Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2015 19:25:04 GMT -6
This story was written in December 2012 and originally titled "Oh My God !!!"
Retitled to "Equinox"
I don’t know what day this is. I don’t know where I am. What happened?
I can’t be dead as I can see. Or maybe I am dead. Maybe I am seeing through my soul’s eyes...but I do feel my body...so maybe I’m having one of those out of bodies experience one of my fellow workers kept talking about...but I can’t move my body...so it could be one of those sleep paralysis things I remember reading about...yeah that must be it...
All I remember is being at home after a hard day’s work. I remember thinking “Thank God it’s Friday” as I was headed to bed, having mentally prepared for the upcoming weekend. The most important weekend of my life. That’s it...I’m sleeping...but I do feel kind of awake...yeah...it HAS to be one of those sleep paralysis things...
Man...I can’t wait to wake up...Jenn...I am proposing to Jenn tomorrow...it’s all prepared. My God, this woman is all I ever wished for...and more...She is loving, caring, intelligent and God is she beautiful...it’s been a year since I first saw her...I remember it like yesterday...december 22nd 2011...the most amazing Christmas present...sitting there at one of those useless meetings...the new marketing consultant...her blue eyes...I could spend a lifetime swimming in those blue eyes...or forever dancing through her red hair...
Am I having one of those lucid dreams? It feels so real...why can’t I move? Why is my vision so blurred? Where am I? Sleep paralysis John...let it pass...don’t think about it...think about Jenn...you’re about to ask her to marry you...God I’m so in love...
I smile in my mind as I can’t be able to do it physically...why can’t I wake up?
Think John, think! My senses...I can see...I can’t move but I can feel...concentrate John...hey...I can feel my senses slowly returning...I can feel my arms...my legs...I think I’m waking up!!!
Wait a minute...I’m hearing something...something is being removed in front of me...this blur is getting brighter and brighter...oh no...I think I’m dead...this must be God I’m about to meet or something...
Oh My God !!!
This was Jenn’s voice I just heard. Or maybe I just imagined it. I’m not sure of anything anymore.
One thing I am almost sure is that this has to be the brightest light I’ve ever seen and as it shut down, my vision slowly returned. As my senses returned so did this incredible pain. This looks like I’m in some sort of medical facility. I can’t move my head too much as it hurts like hell and so does my entire body. I preferred it before. Hey, this is where this bright light came from, those look like surgery lights there, close to the ceiling. That’s it! I must have had surgery. But why? What happened? I must have had a car accident or something. I tried to talk but I just didn’t have enough strength.
“Take it easy, Mr Kane. You’ve had serious head trauma. I am Dr Connor, your surgeon.”
I tried to slowly turn my head but the pain was unbearable. I felt the doctor’s hand on my shoulder as he leaned forward and looked at me so I could see him. He smiled.
“We are going to put you back in an induced coma for a while, until you start feeling better.”
I felt something on my neck and wanted to say “Wait...” but never got a chance.
==============================
As I woke up, I could feel that I was a lot better. I slowly turned my head and it felt fine. Jenn was right there, sitting beside me and smiling.
“Welcome back” she said.
I just tried to talk but simply whispered “Jenn...” as Dr Connor arrived beside her.
“Let’s try to get you to sit, shall we?” he said with a smile. As he helped me, I was able to sit on the side of the bed, felt a little dizzy but never as bad as I thought it would be.
“Do you remember anything Mr Kane? What happened to you or how you got here?” to which I just nodded no.
He went to get a chair and sat beside Jenn. His smile disappeared as he took a more professional stance.
“You are a very lucky man Mr Kane, when the great earthquake struck, you ended up under the rubble and if it wasn’t for Ms Doyle here, that happened to be coming to see you, you would be a very dead man by now.”
I looked at Jenn and she simply winked at me, still smiling.
“You are also very fortunate that we always have supplies of RH Negative blood, as it is very rare, and we were able to have proper surgery without lacking the transfusions.”
“How...bad....was this...earthquake?” I managed to ask.
His tone became graver as he turned and looked at Jenn. Her smile also vanished. He turned back at me, got his chair closer...
“It was catastrophic. The charts on the Richter scale aren’t high enough to measure it. Most of the world’s population died instantly.”
I sat there in shock. I don’t remember any of this. I don’t even remember the slightest shake after I went to bed that night. Is this for real? I had heard about some of those doomy fantasy stories about supposed Mayan prophecies and so on but this...is this for real?
“How...many...survived? I once again managed to ask.
Jenn also brought her chair closer and leaned towards me, softly putting her hand over mine.
“We were able to save 98 million people, J.J, worldwide.” She said.
Wow. Out of 7 billion...not even a billion. My God, how did this happen...is this a joke? Is this for real, I mean, no way...but what?...wait a minute...I looked back at her, puzzled...
“We??? Who’s we???
“It seems that you two have much to talk about.” The doctor said as he got up and left the room.
I looked at Jenn and noticed that she wasn’t at ease.
“Jenn...I’m confused...what’s going on?”
“J.J...(she always called me J.J as my name was John James Kane)...the time has come for truth.”
Truth? I thought...where there any lies before?...what the hell is going on here??? But before I could say a word, she continued.
“We are humans, just like you but...different...”
I was about to say something but she raised her hand from my hand to my mouth as to make me wait. And so I did.
“You are a human, a Homo Sapiens. We...are humans, but Homo Sumer or more commonly called ‘Sumerians’.”
Now, this is fantasy...
“Listen, Jenn” I said as I pulled my head back from her hand.
“NO John, YOU listen. This is difficult to explain but let me try. After you hear what I have to tell you, then ask me all the questions you want or yell at me angrily if you want but until I’m done, just SHUT UP !
I was floored. She never called me John. Ever! I will listen, I owe her that and so I nodded in approval.
“We haven’t lived on Earth for the longest time, we only analyse and evaluate. Our species live on another Earth. In a way, we are your ancestors but I don’t want to get into that right now. I wish to tell you what has just happened...” I once again nodded as of meaning ok.
“We’ve been monitoring Earth for a very long time and in recent years our scientists have discovered that something was wrong with the planet’s core. It started wobbling, a little too much for comfort. For years, we’ve done tests on the tectonic plates, analyses in volcanoes and the upper atmosphere and magnetosphere, calculated earthquake frequencies and so much more but to finally understand that the core would eventually breach. A year ago, we started preparing evacuation plans and realized that we only have 2800 ships in your solar system and those ships can only carry 35000 people each. We were able to save 98 million people, John. The rest...”
“Could still be surviving on earth somewhere...” I cut in.
“Earth...no longer exists, John.”
I had enough. This was too much.
“Gimme a break, Jenn. 35000 people. C’Mon !!! How big would a ship need to be?” I asked in the most sarcastic way.
“As big as a city, J.J. Let me show you.” As she grabbed my hand, I managed to stand up and slowly follow her to the side wall.
As she passed her hand in front of it, the wall just disappeared and something magnificent stood in front of me. As we walked on the balcony; I could see that she was telling the truth. This was a city! This was a ship!
“I have to get back to the lab for a couple of hours, for the moment, just enjoy the view...we’ll talk again later on...” she told me as she kissed me on the cheek and left. She never kissed me on the cheek...
As I leaned there, petrified and amazed at the same time, another familiar voice made contact.
“John!”
I turned around, recognizing the voice as Ben’s. Ben was a co worker, a genius in analytical marketing, a genius at figuring things out for the sales department. He was one serious nerd and when Ben had an idea, everyone listened.
“Ben! It’s good to see another familiar face!! I told him as I slowly walked towards him. But he looked grim, perplexed.
“John, is your blood type RH Negative?” He asked, right out of the blue.
“Yeah, how do you know that?” I inquired.
“I bet they also gave you that crap story about finding you in the rubble. John, I am also RH Negative.”
“OK. So?”
“John, you just came out of an induced coma but I came out of mine a week and a half ago. I had time to talk to people...”
“OK. So?”
“Listen, I’ve talked to seven or eight people so far, in private. We are ALL RH Negative.”
“What?”
“And we ALL had head trauma...”
“What?? Wait...what are you trying to tell me, Ben??”
“What I am telling you John, is that we.
are.
being.
lied.
to.”
I only had a moment’s hesitation before realizing that Ben could be right. But before we could get any further into our conversation, the good doctor walked in.
“I apologize for interrupting, Gentlemen, but I would like to have a word with Mr Kane.”
“Of course...” Ben replied as he turned around and found his way out.
I walked back inside and sat on the bed. My mind was rushing. I wanted to tell him about the blood type and the head injuries but that might put Ben at risk, if we were being lied to. I decided to wait and see what Connor wanted to say.
“Starting to feel better?” He asked.
“Considering all that’s happened, I would say that I’m trying to cope...”
“Perfect. You will only get better and better from this point on. Now, I have looked into your medical files and our records show that you were an orphan, no family.”
“That is correct.”
“Then perhaps you should think of joining our Council of Intergalactic United Star Systems...”
I just looked at him with this incredible look of disbelief on my face.
“You’ve GOT to be joking!”
“As a matter of fact, yes, I am. Sorry about that, I was just trying to cheer you up with something that might sound funny...”
We both looked at each other and started to laugh. That was a good line as it broke the tension and for the very first time in a very long time, it felt good.
“You didn’t come here to entertain me with a comic stand-up comedy act, now did you?”
He just smiled. “Not really, no. I thought it was time to answer some questions you might have.”
“I have a few, but I’ll just stick with one for the moment. Something I have noticed while being out on the balcony. We are on a spaceship, and mind you, I have no experience in spaceships except from what I’ve seen from Star Trek or Star Wars but, why aren’t there any windows anywhere to look outside, to look into the depth of space like they did on, for example, the Enterprise?”
“That is an excellent question. We do not have windows per say but we do have openings everywhere on the ship, that are protected by an energy field, much like your Star Trek ships, actually. They just happen to be shut right now. When we left the solar system, en route to our world, we have entered an area of space that is filled with very harmful radiations. We will reopen them as soon as we clear this area out.”
An excellent answer I thought. Maybe Ben is just paranoid. I wonder if I should mention the head injuries. The blood types might be a touchy subject but the head injuries...
“Ben has told me that a few of us have had head injuries. I just wonder what the odds are...”
“Mr Kane, the intensity of the earthquake killed billions instantly. You and millions of others were extremely fortunate to survive with mere concussions or fractures and, in your case, a major head injury. But to be perfectly honest with you, we did more than just stop the hemorrhage in your brain, we also altered certain paths. And there were two reasons for that procedure. The first one, space travel. We travel through space with a propulsion system that is called a TransDimensional Accelerator, which makes our velocity much, much faster than the speed of light. Your brain is now capable of adapting your body to such speeds. The second is that you will never be sick again, ever. You will suffer from pain, sure thing, if you break your arm for example, but no more colds or fever or cancer. Ever.”
“And the downside is? There has to be a downside.” I asked, thinking that there’s always a downside even though I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hear the answer...
“You are a clever man, Mr Kane. There is in fact a consequence. It will take us roughly five years to get to our world, at the present speed. The changes we’ve made to your brain will also accelerate your internal aging process. Basically, you will be able to live on our world for twenty five years, once we get there, give or take.”
“So if I understand this right, I will die in thirty years, at sixty two, is that correct?”
“Sorry we couldn’t ask for your permission before surgery. We had no choice, really. Now, before Ms Doyle comes back, perhaps I should suggest that you rest a little.”
“Fair.” I answered as I laid back and he left.
I am not sure if I am buying that. I am not sure if I should trust him, or Ben or even Jenn for that matter. I do feel the need to sleep a bit; maybe I’ll be less confused once I am rested.
Days had gone by and the shadow of mystery still followed everyone around. I had spoken to different survivors, in private, to find out that Ben had been telling me the truth. We are all RH Negative and every single one of us has had brain surgery. The doctor’s explanations made sense and I decided to just let that go for the meantime, focusing on my very different relationship with Jenn instead.
While her job back on Earth had been a marketing consultant, on this spaceship, she was the top lab expert. She was a highly regarded scientist to whom every Sumerian bowed to, with respect. Yet, I am unsure of what her real agenda was. When I questioned her on different things, her answers were always vague, almost always carrying two meanings, depending on the subject.
While she expressed that her love for me was sincere, after telling her that I had intentions of asking her to marry me, back on Earth, I now had mixed feelings about it. I still didn’t know if I could trust her or not and trust is pretty up there on my list of values about a love relationship. I didn’t comprehend the fact that she had been there on Earth, with me for a full year, without even glimpsing a clue to what was about to happen.
She has invited me over to her kinja (kinja being the word they use for their room or apartment on board the ship) tonight for a romantic supper which will include guyzins (an in laboratory created meal) and I promise to myself to confront her about the blood types.
***
The evening went well, we talked about the good moments we had, the possibility of continuing the relationship and how I was adapting to this new life. She was receptive and I felt it was the right time to bring the subject up...
“Jenn, Ben had told me something that I looked into myself and cannot comprehend. Why do we survivors all have RH Negative blood?”
Her reaction was like I hit her with a ton of bricks. Her smile vanished, her eyebrows took this awkward shape that they used to take before we’d get into an argument, back on Earth...
“We need more wine. I’ll get more wine from the shinks (wine producers aboard the ship).”
“Jenn, no, no more wine, don’t avoid me, just answer my question...”
She looked at me, stood up and left. She WAS avoiding the question!!! Before she’d get back here with some answer that she’ll probably have thought of while being gone, I decided to sit at her office desk, just browsing through some papers that, for the life of me, I could not comprehend as they were in Sumerian.
I don’t know what I touched. But as I looked in the mirror facing the desk, I could see that one of those “openings”, as Connor has mentioned, had opened behind me and so I turned around and looked outside.
***
I stood by the door for her return and as soon as she walked in, I grabbed her by the neck...
“Now, you’re gonna tell me what’s goin’ on Jenn or I swear to God, I’ll snap your neck, right here, right now...”
As it had happened to me before, I felt something on my own neck and wanted to say “No...” but never had a chance.
***
When I woke up, I was in a room I had never been in before. One that had some kind of energy grid, where the door should have been, a grid that would keep me inside. This was some sort of jail.
“You are in our detention area.”
That was Jenn’s voice. She slowly walked in front of the other side of the grid so I could see her.
“You lying psychopaths!!!” I just replied as I got closer to the grid, to face her as close as I could.
“John, what were you trying to do? Kill me?”
“The thought crossed my mind...”
“So you want to know everything? The truth?”
“That’d be a change...”
“OK, the truth.”
She took a superior stance. Looking at me like a predator would plays with his prey. How I wish I could have my hands on her again...
“WE are the Sumerians.” She started. “We have been on Earth for six thousand years. I am of the third generation as we live thousands of years, unless an accident kills us.”
“Then you better make sure I never get out of here...” I simply said out loud while wondering if I ever could...
“Our medical staff has done brain alterations for one purpose only. Our sustenance.”
Now that was getting interesting...
“Your brain now creates an enzyme, an enzyme that we need for survival and that could only exist through RH Negative blood. When you were thirteen years old, John, the doctors gave you a vaccine for polio, remember that? Well, that changed some of your DNA and it changed your blood type, making it an RH Negative. You were then in the early stages of being a provider. You humans regenerate blood as much as needed, something we still can’t figure out, even with our capabilities. Every time you go to sleep, our dermal sensors, that are all over your bed sheets, takes the blood out of your system and stores it away. We just collect when necessary which is about once a week. Unfortunately, that procedure does age your internal organs and you don’t have thirsty years to live, but five, if you’re lucky.”
“Finding out what Ben told me must have been fatal for him, right? He hasn’t been so lucky huh?”
“Ben? Ben isn’t one of you barbarians, John. Ben is a Sumerian. In early adulthood, he started to rebel and we had to reprogram him. Right now, he’s just questioning as he never remembers anything once we reprogram him but I think we might have to clean his slate, once again. Ben needs reprogramming every couple of hundred years or so...”
“Let me out of here, Jennifer, and I will show you what barbarian really means...”
“Threats, threats, threats...look Kane, your future is in my hands. I didn’t choose you because I loved you but since you were an orphan, no one would go out of his way looking for you when you’d end up missing. You are my provider. Now, the Elders have given me the right to do with you as I please, considering you were planning to kill me. So, here’s what I’ll do: I am confining you to this room, till death do us part. That’s what they say in your weddings, don’t they?”
I didn’t answer. The rage was overwhelming.
“And since you were so curious to see what was happening outside, I’ve opened the hatch behind you. Enjoy the view.”
My eyes were filled with tears. Tears of mixed emotions, hate, anger, joy of seeing that the Earth was still there but also rage of profound betrayal. I don’t know how long I stayed by the hatch, looking down on my planet that I thought forever gone when...
“John...”
I turned around to see Ben, standing at the grid.
“Ben !” I said as I walked toward him.
“John, listen very carefully.”
I was all ears as I figured that he would probably tell me how he’d get me out of here. Or at the very least, how I could perhaps evade by myself. But he only said three words:
“Chuck...Codename...Equinox...”
And as if someone had pushed a reset button, it all came back to me.
I am known as Chuck but my real name is Charles Dawson and I successfully infiltrated the ship that has been hiding in our lower atmosphere since at least 1927 when we first spotted its signature and codenamed it “The Black Knight Satellite”. I am part of a United States program / an MK Ultra Division called Project Equinox and have been programmed for this situation since early childhood. I was raised under the alias of John James Kane while being trained in combat, military strategy and analytical process. Ben held the key to end the program and unleash my real self.
What I have found so far is that our enemies claim to be Sumerians and that they have been on our planet for thousands of years. They proceed with different scenarios to abduct humans from all around the world to sustain their survival through medical alterations to the human body.
I am unsure of their agenda but I will find out. I am presently being detained in a cell that they must think is escape proof but I’ve been trained for this. It make take me a day, a week, a month or a year to find a way out but when I do...all Hell is gonna break loose, starting with Jennifer Doyle.
The End – or is it the Beginning?
Retitled to "Equinox"
I don’t know what day this is. I don’t know where I am. What happened?
I can’t be dead as I can see. Or maybe I am dead. Maybe I am seeing through my soul’s eyes...but I do feel my body...so maybe I’m having one of those out of bodies experience one of my fellow workers kept talking about...but I can’t move my body...so it could be one of those sleep paralysis things I remember reading about...yeah that must be it...
All I remember is being at home after a hard day’s work. I remember thinking “Thank God it’s Friday” as I was headed to bed, having mentally prepared for the upcoming weekend. The most important weekend of my life. That’s it...I’m sleeping...but I do feel kind of awake...yeah...it HAS to be one of those sleep paralysis things...
Man...I can’t wait to wake up...Jenn...I am proposing to Jenn tomorrow...it’s all prepared. My God, this woman is all I ever wished for...and more...She is loving, caring, intelligent and God is she beautiful...it’s been a year since I first saw her...I remember it like yesterday...december 22nd 2011...the most amazing Christmas present...sitting there at one of those useless meetings...the new marketing consultant...her blue eyes...I could spend a lifetime swimming in those blue eyes...or forever dancing through her red hair...
Am I having one of those lucid dreams? It feels so real...why can’t I move? Why is my vision so blurred? Where am I? Sleep paralysis John...let it pass...don’t think about it...think about Jenn...you’re about to ask her to marry you...God I’m so in love...
I smile in my mind as I can’t be able to do it physically...why can’t I wake up?
Think John, think! My senses...I can see...I can’t move but I can feel...concentrate John...hey...I can feel my senses slowly returning...I can feel my arms...my legs...I think I’m waking up!!!
Wait a minute...I’m hearing something...something is being removed in front of me...this blur is getting brighter and brighter...oh no...I think I’m dead...this must be God I’m about to meet or something...
Oh My God !!!
This was Jenn’s voice I just heard. Or maybe I just imagined it. I’m not sure of anything anymore.
One thing I am almost sure is that this has to be the brightest light I’ve ever seen and as it shut down, my vision slowly returned. As my senses returned so did this incredible pain. This looks like I’m in some sort of medical facility. I can’t move my head too much as it hurts like hell and so does my entire body. I preferred it before. Hey, this is where this bright light came from, those look like surgery lights there, close to the ceiling. That’s it! I must have had surgery. But why? What happened? I must have had a car accident or something. I tried to talk but I just didn’t have enough strength.
“Take it easy, Mr Kane. You’ve had serious head trauma. I am Dr Connor, your surgeon.”
I tried to slowly turn my head but the pain was unbearable. I felt the doctor’s hand on my shoulder as he leaned forward and looked at me so I could see him. He smiled.
“We are going to put you back in an induced coma for a while, until you start feeling better.”
I felt something on my neck and wanted to say “Wait...” but never got a chance.
==============================
As I woke up, I could feel that I was a lot better. I slowly turned my head and it felt fine. Jenn was right there, sitting beside me and smiling.
“Welcome back” she said.
I just tried to talk but simply whispered “Jenn...” as Dr Connor arrived beside her.
“Let’s try to get you to sit, shall we?” he said with a smile. As he helped me, I was able to sit on the side of the bed, felt a little dizzy but never as bad as I thought it would be.
“Do you remember anything Mr Kane? What happened to you or how you got here?” to which I just nodded no.
He went to get a chair and sat beside Jenn. His smile disappeared as he took a more professional stance.
“You are a very lucky man Mr Kane, when the great earthquake struck, you ended up under the rubble and if it wasn’t for Ms Doyle here, that happened to be coming to see you, you would be a very dead man by now.”
I looked at Jenn and she simply winked at me, still smiling.
“You are also very fortunate that we always have supplies of RH Negative blood, as it is very rare, and we were able to have proper surgery without lacking the transfusions.”
“How...bad....was this...earthquake?” I managed to ask.
His tone became graver as he turned and looked at Jenn. Her smile also vanished. He turned back at me, got his chair closer...
“It was catastrophic. The charts on the Richter scale aren’t high enough to measure it. Most of the world’s population died instantly.”
I sat there in shock. I don’t remember any of this. I don’t even remember the slightest shake after I went to bed that night. Is this for real? I had heard about some of those doomy fantasy stories about supposed Mayan prophecies and so on but this...is this for real?
“How...many...survived? I once again managed to ask.
Jenn also brought her chair closer and leaned towards me, softly putting her hand over mine.
“We were able to save 98 million people, J.J, worldwide.” She said.
Wow. Out of 7 billion...not even a billion. My God, how did this happen...is this a joke? Is this for real, I mean, no way...but what?...wait a minute...I looked back at her, puzzled...
“We??? Who’s we???
“It seems that you two have much to talk about.” The doctor said as he got up and left the room.
I looked at Jenn and noticed that she wasn’t at ease.
“Jenn...I’m confused...what’s going on?”
“J.J...(she always called me J.J as my name was John James Kane)...the time has come for truth.”
Truth? I thought...where there any lies before?...what the hell is going on here??? But before I could say a word, she continued.
“We are humans, just like you but...different...”
I was about to say something but she raised her hand from my hand to my mouth as to make me wait. And so I did.
“You are a human, a Homo Sapiens. We...are humans, but Homo Sumer or more commonly called ‘Sumerians’.”
Now, this is fantasy...
“Listen, Jenn” I said as I pulled my head back from her hand.
“NO John, YOU listen. This is difficult to explain but let me try. After you hear what I have to tell you, then ask me all the questions you want or yell at me angrily if you want but until I’m done, just SHUT UP !
I was floored. She never called me John. Ever! I will listen, I owe her that and so I nodded in approval.
“We haven’t lived on Earth for the longest time, we only analyse and evaluate. Our species live on another Earth. In a way, we are your ancestors but I don’t want to get into that right now. I wish to tell you what has just happened...” I once again nodded as of meaning ok.
“We’ve been monitoring Earth for a very long time and in recent years our scientists have discovered that something was wrong with the planet’s core. It started wobbling, a little too much for comfort. For years, we’ve done tests on the tectonic plates, analyses in volcanoes and the upper atmosphere and magnetosphere, calculated earthquake frequencies and so much more but to finally understand that the core would eventually breach. A year ago, we started preparing evacuation plans and realized that we only have 2800 ships in your solar system and those ships can only carry 35000 people each. We were able to save 98 million people, John. The rest...”
“Could still be surviving on earth somewhere...” I cut in.
“Earth...no longer exists, John.”
I had enough. This was too much.
“Gimme a break, Jenn. 35000 people. C’Mon !!! How big would a ship need to be?” I asked in the most sarcastic way.
“As big as a city, J.J. Let me show you.” As she grabbed my hand, I managed to stand up and slowly follow her to the side wall.
As she passed her hand in front of it, the wall just disappeared and something magnificent stood in front of me. As we walked on the balcony; I could see that she was telling the truth. This was a city! This was a ship!
“I have to get back to the lab for a couple of hours, for the moment, just enjoy the view...we’ll talk again later on...” she told me as she kissed me on the cheek and left. She never kissed me on the cheek...
As I leaned there, petrified and amazed at the same time, another familiar voice made contact.
“John!”
I turned around, recognizing the voice as Ben’s. Ben was a co worker, a genius in analytical marketing, a genius at figuring things out for the sales department. He was one serious nerd and when Ben had an idea, everyone listened.
“Ben! It’s good to see another familiar face!! I told him as I slowly walked towards him. But he looked grim, perplexed.
“John, is your blood type RH Negative?” He asked, right out of the blue.
“Yeah, how do you know that?” I inquired.
“I bet they also gave you that crap story about finding you in the rubble. John, I am also RH Negative.”
“OK. So?”
“John, you just came out of an induced coma but I came out of mine a week and a half ago. I had time to talk to people...”
“OK. So?”
“Listen, I’ve talked to seven or eight people so far, in private. We are ALL RH Negative.”
“What?”
“And we ALL had head trauma...”
“What?? Wait...what are you trying to tell me, Ben??”
“What I am telling you John, is that we.
are.
being.
lied.
to.”
I only had a moment’s hesitation before realizing that Ben could be right. But before we could get any further into our conversation, the good doctor walked in.
“I apologize for interrupting, Gentlemen, but I would like to have a word with Mr Kane.”
“Of course...” Ben replied as he turned around and found his way out.
I walked back inside and sat on the bed. My mind was rushing. I wanted to tell him about the blood type and the head injuries but that might put Ben at risk, if we were being lied to. I decided to wait and see what Connor wanted to say.
“Starting to feel better?” He asked.
“Considering all that’s happened, I would say that I’m trying to cope...”
“Perfect. You will only get better and better from this point on. Now, I have looked into your medical files and our records show that you were an orphan, no family.”
“That is correct.”
“Then perhaps you should think of joining our Council of Intergalactic United Star Systems...”
I just looked at him with this incredible look of disbelief on my face.
“You’ve GOT to be joking!”
“As a matter of fact, yes, I am. Sorry about that, I was just trying to cheer you up with something that might sound funny...”
We both looked at each other and started to laugh. That was a good line as it broke the tension and for the very first time in a very long time, it felt good.
“You didn’t come here to entertain me with a comic stand-up comedy act, now did you?”
He just smiled. “Not really, no. I thought it was time to answer some questions you might have.”
“I have a few, but I’ll just stick with one for the moment. Something I have noticed while being out on the balcony. We are on a spaceship, and mind you, I have no experience in spaceships except from what I’ve seen from Star Trek or Star Wars but, why aren’t there any windows anywhere to look outside, to look into the depth of space like they did on, for example, the Enterprise?”
“That is an excellent question. We do not have windows per say but we do have openings everywhere on the ship, that are protected by an energy field, much like your Star Trek ships, actually. They just happen to be shut right now. When we left the solar system, en route to our world, we have entered an area of space that is filled with very harmful radiations. We will reopen them as soon as we clear this area out.”
An excellent answer I thought. Maybe Ben is just paranoid. I wonder if I should mention the head injuries. The blood types might be a touchy subject but the head injuries...
“Ben has told me that a few of us have had head injuries. I just wonder what the odds are...”
“Mr Kane, the intensity of the earthquake killed billions instantly. You and millions of others were extremely fortunate to survive with mere concussions or fractures and, in your case, a major head injury. But to be perfectly honest with you, we did more than just stop the hemorrhage in your brain, we also altered certain paths. And there were two reasons for that procedure. The first one, space travel. We travel through space with a propulsion system that is called a TransDimensional Accelerator, which makes our velocity much, much faster than the speed of light. Your brain is now capable of adapting your body to such speeds. The second is that you will never be sick again, ever. You will suffer from pain, sure thing, if you break your arm for example, but no more colds or fever or cancer. Ever.”
“And the downside is? There has to be a downside.” I asked, thinking that there’s always a downside even though I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hear the answer...
“You are a clever man, Mr Kane. There is in fact a consequence. It will take us roughly five years to get to our world, at the present speed. The changes we’ve made to your brain will also accelerate your internal aging process. Basically, you will be able to live on our world for twenty five years, once we get there, give or take.”
“So if I understand this right, I will die in thirty years, at sixty two, is that correct?”
“Sorry we couldn’t ask for your permission before surgery. We had no choice, really. Now, before Ms Doyle comes back, perhaps I should suggest that you rest a little.”
“Fair.” I answered as I laid back and he left.
I am not sure if I am buying that. I am not sure if I should trust him, or Ben or even Jenn for that matter. I do feel the need to sleep a bit; maybe I’ll be less confused once I am rested.
Days had gone by and the shadow of mystery still followed everyone around. I had spoken to different survivors, in private, to find out that Ben had been telling me the truth. We are all RH Negative and every single one of us has had brain surgery. The doctor’s explanations made sense and I decided to just let that go for the meantime, focusing on my very different relationship with Jenn instead.
While her job back on Earth had been a marketing consultant, on this spaceship, she was the top lab expert. She was a highly regarded scientist to whom every Sumerian bowed to, with respect. Yet, I am unsure of what her real agenda was. When I questioned her on different things, her answers were always vague, almost always carrying two meanings, depending on the subject.
While she expressed that her love for me was sincere, after telling her that I had intentions of asking her to marry me, back on Earth, I now had mixed feelings about it. I still didn’t know if I could trust her or not and trust is pretty up there on my list of values about a love relationship. I didn’t comprehend the fact that she had been there on Earth, with me for a full year, without even glimpsing a clue to what was about to happen.
She has invited me over to her kinja (kinja being the word they use for their room or apartment on board the ship) tonight for a romantic supper which will include guyzins (an in laboratory created meal) and I promise to myself to confront her about the blood types.
***
The evening went well, we talked about the good moments we had, the possibility of continuing the relationship and how I was adapting to this new life. She was receptive and I felt it was the right time to bring the subject up...
“Jenn, Ben had told me something that I looked into myself and cannot comprehend. Why do we survivors all have RH Negative blood?”
Her reaction was like I hit her with a ton of bricks. Her smile vanished, her eyebrows took this awkward shape that they used to take before we’d get into an argument, back on Earth...
“We need more wine. I’ll get more wine from the shinks (wine producers aboard the ship).”
“Jenn, no, no more wine, don’t avoid me, just answer my question...”
She looked at me, stood up and left. She WAS avoiding the question!!! Before she’d get back here with some answer that she’ll probably have thought of while being gone, I decided to sit at her office desk, just browsing through some papers that, for the life of me, I could not comprehend as they were in Sumerian.
I don’t know what I touched. But as I looked in the mirror facing the desk, I could see that one of those “openings”, as Connor has mentioned, had opened behind me and so I turned around and looked outside.
***
I stood by the door for her return and as soon as she walked in, I grabbed her by the neck...
“Now, you’re gonna tell me what’s goin’ on Jenn or I swear to God, I’ll snap your neck, right here, right now...”
As it had happened to me before, I felt something on my own neck and wanted to say “No...” but never had a chance.
***
When I woke up, I was in a room I had never been in before. One that had some kind of energy grid, where the door should have been, a grid that would keep me inside. This was some sort of jail.
“You are in our detention area.”
That was Jenn’s voice. She slowly walked in front of the other side of the grid so I could see her.
“You lying psychopaths!!!” I just replied as I got closer to the grid, to face her as close as I could.
“John, what were you trying to do? Kill me?”
“The thought crossed my mind...”
“So you want to know everything? The truth?”
“That’d be a change...”
“OK, the truth.”
She took a superior stance. Looking at me like a predator would plays with his prey. How I wish I could have my hands on her again...
“WE are the Sumerians.” She started. “We have been on Earth for six thousand years. I am of the third generation as we live thousands of years, unless an accident kills us.”
“Then you better make sure I never get out of here...” I simply said out loud while wondering if I ever could...
“Our medical staff has done brain alterations for one purpose only. Our sustenance.”
Now that was getting interesting...
“Your brain now creates an enzyme, an enzyme that we need for survival and that could only exist through RH Negative blood. When you were thirteen years old, John, the doctors gave you a vaccine for polio, remember that? Well, that changed some of your DNA and it changed your blood type, making it an RH Negative. You were then in the early stages of being a provider. You humans regenerate blood as much as needed, something we still can’t figure out, even with our capabilities. Every time you go to sleep, our dermal sensors, that are all over your bed sheets, takes the blood out of your system and stores it away. We just collect when necessary which is about once a week. Unfortunately, that procedure does age your internal organs and you don’t have thirsty years to live, but five, if you’re lucky.”
“Finding out what Ben told me must have been fatal for him, right? He hasn’t been so lucky huh?”
“Ben? Ben isn’t one of you barbarians, John. Ben is a Sumerian. In early adulthood, he started to rebel and we had to reprogram him. Right now, he’s just questioning as he never remembers anything once we reprogram him but I think we might have to clean his slate, once again. Ben needs reprogramming every couple of hundred years or so...”
“Let me out of here, Jennifer, and I will show you what barbarian really means...”
“Threats, threats, threats...look Kane, your future is in my hands. I didn’t choose you because I loved you but since you were an orphan, no one would go out of his way looking for you when you’d end up missing. You are my provider. Now, the Elders have given me the right to do with you as I please, considering you were planning to kill me. So, here’s what I’ll do: I am confining you to this room, till death do us part. That’s what they say in your weddings, don’t they?”
I didn’t answer. The rage was overwhelming.
“And since you were so curious to see what was happening outside, I’ve opened the hatch behind you. Enjoy the view.”
My eyes were filled with tears. Tears of mixed emotions, hate, anger, joy of seeing that the Earth was still there but also rage of profound betrayal. I don’t know how long I stayed by the hatch, looking down on my planet that I thought forever gone when...
“John...”
I turned around to see Ben, standing at the grid.
“Ben !” I said as I walked toward him.
“John, listen very carefully.”
I was all ears as I figured that he would probably tell me how he’d get me out of here. Or at the very least, how I could perhaps evade by myself. But he only said three words:
“Chuck...Codename...Equinox...”
And as if someone had pushed a reset button, it all came back to me.
EQUINOX
I am known as Chuck but my real name is Charles Dawson and I successfully infiltrated the ship that has been hiding in our lower atmosphere since at least 1927 when we first spotted its signature and codenamed it “The Black Knight Satellite”. I am part of a United States program / an MK Ultra Division called Project Equinox and have been programmed for this situation since early childhood. I was raised under the alias of John James Kane while being trained in combat, military strategy and analytical process. Ben held the key to end the program and unleash my real self.
What I have found so far is that our enemies claim to be Sumerians and that they have been on our planet for thousands of years. They proceed with different scenarios to abduct humans from all around the world to sustain their survival through medical alterations to the human body.
I am unsure of their agenda but I will find out. I am presently being detained in a cell that they must think is escape proof but I’ve been trained for this. It make take me a day, a week, a month or a year to find a way out but when I do...all Hell is gonna break loose, starting with Jennifer Doyle.
The End – or is it the Beginning?
