(ACSS) The Pyramids Of Rock Lake

Xander walked into the office. It was very nice looking, with stained wood furniture and cabinets. A liquor cabinate with a glass front was behind the man he was about to speak to. Xander looked him up and down. He was an older gentleman with a chisled face. Xander could tell he’d been through a lot from his eyes. The eyes never lied, he’d learned in his years of investigation. The eyes never lied.

"You're back. Did you take care of our business?" The man asked.

"Yeah. It was a little more dificult that I expected. Needed silver."

"The undead."

"Yeah. We call them undead. Yet, they're more alive than most of the living,” Xander said, shaking his head.

"You took care of it?"

"I took care of what you sent me after. However, Azrael was working for someone. There's more to this than we thought."

"You're going to have to put that on hold. We have a report the Ansethor have a hidden base here in America."

"The Ansethor? You're kidding! How did they land here where we didn't know?"

"They didn't. This is an ancient base. The local rumors say it may be Atlantis, but it appears to be a recon base to spy on the development of civilization here on Earth. That was its original purpose, anyway, before the war. A fisherman found it."

“Well, I guess I’m going to Rock Lake in Wisconsin,” Xander said with a sigh.

“How did you know where it was,” the man demanded. “This just came in a week ago!”

“The pyramids have been known since at least 1900 when the Wilson brothers spotted them while duck hunting. I suspected that, since they had the pyramid shape, they were an Ansethor base. I never figured it was active, though.”

“Mmm. A fisherman a week ago saw a tracker leave there just a week ago. Guy described it to local newspapers as some kind of sea monster. Sounds like the same model people spot in Loch Ness.”

“What kind of mission is this? If it’s an elimination, I’m going to need a team”

“Just recon. We don’t know what we have down there. Now get on it.”

Xander left the office without any good byes. There was a lot of anonymity in the department; he didn’t even know the name of his commanding office. This bothered him at first until his first encounter with the Elorns, when they captured him and interrogated him through psychic attacks. After that, he was happy not to know, because he’d discovered he couldn’t keep anything back.

He was, officially, in the Army. Within Delta Force, or KEG as it is currently known, there is a unit of soldiers who display unique skills, be they psychic, mutation, or even magic. There were about 10 of them, and Xander was the most talented field agent. Their job was to investigate possible paranormal, extraterrestrial, or crypto zoological threats to United States Security. He’d seen a lot. One of his favorite past times was to go to conspiracy websites and just laugh at how close, yet how far they were to getting to the truth.

Xander especially liked the men in black theories. Xander was, in essence, what these people described as the men in black. However, his agency was not going to label their agents by having them all dress alike and act alike, and intimidation of people who had seen things usually only blew up into bigger problems. Those aspects of people’s conception of the men in black were not unfounded, however. The Ansethor, whom he was going to investigate, had been waging a psy-ops war on humanity trying to get them to stop trusting their governments through such tactics. If you didn’t experience anything when you had your sighting, Xander was there. If you were intimidated, it was the Ansethor.

Xander’s plane landed in Chicago and a car was waiting for him at O’Hare airport. Xander wondered what kind of hoops people had to go through to allow an empty car to sit in front of Terminal 2’s arrivals without getting towed. He jumped in and prepared for the 8 hour drive by turning on the car. He pulled out of the terminal and started headed north on US-90.

Xander pulled up to a boat landing on Rock Lake at about 2 AM. There were no lights on the lake, and he couldn’t see any boats, either. He put on his night vision goggles and checked again, just to make sure. Not seeing anyone, he turned back to the car and grabbed his duffel bag out of it. He set the bag on the landing, and drove the car into the water. It floated as he stepped out of it and walked through some water to get back to the landing. Reaching in his bag, he pressed a button and his car seemed almost to melt and reshape its self into an enclosed boat. He opened the door, threw in the bag and sat down himself. Then, he began to descend into the murky depths of the lake.

There were telltale marks of the Ansethor, but nothing recent. He caught a glimpse of something moving on his right. Turning to look, he saw something that looked like a shark, except in the place of eyes was some material that glowed bright green in his night vision goggles. Damn, he’d been spotted.

The shark started to dart off and Xander followed it. After keeping up with it for about 200 feet, the shark turned and headed in a different direction. Xander noted his current trajectory, then went to pursue the shark. He looked up from his console, and the shark was gone. So much for slipping in unnoticed. Xander set his craft in the direction the shark had originally been traveling and brought up a topographical map. There it was.

The place was ancient. It looked nothing like the current pyramid base the Ansethor were currently building on Titan and Venus. There was a limestone shell around the largest of the structures, but there were patches where a gold colored material shined through. This was older than the pyramids they build in Egypt, after they had discovered a way to fuse their smart metals with stone to cause it to appear a natural, human created structure.

All the lights in Xander’s craft shut off, his night vision goggles stopped working and the low hum created by the engine of his craft quieted down to nothing. He hit a button on the console that was glowing a dull green, but nothing happened. “Damn,” he thought. “Hit with a pellet, not just an EM pulse.”

EM Pellets, or just pellets, were small but powerful electronic devices that were designed to output a directed EM pulse at the craft they’d attached themselves to. Modern technology planned for EM pulses, as they are a common astronomical event. However, a sustained EM pulse was another matter. Xander either could try to find the pellet and remove it, or abandon his craft. He took a SCUBA mask from his bag. It was always organized in the same way because getting blinded or losing all sources of light were a common hazard in his profession. He put it on, and started to open the door. As soon as he lifted the handle, there was blackness.

Xander woke up and couldn’t move. All he could see was yellow and red shifting in strange patterns before his eyes. He was slightly troubled until he realized his eyes were closed. When he opened them, he saw 4 extremely bright lights, and immediately closed them again. He’d been captured, and the 4 lights forced him to think of an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that had always troubled him.

He squinted into the lights until his eyes became used to the brightness, then opened them. He was in a room that appeared to be completely made of stainless steel. There were all kinds of medical instruments and devices throughout the room, and he was strapped down to a metal table. His neck was restrained, so he couldn’t really look around, just side to side. He was familiar with most of those tools. He was here for either interrogation or experiments.

The Ansethor, unlike the Elorns, had no psychic ability, so they used torture to get the information they wanted. Xander hated these situations. He would have to get free, but there was nothing he could do while alone like this. He closed his eyes and fell into a shallow sleep.

After a few hours, he heard the sound of polished metal sliding against polished metal. He snapped awake and saw a person walk in. He was wearing a black suit and sunglasses, and appeared human. He skin was unusually white and he had an unusually tight lipped mouth. He also stood a bit taller than most humans, and was more slight of build. Xander started to laugh loudly. The little mouth on the person turned into a frown.

“Why do you laugh?” He asked Xander.

Xander got control of his laughter. “Cut the crap. There’s no need to morph. I know all about your ‘Men in Black’ operation, as you’re about to find out.”

“I sssseeee…” the creature replied as it started to change shape before Xander’s eyes. When it was finished, there was a serpentine looking creature standing before him in the same suit. The glasses had fallen to the floor as his face changed shape. The same people who were digging for a truth that was all around them would refer to the Ansethor as “Reptillians”. Very few people knew what they were really called and, like the Elorns, who were referred to as “Grays”, they were named after their appearance. “You know much.”

“When are we going to get started,” Xander asked belligerently. The creature hissed at him and left. As it was walking out, Xander caught a glimpse of a thought from its mind.

“So,” he thought. “He works for Karam’nor. How is that possible? I killed Karam’nor 5 years ago…”

Xander got as comfortable as he could with his arms, legs and neck bound by metal shackles, and went back to sleep waiting to see what came next.

Don't you hate it when they say,
To Be Continued...

Good start Jake, Now lets see the end of it

I was going to wait till you finished the story to comment but decided against it. I have personal issues on that matter I guess. There is nothing worse then putting a story up and have not one single person reply to it, atleast for me.

I just wanted to encourage you and tell you that so far its a great read. I look forward to your posting the rest of it.

Love and light,

Wupy

Thanks for the reply, Mr. Wupy. Alas, you don't get the conclusion, though. It's turning out to be a wee bit longer than I expected, so y'all are just going to get part 2 now so I'll be able to continue from home over the weekend. Rock, rock on!

Xander woke to the same metal sliding against metal sound again. He looked to his side, and there could be no mistake. Karam’nor was still alive, and standing here with two other Ansethorians. Karam’nor had a larger head than most of the Ansethor. He had undergone genetic manipulation giving him some of the genes that gave the Elorn their psychic ability. While Karam’nor couldn’t probe into Xander’s mind, he could effectively stop Xander from doing the same, or worse.

“My dear Xander, it’s good to see you again,” Karam’nor said as he walked into the room. “It’s been what, 5 years?”

“I killed you.”

“You only thought you killed me. I had to disappear from PSA’s radar before I could come here. Since you’re here, that means PSA’s aware of our presence here. This will not do,” Karam’nor said in a soft, harsh baritone voice. As an afterthought, he added, “Thankfully, you’re going to help us remedy that.”

PSA is the name of the unit that Xander was a part of. It stood for Paranormal Studies Agency. It was named such to keep questions to a minimum in congress. Their up front budget was rather small, but with all the cups the cafeteria in the capitol just purchased for $6,400 each they were very well funded.

Xander thought back to 5 years ago, on the op where he was to assassinate Karam’nor. Karam’nor was the Ansethor’s spymaster to Earth, and was a dangerous foe. He went rogue from the official Ansethorian government about 6 years ago, and the hit was a joint PSA/Ansethorian operation that appeared to go exactly as planned. With Karam’nor still alive, only one of two things could be true. Either the Ansethor fooled the US government into thinking they had killed Karam’nor, or Karam’nor was still operating as a rogue agent unknown to the Ansethor. Both options had the potential to be true, and Xander would have to find out which it was before he got back.

Replaying all the interaction with the Ansethor, it seemed very unlikely Karam’nor knew about Xander’s latent psychic ability. Thankfully, the PSA didn’t keep any records, or wanted to, of any operative’s special abilities. No amount of spying would have revealed what Xander was capable of. He wasn’t even sure; he’d done some incredible things he never would have though possible when the only other option was death, or worse, failing the mission.

Karam’nor knew the PSA, therefore he knew Xander didn’t have any information that would be worth getting. So what were the medical tools for?

The bed he was lying on tilted forward until he was in a standing position facing his captors. “Well, shall we get started then,” Karam’nor said ominously.

--

Gorris Danderbee finished tying his tie. He hated these things; they always felt so restrictive. Yet, Betty wanted to have a special night out, and he needed to wear a suit.

Gorris looked himself over in the mirror. He was about 6 feet tall and well built. His short black hair had been subdued by about 2 cans of hair spray, and it almost gave him a professional appearance, in the black suit. The piercing green eyes staring back at him in the mirror didn’t reflect the typical hard, intimidating gaze he was known for on the job. Now, they had a nervous look to them that was foreign to his face. Betty had been planning this night for about a month, and Gorris needed to be sure nothing went wrong. This was her night.

Gorris went up the stairs to his room and grabbed his keys from his nightstand. He was about to walk out the door to his red Toyota Supra when the phone rang. His heart dropped as he went to answer it.

“Gorris here”

“Xander’s off the map; we need you to come in”

His heart sank even farther as the ramifications of this phone call sank in. Betty didn’t have a cell phone, so he wouldn’t be able to call her and let her know. He was going to have to stand her up. Quickly he tried calling her apartment, but only got her machine. He left a sorry message apologizing and explaining that work just called him for an emergency business trip, and he would probably be unreachable for a few days. He apologized again, and hung up the phone.

Gorris ran out to his car and started heading to the PSA office. On his way, he realized he had forgotten his gun, but didn’t think it was worth turning around for. Xander was on the Azrael case. Guns didn’t work on the undead, so he wouldn’t need it. Gorris sped off into the night.

--

Marcus didn’t like this. Xander hadn’t called in for over 3 days, and that was very unusual. He was just on a recon mission, so he should have been fine. What was going on in Rock Lake?

Marcus picked up the phone and called in the big gun.

--

Gorris walked into the office his commander was in. It bothered him that he was never even told his commander’s first name. It was understandable; many of the PSA operatives had little or no psychic ability. However, Gorris had earned the nickname “Unbreakable” due to his uncanny ability to keep psychic attacks out of his mind. “So Xander ran into problems on the Azrael case?” Gorris asked as he walked in.

“Xander’s not on the Azrael case. He finished that,” Marcus stated coldly. Marcus didn’t like Gorris; he was too arrogant. The fact that he had no reason not to be chaffed Marcus even more. Gorris was his best operative, but he was not a team player. Gorris also somehow knew about the Azrael case; Marcus was going to have to look into that. “I sent Xander to investigate Rock Lake.”

“What’s Rock Lake? I’ve not heard of that before,” Gorris stated.

Marcus smiled to himself. “There were some underwater pyramids discovered there in 1900. Just a week ago a fisherman reported seeing an Ansethor scout ship in the lake.”

“You sent Xander into an Ansethor base?! Half of that race wants him dead for killing one of the most beloved Ansethorian political figures in that race’s history, and the other half want him dead because he was capable of taking Karam’nor out despite all of their security! They fear him, and anything the Ansethor fear dies if they can do so! If Xander’s dead, why am I here?” Gorris demanded.

“Because Xander’s not dead. His tracer shows him to still be in Rock Lake, but his brain waves are becoming more and more erratic, as is his heartbeat. Something is happening down there, and it doesn’t look like these Ansethor want him dead.”

“Rescue mission, then?”

“Elimination. I want to know what they’re doing down there, but I don’t want them doing it anymore. Rescuing Xander is a second priority. Your team will consist of…” Marcus began.

“You know I work alone. There will be no team.”

“Not this time, Gorris. We don’t know what’s down there, so you’re taking a team.”

“Bull#. We don’t know what’s down there, so I may not have the time to baby-sit while trying to take down this threat.”

Marcus knew this was a losing battle. Even if he got Gorris to agree to take the team, he’d just abandon them at the shore with orders not to move. Damn his pride! “Get out of here,” Marcus said as he went back to his computer.

--

Gorris shook his head as he walked out of the office. A team! That guy had to be kidding, they’d only hold him back. Besides, if Xander could be taken, these guys had to be good. Gorris had some abilities he didn’t want PSA to know about. If he worked with a team, it would mean tying one hand behind his back.

He jumped into his car and drove off to the airport, Betty being completely forgotten.


Will there ever be a time he doesn't say To be continued...?

Poor Betty! Can't wait for the next episode. The story line is a little different than usual for me, but it is a good read. Waiting...waiting...waiting...

Gorris parked his car at Aztalan State Park and got out to walk the three miles to Rock Lake. He had about 30 years of training in Dim Mok under Master Quan in a small town 200 miles west of Golmud, China. As a result, he was able to slow his metabolism to the point of not needing air for about 3 hours.

Gorris came to the lake in a secluded section. He stopped and concentrated for a few minutes. As the minutes ticked by, his breathing slowed until it stopped all together. He dove into the lake and started swimming to where the topographical maps placed the base. It was a short swim, and he got there in about a half hour.

Since the water was so murky, he didn’t notice the structure until he was just about on top of it. He started swimming around it looking for a way in. He came across a section that appeared to have a door in it. Feeling around, looking for a catch or something to trip to open the door, it just slid open. “This can’t be good,” Gorris thought to himself as he stepped in.

The Ansethor had developed forcefield technology to an art over 5000 years ago, and this doorway was evidence. Though the door was open, no water passed into the building. Gorris, however, had no problem entering.

Fully expecting an ambush, Gorris burst through the failsafe airlock to surprise his attackers. He burst into an empty hallway, looking in all directions at once. Nothing.

He could tell the base was active. The life support was working, and all the lights were on. He could also hear the dull rumble of the generators pumping energy into the building through water fusion. PSA had lost more than one operative trying to get their hands on that technology.

It did, however, appear undermanned. Normally someone, at least, would be walking through this hallway, and he should have been able to hear footfalls. This may not be as difficult as he had first thought.

Gorris reached into his breast pocket and pulled out his PDA. He tapped into Xander’s tracking signal and got a readout on his position. Xander was still alive, but barely. The words, “rescuing Xander is a second priority,” echoed through Gorris’s mind and a wave of anger washed over him. Securing Xander was his first priority, PSA be damned. They were keeping him alive for something, and Gorris wanted to know what.

It appeared Xander was about 4 floors higher up. Gorris started looking for a stairway. He had long since stopped trusting elevators, especially when he suspected he’d been discovered.

He found a stairway and started to work his way up. The stairway had fallen into disrepair. Rust had claimed most of the railing, and in places there were complete holes where metal steps used to be. The humidity regulators should have prevented this from ever happening. More evidence this base was just coming back online after years of disuse.

As Gorris crested the final stair that brought him 4 floors up from where he began, he heard a scuff. According to his PDA, Xander was only about 40 yards down the hallway.

Gorris quickly peeked around the corner of the stairwell down the hall and saw a lithe figure standing in front of a door. It stood about 5 feet high and looked extremely fragile, as though its arms and legs were made of gray twigs. It’s head was overly large for its body, and they eyes in the head took up most of the face. A small slit of a mouth and two tiny holes where a nose should be were the only other facial features.

“What the heck is an Elorn doing in an Ansethor base? They hate each other even more than they hate humans,” Gorris thought to himself. Anyone else would have been discovered by the Elorn through it’s telepathy. However, Gorris was able to effectively block any probe into his mind, and didn’t appear to be there to the Elorn at all. Gorris was sure the room the Elorn was guarding held Xander. Now the problem was getting there.

While he knew he could snap the Elorn in two in less than a second, if the Elorn saw him coming it would send a message into the minds of every alien in the ancient base that there was an intruder, what he looked like, and where he was.

Gorris envied the Ansethor’s morphing ability for a moment before remembering how abandoned the base appeared to be. There was a good chance that this Elorn was the only guard on this floor, judging by the other floors he’d passed on his way up here. Gorris smirked and reached for his gun, planning on shooting the thing with a silencer attached.

His hand hit his empty hip. He’d forgotten his gun! Thoughts of Betty tried to push their way into his mind, but he quickly suppressed them. This was not the time for stray thoughts, but it was too late. He could feel the Elorn probing right in his direction. It had detected the stray thought and was now trying to pinpoint what it had sensed.

Crouching down behind the corner, Gorris waited. He hoped the Elorn wasn’t a very disciplined soldier and would leave its post to find out what this oddity was that it sensed for a split second. Most Elorn didn’t work well with a military structure as the Ansethorians did.

Sure enough, he heard the soft plod of unshod feet stepping across the steel floor towards him. He tensed, preparing to deliver a lethal blow, then thought better of it. Instead, he lashed out with everything in his mind trying to form a psychic shell around the mind of the Elorn. The Elorn were powerful psychics. Gorris was taking a large gamble, but he needed answers.

He surprised the Elorn and felt the shell fall into place. He had effectively muted the little alien from communicating with the rest of the world. Gorris stood up and started walking over to the Elorn. As soon as he took his first step, he felt the shell pressing out with such force it almost shattered. How was this possible? Getting the shell over someone’s mind was always difficult if they knew you were trying to do so, but after it was in place, there was nothing the victim could do to remove it. Yet, this Elorn seemed to be able to fight it, and it was winning.

Gorris stopped moving and concentrated only on the Elorn. He was in the fight of his life, yet, to an outside observer, it appeared as though this alien and human were just staring at each other very intently.

Again, the shell seemed to stretch to its limit, then fall back into place. It seemed as though this alien was just testing it’s constraint, not yet fighting against it. Though the Elorn did not express their emotions on their faces, Gorris was sure he saw a smirk emerging on the things face.

Suddenly she shell expanded with much more force than it had before, and the shell snapped. Gorris flew back about 5 feet from the unexpected recoil as the thing started walking towards him, never taking its eyes off of him.

Gorris threw up every mental shield he’d ever learned to create, expecting an attack of epic proportions. He was going to have to handle this quickly, since there was no doubt guards were now on their way down here. Yet the attack never came, just a probe that Gorris wouldn’t have noticed had he not been searching desperately for anything. The thing was toying with him.

Gorris turned over and pulled himself up to his hands and knees. The force of the Elorn’s attack had completely drained him. The only reason he was still alive was because the alien hadn’t chosen to kill him yet.

“How…could…a Gray do…this?” Gorris uttered out, adding extra emphasis to “Gray”, knowing the Elorn hated being called that.

A wave of contemptuous amusement washed through Gorris’s mind as the Elorn began communicating with him. Though the Elorn didn’t use words in their communication, the human brain’s inner monologue would automatically translate the images flashing into the mind into English words. An image flashed into Gorris’s mind, and the three most terrifying words he’d ever heard came to his mind: “I am Lirr.”

Gorris’s skin went cold. Lirr was the psychic technology director on the Elorn home world and widely accepted as the most powerful Elorn psychic by a long shot. He had lost his position for leaking information to the Ansethor during the Orion wars, thereby allowing the Ansethor to develop the technology to create crossbreeds of Elorn and Ansethor. Only one of these cross breeds had ever been created and allowed to survive, though, and that one had been killed by Xander 5 years ago. The crossbreeds had an unfortunate tendency to go insane after puberty.

The true implications of what had just happened hit Gorris. Despite all of his mental shields being up, Lirr had still managed to get inside of his mind to communicate with him. “I won’t need my gun to fight the undead,” he mocked himself in his mind.

The thought, “you are mine,” came to Gorris’s mind. Using a trick he had learned in his first operation against the Elorn, Gorris appeared to lower his mental shields. Yet, as he did so, he brought up another shield over a small portion of his mind that was actively searching for some way out of this situation. If all went well, Lirr would assume Gorris had surrendered and lower its own defenses. However, this was the most powerful psychic in the known galaxy. Though Gorris didn’t expect it to work, he had no choice.

“Good, you see that you have been beaten,” the thought drifted through Gorris’s mind much more loudly than the previous ones had. The images were much more vivid and clear being projected into his mind. “You have quite a bit of psychic ability for a human. Still pathetic compared to my race.”

“What are you doing here,” Gorris demanded.

“You’re in no position to be asking questions,” came the reply in his mind. The image in his mind showed him being tied in the shape of a pretzel with his hands and feet shoved into his mouth. “What are you doing here?”

Realizing he hadn’t shielded that part of his mind, he knew he would have to be honest. “A PSA agent came out here and we never heard from him. I’m investigating why he never checked in,” Gorris explained.

“Ahh, of course. You PSA agents are like the roaches of your planet, where you see one, there are many others around. But wait…You came here for more. You’re to eliminate everyone in here. Where’s your team? PSA never sends a single operative to…No, you came alone. Your pride will be the end of you.”

“Where are the guards,” Gorris asked.

“Why would I call guards for a single pathetic human? I am Lirr!” Gorris’s mind raced. If Lirr wasn’t going to get any reinforcements, this changed everything.

Still on his hands and knees, he looked up at the Elorn and asked, “why am I still alive?” He slowly started to stand up, thinking where Lirr could read that his knees were very uncomfortable and he needed to change positions.

“You are no threat, and are obviously weak. Besides, Karam’nor has plans for you.”

That was one too many coincidences. Lirr created Karam’nor, and Xander had, Gorris though, killed Karam’nor. If Karam’nor were still alive, it would explain why Lirr was here in this Ansethor base, as well. Gorris decided it was time to act.

Gorris’s gaze snapped over the shoulder of Lirr while thinking, “what is that?!” Lirr took the bait and turned to see what Gorris was looking at. In one quick motion, Gorris swung his hand around and smashed the back of Lirr’s head against the steel wall, shattering its skull. At the same time, he slammed the psychic shell around Lirr’s mind at the same time. Lirr went down, crying out an alarm in shock that only Gorris’s mind could hear. Then Lirr’s mind was silent.

Not wanting to take any chances, Gorris twisted Lirr’s head, snapping the fragile neck like a stalk of celery. He stood up and walked over to the door the Elorn had been guarding. Pressing a button, the door slid open to display a horrific sight.

The room was stainless steel all around, and well polished. In the center was a steel bed with a sorry looking figure strapped to it. Rust colored blood stained the ground around the table, and there were many sharp medical tools around with little pieces of gore on them still. Whoever had done this didn’t bother to clean up.
Gorris ran to the bed and his worst fears were confirmed: Xander, beaten and broken, was who lied in the bed. Gorris checked for a pulse and was shocked to discover one. He ran to a wall and pulled a lever, releasing Xander from his bonds. Slowly, Xander’s eyes opened.

“Wow, they sent in the big guns. I’m honored,” Xander said when he saw Gorris. Reaching into another pocket, Gorris took out a chip that was about 2 square inches. He placed the chip on Xander’s head.

“You’re going to be alright. With the healing accelerator, you should be healthy enough to walk in about 15 minutes,” Gorris explained. Xander just closed his eyes and appeared to fall asleep. Gorris moved off to a corner opposite the door and sat down, waiting for Xander to be healthy enough to come with him.


Oh jeeze, To be continued... again?

Dang it, KEEP GOING! This starting and stopping annoying, want to keep reading but CAN'T! Come on, next espisode please!

I agree, how can just stop like that, its like, omg, is it ever going to end, omg, you can just stop. LOL

[edit on 9-5-2005 by SpittinCobra]

Heeey, I'm getting to it, just had a really busy week Let not your hearts be troubled, more is on the way.

Oh, and thanks a ton all of y'all for the complements!

Got the rest? Hate cliffhangers.... Also, today last day for the competition....

VERY well written. This reads just like a published story. If you made it a little more mainstream, then it could even be he basis for a movie, Van Helsing style. A perfect combination of narration, dialogue, and personal experience was used, and each element was itself used to the utmost potential. This really belongs in a much larger volume with more background, the continuation, and an internal character struggle. Fantastic job.

Truly a great story, with alot of time and thought put in to it.

Well written, fascinating premise, definitely the makings of a novel. Love it

Very cool stuff. I could see myself getting lost in this kind of world if there was more to read. Secretive covert ops teams of superhumans have always been an interest for me when I've read fiction and fantasy stuff. I hope you keep at it!

Xander came to feeling better than he had in what seemed like years. He couldn’t remember much of what had happened, he just knew he was restrained. He had given up testing his bonds ages ago, so he just lied prone, waiting for his captors to come.

Gorris noticed Xander’s eyes open, but other than that he didn’t move.

“Xander,” he shouted, and saw a visible shiver run through Xander. “Xander,” he called more softly as he got up and walked over to the bed.

“Gorris, what…” The events 15 minutes ago came back into Xander’s memory and a small but forced smile appeared on his face.

“You should be fine. Try getting up, make sure the healing accelerator did its job correctly,” Gorris told Xander.

During the trial phase of the healing accelerator it had been discovered that human anatomy was vastly different than monkey anatomy, and the accelerator couldn’t compensate. One trial case had actually appeared to have a fatal simian skin disease and the accelerator had actually melted away all of that individual’s skin before discovering it didn’t possess the ability to replace it. Gorris and Xander had both been with PSA during those trials, so both of them had an inherent distrust of the healing accelerator, though they had a 100% success rate since the bugs had been worked out.

Xander stood up and pulled off the accelerator. He took a few tentative steps, appearing to expect his legs to just fall off. After the first few steps, he gained confidence and walked over to Gorris. “What’s the situation?”

“Lirr is dead,” Gorris said.

“Oh, congratulations,” Xander said. “That was the last case you were on?”

“No, that was the last guard you’ll ever have in this cell.”

Xander was noticeably shaken. “Lirr was here? The Elorn, Lirr? [I]The[/I] Lirr?” Gorris just nodded his head, moving towards the door. “What about Karam’nor? He’s the one who’s been interrogating me these past…How long have I been in here?”

On hearing of Karam’nor’s name, Gorris gave Xander a sidelong glance. It was starting to make a little sense. Somehow Karam’nor and Lirr had gotten together and were planning something. What, he wasn’t sure, but Gorris intended to find out. For now, the question was what to do with Xander. He was a good agent, of that there was no doubt. However, he was nowhere near the caliber that Gorris himself was at. If there were any more Elorn here, Gorris would be at a severe disadvantage if his partner were to be assaulted psychically.

“So what’s your plan? What are we doing?” Xander asked. Apparently, Xander was going to be coming with Gorris. He’d just have to be on the lookout for any Elorn and attack them first and foremost.

“Did you see what they did with your clothes, “Gorris asked Xander. No matter how hard he tried, Gorris’s eyes kept drifting down. The more he tried not to look, the more his eyes would try to head in that direction, and he was downright sick of it. Xander looked around and pointed. Gorris looked at him quizzically. Xander got the hint and went to the corner, took his clothes and put them on.

“Wow, they left me my piece,” Xander said as he pulled on his pants, indicating his gun.

Gorris’s eyebrows went down and his mind started racing. Either Karam’nor didn’t expect Xander to be able to break free or he wanted him to break free and be armed. Karam’nor didn’t make silly mistakes like this, and considering the number of agents, Gorris included, who had escaped from Ansethor captivity, Karam’nor wouldn’t be so arrogant as to expect Xander’s escape to be impossible…Unless Lirr had given him added confidence. “Mind if I take it? I thought you were still dealing with the undead when I got the call and left my piece at home.” Betty came back into his mind for a moment before he pushed the thoughts down. “I am, after all, the better shot, and every shot in this will count.”

Xander looked indignant. “You have your mind, I have my gun. I need to be armed, and this is all I have.”

Gorris shot back, “You are a PSA agent. You are never unarmed. You, naked, are more lethal than a company of marines told to shoot at anything that moves. Don’t give me that crap.”

“I need my gun. Without it, I’ll be putty in an Anesthor’s hands.” He was right, the Anesthor were far stronger than humans were. Gorris just turned to the door and started to walk out, thinking to himself, “This is why I hate partners…” Xander dutifully followed him out the doorway into the hall.

Gorris led Xander to the stairway he had found earlier, and they continued to go up it. He suspected they were near the center of the pyramid, and assumed this stairway would lead to the crest of the structure.

About two flights up, he heard a scrape. Due to the Anesthor being here, his mind associated the sound with that of 3 talons scraping against metal. He motioned for Xander to stay back and peeked around the corner. Two Anesthor were about 50 yards down the hall whispering to one another.

“What do you see,” Xander asked. Gorris looked at him incredulously. The torture must have really messed him up. Gorris responded simply by putting his finger up to his pursed lips, then went back to observing the aliens.

This was just getting stranger and stranger. Why were they whispering? This was a fairly secure structure, so the only reason for whispers would be some form of treason. At least, that was all Gorris could think of. He waited about two minutes to see what would happen, but the two just kept whispering in their guttural language. Turning back, he motioned for Xander to follow him as he mounted the next flight of stairs, stepping very quietly.

They reached the top of the stairs, and still the area felt almost completely deserted. However, though there were no sounds coming from behind it, this floor had a secured door protecting it from the stairwell. Gorris sighed and looked behind himself at Xander. Xander was looking down the stairwell, probably checking to make sure the two Anesthor he’d seen weren’t following. Gorris turned back around and pulled out his lock picking set.

He pulled out a little monitor and placed it where the locking mechanism was. Pressing a button, a green display came up showing the inner workings of the door. Gorris pulled out two thin metal rods and placed them on opposite sides of the bolt that was now visible, ever careful not to touch the hand scanning lock release mechanism. Holding the two rods with his thumb and pinky finger of his left hand, he took out a long wire with two alligator clips on either end and a small box in the center. He clipped both the rods to either side of the wire, then firmly pressed on the box. There was no sound. He took down the rods and the wire, detaching it and placing it back into his pack. Gorris then took out the monitor again, and saw the bolt had slid away from the frame of the door. It was unlocked.

Standing up, Gorris turned around to let Xander know he was about to open the door, and his stomach turned. Xander had his gun drawn on Gorris, and the two Anesthor were standing on either side of him, about a step behind.

“You always were good,” Xander said with a smirk. “But not nearly as good as you thought.”

Gorris started to lash out at Xander with his mind, knowing Xander only had a rudimentary defense against psychic attacks. As he was doing so, he felt a brush of air, then the door slammed into him, knocking him over the stairwell railing and onto the flight of stairs one floor lower.

Regaining his senses after a moment, Gorris threw himself down another flight of stairs and took off down the hallway. He turned a corner, ran some more, and turned right again. He saw two doorways, one on his right and the other on his left. He ran up to them and discovered another stairwell and a door opposite it.

Working as quickly as he could, he picked this lock as he had done the last, and slipped into the room. He set up the metal rods again, but hooked the wire up in the opposite direction and the bolt slid back into place, spending about 45 seconds opening and closing the door. Then he turned around to view the area.

Gorris’s heart missed a beat. He couldn’t believe it. He had found the armory. “If this were a movie or story,” he thought, “I would be mocking the writers for using such a cliché. This is perfect!” Gorris marveled that real life could work out like a short story, and walked over to see what he had discovered.

Most of the weapons he’d never seen before. A few of them looked like extremely early prototype versions of the weapons he’d run into on the job. Nothing seemed to have been touched, either. Then it occurred to him, this was the old armory from when the base had originally been built. For all he knew, Karam’nor had no idea this was here.

He walked over to a rifle he kind of recognized and picked it up. Holding the barrel with one hand, he pressed a little green button on the side of the gun. It started to hum and he felt a charge moving from his hand into the gun, but the hum quickly vanished and the electrical feeling went away. The gun couldn’t hold a charge.

“How ironic would that be,” he thought, “if none of these weapons stood the test of time.” Gorris picked up a pistol and checked its balance, figuring how to accurately throw it at someone. He saw a case of balls, and walked over to them. There were about 50 laser grenades sitting there. While they weren’t fatal, the blinding effects would definitely give him an advantage and their battery life was infinite. It operated using a kinetic charger that started when it got thrown, and the impact caused a capacitor to crush together, closing the circuit and emitting extremely bright laser light in every direction, often causing permanent blindness.

He was about to leave the room and teach Xander a thing or two when something caught his eye. In utter disbelief, he reached to the wall and took a long, thin rifle down. It really was an XF-33. These had been created about 10,000 years ago in India during the Elorn wars. Humanity had been thrown back into the stone ages after that war, but they had beaten the Elorn so badly they didn’t even send a scout back to Earth for another 6,000 years. The XF-33 was a powerful, effective and extremely cruel weapon. It fired out a pulse of psychic energy provided by the mind of the person wielding the weapon. The pulse would then cause every synapse in the somatosensory cortex of the target’s mind to fuse, causing extreme pain. Almost all of the victims would die from the extreme pain, and those who did not wished they had. The PSA was aware of the weapon, but wouldn’t allow its use due to the nature of its attack. It could, however, penetrate any kind of armor and break through any mental defenses the target could erect. A very effective rifle, and Gorris was holding one in his hands. Since it was powered by his own mind, it would probably still be working, too.

Gorris grabbed a belt that was hanging on a rack and strapped it on, placing several laser grenades on it. He had also found a small particle pistol in its holster. He took it out and pulled the trigger, burning a hole in the wall about 3 centimeters deep and 4 or 5 millimeters wide. Placing it back in its holster, he took up the XF-33 and headed out the door to what he knew would be one final showdown with Karam’nor.

Cont.