

"Roger, are you feeling any effects, Gamma?"

"Central, I can feel slight effects, mostly light-headedness and some nausea."

"Understood, Gamma. Expedite your sweep and return to Site 7 on the double. We have incoming in approximately four minutes." The voice was calm and collected, but the word "incoming" had me a bit concerned.

"Roger, Central, incoming in four minutes. I'm on my way back."

"Central reads and complies. See you in four."

"Gamma out." The Sweep headed back towards where I had sensed the other guards. Something was about to happen, and I knew that I had a front row seat. What it was, I had absolutely no idea, but I'm sure it would be enlightening in some way.

The best cover that I could think of was to climb on of the giant evergreen trees. I could stay close to the trunk and enjoy the safety of full concealment as well have a birds-eye view of the action, whatever it was. Up I went, finding the perfect perch. I was ready for anything.

I figured that there was going to be some sort of caravan of armored trucks, or maybe a helicopter, or something like that. I scanned back in the direction of the roads, but I couldn't see anything like headlights or approaching vehicles.

I could see, though, the various Sweeps running back towards the opening in the side of the mountain. They were moving as if they had a purpose, that they didn't want to be outside of the mountain. One of them, though, stopped and turned around. He looked up into the sky, to the west. I turned and looked in the direction he was looking. My mouth opened when I saw it.

Every single star seemed to be shining as bright as they could in the night sky. In amongst them, a small orange pin prick was slowly moving across the sky, from the southwest to the northwest. It was traveling slow, at least slowly across the sky. It was also travelling in a straight line.

The first thing I thought of was a satellite. There were hundreds of satellites orbiting the earth, each in their own orbit. When this orange dot in the sky took a hard right turn and started heading towards me, I knew it wasn't a satellite.

An orange light in the sky, it didn't seem like it would be an aircraft, at least an aircraft that I knew of. They had white, red and green lights, and from this distance, only the white would show, if any. No, this orange light, now it was getting bigger as it seemingly came closer. I knew in my heart that it wasn't an airplane, not any airplane that was publically known. That left me with two options of what it could be.

The first option, some kind of secret craft. TO me, though, that didn't make any sense. Who was this guy to have some top secret aircraft flying towards his base? It didn't make enough sense to consider it.

The only other option I could think of was something that I didn't want to think of. If it was this, then I knew that I had come back to the right period, the right time, and I was taking part in the right series of events.

See, from day one I always had the notion in the back of my head that I might have overshot the time period, came back too far to do anything. I didn't know if this Triplicate, the driving force of the last ten years of my life, if it was the reason that humanity had to abandon the Earth. If I had gone back too far, there was nothing I could do except hope and wait it out. I couldn't travel forward in time; my bizarre mutation only allowed me to slip backwards on the rivers of time, not forward.

My biggest fear was to strand myself in that river of time, to have missed my opportunity to witness the events that lead to the expulsion of humanity and to do something about it. I would make do, though, and probably live comfortably. But my life would be meaningless from the point of view that I would have defaulted on my mission, failed without having a chance to even attempt it.

I also knew that whatever had happened to Earth happened rather quickly and without warning. It had long been theorized, back in my time (strange, isn't it?), that humanity didn't have the technical ability to make a voyage across the solar system, at least not the way that it did. It lead many scholars to believe that there was some kind of outside influence-extra-terrestrial influence-that was the catalyst.

The problem was that no one was ever sure exactly what happened. The ship that humanity had flown through the cosmos was badly damaged and limped into the Terran System, the adoptive name for the planet. Sure, it was what Earth was referred to as well, but Earth was Earth, an Terra was home. The ship, badly damaged for the duration of the flight, found the planet and crashed. The ship itself was enormous, holding several hundred thousand refugees. The crash reduced that number by half. The first hundred years, humanity's new legion had faced the daunting task of taming their new home, their new planet. It was difficult, but the attrition rate was low and before long, a new civilization formed from the ashes of the old.

The most promising aspect was the brotherhood and peace that was forged between the survivors. The previous dogma of segregation, religion, race relationships, all of that was purged as all humanity had to come together to create their new home. Never again would the petty differences stand in the way of peace. This solidarity was instrumental in the New World.

Some of the original passengers thought ahead, and in their scramble to escape Earth they loaded up with textbooks, computer programs, history books, all forms of science, medicine and other advances that humanity had developed. Recreating these would be difficult, but not impossible. Soon, cities were formed, mostly agriculture and trading areas on the main waterways near the crash site. Although most of the technology was not salvageable, the materials of the ship were, and they were forged into the first factory which was originally used to prefabricate materials for housing. Humanity survived, slowly at first, but it definitely survived. The only question that remained was why. It was never documented and after a few generations, it was forgotten.

But then I came along. To the academics, I was seen as a resource to be exploited. To the military, I was a threat. That's why I was under guard when I was born, then under even stronger security when my strange talent became apparent. When I was given this opportunity, it was the only thing that I could do, it was the only way I could be free. I took it knowing that it was a one way mission. I took it because maybe I could help them figure out what happened. I took it also because they offered me no alternative.

In that tree, though, I saw the orange light coming closer and close, growing in size with every passing second. I knew it was coming here, and I knew that it wasn't of this Earth. Things were starting to fall into place. Well, to be more specific, things were starting to make sense.

Triplicate could not have been produced with the technology available, I knew that from the start. Now, with whatever it was coming towards me, that question was answered. It may be produced here, but it isn't from here. It's not something that appears in nature, no chance in hell that it ever could. It worked at an atomic and genetic level that couldn't be understood…unless direction was given. The orange ball, yes, it was now shaped like a sphere, was enough proof for me to put two and two together and come up with the first legitimate answer this whole time…Triplicate was extra-terrestrial.

Then what Jenna told me about a genetic drift in humanity was a crock. Maybe she was an innocent in all of this, hired under false pretenses, told lies after lies about the true nature of the substance, that they were trying to save humanity. Why would aliens want to fix a genetic drift in humans? It didn't make enough sense for me to count it as a reason.

I sat in that tree watching, mezmorized was more like it, watching that orange ball grow and grow, approaching silently from the west. I didn't notice anything else happening around me, I was transfixed on the approached light.

I thought that I would be scared if I ever saw anything like this, a strange light approaching from the sky, seemingly coming right for me. I imagined my heart speading up almost instantly, a tsunami of paralyzing fear and horror overcoming all of my faculties, not being able to move, knowing that something, somewhere was watching me, coming for me, and had nothing but sinister thoughts about what it was going to do to me. I would try to run, I would try to hide, but I wouldn't be able to. My legs wouldn't work, my arms wouldn't work, nothing would work. I would stand there, watching, waiting, terrified.

I imagined myself with silent tears running down my cheeks, because I knew, I just knew that everything that I held dear in my life was now officially torn apart. How can you go back to your life once you've experienced something like that? Every night would be tainted by the fear that they were out there, looking, watching, waiting. It was only a matter of time before they came back for me.

I imagined trying to run, but always running right into them, their open arms, empty promises of enlightenment, a pawn to their every whim.

I didn't feel any of that, though. As I watched that big orange ball coming for the mountain, I watched in awe at first, but soon after that faded, I was filled with purpose. That light was as much a beacon for my destiny than anything else. What I saw coming towards me was the future, my future, the future where I was born, where I was given this mission. I knew I was in the right spot, that I was on the right path, the path that I was meant for.

The feeling that I had before, the strange light-headedness began to return, and I couldn't combat it that effectively. I grabbed onto the trunk for support, I felt like I was going to pass out.

The orange ball was still growing, but I could finally make out definition. It seemed like a sphere, but it wasn't, it was oval. It looked a bit like an egg laying on it's side flying through the air. This bright orange sideways-flying egg was heading towards straight for me. It would pass directly over me on it's way to the mountain. It was still miles out, but that distance was closing rapidly. I looked back at the mountain, and the guards were all gone, retreated inside to the safety of the mountain.

I couldn't hear a sound. I saw trees sway back and forth from wind, but I couldn't hear their branches scraping together. The night was completely silent.

The orange craft was only a few miles out now, I could see the orange light reaching the treetops as it sped towards me, towards the mountain. Now, though, I had something to judge it's size with. It was small, smaller than I though, not too much bigger than a regular sedan. I noticed that it was rotating counterclockwise, too. Why, I couldn't even hazard a guess.

Closer and closer it came. I took a deep breath, I don't know why. I watched it float through the sky, as quiet as a thought, slowly spinning around itself, gliding smoothly towards me. Closer and closer until it was one thousand yards, the seven-hundred-fifty, the five hundred yards. It was beautiful, one of the most beautiful things that I had ever seen. It's orange glow lit the ground like a new sun, illuminating all life with it's welcoming warmth. If all that life, the animals, the trees, the vegetation, if they could think, if they could understand what was happening, they wouldn't reach up towards the light like they did, thinking it was the sun. I could see it happen, I could sense it happen. They went for the source of nourishment, ignorant of the poison it actually was. Heightened senses had it's advantages sometimes, even if I didn't use them all the time.

It was right over me, basking me in it's glow, and then it was gone. It was flying at about one hundred miles an hour, and that was a conservative guess. It zoomed past me and directly for the mountain. I thought it would veer to one direction, but it didn't, it went straight into solid rock. It was amazing to watch.

It was in there now, in the place that I needed to be in. I composed myself quickly, satisfied that the light show was over. I could hear the wind again, and the light-headedness had gone, too. I was at full strength, and I was motivated. I needed to find out where it went. Wherever it was, that was where I needed to be as well.

I leapt from the tree, landing in a crouched position. I looked around the immediate area and when I was satisfied that nothing would prevent me from reaching the mountain, I took off in a sprint.

I made my way to the opening of the mine quickly. Inside, the light quickly disappeared and I was left in total darkness. Luckily, the night-vision contacts formed without much delay and I was only in the dark for about half a second. That was an acceptable response. I was definitely in the entrance to a series of mineshafts. I looked for footprints, and they all lead to one of the elevators. I walked up to it quickly but quietly, not sure if there were any defenses in place. I didn't detect any.

The entire area was carved out of the rock, that much was definite. A strange, musty odor filled the place, a combination of the animals that probably inhabited this man-made cave as well as the infiltration of whoever was using this place.

The elevator went down for at least one thousand feet. It was much newer than the other mineshaft elevators that were in place, which tipped me off that it wasn't a mineshaft, but an access to something else altogether. I was going to find out what in a moment.

I heard a metallic click and then the elevator sprung to life. Someone was in the car and coming up to the surface. I made myself disappear into the darkness, ready to ambush anyone that came out.

Slowly, the car made it's way up the elevator shaft, the mechanical crunches of the gears echoed through the wide open and abandoned cave in which I stood.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the elevator came to a stop, the car safely on my level. The door opened and one of the Sweeps exited. He was alone, which was better. His radio squawked to life. "Sweep Delta, maintain radio silence during search for anomalous sensor ghost."

"Roger, Central. Switching off radio now." He turned it off and presented me with a most wonderful opportunity. I had to pounce on it, and pounce I did.

He couldn't have known what hit him, not with the speed that I jumped out of my hiding place. He was wearing a black and orange uniform, something more akin to a science fiction movie than anything else. It seemed to be reinforced kevlar, strong enough to protect the wearer against most form of bullets. The shoulders were padded, it seemed like they were wearing shoulder pads or something. From the tip of the extended shoulders to the small of the back, and the front, it formed a "V" shape. That part was orange. The rest of the outfit was black. He also had on black boots and black gloves as well as a black helmet. He reminded me of a storm trooper, an elite guard of some kind.

I nailed him in the right knee with enough force to tear the lower part of his leg clean off. Instead, the howl from my victim indicated that he would never use the knee again. I quickly silenced him with snap of the neck.

I reached down, picked him up and carried him outside the cave. I couldn't leave him right in front of the elevator, he would be discovered too quickly. I ran with him outside a ways before I stopped and put him on the ground. I touched his uniform, absorbing it. I did the same with the boots, the gloves and the helmet. I formed them onto my body, and within seconds, I was a Sweep. I noticed that he had something inside the palm of his right glove. My body recreated it perfectly, and when I took it out to look at it, I realized it was an identification device. It would come in handy, I imagined. I grabbed his radio and headed back inside the mine.

The elevator was still on the top floor, seemingly waiting for me. I got in and pressed the only button I could, the one with the down arrow.

The ride was shaky, like whoever built the elevator went with the lowest bidder. As long as it got me down to that level, it was fine by me.

Finally, it stopped and let me out in an area cut out of solid rock. It was a chamber of sorts. It only had the elevator at one end, though, and at the other, a large steel door at least ten feet tall and even wider. Next to the door was a large black panel with the indentation of a hand on it. I knew it was for the identification process, so I could be let back into whatever was on the other side of that wall.

Funny thing, though, is that I didn’t have to use that at all. The door started to slide open before I had a chance to try it. Out came three more Sweeps.

"What's the matter, Delta?"

"My radio's broken," I said, my voice an identical replication of Sweep Delta's. No one could tell the difference.

"Oh, yeah, you better get a new one. That's the rules."

"Yeah," I said coldly, "the rules."

The three of them laughed at me and walked towards the elevator. The giant steel door was beginning to close, but I sneaked in before it did. I found myself in some sort of decontamination chamber, an airlock of sorts. Lasers emitted from the walls, engulfing my entire body. I was able to tell that they were searching for any type of microbe or anything that didn't meet their standards of acceptance. The walls shined like they were chrome, with nothing else except the nodes for the lasers. I didn't even see the seam for the door ahead of me, which I was almost positive was there.

The lasers finished their search and apparently found me fit to continue. "Stand by for pressure acclimation," a mechanical voice told me as I stood waiting for something to happen. I could feel the pressure begin to build in my ears, then surprisingly is disappeared. "Acclimation complete. Stand by for access." A few seconds later, the wall in front of me began to shimmer and then it disappeared completely. Ahead of me was a hallway, much the same as the room I was just in. The walls were all seemingly made from chrome, including the ceiling and floor. It was cool in there, most likely because it was well underground.

The hallway itself was fairly long, at least the length of two football fields. I slowly made my way towards the end, seeing distorted reflections of myself on the walls, the floor and ceiling. I felt that someone was behind me, watching me, but every time I turned to look, no one was there, except my own image.

It seemed completely sterile, this hallway. I detected something, but it was faint. My gut told me it was Triplicate, and who was I to ignore my gut? That would have been the logic assumption. This place, it didn't seem like a production facility. I hadn't seen any way of getting mass quantities in or out of this place. Still, this chrome tunnel wasn't here before, it had to have been brought in and constructed.

I approached the end of the hallway, not sure exactly what I would find. I was extremely surprised to not have run into anyone else either coming or going, but it was nice to have a little good luck.

The end was another door, and it had a depression in the shape of a hand, just like the front door did. I pushed the gloved hand with the sensor in it, and the door slid open. I took a step back when I saw what was on the other side.

2

I was in another cavern, this one was enormous, though. It had seemingly been carved out of the rock, like the room far above in the entrance to the mountain as well as the bottom of the elevator shaft. The same musty, rocky smell filled this place, but there was more to it than that.

The cavern stretched at least two hundred feet away from where I stood, which was on a platform near the ceiling. The room was like a cone, each floor getting smaller and smaller. The level I was on-the platform traveled the entire circumference of the room-was the highest, and also had the largest diameter. The next floor below me had a platform as well, but it's diameter was only about one hundred and fifty feet. There were two more, the second being the bottom of the cavern. Inside the solid rock, rooms were carved. I wasn't able to determine what was happening in them, but they were busy. On my level, though, there were no rooms, only access ladders down to the lower levels.

On the bottommost level, the glowing orange oval craft was sitting in some kind of natural rock formation that looked as if it were made for it. Two cables of some kind, each of them glowing the same color of the craft, were connected to the craft and led to two ivory colored tables that also seemed to be carved from the ground. Two men stood at each table, seemingly operating some kind of control panel. They were wearing white.

Next to the craft and the two tables was a triangular formation, obviously artificial, made out of a substance so black that it seemed to suck in the light around it. This structure formed the perimeter of an equilateral triangle, the inside of which had three structures that looked to be chairs. Inside the chairs were three people seemingly in a trance of some sorts. I could see a slight orange glow emanating from them.

I made my way down to the second level. No one seemed to be in any of the rooms carved into the walls. There were ten rooms, each spaced out around cavern. They looked like bunkrooms; each had a bed and a sink. They kind of reminded me of jail cells as well. Below me, on the third level, that was where the action was taking place. There were at least fifty people working on that level, with seemingly endless rooms and hallways extending into the mountain. Then I saw him.

The mysterious man was looking at a screen which was displaying graphs of some sort. I couldn't tell what they were about. He was nodding his head in approval, then patted the operator on the back. That got him a smile. He seemed to be well liked and not feared in this place.

I could smell a steady odor of Triplicate here, but it was strange, it seemed almost old. I was definitely in the right place.

The third level, it was packed with components, each of them seemingly recently installed. It reminded me of the Combat Information Center of a Spruance-Class destroyer in the Navy. I had been on one, masquerading as a junior officer for almost eight months before people started to catch on. Everything you could think of was jammed into that dark, cold space, from Harpoon and Tomahawk weapon system consoles, numerous radar repeaters, the giant DRT (Dead Reckoning Tracer) which monitored the ship's movements as well as communications equipment and much, much more. It was cramped, to say the least. That third level was very much the same way. There were consoles everywhere, different kinds than in CIC, but big, bulky and in the way nonetheless. And, just like in the Navy, they tried to force as many people into the area as they could. Desks-which were nothing more than cubicles without the dividers-littered the level as well. Everyone there was doing something, and that mysterious man was seemingly overseeing everything.

The first three decks, well, they were stacked one on top of each other, each about ten feet in height. The final level, the bottom, where the strange craft and the triangle structure were, that was a good fifty feet down. A staircase wrapped around the edge of the cavern as it descended down.

I stayed on the second deck, looking down at the mass of people working on the deck above the ship, above the bottom deck, trying to figure out what was going on. At the edge of the platform, which extended maybe twenty feet from the wall, a small railing prevented someone from walking off accidentally, falling the fifty feet onto the strange craft. I would not want to do that at all.

The mysterious man made his way down the ladder to the lower level. I took it as my cue to head down to the third level and do some snooping. Immediately after arriving, I ducked into one of the tunnels. It was carved into the rock with rooms on either side. From the markings, they seemed to be medical facilities, possibly for experiments.

The tunnel led to another tunnel that ringed around the cavern. On the outside of that ring that was carved into the wall were more rooms, each looking more and more like operating rooms. After a while, the strange medical rooms turned into more conventional offices and living quarters, much nicer than the ones up on level two. All of these rooms seems bare, that all essential equipment had been taken out. No one occupied these rooms, either.

I made may way in a complete circle around the second level of the facility. It's then that I saw a strange, heavily guarded room. Three Sweeps stood at it's entrance and nodded as I walked past. There was a small window in it, and I looked inside. It was a cell, alright, a seemingly padded cell. Inside was a man who looked as if he hadn't eaten in a month and had been severely beaten. Whatever will that man had left had been taken from him forcibly a long, long time ago. I shuddered to think what he had gone through. I continued past that, into the outer platform that hung over the craft.

I looked down at it, it sat in the strange rock formation like an egg in it's container. I smiled to myself, happy that I discerned it's shape from that far away. From behind me, someone began talking loudly. "Communication lines have been opened." The mysterious man turned and ran back up the stairs to the second level. He ran right past me, picking up a listener as he did.

"Put it through," he said and waited. Then he smiled. "Yes, sir, we have it up and running." He stopped talking and was listening intently. "Yes, sir, if you would give me a moment to descend to the floor, sir." He turned and looked at me. "You there, come and help me with this."

He was pointing at the radio. He wanted me to carry it down to the level with him. I nodded and picked it up. I made sure to plant a listener on the receiver and the earpiece. I would have a direct line into the conversation, at least to overhear it. Like the good little soldier that I pretended to be, I followed the mysterious man down to the floor of the chamber. He walked towards one of the consoles that the strange cable was attached to. On the side that I couldn't see, there was a screen seemingly built into the rock. On it were some images, a strange symbol. It reminded me of the symbol for the sign of Capricorn. In fact, it wasn't much different at all.

"Sir," the mysterious man said after he sat at the console, "I'm in position now. Awaiting your orders."

"Very well. Press the symbol on the screen and tell me what appears." He pressed the symbol and the screen went black.

"Sir, everything disappeared."

"Did the screen turn off, or just turn black?"
"It turned black, sir."

"Good, that's normal. It happened here as well. Things are still in proper order."

The screen started to flicker and then came to life. On it were five circles, each at the corners of a upside down pentagon. "Sir, I have five circles on the screen."

"Excellent. Use your right hand, starting with your thumb in the bottom circle. Place every finger in the circles. After you have done that, tell me what happens."

"Yes, sir." Slow and deliberately, the mysterious man placed his thumb on the circle on the screen. I turned to leave, or at least seem to leave. I could see on his face, in his worried expression, that he wanted me to stay, needed me to stay. "Sweeper," he said to me as I turned, "stick around here, will you? You know, in case something happens."

"Yes, sir," I said in Sweeper Delta's voice. The mysterious man smiled.

"Thanks." He put his index finger on the next circle clockwise from his position. He repeated it for every circle. On the screen, the dots began to connect themselves forming a pentagram. "Oh my God."

"What is it?"

"Sir, it's a pentagram, the circles formed a pentagram."

"Don't worry. The pentagram was an ancient symbol that represented the elements of the planet."
"But it's a pentagram."

"It's a geometric figure. This has been around a lot longer than that particular representation of the figure. Don't worry about it."

"Yes, sir."

"Good boy. Feel anything happen yet?"

"No," his eyes rolled right back into his head and his body became limp. His hand didn't leave the screen, though. The lights in the cavern dimmed, then finally went out. The only thing giving off light was the orange craft and the screen on the console. Upstairs, on level two, there was some commotion, mostly anxious people trying to figure out why the lights went out. The mysterious man stood up and took the radio off his head and examined it carefully. He put it back on. "Who is it that has contacted us through this method?"

The voice on the other end, the same voice that had called me and stripped Michelle from me, the same voice that I had come to hate and couldn't wait to get my hands around the throat of the person it belonged to, that voice answered very powerfully. "We have located and deciphered the Triplicate relics. We have put your failed plans into motion. We are completing the plans that you had for us."

"That is an unacceptable answer. There were reasons that yours was abandoned, flaws in the structure. Cease this communication at once and never use it again."

"That, as you so elegantly put it, is unacceptable. I demand a face to face meeting to discuss this situation. I know everything, the entire story. You know that if we have succeeded, that we are as much a threat to you as we are to anyone else. Let me be perfectly blunt: We have succeeded. We wish to discus our role."

The mysterious man, who wasn’t the mysterious man any longer-he seemingly was channeling someone, something else-paused for a moment. "Do you not think that we have monitored your progress one the first cavern was uncovered? We know more about your attempts than you do. We know about all the complications that you have come across as well. This is too delicate a matter to risk the potential losses. Can you give us assurances?"

"Of course, do you think I would have risked this communication if I couldn’t?"

"What of the production?"

"The rival has been eliminated. There is a single production site, as outlined in your records."

"Very good. What are the potentials of a resurrection of these rivals?"

"The infrastructure was decimated as well as almost all of the top ranking people, the ones who knew the truth, they were all killed. The production facilities were also destroyed beyond repair."

"And are you suspected?"

"No, we have pinned each and every act on someone else."

"And what of the human?"

"The human?"

"There is another force in the your game, a single man whose motivations are unknown to us, who has fought your rivals and now fights you. What plans do you have to take care of this potential problem?"

"Oh, him. You are talking about Gabriel McGuire." Yep, I was now known throughout the galaxy…at least I assumed this was some kind of extra-terrestrial entity he was dealing with.

"Yes, I am talking about Gabriel McGuire. He poses a severe risk if we decide to restart the experiment."

"He'll be taken care of shortly."

"He must be taken out of the equation before there is any chance of our arrival."

"And when will you arrive?"

"We will discuss that in the near future. From this moment on, this form of communication is no longer required. We understand that you have designated a communicator to be melded?"

"You are well informed."

"Yes, we are. Are the preparations ready?"

"Yes, they are."

"Very well. Proceed and use this being as the conduit between us."

"Certainly."

"Perhaps this experiment will not end in the failure that it has in the past."

"We have already begun preparations to exterminate the failures. They will be put into motion very shortly."

"They still exist?" The mysterious man sounded concerned, at least a little bit.

"Some still do, but more are appearing every day."

"That is intriguing, but unacceptable. Do you have any information concerning their numbers, their whereabouts, or their abilities?"

"We estimate that they total no more than one hundred fifty. They operated in cells of four, two men and two women. They are extremely agile. Our hunters have been finding difficulties breaking their natural defenses."

"So you have revived the Order of the Hunters."

"The Order came to us, came to me and helped me in the beginning.

"It will be taken care of."

"It better." There was a pause, the lights began to flicker. "Destroy this facility, the security has been breached."

"By whom?"

"By your Gabriel McGuire." I gulped. I knew right then and there that my time was running out, and probably running out fast. If they search the surrounding grounds, with any kind of scrutiny, they'll find that body and find it fast. I didn't think anyone would catch onto me, but they had, and all I could do was hold on for the ride and hope I didn't get caught.

"Impossible. He's still in Las Vegas. My associate, the one you are currently speaking through, he saw McGuire fall from the roof of one of the hotels."

"He is alive and his is close to you. Our conversation has ended. Eliminate this problem, this Gabriel McGuire. Once he is removed, you may proceed with the plans you have described, but not before! All of you attentions must be focused on eliminating him."

"A plan has already come to mind." The mysterious man fell to his knees and shook his head. Apparently, he was out of the trance, or the link, or whatever the connection was. He seemed groggy, and I bent over to help him up. It seemed like the proper thing to do. "I thought you said he was dead," the voice screamed through the speakers. I listened as the pentagram faded from the screen.

"He was dead."

"Did you see a body?"

"Yes, I saw the body. It was a dead body."

"Then why is he here?"

"It has to be a mistake, Sir. He can't possibly be here." It took all I had not to laugh.

"Get the Sweeps out there to scour the immediate area. Shut down the facility as well. I don't want anyone coming in or out."

"You want me to leave the Sweeps out in the park?"

"Until McGuire is found, yes I do. His death is all that concerns me."

"Then you will be arriving here shortly, yes?"

"Yes, I will. I will be leaving immediately. I have a stopover in New York and then in Detroit, then I will arrive."

"If he is here, we will have him in custody by then."

"Good, I wish to be present for his death."

"I figured you might, sir. When will the communicator arrive."

"The communicator will arrive with me."

"All will be ready, Sir." The voice on the other end sighed. If I didn't know better, I would have thought it was a sigh of relief.

"I know it will, and I trust you to take care of this. Don't worry, I don't blame you for Gabriel, he is constantly proving to be more than he seems. I would have done the same as you."

"Thank you, sir."

"Don't let that deter you from finding him."

"Never." The connection went dead. The mysterious man turned to me and shook his head. "You want this job?" he asked me with a grin on his face.

I shook my head. I wondered if he had any idea that it was me.

"No, I didn't think so. Okay, give me your radio." I took it out and handed it to him. He took a deep breath and switched to a secure channel. "Sweep leader, we have a possible intruder. Check records for a Gabriel McGuire and send to all Sweeps. Deploy Sweeps to conduct a sight search of the surrounding exterior. Leave one team back in the facility." Now it was only a matter of time. I figured I had five minutes at the most.

Alarms started going off and the lights changed from a white to a red color. A few seconds later, a light inside the helmet started to flicker and in front of my eyes, on the visor, a picture of myself appeared as well as a description. "Gabriel McGuire, approximately thirty years old, six foot one inch, two hundred ten pound, athletic build, black hair, shoulder length. Scar on left side of his face near the corner of his eye up to the hairline and down to his ear. He is considered armed and extremely dangerous." Funny, they didn't mention anything about my wonderful singing voice. Underneath the stunning description was the order: "Apprehend without injury."

The mysterious man started for the ladder, and I followed in his wake. The whole area was buzzing, the security personnel in the facility were taking their stations, and the one team of Sweeps left behind started to inspect the various levels. It was a room to room, and they weren't letting anything get past them.

"Delta, proceed to the confinement room and wait for further instructions," a voice barked in my head. I made my way up to the confinement room, which I took to be the strange, guarded cell that was on the second level. I methodically made my way there, pushing through the masses that were running around, trying to get into position.

It didn't take too long, and when I got there, the two Sweeps that were guarding the room were gone. They were either out in the park looking for me, or making a sweep of the facility. My task was to stand there, and I would do it. Not that it really mattered all that much.

All around me, people were screaming, yelling, pointing, running, pulling their weapons out, it was a scene of total chaos. I listened closely to the reports coming in over the radio that was built into the helmet that I was wearing. Zones from the park began to report that they were all clear. So did the team inside that was investigating the rooms. No one could find Gabriel McGuire.

The skin on my arm began to crawl, then it became tingly. I looked back into the cavern, and heard a quiet humming beginning. Almost instantly as that started, the oval took off straight up and seemingly went through the ceiling, which was solid rock, and disappeared. Everyone stopped to watch it speed past, then went back about their business.

More reports came in, which meant that my time was short. They would find the body soon, and I would be in a world of trouble.

I waited in front of the secured cell, wondering what was on the other side of the vault-like door. Something told me that I didn't want to know. That was fine with me. I just had to find a way out of this place, before something would happen. But then, it was too late. Over the radio, I heard my fate give me a cool.

"Sweep Gamma to Control. Sweep Delta's body has been discovered outside the facility. His uniform has been removed. He's dead, Sir."

"Understood." A call went out to the mysterious man about the discovery, then I heard my earphone radio kick in. "Sweep Delta, proceed to Control immediately." Like hell.

I reabsorbed the uniform, replacing it immediately with a white lab coat and black pants. I changed the color of my hair from the black and white to a soft brown, and I did my best to cover up the scar cosmetically. I made sure that my hair would cover it as well. I gave myself a black eye, a busted open lip, and a broken nose. My eyes had started to water as well. To the untrained, unknowing observer, I still looked like me. To the guards roaming the facility, though, I would look enough like one of the people working in here that it wouldn't matter a whole lot.

That being said, when three Sweeps arrived on the scene to find a doctor cowering at the sight of them, crying, with his face bloodied, pointing in a direction that he claimed the fugitive Sweep had run, they ran after him immediately. I didn't dare laugh at them.

A couple of the doctors helped me up and took me to an examining room. I sat on the bench, wondering just how I was going to escape now. I was effectively locked into the facility, but even so, I wasn't terribly worried. Somehow I knew I was going to get out. Everything was happening fast, but nothing was really happening that caused me any amount of distress. I was going to get out, I was going to get out now.

The doctors, though, they wanted to examine me. They hadn't gotten a good look at me yet, which was to my advantage. I was in one of their rooms, though, and I didn't want to have to hurt them to get out. I wanted them to turn their back on me so I could slip away quietly. But then something happened to me that changed everything.

One doctor stood next to me while the other one got a syringe out and filled it with something. The other started walking towards me. I could sense what was inside of it. "Don't come near me with that," I growled.

"But Doctor," I guess they thought I was a doctor, "it's an antibiotic compound."

"I know exactly what it is," I said, my eyes on the floor, my hair covering my face. "I don't need it, I'm perfectly fine."

"You aren't. You sustained injuries, wounds that can be healed if we give you this."

"I don't want it, Doctor. I don't want anything at all. Keep it away from me."

I was watching the shadow of the doctor with the syringe move closer and closer. For an instant, it seemed like his head moved, then the other doctor made a move on me, to hold me down. The doctor's grip was very powerful, much more powerful than I thought possible by a doctor. I guess I was believing the stereotypes. I flipped my hair back to get a good look at the situation. The other doctor had a nice big dose of Triplicate waiting for me. I knew the agility of the substance, it's ability to be programmed into different compounds. I also know that it almost killed me.

The doctor's eyes got wide when he didn't recognize who I was. He now looked more determined, though, to administer the shot. If it was just an antibiotic compound, why was he just as anxious to get it inside of me.

The answer was right behind him. In the counter, I saw what he was giving me, and it wasn't antibiotics. The label read XXX, and from that I knew that it would kill me-well, maybe not me, but someone who doesn't have access to the inhibitor. The needle was close, and I still hadn't managed to get out of the grip of the first doctor. "You're McGuire, aren't you?" the doctor with the syringe asked.

I didn't answer. I could feel my right hand coming free, and I knew now was the time for action. I swung my leg around, catching the good doctor on the wrist and knocking the syringe into the air. I pulled my right arm free and swung a punch at the man holding me, catching him surprised right on the jaw. I could hear it crush beneath the impact. I turned quckily, grabbed the syringe in midair and jabbed it in his neck, pushing the plunger with all my strength. The Triplicate was in his bloodstream, and so was about half of the syringe. I looked back at the doctor that used to be in possession of the Triplicate and grabbed him by the coat. My hair slowly turned back to my original color(s) and the wounds miraculously healed themselves. He looked at me with terror and shock.

"I am Gabriel McGuire, and you are going to tell me why you were about to administer a fatal dose of Triplicate to me." He seemed amazed that I knew what I was talking about, but she still didn't answer. I grabbed his shoulders. Actually, I just grabbed the shirt. I pushed him up against the wall, forcing his collar to start cutting off his supply of oxygen. "You are going to tell me, Doctor, or else you are going to die."

"I'm going to die anyway," he choked out.

"Tell me why."

"No one in this facility will survive. When it's destroyed, we will be down here as well, destroyed."

"To protect it's secret?" He nodded. "That doesn't sound like a very good deal at all, now does it?"

"It's the price we have to pay for being a part of the grand plan."

"I know about the plan."

"There's no way you can know about it. Only three people alive know of the plan."

"I heard it now, today, when your boss was talking with his benefactors."

"You heard pieces of a greater whole, something greater than you could ever conceive of. You know nothing of the plan."

"I know a race of humans genetically altered by Triplicate is being created." He laughed at me.

"You think in such small scales."

"Tell me, then. Educate me."

"I will not. I would rather die than betray my cause."

"So be it." I wasn't in a mood to play around. He crumpled to the floor, still alive but unconscious. I fixed my lab coat and made my way to the door of the room. I opened it, finding ten guards, each with their weapons trained on me.

3

In the last ten years, my life has hung in the balance of a split second decision more times that would like to remember. Eventually, I was sure that I was going to come up on the short end. I had a strange, sinking feeling that this was the time.

Oddly enough, looking down the barrel of ten extremely high-powered rifles wasn't the reason I felt my time was up. It was the man behind them, that mysterious man. He had a grin on his face, a strange, demonic grin that made me shudder. He was rubbing his hands together as if he was getting ready to go to work. He was. He was getting ready to go to work on me.

I let out an obscenity-this all happened in about a second or two-and shut the door, as I dove to the ground. The room erupted in a barrage of gunfire that tore apart the door and wall. They had to reload eventually. I heard the metallic clicks of the magazines expending their last round and erupted. Anyone near me was bowled over as I steamrolled my way into the hall. The best chance I had was to run, and that was exactly what I was going to do. I was a good fifty feet before the first reports from the weapons filled the corridor. Thankfully, I was out of their path, much in part to the ring design of this level.

I saw an opening back to the inside of the level, near the open chamber. I saw this as my only chance to get to the entrance. Maybe, if I was just a bit lucky, I would be able to bust my way out. If I wasn't lucky, well, then I was in big, big trouble.

I could hear footsteps approaching me on either side. I had to make my move right now. I made my way to the ladder as fast as I could. To my dismay, Sweeps were coming down the ladder towards me. They didn't fire, there were too many workers around me. At least I had that going for me.

I climbed up, figuring that I had as good a chance as any to make it that way. Then something popped into my head. It was a very familiar thought, one that if I didn't know better, I think it would have been Michelle. I envisioned a device, a spring-loaded arrow with tiny but extremely strong wire attached to it.

A split second later, it was in my hand. I pointed it at ceiling near the far wall and fired. The device had a recoil feature that would pull me towards the arrow as I swung. I let go of the ladder and flew across the room. I saw some Sweeps emerge on that far side. I fired another arrow in the opposite direction, left go of the first and sailed. They began firing at me, but they were lousy shots. Their comrades wouldn't think so, though, because they were hit. Most of them, anyway. The morons on the other side finally stopped when they saw what they were doing, and I was now on my way back to the first level.

The Sweeps who avoided being shot reversed themselves and started back towards me. If I was quick, though, I would make it there first and have a shot at it.

"Don't let him get away!" the mysterious man shouted. How cliché! I altered my trajectory a bit to take a shot at the Sweeps who wanted to spoil my party. A few seconds later, they were falling and I was climbing up the ladder.

Thankfully, I was alone on the first level, making my way to the large steel door that stood between capture and escape. Once out of there, I could lose myself in the mining tunnels if I had to. I tried to push it open, but it was locked. I looked at the locking mechanism, it was some electronic lock, something that I could easily get past. I touched it and let my special talents go to work. I watched as the input keypad flicker as the programming was broken. It was an excruciating wait.

I sat there like an idiot waiting at least six seconds before I heard the mechanical clack of the locks and the door begin to swing outward. I looked back at my pursuers, knowing that I had gained the crucial seconds that would ensure my escape. I took a deep breath and ran through the opening.

I was met by a steel-toed boot to the head. I couldn't see who it was that attacked me, but I heard my name screamed by a woman. "Gabriel, get away!" I couldn't tell immediately who it was, my bell was severely rung by the sudden and unexpected boot to the face. I staggered backwards up against the railing, thankfully regaining my equilibrium before I tumbled over the side and down to the bottom of the chamber. My forehead was cut and blood was pouring out, enough to where my vision was impaired. The cut was closed quickly, but not quick enough. I was blind.

I blinked quickly and regained a bit of my sight, long enough to see dark lochs of hair. Jenna? I thought immediately. She couldn't be here, though. A second later, I realized who it was. Things had officially gone from bad to worse.

I wiped the blood from my eyes in time to see Aphrodite Sambonis being held by the throat by someone who was wearing a hood over his head. He was huge, at least six-foot-six. He threw Aphrodite towards me and I grabbed her. She looked at me, and I knew she was scared. She didn't tell me, but I knew it. It's like she planted the thought in my head.

I got up and charged the giant, only to be swatted to the side like an insect. I formed a retractable baton and swung at his knee, but he lifted his leg, and in the same motion, kicked me in the face again. I heard the Sweeps coming up the ladder. I knew that I wasn't going to be escaping this one. I guess the feeling that I had, that this time my luck had run out, was right. Man, how I wished that weren't true.

The mysterious man arrived a few seconds later. He looked at the hooded giant and nodded. "You arrived earlier than I anticipated."

"The business that I was conducting had come to a close, and I was only a few minutes flight from here."

"As you can see, we have located Gabriel McGuire."

"Yes," he slithered. "Finally, we have him right where we want him." He walked past me and down the ladder. "Bring him to the cell." I was surrounded by Sweeps, and each Sweep seemed to have their own industrial sized cattle prod with them. The hooded man turned to his Sweeps. "Make him suffer on the way down." After they said that, they started prodding away.

4

Funny, the Sweeps didn't let me climb down the ladder, they shocked me until they thought I was hurt enough that they just pushed me down the ladder to the next level down. Truth was, that prods were taking their toll, I couldn't keep up with them enough to deaden their effect on me. Soon, I was overwhelmed and helpless.

I heard Aphrodite scream as I was tortured. Oddly, I heard it as much in my head as I did in my ears. She seemed to be reaching out to me with something akin to psychic projection, at least that was the only thing I could think of. I really had no idea what was going on.

I survived my trip to the cell. I was kept by the entrance, carefully handled so I wasn't inside the cell, but just on the outside of the threshold. Somehow, I wasn't getting the warm fuzzy feeling about what was going to happen.

The hooded man appeared in front of me with Aphrodite in tow. The mysterious man was on his side. I saw that the hood was nothing more than a sweatshirt, but it was oversized enough that it covered every last bit of his head. He started talking to me.

"Gabriel McGuire, why do you keep coming back and interfering in something that doesn't concern you?"

"It does concern me," I said, but what I heard was something more like baby talk. I guess the electricity had shorted out my muscular system somehow. It would explain why I wasn't able to move that well.

"Don't try and talk, don't try and do anything at all. You are going to need all your enhanced strengths and abilities to survive what I am going to put you through."

How could he have known about me? No one knew about me.

"I want you to survive so I can show you the failure of everything that you hoped to accomplish. I want you to know that you failed, and I want you to know who it was that beat you." He pulled Aphrodite in front of him.

"This self-serving, hollow crusade that you are on has cost you everything. Hell, it has cost you much more than that, more than you will ever know. You'll be dead before the final cost of your failure is rung up." He nodded and I got yet another round of cattle prods.

"You see, everything you have thought, everything you think you know, everything you believe, and everything you've trusted have been lies. Every single thing about your life has been a lie."

I was on my knees; I could feel the sweat running off my brow. I was breathing heavily, scared because I couldn't catch my breath. My heart was racing, almost up to two hundred beats a minute. I felt like my body was about to explode.

"From the first moment I laid eyes on you, Gabriel, I knew that our paths, our destinies were intertwined. I knew that for me to success, I would have to utterly destroy you. Now, here in this ancient chamber, the truth can be known." He pulled back the hood and when I saw his face I couldn't control myself any longer. I hung my head and began to weep.

"How dare you think you could have killed me!" he bellowed at me. "How dare you!" He rushed me and kicked me once again in the head. "I will never die, Gabriel. I've assured that with your death."

"I am Rakal. I am the informer. I am the chosen one, the one who will bring with him the next step in evolution." I looked up at this man, a man I thought that I had killed. He stood over me, Louis Gibson stood over me, fists clinched, ready to kill me.

"Gibson, you won't win."

"Gibson is dead. You killed him. I am Rakal. I am your angel of death." He stepped back and motioned for me to be thrown into the cell. The door began to slowly close. "Gabriel, if you survive, I have some more for you to endure. Enjoy yourself."

The door closed and everything went black.