THE GATE KEEPER

JULES GABRIEL

THE

GATE

KEEPER

Copyright by Jules Gabriel 2013

First published as an
e-book by Jules Gabriel on September 2013

 Note
that this is a work of fiction. Characters, names, incidents and places are either
a product of the author’s ideology. It is pure coincidental if the fictitious
work bare resemblance to any actual person, living, dead, or of actual events.

It is
the right of Jules Gabriel to be identified as the author of his work. Note
that it has been asserted by in accordance with the copyright, designs and
patent Act 1988.

The book is
dedicated to the two special women of my life. My mum who inspired me to read
and escaped into the magnificent world of fiction. And a special dedication
goes to my wonderful wife who stood by me and believed in me.

‘That
Christ may dwell in your hearts and faith; that ye,

being
rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend

with
all
saints what is
breadth
, and
length
, and
depth
, and

height
,
and
to know the love of Christ, which possess knowledge,

that
ye
might be filled with all the fullness of God.’

Ephesians
3:17 – 19
  Saint
Paul

Prologue

High
school 2012...

Frightened
was for sure, not that I had exercised my right of becoming a criminal but for
the sake of dating my dream girl. I could not turn around to face her nor talk
to her. The gut feeling that the class knew the truth haunted me. Though it was
a warm Monday, I felt sweat dripping down and under the pressure of her
unanswered promise, it became worse.

It
was already afternoon and still no answer from her.
She promised to at least
give me an answer,
I confronted my thoughts. I made a gamble to spill my
guts for the price of love or to sit and never at least try to be a man for
once. Though fourteen years old I knew that I had to put childish things to the
past and try to start a new chapter towards becoming a man.

Two
days ago, at home, Dan told me about the girl he fancied from school. ‘Come on
dude, you can tell me. I told you mine and now it’s your turn’ He said as he
teased me.

‘Well
you know her.’ I said.

‘No
dude I’m in the dark here....helped me out.’ He teased.

‘Hailey,’
I responded.

‘Is
it Hailey Lace?’ he asked.

I
gave him a node. He gave out an expression of excitement which I could not yet
comprehend. ‘Oh my G...Dude, you must be kidding...She’s fit,
I
mean she’s great!’ He exclaimed.

Surprisingly
I had to respond and seek for reasoning. ‘Dude, calm down, she’s not my
girlfriend.’

‘That’s
why you
gonna
buzz her Dude!’ Dan exclaimed as he
goes through the yellow pages.

‘Awesome choice dude!’
Dan
praised.

He
then screened for the Laces’ phone number on the possible address that Hailey
might live at. We both knew where she lived. She’s approximately five blocks
down the road. Hailey had to take the main public road that goes straight in
between our family’s house and to the school. She had done so since we were in
kindergarten. That’s the time I first got a chance to know her. My love for her
started from a pet love and grew into a teen crush. She became my secret
admirer. The one I felt I was long to live with.

‘And
what do you suggest I say to her?’ I asked, sounding inexperience and
dumb.  

‘The truth dude!’
He
responds excitedly.

He
examined the surnames closely and found only three which might belong to her
mother and father. He took a gamble and phone one. As it rang Dan handed over the
phone to me. He held his left ear close to the receiver, kept quiet and listen
to the ring tone as I did. It rang once and we wait. The second time it rang I
wanted to hang up, but he hold it firm as he listen and gestured a negative
nod.

I
agreed not to put it down. At a third tone, ‘Hello.’ The voice of an adult
female answered. Dan smile and gave me a friendly tap on my shoulder. Inhaled
and Exhaled. I seek for the right words and said ‘May I speak to Hailey
please?’

The
voice from the other end seems concern and asked ‘Hailey?’

‘Yes
ma’m
.’ I said nervously
while I wondered if we truly got the right number.

‘One
moment please.’ The person at the other end said.

Jackpot
I
thought to myself. We waited patiently. I try to free my mind from the pressure
of fear. I thought hardly of the words she would like to hear from me.
Surrender was not an option, especially when I got the presence of a good
friend backing my true emotion and becoming witness of my brave act.

‘Hello?’
A young and soft female voice answered the phone. She sounds confused and
puzzling.
An unexpected call,
I thought
.
I breathed out. Then I
respond to the unforgettable and lovely voice, ‘Hailey?’

‘Yes.’
She said puzzling.

‘It’s
me Phil.’ I said.

‘Phil
Smith?’ Hailey confirmed.

‘Yes’
I respond fearlessly. The line went silent. Answer was what she wanted. A
reason was what she was after. Without wasting time I brought myself together
and said, ‘I phone you to tell you that I like you.’

The
line stayed quiet and I said, ‘I would like for us to be more than friends and
would also like to meet you possibly at my place if you want?’ Then the line
went silent.

‘I
would like to know what you think and perhaps give me an answer of your
decision.’ I said uneasy. The fear of a negative respond was in my head. I
wanted to avoid an embarrassment but it was futile. The deal was in motion.

‘I
shall give you an answer on Monday morning.’ Hailey respond in a strict and
calm voice.

Excitement
faded and a chill of fear kick in as my subconscious realised that I was still
in the class waiting for a sign. My classmates murmured among themselves as
they waited for the next subject teacher to make her entry. I was speechless.
The sweat of fear dripped over my body as I waited for an answer from Hailey.
This morning I headed straight for her.

I
conquered my fear and walk towards her. She was with her friends. She looked
stunning and amazing. Black long hair, brown eyes and a beautiful light brown
tan skin colour. It was the Red Indian and Caucasian blood which gave her that
unique mix of beauty which I had innocently fall for. 

‘I
came for your answer.’ I said.

Her
friend didn’t felt my presence. They were sharing the weekend news of their
private lives.   

‘I’ll
talk to you later.’ She responded in a friendly approach.

All
I had wanted was to make her my girlfriend. Even if I was young and never had a
girlfriend relationship I was willing to make it work. She would have been my
first love. My intention was purely teenage companionship of an opposite sex to
share my heart with. Then in the long term we would have been more than
friends. Perhaps in the long term there was a possibility of a mature
relationship though I knew the future was uncertain. It can’t neither be
control nor mend.

She
gave her word for an answer,
I convinced myself,
as
my
mind fought the clouded thoughts that run through. I could not comprehend nor
accept the truth of the delay.
Must had been compromised,
my inner self
spoke quietly
. It can’t be, she’s not that type,
I thought. The class was
no longer murmuring and most was talking aloud. In between I could hear some
whispering to each other.

      ‘Tell
him.’ one girl at the back said.   

Have
I been compromised,
I seek for a lonely answer from within. Still
frightened I sat still and listen. I try to make sense of the whispering among
the loud noise of those having a conversation in different groups.

‘Yes,
tell him.’ Another girl from the back said.

‘Phil
Smith!’ A female voice shouted at me.

I
recognised the voice instantly and I could not believe myself. The tone felt a
bit too harsh and cold.
Unbelievable
, I thought. It was Hailey, the one
my heart was long to be with. She had brought the noise of the class to a halt.
Busted
...
I needed to see this and take it as a man,
I thought
.
I turned towards her like the rest of my classmates.

There
she was, beauty in disguise and both of her hands resting on her hips as she
said aloud, ‘don’t you ever, ever phone at my house again!’

‘What
happened?’ someone from the back asked.

My
heart race with adrenalin fear and utter embarrassment became a shock to my
system. Pathetic and uncontrollable shiver of shyness took control of my body.
I wanted to get away but I couldn’t. Hiding under the table became a
considerable option though not sanely practicable. 

‘Can
you believe it? He phone at my place asking for me and told me that he like
me!’ Hailey cried out stone heartedly.
The class gave out loud laughter
of joy. Most were in tears of joy. My true friends pitied me as the
entertainment and execution move to its next stage.

‘What
was he thinking of?’ An unknown female voice asked.

‘You
know what amazed me?’ She cried out and paused. The class stays quiet while
they struggle to maintain their uncontrolled emotion. I slowly and shamefully turned
my obese self at the chalk board. 

Hailey
carry on entertaining the class and said, ‘He even wanted me to come over to
his house and I don’t even know what he had in mind!’ The class burst into loud
uncontrollable laughter.

Her
arrogant move and miscalculated behaviour set my heart on fire, that it brought
our friendly classmate’s relationship to a dead end. That night, the
humiliation and sadness of tears was expressed alone, behind closed doors. This
was the turning point of my life.

1

 2061,
A Distant future....

The
old man stared at his gaunt facial expression in the mirror. He could not help
himself of not staring at the wrinkles, the white hair, trim beard and
moustache.  Death was at his doorstep waiting for an opportunistic moment.
On the other hand opportunistic disease had already threatened his weak and
frail body.

He
slowly walked away from the mirror and sat on an executive chair. He reached
out for the nose mask attached to a machine. He inhaled the pure oxygen. At
sixty five years his lungs felt no longer his. Clean oxygen at the hospital’s
hygienic level was vital on a weekly basis for him. He held the mask firmly
with both hands as he exhale and inhale from the machine.

‘I
have condense all the excess gas exhaled into substances, recycle them and
vaporising it into pure oxygen. Your lungs should be healthy for another one
week.’ The voice from the speakers in the ceiling said.

The
old man listened and acknowledge with a slow unhealthy nod as he concentrate on
his breathing. AI has spoken and he trusts it.

‘Are
you in need of any further assistance?’ AI asked.

The
frail man gave out a negative nod as response.

‘Hang
in there, breath and try to relax,’ AI responded.

He
laid back and relaxed.
AI knew nothing of pain
he thought,
why would
AI cared about me
? He got back to his senses and realised that AI was part
of his invention. The Artificial Intelligent computer he had invested in to
take care of him at home. He had been a successful entrepreneur and inventor of
his generation. Without the AI he had helped revolutionised, he would have
failed to make headway in further invention he had achieved. After all, AI had
played his role in
making the right decision in every future
task
at hand; it had slipped his mind so many times.

AI
has been programmed by him to react on his own decision on the principles of
good deed. Of course it was all for the benefit of the old man. The machine’s
voice was of his creator. Each time he would converse with it, he felt like
talking to himself and in time it became his true companion.

Memories
of his past run through his head like a film. He had been surrounded by those
who thought he could be played. Men and woman who wanted to used him. Being a
money maker he became an irresistible business magnet. He had succeeded all of
them. His office has been in his mansion for forty years. It was the time when
his name came into the public eyes that he was forced to open up his world. In
the name of expansion he set the foundation for the Bushido Corporation
establishment.

At
twenty five years old in a time of the computer era he managed to
revolutionised changes of the way machine was used. The important Artificial
Intelligent software was made by him and two other computer geeks. Now the
computer inherited machines has become addicted to it.

On
the wall were the photos of his success. Near it were the A3 blue print
diagrams of his inventions which he called his babies. The old man stared at
the new one. The one which had involves several groups of engineers to create
its varieties of useful parts. None of those smart minds knew each other. Even
knew how important their work was.

He
had delegated each task purposefully, worldwide and kept them in the dark. They
could not even visualise the big picture of his invention. Its blue print
glowed under the pale blue ultra-light which was on the wall above the
diagrams.

AI
has reduced the main ceiling light to fade. AI knew what his mentor and inventor
expected of him. AI has come to terms of learning more of his habit and desire
to succeed. ‘The process has successfully completed.’ AI said. ’Your next one
should be next week.’

The
old man took off the mask. He slowly used both of his hands on the arm rest as
he brought his frail self to an erect posture. He felt better and able to
breath, on his own. He sorted his black tie underneath his white shirt and
fixed his black suit properly. He walked to his left, away from the blue prints
and into the darker part of the room.

AI
slowly brightens the light from the ceiling. The dark room slowly became
visible. In front of the old man a device came to life. It was similar to the
latest diagram on the blue print. Its bottom was flat and round. The top was
similar and its body was cylindrical in shape but in an oval appearance. The
shiny metal was open and inside pale blue ultra-light from above shone on an
empty space. The old man slowly got in and stood in.

‘Warning,
the door will close for departure.’ AI said.

An
orange beacon bulb came out from a hidden squarely space in the ceiling and
suspend outside of it. Then it came to life, flashing and illuminating orange
safety light within the room. The door of the machine closed with the old man
in.

‘Warning,
departure is inevitable. Ten seconds countdown. Nine, eight,’ AI said.

From
the only-see-through available on the machine at the front of the door the
camera from the ceiling could get a close eye view of his creator. AI, the only
witness to the operation focused on any threat that could menace and jeopardise
the mission. Its lenses zoom in the image at a close up as it made the
countdown.

‘Warning,
four seconds left.’ AI carried on with the countdown.

White
and blue lightening sparks up the machine. Then it became bigger and longer as
it spreads outwards. The old man fell to one knee. He rested his left hand on
the double glazing glass at the only door. With his head down and his chin rest
on his stomach, he laid still.

‘...Two
seconds, one second,’ AI said.

The
old man quickly raised his face up, stare at the focus lenses and gave out a
cried. His eyes gave out expression of excruciating pain. The lightening
agitates rapidly and uncontrollably. The volatile source of energy transformed
the machine into a transparent view. The old man was exposed kneeling and
shouting but his voice was trapped within the appearance of the transparent
crystal like machine.  

‘Shutting
down is irreversible,’ AI said.

Then
he became transparent and reappeared as normal. The volatile lightening blew up
the emergency beacon. Both the man and the machine became transparent. The
energy field grew bigger.  It focused the whole energy on the machine and
vanished with it. Papers from the old man’s office table flew around. The machine
was nowhere to be found. It vanished without a trace. AI shut the light in the
whole room and kept it in pitch black.