Time Warp (10 page)

“Then what does?
“, Asked Jason, who so far had not said a word.

“This does
“, said frank, as he forwarded the disk to the unscripted codes. “ What are they? “Asked nick

“These were a bit tricky to uncover, most of the signs turned out to be not coded messages but formulas. “

“You mean chemical formulas? “ Asked nick

“No
! Biological formula’s, bacteria’s, we started by accidentally discovering the first one which is this “, said frank as he flip passed each frame on his computer.

“What is it suppose to be, some sort of a new life form?” asked Jason.

“ No not at all, here you are looking at the cholera virus and the next frame contains the typhoid, typhus, Ebola, even bubonic plague or black death, Sars you name  it’s here. “

“You mean all of these strands are diseases?
“ Asked Jason

“Yep
every killer virus this planet has ever faced”, replied frank

“What would someone want with all of these viruses?
“ Asked nick

“Well that’s a good question, most of
them have been nearly wiped out or lay dormant, except this one“.

Frank turned the screen to the last formula on the diskette; just to show Nick and
Jason what he was talking about

“So what diseases is this supposes to be
? “ Asked Jason not knowing where any of this was leading.

“Well that’s t
he big thing! It does not exist “, replied frank

“You mean man has not found it, or recognized it yet? “

“No I mean this is a completely new virus the world has never seen before”, answered frank “That’s why I must ask you where did you get this disk from, it could mean someone is trying to start a biological war? “

The thought suddenly struck nick, could this be what Sonard was planning
? Alternatively, was the disk so old that the disease had passed us by in some other stage of life on this planet? “So tell us frank what kind of a virus this could be? “ Asked nick

“Sorry I don’t have a clue
“, said frank.

“Yea but if you wan
ted to create a global disaster or pandemic on a massive scale, what kind of virus would you create?” Asked nick

“If this was my do
ing then an air born virus would be my best guess “, said frank.

“You mean like Sars? “

“ Like Sars but different, you see Sars was a deadly virus, only it affected a small part of the globe and it was unstable just like the common flu, they mutate fast and sometimes mutate to become harmless just like Sars did “, said frank.

“So what would be the ultimate virus then?
“ Asked Jason

“It’s not actually the virus it’s self that is destructive, it’s more on how you implement it
“, said frank

“
How do you mean? “

“ Nearly all
air born viruses mutate rapidly, so the best way to have a really devastating effect would be to have the virus placed or transmitted around the globe, going undetected in some kind of harmless form. “

“You’re not making sense here frank, if it’s harmless then
what the use of spreading it? “ Asked nick

“Yes that is just the point
! If you had some sort of carrier that could spread the virus all over and then wait for it to mutate, then the whole world would become infected all at the same time. “

“But how is this possible?
“ Asked Jason who still did not have a clue what the hell everyone was talking about.

“In fact it’s quite simple, in the olden days the plague was spread to London by rats hidden away on board sailing ships. So if you wanted this to spread all over the world the first
thing you would need is a host to carry and spread the virus all over, it would take years of course depending on the host that is “, replied frank

“You mean if I infected rats would
it work? “

“No stupid
! Rats do not cross-continents, the best host would be birds, infect the bird population, and let them spread the virus, then sit back and wait for it to mutate. “

“Wow that’s some plan, but man could easily make a vaccine and that’s it, everything is solved, “said Jason.

“That’s true Jason however; just imagine half the globe infected at once it would take months or even years to create a big enough stock pile to vaccinate everyone.

Any
way, it is not the virus that will be the problem; it is the food supplies “, said frank

“The food supplies
, what does that have to do with it, “asked Nick.

Frank continued to explain his theory on the after effects of a globe pandemic of this magnitude. “Right if birds were the carriers, thousands of them would die before they eventually started to become immune, there dead carcasses would be consumed by other scavenger, mammals
, who themselves would later die or be hunted by larger pray Spreading the virus between mammals. Some of mans domestic live stock such as chickens, ducks, pigs and so on would be the first to contact the virus, some of which might be consumed by humans infecting them in the process. Man would result in slaughtering a lot of his live stock to try and control the outbreak.”

“You mean like foot and mouth?
“ Asked Nick

“Exactly
, but on a much larger scale, once the virus starts to mutate it would then be easily transferred between mammals that’s when the trouble starts. “

Frank paused for a break, while Jason and Nick disused the issue, “ what kind of trouble do you actually mean?” asked Nick feeling very inpatient, desperate even to try and get to the end of all of this and especially what Sonard had install for them.

“A global food shortage, man would have to result in slaughtering cattle, pigs, you name it, and infected areas would have to be quarantined. This would eventually lead to riots, clashes with authorities, Marshall Law and most of all it would be every country or even town for its self, until the situation is under control. Some countries might even start to invade adjacent countries for their food supplies, and then of course we would be looking at a third world war. “

“Yea that’s no
problem just nuke the bastards “, said Jason smiling.

“Don’t be stupid
, if you nuke another country all you would be doing is destroying its food stock pile. No I am afraid it would have to be tactical assaults, small arms fire the normal stuff, the whole world would be turned upside down, it could even push man back to the dark ages,” answered frank.

“And how did you figure that out?
“ Asked Jason

“ Just imagine a virus so deadly and contagious, no one would be able to come in contact with any one in fear of contacting the virus himself, the whole world might come to a standstill. Economically and even total infrastructures could collapse, leaving man in the dark, without power or
fuel to keep the economy moving “, replied frank.

Just then nick had a brain wave, frank might have just uncovered Sonard’s plans, nick rushed up to frank and gave him a big kiss on his bold patch

“What the hell has gotten into you “, said frank pushing nick away.

“Thanks man, you are a genius; you have just cracked the biggest code in your life “, said nick.

Jason stared at both of them
, still not having a clue as to what nick was going on about

“Come on Jason
, lets go and find Carl he’s not going to believe this when we tell him“.

Nick and Jason were about to leave, as they approached the front door they heard a clamping sound, it seemed that someone from the outside had affixed something on the other side of the door. Frank looked towards the surveillance screen, it was blank someone had disabled it from the outside
. Jason turned to nick, they quickly moved from behind the door just in time as an explosion ripped through the hallway, blowing the door off its hinges. The explosion stunned Nick, Jason reacted quickly, and pulled his revolver from behind his jacket, he quickly pulled on the cock slide slipping a shell into the chamber. Jason turned to the corner and saw two men just about to enter franks apartment, Jason instantly fell to floor and let off three rounds into the two men’s direction. One of the men grasped his chest as two slugs pierced his lungs almost instantly, he fell to the floor, the third bullet entered the second mans shoulder, forcing him to drop his weapon.

Jason approached him kicking his gun towards the side, “don’t move! And keep
your hands where I can see them “; Jason yelled to the man, “Ok, ok “he replied.

The man slouched forward, Jason knew better and stepped backwards
as the assailant tried to reach inside his jacked, hoping Jason would fail to notice his intentions, only it was all in vain. Jason squeezed the trigger one more time, the bullet entered the man’s forehead, it exited taking the back part of his skull completely off, his body slumped to the ground. Jason scanned the hallway it was all clear. Their small ordeal was over; it seems Sonard’s men must have been following them all the time, but how.

chapter eight

back at the motel

N
ick and Jason had returned to their motel room, before leaving franks place Jason took a closer look underneath his jeep just in case Sonard’s men had come up with the same idea and had placed some kind of booby trap, luckily for Jason they had not.

Nick
barged through the door, and went straight for the scotch. It was their second encounter with Sonard’s men and he hoped it would be the last. Nick downed more scotch, filled a glass, and slides it down the table to Carl. He began to explain to him and Jan about what frank had discovered also how Sonard’s men managed to track them down. Jason was on the other hand quite pleased with himself; he had so far taken out five of sonar’s men in one day single handedly.

However, Carl was still confused as to what nick had told him that Sonard intended to infect the planet, he waited until everyone had settled down and sat at the table, nick poured himself another glass of scotch, his hands trembling. Carl
could not believe what frank had uncovered, and asked nick to calm down and explain everything frank had told him from the beginning.

Nick took a swig of his scotch, and started to tell Carl what his friend frank had discovered on the disk again. He told Carl about the viruses being stored on the disk
, and how one of them was new, not known to man.

“You mean to say Sonard has created a new virus?
“ Asked Carl

“Not only has he created a virus, it seems him and his people for some reason have been infecting the planet for as long as anyone can remember,” said nick

“But why, it doesn’t make sense.”

“Of course it does, if he failed to educate man to become a humble species, what other way could he stop us from entering a nuclear holocausts,” said nick.

“That’s absurd, we have overcome viruses since the beginning of time, and it’s a known fact that at least 10 % of the world’s population will be immune to a variety of viruses, so what makes this one different “asked Carl.

“Yea that’s just the point whose 10% would survive this, ours or Sonard’s,” replied Nick

They continued to debate the issue; it took them most of the day and most of the scotch, until Jan came up with some kind of a solution as to what Sonard could be planning.

It all started to make sense to her, since she was virtually the only one that had not had too much to drink, and everything that Maya had told her that the truth is all around us for some reason might even be true
. Someone may be even one of Sonard’s men, that he had cast out into the past, might have managed to write some text or inspire someone such as Nostradamus himself to write prediction for the future. Our future, over four hundred years ahead of his time, a warning to mankind of what is meant to be; most of it was still a bit confusing. However, with Carl’s research in the library joined parts of the puzzle, making the whole picture start to take form as why Sonard’s men did not want man to embark on a nuclear holocaust? Sonard knew man would eventually reach this point destroying planet earth in the process. Sonard had already witness this once when Homo erectus was the prime species, and Jan was sure that Sonard would do everything in his power not to let history repeat its self, and what better way to do it then to infect man, or even the whole planet. A virus that could bring the world to stand still and lower our numbers, bringing man nearly to the brink of extinction and as for Sonard’s people, they would still be abiding by their code of honor, not to destroy another species. Because in some way Sonard’s scientist would be creating life, a biological life the virus itself could seen to be a living organism. Moreover, if the same virus does, destroys man who can blame Sonard, when in technical terms, he might have provided the weapon, but he did not pull the trigger. The virus itself would be the culprit. Sonard had come up with the perfect plan of man’s destruction, but why it still did not make any sense, if Sonard really wanted to leave this planet he still could do so, however, were these Sonard’s real intentions.

On the other hand, did Sonard have another meaning to his madness, could it be he wanted to eliminate man for good, allowing his own people to live on earth when the time was right
. And as for us, after a pandemic of this magnitude, are defenses would be so week and isolated, we would have no choice, but to accept Sonard’s people, they might even be proclaimed by some to be the saviors of humankind.

However, without the
spearhead, Jan knew for some reason Sonard could not do a Thing, and the only way they could find that out, was to go to the island and visit Carl’s Uncle Jack. Who was supposed to have the very object that was to contain some strange power of some kind, a power that without it Sonard was lost?

Frank was busy in his new apartment, after his encounter with Sonard’s men the whole operation had to be relocated; the cleaners as you might call them striped his old apartment down to the last shred leaving no trace of any kind. The two dead men were dumped in some nearby ally and made to look like some drug deal that went sour. It was the way things worked, one organization covering up one another’s footsteps and fuck ups, in the aim to honor and protect their own countries from espionage and terrorist attacks. A non-existing world that, work and live amongst us, a secret society working parallel to ours

Frank continued to break down the coded disk, once he had the alphabetical sequence of the strange forgone language letters started to fall into place, frank started to break down the logo on the back of the disk. He separated each fragment and found out that they were not designer patterns after all, but they were letters inscribed around a circle. Once the letters were translated they would form a word spelling the name of the race, or crew that had arrived on our planet, for only one simple reason to created and influences human’s ever since the beginning of time.

As the hours slowly passed by since, Nick and Jason’s second encounter with Sonard’s men, Jason thought it better if he stood watch from inside their motel room that night, while Carl and Nick slept off the alcohol they had consumed
. Jan had dozed off on the sofa tired from all the frustration and hectic situation she had unexpectedly found herself in. sometimes she wished she had not tricked Carl into moving in with her, knowing if she had not done this, none of this would have happened. In some way Jan felt responsible, guilty, it seemed she was now paying the price for her little white lie. She constantly shifted on the sofa forever trying to get comfortable when Jason decided to wake her up. “What’s the matter? “ She asked

“I am not sure, but I think someone is watching our room, “replied Jason.

Jan immediately woke up to take a look for herself, she looked through Jason’s binoculars, and focused on a dark, blue jeep parked some distance away, “ How long has the jeep been there? “ asked Jan. “ Since early yesterday evening,” replied Jason

“So it must be them, how did they find us, we haven’t used any cell phones? “

Jason woke up the others, nick scrambled to his feet and headed to the bathroom. To down himself in cold water, hoping in some way it would revive him. The whiskey had taken its toll and nick could feel every drop he had drunk spinning through his brain. Carl woke up rubbing the back of his neck. It seemed the drink had not hit him as hard. However, the small wound just underneath his hairline, was becoming more irritating than ever, “What’s up Jason “asked Carl. “ Some ones have a surveillance team watching our apartment.”

Carl walked towards the window and
looked at the dark, blue jeep it was still there. Jason stood behind Carl and noticed a dark, red patch on the back of his neck

“Shit man where in hell did you get that from, “asked Jason. 

Carl rubbed his neck again, the small scratch had become infected, Jan took a closer look it seemed that a small abscess had formed just under Carl’s skin, it was sore to the touch. Nick was suspicious, if it was a scratch or insect bite at all. He had read somewhere how the USA were experimenting with micro, tracking devices that tapped into the bodies static electrical charge, so they could remain operational for years without ever having the need to be serviced. The whole idea was so the military could keep track of its men during any type of future engagement; they might have to endure. With this said technology, it would help to minimize the risk of having too many MIA’s, not wanting a repetition, of the amount of men that disappeared during the Vietnam conflict.

Nick approached Carl from behind, and began to press down hard on his neck

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Just sit there and shut up
! I thing you’ve been bugged, “said nick

“Of course I have been bugged
! It is an insect bite or something for god’s sake, “replied Carl. Nick asked Jason to hold Carl down while he took a closer look at the back of Carl’s neck; he inserted a small needle to burst the swelling lump of puss that had formed around the small wound. Nick could feel a foreign object just underneath Carl’s skin. Jason looked over towards nick and took out a small penknife and handed it to him

“ What the hell are you doing? “ said Jan. Nick did not answer, Jason held Carl down while nick made a small incision near the infected part of Carl’s neck, he let out a small yell as the blade cut into his skin
. Carl tried to struggle to break free however; Jason’s huge body held him steadily to the floor. Nick squeezed Carl’s wound, blood oozed out then a small metallic capsule emerged from the inside of Carl’s neck

“Just as I thought, “said nick holding the object between his fingers

“What is it?” Asked Jan. “This here baby is a micro transmitter, and that’s how Sonard has been tracing our every move,” said nick

Jan dressed Carl’s wound as he held the small transmitter in his hands; he remembered the electronic map he had seen near the teleportation system, and the small dotted lights that flicker around the globe
. Could these very lights be indicators, showing people that Sonard had under his control, plotted around the globe? Carl also wondered why Sonard’s men had not attacked their apartment; they could easily have over powered them if they wanted to. However, Jason knew better, Sonard had them on a lease hoping they would lead him to the spearhead. He had used this tactic himself many times over, during Recon missions knowing that eventually the un-detained would lead they back to their main hide out, And Sonard was doing exactly the same thing.

“So what now?
“, Asked Jason

“I think it’s time we paid my uncle a visit, so we can find out what it is Sonard actually wants, “replied Carl

Jan continued to dress Carl’s wound, for some reason the incision Sonard’s people had made in Carl’s neck must have become infected, may be this could have happened when Carl fell in the polluted waters inside the harbor. Meaning they got lucky, because of Carl’s infection, it gave away yet another one of Sonard’s secrets. Jason packed all of their gear into a large traveling sack and slung it over his shoulder, as they all made their way towards the black Coronado. Nick took out a small device and swept it around the entire vehicle. “What the hell is that for? “ Asked Jason

“I am scanning for any radio signals, if Carl had an implant then there could be more, “replied nick
. However, there was none, Jason started up his jeep and slowly drove off not wanting to look suspicious. Carl still had the implant in his pocket waiting for the right time to get rid of it. Jason stopped at some traffic lights he looked into his rear mirror; Sonard’s men were nowhere in sight. A small convertible pulled up along the side of Jason’s dark Coronado; Carl took out the small transmitter and tossed it on to the adjacent car’s back seat. Since the microchip used the bodies’ own electrical charge to remain operational, the microchip itself, without a host to power it, would only remain active for a short period... Jason laughs, knowing that Sonard’s men will now be sent on a wild goose chase, giving Carl and the rest of his team, the time they needed to make their way to the boat yard near the same pier, they used to dock their expedition cruiser.

Jason drove on, occasionally eyeing his back mirror hoping Sonard’s men had taken the bait, and would be following their decoy, allowing them to head straight for the harbor
. Nick got out first and began looking around all the boats, hoping to find something that could take them across the sea to the remote, island just of the main land. The home to Carl’s uncle who had discovered the spear head over fifteen years ago, Nearly in the same location that Carl as a young boy, had discovered the data storage device and had kept in his possession for years, not knowing of its capabilities or the contents that it held. Showing how man was nothing but an experiment, being created by some advance race, which had set out to educate us .trying their best to save our planet from a nuclear holocaust. Only to find out that they had created the worse, species ever to walk this earth, A destructive species that sought nothing but greed, and power killing off other harmless inhabitants in the process, Infecting, and contaminating the air, and water. Sonard’s people had created a vermin; a killer virus and it would take another virus more powerful than ourselves to destroy us, riding the earth of a plague, called Homo sapiens.