With These Eyes (27 page)

To fill the jails, Gene had anyone arrested
who possessed even a single copy of a song or movie they hadn't
purchased. A scan of what subscribers thought to be
smart-phones
had identified hundreds of thousands of people
who had performed illegal downloads. Gene's revenue on movie and
music sales doubled, while his jailhouse profits increased hundred
fold. The industrialist’s sense of morality dictated that those who
undermined art were the enemy of a world of beauty.

Many children lost their parents and were
given up for adoption for a hefty fee by Gene's orphan placement
service. Once again, the city had been torn apart by an external
force. There was a cold sadness Isabelle felt in Berlin that she
hadn't encountered on such a large scale before. The former East
was also where the Apophis particle accelerator had been built a
few years earlier.

Isabelle approached the
Europacenter
,
a shopping mall in the heart of the old Berlin. A giant screen on
the side of the shopping center played news footage from the
Autobahn disaster. The sun had come out after the calamity and
melted the super-frozen body parts. Rescue workers were wading
through a blood bath to get to those who had survived in their
cars. Isabelle's driver's license picture appeared under a headline
that accused her of sabotaging the warning signs. A picture of
Isabelle on the motorcycle and its license plate were next to
appear on the gigantic screen. A few people who had watched the
broadcast looked in Isabelle's direction, just when one of Apophis'
helium tankers bound for the particle accelerator pulled up. The
light turned green and she rode off. Another red light, Isabelle
stopped next to a circular building that rounded the corner. There
was no place safe, it would only be a matter of time before the
police would spot her. The yellow, skin-tight suit was far from
inconspicuous. After what she had learned on this most unusual
journey, Isabelle knew this wasn't just about herself and her
father. The scope of the pursuit that had so changed her life was a
sign of the massive resources her opponent possessed.

A pigeon landed on Isabelle's instrument
panel as if to say
hello
. She watched it fly off and land in
front of the shopping window to her right. Isabelle's day of
surprises was far from over. An arrangement of digital television
sets filled the display. On the TV by the pigeon was an image of a
puma. It was Tonati, just sitting there. It was as if he was
looking at Isabelle, then he ran off and took a leap out of the
frame. His image reappeared on the next set. The traffic light
turned green and Tonati jumped from one TV to the next until he
disappeared around the bend of the unusual-looking store. Isabelle
followed the cat. When they reached the end of the window display,
Tonati leapt off the last screen and reappeared in a monochrome
image on a digital clock across the next intersection. Isabelle
followed the image of her cat. So far, there hadn't been a single
police car - she felt a little safer. The traffic-light turned
green and Tonati leapt onto a digital billboard. This continued for
many kilometers across town. Isabelle followed her puma's image as
he traveled across Berlin on digital bus signs, thermometers,
televisions, billboards and traffic signs. Isabelle had reached a
slightly more rural part of Berlin on the southern outskirts. She
was on a two-lane road, Tonati jumped off a digital temperature
display on the side of a small pharmacy in the direction of their
travel.

A snow-covered field laid to her left and
trees had taken the place of buildings to her right. A family of
deer was watching Isabelle as she rode by. The road lead up a hill.
Like a large wooden pinwheel, an antique windmill towered at the
peak of the incline. Isabelle heard the sound of police sirens
approach. There was nowhere to go. She checked her mirror and saw
flashing blue lights approaching at high speed.

Grill-mounted strobes and turret lights from
the roof of a large vehicle were growing ever-brighter and bigger
in her view. Isabelle had seen a set of lights like that in her
mirror on the Autobahn.

Could it be that Isabelle’s pursuer had lured
her into a trap on this remote road?

30 FACEMASK THEATER

Far away from the cold and the dark of
Isabelle's evening in Berlin was a warm late morning in Los
Angeles. Michael Leese was busy fueling the flu scare that drove
Gene's train of oppression to the next station. Michael and a small
field crew from
Pin the Ponytail
where shooting a stand-up
in front of Hollywood's famous
Chinese Theater.
Behind him
on the hand prints of movie stars, several dozen people with face
masks were walking about with a general look of malaise. A
sound-man was holding a furry boom-microphone over Michael's head.
His field producer, a blonde woman in her early 20s also sporting a
ponytail, stood next to the camera operator. The woman gave Michael
a cue and he addressed the lens.

"The country is choking to death under the
grip of the monkey flu. We pin the ponytail on the government for
its inability to get everyone vaccinated against this vicious
disease. Praise goes to Apophis for jumping in so quickly with a
global supply of the vaccine."

The field producer shouted "cut!" Michael was
pleased with his performance, as he usually was. He would lead his
next show with this piece, public support for the mandatory vaccine
was fairly high but it took a constant flood of scare tactics to
keep the populous from thinking clearly about the situation.
Michael jumped into his convertible sports car parked just behind
camera.

"See you at the studio, sweetheart," he
shouted and speed off, tires screeching.

The field producer picked up a bullhorn off
the ground and announced, "Background, that's a wrap. We'll sign
you out back at the studio."

A swarm of passenger vans with tinted windows
rushed in and lined up curbside. The vans' sliding side doors flew
open and all the people with face masks loaded in. After the
cluster departed, the world renown boulevard returned to its
regular crowd of tourists and would-be super heroes.

Gene knew that poisoning the planet would
bring even more destruction and anger. The very solar wind that was
bringing the aurorae to the polar regions had one more, profound
effect. When the sun’s charged particles pass through the pocket
below earth’s ionosphere, they create an electrical wave that
blankets the earth. This field, named after the man who proved its
presence, is known as the
Schumann-Wave.
The frequency of
this resonance increases with its proximity to the Earth’s core.
This electromagnetic field acts as a carrier-wave for human thought
of the same wavelength. With its existence comes a profound effect
on human consciousness. Thoughts are electromagnetic impulses of
the brain that, much like a computer, receives, processes and sends
information. When Gene dreams, his mind is directly linked to the
higher consciousness that resides within the heavens.

When Fuji and Isabelle chant, their patterns
of thought assume
alpha-waves
, a frequency of about 40
Hertz. This matches the Schumann resonance on the crust of the
world. During this time, their minds are directly linked to nature
and all that is in a meditative state on the surface of the world.
Since both waves are the same length, an overlap will provide a
harmonious amplification, like the ripples in Fuji’s pond. This
allows Isabelle to ride the wave like a California surfer, while
sharing the power of nature with her mind. As the radius of the
globe diminishes towards its center, the frequency of the Schumann
resonance increases and matches that of a brain which is in a state
of concentration, fear or anger.

The thoughts of those, who have fallen from
grace can’t even reach the surface of the earth. This was the
reason Betty and her heavy son acted in self-destructive ways that
defied intellect.

Gene knew the demographics of Michael’s
viewership. These people failed to even see the beauty in flowers
or fuzzy creatures. Angry people who hurt animals and humans, who
deforest the planet and poison its waters are trapped in their
darkness by their lower brain functions. The
underworld
of
the ancients, was nothing more than a depiction of that. This same
concept produced the image of
Hell
in Christian mythology.
Once an individual had given in to the temptations of darkness,
only a strong mind could return to the bliss of the world’s
surface. When a mind enters the lower emotions of anger and
aggression that govern the underworld, a truly dark individual will
learn to draw strength from the collective darkness that resides
within earth’s depths. A person whose mind wanders the underworld
will muster great effort to create an environment on the surface
that matches his or her state of mind.

Gene’s mind missed the feeling of delving
into the heavens. The world’s collective anger had caught hold of
his compassionate mind. Darkness followed Gene wherever he turned.
He decided to enter the battle arena that fear and hatred had
created for him and fight his shadow, a battle that defied
intelligent thought. In his mind of anger, violence was the only
solution. In the golden age, a resonance wave was created by the
pyramids and crystal megaliths like Stonehenge to prevent humanity
from slipping off its elevated life condition into the underworld.
Without their protection humanity has fallen from grace.

Another clue left for after mankind advanced
past the stage of the caveman was the existence of the bees. Man
soon discovered that the flight of a honeybee defies the laws of
physics. A blatant sign that a greater force must be at play and
moreover this: The laws of physics exist only in a society with the
limited thinking of the underworld. An enlightened society can
transcend these limitations. Honeybees and the quantum generator
were shining examples of this principle.

31 ISABELLE, RYAN AND A WINDMILL

The emergency lights were closing in behind
Isabelle on the dark road in Berlin's outskirts. She stopped her
bike. Two wheels in a car chase on slushy roads did not promise
favorable odds. Isabelle preferred to face her foe on both feet.
The ominous blue lights did, however, not slow down. Isabelle saw
they belonged to a police anti-riot vehicle. The beam of her
headlights revealed a green and white personnel transport with
meshed wire and armored glass for windows. On the back of the
police van was an LED panel that patrolmen would use to display
follow me
messages during traffic stops. Tonati's face lit
up on the display as if he was looking at her. Isabelle put the
transmission in gear and followed the van up the hill. As it passed
over the crest, Tonati's image leapt to the left and off the van's
panel towards the snow-covered windmill. An elegantly-dressed
gentleman was standing in the driveway, tapping on a digital pad.
It was Ryan.

"Bring your bike in here," he shouted with a
big grin across his face.

Peeking out from under his blue wool coat was
a bow-tie and what looked like a very expensive tuxedo. Ryan was
the first familiar face Isabelle had seen since she left Fuji and
Tonati in the Arctic. She felt the stress of the hunt melt away
just a little.

"Why are you in Berlin?" Isabelle parked the
motorcycle between a mound of snow and an upper class sedan from
Stuttgart in the windmill’s driveway.

"Because you are."

She turned around and gave Ryan a hug.
"You're amazing for coming here. How'd you figure out where I was
going? I barely knew."

Ryan tapped the screen of his pad a few times
and showed it to Isabelle. "By following her."

Isabelle was looking at a picture of Tasha
from her personnel file. She was dressed in black combat gear, her
pockets and holsters brimming with mechanical and electronic
weapons. The lapels and chest pockets of her uniform were heavily
decorated with patches and medals. The deadly warrior stood before
a dark- blue background on which Apophis' sun-symbol provided a
luminous background.

Ryan continued. "Her name is Tasha Methusa.
She commands an anti-terror commando for Gene Soskyh.”

"I must have really hit a nerve with them. I
need to get to Gene."

Ryan pushed his glasses up his nose while the
grin returned to his face. "I know." He opened the door to the
windmill and walked into the main room of the antique structure
followed by Isabelle. A rustic living area greeted them. The smell
of hot apple-cider was in the air. Ryan asked Isabelle if she would
like a cup of the aromatic juice. She thanked him and walked to the
stove where she poured a glass for each of them. Isabelle handed
Ryan his drink and then took a sip of hers. Ryan set his down. He
lifted an evening gown off the back of the sofa and held it up by
its hanger.

"You're cordially invited to attend the
Apophis ball tonight as my guest."

Isabelle's face lit up. "Ryan, you're
brilliant." She looked around and it occurred to her she was in
someone else's living room. Ryan quickly dispelled her look of
concern.

"Don't worry, I checked the phone records of
the guy who lives here. He went to visit his sister in
Fallingbostel."

Isabelle: "Don't you think he'd mind that
we're in his place?"

Ryan: "If Gene wins, it won't be his place
for long. Besides, I left him a note."

On the kitchen counter, a handwritten letter
thanked the occupant for providing a safe haven to two troubled
travelers. The sheet was weighed down with a gold coin on each
corner. Ryan handed Isabelle several make-up items.

"I looked up which colors you usually
buy."

"What else did you look up, Ryan?"

His left index finger nervously pushed up on
the bridge of his glasses. "Just your dress...size," he said with
an embarrassed smile. Isabelle returned his smile and gratefully
accepted his gift of make-up and attire.