Robert Doherty - Project Aura

“There were ten men on that team,” Kirtley said.

Dalton didn’t need to be reminded of information he’d received in the mission briefing. He and Jackson circled about, but found no other bodies.

“I’m open to suggestions,” he finally announced. “Wherever they are, they aren’t here. And someone recovered at least part of one body, probably wanting the head for propaganda purposes.”

“I’ve got an idea,” Jackson said. “Mr. Kirtley, do you have the identity of the cartel that was targeted here?”

“Actually, there is a consortium called the Ring led by a man named Hector Cesar. He has many holdings throughout Colombia.”

“Find the closest to this location.”

“Hold on.”

Dalton used the time to move up the road. Tire tracks and footprints in the dirt.

“Do you feel it?” he asked Jackson as she joined him.

There was an essence about the place, like smoke drifting across a battlefield, except this was on the virtual plane. There was also a sense of an intelligent presence, but there was nothing on the virtual plane that Dalton could see.

“Yes.”

“Ever felt this before?” Dalton knew Jackson had much more time operating on the v-plane, from her time at Grill Flame, the original remote-viewing unit at Fort Meade, the predecessor to Psychic Warrior.

“Yes.”

Dalton turned, facing her image. “What is it?”

He almost didn’t hear her as she replied. “The Droza.”

“What?”

“A legend. From before the Roma.”

“What are you-”

Dalton ’s question was interrupted by Kirtley. “I’ve got satellite imagery of a villa he owns nearby, about thirty kilometers away,” Kirtley said. “But I don’t know how to-”

“Give it to me,” Hammond ’s voice cut in.

Dalton and Jackson patiently waited, then the imagery appeared between them, floating like a hologram as Sybyl relayed it. A villa in the countryside. High walls. Guards all around armed with automatic weapons.

“Where is this?” Dalton asked. “Give us something so we can jump there.”

“Wait one,” Dr. Hammond said. “I’m having Sybyl spatially orient and expand to include your position.”

A new image appeared between Dalton and Jackson.

“You are located at the red arrow. The villa is the green.”

“We’re moving,” Dalton said. He jumped, arriving just short of the villa, then checking his position, jumped once more until he was directly over it. As soon as Jackson was next to him, he went down, into the courtyard.

“Let’s split up,” he told Jackson.

Dalton didn’t wait for an acknowledgment, feeling comfortable working with Jackson. He moved forward, through a wall, still a disconcerting experience, but not much more than everything else on the virtual plane.

Valika had been down in the Aura operations center several times and had witnessed the progression from a rough cavern hewn out of the igneous rock to its present incarnation. The chamber was a quarter mile deep into the side of the volcano and resembled a spacious movie theater for a very elite group of viewers. There were twenty chairs spaced evenly about fifteen feet from each other on a sloping floor. The chairs had high backs and footrests and were made of the finest leather. Behind each chair was a computer with a technician monitoring it.

At the very rear, Souris was seated in her own chair, leads connected to the top of her head in the appropriate places. The members of the Ring were gathered round as she went through the procedures to initiate Aura. A half dozen people in white coats monitored machinery in a balcony above the main floor, controlling the master computer. The dog and pony show was about to begin-Valika had once heard an American officer call a formal presentation that, and she thought it quite appropriate.

“You won’t see or feel the field until the computer shows it to you,” Souris said. “The frequency it’s set on now is perfectly safe.”

The lights dimmed, flickered, then came back at a subdued level.

“The power requirement is one issue we need to resolve,” Souris said. “The field currently requires tremendous input. We use enough energy in one half-hour session here to light a small city for twenty-four hours. When we use the portable Aura transmitter, we only have about three minutes of transmission time before we completely drain the batteries. We have several promising leads in research that we think will pay dividends shortly in that area.”

Valika shifted her feet as Cesar frowned. Souris had no idea how to work people. Valika had known scientists like her before-people who felt their research should be unfettered by such constraints as politics or funding. Valika’s skin tingled very briefly.

“Aura is now all around you,” Souris said, her eyes closed. A slight smile twisted her lips.

“Will we have to put those things on our head to see it?” Naldo asked Cesar.

“No.” Souris ’s voice was almost a whisper. “The connector that allows you to view Aura is built into the headrest of the chair. All we are doing is giving you a window into the virtual plane. You will not travel there as I do. Go to your chairs and you will see what I am seeing.”

Reluctantly the surviving members of the Ring, led by Cesar, each took a chair. Souris indicated a different chair for Valika, one like her own. A technician attached leads to Valika’s head. She had done this before and ranked it about the equivalent of flying in terms of fondness. Valika leaned back, feeling her body sink into the leather. The tingling sensation, stronger this time, passed through her. The American’s voice came out of small speakers built into the headrest.

“The chair is now beginning to transmit a frequency that will orient your mind to the Aura field. Close your eyes and relax.”

Valika was overwhelmed by a sudden weariness as if all energy were being drained from her body. Her eyelids were like sheets of lead, clamped down, darkness encompassing her world. Souris ’s voice was very distant.

“You are now getting in congruence with Aura. We are going to give you a very simple demonstration of what the virtual plane is like.”

Valika blinked as the room grew brighter. But she wasn’t in the room. And her eyes-she could swear her eyes were still closed, but it was difficult to tell. The light took on form. Saba. But she was above it. At the very top of the volcano. She’d been here before, marching up with the island security chief to lay out the sniper positions. But how had she-She turned but there was no sense of movement, just the panorama changing. There was no sense of her body. She looked down and saw a human form, but one without features, with flat white feet on the volcanic rock-no, check that, the feet were floating a couple of inches above the rock.

“I’ve concentrated on programming it for the members of the Ring as dictated by Cesar.” There was a click, then Souris was addressing the members of the Ring. “Now let us show you an example of what Aura can do.”

A white plank appeared in front of Valika, extending about twenty feet into space and ending at nothing. Then a square shape came into being at the end of the plank, coalescing into a building, floating in space. The door swung open.

“Go ahead,” Souris urged.

Valika tentatively took steps out toward the building. She had no sensation of moving but the door grew closer until she was inside. It looked exactly like the courtyard at Cesar’s mansion.

Suddenly other shadowy figures still in their chairs flickered into view.

“You can now see each other in your virtual world,” Souris said.

The avatars shifted form until Valika could recognize each. Cesar was to her right. The other members of the Ring appeared. Their faces were expressionless but identifiable.