The other side of beyond, p.9
The Other Side of Beyond, page 9
part #2 of Mitch Mythic Series
SoHee looked around in disbelief, she couldn’t understand why Mitch would let himself get involved in something like that. He seemed so excited about his scholarship and relieved that he could put the past behind him.
“The other 4 individuals were wearing masks and as of yet we have been unable to identify them. The motive of the situation is unclear as well. There are several important clues we have been able to gather out of the video. First of all it appears that the two unmasked individuals are being taken against there will. You can see in this still they both put their hands on the backs of their heads and later on in the cave the final individual we can see has his hands bound behind his back,” Gerald said.
“What the hell happened down there? What was that thing?” General Vargas demanded.
“We’re still trying to piece it all together, but the object visible at the end of the video is identical in shape and size to what was produced last year in the main dome by Robert Chapman,” Gerald said.
“Are saying that these guys were able to open up a portal on their own right underneath your nose?” General Vargas snarled.
“The excavation of the blast site is still underway, but we are finding fragments of equipment that have dubious origins. The cave where this all took place was a location that somehow evaded detection. Every available type of equipment was used by all manner of personnel to map this area and each department missed this location. Either there is some anomaly keeping this cave hidden such as a material that could block our imaging systems or whoever built the structure in the video used a technology that kept the location hidden from our sensors,” Gerald said.
“How do we know that those guys didn’t just get squashed like bugs under those rocks?” General Vargas asked.
“We’re unsure at the moment, but we have been able to clear a large area of the blast site and no human remains have been found,” Gerald answered.
“So what do you plan to do to handle this mess?” Vargas asked sitting back in his chair with his arms folded.
“Whoever went through that portal represents a terrorist threat to this country. If we don’t go after them now, there’s no telling what kind of damage they could do,” Gerald snapped back.
“How do you plan on doing that? From what I’ve been told we’re not even close to ready with our developments and whatever those lunatics had in that cavern got crushed under a bunch of boulders,” The General said.
“As luck would have it, we have been able to salvage the device used to open the portal in the cavern. Our engineers have been examining the equipment and there are some very interesting design features present. We have been able to apply these findings to our own research. It looks like we are ready after all,” Gerald said.
“You’re saying we can open gateways on our own?” General Vargas asked.
“That’s correct sir, and we will demonstrate this procedure for you in the next few hours,” Gerald said. “The incident that took place last year was perhaps the biggest threat to national security since 9/11, but we believe we can use this technology to get out ahead of any future threats. If we are able to establish our own portal we will be much better prepared to defend ourselves should another incident arise. The research potential here is huge, plus we need to know what kinds of threats are out there and how we should handle them. Let’s make the most of this crisis,” Gerald said looking directly at the general.
“Are you asking me to authorize an intern dimensional expedition?” General Vargas asked.
“Precisely Sir,” Gerald said. “Those terrorists came right into our house and thumbed their noses at us. I don’t think we should let them get away with it. If we move now the trail is still hot. The engineers have informed us the portal left a particle trail we can track, but that window as closing rapidly as the particles dissipate. We need to strike now or we’ll miss our chance. If we don't get these guys now there’s no telling what they’ll do next. It’s possible they could re-open a portal and rob the federal reserve for all we know.”
“How long until the window closes?” a woman wearing civilian clothes asked.
“It’s anybody’s guess, but engineering estimates we’ll loose most of the particles within the next twenty-four hours,” Gerald said.
“My strike team is ready to deploy, Sir,” a square jawed man in camouflage said.
“Thank you Admiral, I can’t imagine the navy seals would want to miss out on an opportunity like this,” Gerald said.
“Don’t go getting ahead of yourself, Tobero. I need to talk to the joint chiefs before any of this gets green lighted, but we’ll need to see your demonstration before anything else happens. Now do you mind telling me why there is a South Korean school girl sitting in on this security briefing?” General Vargas asked.
“Our honored guest from South Korea is crucial to this operation and we will be seeing a demonstration of her skill shortly,” Gerald said. Sohee’s head popped up at the sound of her name and she could feel herself blushing as all of the eyes in the room turned to her.
“How the hell is she going to help this mission?” General Vargas said looking SoHee up and down.
“Miss Moon has a very special skill set we need to utilize in order to successfully execute our plan. She has personal insight on two of the subjects at large and she is also the only person in the world that can do what we are about to demonstrate. ” Gerald said.
“Are you telling me she is our most dangerous asset?” General Vargas asked in astonishment.
“Believe it or not sir, that is exactly what I’m saying,” Gerald said looking directly at SoHee. “Isn’t that right, Miss Moon?”
SoHee was caught off guard by the question and she squirmed in her seat while everybody remained fixated on her. “I hope I can help,” She managed to say.
“I hope you can too for your sake, but I’ll believe it when I see it,” General Vargas said and he stood up from the desk. “We’ll need to see this demonstration as soon possible, unless there’s anything else any one would like to add?”
“I don’t think Mitch would do anything like this. He isn’t a terrorist,” SoHee blurted out. The room went silent and she couldn’t believe she had spoken out like that.
“We’ll be the ones who decide who the terrorist are, Miss Science,” General Vargas retorted. “Let’s move out. Tobero, I suggest you speak with your asset about chain of command.”
CHAPTER TEN
MITCH CLAWED AT the dark water. For a moment he couldn’t tell which way was up and his lungs began to ache as they squeezed the oxygen out of the air he had sucked in on the way down. He began to panic and he reached up to what he hoped was the surface. His head burst out of the water and he sucked in a welcome breath of air. He kicked hard to keep his head out the water and he looked around frantically for a place to swim to. He could see a jagged edge a short distance from where he had come up. He could see his captors climbing out of the water. He kicked towards the edge and began to swim using his remaining strength. He looked over and he saw Drak a short distance ahead of him, he looked back and grinned at Mitch.
“See, told you don’t worry,” Drak said, flashing his grin again.
“I thought you said you couldn’t swim,” Mitch said as he pulled himself towards the edge of the dark pool.
“I swim, just not well,” Drak said with a grin as he paddled along like he was enjoying the water. Drak reached the edge first and he waited for Mitch and pulled him out of the water as he came near. Mitch fell to his knees on the hard surface and rolled over onto his back. He was so happy to be back on dry land he didn’t even bother to look around to see where he was. Drak sat down beside him, took off his shoes and began to wring out his socks.
“Did you two lovebirds enjoy your swim?” Roger said from behind them. Mitch looked over and saw the chubby man sitting on a rock with his shotgun across his knee. His hair was disheveled and his glasses were still dripping water. “Get yourselves together, we need to keep moving.”
“Whoa, get a load of the fearless leader, everybody,” Gaelin said. He sat opposite Roger and he was attempting to clean his pistol. “We don't even know where we are or what we’re looking for. We should scout the area first and see what we’re dealing with. Anybody want a granola bar? I’ve got some water too and some water purification tablets as well. That water doesn’t look too bad. Just like the boy scouts I came prepared.”
“That’s great, but don’t you think we should find a place that’s a little less exposed?” Roger said. “There could be more of those things around here and who knows what else.”
“We can take one of those things out in the open like this and it seems like they don’t like the light,” Kate said. “Should anything else show up, we’ve got enough ammo to take it down. Do You still have that gun I gave you Mythic?”
Mitch looked down at his hand and saw that he was still clutching the revolver. He couldn’t believe that he had managed to hang onto it. His knuckles were bone white and he had to pry his fingers free to let go of the grip. “I’ve still got it, but I think it’s pretty wet.”
“You think,” Kate said with a laugh. “#epiccrotchchot boy has a point, we need to clean these weapons before we go anywhere.”
“OK, everybody, there’s something I’d like to say,” Gaelin said. “We’re through the looking glass people. I’ve always wanted to say that.”
Mitch watched his captors in disbelief, he looked over to Drak who rolled his eyes in acknowledgement and grinned again. How was it possible that he had been captured by half wit terrorists and dragged back into the madness he thought he had put behind him? Only his current predicament was infinitely worse than what he had been through before. Not only was he a captive of terrorists, but they were all hopelessly lost in an unknown dimension. He had no idea if he would ever see his home again. He could kiss his dreams of playing hockey at BC good bye. He cursed his luck and scanned his surroundings. Across the deep pool at the base of the cliff the waterfall raged on. The water could be seen flowing out of the pool to the left into a series of boulders. They were sitting inside a great basin and steep rocky cliffs lined the pool of water in every direction. It didn’t seem like there was any way out of the basin unless they kept following the water, but that meant traversing more waterfalls and Mitch didn’t like the idea of going over one more time at all. His heart was still pounding after going off of the cliff. He looked down and noticed that his hands were shaking, adrenaline pumping through his system.
Roger stood up with his shotgun in his hand and began to scan the cliffs for a way out. “Look up there. It looks like there is a little gorge,” He said as he stepped back towards the edge of the water so he could get a better vantage. “Yeah, I think we can get up there.”
Mitch peered up at the crack Roger was talking about and he could also see a slice of light that seemed to be an opening. He had turned himself around so he could get a better look and he noticed a dark shadow cross over him. He swung his head around and saw the reptilian head of the same creature rise up out of the water. Mitch was about to scream when the creature brought it’s hands out of the water and slashed into Roger and hoisted him off of the ground. Roger hollered in pain and attempted to turn and shoot the creature with his shotgun. Mitch watched in shock as the creature bit into Roger’s arm tearing off the limb. The shotgun hit the ground with a clatter and Drak dragged Mitch up the rock face.
“Shoot this goddamn thing,” Roger screamed as it sank its teeth into his torso. Gaelin opened fire with his pistol and Kate was about to do the same, but her gun jammed.
“It won’t fire, damnit,” she shouted. Drak shot off the rocks and rolled up underneath the creature. He grabbed Rogers fallen shotgun and spun onto his back. He aimed the gun at the creatures underbelly and pulled the trigger. A loud boom filled the basin and the shot blasted a hole into the creatures flesh. It let out a horrendous roar and dropped Roger’s bloody torso onto the ground before diving into the water. Drak scrambled back from the edge with the shotgun in his hand and he scanned the water for any movement. Gaelin and Kate had both climbed up higher as well. They all stood on the rocks and watched the water in terror.
A ripple of movement to the left caught Mitch’s attention.
“Look, over there,” He shouted. A dark shape could be seen under the water and it was rapidly approaching.
“Get to higher ground,” Gaelin shouted as he stepped backwards over the rock keeping his pistol trained on the surface of the water. “Did you get that gun unjammed, Kate?”
“We’ll find out when that thing pops its head out of the water again,” Kate shouted as she slammed a fresh clip into the gun.
Mitch and Drak had climbed up several more levels of rock and their backs were pressed up against the base of the cliff. He peered down into the water, but the black shape he had seen earlier had vanished as had the rippling on the surface. “Do you think it’s gone?” Mitch asked Drak.
“Don’t think so, seems like it hungry now, fat one must be delicious,” Drak said with a laugh.
“What is wrong with you?” Mitch asked.
“Good question,” Drak said and grinned. Without warning the creature leapt out of the water and landed on the rocks where they had been sitting before. It let out vicious snarl and then it began to stalk towards them. Drak raised his shotgun to fire but it only clicked.
“Out of ammo. We need to run,” Drak said to Mitch.
“You think,” Mitch shouted and he began to scramble across the rocks that lined the cliff in search of the passage Roger had spotted before he was devoured by the creature. He could hear the beast’s claws scraping against the stone as it began to close in on them. A burst of gunfire exploded nearby and Mitch looked back to see Kate unloading on the creature as it slashed at her. Kate’s bullets didn’t seem to do much damage to the monster. It didn’t seem like the shotgun blast that Drak had delivered to its underbelly had done much damage either. Kate retreated to a nearby rock to reload while Gaelin fired at the creature from the side. It swung around to face him and Gaelin realized that he was in difficult situation. He saw Mitch and Drak making their way towards the opening and he bounded across a gap to another boulder as the creature swung at him and missed.
“It’s here,” Mitch half whispered to Drak. “We can climb, but I think we’ll need a boost, you’ve got longer arms than me, you go first and then pull me up.”
“Can’t just leave them here,” Drak said looking back at Gaelin and Kate as they attempted to flee the monster.
“It’s their fault that we’re here,” Mitch said. “Now come on let’s get the hell outta here before we wind up just like them.” Mitch laced his fingers together and hung his hands near his knees. Drak stepped onto his feet and hoisted himself up into the gap. Gaelin was charging at them and Mitch could see Kate crouching behind a rock as the monster pursued Gaelin over the rocks.
“Grab hand Mitch,” Drak said as he hung his long arm down from the crevice. Mitch reached up, but he looked back when he heard a shriek. Gaelin had fallen and the creature was about to pounce upon him when an immense blast of light shot down from above the Basin knocking the creature onto its side. Gaelin regained his feet and he looked around in astonishment for a moment.
“Run,” Mitch shouted. “Let’s get out of here.”
The creature had gotten to its feet and it seemed as confused as everybody else. It looked around in disbelief until it’s eyes found its prey again. Three dark shadows appeared overhead and the creature shrieked in what seemed like anger and disdain and bounded towards the water. Several more blasts took out chunks of rock while the creature fled. It jumped off of the ledge and vanished into the dark pool of water. A loud hum could be heard all around them and the shadows seemed to grow in size. Mitch looked up and he saw 3 large rectangular shapes hovering above them. Several orange lights shone down from within the rectangles. They began to descend into the basin and the humming grew louder. Mitch had to shield his eyes as the light intensified. Suddenly the sound died and the light was gone. Mitch opened his eyes and he saw 3 strange looking crafts that seemed like rafts hovering in the air in front of him. Several cloaked figures stood on the rafts and they were all holding long staffs.
Mitch’s heart pounded in his chest as the figures stood motionless on the deck’s of their strange crafts. Their bodies were draped in a strange grey material that glistened under the light. They appeared to be humanoid but their faces were covered by dark red hoods. Mitch could see hints of metallic jawlines, but their faces were covered in shadows. One figure in the centre craft raised its staff into the air and pounded the butt of it against the deck three times. The other figures did the same and they all launched into the air. They shot up several feet and paused, their red hoods pulled back to reveal oblong metallic heads. Large insect like eyes protruded from the tops of their skulls and several dark rungs lined the sides. The leader at the center raised its staff above its head and then pointed it directly at them. The other figures charged forward and Mitch scrambled at the rock as Drak yanked him into the gap. A blast hit Mitch in the back and he screamed in agony as a painful sensation ripped through his body. Drak pulled at his hand, but Mitch was ripped away by some unknown force and he could see he was hovering in the air. His body had lost all sensation, but he was still conscious and alert. He could see the ground moving below him and he felt himself being spun around. One of the figures had its staff trained on him and he was being lured in much like a fish on a hook, he tried to scream, but his mouth wasn't working either.
