Paul Middleton: Revelations

Boris rolled his eyes at his friends antics, but what Paul said lit a spark of hope behind Zakhar’s eyes. “So, you think that you can kill this beast?” he asked, looking between the two men.

Paul just shrugged. Boris thought for a minute and sighed. So the legend went it was St Michael who had captured the beast.

But what if it was actually Michael who had trapped the beast? That felt right. Michael, whatever his reasons, had imprisoned a creature?

Not killed it.

He’d better call Bethany Anne before he moved forward with anything. If the NVG had released The Devil that Michael had imprisoned, she needed to be brought in on the decision making. If it had been captured by Michael, they might want to catch it again.

Bethany Anne, Boris is requesting communication directly with you.TOM informed her.

What does he want? I thought the situation in Russia was stable. Bethany Anne replied as she reviewed the latest updates on the QBBS Merideth Reynolds on her tablet from her bed.

Sleep, just ask me what I want and the answer will be sleep, she thought to herself.

TOM continued, He has found the research base but says he has run into a circumstance he feels he must request more input from you.

Bethany Anne sighed, the frustration of dealing with so many nations attacking her people was stretching her patience thin. And here I thought I had independent subordinates. It was then she noticed that TOM had slightly locked down on her emotions.

Gott Verdammt Tom. Why do you feel the need to lock down my feelings?

His request details evidence that relates to something Michael may have done in the past.A wave of grief muted by TOM’s efforts rushed through Bethany Anne. It wasn’t as intense as it would have been months before, but it was still there.

Connect him, TOM.

Boris’ voice joined in the conversation in her mind. Bethany Anne, these scientists used an unusual method of finding the caves. After all our attempts to use radar, satellite pictures, and Etheric detection methods, the latter based on the theory that it was an alien site, and may well have been using Etheric-based tech. We feel there is definitely such technology on the site, but whoever is responsible for the location managed to put up an impressive spoofing measure.

Etheric emissions appear somewhat randomly over the entire region. The housing for the base was well concealed. So Janna came up with the idea of looking into local legends. Seeking to see if there was anything that sounded like it could have involved Weres or Vampires unique to the region.

Bethany Anne considered what he had told her for a moment. Is that spoofing something we can adopt and appropriate for our own use? That could be really useful in hiding a base on a planet or to disperse enemy fire against our ships.

She could almost feel the mental shrug Boris must be feeling, I have no idea at this time. They have only just located the base and my team have not seen any samples or descriptions to analyze.

And you are interrupting what I was doing because?

Janna found one such legend that helped pinpoint the location of the site. The direction where an event supposedly happened changed from ‘west of here’ to ‘east of here’ at a certain point. The story was about St. Michael fighting Satan further away from the site. The closer it got to the location the tale was about St Michael fighting the Beast. Further, we hear something like the whispering of some sort in our heads.

So what? Are you saying that could be a Kurtherian still alive in the caves that is trying to contact outside?

TOM interrupted the conversation, I do not have enough data to make that assumption. But there is something that is seeking to connect through their nanites. Add that to the tales Boris described his family has about the region and you can consider me concerned.

So, yeah, the update is nice, but why do you need my input? It’s not as if the Beast was still in there, is it? Realization hit her, and she put her hands on her forehead , Oh, fuck my life! That’s exactly the problem, isn’t it? Whatever this beast is, probably a Were gone mad and has the same odd modifications as Boris.

TOM continued, That is one possible scenario. However, the descriptions of the creature do not match up with either a bear form or Pricolici form werebear. Boris and Janna posit that Michael may have deliberately trapped the creature. In this case, it would be his decision as to whether they try and capture or kill it. As Michael is not available, this decision devolves to you in Boris’ opinion.

Boris added, I will abide by your decision.

ADAM interjected into the conversation. <>

Although pleased with ADAM adding a human type comment, she wanted to roll her eyes at what he said. But the effort would have been lost on the A.I. inside her, thank you so much for reminding me.

She sat there thinking for a time and sighed. Between the four of you, Boris, you should be able to subdue any member of the UnknownWorld that isn’t aligned with us. If Michael only sealed this creature in, we owe it the benefit of the doubt. That’s beside the fact that it will help your research. Either of these points would be enough for me to give the order for them to attempt to capture it as long as it doesn’t risk causing anyone lethal harm.

She took in a breath and released it slowly.

Send your team in.

Wilderness near Archangelsk, Russia.

In the end, Boris and Paul decided to leave Alecta behind, tasking her with researching the alloy. ADAM and TOM’s input in an independent research project, where possible, would be more useful than having an inexperienced additional tracker. It would help find answers to what had happened here.

Janna had some knowledge of tracking, and she was far more skilled at fighting than Alecta. Alecta was more likely to get in the way than anything when it came to taking down the beast.

They spent most of the morning finding multiple tracks to and from the cave.

These were not bear tracks.

One of the digits in the forepaws was sticking out right angles compared to the other four. It looked like, whatever the creature was, it was returning to the cave every two to three days.

Best guess? It seemed likely that it would be returning to the cave this evening. Paul remained, watching the cave while Boris and Janna went for the restraints that TOM designed in case one of them took their Pricolici form and went berserk.

Neither of them liked the thought of having to use those restraints on the other. Boris, because it would mean he hadn’t trained Janna well enough. Janna, because she was sure she couldn’t control Boris by herself. However, it was a far better option in both their minds than killing their love.

They decided to split the watch. Any of them would hear, and probably smell, the creature well before it approached anyway. Boris estimated it to be somewhere in the 350 to 400- kilo range, by the depth of its tracks. In theory, either one of them should be able to restrain it. He and Janna decided that when it approached that they would take their Pricolici form and hold down a limb each, preferably getting it on its back, giving Paul easier access to restrain it.