The Prometheus Objective

5

Caleb was still processing the events the from the helicopter as the Secret Service men and the uniformed officers rushed them across the rooftop and down into the stairwell.

The pilot had been shot! Had Xavier known? Had he seen the threat?

He had turned and shouted a warning even as the door had opened, the same moment the agents boarded the chopper. Maybe coincidence, or just fast thinking, or they had some new intel on the pilot.

But it didn’t make sense.

If the pilot had wanted them dead, he could have done so earlier, any time on the flight from Long Island. What had changed his mind? Had he overheard something?

What were we talking about right before that?

Caleb wracked his brain, but it was all too jumbled, and then he was being rushed out of the chopper. Diana was on a gurney, wheeled across the roof ahead of them, and Xavier was loping along close behind. As Phoebe and then Caleb passed, sheltered by other agents, Xavier gave him a look of utter helplessness and confusion, and said: “All is death.”

On the spacious penthouse-like 33rd level, a number whose significance in Freemasonry was not lost on Caleb, Edgerrin Temple had set up a makeshift control room. Complete with several dozen large screen monitors, servers and telecommunications equipment, it sported reinforced bullet-proof windows and massive doors. The room was an impregnable safehouse, at least for now, from which to conduct their efforts at intelligence gathering, and design a plan for recovery.

Edgerrin wasn’t physically present, but his commanding presence was there nonetheless on the main monitor, broadcast from the bunker below the White House. Caleb could see the figures of the President and the First Lady back there, neither looking too fit, being attended to by others in suits. He made out an IV and other medical equipment, along with dozens of high ranking officials.

“Glad you’re back in one piece.”

“Barely,” Caleb said, straightening up, adjusting his sweatshirt and trying to appear formal, in case the President maybe happened to look his way. He was dying to know… “Are they… affected?”

Edgerrin glanced over his shoulder, then nodded. “Yes. But don’t let that out yet, we need to present the image that we’re in control. Going to broadcast some spliced footage of him speaking and assuring the world all’s ok and we’re working on it.”

“But he’s not. They’re not…” Caleb looked around. “But some are. These agents…”

“From what we’ve seen in the limited time so far, it hits certain people more than others.”

“Makes sense,” Caleb said. “Varying degrees of empathy and susceptibility to psychic activity has been well documented. Even at Stargate, we passed over selecting many who had a whiff of talent, but not enough to be full blown remote viewers. So maybe those types had some immunity to the onslaught of… whatever this is.”

Edgerrin’s face loomed closer, revealing the lines of age, grown deeper and more weathered in the years since Caleb had first met him. Back when Edgerrin had stepped in to right the wrongs of his predecessor, to remedy the harm done to Caleb and his family and friends, and to open his own mind to the potential of the program, if used correctly.

“And what exactly is it we’re dealing with?” Edgerrin winced. “I mean, I can see things. Feel things, hear the thoughts of… god, too many around me. And even…” His eyes were deeply haunted. “…even those of people I’ve lost. My father appeared to me, several times, like he’s… right goddamned there! And I…”

Caleb wished he could reach out to the screen, and tried to think of what to say, but it was Phoebe coming to stand beside him, that had a response. At least something.

“It sucks.”

That’s all, but she said it with such a straight face, with such poignancy, that he heard her. And others did and could tell it came from a lifetime of experience. Of her own pain and frustration and unwanted sights displayed again and again without let up. She took a breath. “I mean it’s a curse for sure, but it’s also a gift, or can be. We can show you how to control it, how to silence the voices and visions to some degree. But we think you have it worse, since it’s been thrust on you suddenly after living your whole life without it.”

Caleb nodded. “For us, it’s been like any skill you learn and develop and practice. Just like someone good at math isn’t always computing formulas and solving problems in their head but can do so when called upon. That’s how it mostly is for us…” He glanced to Xavier. “Some in present party excluded. But what this event seemed to do was to lift the blockage in ‘normals’ like you. Or maybe it activated some dormant DNA in the rest of the population and snapped it to full power suddenly. And now…”

“Everyone’s a math whiz,” Phoebe finished for him. “Buried under nonstop calculations and equation-solving.”

“It will subside in time, I think,” Caleb said, standing shoulder to shoulder with his sister. He checked the monitors, the news, the live camera feeds from random people posting to social media.

“But by the look of things, that’s time we may not have.”

“Agreed,” Edgerrin said, shaking off his emotions. “And to answer your earlier question, some others like those agents there — and supposedly your pilot — seemed to suffer no ill effects. Had no premonitions or visions or even the slightest psychic hiccup.”

“About that…” Caleb glanced at Xavier, who was once again by Diana’s side, pulling up a chair. His attention was back on the nearest monitor — where riots were turning violent in front of the Kremlin. Then the screen turned to amateur footage of the San Francisco bridge and stalled traffic, and people launching themselves over the side en masse.

“We have a potential lead. A drug of some kind. Xavier got a hit on something the pilot may have been taking. Can we access his prescriptions?”

Edgerrin frowned. “A lot of services are down, and even if we could, pharmacies are closed, workers not showing up. Judges won’t be available for warrants and our IT staff at the NSA may be a little… overwhelmed with their own visions, from what I hear.” He was getting flustered, a vein bulging on his right side. “Have to figure this out soon…”

“Okay,” Caleb said, straightening. His attention turned to the monitors, seeing a montage of sights he wished he hadn’t seen. “I think, whatever else you need from us, any assistance we can give, we have to. The problems out there are problems we — I—created.”

Edgerrin looked at him with a softening stare. Behind him, someone helped the president limping off screen to lay down. He looked drugged, and Caleb imagined he was being sedated, like others including Diana, to dull their thoughts and help restore some balance or momentary relief at least.

“I did this,” Caleb admitted. “And I’ll find a way to solve it. But I need my team. I need access to them. Bring up Victoria and the shadow remnant.”

“What?” Edgerrin asked.

“Yeah, when you guys rounded all of us psychics up…”

“Wasn’t my doing,” he said, hands raised. “Government infiltrated by that UN Council member, and her watchdog Boris, and…”

“Regardless,” Caleb interrupted. “Phoebe helped find a recruit named Victoria Bederus, a talented psychic who should have been on our team if not for Boris’s false visions tainting her test results. And she gathered other psychics to help us out and run objective hunts while we were incapacitated.”

Edgerrin nodded, seeing the wisdom and respecting the move. “Should be able to find her.”

“Church of St. Joseph,” Phoebe said. “Georgetown. Link her up to here if you can. I tried phoning her but…”

“Most wireless is down. Overloaded or sabotaged by internal workers.” Edgerrin shook his head as he worked on a tablet device. “We’ll get it done. I’m sending a tech over there now.”

“What’s the status of recovering communications?” Caleb asked. “Surely there’s got to be some way. Some working satellites, even for limited communication?”

Phoebe held his hand and met his concerned look. He knew she was on the same wavelength. “We’ve got to check in with Alexander.”

“Nina, Jacob and Aria too,” Phoebe said. “They were all on their way to Nan Madol. What they find — if they find it — may be the key to stopping all this.”

Caleb shook his head. “I’m worried. Miriam knew about their trip. It’s probably a trap. Or a fake vision designed to separate us, get us a world apart and… pick us off.”

“Don’t think the worst,” Phoebe said.

He squeezed her hand back, and spoke to her, as well as to Edgerrin and Xavier.

“I have a plan, such as it is. And I admit, some of the motives are selfish, but these are the people we need if we hope to stop this whole thing before it’s too late.”

“Tell me,” Edgerrin said. “But first, Caleb, you have to go live. Right after the President’s mock speech for calm. We need you to be the voice of this psychic business. To assure people it can be controlled. That the visions aren’t all true, and not every spouse is acting on unfaithful thoughts, and not everyone is out to get them, and their dead aren’t around every corner, haunting them…”

Caleb nodded. “I know. That’s my priority and that’s why we will be delegating. Phoebe, you need to find Orlando.

“I had a vision,” she said. “He was… something else. Somewhere beyond this reality, and very much different than here. He may be…”

Caleb shook his head. “I know, he’s in trouble.”

“I felt him,” Phoebe said, “was right there with him, and yet lost him. But he’s… close.”

“And the twins,” Caleb said. “We need to get to them. Fast.”

She nodded. “Of course. Couldn’t stop me from looking for them if you wanted to.”

“But they have the sphere, blocking our visions.”

Phoebe swallowed hard. Her expression turned grave and her eyes pleaded before she spoke. “They have a part to play, a big one. The Custodian warned me, and I sent them away…”

“—To be safe. Don’t worry. We’ll get them.”

“But Orlando’s mother… What if she’s dead or insane? And they’re all alone. Alaska…”

Caleb cleared his throat. “Edgerrin, can you secure a plane or send a trusted unit up there?”

“Yeah, we should be able to.”

“Please…” Phoebe said.

Xavier coughed and tried to get back into the planning. “What about Victoria and the other team, once we’re online?”

“They’re going to remote view the prescription medicine you saw. Find its connection, if there is one, to all this. And dig deeper. She knows the drill by now.”

Phoebe nodded. “Her team found Nan Madol…”

“Although that might be a ruse?” Edgerrin asked.

“Maybe, maybe not.” Caleb turned to the screen. “Either way, can you scramble a pilot and get a rescue flight out there?”

He sighed. “I’ll see if there’s anyone free and clear of the psychic scourge.”

“Thanks.”

“What about him?” Edgerrin asked, pointing to Xavier.

“Xavier is going to be our testing rod, in a sense,” Caleb said. “Right now, he can’t be relied on for anything, being incapacitated by visions of his own death, in a variety of scenarios that can’t be avoided. He’s given us some tidbits, like the medicine—”

“And a man in red,” Xavier blurted out, without turning around. “A samurai mask. Not sure if that’s real or just symbolic in my mind, pointing to a location, but he’s behind some of this. Maybe the pilot’s actions, maybe something with the twins. And…”

He turned around. “Antarctica?”

“What?” Caleb shook his head. “Too much to process right now. One step at a time. The medicine. Orlando and the twins. Alexander…”

“The pilot, though,” Phoebe brought up. “Anything else from his background? I mean, he could have killed us all at any time.”

“I don’t know,” Caleb said. “But it was strange. He moved slowly, awkwardly, almost like he was acting under the influence of something, or like he was being controlled.”

Edgerrin shrugged. “There was nothing in his file that I saw. Exemplary public servant, pilot of countless missions.”

“Okay. In any case, let’s move. I’m ready when you are for the broadcast. Assuming you can upload it and people are able to view it.”

“They will, in limited areas, and as we restore service, we’ll keep it in a loop, trying to calm people down and buy us some time to figure this out.”

Caleb grabbed a nearby chair and sat down. He looked to Xavier and Diana. “One more thing. This… shield around the Earth. We have to talk about it.”

“What shield?” Edgerrin asked.

“Later. But just… we are going to have a choice to make. A similar one made by our predecessors thousands of years ago.”

“Which is?”

“Protection from a rogue species-annihilating comet, or the suffering we’re currently undergoing.”

Edgerrin blinked at him incredulously.

“Can you shut it down?” Phoebe asked. “With the Emerald Tablet?”

Caleb sighed without looking up. “There must be a way, but I can’t see it yet.”

Phoebe clapped her brother on the back. “Then let’s go. And figure it out along the way.”

Rolling his eyes, Caleb nodded. “As usual.”