Men From No Where

1

COSMOCORP MARS SITE 1 the text flashed on the screen as Alfred Weigen was moving the mouse pointer over a map on the computer screen. Alfred was a well built man in his mid thirties, short and stumpy with spiked hairs. He had been associated with Cosmocorp, a space agency for the past seven years; he had risen through the ranks pretty rapidly and was now the operation commander.

He was browsing through a three dimensional map of mars, the map showed important points of mars with the new research sites that were established only recently. There were in total fourteen such sites belonging to various countries.

The Cosmocorp Research site 1 was the largest of them, a large transparent dome covered almost three kilometers of research facilities from the harsh Martian surroundings. The site was complete with all the latest equipments, a giant 11 storey high and half a kilometer wide cylindrical building holds the oxygen that is supplied to the base.




Alfred was leading one of the research teams at this site; he was working alone in the main control lab. The rest of his fellow researchers were enjoying a party, the occasional one’s that relieved them from the work load. Alfred hated parties and now his loneliness took the hate one step further.

Alfred took a sip from the health drink he was holding and as he did it, a loud alarm went off making him cough and spill some drink.
The automatic alarm system went shrieking monotonously

`All inmates are directed to proceed to the safety hall immediately’

“Shit!...” Alfred got up shocked, fire accidents were the least expected in the facility. He knew the problem was serious because every inch of this facility had been built with fire proof material. The designers were so confident that they did not include a fire alarm system in their design but the safety rules made them include it as a passive entity.

Alfred rushed for the safety room; he remembered the procedure to follow in case of an accident. He came out of the lab and ran straight to his cabin and hurriedly opened his locker. There it was a small blue color box, pride glittered in his eyes as he took it out and safely put in his pocket. He began running towards the lift, the emptiness of the building made him tense.

A guard came running towards the lift.

“I’ve never heard that go off “, he said breathing heavily as they waited for the lift to arrive.
They stepped into the lift, Alfred pressed the button `L` which meant lane, the lift started to move upwards. The lane is a set of hanging pathways connecting the different buildings; the top most floors housed the get in points. Alfred could smell the burning fire as he got out of the lift.


“Oh…! My god”, the guard gasped, Alfred turned to look in that direction. A chill ran down his spine, smoke was billowing out from the oxygen tower. It seemed almost certain that it will explode. Five more guards who worked in the building joined them just as an emergency car arrived on third lane which connected every building to the safety hall, solely for emergency purpose. Alfred quickly got into the car which was designed to hold ten and the others joined him. The thought that the entire research facility will be down to ashes if it blew made him numb.

The safety hall was a two storey building built with zero fault and utmost protection enough to withstand any disaster; it was designed to hold the entire research crew for several months. It was located on the very edge bordering the dome.

The entire facility is constructed of fire proof material but how could…

The answer eluded Alfred; the car came to a halt in front of the safety hall. Alfred went through the first door which opened automatically, once they got in, the door closed behind them. There was a metallic door some ten foot away; Alfred pressed his palm against the identity checker which opened the metallic door. He picked up the safety suit from the automated hanger which brings a new suit to the front once a suit is taken.

Alfred was surprised as he walked into the main hall, there was no one there. The party was going on in a building nearer to the safety room, and he expected many to be there before he reached.

“Sir…!” a loud shout from a guard echoed in the emptiness of the hall. He was holding a woman drenched in blood. Alfred ran towards him and so did the others. He bent down with his heart pounding, blood covered the entire swollen face, and a huge chunk of flesh was hanging loosely of the ear. She opened her eyes a little and mumbled something feebly; Alfred bent down further to hear what she was saying,
“g..e.t o..u..t …” the rest of the words was too feeble to hear, she had gone into a trans.

“Take her to the site 2”, he said to the guard who was holding and asked another guard to assist him.

“Let’s check the party room”, he looked at the other guards who nodded a silent ok. The guards followed him to the entrance terminal. He pressed his palm against the checker and waited for the door to open, and then it came

‘Request denied’, the robotic voice responded.
Alfred kicked the floor in disgust.

‘The door’s shut, there’s no other way in and they are dying helplessly’

The thoughts compounded his misery, he sank to the floor. Alfred closed his eyes to explore the options, after a minute he made up his mind there was no way he could go out to help his friends, and then it struck the simple thing.

He jumped to his feet and ran to his right to the stairs that spiraled down to the ground floor. On the ground floor was a control room with TV’s showing different parts of the site. Alfred rushed to the room to see the party hall; the TV showed flames all over the hall, the picture wasn’t clearly visible. Alfred knew no one could be alive there.
He left the room a few minutes later with no hope.

The guards watched Alfred climbing the stairs dejected; they all agreed on what Alfred said, “Let’s leave” was the final decision.

Each boarded a specialized mars rover. The rovers were automated, once the destination is set they take care of the ride. All the four raced out into the Martian surrounding through the exit port at the back of the safety room.

The whole site loomed large as a ball of fire as they sped out into the open. Ten minutes would have passed since Alfred left the site and suddenly the rover jerked and rolled violently. It was a few minutes later that Alfred gained consciousness; he realized he had been thrown out of the rover. His spine ached as he tried in vain to get up, in the distance a horrific scene made him freeze. All the other rovers had also rolled off like his and then he saw something move.

Alfred refused to believe what he was seeing; His every effort to move failing, he lay there watching the thing approach. The peculiar figure bent down and took the blue box that Alfred had safely pocketed. Alfred watched with agonizing pain as his most precious possession was being taken from him, he could do nothing about, his whole body was paralyzed. The merciless stare of the figure brought tears out of Alfred’s eyes. He knew what was coming. A flash of light hit him and then it was all over for Alfred, life went out as tears rolled down his cheek.
















2



12:25 am 13th August
Jim woke up with displeasure splashed across his face.
‘Hell with that phone’ he thought as the bedside phone started ringing.
Jim Karty had a deep passion for space exploration which had brought him to this height.
He is the founder of an organization that has broken all barriers to be the top business house in the United States. The Cosmocorp has been the flagship space agency ever since the opening of space to the private sector. But all had not gone well for the Cosmocorp over the last six months. The company had suffered major reverses and is reeling under heavy losses; more over the competition has stiffened making it a tough job to stay afloat.
Jim had worked a hard way up the ladder and held on to that unperturbed for a decade. Sleep has been a rare item in his kitty, as the rule goes with any rare item he takes it readily when it’s available. The day had been long and tiring for Jim who had a stunning look with a free flowing hairstyle and a handsome smile nothing about him said that he was forty-five.

Jim rolled over to the side of his bed to pick up the phone. It had been an urgent call from his deputy Chris Haffison who had been along the side of Jim through his tough times. About half an hour later Jim was traveling in his car, the midnight air was chilling to the core. The call was short, Chris had something important to say and he wanted Jim immediately at the office.

The Cosmocorp headquarters was half-an-hour drive from his residence. The high rise structure was a new addition to the New York skyline. The roads were still buzzing with vehicles; Jim rolled his wrist to have a look at his gold coated ROLEX watch which showed 00:45, exactly twenty minutes had gone past after the call. The car cut through the broad roads of the Manhattan, after a good ten minutes he arrived at the gates of his office.

The seen at the office corridor took him by surprise, three patrol cars were parked thankfully he thought the blaring sirens were off. He quickly parked the car and went through the main entrance. Sergeant Charlie Wryler rushed to Jim on seeing him.

Jim quite surprised by the presence of police asked, “Is there something wrong sergeant?”
Charlie nodded silently and motioned Jim to follow him. They cut through the length of the basement to arrive at the doors of Chris’s cabin. The door of Charlie’s cabin was made of Richwood and had sculptures similar to the Inca style, Charlie’s interest for art has always fascinated Jim and many a moments he had wondered why Charlie chose to come with him. In fact out of curiosity he had asked him too, the reply had been "The Space, I consider is the master piece of gods art and it's the art which shows me a new dimension every time I look at it”. Jim understood space had enough in store to satisfy an artist's curiosity.
But today that door seemed a mere blockade for him, as his heart beat was racing to see what lay on the other side. As he entered the cozy room with rich furniture, Charlie pointed to a spot behind the high table on which lay a name plate Chris Haffison, MD of Cosmocorp, Jim walked grimly across the room and round the table. He was looking at a toppled chair besides which was the body of Charlie lying on the granite floor, eyes wide open showing terror and the body pale to the core. Jim had a deep long look at Charlie, never before he had a feeling that was now holding him, his heart weighing him down with sorrow.
He turned back and went to Charlie who was standing half way across the room.
"What Happened?" Jim threw a firm question at Charlie before he could offer his condolence.
"The blood froze and so the death, we had a call from the security fifteen minutes earlier, how come you are here at this hour?" Charlie’s question shook Jim who was still in the shock of the situation,"Chris called me half an hour earlier, no details just said me to come here?" he said still shaking in his voice.
"Are you sure it was Chris?” Charlie started the usual enquiry.
"Damn sure, I know him for the past twenty years!" Jim was returning to his normal self as time passed by.
"So... he was murdered between twelve-twenty-five and twelve-forty" Charlie made a self assessment, Jim gave a nod too.
"Do you have any clue what made him call u at this hour?” Charlie was probing further; Jim shook his head silently signaling a negative.
Charlie continued his probe for another fifteen minutes.
"Ok then, the death report will be ready by tomorrow, I would like to have your further cooperation in this case" Charlie was nearing the end of his first probe.
"Sure, keep me informed, I would like to know the murderer as soon as possible" rage was little to hide in his voice as he tried to control his temper.
He signed a paper which Charlie provided him, before leaving home.















3

8:00 am 13th August
The first rays of the sun began to set on the industrious san Francisco, as Racer Dawn opened his eyes to a new morning.

Racer was a naval officer but resigned his job after the death of his wife to look after his only nine-year-old daughter, Annie. Annie had a blond hair and all other features of her mother. Racer had a round face which made him stern looking with a cut short black hair and close to six feet.

The mansion in which Racer lived was one storied with two stairs on the inside each attached to one of the side walls; they touched down just in front of the wall that separates the kitchen from the expansive hall. The bedrooms were on the first floor two in number and a kitchen beneath it on the ground floor.

Racer was deeply engrossed in The Daily Herald as Annie glided down the wooden staircase to a neat hall below. She bumped into the sofa sitting near Racer, “Good Morning dad!”

“Good Morning honey”, replied Racer, holding out a teacup.

“Are we going out to the ranch? Dad!” hissed Annie in an uncertain tone sipping the tea.

“Of course dear! Uncle Jollar will also join us. Get ready by nine!” saying that with a smile, he brushed her hair and left upstairs.

Jollar was lean looking with an uncombed hair flowing allover his face. He had a fascination for old things that ultimately made him what he is today, An Archeologist.

Two hours later the three were driving across a country lane in their car. Green fields extended up to the near by rocky mounts. In about an hour’s drive they were near the gate of the ranch that racer owned.

A gentle breeze raffled through Annie’s hair as they alighted from the car. A neatly crafted wooden house stood just a few yards from the gate with its entrance facing the cornfield.
Racer and Annie set out for a walk after a few minutes of rest in the house While Jollar was answering a call. Annie walked on the lanes between the stooping crops that were twice her height. After a few minutes,

“D..ad!” a loud shout from Annie echoed allover the farm.



Next second Racer was running towards the right end corner of the field from where the sound came. Suddenly, dark clouds gathering around the ranch spread a gloomy weather.

“Jesus!” Racer was astonished when he turned around the corner. He was seeing something he had never even imagined. The shining sun had vanished and the place in his eyesight was absolutely dark as if the dark space up above has opened up in front of him on the ground.

His daughter Annie was lying some ten feet away. It seemed as though she was floating in mid space. Racer was stunned; he was clueless of what’s going on around him.

He was unsure whether to walk forward or not. He made up his mind and strode forward. The moment he set foot on the black area, he felt a greasy substance stick to his shoes.

He walked towards Annie careful in every step he took. He reached and picked her up in his arms, she seemed unconscious and started retracing his path out of the black spot when Jollar came gasping to the spot. Jollar has seen quiet a few astonishing sights in his archeological career but nothing like this.

Racer took his steps with utmost precaution in the black zone, moving his left foot front and sensing whether there was any ground to put his foot on. He buckled upon something on his way back, a small rectangular region moved noticeably. He bent a little, sensed the object by moving his hand over it and took it in his hand.

The moment Racer reached safe ground; he tossed the object to Jollar and started running to the house. Jollar carried the black mass into the house, while Racer rang to the doctor. Jollar noticing Racer with the phone shouted,

“Don’t call the police”

“Why?” racer asked with a puzzled look.

“I’ve to get a look into this object before the cops come in” showing what he had in his hands.

“When will you finish your stuff?”

“I’ll call the cops when it’s over, for now you look after Annie”, saying that he went upstairs for a closer look into the objects.

Jollar tried washing the black greasy substance covering the object but in vein. The black grease didn’t stick to his hands also.

“Come on!” frustrated Jollar threw the object. It hit against the table and fell by the smoking chimney. Now the rectangular object about the size of a medium length book was glowing. For Jollar it seemed as if the fire was swallowing the black mist surrounding the object. As the black substance vanished it revealed a glittering book which was glowing incredibly.

Jollar taken aback by the book, adjusted his round glasses and walked towards the book. He felt a chill feeling run through his nerves as he touched the book.

The book was made up of some kind of tough crystalline substance with myriad of encryptions on its face. As Jollar turned around blocking the view of fire from the book, the black mist appeared again engulfing the book. Realizing the effect of fire on the book, he sat by the fire keeping the book in front of the fire. The book had or it seemed to have three layers. Each stacked one above the other and locked interweaving. The first layer had some weird encryptions which were figurative; Jollar had never seen such a type of language. The best thing was it was laid out in grids, each encryption occupying a square somewhat similar to Egyptian, Jollar thought. But in the middle there was large rectangular grid, it was occupying the space that could have been filled by three rows and five columns of the other square grids. It contained three distinct letters projecting outwards about a centimeter. The first layer has to be taken out in order to view the second. Just then

“Jollar!” a loud scream from Racer shook an already bewildered Jollar.

Jollar slid down the stairs and ran straight to the black zone from where the shout came from. The scene had changed dramatically when Jollar came to the spot.

A large black hole was developing in mid air. It was pulling every inch of the black area into it. Racer and Jollar held on to a near by stone railing. In a few seconds the black hole had swallowed all the black stuff and shrunk until it eventually vanished from sight.
Jollar just realizing something got to his feet and sprang towards the house leaving behind a stunned Racer.

“Thank God!” gasped Jollar when he came to a halt near the book. He was happy on seeing that the book had not vanished.
After a few minutes Racer came upstairs,
“What’s that?” he asked pointing towards the book.
“A book from the past, I believe,” said Jollar pulling a chair besides the table.

“What the hell is going on around here?” blasted Racer resting his hands upon his hips, frustrated with the events happening.

“Not so good till now, we’ll have to find out” replied Jollar holding out the book to Racer.

“Find out what?”

“Where this book came from?”

“That’s your stuff you carry on with that” said Racer as he returned the book to Jollar.

A horn sound disturbs the still silence.
“Hey it’s the Doc", Racer said.” Don’t let it out to him” warned Jollar.

Racer glided down the stairs saying, “Then come on down stairs.”

Jollar looked curiously at the book inside the briefcase before locking it up, the black mist had fully covered it making an illusion that nothing was inside the briefcase.
















4

9:00 am 13th August
A decisive meeting was about to start. Three men of high dignity sat around a mid length wooden table in a richly decorated room with innate mysterious air about it. The words finally began

“As the convener of this meeting, I would like to inform you gentlemen that worst things are in store for us”, a tall man about sixty five with gold framed specs spoke in a mysteriously sad tone.

“Mr. Garner what went wrong with yesterdays power shutdown?” enquired in an inquisitive voice, a middle aged man in a blue blazer and a red tie, The President of USA name board glittering in front of him on the glossy table with a still national flag in the back ground.
.
“Sir, I regret to inform you that the shutdown is pretty mysterious and we are not exactly sure of the root cause of it”

“Why? What’s wrong”, intervened Mr. Cozier, The secretary of Defense, a retired general.

Garner continued in the same tone
“The data reads that twenty thousand megawatts of power has been sucked out in a second”

“What?” exclaimed the rest in unity with an utterly stunned face?

“It’s not all, we’ve found out that all the power lines in the hit areas were secure" Garner paused a moment and looked at the president who made a gesture which neatly meant continue and so he did saying," the loss occurred somewhere near Sanfransisco”.

“What do you mean by secure?” Mr. cozier cried in a more agitated tone.

“I mean that there was no power theft by our known means, as a final say the power has vanished, I’m afraid it may continue to happen unless we get to the mystery”.

A gloomy silence filled the room when Mr. Garner, the scientific advisor finished his report.




5
10:00 am 13th August

Racer went and opened the gates for the Dr.Thomson.

“What’s wrong” enquired Thomson on the way to the house.

“My Daughter Annie fainted while playing” Racer replied in a worry.

Thomson after examining Annie, took a deep breath, turned towards Racer who stood near Jollar and said

“Looks more complicated! Its better if you take her to Hospital”

“Doctor?” said Racer in a painful tone.

“She might have slipped into a temporary coma” uttering these words he rose from the bed.

An hour later Racer was glancing at a board showing
The Broadway Medical Center through a window of the hospital while a team of doctors was examining Annie. Racer felt a hand upon his shoulders and turned back,

“Don’t worry she’ll be fine” Jollar consoled a worried Racer.

After a while Racer and Jollar were seated facing a worried looking Dr.Thomson. He raffled the reports file for a minute and spoke in an agonizing tone
“Mr. Racer your daughter is suffering from a very strange coma. Her brain and the nervous system are perfectly all right. We haven’t diagnosed it yet. I’ve arranged for a high level discussion about your daughters case tomorrow. Hope it turns good.”

Racer exchanged a stunned look with Jollar. His heart ached at the sight of Annie lying motionless. It brought him the memories of his wife, whose sudden death had left him in shambles two years ago.

The meeting the day after did not bring any good news for him. For the doctors it was a puzzle.
Racer leaned upon a sofa in Jollar’s house dreadful thoughts running through his mind. Racer’s eyes lighted suddenly, he moved to Jollar

“I don’t think the doc’s have a remedy for Annie,” said Racer in a determined tone.

“Come on don’t loose hope” Jollar looked into the eyes of Racer.

“No I haven’t lost hope but gained it only now” Racer was dictating terms.

“What do you mean?” Jollar asked with a puzzled look.

“I think the book holds the remedy for Annie’s ailment. If we solve the mystery behind the book I hope Annie will come around”

“I’ve planned a meeting of our department about the book tomorrow. I’ll inform you if we dig anything out of it”Jollar said in reply.

“Don’t be stupid if the book is revealed then the government will take possession of it. We may not get to the mystery at all.”

“What do you want me to do now?”Jollar knew where the conversation was heading.

“We solve it ourselves” Racer argued.

“Look! We alone cannot solve the mystery. We may need help at some point” Jollar tried to convince Racer again.

“I want my daughter back. If your not interested give it to me I’ll solve it” Racer battled with Jollar.
Jollar understood that nothing would convince Racer. He turned away from Racer, thought for a moment and facing Racer he said

“I don’t think we’ll solve it without help. May be if we form a team it’ll be easy.”

“A team?” Racer intervened.
“A team with some of my trusted fellows agreed?”Jollar looked at Racer who thought for a moment,” Deal,” he said it with an affirmative nod.