The Infinite Evolution - Conversion (46 page)

“
You can’t leave me! What am I supposed to
do?” asked Jade.

“
I have no choice. If I do not go
I will be forcibly transported,” advised Izri.

“
What if someone sees me?”

“
No need to worry, once you place those
glasses on you will become transparent.”

“
You mean invisible,” asked Jade with
excitement.

“
No, transparent. Your genetic
make up and clothing will mimic its background, so you need to stay
still if someone is nearby.”

“
Why, what would happen if I
moved?”

“
The person near you would see a
distortion of some sort. You should not encounter many people
because everyone will be in the main chamber. I will be in
communication with you at all times. If you come to a secure area,
I will make sure you will be able to get through. Whatever you do,
do not trust anyone. I do not care who they say they
are.”

“
Ok, but what about Reece?”

“
Do not worry about him, he will be with me.
Now go.”

Jade placed the glasses on and as
Izri predicted, she saw a greenish holographic line on the floor
that directed her where she wanted to go. When she looked back up,
she saw Izri and Reece moving down the hall towards the main
chamber. At first Jade stood there in disbelief, but soon felt that
great irresistible urge to move forward as if she was a magnet
drawn to her polar opposite.

There was little discussion on
the PAV. Spencer spent most of his time sleeping or at least tried
to. Oliver continued to interrogate Serafina, Melissa reviewed the
operational plan, and Karl immersed himself in a virtual reality
simulator. Serafina answered every question Oliver asked and never
became annoyed, regardless of how many times Oliver repeated
himself. Serafina knew quite well she did not have the luxury to
show any discontent. As the PAV approached Australia, it started to
automatically go through a landing checklist. During this time,
Karl was supposed to be confirming the PAV’s data, but felt the
on-board AI had a much better grasp on how to fly a plane than he
did. A computerized voice came over the intercom system, “Please
prepare for landing.” Everyone continued their activities as if
nothing was ever said. They already knew the procedures, except for
Spencer who was fast asleep. As the PAV flew closer to Broome, the
airport’s ground control automated navigation system took control
and guided them in beautifully. Once the PAV was near its landing
pad, it made a vertical landing onto its designated
spot.

Oliver finished with his
interrogation and instructed Serafina to double-check the
diplomatic security tags on the crate. The last thing they needed
was to be detained at customs. Luckily for the team, Oliver had
contacts within the North American embassy and they were able to
give his crew immunity from any searches. Even though their primary
cover was for humanitarian reasons, this would not have given them
the full protection needed.

As Spencer awoke from his
slumber, he found himself a little confused on his whereabouts, but
quickly regained his composure when Oliver came over, slapped him
on the back of his head, and assigned him his tasks. Karl wiped any
sensitive data from the airplane including the flight path they
took. Melissa was already on the tarmac dealing with the
authorities and making sure their transition from the PAV to
Australia was flawless. Two United Nation transport vehicles, one
for the passengers and one for the crate, were pulling up to the
PAV in order to relieve it of its cargo.

Once the PAV was empty, Karl
secured the exterior and placed a UN seal on the entrance. While
Melissa finished up with the authorities, Karl made sure both
transport vehicles were going to transmit false location back to
the Australian government. One thing diplomatic immunity did not
give them was the ability to keep their current whereabouts a
secret. Anyone with the know how could also track them through
their counterfeit digital passports, which were luckily taken care
of earlier with a little bit of Oliver’s ingenuity, by finding the
right people to bribe. The drivers of the United Nations’ vehicles
were asked to step out and find other means of transportation.
Oliver and Melissa drove the vehicle carrying the crate. Karl,
Spencer, and Serafina took the second vehicle designated for
passengers. Due to the team’s credentials, the immigration
officials could do nothing. They were used to seeing diplomatic
representatives throw their weight around as if they were the most
important people on the planet. Once everyone was settled in their
respective vehicles, they departed as quickly as they
arrived.

The way Oliver and Karl were driving one would have
thought they were heading to a five-alarm fire. They knew they had
approximately a twenty-four hour drive ahead of them and a lot of
road to cover in that amount of time. Initially they were going to
fly into a smaller airport closer to Darwin, but all United Nation
flights must fly into a major hub and Broome was the closest. There
was no chance of them flying into Darwin’s airport due to the no
fly zone that was enacted because of the quarantine, even certain
military flights were suspended. Spencer certainly did not mind the
long drive, between the jet lag and all the new medical data he had
downloaded recently, this gave him even more time to relax and
process the new information. Oliver continued to field questions
towards Serafina via the radio transmitters and she continued
answering them as politely as possible.

“
We will need to stop and refuel.
These vehicles are certainly not as fuel efficient as the ones back
home,” radioed Karl.

“
Not a problem, there’s a
charging station in approximately one hundred miles. We should be
there in about an hour at this speed,” replied Oliver.

“
Copy that,” replied Karl.

Besides the stops for refueling the drive was
straight through until the last few hours when Melissa yelled out,
“Stop!”

Instantly Karl and Oliver applied their breaks and
positioned the vehicles in the break down lane. Everyone except for
Spencer exited their vehicles and gathered around Melissa.

“
What is the matter?” asked
Oliver.

“
There’s some type of blockage
point two miles ahead. I’m unsure if it’s a roadblock. I’m also
picking up five human signatures, but I’m unable to confirm if they
have any weapons. For some unknown reason the detection sweep seems
to be giving me limited information,” reported Melissa.

“
Well we must have faulty equipment. Karl I
want you to hoof it until you get a visual, then report back, and
make sure you don’t get detected,” ordered Oliver.

“
Yes sir,” Karl said as he took off on foot
while staying somewhat concealed.

“
What do you think it is?” asked
Serafina.

“
I don’t know maybe you could
tell us,” said Melissa, who already started to implicate Serafina
in her own mind.

“
Where is Spencer?” demanded
Oliver.

“
Sleeping,” replied Serafina.

“
Go wake him up. How in the world
is he sleeping through this?” yelled Oliver.

“
Yes sir,” said Melissa as she ran over to the
vehicle Spencer was riding in.

“
He’s not here,” screamed Melissa.

“
What!” yelled Oliver.

“
Spencer, he’s gone, he’s not in the
car.”

“
Is he in the truck?” asked
Serafina.

“
No, I told you he has gone
missing. He is nowhere to be found!”

Oliver turned to Serafina and said, “I’m only going
ask this once, where is Spencer?”

“
I swear to you I have no idea.
You have to believe me,” pleaded Serafina.

“
I don’t have to believe anything you say.
Melissa did you conduct a bio scan for Spencer?”

“
Yes, and I’m not seeing anything additional
within a ten mile radius.”

“
That means whoever took him didn’t use
conventional means. We have a leak,” advised Oliver as he looked at
Serafina.

“
I am telling you I had nothing to do with
Spencer going missing.”

As Serafina tried to plead her
case, Karl came over the radio screaming. “Oliver I can’t believe
what I’m seeing, Oliver can you hear me?”

“
Yes, and so can half of Australia, now calm
down and report.”

“
There’s a hole over here with a
radius of at least one hundred feet with pillars of greenish black
smoke coming out of it.”

“
Does it look like a natural phenomenon?”
asked Oliver.

“
No, the hole is too perfect, it was certainly
created by something or someone.”

“
Are there any signs of life in the area?
Specifically humanoid,” asked Oliver.

“
No nothing.”

Oliver looked over at Serafina and shook his
head.

“
What is it?” inquired Serafina.

“
I don’t know, it sounds like
some type of subterranean device,” replied Oliver as he clicked the
radio transmitter and advised, “Hold your position we will be there
momentarily.”

“
Will do,” replied Karl.

Oliver looked over to Melissa and asked, “Are you
still picking up humanoid life?”

“
No, it disappeared right before you started
talking to Karl. It’s as if they vanished too.”

“
Let’s move,” ordered Oliver as he pushed
aside Serafina.

“
What about Spencer?” asked
Serafina.

“
What about him? We don’t know what happened
to him. Maybe this unexplained hole can shed some light. Let’s
go.”

Oliver coaxed Melissa into
driving the second vehicle while he ordered Serafina to board the
truck with him. They continued down the road at a much slower speed
than earlier. As they approached Karl’s location they started to
see the smoke he had reported, but not at the volume he had
described earlier. Oliver and Melissa parked their vehicles
approximately two hundred feet or so from the hole, before
advancing any further into this unknown phenomenon, and Oliver
ordered Serafina to stay in the vehicle. She was not pleased by
this, but was smart enough to obey the order without argument.
Oliver secured the vehicle, making sure Serafina was unable to exit
by placing magnetic seals on the exterior doors. Oliver and Melissa
proceeded to approach the hole with caution as Oliver relayed back
to Karl and advised him to keep his attention on the cargo and
Serafina.

“
Do you have a probe we can send down?” asked
Oliver.

“
I’m afraid not,” replied Melissa.

Karl purposely kept a safe
distance from his team’s location, just in case something went
wrong.

As Oliver approached the unexplained event, he threw
a rock down the hole in hopes to hear its impact, but heard
nothing.

“
Do you think this has anything to do with
Spencer disappearing?” asked Melissa.

“
I have no idea, but I hope this event has
nothing to do with our mission.”

“
So now what?” asked Melissa.

“
For now, just take the necessary readings,
document what you can, and let’s get out of here.”

As Oliver completed his last sentence, Karl came
over the radio, “Sir, Serafina is gone!”

Oliver turned around and headed back to the vehicles
with Melissa right behind him.

“
What happened?” asked Oliver who now was
beyond furious.

“
I don’t know. I was watching the
vehicles, saw Serafina sitting in front and then she
disappeared.”

“
Disappeared? Can you be a little bit more
specific?”

“
Sorry, sir, I can’t. I don’t
know what happened,” advised Karl.

“
Get down here now!” yelled
Oliver over the radio with a tone that would have frightened even
the most stern of individuals.

As they approached, Oliver
noticed the magnetic seals he placed on the doors were still
intact. After he removed them, Melissa opened the driver’s side and
he opened the passenger’s side and found nothing. There was no one
in the vehicle. it was as if Serafina evaporated into thin
air.

Once Karl met up with Oliver, he was practically
bent over trying to catch his breath. Oliver gave him the third
degree and Karl was still unable to give him any more information
than what he relayed via the radio.

“
The only type of technology I know of which
can dematerialize someone is streaming technology,” said
Oliver.

“
Is there such technology on Earth?” asked
Melissa.

“
I don’t know. What I do know is we have to
complete our mission and when this is all over it is time for me to
retire,” said Oliver with an exhausted look.

“
What do we do now, sir?” asked
Karl.

“
We get the heck out of here and
go to our rendezvous point. This must have been an
ambush.”

“
What about Spencer and Serafina?” asked
Melissa.

“
There’s nothing we can do, we
don’t have the time. As for now, we need to get to our destination.
Karl you drive the car, stay at least a half a mile ahead of us,
and call in anything that may be unusual. I’m transporting the
crate, Melissa you’re with me.”