MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 106)

The General continued unabated "You likely already know that the project for the creation of the Superhumans was transferred to my control, from its creators in NASA. But because of the genetic alteration of these Superhumans, they are unable to be used for some purposes here on Earth. One of our researchers, Norman Spencer, discovered a way around this, but never revealed it to us.

Martin was feeling totally exhausted. He was afraid that he would pass out before this General finished with his rant.But he had to keep the General engaged. His only bargaining chip now, was time.

"Why did your Superhuman escape, General?"

The General looked at Martin without expression-"That is one thing our psychologists were unable to explain.

The General started cleaning his nails giving a disinterested look.

"They said that Joseph was inclined to reading a lot of books. Perhaps, he started believing in freedom and wanted to experience it first-hand. He was clever enough to escape the lab and take up a false identity and name. Kevin, his false name.The name by which you know him. Guess he didn't like the name Joseph which we christened him with.

Anyways, When Joseph escaped this lab we saw it as an opportunity to get information from Norman. I knew it would be inevitable that he tried to save the specimen, and you, the one sent to find him, would be contacted and I would get what I needed.

"That's why you sent assassins after me?" Martin retorted.

"Yes I did. And he was my best. A mercenary from Central Europe. A man who was a terror in his own land.But an efficient one.I believe you killed him at Professor Antonio's house, Martin?

"Things didn't quite go as planned Martin- I hoped to capture you, the girl, and Joseph long ago- but my men greatly underestimated your combined strength. Doesn't matter now, does it?" 

General Richardson smiled, opening his arm to regard the Korean men on the floor next to him. "You see these men here? They are the enemies that I have been warning the Country about. These are the scum of the earth." He kicked one guy hard in the stomach.

"Shouldn't you be handing them over to the authorities for fair trial, General?" Martin asked knowing awfully well what the response would be.

"Fair trial my ass! These people should not get anything fair. It would be a pathetic waste of national resources to conduct a trial on these people" 

"These are the men I captured, and as a show of loyalty to my country, I will execute them," he turned his head to eye the Korean.

"That isn't necessary, sir," Martin said, crawling a step back, but the General only grinned and moved in front of the first man, who looked up at him with pleading eyes. He raised his gun to the man's head and without hesitation, fired. The Korean man was thrown back against the wall; brain, blood, and bone flying everywhere.

(To Be Continued Tomorrow...)

[The complete Book ‘MAN FROM TOMORROW’ can be downloaded at amzn.to/2MSf1ng]

MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 105)

Martin felt a dagger pierce through the flesh of his left thigh. He collapsed and let out an ear shattering scream. He screamed like he had never screamed before. Anita, hearing the gunshot and seeing the blood spurt from Martin, let out a shudder. She half-fainted, only to be held up straight by the thugs on her side. There was a round hole, oozing blood from the left thigh. Martin could feel his thigh muscles spasm and harden. It took him a few minutes to recover from the shock. The General was as unruffled as ever. He waited. Martin took in short breaths. His forehead beaded with sweat.

"Just some insurance Martin" The General spoke. "You run away a lot, I have noticed."

"You killed Norman!" Martin said.

"No. Not me. Deep and vast run the rabbit holes my boy! Would you like to know who killed Norman?" 

Without waiting for Martin's reply, the man snapped his fingers, and the doors behind him opened. From there came four men dressed in the uniforms of security guards.Each of them held and restrained a Korean man.All of them were handcuffed and shoved down onto their knees when they came up beside the man in the uniform. The guards stood several feet behind the Korean men, their hands clasped in front of them, staring straight ahead.

The General let out a wry smile and continued-"The ones who killed him were a squad of North Koreans in search of Joseph.They wanted him or his body, to study Superhuman biology.They planned to reverse engineer the Superhumans. However, I know they were unsuccessful because we already coaxed their failed mission from them.But am yet to find what I need”.

"Really? How did the Koreans get to know of your project?" The pain had slowly eased now for Martin.

The General let out a chuckle. He suddenly looked sternly at the Koreans and then to Martin-

"Apparently NASA's network was not strong enough to withstand hacking attempts; that too by a very powerful supercomputer. You see, if this project was completely with us from the beginning, it would not have come to this.

But I believe that you're smarter than them and that perhaps you have found what I need" 

The General raised his eyebrows, remembering something-"Let me introduce myself, Martin... I'm General Stanley Richardson from the Pentagon. I guess Norman told you about me, on the way here. Pity that Norman had to be dumped in an alley... eh Martin?

So... The General knows.Martin thought. He wondered at what point of time Martin and Norman fell under the surveillance net of the General tonight.

(To Be Continued Tomorrow...)

[The complete Book ‘MAN FROM TOMORROW’ can be downloaded at amzn.to/2MSf1ng]

MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 104)

Beside the tubes lay a large tank.It was half protruding into the room. Martin guessed that the tank extended even behind the walls into whatever chamber was present over there. Written in large fonts were the letters- TEB. It had all the symbols of "Bio-hazard" stamped over it. Antonio had mentioned in his animated discussions that toxic chemicals were also used in the study and creation of Superhumans.

On the other side of the room was a large man wearing a military uniform. He stood with his arms crossed; trying to gauge what Martin was capable of. Martin spent a moment examining the man because of this; he didn’t want to seem unprepared. He didn’t even have the slightest clue as to who the man was. His eyes were dark and intelligent, but his hair grey with age. He stood tall and proud in his uniform. One entire upper side of the uniform was covered with rows of different medals. He only recognized a few of them: the medals of Bravery and Honor. Finally he looked from him and saw that next to him was Anita, being restrained by two other men.They had guns slung over their shoulders in a way only a professional soldier could. She wasn’t  bound in any way, which was a relief. If it came to that, he wouldn’t have to worry about freeing her before making an escape. If that was even possible.

"Martin!" she called to him, and tried to wriggle free from the men’s grip, but was unable to even get them to budge.

Martin didn't say anything. 

“Come closer, Martin Phillips,” the man said. He moved his hands to his sides and waited, telling him that it wasn’t a request, but an order.

Martin hesitated. He wasn’t sure what to do, and opted to take  several steps forward and gauge the man’s response. His expression didn’t change, and he still waited. Between him and the large man there were still several large tables, but after another moment of the man’s silence, Martin finally figured that he was supposed to go around them. For a moment longer he kept his gaze on the man, and only moved it to scope out the route he would use to get to the other side. The second he decided which way to take; his eyes went back to the man. Martin moved around the tables to meet with him on the other side, moving forward until finally stopping several paces away.

The General quickly took the pistol from his belt and shot Martin.

(To Be Continued Tomorrow...)

[The complete Book ‘MAN FROM TOMORROW’ can be downloaded at amzn.to/2MSf1ng]

MAN FROM TOMORROW (EPISODE 103)

Martin fought mighty hard and sniffed back a tear. There was this knot in his throat and that heaviness in his chest that can only come from grief admixed with copious anger. No! I will make those bastards pay! Martin vowed silently under his breath. Martin lifted Norman's body and placed it in a nearby alley just beside the footpath. Nobody would notice until morning. A morning that Martin was not sure he would himself see.

Martin reached the place. He was out of the Jeep and walking toward the building where he would meet with Anita and the lunatic General himself. The front of the building was made entirely of glass, which reminded him of the glass window in his Director’s office. 

Despite it all being glass, it was tinted enough so that one could only see the shadows of everything inside. It struck Martin that NASA had this program right in the place where anyone would least suspect it to have. When Martin had first heard of Project 209, he had conjured for himself an image of a large isolated building in the middle of nowhere with high security barbed wire and all the works. But reality was to the contrary.

Martin reached for the silver handle of the glass door and pulled it open, walking into a lobby of pure white. There was a desk, but no one waiting at it. He knew that there wouldn’t be anyone coming to greet him.Martin briefly scanned the room, looking for anything of interest- there wasn’t much. He spotted the only hallway leading further into the building and paced towards it, eyeing the doors that branched out from the sides. There were no security men of any sort.Maybe they were inside.Yes.Definitely they were inside. They were watching him through unseen eyes, listening to his every move through unseen ears. Modern surveillance system negated the need of human presence to spy on their targets. Pity, that Martin was a target himself.

At the end of the hall there were a set of double doors, Martin push them open once he reached them.

He squinted in the blinding light that came once the door was open.Not waiting for his eyes to adjust, he pushed it all the way open using his arm to shadow his eyes. Martin walked inside, but stopped when he heard the doors shut behind him. There was no mistaking it- he was in a lab. Long, white tables were in the center of the room, some filled with trays and large pieces of equipment that he didn’t recognize, but others empty. Along the walls was what interested him the most, though.

He didn’t have a name for them, but what he saw as large, glass tubes lined the walls, running from floor to ceiling. Though he couldn’t say for sure, he assumed they were filled with some preservative liquid.They contained super humans in various stages of development.

Martin couldn't tell whether they were dead, alive, or still being made, but there were literally specimens from all stages of development. Starting from a fetus, they progressed along the wall until at the very end.There was a completely developed man floating in the tube. So this was where it all started, probably.

(To Be Continued Tomorrow...)

[The complete Book ‘MAN FROM TOMORROW’ can be downloaded at amzn.to/2MSf1ng]