ADAM

 

Tuesday January 7 - 0859 MST

Eight days until Turbocharger activates

 

 

"I didn't realize things had been so bleak." Colonel Sterling's look told me he wasn't sure what I was referencing. To him a lot had gone on since Taob had been blown to pieces. For me, it was still fresh in my memory. "What the general had said. He said the President was about to write off Arizona. I mean, when has he ever just given up on something that big?"

The colonel walked in silence for several moments before answering. He'd been leading me down a corridor I'd never visited before. It wasn't one of the gloomy dim tunnels of C-Watch, which I was immensely thankful for. One visit to that place was enough for a lifetime. We were still in the part of the CTTC where the floors were shiny and the lighting bright.

"It wasn't the loss of land that was the most troubling aspect of that, Adam. Giving up Arizona would mean revealing the existence of exos to America and the world."

There was the secrecy again. Some things you kept secret like the locations of your country's nukes or where your special forces were operating. That made sense. But I could never see the reasoning behind hiding the existence of things out there that were a danger to the public. You usually told people about approaching hurricanes so they could get out of the way. Not exos though.

"Why is that such a bad thing? Wouldn't we want to let people know about these things so they could get ready for them?"

"Adam, I understand where you're coming from, but what exactly can people do to prepare against a Category 3 crab-spider? More importantly knowledge, of where these things come from is exactly the reason why they are being brought to our planet. Do you remember that home in Cheyenne we cleared out right after your arrival here?"

How could I forget? A family of three had been summoning exo-critters using a contraption in their basement. They'd found the plans for making that homebrew summoning device on the Internet. The site was eventually shut down and owner found. It turned out the guy selling the plans online was none other than the master sorcerer who had conspired with Taob to bring that tentacled demon-god to Earth. Both were a cloud of radioactive ash now. I nodded in response to Sterling's question.

"It's far too easy for people to delve into exo techno-sorcery these days, Adam. Half a century ago you'd need hundreds of times the power to do the same thing. Today, all you need is a truck battery or a portable generator. Tomorrow it'll be the battery in your watch. We can't be everywhere. So we ensure the public does not know enough to be dangerous. That's the only way to keep our nation secure. At least until this trend turns around."

When the colonel said power he wasn't just talking about electricity. Sure, I'd seen some devices used for these rituals that were powered by batteries, but the most potent way to power rituals, or spells or whatever you wanted to call these procedures, was more sinister. Humans had some kind of energy bound up in their bodies and the fastest way to release that energy was to take a person's life. That's why human sacrifice had been used for this sort of thing for thousands of years. For reasons I still don't fully understand, the power required for crossing between our world and another has been going down over time. It was easier now than it had been before to bring unnatural things into our world, and with that ease the summoners have been bringing over bigger and nastier things. Some were bullet proof. Others, like Taob, needed an atomic bomb to kill. I didn't want to know if there were scarier things out there.

"I didn't bring you down here to lecture you on transient techno-sorcery, Adam." Sterling gestured at the lone door built into the dead end of the corridor. The faded sign beside the door's frame read Mech. Room #12, but it didn't sound like a closet full of machinery. Instead I heard country music. "There were some people I thought you might want to see."

Poking my head through the door I saw the room had all traces of mechanical devices removed. One wall of the ten-by-twenty space was fronted by lockers with an open space for a dart board. In one corner, on a raised square of concrete where some heavy machine used to rest, was a white refrigerator. The fridge's doors were covered in stickers depicting various military unit emblems. But what really tied the place together was the centerpiece of the room. Under a string of light bulbs sat five men around a weathered old picnic bench. Somehow they'd managed to manhandle the worn table through the corridors and into this little room. It gave the place a very warm and lived in feel.

The lively chatter and hearty laughs of the men trailed off as their attention settled on me and understanding set in. I recognized them all and they recognized me. Though the looks on their faces said they didn't believe their eyes.

I waved at them. "Hi guys. Nice place you got here. Mind if I come in?"

Beer bottles were set down and a couple of them slowly got up. There were a couple of quietly muttered curses too.

Sterling stepped into the room gesturing defensively, and it wasn't a moment too soon. I saw one hand reaching for a holstered sidearm. "It's alright, folks. It really is Adam. He's back."

That seemed to work. All of them relaxed and they were back to being my teammates. Or dare I say it…friends.

Gary was the first to come over and shake my hand. He was followed by Rob, J.T., and Ronnie. Captain Grider merely followed his brothers-in-arms and glared. He was just like I remembered him. Alpha team was all here, minus Jay of course who was now with the new team named Shadow.

J.T. retrieved a pair of bottled beers for me and the colonel as we took seats at the picnic table. The guys were anxious to hear my story. I told them about leaving the bomb, the time dilation, the hitchhiking, and being picked up by Shadow. They were a bit skeptical at first, but I mentioned some of the things we'd talked about on the ride over to Canyon Diablo. That stuff was seven months distant in their memory, but still fresh in my head.

Normal people might still not believe such an incredible tale. But Alpha team had seen some really strange stuff. This was just more of the same and they eased up and were back to joking and bantering soon enough.

When I was no longer the topic of conversation I took the opportunity to check out the wall full of decorations opposite the lockers. It was decidedly unusual in that the decorations weren't really decorative. The wall was just one giant corkboard with various photographs and knick-knacks pinned to it. There didn't seem to be a pattern to it, just random bits and pieces.

I saw pictures of the soldiers of Alpha but half of the faces in them I didn't recognize. There had been more men in the team initially but over time they had shrunk in size. I'd never asked since I was positive it would dredge up painful memories, but from what rumors I heard several had been killed or medically removed. I'd overheard someone mention once that a couple of the original Alpha team soldiers had been committed to a mental hospital. I hoped that was just a rumor. That's a really sad way to live out your life.

"It's easy to forget how much crazy shit we've seen." Gary was standing beside me gesturing at the wall of mementos with his beer. "That's why we keep this. There's something here for every mission and from everyone on the team who isn't here anymore. To absent companions."

He clinked his bottle against mine and took a swig. I did as well, it seemed the right thing to do.

Looking over the rest of the wall I saw newspaper clippings, an ivory tiki statue, a sharply curved dagger in a black and gold sheath, and at least a dozen baggies containing a handful of sand. There was a strip of masking tape on each baggie with a hand written note of where the sand was collected. It looked like Alpha had collected sand from just about everywhere in the world that had sand.

When I got to the bag from Canyon Diablo I saw a leather holster beside it with a wood handled revolver within. Gary saw me eyeing it and nodded. So I pulled it out and turned it around in my hands. I didn't know much about revolvers but I did recognize the little horse engraved in the frame just below the cylinder. It was just like the one I saw imprinted on Gunny Lively's Model 1911.

Gary pointed at the pistol with his bottle. "That's an 1891 Colt Peacemaker. I picked that up inside the pink bubble. You won't see anything like that around now. Those go for over ten grand….when you can find them. But all the ones still around today have over a hundred years of wear and tear on them. This is the only one in mint condition thanks to the time travel magic in that bubble. Pretty cool, huh?"

I nodded in wholehearted agreement. It was too bad no one could ever know about it. Explaining how we essentially traveled through time to get our hands on it would be awkward.

My eyes wandered as I put the Peacemaker back in its holster. I locked on to the plastic bag bearing the memento directly beside the old pistol. I couldn't look away from it because it was something of mine. It was one of my issues of The Centurion comic along with its cardboard backing. The same issue that I had been re-reading over and over again because it contained a scene that had been invading my dreams since the Change had transformed me. But what was it doing here?

J.T. put a hand on my shoulder. I didn't even notice him walk up next to me. "Sorry, Adam. We thought you were dead. And you'd left it in the truck. It's tradition to put up something that reminds us of a fallen comrade."

"Yeah, man. No hard feelings." Gary pulled out the tack holding the bag in place before handing me the comic. There was still a translucent layer of Arizona dust on the plastic. "Here, take it. It's yours."

J.T. grinned lopsided at Gary. "Ironic, huh?"

"What is?" Gary asked.

"We are. The first guy on this team to come back from the dead returning something to the second guy to do the same."

Gary grinned back. Then Rob spoke up before lifting his beer. "We live in strange times. Here's to surviving those strange times."

There was muttered agreement and we all took a drink. We spent the next few minutes catching up on events while I had been away. Things had really changed. The new management was focused on this new Turbocharger project. Alpha had been providing security for the most recent round of testing which had lasted through the night. They were off duty now and about to head home to get some rack time. I was lucky to catch them first.

Though everyone else was happy to see me, Grider's hard glare told me he wasn't. That man could never give me a break from his near constant paranoia. Maybe he needed to be that way to keep himself and his team alive. I don't know.

Whatever the case, it was nice to be back. Everyone from the Canyon Diablo mission had finally made it home.