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A Science Fiction Story
Prologue
The first thing that struck Major Mark Teague as he slowly
came to consciousness was the intensity of the headache that seemed to
have a will of its own; presently, it seemed to be bent on searing the
receptors in his brain. Gradually however, as his eyes began to adjust
to the gloomy darkness of his cave-like surroundings, the headache
began to subside, eventually de-intensifying into a throbbing, pulsing
shaft of pain above his left eyebrow. All that Teague could recall in
regard to ending up unconscious was that he had a little too much to
drink at the Seafarer’s Club and being escorted into a large white
sedan by someone familiar.
Who that someone was and how had he come
into that person’s acquaintance were still considerably vague areas,
but of one thing he was sure: that that someone had been known to him.
Strangely enough, this feeling of familiarity was something was
particularly a result of the lingering scent of roses in his nostrils.
And even weirder, he thought as he futilely tried to get to his feet,
was the fact that he associated this scent with someone whose
familiarity he was convinced of in a way that inexplicable but
nevertheless strong …he was sure he would be able to divulge the truth
if he tried hard enough. It dawned on him with a dreamlike slowness
that he couldn’t get to his feet since he was tied down to some sort of
platform.
He couldn’t even raise his neck more than a couple of inches since
there appeared to be a cord around his neck. This cord seemed to be
either tied down or embedded into the surface of the platform he was
on, each end of the cord going in at opposite sides of his neck. Well
what the hell, he thought, it seemed more important to come to
conclusion as to the identity of the person who had brought him here
and detained him, the person who’s identity was so close, yet so far
away. He concentrated harder, and feeling that he was about to
breakthrough, probed even deeper into the recesses of his brain. Before
he could push himself further, however, he suddenly felt a sharp,
tingling, not altogether unpleasant sensation around his neck he began
to drift back into blissful unconsciousness.
Chapter I: Red Six
Approximately five minutes after Teague lapsed
back into absolute unconsciousness, a figure dressed in dark shades
entered the room; barely a silhouette against the soft gloom of the
cavernous chamber. The entity moved towards the head of the makeshift
metal bed on which lay the now-prone figure of Major Mark Teague of the
US Army’s elite, clandestine Special Forces unit, the Red Six. The
figure stood over the head of unconscious Teague for about 30 seconds
before moving back into comparatively murky areas farther away from
Teague, and there it seemed to meld into and become part of the
shadows. A clandestine unit that existed exclusively for the purpose of
perfecting biochemical and technological weapons for the use of urban
warfare, the Red Six was feared in all circles, military as well as
political. The Red Six was renowned for its utter ruthless in terms of
the limits to which they went in order to test the potential of their
ever growing and diversifying armament of the high-tech, high-fatality
biochemical weapons. Indeed, Red Six was actively involved in providing
the black markets in various politically ravaged third world countries
with weapons such as grenades and mid-range missiles [fired from
shoulder launchers] with monumentally fatal chemical cores integrated
into them. Furthermore, in addition to this, Red Six also provided such
countries with state of the art merchandise in terms of more
conventional weaponry, such as guns, ammunition, bombs, and mines and
even, in some cases, a Black Hawk helicopter or two. This was something
that had been going on for an indefinite number of years before
something went wrong; indeed, something went very, very wrong.
Chapter II: The Beginning of the End
Red Six had just finished the
initial development phase for their latest weapon off the drawing board
in November; an unconventionally high-tech mine that was supposed to do
more in terms of human fatalities than structural damage; it was
labeled the Silent M. Partially operating on the basic premise of a
radio scrambler, this mine needed to be placed in the respective enemy
territory after which it would be activated via remote or radio
control. Red Six hadn’t conducted tests on any animals larger than lab
mice since venturing into an unknown area of such vastness spelt out
obvious consequences. The results of the experiments that had been
carried out, however, were stunning to say the least. The electronic
emissions or waves given off by the Silent M had the capacity of
disturbing the bio-molecular structure essential to all living
organisms, consequently resulting in the instant death of the life form
in particular. The Silent M would do no harm to buildings and other
inanimate objects around it. However, instant death and even possibly
absolute disintegration, as was displayed by more than a few
experiments conducted on the mice, would greet any living things,
larger than insects that happened to be within 30 to 35 feet of the
mine. Clearly a weapon that would place its welders in a farm more
superior position than their foe, it is no surprise that first 100
units of the Silent M, were purchased from the respective black markets
literally within hours of their being put on display. Thus began the
havoc.
Barely a week later, startling reports from US secret service agents
stationed within the respective third world countries began to filter
into the Red Six headquarter; the Silent M was effective alright, but
in a very different way compared to the ideas of Red Six. It turned out
that the first time the Silent M was used it resulted in the
elimination of both sides, those who had used it as well as those who
it had been used against. There was only one survivor, an American and
an army expert by the name of Mark Teague. Teague was a Red Six agent
and he had been stationed in the country to gather as much as data as
possible about the actual radius and extent of damage exerted by the
Static M. When he was relocated by Red Six, however, the team sent to
extract him found him in a very excited and disturbed state. Not only
that, the visage of his body seemed to fade and flicker before the very
eyes of the soldiers, giving off the appearance of a TV screen that
doesn’t quite have the correct transmission. Before the stunned
soldiers could react, he disappeared, leaving them completely
bewildered, and leaving Red Six with a case to cover up from the media.
There was a lingering smell of flowers in the shanty cottage where they
had seen him disappear, giving all the indications of the unbelievable
prospect of being teleported into another world, another dimension...
Chapter III: The Ending
Slowly, Teague began to come back to this
senses, aware of the fact that he was no longer suffering from a
headache and things had changed. He wasn't tied down to the platform,
now discernible as a makeshift metal bed in the corner, and was
sprawled on a couch in the centre of the cave-like room that his
comparitively clearer mind now conceived as a well-proportioned,
warehouse type of structure. The quality of his perceptual clarity was
improved even further by hue tinge of luminiscient blue that flooded
onto the distant roof of the room from no apparent source; the glow
seemed to be coming directly from the stones comprising the rock roof.
All of a sudden, with the intensity of water bursting forth from a dam,
Teague recalled all of it. It was to India, he recalled, that he had
been sent in order to monitor the effects of the active use of the
Silent M, an inevitability, considering that his unit, Red Six, had
taken the utmost measures to ensure that the mine be delivered into the
hands of the more aggressive of the two militant Indian factions at
violent warfare with each other. Hardly two days had passed, however,
when, on his way out from the Seafarer's Club, he was approached by an
Indian mystic who appeared, at first impression, to be calm and
composed. The mystic's temperament, however, began to rapidly escalate
as he rapidly related to Teague the need for the American to be gone
from India before it was too late.
The mystic gave off an almost palpable scent of roses and his
features reminded Teague, in a way that he couldn't quite determine, of
numerous pictures that he had seen in his scholarly journeys throughout
the terrain of Hindu mysticism. The reason for the feeling of
familiarity had It had dawned on him suddenly, only to be discarded by
his mind on account of the utter incredulity of the implications. The
mystic's features were strongly reflective of the countless pictures
that Teague had seen of the main Indian god Rama, and he continued to
persist with his warnings in spite of the American's ill-concealed
haste to be on his way. 'Too late for what?' Teague had finally asked,
with more than a hint of exasperation in his voice; it was now a
question that was answered on account of his surroundings gave tangible
answer to. The mystic had gone into a brief, yet intricately detailed
account that bascially implied that the American's, in as much as
porpagating the use of the Silent M, were meddling into matters of
nature that were far too complex for them to even begin to understand.
The mystic was especially adamant about the Silent M being capable of
completely rupturing the curtains between the various realms, each
superimposed upon yet inaccessible to the other. The world would
eventually be in chaos, predicted mystic. and not a thing could be done
about it now that the plan had been laid. However, he warned Teague to
leave since staying back would be synonomous with signing his own death
warrant: 'The gods' according to the mystic 'had revealed that the
American would die were he to be present in India at the time of the
detonation' of the Silent M.
Epilogue
Although something about the confrontation had disturbed
Teague on a very deep level, he was more inclined towards his
professional training and eventually diregarded the warnings as being
nothing more than senselessly fanatic propaganda. Moreover, he was sure
that he was right in doing so when the Silent M was activated and
nothing happened to him. This releif, however, was short lived, for
suddenly, there appeared a dramatically huge void of utter blackness
beginning in place of what had, only seconds before, been the front
lines of the militant faction who was being favored by the US. The void
stretched right up from Teague's side to approximately the place where
the militants had planted the mine; it was diffused to a purplish hue
at the edges. Gone were the trucks and soldiers of either side, and all
that remained was the fragrance of flowers. This fragrance began to
grow stronger around Teague, and just as he looked up to see what
appeared to be US Army uniforms bursting through the door of the
cottage where he had been stationed, he felt the sensation of literally
being pulled out his body. It was a feeling similar to the one
experienced when suddenly plummeting from a great height, and before he
knew how to react, it had stopped; all was blackness.
He finally understood now, as he gathered what little of his
rational senses were remaining. It was clear that Red Six had finally
outstepped its barriers this time, consequently incurring the wrath of
the entities that had survived without being disturbed, probaly for
eons, within their respective dimensions. The molecular excitement
incurred by the Silent M wielded the capacity of permanently
teleporting humans into random dimensions, which was apparently where
he was, in one of the indefinite number of existing dimensions. His
train of thought abruptly changed course as he felt rather than heard
the presence before seeing it. He discerned the vaguely human figure of
a being wrapped from head to toe in white cloth, and with a face that
would have made even the most horrific nightmare pale in comparison.
The eyes were grotesquely misshapen and the forehead was pointed
outwards. The creatures chin had three holes in it and in place of its
nose was a snout-like appendage that kept extending towards him. Again
he felt the strange feeling around his neck, and again he felt his
senses beginning to recede. But this time he realized that with each
tingling spasm that passed through his body, creature appeared to grow
more satisfied, as was indicated by the pleasurable grunts and graons
that were issueing from its throat. Looking down towards his neck,
Major Mark Teague was greeted by a sight that instantly and effectually
drove him out of his mind; there was a small, pipe-like appendage
sticking out of his throat from approximately where the Adam's apple
was supposed to be, and out of this pipe was issuing Teague's own blood
and tissue, dripping to the floor where it was ravenously being lapped
up by large worms with bodies that were 4 - 5 feet in lenght. Some of
these worms, apparently those satisfied, were making towards the entity
with the dark garb, and this entity was busily scooping them up and
ingesting them via the snout...
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