David Sakmyster - The Mongol Objective

The shadow is gone.

Lady Liberty is bent backwards, spine broken, head sheared off, crown tumbling.

And trails of phosphorescent light streak across the globe, rending the fabric of the very air, tearing through the world, splitting the earth, the seas, sweeping away the atmosphere itself until only the blackness of space, bedecked with frightened stars, remain.

Montross opened his eyes, then looked deep into Caleb’s before shifting to see Alexander.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, and pointed to the box. “But that is all that matters. Preventing it from falling into their hands. Or destroying it utterly. Nothing else. I’ve done what I could. Stopped every vision of death from coming true, all my life. Countless times, I’ve cheated mortality. So I know it can be done. But this one… this vision. I’ve tried everything, RV’d every strand of my future. I know what causes my death. And I know, this time, it’s not just me.” He lowered his eyes.

“It’s everyone.”

Caleb shuddered. Took a step toward Alexander, put his arm around his son. “I didn’t see all that exactly, but I did see what could happen. What the tablet contains and how it’s been used before.”

“Before?” Alexander asked.

Montross nodded. “You saw it? The first war?”

“Tiamat. Marduk. Whoever they were. Whatever they were. Ages ago, something was released. Marduk was reckless, desperate to beat her at all costs. Tiamat and her son had used it for defense only, protection, but when Marduk got it, deciphered it and understood its powers…”

“He destroyed her. Utterly. And her people.”

Caleb closed his eyes and again saw an unbelievable vision, something straight out of Hollywood science fiction disaster epics. He felt the cosmic explosion, felt the seismic rift before the release of such energy, shattering an entire world, spitting debris across the system, remnants floating in space.

Alexander looked from his uncle to his father, not understanding. “What do you mean? What’s going to happen if they get the translation?”

“I’m not exactly sure how it works,” Montross said, “but it starts in the most unlikely of places.”

“Where?”

“Alaska.”

Caleb blinked at him. “What’s there?”

“That’s what I wondered, but a quick search showed only one thing of interest.” He sighed and said, “HAARP.”

Alexander chuckled. “A harp?”

“HAARP. Short for High Frequency Active Aural Research Project. HAARP is a facility dedicated to the study of the ionosphere for the purpose of improving radio communications and surveillance efforts. Currently, there are all sorts of wild theories and paranoia about tests being done up there in Gacona, Alaksa. Rampant fears that such powerful radio transmitter array-capable of outputs nearing billions of kilowatts-could disturb the ionosphere over any part of the earth, manipulating weather, and possibly, using scalar wave technology, even instigating earthquakes. Powerful earthquakes.”

“That’s nuts,” Alexander whispered. “But still cool.”

Caleb thought quietly, then said, “So this facility, Robert Gregory must have had a connection there? Another cult member? And the information contained on the Emerald Tablet-there must be something, some calculation or set of instructions that could be used to enhance the power of the array.”

“To do what?” Alexander asked.

“To do what I saw in my vision,” Montross replied.

“Destroy the world? But they’ll just kill everyone, even themselves.”

“The ultimate sacrifice?” Montross voiced. “Possibly. I don’t know if it’s a simple matter of revenge, or if it’s something more. Maybe they have some way out reserved for themselves.”

“I think you’re right,” Caleb said. “It is something more. Much more.” He considered everything he had learned, everything he knew about the tablet, about its connection to alchemy, to psychic powers and spiritual transformation. “I think they believe in a special kind of reward. An immortality to be obtained, at the expense of the rest of humanity.”

“Reincarnated off-planet maybe?” Montross suggested.

“I don’t know,” Caleb said. “But there are other players at work here, other forces. I can’t help recall the story of the Tower of Babel.”

“Why?” Alexander asked, then thought it through. “Oh wait. All the worlds’ people working together. Building that tower to go to heaven.”

“Maybe it wasn’t a tower,” Caleb suggested.

“Then-?”

“A rocket?” Montross said, shrugging. “But in any case, what’s important is that the gods, of which Marduk was a chief entity, were greatly alarmed by this challenge humanity was mounting against what they perceived as their realm. Their space.”

“So they knocked it down.”

“And remember the main part? They confused our tongues, made it impossible for mankind’s races to speak one language again, so that we could never again collude in such a way.”

“Yeah,” Montross said. “I never really understood that story until recently. Its implications, in light of our powers, are a bit staggering.”

“I don’t get it,” Alexander said.

“One language,” Caleb said with emphasis. “One language, which I believe wasn’t a spoken one.”

“Telepathy,” Montross offered. “Psychics. Maybe they were all psychics back then, able to share visions, thoughts, impressions. Communicate mentally, instantaneously. Combining their ideas, working through scenarios and calculations at vast speeds. Pooling their resources in ways we can’t imagine today.”

“The gods didn’t like that,” Alexander said.

“Maybe because they thought only they should be able to do it, and having a race that multiplied and expanded like ours, with access to that kind of unchecked power was just too much. Who knew what we’d do?”

“So,” said Montross, “they knocked us down. Took away the gift, wiped it from our minds somehow.”

Caleb nodded, still working it through. “But maybe a few of them didn’t agree with this action. Some had mankind’s interests at heart, and felt responsible for our protection.”

“Thoth,” Alexander said.

“He preserved a way for us to reacquire those powers. Codified it, wrote it down on something that would outlast even the gods. And his followers, even if they couldn’t read it or discover a way to find it, sought to protect it from the other side, the lingering elements of those like Marduk. Men who now realized they could have it both ways-restore their own powers, advance themselves to immortality, and then close the door on the rest of us. Forever.”

Montross nodded again. “So, back to HAARP. I went there, entered with a visitor’s pass, and studied the layout, analyzed the guard shifts, the defenses. All with thoughts about blowing it up somehow, or killing everyone who might be involved. But in the end, I couldn’t get in where I needed to, couldn’t get close to the central control chamber.”

“Why not?” Alexander asked. “If it’s just a research place?”

“Co-funded by the U. S. Army, the Air Force and the Defense Department.” Montross smiled. “Further fuel for the conspiracy nuts who, by the way, have been blocked at every turn, discredited and turned away despite some quite logical questions about the functions and research done at HAARP, and the patents they have on file-patents which demonstrate clear military applications.”

“Okay,” Caleb said. “So sabotage isn’t a likely possibility.”

“Every time I embarked on an idea or outlined a mission, I was struck with a vision of pre-emptive death. I would fail. They would kill me before I even got close. The place has defenses no one could have imagined. Nobody gets close without their permission.” He sighed again. “No, the only way, the only possibility that offered a glimmer of success, was this one. Getting the tablet myself.”