The Deadliest Alien Artifacts (Story Collection) (18 page)

“
We are leaving the outer limits of
the universe!
”
it announced loudly, to his utter horror.

Logan and Clunes were just confused, and
they continued to play their game. Sandler remained where he was,
so that he could observe everything.

“
Give us
information!
”
Professor Farrell anxiously asked.

“
I have not detected any more
universes beyond this point.
”

“
So there actually is a real
universe!
”
Sandler spoke.

The screen changed to let them see the
bright whiteness dissolve into blackness. Sandler felt something
leave him, and he felt all the cells in his body losing their
essence of life.

When darkness surrounded the galactic
transporter, the front view turned to the back view. And even the
two men stopped drinking whisky and playing cards, to watch the
bright whiteness of the real universe
’
s boundary against the
void.

The velocity instantly increased beyond
recognition. With an explosion of movement, the outer universe
formed into a globe of light.

Sandler felt more alone than he had ever
felt. His mind was not able to function in many different ways. He
was unable to guess things that he had subconsciously known all his
life. He felt an energy draining out of him. His life force was
dwindling away from his body!

A light glowed from the Superbeing. Control
panels, at the front, became visible through it. Everything about
him turned transparent, and he saw the darkness outside. The
galactic transporter about him was disappearing out of existence,
and he watched his body fade into the blackness.

They had gone beyond reality. It was as
though he were dreaming in an altered state of existence. They had
finally entered the real black abyss.

There were small lights floating about his
front.

At some point, he discovered that he also
was a small light.

The reality of the real universe did not
exist. Everything was on the point of non-existence. The lights
about him turned dim as he felt his existence disappear into
nothing.

At the brink of non-existence, he felt a
force from somewhere pulling him. A dim light appeared, and it
pulled them to it.

While they were moving to it, he realized
that it was the force, which made everything exist.

Their points of light moved from the nothing
towards reality.

The light glowed with beams of power. It
gave him more power and happiness than he had ever felt from
anything. Its light shone over them, and their entities formed into
large bright globes.

At a close position, its sphere grew, and
began to have small pieces of detail. Bright white shades mingled
in a faint pattern.

A configuration of a spirit emerged in the
white globe, with all the star universes fixed in their places in
its surreal glow.

A head was visible within the white bubble,
but as their entities neared the universe, it became harder to
see.

The amount of knowledge Sandler knew
increased immensely, and he knew of things that he had not known
existed. He knew the function of the totality of all existing
things. He had an awareness of all creation.

When they re-entered the universe, a bright
light of another entity emerged, and then a large translucent alien
with wings transformed from it, and their features changed until
they had the appearances of ghosts.

They were elevated to another place, and the
alien entity vanished, leaving them in front of a bright white
universe, with a size thousands of times larger than the other
universes.

It was at the location where he had seen the
head of the spirit at, within the globes of stars. It was
invisible, but he sensed its power, through the depths of all time
and creation.

Then he materialized in the galactic
transporter, and knew that the Superbeing was taking them to the
location of their stars, where they would be teleported to the
Earth.

Chapter 12

The
Atomic Bomb

(From the novel
The Deadliest Menace)

The silent rhythm
of the Pacific, skimming up the golden beach, gently lured Melinda
to sleep. The tropical island was surreal, and like part of a
dream. The palm trees about her shimmered against a blue velvet
sky, with
colors
of practically every variation radiating
in the blazing sunshine, while the vivacious scents from exotic
foliage and the ocean blended in the warm air currents.

Yet, as she fell
asleep, a vicious roar of a powerful speedboat blasted out,
bringing her out of her slumber
–
vibrating about
her
–
stirring and enticing her from there, from the
sun.

She desired the shade,
and clambered to her feet.

The abominable sound
grew so loud that it caused her to grit her jaws, and then to lay
her startled glare anxiously at the end of the fantastic beach, to
where a speedboat, packed with men, was racing ashore.

According to John,
her husband, the small island was supposed to be a desert
island
–
which they
’d
sailed to, in
a hired luxury yacht.

Their hostile shrieks
captivated her as she stood amid the shades of the palm trees. Even
though their figures were distant, their antics gave away their
decisiveness, to do something.

While the
speedboat caught the rays of the descending sun, the vague crimson
glow of the sky over the horizon brought back memories of their
previous night, on the holiday boat, nestling at the other side of
the island
–
where she
’d
walked, on the
beach, from.
Colors
from the sun had
been blazing below the skyline, and the bright celestial objects
had radiated in the dark blue sky, turning it into a
wonderland.

For a long time she
smirked and vibrantly recollected her enjoyment. But, again, the
sounds returned her to reality. Yet, this time, with shock, she
focused her eyes on the end of the beach, at a perpendicular cliff,
on a hill, curving into the ocean.

They were shifting
about violently
–
obviously in great danger from
something
–
from a hidden enemy, shooting at
them.

A deep blast, from
a gun, echoed around the shore, and across the reef, and great pain
shot through her ankle
–
and she collapsed onto
the sand. Then she saw blood pouring out, soaking her
foot.

In one swift
movement she moved in the undergrowth
–
even though she
was not fully convinced that they had shot her. Their mission,
whatever that was, had seemed to have seized all of their
attention.

As she gripped her foot,
in pain, she spotted one of them, in the distance, hidden away,
aiming a gun at her. If he had not been as far off the wound might
have been more deeper and accurate.

The scene that unfolded
left her transfixed. The powerful explosions from army handguns,
rifles, and machine-guns shattered the silence of her paradise. And
she crouched beneath the palm trees, peering through the tropical
plants, almost blind with fear. There were bodies already lying
between the rocks, and they continued with no intention of
stopping. And it looked little in comparison to the destruction
caused by them against the mysterious enemy concealed beyond the
hill.

Melinda shifted,
ignoring the pain, preparing her mind and body for the great
physical exertion that she needed to escape. But, while she jerked,
to the gunfire, as it grew, and randomly fired in her direction,
she spotted her clothes and handbag.

For a moment, she stayed
motionless, stunned, knowing that she could not abandon them. In
addition to them being able to learn of her identity, and track
her, her handbag held her passport.

Some of the
men
endeavored
to clamber aboard the speedboat to flee,
except the gunfire hideously prevented them attaining
it.

Melinda snatched her
things with one swipe and scurried amongst the undergrowth.

An abominable thud
made her jump, turn, and roll sideways
–
making sand and
pebbles stick to her moist skin and long hair.

She then spotted
the offending object
–
a chunk of vegetation
strewn over the sand
–
fallen from an
overhanging tree. She hardly thought of it as a problem, even
though she knew that it could have inflicted a grave injury to
her.

She shaded her eyes, and
clambered upwards, distressed by their fascinating shouts. Their
strange variations seemingly coming in many directions, while
bordering on being audible and not clear. The odd climate and
landscape played with her senses.

It had been a perfect
dream holiday and now it was her worst.

“
They
’re
getting through!
”
a distinct
voice bellowed, from somewhere over at the hill.

Yet she glimpsed the
speedboat starting to sink and them running in her direction.

One pointed directly at
her, as if introducing some notion to them to either capture her or
shoot her.

Absolute horror
seized her, preventing her from reacting (though she attempted to
reassure herself that there was no verification that they had
entirely comprehended her existence). And she rushed into the trees
on her hands and knees
–
ignoring any cuts and
bruises
–
leaving a trail of blood from her foot.
Desperately yearning to move deep inland, beyond the trees, away
from visibility, and to escape death.

The sun blazed,
and the air was roasting. The golden sand glowed brightly and the
turquoise ocean sparkled in patches through the trees. Dark shapes
emerged, resembling their evil figures, but altered to parts of the
vegetation
–
as her sight constantly
adjusted.

Something rummaged
around, near her, but she ignored it as the light and free tones
were from a small animal.

Finally, she stretched
out her painful limbs, feeling dizzy, and she rushed towards a
hill. Her main undertaking was to find a hiding place, preferably
with a view of her surroundings.

Loud explosions from
guns sent flocks of tropical birds flying up into the sky. Squawks
blared out, as though a colossal deadly jungle beast were on the
rampage, further along the coast.

The sounds vibrated on
her ears and the pain from her ankle pulsed furiously driving her
on and on, for safety, to survive.

Though she knew where
they must be, she expected them to leap out at her from unseen
places of the hill.

The island blazed
in phenomenal
colors
Shades of every
variant flared all around her as though she were rushing through a
mind-bending cartoon.

Her imagination conjured
up perpetual illusions.

Shimmering lights
fantastically shifted about her.

With similarities to a
sixth sense, she sensed her death. Darkness seemed to edge into the
side of her eyes, resembling colossal angel of death, stretching
over the trees, vaguely visible, and haunting her from the
afterlife. And she did not know where to go to escape!

She drew comfort in
hearing their distant sounds.

Why had this had
to happen at the only desolate region that she had gone to? What
possible intentions would drive them to such action? They could not
be pirates, unless they had been carrying out some other trade.
Drug smuggling could be a major trade in the vicinity, but she
could not accept that they were carrying out a mere attack on a
rival gang. They took part in a mission as soldiers did
–
not doing it to wound their enemy but to achieve
whatever they had accomplished.

Their deadliness
resembled an abyss
–
a bottomless pit
–
with no real furthest reaches. She dared not fight
them. Her best option ought to be to run to a distant place, out of
their reach or further out than they would go.

If they survived and
threw off their pursuers, where would they go? With great speed and
determination, they would have to go to the other side of the
island.

The only boat at the
island had to be there. Yet, surely, her original thoughts had been
wrong! Why would they wish to confront her? The only reason that
they might react would be if they assumed that she must be one of
the people they were fighting.

The gunfire clearly
decreased, but spread out, only leaving one direction left for her.
Surely they would go across the island, it had to be the only place
for them to hide and remain out of their range.

It struck her as odd
that there had been so many people at where it had been considered
desolate.

Nonetheless, they could
have constructed the site in months, even weeks.

Melinda grew angry! Her
tense leg muscles became weak. And her trail clearly led from her
to the beach. If they wished to take her hostage, they could
accomplish it. Then as she saw how near the location that the men
had attacked was from her, she knew that it must be the best place
to hide near. They surely would not go back there, and she might
acquire information on what was going on.