The Four Faces of Rath
RSVP
Subtitled: Just Dropped In (To See What Condition Your Condition Was In)
Chapter 63
LXIII
The crew of the New Granolith tried to get some rest before their scheduled arrival on earth in Dimension Y, which had now been moved up to only twenty-seven hours away, but everyone was too wound up to sleep. Most of them did manage to grab several short "catnaps" along the way, but these tended to be broken up by what Varec had now termed "dimensional paranormalities." Actually, nothing too serious had occurred since the "blushing rose" incident, but smaller occurrences seemed to be the norm rather than the paranormal, Varec's name for the events notwithstanding. Colors often changed for no known reason, a fact that had kept Michael from eating his Antarian golden egg omelet at breakfast. The first bite had looked like a normal golden egg… but then the egg had slowly turned purple, and after that it had turned green. Michael tried to swallow a bite of the green eggs but couldn't manage it and finally pushed them away with a comment about never having liked Dr. Seuss anyway.
The food was not the only thing that tended to change colors often, though… people did, too. At the moment, Max was a vivid blue, which Michael found somehow very amusing. Michael was himself a nice bright red. Isabel and Alex were both green, Maria was golden, and Liz was pearly white. Tess was a silvery color, while Jim Valenti was bronze. Varec, who was a sort of turquoise, was still trying to decide whether or not these changes were real or imagined. His theory of the moment was that they were akin to a psychedelic experience… not real but imagined… brought on by cosmic stresses on the mind. Despite his theory, though, every test he did seemed to indicate that the phenomenon was real, and he was slowly becoming convinced.
"Well, we won't have to convince anyone that we're aliens," Michael joked, looking at the colorful faces around him.
Max nodded. "I imagine when we stop traveling through the rifts, though, all the colors will revert to normal… and we'll be our old boring colors again."
"Well, I'm not bored with my old color," Michael said. "I mean… looking at you looking like that is just whacked, Max! You look like one of those guys that bang out that weird music on pipes and never talk… those blue guys in the TV commercials… what were they called?"
"Those blue guys, I guess," Max said. "That's what I called 'em."
"Blue Man Group," Isabel corrected.
"Ah," Michael said, nodding… "Yeah… okay. You know… I got to say, though, Max… Maria looks pretty good… golden… rose… baby blue… or even that iridescent abalone color she was earlier… All this changing colors is a little kinky… but it kind of spices things up… you know what I mean… in a way."
Max grinned. "Maybe Jayyd would change her mama's color for you now and then, Michael. I'm sure Jayyd wouldn't mind."
"Jayyd gets too creative, Max. Besides, I don't want Maria thinking she's not… you know… exciting like she is, 'cause I'd love Maria any color."
"awwww…" Maria said, walking up behind Michael at that moment and kissing him. "You can be so sensitive and sweet sometimes, Michael."
Michael turned an even brighter red than he already was.
Maria chuckled. "Don't worry. It'll be our secret."
"Max knows now," Michael said, nodding toward Max.
"Oh, I think he probably figured it out a long time ago," Maria giggled.
"Yeah," Max said with a smile… "but I'll keep your secret, Michael. Nobody else has to know."
Michael sighed. "I know when I've been outed, Max. Besides, you've probably already told everyone else."
Max smiled. "I didn't have to. They know you're a complicated man with a lot of levels."
Michael raised his eyebrows thoughtfully. "Yeah… yeah, that's right! That's a good way to look at it. You're right. Thanks, Max. Complicated… different levels… yeah, that's a good description."
"Well, I still like sensitive and sweet," Maria teased.
"Just one of my many complicated levels, Maria," Michael said.
"Whatever you want to call it," Maria agreed, smiling.
"Hey guys," Alex said, walking into the room at that moment… "Varec says earth is in sight… We should be there in about an hour tops."
"Varec said an hour tops?" Max asked, not believing what he had heard.
"Well… actually, I think he said thirty nine minutes, twenty-seven and three quarter seconds, plus or minus three nanoseconds."
"Now that sounds like Varec," Max laughed. Michael nodded.
"Let's go up to the bridge and take a look," Max said, motioning the way to the others. "Oh, and by the way, Alex… that's a really fetching mint green color you are this morning."
Alex rolled his eyes then turned and walked toward the glass ascension chamber. "Get over it, Max. I'm taken."
Max and Michael both laughed. "I just said it was fetching," Max chuckled. "I didn't say it was my color."
"Uh uh," Michael agreed. "Mine either."
"Well, that's good," Alex said dryly. "Isabel will be glad to know that."
"I'm sure she will," Michael chuckled. "I didn't know she was into little green aliens. You need a couple of little antennae on your head, though, Alex… to complete the look."
"Yuk it up all you want," Alex said, as they rode the ascension chamber up to the bridge. "You haven't looked at yourself in the mirror this morning, I assume."
"Maria likes me red," Michael said.
"Good," Alex said with a smile. 'You won't be lonely then… cause you're not my color, Michael… or my type."
Max snickered. "Touché. Point for Alex."
"You either, Max. I'm not into blue either."
"Oh well! I'll get over it," Max said, grinning.
Alex, Max, Michael, and Maria exited the ascension chamber and hurried to the bridge. Liz and Varec were already there waiting.
"There it is," Varec said, pointing straight ahead. "Earth, Dimension Y. We'll be there in eighteen and five-seventh seconds, plus or minus two nanoseconds… I can calculate it more accurately if you want when we get a little nearer."
"No need," Max said, grinning understandingly. "Your 'rough estimate' will be fine, Varec."
Max stared out the window at earth, which looked about the size of a marble floating in the distance. As he stared, he began to feel uncomfortable. Suddenly, without warning, Max jumped and dodged then swatted at something. Everyone looked at him, without a clue why he had done what he had just done.
"Didn't you see it?" Max asked, flustered.
"See what," Michael asked. "I just saw you doing some kind of weird rain dance."
"It was a… a helicopter… It flew right in my face."
"A real, like, big helicopter?" Michael asked, a bit incredulous.
"Yeah…" Max said, shaking his head with disbelief. "I mean, yeah… it was a real helicopter… It was weird."
"I didn't see anything," Maria said.
"Me either," Alex agreed.
Michael stared out the window for a several moments at the earth ahead, trying to see what Max might have seen. For a few moments, he saw only the small blue orb floating in the distance. Then suddenly, he jumped to the side, waving his hands wildly in front of his face. Maria looked at him curiously.
"Missiles," Michael said. "Missiles were coming right at me! I waved my hands, and the wind from my hands blew them away from me. What the hell's going on here, Varec?"
"Could be the travel through the rifts affecting your mind," Varec said cautiously… "or… you could be seeing something that's happening right now… down there on earth. Call it a remote… sensory… visual… perspective…"
"An RSVP," Max said, amused.
"Works for me," Michael nodded.
"You think they're being attacked down there with missiles," Maria asked Michael.
Michael shook his head slowly. "I don't know, Maria. It could be."
"What can we do about it if they are," Alex asked. "We're still fifteen minutes away."
"Send them an RSVP," Max said.
"Huh?" Alex turned and looked at Max.
"Send them an RSVP," Max repeated. "A Remote Sensory Visual Perspective. If we're seeing them… maybe we can make them see something, too… make them see something we want them to see… get into their minds."
"Like what," Alex asked.
Max thought a minute. "Varec… you have the power to bring things to you… even over galaxies… Could you bring something to you through dimensions?"
"The jah-ee? The pawgor?" Varec asked, sensing where Max was going.
"Well, not actually," Max said. "They would be easy targets for missiles if somebody is shooting missiles down there. I don't want to put them in that kind of danger… But could you transfer an image of them down there to earth?"
Varec thought a moment. "I don't know. I might could… if I contacted the real jah-ee and pawgor back on Antar first… through you. It would be like… accessing multiple imaging sources."
"Sort of a conference call, you mean," Max said.
Varec raised his eyebrows. "I guess so… The jah-ee or pawgor would actually see and react to the situation… and the people down there would see them… but they would really still be on Antar, so they wouldn't actually be able to do anything to anyone on earth… or help down anyone there."
"And no one on earth could do anything to them," Max said, nodding. "But the people down there wouldn't know that… right?"
"Right. I'm sure they would believe that they were in danger."
"Then RSVP them," Max said again. Send the jah-ee to attack the helicopter or the pawgor to attack anyone on the ground who's threatening Liz and the others. Whoever's shooting missiles down there, give them a jah-ee to distract them till we can get there."
Varec closed his eyes and concentrated, placing one hand on Max's arm to make a connection. Varec had the ability to bring the jah-ee… or it's image… to him and transmit it to earth, but it was Max who had the mental connection with the jah-ee that would allow the jah-ee to know what was happening.
After what seemed like several long moments, Varec opened his eyes and nodded.
"The jah-ee understands."
Max nodded. Varec closed his eyes again. After several moments, he reopened them.
"Danyy's pawgor doesn't hear us."
"Only Danyy can speak with the pawgor," Max said. "I never could."
"I could still bring the pawgor's image to earth," Varec said. "It just wouldn't understand what was going on."
Max shook his head then thought about it again.
"The pawgor knows Jim. If Jim appeared to be in danger… or any of us for that matter, it might figure out what was going on. It's a very smart animal."
"It wouldn't understand that it was only seeing a vision, though, Max. It would believe that the situations were real and the danger present."
Max nodded. "It could confuse the pawgor… maybe we could use it as a last resort. At least, the pawgor couldn't be harmed… It just wouldn't know that."
Varec nodded.
Nine minutes later, the New Granolith streaked invisibly into earth's orbit, headed toward Roswell. With all its systems functioning and turned on, the ship was totally invisible to the eye and to radar, so no one noticed as the huge Antarian mother ship streaked across the Atlantic, then over Florida, and finally over the Gulf of Mexico, turning north toward New Mexico and Roswell. As the ship approached Roswell, Max scanned the town and countryside for any activity suggesting an ongoing attack of some kind. It didn't take long to pinpoint the Mesaliko Reservation. Focusing on that area, the monitors began to pick up clear images of what was going on.
"There are fighter jets everywhere," Max said. "We'd better stay invisible for a while. There's a helicopter down below. And a lot of houses are on fire. It looks like they're attacking the Mesalikos."
"Liz and Alex must be there," Michael said. "Why else would they attack the Reservation?"
Max nodded. Then he saw a missile streak from one of the fighter jets. It scored a direct hit on something that had just emerged above the clouds. Max gasped, as he got a good view of the craft that had been hit.
"Is that one of our ships?"
The smaller craft tumbled, out of control and in flames, toward the ground, breaking up as it fell.
"It is," Varec confirmed. "It's an old one. I don't know who could be piloting it, though."
"You think the army captured it and figured out how to fly it?"
"I doubt it. It has too many safeguards. It would only respond to a limited number of DNA profiles… probably only to one of the original crew."
"Then someone of ours is in trouble," Max said.
Varec nodded.
"Lock on to him," Max said. "Put out the fire and bring him onboard."
Michael rushed to lock on to the smaller ship and bring it into the New Granolith's huge hangar. Held in the magnetic grasp of the Antarian mother ship, the smaller ship stopped tumbling, leveled off again, and began to rise, then the flames went out, smothered by a mist within the magnetic field that was lifting the smaller craft up.
Within moments, the smaller craft, which was actually almost two hundred feet across, was sitting inside the much larger New Granolith, and Michael was in the cargo hold, waiting for the pilot to come out.
The bottom of the smaller ship opened. Although the vessel had originally had an antigravity system that held it off the ground, that system, and most of the others on the smaller vessel, had been seriously damaged by the missile. Now the ship sat on the floor of the New Granolith's cargo bay, leaning slightly to one side. The pilot had to bend over and squeeze himself out between the bottom of his craft and the floor.
The young man walked up to Michael, stopped, and smiled.
"I am Rahn… of the Ke'cje people of Antar. I'm glad that you have arrived. We need your help."
"I'm beginning to see that," Michael said. "Let's get up to the the bridge, Rahn. Max will want to talk to you. I'm Michael… some know me as Rath."
"I recognized you," Rahn said, as he walked with Michael to the ascension chamber. "The situation is already critical. I'm afraid we must act quickly. Your friends – and mine – are locked inside one of the houses on the Reservation. I heard one of the special agents order the house to be blown up with a missile."
As Max and Rahn stepped out of the ascension chamber, they were met by Max.
"This is Rahn. Rahn… Max," Michael said, quickly dispensing with introductions. "Rahn says that we need to hurry, Max. Liz and Alex are locked in one of those houses on the Reservation, and a special agent has given the order for the house to be blown up with a missile."
Without speaking, Max headed back to the bridge with Michael and Rahn right behind him.
"Remove the invisibility field," Max said to Varec, as he walked onto the bridge. "I think it's time they saw us. Maybe we can attract a little attention away from them down there and onto us."
Varec passed his hand over two sensors, and the New Granolith suddenly became visible, casting a huge shadow over about three miles of land as it blocked out the sun.
Michael adjusted the New Granolith's audio receptors to pick up the communications of the fighter jets. Right away, something came on line.
"Uh… This is Wingman One. It's getting overcast up here. Come in someone… anyone… Doesn't anyone hear me anymore? Damn! What is that? It's affecting my signal… Too big to be anything but cloud cover, but…"
At the same time, another signal was being picked up from lower down, probably from another fighter jet.
"What's going on up there, Wingman One? Where are you? Reply, Wingman One. We didn't copy all of that last communication about the cloud cover. It's supposed to be clear and sunny all day today…" There was a slight pause. "Okay… Guess the weather guys got it wrong again. We're starting to see that cloud down here, too, now. Getting pretty dark all of a sudden."
It appeared that the two pilots were no longer able to actually hear each other. However, the New Granolith's audio picked up another communication from farther away…
"Cobra Nine checking in. Missiles are ready. Waiting for your orders, sir. Just say the word."
A voice came back, "Missiles? Plural?"
"You said you wanted big, sir."
"I did! I do!"
"Well big is what you'll get, then, sir. Missiles one, three, four, and six are armed and ready to fly. Just say the word, and that house is going bye-bye… for good!"
"Fire, Cobra Nine! Fire! Just do it!"
"Roger that, Culpepper. Cobra Nine Out."
Michael looked at Max, and both of them instantly knew what was happening. Max turned to Varec…
"Varec, we need the jah-ee… NOW!"
Varec had already begun to concentrate.
The Cobra pilot's voice came back… "Firing One…" There was a distinct pause, as Cobra Nine hesitated, rubbed his eyes and shook his head, then looked out his windshield again.
"Uh… Cobra Nine here… Hold on a minute… There's something… Uh… What the! HOLY…!"
The pilot jerked his stick back and to the right, taking his helicopter into a corkscrew loop for a moment. Then he straightened it out again…
"What's happening, Cobra Nine," Culpepper asked, disturbed that he had not yet seen the explosion he desired and curious about Cobra Nine's unexplained aerobatics.
"Something almost flew right into me," Cobra Nine said after a minute.
"You're the only chopper in the area, Cobra Nine. And I don't see any jets near you."
"Negative." Cobra Nine's voice said, sounding strangely quaky.
"Well, what was it then?"
Cobra Nine decided to keep what he THOUGHT he had seen to himself… at least for now. In his experience, pilots who had reported unusual sightings had often been grounded and sent to the base psychologist for extensive testing. Most had come back saying that they hadn't actually seen anything unusual after all and it had just been sunspots. Those who persisted in the belief that it had been anything else never flew again.
"Sunspots," Cobra Nine said after a few moments. "It was just sunspots."
"Sunspots?" Culpepper asked, somewhat doubtful. "The sun seems to have gone behind a big cloud, Cobra Nine."
"Well, up here, there are sunspots, sir," the pilot insisted.
"Never mind, Cobra Nine. Just blow that house up… NOW! Carry out orders!"
"Yes, sir!"
Cobra Nine circled around and headed back toward the home. Once he had lined up his target again, he flipped a switch and spoke into his helmet mike…
"Missile One is armed… Firing!" As Cobra Nine started to flip a second switch that would fire the first of the four missiles, the huge bird suddenly reappeared in front of him. Cobra Nine closed his eyes and opened them again. It was still there… and heading right at him. In a near panic, he took his helicopter over into a sharp dive to avoid colliding with the giant raptor, which had an almost unbelievable wingspan. Cobra Nine guessed it to be 65 feet from wingtip to wingtip. He was not off by much.
Leveling off after his hastily executed rollover and dive, Cobra Nine looked out his windshield, searching the sky in every direction for the impossible bird. Then he spotted it. Out of nowhere, it dived at his helicopter, its huge claws extended in his direction. Cobra Nine instantly knew that this giant, eagle-like raptor, with its giant talons, could easily tear his helicopter apart or grab and hold onto it… and it might even be able to carry it away. If he allowed this bird to get its talons on his helicopter, the outcome would clearly be devastating.
Already flying too low, Cobra Nine rolled over and tried to dive again, this time plowing his helicopter right into the ground. The already armed missile flew off, traveling along the ground toward the house. Clipping a tree along the way, the missile went into a spin then headed back toward the helicopter. The pilot of Cobra One, seeing the missile coming, bailed out of his downed helicopter and ran, trying to put as much distance between himself and the helicopter as he could. Ultimately, the missile missed the helicopter, streaked through the underbrush and trees and ended up in the nearby river. Moments later, there was a tremendous explosion beneath the water of the river. When the dust had finally cleared and the rain of fish, pieces of fish, and river water had all ceased to fall, the Cobra lay on its side, all its rotors bent or broken and its body severely damaged. It would not likely be taking off again any time soon, if ever.
Culpepper had watched Cobra Nine dive and level off then dive again and crash in a cloud of dust. He wanted to curse the pilot of the downed helicopter, but at the moment he was too stunned. Culpepper had not seen the jah-ee. Only the pilot of Cobra One had been able to see the huge Antarian bird. But the crash absolutely baffled Culpepper. The pilot of Cobra One was one of the best they had… and yet… he was flying as though he had lost his mind. It was inexplicable and utterly baffling.
Culpepper would soon understand, though.
Varec had expanded the range of the RSVP. Now anyone who was in the area would see the jah-ee. Maybe it was a flicker perceived from the corner of his eye… Maybe it was just a feeling… but something made Culpepper look up again at that moment. He saw the huge bird descending toward him, its talons extended, and the blood all rushed out of his face.
tbc
Coming Up: Max and Michael from Antar join the battle to help their younger counterparts on earth.