FB2-18 "Intrusion"

A Chapter by dw817

Learby spoke quietly as she approached, "Are you ready, Cheani ?" She nodded tersely, though her eyes were red, as if she might've been crying. "You did sign the form, all pages ?" She nodded again.

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F U T U R E B A R R I E R
( The 2nd Novel )
Secret Technology, Unrequited Love, Absolute Vengeance

© January 2015 Written by David Wicker
Please do not reprint without permission

CHAPTER 18 - "Intrusion"
[ CHOOSE A DIFFERENT CHAPTER TO READ ]

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This chapter is Rated: EVERYONE

Jeffrey had only closed his eyes when SAN suddenly spoke:

Mr. Stansil, this is your 18.45 wakeup alarm.

And then there was a pleasant chime until he tapped the console to stop it. He took a quick sonic shower, dressed for work and saw that Sally was at his front door. She was dressed for business, the same as him.

"Did you get the invitation ?" she said bouncing up and down on her heels in excitement.

Jeffrey nodded, "Yes, I did. 4 friends ? I didn't think you had any friends, Sally." and the door automatically locked behind him as they walked to the Transit.

Sally was angry at this accusation. "Course I do ! There's Danielle, Pearcie, me, and you, that's 4 !"

Jeffrey didn't even bother to look at her and yawned tiredly, "So I'm your friend now ?"

Sally corrected him, "No ! You're my BOYFRIEND, there's a HUGE difference ! And now that I have you I'm never gonna let you go !" and she gave him a big hug holding on to him as he continued to walk which made her look awkward.

"Ahum." he said as they both entered the Transit. "Lab 5, please." he spoke. The Transit took off at a hard angle behind diagonally and down. Sally touched her chest, a little queasy at the sudden movement. Jeffrey smiled, glad to get SOMETHING unpleasant to happen to her.

"So what are the party games ?" Jeffrey asked, sounding somewhat interested in Sally's party now.

Sally innocently twirled her fingers together, "Oh, you'll find out. It'll be fun ! And bring booze and a present !"

Jeffrey nodded. "I'll do that." In truth, he had no interest in her or her stupid party, but if she invited him in, then MAYBE she could find where she had the program running and delete it and the blackmail video and its copies she made. That would take time. And it was best to catch her off her guard so she would make it easier for him.

The transit dinged arriving at its destination. Before the door opened, Sally suddenly grabbed Jeffrey's hand and curled it around her own. Sure enough, right outside the door, Jennie was standing waiting for him. Sally smiled secretly to herself knowing she'd be less cordial to him seeing that he had his hand wrapped up in hers.

"Jeff." she said neutrally clearly seeing them holding hands together.

"Jennie." and he tried to pull away but Sally had a tight grip. If he pulled harder he knew she'd make a scene out of it, so he kept his arm still and Sally gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Right," Jennie began. "Here's Lab 5. Everyone's waiting." and she took off in a brisk stride leaving Jeffrey and Sally behind. They started to walk quickly to catch up and entered the lab.

With a growing fear, Jennie suddenly recognized it as the same lab her husband was killed in !

She coughed, feeling like she was going to be sick, but fortunately Learby was there to console her. "Hey, I know what you're thinking. Everything's going to be okay though. We're not going to have any more problems."

Jennie looked up to see that instead of the destroyed Gate like Murphy shot to pieces earlier, a brand-new gate, even bigger than the last one was there and it gleamed and glowed with a uniqueness far surpassing the older one.

But the gate was not by itself. There was a separate series of rings, 6 in all in a circular fashion sitting about 15 feet from in front of it and they glowed as well. These were stabilizers and field dampeners to ensure safety and restrict unwarranted outgoing movement as occurred earlier when the older Tyr arrived through it.

Still, strange wisps of purple and blue creeped out of the main Gate, occasionally tugging on the clothes of those that were close to it. They brushed their clothes occasionally, distracted by the nuisance slightly.

Learby held Jennie's hand and brought her to the left side of the gate. The gate itself seemed to vibrate with an unearthly energy source and there was a kind of whispering hissing. To an especially creative mind it might've even sounded like frantic chanting. Then Jeffrey pulled free of Sally's tight grip and went of his own accord to the right side of the Gate.

Then Cheani was ready. She looked like she was in a futuristic flight-jacket that covered her complete body with a kind of energetic reflective material all around her, except for her face that had a glass domed helmet with a series of lights around her mouth inside. Even her fingers were covered over completely by thick gloves.

Learby spoke quietly as she approached, "Are you ready, Cheani ?" She nodded tersely, though her eyes were red, as if she might've been crying. "You did sign the form, all pages ?" She nodded again. It was obvious this could well be a suicide mission and he had her sign a special notice notifying her next of kin should she not return. Time travel was tricky stuff.

"Brave girl. You are so brave, and you will definitely be remembered, if ..." he said in his sincerest voice but couldn't complete the sentence, so instead he reached his hand up still holding hers to shake it firmly in front of her chest to give her both courage and strength for the mission.

Cheani spoke in her quiet and timid voice, the start of tears could be seen, "Yessir."

He nodded to her. Jennie tapped the side of the Gate's console and a bright green light shone on her side signifying she was ready. There was only a moment's pause before Jeffrey, finishing the calculations on his side, tapped the side of his Gate and an equally bright green light shone on his side.

They sat and waited looking at the top of the gate. A full minute passed and people were mumbling amongst themselves about possible failure when the light above it shone. There were 3 green lights now.

... It was time for Cheani to go ...

She saluted Learby, Jeffrey, Jennie, and then the rest of the group including Sally who were standing in the distance.

Then she started to enter the gate -

But didn't get very far when there was a definite power fluctuation. She hesitated and backed up slightly seeing that the dampeners were damaged by the loss effect. Something creepy and gray reached out from the weakened Gate, like a large illusory hand and slid its dark shape across her protective helmet with a hiss. She collapsed unconscious and the shape leapt back inside the gate.

"Turn it off ! Everyone get back !" Learby yelled reaching down to drag her away from the dangerous Gate and then looked up to see the only place you could affect the Gate from here was the upper scaffolding. There you could see his form, standing over the console, entering new values into it which is what caused the energy fluctuation.

And then he was yelled down to them in a commanding voice, "Stay where you are, all of you !" and you could clearly see the unmistakeable sight of Darceon, Tyr's husband who had stepped from the gate earlier and apparently out of hiding, standing on one of the supporting platforms above, his gun pointed directly at Learby threateningly.

"Where is my wife, Tyr !?" he yelled. and he tapped the gun's switch angrily from the top to change it from shock to kill. Learby raised his shaky hands up carefully seeing the shift in the weapon and prepared to answer him.