2 Minutes to Midnight (4 page)

"
Please, let me out! You don’t understand!
"
Scott screamed.

The boy never turned around again and
hummed a tuneless song as he finished dissecting the now deceased
lady on his table.

Time went by as the horror show
continued outside his cell. Scott’s head began to ache as
electricity surged through his body, while the virus answered to
the call of a full moon. His feet grew first, long claws stretching
through his shoes, splitting the leather. Scott was still in
control of himself and began to disrobe to save his jeans, shirt
and leather duster. The others with him gathered together holding
each other in fear.

"
I’m sorry,
"
he groaned.

Scott’s face formed the maw of a wolf
as his bone structure grew three feet taller. His arms and legs
transformed into tough, stringy, muscles that bulged like a
champion weightlifter. Thick, matted fur covered Scott’s body.
Scott howled in his rage, alerting the entire house that death had
arrived. Once the transformation was complete he stood hunched
inside the coal chamber, his nostrils inhaling the sweet smell of
human flesh. The newly transformed Scott turned on his three
cellmates and began slashing them violently apart, stopping only
when a shotgun blast hit him in the back. Scott turned from the
carnage, putting a paw across his back to feel the blood seeping
out, his toothy face twisted in a horrifying grin. In this form he
was immortal, a creature of the night, an immaculate abomination.
The nameless man who had imprisoned him slid his shotgun back
through the gate to reload.

With a single kick the door was
knocked off its hinges, and the man with the shotgun was sent
flying onto one of his slaughter tables. Scott leapt toward him as
the man fired again. Scott grabbed the gun and wrapped the barrel
around the man’s neck, cutting off his air. The woman working with
him ran up the stairs, leaving the dying man and terrified boy in
the basement with a creature from another world. Scott slashed
again and again at the lifeless man and boy, hanging their torn
bodies on meat hooks next to some of their victims. Then he began
to climb the stairs. The door opened and he could see the woman
with something round in her hand. She rolled it down the stairs and
quickly closed the door. The hand grenade went off with a deafening
roar, blowing Scott back against the basement wall, rendering him
unconscious.

When Scott awoke he was on the couch
in the farmhouse living room, and had changed back to human
form.

“
You saved me, mister.
Thank God for you!” The woman said.

Scott’s head pounded like a he had
been on a three-day bender.

“
What?” He grumbled,
sitting up.

“
My name is Cheryl. That
man and his son killed my husband, and kept me here at gunpoint.
The boy started calling me mom, and Wayne, the man holding the
shotgun on you, said if I didn’t go along with it I’d end up in the
basement, too. I don’t know why you turned into that thing last
night, but I’m sure glad you did. I’ve been trapped here for three
months and I thought they were going to kill me next,” she stared
crying .
"Oh yeah, you rolled a hand grenade down the steps on me. What the
hell was that about?"
"I'm sorry; I just didn't know what else to do. You were killing
everyone down there, and Wayne has an arsenal up here. I figured if
I could stop you I might live through the night. After the hand
grenade you changed back to a man, and well, I guess I owe you my
life."
"Are you planning on doing that again?" Scott felt his sore
head.
"That depends, are you going to come after me as a werewolf?"
"Look, I apologize, but when the moon is full I can't help myself.
I was poisoned by radiation and bitten by a woman dying from some
unknown virus at the same time. This happens every full
moon."
"Maybe we can help each other. I need a traveling companion, and
you need someone to watch over you when this mutation occurs. Can
you trust me?" Cheryl said.
"Do I have a choice?" Scott asked.
"You could walk that out that door, turn left, and never see me
again."

Cheryl moved toward Scott ignoring his
gore covered naked body, and held him until he returned her
gesture.
"It's been so long since I've been able to talk to anybody that
wasn't trying to kill me, or was getting ready to become my food.
My wife died a few years ago, and since then I've felt like the
last person on earth." Scott said.
"Well, it looks like we've got each other now. Where are you
headed?" Cheryl asked.
"They say there's a safe haven in San Francisco. You're welcome to
join me.

The two left together that morning,
destined for California, and believing in the dream of a better
life. Neither of them wanted to be alone, and although they had
both lost so much of their former lives, their humanity was intact.
Scott's dark secret was safe with Cheryl, but just in case the wolf
came back, she had brought a few more hand grenades in her
bag.

the mars tetrahedron

When an ancient monument is discovered on
Mars a crew of explorers is sent to investigate, but will what they
find be worth the price paid?

"It is suspected that Mars is the
burial ground for a civilization lost over a million years ago,
maybe longer. We know there are pyramids, and what appear to be
apartment complexes, or factories from our satellite imagery, but
what we don't know is what happened to the Martian people, and
why." Tom Mardsen said.

Tom was a scientific adviser, a former
employee of NASA, hired by DSEC, the Deep Space Exploration
Consortium, to help unravel the mystery of Mars, and find out if
the planet could support human life in the future. Today, he was
speaking before a team of handpicked NASA astronauts on a mission
to recruit the right person willing to go on what may be a one-way
journey to the red planet. Terry Redi, a three-time astronaut and
biologist raised his hand.

"Why isn't NASA funding this? I mean,
we've been trained for this kind of mission and I guess I'm trying
to figure out why it's been outsourced?" Terry asked.

"DSEC has better technology than NASA,
and an unlimited pool of funds from private industries looking for
the next planet to colonize. Earth's been turned into a trashcan by
the modern man, and for DSEC, space exploration and discovery of a
habitable planet elsewhere would be cheaper than fixing the mess
here on earth. We may need to move our home within the next thirty
years if earth's biosphere continues to deteriorate." Tom
said.

"Holy crap! Don't pull any punches,
Tom." Terry chuckled.

"We think human life on earth may have
evolved from descendants who escaped some kind of cataclysm on
Mars. What we can't do is prove it. DSEC wants to send a team to
Mars to not only find out what happened to the civilization there,
but to find out whether the red planet can sustain life today.
We've only done a fly-by at this point." Tom finished.

"Well, what about Curiosity? That
rover should have been able to detect something by now, right? It's
been up there for years." Terry asked.

"Classified information, sorry. I can
tell you the Opportunity and Spirit rovers have found fossilized
life on Mars, and those aren’t just worms either." Tom
replied.

As Tom paused for a drink of water the
room came alive with low chatter, grumbles, and some laughter by
several in attendance as Tom scanned the room for a serious
expression. He stopped at stone-faced James Easton, a veteran who
stood on the moon three times. James and a team of scientists and
drillers had helped establish a helium three moon mining facility
for alternative fuel production.

"What do you think Mr.
Easton?"

"Well, I think the mission sounds
interesting, but I've got a question." James said.

"Shoot. I'll answer what I
can."

"How in hell are we going to get
there? The Mars Science Laboratory took two hundred and fifty four
days to reach Mars. Seven month's is a long time for humans to be
sitting around, and the MSL didn't have to worry about feeding a
crew." James said.

Chatter stopped as everyone in the
room waited for an answer.

"A great question, and
since you've been sworn to secrecy, and signed your life away in
case you talk I will let you in on
how
we are going to get there." Tom
said.

He hit a button on the laser pointer
in his hand and motioned for someone in back of the room to dim the
lights. Pictures of a wrecked disk in a desert backdrop appeared on
the screen as Tom spoke.

"Electrogravitic spacecraft have been
secret technology coveted by private industries since a flying
saucer crashed in the desert of Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. The
Army was first involved in covering it up, because at the time the
United States couldn't trust the Russians, and if this technology
fell into their hands it could have meant the end of Democracy.
Army officials turned this technology over to American corporations
allowing them to patent it, which took the heat off the United
States government, and allowed capitalism to prosper though the
fifties, up to today. Fiber optic cables, Velcro, night vision
goggles, and even your cell phone are advanced technology
reengineered by earth's best and brightest." Tom said.

The room was dead quiet.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the new
era of space travel. I present Endeavor. She has six one million
watt capacitors powered by a helium three fiber optic system. This
craft generates her own gravitational field, and will go up, down,
lateral, and diagonal with zero inertia impact to the pilot and
crew. And it can travel close to the speed of light. We've tested
Endeavor with military personnel and have confirmed she'll reach
Mars in less than a day."

The craft was a metallic oval disk
with a clear glass canopy and in this picture it hovered about two
feet off the floor in an unidentified hangar.

"This is serious business, a lot of
money has been spent by important people, and full disclosure of
the mission agenda will be forthcoming to the person selected to
command Endeavor." Tom finished.

After a bureaucratic weeding out
process, James Easton was selected for the mission. His crew would
consist of a linguist and geologist for the trip to
Mars.

Four months later, James Easton, Mars
mission commander, sat in quiet contemplation as the red planet
grew larger before his tiny spacecraft, Endeavor. He was unclear
about their objective when touching down, and knew only that Mars
was rich with artifacts. Breaking his trance, a transmission from
CAPCOM came in over the video screen on his control panel. It was
Tom Mardsen.

"Hi James, it looks like you're almost
there. The coordinates of your landing zone have been preprogrammed
into the computer. It should appear as a blinking red light on your
terrestrial map soon." Tom said.

"Where are we headed, Tom, or are you
going to continue with the cloak and dagger act?"

"Ha, ha, ha! Your target is Mount
Sharp, a three mile tall structure buried under red dirt. The
Curiosity rover located an entrance when she was investigating the
south side, and what appears to be a stone biometric palm reader to
the right of the doorway. Since she has no hands, Curiosity is
stuck, and that's why we need you and your team. Once you get
inside we want you to locate the libraries of Martian history, if
such a thing exists." Tom said.

"OK, sounds exciting. You told us
about how this craft works in a briefing but you couldn't tell us
about Curiosity's findings?" James asked.

"Commander, this is the biggest
archaeological dig in human history. We were not going to allow
anyone outside the landing party know about it. Everyone knows we
have electrogravitics, but our enemies, both domestic and abroad
don't know about this door--yet."

"Hi Tom, how are you?" Kate Harlon
said.

Kate Harlon was sitting beside James
in right seat. She was a linguist fluent in five ancient languages,
including Sanskrit, Sumerian, and Arabic, and over thirteen others
used by humans today.

"It's a pleasure, as always Kate. I
guess you know why you're there now." Tom smiled.

"You want me to translate Martian
texts?"

"If there are books, movies,
newspapers, whatever, I want you all over those. You can't bring it
all back with you, but at least try to translate anything you see,
and take lots of pictures." Tom said.

"Got it." Kate said.

"Where's John?" Tom asked.

John Shoch, an alternative
archaeologist and expert in geology sat behind Kate. He and his
partner Robert Anthony had become famous for discovering many of
the monolithic structures from humanity's past that was dated much
older than modern archaeological records.

"John, your job will be to examine the
geology of Mars and determine how long ago water has existed on the
planet's surface. We hope you can also interpret how old the
tetrahedral structure is." Tom said.