Chapter 36
Craig suspected someone had listened in on his call with Sally. The group who attacked the yacht was well-trained — had to be. After all, they took out one of his best agents, so had to be monitoring the communications from Sally and the ship for days to get in so close so fast. Whoever they were, they were good.
He decided not to go down to the massacre on the ship. By now, the local police and 5.0 would be all over the marina, perhaps even the FBI, since the boat had Cayman Island documentation and the crimes were committed in Hawaii. Besides, with so many idiots climbing around and contaminating the scene, there would be little worthwhile evidence. The locals would first think it was a robbery gone badly — they always do. It would take hours before they determined it wasn’t and when they finally did figure it out, he knew damn well didn’t want to answer any of their questions. From Craig’s first days at the Camp, he followed the maxim, “the less anyone knows about you and your team the better.”
Hanging up with Sally, he started to build his knowledge base to establish his own probable explanation by Googling "Salvation II.” He first wanted to get an idea of what kind of boat it was and the make-up of its crew. He was astonished when dozens photos sprang up, exclaiming, “Wow” under his breath. That Sally has great taste in men with money, he thought. Salvation II was a class of vessel that certainly required high-caliber security onboard. You had to be a skilled intelligence technician to manage the published list of electronics onboard. If they had this list of gear online available to the public, he was sure Salvation II had even more sophisticated equipment onboard, so his original assessment of the assailants’ skill level went up a couple of notches. If they were that talented, he absolutely had to stay away. Without question Homeland Security would be involved, and he wanted to keep DHS out of his shit.
Craig realized he had been cursing a lot lately, something he rarely did. This mission was a cluster so far and he was having a tough time settling it down. Even for him he hadn’t had enough sleep and combined with so many unforeseen events, it was all starting to deplete his mojo. Only one other time in his life did he remember cursing this often. Back at Yale when he played rugby, if they were losing because a teammate was screwing up, he would curse like a drunken pirate as some type of internal release mechanism. He was young and naïve and hadn’t learned to meditate skillfully yet.
What he needed now was some sleep and a few sessions of deep meditation to bring his karma into alignment. Well, that’s not in my immediate future, he told himself. In the meantime, it felt unnaturally comforting to add in flavorful vocabulary to his dialogue. Just like the old days when he battle his team back into victory! It used to work then, so it might just work now. So fuck, I guess I’ll continue!
He walked back into the lab where Jarrard was integrating the images of El Sharrad into the block file similar to what Shawn had described to Sally in the few e-mail exchanges they had found. Jarrard had gathered all the data and correspondence and assured Craig he fully understood the process and even calculated the problem with the first trials was insufficient power. One trial was in Shawn’s studio, the other at Ben’s. Photon had more than ample electrical capacity for this effort.
“Major, in another hour we will be ready to initiate the recovery and recreate your terrorist. Frankly sir, it is hard to believe Dr. Evans and a photographer could conceptualize and deliver the scientific methodology necessary to recreate someone from the Sentient photographs. Craig sir, glad you brought me in on this. I may be the only research physicist with the applied scientific experience to deliver,” Jarrard boasted. “Very soon, you will be able to question your subject. And don’t worry, I’m a pragmatist. I have little qualms on how you get him to talk.” I’m a patriot Mr. Craig and support all you stand for!”
Craig may have been nodding in agreement but he was thinking dolt. Craig would give him one shot, he planned, and if he failed, the good professor will disappear for a while he drained every bit of valuable intel out of him.
“Professor Jarrard, your enthusiasm is contagious and you’re providing a great service to our country. Can you tell me when we can begin? Time is of the essence.”
“Thank you and yes, sir, we will be ready shortly. The photographer may have stumbled into the process, but his image composite of the surfer was sorely lacking. He left out so much of subject’s content, the quantum level particles that he was comprised of. The resulting hologram must have been a mere ghost-like resemblance of the subject. How could this amateur expect to remake a person when so much was left out of the file block?”
“My master file is full and rich,” Jarrard continued ostentatiously. “I haven’t diluted any of the original images. I can assure you, with the improvements I’ve made in the software and image construction, in addition to the increased energy, when we form the hologram, we will bring your captive back.”
Jarrard moved the small laser they used in the lab into position.
“Okay, Mr. Craig, you might want to stand behind this shield because in two of the e-mails they highlight a notable vibration shaking the room, along with a loud noise when the hologram hits full resolution.”
“Yes, sure, I read all that; let’s get this done,” Craig answered. He knew inbred incompetency when he saw it, and he couldn’t think of a better reason to get behind the shield.
“Ready to go when you give the order Mr. Craig. Go, on go!” Jarrard said in his attempt to be military-like.
“Stop calling me Mister, I’m a fucking Major. You have my go-ahead, proceed.” Craig responded.
Jarrard slid the mouse pointer over the tab labeled Create and tapped the button. Reaching behind to two circuit boxes, he opened them both, but flipped on only one. He moved his other hand to the second power switch ready to engage it when the moment was right.
Craig hoped to hell this worked. This would be impossible if he hadn’t instinctively ordered the imaging technician at Langley to label and quantify the hundreds of images of El Sharrad he insisted be taken during the interrogation. Taking the Sentient photos of El Sharrad was remarkably prescient, and practical. He now carried the Sentient everywhere he traveled. When Craig discovered superior technology, he never went back, only forward. All the images in the composite file Jarrard created for him today were from the Sentient — and utterly critical to his success. He just questioned whether Jarrard’s skill matched his bravado.
“Sir, as you can see I will be gradually building the power load. We don’t want to provide too much power too soon. If we overwhelm the first stages of the hologram as it takes shape, it will develop into a singular bright light. The key is to inject energy at the precise moment,” shouted Jarrard above the increasing hum.
Over the platform in the center of the lab, El Sharrad’s ghostly figure instantly appeared. Surrounding him, a bizarre mix of furniture was materializing. Craig rapidly assessed the evolving imagery. He recognized a table from Gitmo, realizing that the photographs of El Sharrad were captured during multiple interrogations. He fumed, knowing that already Jarrard had erred. The images should have been cropped more accurately. He should have done more to isolate just the body, he thought.
El Sharrad’s features hardened and despite his wispy translucence, he looked like he was actually there in the room. This was the moment Jarrard chose to throw the second power switch and, when he did, the hum became a jackhammer rattling the entire building. The deafening noise grew louder still.
“Major! Don’t be alarmed. I anticipated this,” Jarrard shouted. “Prepare to witness a first in science…a breakthrough in physical recreation rivaled by no other single achievement!”
None of the magical teachings or advanced technologies Craig had experienced in his life prepared him for what he now saw before him. The man he sought for months, the man he captured and subjected to unbearable torture was here with them again. El Sharrad’s facial features were crystal clear, the whiskers of his beard fine and black around his mou
th. Craig could even see the veins in his hands pulsing as blood circulated throughout his body. Craig was ecstatic. It looked like, after all this he might get a second shot at El Sharrad.
But his satisfaction was short-lived. As he looked on in wonder, something was going terribly wrong. Jarrard had no idea he should have cut the second power source the second El Sharrad locked into full resolution as Ben had done when he brought Drake into our world. Jarrard was infusing El Sharrad with four times the electricity Ben had used. A fowl stench now permeated the lab while Craig and Jarrard looked on in astonishment.
El Sharrad blinked rapidly and licked his lips as if dying from thirst. Then, minute spirals of smoke seeped from the pours of his skin, his ears, his nostrils, and the chair he was fastened to had a faint glow with a red hue.
The contrasts between the actual items in the room and those from the hologram sharpened. Where the wooden chair touched the metal platform, the surface smoldered. Jarrard was incapable of knowing it, but the shield they stood behind was about to become terribly inadequate.
Everything about El Sharrad was supersaturated. Jarrard had blended far too much data into the hologram. Like when a star collapses in on itself, the density of matter inside El Sharrad was crushing each individual cell within him. Massive levels of energy continued to flow into El Sharrad and as they stared from behind the Plexiglas shield, the man who was a beast while alive on this earth, now became the physical embodiment of the evil he represented. His fingers, ears, arms, legs all appeared in duplicate. The multiple physical instances became like Siamese twins, but instead of being fused together as one, the images overlapped, off-center from one another by about a quarter of an inch. It was if someone had taken two human MRIs and laid one upon the other with a fraction of an offset. El Sharrad was replicating within himself.
Craig grasped the fatal flaw of Jarrard’s design and knocked Jarrard aside with one blow. Craig lunged for the power panel screaming, “Jarrard, how do I stop this? It’s going to detonate!” But just as Craig reached the electrical shut-off, the bang Shawn had warned of released with an intensity neither man could have foreseen.
The densely-compressed, highly-agitated particles had nowhere to go but out, and the pressure and velocity of the explosion blew the lab to pieces. The foundation of the facility quaked and the protective barrier in front of them separated from its support brackets and blew backwards onto the two men it was meant to protect. They were spared when it collided with adjacent columns in its path and the one-inch plastic held.
Jarrard was a mess, shaken and disoriented, but Craig was ever-sharp, having been through bombings worse than this, many he should never have walked away from. In the corner of his eye he could see something moving amongst the rubble near where the platform used to be. It was El Sharrad, and he was rising up to stand.
How in hell was he still alive, if he could call it that? Entire portions of his body dripped flesh, two pairs of eyes, slightly off-center as if someone had spun you around and you were seeing double. Craig had never puked before at the sight of human carnage, but he felt like he needed to now. It didn’t take a genius to see what had Jarrard had done. The doubling of the energy, compounded with the over-saturation of the hundreds of images in the creation of the composite base file had caused the hologram to form into two replicates that filled the same space, at the same time. As Craig pushed debris away to free himself he watched pitifully as the miserable creature struggled, apparently with both minds fully-functioning but unmanageably confused.
“Jarrard you are an ignorant moron! Do you have any clue to what you have done? Get your ass up now, and help me contain this monster you’ve made. In this state, he is no use to me. We have to terminate him!”
The deranged replicants thrashed about the laboratory, doubled hands pounding its two heads, ripping at its’ chests. El Sharrad was trying everything to rid him of him. Then, remarkably considering his conflicting existence, El Sharrad recognized Craig and charged towards the agent with a fiery hatred. Craig let him come, and as they collided he plunged his titanium serrated blade into El Sharrad’s dual hearts, rapidly jerking it in and out while twisting to deliver maximum internal damage. Even as he killed, Craig mused, I’ve killed two men with one bullet, but this is the first time I’ve killed the same man twice, with one blade, at the same time. Will wonders never cease? And El Sharrad was dead once again.
Craig looked down on the carcass and spoke to the dead man, “You Godforsaken, surreal representation of mankind, you finally appear as the evil which dwells within you! I have now had the satisfaction of delivering your death. An execution you deprived me of when you killed yourself like the coward you were.” He called out to Jarrard, “Jarrard, get whatever you need to travel we’re leaving, you’re coming with me!”
“Major Craig, I don’t know what went wrong, the steps taken were identical to Shawn’s. Oh, what a horrible thing we created!” as he looked at the bloody heap of human remains. “I don’t want any part of this horror show. I’m staying here.”
“Alright Jarrard, then lay down beside his body because you’re next,” Craig tossed out.
“You would kill me? I’m a U.S. Citizen, you can’t just kill me,” Jarrard pleaded. “Okay, I don’t know if you’re bluffing, but I don’t want to die. What do you want from me? I can recalculate and will give you your terrorist with our next try. If you want, we can go to the Natural Energy Laboratory in Kona. Photon has a branch there with an identical laboratory.”
“You fucking moron, I’m not taking you because I need you; you’re coming because you’re under arrest. What little competence you do have may be useful in locating Dr. Evans and the photographer.”
Craig calculated that there were only a handful of people who know about this and that, unfortunately, he could not kill Jarrard. He would take him into custody until he could drop him in a secure holding cell. Until then, he’d never be more than two steps behind him.
“Now tell me about the Energy Lab; as fate may have it, we are headed to Kona now. Oh, and you did do one good thing today. We’ll be using your image composite of El Sharrad again, but this time a little more creatively.”