Ever-Life the Two Book Set: The C.P.T Incident and Time Trust (54 page)

Jake rolled his eyes; and, with a smile said, “That’s all right, Dolly; tell him I was here, and I will be back. I see I am running a little late. Thank you so much; pleasure meeting you.”

Burns turned and quickly walked out, back to the school’s front door and around the side of the building. He slowly and carefully approached the shed. As he gripped the door knob, he turned his Knofer on, initiating its defense mode’s weapon system. Then, he entered; and just ten feet inside, a hallway veered to the righ
t. It was a stairwell, which led downward some 100 feet or more. He stepped cautiously; took out his Ever-Life standard air gun and pointed it straight ahead, into the dimly lit concrete tunnel. At the stair’s end, a ramp continued even further down. The light changed from purple to a red tint; and, as he continued walking, the lights went out behind him. Blackness seemed to force him forward. The sound of his footsteps was the only thing he heard, the further he went. After another two hundred feet or so, Burns came to a door. To the right and left above him, there were small tunnels extending into the walls. The normal eye would think the entire area was a sewage run off.

He tried opening the door, but it wouldn’t budge. There wasn’t even a sound of a lock clanking, as he pushed and pulled.

“Fine; now what?”

Jake turned around. There was no other possible way to go.

“Well I am not going back, so?” He put his Knofer on the floor. “Examine and display the door lock.”

The Knofer ticked. Within seconds it displayed a 3 ft holographic image of the lock mechanism.

“Can you disengage?”

Jake watched a red dot, in the hologram, move quickly all around the picture. He heard several more ticking sounds; and then, the hologram disappeared. He picked up the Knofer and turned the knob. The door opened.

“Voila; I love this technology.”

Jake walked into a large room, lighted in a bright almost bluish tint. He noticed, on the wall next to the door, an oval with three letters in it, T.T.I.;
Time Travel Inc.; this is it.

He looked to the right of him; and, about 50 ft away, there was another room that stepped downward, yet again.

“This place looks like a smaller version of Time Trust, but without the Carrier encyclopedia.”

Jake walked across the room and opened another door, without difficulty. What he saw shocked him. It looked like a morgue filled with bodies, laying on gurneys.

There has to be 200 in here.

Burns lifted the sheet covering one.

“Marion Brock?”

Then, he walked a few yards and lifted another; then another, and another.

“They’re all the same. Christ!”

He got a sick feeling, in the pit of his stomach.

“They are not dead.”

He looked around at the dark room and ceiling lights.

“This is where they are doing it.”

He noticed movement from the far side of the room, and walked toward a wall of glass cages. Each was a pristine environment, inside, almost surgical. The other three walls were, in fact, rectangular bars; and what was inside made Burns very uneasy.

“Bodies; writhing bodies.”

Within each cage, a clone of Marion Brock lay on his back, writhing, stretching, growning and growing fatter. Jake walked from cage to cage and finally stopped in disbelief. A duplicate body had grown up, out of the other, a clone from a clone, rising above itself, floating until identical twins faced each other.

Jake whispered to himself, “They didn’t learn this from us.”

“You are quite right,” A voice said, behind Burns. “We developed the technique, ourselves. It’s weightless in there, mimicking amniotic fluid.”

Jake turned around, startled and reached for his gun.

“No need for violence, here. I am Dr. Hamil Stevens. I won’t harm you.”

He extended his hand; and Burns shook it, apprehensively. They stood next to each other and watched the bodies detaching, as Stevens spoke, “Quite something; isn’t it?”

Burns took his hand off the gun and replied, “I have never seen anything like it. I had no idea technology like this existed.”

“I don’t mean to be impolite here; but, who are you, and how did you get in?”

“I am Jake Burns, Chief Inspector, of the Arden City Police.”

He showed Stevens his badge and continued questioning, “How long does the process take, anyway; how long does the one body suspend above the other, like that?”

“The growing process is two days. Separation takes about an hour. When it’s complete, the top one falls onto the bottom one. The collapse is what starts them breathing; much like a baby is stimulated to breathe in the final stages of labor.”

Just as Stevens said it, the top one fell. They both jerked, involuntarily, and took breaths. Then the bottom clone pushed the top one off.

“There; see; perfect…”

“What if the fall doesn’t start the breathing?’

“Well, then; we don’t have life, now do we?”

“So you discard them, if there is no reaction from the fall?”

Not really; a buzzer sounds in another room and technicians come in, to try and revive each one. But frankly, that’s rare. Anyway, we have plenty more, as you can see.”

“So, how do you dispose of the bodies, if they don’t come around?”

“Follow me, Mr. Burns; while I’d love to share all our secrets, you are not supposed to be here.”

“Actually, I got this address from your old company. Oscar Randall gave it to me. He said some very complimentary things about you, and your ‘time discoveries’.”

“Oh, are you interested in time travel?”

“Yes, very.”

“Are you here, because of clones, or time?”

“Both, really; I am a detective investigating Mr. Marion Brock.”

“Marion; oh my, he is eccentric; I’ll give you that; but, hardly worth a detective’s investigation. As a matter of fact, he’s due here. I have to run some medical tests on him. We think he was affected by a ‘time test’ we ran yesterday.”

“Exactly how long have you been cooped here?”

“This place is self sufficient. I really don’t leave, unless I have to. Recent experiments require my complete attention. Here we are.”

They had walked about fifty yards, out of the one room, down the hall into another.

“Policy says I keep this door locked; come in.”

“But policy says you can let a stranger in, just because he shows a badge?”

Stevens chuckled, “Not quite; you see, the sensors during our walk here, rendered all of your communications and any weapons, ineffective. You are quite harmless, unless you wish a physical confrontation.”

They walked into a very high tech room, reminding Burns of one of the Time Trust labs.

“Impressive, what is all this?’

“Without giving away every secret, I can tell you it’s a time travel laboratory. The chamber is to the left, around there.”

Burns did a cursory look and asked, “So how does it work, really?”

“There is no way I can explain it, so you will understand, completely.”

“I think I can safely say I’m qualified to hear your spiel.”

“I would be of no use, if I told all; now would I? But, the short version goes something like this. You ‘stand’ in the chamber, and sensors calculate the number of sub particles, which make up your body.”

“So, they don’t count cells or molecules, they count particles?”

“Right, actually sub particles.”

“That’s a lot of stuff; there are trillions of cells alone, in the human body.”

“Yes, unimaginable numbers, hence the need for accuracy; so the equipment is highly sensitive, very difficult to build, and expensive.”

“Hence the need for you, Dr. Stevens…,” Burns smiled.

“I like to think so.”

“And; I take it, one is naked in there?”

“Everything is sterile, and yes. Anyway, once we have an accurate calculation, I set this equipment, over here, to evaluate the user and the destination.”

“What does that mean?”

“There has to be ‘compatibility’ genetically, in order to displace the sub particle mix, and be able to travel on the time road, to whenever.”

“Interesting word, compatibility; and if the genetic mix isn’t there?”

“No event; the triggering of the travel could result in something different, than expected.”

“Like what?”

“The fail safe kicks in, and it aborts the effort. The trip doesn’t happen. Look, this is a communication device; Marion gave it to me. It had our first test patient’s information in it.”

Stevens showed Jake a Knofer. Jake took it and asked, “What is it, a phone?”

“Not at all; Marion calls it his new V.A.D. - Video, Audio Device. I was able to input our test case’s data from it; and, I programmed the chamber, but something else triggered. The chamber started on its own. Something else must have occurred. The chamber just shut down. All activity ceased. We can’t get the chamber to operate, now.”

“What was your power source?”

“Interesting you ask. Marion controls one, himself; and, I have discovered something brand new; a combination of electrical power from a latitudinal network; brand new to us. I followed particle charges, to Pyramids, believe it or not. I have a focused recovery monitor and discharge control over here. The combination of Marion’s inputs with my new Pyramid charges, have made the difference in capacity… However; even though we have no proof, all the monitors there, recorded an event take place; several, as a matter of fact. Look here. I have never seen anything like it. And here, I can only call this one an ‘anomaly’; some sort of time distortion.

“Wait a minute. How can someone travel in time, that didn’t show up, in that booth? Doesn’t the traveler have to be where this equipment is?”

“Yes, certainly; I always thought so too; but, as it turns out; now, I’m not sure. It’s very interesting, although unexplainable at the moment. You see, just before I came here, at O.P.A.S. we made a very new discovery. We always knew sub particles could be in two places at the same time. We needed to figure out how to read the construct record of the subject and determine how to transmit. Once at a destination-a different time, a reverse reconstruction could take place, especially using our knowledge of cloning.”

“How?’

“At one end, is the construct, the subject to travel. We send the construct information, like electricity, through a sort of wire; and, then, we re-grow the sub particles, just like the clones you just saw. You’ve seen science fiction movies, right?”

Jake smiled. “Yes, it sounds simple enough; but, what wire does the signal go through.”

“Long ago scientists discovered the wire, so to speak. They called it the Sidron. All sub particles of everything travel on it. We just had to find out how to connect to it; plug into it.”

“And, how did you do that?”

“Well, I discovered a few things at O.P.A.S. and they lead us to an ‘almost there scenario’. Then, the bottom dropped out. Things happened relatively quickly. The company needed more money, and new direction. They got Oscar Randall, and voila; I got a better offer. Here I am.”

“So, you finished the experiments?”

“Not quite. Marion partnered with a very smart doctor, who found several new aspects, to duplicating the construct. He discovered that man’s memory or personality coagulates, in one place, after death. He called it C.P.T., Chemical Personality Transfer. That was quite a bump in the road for us; a slow down, at any rate.”

“Why?”

“If we could pin down its location and measure it properly, we could reconstruct a person’s memory, and guarantee the same person is reconstructed at the destination. If we do that, all travel would be revolutionized, along with medical science, and healthcare.”

Jake found a lab chair and sat down, listening in disbelief.

“So, what happened?”

“Well, we needed the formula for C.P.T. Marion guaranteed me he could get it. After all, he was partners with the doctor. He was part owner of the medical complex, where they kept the formula. He said he would get it, personally. Unfortunately, the man, who we picked as our first subject, got arrested for murder, and the formula disappeared. We input all the information we could, regarding the subject’s construct, to see if we could run the first test, but it failed. We didn’t even have a reading in the equipment. That is when Marion brought me this.”

Stevens opened a drawer and handed Jake a spinal bound copy of a treatise.

Jake read the first page, “Particle Displacement, use of the Sidron, by Dr. Jack Avuar Sheldon…Holy crap,” Jake said.

“It’s very thorough, but incomplete.”

“There are pages missing? I don’t understand. Mr. Stevens, you know there was a Sidron event, right?”

“Actually I needed the rest of the pages of that, to calculate and answer that question. After all, I am a scientist.”

“So Marion Brock stole the papers, but didn’t get the last pages?”

“Stole? My good man, no. He partnered with a research specialist, to bring life back from death.”

Stevens walked across the room and picked up a bound notebook that had several tabs separating the thesis.

“Here, look.”

Jake took the booklet and read the tabs, “C.P.T.; yes, I know that one”

Then, he flipped to the next tab that read ‘Particle Displacement-Time Travel’.

“Look at the last page, Mr. Burns.”

Jake opened to it and read, “Do not use electrical energy, use the……There is nothing after that.”

“Look at the title page.”

Jake flipped back to the front and read it.

“Property in Partnership

As developed by

Dr. Jack Avuar Sheldon & Financed by Mr. Marion Brock, Brock Companies Worldwide.

Jake’s jaw dropped.

“There are two signatures here; Dr. Jack Sheldon, and Marion Brock.”

“I know, and they are originals, not copies. But the last pages are missing. Dr. Sheldon owes us those pages.”

“My God!”

Jake got weak in the knees and sat down on the step of Time Travel Chamber.

“I don’t believe it. It can’t be true. You’re good Mr. Stevens, you are very good.”

Stevens approached Burns and looked Jake straight in the eyes.

“I don’t particularly care if you believe me, or not; but, it is true. What do you think; I knew you were coming, or in case some stranger broke in here, I’d keep a copy of that, to convince you it was true. Come on, Detective; I am not that clever, when it comes to this. All I want is to do is finish my job. I was sure the last pages would solve the puzzle, that’s all.”

“You must know that your testing has caused havoc within the Sidron, and in time.”

“I think Mr. Brock may be linked to it somehow, I don’t know how, though. Thank God I have another chamber. I talked to Mr. Brock. He said he was bringing a much more reliable source of energy. He is due anytime. Actually I thought you were him. He said it’s guaranteed to power the test.”

**********

Meanwhile, miles below Earth
, as Allenfar swam toward the Northwest Territory from Time Trust in Giza, GGM Mathew Bellos studied his Knofer, along with the recordings sent to him by Abby Johnson and Jake Burns.

“Allenfar, I need to speak with Tyree Master.”

Chapter 25

Jack in Rio

              Jack Sheldon and Abby Johnson sat in the Ever-Life jet on a private airfield, just north of the great Christ statue, which was on Corcodova Mountain, in Rio de Janeiro. Only the front of the statue remained, since the terrorist wars ended. It became a reminder to the world of what happened there. The Portuguese were instrumental in changing the tide of the bombings. As a result, the Brock companies invested heartily in the people of Rio.

Jack’s phone rang and he jerked back at the sound. He reached in his pocket, and Abby grabbed his arm.

“Jack, before you answer, remember, keep your head.”

“Are we set?”

“Yes; we are.”

             
Jack lifted the phone to his ear and started walking down the outside stairs of the plane.

“Hello.”

“Hello, Dr. Sheldon.”

“Yes.”

“Do you have what we asked for?”

“Where is my wife?”

“Do you see a car coming toward you?”

“Yes, I see it.”

The phone went dead, as a brown inconspicuous four door sedan drove up and stopped, at the bottom of the plane’s staircase. A large ugly man, with what looked like one eye brow across his forehead, got out of the front door passenger side, and opened the rear door for Jack. The doctor stared at the man, as if he’d never seen anyone like him; and then, Jack got in the back seat. Sitting next to him was a small figure of a man.

“Hello Doctor; my name is Rash InVoy.”

He extended his hand; but, Jack wasn’t playing politely.

“I have heard of you. You are Marion Brock’s henchman.”

InVoy smiled. “Actually I am his Chief of Staff. I see you want to get right to it. Fine; did you bring the last pages?”

“Chief of Staff, hah; you people think he’s President of some country.”

“Perhaps even many countries; did you bring the papers, or not?”

Jack was obviously angry and had to keep from striking out.

“Here’s how this is going to work. The pages you want are on a chip, which is directly linked to my brain, through this phone. If you don’t give me my wife, or if you harm either one of us, in anyway, the information will self destruct. My phone is tied to my retinal print, my finger print and a password”

“Hmm, interesting threat; all I want are the pages; the right pages. We have methods of checking their accuracy. I’ll take you to your wife; and, you will give me the pages. If they verify, you may leave. If the information is, in anyway, false; you both die.”

InVoy smiled, turned his head and looked out the window, as the car sped off.

Back in the plane, Abby Johnson tracked Jack on her Knofer. It recorded and replayed the conversation between Jack and InVoy. Immediately, after listening to it, she sent the conversation to Jake Burns and to the GGM. Then, she deployed two Carriers, to follow the GPS signals, and to be available at the closest sub-station, which was directly under Corcodova Mountain. Abby set her Knofer to defense protocol. She deplaned and followed the signal, herself, in a car provided by a Rio, Ever-Life contact. She was less than a mile behind Jack.

During their drive, InVoy tried to provoke his prize package.

“Did you know, Doctor, that this was once a great sea port, as well as quite a playground, for those who could afford it?”

“Talk to me when you give me my wife.”

“I see no reason to be uncivilized, or impolite. We will both leave here, with what we want; if you keep your end of the bargain. Perhaps you two may even decide to stay and see the historical sites.”

“I doubt it.”

“Rio de Janeiro-Marvelous City; home of Carnival; you must have heard of it; read about it. All the unimaginable costumes, ladies running in the streets, sex everywhere, hah; what a life…Unfortunately, also great cover for the terrorists.”