The Infinite Evolution - Conversion (47 page)

Without argument all, three
entered their respective vehicles and drove off, while avoiding the
hole to the best of their abilities.

Once Karl established the
requested distance from Oliver and Melissa’s position he matched
their speed and kept in constant communication in case anything
appeared to be out of place. They were making very good time until
something extraordinary happened. Time itself started to slow down
at an incredible rate, until they and everything around them came
to a screeching halt. Nothing organic or inorganic moved. Even the
clouds themselves seemed to have stopped in mid-air as if they were
in a movie and someone had pressed the pause button. This was not
just unique to that particular location in Australia, or the
southern hemisphere, but to the entire planet Earth and the solar
system in which it resided. Time itself had been
suspended.

Time Matters

Prime 2’s voice bellowed through
the main chamber, “Stand by for emergency arrival of council
members.” As soon as Prime 2 spoke, streams of light came from the
chairs the council members resided in during sessions. Zaccai
arrived first, Kyria second, Elymas third, Willow fourth, Uzziah
fifth, Oshea sixth, Izri seventh, Mileva eighth, Abner ninth, and
Melchior last. All the members at first appeared disheveled, except
for Zaccai, but they quickly regained their bearings and prepared
for this emergency session.

Zaccai stood up, “We will set
aside our usual meeting format due to the severity of current
events, and therefore the Admin has been disengaged. Prime 2 you
will record and transmit this meeting live to all
Tureissians
.

“
Acknowledge,” replied Prime 2.

Zaccai continued,
“
The Ark
is currently in a state of lock down. No one will be
allowed to enter or leave.”

There was murmur from the
audience, but this was quickly squashed as Zaccai moved on with the
address in a commanding presence.

“
People of Tureis you may notice
certain council members are missing - Shiphra, Quartus, and
Corinth. I am saddened to say these members are now
deceased.”

There was complete silence in the
chambers. Everyone in
The
Ark
stood and stared at Zaccai in
astonishment, as if a close family member had just passed
on.

“
I cannot and will not go into detail about
their deaths, but I can say with certainty they did not take their
own lives.”

Melchior stood up and demanded an
explanation. “We as council members have the right to know how they
died. The fact that you called a public meeting on this matter
without consulting us first is outrageous to say the least! Who are
you to…”

Before Melchior could finish his sentence, he was
forcibly pulled back to his chair by an invisible force and a tan
energy field formed around him, making it so no one could hear what
he had to say.

Zaccai looked down toward Melchior and reminded him
that this gathering will have order and council members will only
speak when allowed.

“
Now, I will continue. In
an attempt to preserve our way of life I also have initiated an act
that many may disagree with, but I assure you, I did this out of
concern for all
Tureissians.”

Again, silence fell on everyone including
Melchior.

“
I have ordered a solar freeze on
the solar system that encompasses Earth. Before I field any
questions from the council let me explain my reason. A faction has
loaded a very dangerous virus into a certain Earthling. If this
Earthling encounters other Earthlings, we could indeed have a
global epidemic on Earth, which in turn would directly affect all
citizens of this fine planet. I am aware of many sympathizers on
both ends of the spectrum, but I am not willing to jeopardize our
way of life because of their disagreements. I chose to address this
planet as a whole because of the severity of the event and I will
need everyone to assist in finding this Earth humanoid. As many of
you know, a solar freeze does have a time limit and if surpassed,
we could lose the entire Earth population. We cannot afford to have
this happen.”

Zaccai ordered Prime 2 to post an
up to date image of this humanoid and its identification number of
EC6L163O7074.

“
This earthling goes by the humanoid
designation of Spencer Cade.”

Jade was listening to Zaccai
via
The Ark
’s internal addressing system as she continued to be drawn
to the stone. As soon as she heard her father’s name she stopped
dead in her tracks and sat on the floor in order to give her full
attention to what Zaccai had to say.

Zaccai continued, but with a
milder tone as before, “It saddens me to say this Earthling was
only a vessel. The individuals who provided the malicious virus
were undoubtedly Tureissians.”

Gasps filled the air and the chatter started to
spread until Zaccai, with the assistance of Prime 2, ordered
silence.

“
My good people, I am sorry
to inform you of this news, but it is the truth. I have
placed
The Ark
in a state of lock down as we have detected a
device and a humanoid within, which may or may not be dangerous. I
did not have to bring this information public, but I felt you all
had the right to know of any impending dangers. We cannot know for
certain what will happen, so we need to act fast. The only way we
can do this is to temporarily grant me the authority to invoke
measures without council approval. Under article 57B of the
Intellect Security Doctrine the Tureissians can grant me this
authority by majority vote. This will only be a temporary measure
until the problem is resolved. I ask all of you to please consider
what I am asking and make your decision as quickly as possible
because time matters. We need someone to make decisions without
bias. I believe personal interests of certain members of this
council have been tainted. I ask all Tureissians to order their
council members to allow a public review of their matrixes. You may
be asking yourselves, will I do the same? The answer is I already
have. Before this meeting Prime 2 created an image of my matrix and
loaded it to the grid, excluding certain security information that
I am not allowed to divulge under Tureissian law, everything about
my character and intent is available. If you review my matrix you
will learn of my devotion to this civilization and how I only want
the best for all Tureissians.”

As Zaccai continued, Melchior
looked over at Oshea and shook his head ‘no,’ and Izri looked over
at Mileva and mimicked the same gesture.

Prime 2 started to project a
holographic digital read out on how many Tureissians were
processing Zaccai’s now publicized matrix. This was not unheard of
for council member nominees to open up their program in order to
reveal their true intentions before elections, but it was certainly
unheard of for an elected council member to do so. Within minutes,
questions flooded into Prime 2 at an astonishing rate and they were
answered just as fast. Zaccai, with the assistance of Prime 2, had
programmed responses to the predicted questions they felt were
going to be asked. Prime 2 fielded the remaining questions to the
best of its ability and if Prime 2 could not answer them, they were
prioritized to be answered later by Zaccai.

Approximately thirty minutes had passed until a
population count showed in favor of Zaccai’s proposal. Once these
numbers were confirmed Zaccai was appointed the ability and power
to make any decisions without obtaining approval from the
council.

“
My fellow Tureissians you
have made the right choice. I hope this matter will come to a
resolution as quickly as possible. My first act of business will
revoke any authority the present council has. They will be free to
leave this chamber, but not
The Ark
. Once we have determined
each council member is truly pure in their intent, they will then
be re-instated. If they choose to do a public review of their
program, these matters will go much faster. I cannot force them to
comply with such a request, so I will now give them the opportunity
to volunteer.” Zaccai released the restraints on Melchior in order
for him to reply. “Do any of the council members wish to allow the
public to review their matrix?”

Not one council member came forward.

“
So be it, this gathering
is adjourned. Occupants of this facility will be confined to
The Ark
until we have located the human and the
device.

Prime 2 instructed Izri to follow
Zaccai, as Melchior stood up in anger, and left the chamber
immediately with Oshea right behind.
Mileva looked over at Abner, told him she needed to take a
short leave, and instructed him to stay here until her
return.
The rest of the council members
stayed behind and argued.

Mileva streamed to her reflection
room in order to retrieve the stone. Upon arrival, her DNA was
validated with the
metallic case,
and was given access. After removing it, she
placed the stone on her chest, and felt a direct connection to
Jade. Mileva was trying to interpret these thoughts and feelings
she was experiencing, but was unsuccessful. The only thing Mileva
knew was she needed to place this stone in a place where diversity
grew, and she knew just the spot.

Once Jade finished listening to
Zaccai’s speech, she was even more motivated to find closure and,
most importantly, her father. Jade felt she had been navigating the
hallways of
The Ark
for days even though it had only been a few
hours. She understood she was transparent, but she still wondered
why it had been so easy for her to get as far as she did. One thing
that was absolute was her attraction to the unknown source. It had
become stronger, and her obsession for it grew at an exponential
rate. It was as if someone had placed her on autopilot. The
corridor she was walking down seemed to be getting longer and
narrower as the ceilings were now measuring up to five hundred feet
in height. The walls around her were smooth and silver, with small
specks of light emitting randomly. It almost appeared as if there
were thousands of little beady eyes following her every movement.
This disturbed Jade, but that irresistible pull of attraction kept
her on track until she came to a stop.

She looked to her right and
noticed an entranceway that led into what appeared to be a small
garden area. This certainly intrigued her senses, so she entered
the new space with excitement. The flora was much different from
what she was used to seeing on Earth. It was as if these plants
were dipped in a bath of neon colors. The dull silvery floor Jade
was walking on had now blended into a cobblestone path containing a
variety of twists and turns. As she tried to keep focus on her
search, she became easily distracted with the multitude of plant
life, until it happened. Jade saw a beautiful array of flowers,
even more so than the ones she was so enthralled with when she
entered this fantastic arboretum. The name
Shadingblooms entered her mind, and she was drawn to these
flowers like a bee to honey.

Jade started digging near the
base and to her surprise found a stone with the exact same markings
as Serafina’s tattoo. Once she pulled the stone from its dirt bed,
the center star lit up. Jade knew with the utmost certainty that
she had discovered what she was so eagerly looking for.

Zaccai ordered Izri to sit in one
of the two crescent chairs, which furnished the reflection room,
and he complied without saying a word. Zaccai went over to a
console display built directly into his desk and tapped it twice.
The 360-degree view of Tureis was covered by black tint, stopping
all light from entering or leaving Zaccai’s reflection room and
thus blocking the miraculous view. Zaccai walked over to a second
console display built into a nearby structural beam and tapped it
once. At that moment, the large infinity symbol suspended in
Zaccai’s reflection room discontinued its mobility. Izri was
flabbergasted. This was the first time in his lengthy life he had
ever seen their prized symbol come to a lull.

“
Do you know why I did this Izri?” asked
Zaccai.

Izri answered with a simple, “No.”

“
As a symbolic gesture to our
evolution.”

“
I do not understand.”

“
This symbol of the horizontal
figure eight represents infinity. Our goal as a humanoid species is
to continuously evolve, but at what cost I ask? Your faction, the
Floaters, feel strongly about evolution, this I respect. You try
your best to assist humanoids from other planets in maintaining
their self worth and you even use members of these planets who are,
how do I say, ah, yes, outcasts, as mules to move your ideals. This
I find disturbing. You also realize perfection is only an idea not
something which is attainable. Once again, something I admire.
Therefore, we all must except that our humanoid species is yet at
another crossroads in our existence. Because of this the infinite
evolution of our being is on hold until we, as a society, decide
which road to travel.”

“
I am sorry, Zaccai, I do not fully
understand. You knew about our movement and yet you chose to allow
it to continue?”