Chapter Sixteen
It was early morning and Abdul was pleased that Aggie had spoken with him on the VPhone. He knew the protocol and the complicated diplomacy of keeping all the ministerial offices, and the factions within, with the latest updates. Whilst he appreciated the confidence shown in him, he knew the hierarchy would only tolerate so much and was getting frustrated by the constant demands by ministers for his presence and debriefs.
He had tried his best to waylay propositions of military movements, upgrading border security measures and enforced interments of anyone vaguely suspicious of being involved in the kidnap of Professor Lien. The government was well aware of the importance of Kellor Resources and the production plant. He well knew the consequences of destabilisation, should it commence within his homeland.
“So we have a VIP coming over – Mister Alex Bentley from NASA; but Miss Aggie requested that this information be kept quiet. Personally I have no problem with that, but it does present me with a position of divided loyalties. I have put my head on the chopping block in authorising his entry. He is here to set up her wave sensor; do you know him Ernie?”
“I’ve never met him, he came on the scene a few days ago...I surmise at the request of Mrs Kellor. Nevertheless my team has had him under surveillance; he has been working closely with her at HQKR. I presume he’ll be returning to the US immediately after the test trial. Keeping all this activity a secret is going to be a nightmare Abdul.”
“May I humbly suggest that we offer all the contractors, workers; even my men; a day and night off in Reggane. Chopper them off the site, offer free accommodation in the city and bring them back here same time tomorrow. It can be a thank-you from KR for all the enforced time they had to spend here recently. At least it will lower the odds of exposure.”
“Fantastic plan; even if we only send the nightshift workers; no, let’s include them all. I’ll go talk with Aaron right now.”
Aaron begrudgingly agreed and sent the good news to the various crews and gangs; not one of them complained about a free day and night off; with benefits. Both helicopters began ferrying people to Reggane; almost immediately.
-oOo-
Alex stretched his arms and Jade got up from the comfortable leather lounge. “Hal has done most of the work so far...there’s a few tweaks and upgrades in this current model and the auto virtually does the lot. We’ll go manual in a few minutes; the comms can get a little tricky – there are a few trackers out there who still live in the past – everyone’s a little nervous in this neck of the woods. Flown this line many times, but in this area, I’m always ready to expect the unexpected. We should lock into Reggane now; GPS Code DAAN. Normally we fly in, in the early hours. ETA 1400 hours, offload and onload onto the Osprey, so maybe 1600 hours should see you on site. Ever been to the Sahara Alex?”
“No, but I’ve seen it from high above, brown and dismal looking, rugged and bare. Are you sure I need all this cold weather gear; in the Sahara?”
“It’s a bit hard to put sunscreen on when the temp’s 56 degrees; a lot of people forget that there’s winter in Algeria; just ask Ernie.”
“I think Ernie has been embarrassed enough Jade, don’t you dare get Alex to poke fun at him.” said :Phoebe, who also thought it funny, seeing Ernie squirm and shiver back there, on the tarmac at Reggane in his summer shorts.”
“Now Alex, I’d better fill you in on the people you’ll be dealing with. There’s Aaron Johns, project and site manager extraordinaire; he’s managed to keep things together since the prof disappeared. There’s one Abdulmalek Belkhemha, we may call him Abdul; he’s the official unofficial representative of both the President and the Prime Minister of Algeria. Aggie has no qualms for him to come and go to the site, ask questions and ensure we are doing what we say we’re doing; he’s posted some security guards on duty there. We don’t have any problems with him; and he’s quite a nice guy; and he’s giving us his full support and encouragement. There’s Ernie Tonges our security chief, loyal, dedicated; the kind of guy you want behind you when you’re in trouble. And Ken Kain; he was brought here by Ernie as a consultant; he is from our Special Forces and an expert in Arab culture and affairs; now vanished.”
-oOo-
Edna slammed on the brakes of the Hummer – she was just exiting Springfield Street in Brattleboro. The security patrol’s vehicle, following her, went into a broadside slide and its front wheels struck the concrete gutter. It only took a split second of distraction causing her to hit the brakes – it was something she saw in a store window. She parked, gave the security patrol a little wave of apology and ran back to the store, being very wary of the slippery surface of the pavement. The shop was Shef’s Arts and featured, behind the large display window, was a painting; a painting of something she had seen before. Not in a gallery or museum, but in her mind.
She rubbed the outside of the window with her gloved hand to get a clearer look. This is it, she thought, every detail, everything I saw when I was holding that Goomeri Bone. The scene on the painting she was looking at consisted of a black woman in red dress, holding a baby. Next to her was a lean-to of bark and branches, open both ends, with white billowing smoke coming from a small fire behind the hut. Her, and the baby’s hair was windswept as if a gust had just blown by. The colours, ground, the scrawny trees and the shadows, were just as Edna had seen them in her dream.
Edna squinted and tried to make out the signature on the bottom right of the painting, but it was too tiny to read. Darn Sundays, have to come back tomorrow and see. No price tag, might even buy it. Now I’d better go over and calm my protectors; they may need a tow.
-oOo-
“So pleased to meet you Mister Alex Bentley, it is an honour I will tell my grandchildren about.”
“And you Abdul...Salam.” Alex removed his gloves and they shook hands.
Aaron turned to Ernie, “and Alex this is Ernie – Ernie, Alex.” Both shook hands firmly. “Good trip, or should I say trips Alex?”
“Wonderful, Jade and Phoebe are fine pilots, and so is Aaron; although his autorotation gave me a thrill I didn’t expect; not bad seeing you haven’t had a bird in the air for a while Aaron.”
“Give you a hand with that stuff Alex?”
“Thanks, ah how far to the exact spot Ernie, got to make sure it all gets there without damage; it’s not heavy, just awkward.”
“About two hundred metres, over there; see that building? that’s the capacitor and the spot is a few steps from that; these bits and pieces as well?”
“Yes please, how much daylight do we have left?”
“About two and a half hours; we have flood-lights if you need them.”
“Great let’s get to it straight away; I need to have it all in place and operational by midnight; where are all the people?”
“We’ve relocated them for the night Alex; too many eyes, if you know what I mean.”
“Fair enough, sorry for the urgency but there’s a lot of set-up and calibration to be done. Aaron, do you know if the capacitor is live?”
“Yes Alex, currently at one eighth absorption induction and climbing; it’ll reach one quarter by 2330.”
“OK gents, let’s go do it.”
Abdul also carried a bag of components from the chopper. He wondered why a man from NASA was now involved in all this; there was something else going on; something he wasn’t meant to know.
Nightfall saw the group gathered around the mysterious contraption...this thing, which came directly from the hands of the young boss of KR.
“All done gentlemen, the GM2 is in place, all we need is confirmation of the quarter power up of the capacitor. I’ll activate the device at precisely 2447 via remote; or in plain language, I’m going to switch the flashlight on at that time. I really truly don’t know what will happen; oh yes, Aggie asked me to place this cardboard down. The men crammed their necks and squinted their eyes in the failing daylight.
“Looks
like a picture of the face of a bald man – can’t make out the writing – what’s that all about Alex?”
“It’s nothing to do with the experiment; it may be a tribal or cultural thing Ernie; maybe a good luck totem of sorts; anyway it’s something Aggie asked me to do. Still a few hours to go; how about a nice bonfire over there? Any sausages in the fridge Aaron? And Abdul, your reputation of making the world’s best coffee has reached the land of Uncle Sam.”
“Say no more Mister Alex, it is done; would you care to accompany me to the Mess Hall and I will show you my brewing secrets?”
“Why thank you sir, that will give us time for a nice chat. Ernie, will you keep an eye on the GM2.”
“Sure; er, GM2?”
“Whatever you like Ernie, General Machine, Generator Module, Gonad Mauler...GM2 just sounds nice.”
-oOo-
“And that, Mister Alex is the secret of preserving the taste to the last drop.”
“It’s a good tasting brew Abdul. Now I must tell you about myself; I know you were unaware of my coming here. The truth is that NASA, nor my government, is aware of my location at the moment. I am doing this on Aggies’s behalf and request; you might like to know that she and I are close, very close.”
“Are you serious?..no, those words were wrong; I meant are you in a serious relationship, no, I mean are you both...”
“We’re seriously in love Abdul, like real love, you know heart-throbbing, over the moon and helplessly in love, love. I know others will think of me as an opportunist or a gold-digger, but none of that matters to me; I didn’t even know she was famous before I met her. Talk about love at first sight. I must say that I intend to marry her.”
“You would be a lucky man and the envy of many, including me.” He thought for a minute and asked, “How do you foresee the future of Aggie and Kellor Resources? Will you involve yourself in its operations and aspirations; and what of the power plant and the radioactive..?”
Alex held up his hand. “Nothing will change Abdul. Have no concerns about that. As you would know, Aggie is strong with her resolves and has set goals; no man on earth would be crazy enough to try and change her or her ambitions. I would support and encourage her with anything she wants. Just look at my mission here; she instructed me on the set-up of the GM2; but I still don’t know what it’s going to do; yet here I am in blind obedience. Anyway I wanted to tell you all this because Aggie insisted that we be open and overt with you; in fact even Ernie and Aaron don’t know of our romance..yet.”
“Well congratulations to you Mister Alex, and of course to Miss Aggie; and thank you for your confidences; my heart is gratified by the wearing of your heart on your sleeve. So we are to become colleagues in this great undertaking in my homeland?”
“I certainly hope so Abdul, but just like yourself, I’m in the dark as to what happens after midnight and how this affects the progress of the project.”
“Ah, the smell of burnt sausages beckons, shall we join the others?”
Innocent banter followed for the next few hours and the men got to know each other a little better. Alex did manage to take Ernie aside and explained his relationship with Aggie; a relationship that Ernie was well aware of anyway.
Towards midnight, the fire was doused and the night was pitch black. Alex had gone through the checklist mentally three times, he was satisfied that all was in position, checked and rechecked. At 2359, he had crawled across the ground on his stomach after switching on the power and the activator levers of the GM2. It was 2446 hours, and he removed the remote control from his pocket. “Well gents, visors on; would you like to hear a NASA style countdown, or a ready, steady and go?”
“Just switch the goddamn thing on; lying on this cold sand will give me chilled kidneys...hey I just saw some sparks over there...hit the button Alex!” Alex did.
-oOo-
A brilliant light appeared around the GM2; as if a thousand camera flashes went off at the same time. The corona of the light widened and became more brilliant, lighting up the dark night and the sky. Even though the men wore protective visors, their eyes automatically squinted at the power of the light. They then saw beams of light, short flashes, some very straight rays of off-white light, some beams bending on themselves and others became fractured and turned into lightning patterns, with branches long and short. They saw a beam shoot upward, directly over them, heard the hum; even smelt the electrical energy radiating off it. It continued through the clouds, illuminating them with eerie shades of white and pale.
Some of the rays touched an arrester on top of the capacitor building, giving the amazed men a spectacular view of crackling and dazzling flashes, much like the lightning effects of Tesler coils. Nothing was repeated; it was a continual display of light patterns, beams, rays and flashes. “Holy shit!” screamed Aaron, “what the fuck have we done? If this keeps up, we’ll blow the whole place into Kingdom Come. The lights are starting to spread! Turn that fucking thing off Alex, before it fries us all!”
“I can’t; there’s no off button man!”
“What about the capacitor?” yelled Ernie, “can we shut it down? . would that stop it?”
“Yea, the circuit breaker is inside the building; are you volunteering to go do it?”
“It’s getting hotter here, maybe we should move away some more.” No vote was needed as the men began crawling back.
“Ernie, what the fuck’s going on? Where the fuck are you? What’s happening?”
“I’m just over here!” Ernie yelled, looking around to see who asked. It was not Alex, Aaron or Abdul. He looked back at the place where the GM2 used to be and he saw a figure; there was no mistake, it was a naked and confused Kenny Kain. He had his hand over his eyes and yelling obscenities at the top of his voice.
Ernie blinked in confusion and before he could get to his feet, saw Abdul running through the cascade of light towards Ken. “Get back Abdul, you’ll be swallowed up as well!”
It was then that Ernie noticed Ken’s feet; they were about 6 inches off the ground and his body was slowly rising further upwards. “Abdul stop!” Abdul had no intention of stopping and although he did stumble a few times, he managed to hurl himself at Ken, tackling his legs like a seasoned Rugby player, and brought him to the ground.
All at once, the light display was over. It was dark again and only the light hum of the capacitor was heard. Aaron ran in the other direction, towards the floodlights and switched them on.
“Get your fucking paws off me you mad Arab. What the fuck are you doing here Abdul? I thought you went back to Algiers to report to your mates; and what’s happened here; where are my clothes? It’s fucking cold; Abdul you prick, have you feed me some of your funny stuff; don’t fuck me around man. And you Ernie, think that was funny? A smack to ya ugly mouth would be funny. Now fuck off and get me my clobber back you pack of assholes! And who the fuck are you, dickface?”
Alex did not answer. He turned to Aaron and said “no sign of the professor here, better have a look around anyway.”
Abdul and Ernie went to Ken’s side and frogmarched him back to the warmth of the Mess Hall, all the while swearing and cursing in his confused state. Aaron went to the floodlights and scoured the area with the bright lights, while Alex walked around looking for any clues.
“Your GM2 is just a black spot on the sand now. What just happened, Alex?”
“You saw what I saw Aaron; and, to be honest, I don’t know what I saw. I’d better get on the line to Aggie, she’ll be anxious; wish I had better news for her; about the professor.”
“Mrs Kellor wanted me to send her the ESPO readings as soon as possible if I may.”
“Let’s do it now. By the way Aaron, that guy, is he naturally bad tempered, seems a little ungracious after being rescued?”
“Hmm”, replied Aaron who was still coming to grips of past events...“I reckon his UFO abductors tossed him back. Can’t say I blame ‘em.”
Alex slapped him on th
e back and laughed, “Aaron, we’re going to get on well together.”
-oOo-
Aggie was on the phone again. “Well at least we have one of our people back Alex. Poor Professor Lien; don’t even know if he’s in space, on the ground or in some form of suspension. There’s nothing else to be done. Do you mind staying there a little while longer my love? At least until I go over some more data? I still have to check the ESPO that Aaron sent through.”
“Don’t know if my heart can take it, sweet lips, but I know this means a lot to you. No problems, I’ll stay as long as you wish. By the way, that Abdul is a really nice guy; he’s very concerned about the project and its future.”
“Of course he would be, and I don’t blame him; but without the professor, there will have to be a rethink. But that’s a point for later consideration. I guess I’ll be spending the night here in the office again; so alone. I’ll be dreaming of you and...and.. wait a sec...”
“Ah sorry Alex, the ESPO printout is just coming through...ooh, wait a little....Hey honey, remember that little line attached to the FOO? the carrier beam. Well half of it is gone...at exactly 2449. I can see the other half just detaching at 2450. That could mean both men have been dragged back. The one minute’s difference could be the other person, obviously the professor. He’s come back to ground, but not at the same location. We still have a chance Alex! We still have a chance; he could still be out there somewhere.”
“That’s great Aggie, can you plot an area for me to check out?”
“Have to get back to you lover; lots of calculations; getting Dwarg on it right now. Oh I hope this will work out OK.”
“By the way Aggie; I didn’t doubt your wacky Goomeri Mark 2 experiment for a second.”
“Liar, liar, pants on fire.”
“Yes, they sure are; ring me shortly?”