Chapter 7: A Cruel Evolution Part 3

Almost five years later, the OBF1 team, Sataal and his entourage started on a routine journey that took one hour and forty-five minutes by foot from the BSP to the rebel’s headquarters, high in the Tulean Mountain ranges. As Sataal stated, the mountain range hideout, completely concealed from the Trimadian sensors was all thanks to a cleverly modified force field. Sataal had shared much of his knowledge with Earth scientists, as thanks for saving his life.

Sataal led them into a heavily guarded cave. He disappeared behind a rocky wall for a moment.

A rock beside Mason slid aside making him jump. Inside, was a room filled with the most sophisticated computers and equipment that would make the fussiest of techno heads drool. It did not do anything to Tremaine who always felt intimidated and preferred the assurance of a weapon. That was “his thing.”

“Well, you certainly have been busy,” exclaimed Mason.

“Thanks to the alliance between our two worlds and of course my modified force field to block out the Trimadian sensors, we have been, well, lucky so far,” Sataal said quietly. “Unfortunately, if the Locum or Trimadians find this, we will be isolated, and, well, our force field may be sufficient now, but it won’t be forever. They will eventually find us. As you know, they have plundered all the crystals that belong to the door, so there is no quick escape. We have very few working ships available, which could easily be tracked.”

Sataal reminded Mason of the god Atlas; carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, at least figuratively. He felt responsible for most of the enemy’s warfare technology and his beloved Cantals’ mutation and destruction.

Sataal indicated a large monitor screening different parts of the galaxy where his spies had infiltrated some of the Trimadian warships. Mason reckoned their technology was very cool, but ironically, the monitors seemed basic. There were bright blue stars representing Trimadian warships, some flickering and changing color, some moving away, some starting to disappear off the screen.

“What is happening?” Pete Reynolds piped up.

“The blue stars represent ships marked by rebel Cantals aboard so we can monitor from this base their positions in this sector of the galaxy. At present, the Trimadians are losing this battle, and some are retreating from the enemy. The Locum is a force second to none, and the Trimadians have strategy, power, and vast numbers. At anytime, this could spread to us and to Graffa.”

The team stared at him and back at the screen full of countless blue stars. Occasionally, one would fade off. Each man was preoccupied with his own thoughts.

“The Locum is best described as a mix of organic robotlike creatures that I have loosely termed as robotoid. They attack by emitting a type of chemical reaction onto their prey upon physical contact. By doing this, they can take over their victims’ shape and form, a type of metamorphosis. No one is sure where they came from. Some say they are a result of a laboratory experiment gone wrong, others say they were created by a superior race for control over the galaxy that has evolved from the unknown far reaches of the universe. All depends on whom you talk to and what you believe.

“From what I have learnt of these creatures, they are virtually indestructible on a one on one combat situation. They seem to communicate with each other telepathically. They do not sleep or eat in the sense that we know, but simply “absorb” their prey’s essence and can choose to take on their shape for infiltration purposes, or, they remain in their natural form: shapeless blob six-legged insect like creatures that can fly, crawl and burrow. They seem to kill most of their prey and do not normally take prisoners.

“They have their own city size ships and use a technology that can allow them to transport themselves from a planet to their ships by way of crystal energy molecular transfer similar to the Trimadians, but they appear to worship Crytaalic, which the Trimadians abhor. We know very little about the Locum that seems to have no technology of their own, only stolen from other beings. We are also at a disadvantage as our information is probably not up to date. We need to observe and understand these creatures to learn how to control them or better yet, obliterate them. We know a lot of their practical technology they use in their ships and life support systems are crystal based. This could be a key factor in their destruction.

“From what we have learned from our sources on Ahmadeus, the Trimadian Leaders are recruiting Humanoids and Cantals from the outer regions to keep up the attacks on the Locum. There is a strong possibility that it is only a matter of time before the Locum could reach Earth. In the past, they have been known to use the BSP system, but as most crystals no longer exist, that is not really a problem. Divisions have managed to develop strong security measures to stop anyone or anything from utilizing the BSP illegally whether it is to leave or arrive. As I am sure, you are all aware of that. I have prepared a paper on what I have discussed today, and of course, it is subject to change as we get to know more about these creatures and of recent events involving Ahmadeus. As always gentlemen—thanks for your time.”

Pete Reynolds, via satellite, was finishing addressing the S.U.E.P. representatives at their monthly summit, which at this stage consisted of interested parties from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Russia, Japan, and Australia.

Public speaking and politics were not Pete’s forte, and because of this insecurity, he knew he came over sounding contrived and impersonal. Addressing a computer screen and not a live audience contributed to that.

Being the resident “expert,” up to date reports is expected from him, yet they never gave him enough time to sort out fact from fiction. He hated coming over as inconsistent. Just tell them what they want to hear, Pilcher would tell him.

The thought of bringing a Locum back to Earth for study was never far from Pete’s mind.

Dr. Reynolds’ life was archeology and his greatest discovery to date was the BSP. Naturally, he did not limit himself to that. He assumed he would carry on with his excavations around the planet. Of course, the implications of his Old World discoveries changed all that. He did not realize that he had been under survellance by interested parties for the past ten years. In addition, Divisions’ overseer did not intend to let the human encyclopedia leave, ever. The Old World project took Pete and his small excavating team a total of two painstaking years, from obtaining funds to the planning right up to the day in September 1999 when he walked into the Junghis temple. Buried so deeply, he knew he was the first human to walk inside it for thousands of years.

Such little evidence existed about the people of the time it seemed almost like a blank inside the colorful history. The temple was very different from more recent Egyptian artifacts and buildings. The shape of the temple, he ascertained, was a classic ziggurat, but was so old, it did not resemble anything like the much more “newer” ancient Egypt. Pete estimated the people of this time, lived around 5000 B.C. to 4000 B.C., an incredibly short span of time. According to the temple scripture, there was a grand palace, obviously buried, and though he had spent a considerable time digging, nothing substantial emerged.

Looking back, it almost felt like the temple, being the only survivor of this unknown period must have been semi-protected by massive sandstorms. It was like all life around the temple, the palace, the township, and the gardens had all disappeared. Nevertheless, the actual temple and its contents were a treasure trove. The BSP still stood erect between stones and its crystals were well preserved, and all the inscriptions scattered on the walls were legible. Pete Reynolds was betting his life that what he had discovered was perhaps a way of travel, a doorway to the stars, as the scripture was describing. More importantly, the drawings displayed just what this doorway could look like once illuminated by the crystals, and where it could lead. Sunlight was a factor here, but how they got sufficient sunshine inside, even for he, would take a while to work out. Dr. Reynolds, painfully aware of the complex issues to be worked through, theorized this was a doorway to the stars, and there must be “bloody heaps” of keys to unlocking countless sister doors. The time it would take in just gaining the knowledge of how to decipher the different combinations of keys was going to take a lifetime.

Now was the tedious job of packing everything and sending it back to the US for study.

The next day, his life changed forever.

Pete’s new interstellar career began after a phone call from an anonymous man who urged him to work for him, and he could name his price. He assured the archeologist that his discoveries would be recognised as his and his alone. Pete was dubious, but when the man said he could “take Reynolds’ theories and prove the greatest discovery of mankind was real, therefore find some answers to questions that had been simmering for the last God knows thousands of years,” Pete became interested, very interested. Of course, he was skeptical, but curiosity won him over.

Three days later, escorted, and blindfolded for security, Pete made it to a base out in God knows where. During his first one-on-one meeting, he learnt he would head a core of other brilliant scientists who came from every conceivable background. His “interview” with his new employer lasted for several hours and the men had a lot in common. When Reynolds presented his theory about the black stone and crystals, the man did not even blink. The only regret he had, on hindsight, was handing over his video and digital photos of his work, which he had not copied. He was too excited to think straight. This mysterious man was a good salesman and he hooked Reynolds. Equally, Reynolds sensed he had a deep respect for his work. He received warning that he would be subject to vigorous tests, including mental, emotional, and physical, and including the ability to withstand physical and psychological torture. After all, the Earth’s defense depended on these people.

Pete signed his contract and confidentiality clause, and walked out that day a multi-millionaire. Three days later, he moved onto base, into his comfortable, modern furnished new quarters several kilometers underground. Two days after that, all his precious cargo was delivered. He would have worked for free as he only wanted money for his next future excavation projects. It had never occurred to him that they may never happen. On his emotional side, he could not help but feel sad that this wonderful discovery had to remain secret from the public, but his intellectual side was relieved—the chaos that would result would not be worth thinking about.

He glanced back at his reports and noted the standard “reasonable progress” written on his reports by the overseer. He smirked to himself; the person would be fucking elated. The only part Pete disliked about the job, was after his mandatory physical, he needed to add weightlifting and jogging to his lifestyle. He never did.

Time had passed so damn quickly after that.

He grinned as he remembered the various experiments in combining the crystals with modern technology, using the best scientific minds that money could buy, resulted in a “pretty cool light torch” as Pete nicknamed it. As luck would have it, the BSP inside the temple was in perfect presentation, only buried where the roof had a slight cave in. Remarkably, it had not suffered any surface scratches, dents, or chips. This fact in itself raised the possibility that it was virtually indestructible.

Also, found inside this ancient Earth tomb were two nondescript but identical rocks. His experienced eye picked up on strange dark markings on both rocks that looked like veins, was it blood, human blood? They looked as if they could be some type of religious symbolism. For luck or a ritual, even some type of ancient voodoo. Pete could not be sure. He had never seen anything like it. The black markings were different from the BSP crystals as their marks were the same as the material of the BSP. At first, he thought they could have been part of a larger rock with scripture on them, but after study, he deduced they were not. The wall scriptures made no mention or indication. He needed to see if indeed the marks were blood. He had them packed and delivered to his new laboratory for analysis and storage.

One arrived at its destination, one did not.

Annoyed, how the hell did they lose the second stone? The security video showed them being packed. Upon a thorough search, it was declared missing, pretty strange things can happen he reasoned. At least he had one.

Reynolds had put the lone stone through all the tests to discover its composition and age, yes it was a rock, indeed containing human blood. The rock was at least around ten thousand years old and originating from Earth. A simple rock, with blood! Perhaps it was blood spattered from a fight. No way! The lines were too precise, too deliberate. His logical hemisphere told him to stop wasting time and had it packed and stored in the huge underground warehouse.

He threw himself into his work and created history.