This is where things get really bad. Remember, the Ark Lords had laser pulse rifles, not that Jack had ever seen one. When Helen and Jack got to the Wyckoff's farm, what they found there made them sick:
“Hello?” Jackie called out. There was no answer. He stepped across the threshold. “Hello?” he called again. The place was a mess. There were broken chairs, plates. A faint acrid smell of smoke still permeated the room. Jack cautiously eased forward. He scanned the room and quickly spotted the rotted body of a man. Portions of his legs looked eaten. Jack’s insides started heaving. He turned his head to the side and vomited.
“What is it, Jackie?” his mother called from outside.
After Jack stopped retching, he took a deep breath. “It’s Mr. Wyckoff,” he croaked. “At least, I think it is. He’s dead.”
“What?” His mother came rushing into the room and saw her son standing there, staring at the body.
“I threw up, Mom,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Helen said. She, too, felt her stomach jerking around a bit but she fought it back and stooped by the body. She glanced around the room and found a piece of wood splintered off of some furniture. She went over to grab it then used it to push back the shreds of clothing on the body.
“Look at this, Jackie,” she said. Jack took a deep breath and bent over to see what she was indicating.
“Look at all those holes,” Jack said. “Clean. Perfectly round. They weren’t made by bolts or arrows.” He looked down at the floor, stained black. “There’s blood everywhere,” he said. “What could do such a thing? They’re too small to be knife wounds.”
“Nothing that I know of,” Helen said. “But whatever it is, it’s deadly. The holes go clean through him.”
We know what those holes are. They are laser burn holes. You can surmise that the Ark Lords entered the Wyckoff's house, took Mrs. Wyckoff and their daughter, and left Mr. Wyckoff riddled with laser holes. It wasn't the holes that killed him but rather that he bled out. So now the boy and his mother were getting close. It was time for Jack and Helen to arrive at the base of Campgaw Mountain, along the banks of the Ramapo River, next to the Ark Lords encampment.
It does not go well. You will see that tomorrow.
Entry 4-357: December 18, 2016
The Story of Jack Henry 6
Yesterday, we saw Jack Henry and his mother Helen come across a grisly scene. The Wyckoff household had been ransacked and Mr. Wyckoff had been punctured full of laser holes and he bled to death. Jack and his mother headed off to the base of Campgaw Mountain and the deep bend of the Ramapo River. What Jack saw there was both incomprehensible and horrible:
“Ride!” Jack shouted, “follow me.” He pulled on the reins and kicked at Tige’s flank, forcing him to gallop harder and harder. Helen was right behind him. In a minute or two, they entered the woods surrounding Campgaw Mountain. Jack slowed just a little and quickly wound his way around the trees up the mountainside until they came to a clearing about three quarters of the way up.
He looked over the edge.
“This’ll do,” he said and hopped down off of Tige. He tied the horse to a tree and removed his crossbow.
“What did you see?” Helen asked him again as she tied Alexa next to Tige.
“Spacemen,” he said.
“What are spacemen?” Helen asked.
“I’ll show you,” Jack said, hunching down and walking as close as he could come to the edge. He set his crossbow down and lay on the ground, flat on his stomach.
“Here, look,” he said. Helen lay down next to Jack who handed her the spyglass.
What Helen saw through the telescope almost defied description. At the south end of the valley lay two huge cylinders with gigantic wings, made of metal. The one farther south had numerous square holes in the roof. Helen spotted a perimeter fence running north to south that enclosed the whole area. About 50 feet from the river bank but well inside the fence, she saw countless shelters. It almost looked like a small village. Beyond the fence, she saw a huge, yellow, horseless carriage moving quickly to the north. Inside the fence, she could see a great number of people wandering around. A lot of them were wearing what looked to be ordinary clothes but there were several wearing the strange garments that Bill Franklin described, something other than cloth.
Helen set the spyglass down and turned to Jack.
“I don’t understand any of this,” she said. Jack reached over and took the spyglass back from her. He stared through the eyepiece as he spoke.
“Dad told me all about them,” he said gravely. “It was part of my training to be a Cavalier. He said we had to know about the past so we didn’t repeat their mistakes for the future. All of that…” He took his eye off the telescope and looked at his mother. “It’s all forbidden technology. Those people down there, they escaped the Earth a long time ago in spaceships called Arks. Before the Great Dying. They are from the past. And now they’re back.”
Helen looked over the edge. Her mind was reeling at the implications. She gasped. “Your father,” she said. “He must have found them, they, they must have…” She couldn’t finish her sentence.
Helen's intuition had led her to the correct conclusion. Jack's father was already dead. The Ark Lords did keep around a few men but mostly they wanted women for the purposes of breeding. Unfortunately for Jack, he and his mother did not remain hidden long enough. You'll see the conclusion tomorrow.
Entry 4-358: December 19, 2016
The Story of Jack Henry 7
Yesterday, we saw Jack Henry and his mother Helen come across the Ark Lord encampment along the banks of the Ramapo River. Through a spyglass that had been handed down to him from hundreds of years ago, Jack had spotted a horse that he knew to be his father's horse. That told him that his father, if he was still alive, would be in that camp somewhere. However, these were men from the future (actually the past) with weapons and technology beyond Jack's comprehension. Jack and Helen were trying to come to grips with what their eyes were telling them. It never occurred to them that others might be watching them:
“What do we have here?” a loud voice boomed. “Spying on us?”
Helen gasped. Jack flipped around and saw six spacemen wearing body armor and helmets standing over them. Several of them were holding weapons aimed right at Jack and his mother. Jack’s crossbow lay uselessly out of reach.
“Who, who are you?” Helen stammered, fear dripping in her voice.
“This your son?” one of the men asked Jack’s mother, ignoring her question.
“Ye…ye…yes…” Helen stuttered.
“Good,” the man said. “She’s fertile and pretty damned cute. Take her.” Two of the soldiers bent over to grab Helen by the arms.
“No,” Jack shouted, starting to get up. He lunged for the crossbow but one of the soldiers kicked it away then slammed him in the chest with the butt of his rifle. Jack fell to the ground, unable to breathe.
“No, no,” his mother shrieked as four of the men grabbed her arms and legs. She thrashed about violently but there were too many of them. She screamed the whole time as they carried her away.
Struggling to catch his breath, Jack tried to get up. One of the two remaining spacemen stamped down on his chest with his boot. He pointed his rifle at Jack’s forehead.
“What do you want me to do with this one?” the soldier asked his superior.
“Kill ‘im,” answered the other man, almost with glee in his voice.
“No, please, my mother…” Jack pleaded, tears coming out of his eyes.
“Grow up and die like a man,” the soldier said. He pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.
“What the hell?” said the soldier. “Damn it. Out of juice,” he said. “I knew I should have recharged it.”
“Then leave ‘im,” said the other man, “who cares?”
Jack watched his captor swing his arm around. The rifle butt struck Jack square in the jaw and ev
erything went black.
And that's that. Jack Henry never saw his mother again. Well, not exactly. He did see her once ten years later when she escaped the clutches of the Ark Lords. But the mother Jack knew was gone. His father was gone. He was on his own. This is how the greatest hero, the martyr, of the post-apocalypse was forged. The events that he witnessed did not make him powerless. Quite the opposite. Even though he could not save his parents, he went on to rally the people of northern Jersey and put together an army of rebels. They fought a guerilla war until they had acquired enough technology and savvy to put on a direct assault. That assault became known as the Battle of Chicago and was the beginning of the end of the Ark Lords.
Entry 4-359: December 20, 2016
Trump and Musk 1
As anyone who has read this blog over the past few years, you know I am steadfast believer in climate change and am fervently in favor of any process that reduces the amount of greenhouses gases we emit. In fact, in the original long-form version of Rome's Revolution, back when it was entitled VIRUS 5, the long term effects of global warming were an essential element of the underlying geo-political environment. I had imposed the impractical "Rules of Green" on the people of the future which limited what they could and couldn't do, right down to creating open fires.
I have written week-long posts on renewable energy sources climaxing with solar as the way to go. Although I have heard various estimates, it goes something like this: enough sunlight falls on the Earth each day to power the entire planet's population needs for a whole year three times over. Elon Musk showed during his reveal of his Powerwall that if you could dedicate (my guess) a 20 mile by 20 mile square of solar panels (Musk showed the panhandle of Texas as an example), it could power the entire United States without the need of any other energy sources whatsoever. No more fossil fuels would be required!
With Mr. Musk's recent reveal of Solar Shingles, Tesla has created a complete solar to storage to transportation system. If you live in Florida or Texas or California, you may never have to pay for power or gasoline again. Oddly, this brings me to Mr. Trump. He has selected Scott Pruitt, a climate change denier as his candidate for head of the EPA. First of all, I didn't even know there were any climate change deniers left out there. Second, how the hell could you put such a person in charge of the Environmental PROTECTION Agency if their agenda is to hurt the environment?
The U.S. has signed the Paris Agreement which commits the world to limiting the amount of greenhouse gasses with the short range goal of limiting the average rise in temperature to no more than two degrees Celsius, then 1.5 degrees with the long term goal of ultimately getting back to pre-industrial levels. This is a serious commitment to saving the Earth and I don't think Mr. Trump or Mr. Pruitt could "unsign" the agreement. But nonetheless, what the hell. A climate change denier in charge of the EPA? But then Mr. Trump did something that totally blew my mind. He invited a whole gaggle of industry titans to join his advisory council including Elon Musk. What the hell? Again? Does this mean there will be a voice of reason in the Trump Administration that can advocate taking measures to limit greenhouse gas emission and turn us toward basing our energy consumption on renewable sources rather than fossil fuel?
Impossible, you say. We are in for four years of pollution, expansion of coal burning and generally being a bad neighbor wrecking our world. Maybe not. There are two other people whose voices of reason may yet be still heard. I'll tell you who they are tomorrow.
Entry 4-360: December 21, 2016
Trump and Musk 2
Yesterday, I laid out the case that the appointment of Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA under the Trump administration was going to be a complete disaster for the environment and the world. But then I showed you that Mr. Trump also inducted Elon Musk into his council of advisors. Mr. Musk has the complete opposite view point on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
Shockingly, there are two other members of Trump's inner circle who may be our best advocates yet acknowledging climate change. To me, their names are completely counter-intuitive yet if they are true to their word, they will be staunchly in the climate change camp.
The first is Ivanka Trump, daughter of the President-elect. I read that she is going to make climate change her signature issue during Trump's turn. How is this possible? The President's own daughter claiming climate change is real and is going to advocate strong measures to reverse the tide? And this when her own father believes climate change is a bunch of bunk? I remain hopeful yet skeptical. Or am I skeptical yet hopeful? I don't know.
Second, there is Rex Tillerson, currently CEO of Exxon-Mobil as Trump's candidate for Secretary of State. Up until Tillerson took the helm, Exxon-Mobil had steadfastly denied climate change. They make gasoline for heaven's sake. But when Tillerson took over, he reversed the company's position 180 degrees. He stated "there was no question that human activity was changing the environment". He further went on to state that “the appropriate debate isn’t on whether climate is changing, but rather should be on what we should be doing about it,” through his then-spokesman Kenneth Cohen.
So while Mr. Tillerson is an entrenched proponent of Big Oil, it would appear that he, too, acknowledges that humans are changing the climate and not for the better. And he is going to be Secretary of State. I am so conflicted on this but if he supports changing our energy habits from burning fossil fuel to utilizing renewable sources, how can I complain?
I don't know what to make of all of this but I can say the dynamic is mind-blowing. Pruitt and his team versus Elon Musk and Ivanka Trump along with Mr. Tillerson. It should be fascinating.
Entry 4-361: December 22, 2016
Where it isn't
In the middle section of The Ark Lords, after Rome and Rei recovered the useless communication beacon placed within the Perepelkin Crater on the far side of the Moon, MINIMCOM transported back to its original spot once they determined it had been rendered useless. As predicted (and necessitated by a plot twist later in the book), the probe disintegrated, leaving, as Rei called it, "just a small pile of space junk."
But now they were in a quandary. The probe could not reveal the location of the store of the Darwin Virus Strain 5. Our heroes would have to use their deductive powers to figure out where the virus was stored. Rei couldn't figure out where it was but he thought he might be able to figure out where it wasn't:
Rome turned to Rei. “I am drawing a blank. You know your people better than I do. Do you have you any thoughts or guesses as to where they stored the virus?”
Rei shrugged. “I have no idea where they put it but I can tell you where they didn’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, they were heinous individuals but they weren’t stupid. They would store it someplace that was not readily accessible. Like underground as opposed to in the trees somewhere.”
“Trees?” Rome asked, confused.
“Naw,” Rei said. “And they’d have to store it someplace that was geologically stable. No way they’d store it someplace just to have some earthquake knock it loose. And away from the ocean, away from hurricanes. Plus it would have to be fortified. You wouldn’t want somebody stumbling across it, not knowing what it was. So I’m guessing it’s in a bunker somewhere, pretty deep underground, somewhere in the middle of the country. They were Americans so they wouldn’t store it in Mexico or Canada or Europe.”
“That does not seem to narrow it down all that much,” Rome said.
“I know,” Rei replied. “But it’s all we’ve got to work with right now.”
Rome cocked her head. “Maybe not,” she said.
“What?”
“We know that these Darwin people successfully placed the probe on the Moon.” Rome pointed out the windshield. “In the ensuing 14 centuries, a meteorite came down and destroyed it. There’s no way to know exactly when. It might have been the day after it landed or it might have
been last week.”
Rei turned to her. “What’s your point?”
“If we play the odds and guess that it happened later rather than sooner, then it’s possible that the Erklirte picked up the coordinates of the storage vessel before the probe was destroyed. Even if that were not true, it is obvious that your Captain and his people were briefed on Virus 5. They may have been informed of the virus’ location before they left on their mission. I would assume the Erklirte received similar instructions.” Rome pointed to the pile of space debris that had been the probe. “They may not have even needed the probe. When they got to the Earth, perhaps, eventually they might have tried to retrieve the virus containment vessel. Their actions may give us a clue as to where it’s stored.”
Ah, don't you love it? This line of thinking opens up a whole new avenue of research. On Earth. Unfortunately, Rome and Rei were banished from the planet at the end of Rome's Revolution. They would have to think of a clever way to retrieve the information they required.
Entry 4-362: December 23, 2016
Zero Point Energy
Since the beginning of recorded history, mankind has always wanted to believe in magic and things that are too good to be true. Belief in a higher power is one. Such was the subject of my previous novel The Milk Run. Others take the form of physical objects which contain some mystical power. Many of these objects have been romanticized like the Lost Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The Arthurian knights spent a lifetime searching for the Holy Grail. It was supposedly a chalice that held Jesus' blood and it was supposed to have the power to heal all wounds. The Knights of the Round Table themselves have taken on a romantic glow partly because of this. Today, we don't have a Holy Grail but we do have stem cell research which might end up with the same powers.
Another mystical object is the Philosopher's Stone. During the Middle Ages, alchemists either searched for it or claimed to have found it. It was supposed to be able to able to transmute base metals, such as lead, into precious metals like gold. Today we have nuclear fission and LENR which may very well be able to transmute elements but we aren't quite there yet.