Emerald Sky (25 page)

Chapter 41

‘I want Lucy to do it,’ said Emmy.

‘Are you sure?’ replied Esteban. ‘We can’t
afford for anything to compromise our mission. I think it would be better for
you to go into this with your eyes open. Your subconscious mind is too...’

‘...unstable,’ she finished for him.

‘I was going to say unpredictable.’

‘Well, it doesn’t matter – my mind is
made up. I know you probably think it crazy, but I will feel better with her by
my side. It doesn’t matter that she isn’t real - just that she is there.’

This time Esteban did not object. Emmy
was not a fighter. Neither was Jimmy, yet he was asking them both to go into
battle with him. Who knew if any of them would survive what they were about to
face. The least he could offer them was the ability to meet their fate on their
own terms.

His plan was simple. He was to go in
first and take out the EMP whilst Jimmy and Emmy found a way into the complex
using the former’s psychic sense. The monks had volunteered to provide a
distraction. In total they numbered thirty. Having dedicated their existence to
meditation and peace, they carried no weapons and did not intend to engage in
any form of combat.

With the possibility of astral spies
watching the monastery, the safest way to the base of the mountain was via the
network of hidden tunnels running through its interior. Despite the fact these
subterranean corridors had not been used in years, Jimmy was able to guide
everybody through and safely to the bottom without incident. Once in position,
Esteban then had one last opportunity to rally his troops.

‘Are we all ready?’ he asked, leaving a
pause at the end for Yonten to translate for his brethren. ‘Once we break cover
we have to assume that we will be met with deadly force. There is a very real
possibility not all of us will make it through this. If anybody wants to back
out now, I will understand.’

Silence fell over the group. They were in
this together and if necessary, they would die together.

‘Okay,’ continued Esteban. ‘The important
thing is that we keep them busy. Do not take any unnecessary risks and watch
each other’s backs. Once the EMP is taken down, the balance will tip
considerably in our favour.’ He then withdrew two short range radios, which
along with his handgun and a third for himself, was all he had managed to
retain from their original kit. He gave one radio to Emmy and another to
Yonten. ‘These are for emergency use only. Surprise is our best chance and for
that reason we will need to maintain radio silence for as long as possible.’

The scientist nodded and the monk offered
a delicate bow with his palms pressed together in front of him. Now everyone
knew what was expected of them they fanned out to begin their mission. It was
not long after they approached the base that the generators burst into life.
Esteban’s stomach tightened as he waited to see if the shape that materialised
was humanoid or canine.

It was vaguely human in shape.

He glanced over his shoulder to check how
his friends were holding up. Jimmy was taking cover behind a large buttress of
rock. With luck, this would shield him from the manifest astral being’s scope
of awareness. Emmy stayed a little farther back so as not to interfere with the
psychic’s intuition. They would both get their chance soon enough, but at that
moment it was up to Esteban.

The CIA operative dropped to the floor
and waved his arm as a signal to Yonten. The head monk then took a breakaway
group of his brethren and headed toward the far side of the complex. The astral
sentinel took the bait. It switched its position in an instant, blocking the
path of the monks. They responded by spreading out, forming themselves into a
wide arc around the traveller. As they raised their arms and joined hands
Yonten led them in a slow, even chant.

The traveller was caught completely off
guard. Although he had a physical presence, his perception of the outside world
was no different to that of any other disembodied consciousness. He experienced
the world like a three dimensional heat map, with objects acquiring visibility
in terms of their requisite energy density level. Sounds were only
comprehensible as vibrating waves, distorting the air that carried them.

The monks’ chant was a thousand year old
mantra and the sound waves it emitted resonated perfectly with the electrical
frequency of the astral being. The resulting vibrations literally shook the
traveller’s concept of both time and space, confusing and immobilising him. He
could neither move nor think. They had him trapped.

With the threat contained, Esteban made
his move. He got back to his feet, taking a wide path, approaching the compound
from the right flank. When he was within ten metres of the outer wall he was
joined by Jimmy. This was not part of the plan.

‘Is something wrong?’ Esteban asked.

‘Just following orders,’ replied Jimmy.

‘But my orders were for you to wait until
I took out the EMP.’

‘I’m talking about my...other orders.’

He briefly evaded eye contact, as if
ashamed of his incredible gift.

‘Oh, I see,’ said Esteban. ‘In that case
- tell me what you see.’

Up until that point, the young psychic
had only followed his vision as far as joining Esteban, but it was not long
until he received his next visual clue. He was to lead the soldier past a
series of trip wires and security laser beams that he may otherwise have
overlooked. Ordinarily, Esteban would have the equipment to identify and
navigate these traps himself, but with no such tools available and the added
camouflage of freshly fallen snow, the task would have been all but impossible
without psychic intervention.

Thanks to Jimmy, they safely and swiftly
made it to the concrete outer wall of the compound. The astral being was still
incapacitated in a trance-like state due to the harmonious chanting of the
monks, but its lack of progress had alerted whoever was in command that it was
in distress. The generator coils once more whirred into life. Then in a flash
the traveller disappeared, only to rematerialize back at its source. As if no
more than a simple software error, the Chinese scientists had rebooted the
system.

Back to full strength and awareness, there
was no way that the astral being was going to fall for the same trick twice.
Heavy duty blast doors opened at the front of the complex and a squad of nine
soldiers emerged. These heavily armed infantrymen immediately began to lay down
a line of fire directed at the monks. The holy men had no option but to flee
for their lives, leaving fallen brethren behind as the infantrymen slowly
advanced to finish the job.

‘We have to help them,’ said Jimmy.

‘No,’ replied Esteban. ‘We have to focus
on the primary task. They have a job to do, as do we. We have to take out the
EMP. Once we do that – Emmy can take over.’

Jimmy knew that his friend was right and
received no direction from a sixth sense telling him otherwise. They were
hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. Without the tulpa they could never
succeed, but until the enemy’s defences were immobilised against such a force,
Emmy could not act. Though not harmful to her physical being, a blast from the
EMP would severely disorientate her and leave her unable to conjure up another
projection for some time.

The two men ascended a ladder leading to
the roof of the compound. Again, there were trip wires, and again, Jimmy
negotiated them with ease. Once topside, they found an array of satellite
dishes. At the centre was a larger device, which resembled a lighthouse beacon.

‘That’s it,’ said Esteban.

He withdrew his gun. The device had an
access panel that was encased in a protective shield, fastened with a secure
lock. In circumstances such as this, a bullet was as good as a key. Esteban
raised his weapon to fire, but did not get to pull the trigger as something
grabbed him by the scruff of his jacket and hurled him back towards the edge of
the roof.

Jimmy did not have his usual relative
luxury of foresight. This was one of those moments when his psychic ability was
so acute that it directed his movements in real time. He saw Esteban hurtling
towards the edge of the roof and reacted instantaneously.

Leaping into the air, Jimmy spread
himself wide to arrest the soldier’s trajectory, deflecting him back onto the
safety of the roof, whilst knocking himself over the edge. The snow immediately
around the base of the compound was more compacted than the fresh covering
adorning the rest of the area. Upon impact with the ground, he lost
consciousness.

Esteban quickly reoriented himself, but
his situation had improved little. It seemed pointless that Jimmy had even
bothered. The soldier's gun was out of reach and he had no other weapon to use
against an invincible foe. Without Jimmy, and with Emmy still rendered useless
by the EMP, he was alone.

The one-sidedness of the situation was
not lost on the astral being. Rather than move in for a quick kill, it advanced
slowly, savouring the moment.

***

General Tao watched the unfolding battle
with the emotional detachment of an apex predator. He was not the type to
hesitate in ordering a man to lay down his life to further his cause. It was
not, however, his men who were dying.

‘General, the monks are making a full
retreat back into the mountains,’ said Major Heng. ‘Shall I order the men to
stand down?’

‘You will do no such thing,’ the general
replied. ‘All insurgents are to be eliminated.’

The major hesitated.

‘Do you have a problem executing your
orders?’ the general asked.

‘No...sir,’ the major reluctantly
replied.

He passed on the order to the squad
leader over the comm. After doing so, he felt ashamed. It was as if a great
weight had been placed upon his back.

‘Excellent work, Major,’ said the
general. ‘It is now time to bring our work here to its natural conclusion. We
will release the chosen ones.’

The eight remaining volunteers, who had
appropriated new vessels for their life energy whilst dosed up on the psychic
radiation, were brought into the command chamber. In turn, each one gave a
salute to the general before vanishing into the ether. Once gone, there would
be no line of communication between master and servant. General Tao was now
fully committed to his nefarious plan.

***

‘Esteban, Esteban – can you hear me?’

The voice was coming from the soldier’s
belt. He reached down and unclipped his walkie-talkie. Though slightly muffled,
the voice coming through was undoubtedly Yonten’s.

‘I’m a little busy, right now,’ Esteban
replied. ‘Jimmy’s down and I won’t be around for much longer. You’d be best to
call Emmy.’

‘But you are the one that I can help, my
friend. Many of my brothers have been executed. I managed to get away. I have
found shelter where they cannot see me, but I can see you.’

‘So what’s the plan?’

The astral being was now standing
directly over him and he fully expected the next words he heard to be the last.

‘Hold up the radio,’ said Yonten.

Esteban did so and to his amazement it
had an instant effect on the hostile entity. Muffled verse flowed from the
speaker of the device in his hands as Yonten recanted the disorientating
mantra. It was not as clear as when the monks had chanted in unison so its
effect was less powerful, but it was effective nonetheless.

The being’s movements became sluggish as
it reached out to smite Esteban from existence. The CIA agent easily rolled out
of the path of its arcing blow. It attempted several more times to impact him
with its deadly electrically charged fists, but each time the soldier evaded
the attack. Like an expert angler, he reeled the being in toward the centre of
the structure until he felt his back up against the outside casing of the EMP
control panel.

The chanting was cut short by the sound
of gun fire. First from the speaker in his hand and then in echo from the
surrounding mountain range as the sound waves caught up with the radio signal.
By chanting, Yonten had inadvertently given away his position.

‘You bastards,’ said Esteban, but the
entity standing over him could only see waves of phonic energy issuing from the
soldier’s mouth. It neither heard nor cared what he had to say.

With cold steel pressing against his
back, Esteban knew he had nowhere left to run. He straightened his body and
braced for the attack. It came swiftly, but he was ready for it. He dodged to
the right of the ball of solid electrical energy that was aimed straight at his
heart. The astral being was committed and had no time to pull back. Its
lightning ball of a fist collided with the EMP generator overloading its
circuits to the extent that it burst into flames, lighting up the rooftop like
a beacon.

The frustrated being turned to get
another fix on its prey, but it did not find itself facing Esteban. In the
soldier’s place was a much larger foe. If he had human eyes, the astral
traveller would have recognised the beast before him from ancient myth and
folklore. It was Meh-Teh – the tulpa beast more commonly known by the name of
yeti. He did not stand a chance.