Last Journey: Part Three (The Convergence Saga Book 5) Read online

  L.A.S.T.

  Journey

  The Convergence Saga

  Book 5

  Part Three

  by

  Rick Kueber

  Dedication

  As always this book is dedicated to my son Daniel, and my family

  but also to Annette for all of her hard work and dedication and Tabitha whose creative soul inspired me to create something unique and beautiful.

  The Convergence Saga is a work of complete fiction. All characters, organizations and events portrayed in this series are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Chapter 7

  The 5 and Paradigm

  The minutes passed like hours as we waited for the Titans to pass to a safe distance. Elle remained crouched in the corner of the basement room like a tiger ready to pounce if anything threatened her. Torrance held Mariah close and they gave each other comfort during those intense moments of terrifying possibilities. Alex crawled across the floor on hands and knees and split the difference between the four of us.

  “We’ll give them some time to put some distance between us before we venture out to find your son.” He whispered.

  “So what, we just sit here?” Torrance seemed agitated.

  “I thought we could have a conversation.” Alex responded quickly. “More-so, I hoped you would allow me to explain what I have been doing and what I have discovered.”

  “As long as it’s useful, sure, but I don’t see any sense in wasting time on things that won’t help us.” Torrance’s impatience was not without good reason.

  “Look...” Elle spoke out in full voice, making everyone cringe a little. “We aren’t going anywhere right this second, so we might as well hear what he has to say. Otherwise, we’re just gonna be sitting here in silence until it’s safe to move out.”

  “Point made...” I agreed. “I kind of want to hear about how he knew about us out here in the middle of nowhere... No offense.” I nodded to Alex.

  “None taken, my new friend.” Alex actually managed a smile. “Now, while I am no nuclear physicist, I do have an understanding in many different scientific studies. I may not fully understand quarks, gluons and the like, but I do have a general knowledge of science.”

  “And this is going somewhere quickly, I hope?” Mariah finally peeped out a question.

  “Yes... It’s going somewhere.” Alex began to cut out some of the repetitive drivel. “Let me just start with some of the basics. I don’t have access to the technology I would need, but I believe that if I could, I would find that your DNA would have specks of alien, ummm... DNA for lack of a truer understanding, infused with your own. There must be specific markers that are more compatible which is why the changes seem to be more universal. The Takers, on the other hand, seem to have had some of their memory removed along with some of the qualities that make them human and humane. Now, they have also had their vision changed but from what I have researched, it seems that they see only life forms and aren’t really able to distinguish between large mammals like a human and a deer or bear, or possibly it’s as simple as not being self-aware, and therefore, they assume that all mammals are the same. These DNA changes that have occurred might be much more than I had anticipated. I thought this was a surface change, meaning that it would not be hereditary, but it seems that your child might be proving my hypothesis wrong.

  I’ve also been ‘watching’ the activity at two nuclear power plants not too far from here. Shortly after the first wave of invasions, these power plants have been closely guarded by the Titans and there is a buzz of activity around them. I think they have removed the reactors and the radioactive materials that fuel them. I have two theories about that. Either they are using this to power their ‘Titans’ or they are building weapons.”

  “Why wouldn’t they just use the weapons we’ve already built?” I thought his second theory was weak.

  “That’s a valid question.” Alex rubbed his whiskery chin. “What would you do if you needed to nuke an alien race and I brought you a nuclear missile on a flat bed trailer?”

  “Hell, I don’t know. I don’t know how they work... And don’t you have to have codes and stuff to launch them?” As I asked the question, I immediately realized the point of his question.

  “Exactly.” He finished. “Over the past year or more, I have had scouts or spies, that have gone out to bring me back news of what’s going on from as far as they could venture out and safely return. We started out as a group of coworkers, and neighbors and me... A professor. There were about forty of us holed up in basements and my fallout shelter...” He raised his eyes and we raised our brows. “Yes. I was one of those fanatical doomsday preppers. In the end, it has worked out to my advantage. Anyway. Folks left in pairs or groups of three. Most of them returned after a few weeks to report their findings, but the numbers started to dwindle. Ten days ago, three of them came back, stayed for a couple of days and then headed back out. In the past three months, I’ve only seen seven of the original forty.”

  “So, what did you find out from your scouts?” Mariah queried.

  “At first, not much really... Not much we didn’t already expect.” His eyes dropped to the floor. “We found out it wasn’t just an isolated incident, that these aliens were everywhere. They landed and took over this country’s armed forces first, every base and warship. Almost immediately took over every populated area in this country, and I assume, the world. It was devastating to learn that they were taking people as their drones and their presence grew quickly. It may have been about six months ago that I started getting reports and rumors about there being two forces gathering. One of them was, of course, the aliens and their Takers as I’ve heard them called. The other force was different. There were rumors of ‘tribes’ assembling across the country. Hundreds of bands of rebels have been building a resistance. If you are who I think you are, and you aren’t aware of it, then I find that inspiring. It is amazing to me that the mere knowledge of your existence and those lives that you have touched have so much faith in the belief that there is a solution to this alien apocalypse that they have unified under your ideals.”

  “Wow...” It was a clichéd answer, but I was speechless.

  “So, do you have any idea of what these rebel tribes are planning to do?” Elle’s presence seemed to grow powerful and there was a light in her eyes... Not an alien glow like the rest of us, but the light of hope.

  “No, I’m not sure. What I do know is that they have already done some damage. Boulder Colorado, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Phoenix... They’ve all had battles that the aliens lost. They may not have all been victories for the rebels, but they did shake the aliens’ strongholds on those cities.” He folded his hands as if in prayer and raised them to his mouth. Drawing a deep and audible breath, he let out a sigh. “The rebels have all moved on and left the cities in ruins behind them.” Alex relaxed a little as if he had said everything he had to tell us.

  “I suppose that does give us a glimmer of hope.” I muttered.

  “Not to cast a shadow on your hope, but its been said... And its only hearsay at this point, but one report came back saying there was nothing left of humanity east of the Mississippi river.” Alex rubbed his forehead. “I want to believe this isn’t true, but my hopes for the rest of the world are shrinking.”

  “Do you think we should find one of the tribes and join up with them?” Mariah posed the question to all of us. “Safety in numbers, right?”

  “No way!” Elle exclaimed “I’m going to find my son!”

  “We’re going to find our son.” I echoed softly, giving
her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

  “Yes.” Alex sided with Elle and I. “We must find the child, if at all possible.” The look in Elle’s eyes showed me that she didn’t like the sound of his statement any more than I did.

  “Oh, we’re gonna fuckin’ find him!” Elle almost lunged at Alex. “With or without you.”

  “Then let’s go find him.” Alex jumped to his feet like a bolt of lightning.

  “So, you never said how we were going to do that...” Torrance pointed out the obvious.

  “Follow me.” Alex said with a firm and commanding voice. “The time is now. It’s a long walk. Let’s move quickly!”

  We mustered our strength and courage and took to our feet, following the old man out of the subterranean refuge and up the cold, hard concrete steps to the outside world. The night was cold and silent, and I questioned for a minute where we were. It felt like a northern Ohio winter. Okay, perhaps that was an exaggeration, but it was much colder than I would have ever expected in the south west. Professor Alex scurried through the alleyways and backstreets with the four of us right on his heels until we came to the abrupt end of the small town buildings and darted out into the wide open spaces. “This way.” He repeated occasionally, like we were going to stop following him if he didn’t remind us every few minutes. Hurrying down houseless streets and gravel roads through the empty lands, we came across what appeared to be a series of buildings. Beyond a white, split railed fence stood a two-story farm house and a collection of barns and out-buildings.

  “What are we doing here?” Elle quizzed the gray haired professor. “Maybe it’s just me, but it feels like we’re going the wrong way.”

  “It does, doesn’t it?” Mariah agreed with her.

  “Sometimes things have to go wrong to find your way.” Alex was not only a very intelligent man, but wise too. “Going backwards may be the only way to move ahead.”

  “Ummm.... yeah, okay...” Mariah made a small circle in the air with her pointer finger next to her temple. Softly she said, “Coo-coo..”

  “Where the hell are we anyway?” Torrance said quickly to change the subject as Alex reached a large rectangular metal building.

  “We’ve arrived.” Alex said with excitement in his voice. “Now the adventure begins.”

  The structure was at least fifty foot wide, but only about fifteen feet tall at the peak and probably twelve feet at its corners. In the dark of night, it was hard to tell the color, but it was a pale color like light blue or gray. Grabbing a stationary handle and nodding for me to take the adjacent one, we pulled open the two sliding steel doors to reveal a concrete floor and a massive open space. The vacuum of darkness within the building was too much for even my alien vision to penetrate. All I could make out was a few large and odd shapes before the faint light of the stars crept in and my alien eyes adjusted.

  “So what’s in here, a car or a van?” Elle could see nothing in the pitch blackness of the building’s interior. “How do you propose we get past the Titans?”

  “Here...” Alex fumbled around in the dark, and with a muffled click, a flashlight turned on. “Thank goodness for generators and rechargeable lights, huh?” There was an air of thrill in his voice. “Tonight we fly!”

  “Seriously?” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

  In the light beam of the flashlight, my assumptions were validated. Lined up in an orderly row were three power gliders. I had never seen anything quite like them. Shiny aluminum frames held decent sized motors, rear mounted propellers and sported three wheels, one in the front and two in the rear. What was most unusual about them was the seating, similar to that of a three wheeled motorcycle seat that allowed two people to ride on one glider. The aluminum framing and numerous tension wires formed the wing of the crafts and each one was uniquely colored.

  “Are you rebels ready to take to the skies?” Alex grinned.

  “Rebels, huh? I guess we’ve been all over the place resisting the invaders and giving birth to some of those tribes you talked about. What does that make us?” I felt like maybe we didn’t really fit in anywhere.

  “Well, we’re sort of our own tribe now.” Torrance thought. “Sort of like foster parents.”

  “Sort of like nomads.” Mariah added, but spoke directly to Torrance. “We have no home.”

  “True.” Elle pondered our travels. “We’ve journeyed across seas, land and now through the air.”

  “Don’t forget the journey of thought. That’s taken me farther than anything.” Maybe everyone hadn’t had my experiences, but I felt that I had crossed galaxies in my mind.

  “So, you’re the land, air, sea and thought tribe?” Alex chuckled. “That’s a mouthful. Wouldn’t rebels be easier?”

  “It would be, but all the tribes are rebels and I kinda like the Land, Air, Sea and Thought Tribe. Sure its long, but it really encompasses who we are.” Mariah sounded almost hippy-ish like she was on some psychedelic trip of self discovery.

  “If that’s who we are, let’s at least shorten it, like an acronym.” The wheels had already been turning in her head. “The L.A.S.T. Tribe.”

  “God! Let’s hope not!” Mariah shot off, but quickly turned away from Elle’s hellish glare. “I mean...”

  “I know what you meant.” Elle’s voice was not as harsh as she’d expected. “It’s still who we are.”

  “Enough talk.” Alex motioned us over. “We’ve got to get these outside and started up. Time isn’t our friend anymore.”

  “And that’s a great big NOPE.” Torrance shook his head.

  “I’m calling the green and yellow one!” Mariah shouted excitedly, voicing her choice based on the color of the wing’s fabric.

  “What’s the matter T?” Elle was surprised by his apparent phobia, but still managed to jab him with sarcasm. “Don’t have a color you like?”

  “Well, for me, I’ll take whichever one runs the best and preferably with someone who knows how to fly one of these damn things.” I wasn’t a fan of flying, considering my history, but I wasn’t about to abandon any idea that might help us find Phoenix.

  “Do these things even run?” Torrance was shaken and not nearly as intimidating as he usually seemed. “Can we take off the wings and drive them?”

  “They run.” There was a hint of laughter in the professor’s voice. “I had never thought about taking off the wings, but if you want to get ahead of the Titans and find the child before he hits puberty, I’d suggest we fly.”

  “You sure this is a good idea?” I had a moment of angst that made me second guess Alex’s suggestion. Who was he really? Did he really know those things he said, or was he only baiting us with false hopes? “None of us knows how to fly one of these things. Like... What if we are flying along and run out of gas? I’m starting to think Torrance has the right idea. It IS a huge risk.”

  “Seriously, a risk?” Elle slammed her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. There was no question that I was about to be put in my place. “Do you remember taking on the Ahsusha... My brother... That made you transform into who you are now? Do you remember sneaking into a Titan to save me, and I wasn’t even there? Splitting up on the empty highway near Phoenix so I would survive and you stayed behind to lure the aliens away from me? Or how about when...”

  “Alright, alright... I get it.” I ran my hands through my now straggly hair. “We fly. But can we get some instruction first? Maybe even a short touch and go flight before we just take off to God knows where?”

  “Okay, but we shouldn’t delay too long.” Alex looked nervously from side to side. He was already pulling the wheel chocks and starting to push the first power glider toward the open plains outside. “Come on... Help me get these out here where we can light the fires and kick the tires!”

  “Really?” Mariah groaned.

  “Sorry, but I’ve always wanted to say that.” Alex said as he huffed under the strain of pushing the glider through the sandy dirt outside.

  “Do we need to check the gas t
anks?” Torrance tried to think of anything that might keep his feet on the ground.

  “No need. I’ve kept them fueled up and topped off.” Alex seemed confident. “Some days I get bored and just come out, check the oil, start them up for a minute and then shut them back down. Once in a while, when I’m feeling extraordinarily adventurous, I’ll even take one up for a buzz around the old town, but I’ve never gone any farther... ‘til tonight.”

  “But how do we know that they’re all full of gas?” Elle had grown cynical in these days of back stabbing and deception.

  “You can pick which ever one you want.” He said with a smile in his voice. “Or pick which one you want me to fly. Someone can ride with me if they want.”

  “Torrance?” I offered.

  “Yeah... If I have to fly, I want it to be with somebody who’s done it before.” His brow glistened with sweat and his fear of flight was humbling.

  When we had them all outside, lined up and ready to go, Alex used his flashlight to show us the throttle, the brakes, how to turn on the fuel valves, set the throttle for idling and started the first one up. The roar of the small engine shattered the silence around us and he climbed on board.

  “Who’s first?” He grinned as he strapped on a pair of goggles. He looked the part of a mad scientist, and I guess in some respects, he was.

  Elle stepped up to the plate without hesitation. She threw her leg up and over the rear seat as if it were second nature. They shared a few words, strapped into the harnesses and then tossed the helmets off of the craft with inaudible laughter. Alex waved us away and goosing the accelerator, the glider began to move forward... Slowly at first, but it quickly picked up speed and in only about thirty yards they lifted off the ground and quickly gained altitude. We all watched in awe, and one of us in terrified fear, as the ultralight aircraft made a large circle and then suddenly dropped, coming towards us in a steep descent. I held my breath and prayed that they would not crash.