Ann was still handling the soldier perfectly. When they had rounded the corner, she had suddenly stopped crying and convinced him she was better. She said she would meet him after he was off duty and the promise was enough to get him to return to his post. She was thinking to herself; Men can be manipulated so easily if you want it that way, as the vision of Tony when the shotgun ended his life was clear in her mind. She knew it had been her finger that had unleashed the agent of death on him, and it had a strangely comforting effect on her.
The communicator clicked and fed Tim the instructions he needed. He placed a small respirator on the mask on Arty’s face and attached a thin tube to the intravenous tube running out of Arty’s arm. The thin tube ran to a small cluster of clear blobs bundled together. He then draped a protective sheet over Arty. He then laid a rope like article down, starting at Arty’s head and going around his whole body, completing the circle at his head again. Then he signaled Ann.
Ann had made her way back to the van, and when she received Tim’s signal, she backed it up on the lawn stopping below the window Tim was signaling from. Then she opened the rear doors.
Tim saw the doors to the van open and he went into action. He cut the tubes leading from Arty to the hospital equipment, clipping the openings to seal them. Immediately a nurse and the doctor rushed into the ward. Tim pointed his left hand and fired. Instead of a loud crack, there was a gentle pop, and a soft pink streak of light struck the doctor, knocking him to the floor. The nurse pulled up and before she could utter a word, a second charge silenced her.
Tim activated the carrier to transport Arty to the van. The rope he had placed around Arty emitted a pale green light as it lifted Arty off the hospital bed. A quick check told Tim his brother’s condition was stable and already improving. Tim placed the rest of the equipment alongside Arty and stepped back.
Tim pointed his right hand at the window and fired. A vicious streak of light blew out an entire window section. He started the carrier, with Arty, through the window. When it was clear of the building, he turned to make his exit. Ann would pull Arty the rest of the way into the van.
The guard burst through the door with his M-16 at the ready just as Tim turned to leave the ward. Tim fired with his left hand, but missed. Before he could fire again, the muzzle of the M-16 flashed. Something hit him hard in the hip and spun him around. He slammed into a bed and fired again. His second bolt hit the M-16, and the startled soldier dropped the weapon. Tim fired again, quickly, and the soldier slumped to the floor.
The last nurse was now out of the control room, but Tim just rushed past her and out of the ward. Other people’s brothers in the ward would need her expertise. The others he had stunned would be up in a few minutes.
Outside the ward, a doctor and another soldier met Tim as he rounded the first corner. They were rushing toward the ward.
“Some equipment exploded in there!” Tim exclaimed as he ran over to the fire extinguisher on the wall.
The doctor and soldier barely acknowledged him as they continued toward the ward in a rush.
Tim left the extinguisher on the wall and headed out of the hospital.
*
As he reached the parking lot, the van with Ann at the wheel was speeding toward him with a police car close behind. The van reached him, and the driver’s door flew open. Before he could get inside, however, the police car screeched to a stop behind the van and both doors began to open. Tim fired three quick bursts with his right hand at the front of the police car. The entire front of the vehicle disintegrated in a flash of sparks, flames, and small pieces. The police officer on the driver’s side was thrown back against the seat, and the passenger was sent sprawling on the grass outside the car.
Tim jumped into the van, pulled the door closed, punched the accelerator, and raced down the parking lot past dozens of startled observers. Tim changed the color of the van from white to a bright blue, and then changed the license plate numbers, thanks to another one of Mr. V’s tricks.
*
When they reached the highway, Tim asked Ann to drive and went into the back of the van. Arty was partly conscious. “Well, Big Brother, how do you feel? Don’t try to talk, until I get this mess off your face,” Tim said.
Mr. V had been monitoring Arty and there were new instructions. Tim followed them, constructing an energy cocoon around Arty that would serve as a life support system far advanced to the hospital’s. Tim removed all the hospital’s gear, opened one of the rear doors, and threw it all out.
Arty appeared to be close to fully conscious now. “Timmy, is that you?” he said groggily. “What the hell’s going on?”
“It’s a long story, but it’s going to have a happy ending. No more hospitals for you because we’re going to fix you up.”
Arty had his head turned toward Tim with a bewildered look on his face.
“Honest Arty, I can do it! What do you think of that?”
“What do I think? I think you’ve lost your marbles! That’s what I think,” Arty said weakly.
“Feeling better?”
“A little, where am I?”
“In Mom’s van, what do you think of it?”
“What’s all this?” Arty rotated his head, looking around the inside of the van at the strange gear scattered about.
“It’s part of the long story.”
“You can start, anytime you’re ready.” Arty was getting stronger and was regaining his directness.
“I found all this, and a lot more.”
“Does Mom know about this? I hope you haven’t got into anything you’ll regret. I’ll kick your ass, if you’re screwing up,” Arty joked.
“Not for a while, but you’ll get your chance soon,” Tim said happily.
“Quit talking through your hat. I’m not getting up anymore, remember,” Arty said sternly.
“Look around again, and then tell me how you feel?”
Arty rotated his head again, surveying the inside of the van and replied. “I feel really good, actually. Better than I have for a long time. Where did you get all this stuff? How’d you get me out of the hospital? ‘What the hell is going on’?”
“I go you out of the hospital ‘to fix you up’. I already told you that.”
“Bullshit Timmy! I want to know where you got all this stuff? ‘Now Timmy’!”
“I told you, I found it?”
“Oh, alongside the road I suppose?”
“Not exactly.”
“Elaborate Timmy.”
“I found it in the mountains, above Mountain Cove.”
“Tim, this looks like some extremely sophisticated equipment. Stuff like this just doesn’t end up lying around up in the mountains.”
“Somebody left it there. This is fun, having Arty on the receiving end. All my life I’ve had to ask Arty the questions.”
“Tim!” Arty’s voice was again stern. “You quit playing games. Where did you get all this?”
“Like I said, it was in the mountains.” Tim hesitated until Arty was about to talk and then quickly added. “In a base.”
“In a base of what?” asked Arty.
“A base of things like this.”
Arty turned to Tim, looked him square in the eyes and then asked, “Well?”
“Well, what?”
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Arty said kind of chuckling.
Tim chuckled back. “Yeah, but it’s good to see you again.”
“Quit stalling. I hope you’re not trying to fabricate a story to get off the hook.”
“No story could be as good as the truth.”
“Then the truth, please.”
“I found an abandoned, alien base.”
“Alien?”
“Beings from another world.”
“The same place your mind went to, no doubt,” Arty commented.
“My mind’s right where it’s always been. Don’t believe me huh?”
“You don’t make it easy.”
“Arty trust
me. I found an alien base that’s been empty for millions of years. They were travelers from the stars. They came here millions of years ago for research and mining, then they left, and I found their base.”
“What?”
“It’s the truth. Where else would I get equipment like this, and you even admitted you felt better. When was the last time you were able to breathe without all that crap on your face, huh? Tell me that!”
“This can’t be happening, but it must make some sense.” Arty replied like he was talking to himself. “Where are we going?”
“To the base.”
“Is Mom there?” Arty asked.
“When we get to the base the technology there can help you.”
“Does Mom know about all this?”
“Imagine Arty, you’ll be as good as new, I promise.”
“What about Mom?” Arty asked loudly.
“What about her?”
“Why are you stalling when I ask about her? Tim?”
Tim took a deep breath and tried to use a courageous voice, but it didn’t work because he sounded like a boy that had just lost his mother. “Mom’s dead.”
There was a silence for a few seconds, and then Arty asked. “What happened?”
“She was killed in the earthquake.”
“What earthquake?”
“Don’t you know what’s happening?”
“No,” Arty stated.
“There’s been major earthquakes all along the faults. This whole region is in a hell of a mess. It was the quake that opened up the base. That’s how I found it.”
“Mom didn’t suffer, did she?”
“No.” Telling him about the booze and the pills doesn’t make any sense.
“Poor Mom, she didn’t deserve all that she got stuck with,” Arty said sadly.
“I know Arty, but you didn’t either.”
“I knew what I was getting into. I just took a chance, that’s all.”
“Get some rest; I’ve got to check on Ann. This is the first time she’s really driven much and she’s probably getting tired.”
“Is it the same Ann you used to hang around with?”
“Yup, the same one, why?”
“I had a dream about her, just a short time ago.”
“Might not have been a dream,” said Tim.
“Huh?”
“Get some sleep, I’ll explain later.”
“I am tired. It’s good to see you Little Brother.”
“Feeling’s mutual, now get some sleep.”
*
A faint dawn was starting to show on the Eastern horizon to the front of the van as they approached the valley. They were about forty miles from their destination. With any luck Tim could have Ann and Arty safe in the base by nightfall.
*
As they neared Mountain Cove, the radio reported that activity was increasing on the fault ahead and the valley was being evacuated, which explained the heavy traffic headed north toward the high desert.
At the North end of the valley they encountered a road block.
“I’m sorry Son, no one is admitted past this point. You’ll have to turn back,” announced the Highway Patrol Officer.
“My mother and my sister are still in the city, I have to pick them up,” Tim pleaded.
“They will be evacuated by the military, if they haven’t already,” the officer said sternly.
“But they’re waiting for us,” Tim begged.
“No good, I have my orders. Turn around now!” the officer stated.
Tim backed the van away and pulled off the road a couple of hundred feet from the roadblock.
“Now what?” Ann asked.
“I don’t know, but we have to get through.”
“Why? Let’s go back. Please Tim. They wouldn’t be blocking the roads if they didn’t have a good reason, would they?”
“We have to get through,” Tim stated emphatically.
“Why!” Ann shouted. “God Tim, you are obsessed with this base, or whatever the hell it is you’ve dreamed up. They don’t want us to go on for our own good. Doesn’t it make any sense to you?”
“Look, if we get through we will be safe, and I have to get Arty back there.”
“‘If’ we get through? Great! Tim, I don’t want to go back there. I don’t want to die. And this mystical base? Don’t you think you should tell me the truth? I’ve been all through those mountains and there’s nothing there. Please, let’s go back,” Ann was pleading now.
“Trust me. We’ll be safe there, and I have to get Arty back, so I can fix him.”
“Fix him! You are nuts! Fix him! All the doctors in the world can’t fix him. Who the hell do you think you are?” Ann shouted.
“It’s not me; it’s Mr. V that can help Arty. Don’t you understand? I thought I explained all this before?"
“I can’t possibly understand a crazy person, unless I’m crazy myself. Do you understand?”
“Well, I’m not going to force you. It’s either my silly way, or think of something yourself,” Tim snapped.
“Hey Tim, there’s a Mr. V that needs to talk to you real bad!” Arty shouted from the back of the van.
Tim jumped to the rear and found Arty in conversation with Mr. V.
“What’s up?”
“We’ve got some problems according to your friend. He says large eruptions of lava are due to start within the hour. He recommends we don’t delay our return in the least. He sounds very proper.”
“He’s a computer.”
“A what?” Arty exclaimed.
“Remember I told you the base is deserted. He’s the central computer. He runs the place now that there’s no one left. He tries to be as personable as possible, even has a sense of humor, or likes to think so. You’ll like him.”
“I’m looking forward to this place, tell me more about it.”
“Later, because we have to hurry, but you probably wouldn’t believe most of it anyway. Not until you saw it for yourself that is.”
*
Tim was back on the road and was headed for the roadblock at high speed. Two patrol cars had been driven together to form a barrier across the street.
“You are fuckin nuts, man!” Ann screamed as she jumped out of her seat and ducked into the rear of the van.
Tim struck the center of the barricade at seventy miles an hour. The impact was barely felt in the van, but the two patrol cars were sent spinning, both front ends smashed to rubble. Bless the protective covering Mr. V gave me. In the melee behind, a couple of shots were fired at the van, but none effective.
A couple of miles down the highway a military truck had pulled off the road and a reception was waiting for the van.
Ann started screaming again from behind him. “Stop! Tim! Please, they’re going to kill us! Please stop!”
“Quiet, we’ll make it!” Tim bellowed. Just as he said that, flashes erupted from the soldiers weapons.
“Duck!” Tim shouted as he instinctively hunched down for cover.
Sharp cracking sounds came from all over the front end of the van, but nothing came through. Tim raced by the still firing soldiers, and there was a loud bang from the rear of the vehicle.
“Check Arty quick!” Tim shouted to Ann.
Ann stumbled farther into the rear, and reported he was okay. The van had started to act up again, but Tim immediately recognized it as another earthquake. He slowed down to give himself plenty of time to avoid any debris on the road.
*
They were headed east toward the high spot in the middle of the valley, formed by the wind piling the sand into large dunes over the centuries. The sky in front was black, and the closer they got to the fault the darker it got. As they were approaching the crest, Tim could make out an orange glow at the base of the blackness. The lava had started to flow into the lower end of the valley.
At the top of the crest the world in front of them looked primeval. Running at an angle to them, the lava was pouring out of the earth in a line run
ning from north of their position, to the Southeast. The line of liquid fire disappeared into the distant smoke many miles in front of them.
Then they turned south to head directly for Mountain Cove, causing them to move slightly away from the fault line which was about five miles away. The ground was shaking constantly, and Tim had to drive the van like it was traversing the back of a giant snake. The air was hot and stunk of rotten eggs, stinging their eyes.
Again some of Mr. V’s foresight had proven valuable. The computer had included some sophisticated gas masks in the equipment. Tim put one on, instructing Ann to do the same. Arty was already protected.
Tim had been watching some helicopters, to his right, that had lifted off a few miles in front of them and were traveling to the Northwest.
A bright flash to his left caught his attention. A tremendous explosion from the fault sent lava balls arcing thousands of feet into the air. Tim jammed the accelerator to the floor as the bright balls of fire left smoky trails in the sky. The balls were headed down all around them now. Tim watched in horror as a fire ball connected with one of the helicopters. There was a flash, and the burning wreckage fell from the sky. One of the fireballs landed a couple of hundred feet from the van with a hiss and a loud smack. Hot sand and tiny smatterings of lava showered the van. Although the van was protected, Tim was worried about the tires because molten rock would surely do them in. Farther up the road a truck lay burning furiously, the driver charred at the wheel.
The bombardment ceased, but the outpouring of the lava continued. From the lava, great billows of ash and smoke towered miles into the air. Massive bolts of lightning slashed through the black, ugly clouds. A constant heavy rumble rolled through the stricken valley. The van was the only traffic on the road now. They were driving into hell. Ann had returned to the front, wearing the mask, and was strangely silent.
I wondered if this was a good decision after all.
There was a rise in the road ahead and from there it would be about a mile down to the road leading into Mountain Cove. At the top of the rise, Tim’s heart sank. Between them and the cove the road crossed a concrete bridge spanning a large dry river. To Tim’s horror, the wash was half full of lava flowing from the fault-line. Flames were licking all around the bridge supports, and as he closed the distance he could see parts of the bridge exploding from the intense heat. If the lava caused any of the supports to pop, they would be in big trouble. They would have to back track at least ten miles to find another crossing. He was almost to the bridge when a huge chunk of the right side of the structure blew into dust. Tim aimed the van at the remaining left side, punched the throttle and prayed. The van zipped onto the damaged structure and at the speed it was traveling, crossed in seconds.