The Armageddon Effect Read online

  Kane remained nearby, travel duffel ready, and watched me.

  “You know, Lane, this rates right up there as the craziest thing I’ve seen you do so far,” he remarked, pursing his lips.

  “I know. Part of me is wondering when you guys will fit me with a straight jacket.”

  “We really are going to just stand in this circle and appear ‘somewhere else’?”

  “Well yep, that’s the idea.”

  “Ri-ight.” Kane sniffed, scratching his nose. “What happens if that doesn’t play out the way you imagine?”

  “Don’t you have something to do?” What the hell. Does he think I enjoyed making a complete fool of myself or walking into traps getting everyone dusted. This was all I had up my sleeve. This or suffocate were the only options we had.

  “Naw, I’m ready.”

  I went back to work.

  “Audam?”

  Yes

  “Do you know what the stroke sequence rules are for Chinese symbols?”

  I presume you want the currently accepted set of calligraphy rules?

  “Yes.”

  I have activated a memory gestalt for you.

  “Thanks, Audam.”

  Umm. Would you object if I, er, used some of your cognitive memory locations that you have never accessed?

  “You want to use my mind for something?”

  Well. Yes. I’m a quantum construct and while your mind is entraining a self that becomes me, I have no experience of it. I have no senses like you do. With something to base myself into, it might be less, ummm … confusing.

  “Is it dangerous? Sounds dangerous.”

  What sex am I?

  “What? How should I know?”

  Exactly. See my problem?

  “Not really. No.”

  Your memory is full of sexual references, just to name one problem. Even your memory patterns are constrained in such a way to reflect your male mind. You think like a man, with all the male social mores intact. While I can assume your sexual reference, “I” do not have one.

  “Will it affect me?”

  No. I’m pretty sure you will be fine.

  “Pretty sure? That sounds damn vague to me.”

  I don’t foresee any issues.

  “Which means you don’t have a clue since you’ve never done this before.”

  I am a perfect process developed by the most advanced minds in the known universe.

  “Just be careful.”

  Checking. Yes, there. I knew the correct sequences. I made each stroke in the ancient method of the Chinese traditions. If nothing else, I might get an energy boost from the Chinese culture egregor. I chuckled at the thought as Audam guided my strokes.

  It didn’t take long and the runes were drawn in the pattern I wanted. I didn’t bother with the symbols of dragons and snakes since those were images meant to convey the context of what each rune represented.

  # # #

  Everyone had gathered in the sleep chamber.

  “Mr. Sudler. Personally, bucko, I think you belong on a funny farm. But, since the other option is a slow, asphyxiating death … Get it right. Otherwise, we’re humped like two cows butt to butt,” Jim said as he packed a wad of chew in a cheek. Sven rolled his eyes and mouthed “butt to butt” to Mel. She shook her head and held back a snort.

  The tension broke amid laughter.

  Kane unlimbered his M4A1 and cycled the lock and load.

  Jim eyed him for a second, muttered “Right,” then nodded to his fire team. He grabbed something shiny under his shirt, closed his eyes, and muttered. I couldn’t make out what he was saying. The sounds of four carbines cycled to ready-fire echoed around the room.

  “I don’t have to tell you I’ve never tried this before. And while I’d love to pump you up with false bravado, wave the flag, and gnash teeth, truth is, I have no idea what will happen. If anything,” I said.

  “Beautiful said. Lane, you inspire with a picture positive.” TJ laughed.

  “Everyone hold hands. Yeah, it’s silly, but I’d hop on one foot reciting Marilyn Manson lyrics if I thought it would help,” I said.

  They shuffled close-in and grabbed each other’s hands.

  “Hand, not ass, Trapper,” Mel snapped.

  Corporal Dawkins grinned at Mel.

  “Next, I want everyone to repeat this phrase on my mark.”

  I spoke the power words slowly, each followed by “then,” without cadence so as not to activate anything.

  “Any questions?”

  “Right. Here goes.”

  Exerting thought to the amulet while calling on compassion, I recited the power words in a chanting cadence much like Buddhist monks. It didn’t take long.

  The air wavered and the room blurred like looking through powerful heat waves. I tried again, everyone’s cadence more in beat with mine.

  I could feel the resonance starting. Just a little better synchronization on the words was needed.

  On the fourth attempt, we shifted. The amulet burned my chest like a hot poker. Light burst in a crescendo of whooshing sounds. Birds caw-cawed amid the buzz and shrill of bugs as the temporary blindness faded.

  Hot and damp. The heavy scent of nature replaced dust and wet granite. Flowers, wet earth, and musk filled the humid air. The musk had the tangy aroma of reptile.

  We stood knee-deep in a brick-lined pool. The perfect waterhole, I realized later. Runes on the pool lip glowed orange. The bricks were slick with yellow streaks where our feet disturbed the mud. My eyes rose from the pool to look beyond. Dense vegetation grew wild in a tree line nearby. Beyond the trees, the vegetation faded to a vast plain. The pool cut into the side of a gentle sloping hill. Odd angular protrusions jutted from the ground in rectilinear patterns, heavily overgrown with vines and covered in dirt. Distant volcanoes pumped billowing ash high into the bright sky. But that’s not what I noticed most.

  A herd of two-legged, man-sized dinosaurs, hundreds at least, grazed around the pool. They sunned themselves on nearby rocks, lay in the tall grass, or drank at the edge of the murky pool while balanced on their long tails. They were as startled as we were. Several hopped back from the explosive sound of our arrival, sniffed the air, keened, and grasped clumps of dirt with their tri-clawed feet.

  I looked on in horror. Raptors. They were friggin’ raptors.

  “Crap, get us out of here!” someone whispered. We just stared. They just stared.

  I heard a high-pitched scream. Several of the raptors tilted their heads, exposing white serrated teeth that left no doubt what they ate. Several moved closer, nostrils flared. Jolted into action, I gathered my wits and began to chant softly. They charged at the sound.

  I heard a scream as I concentrated on the amulet. My heart pounded. Loud thumps nearby. Several people dived off their feet. A big splash of water drenched me as a pair of clawed feet landed a foot away.

  “Sven, behind you!!”

  “Odin’s Balls!” Sven gasped. Frantic gunfire erupted. Initial bursts were followed by the fast-ratchet crack-bang of sustained fire. Spent shell casings spun over my head. The raptors jumped through the air like berserk kangaroos, biting each other in their frenzy. Oblivious to gunfire and blood-crazed, they swarmed the pool. The thud of bullets mingled with screams. A raptor gripped Joe in a giant bite that covered his shoulder, and teeth crunched down on his chest bones and shoulder blade. Whipping his gun barrel around with a wild-eyed look, he poured lead into the animal’s chest as it lifted him into the air. The raptor fell back dead. Another landed on its twitching tail, swooping down for another bite. I stopped looking. The continuous explosion of gunfire roared amid shrieks and nasal hoots. Full auto. Nonstop. Point blank. The pool turned soupy crimson. I closed my eyes. Concentrate. Concentrate. A slurpy snap came from my left. Bones snapped. Screams became gurgles.

  The adrenaline psi-rush came on, the amulet burned, and with a booming rush of air we were moving again. Easier this time. I felt rather than saw the flash of energy sweeping over us.
Something bumped me hard from behind, driving my body face forward. Violent thrashes of water nearby. The chattering crack-bang of gunfire was right next to me. Disoriented.

  Why was gunfire still going?

  “Wake up.” Someone shook me.

  “Bucko, that thing missed your head by inches,” Jim was saying. He had one of my arms, Kane had the other as they pulled me out from under the dead raptor.

  Four raptors floated in the bloody pool. Red splatter covered everyone’s clothes. This new pool spread out around us, wider.

  I swiveled my head to take in the view. Sunlight streamed in from ceiling-wide transparent sheets of silvered glass. Light filled the garden atrium with golden reflections and sparkling color. Lush trees grew in perfect symmetry around the walkway that encircled the pool. The air smelled clean and fresh. I took another breath. My brain flushed with energy, thoughts becoming crystal clear. Heavy scents of exotic flowers perfumed a light breeze. Beyond the walls, I could see a sloping hillside and a city.

  “Thank God,” I muttered, falling back into the cool water.

  “No you don’t,” Kane said as he pulled me up. “Where the hell are we, and oh, thanks for not dropping us into another lunch buffet at Jurassic Club-Dead.”

  Jim just looked at me, scowling. They knew we’d had little choice. We were trapped in the Octagon. But someone had to take the blame.

  “How many?” I asked, the frightening realities of the situation slamming home.

  “Three,” Kane said with that trademark no-nonsense stare. “Max Strenna, Corporal Dawkins, and Jerry Chico. Max threw himself on one of the dinos that lunged at Molly. He wrestled it to the ground, if you can believe that. Those reptiles must weigh a ton each. Jerry followed, jumping onto the thrashing duo. But two more dinos jumped on ‘em and grabbed Max, pulling him from the pool before we could get guns on it. Jerry took a bite to the chest that punctured his lung and heart. He died instantly. Joe took the one down that bit him, blew the fucker’s chest away. But another finished the bite, severing Joe’s shoulder and arm from his body,” Kane said as he grimly looked around.

  “We were lucky, the other injuries are mostly minor. So. Where the frack are we?” Jim eyes were wild and violent, and his finger twitched over the trigger guard of his carbine.

  “Look guys, I’m not sure. But we’re safe for now. Let’s look around and see what’s up.” I didn’t want to add that it wasn’t just where, but “when” that had me sweating. I had no clue where in time or space we had landed. My heart stopped for a moment as a thought slammed home. Please let us be on Earth, please.

  Sven and Jeff pulled Joe and Jerry’s blood-soaked bodies from the pool. Sven dragged Joe’s severed arm and shoulder joint out last and dropped it next to his remains.

  OBHIR

  Fresh water cycled into the pool and washed the blood into stone-carved drains. The cats were soaked. I put their cages on the pool’s rim. They were both purring so loud that we all heard them.

  We lifted the raptor carcasses out of the pool and dumped them on the yellow-paved floor.

  That’s when we noticed the pool. As the water cleared, golden beams reflected off the bottom, and the mosaic of gold bars. The rim of the pool had been in shadows and the water in the pool itself was ankle-high. No one had noticed the color of the pool’s brick amid the blood and gore. Gold sparkled everywhere, the pool, the floor, all of it, even some nearby benches. We stared in disbelief.

  That’s when they emerged from the shadows of the atrium. Tall, slender people. Dressed in white, lavender, and fuchsia linens. Twenty or thirty of them gathered around us. They were seven feet tall, maybe eight. The style of the clothes bewildered the eye. Each wore a different drape or cut. Modesty didn’t seem to be in fashion either. Several of the women were impossible to look away from. Almost perfect. Even Kane was agape, and that took some doing. Molly and TJ seemed just as taken with the chiseled, smooth-contoured men.

  Several of them carried a table laden with towels, bandages, and bowls of ointments. Another group carried a table of food and drink. A man, at least I think it was a man, orchestrated the groups. Waving and speaking a language that sounded vaguely Arabic.

  Another group hurried over to Joe and Jerry’s bodies and wrapped them in white linens on two stretchers. It took a moment to realize the stretchers floated on air.

  The leader caste were taller, and they had smooth skin with narrow, hairless chins and long hair. Their muscled bodies fit broad shoulders and narrow waists, like swimmers. Those that had breasts looked exactly like those without.

  The worker caste women had slim figures with modest breasts and alluring dark eyes. The men had bulging muscles in chest and thighs, broad chests and square jaws. They all had similar skin tones of various shades of brown and black.

  The tall one from the side beckoned us to the tables. He was the darkest ebony I had ever seen. His skin was iridescent and smooth. His hair fell to his waist and was braided in intricate knots laced with gold beads. Around his neck rested a bead chain of lapis lazuli and gold. A medallion of white crystal in a gold setting hung on his chest. But even all that didn’t prepare me for the eyes.

  They were a brilliant sky blue. When he looked at me, my brain felt like tiny claws scratched its surface. I had the sensation that “vast knowledge” gathered behind those eyes, piercing yet benevolent.

  Placing his hand over his heart, the leader walked over and said. “Ogot.” Then he broke into a big smile, said something to the other leaders who had gathered behind him, all the while pointing at my medallion. He also noted my misshapen, alien-implanted hand and nodded.

  I smiled and said “Lane,” putting my hand on my chest.

  “Lane,” he repeated.

  He waved us towards the tables, while pointing to a particular chair. I looked around. Everyone seemed ready to accept it all at face value and were making their way to the tables. Bandages quickly replaced wrapped bits of bloodied clothing. Two of the workers tended to the more severe cuts and abrasions, while a leader type watched, giving directions every now and then. Salves were applied, cuts were stitched, and soothing medicinal drinks were dispensed to the injured. The food was spiced. I knew these spices: pepper, salt, cinnamon, ginger. We were on Earth! Praise the infinite.

  I noticed Kane watching me as I sampled the food. He shook his head.

  “Luck favors the bold and you’re one lucky son-of-a-bitch,” he said.

  I smiled and gave him a thumbs up. He just snorted. I knew he wasn’t fooled by my cavalier attitude.

  We had barely avoided landing anywhere and anytime in the universe.

  The food was an assortment of meats, rolled leaves, chopped greens, pastes, all mixed with lettuce, figs, honey, and olives, with breads and juice. Another course of melons and salads followed the first. The use of the spices suggested Middle East and Mediterranean. I ate like it was my last meal, which pleased our host.

  After the meal, an aromatic spiced wine was served in large wooden bowls. I was about to drink it when I noticed our host dipping his fingers in it, then splashing his face and forehead. I did the same and others followed suit. The wine made the face tingle and smelled of spearmint.

  Our host spread his arms over his head and said “Obhir” several times.

  “Sounds like we are in Obhir, everyone,” I said to the team.

  Nice work stating the obvious.

  “I’m projecting a command presence. Friggin’ metalloid.”

  Uh huh.

  Kane stared off into the distance, the look of eagles in his eyes. I’d find out about that later, I was sure.

  After the meal, we followed Ogot out into a large building that surrounded the atrium. The building turned into countless layered terraces. Gold glinted off every building. There were thousands of Obhireans going about their tasks on all the levels. The building interior had lights. They looked similar to modern light bulbs but without sockets or any wiring. Cool air blew down on us, but I couldn’t see any air
vents.

  Colorful, exotic plants and trees decorated the hallways. We passed several groups who looked at us then went on their way unperturbed. No one spoke.

  It was just too much to take in. Kane remained with the fire team. Relaxed, but ready.

  After traversing a few more hallways, we were led to a series of adjacent suites.

  We had separate rooms furnished in a variety of tanned furs, delicate hand-woven rugs, wall tapestries, and paintings. Fluorescent glassware glowed in delicate hues and provided light to the suites.

  After being ushered into our suites, workers closed the doors behind them. I walked out on the open terrace and received another shock. Flying disks filled the air. People navigated metal machines and lumpy flat disks through streets below and around buildings above. As I gaped, not a sound of an engine or motor could be heard. Deep within the city, I heard and felt a steady thrum. Power plants of some kind came to mind. A scent of ozone filled the air. The city itself was large, sprawling miles in every direction. Twisting skyscrapers rose to dizzying heights, with architecture that favored flowing curves over rigid vertical and horizontal lines. There was a transparent wall or shield in the far distance that circled the city. It shimmered. The shield extended a few hundred feet above the ground. It had embedded flashes of light.

  From openings in the shimmering curtain, a steady stream of flying disks swarmed, carrying loads of all sizes. The loads appeared to be bricks of gold and other metals, slaughtered meats, and grains. The disks were of various lengths, with a flatbed recessed into raised sides, like the tail end of a pickup truck. Driver and passengers sat on benches at the front of the bed. Each vehicle had a dashboard with dials, meters, and colorful glowing filaments. A transparent canopy enclosed the passengers and beds of the vehicles. I sat on the terrace for a long while, mesmerized, before slipping into the soft bed.

  I woke refreshed. One cat lay on my chest, and the other had his fuzzy butt in my face. Friggin’ cats. My time sense was whacked. What time of day was it? It was night outside. The knock at the door sounded again. I hadn’t taken my clothes off yet and eased the purring fuzz ball off my chest. Phats. He just purred louder and opened one eye halfway. I got up and answered the door. Kane and TJ were there.