The Ancient One and his companions stopped at their usual place to check
for messages. As the mailbox on the computer opened there was only
one message, entitled "Confirmation From AW". The Ancient One opened
it and began to read.
"Father Of Fathers, sadly what you suspected is true! The alien
resistance unit is still working on both viruses; first the one to kill
everyone with psychic abilities, and secondly, the one to destroy all material
psychokinetic hybrids. As you believed both viruses have been tried
on your material form, and, your companion's. The woman on the bus
was an agent, and she did inject you. They were very disappointed
you didn't die! All it seemed to do was increase your bad disposition
for a while. The location of the four facilities has been confirmed.
Standing by for your instructions."
The Ancient One turned off the computer and straightened. His
male companion who had been reading the message over his shoulder, whistled
and muttered "Somebody's in a lot of trouble!"
"A LOT of somebodies are in a LOT of trouble!" The Ancient One
snapped. "Let's go!"
They made their way to the midwest to a very popular city. As
they landed and materialized The Ancient One took on his human persona
and snapped to his companions "Lose the armor!" They quickly obeyed,
as they made their way down the street and into a luxurious building.
A young man sat at a desk by a gate which blocked the way to the elevators.
"Excuse me, folks!" he remarked, as The Ancient One came up, "This
is a restricted building. No entry without a name tag or a pass."
The Ancient One bent over. "I want to see Dinsmore!" he
snapped. "And I'm going to see him in one of two ways.
Either we're going to have to kill 20 or 30 of you to get to him, or we're
going to get on one of those elevators and go up to his office! Which
one is it going to be? I want an answer, NOW!"
With that The Ancient One drove his fist through the top of the desk.
The young man stared at the hole, then muttered "One moment, sir!"
and quickly dialed a phone. "Mr. Dinsmore," he managed, "there's
a party here to see you. They seem rather insistent.
Their spokesman just punched a hole in my desk! Yes sir!"
The young man looked at The Ancient One. "Would you step back, sir,
so he can see you better in the camera?"
The Ancient One obliged and after a moment the young man continued
to speak into the phone. "Yes sir! Yes sir! Thank you
sir!" He hung up the phone. "Elevator A," he managed.
"Eighteenth floor. Office 36." He pressed a button and the gate opened.
The Ancient One and his companions reached the elevator and exited on the
18th floor. A beautiful red-headed young woman in a tight dress greeted
them.
"Right this way!" she announced. She led them to the office,
opened the door, let them in, then shut it behind them. The man at
the desk looked up. "Make it quick!" he snapped. "You
WILL" The Ancient One snapped back, "shut down the psychic and the
alien virus projects! You will destroy all cultures, all records,
and you will eliminate anyone that tries to carry on the projects on their
own initiative. If you do not we will take retaliatory action
and destroy the facilities ourselves, no matter what the civilian casualties."
"You're bluffing!" the man behind the desk snapped back.
You couldn't know where the facilities are!"
The Ancient One went over to a wall, drove his hand through it, pulled
part of it out, and pivoted it around, revealing a map of the world.
"Here!" he screamed, "Here! Here! And, here!" as he pointed
to major cities on the map. "Do you want me to give you the exact
street addresses? We could destroy them tonight...right now!
But we'd rather spare the innocent lives. It's up to you! Either
you shut the facilities down, and destroy all the cultures within 48 hours,
OR WE WILL!"
"Thousands would be killed!" the man screamed.
"Actually," The Ancient One answered, "about half a million, with the
death toll of all four sites combined! But that would be a small
loss considering the 40 to 50 million that would die in The United States
alone. Understand us! As long as you're just a nuisance we'll
put up with you. But when you become a real threat, when you begin
working on a weapon that can kill us, we will destroy you! We might
be low on energy, but we WILL expend the energy to do it. The choice
is yours. What is it going to be?"
"I don't have the authority!" the man answered, "to make such a promise!"
The Ancient One went over to the desk, hauled the man to his feet,
and lifted him from the floor. "YES OR NO?" he snapped.
"Yes!" the man managed, "Yes! We'll do it! Dammit,
we'll do it! We have no choice. If you know the location of
the facilities we know you're mad enough to destroy them. Why don't
you leave? You've been offered sanctuary on other worlds, new bodies.
You could build your own societies there. Why won't you leave and
let us live our own lives, let us make our own decisions?"
"Because we're responsible for you!" The Ancient One answered,
"And we do not forsake our responsibilities! Window!" he snapped
to his male companion. His male companion walked over and gave the
window one swift kick. It disintegrated and disappeared. The
Ancient One took the man over and hung him out the window. "One more
thing!" he snapped, "And understand me! You ever experiment on our
physical forms again and I will wipe out your entire unit, every last member!
Anyone that has knowledge of it, anyone that allows it I'll get every last
one of you, and don't think I can't! Do you want me to give you a
personnel list? I'll start at the top and work my way down."
"No! No!" the man screamed, "Let me in! I understand! I
understand! The project is shut down. It's over! It will
never be started again. You have my word, I swear it. "
The Ancient One drew him back inside. "That isn't worth much!"
he answered. "But, it will have to do! Remember, if the facilities
aren't shut down 48 hours from now, and all the cultures destroyed, EVERY
LAST ONE OF THEM, we'll start acting." He threw the man back in his
chair. "Let's go!" he told his companions. "It smells in here.
I think he needs some Depends!"
They made their way back down to the lobby. There were several dozen
men standing around the desk examining the hole. They all had weapons
but none were raised towards The Ancient One and his companions.
The men simply made way to let them pass. They were almost to the
door when The Ancient One stopped, came back to one of the burly men and
began to stare at him. Finally he snapped "Marry the girl!"
"What?" the man asked.
"Marry the girl!" The Ancient One repeated. "Your mother's
a racist bitch! Don't worry about the girl's race, or, her religion.
Marry her."
The man stared in bewilderment and answered, "But she's just a child!"
"Who gives a damn!" The Ancient One answered. "She loves you, you love
her. You'll be a good husband, she'll be a good wife. Everything
will be fine....it BETTER be! Do you understand me?"
The man smiled. "Yes, sir!" he answered, "Thank you sir!
They say your advice is always good."
The Ancient One smiled. Rejoining his companions they departed.
When they were airborne his male companion asked "Will they do it?"
"Yes," The Ancient One assured. "His superiors will insist upon
it. He'll try to convince them otherwise but they know that if we
know the project is finished." His female companion asked "What if
somebody else starts working on it?"
"They'll eliminate them," The Ancient One assured. "They wouldn't
want us thinking they were betraying us. They know we don't give
second chances, that we rarely give first ones!"
"THAT'S a fact!" his male companion laughed. "But we didn't
get to have any fun this time. You didn't become anybody."
"Yes, I did," The Ancient One answered, "I became myself, and that
frightens them more than anything else I can become."
Both his companions simply nodded and they continued on through the
night.
THE END
Go To The Next Page