King of the Dark Mountain (2 page)

When Ellie took off for college up in New Hampshire, he’d been able to stick around the farm by working in the local community. At that time, Gran began for some unknown reason to show signs of age. Her death came suddenly upon them and unexpectedly for all of that. He was grateful he had been able to be with her at the end, which the carpentry made possible. Most of his high school friends had been forced to move away to find work or go to college. One of his closest friends stayed behind and they ended up getting married.

Sue Ellen was the only girl in shop class so of course there were rumors she was not interested in boys. He didn’t believe it and after Gran’s death, she was there for him like no one else. Their friendship blossomed into romance. They got married in the front yard of the farm by Gran’s favorite preacher. Ellie was on her way to teach English in China, but delayed her flight to be there. It had been a beautiful July wedding. The marriage didn’t last, but he still saw Sue Ellen around town. She looked well. He hoped she would find somebody who could make her happy.

Compared to his first, the second marriage didn’t really even count. He’d simply married one of Ellie’s college friends on a lark. It was insane he realized later. The girl had grown up in a suburb of Houston. She didn’t have any desire to live in the country and he realized after trying to make a go of it with her in Houston that he couldn’t survive in that type of environment. They parted amicably enough after a few feeble attempts to patch things up. Two years had passed, and he hadn’t found “bachelorette number three,” he said out loud and guffawed. It caused him to spew out some of the water. “What a dufus,” he said wiping his face with his sleeve.

He set the glass of water down and went back to the garden. He finished hoeing out the tomatoes and corn, had started on the second row of beans, when Gran’s voice piped up again, even clearer than before. “See about Ellie,” she said. He stormed back into the house and sat down at the kitchen table and took some deep breaths. 

“I knew that trip wouldn’t work out,” he said out loud. He waited a moment, half expecting a reply. None came and he went to look for his cell phone. Of course most of the time, she would be out of range, but there was a chance he would be able to reach her that way. He found it under the couch in the living room. There was only one bar of charge left on it but it was enough to ring Ellie’s phone. She didn’t answer, but her chipper voice told him he could leave a message for her and she’d get back to him. “Ellie, call me as soon as you get this. Love, Hez,” he said. 

He took the phone into the bedroom and put it on the charger. He began to make the bed, and straighten up the room and chastise himself for being a nervous nelly. It was all probably just the effect of isolation. He needed to get out more, that’s all it was. He caught a glimpse of himself in the big round vanity dresser mirror, which he’d moved into his bedroom after Gran passed. He looked haggard; his color despite the summer tan was ashen. He grimaced and said out loud, “Who wouldn’t look like hell after getting advice from the great beyond?”

And why had Ellie insisted on hiking the damned Appalachian Trail by herself? Who did that? When he’d tried to talk her out of it, she had reminded him of her jaunts through the wildernesses of Peru and China and other lesser known places. “It has to be done on my own, Hez,” she’d replied gently after a long tirade on his part about the danger. Of course he knew it was pointless to remonstrate with her, once she decided something she could never be dissuaded. He needed to try to say out loud what weighed heaviest on his mind, his need for her. He didn’t say it, but sensing the unspoken emotion she added. “We can’t ever really be separated.”

What book was it that Hemingway let his girlfriend pretend that they could never be parted? Was it
For Whom the Bell Tolls
or A
Farewell to Arms
? Regardless, people could be parted, no matter how much they loved each other. Of course Ellie knew that as well as he did, but it was something nice to say to help him deal with her departure. She had insisted they attend a sunrise Easter service at Gran’s old church together. Another gesture to help him cope, he reckoned. The next day he had driven her to Georgia to begin the long hike. “I will walk and not be weary,” she said to him as parting words.

“They shall walk and not faint,” he thought, finishing the paraphrase of the Biblical quote and then he saw what had happened to Ellie. He sank down on the bed as the vision came clear in his mind’s eye. She had fainted, despite the appeal to the promise in Isaiah. He saw her clearly lying on a forest path, her pack beside her. Then some men were approaching, fear clenched his gut until he recognized one of the men, as her old mentor, Ted Griffin. The vision faded in his mind’s eye with a sensation like liquid congealing. He got to his feet. So Ted had found her somehow on the trail. He paced around the room, filled with both relief and foreboding. He would have to find a way to contact Ted, maybe through Ellie’s old alma mater. He went into the living room and sat down in front of the computer. He typed in University of New Hampshire and began the search.

Chapter Two

Ellie awoke after several hours and tried to make a call to Hez but Ted’s cell phone still wasn’t working. “We must be out too far from civilization still,” she said. Ted had pulled over in order to stretch his legs. Before they got back onto the road, Ellie got into the back seat and lay down.

“You need to get something to eat,” Ted said, but the sound came from far away.

“I’m okay,” she mumbled and quickly drifted off to sleep.

When she awoke the light outside was fading. “We’re almost there,” Ted said, cheerfully. She realized he’d been in the same mood ever since they’d met up back on the trail. He seemed not just happy, but barely able to contain his joy. She, on the other hand, could not stifle a terrible sense of foreboding. Finally fully conscious she sat up and nibbled on some crackers Ted handed back to her. “You want me to pull over, so you can get up front?” She shook her head. Her initial joy at re-uniting with her old friend was now laced with a little uncertainty.

He looked the same, but there was something about him now that was different from the old Ted. “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye came on the radio and Ted began to sing along. In all the years she’d known him, she’d never heard him sing. He wouldn’t even join in and sing Happy Birthday at faculty parties, nor had he ever been particularly cheerful. He had maintained a kind of neutral tone common to academic types, or other business types for that matter she supposed. Though they had worked closely together, he had rarely dropped that demeanor. It was one of the reasons she had respected him so much. Unlike some of his colleagues, there were never any rumors about affairs with grad students.

Everyone regarded his relationship with Irena as ideal. She was an adjunct professor, never apparently ambitious in her own right, while he was building his career. Once he had the unexpected bounty of several best sellers, she quit her underpaid, tenuous position and focused on managing their finances. This was when Ellie came into conflict with her. She had simply refused to agree to a modest pay raise. She understood the necessity for caution, she had heard stories of people without experience in such matters getting bilked out of their good fortune; but she couldn’t shake the feeling the matter of her salary was just the focal point for some underlying malice. She realized suddenly that she would probably be seeing her shortly,

“Does Irena know I’m coming for a visit?” she asked.

He shot her a glance through the rear view mirror. Oh don’t worry. She’s on a trip. “

“Where?”

“Lisbon, she’s over there visiting her youngest sister, Lisa. She’s married to a Spaniard. Is that the correct word? Sounds kind of archaic, doesn’t it?”

The question made her smile and was the first remark that sounded like the old Ted, who had always been checking with her about usage. “I’ll have to check it out; I’m not sure, myself.”

“It is, never mind, I checked with Irena about it; I remember now. Look that’s my driveway coming up. Listen Ellie, I need to talk to you about something before we get to the house.” He pulled into the drive, in front of a massive wrought iron gate. It was at least twelve feet high and about ten feet wide. It had two lions rampant at the top on each side. Ted liked lions; he said they reminded him of the New York public library. He put his arm on the headrest and peered at her between the front seats. “Those guys from back on the trail will be at the house. They may want to ask you some questions. I would like you to be as straight forward with them as you possibly can.”

She grimaced, “Do they work for some kind of government agency?”

“Not really, in a way. It doesn’t really matter. They’ve been assisting in the research and they help procure necessary funding. You know the sort of thing.”

“I guess. What will they want to question me about?”

“Probably about things you wouldn’t think would interest them.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “Some of the questions will be about me, and all you have to do is tell them the truth, Ellie.”

She gave him a dumb-founded look, “We haven’t been in touch for a while, do they know that?”

“Yes, but the research we did together is what interests them. You have my permission to be utterly candid with these fellows” his voice dropped, “they will expect that.” She thought he looked worried.

“It sounds kind of creepy, Ted.”

“No it’s nothing bad, just part of getting the research dollars. They get to ask questions in order to provide funding so this thing can go public.”

“Did you have to go to some ambiguous agency for that? You always hated dealing with the bureaucracy before.”

“Oh that was when I was trying to get money to do research on Irish history and such, that’s a whole different ball game. This kind of funding has different applications.”

She shook her head, “It’s not military is it?”

“No, no of course not, I would never … it’s more like well I don’t know how to describe it. They’re international.”

“There’s no international government.”

He looked at her sternly, “There are becoming multi-governmental organizations, not fully global yet of course, but conglomerates of various national interests. It’s like a multi-national corporation in a way.”

“With little or no oversight, from any particular government, am I right?”

“Ellie you always were so suspicious of power, but the world is changing. I am trying to help in that change. What I and others have discovered will bring about a whole new dynamic. I’m so glad you’re going to get to be part of it too.”

“This doesn’t sound like anything I would want to be a part of Ted. No offense. I’m just not comfortable with big organizations. What you’re describing sounds ominous,” she suddenly decided to level with him. “You’ve been on my mind lately and I’ve had a bad feeling about you, about your well-being.”

“What do you mean?” His grey eyes suddenly looked very dark.

“I don’t know exactly, but it’s been with me for a while. Like you’re in trouble, that you’ve gotten into something you shouldn’t.”

He turned around and started the truck. The gates opened, seeming to disappear inside the massive stone columns on either side. This was odd since the columns were no more than three feet wide. Maybe the gates had some type of accordion design but they sure hadn’t looked that way. She turned around and watched them reappear, closing her into Ted’s massive estate. They drove for a mile, beneath the canopy of over-arching oak trees before the house came in sight. There were no vehicles visible around it, which surprised her. Maybe the agents or whatever they were had parked in the back.

The house itself was made of stones. It had two round towers on either side, one slightly taller than the other. It looked like a very old house, but Ted explained that he’d designed it himself and had it built from stones brought over from Ireland. “I like it very much,” she said. It had a wonderful presence and almost made her forget about the agents from some dubious international organization inside.

When they stepped inside, they were standing in a massive foyer with oak paneling. She glanced up and saw that there was a skylight; she thought she could see a star.Ted opened the door to the left and they entered the living room. The two men from the SUV were sitting on a sofa studying a laptop and conversing together. One of them set it down on the coffee table when they saw the two of them and they both stood up.

They were now wearing sweaters and their hair was long for government types. They didn’t look as military to her as they had in the forest. “Ted, we have something to show you,” one of them said in what she thought might be some type of Scandinavian accent. Those were always so difficult to detect. The other one regarded her with bright blue eyes and nodded.

“Ms. McCane, nice to see you, I’m Ian Haus, please have a seat.” She took a seat in the over-stuffed chair he indicated to her. It was close to the fireplace but facing the coffee table. They resumed their seats and Ted went to stand in front of the fire, with his back to them.

“Now Ms. McCane, we want to fill you in about the current status of the Theta project,” Haus continued.

“Okay,” she said evenly, feeling a little confused.

“It’s probably safe to say that we will have it on the launching pad quite soon, if all goes well.” She nodded and smiled, waiting for them to continue. “It’s been a long process but we’re finally coming into the home stretch.”

“You mean you’re going to show people how to teleport or something?” she asked, wishing she could sound more technologically savvy.

“No, no, it’s not about teleportation. What made you think that? Hasn’t Dr. Griffin filled you in?”

Ted turned around. “We haven’t had a chance to really get into the nuts and bolts of the thing.”

“I just thought you might have teleported to the woods on the Trail.” She grimaced, feeling foolish and added, “I mean it’s amazing that you could find me out there in the middle of nowhere.”

Ian shook his head, “No, there was nothing unusual about getting there, we just drove. As for finding you,” he pulled something out of his jacket pocket and showed it to her. In his palm was an object the size of a quarter, spherical, pale gold in color. “Go ahead, you can pick it up.” She took it from him gingerly. It was much lighter than she expected, barely there at all.

“What is this?” She asked examining it closely. Suddenly the thing opened up into a floral pattern with many tiny petals and began to spin. She gasped and almost dropped it.

“We haven’t given it an official name yet. I guess you can call it a locator. That’s Ted’s name for it.”

“Think of someone that you care about and it will show you their location. Go ahead think of a loved one and then see what it does,” Ian said eagerly.

“Okay, my brother but why do I have to care?” Suddenly the device in her hand vibrated. She watched as it rose off her palm. The inner core seemed to open up and there was an image of Hez sitting in his truck. He looked to be driving. “Oh my God, is that real?”

“Yes, it’s real time. Now think about where he’s located and it should show you something.”

She tried to concentrate on where he was. At first nothing happened and the image looked as though it was fading, then numbers appeared over it.

“Those are his GSP coordinates. Let me put the numbers in here and get a fix on his location.” The other man said and began typing into his laptop. “Okay, he’s not far from your residence it seems.”

The other man said, “Ms. McCane, I’m Aleister Rike, so nice to have you on board, we understand that you were intimately involved in Dr. Griffin’s early work.” He was looking at her intensely. She nodded slowly and tried not to grimace. “I know it sounds strange,” he made a gesture which encompassed the room, indicating the grand design of his thoughts. “I’m asking you something which sounds somewhat subjective in a matter which would seem to require the utmost objectivity, but that actually lies at the crux of the whole conundrum.”

Ian stood up. “You have to realize something we have just worked out recently.” He came closer and gave her less of a probing look than his colleague but she sensed the same underlying eagerness to size something up in her. It definitely was something “in” her that interested them, not anything having to do with her as a human being she realized. It didn’t annoy her as much as perplex her.

“So, my friendship with Ted is what interests you?” she asked

“Well, we have recognized something in him that needs your input.”

She stood up, “I just don’t get any of this. Ted and I had a business relationship. It sounds like Irena is who you ought to be talking to.”

“Listen Ellie, don’t let all of this throw you.” Ted laughed nervously and gave her a beseeching look. “Irena isn’t any good for this; she’s not the emotive type.”

A rush of anger suddenly overcame her, “Honestly Ted, Irena is your life partner. You share everything, how is that not emotive, for the love of God?”

Ian said, “Ms. McCane, we can’t go on like this, we have to start from the beginning to fill you in, otherwise you will misunderstand everything we say.”

She sat back down into the chair and nodded. “That sounds like a good idea. Please fill me in.” The next few hours were spent with the three men explaining what they called, “The Theta Paradigm.”

*

Hez realized before he had finished sharpening the second of half a dozen garden implements that needed attention that he would have to listen to Gran’s advice and go see about Ellie. He had gone to work on the tools to get the morning’s strange events out of his mind, but it wasn’t working. It wasn’t a bad time to leave; there was at least a month or so before some of the most serious farm work had to get done. The only farm animals that had to be tended to were a rooster and a few laying hens.

He figured he could put them up in the hen house with food to last. He had installed a machine that could hold a month’s supply of food and dispense it accordingly. The chicken house had a fenced in yard that would let them get out in the sun if they wanted to get outside on nice days. This time of year, you couldn’t tell whether that would be an option; the weather could turn nice or otherwise on a dime. At any rate, they would be alright for a few weeks. That wasn’t much time, but he hoped it would be enough to get to wherever Ellie was. “And then what?” he asked himself. He threw down the big garden shears and walked out of the barn.