MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 101)

"My team decided that because I was old enough to retire, I should leave the team and take all traces of the information leading up to the fix with me. And so I did," 

Norman paused. "It's been years since then. What's happened to my team because of what we did, I have no idea. But no one suspected me of having the solution this entire time, at least not until recently." 

"Many months ago, General Stanley Richardson asked me personally to remove the DIOXIN LOCK."

"And?"

"I denied any know-how of removing the DIOXIN LOCK.I feigned ignorance. I am not sure that the General was fully convinced about that. I suspect I may have been under surveillance the past few days. But I am not sure by whom."

"Then who were the guys threatening you?"

"I seriously wish I knew better, Martin. But I don't. Between themselves they spoke Korean.”

“You know Korean?” Martin asked

“I don’t, but I can say this because I have worked with the South Koreans in the 70s on some space projects.

"How did you know to contact me?"

"Many years back, Professor Antonio and I worked together, briefly on Space Life-support systems. We became friends there.Occasionally we would meet during conferences and seminars. When Antonio's company was folded up, their technologies were passed onto Project 209. 

I presume Antonio guessed that I was part of the project. It was probably because I was an expert in the field and I was in NASA. There was no way I would not be involved. Antonio, that clever fellow, put two and two together and deduced that I was part of Project 209 too. Though I don't think he was sure about it. Yesterday, I received a call from Antonio.He mentioned about you and cautioned that should my life be in danger, I should contact you. I immediately compiled the ‘key' from my files and called you on the number given by Antonio.”

Martin was mulling over everything he learned from Norman and also what he already knew. A lot made sense already, but Norman filled in quite a few blanks. How Kevin was something other than human, where he came from, why his identity seemed completely fabricated.

In his mind, Martin made up the schema of the events so far- A secret program of creating Supehumans was underway by the NASA.They had created a few prototype Superhumans. Simultaneously the Pentagon was trying hard to gain control of project 209 for war purposes. One fine day, around 3 months or so ago, Kevin, known by the NASA labs as Joseph, escaped for some reason. 

Joseph took up a false identity as Kevin and started living as a common American. Meanwhile, the Pentagon launched a massive undercover manhunt, where Martin was recruited to search for Kevin-dead or alive. For this reason, a fake profile of Kevin as a terrorist was cooked up. The higher-ups had planned that after Martin had hunted down Kevin, Martin and Kevin-if caught alive- would be eliminated. That was why mercenaries were hired.That was why his superior at the HQ was referring to a ‘WE’.Unfortunately Anita was drawn into this whirlpool of space-military-police goof-up.Why Kevin escaped NASA labs was not clear.

(To Be Continued Tomorrow...)

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