Revolution of the Gods: The Battle for Sol Book One (7 page)

“Yes sir,”
Lindherst acknowledged.

The wall monitor switched from Lindherst’s unflattering close-up back to the default analytics menu with the centered C7 emblem imposing on the screen.

“Gentlemen, this development cannot be allowed to become anything more than a temporary annoyance. The New Order is too close to fruition for this GEO to become unpredictable. General Bracken has obviously compromised the security of the GEO Project and this Dr. Hauer has validated our growing mistrust. I suggest we proceed under the assumption that they are working against us.”

The EU Prime continued, “This GEO serves us better dead than captured. Presuming he will evade Lindherst, I recommend we utilize this unfortunate event to move up our scheduled field test for the new SETH series.”

After an immediate concurrence from the other delegates, the EU prime sent orders for a SETH Series 2 to report to the command center.

Silently the delegates sat observing the satellite feed on the main viewer. Superimposed on the right side of the main viewer were six more video feeds: three live ground feeds from Lindherst’s first recon team, two views from the James Webb Space Telescope with synchronized countdowns appearing on the bottom, and one sub-orbital satellite view of the moon.

One of the delegates pressed the smaller top video feed on his chair panel. A live ground feed of Lindherst’s team leader expanded to the main viewer and the sound was activated. The ground team was reporting to Lindherst:

“Sir, the Griffin has been recovered. Damage is catastrophic. The target remains undetected. Commencing a
radial
drones weep. Team One out.”

The EU delegate perched higher in his seat and turned to the others to impress the importance of terminating the GEO. Before he could speak the unmistakable silhouette of a SETH emerged from the shadows near the entry bulkhead. The imposing S2 walked forward into the light exposing the brilliant detail of its 7 foot 2 inch design.

“S2-Designation-Valik reporting as directed.”

“Agent Valik, your first field test has been moved forward. Are you familiar with the GEO Program?” the head of the NAU inquired as he stood and walked toward the main viewer.

“The Genetically Enhanced Operative Program is an ancillary program to the SETH Program. It originated three years ago in the former United States. Although the program is reported to have started several years earlier with developed clones at varying levels of maturation, to date it has not fielded a successful operative. The main facility for research and development is Dugway Proving Ground,” Valik reported.

“That changed earlier today. A GEO escaped the facility at 0650 MST. The XF-50 he utilized in his escape has been located here,” Pike explained with the satellite tracking feed on the viewer. He continued, “This is Las Vegas. A recon team from Dugway is already on site performing searches for the primary target. Your mission is to locate the GEO and eliminate him before he is captured.”

“Acknowledged,” Valik responded.

“We want to maintain a small footprint, so you will be the only S2 dispatched. A Helios is waiting in the launch hanger.”

“I will report to the armory for disposition refitting and then proceed to the target area. Estimated time of arrival is three hours twenty minutes,” Valik calculated.

“Very well. We will monitor your progress.”

Out of a period of dim half-light and much obscurity the new Masonry arose, and knowing what it is, we have a keen curiosity to know how it came to be what it is. How many questions we are eager to ask, answers to which are not found, or likely to be found, unless un-guessed records should leap to light. Anyway, our brethren of those formative days practiced the Masonic virtues of silence and circumspection to an extraordinary degree, telling us very little of what we should like to know so much. ~ Unknown

C
hristopher Conrad was making his way through the underground utility tunnel. The corroding six inch heating pipes were hissing steam through the joint fractures creating a bath of fog that obscured the dim lights positioned every forty feet. Conrad’s 600 yard trek ended in front of a riveted steel door with only a few green patches of paint still fighting to cling on. He pulled the metal lever upwards and entered into a small round chamber with a spiral staircase descending three levels from the middle of the floor.

A careful descent put Conrad in front of another doorway. With no metal lever, this more modern door offered access only through a keypad. The correct code enabled the door to slide from right to left allowing Conrad entry. Waiting inside a large cinder block room were three men seated around an oval conference table with five chairs. Behind one of the seated men read a faded inscription on the wall – AGL at No.9.

No. 9 Greek Street in Soho, London was the present day location of a perpetually empty Jazz club. The Second Great Depression had destroyed the majority of businesses in places like Soho, but No.9 stood in defiance of this new reality. It was not a place the average person would consider normal for the hidden location of an ancient brotherhood.

The importance of this address was not the Jazz club of course. Rather, it was its place in history exactly 280 years ago that held the most significance. In that time, it was known as Turk’s Head Tavern - birthplace of the definitive Masonic divergence.

The official history of this event was well chronicled but always presented as a benign transformation within Freemasonry. During the decades approaching the mid 1700’s, the Masons from Ireland and Scotland harbored an increasing animosity toward the London Grand Lodge. They believed that the lodge had dangerously deviated from the Craft’s ancient practice. They viewed themselves as the ones that practiced a more ancient and purer form of the Craft. The Ancients' Grand Lodge was established in 1751 as a result.

Eventually, the two Lodges unified in 1813. The
Antients
were no longer considered a clandestine Lodge and all was supposedly well again in the Masonic order. In reality, however, the reemergence of the true Craft’s century’s long secrecy had been effectively hijacked by the aristocrats and power elite of England. The Entered Apprentices and Fellow Crafts of the Antients were completely assimilated into the
Modern
form of Masonry. All but four original Antients made the transition – they knew better. And one of them from that time was waiting in the chamber under No.9 for Conrad.

The Antient named Turner held the appearance of a very elderly man, achieving the deeply entrenched wrinkles and complete baldness of extremely old age.

“Our new brotherhood has been infiltrated, corrupted, and misdirected for more than 300 years. Our purpose has been supplanted by the ruling elite. More importantly, our true order has been relegated to the deepest realms of secrecy for millennia and all will be lost if we do not rise once again and accomplish this last task,” Tuner instructed.

“We have successfully undertaken countless subversions of our corrupt speculative brothers who follow the direction of the Committee of 300. Nevertheless, their power has reached a threshold that now threatens the survival of the inhabitants of this planet and possibly the entirety of existence. They cleared their last hurdle with the eradication of our Brother Washington’s foundation in the US and ultimately the installment of the Council of Seven.” Turner leaned back in his chair crossing his arms and nodding toward Conrad.

“The return of their people, those that did not fare well in their efforts of domination elsewhere, is upon us now” Conrad declared. He leaned forward and pressed a recessed button on the table edge causing one of the cinder block walls to separate and expose a large wall viewer and computer array. The main viewer displayed an overhead view of Zone 09 in Oakland with three superimposed space video feeds matching those of the C7’s.

“I have been informed that Simeon should be freed shortly,” Conrad alerted with a tone of cautious optimism, looking at the empty chair.

T
he flat wide rectangle that formed Section 03, consisted of the space between 7th Street and 10th Street and stretched from Market St to Mandela Parkway, parallel to I-980. Cadan and Ben were under a 12 story building facing Market Street in an expansive basement. In between the mechanical sections were pockets of open spaces where Ben established his furtive residence. About a year ago he had given his assigned room on the second floor to a family of five from Section 15; a particularly unsafe area near 34th Street.

Even though residents were free to roam the interior of the entire ROC, the camp curfew from 8pm to 5am was no longer enforced outside of Sections 03 and 07 due to the overpopulation in most other sections. Sections 03 and 07 were the only residential sections fully electrified and guarded during curfew hours. Outside of the lit and guarded sections, many places were extremely dangerous at night.

Since its inception over three years ago, the Oakland ROC had evolved its own socio-economic structure as a result of the discriminatory internment protocols. Essentially there was an upper class and a lower class. When a resident was first interned at the command center, they were designated either a ‘resident-worker’ or a ‘resident-detainee’ and received a ration card indicating their ‘class.’ The determination was based purely on skill set and previous work experience. So far, two sections, 03 and 07, had been completed to house this new civil service.

When Ben arrived in December of 2028, Section 03 reconstruction was just beginning with the new high-density resident dormitories replacing non-compliant structures like old houses or business buildings making inefficient use of land space. The resident dormitories were ten story cubical concrete structures that focused exclusively on capacity, lacking any architectural creativity whatsoever. Sections 03 and 07 represented the control model which the ROC administrators were directed to expand throughout the entire interior. There were currently sixteen sections undergoing reconstruction.

Ben gained his particular resident-worker status simply by his initial assignment to Section 03 during the time reconstruction began for that section. Actually, he had been originally classified as a detainee, but after proving his abilities to the ROC construction engineers, he was ‘upgraded’ and reissued a new ration card. This was only one of a handful of ways that a resident detainee could become a resident- worker.

The ration card itself was a powerful incentive utilized by the center’s administrators to maintain order and control resources. All residents received a minimum number of ‘credits’ to cover no more than two meals per day.

Regardless of classification, any camp resident could earn extra credits from labor projects, but resident-detainees were always chosen after resident-workers for any such projects and received a lower pay rate for their unskilled assistance.

All residents could redeem their credits for meals and a limited inventory of basic necessities. Three times a day meals and water were distributed to the hungry souls waiting in long lines at the parks and schools that were converted to food distribution points.

For anyone that had enough credits, there were commissaries located beside each of the smaller twelve interior ROC command posts. Toiletries, blankets, pillows, and shoes were the top four popular items. Ben used his surplus credits to buy extra food for the family upstairs.

Sitting in the stale austere basement, the two men had been talking for more than an hour when Cadan made his determination that he could trust Ben. The bulk of their first conversation was about Ben’s family and his history. Unbeknownst to Ben, Cadan was actually vetting the Israeli to determine his trustworthiness. After learning that he had been interned in the ROC three years ago, Cadan realized that Ben could be helpful.

“Remember when I asked if you wanted to be here Ben?”

“Yeah, I thought that was a weird question,” Ben admitted.

“If you were given the opportunity, would you leave this place even though you have nowhere to go?” Cadan prodded.

Ben slid his hand over his mouth and then rested his chin in his palm, “I suppose the answer is yes. The last three years here have been a life of minimal existence. I believe that I could fend for myself just as well outside those gates as I do inside.” He paused then asked, “Why?”

“I do not plan to be here very long. I have a specific purpose and my presence here is not by chance. My internment was purposely planned.”

Ben was stunned by what he heard. “Why in the world would you willingly come here if it weren’t necessary?” he asked.

“I am here to find someone…a man named Simeon. He was interned about three months ago,” Cadan disclosed.

Cadan looked at Ben and smirked while he tapped the underside of his right wrist. A small holographic image shot out emitting an overhead view of the camp and then zoomed into the northwest quadrant. Ben was absolutely stunned.

“This was his general location two days ago…and this is what he looks like,” Cadan explained as a rotating image of Simeon’s face appeared.

Ben was still processing his amazement when he wrangled his attention back to analyzing the image. The picture was of a man that appeared in his 40s. His brown hair was neatly trimmed short and combed to the right side. Simeon’s prominent eyebrows sat atop his deep set light brown eyes and clean shaven face. Under his left eye was a two inch scare angled down over the top of his cheek bone.

“This is in Section 23,” Ben said, pointing to the flashing red dot on the floating map. “And believe it or not, I think I have seen your friend,” he added, clearly remembering the scar.

“Where?” Cadan asked, turning off the hologram.

“About three weeks ago, I was working in Section 20 on the new command building. I was on the second floor looking down when I noticed a group of engineers having some kind of problem with the installation of some very large stone arcs atop the twenty-five foot guard gates. I saw your friend Simeon help resolve their issue in less than two minutes and then he just walked away.”