Terry Neale - Jo-el

I opened my eyes and stared into space. I screwed up, I should have stayed with the media. How the hell was I supposed to know? All that crap with the CIA and FBI was a waste of time, they just freaked. But why they freaked out I couldn’t understand unless it’s too much to believe that there is someone out there with the powers I possess. Trouble is guys, there is and it’s moi.

Now things were heating up again. The goings-on at CNN were bound to solicit worldwide attention. I asked Sally to update me on what the media was saying about the happenings in New York.

“Most channels have reporters in the street outside the CNN studio in New York, they’re filming the military action and the FBI and Homeland Security agents but no one has managed to get an interview with a spokesman from any of the services. They’re all speculating and the most popular spiel is terrorist threat. Actually, they’re starting to pull out now.”

“So they’ll fob the whole episode off, jeez!”

“Your former girlfriend came out of her hole a little while ago.”

“Does she have the bug?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” I queried.

“I can’t see inside her handbag. You’ll have to go check when she puts it down.”

“Where is she headed?”

“Looks like she’s going home, she keeps saying goodbye to people.”

“Let me know when I can get the bug?”

“Okay. What about Yerchenkov, you going to see him?” Sally asked, expectantly.

“What’s the time over there now?”

“Eleven-twenty p.m.”

“What’s he doing.”

“Asleep, he’s fucked,” she laughed.

I thought about Yerchenkov and Espinosa. Would I get any credit for shutting down their enterprise? Maybe that had to come later. I liked the way the media thing was going.

“Another time, Sally, let’s keep with the CNN approach.”

“Oh, you’re no fun.” She was pouting.

“What’s Cathy Vogel doing?”

“She in a coffee shop with a colleague finishing up. They just got word they can go back to their offices.”

“Were they off the air all this time?”

“No, they were covering it from their European desk.”

“She hasn’t contacted me again?”

“Not yet, no.”

I made tea in the kitchen and found some chips and humus to snack. I made a salmon and cucumber sandwich and sat at the kitchen table to eat.

Sally came in as I devoured my last bite.

“She’s in the shower.”

“Who?”

“Pipper, her bag is on the table in the kitchen.”

“Okay, let’s go check it out.”

I bounced into her living area and found Pippa’s handbag. I could hear the shower in the background. Nothing, the bug was gone. Damn! I was about to leave when Pippa came into the main living area of her apartment in a toweling robe.

“They found it. I guess you are blind underground?” she said, smugly.

I shrugged. “Did they believe you?”

“No. What did you expect? Too farfetched.”

“And you?”

“I’m scared, Jo-el. We all are. Who are you?”

“I told you.”

“It’s crazy. Too much to take in.”

“What do they want?”

“You. They want you, to study you and examine and understand what you do.”

“I’m not a laboratory animal?”

“That’s not how they see it. To them you are.”

I looked around the room, “where’s Billy?”

“At my Dad’s”

I nodded. “Are they listening?”

“No, I’m cleared, but I have to report the contact.”

“So why aren’t you calling them or whatever?”

“I believe you, Jo-el,” she took a pace closer.

“Don’t you dare, Joey, you can’t trust her.” Sally in my ear.

“Keep back, Pippa, we’re done. You betrayed me, I can’t forgive you for that.”

“I’m sorry, it’s my job, it’s for Billy,” there was pleading in her voice.

“They can’t catch me; you know that?”

“Be careful, they have a lot of ideas. I told them everything you said to me. They reckon your network must be sparse and probably very weak in certain places. The earth has transformed in two hundred and forty-eight million years.”

“But why not be friendly and listen to what I have to say? Is this how we should treat an extraterrestrial contact?”

“Some think they should, but most are simply scared. They wonder why you turned up now if what you told me is correct.”

“I was about to tell you.”

She was quiet, as if I was going to explain now. “I’m not telling you, Pippa. Their attitude has totally offended me. They are wrong and I’m not going to talk to them anymore. I can’t believe what they’ve done. I gave them the terrorists, the pedophiles, the child kidnapers. Where’s the appreciation for that?”

“They think you are just trying to win their confidence, worming your way in so to speak, before you do something awful. They don’t trust you.”

I guess that was it. No trust.

“Well, I’ll just have to work harder. I think it’s time for me to go?”

“Wait,” she put out a hand, but didn’t step closer. “I loved our time together, Jo-el. I wish it had turned out differently, please believe me.”

“Oh, please, I think I’m going to barf.”

I didn’t reply, I just asked Sally to bounce me home.

“Where am I really weak, Sally?”

“Well, I told you about Japan and Taiwan, the coast of Chile. There’s no coverage across many of the great deserts, the Gobi, Sahara and others. No point really, not much life there. We moved what we had to better locations.”

“Yet we went to Antarctica?”

“Station in Tierra del Fuego.”

I nodded, what did it matter really. I just needed to stay away from those areas.

“What happens when I go underground?”

“The signal weakens as you go deeper. It would vary based on where you are in the world but three stories would probably cut off your ability to bounce. You can still receive data at three stories but it may be spotty at five.”

“What about flying?”

“No problem with flying, that’s built into the belt.”

“What about protection?”

“The shield will work at any depth, that’s in the belt, but firing electrons at people comes through the network, so that will dissipate with depth. You can project holograms underground, from maybe two hundred feet.”

“The smart-suit?”

“That’ll work, again part of the belt.”

“So, I’m still powerful underground, but I can’t bounce or see anything on my heads-up monitor. One more thing, how long does the power last?”

“Five days at least, depends on the amount of light, sun or irradiant, both work.”

I was happy with the education, didn’t feel so useless. I’m sure Sally imagined my reasons for asking.

“Vogel is about to meet with the station chief,” Sally said.

“Oh, okay, let’s watch.”

Sally put it on the monitor. A larger, corner office appeared with a grey-haired man behind a leather desk, dressed in dark-grey pants and an open neck white shirt. He didn’t look particularly happy. Vogel entered the office.

“Hey Stew, they dragged you in, too?” she said.

“Sit down, Cathy. How did this happen? It’s Easter Sunday I should be home.”

Vogel took one of the two seats in front Stewart Nolan’s desk. She was pensive and seemed unsure how to begin.

“This is big, Stew, I mean enormous. Maybe it’s the biggest story since 9/11?” Nolan frowned, he didn’t like histrionics. “It’s all about that guy with the wings, Jo-el he calls himself. He met with various government agencies and they’re frightened of him and now they’ll do anything to catch him.”