Chapter 7
That evening as she sleeps and silently weeps at their lost, what is required from Mary becomes much clearer as does the fact that time is running out. The task in front of her, as important as it is, is unimaginable and she has no idea how to accomplish what she is required to do. The weather is starting to get cooler, the time is nearing, and the land is so vast.
The next day, having no better idea of how to accomplish what is required of her she finds herself walking and searching the streets of the city. All day she searches and come five that evening Mary is very disappointed and overwhelm. Her disappointment stems from the fact that she has been walking among the humans all day but has not found one worthy of marking. True, walking is not the most viable method for her to use to fulfill her needs but even so, after passing hundreds, maybe thousands of humans she should have found at least one, and this is where overwhelming takes over. How is she to do what she needs to do in so little time over such a vast amount of land?
Having made no progress Mary makes her way back to the room she calls home. Arriving and having no better idea of what to do next habit takes over. She turns on the television then sits on the sofa to contemplate her task.
She is deep in thought about what it is she is supposed to do and how to do it when the current news topic catches her attention. The newsman seems to be located in the country they call Mexico and he is talking about an up and coming leader’s summit. It seems that the reporter does not believe what the leaders have told him the agenda for the summit is and the reporter goes on in length to explain why. The picture changes to show the same newsman interviewing the President of Mexico and asking direct questions about the purpose of this year’s summit. The President gives what are obviously scripted replies to the questions and Mary becomes suddenly aware.
They are up to something and they are keeping it to themselves. It is something that he knows the population will not like and he is scared, almost in a panic that it will get out. They have a plan for absolute control, a plan that will allow them to easily give them the ability to…Oh no…
The camera pans to the right and that is when the flaring of the brightness hits Mary. The boy can be no more than ten and his spirit burns bright and pure. The wheels in her head finally start clicking into place. Mary suddenly feels stupid for after visiting the bright one in the hospital it should have all become clear that this is what she has been looking for.
So they do exist but this is impossible. How am I to travel the world looking for them? I do not have the time for this. I would have needed to start earth years ago.
Mary turns off the television and sits in the dark for a very long time. The human body starts to tired and not having resolved the issue she finally decides to give the human body the rest it craves.
That night’s sleep proves to be insightful. Once more, “he” calls and as is the case every time he calls, things become clearer.
You are more than you think; remember who you are, remember who I am. Time is short so you must act quickly. Everything we have worked for, everything we have dreamed of is in your hands.
If this task is so important, than why have you given it to me to do alone? I forgot how large this land is when you are stuck to its surface I cannot do this!
What makes you think you are stuck to its surface?
A long silence follows that statement. Of course, she is stuck to earth’s surface how could she not be. She is certain that the body her essence now occupies is not her usual form but she is just as sure that like any human body it has the same frailty, the same limitations.
How….
Come to me center of my essence. Follow my essence and come to me.
Something tingles; a memory of what she was….is….the realization that the only thing keeping her trapped in this body is she. Slowly, almost painfully she works with the body. She remembers that it is possible; she remembers that she has done it before but even still; it takes her most of the night to accomplish her goal.
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The task force has been Thompson’s life, or so it seemed. He started his career in the field and just recently, he was put in charge of the task force; recently being just over a year ago. There is only one person he has to answer to, that person being the head of the international court in Hague, a man commonly known as The Judge who is also his father, though that fact has been buried so deep that nobody will ever be able to discover the truth. From what The Judge has told him, the international court has the support of the world leaders regarding their task. Support or no means little to Thompson as long as no one gets in the way of what he has to do.
The initial job of the task force was to enforce calm and civility throughout the world using whatever means possible. They were a power unanswerable to any and nobody ever questioned whatever they determined to be the necessary course of action. Thompson himself was responsible for the death or more than one world leader, more than one wealthy individual, more than a thousand citizens and none of those deaths bothered him at all.
While he was still in the field, there was a change in their operation. At first, it was a subtle change but over the years that shift has become clearly defined. Their main task is no longer concerned with world stability and when he had initially questioned his then superior on this, his superior had boxed his ears, so to speak.
That said he is now the first in command, after The Judge, and as such he has received all the information that was previously held from him. When The Judge first told him he had gone through the expected gambit of emotions over the plan, shock, disbelief, anger, and finally acceptance. It was not the plan itself that set him of for he totally agrees with the plan. What set him off is that they put the dam chip inside him without his knowing. He cares little about the other billion that it was done to but it really pisses him off that it was done to him without his knowledge or acceptance.
His anger was short lived though for shortly after taking over the team he was put in charge of the program and those people report directly to him and him only. After that it was an easy matter to put the Zephyr protocol in place; nobody was ever going to control him….a knock on the open door disturbs his thoughts.
“What is it Sims?”
“We detected another pulse.” Sims enters the office as he replies.
“So, why are you bothering me about it? Go get it and take it to the hole.”
“It may not be that easy Sir.”
Thompson looks up sharply, “Spit it out Sims.”
“The boy is the son of the Mexican President.” Sims reply is somewhat subdue.
“I don’t give a dam whose boy or girl it is. Get the boy and have him in the hole by morning or I will have your balls. As for the President of Mexico, if he complains, kill him.”
“Sir!” Sims states shocked.
“You heard me. We have the ultimate say over this and no one, not a beggar or a president is permitted to hinder us, now get it done.”
“Yes Sir!” Sims continues to fidget.
“Well, why are you still here!” Thompson is about ready to blow.
“There is another report of a strange occurrence that may be of interest.” Sims replies quickly.
If there is one thing Thompson is tired of, it is strange occurrences. When the task force first began “the change”, their orders were to investigate strange occurrences. If after investigating it and for any reason they could not explain the occurrence as being totally of human origin or if otherwise unexplainable they were to take the individuals involved into custody and bring them to what they now call The Hole.
Thompson had made so many people disappear that first year that he is surprise there is still some room left in The Hole. Every conceivable incident was investigated; so many that it became quickly obvious that they did not have the manpower to perform in-depth investigation so his solution was simple; make them disappear and let those in The Hole figure it out.
Over time, the squad’s mandate c
hanged to watching for those who pulse and bringing these to the hole. To help him accomplish his task he has control of the most advanced satellites and technology ever designed. How many of those that “pulsed” he ordered to the hole he has long since forgotten, hundreds for sure. Most of them were young, well children actually; the next largest group being the very old and then a few of middle age.
That said, his original orders to investigate strange occurrences have never been rescinded and even though they no longer actively search for these strange occurrences they do crop up occasionally and these days these individuals simply end up dead.
“So where did it happen?”
“The U.S.”
“Get Farley on it then and quit bothering me.”
“Yes Sir.”
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Captain Farley, former navy seal, former NYPD and now a captain of nobody hears the phone ring. He is a little surprised for it has not rung for some time. When he was offered the job, he had six men under his command but when the new orders came in these were slowly stripped from his command and since then, checking or should he say disposing of the occasional weird thing he has had to do alone.
“Yes?”
“A sergeant Volk of NYPD fifth division took a statement from a nurse tonight. Find out about it and make him, and her, and the problem go away.”
“Yes Sir.” Farley replies and hangs up the phone.
Tomorrow is early enough. No need to waste a good drink and go out into the cold tonight when the same thing can be accomplished tomorrow.
Farley sits back and flicks through the channels as he takes another drink of his whiskey.
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In Mexico, an unimposing fellow is admitted into the Mexican President’s home.
“Sir I am…”
“I know who you are and what you represent. Why are you bothering me, if you have to take someone then do it and don’t bother me with the details.” the President answers.
“I thought I would give you the chance to say good-bye sir, I have come to take your son.”
“What! Get out of here.” The President is visible shaken.
“Sir, you yourself gave us the authority to…” the unimposing man tries again.
“I don’t give a dam what authority you think you may have. Those rules apply to others they sure as hell do not apply to my family and me. Now get out of here before I have you shot.”
The unimposing man bows to the President and leaves the home without incident.
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Twenty minutes later, twenty men dressed in black storm that same Mexican house. In the ensuing firefight, the president’s personal guards, his wife, as well as the President himself, are fatally shot and left to die. The boy is apprehended and within twenty minutes of their entrance into the house, a very frightened boy finds himself blindfolded, tied, and taken away by helicopter.
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Mary, still somewhat unstable in her new mode of transportation has been following the flare of the boy’s spirit most of the night. She has finally gotten close enough that she believes she will soon be upon the owner of this flare. Her arrival to the house coincides with its invasion and she watches helplessly as the men end the life of the home’s occupants, all except for the boy that is. Mary watches even more helplessly as they blindfold, tie him up, and haul the boy away in a helicopter.
She tries her best to keep up with the boy but this mode of transportation is too new to her. The distance becomes too far and even further still as the helicopter continues south. She continues to struggle after it for a time but finally and with regret, she admits defeat. Crestfallen at her failure she stops fighting her essence’s desire to return to the body. As she floats back, she curses her inability to physically interact in her current state, not to mention the current weakness she still feels with this mode of travel.
Much has come to her this evening. Not only does she know that she can travel this way but she also knows that it is her embedding with the human host that allows her to easily spot those that flare….easily spot….she gives a mental, much too human harrumph. Once a bright one is spotted, she can leave the body, fly to its location and mark the individual then return. In this way, she should be able to accomplish the task set out for her. She cannot interact with the other humans while in her spirit form but interaction was never the intent.
Spotting those who flare from their home far out in the universe would not have been an option as only those that flare most brightly are easily viewed from there and they are not nearly far enough along in the project that there are enough of these to start over with. So right now she needs to look for the brighter ones and it is these brighter ones that will create the next generation, hence the reason to come to the planet to get close enough to easily feel the bright ones.
“You can do better my pairing. You can, you must.”
“I dam well know it, I just need time!”
“Time is something you do not have much of.”
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They credit him, Dr. Zimmerman, with discovering the technology that finds those that “pulse” as they have started calling it; in reality, it was nothing more than a fluke. It was a day like any other and he was satisfying his morbid need to cut into flesh, into playing with living organs when it happened.
He had just cut the young girl from breastbone to stomach; her heart was beating, her stomach churning, her lungs moving. Such a lovely view….he had just used the laser to cut into the cavity to convince one lung to stop breathing. The careless nurse, who has since found a very painful and untimely death, allowed the gem of her necklace to drop into the cavity. The operating light hit that gem; the light was reflected off the mirror and back again just as the laser he was holding went off. The gem compressed both lights and this light rebounded and then hit the magnifying eyepiece he was wearing and viola, his first pulse.
The nurse had been his next experiment of course but that one fluky moment set something so grand in motion. Once the hole was filled with misfits that they tried to secret away from the world and as long as he was reporting progression with his ability to transplant any organ into any body without rejection or failure he was allowed to do whatever he wanted to those in “the hole”. Now the hole is filled with those that “pulse” and Dr. Zimmerman is sure that very soon they will have an answer to how to capture that pulse and how to use it to provide those determined “worthy” with extended life if not immortality; his being on the top of the list.
Of course only a few are privy to the true nature of “the hole” and Zimmerman likes it that way for having just those few impatient and demanding to know his progress is already a few too many.
Even now, late at night when all is quiet Zimmerman believes that even he would have overlooked the significance of the “pulse”, if that same kind of pulse had not already been discovered coming from the far reaches in the universe. Discovering that pulse in the universe and then discovering it in individuals had generated a lot to interest and talk, which has finally resolved into their belief that the pulse is the source of life; interchange an old feeble pulse for a young vibrant pulse and the old body is rejuvenated.
More than once The Judge has commented on Zimmerman’s happiness in “the hole” but his happiness is no secret to Zimmerman. Here he is left alone, he is supplied with new specimens on a regular basis, he can fulfill his lust to give others pain, his lust for the power over life and death. Here he is the ruling voice…..here he is a God and as a God he has found the power over life and death.
Not every one believes what Dr. Zimmerman believes. For the last year, speculation has been running wild over the “pulse” and more than once Zimmerman has been grateful for his quiet little home. Theories on the “pulse” range from it being man’s next metamorphous to it being nothing more than a freaky coincidence.
Dr. Zimmerman is happy to let those who believe such garbage their beliefs, he even encoura
ges it for his beliefs are far ranging from those and initial experiments with older subjects have generated some success. Finding the pulse has no longer become the problem as he now has the technology to do just that. No the problem is trapping the dam thing and then transferring it to a recipient.
His greatest success, if you may call it that, was when The Judge had demanded verification of his progress. Dr. Zimmerman was afraid of losing his playground and in his desperation to prove his belief he had manage to rip a portion of a young boy’s pulse and shock it inside an old woman. When the boy’s pulse hit the old woman, no one could deny seeing the old woman’s age regress. Sadly the pulse escaped, the woman died, as did the boy but the deaths were of no consequence. What was of consequence was the fact that he finally proved his theory and those with the power are now more willing to have him succeed and supply him the individuals for that success. The one downside of course being that he no longer kill his subjects as readily as he use to for when he does succeed he will need specimens to take the pulse from to give to the worthy.
Zimmerman is as eager as any of those waiting for results for he fully intends to be the first to receive a stable transfer and because of this he is diligent in his work. Every day is a new test, and every week a new experiment on his specimens in anticipation of being the first to capture godhood.
Of course he has discovered many problems with his program, one being the fact that not all those that undergo his testing live and the longer they have been in the hole the least likely they are to survive another testing. Therefore, when he is informed about new subjects arriving he is always sure to be the first to handle it.
The hole is just that; a hole that goes far into the ground. The cavern and the complex have grown over the years until now it is as large as fifty city blocks. Not even Zimmerman can say how many “guest” he has locked up and he does not care as long as fresh ones keep coming his way.
Only one thing has remained a constant with “the hole” and that is the method of entry and exit. That entry being the way Dr. Zimmerman is now looking and that way being up. Far above, he sees the platform slowly make its way to the bottom with his latest subject.
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When Mary wakes the next morning, her mind is much clearer than it has been since….well than it has been for the last six months. This morning she has clarity and purpose and best of all last night she may have discovered why she is not finding the bright ones. That said, knowing does little to comfort her or to resolve her problem for she has no idea where or why they are taking the bright ones, or what is happening to them once they get there. So once more, she wanders the streets of the city though this time with her increased clarity. She knows what she is looking for; she searches and probes more deeply than ever before.
It turns out to be a long and spectacularly unsuccessful day and tired of muscle and mind she finds a drop-in center that offers coffee and a warm place for the human body. Though she does not stop there so much for the coffee as for a warm place to sit and to contemplate her options.
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Captain Farley has just finished talking to Sergeant Volk and if the information imparted by the nurse is true, this may in fact be the first real ‘unexplained” he has ever had to deal with. That said, Farley has no real reason to doubt the nurse especially as the strange looking gem he holds in his hand seems to support her story and since she repeated the same story until her dying breath; Sergeant Volk’s turn will come later tonight.
The first order of business is to find this strange woman and to that end, Farley is making his way to the hospital to review their security footing. He has no doubts that he will find the woman by nightfall as it is a simple matter of finding her on the hospital feed and working backwards from there.
From personal experience, he knows that with all the cameras located around the city and with all the satellites scanning earth’s surface that it is impossible to get from one place to another without something recording your movement. The first time he tried to hide from “his boss” to go on a binge they found him within the hour. Once he learned how they found him, he begged for access to those resources and has used that same system a number of times to find the ones he is suppose to “make disappear”.
Farley enters the hospital and goes to the security center; a flash of his badge, which the security guard most likely didn’t recognize but looks official enough, gives him access to the security footing and fifteen minutes later Farley has traced the woman from the hospital room in question backwards to when she enters the hospital’s parking lot. So with a newly printed picture of her in hand he starts working his way backwards.
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“What do you mean the Mexican President is dead?” The female President of Chile states.
“Just as I said. Our sources say it looked like professionals did it even though it was meant to look otherwise.”
“But why?”
“Those same sources say that everyone was killed and later accounted for except the President’s son.”
“You don’t think…”
“That is what I am guessing Madam President.”
“But why kill him?”
The aid shrugs his shoulder. “Maybe they think they have the power to do as they please.”
“They do have to power to do as they please and not have to answer to anyone but The Judge…”
“Maybe it was a mistake to give him so much power then.”
“Maybe but there is nothing we can do about it now. We all know that it was necessary when we gave it and since then….well never mind, but rest assured that it is even more important now than it has ever been.”
The President of Chile is not a vain woman but she does not look forward to getting old. She has finally achieved her goal, all the power she ever wanted is now hers, all the money she ever desired at her disposal. The populace does not know it for she hides it well but she rules with an iron fist and intends to keep ruling until the day she dies of old age; her fear is that old age comes much too quickly.
Hence the reason she supports the activities of “the hole’ and even allows “the hole” continued existence in her country. Oh sure, initially she was not a firm supporter of housing the mad doctor’s toys but then she witnessed the possibility of those toys. What she saw astonished her for even in her wildest dreams she had never thought it possible but there was no denying what her eyes saw or what the cameras recorded.
The Mexican President was a fool and if he was foolish enough to stand in the way of ultimate power that was his problem. Her only problem was whom she was going to have to deal with next.
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Of course, Thompson knows about the death of the President, hell he had gladly ordered it after he was informed that the man refused to give them his son. Thompson has a loathing for that kind of man, “do whatever it takes as long as it does not infringe on me or mine in any manner” Thompson spits in disgust.
He didn’t like the man and had no use for him and the thought of being hauled in front of the one person he has to account to on behalf of this man is maddening. It is not that Thompson is worried about the encounter for he knows that all he has to do is give his father, The Judge the same bullshit answer he has been giving for over a year, the same bullshit answer that that man himself taught him to give….. “It was necessary”… and it would be over….but still.
For months now, rumors have been banded about having a central world government and due to the recent meltdown of economy in many countries rumours are flying wild about having a central bank overlooking and handling all financial transactions. That system is a system that Thompson could easily operate under, a system he has been preparing for, for over a year and to help achieve that end he has been helping The Judge by pushing the same agenda anytime he has the chance
With power comes a responsibility it is said….as far as Thompson is concerned that is bullshit. With power comes more power and he f
ully intends to get his lion share of that power. He is sick and tired of having to account for himself every time some government did not like something he had done, hell if it was not for him the world would have destroyed itself many years ago. His actions forestalled the current state of some of the world governments, and if he would have been left alone, he could have forestalled the overthrow of some of those even longer or even eliminated the need for them altogether.
Thompson stops dead in his tracks and mulls over his thoughts; when he starts to walk again his step is much lighter than before…… “Take every opportunity you can.”
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Mary has come to one conclusion and that conclusion is that “the other” put her in the wrong city. She is not blaming ‘the other” for looking at things at face value you would think that a city with over twenty million people would be the perfect place to start and then there was the promise to be with the bright one when she expired, but as new events have revealed this is not the place to be.
In considering what she needed to do next, she came to the realization that the leaders of the countries know about these individuals and that they have to be the ones responsible behind their disappearance. So even if she learns proper control of her essence tonight it will be hopeless for the bright ones are not spread throughout the world as they are suppose to be. Therefore, as evening falls Mary concludes that she needs to go to the city they call Washington, D.C. and once there she has to make her way to this country’s President, which she does not see as a problem. The real problem is how to quickly get this human body the 228 miles from New York to Washington.
“Hey turn that up.” A man sitting at a table in the drop-in center yells.
Mary turns to see what has gotten the man’s attention and she immediately recognizes the picture being displayed; as if she couldn’t as it is a picture of her and the broadcast is coming in from the front the building she lives in.
Mary lowers her face to help hide it as a lady turns up the volume.
“……she is considered very dangerous and the police are asking the public to contact them immediately if they see her but caution that under no circumstance should they approach her….”
Mary losses track of the rest of the conversation as heads have started to turn her way. Reaching out she gives the spirit of those looking a brief touch and exits with no one even remembering she was there; outside she again considers her options. Looking up the street she watches cars zoom by, looking down cars stopping at a red light.
Of course!
Mary makes her way to the intersection and waits for the light to turn red again. Once it does, she walks to the car at the front of the line, opens the door and sits down. The lady driving the car looks at her in surprise and is about to comment.
Drive me to Washington DC please.
Of course.
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Farley is not happy that the woman was not at home and he is not happy that he had to make use of the news agency to broadcast her picture or to provide them any information, false or not. His first step of course was to use the feeds to see when she had exited the building again but his luck had turned bad. There had been a two-hour blackout around the area and he had not had any luck finding her exit the building before or after the blackout. Faced with an almost empty apartment he came to the conclusion that she must have somehow gotten wind of his interest in her and that she has gone to ground. Hence his reason for going to the press in the first place, for now not only may the cameras finally capture her but human eyes will watch those cameras closer giving him hours of lead time to capture the woman than if he did it all himself. That said, the initial broadcast had been two hours ago and has been repeated every ten minutes and still he has not heard from anyone; either citizen or agency. Farley is considering his next step when his phone rings.
“Farley here.”
“This is New York Transit. You have a broadcast out for a woman?”
“Yes, did you get a hit?” Farley cannot keep his excitement to himself.
“Maybe sir. The cameras on I-95 snapped some pictures of a lady that looks a lot like the one on the broadcast.”
“How long ago?” Now Farley is very excited.
“A couple of hours ago.”
“Couple of hours and it took you this long to call me!” Farley’s voice raises and excitement changes to anger.
“Well sir we do have other things we must take care of….”
“Not anymore. From here on out and until I tell you otherwise this lady is to be your priority. Now get back to those cameras and find out where she is now or where she exited. I will be there in half an hour and you better have an answer for me or I’ll have your balls in a sling.”
“I suppose.”
Farley seethes at the sound of the bored voice on the other end of the line. Obviously, that man behind the voice is not taking Farley’s threats seriously; probably gets threatened everyday.
“Pass me on to your boss, now!” Farley’s anger is on the rise.
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The four and a half hour trip to Washington passes without incident and it is late at night when the car stops in front of what the humans call the White House. Mary still has the feeling she is being pursued but not having any idea of the resources being put into finding and then tracking her, she feels that she is safe enough to go ahead with her plan. She gives her driver’s spirit a tug and exits the car; the driver puts the car in gear and drives away.
Mary had thought of a few options as to how she can get into the complex but the limitation of the human body took many of those options away. The full four and a half hour trip she had been making and tossing plans aside. The easiest she finally came up with was to simply walk in and extinguish the spirit of anyone that got in her way. But even though she has no problem about snuffing out the spirits to find the bright ones the idea still did not sit well. Hence, she waits patiently for the alternate plan she did come up with to unfold.
The screeching of car tires, the gunning of a motor, a roaring engine, a loud crash and chaos. Mary takes her cue and slowly makes her way into the complex; casually walking past that scene of chaos.
The motor vehicle that Mary had recently been riding in has apparently tried to crash its way through the complex gates; raising all sorts of alarms and in the ensuing chaos armed men and snarling dogs run towards the gate. They run towards the scene and she walks away and then pass them; it is as if she does not exist to them. The dogs with the men cause her a little concern, as unlike the humans they cannot be deceived. Their inability to be deceived and the fact that the humans have twisted their spirits into something unhealthy angers Mary. As such, Mary soothes their spirits, twisting them back to what they should be and once accomplished the dogs ignore the woman walking towards a goal opposite from where they are being pulled.
Most people would try to break into the White House using stealth but the heighten security is what Mary needs to get the human body to where she wants it with as little difficulty as possible. The crash gives the humans a positive task to perform and as such makes it much simpler for her to push spirits into ignoring her, to move the other way, to suddenly find that they need to be somewhere else, to believe she is one of them, to believe she does not exist.
The tricky part is the Cameras as there is no way to trick their electronics, but the people behind those electronics are a different matter.
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A Camera across the street shows Mary entering the White House complex. The person watching on the other end is much too far away to be affected by the push that Mary just gave those in the White House so he has no qualms about making the call.
“Sir, she just entered the White House. She walked in like she owned the place and nobody even tried to stop her.”
“Dam it. Warn Washington Police, I’ll try to warn the Secret Service or anyone that will listen to me.”
When Farley first discovered that Mary
had fled the city towards Washington he had not been that worried for he assumed she was simply trying to escape and Washington was as likely a way to go as any other. He tracked her into Washington and Farley had made the call to Washington Transit to have them monitor her progress so that he could continue the chase. He was only a half hour behind her so soon she would be his.
Farley’s first sign of concern was when the woman apparently stopped acting as if she was being chased and drove through Washington with a purpose. Having chased many people on the run the change was palpable to Farley and at first it confused him. Then her destination became obvious and confusion changed to…well not exactly fear but apprehension for she is only one woman after all. Now he wished that fear had been his first reaction and that he would have made a fool of himself by calling White House security right away.
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Mary knows where the spirit she is looking for is located and she makes her way towards it with only a little difficulty. She takes care of those monitoring the cameras with a burst that puts their spirits to sleep. Others that she comes across as she makes her way to the president are likewise subject to burst though these burst vary from making the spirits simply forget that she exist to giving them an overwhelming need to be somewhere else. A couple of the better trained humans even manage to get their guns trained on her before she has a chance to manipulate their spirits and it is with some sorrow that she snuffs out their existence, leaving behind only ashes of the body that hosted them. Finally making her goal Mary fumbles at the door only to find it locked. She frowns briefly and puts her hand to the lock. She calls all the heat to her, the air becomes crisp and frigid, and frost gathers where frost should never gather, the lock then heats and melts. Mary calmly pushes the now unlocked door to the office aside and lets herself in.
They are almost prepared. Her casual entrance through a door that was securely locked a few seconds ago and that never should have opened for anyone but the President or the head of the Secret Service puts them off guard for a second; a second is all she needs. The half dozen armed men go into action much too late. The first man falls asleep and topples to the floor, then a second quickly follows the first, the third has his spirit twisted such that he no longer become a threat to anyone but instead a burden on society, the fourth and fifth spirit’s falter and dissipate into nothingness. The President, still trying to get his mouth working looks on in surprise and then at the unimposing woman that has just incapacitated his best.
“Who are you?” the President finally gets his flapping mouth working again
Mary looks deep into the President’s spirit and is not surprised when she finds it dark and twisted. At one time he was probably considered a good man by human standards and Mary can see the scars on the spirit that were caused over the years as the human fought the spirits natural nature, but that nature had finally won out.
Mary retreats and takes a long look at the man himself before answering, “You can call me your creator if you like and I must say I am not pleased with what I see.”
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“I don’t give a dam who you think you are or what you think you know; the President is in danger, now put me through to your superior.”
Farley has had very little luck so far. None of the agencies he has called has ever heard of his Agency of course and as such, most of them think he is a crank caller looking to get attention and treat him as such.
He tells everyone that answers that someone had just “walked” into the White House and they have all laughed at him for no one believes that anyone can simply “walk” into the most secured facility in the United States. After being told off by the third agency, he is getting desperate and thinking it may be time to change his tactics.
So frustrated is he by his lack of being able to warn the appropriate authorities that he misses the significance of the flashing lights bearing down on him. So seething with anger is he that he does not put it all together and when he finally does, he has only time to consider one quick thought.
Maybe they were listening after all…
----------
The President sits down even though that is the last thing he wants to do but his legs simply refuse to support him any longer.
“Where are they taking the bright ones?” Mary does not spare this man and she gives the spirit the push required so that it knows what she wants about what.
“I don’t know?”
The spirit is not lying but…
”How can you not know? You supported the order, supported the decision and yet you tell me you do not know?”
“I have never had a reason to know as long as it was getting done and that the reports kept coming in; which these days are far and few between. In fact, I have not even given it much thought in a long time. All I know is that it is somewhere in South America, if you want a precise location you will have to talk to The Judge.”
“And where will I find him?”
“The Hague.”
Mary sighs. An operation like this can never be kept a secret no matter how careful these humans are or how much they desire to keep it such. Therefore, if she wants to find out where they are taking the bright ones she either has to go south herself or to The Hague. An inkling thought that travels through in the man’s mind gives her an idea.
Call security and have your helicopter ready to fly me out please; the most powerful man in the United States complies.
The President finishes the call and asks the question that he has been burning to ask. “What does it mean?”
“What does what mean?” Mary knows what the President is asking but knowing what this man sanctioned to be done to the bright ones, knowing how little he cares for the welfare of others, knowing how his every motive is for his own welfare or those of his corporate friends she has no intention of giving him a satisfactory answer.
“What does it mean that you are here? What do these “bright ones” as you call them mean to you?”
“It means that you have disappointed me and the last time you humans disappointed me to this extent…..oh look here is my ride, now if you will excuse me.”
----------
In the end, Farley had to call Thompson, who then called the head of the Secret Service. There had been some yelling and then by the look of the face of the man talking to Thompson some threats. It all took a while but it had finally put him in the center of the chaos that still prevails over the White House.
When Farley had first arrived, the excitement was over an unoccupied car crashing through the fence. Then they found those that were suppose to be guarding the White House and the President apparently sleeping, missing or dead, causing even more of an uproar.
Now the concern is an apparent unharmed President, who does not remember the visitor he had, and the fact that they had just been informed that the President’s helicopter had taken flight an hour ago.
“What do you mean it took off an hour ago and why am I just finding out now!” Neil the man in charge is definitely angry and yet almost hopelessly at a lost as to what has happened and how it could have happened in the first place.
“Well Sir, the men in charge of the craft were taken out like the others we have found so they did not report it. It was only now discovered because we have started searching the White House grounds.”
The discovery of the disarray in the White House had resulted in the Secret Service calling in their off duty members and only these members have been allowed to investigate the ensuing chaos. Their starting point had been the front gate and then the inside of White House itself. They had just recently extended their investigation to the outside so it is no wonder it had taken so long for them to discover the departure of the helicopter.
“Have you reviewed the video?”
“Yes Sir.”
“And?”
“The pilot and a woman got on board and then it left.”
“The woman was she the one I am looking for?” F
arley finally pipes up.
“Yes Sir, the same.”
“Dam!” Farley turns to Neil. “Get the air force after her and get me a flight out of here.”
Neil looks to Farley in dislike. He would rather ignore this man than comply but the phone call he received put him firmly in his place; on reflection, he sees this as a great opportunity to get this man out of his hair. He turns to his underling.
“You heard him. Get it done.”
“Sir, you have to come and see this!” another man enters the room looking even more concerned than his superior does.
Neil and Farley follow the man to the room that houses the White House recordings.
“We just found this. I reran it five times because…. well look for yourselves.”
Both Neil and Farley’s face turn pale as they watch Mary’s progress through the White House. Their knees go weak as she calmly walks pass those that oppose her and they have to sit as they review the conversation she had with their president.
“I need a copy of that and I need it now.” Farley finally manages to find his voice.
The man looks to his superior who nods.
----------
“What is it Captain?”
Mary, knowing nothing about flying this contraption had to restrain her control over the man so he can fly reliably and part of keeping him happy and in control requires her to show respect to the man by using a title he believes he has rightfully earned and thus insist on.
“We are being tracked Ma’am.”
“Tracked?”
“Fighter jets and by the looks of it they are flying hot.” The captain taps a consul in response.
“Hot? Please explain.”
The captain sighs. “They have us locked on radar and are preparing to shoot us down with missiles Ma’am.”
“Can you evade them?”
He sighs as if he is tired of explaining himself. “No Ma’am there is no evading those and even if I did manage one or two they will keep firing until they hit us. This helicopter does have some built in security features but not enough for what is showing up on this here radar.”
“Well that won’t do at all. I dislike doing this but…”
Nudging a spirit as she has done to the captain is easy and takes the least amount of energy from Mary, the hardest and most energy draining is to snuff a spirit out, which she did a few times back in the White House. Unlike what the humans may be thinking right about now, she is not all-powerful. Her energy has limits and she has dug deeply into her reserves to accomplish what she has accomplished. Furthermore, she cannot dodge a missile by simply thinking about it for the human host body has its limitation and like any other human body it can be terminated. Oh sure, she can leave the body and go back to…..to…Mary shakes her head, things have become much clearer but still…
The energy she has available is in direct proportion to the amount of energy she is drawing from some source well past the current universe less the amount the humans are drawing from her. Neither she nor “the other” fully understood this relationship at first though both noticed that as the population of the human race increased the reserves available to them decreased. Trying to understand this relationship was the reason they came two thousand or so earth years ago and it took Mary lying with that human, letting that human get inside her, having that human open to her totally for them to finally understand the relationship between themselves and the humans.
The easiest thing for them to do would be to simply cut themselves from the humans. This would have the same effect as cutting off the power from a charging battery. The battery no longer being recharge would finally drain and cease to work. Freed from the humans Mary would then have all the energy she required to do whatever it is she wished but neither her nor “the other’ are prepared to let the human race they have cultivated so carefully over the eons die.
That said the one thing she has always had an affinity to on this planet was the weather. For some unknown reason the weather has always reacted to her moods, to her wishes, and to her desires. Having the weather do as she pleases, takes less energy from her than even a small push on a human spirit and regrettable as it may be the time has finally come.
Mary reaches out, seeking. Finally, she touches on those that pursue them and with a sigh of resignation starts the chain reaction. The air becomes suddenly cold, then as if they are being sucked by a vacuum clouds race in to fill a once clear sky. The clouds darken to a dark ugly black, turning what is day into night. The winds pick up and the clouds relieve themselves of their burden. Put into motion it no longer needs Mary’s attention and she returns to herself with a regretful sigh.
----------
The air force jets have locked onto their target, they have received the go ahead to fire away, and then they hit the disturbance. To the pilots it feels like they just hit a brick wall. The metal of the jets screech in protest, the jets shake and tumble through the air. Never have they hit weather so bad, never have they seen weather change so fast, never had they even had to practice flying in such. There is no up or down, the clouds surround them, the electronics become useless, snow, rain, ice, sleet, and worst of all, the wind that blows from two and sometimes three different directions at the same time…. One jet is pulled apart by the turbulence and pieces fly in every direction. Another two jets loose their wings and spin out of control, another with no electronics flies aimlessly up, down, and even upside down. Only one manages to recover, to retreat and turning tail it limps its way back home.
----------
On the ground, those who do not believe in the end of the world quickly change their opinions. They feel the increasing wind. They see the darkening sky and the angry clouds. Then what the few survivors later called hell on earth breaks loose.
A driving wind so strong that it makes the gale forces of tornados look miniscule in comparison cuts a ten miles wide swath across the land, flattening anything and everything in its path. Trees uproot, car, animals, signs, and street lamps fly through the air. Building roofs are torn asunder and then the buildings themselves are either destroyed or uprooted to join their roofs in the skies to be torn into unrecognizable pieces. Lightening strikes earth every few seconds igniting fires, which the wind then whips up into a fiery infernal. Dust, smoke, debris cuts vision to mere inches and as such, most of the humans that death comes to visit do not realize it is knocking on their door until it happens.
Those caught in the wind are the lucky ones or so those few that survive determine, for the wind steals the breath from a person killing them so quickly that most do not survive to feel the battering of the debris or the stripping of their skin by the wind whipped dirt. The unlucky few that escape the fury of the wind must content with the following rain, sleet, hail, and snow. These unlucky see Mother Nature in her unbridled fury. Hail as large as soccer balls destroys what little remains after the winds have passed and once those remains, whether flesh, wood, or steel, have been pounded to a pulp the rains come to clean it away and this eventually becomes covered by the snows.
Where the wind cuts a path ten miles wide the accompanying weather is a swath fifteen miles more. The hail hits with such force that when it hits it drives many feet into the ground. Those caught in the path of the descending hail are lucky for they are crushed and die immediately. The unlucky have to content with the resulting explosions. Gas lines burst; concrete, stone, and dirt fly making Americans believe that they have somehow been transported into the middle of a war zone.
Somewhere in that destruction and uncared about by those suffering on the ground a fighter jet crashes into land and burst into flames and then another and another.
A storm like no other ever seen continues to sweep it way through the land, wiping away all signs of humanity, all vegetation, all dirt, leaving behind nothing but cold hard rock.
The wailing and prayers of the humans in its path commence. They call to their God, they beg for mercy and salvation; Mary, attuned to
such hears and is thankful when the storm finally silences them.
The death that her storm leaves behind in the first couple of minutes counts in the hundreds. As these hundreds die, their energy slowly returns to her and “the other”. Mary knows that the destruction is complete, scrubbing the earth down to bare rock and she knows that before the storm she set in motion is finished the hundreds that died at its commencement will pale compared to the number that will die before the storm finally runs its course.
As sad as the storm is to the human population, the deaths of the multitude causes her little worry for none of the spirits that call for mercy are the ones that would be moving on at any rate.
In the midst of this destruction, a faint memory comes to Mary making her realize that she has visited this destructiveness upon the earth a number of times over the eons, though she did promise “the other” that she would never have another tantrum the likes that caused the great flood of eons ago. That said both she and “the other” knows that sometimes weather is what is required to “clean up a situation” that has gotten out of control.
What does bother her though is the destruction to the land. The earth calls in its destruction and those calls bury themselves deeply into her sensitive essence. The force she has unleashed is such that the earth will take a thousand earth years to heal ….Mary starts to giggle when she realizes that earth does not even have a fraction of that time.
Eventually the wailing and prayers cease and shortly thereafter in the silence a curiosity overcomes Mary; she turns to the captain. “Tell me Captain, what has your President told you of the upcoming events?”
“Ma’am?” The captain is obviously confused by her question.
“When I was with your President I sensed that he made a decision that effects the population of this country. It was a decision that he believes is required not only for a stable government but a stable economy so that those with money can rest assured that they will continue to make money and governments assured that they can continue to govern. The only part he seemed uncertain about was the control or at least the possibility that in the end he may not have the amount of control he desires.”
“The President has not informed us or at least me of any such decision that he fears. He is the President and it is his job to weigh things and then to take the most appropriate action.” The captain replies quietly.
Amazing. He doesn’t even tell those that are close to him and I sense that this man is very close to that man. Truly amazing.
“Tell me captain and look deep inside before you answer; if you knew that all life on earth was to be destroyed in six months or three months, what would you do?”
The man is quiet for a very long time before he finally replies. “If you are looking for honesty Ma’am I can’t say what I would do in anyone’s hearing.”
Mary knows…. she felt what the man wanted to do and is sickened by that feeling. She had asked for it, even expected it when she asked so she only has herself to blame for that feeling.
“Ma’am we are going to have to stop for fuel at some point.”
“You decide the place and I will make the arrangement.” Mary replies quietly.