Encounters 1: The Spiral Slayers (40 page)

Leewood reacquired the falling object, and unbelievably, he
recognized the tucked-in form used by expert skydivers and realized it was a
person that was falling and he did not have a parachute! “Dear God!” he
muttered.

With expert skill, the skydiver aimed himself! An anguished
scream could be heard as the form increased speed and hurtled downward. In
seconds, before anyone could react, Dr. Van Loader smashed head first into the
middle of the circular conference table. Falling from a height of 1000feet, he
had picked up enormous speed.

The conference table was made of thick strips of varnished
redwood and had no give to it at all. Van Loader hit and his body simply burst
apart upon impact, showering everyone at the table with blood. After striking
the table, the unrecognizable remains rocketed across the table in the blink of
an eye, sliding in its own blood and gore. Two people at the end of the table
seemed to simply vanish as the mound of gore shot off the table and directly
into the pit were the aids sat. Suddenly, what had been three bodies became six
bodies, some chairs and small office equipment. They all had hit the back of
the recessed area and rocketed into the air, arcing into the bleachers and
coming down on the stunned and frozen observers.

The entire event had happened so fast that people could not
process it. They sat there as they had, coffee cup half raised to the mouth,
fingers poised over their PDAs… From hitting the table to mangled bodies arcing
onto the bleachers had taken exactly one second. Most of the attendees had not
seen the person falling from the ceiling – they had heard a voice speaking,
then saw “something” hitting the table and flying into the bleachers. For a
moment, everyone at the meeting just sat there frozen in shocked silence. Everyone
at the central conference table sat frozen in the last position they had been
in, only now they were covered with blood and gore.

Then…utter pandemonium broke out with people running,
yelling, screaming, throwing up and fainting.

---

Leewood had wiped the blood from his face, but drips and
splotches of blood remained on his clothes as he stood in his office reporting
to President Wicker.

Medical teams had cleared away the fatalities and those
obviously injured, checked others for smaller injuries, identified those in
shock, and then evacuated all in need of medical attention.

Security had then cleared the atrium of everyone else,
confining them to their quarters.

With Leewood were the Edens, Harrington, Adamarus, Woodworth
and Jan. The President was on a small teleconferencing screen, his head bowed
in one hand.

Leewood continued, “Besides Dr. Van Loader, there were two
other fatalities and two seriously injured.” He glanced down at his PDA, “Six
other people sustained minor injuries. That’s about it.”

Wicker didn’t move and the group silently waited for almost a
full minute. At length, Wicker looked up. “We will shut down these meetings and
conclude them in a second session here on Amular in a month or two. We got most
of the main issues resolved and I doubt that we can carry on out there at
Hideaway after…this. Let’s get everyone home and lick our wounds.”

---

The black hole made its way through the stars towards the
galaxy’s center. Adamarus watched it enter the event horizon of the central
black hole. He watched as the center exploded and the Slayer's Blackship jetted
from the side of the plasma jet towards the next galactic cluster. In exactly
the same manner as they had 12 billion years ago, the black holes moved through
the universe, repeating their ghastly serenade of galactic-wide slaughter.

As before, the enormous gas giant with the swirling red spot
appeared. And as before, he joined someone at the center of the red spot and
watched as the black spheres were drawn towards them. However, this time Adamarus
simply awoke as the first Blackship struck them. He did not see who was there
with him, but he knew…

…nor did he see her face after the dream ended, and he found
himself in his cabin sitting up in bed soaked with sweat.

He was sure that it had been her standing there with him at
the end of the dream. He realized that he missed her presence…in the dream as
well as now that he was awake.

He shook off the feeling and reached for the picture of Grace
and Nero on the end table, looked at it, and slowly a smile formed on his face.
He replaced the picture and took a deep breath – he needed to put everything
out of his mind except what he had to do today. He needed to focus on that and
only that, for this time, he knew what the important element of his dream was.

---

It was 10:30 AM when Adamarus’ com unit buzzed. He was in his
cabin packing; his departure with the Loud ship was scheduled for that
afternoon.

“Hello.”

“Adamarus,” it was Evelyn, “we need to talk. Do you have time
right now?”

“Yes, I guess so,” he answered tentatively.

“Good. Please meet me in shuttle bay one in ten minutes,” she
disconnected.

Adamarus stood there looking at his com unit for several
seconds. This was not good. This was not what he needed. At the same time, he
wanted to see her and he hated himself for it.

She was waiting for him just outside the double doors to the
shuttle bay – they were closed. She did not look like herself. Her face seemed
frozen, her eyes subdued.

She held up her hand, “Just a moment.” She walked to the side
of the shuttle bay door where a view port looked out over the shuttle bay.

Adamarus just stood by the doors watching her. He was liking
this less and less. He saw her shake her head and take a deep breath. Then she
leaned forward, watching something for a moment, then quickly returned to the
doors, “Please follow me and don’t say anything.”

Adamarus blinked at this, but didn’t have time to say
anything. She went quickly through the doors and he just barely had time to
keep up with her. He heard power tools going at the other end of the large room,
but whatever was going on was blocked by the two shuttles to the right.

Evelyn turned to the left walking quickly. There were two more
shuttles on this side of the bay and she led Adamarus to the far shuttle,
opened the hatch and motioned Adamarus inside, followed him in, then closed and
locked the door after them.

There were rows of double seats on each side of the shuttle. She
pointed to the right side and said, “Sit.” She then sat opposite him on the
left side. She took a deep breath, then looked at him. Her expression was
completely neutral. “Three days ago, you made arrangements with two Master
Sergeants,” her voice rose, “my people, who have been with me for thirty years
and, at the end of the day, are more loyal to me than to you. You ‘ordered’
them to do something behind everyone’s back, including mine, and put them in
very difficult positions… Are you tracking me here, Admiral? On this
installation, you do not outrank me.” She then shocked Adamarus even more than
he already was by visibly losing it for a second, and only with extreme effort,
held back tears and regained control. She stared Adamarus in the eyes the whole
time, seemingly not caring whether he saw this or not. “This will never happen
again! Are we clear?”

Adamarus’ heart was pounding in his chest, “On a personal
level, I am very sorry about that, but I was under orders as well.”

She blinked. She was absolutely furious and having a lot of
trouble maintaining control. She tried to speak, but started to lose it again
and averted her eyes.

Adamarus held up his hands palms forward in a gesture that
said, “Take it easy,” and spoke softly. “Evelyn, please… I had no choice.”

She exploded, “You had them sabotage the meeting that day so
you…” her voice rose higher as a tear trickled down her cheek as she counted
off each person on her fingers, “… Leewood, Harrington, Radin, Bugs, Dr.
Donnelly, Dr. Van Loader, President Wicker, and Secretary Thornton could have a
secret meeting without Brandon or myself!”

The thought of denying her accusation passed through his
mind. She seemed to read his thoughts and she fumbled for a remote control that
she took out of her pocket and pointed it at the closest of the small overhead
video screens. Adamarus hadn’t noticed that the screens were in their lowered
position until now.

The screen lit up and a video started playing. It showed all
of them entering the conference room for the start of the meeting. In the lower
right-hand corner was the date and time.

Her voice was shaking, “When did you stop trusting us? How
long has this been going on? I thought we were a team! I thought we all had the
same security clearance…and by the way, why does it still show that Brandon and
I still have Red Raven clearance if we don’t!”

Adamarus remained seated calmly, looking at her without
giving away the hurt, shame and guilt that was running through him. In a firm
voice he asked “Do you have recordings of what went on inside that room?”

This took her by surprise, “What if I do?” she yelled.

“If you do, you need to turn them over to me. You do not have
clearance for them.”

She looked away, tears running down her cheeks, “So our
clearance has been revoked?”

“No, it has not. What went on within that room has a new and
higher security clearance. I’ll ask you again: Do you have recordings of what
went on within that room?”

Evelyn was looking at him now with confusion on her face. “A
new higher security clearance?”

“I will ask you again…”

“No! I don’t have recordings of went on in there.” She
pointed at the video screen which now only showed the closed doors. “Why
doesn’t anyone trust us anymore?” There was so much hurt in her voice that Adamarus
leaned back and closed his eyes as if he’d been struck. “What did we do?”

“Nothing!” Adamarus shouted back. Then in a softer voice,
“Nothing at all, Evelyn. I’ve already violated security telling you what I have.
My God, woman, think about it! Two of the people who attended that meeting
killed themselves…” Evelyn had obviously not made the connection for her eyes
went wide and her hand flew to her mouth. “…and…and…” his eyes bored into hers,
“…Donnelly is not right…”

Evelyn’s sharp intake of breath interrupted Adamarus. Evelyn,
her eyes even wider, her hands now fists on either side of her face, blurted
out, “Harrington! Harrington has been acting so strange!”

“Yes,” Adamarus hissed. “Both she and Donnelly are
undergoing…therapy. Don’t you see! You as well as everyone else who was left
out of that meeting were left out to protect you!”

Evelyn was shocked. Her eyes darted around—she was
speechless.

“What does Brandon know?”

She blinked several times, asked him to repeat the question. He
did. “He knows nothing. I didn’t want to tell him until I figured out what was
going on. Adamarus…” He heard fear in her voice. “What could possibly cause two
people to kill themselves?”

Adamarus just looked down.

“Before he…Von Loader said something about God…just before…”
she held herself and was rocking back and forth. She was shaken badly and on
the edge. All this added on top of the stress and confusion she’d had coming in
here was too much.

Adamarus leaned forward and took her hands in his. “Evelyn,
listen to me. God is not coming in that ship, okay? Please just try to ease
down a notch, okay? Had you asked me just yesterday, I’d have told you that you
should not be told what we learned in that meeting, but now…now things have
changed…maybe. Anyway, I’ve not yet told the others who attended that meeting, but
I’ve spotted something that may be in our favor. And I now think that others beyond
the initial group should know because we need all the help we can get dealing
with it.”

“What is it?”

Adamarus sighed. “You know I can’t tell you anything no
matter how badly I might want to. You know I’d be breaking the highest security
level we have. The penalty, by the way, is permanent imprisonment—no exceptions.”

“God, Adamarus, permanent imprisonment! Look, you’ve already
told me too much…already have me spooked so bad that at this point it would be
easier on me to just tell me…so get permission to tell me. And Brandon too.”

“I’ll get permission for you. After you've heard, you decide
about Brandon, and if you think it wise, we’ll get permission to tell him.”

She nodded, then just stared into his eyes.

Adamarus realized he was still holding her hands. She had
been squeezing back for some time now. He broke eye contact and looked down at
their hands and then he let go. “We’d better get back.”

“Yes,” she said in a low voice.

---

The next day, Adamarus met with President Wicker, Leewood and
Radin—the four who had weathered the “truth” with at least no visible psychological
problems. Even so, all of them looked drained and solemn. Adamarus realized
they were all resigned to defeat and the air was thick with hopelessness. He
had planned to tell them of the realization that had come to him, but suddenly
it did not seem very important. He decided to postpone telling them. Instead he
told them about his conversation with Evelyn and the video from the camera
everyone had somehow overlooked. Leewood took the blame and was furious with
himself for the oversight.

“None of us thought about the hall cameras so don’t be too
hard on yourself, Patrick,” Adamarus said. Agreement followed from Wicker and
Radin.

Leewood shook his head in disgust, but relented, “Well,
what’s done is done. What now?”

Adamarus got right to the point, “Wherever possible, I
believe we need to bring the inner circle in on the basic facts. We need all
the help we can get dealing with…all this.”

On the teleconference screen the President ran a hand through
his hair. “I’m not sure anything can be done anyway.”