Chapter 16
Voice of warning.
Travis sat up in a cold sweat; it was the same nightmare that had haunted him for the past 23 years. The same haunting moment in his life. No matter how much liquor he consumed, or how many times he went to therapy. The same haunting image filled his mind almost every night.
It was 2:00 in the morning. Travis stood up as he stretched from his short nap. He and George decide to get a room in the same hotel that Jessica was staying in while assisting Travis and George with their investigation. After the sudden brush with death, they decided to hole themselves up in her motel room. There were two patrol men sitting out in the parking lot, checking for any signs of a possible intruder. And there were three more officers in civilian clothing in the lobby. So if any one wanted to get in, they would be noticed.
Travis opened the door to his room and knocked on the door to the room across the hall. He heard someone inside the room approach the door. "What's the password?"
Travis suddenly stopped for a minute. "Man just opened the damn door!!!" Travis said in a loud voice. The door opened as George stuck his head out from behind the door. "You guessed it right come on in."
Travis walked in to the room. It was dark; the only light was from a blue desk lamp and the laptop in the corner. Jessica was glued to the laptop as she wrote down all the info from the video journal.
She had gone through the entire set of CDs. And what she had learned was both fascinating and disturbing.
"How you doing?" She asked as she glanced over at Travis who was standing in the doorway.
"Same as always. How's the investigation going?" Travis asked as he pulled up a chair and sat next to her.
"Well it's very disturbing, and also very fascinating." George said as he pulled out a pack of gum and put a piece in his mouth. "So far he has talked about his parents, this Project Vorsea's, and something called Zion . What ever that is."
Jessica pulled out the notebook that she was writing in. She pulled up all the notes that she made while she viewed the video logs. There was quite the extensive list of info that was yet to either be reviewed or check up on. There were a total of five different journal entries on the CD. And so far, they had viewed only three. Each CD was several hours in length, and covered several topics, from how Schaeffer was hired by Mal-tech, to whatever Zion was.
"This guy was either a genius, or a certified whack job." George said as he reached into the mini fridge and grabbed a soda. "OK. Where do we begin? He explains how the government first contacted him to help with the Vorseas project. He said that he had no idea what caused it or how it happened, but he doesn't even go into detail about it. He does go into detail about how he met Antea during the project, and how she saved him from apparently falling into a sink hole. Then he goes into detail about how he took care of her and how he got her off her feet and got her a job with him at Mal-tech. Then he goes on about how he left Mal-tech after he learned about Project Carthage, and project Zion . After which he said that the head of the project, Emilio Estrada, threatened to kill him and his family if he didn't cooperate, and then he goes on about how he had to hide the keys to Lyoko and the keys to Carthage . Whatever that means."
Travis sat in the chair and turned on a lamp sitting next to the chair. He stared out the window as he tried to contemplate what it was that George and Jessica had discovered so far. What was it that Waldo had discovered, why was it so important?
"What the hell is Lyoko and Carthage ?" Travis asked. "Sounds like something out of Star Trek or something."
George flipped through the note pad till he came to the findings of the two names. " Carthage was an ancient city located in Tunisia . It was destroyed during the 3rd Punic Wars until it was rebuilt by the Romans. As for this... Lyoko. There is nothing we could find that was based on anything called Lyoko."
Jessica turned to the laptop and used the rewind function to get to view the part where Waldo talks about the two subjects. She flipped through the screen until she got to the part where Waldo described the two names. "Here it is." She announced.
The video display on the screen showed the young man with gray hair describing his plans involving Lyoko and Carthage .
"The Keys to Zion must never fall into the hands of the Shadows. So I will separate them. One Key will be kept with Carthage , the Other will be hidden with Lyoko. Both keys can only be accessed by someone with my DNA. And it must be accessed by their own free will. If Mal-tech ever finds these keys, our world will face a major crisis." Waldo said as Jessica paused the video.
"We also have no idea what the "Keys" are. It's kind of weird, but he talks like it's a key to activating something." Jessica said as she turned her chair back around to face Travis and George.
"It must be the item he stole from Mal-tech." George said.
"Wait a minute? He stole something from Mal-Tech?" Travis asked. "What did he steal?"
"That, we have no idea. He said he stole the Keys, all the info on the Project, and Carthage . And he took his wife with him. And apparently, his parents knew that they might die from this. Because Waldo apparently asked them what he should do. And they chose death in order to save their son and his wife. Talk about sacrifices for the family." George explained as he looked at Travis. Travis turned around to face the George and Jessica.
"Was there anything else?" Travis asked.
"Yeah there was... one thing." Jessica said as she turned to the laptop and pulled up the 5th video file.
It showed that Waldo had been talking for hours. The time on the video showed it was nine hours into the conversation. Waldo had removed his eyeglasses and showed signs of exhaustion. He also seemed to show signs that he was losing his voice.
"If anyone finds this, then my calculations might have come true… I have died. No matter how many times I went over the data, I knew my death might come true. If you are watching this I have two requests. One. Find and take care of my daughter, Aelita. She is essential to our future. I never wanted her to get caught in all this, but she is the only one who can save us now." The young man said as he began to tear up, he pinched his eyes together with his fingers as he tried to get over his sadness. "The fate of our world is in her hands. But her fate must rely on the hands of others. The second thing is that you must find my wife, Antea Schaeffer. All you need to know and understand is with her. She can help you stop all of this. She is the key to ending Mal-Tech's plans for Zion ."
Travis walked over to the envelope and pulled out the picture they found at the house in Compton. He stared at Antea and Aelita. So these two were the key to solving this whole problem. Travis rubbed his thumb on the corner of the photo. It was strange, Aelita reminded him of Wendy.
"Any word on where that anonymous text message came from?" Travis asked as George walked by him.
"I turned my phone over to the techs here at the L.A. District, we'll find out soon enough." George replied as he noticed Jessica flipping through the video files on disc 3. "What are you doing Jessi?" George said, attempting to poke fun at her.
"One, don't call me Jessi unless you don't want kids one day. Two, I noticed something on his desk next to the video camera."
Travis and George walked over to the laptop as Jessica enlarged the photo as best as she could. The item in question was the back of a photograph. It had the numbers 1956 East Road , PF. And on the bottom, Blockbuster Video, 56 Newark , Delaware .
"What the hell is all that supposed to mean? It looks like the first one is an address, but what's the second?" George asked.
"It looks like an address as well. 1956 East Road , PF? I have no idea." Travis said as he wrote down the addresses on a separate sheet of paper.
"Maybe they're the location of the next tip? Maybe they're hints?" Jessica suggested.
Travis rubbed his chin. It was weird that there would be a possible clue sitting right there on the video screen. Could it be a trap? Or could it be a possible hint as to how to solve not only the case, but what exactly was going on?
"What if it's a trap? We still have no idea who those agents were that tried to kill us." George stated.
"For all we know, they could have figured out where that location is and are waiting for us there. Maybe they knew the location of the CD, and were waiting for someone to find it? Plus now there are apparently people trying to kill us over this CD."
"But think about it George, these guys wanted Waldo dead as well. And this guy has sacrificed himself to not only save us, but possibly his wife and child. And he also bought us some time to find out what is going on so we could prevent it." Jessica protested as she stood up from her chair and looked George in the eye. She took a firm posture, as she argued her case for the investigation into the two locations.
"OK so what says you're right? That means that these guys wanna do anything to stop us from finding it and whatever clue or person that leads us to." George said as he stood up out of the chair.
"And if I am right, that means it's not something we should easily give up either. We could be looking at the biggest threat since 9/11 and you wanna skip it because you might get shot at? Did you even learn a thing from that? Ever since 9/11. We check everything for a possible threat."
George looked her square in the eye. His face went dark as he lowered his head. "My father died on 9/11, he was at the World Trade Center. Don't even talk to me about that subject. It's the reason I joined the bureau." George said in a silent yet firm tone. Jessica's eyes widened as she stepped backwards a little from the shock. "All I'm saying is that we don't even know if what is over there is important enough, it might not even exist."
The room got quiet as Travis stood up and shut the laptop off. He looked at George and Jessica as he decided on his decision. It was a tough decision, both George and Jessica argued good points. But he knew what they had to do.
"I'm sorry, I had no idea." Jessica said in a quiet tone.
"It's OK. Like you said, you didn't know." George said as he sat back down.
"OK. Regardless of who knew and who didn't. It's better to be safe than sorry, so." Travis sighed as he finally made his decision. "We'll check out the first one later, we can get the guys at resources check the address and the number from the text message. Right now, let's get to Newark and find that video store. And watch out for any kind of strange activity while doing so. Like Jessica said George, this might be worth it." Travis said as he tried to persuade George.
"OK. But one thing though, let's try to leave the damage to my baby alone this time. Scratches show on black just as easy as white."
Aelita woke up staring at the ceiling of the lab room. She felt every muscle in her body ache from last night. She slowly sat up as she heard her back pop from the sudden movement. She sat up and stared at the hard metal floor. She remembered how Ulrich and Yumi brought the cot that Yumi had to the lab so that one of them -- and by "one", that meant Aelita -- could sleep on it. She felt a little more energized than when she crashed on it last night after Ulrich and Yumi slowly left the lab. She remembered how at first she just sat on it. She remembered Jeremy sat next to her and tried to talk to her, but everything after that was a complete blank.
She stood up and looked around the lab. There was no one there. She noticed that the computer screen was currently running. She walked over to find a stretched out and sleeping Jeremy. He had his head titled to the left and was using his hands as a pillow, his glasses were hanging off his face and were dangling by one ear. Aelita looked at the slumbering geek. She felt a sense of humor come from the sight of her best friend sleeping in that position. She reached up and slowly removed his eyeglasses. She placed them on the keyboard, as she watched Jeremy shift a little as he slept.
The air in the lab was cool and crisp. Kinda like the interior of a basement on a hot summer day. Aelita slowly sat back down on the cot; she didn't want to disturb Jeremy as he slept. Her back was sore as could be from sleeping on a simple wire frame cot. But it wasn't just from the cot; it was also from the night before. She remembered how the Supercomputer was hacked and how Ulrich and Yumi almost died at the hands of a monster named Xervix. She also remembered how long she was on Lyoko, and how much fighting she had done while she was on there. Every muscle in her entire body ached from the stress that was placed on it last night. She still felt a little weak from the fighting, but she definitely felt better than she was last night. Last night she could barely stand, let alone walk.
Aelita was alerted by a sudden noise from the chair, as Jeremy stood up out of the chair and stretched his legs. Aelita slowly and quietly laid back down and pretended she was asleep as Jeremy started to walk around the lab.
Jeremy reached for his eyeglasses as he started to stretch his legs a little. He had forgotten how hard it was to pull an all nighter, and how bad the chair was for his back. He turned around to see Aelita, sleeping soundly on the cot. He walked over and squatted next to her. Aelita saw this through her barely creaked eyes as she pretended to wake up.
"Morning." Aelita murmured as she sat up.
"How did you sleep?" Jeremy asked as Aelita sat up and made room for him on the cot so he could sit down next to her.
"Like I had fought a rock, and decided to lay on it after a long fight." Aelita said as she rubbed her eyes. "My back feels like someone took a stick to it. What about you?"
"I forgot how hard it was to sleep in that dang chair, and how hard it was to stay awake all night." Jeremy said as he stood up and walked toward the chair. "But I did find out some interesting details about our new friend."
"Like what?" Aelita said as she walked over toward the chair where Jeremy sat.
"Well. I did some research and I found out that when he hacked the mainframe of the Supercomputer, he left a piece of his data there so he can control the monsters and use the Supercomputer to his advantage. But I haven't found out any info on the stuff he retrieved from the Supercomputer. Or what he spoke about last night either. It will take some time for me to figure out what exactly he found on there. I also set the super scanner to let us know if Xervix starts to try and continue the work that Xana started." Jeremy spoke as he set the super scanner to alert mode.
"How did you do that?" Aelita asked.
"I scanned him when you were fighting near the Guardians. It was kinda easy." Jeremy explained. He stepped out of the chair and shut off the monitors. "Well it's about 9 o'clock. Do you wanna get some breakfast?" Jeremy asked.
"Yeah. That sounds like the best thing I have heard all week!" Aelita exclaimed as she jumped with joy.
Jeremy opened the elevator door as Aelita made her way inside. As the elevator rose Jeremy leaned up against the wall of the elevator while Aelita bent her back in an attempt to try and relive her back of the stiffness the cot gave her.
"So I noticed last night that you weren't tossing and turning like you said you have been. Did you sleep well?" Jeremy asked as the elevator slowly rose to the top.
"Actually I did have a good night's sleep for once. Except from that hard cot Yumi brought us." Aelita said as she put her hands in her pockets. "How long was it till I went to sleep?"
"Well I sat down to see how you were feeling and the next thing I remember, you were snoring."
Aelita suddenly stood up straight. She turned to Jeremy as her face turned bright red. "I DONT SNORE!!!!"
"Oh yeah you do! Not as bad as Odd, kinda like a type of panting noise. But soft sounding." Jeremy said as the elevator door finally opened, revealing the humid morning air. They walked past the bridge and headed into town. The streets were actually a little slow this morning. There was hardly any traffic, and only a few people were out driving around.
"Sorry." Aelita said in ashamed voice. "I hope I didn't disturb you up with it, or bother you?"
"No, no. You didn't. It wasn't like I could hear it from where I was at anyways. I'm sorry I brought it up." Jeremy said in an apologetic tone.
"Then that settles it." Aelita announced as they approached a stop light near an intersection. They stood waiting for the light to change. "That settles what?" Jeremy asked.
"You're sorry, I'm sorry." Aelita said with a smile on her face.
"Didn't you get that off a movie we saw at my house?" Jeremy asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Yeah, but I can't remember what I got that off of."
Aelita looked at Jeremy as their eyes met. Jeremy stared into her eyes. Those small, innocent green eyes. Whenever Jeremy looked her in the eye, he felt both a sense of fear, and strength. It made him want to be stronger for her, to be there for her, to protect her. And at the same time, he felt extremely shy in front of her.
Aelita stared into Jeremy's eyes. His eyes were a dark blue color. When she stared into his eyes, she felt such warmth in their presence. Like she was safe and secure. She had always joked about how Jeremy's puppy dog like eyes matched his puppy dog like attitude. But that's what she liked about him.
Aelita slowly moved towards Jeremy's face as he did the same. Jeremy's heart raced, he instinctively wanted to move away. But his heart was forcing him closer to Aelita's lips. Aelita slowly closed her eyes. She could feel Jeremy's breath on her lips. And then.......
A sudden horn blaring startled the two of them as a car drove by at high speeds. Jeremy and Aelita's faces turned scarlet as they both looked up. Once again, fate had kept them apart.
"So you know. We don't have to go to the lunch room. We can always hit a fast food joint before we head back to the dorms." Jeremy suggested. Aelita agreed as they both made their way into town.
They tried to hide it but both of them were disappointed in what had just transpired. It was almost frustrating. And they both thought their 3rd time would be a charm.
Yumi, Ulrich, and Odd sat at the lunch table eating breakfast. Odd looked like he had slept for almost days; he felt fresh and recharged. But Ulrich still felt a little groggy. Even though he slept most of the night, Odd's snoring still waked him up every once and a while.
Yumi also felt a little slow. After she and Ulrich left William's room, Ulrich walked her home. She didn't even bother getting dressed for bed. She just crashed on her bed and fell asleep. She woke up to the sound of Hiroki accidentally breaking something in the kitchen, and the sound of her father knocking over a mop bucket full of water. So long story short, she fell asleep in a bad way, and woke up in a bad way.
"Those dorks. They went to McDonald's for breakfast and left us here!!" Odd stammered as he got off the phone with Jeremy. "They better bring me back something."
"Did Jeremy say if there was any progress in that AI we ran into last night?" Yumi asked as she rested her chin on her hand.
"He said he would explain it later." Odd said as he drank the last of his milk.
"Hey not to loud will ya" Ulrich said in a mumbling manner.
"Why? Someone might hear?" Odd asked.
"No. I'm too tired to think about what's its name."
"AWW maybe sleeping beauty should get a kiss from his princess charming?" Odd joked as he made a kissy face and looked back and forth between Yumi and Ulrich.
"Sorry but 'Princess charming' is way too tired for that" Yumi said as she stretched her arms.
William entered the lunchroom and walked over to the table. He, like Odd, felt a little better after his sleep. He walked over and stood behind Odd.
"Do you guys mind if I sit with you guys?" William asked.
"Nah sit down Mr. Hero. You're one of us now." Odd said as he pulled out a chair for William.
"Mr. Hero?" William asked as he sat down. "So how is everyone doing?" William asked as he sat back in his chair.
"Well the two love birds there are still out of it, and I'm doing fine, except last night I had a weird dream that I turned into a werewolf. I was yellow and had a purple stripe in my hair. And every one else, except Aelita were wolves as well. As for the other secret love birds, they're eating out for breakfast. Also, Jeremy's gonna go over what he found about our new virtual buddy when they get back." Odd explained as finished up his breakfast.
Odd stood up and walked towards the trash can as William turned around and looked at Yumi and Ulrich, who both looked like two sloths in a tree.
"So how are you doing Will?" Ulrich murmured again.
"Can't complain. Although I don't wanna rub it in, since you guys aren't feeling well." Will said.
"Well let's just say that I'm glad we don't have class today. Or you would probably hear a sudden thud noise every once and a while." Ulrich said as he tried to sit up.
"As for me, there isn't enough coffee in the world to keep my eyes open." Yumi said as the three of them stood up and made their way to the door.
The three of them made their way out to the bench where they were waiting for Aelita and Jeremy to arrive. Odd walked out and made his way towards them. He walked past Tanell and her gang as they started laughing at him as he walked past. Odd stopped and looked in their direction. Tanell stared at him for a second, and finally yelled at Odd.
"Run Forrest!! Run!!!" She yelled as Herb and Nicholas busted into laughter.
Odd just stared as he walked over to the others. He put his hands in his pockets and frowned as he walked up to the bench. Ulrich and Yumi were sitting on it while William stood like he was in the army or some kind of military like school.
"Man I hate that girl. I can't even think of a comeback towards her." Odd said as he grumbled about what just transpired.
"Who? The Lewis Girl?" William asked as he looked behind Odd and noticed the three kids still laughing.
"Ohh I hate that American. I can't even understand why she is so rotten." Odd said as he kicked a rock next to his feet.
"She actually asked me if I was Gothic once in the hall." Yumi said as she joined in the conversation. "And Ulrich still can't get over what she said when he almost hit Nicholas."
"I haven't really talked to her yet. But why is Herb and Nicholas with her instead of Sissi?" William asked.
"From what I heard, Tanell embarrassed Sissi and they left her that day." Yumi said as she stood up.
"I kinda feel sorry for her. Maybe we should let her hang with us when we are not dealing with Xervix" Ulrich said as he sat back on the bench.
"I don't know. I mean I feel the same way as you guys but what if she learns about it? She had no problem telling on us before." Odd said as he stared at a bird sitting in a tree.
"Well talk it over when Jeremy and Aelita get here. By the way, does anyone know if they're dating or not?" Yumi said "First they look like they are, then they aren't. What are they?"
"I think Jeremy wants to be more than friends. He asked me how he should approach Aelita with the question." Ulrich admitted. "And I think Aelita feels the same way."
"Why don't they just admit it?" Yumi said.
"OHHHH. Like you two have room to talk. You two were on and off all the time. It drove us nuts." Odd blurted in disbelief. "At least they have a better idea than you two ever had." Odd said.
"Hey it wasn't that bad." Yumi said in protest.
"Are you kidding? When we hung out you were all 'Ulrich this and Ulrich that' I never understood why Ulrich always felt so threatened." William said in response.
"Really? She talked about me a lot?" Ulrich asked.
The old man walked up to the apartment he had rented while he was in France . The temperature was still hot and humid for the month. The local schools where preparing to let out for the summer. As was his targets school. He walked into the apartment and removed his jacket. His apartment was recently cleaned by the room service ladies. He made sure to tell them that they were not to touch the laptop or the items in the fridge. He walked past his bed and turned the air conditioner to high as he flipped open his laptop and turned it on. He reached into his wallet and pulled out a strange looking card. It had a small wire antenna and a strange looking microchip sitting on the edge, connecting the antenna to the card. He slid it in and turned on the computer.
The man walked over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of alcohol. He poured it into a cup and began drinking out of it. He looked out the window as the laptop suddenly flashed and displayed a blue screen. A symbol appeared on the screen. It was circular with three lines in it. The speakers clicked as a voice echoed in it. The old man put on a head set as he prepared to start a conversation with some one.
"Hello. How is your stay going?" the voice asked.
"It's hotter than hell out here. And I really don't like the heat, you know that." The old man said as he poured another drink from his bottle. "I saw them yesterday. She looks just like her."
"I predicted as much, but I'm afraid we might have a problem. There is now no sign of the Super virus anywhere on the Internet. I'm afraid our fears might have come true."
The old man lowered his glass as he looked towards the laptop. "Our new friend found his way home?"
There was a pause on the ear piece as the laptop flashed again, followed by the voice he was talking to.
"Yes. All the scenarios that Waldo talked about might start to take fruition. It might be a matter of time before the Agency discovers them."
The old man laid down his glass as he sat on the bed next to the desk. He stared out the window as he thought about what might happen next.
"They want the blond boy and Aelita right? Not the others?" The old man said.
"Right. But they will more than likely try to capture the others and cryo them as well, in order to try and silence any possible leaks to avoid interference with their plans. In order for Waldo's plans to succeed, we will need the help of both the French government and the United States government, if those children can work together with the police agencies to stop Mal-Tech's plans."
The old man drank out of the bottle as he contemplated what his partner meant.
"You mean the FBI and the Directorate-General for External Security?" The old man said as he drank from the bottle again.
"You're drinking again, aren't you?" The voice said in a worrisome voice.
The old man stopped drinking as he looked towards the laptop. "What's it to you?" The old man said.
The voice paused as the old man finished his bottle and threw it in the trash.
"Have you had those nightmares again?"
The old man paused a second as he looked out the window. Suddenly his face grew bright red as his whole body filled with rage.
"It's none of your damn business!!!" The old man shouted loudly. They both got real quiet as the old man slowly tried to hide his feelings. "No. It's just that seeing her brought back some memories."
"That's understandable. We'd better cut this off before someone catches on." The voice said.
"OK. So by now the kids will be fighting Xervix and the FBI will possibly be looking for the clues to the Key, right?" the old man said as he stood up.
"Right. So for now, I'll keep an eye on Aelita and her boyfriend. I'll also keep and eye out for any signs of 'Symptoms'. And I'll monitor the supercomputer with the program, and you let me know when I should make my move."
"Agreed. I'll keep Mal-Tech out for as long as possible and keep the FBI looking for the Key. I will contact you by phone later."
The old man walked over to the laptop and set it to shut down, "OK, logging off now. Later."
"Good bye Mr. Morse." the voice said.
"I told you to call me Frank."
Medusa