The Children of Time (The Children of Time Trilogy Book 1) Page 8

  While Merko rested in his ship, he began to remember his previous mission with his friend Silion. At that time, they came to test the effects of magnetic and gravitational fields over the people from planet Vida.

  Besides, they were also experiencing the accuracy of time-space travel.

  When they were on the American desert in New Mexico, they were attacked by the North American Air Force.

  “Enable the anti-radars shield of the ship, Silion.” Merko ordered.

  “Barrier enabled. Commander, a red light on the control panel is showing a failure in the shell.” Silion said.

  “Quick, turn on the force field.” Merko warned. “Let’s get out of here fast and try to get to the Exosphere, put the ship at full speed.”

  Before they could escape, two F-16 fighters were prepared for the attack, and one of them managed to hit the ship.

  In the moments that proceeded the fall of ship in the American desert, Merko teleported himself away from the place. He tried to take Silion with him, but his friend was seriously injured, so he couldn’t save him, although he had done his best.

  The Americans took the ship and a wounded Silion to an Army base in Arizona. There, they began to make experiences. His friend, even wounded, managed to communicate telepathically and was about to kill himself when Merko asked for a chance to try to save him. The men of the Alpha-Omega secret team arrived in their white overalls and injected a substance into the bloodstream of Silion. They removed samples of his skin, bone marrow and one rare strain of hair. All of this was sent to the lab.

  “This is weird, their blood is red, just like ours!” said Ronald, the chief of staff that accompanied everything from a control room. The same man who would command, in the future, the investigation about Nicolas and Zara.

  “Let’s decipher the mysteries of these extraterrestrial beings and, who knows, maybe later they may reveal their technology. The department wants to know how they manage to travel through universe.”

  “We need to know their technologies. They must own very powerful weapons that will be able to subdue our enemies. So we’ll be several steps ahead of the other governments of the Earth.” Spoke Keith, one of the scientists from Alpha-Omega group, who was standing next to Ronald.

  “Be very careful with our specimen. I want four men on guard, 24 hours a day, taking turns.” Said the chief.

  “But, sir, we are in the Base 51 of U.S. Army. It is the most secure place on the planet! It was designed to protect the president and his family even against attacks with nuclear bombs. There’s no risk with the alien here inside, we don’t need to take extra measures of protection.” Keith said.

  “Never underestimate the enemy. That’s how we lose battles and even wars.” agent Ronald replied. “As soon as the medication kicks in, let’s start the interrogation. Take care of the injuries and try to recover his consciousness.” Ordered one of the team’s doctors.

  Silion, still hostage, pondered how those people were ignorant. “If the primates had red blood, like Australopithecus, why would my blood be different? Instead of trying an approximation, they just want my people’s technology and our weapons to subjugate other nations. How underdeveloped they are! I must do something to set me free.” He thought at last.

  “Please, Silion don’t give up now! I believe I found a way to get there.” Merko communicated telepathically with his close friend.

  “My friend, we were instructed to end up our own lives in case of being captured. We know that our contacts can cause fatal consequences for the evolution of the human race.” Silion replied.

  “Please hold on a little longer, I need only one more day. Please give me a chance to execute my plan.”

  Merko always sought a solution to the unexpected problems and used to accomplish his missions, no matter how difficult they were. So, he teleported himself, touching the blue watch he had on his wrist, to reach the base 51, put on his glasses, turned himself up and watched the movement of everyone who entered there.

  “How’s the situation in there?” He asked anxiously, telepathically.

  “There are many men in white clothes, preparing to examine me. However, they seem to be waiting for someone.” Silion said.

  In fact, the agents were waiting for someone, agent Ronald and agent Keith, who were preparing them for the interrogation. Although the Alpha-Omega staff belonged to the government, they had to work secretly; in the case of peaceful contact with extraterrestrials from other nations the government wouldn’t be politically harmed.

  The capture and incarceration mission was executed by the military, which had well prepared basis and good logistics, while team members of the Alpha-Omega group, who were subordinated to the Pentagon, performed the part of researches, communication and intelligence.

  So, Merko saw a major, who had entered the place with an army vehicle and, for fifteen minutes, remained in the background. When he came out, he started to follow him. He kept teleported himself to the places where the soldier was heading, and was planning to take his place.

  Quietly, he arrived at the soldier’s house. Still in the garden of the residence, he approached the man with a laser gun he was carrying.

  The major passed out, and Merko scraped some cells from the inner portion of his cheeks and sent his genetic information to a chip adapted to their glasses of genetic transmutation. Immediately, he became a perfect copy of the major and decided to disintegrate him with his laser gun, so there wouldn’t be any evidence of his death.

  Someone in the window called him suddenly, and he could see it was a beautiful woman.

  “Hi, John. I thought you wouldn’t leave that damned base. The government is crazy to build these places underground. Besides, if some catastrophe happens they are the only ones who’ll be saved. And what they will do in an empty world? Come on, please, I made a delicious dinner.”

  Merko walked around the room admiring the neat place, with a roaring fireplace in the background. The place seemed comfortable with dim lights and candles. “It’s a very nice place”, he thought.

  There were pictures of the major with Lorena, his wife. She had curly golden hair, smooth white skin like peach and a beauty worthy of a goddess.

  “Come on, baby, take a hot bath. Everything is already prepared upstairs, but hurry, because the dinner is ready and I found that red wine that you love in the cellar.” Lorena said.

  Merko, without saying a word, went upstairs as a servant and took his hot bath. He quickly returned and soon realized that the sound he emitted was the perfect voice of the major. He thought how much the genetic engineering and nanotechnology worked well.

  “Let’s have dinner, honey. Today you’re so quiet. Did anything happen?” She asked.

  “No, I’m just tired.” He answered.

  “Wait until after dinner that I will give you that massage you love.” Said the beautiful woman.

  He then experienced the taste of that delicious wine with a delicious dinner and soon began to yawn, showing fatigue. They went up to the bedroom, and Lorena began to kiss him, and they made love, making Merko forget his friend and everything around him.

  When they woke up, he put on the uniform of the soldier and was on his way to the base, only thinking about saving his friend.

  “Where have you been, Merko? For a moment I thought you had left. I’m in trouble, and it seems that experience is imminent. The movement here is big.” Silion said telepathically.

  “Wait, I’m coming.” Promptly, Merko replied.

  With the insignia of the soldier, he entered the camp and he had to calibrate the coordinates of teleportation to get to his friend and then escape.

  He knew his laser gun was very powerful, but he also knew it would be difficult to fight with all the soldiers, so he needed a good strategy. Already infiltrated on the base, he decided to take one of the men in white that would examine Silion. He immobilized and took him to a room. He disintegrated him along with the clothes of the major and continued walking, now trans
figured in that new figure, following his purpose.

  He knew he could become any person and still could, if necessary use a power that few in his planet possessed or knew how to use, the telekinesis, the ability to move objects with psychic force. This ability always made him weak and he would only use it in extreme situations.

  He approached a room covered by glass on all sides. He could see four men around a table where a being was laid. He soon realized that he was in the right place. They were about to inject a substance into Silion’s arm, when Merko teleported himself into the room and, with four blows in fatal regions, he shoot down all opponents.

  “How do you feel?” He asked to Silion.

  “Very weak and wounded. I think you’d better go alone.”

  Meanwhile, in a room nearby, a general and his staff were following the procedure. The agents Ronald and Keith were preparing the equipment for the experiments with the specimen but at that moment were in another room next to the general.

  “General, there’s something wrong. A man is freeing our specimen and appears to be running.” Said the captain of the operation.

  “Ring the alarm. It looks like we’ve got luck. Probably we’ll catch two fish with one bait.” Said the general with a smile.

  A large operation soldiers invaded the research room. All escape routes were closed.

  Merko placed Silion over his shoulders when he said:

  “My friend, my life cycle is almost over. Please save your life. Use the laser on me and teleport yourself to the ship. They didn’t manage to get any information from me, you arrived just in time. They took my transmutation recognition infrared glasses, but it won’t make any difference if you escape. Go to Challenge I fast. It’s already programmed to take you back. At this point, the ship was already ready; it was repaired by self-healing robots.”

  With tearful eyes, Merko disintegrated his friend. When he was preparing himself to press the button of his watch, he noticed that there was someone behind him, ready to attack. It was a Ranger Sergeant. And then two more soldiers appeared.

  Merko decided to face them because he wanted to avenge the death of his best friend.

  “Where is your friend? Did he escape or is hiding?” The sergeant asked with irony.

  Soon they realized that the aliens had the ability to turn into humans. While Merko prepared himself for the attack, someone hit him from behind and he got a bit stunned. But the struggle was just the beginning. With his great skill, he struck deadly blows at everyone, one after another.

  Suddenly, there came many others and he had to use the telekinesis, moving all the objects of the place against its rivals, including pointing their weapons to each other. They all stood still for a moment with the guns in the air, pointing at them. When the general arrived at the main entrance, holding a grenade, he said:

  “You’d better surrender, or I’ll throw this grenade and kill us all.”

  “This is for my friend Silion, who you have imprisoned and murdered.” Merko replied.

  With the power of his mind, he removed the lock pin of the grenade. The general looked terrified and said:

  “You’re totally crazy! We’ll all die together.”

  In the experiences room of the Army Base, everything was blown. Only the agents Ronald and Keith managed to escape unharmed from the explosion, because they were on the command room, which was isolated and protected by armored walls. From their refuge, they observed the damage that the alien had made in the military base. They observed everything being destroyed, his friends losing their lives, and they couldn’t do anything at that time besides watching, submissive, to all the destruction caused by the alien.

  Immediately after removing the pin from the grenade, and even before the big explosion that destroyed part of the military complex, Merko pressed the button of his watch and reached his ship. He knew that, unlike the military, he wasn’t bound to that room and wasn’t taking any risk with the grenade. Now his friend was avenged. He prepared himself to return to space.

  He checked all the controls of the ship and went up with an unbelievable speed. He left behind his great friend Silion and the beautiful Lorena, who briefly was the best thing that happened in his whole life.

  While he reflected on the mission, though about how Silion was always ready to protect him and willing to go anywhere with his friend. Several times he had saved his life and he wasn’t able to repay. His eyes watered with sadness.

  He also couldn’t stop thinking about the beautiful Lorena. He didn’t understand how he been able to feel attraction for a woman from the past. However, she was so lovely and beautiful that he couldn’t stop thinking about her. If he could go back in time, maybe he wouldn’t have gone away and would take the major’s place. On his planet he could never be happy with anyone and, deep in his heart, he felt that he could be happy with Lorena. Living as an impostor, however, wasn’t a pleasant idea to him, even though that woman was capable of messing with his heart, hardened by failed relationships.

  The commander has programmed his ship to enter the space-time bridge with warp speed and ordered to Z8, the central computer of the ship:

  “Z8, take the ship home safely. I want to rest a bit. Just call me in case of an emergency.”

  “Yes, commander.” Z8 replied.

  ***

  While the Challenge I was heading for the planet Vida, under the command of Z8, Merko could rest.

  But his mind couldn’t relax, and he was plagued by several memories of moments spent beside Silion.

  One adventure that went back and forth had happened five years ago. A giant meteor was on a collision course with the planet Vida. All the alternatives to intercept and destroy it had been discarded by the Royal Council. There was only one chance to deflect the asteroid: Using a powerful laser beam that could bombard and destroy it from the planet Vida while it was still thousands of miles away from the fatal encounter.

  The Challenge II ship, which was coupled to a laser gun, however, was defective, and engineers worked tirelessly to fix it.

  There was no time to solve the problem of repairing the ship, and the gun couldn’t be removed or transported to another vehicle in a time. As they were all condemned to death with the imminent destruction of the planet, Merko fierce entered his ship Challenge I and decided to leave in order to project himself against the meteor.

  He would try to use the own Challenge I, heading toward the celestial body, being tangential to one of its ends in order to get it out of his route. His computer, Z8, had calculated the exact time and point of impact in which they would get the highest percentage of success in the mission of saving the planet Vida. The commander didn’t say goodbye to anyone, knowing that many would try to stop him from continuing with his suicide mission.

  He entered his ship and departed at an extraordinary speed toward the asteroid, which was still at a safe distance to change its course.

  Silion watched his friend in his last moments. He knew Merko very well and knew that something strange was about to happen. Before he left, they talked:

  “Merko, why haven’t you talked to anyone lately? What’s on your mind, my friend?”

  “I’m worried about the arrival of Meteor X26. I believe it will be impossible to stop it and we’ll all die. I must think of a way out.”

  “Our engineers will be able to recover the Challenge II on time. The weapons are ready and only the reactor still needs to be repaired.”

  “Dear Silion, when they repair the ship it will be too late. There’s no time left, X26 is close to a point where we won’t be able to stop it. We both know that very well! We don’t need to fool ourselves with false hopes. There’s no time to wait for the Challenge II to be repaired.”

  Silion lowered his head, feeling sad, and let Merko alone. He knew that in difficult situations, the commander used to make wise decisions and that he would find a way out. A few hours later, he looked for him again and found out that his ship was gone. Silion had a bad feeling and imagined
that the captain had left for death.

  At an incredible speed, Merko had programmed his ship to a course against the large asteroid. The commander was traveling with tears in his eyes, thinking about everything he had left behind. At the same time, he hoped that the impact was enough to save the planet and all its inhabitants.

  Silion quickly went to meet the engineers that recovered the ship’s reactors. He asked for urgency in the repair and accelerated all the steps of the maintenance process.

  Merko could already see the monster X26, that seemed voracious on it purpose. Silently, he said goodbye to his life. When the ship approached, a few miles away, he heard a voice shouting in a holograph that appeared in front of him:

  “My friend Merko, open the way, because I’ll use the laser in this meteor!”

  He only had time to observe the powerful red ray passing near his ship and hit X26 with surgical precision. The asteroid passed close to Merko’s ship, and he felt the effect of its passage. The meteor moved away from the planet Vida and everyone was saved, including the commander who had been so close to surrender his life for his planet.

  “You’re crazy, Merko. You would sacrifice yourself for humanity. I’d really miss you, my friend.

  “Thanks again, Silion. You always appear when I need the most. I was really willing to give my life for the continuation of the human race, but I confess I’m happy to continue living. Let’s go home to celebrate my return.

  ***

  After losing his close friend, Silion, Merko remembered returning to planet Vida, the moment his life was saved.

  In memory of Silion, because he knew that would be his friend’s will, he decided to continue his current mission, doing what he liked. He loved the space travels. To contemplate the big bright stars, planets and their satellites was his greatest pleasure.

  Those visions were what most impressed Merko. When he had to execute some mission and let the adrenaline circulate through his veins, that was what really made him happy. He wished one day he could find a woman with an adventurous spirit that would complete his life, but had no hopes. He had already tried before and failed. He couldn’t forget that woman from the past. There was something different about her that messed with the captain. But he didn’t knew that a woman like Lorena was a treasure that is not easily found, nor on Earth, neither in the planet Vida.