The End The Beginning (Humanity's New Dawn Book 1) Page 4

  “Over your fence is the easiest way to get to Jack Thomas’s bedroom window where I know the son of a bitch is right now,” the man said.

  “Wha...? What?” Ann stammered.

  “I need over your fence and that means, I need you, like your husband, to die,” and he shot Ann Lewis twice in the face.

  Blaze didn’t hear the gunshots go off in the house but he did hear the back door open and did notice the bad smelling man walk purposefully across the back yard without even noticing him. Blaze was confused as to what was going on. He hadn’t smelled this man before in the house this morning. But now he could definitely smell him. The man had an unusual burnt smell to him that Blaze had never smelled before. The man also carried what, from television, Blaze knew to be a hand gun. Blaze also knew what hand guns were for. What had happened inside while he played? Blaze eyed the bad smelling man as he advanced across the back yard but then threw a worried gaze to the backdoor of the house. Loyalty overcame him and he rushed to the back door. The door was not open for him to nuzzle it open. He had seen Masters open this door before and thought he could do it. Blaze stood on his rear paws and wobbled so that his jaws were in line with the small knob of the screen door. The inner door was open and that unusual burnt smell was emanating from the house.

  Blaze used his teeth, jaw, and tongue to manipulate the screen door open on the second try and quickly scampered into the house where he quickly found Masters George and Ann. He didn’t understand but they looked like they were dead television style. Blaze couldn’t even recognize Master Ann except for the faint smell of her sweet sachet that underlined the unusual burnt smell of gunpowder and also the metallic smell of the thick crimson fluid pools around Master George and Master Ann in the hall.

  Blaze raced for the back door and leapt through the screen. He was barking. That bad smelling man had killed his Masters and it looked like he intended to kill again. When Blaze was on the back patio, he scanned the area where he had seen the man headed.

  Blaze took off in that direction barking.

  Stop!! Killer! Help!! Look out!! He’s at the fence!! He has a gun!! He killed my masters!!

  As Blaze raced toward the killer his heart thundered. The killer looked back somewhat surprised when Blaze started barking but only slightly sped up his pace when he saw that Blaze was approaching. Blaze knew why. There was no way he was going to make it to the fence before the killer and the fence was too high for Blaze to jump anyway. In fact, the killer was already over the fence when Blaze had only closed half the distance and as Blaze got to the fence shouting warnings at the top of his voice, the killer raised his gun and fired into a window of the neighbor’s house and then quickly slipped out of sight around the house.

  Blaze continued to shout.

  He’s getting away. Someone! Help!! I can’t get out of this fence!! Help!! He killed my Masters!!

  With the arrival of the police also came the heavier rain that Master Ann had forecasted. Blaze stood by the fence and loyally shouted to the police officers for his Masters to get aid.

  He was nearly hoarse and soaked clear through before a woman he recognized as the lady Master of that house pointed at him, shrugged her shoulders and said something to the police. Blaze saw salvation in her though they had never met because there were no dogs over there and Masters George and Ann always walked him the other direction. The police headed to the house and Blaze met them in the hallway with the grisly remains of his Masters and then his comfy home joy place became no more.

  The police called animal control and they came and placed a leash on Blaze and put him in the back of a truck.

  Blaze was confused, tired, didn’t understand, and really wanted some kibble and some scratch ears and the Masters. When he arrived at his destination, he was gently coaxed out of the truck and into a small metal cage with wire bars on the front. Blaze made this walk with his head down and his tail between his legs. And even though there was kibble in the cage, it wasn’t the same kind of kibble he had at home. Blaze lay down on his stomach and put his head down on the cool metal floor between his forepaws.

  He thought of the woman next door. He felt loyal to her. Not loyal in the exact same sense as he felt loyal to Master George and Master Ann but loyal nonetheless and he couldn’t explain where the feeling came from. Hell, before last week, Blaze wouldn’t have even tried or cared to try to explain his feelings. What was going on here? Blaze didn’t want to spend another night in this cage. He had to get out. He had to get to the lady. He would talk to her. He would get her to understand him.

  7

  SIMON SHEPHERD

  Simon Shepherd sat at his computer terminal in his laboratory and watched the impending event slowly but surely unfolding before his eyes. Witnessing such an extraordinary phenomenon as this during his lifetime thrilled Simon beyond any experience he had undergone in his entire twenty-eight years.

  Simon didn’t know whether to believe what the theologians were saying about the event. He even had his doubts about what the endless stream of physicists, chemists, biologists, oceanographers, meteorologists, and geologists said.

  Even the politicians had not entirely convinced Simon.

  Simon felt the event was truly a wonderful and awesome thing. Humanity, and the natural beauty that is Earth, in his opinion, were in need of such a catalyst for change. If the army of scientists consulting on the event were correct, Simon welcomed the event.

  But, there was the chance that the event would come and pass and there would be no changes to speak of whatsoever, except maybe a fleeting occurrence of something out of the range of normal that would give people something to talk about for a few days or weeks or until a new episode of their favorite television show was aired and the memory of the event gets erased by the fictional worlds displayed on the boob tube.

  Simon was first approached about the event four months ago. He had recently returned to his newly purchased home in Philadelphia after work at his still fairly new job.

  His fairly new job was with the United States Air Force research division studying the effects of astronomical events on the Earth’s atmosphere. It wasn’t really what Simon had his heart set on as a career but to be making a small six figure income at the ripe old age of twenty-eight was enough to keep him waking up every morning and showing up on time. Even though the work was a little slow, Simon found it interesting and, often times, engaging and he had ambitions that this would lead the way for a career with NASA studying real astronomical finds throughout the universe. Simon’s desire was to discover life on other planets.

  Since learning about his relative insignificance in size compared to the grand scheme of things, Simon had focused all of his free attention to books and magazine articles about anything related to discoveries made off the planet and discoveries made on the planet that originated from off of it. He studied nebulae, black holes, solar winds, meteors and meteorites, comets, planets and moons, suns and stars, gaseous anomalies, pulsars, quasars, and anything else that caught his attention.

  At seventeen, he’d graduated high school early with top honors and was immediately accepted to Penn State’s School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. He spent each year excelling in his studies and impressing his professors with his astonishing, yet scientifically plausible, theories and experiments. He finished his undergraduate program in three and a half years and then spent an additional five years working on his PHDs in astronomy and astrophysics.

  Simon theorized that life simply had to exist outside of the Earth. He stated it was simply just illogical to assume that of the billions of worlds that lie in the known universe, only one was successful in achieving the appropriate chain reaction to create life. Simon believed the chain reaction must have happened in other places as well because in theory, the universe was comprised of almost all the same elements. Simon believed that places such as Venus, Mars, and Titan supported life already and that humanity lacked the ability and technology to discover it. To assume that Venus is vei
led in toxic clouds incapable of supporting life was not something Simon could buy into. After all, the entire animal kingdom on Earth was breathing and surviving on a corrosive gas that slowly but surely causes the oxidization, or rusting out, of the body. Was that to say that a species could not survive in a sulfur or methane rich environment?

  Simon knew humanity had to try harder to find any source of life in the universe. He felt it was vital or humanity would end up greenhouse gassing itself into another ice age. That was when Simon realized he wanted to work for NASA and really try to get the agency moving in the right direction.

  He knew funding would be a problem for NASA but he hoped to get in the door at least and find something out there that would make it so funding was never going to be an issue for anyone again.

  And then, that night four months ago, the congressman had come to Simon’s door. He had been reading one of the latest astrophysics books relating to the bend and gravitational pull of black holes and was startled to hear rapping on his door. For one thing, he lived in a controlled entry condo building and he had not pushed the admit button located on his intercom which unlocked the main front entry for visitors.

  Simon approached the door and looked through the peephole into the hallway. There were two men standing on the other side of his door. Both wore black suits with white shirts and dark ties.

  “Who is it?” Simon asked through the door.

  “NSA. Please open the door,” one of the men replied.

  NSA? Simon thought. What are they doing here? Being a smart man, Simon quickly realized they could not be here because he had done something wrong. Otherwise, they would have broken down the door and taken him by force. In matters where an individual posed a threat to the nation’s security, Simon believed the NSA would not come pleasantly knocking and identifying themselves but instead would launch tear gas through the windows, and destroy the door using an enormous battering ram only to storm the room wearing gas masks and carrying laser sighted guns and shouting “DOWN!” to anyone they came across before slapping a pair of shackles onto whomever their target was.

  So, feeling much more at ease with this NSA approach, Simon slid the chain off, undid the deadbolt, and opened the door.

  “Simon Shepherd?” one of the black suited men asked.

  “Y-Yes,” Simon responded with a quaver in his voice. “What’s this about?”

  And then, the two black suited men stepped back, almost in unison and a third man Simon had not seen through the peephole stepped in front of them.

  “Dr. Shepherd,” the man said extending a hand toward Simon.

  Simon looked down at the hand in amazement and wonder. He recognized this man and was astonished to have him standing at his door step.

  “S-Sir,” Simon said. “Mr. Thomas, er, Congressman Thomas… it is an honor to meet you.” And Simon extended his hand and shook with the other man.

  “May I come in Dr. Shepherd?” the congressman asked.

  “Of course,” Simon said and opened the door wider. He stepped back from the entry and made a sweeping motion with his hand to wave the congressman inside.

  Once he was inside, Simon looked at the two black suited men and hesitated with the door open. He looked toward the congressman whose back was to him as he appeared to be surveying the room.

  “My colleagues will wait outside, Dr. Shepherd. This conversation is between you and me. Will you please join me at your kitchen table?” the congressman asked as he took a seat there.

  Simon glanced back at the black suited men. “Uh, sorry guys,” he said awkwardly and closed the door leaving them on the other side. He walked toward the table and then said, “Uh… can I offer you something to drink? Coffee? Water?”

  “No, thank you, Dr. Shepherd. This is a beautiful view you have here,” the congressman said. And it was. Simon’s condo was on the twentieth floor of a high rise just across the Ben Franklin Bridge from downtown Philadelphia. The unit was a corner unit on the Camden County side of the river and the kitchen table sat in the nook of the corner of the building and the walls were all actually windows offering an unobstructed view of the downtown skyline and the river which was truly breathtaking, especially at night. “Please, join me at the table,” the congressman repeated. “I won’t take too much of your time.”

  Simon’s interest level was soaring through the remaining five stories of the high rise and continuing beyond the roof. If he were a cat, he probably would have expended eight of his nine lives trying to guess what was going on. But since he was a not a cat, he was forced to listen to his unusual visitor to satisfy his itch of curiosity. Simon approached the table and took the seat opposite of his guest.

  “We’ve never met before, Dr. Shepherd, but I have followed your studies for quite some time,” the congressman said. “You’ve had my attention since the beginning of your senior year at Penn.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Simon managed.

  But before Simon could say anything else the congressman said, “I am guessing that since you know who I am, you know a few things about me too.”

  Simon looked puzzled and furrowed his brow. Then he said, “Well, sir, I know only enough to say you are a bit out of your range of constituents here in Philadelphia which tells me you are not here to try to get my vote but otherwise, I must say I am quite baffled as to what interest you would have in me and my work.”

  The congressman looked amused. “Dr. Shepherd, have you ever heard of the Department of Astronomical Findings and Phenomena?”

  Simon thought. He had heard of all kinds of agencies from NASA to SETI but he could not think of anything like the Department of Astronomical Findings and Phenomena.

  “No, sir. I can’t say that I have,” Simon replied.

  “Well, then, it appears the government is good at keeping some things under wrap after all. Even from prominent researchers who study in related fields,” the congressman said with a small smile on the corner of his lips. “The department was set up just a few years ago. I am currently the chair of the… very small committee that oversees it.”

  “Okay,” Simon said, unsure still of where the conversation was going. “What’s this ab-”

  The congressman interrupted.

  “The department was founded based on your thesis work for your PHD,” he revealed.

  “My PHD?” Simon asked rhetorically. “First or second?”

  “Primarily your first although the second has not been without its merits,” the congressman responded.

  “That was my argument on the theory that life exists outside this planet and that life on this planet originated extra-terrestrially. As I recall, the government scientists who reviewed my thesis did not care for my theories as much as my professors did. What interest does someone like you have in it?” Simon said sternly.

  “Dr. Shepherd,” the congressman started. “I’m here to offer you a job.”

  Shocked, Simon said slowly and softly, “I… I have a job.”

  “I know that, Dr. Shepherd. The job I’m offering is more suited to your specific talents,” the congressman stated.

  Simon was starting to get confused. Not only had the top government scientists debunked all of Simon’s theories relating to his first thesis, they had nearly laughed him out of the room. What was the government’s interest now? “I guess I don’t understand, sir. The scientists on the federal payroll who reviewed my work said it was not possible.”

  “Many of those scientists have been removed from their positions. Their theories and ideas have proven too antiquated for what the future may hold,” the congressmen answered.

  “The future?” Simon questioned. “With all due respect sir, what the hell are you talking about?”

  “First tell me, do I have your attention enough to get you to accept the assignment I am offering? It is the opportunity of a lifetime and could make you one of the most respected men in history,” the congressman stated.

  Simon’s nerves sparked synapses all over his body an
d icy shivers of excitement ran up his spine to his neck and then back down again. His first thesis had been about his theories on other life outside earth. Could this be his chance to start looking?

  “Sir, are you saying you want me to come help the government search for extra-terrestrial life?” Simon quizzed.

  “No, not exactly, you see…,” the congressman began.

  But this time Simon cut the congressman off. “Then I’m afraid I’m at a loss. How can I do anything for you?”

  The congressman leaned across the table and stared Simon hard directly into his eyes. “Dr. Shepherd, will you accept my offer for this assignment? I must know before I can tell you anything more but I can assure you that you will not regret it should you accept it. Yes or no?”

  Simon pondered for a moment before finally saying, “All right, I accept but what about my job at the weather lab? I’m sure the Air Force won’t take too kindly to an impromptu separation. I can’t just bail on that. They might even say I went AWOL.”

  “I will take care of that,” the congressman promised. “This is far more important.”

  “What? What is it? A congressman from another state comes knocking on my door acting all cryptic and offers me a job I know nothing about and…,” Simon spat out.

  “We found something,” the congressman interrupted again.

  “Wha… What?” Simon stuttered.

  “We found something in space, Dr. Shepherd,” the congressman re-orated.

  A million thoughts raced through Simon’s head at once but most prominent was that his life so far had possibly not been lost in a futile search for answers he would never find. He was speechless except for, after a gulp he said:

  “Please, Congressman Thomas. Call me Simon,” was all he could say.