Jo-el

Chapter 43 TV

I had an hour before the appearance on CNN. I’d told Cathy Vogel that this was not going to be an interview, more of a statement by me. I agreed that I’d listen to a couple of questions but I’d reserve my decision about answering. I struggled with how I was going to inform the world why I had suddenly appeared. I still felt the need to demonstrate my intentions. I could show people what I could do and the incredible technology but when it came to Cirion, I had no way to prove it was real. I couldn’t take anybody to Cirion. The video of that planet could be made in Hollywood. It was impossible for me to understand what the reaction would be. So much had been written about the possibility of life on other planets but we hadn’t seen it and much of our expectation was that the life would be very simple, like plants or simple organisms. The idea that there were many ‘human’ planets and one in particular was hundreds of millions of years more advanced than our own was going to stretch most people’s belief system. Only Pippa knew of Cirion and anyone she’d told and I didn’t know if she had told anyone, she had been out of Sally’s range, underground. I toyed with visiting her so I could hear the reaction, but the bad feeling between us was too new.

My plan was simple enough. Get the world on board with me, believing everything I said and then hit them with the bad news coming in seventy or so years. Eradicate all the evil on our planet so that we didn’t need our military and police forces, which would free up enormous funds to finance the building of spacecraft. It seemed totally logical to me and I hadn’t thought of anything else so far that solved the problem. I was aware that many people wouldn’t trust me, but I had to get the big players on board, the US, Europe, China, even Russia. If they all started building spacecraft, I truly believed we had a chance.

We had seventy years. We would start slow, small craft to test the technology. Sally reckoned we could send a first mission to the new planet within a year, maybe with a craft capable of carrying twenty or so. The leap forward in technology would be so exciting, I couldn’t believe that any of the Superpowers would not want to be part of it. We were going to enter the space age for real this time, a new era, a new beginning, if I didn’t blow it.

At a quarter to six in the evening, eastern time I bounced to the CNN studio in New York. Vogel had designated an empty conference room, where she and Stewart Nolan were waiting nervously. I arrived in full Jo-el outfit but without wings. I’d follow their advice about dress.

“Hope you guys are okay?” I said as they rose to shake my hand. The instant relief that I’d appeared was apparent in their manner.

Nolan spoke, “yes, we’re fine, but it was a hell of a ride.”

“I can imagine.” Or maybe I can’t but what the hell.

“What happened?” Vogel asked. “Why did they change their minds?”

“They didn’t tell you?” She shook her head.

I explained what I knew and tried to keep it short. I could see Nolan wanted to ask about the interview.

“What are you going to say?” he asked, eventually.

“Before we discuss that, are you okay with how I’m dressed, or how about the wings, or I could wear a suit?”

Vogel looked at Nolan and said. “I think it’s up to you.”

“Okay, I’m going to add the wings, then explain they’re false and then maybe change to a business suit. That should amuse the viewers.” I smiled.

“What do you want to say?” asked Nolan.

“I need to win people’s confidence, I have so much to tell but it’s so incredible I believe I need to let it out slowly. Then if I prove what I say it will allow people to accept something that I can’t prove later.”

“Like what?” asked Nolan.

“Not now, I’m sorry, but I plan to tell everything in the next couple of weeks.”

“Right, you better come with us.” Vogel was examining her watch, she indicated the door.

I followed them to a typical studio set. Four cameras were facing the main stage, spread out around a red desk, screens covered the back walls. People with head phones milled around, everyone turned when we entered the studio. At the desk was Leyland Price, a well-known reporter, immaculate in a black suit. He smiled and reached out his hand. His hand shake was solid. A woman with a cloth dabbed his head, then came over to me and began wiping the sheen on my forehead. My nerves elevated twenty times.

“Do you want to stand?” Vogel asked.

“Yes, I think that would be better,” I said. My stomach decided to do a back-flip. I wondered if Superman ever got nervous.

“Two minutes,” someone shouted.

I took a deep breath. “Might be better if I’m offstage and you introduce me, then I walk on.”

“Perfect,” Leyland replied, putting me at ease.

“Red light on a camera means it’s live,” said Vogel.

I stood off stage a little.

“Ten seconds,” came the voice, Vogel disappeared. I added the wings and heard a collective gasp.

“Action.” I saw the red light on a central camera come on.

“Ladies and Gentleman this is Leland Price at CNN. We are truly honored to have on set with us right now the man who is at the center of the biggest news story, maybe of the century. The man some of us have called the ‘Birdman’ but as we shall find out, that is just one of his abilities. May I introduce, Jo-el.” He emphasized the -el for some reason, and put his arm out towards me.

My stomach did a triple somersault and I thanked God for the smart-suit. Don’t ask why?

The back monitors were showing a video of the rescue on the Beach in Turks and Caicos, just about a week ago, my first public appearance. I had no idea then what I was getting into, now I was the number one news story. Maybe I should have stuck to being a lifeguard. I quickly reminded myself that I was there just to make a statement that would change the lives of many women and children.

I reached out and shook Leyland’s hand, he was sitting at the red desk. Then I stood back from the desk and lost my wings. The man with the boom-mike nearly fell over.

“Leyland, thank you so much for allowing me this air-time, I’m sure there are many people who want to know who I am. Firstly I want to let the viewers know that I’m here this evening just to make a statement and not to answer specific questions.” As my diatribe began I felt more comfortable, even in the lights I could see the faces of some of the studio team, they wanted to hear what I had to say. “But I will tell you a little about myself.” I paused and took a quiet breath, you could hear a pin drop.

“I am a simple man who has been given technology far advanced than we have currently on earth. My wings are a hologram; they are not real. Leyland, please come here,” I indicated for him to join me standing on the stage. He came over and as he did I brought back the wings in all their glory, stretching them out as far as they would reach. “Touch the wings, Leyland.” He seemed a little pensive, but reached his hand out, which passed right through the wings.

“They look so real,” he said. “If they’re not real, how do you fly?”

I had decided that I would disclose some of the technology, specifically that which was too difficult to sidestep. I brought the wings into my body and then had them disappear.

“I am able to fly because I am wearing a belt computer that contains an anti-gravity device.” That was an obvious queue for Leyland.

“Can you show us?”

“Of course,” I said. “Let me first show you the computer that controls much of what I can do.” I raised my silver, mesh, tunic and showed the computer to the camera, which was sliding closer to me to get the shot. When I replace my tunic, the camera man moved back. Then I lifted off the ground, maybe five feet and stayed there in mid-air for a few seconds before returning to the ground.

“Is the anti-gravity technology going to be available to everyone?” asked Leyland. I knew this would happen, a barrage of questions. Plus, I still had some shares in Ford and GM, imagine what they would do if I said ‘yes’?

“No, that’s not possible,” I lied. “Leyland, let me continue.” He nodded. “The clothes that I’m wearing I call a ‘smart-suit’, it can change appearance to anything I wish. So, if I would like a business suit all I do is…” I changed my clothes to a suit somewhat matching the suit Leyland was wearing.

“Incredible,” I heard him say.

“No, this technology will not be produced for a very long time.” Don’t want the whole garment industry collapsing, at least not until I’d sold some more shares.

In my mind, I toyed with explaining the ‘bounce’ technology but I felt that it could easily outshine why I was there.

“Now I want to explain why I requested this on-air interview, Leyland.” He motioned for me to continue. “This is the serious aspect of my presence here today. Much of the current news stories pertain to the arrests of terrorists, child molesters and various other criminals across both the USA and Europe. All the information being used by the authorities in each country to identify these people comes from myself. I am not going to explain how I do this but tonight I am issuing a warning.” I paused for a few seconds for effect. “As of today, as of this exact moment in time, if a rape or any crime is perpetrated against a woman or child, I will send a video of that crime to the local authorities responsible for apprehending such individuals. There will be no chance whatsoever to escape prosecution. If you commit a rape or harm a child you will be caught.” I looked over at Leyland, who seemed tongue tied for a moment, then walked off the set.

I think they went to a commercial break. Cathy Vogel came over to me and said, “you can’t just leave it like that, Jo-el.”

“Why not? I think I was very clear.”

“What now?” she asked.

“I’m leaving, let’s see what happens in the next day or so.”

“Are you trying to end all crime?”

I smiled, “not sure that’s possible but it’s a step in the right direction.”

“Okay, let’s go back to the conference room.”

I left Vogel and Nolan a few minutes later telling them that I’d keep in touch and return when I thought it was necessary. They were grateful, they had more than enough material to keep them busy for weeks. They were treating me with kid gloves, yes sir, no sir, they understood it would be easy for me to go to a competitor, they didn’t want that, which was fine with me, CNN were at the top of their tree and I liked Cathy Vogel.

What was it? Why didn’t I feel happy about the CNN spot? It seemed so fabricated to me, and I felt that’s how it would appear to the viewers. It reminded me of the meeting in the hangar, like I was a school teacher taking a fifth-grade class. Maybe I didn’t like the role I was playing? Perhaps there was another way?

I showered and called Sally. I was only waring a toweling robe. She was elegant in a short, blue cocktail dress and high heels, a topaz stone hung from a silver necklace around her neck, a giant topaz ring on her wedding finger.

“Is that real?” But as I said it, I realized nothing about Sally was real.

“You like it?” she did a twirl, then came close to me. I could smell a scent.

“I can smell perfume?”

She laughed and put her arms around my neck, they were real, then she kissed me long and hard, her tongue probing inside my mouth. I could feel her body against mine, her abdomen firm against me. My loins came alive; she knew immediately and gyrated sensuously up and down with her body to arouse me. It worked. I pulled away, wrapping the towel robe tighter. I was speechless.

“You don’t like me, Jo-el?” she pouted.

“I know what you are, Sally. It’s weird.”

Sally walked gracefully to the window and stood staring out at the San Francisco skyline. Then she turned toward me slowly her face lit with joy. “I am what you ever want me to be, Jo-el.”

I crossed the room to her and wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed her on the mouth. She molded to me like putty. I was hard and I wanted her. “I love you very much, Sally, you know that.” She twirled away and fell on the sofa. She was like a sixteen-year-old girl who’d been kissed for the first time, glowing with vanity, nervous, shaking with delight.

“Not yet, Joey, I’m not ready. But soon.” She whispered, her face beaming with pride.

Not ready. I didn’t know where to go with that. I left her to enjoy her power over me and went to the bedroom to dress.

Sally was still sitting in the same position when I returned. “Did you watch me on CNN?” I asked. She nodded. “And?”

“It came over a bit like a magic show, at first, I was waiting for you to pull a rabbit out of a hat. But the warning brought it alive, that should work.”

“That’s what I thought. I don’t feel comfortable explaining who I am. Even to me it all seems so ridiculous.”

“They’ll get used to it.”

Maybe I thought. “So what’s next?”

“The company I picked to clean up your house will be there in half an hour.”

“Oh, right. Can you meet them?”

“Can’t do that, Jo-el, you know that.”

“How far away can you get?”

“About two hundred and fifty feet.”

“I just don’t want to see the mess.”

“They’ll need some cash up front.”

“A lot?”

“Maybe five hundred.”

“What about Maggie?”

“She picked an Italian restaurant downtown, real close to here.”

“Good, is Adam coming?”

“No, I just said her.”

“Good. What time?”

“I said you’d see her there at six.

“Okay, so I’ll have an hour or so after meeting with the clean-up crew.”

Sally nodded.

“I was wondering; can you terminate hundreds of people at once?”

Sally paused for a while, her eyes lit up and the edge of her mouth curled. “Sure!”

“Like, how many?”

“What are you thinking, Jo-el?”

“Just tell me.”

“Thousands, I haven’t tried it, but I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work. Are you going to tell me what you’re planning?”

“No, not right now, I need to think about it first.”

After I meet with the President. I need a gift and I think I knew exactly what he’d like.

“The Russian is moving his money.”

“Oh, good.”

“Not really, he’s transferring it to a friend. I sent him the account numbers and routing but he decided to ignore it. There’s one for the chopping block.” She laughed.

“Son of a bitch! What’s he planning?”

“His friend is a billionaire, but he’s not on any list, nasty piece of work. He’s in Monaco, so Yerchenkov went to see him, after his visit to the hospital.”

“Tell me what happened?”

“Yerchenkov explained what happened. You’ve stirred up a hornets’ nest with the criminal classes, Jo-el. You’re not their most popular person, right now. They wonder how far you intend to go.”

“I’m planning to wipe them out.”

“That would be the thousands of people you want me to whack?”

“Actually no, but put them on your list.”

Sally grinned. “I think I like where you’re going, Jo-el.”

“So, what are they planning to do about me?”

“What do you think?” She smirked.

I threw up my hands, “come on Sally, I need to hear this.”

“Kill you! What else?”

I mean, what did I expect? I just hadn’t focused on the repercussions. Plus, I hadn’t got started yet, anyway. I sat back into the soft cushions, arching my head back and pondered the cornice on the ceiling. Very elegant. But I did have to reckon with these assholes. I had made some nasty enemies and in the next few weeks, I’d be making a hell of a lot more. But what could they do? I was invincible, wasn’t I? That thought drained quickly from my mind as I remembered how quickly the American authorities had found out who I really was. I had no idea how many people new my true identity and Sally could only know if they talked about it. Damn, so that meant that Sean and Maggie were likely to be their targets. I wondered if they’d figure out my weaknesses. It didn’t matter, I just had to assume they would.

“They’ll go after Sean and Maggie!” I said to Sally.

“Eventually, yes. But they don’t know your identity yet, Jo-el.”

“Who does know?”

“I’ve only found four so far and the only one who would definitely reveal it, is General Kale.”

“Problem is Sally, if the bad guys find out that there’s someone out there who knows my identity, they’ll go after them anyway. They are not safe.”

“So, we should take them off the map.”

“Where do you get this stuff, Sally?”

“I’ve seen a lot of movies, Jo-el, I’m a big fan of Clint and De Niro. ‘You talking to me?’” Sally laughed and pointed a hand at me, shaped like a pistol. But I wasn’t happy. I had to protect Sean and Maggie. Nothing could happen to them. “It’s time to meet the clean-up crew.”

“Okay, but Sally, Sean and Maggie, if they get within a hundred miles I want to know. Right?”

“Sure, Jo-el, I’m your man, well you know what I mean.” She laughed again, she worried me.