The Acolytes of Crane "Updated Edition" (12 page)

‘Who
are you?’ I whispered, staring straight up. He was nearly three times my
height. ‘Human boy, my name is Migalt. I am a messenger of justice and power
prescribed by my creator, and you will follow me now to the chamber. You must
confide in us, for we have your best interests in mind.’

Angrily,
I blurted, ‘Why should I trust you guys? I didn’t ask you to bring me here. I
didn’t want this. I knew that something crazy would happen if I pushed
The
Intervention
.’ I paused, trying to remember all the strange names that I
had heard within the last five minutes. ‘Or Dietons, whatever you call them. I
am just a teenager.’

Migalt
said, ‘Theodore. Please calm down, and follow me.’ 

Seeing
no other option, I started toward Migalt.

Trazuline
said goodbye to me, with a salute to his head. To his side, the robot-like
person was busy on his tablet.

Migalt
carried on and said, ‘See, trust is being able to predict one’s actions based
on what they have done in the past. This is a concept that you believe in. You
know of us to be completely in your favor. We have not wronged you thus far and
have only brought you further into glory. We saved you from certain death. You
shall believe in us, as we believe in you. Zane designed the entire mission.
That alone comforts me.’

We
turned around a corner, then walked across a transparent hallway. Migalt held
out his hand in front of him and said, “This way. The chamber was designed to
heal the body and mind, but it can do much more. While you are in this chamber,
you will be transformed mentally, as well as physically, to conceptualize the
many mysteries of the multiverse. There are many planets involved in the
conflict. Further, we will amplify the commendable abilities that you already
display. Theodore, you are a born leader. We will advance your knowledge in
military tactics to help you lead the Earth’s resistance against this
particular threat. You will no longer be a fart-giggling teen, instead you will
evolve into a hardened veteran, extremely skilled in tactical strategy.’

I
was afraid to say anything, so I chose to listen.

As
we walked to the chamber, Migalt then explained that he was enlisted by Zane to
protect me. He was a Bromel, created in Zane’s lab.

I
remember the overwhelming feeling of anxiety that followed after he informed me
of his duty. I even recall breaking a sweat, and at age fifteen, that is
impressive.

Bromels.
Imagine a bird-like being, twelve feet tall, and clad in technologically unique
armor. The revelation that such a powerful being was assigned to protect me
confirmed that I was considered a very valuable ally to Zane. It was very
humbling. I knew that even though I was a teenager, I had to become mature
enough real quick.

We
approached the vault of the chamber. He told me there was another chamber of
that type on another spaceship, which had been hijacked by a Dacturon Imperial
vessel. He went on to explain that we were currently aboard the ship Uriel, and
we were orbiting the most secure planet in the multiverse, Sephera.

What
is Sephera
? I
thought to myself. I decided to be patient, and find out later.

He
told me that Zane chose me. I thought if this Zane had infinite wisdom, then
how did he let all those events happen? It was only the beginning of many
doubts. I was just exploding with curiosity. If I was so vital to the Urilians,
I had to be as prepared as I could.

I
knew I could only ask one question at a time. I settled on one and blurted out,
‘So, Migalt, how will you protect me?’

From
the majestically clad armor, a secret compartment opened, revealing a massive
weapon that appeared to be a gun. He pulled the weapon from his sheath, and
upon his command, a beaming blade of light appeared from its muzzle. The beam
of light was about six inches wide and was as long as Migalt was tall—twelve
feet. This blade was extremely hot. I smelt the singe of my forearm hairs,
which led me to take a step back in caution.

‘This
weapon wields a rare mineral foreign to your world, known as tritium
phosphoritite. It can generate controlled bursts of energy, either as a
fighting tool, or as blasts of ammunition. These are concepts that you will
understand soon enough. You will enter the chamber. Your body is likely to
undergo changes as well as your mind. It is common for one to panic upon
exiting. Pathways in your mind will be opened, and all that you hear or touch will
be processed instantly. It can be daunting. Go forth, boy. If we deposit you
back onto Earth, and you are in danger, just hold out your hand and we will
rescue you. Oh, and Theodore, you are lucky we found you at the cliffs just on
time. Your necklace gave us your location. I see you are wearing Megadenom’s
amulet now. Only the use of Dietons could get that amulet to you in the way we
did,’ he said.

‘Yeah,
it came to me one night. It has been my guardian angel,’ I replied. I attempted
to sound cool, but I could not take my mind off the chamber. I dreaded what it
could do to me. I feared I would never be that idiosyncratic fifteen-year-old
Theodore Crane ever again. I gulped. Would I ever savor the simple pleasures of
performing ollies on my skateboard again?

I
walked toward the three-foot thick massive metal vault entry to the chamber,
and I stepped inside. I heard Migalt whistling an upbeat tune with his lips and
then the vault door slammed shut behind me. I stepped into the center of the
room. I stood still and in a flash, the solid glass-like enclosure encased me.

I
saw an image of a man. His voice was pulsating and echoing through my mind,
violently overcoming my senses. I tried to open my eyes to no avail, because he
was so brightly dressed and the chamber was white.

‘My
name is Zane. I am the Urilian Omnian, one of two Omnians born into this
multiverse. There remains only two of us. We both were created by the
Dacturons. Even though they created me, I totally oppose them and what they
stand for. I created the Dietons, whose job in the multiverse is to fight the
Dacturons in every way possible. I also built this vessel, the Uriel, to resist
the Dacturon’s radical opposition to our way of life. I chose you, Theodore,
because you have not deterred from the path I have set out before you. Now, I
have spoken of two Omnians. This other Omnian is named Odion. He leads the
Dacturons, and therefore, seeks my destruction and death, even though we are,
in essence, brothers. Odion has already infiltrated Earth. You must understand
this more than anything. Even though Travis is undoubtedly the one unstable
enemy that could be the end of all that exists under my rule, you must respect
him. Without respect, you will not be able to gauge what he can do.
Furthermore, do not yield to any temptation to any inkling of evil Theodore, or
I will be forced to crush you.’

The
urgency in Zane’s voice reached a new pitch, pounding against my head. ‘This is
a call to arms! We have extracted many individuals from all lifestyles to react
to the Darkness. Use your compassion. It is your powerful weapon to bring good
and order to the multiverse. Your mission will soon be given form, because
focus will divulge all truths.’

His
voice was so powerful and clear that my ears rang, and the shining aura around
him caused my eyes to fill with tears.

“Then,
just like that, he vanished. All that remained was darkness and then nothing,
allowing my mind to recuperate immediately with great relief. No sound, nor
light, nor thought existed within me—simply nothing. I was teleported again.”

That
was a marathon, but it feels great. Pacing the entire time causes me to tire.
Thirsty, I take a drink and lie down. My throat is sore, and as I swallow,
there is a slight sting. While shutting my eyelids, my weak body pulls me into
slumber.

“Slowly,
I felt the weathered wet wood of a dock below my feet, as I was set into time
and place, back to my present. I stood slightly off balance from the teleport,
and my vision strained. I was now a changed person. On the outside, I looked
like the teenager I used to be, but on the inside, I felt a raw new energy,
about to be infused into a brand new consciousness, ready to defend Earth.”

I
brought my flattened palms to just above my eyes, because the light was
deluging my head with aches. My hands were about five inches from my face, and
the Dietons, those speckled radiant white pixels that covered my body, rapidly
evanesced.

I
lowered my arms and looked up toward the sky, toward what must be Sephera. I
knew I could not see it if I tried, but I was newly aware of its existence.
While I stared upward, I witnessed what could be described as a giant re-run
reel of my extraction from time and place by the spaceship Uriel.

It
was as if I never had left the scene of the potential murder by Travis. I stood
transfixed, watching the past.

Across
the river at the mid-height of the cliff, my body double was frozen in space,
and there Travis stood at the top, with his hands extended after pushing me. He
almost fell from the cliff, following his rash actions. I was the young man
across the river that my body double had observed when falling.

It
was a weird feeling to observe an attempted murder of your past self. In that
moment, I discovered my formidable opponent’s most apparent weakness. Travis
had no control over his raging anger. He was so weak, so spent, that he nearly
stumbled off the edge of the cliff. A leaf falling on top of him at the
critical time could’ve knocked him off for good. I did notice, however, that he
rapidly regained his strength after that brief setback. Something I definitely
had to take note of for our inevitable rematch in the future.

In
a wild rush of adrenaline, confident that Travis had not seen me, the ‘new’
Theodore Crane, I crossed the bridge back over to the other bank downstream,
and dashed through the woods. I had to find the gas station, and I worried it
could involve revealing my position to enemies, now that I knew more of their
secrets. I really needed to call Winston, the cabby, before he gave up waiting
for me and returned to Minneapolis.

As
I ran through the woods, a miracle happened. The trees’ branches, as well as
the brush, bent away from me. It was if a path free of the brush instantly
appeared within a certain radius of my mad sprint. I could not explain it. I
suspected it must be the Dietons—previously labeled by Lincoln and me as
The
Intervention
.

I
found the highway and paralleled it toward the town. The gas station was at the
town’s entrance. I ran at full sprint, and a car pulled up next to me, slowing
to my speed.

‘Hey!
You need a ride?’ the woman asked. She was trying to yell over the passing cars
from her station wagon window.

‘No,
do you know how much further to the town?’ I asked.

Before
she could answer, I ‘heard’ an audio hallucination in my mind:
‘One-point-two-six-miles.’ I knew the audio was from the robot aboard the
Uriel. Apparently, there was no sound from the transmission, so the lady didn’t
detect any of my private communication.

As
if the woman driver observed nothing unusual, she told me the town was about a
mile away. I figured it might only take minutes if I ran. I was afraid to tell
her my destination, because I had an overwhelming feeling of distrust.
Trazuline had told me that there was an evil smothering Earth, and that
heightened my sensitivity toward strangers.

I
ran. The carbon monoxide from the passing cars in my lungs and the accumulating
lactic acid in my leg muscles weakened me, and I slowed to a stop. A familiar
cab interrupted my exhausted breathing, and Winston yelled from the window, as
traces of cigarette smoke billowed out past the top edge of the frame. ‘What
the hell are ya doing? Com’ere, what are you doing?’ he asked again as I moved
in closer to him.

‘Sir,
I have to tell you, I lied. I only have one house in Ferndale, and my
grandparents are going to be worried sick any minute now—if not already.’

‘What!
Get your ass in this car now, you have some explaining to do, where the hell
are your shoes?’ Winston asked.

Luckily,
Winston stayed in town after I left for the cliffs. On the way out of town, I
told Winston that I just wanted to continue my tradition of visiting Jason at
the cliffs, and that I was willing to do anything to go there. He thought I was
nuts, but he told me that I was a clever bastard and a great friend for what I
did.

“It
was quiet and tense in the car after our initial meeting and there was only
room for reflection, with the presence of a daunting vanilla smell.”

I
hear the automatic view box open, and one of the guards presses his face
against it. He says, “Hey prisoner, what happened next? I mean, what did you
think Zane wanted with you?”

I
hesitate and observe the man, sizing him up, and I say, “Zane confided in me. I
was the only person who could derail Travis—they needed me.”

“Zane
needed you? That is ridiculous. You really are crazy. A demigod needs a
kid—that’s rich. I suppose you think you could beat Odion too.” The guard
laughs, and footsteps interrupt our encounter. I scurry to a corner of my cell
with my tablet in hand. The view box closes, and I hear an argument outside.

“Were
you just talking with a prisoner? If I ever catch you talking to a prisoner
again rookie, you are going to be one! Do you understand?”

“Yes,
sir. He has quite an interesting story.”

“He’s
a prisoner. The only interesting part is the fact that he’s still alive. Don’t
let me catch you talking to him again. I mean it.”

“Yes,
sir.”

The
veteran guard opens the view box and stares at me. I look down, avoiding the
possibility of accidentally antagonizing him. He says, “Get back to it,
prisoner. I know you are just dying to talk to yourself.”

I
know to follow orders immediately. I turn the tablet on and
get back to it
:

“There
was a strange feeling, after playing back all the events aboard Zane’s ship.
Everything made sense. I understood the concept of Dietons. In the most simple
terms, they were the microscopic minions of Zane and all who were endowed with
rolesks. However, they were much more.”

The
overwhelming feeling of anxiety from my encounter in the deep space of the
multiverse was gone, and merely replaced with the pressing fear of what my
grandparents might do to me when I arrived at home.

My
hand was annoyingly itchy, and in an eardrum piercing fashion, a voice returned
to me:

‘We
have implanted you with a communicator. It is a device we will use to stay in
touch with you,’ the voice said.

‘Zane?’
I asked.

‘Theodore,
don’t speak, you only need to think. We have implanted a nanocom into the
Brochas area of your brain that controls speech. We have done this to
facilitate our communication. This is Nezatron. I am the robotic being you saw
aboard the spaceship Uriel. Since I was constructed from the digital lives that
arose from Sephera, I am a Sepheran. I will be the only one monitoring this
channel, for the time being. A secondary implant was placed within the palm of
your hand. It is called IPU, Inner Processing Unit. It is your own personal
computing system. If you need to command forth an important fact, it can be
displayed on a hologram from the center of your palm. Think of it like a search
engine on your own Internet, but ten times more advanced. I will be the
provider of this information. I am precise. Anything, try it out if you don’t
believe me,’ he said, taking a moment from talking to observe my reaction.

I
sharply drew in my breath as I peered at the palm of my hand. In the middle,
there was faint, glowing circle—intense in the center, then gradually fading as
it radiated out. It was as if a flashlight was pressed against the backside of
my hand, shining through my blood vessels to my palm. I turned my hand over;
the back of my hand appeared as it always had.

Excited,
I decided to test Nezatron’s proposition. Closing my eyes, in my mind, I
conjured forth the thought of a Dieton.

I
opened my eyes and gasped.

A
tiny hologram flickered just above the palm of my hand. Rotating slowly to
exhibit as much visual information as possible, it was a thorough blueprint of
a Dieton drawn to a visible scale. Over my nanocom, an audio description of the
Dieton played inside my head. I freaked out, and sat on my hand quickly to hide
the hologram, hoping that it wasn’t really a solid three-dimensional object
that would poke against my butt.

‘Don’t
worry about others seeing this hologram. The hologram is encoded to your optic
nerve and there are only a handful of humans on Earth that share a similar
sight with you. The chance of you encountering one of these humans isn’t a
likely outcome. On our end, we will be monitoring your vitals, as well as your
location. You will need to think about me to initiate a conversation.
Understand, I am not here waiting for you to contact me. I have orders of my
own to follow. We altered your mind in the chamber. You are now a supreme
enhanced version of yourself. You will need to be careful, because people will
notice that you have advanced intellectually—’ he said, and I interrupted.

‘I
will be smarter?’ I ask, realizing that I spoke aloud.

‘Did
you say something?’ the cabby asked.

‘No,
nothing,’ I said.

Nezatron
resumed his dialogue. ‘You need to be more careful. Keep your thoughts within
you when communicating with us. Your mission is to find four human children of
Earth, to follow you to the Uriel to be trained. You and your friends will be
transported at the hour of five, Earth time on the final day of your month.
That gives you twenty-three days to find and enlist four willing individuals.
To end the transmission, simply think it and the window for communication will
close. The Dietons are in your favor, Theodore. Know that we are fighting from
every angle to protect you. Trust us.’ I could tell he paused. He was waiting
for my reaction. I visualized turning off my voice, and the transmission ended.

The
biggest concern of mine was if a leaf could have knocked Travis off the cliff,
then why didn’t Zane command one to magically appear to deliver that blow of
fate? Why didn’t Zane, in all his power and wisdom knock him down and crush
him, as Travis himself said he would do to me?

I
didn’t know how I, a young and immature teenager was going to reel in four
innocent people to follow me into the depths of space to train, and to fight?
For a cause that I barely even understood.

I
had to start somewhere, and I needed to bring in the services of the cerebral
Lincoln Royce to do it. The need to deal with the approaching conflict drew
nearer.

The
ride was tense and quiet, time passed swiftly, and it wasn’t long before we
were on the corner of Granada Avenue and Fifth Street, just down from my
grandparents’ house. I explained to Winston that I wanted him to drop me off at
the corner. I didn’t want to involve him in a messy situation.

He
said, ‘Ya know, what you did could have gotten us both in trouble. You put
yourself in danger, I am not saying I will not help you out again, but it is
going to be difficult to trust you now. You get on, and I will drive on. Best
of luck, you sneaky bastard.’

Gulping,
I said good-bye and ran up the hill into the cul-de-sac. It was around seven in
the evening, and I saw a couple of small bats zinging around the circle.

There
were always a couple of bats that flew out to play when the sun went down. I
stepped foot on the front deck, my heart pounding.

My
stomach was fluttering in and out, as if one of those bats was inside, flapping
its wings. When I entered the house, my grandparents were staring, with arms
crossed. There was a brief lapse of sound.

‘Theodore
Daniel Crane, where have you been?’ Laverne demanded.

‘I
went to Taylors Falls—,’ I said, while being cut off.

“What!”
my grandpa interrupted, “How the hell did you get up there, and why?”

I
explained to them that I wanted to continue the tradition of visiting the
cliffs, and that I was willing to take the risks involved.

After
I finished speaking, I was near tears. Not because I had lied to them, not
because I had sneaked out, but because I had witnessed the hurt on my
grandparents’ faces. They had fretted all day, and it showed. Their numerous
wrinkles were etched in even further. It was as if one delicate tendril had
snapped. They had trusted me unwaveringly, and I could tell, in that momentous
one day, it wasn’t ever going to be the same. I felt deeply ashamed. My
grandparents loved me too much to show any anger, but they could not hide their
profound disappointment.

Marv
said, ‘In my days, my dad would’ve spanked me with a wooden rod no thicker than
your pinky finger. But Theodore, I forgive you, just remember we love you, and
if you need anything, just ask us.’ Firming up his mouth, he turned away.