“Zachary, a spiritual revolution is already upon us as the masses refuse to accept poverty, inequality, and endless war spawned by class warfare and greed. In order to control the populace, the elites have once again created the illusion of wolves stalking the flock, this time in the guise of aliens hell-bent on destruction. These contrived threats will lead to the forfeiture of even more personal freedoms, in this case the energy system you introduced to the public. It’s a page straight out of the 9/11 playbook, except on a global scale, spawned by a Faustian agreement entered into between the elites and their alien counterparts, placing all of humanity in grave jeopardy.”
“How is humanity in danger? And what does all this have to do with me?”
“It had nothing to do with you,” the Colonel said. “All we wanted you and your team to do was plant a few sensors around that damn ship and get out of Dodge. Instead, you triggered a portal that our alien visitors have been trying to access for years. If Susan and her fellow JASONS are right and some kind of cataclysm is going to hit—”
“Catacylsm? What kind of cataclysm?”
Susan held my hand. “Zach, honey, there was a reason you were contacted seven years ago in Lake Vostok. We believe an extinction event is going to happen in the near future. It could be natural or man-made, or induced by the E.T.s. To prevent it, we need to know what it will be and when it is supposed to happen.
“I’m sorry, baby, but we need to take you back.”
28
“You’re entirely bonkers. But I’ll tell you a secret. All the best people are.”
“Take me back where? To Lake Vostok? You’re nuts!”
“Zach, the space-time portal you accessed allows you to move within the multiverses of your soul’s existence. You can use the portal to access the future. Not only can you learn what disaster awaits us, you can determine the proper course of action that will save our species.”
“And how the hell am I supposed to get back down into that godforsaken lake?”
“The Colonel will explain everything. For now, let’s get you cleaned up and moving about.”
I let out a loud yelp as Susan removed my catheter. She pulled loose the Velcro straps from my ankles and wrists, then removed the EKG tabs from my chest.
“Ow.”
“Sorry. Try to stand.”
I attempted to climb out of the chair, but my legs lacked the strength.
The Colonel summoned his physician, who returned with a wheelchair. “Susan, take him to the dining hall and get him something to eat. The transport leaves tomorrow morning at 0800 hours. I need him fit enough to travel.”
“Twelve hours? I’ll do my best. Zach, let’s see if we can get some solid food into you.”
Susan wheeled me out of the pneumatic door to an antiseptic-white, tiled outer corridor. We passed a dozen similar doors, each chamber’s electronic keypad marked by either a green or flashing red light. I wondered who else they had hooked up to their insidious machines, whose memories they were probing.
At the end of the hall were three elevators. Susan swiped the magnetic strip on her identification card and pressed the UP button. The middle car arrived and she backed me inside.
We were on the twenty-third floor. The thirty-three elevator buttons were arranged in ascending order to reflect the subterranean location of our facility, the top floor listed as G.
She pushed SEVENTEEN. “Zach, we’re being watched. Don’t react — I know you can hear my thoughts. I want you to tell me you’d prefer to take a hot bath to get your circulation going before you eat something.”
My pulse raced as I heard her words whispered into my consciousness. “Susan, if it’s okay with you, I’d like to take a hot bath to get my circulation going before I eat something.”
“Good idea. I’ll take you to your quarters.” She pushed FIVE.
The elevator passed the seventeenth floor and stopped on the fifth.
The doors opened and Susan wheeled me out to a seemingly endless corridor that felt more like a dormitory than a secured floor. Corkboards spaced at intervals along the walls held flyers advertising the week’s schedule of social events. We passed a dozen rooms, a lounge, and a weight room before we reached Suite 514.
Susan indicated the keypad, and I pressed my thumb to it, unbolting the door.
The room brightened as we entered, revealing a small living room that looked out onto a dazzling view of a Mediterranean beach and an azure sea. The balcony door was open, venting the air-conditioned apartment with warm gusts of briny air. I heard the ocean washing along the shoreline and seagulls cawing — and none of it was real.
Susan shut the door of the video-screen balcony, extinguishing the view.
“Zach, keep all verbal communication to small talk. Once we’re in the bathtub, I’ll answer all of your questions.”
I caught myself nodding. “Uh, nice place.”
“Let’s get you into a hot bath.”
I stood and leaned on her shoulder as she led me into her bedroom.
A queen-size bed faced bay windows that were part of the same holographic system as the balcony. There was a sound system and a flat-screen television. A wall of mirrors concealed a closet.
I stripped out of my surgical greens while Susan ran the bath water. My arms were covered in bruises from multiple I.V.s. My leg muscles had atrophied. Remembering the weight room, I decided a workout would follow my meal, if only to regain some strength to escape.
Susan was naked, waiting for me inside the whirlpool tub. “Come in and lean back against me. I’ll massage your shoulders.”
I climbed in and lay back against her breasts.
She wrapped her muscular quadriceps around my waist, running her hands along my groin.
I grabbed her wrists. “Hey, knock it off! I want answers, like how we’re able to communicate telepathically.”
“Now, don’t react… I’m a Nordic.”
I tried to sit up, but her legs were far too strong.
“I won’t harm you. I’m here to help you, but you have to trust me. The Colonel lied. He needs you in Vostok to access the alien vessel. Once MJ-12 has access to the portal, they’ll be able to time-jump, altering third-dimension reality. We can’t allow that to happen.”
“What’s this ‘we’ stuff? You don’t need me, Susan, you’re Nordic. Destroy the damn portal and be done with it.”
“We can’t. The magnetic shield is far too strong. Even if we could destroy it, there’s a hierarchy in play. The being that communicated with you exists in the upper dimensions. When it comes to these higher-vibration entities there are no coincidences. The portal is in Lake Vostok because it knew you would be there. It offered you the gift of energy for a reason. If it knows what is to come, then we must trust it.”
“And why should I trust you?”
“Nordics have been mentoring humans for thousands of years. The Mayan teacher, Kukulcan, was a Nordic, as was the Inca leader Viracocha. If Colonel Vacendak knew I was a Nordic, neither one of us would ever see daylight again.”
“Where do Nordics come from? How long have you been on Earth? Were you born here?”