Rise of the Beast (70 page)

“Yes, we know,” confirmed Nabuko.

Then a fourth figure emerged from the mists, a man. He carried some sort of pack in his hand. He set it down on the floor and lifted his visor.

Les looked at him in stunned amazement. No, it couldn’t be. “Tom, Tom Carson?”

“How you doing, Les?” said Tom.

“But you’re, well, dead,” gasped Les. “I mean, I went to your funeral almost five years ago.”

“Was it a nice one?” asked Tom. “I always wanted a nice funeral.”

“Tom, it was a funeral,” said Les. “How could you possibly be here? You had a heart attack; you’re dead.”

Tom smiled. “Do I look dead, Les?”

“Well, no, Tom. You look good,” said Les. “Looks like you’ve lost some weight too. But how are you here?”

Tom chuckled. “Les, it’s really a long story, one for another time. Right now I need to see where your main power relays tie into your teleportation ring.”

Les still seemed confused. “You know about our research?”

Tom just nodded. “Les, I just walked through your teleportation ring. What do you think? The power relays, please.”

“Yeah,” said Les, “they’re over here.”

Tom picked up the case and followed Les. Les was startled as about two dozen small creatures flew from the ring, following which the mists vanished.

“The power relays,” said Tom, placing a hand on his old friend’s shoulder. The two old friends continued on.

Nabuko stood there staring at Bedillia. “Ma’am, there is one of those creatures setting on your shoulder.”

“Yes,” confirmed Bedillia. “Her name is Mirinda; she is my friend.”

“OK,” said Nabuko, her voice uncertain.

Krissie walked up to Nabuko. “Look, you’ve got to go to the resort and tell everyone there to come here as soon as they can. Bring only what you can carry. You’re all going to teleport out to Christchurch, New Zealand. You should be safe there. The teleporter ring there is way above sea level. You’ll be safe. You’ll all have to find your way home from there, OK?”

“OK, Krissie,” Nabuko confirmed.

“Now, move, move, move; we need to get your team out of here within the hour.”

“But the fusion generator is shut down,” objected Nabuko. “It might take hours to bring it back on line.”

“Go,” repeated Krissie, “let us worry about that. Run!”

Nabuko didn’t have to be told again. She ran out the door and toward the resort.

Meanwhile, in the power transfer room, Les and Tom were disconnecting the main power couplings. Tom moved the portable power supply into place.

“You’re not going to power the ring with that,” objected Les. “You can’t even imagine how much power is required.”

“If you were doing it efficiently, you could get away with using a third of that much power,” said Tom, connecting the positive lead to the power supply. “But I don’t have time for a tutorial tonight. The connectors of this supply have been custom made to fit your teleportation unit. I made them myself.”

“Doggone it Tom,” objected Les, “where have you been these past five years?”

“You really want to know?” asked Tom. “You might not believe me if I told you.”

“Try me,” insisted Les.

“OK,” replied Tom connecting the other lead to the power supply. “I’ve been in Hell. I mean the real Hell, a place of wailing and gnashing of teeth. And believe me; during my first 18 months there I did plenty of both. Then I was rescued by a dark angel by the name of Abaddon. Since then I’ve worked for
him, worked for the day that we would overthrow Satan.”

“You realize how crazy that sounds?” objected Les.

“Sure,” said Tom. “So explain how I can be here.”

“I can’t,” said Les. “But you’re asking me to believe in the Devil. I don’t think I can do that.”

“You should,” said Tom, plugging a power sphere into the power supply, “you work for him.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Les.

“I’m talking about Lusan,” said Tom. “Come on Les, you’ve studied this guy. You know there is something sinister about him.”

“Sinister, yes, but the Devil, I don’t know about that.”

Tom rose to his feet and turned to look Les right in the eye. “Look, Les, it’s this simple; place your faith in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, and you can avoid all of the problems and pain that I’ve been through. I’m your friend; I want you to avoid my mistakes. Here is your chance.”

“Tom, it’s just too much for me to handle in one sitting, that’s all,” said Les.

“OK,” said Tom, “take some time to think it over, but don’t take too long. I don’t know how much time you have left. OK, you’ve got power, let’s get to your control room and get ready to establish your link.”

Krissie and Leland Senior moved cautiously toward the fusion power plant. Darkness was falling, but it wasn’t dark yet. They were almost there when a security guard emerged from the main door. He turned toward her.

“Who are you?” he demanded.

“Take a look,” said Krissie. “Who do you think it is?”

“Mrs. James,” he said awkwardly. “I’m sorry, ma’am. I thought you were at the pit with the master.”

“I’m not,” replied Krissie. “I hate to miss all of the fun, but I have other assignments. I need to inspect this power facility, make sure we’re ready for tomorrow.”

By now a second guard was at the door. “Ma’am, we weren’t informed of any inspection. You don’t have authorization to be here. And where did you get that outfit and that weapon, it’s almost like …”

The rouse was over, they knew. The second guard went for his weapon; he never had a chance. A blast from Leland Senior’s particle rifle literally dismembered him in a terrible blast, scattering body parts all around.

The first took a blast from Krissie’s rifle. His fate was no better than that of his partner.

“There were supposed to be three guards,” said Leland Senior.

He ducked into the building. He heard the sound of running somewhere down the corridor.

“We can’t let him sound the alarm,” said Leland Senior, rushing down the corridor.

A few seconds later, Krissie was in pursuit. She was amazed at how effortless running was in the power suit. She was gaining a real appreciation for its utility.

Yet that appreciation grew when she felt the sudden jab in her side. She turned toward a dark hallway to her right. She flipped down her visor. There he was, as clear as day, hiding at the next turn. She turned and fired, taking out the guard and a sizable portion of the wall that he must have assumed was protecting him.

“Stupid demon,” she said. She glanced at her power suit where she’d taken the hit. It had sustained very little damage, barely a scratch, though she suspected that she would bruise by morning.

“Sorry, Krissie. I ran right past him,” said Leland Senior, rushing to her side.

“I almost did too,” said Krissie.

Leland looked on the floor to discover the round deflected by Krissie’s suit. “My heaven’s Krissie, that suit deflected a 45 slug. That’s something else.”

Krissie chuckled. “Forty-five, twenty-two, they’re all the same to me. All I understand is particle rifle stream density and capacitor power. I never fired a gun that uses bullets. They’re a bit too primitive for my taste. I think we need to turn the power down a bit. These weapons are more effective on Earth than
they were in Hell. Let’s try a setting of 65.”

Leland went for the dial on the side of the weapon. “Right, 65.” He turned back to Krissie. “I need to deactivate the detonator of that time bomb. It’s supposed to be in the control room. There’s not supposed to be anyone else here. You wait for me at the door and let me know if anyone shows up. That last guard may have gotten off a distress call. I’ll meet you at the door in ten minutes?”

“Right,” confirmed Krissie.

The two split up. Both were mindful of the possibility that there might be other surprises awaiting them, like an extra security guard.

Leland had been briefed on deactivation of the detonator of the bomb by Kurt. It happened to be out in plain sight. It was not a complex device. It didn’t need to be. The throw of a switch and the cutting of a couple wires insured that there would be no explosion come tomorrow afternoon at two thirty. Ten minutes saw them back at the rendezvous point.

The group was remaining in contact with each other through low-power digital communicators. From the looks of it, the mission was going like clockwork so far. Bedillia had taken up a position in the forest halfway between the resort and the labs while Tom continued to work with Les on setting up an escape route for the scientists and engineers.

Bedillia in particular was very nervous. Yes, she knew that Satan planned to drag out the execution of her daughter for five hours. He’d try to frighten her before he put any serious hurt on her, but just the thought of him hurting her was driving her to despair. Once the scientists were at the ring, she, Krissie, Leland Senior, and 18 of the ACs would move toward the compound to rescue her daughter and the others. Tom would see the scientists safely to New Zealand and then return to cover their own escape route. It was totally dark when she saw the headlights coming up the road. At about the same time, the scientists were coming toward her from the resort.

“Great,” she said.

She alerted the others, hunkered down, and hoped for the best.

Two security guards in a golf cart stopped by the growing group of scientists. “What’s going on here?” demanded the driver.

It was Nabuko who stepped forward. “We are traveling up to building one,
to the main conference room. We are going to have a general meeting to discuss some of our concerns.”

“Concerns about what?” asked the officer.

Nabuko pointed toward the heavens, which were already filled with meteors, the most intense meteor storm anyone had ever seen. “We’re going to discuss that, sir. Our time is running out. Sometime tomorrow afternoon a much larger fragment is going to hit the ocean to our northeast. Is this not reason enough for a meeting of this island’s scientists?”

The officer looked at the scientists for a few seconds before responding. “You are going to a meeting with suitcases in your hands?”

“Too much time has been wasted already,” continued Nabuko. “At this point, any other means of evacuation will be virtually impossible. Our only way off this island is going to be that teleportation ring. We are going to have our most valuable items on hand when the evacuation is finally called.”

The security officer pulled out his radio and informed the central office of the situation. It was a minute later that he responded. “OK, here is what you are going to do. You are going back to your homes. Have your meeting in the recreation room or the hallway if it pleases you. But consider yourselves under house arrest for the night.”

“Officer, since when has it been a crime for us to gather together?” asked Nabuko.

“Since martial law was declared,” continued the officer. “I’m asking all of you to go back to your homes. I will not ask nicely again.”

“We’re going to be left to die on this island, aren’t we?” arose a voice from near the back of the group. “We know too much.”

“Everyone else has been evacuated but us,” said another.

“Return to your homes!” demanded the guard.

The situation was quickly escalating out of control as one of the security guards went for his sidearm. What happened next in the darkness was unclear. A large rock hit one of the guards in the back. Several gun shots followed, and a scream rang out. Then pandemonium ruled the moment. When it was all through, two of the scientists lay wounded, one seriously, and one of the security officers was dead by a blow to the back of the head. The other had retreated
about 20 yards from the crowd, his pistol drawn.

“OK, you’re all under arrest!” he yelled, pointing his gun wildly about. “You think you’re special; you’re not. Your lives aren’t important. You’re just here to serve the master.”

Bedillia aimed her weapon and tried to get a clear shot, but she was still just too far away. She racked her brain for a plan, but it wasn’t there. Then she heard a small voice within the depths of her mind.

“You don’t need to fire,” it said. It was the voice of Mirinda.

Bedillia lowered her weapon.

A few seconds later, the guard started to flail about wildly, pointing his gun in this direction and then that. He fired shots into the air. Something was attacking him, something in the air. They were hard to see in the darkness, but there were many of them. The guard cried in pain. Apparently, whatever they were, they were either biting or stinging him.

The scientists seemed confused. One of them had retrieved the dead officer’s gun, but he didn’t use it.

“Come on, let’s go,” urged Nabuko. “Help each other. You’ve got to help each other.”

The group picked up their wounded comrades and backed away from the screaming security officer, who seemed to have something other than the errant scientists on his mind. They’d been walking about a minute when a dark figure stepped out in front of them.

Folks, don’t be afraid. My name is Bedillia, and I’m here to help you. There’s not much time. We’re getting all of you out of here.”

It was about three minutes later that the group gathered on the main floor in building one before the ring. Tom stood before them.

“Everyone is here,” confirmed Nabuko. “We’re ready to get out of here.”

Tom nodded approvingly. “Ok folks, some of you have already been through the ring; most of you haven’t. There is nothing to fear. I’ve been through many times. Help each other as you go. Just step through boldly, don’t hesitate.” He turned to the control room, where Leland Senior and Les stood behind the glass. “Ok, power it up Les.”

The blue, starry mists formed in the midst of the ring. A matter of seconds later, they were looking into the corrugated metal wall of what looked like some sort of warehouse, presumably in Christchurch, New Zealand.

“I’ve never seen the wormhole form that quickly,” noted one of the scientists.

“Yeah,” said Tom. “I had some time to tweak your software, improve your power distribution. I think you’ll find that the ring works much better now.”

By this time Les had joined the rest of the group. They all gazed in wonder at the scene beyond the ring. Never had it seemed so clear.