Dark Fall II

Part IV: DEOS

Chapter 27: Corbin's Interrogation

(1)

Zack was pretty certain he'd bought it this time. This man was about to shoot him dead with no qualms whatsoever. Zack didn't even have a chance to reach for his own weapon. If he made even the slightest move, he'd be shot. Apparently he was going to be shot anyway.

But another man walked around the corner at that exact moment coming out of the other hallway and stopped short at the sight of the scene.

"Magnus? What in the blazes is going on?"

Magnus seemed to wince agitatedly at the appearance of the other man. In fact, he seemed to be suddenly repressing downright rage.

"I found another one, sir." the man Zack now knew was called Magnus spit out angrily. "Just taking care of business."

"And you think it's standard protocol to just shoot intruders dead? Please inform me when we changed policy on this. You know that's not how we operate. Not on a below military-grade mission."

Zack hadn't turned yet to see what the other person looked like. He was still standing defensively in surrender, Magnus still pointing the futuristic looking gun at him. It was the voice of an older man, the sound of one who was clearly a superior and had authority, but also with a tone of being rather amiable. So far, this was good. Zack might have a chance of surviving this after all.

"We are still military, sir, and this is getting out of hand, sir. Your lax manner in dealing with these situations is going to get us all in hot water. This is the second intruder in the last few days. If we let even one of these people escape with GSA secrets, it'll be both mine and your heads on a silver platter."

"That's my call to make, and until further notice, we are still following standard mission protocol for the level of the mission assigned. I don't think you wish to be discharged for insubordination, Magnus."

Magnus seemed to be seething. "No, sir."

The commander walked around to where Zack could see him. He looked like he was roughly in his sixties. He was wearing a gray uniform, which looked government/military. Magnus was dressed similarly, but in a white uniform. So far no one was dressed like one might see on Star Trek. The commander sported silver gray hair, a neatly trimmed short beard, and a thin body type, but obviously very much in shape. He walked as one whom commanded authority.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" he asked Zack.

"My name is Zack Martin, sir. I don't know how to explain to you how I'm here. I'm not sure you would believe me if I tried."

"Here we go again!" Magnus interrupted. "Sir, if you choose to humor him too, you're only going to be playing right into their game!"

"And who is this 'they,' Magnus? We still haven't managed to determine that yet. All the more reason not to go around wantonly shooting our uninvited guests just at the moment."

"Spies!" Magnus spat out. "They are here to steal our secrets and sell them to foreign nations! We've already been through this! If we believe this inane story they are try to sell, we're playing right into their hands!"

"I'll be the judge of that." the older man said. "For now, I'm presently occupied with another situation. Place him in the brig right now under surveillance, in a different wing from the other one. I want to have a meeting with him in my office in about an hour." He turned to Zack. "I do apologize, we're going to have to temporarily strip you of your belongings. You don't have any weapons on you, do you?"

"Yes, sir. Just one." Zack said.

"If you will be so kind as to take it out and slide it across the floor to us." the commander said to Zack.

"No funny movements or you're dead!" Magnus said, still aiming his weapon at Zack.

"For the last time, please calm down Magnus. We can't have our situation escalating just because we can't control our emotions." the commander said.

Magnus simply made a tch sound with his mouth and kept his weapon trained on Zack.

Zack carefully reached under his shirt and pulled his handgun out. He figured he'd better cooperate as much as possible. The commander was probably his best ticket of making it out of this situation unscathed. He could see the older man raise his eyebrow when he pulled the weapon out. Magnus made no change of emotion whatsoever.

Zack bent down carefully and slid the weapon across the floor toward the commander. He deliberately made a point of not sliding it across to Magnus.

The commander bent down and picked it up.

"Astounding! You can only see these kinds of weapons in museums nowadays. And in such fine condition!"

Zack said nothing. Magnus simply retorted: "Probably given to him by his government! We can't trust these people and the absurd story they're trying to pull over our eyes!"

The commander seemed to ignore his outburst. "Magnus, when you take our guest to the cell district, kindly remove any other personal belongings he has on him and put them on my desk. And as much as I know it's an incredible challenge for you, do treat our guest well. That's an official order. You have any other weapons on you?" He directed the last part at Zack.

"No, sir." Zack said.

"Well, then we will resume this discussion in my office in about an hour. Until then, try to make yourself comfortable despite the trying conditions. Simply standard protocol, is all."

"May I say something, sir?" Zack said.

"Certainly." the man said.

"The other intruder, it wasn't an older guy with a long beard, was it? An Archimedes Demarion? He may be going by another name. If you happen to come across him, he's extremely dangerous. There are others who work for him… if any of them end up here, they are very dangerous and you need to watch out for them."

"The man you just described doesn't fit the description of the other person we caught." the old man said. "But I will duly note this and keep an eye out for anyone of that description. Quick question, how exactly did you get in here?"

"In all honesty, I'm not sure." Zack said. "If I told you, I don't think you'd believe me."

Psh. Magnus made another noise.

"Can you at least tell me through which area you gained access? Be honest, please."

Zack tried to recount his steps for the man, as best as he could remember.

"Just like the other one!" the commander said. "Isn't it curious, Magnus, that we have a whole extra wing for this operation we're not even using and these people just happen to be coming aboard through it."

"Of course it's curious! I've brought it up with you myself!"

"And yet I don't see any indication that there is any extra security patrol on duty over there like I ordered. Curious that. I'd expect better from my chief security officer. I'm going to tell you again to double the security patrol in that sector, and double and perhaps triple the times they patrol through it."

"Yes, sir." Magnus spit out, his face looking a little inflamed.

"Of a conspiracy afoot, I have little doubt at this point." the commander said. "But conspiracy from whom or why, I have not yet figured out, and I don't intend to jump to hasty conclusions until I get a much more solid grasp on what we're dealing with." Magnus looked like he wanted to say something, but was still flushed, probably from embarrassment of the commander correcting him, and was clearly biting his tongue hard. The commander turned to Zack again. "My name is Corbin Hart. I'm the commander of this operation. We will talk again shortly, Mr. Zack Martin."

"There's one more thing I need to give you." Zack said.

"Yes?" Corbin said.

Zack slowly reached into his pocket. Magnus seemed to tighten his grip on his weapon.

"No funny business!"

Zack ignored him and pulled the mini-computer out.

"This is from one of your crew members. You might want to take a look at this."

Corbin walked up and took it from Zack's hands and switched it on.

"John Harlow! And it's not password encrypted. I've been trying to figure out where he disappeared off to for the last ten hours."

"I'm not sure you will." Zack said. "And the story I have to tell you is far weirder than what you will find on that."

Corbin simply looked deep in thought.

"Well, I will look forward to hearing it, Zack." he said.

He gave a few extra instructions to Magnus and then left down the hallway Magnus had come from in order to complete his errand.

Magnus pointed Zack in the direction to walk.

"Just because Commander Hart wants me to be soft on you, doesn't mean you're not on the top of my shit list!"

That goes for you, too, buddy. Zack thought to himself but resisted the urge to say it out loud.

"You're lucky the commander came across us when he did. I would have shot you dead."

On that, we can agree. Zack thought.

(2)

Zack kept silent the entire time as Magnus escorted him through the facility. Magnus seemed to be just fine with that, but Zack was prepared to largely refuse to acknowledge him, at any rate. He wasn't going to be playing into anything Magnus might try to get out of him.

Several times they passed other people who gave shocked looks at the scene before them, Magnus escorting a guy at gunpoint who was definitely dressed well out of this time period. Zack didn't bother looking directly at them, and neither did Magnus. None of the other people said anything, though they were gawking at the site. Zack gained the impression they were all intimidated of Magnus.

They came into a small chamber in between one of the halls of the facility and the brig. The entire room was white as opposed to the dark green of the rest of the facility. The room was largely bare except for a white table, several lockers and metal cabinets as well as what appeared to be a sink, and a few red and yellow 'Emergency' boxes. There were also a few of those suits like Zack had seen in the storage room earlier.

"Take everything off your person, and I mean everything! And place it all on the table right there!" Magnus barked at him.

Zack calmly did as he was asked. Magnus kept his weapon trained on Zack at all times. Magnus then proceeded to pat him down, and finally escorted him into the brig. The room was a lighter green color than the rest of the facility. Multiple electronic doors with small windows lined the short room. Magnus slid a key card and opened one of them.

"If by some chance you manage to get the door open, do keep in mind there's an electronic forcefield activated which can only be disarmed by certain access codes. You try to run, you're fried." Magnus said.

Zack said nothing, and simply entered as Magnus prodded him to. Magnus punched something on the keypad and the door shut. Zack could hear Magnus pressing a sequence of keys on the keypad, and he heard an electronic buzz come on. After that, he heard Magnus' footsteps leaving the room.

The cell was white again like the transfer room. There was a simple bed with a thin mattress coming out of the wall, and what Zack guessed was toilet. There was also what appeared to be an electronic slot in the wall for transferring food to prisoners.

Zack sighed and sat down on the bed. He decided that he might as well just lay down and take a nap until he had the chance to meet with Corbin. At least he had an excuse to rest for the moment.

He wasn't sure what to think of Corbin yet. Commander Hart seemed like a reasonable man. But initial impressions could be hard to pin down reality from. Magnus was an asshole and generally unhappy person, there was no doubt about that. But Zack thought he might be able to get some pull with Commander Hart. He wasn't sure whether or not he should risk disclosing the whole truth yet, or just enough with some omitted details to make the implausible sound even more plausible.

He decided he was just going to wing it and go by his gut.

Zack laid back on the cot and closed his eyes. He shut the world out and allowed himself to rest for the moment.

(3)

Magnus had come by after some time and gruffly ushered Zack out of the cell. Zack had been not quite sleeping, but not quite awake either; somewhere in between. And Zack was a little groggy as he shuffled out of his cell. Magnus still had a gun trained on him. There was another security officer with him. He was a young guy who looked about in his 20s with shaggy brown hair and a white uniform similar to Magnus but toned down a little more, apparently to illustrate his lower rank.

The guy said nothing as Zack was led along through several corridors by him and Magnus.

They finally came to a corridor where Magnus ushered Zack into a room and entered with him. The other guy stayed just outside the door.

The corridor Corbin's office was in as well as his office itself was of a gray shade. Corbin's office has an almost partial-dome like design to it. There were cabinets spread across his office, and his desk as well as the rest of the room sported quite a clutter.

Corbin was working at his desk.

"Zack! Please come in and take a seat. Magnus, stand over there please." Commander Hart said, indicating the area just next to the door.

"Sir!" Magnus said.

Zack took his seat.

"So, Zack," Corbin started. "You've got an I.D. on you that identifies yourself as someone who disappeared around the 21st Century. The type of I.D., clothes, and all your money match the identity of someone who came from the 21st Century. The photos of the real Zack Martin that I've been able to reference all seem to match the person sitting before me to a T. If you do happen to be a spy or government operative from another nation, I must say, a remarkable job has been done to make you look the part. But I'm quite willing to wager that the 'unbelievable' story you want to tell me is that you are, in fact, the real Zack Martin, and you've come here via a time portal from the 21st Century. Correct?"

Zack wasn't sure how he should respond. He knew he was going to have to be very careful. He had no clue, after all, what really might be going through Corbin's head. For all he knew, Corbin believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was really a spy and not who he claimed to be. But what other choice did Zack have but to tell the truth?

"I'm supposing that time travel is not a common thing you've developed at this point in the future." Zack asked him.

"Not even close." Corbin said candidly.

"Then I know it's really hard to believe, sir, but I really am Zack Martin, and I did actually come from the 21st Century!"

"And you are here, because…?" Corbin said, showing no sign of particular judgment at the moment.

"I don't know how to tell you, sir. It's the craziest story you could possibly imagine. I don't see how I could possibly tell you without you wanting to judge me completely insane."

Zack was taking pains to be extra polite and respectful toward Commander Hart, which was why he was making a point of using 'sir' a lot. Commander Hart answered him:

"Well, be that as it may, Zack, I'm going to have to get some sort of answer out of you, no matter how insane it may sound, because we're not going to be able to proceed any further unless I do."

Corbin put his elbows on his desk and leaned on his hands.

"My position goes like this. We are on a mission in this facility. It's not a super high-level top secret mission or anything like that. We are simply trying to recapture a space-probe that went missing during an important mission. But this mission is government level, and we do have to take some precautions. We can't have other nations getting ahold of our technological secrets, after all. It's one of the things that holds the present world together, that neither nation knows exactly what hand of cards the other is dealing. And Malakai is a good deal more technologically advanced than anything perhaps any nation has ever created before. But from the get-go, this mission has been beset by a series of most unusual problems. It doesn't help, for example, that this mission has made very little sense from the moment we began it. We were given the coordinates for Malakai's crash location, in what is already the most extremely unusual of locations. Since then, we have not been able to find Malakai nor any evidence Malakai even landed here. And lots of strange things have been happening… very strange. Crew members seeing things. Electronic equipment malfunctioning. Problems with the lights. Accidents. Crew members succumbing to madness just before disappearing. Half my job the last few weeks has been trying to cover up and keep morale up. And I'm beginning to wonder if it's merely the location. A lot of things don't seem to really add up. And now people supposedly from different time periods are randomly appearing on my facility. Quite frankly, Zack, I don't care if you're about to tell me aliens did it. I don't care if you're about to flat out lie to me. All I want is some sort of answer, no matter how implausible it may seem. I'll judge how much sense it makes after the fact."

Silence hung in the room for a few seconds. Zack could practically feel Magnus' eyes burning in the back of his head. Finally, he said: "It's pretty complicated. It will take me a while to explain."

"I've got all day." Corbin said. "I've apparently got quite a bit of time. Because for whatever reason, despite all the evidence saying that NASA was wrong about the location of Malakai's crash, I can't get them to abort this mission. And apparently the orders to continue looking are coming up from somewhere within the GSA government. And it just doesn't make any damn sense. So, at the moment, I've got nothing better to do but sit here and listen to whatever you might want to tell me. All of it. I'd rather you not leave anything out. Let's start with something simple: Tell me exactly how you got here."

"Well, as I said before, I'm not sure. But I came here using those goggles." Zack said, pointing to the Hadden goggles on Corbin's desk.

"These?" Corbin said, holding them up, a look of disbelief stretching across his face. "Please tell me exactly how that works."

"I don't know how it works, sir." Zack said. "But apparently when I wear them I can 'see' portals. They look like a kind of shimmering, and if I touch it, it takes me into another time. Some of them don't take me to another time, sometimes they only take me to visions of the past. I'm aware that such a function is not the normal intended use of the goggles."

"I'll say." Corbin said. "I have a pair just like them in my great-great-grandfather's museum back home, still working, too, and I've never been able to get them to do what you just told me these can do."

"As far as I'm aware, they've presently only been working that way for me."

"Do you have any idea why they might be doing that for you in particular?"

"No, sir."

"Back to the portal, if you don't mind. Where exactly was the portal that brought you here?"

"It was attached to a photo, sir. I could see it only when I had the goggles on, and when I touched the photo, it took me here."

"Do you have this photo on you now?"

"No. I think it stayed in its own time."

"What was the photo of?"

"It appeared to be of this place, sir, which is strange, because I found the photo back in 2019."

"And where was the photo when you found it?"

"Inside a lighthouse, sir."

Corbin was writing some stuff on a sheet of paper. He pulled out another pad and seemed to be referencing it.

"And what is the location of this lighthouse?"

"A small town in Massachusetts called Fetch Rock."

"For the love of Pete! Please don't tell me you're giving any of this any serious thought!" Magnus interrupted.

"I am simply data collecting, Magnus, I'll make a judgment of what I believe later." Corbin said calmly.

Magnus made another disgruntled 'tch' sound with his mouth.

"What other time periods have you been to, Zack?"

"Only ten years into the future from my own time, and what I think may have been the distant past."

"By distant past, how far back do you mean?"

"I don't know. I'd wager thousands or millions of years. There was no way of telling."

"But you'd wager this based on what evidence…?"

"Because in that time period I witnessed Malakai crash landing in the ground. There were a bunch of natives in that time period and I witnessed a light coming out of Malakai and absorbing everyone, all the natives in the area. And I know it had to be in the distant past, because the landscape was different, and everything I discovered in Fetch Rock indicated Malakai is right underneath the Fetch Rock lighthouse."

Corbin slammed his pen down on the table, making Zack jump slightly.

"You see, Magnus! Isn't it amazing what you can find out just by taking a little time to avoid jumping the gun and spending a little time asking questions!"

"He's trying to trick you, sir. His aim is to get us to divert our mission while a rival nation comes in and tries to retrieve Malakai." Magnus said with a tired voice.

"Excellent, Magnus. And he's going to do that how? We have no authorization to abandon the mission. And you think they'd really allow us to abort this mission just because a person claiming to be from the 21st Century informs us we're in the wrong place?"

"Wait," Zack said. "You mean this is not the location of Fetch Rock, Massachusetts?"

Corbin simply looked at him. "We'll get to that, Zack. For now, I'd like you to continue. When you say you saw Malakai crash," Corbin opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a picture. "…is this what you saw crashing into the ground? Or underneath the lighthouse?" It was the same type of picture as the ones in the hallway, just printed on photo paper. It was his first real look at the Malakai space pod, since the one in the picture in the hallways had been blacked out.

"In all honesty, I didn't see it directly with my own eyes. When it was falling from the sky, it was consumed with flames. But it didn't seem that way after it landed. And I didn't see it underneath the lighthouse, but that doesn't mean it wasn't there. There was definitely something there. I could feel it. It's hard to put my finger on it exactly."

"The flames you saw would have been due to atmospheric reentry. The pod itself is very durable and wouldn't have burned up. But since you say you didn't actually see it, it's a little hard for me to take your word for it." Corbin said, placing the picture on his desk.

"But all the info I found in Fetch Rock indicated it WAS Malakai, and it was right underneath the lighthouse. The reports were penned by Archimedes Demarion, the person I told you about. He's been time-traveling, too. He's the leader of some sort of demon-worshipping cult that's very widespread and well-connected, and he seems to be trying to use the satellite for his own ends. After it crashed and the beam came out of it, I saw him appear and start talking to it."

Corbin's expression remained neutral. "I'm finding this statement about red light coming out of it very interesting." he said. "As far as I know, it was equipped with no such thing."

"If you want my personal opinion, sir, I think that your quip about aliens might not have been that far off."

"So you think it came back with an alien attached to it?"

"Or something not of this world. I think this cult found out about it, and are using it to… somehow… achieve a certain goal."

"And what might that be?"

"I think that Malakai has something to do with the portals… but I'm also not 100% sure on that. But I do know from the things I've read that Archimedes seems to believe that it holds the key to summoning something that will begin a new age on Earth… something very evil."

"And what exactly is your role in all of this, Zack? How exactly did you get mixed up in all of this?"

Corbin was looking at him inquisitively, hands folded on his desk. It was at this point Zack realized he was blurting all this out rather like a madman, and Corbin was interrogating him with the tone of a psychiatrist dealing with a mental patient. Zack was certain Corbin must not be believing a word of this at this point and was simply humoring him. Zack's face flushed, but he decided he had no other choice but to be as truthful as possible. Mad or not, what other choice did he have in his present situation?

"To be honest, sir, I don't know, and that's what really bugs me the most. I've found myself referenced – by name – in their writings. They seem to think I'm the 'Harbinger' or something, someone who will help bring all this about. I don't know why me specifically. I don't know why I seem to be more special than anyone else. But it's confusing, because some of the cult members have actually been trying to kill me. I think that not all of them share Archimedes' plan. But, really, all I've wanted from the beginning was to just find my wife. I've wanted nothing else. I never wanted to get mixed up in all of this."

Zack leaned on his hand, looking down at the floor.

"Well, all of this is very interesting," Corbin said. "If not a bit jumbled. We've gone off on quite a few twisting paths in this conversation. But now I'm going to ask you to start from the very beginning. Tell me exactly what happened to you from start to finish. Don't omit anything."

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?" Zack said.

"I haven't made my judgment yet." Corbin told him.

"But you're thinking it, aren't you?"

"Quite frankly, by this point, I don't know what to think." Commander Hart said with a slight tone of exasperation. "Here, I'm going to make this a little easier. Magnus, could you please leave us alone for the remainder of this conversation?"

This seemed to really upset Magnus.

"Leave? I'm the chief security officer! I cannot just leave you alone in the room with this lunatic! Protocol!"

"I have the authority to decide what is and isn't protocol on this mission. I wasn't giving you a suggestion, Magnus."

"Surely you're kidding! I can't believe you're even humoring this B.S.! I ought to contact GSA and report you're losing your marbles, too!"

"You're more than welcome to do that, Magnus. It would get me taken out of this mission and replaced with someone else, and I wouldn't have to worry about any of this anymore, right?"

Magnus just looked at him with a clenched jaw.

"There's one more think I need for you to do, Magnus. Tell Andrew to fetch the other intruder and bring them here. I need to compare their stories side by side and cross-check them. And then I want you to take the rest of the day off. I'm worried you've been working so much you're on the verge of having a total breakdown."

Magnus had a look on his face like he could kill both of them right then and there. But even he seemed to know better than to disobey his superior at the moment. He forced out a "Yes, sir. As you wish." and left in a gruff.

The thought that Magnus could be a part of the cult had crossed Zack's mind. The guy had a really strong negative aura about him. And he seemed to really have wanted to kill Zack. He seemed extremely ticked that Corbin had arrived just in time to stop him. What would have happened had Corbin not arrived?

On the other hand, maybe Magnus really was just an asshole who had protecting this facility and its technological secrets at the forefront of his mind, and perhaps it was true he actually viewed Zack as a legitimate threat.

Zack preferred not to judge until he had full proof. But either way, Magnus seemed like a loose trigger. No telling what he was actually capable of if he felt something was truly threatened. Zack would have to be extremely wary of him.

"Now, then, you can feel free to begin." Corbin said.

Zack sighed and began relating the story from the beginning, starting from the fight he'd had with Maya before she'd disappeared. A short way into his retelling, Corbin held up a finger, pulled out a small computer similar to what John had had, punched a sequence, and spoke into it: "Andrew, when you bring the other intruder, can you wait outside my office until I tell you to enter? I need to confirm something."

"Yes, sir."

"Has Magnus taken off for the rest of the day like I ordered him to?"

"Grudgingly, sir."

"Thank you, Andrew. That will do. Sorry about that, Zack." Corbin said, putting the computer down. "Please, finish your story."

"If you don't mind me asking, who is this other person?" Zack said.

"We will get to that in time. Someone who also claims to be from the past, has encountered this cult of yours, and has told me a remarkably similar story to the one you're telling me, though not in the same level of detail as yours. What I am mainly doing now is comparing your stories to see if they hold up. Then I'm going to have you two talk and compare notes even further. If both your stories add up without any major discrepancies, well then, we'll have quite an interesting situation, then, won't we? Following the matter, we'll have to figure out where to go from here. But for now, I need you to just finish your story."

Zack sighed again and decided to plow ahead with it. He told Corbin of his first visit to Fetch Rock, the bizarreness he'd encountered there, the conversations with Archimedes, the lighthouse, the stuff he'd found in the abandoned town ten years into the future, the escape through the forest, the Tipton hotel, the house at Kettlepod, his own suspicious as to what was going on… everything. He left nothing out whatsoever if he could help it. It was all Corbin could do at the end of it but sit back with his finger on his chin, looking quite uncertain of what to think.

"Well, that's quite a story you've told me there." Corbin said. "The sad thing is, so far I can't find any remarkable discrepancies from the story the other person told me, although the version you've told me is greatly expanded. Making my job, of course, that much more difficult."

"Meaning?" Zack said.

"Meaning that I can't outright prove at the moment that you're insane or lying to me. Which is tougher on me because it would make my job so much easier if I could prove you were just insane or lying."

"I've been as truthful as I can possibly be."

"That's what is so worrisome. Right, then. I do think it's time for the next part of this discussion." Corbin said. He picked up the mini-computer again, punched a sequence, and said: "Okay, Andrew. Send in our other guest."

Zack heard the doors behind him open. He almost didn't bother to turn and look at the person immediately. But he did bring himself to turn around briefly, and within a second, he was suddenly on his feet in pure shock, his chair toppled on the floor behind him. His head was swimming. His heart was pounding ninety-to-nothing. A whole host of overwhelming emotions overtook him all at once.

He first thought was that he must be hallucinating.

Couldn't possibly be… couldn't possibly be!

The other person was looking at him with a similar extremely shocked look. Zack was overcome by so many different emotions at once he couldn't even process them correctly. His heart was pounding in his chest as he willed himself to open his mouth and say with a shaking voice to the person before him: "Maya?"