Ashlyn Chronicles 1: 2287 A.D. (17 page)

Day 292, 2288, 1210 hours. Ship’s time.

Soundly asleep on the sofa, Steven awoke to the chime of his cabin door. Authorizing entry, the door slid aside.

Ashlyn took a couple of steps inside and then came to a stop. She tipped her head toward the door. “I found a stowaway.” Ashlyn put her hand out. “Come on, it’ll be okay.” In through the door stepped Phillip. He took Ashlyn’s hand.

“He was hiding inside the emergency suits’ locker aboard one of the Dolphin transports. With the energy core removed for jump securement, he couldn’t cycle the airlock.

“I hoped you wouldn’t mind—but we made a quick stop by the galley. He was as thirsty as a dehydrated camel—and said he had a ‘grumbly’ tummy,” said Ash with a grin.

“Hi, Dad,” said Phillip. Pigeon toed from embarrassment, he looked like a kid straight out of a 20
th
century Norman Rockwell painting.

Steven put his arms out. “Why, son? Why did you do this?”

In the embrace of Steven’s arms, Phillip said, “Because I missed you. I didn’t want you to go away again.”

“Renee must be going out of her mind!” Steven shot a quick glance at Ashlyn.

“She knew I was leaving,” said Phillip.

“What do you mean?”

“When Mom hugged me goodnight, she told me that I should give you this.” Phillip pulled out a holo-player from his pants pocket.

Steven knew in that instant that he was about to find out the reason for Renee’s strange behavior. With a nervous tremble, he set the viewer down on the coffee table.

“It’s private. I can take Phillip, show him the bridge, and give you a little time,” said Ashlyn. As she put her hand out to Phillip, he joined her and they made a quick exit. A lingering impression of Ashlyn’s swaying hips in a tight, black, one-piece stretch stayed in his mind long after the door had closed.

Steven hit the View Message button.

Renee’s life-size image appeared in mid-air before him. Seated on the sofa in their quarters at Sea Base, it was obvious that she had been crying.

“My, dearest husband, I don’t really know where to start, but I ask that you listen carefully to my words. I say them with all sincerity and they come from my heart. You are a good man, Steven, the best I have ever known, and I owe you an apology for how badly I treated you in our last hours together. I have little to offer as an excuse for my behavior, and it is hard to explain what happened—and I certainly do not pretend to understand it myself. But, I will try to explain it as best I can, and maybe you can put some semblance of logic to it. If so, it is more than I have been able to do. During the awards ceremony, I went to the library to get some books for the kids. While I was there, I guess you could say that I had a vision. At least that’s the best word that I have for it.”

Steven swallowed. There was little else that Renee could have said that would have shaken him more.

“It was strange,” Ren continued. “It was like a collage of images, mixed with holo clips. It showed me glimpses of your future. I know it sounds crazy but I know it is real. Of this I am certain. The things I saw scared me, Steven—really scared me, because I saw what is going to happen to you and the crew of Avenger on your journey. I don’t know all of it, but I know enough. Before I say what I am about to say, though, I want you to know that I have thought this through very carefully.

“What we are fighting for is the survival of humanity, and because of this, I have decided that it is far too dangerous for me to share the details of my vision with you. If you were to alter that which has to happen, well, the risk would be just too great. Certain events must occur if we are ever going to be free. I will only say, you will not be returning to Earth. My happiness will come from knowing that you will survive, and from knowing that you have found happiness and love. Perhaps, even in having said that, I have said too much.”

Steven looked up at the vacant spot where Ashlyn had stood.

“I am not at all bitter, my husband. I take great comfort in knowing that you and Ashlyn will see and accomplish amazing things together. I have the greatest and deepest respect for her. She is still, and always will be, my friend. She is an inspiration and a woman to be admired. All that I ask is that you don’t feel guilty for loving her. For this is as much your destiny as it is mine, in ways that I cannot begin to explain to you. Being with her will let you attain and become who you are meant to be.

“I know you, Steven. I know you will be deeply troubled by the things I have said, and it is probably a mistake for me not saying them to you in person, rather than having given this holo to Phillip. For this, I beg your forgiveness. Nevertheless, I do ask that you take them to heart. You must listen carefully to the things I am telling you. You must not dismiss them. I want you to have confidence in what I say and not question my beliefs. To state it clearly, leaving no room for doubt in your mind, I am well aware of the genetic bond between you and Ashlyn. I know that the two of you have no choice but to be together. You must not fight what is meant to be. The two of you are now and forever bound together as one. Your place is with her, and because it is worth repeating, I do not want you to feel guilt over being with her. In fact, it is the only thing that I ask of you. This is your destiny, Ashlyn’s destiny, and my destiny. Someday you will come to understand the truth of my words. You are the only man I have ever loved, and so shall it be for eternity. Godspeed to the two men I love.” The holo then faded away.

A shudder ran down Steven’s spine. Tears streamed down his face. He now understood why she had kept her distance during their last hours together.

In the end, she had let him go, all the while believing that she would never see him again. He loved her more than life itself, and he wished he could hold her in his arms.

***

On the third day since leaving Earth, in his cabin, Steven prepared to retire for the night.

“Dad?” came Phillip’s plaintive call from the adjoining bedroom.

Steven came to Phillip’s side.

“It was horrible, Dad! This big snake was chasing me. He was so big and his eyes were yellow. I ran and ran, but I couldn’t get away.”

“I have dreams like that too. I think most everyone does, but they aren’t real. Tell you what, though. I’ll stay here until you go back to sleep, okay?”

“Okay. Dad?” After a pensive pause, he said, “Did the things in your dreams have names?”

“Names?”

“Yeah, the snake’s name was En-Enlil, or something like that.”

Steven shivered as he recalled his conversation with President Tomlinson fifteen years earlier, in which he, too, had spoken the name. Steven couldn’t recall ever having discussed it in front of his son.

“Well, I don’t remember that, but they probably did. We can talk more about it tomorrow if you want. Go back to sleep.” Steven pulled the blankets up around Phillip’s shoulders.

Within a minute, Phillip was asleep.

The focus in Steven’s deep-set eyes was intense, the coincidence of the name hard to accept.

Steven sat down at his desk. “Gena, bring up all the information you have on the name Enlil.”

To Steven’s surprise, Gena responded with, “Password and voice match accepted.” A holo of the Presidential Seal appeared before him, stamped with, “For Steven Sherrah’s Eyes Only!”

I’ll be. It’s been here all this time
. Steven’s belief was confirmed by the date in the bottom right corner of the holo, the morning of the attack.
Why would he send the file to my personal computer aboard Avenger?
It took Steven only the briefest moment to realize the reason.
Avenger is a sealed system. He wanted it off the grid. I should have known.

President Tomlinson’s face appeared. “Hello, Steven. I would like to start out with, what a great pleasure it was to have finally met you. I have been observing your progress since you were knee high to a grasshopper
.
I am very proud of the man you have become. I have replayed your Sol maneuver a dozen times—it always manages to impress me. It was the most courageously bold stunt I have ever seen, let alone by a first-year cadet. It was an honor to promote you to Admiral. Tynabo has also informed me that by the time you are given this file, you will have reached your 24
th
birthday and begun the final phase in your genetic encoding sequence, which, of course, means that you will have met Ashlyn. I am sure you will agree that she is light years beyond amazing. The promise that the two of you hold for humanity’s future is boundless. I readily admit that I am jealous of you. As for this communiqué, the information contained herein is just the beginning. There will be much more to come. The majority of it is information that I pray you will never need.

“I look forward to seeing you again at the christening of your vessel next month. Columbus is the crowning achievement of my administration. She is a miracle of technology. More so, when you realize that we built her and Sea Base under a complete shroud of secrecy. What I need to tell you is the true reason behind the secrecy.”

The president’s face tensed, his body language stiffening.

“For this next part, I ask you to gird yourself, for what you are about to see and hear will be very disturbing. Unfortunately, it was required. In the end, I think you will agree that we had little choice in the matter. As for the specific parts that pertain to you and Ashlyn—I beg your forgiveness.”

Steven paused for a moment, looking at the sofa where Ashlyn had been minutes before. He contemplated contacting her, knowing that her presence would comfort him, but if what he suspected was true, then he wasn’t sure he wanted Ashlyn to know of it, at least not now.

“We are and have been working with an alien species. The world knows them as the Grays—but they are only messengers, workers, following the orders of their masters, the Anunnaki. More specifically, the Grays with which we have been in contact refer to their masters as the Nephilim. And yes—it is the same name from biblical fame. Admittedly, our historical references to them have always given me the heebie-jeebies, but the candidness of the Grays and their willingness to explain their side of the story was fairly convincing.

“I have never met one of the Anunnaki in person, but we have been told that their leader, then and now, is Enlil. You may recognize his name from your studies of the ancient Sumerian text. It speaks of him as being one of our creators, one of those who were involved in our uplift. I know how incredible it sounds that Enlil could still be alive today, after thousands of millennia, but it is true. From everything that we have learned and observed, Enlil is immortal.

“As for the details—we have been working cooperatively with him since President Truman back in the 1940’s. It became more official under a treaty that was negotiated by Eisenhower in 1954 at Muroc Airfield, now known as Edwards. As time went on, a very secretive plan was developed and put into motion. Each successive presidential administration built upon the work of its predecessor. In 2009, President George W. Bush declared your location in the Mariana Trench to be a Marine National Monument and a U.S. protected zone—accessible by special permit only. From that time forward, we began prepping for the creation of the Challenger Deep Sea Base. So as you can see, this has been a work in progress for centuries. We cooperated under a guise, letting Enlil believe he had made us an offer that we could not refuse.

“Apparently, the Grays, and even the Anunnaki themselves, have been visiting Earth since long before the dawn of humankind. There are recorded interactions between the Anunnaki, the gods of old, and humanity, in virtually every culture that has ever existed. The name Anunnaki denotes those early visitations, meaning, ‘those who from Heaven to Earth came.’ They are the ones that began visiting us long ago. The condensed story, our side of it, as told by the Sumerians long ago, is that the Anunnaki went to war over us. They wanted to save us, while Enlil, one of their own, wanted to destroy us. It records say that Enlil considered us to be an abomination, not worthy of the Anunnaki genetic encoding which his race used to uplift us.

“The Anunnaki won and banished Enlil and his forces to a desert planet called Hadaesia, in the Sirius star system. I have no doubt that you can see all the familiarities in the story to the biblical record. As regards to his banishment, Enlil himself has confirmed this. However, as could be expected, Enlil’s version as to the reason why the war took place differs greatly from our historical records. Therefore, from here on, our information is sketchy, and at best, one-sided—therefore, highly suspect.

“According to Enlil, they are here now because they were able to escape their prison world. They claim to have always been a friend to humanity and that they had fought to save us long ago. They backed up their claim by showing us technologies, vaccines, and abilities that were near magical, offering to share them with us in exchange for our cooperation. As an example, Enlil gave us the K9 serum some one hundred and ninety years ago, giving us our greatly extended lifespans. We accepted it with open arms as a token of his sincerity. Even that tiny bit of technology lends credence to the possibility that Enlil might be immortal. I should mention that even in the early days of my presidency I was advised that Enlil was maneuvering us, using us—his intent being to get genetic materials from us. Therefore, like the other presidents before me, I kept the programs in force, always pushing forward with our own agenda.

“Their original offer centuries ago also had a caveat, an undertone, that if we refused to cooperate the consequence for us would be disastrous. Enlil made it easy for us to accept his offer. We allowed ourselves to be corrupted, blackmailed—wanting him as an ally rather than an enemy. It is obvious that Enlil sees us as vastly inferior. We probably are not much more than a bug to him. An important bug, but a bug just the same. He’s never told us why he needs our DNA—not that we had any way of compelling him to answer our questions.”

The president wrung his hands.

“I wish this file was all pleasantly informative, but unfortunately, that isn’t the case. I need to prepare you for what you are about to see—and read. Much of the file is quite disturbing. Nevertheless, it is critically important that you understand Enlil, and I am sorry to say, our complicit role in his experiments. Again, I beg your forgiveness for what you are about to learn. I will now conclude my introduction to this file, letting Gena guide you through the rest. When I see you for the christening, please don’t punch me in the nose. There are reasons for our madness.” A caring grin passed his face, and he bowed his head.

On the screen a file appeared. Its title, “Children of Destiny Foundation - Case Study: D’na.”

Steven’s eyes went wide.

He didn’t want to see the file, and yet, he knew he must. Taking a deep breath, he swiped the air, starting the holo. Gena’s presentation began with a synopsis of what was in the file. It dazed him.

With the very first picture, Steven’s gut twisted. He noted the date, which was sixty-three years ago, more than twenty years before Ashlyn and he were born. Each picture was a grisly, semi-human creation that was either born dead, or at best, couldn’t have survived more than a few minutes. Many were the very horrors from which nightmares are born. Each picture lingered for a couple of seconds before moving on to the next. Slowly, the pictures became less alien, less offensive, and more human.

Most pictures included a caption with a brief explanation for the reason why the baby was a failure or success with the designated coding of the gene responsible for the variation. Steven paused on some of the more intriguing ones, reading the notes.

As the file got deeper, as the president had stated, the notes confirmed that Enlil was the mastermind behind the experiments. He gave the order and the UN complied, giving him whatever he asked for, no questions asked.
I don’t understand—why is Enlil studying us? What good are we to him?

The files went on to explain how the UN was having each of its sovereign member nations abduct thousands of its own citizens each year. They agreed to perform horrifying, invasive surgeries on them—genetic experiments that Tynabo himself had agreed to conduct.

As Steven gave consideration to turning the file off, not wanting to see it alone, the picture of a very beautiful baby girl, light olive complexion, large silver-blue eyes, appeared. “Damn you. Damn you all to hell.” He knew, without a doubt, that it was Ashlyn. With each successive photo she grew in age, in size—until finally, it was a picture of Ashlyn the way she is now. It was exactly what he had been hoping not to find.

He now understood the depth of Tynabo’s calling Ashlyn by his pet name, D’na. It was a cruel joke. She was a DNA experiment—as ordered and overseen by Enlil.

His thoughts drifted.
If she was—then—I was too.

The door alarm chimed.

Steven stared at Ashlyn’s picture, his mind locked in confusion.
It doesn’t make sense. Why would Enlil want to see humanity perfected? There’s something missing.

The door alarm chimed again. “Gena, bookmark and save file. End program.” Steven stood, gathering his shaken composure.

With his sanction, the door opened to reveal Ashlyn.