July 30, 2010 – one hundred and twenty four years before the crisis
In all the times he'd visited Rome previously, Dr. Saul Mullens had never seen it so empty. People had fled from the city the way they had in major cities all over the world, abandoning the urban landscapes for the supposed safety of the countryside. They feared the presence of those with the dark and terrible magic, like the blonde American girl who had first revealed the secret to the world.
Those who had stayed in Rome looked like they were suffering from permanent insomnia. They passed Dr. Mullens in a daze, their eyes set upon something far away and intangible. They were like zombies going through their daily routines. Nothing seemed to surprise them, yet they were poised for battle at any moment.
It was recently discovered that several high-ranking officials in the Italian government had family members with abilities. They had all quietly resigned after the matter surfaced.
There had been a rash of suicides in Vienna the week earlier – all teenagers who either had abilities, or were friends with someone with abilities. It had been part of a suicide pact.
In Sardinia, one farm owner had all of his livestock slaughtered, when he learned that one of his farm hands had the ability to talk to animals. The threat of some sort of contamination was too great.
Dr. Mullens wasn't thinking of these things as walked along Via Giulia, savoring its crowded, green feel, while gently rubbing his jaw. His body still ached, though not unpleasantly. He had been told Barbara Zimmerman did excellent work, and he hadn't been disappointed at all. He felt so good, in fact, that he'd gone back to work a little earlier than what was recommended. Barbara pleaded with him to take it easy, to get accustomed to his new form. But Dr. Mullens was having none of it.
"I'm not getting any younger my dear – in spite of your excellent craft," he told the buxom blonde with a wink. "Four months of rehabilitation has been an embarrassment of riches."
He left most of the work to Bruno, but this particular jaunt to Rome had to be handled personally. He had to make sure it went off without a hitch.
Finally, Dr. Mullens arrived at his destination – a small antiques shop that was one of many that defined Via Giulia. The thin wire door was flanked by a large and crudely constructed sign which read "Mostri non benvenuto." Dr. Mullens smirked at this, finding it strangely quaint. It was not to be the last one he would encounter during his trip.
The shop was crowded but neat, and dimly lit by a few sad-looking, naked bulbs. The only occupant was the short but stocky shopkeep, who was bending over the entrails of a cuckoo clock at the front desk. When he heard Dr. Mullens' footsteps, he looked up startled, as if he'd been awakened from a sleep. He squinted at his potential customer, biting gently on his underlip.
"Si? Possi aiutarla?" the shopkeeper asked.
Dr. Mullens smiled, realizing that the man had not recognized him, obviously. "Sto cercando qualcosa di molto speciale."
The man smiled and pointed to the carved figurines sitting on the shelves behind him. "Ho alcune belle d'oro e porcellana pezzi…"
"I'm looking for Carranzano's box," Dr. Mullens interrupted, in a soft, intense voice.
The shopkeeper's smile faded. "Perhaps you did not see the sign outside, Signore," he replied coldly.
The doctor looked around the shop carefully, then at the door to make sure no one was coming in. He leaned over the counter confidentially. "You promised to offer your help whenever I asked of it, Mauro."
Mauro's face went slack with disbelief. "Terremoto," he whispered softly. "I guess you were right when you said anything is possible."
"So this is it," Dr. Mullens said as he held the fist-sized, red cube up to the light. He shook it lightly in his hands. "Weighs almost nothing. What is this – catlinite?"
"No, no. Too fine-grained for this. I haven't been able to determine what it's made of. Best guess is something close to obsidian."
They were standing in the back room of Mauro's shop. Saul Mullens insisted that Mauro close up the shop for an hour so they would have privacy. He wouldn't risk any outsiders walking in on them.
"It looks like just a plain, ordinary box. I couldn't believe that this was the legendary Carranzano's box that your father used to tell us about. It certainly didn't seem like it was worth the trouble it took to get it," Mauro complained.
Dr. Mullens smiled. "It is just a box – to you and me, and anyone without the ability it takes to see it."
Mauro frowned and scratched his head, ruffling his short, stiff gray hair. "Ability?"
"The ability to see extra dimensions. Felipe Carranzano designed this box to be a model of a tesseract – a four dimensional object. People with the ability will be able to see the inner cube lodged inside the box, and see the cube emerging from the box and then folding into itself, over and over again. Time travelers, teleporters – they have the ability. They think they are defying the laws of nature, when in reality they merely have an extra sense."
Mauro considered this, then reached into the small refrigerator in his office and pulled out a pitcher of water. "So…Felipe Carranzano was a time traveler? Acqua, amico?"
Dr. Mullens took the glass of water gratefully, realizing now the lack of air conditioning and the merciless summer heat. "His whole family was. And several other lines. That's how I'm going to find them all."
"That's quite a feat. Why are you looking for them?"
Dr. Mullens sighed and laid his hand on his friend's shoulder. "It sounds romantic, I'm sure, but I'm going to bring peace to the world. I'm afraid it won't be in your lifetime, my friend." He pulled out his wallet from his jacket. "How much for it?"
Mauro held up his hand in refusal. "No, no. If what you say is true…I can't put a price on peace. Just make it happen."
After saying his goodbyes to his friend, Dr. Mullens left the shop to return to his hotel. As he was crossing the street which led to his accomodation, he saw a boy hardly older than fourteen get physically thrown out of the front door of a house and into the street. An older man stood in the doorway of the house, shaking the fist of one hand while holding back a sobbing woman with the other.
"Monster! Freak!" the older man yelled at the shocked boy. "I never want to see you again!"
"Papa! I was only trying to help!" the boy pleaded as he held up his hands, cut from the gravel. Dr. Mullens looked closely, and could now see that the boy's fingertips were a cool ice-blue. The child was a cryo-kinetic, trying to find a way to keep his family comfortable in the sweltering heat with his ability.
Dr. Mullens watched as the neighbors glared at the boy. They kept their distance while the father yelled his oaths and pushed his wife back into the house, but once the door was closed, several of the men now held their gardening tools like weapons, and some of the women and children were holding rocks.
"Run, boy," the doctor whispered to himself. "Just run." He prepared himself for having to step in and reveal his power.
Fortunately, it didn't come to that. The boy got up quickly and broke into a swift pace out of the road, allowing himself only the quickest of looks at the only home he'd ever known before leaving it forever. The neighbors watched him go, then slowly returned to their business. Dr. Mullens knew that these people had watched that child grow up, had probably had him over to their house to play with their children, had gone to his parents' home for his christening and birthday parties.
And they were ready to kill him with barely an afterthought.
When Saul Mullens returned to his room, he flipped open his laptop, turned on his webcam, and connected to a secure server. Hundreds of miles away, outside of Baltimore, a pretty brunette linked with him.
"Hana, my angel," he greeted her. "How is our group?"
She smiled prettily. "Always poised, my dear."
"And how is our little muckraker?"
"About to go on a special mission. She's integrating very well into her new life. The boy is keeping her… engrossed."
"Hmm," Dr. Mullens grunted skeptically. "Just keep an eye on her. I've seen with my own eyes how fickle she can be."
"Of course. Did you find it?"
He held the carved red box up to the camera for her to see. "Naturally. Easy part's over. Now, the fun begins."
Hana wet her lips in enthusiasm. "So what do you need me to do?"
"I need you to find everyone descended from the Carranzanos. They're going to be the largest group to take care of."
Hana put her hands over the central processor of her laptop and closed her eyes. It took several minutes to find and process all the data she was gathering from the world wide net.
Finally she opened her eyes and exhaled sharply. Dr. Mullens could see the exhaustion in her face. She pressed her index finger against the computer once again, and a few seconds later Dr. Mullens' cell phone chirped cheerfully with the promise of a new message.
"There's seventy three of them," Hana warned. "You've got your work cut out for you."
"Hmm, I see," he answered soberly as he reviewed the data Hana had sent to his phone. "Bruno will help. Have you spoken to Barbara?"
"Yes, she's poised and ready to go."
"Excellent. Good night, my angel."
After Dr. Mullens had shut off his computer and taken a shower, he sat on the bed with Carranzano's box in his hands. He hadn't shared all of his plans with his aides, which he knew was the right thing to do. Still, it was a lonely endeavor. But he'd come too far to stop now.
A figure just outside his field of vision caught his attention. He looked up to realize that there was a mirror direction across the room from him. He looked in it, at the man staring back at him who he still didn't recognize.
*** Please note: the Italian is my own research; I'm not fluent in the language. Google Translate should be able to give you the phrases in English.
