Encounters 1: The Spiral Slayers (38 page)

He thought that Donnelly was handling everything pretty well
until he saw Donnelly’s eyes – they were huge and a fire seemed to burn within
them as if he’d seen the face of God. Seeing this Radin seemed to grow even
madder. He turned and quickly strode down the hall toward the elevators.

He needed a drink.

He could hear Donnelly and Van Loader following him – Van
Loader was making a horrible pining sound as Donnelly spoke softly to him.

A very strong drink.

Leewood and Harrison pushed through the doors next. Leewood
was holding Harrison who had her face buried in his chest. She was crying
softly. Leewood stroked her hair. His face was grim.

Adamarus followed right behind them wearing his poker face.
His face was pale and he'd broken out in a sweat. He paused just outside the
doors watching Leewood and Harrison walk down the hall.

---

Inside the conference room, Secretary Thornton’s
teleconferencing screen was dark. On the screen next to it, the President sat
with his head in his hands. Bugs stood before the screen watching him.

Wicker looked up – his eyes were bloodshot, his face pale.
“Well, Bugs…” he sniffled and ran his hand through his hair -- a barked, shaken
laugh escaped, “is there...anything else?”

“No, sir,” Bugs answered. “Will you need to sleep on what
I’ve told you?”

The President just stared at Bugs not knowing how to respond.
Finally, “Bugs, we’ll talk about this again in a day or so.”

---

A hollow feeling extended from Adamarus’ gut up to the center
of his chest. It ached. The rest of his body seemed numb.

He had to pull himself together.

He realized that he had started thinking only one
thing…saying two words repeatedly like some kind of mantra:
Don’t think.
Don’t think. Don’t think.

He became conscious of the fact that he was still frozen in the
hallway. He turned to the left…the way the others had gone…the direction that
led to the elevators…the direction that led to…what? He realized that going
left led to places he didn’t really want to go. However, what choice was there?

Just then, Van Loader’s voice drifted up from the lobby
shouting something. Adamarus could not make out the words, but the hysterical
tone…that was something Adamarus could identify with far more than he wished.
Adamarus did not want to go in that direction.

Don’t think.

He turned and glanced down the corridor the other way —he saw
a door he hadn’t noticed before. He quickly walked to it and tried it. It
opened. He looked inside – stairs. He slipped inside and closed the door behind
him.

Don’t think!

Unlike the rest of the building with its faux marble floors
and walls, this area was unfinished. The walls were unpainted wallboard and the
metal stairs leading both up and down were covered with a thick layer of dust.
Naked bulbs lit the area and there was an unnatural quietness to the unfinished
place. The air smelled...clean. It all somehow seemed to fit the moment. He
leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes.

Don’t think!

He shook himself and started down the stairs, and after
rounding the corner, he saw a window and stopped to look out. The rain had let
up. One of the many reflection pools stretched out for about fifty feet
surrounded by trees and hedges. A walkway extended away from the building
running along the reflection pool, then continuing into the trees and bushes
beyond. The ground surrounding the walkway held patches of grass, puddles and
dark wet mud. Wisps of steam rose from the ground and the smell of rain was in
the air.

Adamarus’ eyes followed the walkway outward. It seemed to pull
at him. From an elevation of two-and-a-half stories he could see that in the
distance, the dark ground seemed to end. It looked dry out by the distant wall.
That’s where he wanted to go.

Don't think!

---

 By the time Donnelly got Van Loader to his quarters, Van
Loader had quieted down somewhat. Donnelly was really worried about Van Loader.
He of all people knew how much and to what depth Van Loader had been affected
by the news they had just received…by the things they had been shown. Just
hearing the Loud’s tale was enough to shake anyone to the core, but the
undisputable evidence they’d been shown was the final stake to the heart!

He led Van Loader to his bed and had him lie down. Donnelly
hadn’t had time to ponder the differences in their reactions. Both of them had
been changed, but Van Loader had been shattered while Donnelly had…what…seen
the blinding light of truth?

Van Loader moaned —a haunted tormented sound that sliced into
Donnelly’s heart like a hot knife. He sat down on the bed. “Oh, Gerald, my
friend…please hang in there.” He needed to get Van Loader some help.

To Donnelly it was clear, obvious, and undeniable: The highly
advanced and unbelievably powerful alien that they had thought was coming at
them was...something else entirely. And across the vastness of the universe,
across three super clusters, he had looked into its face. In that moment, he
seemed to realize some undeniable and searing truth. He wasn't sure exactly
what it was, but it had changed him.

Nevertheless, he still had to relieve himself. That hadn’t
changed. “Gerald…” he squeezed the broken man’s shoulder, “I’ll be right back.”
He got up and walked six feet to the restroom, went in and closed the door
behind him.

---

It had been hours now and still everyone was “unavailable.”
Evelyn couldn’t shake the feeling of uneasiness and finally gave up trying to
focus on busy work. Brandon's idea about everyone trying to help with the
weather problem made some sense. She decided to check for herself.

She did not take the main elevators to the atrium, but
instead took the closest of the six maintenance lifts down. This deposited her
in a small alcove about fifty feet up the wall of the circular domed room. She
paused and peered out over the large chamber.

The rain had let up, but there were still some dark clouds
drifting up around the center of the dome. She could see the ground was still
wet and there were puddles. Here and there wisps of steam rose. She leaned over
the rail and took a deep breath. The smell of rain was invigorating and
something she had not experienced in a long time. She noticed that there was a
dry area directly below her that continued out from the wall for about twenty
feet.

She was about to turn and walk back into the super structure
where stairs would take her either up into the dome or down to ground level
when she noticed a figure below. It was Adamarus. He was sitting on the ground,
legs outstretched, back against a tree. She found herself smiling down at him
though he could not see her.

She turned and walked back into the structure. She passed the
elevator doors and went to the stairs. As she turned to start down, she heard
footsteps above her and looked up. The metal grade stair switchback rose above
her following the curve of the dome until it eventually curved out of sight.
High above, she spotted someone climbing upward – she could not be sure, but it
looked like Dr. Van Loader. She felt that she must be mistaken. Van Loader
would be the last person she would expect to offer his help on something like
this.

She started down the staircase.

---

Radin was in the “One4U” sitting in a dark corner booth at
the back of the room. He was drinking beer and doing shots of Old Western
Warmer. After the meeting, he’d decided he wanted to be alone…alone and drunk.
He saw Bugs enter the front door and he hunkered back into the booth. Then he
groaned as he saw the avatar head straight for him without even looking around
to find him.
God damn it
, he thought, as he downed the third of six shot
glasses lined up in front of him.

Bugs stopped a few feet from him. “Captain, can I join you?”

Radin stared at him for a moment with a sour look, and then
forced a smile and said, “What can I get you?” He downed the fourth shot.

Bugs ignored the frivolous question and scooted into the
booth across from him. “You took the information better than anyone else. You
got angry, but…that seemed to be all.”

“And how the hell would you know that?” Radin asked.

“I was monitoring the vitals of everyone at the meeting -- a
safety precaution.”

Radin smiled again showing teeth. His voice was low and
dangerous, “I don’t give a shit about how ancient or powerful some God damn
alien is!” He sipped his beer and slammed the bottle down. “Just put it in
front of me and I’ll fight it.” He grabbed another shot glass and downed it,
“If I’m nothing but some backward slug to it…” he slammed the shot glass down
on the table upside-down next to five others like it, “if it just squashes me
without a second thought…well then…fuck it!” He grabbed the last shooter and
shot it down.

Bugs had never seen the Captain like this before. All he
could detect was anger, determination, and now, increasing intoxication.

Radin raised his hand to signal for more shooters, then
paused as he noticed a disturbance to the otherwise quiet room. Dr. Donnelly
was rushing around speaking to one person after another. Radin got up, “Excuse
me,” he said to Bugs. He made his way across the room and intercepted Donnelly.
“Doctor, what’s going on?”

Donnelly turned to him. There seemed to be more than a little
panic in his face. “Have you seen Dr. Van Loader?”

Radin looked around the room, “No. Why?”

Donnelly sighed heavily, “I’m worried. He was acting…” he
lowered his voice, “well, very strange after the meeting.”

“Fancy that,” Radin said.

“I got him to his cabin but…well, I had to use the restroom,
and when I returned, he was gone. I can’t find him anywhere.”

---

 Evelyn walked towards Adamarus, stepping softly across the
soft soil and clumps of grass. Adamarus was facing the other way and the tree
trunk he was leaning against hid his upper body. She rounded the tree then
abruptly stopped, her jaw dropping in surprise—he was sound asleep.

She stood there a moment looking at him, not knowing quite
what to do. He looked so peaceful. She decided she did not want to wake him and
would just retrace her steps and leave. She started to turn her head and
stepped back, but Adamarus’ head moved and she quickly looked back at him.

“Why?” It was just a whisper, and his eyes remained closed,
his breathing unchanged.

Her foot was already coming down when she tore her eyes from
Adamarus to look where she was going. Too late. She saw the clump of dried
leaves and twigs and her attempt to avoid them made her stumble, causing her
feet to fall onto an even larger pile of dried branches.

CRUNCH… CRUNCH.

“Darn,” she whispered.

---

In the dream, Adamarus saw the blue pixilated spiral galaxy
that Bugs had focused the telescope on at the end of the meeting...that shocking,
horrendous nightmare of a meeting where they had heard and seen things that, at
first, the human mind could hardly grasp…then later, could barely conceive.
There were plasma jets coming from the top and bottom of the hazy blue spiral
and the upper one clearly showing a wisp veering off to the right at almost a
ninety-degree angle – what all of them knew now to be the Spiral Slayer’s “footprint.”

In his mind’s eye, the hands of time spun back 12 billion
years…though he really had no grasp, whatsoever, of such enormous time spans.
Still, he imagined the pale blue spiral as it had been in the dawn of time.
Alive with vast spiraling arms of brilliant white stars shimmering like jewels
carefully set within the rich browns of complex dust plumes. Deep within,
pastel explosions could be seen, the stellar nebula that marked the graves of
stars. And, at the base of the arms, at the very center, a hemisphere of
unparalleled luminance rose, so thick with stars, it seemed surrounded by mist
– the central hub – the hiding place of the spiral’s massive black hole.
Breathtaking in its beauty, Adamarus could only stare at it in wonder.

As he watched, a radiant flash came from the edge of the galaxy.
It outshined the entire galaxy before it faded, leaving a small dark spot. Then
further in, another…then another and another. His brows furrowed as he watched
and waited. Then came another flash from the base of one of the spiral arms.
The flashes formed a straight line from the edge of the galaxy to the center.
He knew now what these were, for his sun might soon be one of them.

Then suddenly he saw two plasma jets burst from the center,
one going upward and one down forming what could have been an axle for the
spiral to turn on. At the same time, a dark ugly smear appeared at the center
of the spiral and began to spread. As the blackness reached the base of the
galactic arms, the strange wisp of plasma erupted from the upper plasma jet,
angling towards him. As the blackness spread through the arms and finally
devoured all of the spiral’s shining stars, he saw a black sphere emerge from
the small plasma stream and head for another distant group of galaxies.

He watched in silent horror as the black hole went from one
cluster of galaxies to another, visiting one galaxy in each cluster, leaving
its ugly black stain spreading upon each one. He could see the universe
expanding and that first slain galaxy moving further and further away. Looking
around, Adamarus could now see other black spheres…first thousands, then
millions… then they seemed endless. All of them doing the same thing…over and
over again. They formed an enormous devouring wall of darkness, and as the
hands of time swept forward, the wall crept across the cosmos, spreading
darkness and death.

Adamarus seemed to stagger back. He heard himself whisper,
“Why?”

An enormous gas giant came into view. At first the swollen
planet looked like a bubble that a pin prick could burst. For reasons unknown,
the planet seemed to draw all the black spheres towards it. There was a large
swirling red spot within the banded pastel clouds, and Adamarus realized that a
person stood in the center of it. In his dream, he floated down and stood there
beside the person. He tried to look over and see who it was, but his eyes were
drawn back towards the countless spheres coming at them. Just before the
leading sphere hit them, he turned away and closed his eyes.