King of the Dark Mountain (13 page)

“I can’t begin to imagine how that would work.”

“Oh you will in time. For now, you can return to Richard’s living quarters. We have added a room for you adjoining his. We hope that you will spend a great deal of time together, developing the rapport that seems to play such a crucial role in the final tuning process,” Melton said, with a little smile.

Hez grimaced at him in return and stood up. Melton motioned for him to come down and he called for Erickson. The latter appeared to escort Hez back to Richard’s apartment. “I must be crazy,” he said when he got into the living room where Richard was reading a book. He put the book down and came to greet him. He peered closely into his eyes.

“You’re still you.”

“I don’t feel much like me, but yeah they didn’t totally screw with my mind, but I almost wish they had. This thing is really messed up.”

“Which part, the American continent turned into a breeding farm for information transmission or what happens when it’s served that purpose?”

“He just said they were going to get some big message from the stars, which was going to give them access to unlimited energy.”

“That’s what they think. Then when they get that energy they’ll just liquidate their human receptors.”

“They’re killing them slowly anyhow right now. You know I made a choice to become a farmer because I didn’t trust the food supply, but never did I dream that there was something like this behind the crappy food they were selling.”

“Who did? Samantha and I buy organic food; switch off the broadcast mediums, television the internet, anything that keeps us sedated and unmoving for hours. We even make our kids give up their game systems for specific amounts of time. Yet we were all still getting fat, so it’s more than the food and lack of exercise. “

“They’re probably coding people to produce more fat cells while they’re sending along the information. Do you know what kinds of information they’re sending?”

“Probably all kinds for profit. I know they have a corporate identity over here as a communications firm. It might be in the U.S. too.”

Hez sat down on the couch and ran his hands through his hair. “It’s all so messed up.””

“It’s like they think they’re not the same species, and that other people are just here to fulfill whatever purpose they can come up with.”

“Well, they’re in a long tradition with that idea.”

“When they first mentioned getting a message from the stars, I thought they were expecting some alien transmission or something. I thought that hell they might even be aliens, but that’s not it. This thing they’re expecting is not directed by some alien, I’m pretty certain it’s just some type of energy burst they’re hoping to tap into.”

“How do they know about it?”

“They’ve been sending secret probes in the direction of Orion for a while. I have no idea what got them started. They won’t answer a lot of my questions. I’m hoping together we can figure out a way to leverage more information out of them.”

“What do you mean?”

“They gave you a song and dance about how they need pairs of people with good rapport, didn’t they?”

Hez nodded. “Yeh, given how sick these jerks are, that kind of gave me the willies.”

“While you were away, they came here to let me know that they had monitored some of our interaction last night and were especially pleased that we were getting along so well.”

“So they were listening in?”

“I don’t think they care what we say, but they do care about the emotional energy that we produce when we are around each other. They think they can use it. They were probably taking readings on that. Anyway, it’s a break for us, because that means they need us both alive and together.”

“I really don’t want to help them in any way.”

“I know what you mean, but maybe we can find a way to turn it around on them. At least we have a little more time to work out a plan.”

“Yeh, what do we have to lose?”

“Nothing, they’re going to go ahead, with or without us. Let’s play along for now and see if we can get more information.”

Hez nodded. “Sounds like a plan. They said they made a room for me, do you know where? I could use some sleep.”

“It’s across the hall. There used to be some kind of meeting room over there but they moved a bed in, probably shoved the tables in a corner. It won’t be pretty, but it will do for now.”

“I hope I won’t be needing it too long.” He got to his feet, “I can’t believe all of this, it’s like a really bad dream.”

“We’ll beat them,” Richard said quietly.

“How you figure?”

Richard shrugged, “We have to, if we don’t everything is lost. After these bozos eliminate most of the human race with their magic ray gun from outer space, they’ll use the energy to destroy the rest of the planet.”

“No, I’m sure they’ll turn it into a paradise. Once there’s just them, it will be the triumph of the fittest.”

“It’s funny you should say that. I’ve been studying up on the eugenics movement. You know anything about it?”

“Some kind of proto-Nazi pseudo-science crap, right?”

“Yeh that pretty well sums it up. I asked for some information about it. They were more than happy to provide it.” He picked up the book and flipped through and began to read, ‘The destiny of the human race requires diligence to remove maladaptive genes from the pool. The most progressive societies in the future will find humane but efficient methods to achieve this goal. Once the inferior genetic dross is removed, the truly glorious prototypical human being will emerge in all his splendor.’”

“So you think that’s what’s driving this side show?”

Richard nodded. “Yeah, I think that’s how they justify it to themselves. Naturally, they imagine that they possess all the splendid genetic material.”

Hez laughed, “How do they look at themselves in the mirror and keep that illusion alive?”

Richard smiled and put the book down, “I have the feeling that something is feeding it, beyond just wishful thinking.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know but they all walk around like they’ve got some secret they would just love to rub in your face, but you’re probably too stupid to get it anyway.”

“Sounds like some people I went to high school with.”

“I need to get them to lay it out for me. That way, I can get a better picture of where to hit them.”

“We’re buried in some forgotten fragment of the old Soviet Union God knows how many feet underground, surrounded by these clowns, how in the world are you going to hit them?”

“I don’t know. I had just about given up. But you’ve made me want to fight them.”

Hez laughed, “I don’t see how I did that. I feel pretty much like throwing in the towel myself at this point.”

“We’ll just have to keep encouraging each other till something breaks.”

“Or we do.”

“We’ve caught some breaks, so maybe our luck will hold a little longer. Anyhow you might want to go get some rest. There’s no telling when they’ll come for us for the big event. It’s best if we stay rested and ready.”

“Yeh, you’re right.” He got up. “Thanks, man.”

“For what?”

“You know keeping the faith, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”

“I can’t see the light yet, but I believe we will.”

“That’ll do for now, “ Hez said and left to find his new sleeping quarters. The room across the hall proved to be comfortably furnished after all with a twin size bed and a down comforter. They had even put a picture on the wall of a waterfall. It looked like it might have been taken in the same mountains they’d shown him in the video. Hez kicked off his shoes and dove into the bed. The room was dimly lit so he didn’t even bother to turn out the light. He drifted off into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Chapter Twelve

Ellie was awakened early by a buzzing sound, followed by Aleister’s voice she thought. “Ms. McCane, please come to Mr. Griffin’s quarters, as soon as possible,” he said. Then there was another buzzing noise. She drug herself to the bathroom, stared at her herself in the bathroom mirror. She had not slept well; she kept having the sensation of getting yanked back into her body whenever she drifted off. She had tried to get a sense of Hez’s location, but without any luck. She could only discern that he was listening to music, which was reassuring. Those people who had him might not mean him harm, if they were allowing him to do that. At least that’s what she hoped.

After brushing her teeth, and splashing water on her face, she went down the hall and got on the elevator. She got off at Ted’s floor. Aleister met her at the door of Ted’s apartment. He handed her a cup of coffee and guided her to the sofa. “Ted had to return home, his wife is in the middle of a crisis of some sort.”

“What kind of crisis?” Ellie asked.

“She apparently attempted suicide. She’s in the hospital, recovering from an overdose. I’m afraid this couldn’t have come at a worse time. We cannot afford to lose time. We may have to proceed without Ted’s input, I’m afraid.”

“That’s crazy, we have to have Ted.” Ellie said.

“We hope Mr. Griffin will be able to return shortly, but everything is up in the air at present.” He handed her some papers. “These are some notes that Ted left regarding the project. He said if you study these, you should be able to perform the necessary tasks to keep us moving forward.”

Ellie looked at the paper. There were some diagrams with Ted’s scrawl beside them. She had a little trouble making them out. “It looks like he’s talking about something getting done on top of the mountain. Is there some kind of platform or something set up?”

“Yes it’s aligned to the measurements that we derived from his previous work, based on the stone markings he deciphered earlier.”

Ellie nodded. “So this one has the date a few days away. Is that set in stone, as far as you know?”

“We think we have a window of a day or two on either side. We would be leery of pushing it past the middle of that time frame.”

“He’s showing all the surrounding mountains with these wavy lines, does that mean this is supposed to energize those too?”

“Fantastic as it sounds, the whole Appalachian chain could potentially retain it, if we focus properly.  The more energy we can store, the better. You see how he’s showing the pulse coming out of the Orion nebula here.” He pointed with his finger to part of the diagram of the constellation.

“What if we can’t get focused or collect it, what will happen?”

“We think it has to be tuned, if everyone on earth ignored it, then it would have no impact, or very little. At least it wouldn’t be useful for practical purposes. But if we can bring it into this site and send it on down this chain of mountains, the power it will provide could last a millennium.”

“You’ve got to be kidding. How can it have that much force and yet not be harmful unless it’s focused?”

“It’s like a chemical reaction that can only happen with all the elements in play. For this to work, we know that we need a type of consciousness present in you and Ted. We thought it required the rapport between the two of you, but now we’re getting a different idea. We think it might take place simply based on the work that you have already done.”

“You mean the vision of the tree?”

“Yes, also there’s another aspect to that. Here let me show you. He pressed some keys on his laptop and the wall in front of them lit up with the image of the tree. “We had the words analyzed by a super computer, using all the linguistic elements derived from all known languages. It seems to be from a very early Indo-European proto-language as far as we can make out. We think it says:
Miekka, skal
Kalyx, gart
and then
Kalyx skal
Meikka gart
. 

“So what do you think that means?”

“Well the best guess we have is that it means, sword of the sky, shell of the earth, and then it becomes sword of earth, shell of the sky. We think it’s referring to an exchange of energy, where the planetary energy of earth gets taken up and we receive the stellar energy. Shell in this context should be thought of as a container, something that receives. The sword is something that fills. It’s obviously got a sexual connotation, but so does electricity. Because of the diagram of the stars on the back of the tree, we’re pretty sure it refers to the type of energy that Ted discovered while doing his research in Ireland.”

“But how did you get the date?”

“Some calculations Ian’s team performed relating to the triple spiral on the entrance stone at Newgrange as it compares to the triple spiral inside the monument indicates that it will occur when the nebula in Orion’s sword appears to change slightly in position in relation to the Milky Way.” He paused and then continued in an almost dreamy tone, “There’s an old fragment of a poem that I learned as a boy from my father that might also hold a clue.” 

He looked away from her and then back again and smiled shyly. “Once we were out on a lake near our village, it was early spring and Orion was setting. I’ll never forget the way it looked that evening, reflected in the water. I couldn’t stop staring at it. In fact, I almost tumbled out of the boat while staring at it. My father laughed and caught me. I’ll never forget what he said then. ‘Those are not ordinary stars, son. Our people have kept the memory of their true nature alive in our songs.’ He went on and sang me a song in Old Norse. It was so wonderful to hear the sound of my father’s beautiful baritone voice intoning those ancient words.”

Ellie smiled at him. “Do you remember them?”

“I can’t sing it for you, if that’s what you mean, but the meaning of the ballad was that at the end of days, the jewel in the sword of the great hunter will spill forth the light from the beginning of time. And the sign of this will be that it turns to red fire.” He pushed some buttons and the image of the tree was replaced by an image of the nebula.

“It’s really red, is this a recent picture?”

“This one was taken last night. It’s been changing color for the past several weeks. It’s glowed pink for ages, but now it’s changed to red. Our best prediction is that it will be at its most intense shade very soon. We think that is the clue that we should be ready to receive the input.”

“I just wish we knew what kind of energy it is exactly.”

“We thought it might be directed, though we couldn’t imagine by what. Now we think it is an automatic process, something that just occurs every ten thousand years or so. The poem I mentioned is very old. We believe that the reference to the “end of days” means the end of the cycle prior to the energy getting released again. Of course this is all speculation. Anyway, they put it on the rock at Newgrange and perhaps built the Great Pyramid to act as a transformer for it when it comes.” He paused, then continued, “And maybe somehow or other it was coded into your mind and Ted’s mind so that when it was due to come round again, the two of you would be able to remember and take advantage of it.”

“But surely it isn’t just me and Ted. Other people must have this knowledge.”

“Everyone might have it, but not everyone has access to the regions of their minds that you and Ted do. Ted thinks he understands how to get the most from this opportunity, it’s in the notes. We want you to take the rest of the day and go over them and think about whatever questions you might have. We’re hoping we can get you in touch with Ted at some point to answer them. We understand he won’t be much help to us, if his mind is distracted by his wife’s condition.”

“I wasn’t even thinking about Irena. Do you know if she’s going to be alright?”

“As far as we know, she’s going to make it, but I believe her condition is still not very good.”

“What about those other people, the ones that have Hez, could they interfere with the process or cause something to go wrong?”

“We think anyone set up to receive the energy will be able to do so, and they’re set up in a way similar if not exactly the same as us. They’re operating from inside a granite range of mountains, probably more than one range, for example. Were you able to get any information regarding your brother?”

“I just keep getting music when I try to tune in to him.”

“Well, there may not be time now to pull him back through. If you can’t get a very precise sense of his location, it might not be possible anyhow.”

“Ted said they were dangerous.”

“They may be, but honestly, we can’t worry too much about them now. This thing is moving more quickly than we had anticipated. We’ve just run out of time. If you do happen to get anything regarding your brother we’ll jump on it; but right now, please look at those notes and think about what you need to do to prepare.”

Ellie nodded, “I’ll go over them and see what it is he is saying I have to do to get this done.”

“Great, I know you won’t let us down.” He gave her an encouraging smile.

Ellie nodded and looked away, feeling suddenly self-conscious, “Can I take these back to my room?”

“If you like, I’m going to put a call in to find out what’s going on with Ted and his wife. I’ll let you know in a few hours, unless something urgent comes up before then.”

“I think that will be enough time to get a handle on this.” She stood up and went to the door, staring down at the pages as she walked. There were only four pages with pictures, but Ted’s hand writing was small and there were a lot of details that she felt that she needed to go over. When she got back to her room, she got out a laptop they had provided her and began to do a little research. Some of the information was straight forward, but much of it referred to data she had not encountered before. She felt that she needed to understand everything in the notes as completely as she could. Whatever happened with Irena, Ted would probably not be able to focus in the same way, so she just had to fill in for him now.

*

Ted was standing in the hospital room looking down at Irena’s pale face; her lips were drawn down in a bow that made her look deeply disappointed. He brushed the hair back from her brow; a nurse was buzzing about but he scarcely noticed her. He wished he could reach inside his wife’s mind and understand what had brought her to this. He couldn’t help feeling guilty for all the time he had spent away from her, especially over the past several months. 

If he had explained more of the details would she have held on a little while longer he wondered. The truth was he had filled her in as much as he could, but she really didn’t seem to care that much. She grasped the concepts but when he told her some of the details she seemed unconcerned. It had struck him as odd that she could be so nonchalant about the future of the human species. 

He thought about the moment when Ellie had finally understood and committed herself whole heartedly to the task. That moment had never come for Irena, even though it touched him to remember how she had tried valiantly to encourage him on. He sat down beside her bed and picked up her hand. It was so cold and damp. He pressed it to his lips and prayed that she would make it through, even though he wasn’t much of a believer. Although he knew there were many mysterious forces at work in the universe, he hadn’t spent much time labelling them. “Please let her come back from this,” he said to the God that he heartily hoped was there.

During his prayer, his cell phone started ringing. “Is this Theodore Griffin?”

He tensed, fearing it was a fan who had managed to get his personal number. It happened occasionally. Usually he did not mind so much, though it was a hassle to get the number changed once he answered the usually perplexing deep background question about a character in a book he could barely remember writing. He started to give his standard, Mr. Griffin is not available speech to get off the phone as soon as possible when the woman on the other end said, “Mr. Griffin, my name is Samantha Ewing, you might have heard of my husband, Richard.” She had a pleading tone in her voice that made him pause. He wrecked his brain trying to remember Richard Ewing. “He’s a writer like you, similar types of books, at least some people think so,” she continued.

“Yes, I think I’ve heard of your husband. I’m sorry Mrs. Ewing this is not a good time to talk. My wife is seriously ill. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry to bother you. I know it’s annoying when strangers call you out of the blue, but I really need to talk to you. Richard is involved in a secret project, that I think you might know about. I got this number from a mutual friend . ..” here her voice broke. “Richard’s friend …” she added.

“Listen Mrs. Ewing, this sounds like something I need to talk to you about in person. Where are you located?”

“I’m in New York right now. I had to give a speech at a charity function Richard and I have been involved with for a while. I didn’t want to do it, but they said I should act normal, stick to all my usual routines, if I wanted everything to turn out alright for Richard.”

“Okay, I can’t leave my wife right now, but we really need to talk. Is there any way you can come to New Hampshire this evening?”

“Yes, I’ll get up there as soon as I can. I need to talk to someone about this or I’m going to lose my mind.”