Killer Thrillers Box Set: 3 Techno-Thriller, Action/Adventure Science Fiction Thrillers (38 page)

Tanning hurriedly slipped the small vial of liquid from his pocket and untwisted the cap. 

This was his calling. This moment was the moment that would define — no,
re
define — him. He was about to inherit the knowledge of the ancients — and nothing was left to stop him. Standing above the crystal stone, looking upon it in fascination, he turned the vial and let its contents pour out. They seemed to fall in slow motion toward the rock floor of the small cavern. 

Finally, the vial's liquid made contact with the tip of the small pyramid on the ground. The sound in his ears was no more enlightening than a cup of water being poured onto a rock, and yet he knew it was life-changing sound. And here we go, he thought. In a few seconds the crystal would begin to react with the liquid and the transformation — his transformation — would take place. 

The liquid fell down the sides of the pyramid, almost completely covering its four faces. The clear glass vial he held in his hand became empty as the final drops ran out of the tube. He watched in slow motion as the fluid ran to the base of the crystal, and then in an instant, the entire pyramid was completely covered.
 

A blinding light arose from the crystal’s center that grew to fill the small space Vilocek was in. He grew even more excited, even more impatient. The light became too overbearing for his eyes, and he sensed a humming sound in the back of his mind as the ancient power source awakened. Finally, the light and sound grew to an almost unbelievable level, and had he not been holding the vial by his side, he would have felt compelled to cover his ears. His skin felt prickly, almost as if he was burning from the inside. The hair on his body rose, as if stuck in a field of static electricity. Vilocek wondered if something had gone wrong.
 

At that instant, almost as if reading his mind, the power source went completely dark for a split second — completely silent — and then Tanning Vilocek’s world exploded in light.
 

The pyramidal power source suddenly emitted a bathing glow that encapsulated Vilocek in a constant warm light, like being directly in front of an overhead projector the moment the on switch was flipped. His eyes didn’t have time to adjust to the light, but his mind immediately responded to the powerful emission, and his enlightenment began.
 

Tanning saw the entire history of the world, laid out in front of him like a chronological timeline of events — every moment of every day that had passed on the earth. He saw the rise and fall of great civilizations, and knew the reasons for their successes and eventual collapse. Thousands of years of human history flashed before him and long-lost secrets and mysteries were revealed.
 

The location of the Library of Alexandria.
 

The building of Stonehenge, The Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
 

He saw Eve in the original Garden.
 

He watched the rise of the Atlantis civilization, and the creation of the power source he now controlled, and their horrible fall and self-destruction.
 

He saw each and every written document crafted by the hand of man — understanding all of them, no matter what language.
 

And it had only been one one-thousandth of a second.
 

Tanning’s mind slowed to a crawl as the endless and thorough knowledge of the ages was made aware to him. He took it in and relished each piece of information as it appeared. It was hard to explain, this knowledge. It was not like coming to grasp with something one might read — this knowledge; this ancient intelligence — was as perfectly clear and immediately recognizable to him as a color or shape or smell. The full effect of the crystal’s awesome power was overwhelming and unbelievable beyond his wildest dreams.
 

Armed with this power source, Tanning would return to the modern world a prophet — a superhuman being, as omniscient and omnipotent as God himself. People would put their faith in him, and they would follow him.
 

They would fight for him.
 

As each of these thoughts would enter his mind, the answers and solutions to problems he hadn’t even considered made themselves clear — how he would rule over the earth; how he would conquer each enemy that would stand in his way.
 

All he needed to do was return to the world and begin his succession to the throne of Man.
 

But the source of power at his feet continued to grow and burn its great knowledge into his mind. The neurons and pathways of his brain were lit up and downloading incredible streams of data every second, and his mind was completely entranced by the emission of light, and yet the rest of his body seemed asleep.
 

Or paralyzed, to be more precise.
 

He couldn’t budge. His feet were locked in place, and the vial he had held in his hand had apparently fallen to the ground at some point. He tried to blink — to will himself to move — but to avail.
 

He suddenly wished there was a way to turn off the pyramid’s light. He had only been in its presence for five seconds, but the overwhelming amount of information and knowledge he possessed had overtaken his mind’s ability to function as a command center for his body.
 

Tanning was trapped in the gaze of this power source, and nothing he could do would release him.
 

His face burned, and the tickling sensation on his body returned, slowly at first, then building to a crescendo of fire underneath his skin. He wanted to scream — to respond physically in some way, but he no longer had the space in his brain to give his muscles orders. The power source was throbbing now — or maybe his eyes were. His vision blurred and sharpened intermittently, pulsating with the beating of his heart. A pressure began to build from the back of his neck, growing larger and encompassing more and more of his head with each passing moment.
 

The fiery feeling underneath his skin sent signals to his brain that he could do nothing about. He wanted to drop to his stomach and roll around, attempting to put out the fires that he was standing in. He could feel the hair on his arms; on the back of his neck, heating and smoking. The blood coursing through his now-defunct body reached a boiling heat, and although he couldn’t move his head down to see, the skin on his body bubbled and even burst in spots, the internal pressure and heat building to an uncontrollable level. The throbbing in his eyes become too much, and his vision turned into a fading blur.
 

It had taken him all of half a second to create every possible scenario and outcome in the limitless computational power of his brain, but each led him to the same result: this hell of knowledge would consume him. More and more information and knowledge entered his brain, and by now his body was a living hell — most of his internal structure had been heated to a point just below combustion, and some of his organs — spleen, appendix — had burst. The pain was unreal and unbelievable, but somehow it still registered in his mind.
 

The more the knowledge poured into him — transmitted from the ancient power source — the slower his world became, and the more agonizingly drawn-out his destruction became. His clothes finally caught fire and his eyes, no longer able to provide sight, finally burst outward. The remainder of his skin, bleeding and cauterized, melted and oozed from him like an oily clay.
 

His last realization was also immediate and complete: he understood that this device, one created by man, was inevitably created imperfectly. As man was created from His perfect image, so too will be this device, from the image of perfect power and knowledge. Man was created; beautiful, and yet flawed from our own falling. This power source was merely an image of power, an image of what the ancients believed to be God’s omniscience. But it was created by man.
 

It was imperfect.
 

And so was he.

CHAPTER 72

1:32 PM

THE EARTHQUAKES and tremors caused by the unstable breakdown of the crystal, though still gently rocking under their feet, had temporarily subsided. Throughout the trip back up the passageway, through the city, and out of the underground cavern, Bryce, Wayne, Cole, and Corinne could feel the island slowly breaking apart. It was as if enormous hands, deep below them, were stretching the island and tearing it apart. The groans and creaks of the cavern system, desperately trying to remain sturdy, called out to each other during the team’s ascent. The hollow-sounding cries of twisting and popping rock, rising from below them in the dark, hurried them along through the passageways and rock-cut tunnels.
 

Finally they saw sunlight peeking from around a corner in the cave. They picked up their pace, eager to leave the haunting caves and ancient city.
 

Three hours had passed since they’d entered the cave. Another fifteen minutes of jogging and they’d reach the island’s airstrip and their ride home.
 

About ten minutes later, Bryce halted.
 

“What’s up?” Corinne asked. She was holding Cole’s arm as they ran; while he was almost back to normal after being freed from the grasp of the crystal’s glow, he still had clammy hands and seemed cold. His voice had returned to normal, and most of the color had returned to his face.
 

They peered over the small rise where Bryce had stopped. Looking down to the city and beyond, they could just make out the airstrip and the small hangars that dotted the beach leading to the ocean.
 

“See that?” he said. “Looks like smoke.”

“Coming from that hangar,” Wayne added.
 

They knew what it meant.
 

“Shit — let’s go.” Bryce sighed and unstrapped his rifle from his back. He tightened his pack and started to run toward the city.
 

1:47 pm.

They reached the hangar and knew immediately that there was something wrong. The smoke was wrong — it smelled of explosives. They stopped around the corner when they saw a large black helicopter parked directly in their path.
 

The helicopter was out of place on the overgrown airfield — a perfectly shined, freshly painted mechanical vehicle, its rotor still spinning.
 

“Whittenfield!” Wayne yelled. A man appeared at the door of the helicopter and stepped out onto the tarmac. Behind him, the black smoke billowed out and up into the air, mixing with the pouring smoke of the volcano to the north. A second man stepped out of the helicopter behind Whittenfield.
 

“Captain Reynolds, it’s good to see you again! You know, we haven’t been able to get a feed from your shoulder cam for quite awhile,” he said as the team approached.
 

Bryce kept his grip on his rifle tight and prepared. Something didn’t seem right.

“There’s not much reception under volcanos,” he answered.
 

“Not a problem. I’m sure you’ve made the anticipation worthwhile,” Whittenfield said. He glanced at Bryce’s pack, then to the rest of the group. “Are you — the only ones?”
 

“Yes — Vilocek, his team, everyone — they didn’t make it.”

His eyes sabotaged his frown and feigned concern. “That’s unfortunate. I was hoping he’d be an asset to our team. No matter.“ He quickly changed the subject, “Bryce — do you have it?”

Bryce looked at his benefactor. He thought of the previous day; of his conversations with this man.

“What happened to the plane?” Wayne asked from Bryce’s right side.
 

Whittenfield seemed confused at first, then annoyed. “What? Oh, that one?” He pointed behind him to the hangar. “You know, we just got here — must have been Vilocek’s men.” And then, looking back to Bryce, his impatience grew. “Bryce? Well? Do you have it?”

“No.”
 

Whittenfield’s jaw tightened. His teeth clenched as he continued. “Well, I see — that’s interesting. Did you at least get a good look at it?”
 

“No.”

Whittenfield inhaled a sharp breath and looked toward Cole, then Corinne. “That’s fine. That’s just fine.” He smiled. “Thankfully, Vilocek has left us with one more piece of this puzzle.”

Now it was Bryce’s turn to be confused.
 

A gentle earthquake rumbled. The helicopter lurched on the runway, and Wayne almost fell to the ground. Cole helped Corinne regain her balance.
 

“Whittenfield, we need to go. The crystal — it’s — “

“Breaking down, yes — I know.”
 

He stepped closer to the helicopter. The second man still hadn’t spoken, standing at attention by Whittenfield’s side.
 

He was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, but Bryce could see the taught lines of a hardened body beneath the street clothes — this man came ready for business.
 

“Stop. Cole, Corinne — get in. Captain Reynolds and I have some business to take care of.”

Bryce nodded. The two civilians walked toward the chopper and the second man jumped down to grab them. The helicopter’s rotor began to spin faster, and the noise of the aircraft grew to a low roar.
 

As Corinne walked by Whittenfield he reached out and grabbed her shoulder. “I don’t believe we’ve met, young lady,” he said to the girl. As he spoke, he reached into his belt behind his back and withdrew a pistol.
 

Still keeping his eyes on Bryce and Wayne, he backed toward the chopper with the gun placed close to Corinne’s head. “Cole! Get in. Don’t make me tell you twice!” Cole hesitantly obliged, turning and jumping into the helicopter. The other man drew a machine pistol from behind his back.

“Whittenfield, what’s this about?” Bryce asked. “I told you — we don’t have the crystal!”
 

“And you don’t need to! I realized after poking around at Vilocorp that Tanning was on to something. You see, the crystal’s materials exist only in that stone. There’s nothing on Earth that can replace it — but we can get close!”