King of the Dark Mountain (20 page)

“I just heard some of the men talking and they said they were told that the people who bought up the mountain said they knew the secrets of the pyramid builders.”

“That may not be as far out as it sounds. I realized when I gave the matter some thought that they had carved out the mountain over there in Kadistan on the inside to match the great pyramid at Giza. I came through in a box like the sarcophagus in the king’s chamber. The rose colored room with the chair was like the queen’s chamber. They even put me in a roughhewn underground chamber. It was exactly like the pyramid, on the inside anyway. I never saw what it looked like on the outside. It was dark when we left,” Hez said.

“That was how this whole business got started years ago. Once it was noticed the pyramids were laid out to match Orion’s belt, the race was on to see if we could find out more information that could unravel ancient secrets. At first the hope was that we could discover how they built the things. Secret probes were sent out about a decade ago to take pictures and see what could be learned about those stars and others nearby,” Ted said.

“The ancient Egyptians thought that the souls of the dead journey to Orion when they die.” Richard said.

“Yes, we thought that was a way of remembering the cosmic importance of that part of the sky. I found signs on ancient monuments in Ireland that pointed to it, and linked it back to our star. Some people think this means that the ancient civilizations in Egypt and Ireland were both influenced by an older civilization; but regardless, we began to get an idea that a cyclic burst of energy gets released every 10,000 years from the direction of Orion’s sword.”

“There were changes in the nebula in the center of Orion’s sword which signaled that the energy was coming due. I published my ideas regarding it, and was contacted by a group working at a site in the White Mountains, a northern portion of the Appalachians by the way. They said they wanted me on board for their research to get the energy properly manifested. I had my misgivings about them, but they insisted they were working for the benefit of humanity.”

“So that was the light we saw the other night?” Kate asked.

“My sister helped it along. I was supposed to bring it over to a site in the Ural Mountains to create a loop, but I couldn’t do it. Ellie ended up running it over the Appalachians and finally drove it down into Harrow. My guess is that something about the old exposed bedrock made it good for it.”

“And you say the same people who destroyed that mountain are involved in all of this cosmic rigmarole?” Kate asked.

“Oh yes,” Ted said. “Believe me, if there’s energy anywhere to be had, those people get involved. It’s been that way for ages.”

“But the kind of energy you’re talking about doesn’t sound like anything that could be used to run cars or light cities,” Kate said.

“We honestly don’t know what it will do. It seems to have some kind of psychological effect that creates a sense of well-being according to your friend Heather here.”

“It does seem to have that effect. You know how small towns are rife with ancient feuds, usually along family lines; well in the past day or two those rifts have been getting fixed. People who haven’t spoken to each other in decades seem to have forgotten all about their old grievances,” Kate replied.

“We thought it was going to change everything from the point of view of providing unlimited energy, but what you’re describing if it worked on a global scale could be a game changer of an even more significant kind,” Ted said.

“Mrs. Malone would you mind telling me what you saw when the light came through?” Hez asked.

“I was out on my front porch when I saw it. It came out of the north as a faint glow at first and then it began to look like a pink river of light, interspersed with little gold flecks. I thought I had never seen anything so beautiful. It continued to flow in soft, undulating waves for a few minutes and then I saw it rise up like a giant wave and slam right down to the torn out center of old Harrow. I almost went out there to investigate right then, but I decided to wait and get some other people to go with me. I think this thing is for everybody, not just for ones like me who happen to live close to the mountain.”

“It should be, but the men out there won’t share it. We have to find a way to get them out of there,” Hez said.

“How do you plan to do that?”

“We haven’t got it all worked out.”

She looked at him for a long moment, “You brought weapons, but those won’t do you any good. Because they’ll have bigger ones and better ones.”

“We have to try,” Hez said quietly.

Kate stood up. “I’m taking some people out there early tomorrow morning. You’re welcome to come along, but leave your guns in your truck. We have to try to speak to them and work this out.”

“These men don’t negotiate; they just take what they want. You’ve seen what they did to the mountain. That pretty much sums up their approach to everything,” Hez said.

“That may be, but this power from on high, this amazing force your sister brought down could change their hearts too.”

“Mrs. Malone, I hope that you’re right, but I think it very likely that they will be utterly immune to its effects,” Ted said.

“We won’t know until we talk to them, and that’s what we’re going to try to do,” she said, gave each of them a nod in turn and departed.

“Do you think there’s any chance they’ll back down?” Richard asked after she left.

“No, but if she wants to try to talk to them, I don’t think we can stop her.”

“I think we should go with them,” Hez said. “If there’s a big enough crowd, we could blend in and that would give us a chance to get a better idea of what we’re up against.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“What about the guns?”

“We can leave them in the truck like she said. I don’t think they’ll do anything to a crowd of people.”

“It may not be that many.”

“Even a few dozen individuals would give them pause. I imagine they’re hoping to keep a low profile for the next few months. They’ll probably offer some kind of bland reassurances. If Edsell’s directly involved, he’ll probably try to buy them off. That won’t work on the Malone woman, but who knows about her neighbors?”

“She seems to think they’ve all been given some kind of new spiritual insight or some such thing,” Hez said.

“Well old habits die hard, and times have been hard the last few years. If they get sent off with reassurances of peace and prosperity, it would still work in our favor. We could come back on our own later and do whatever we have to do.”

“We can’t do anything until Mrs. Malone and the others finish their pow wow anyhow,” Richard remarked. The other men nodded.

“Okay then we’ll split up inside the group once we get to the site, but try to keep in sight of each other,” Hez said.

“Alright, I think you ought to wear some kind of head covering. Your red hair stands out and if Edsell is there, he might recognize you. I’ve got some sun glasses in the SUV that will provide some disguise as well,” Ted said.

“Okay, I’ll pick up a baseball cap around town.” Hez said. They got up. Ted paid the bill and left a generous tip for Heather on the table.

Chapter Nineteen

The sky was a sullen grey over the slag heap remains of Mount Harrow. A crowd was gathered around a group of grey camouflage tents on the eastern slope of the mountain. Several men in ordinary street clothes stood guard in front of the largest tent in the center. They were holding assault rifles, and their faces wore the impassive expressions of soldiers everywhere. Kate Malone was standing in front of the crowd. An eerie stillness filled the air.

“We want to speak to whoever is in charge of this operation,” she said firmly. The three men she had met in the café were somewhere in the crowd. She had spotted one of them, and assumed the others must be close by. It might be a good thing to have writers around. They could let the world know about whatever ensued. The situation warranted that kind of attention, she thought.

After several minutes, a man stepped out of the tent. He was wearing an expensive blue Italian suit. His shoes were shining, despite the gritty surroundings. She couldn’t help wondering how he could’ve gotten out of one of the vehicles parked nearby and kept his shoes so pristine. He raised his hands as though he was quieting the crowd, but no one was saying anything. “What can I do for you good people?” he asked, in a kind of nasal drawl.

“We want to know what came down to this mountain the other night,” Kate said without hesitating.

“I suppose you mean by that the light out of the sky is that right?” he asked.

“Yes, I saw it with my own eyes, and I know it means something important,” she said.

“You’re quite right. It means something important to everyone on this planet. The world is going to be changed by what you saw, Ms. … “?

“Malone.”

“Ms. Malone, yes you were right to come and find out about this wonderful thing that is going to happen.”

“What do you mean?” an older man asked. “Is it going to fix this God awful mess?” he asked, indicating the surroundings.

“None of this matters. Mountains are a dime a dozen.” This remark caused a few shouts of protest. “I’m talking about in the grand scheme of things,” Edsell added.

“It may not matter to you, but our drinking water ain’t no good anymore,” the old man said. This drew some angry shouts of agreement.

“Well, don’t worry; I’m going to show you something that will put such minor inconveniences in their proper perspective. What we have set up here is the wave of the future. I’m going to allow you to file into the tent set up over to my right and see what we’re accomplishing here.” This drew some discussion in the crowd.

“What are you going to show us?” Kate asked simply.

“Mrs. Malone, I’m so glad you asked. If I tell you I’m afraid you would think I was exaggerating. It sounds so incredible,” he drew in a deep breath and then a wide grin seemed to take up his whole face. It made her blood run cold, but she did not waiver in her gaze. “It’s the dream of the human race since the time we crawled out of the caves and stood looking at the stars. It’s the miracle of energy from those glorious orbs blending with the best that humans can create to bring about the most perfect cosmic beings.”

“So you got some alien children set up in those tents like a freak show?” the old man demanded.

This brought a glare from Edsell. “No, they’re not children yet. We have the perfectly engineered specimens, the very best humans can produce here to take advantage of the glorious light that you witnessed coming down. They will remain here until such time that they have absorbed enough of the cosmic energy to complete their enhancement from above.”

“I really don’t think we need to see …” Kate began.

“Yes, you really do. I insist that everyone who has come out here to discover the truth should be rewarded by getting to see for themselves this amazing summation of human striving.”

“No harm in looking, Kate,” someone said. 

“Exactly right, now form a line and follow this gentleman here, he’ll show you the way. We must insist that no one take pictures and also that you move quickly along, so that everyone gets a chance to see the miracle,” he said, indicating the armed guard behind him. People began to form a line. Kate stepped away to let others go ahead. She stood pondering a moment. When there were several dozen people lined up, the first one was allowed inside the tent. 

Kate fell into line after a tall fellow wearing a Hornets baseball cap. She thought it might be the friend of the two writers she had chatted with in the café. If it was, she intended to keep an eye on him. She glanced behind her and thought she caught sight of Richard Ewing in sun glasses behind a couple of teenage girls. They were chattering excitedly. “I’ll bet it’s like those creatures in Close Encounters, you know that old movie,” one of them said.

“No, he said it’s not a child that we’re going to see, but something else,”

“Well whatever it is, it must be something amazing because I saw that light shooting down out of the sky and it was really intense,” the other girl said. 

“I know my mom can’t stop talking about it, ever since it happened.”

“My grandpa says it’s a sign of the end of the world. He wouldn’t come out here, because he said the people out here must have come from the devil.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well grandpa always thinks everything means the end of the world.”

“Cause for him it will be soon. Oh I guess that was mean. Sorry,”

“That’s okay, he is pretty old, but anyhow I hope it’s something cool we’re going to see and not just some lame ass thing.”

“Yeh me too.”

Kate stopped listening to the girls’ conversation because she was almost to the front of the line at this point. She noticed the guards were looking at everyone carefully. She had seen them look in the purse of a woman, but mostly they were letting people go inside without stopping them. She walked past the man into the tent and saw that there were several long metal tables set up. On top of them were clear glass containers the size of a large screen television. They were oval shaped and multi-layered, filled with fluid. They reminded her of giant glass onions.

She walked up to one of them to get a better look. At the center of the contraption she saw something that looked organic, but it wasn’t very distinct. She walked around and saw that the other contraptions were identical. They were all filled with fluid and seemed to have something organic looking at the center. She counted exactly a dozen of the things, arranged symmetrically around the tent. She looked around for the fellow in the baseball cap, but didn’t see him. She followed some people out the back of the tent.

“Don’t see what the big deal was about those big oniony things,” a lady was saying to her companion.

“Looked pretty high tech to me. Reckon they’ve figured out a way to grow children outside the womb,” the man replied.

“Well that might be a good thing; you remember what a hard time I had bringing ours into this world.”

Mrs. Malone went back around to the tent where the man had stood earlier. There were a few more armed guards gathered there, but she did not see the well-dressed man. Some people were getting into their cars and heading out. “Mrs. Malone,” someone said. She turned around and saw that it was Professor Griffin.

“Did you get a chance to see the damnable things?”

“Yes, did you?” He nodded.

“So where are your friends?”

“Back at the truck,”

“I’m going home. You can come by later if you want. I would appreciate knowing more about this group, if you don’t mind.”

“I think that could be arranged. Give me your address and we’ll  come by as soon as we can.” Ted said, fishing a pen and note pad out of his pocket and handing it to her. She scribbled some directions to her house and handed it to him.

“I need time to reflect on all of this, Dr. Griffin. So give me a few hours at least,” she said

He nodded. “My friends and I need time to discuss matters among ourselves, but we’ll be at your house in a few hours then. Good day for now.” He turned away and disappeared into a group of people milling about. She got into her car and drove to the other side of the mountain. Her house was in plain sight of Harrow. The past several months had been a nightmare of waking up to her house shaking and dust settling over everything.

She had given up on the idea of planting a garden this spring, or probably any spring in the future. She had finally admitted that she would just have to leave the area that had been her family’s home for hundreds of years. It was heartbreaking to think of giving up, but after doing what she could to stop the Sherman Coal Company, their enormous bulldozers had proved too much. Once they began, it was over quickly, and the damage was even worse than what she had tried to prepare herself for. The serene, tree covered landmark was razed nearly to the ground in a matter of weeks. It was a phenomenal whirlwind of monstrous machines tearing into the landscape. She had witnessed some of it in a state of shock and rage so intense that it left her fearing for her sanity. 

She thought of the man bragging about what a wonder those tents contained--the epitome of human striving. Dr. Griffin had said those people were the same ones who tore down the mountain. That seemed logical to her now that she thought about it. The people who employed giant machinery to level ancient mountains had the same kind of crazed hubris as the man spouting off about whatever monsters they were brewing in those glass wombs. She had no doubt that the little bits of organic matter would turn into the epitome of horror. She could see them emerging out of those shells, each layer carefully removed at the appropriate time until the end when they were finally fully developed.

They might look similar to ordinary children, but they would be full of the kind of morbid pride that drove the worst of humanity to want to lay waste the world. It would be a matter not only of how they had been formed, but of course, how their fathers would raise them. They were being created for a single purpose--to destroy humankind. The truth of this insight was so clear and precise in her mind that it left her breathless. She almost had to pull off beside the road and retch, but she managed to make it to her house.

She took a quick shower. Sometimes she had to take two or three a day to get rid of the grit that constantly stirred in the wind since they had mined the mountain. The water that came out of the shower was a brownish color, but with her herbal scented body wash it still got the job done. She felt better when she got out, and her mind was made up. When Dr. Griffin and his friends arrived she intended to tell them she would help them in any way possible to destroy the glass onions and rid the world of what they contained. She had lost the battle for the mountain, but she would not lose this battle.

*

At the break of dawn the next morning, she stood with her new friends, Ted, Richard and Hezekiah on the crest above the encampment which held the glass onions. Ted and Richard were carrying double barrel shotguns; Hez had his Glock in his hands. She had dug out her dad’s old hunting rifle. It was 40 gauge and was reputed to have brought down a ten point buck, which her grandfather had to finish off with his bare hands. It was a legendary story in her family how the old man had broken the creature’s neck once the rifle had wounded it. She was a fair shot herself, no Annie Oakley, but decent enough.

“We have to move fast, if we’re lucky we can subdue the guards and not have to shoot them. Our targets are the abominations encased in glass, lest we forget,” Ted said. They started down the hill side just as the sun broke over the far horizon, a piercing brilliant light.

It doesn’t feel like dawn, but like the middle of the day, Hez thought. Their new friend Kate was leading them. She reminded him a lot of Gran, the same stillness at her center, as fathomless as the mountains themselves. Her shimmering white braid was directly in his field of vision, it reached almost to her waist. It wasn’t the puny little braid of an old woman, but thick. He had seen photographs of Sitting Bull when he was in his sixties, and it reminded him of his hair, even though the latter had never gone grey. Sitting Bull had always been his hero, as a child he had read a book that described how the great chief had been able to talk to birds. In his own youth, he had once had a pet hawk, and there had been a day when he swore he could see what Samson could see. He had felt his own spirit enter that of his pet and the view of his family’s farm was so incredible, the thought of it now almost made him cry.

The four of them moved as one when the guard turned his gun toward them. It all began to move in slow motion in Hez’s mind’s eye. Ted was propelled forward so quickly, he seemed to move faster than humanly possible. The guard dropped his weapon and Ted had him gagged and bound in what seemed like a long moment, but must have been seconds. Another guard emerged but before he could do anything, Richard had disarmed him. Hez found himself tying and gagging the man, who didn’t put up much of a resistance. That seemed odd, but he didn’t have time to consider it. They were moving as one and entered the tent.

Incredibly Edsell was there. No longer wearing his Italian suit, he stood in what might have been called a smoking jacket back in the day and pajamas. It reminded Hez of some silly soft pornographic nonsense about a lifestyle, which harkened back to the 1970’s. There wasn’t anything soft core about what the man was bellowing however. “What in the hell are you doing?” he was screaming at the top of his lungs.