The End The Beginning (Humanity's New Dawn Book 1) Read online

  “Thank you, Simon and please call me Jack,” the congressman said.

  “What… What did you find?” Simon said after a long silent pause that seemed to last three times longer than it really did.

  “It’s best if you see it for yourself. Can you pack a few things now? We will be leaving for Hawaii within the hour,” Jack replied. “A car will be here to pick you up at 9:00 PM to take you to the air base where we will depart from.”

  “Hawaii?? Now? What’s In Hawaii?” Simon insisted.

  “Your new lab is located there. I will see you downstairs in one hour.” And with that, Congressman Jack Thomas rose from the table and headed to the front door where the two black suited NSA agents presumably still remained. He opened the door and turned and added “Pack light. The department will have most anything you could need. One hour, Simon.”

  The congressman stepped through the door and closed it behind him leaving Simon alone with his thoughts.

  And now, four months later as Simon sat in his lab in Hawaii watching the inevitable and unstoppable chain of movements that flashed on his computer monitor, he wondered how things would be next week. The event, though unpredictable to the minute or even hour, would likely occur sometime early next week. It was Monday morning and by next Monday, things on Earth could be drastically different.

  Simon had supported Jack Thomas’s desire to go public with the information and he hoped that things had gone well at Saturday night’s dinner event.

  Just then, the fax machine rang behind him. The machine picked up on the second ring and shot out a laser printed message that must have been brief because the whole process took less than ten seconds.

  Simon rubbed his eyes and gave another glance to the computer screen. He hadn’t slept for many hours and was exhausted. He pushed his rolling chair back from the workstation, raised his arms in a stretch and yawned. Perhaps he would get some good solid sleep tonight. Perhaps all the excitement of the last four months had given his body the workout it needed to get some good deep sleep.

  Simon rose from his chair and headed toward the door of the lab when he noticed the paper that had just come out of the fax machine. He only noticed because his name was hand printed in large block letters on the top. He picked up the message and read it. Suddenly the desire to sleep had left him and was replaced with panic. Simon dropped the fax and raced back to his workstation and picked up the phone. As the faxed message floated to the floor, it landed face up and read:

  SIMON. Jack Thomas is dead. If you even think about going public, you’re dead too. Maybe we’ll just take care of you anyway.

  8

  THE CAT

  The small cat awoke slowly in the meadow. Her little head raised up off of her forepaws and she blinked open her eyes slowly. The morning was clear and bright and the warm September sun shone brightly down on her mostly black but tortoiseshell colored coat making her feel toasty among the cool grass that she was lounging in.

  She stood, yawned, arched her back in a stretch, and then turned that into a crouch with her backside and tail raised and her forepaws stretched far out in front of her. She flattened her ears against her head. She stretched her front claws from their sheaths and kneaded them into the grass. She yawned again, stretching her jaws and baring a set of perfectly white and intact feline teeth.

  After completing her morning stretch, she commenced her morning groom, starting with licking the sides of her forepaws to wash her cheeks and behind her ears.

  Suddenly, the cat realized something didn’t seem right. She froze in mid-lick with her paw still stretched out in front of her. She pricked her ears. Her wide yellow-green eyes were open broadly and she remained absolutely still.

  The cat was not in the same place that she recalled falling asleep in only a short time ago.

  The cat, a beautiful long and sleek specimen of the tortoiseshell variety, owned a home that her human pet maintained. As she surveyed her current location she knew she was not in her bed by the looking glass that she fell asleep in after her late night patrol of her home.

  The cat stood about nine inches tall at eye level and the grass in which she was amidst was neatly trimmed and just as green at her human pet maintained at home but that home did not include any towering human structures anywhere in view.

  She was in a city. The heart of a city in what looked like a park.

  How had she gotten here?

  Where was the comfort of her home?

  As the cat cautiously surveyed the area with curious eyes, she saw many humans walking by on the edges of the park, many cars and loud trucks cruising up and down the intersection of streets, and a small spattering of large and small humans nearby her in the park.

  Just then, one of the little humans noticed her and pointed in her direction. It said something to one of the larger humans-

  “Look! Mommy! A Kitty!”

  -and started to trot towards her.

  The cat crouched low against the grass trying to stay invisible and hoping the little human had not seen her. The cat had seen and in some cases been victim to the unfortunate and often cruel behavior and treatment exhibited by some of the un-owned humans and had learned it was best to never trust any un-owned human right from the start.

  The little human casually skipped toward the cat saying something-

  “Here kitty kitty kitty. Here kitty kitty kitty.”

  With that, the cat knew she was the intended target of the little human. She didn’t know how she knew but it was almost as if the little human’s sounds were coming over to the cat in her own native tongue of purrs, mews, and meows. That had to be impossible of course. The cat had never understood any of the gibberish sounds that had come from her pet human. Some of the sounds were appealing to her and she had come to recognize them as the primitive human animal displaying affection or offering food but in her whole life, she had never heard a human come so close to speaking her language.

  The cat crouched with anticipation and checked for easy exits to escape the little human. Little humans, whether owned or not owned had a tendency to be very grabby and pulley with cats… yanking on tails and ears and whiskers. And, as this cat had so far in life escaped the clutches of a little human, she intended to remain that way.

  The cat darted off to her left which seemed to be the direction with the least amount of humans in sight and the little human let out a terrifying screech and spoke again-

  “Mommy!!! The kitty’s gettin’ away!! Mommy!!!”

  -and within seconds, she was out of the little human’s eye and ear shot, not to mention, its reach.

  The cat darted cautiously through the unfamiliar city using various kiosks and waste baskets and bus stations as cover from the humans who were around though none of them seemed to notice her scuttling between their feet.

  As she walked though, she could pick out bits and pieces of dialogue from the humans who were making sounds as they went by. The cat found she was able to understand those sounds just as clearly as she had understood the little human in the park moments ago.

  How strange this morning was turning out to be for the cat.

  Perhaps this was all a dream, like those she had had of her stalking some butterflies in the garden at home or getting a full body massage from her pet human.

  The warm sun that beat down on her nearly all black coat seemed real enough. So did the feeling of thirst and hunger that now crept into her lean feline body. She had not eaten the breakfast her pet human makes her every morning. The atypical, to the cat at least, scents of the city repulsed and intrigued her simultaneously and the various and plentiful sounds around her kept her ears abuzz.

  For a moment, she began to feel what could only be described as the sensation of being overwhelmed and her heart began to race.

  The cat took a quick refuge out of the sun and laid her belly down on some cool concrete beneath a bench. The bench had a slit in it which allowed a thin crack of sunlight through but that didn’t bother the cat. S
he rested under the bench and panted lightly.

  A pair of humans sat down on the bench above the cat causing her to tense up but then she looked at their human hind paws and saw that they were facing away from her and they would likely not find her. The cat had played this game before with her pet human only then, she would lie in wait underneath a chair on purpose and when her pet human sat down above her, she would spring out from under the chair and play bite and scratch her pet human’s hind paws. The pet human would always make an unusual sound in surprise but the end result was almost always a wrestle session with the pet human’s forepaws or a massage for the cat. Either way, the cat got something she wanted.

  Now, here under this bench in the heart of the city, the cat chuckled to herself as only a cat could at the comfortable memory of this playful game with her pet human. She would not, however, play this game with the two humans sitting above her.

  The human hind paws before her looked relatively the same. Neither one was much of a distinguishable shade of blue from the other. The paw coverings were also relatively the same color although they were slightly different in shape.

  The two humans above her were engaged in an oral exchange.

  And the cat could understand them!

  Well, she could not fully comprehend what the words the two humans were saying meant, but she understood the words themselves. Understood them again, as if they were being spoken in her own language and not in the usual nonsense that her human pet had spoken to her with since the beginning of time. She understood them like she understood the little human in the park and the various humans that she had passed between the park and the bench. She could hear those words for what they were but did not cognize the intention associated with them.

  As the cat sat beneath the bench and listened to the two humans she began to get a strange feeling that the exchange of words going on between the humans above her was of great importance. The feeling was unexplained and completely foreign to her. Up until now, the cat had felt the most important thing was making sure she had a good pet human who cooked for her, kept her house and bathroom clean, provided entertainment, and gave full body massages. But there was something different about this.

  The cat felt this was something beyond the scope of her own life.

  The cat felt very small… insignificant beneath the bench and the humans and the towers.

  And she listened. She listened to the humans speak to one another and absorbed as much as she could and found herself astonished to realize that she was able to absorb as much as she did. Her memory, as most cats’ are, had always been extraordinary but this was beyond anything she had ever experienced.

  Ten minutes later, when the humans ended their conversation and departed the bench in separate directions, the cat sat in wonder. She was thrilled to be experiencing this ability to understand the human language. And how could this be?

  She was excited to go home to her human pet and communicate with it. She couldn’t wait to be able to tell it all kinds of things it could and should be doing for her and finally have it understand her.

  But there was a foreboding feeling that lingered in the cat’s mind about what had transpired above her on the bench and she pondered the situation further.

  What had those humans been discussing? She had heard them say some words which she knows through the translation to be unusual or unpleasant even to felines. Words like danger, virus, massive, eclipse were not familiar to her. The cat had also noticed that one of the humans kept shifting one of his hind feet and she wondered if perhaps it had been in a state of tension.

  Then, an even stranger feeling overcame the cat. Not only did she feel that sense that the humans were talking about something of the utmost importance, she also now felt that they had been talking directly to her. Talking to her as if to say she were involved or must be involved in some larger picture.

  But, the cat couldn’t make heads or tails out of what had been said. She wanted to find her way back to her home and eat her breakfast.

  After the humans on the bench left, as cats do, she changed her focus to that. The humans were crossing the street in the direction she felt she needed to go. She didn’t know why she knew that was the way. She just assumed it was instinct.

  The cat scurried down the sidewalks and scampered across the city streets. She waited at every crosswalk with the humans and crossed when they did so as not to be run over by any of the transport vehicles that used the street. No one paid any attention to her which she was just fine with. Apparently humans in the city had other distractions to look at than one lone cat walking among them.

  As she walked, she grew hungrier and hungrier. The smells from various restaurants tickled her nose and caused her to salivate. She was slowly sauntering past a restaurant at which numerous humans were seated at various locations, all engaged in various conversations. The sidewalk dining room was enclosed by posts with a band of material the cat new to be wonderful to scratch stretching between them. There were potted greens stationed at various positions among the posts. The cat snuck behind one of these gigantic pots and carefully peered around it in hopes of catching site of some morsel of food she could get.

  Instead, she was faced with an exceptionally large human with a wild blonde bushy mane and a head covering of disconcerting extravagance.

  “Ohhhh! A kitty!” The human exclaimed.

  The cat cocked her head at the human from her position next to the planter.

  “My, aren’t you a BEAUTIFUL girl,” the human extolled. “I’ve never seen such an extraordinarily striking calico colored torte such as yourself. Henry, you must see this cat.”

  And then another human head poked into view.

  “Why yes, she is quite remarkable. Look at that stripe down her face. It’s perfectly straight and perfectly situated between her eyes. Truly attractive!” the second human said.

  The cat understood them. And this time, she better comprehended the meaning of the words that were being spoken.

  The first large human looked around and then busied herself with two devices in her forepaws and something on her plate.

  “Are you hungry, sweetums?” the large human said to the cat.

  The cat came fully out from behind the planter and sat patiently next to it, tail curled around her with its tip resting on her front paws. She licked her chops and looked at the large human with an eager expression.

  “I sure hope you’re not a homeless kitty cat,” the large human said. “It’s dreadful to see such things. No, No. Your coat is far too clean and shiny to believe you are homeless.” And with that, she tossed something from the table which landed just shy of the cat.

  The smell of the tossed item quickly invaded the cat’s nostrils and she approached it with glee. The morsel was chicken and it was delicious, even though it had not been served to her by her human pet in her personal dish. The cat quickly gobbled down the morsel and looked back to the large human while avidly licking her chops.

  “Give her some of your beef, Henry,” the large human said. “She’s still hungry.”

  “All right then.” And another morsel of food landed just in front of the cat. This one was one of her favorites and now she knew what the humans called it. Beef. It was catnip heaven for the cat. After finishing the beef, she looked up at the large human and smiled. The cat winked one eye and did a slow circle walk of thanks and contentment and proceeded away from the large human and its human pet, Henry.

  The cat sensed her home was far away and also that the snack she’d gotten from the humans was not going to be enough to get her there. She walked a few more blocks, then crossed a bridge over a wide band of water and then a few more blocks with thoughts of beef on her mind and a homeward bound tug on her heart she wasn’t entirely aware of. But then, she suddenly stopped in her tracks.

  She was standing on a sidewalk in front of a group of homes that the humans built and lived side by side in. She had crossed into an area that was much quieter than the
city and the towers, though still visible, were not in abundance here.

  She glanced at the home directly in front of her. A human was sitting in front of the house. It was enclosed in what looked like a cage and its face was covered by a broad expanse of something grey with some black on it which appeared to be held in place by the human’s forepaws. It wouldn’t be until later that the cat would learn that the human was actually a man, sitting on his deck, reading the newspaper.

  The cat approached the home slowly and with her head slunk down so that her shoulder blades rose higher as she crept. The drawing pull she was barely aware of was pulling no farther than this. When she made it to the edge of the deck, she confidently and stealthily bounded from the ground to the top of the railing. Once balanced, she sat much as she had sat at the restaurant.

  “Meow,” she said in her politest greeting.

  The human slowly pulled the newspaper down and saw the cat. Upon looking at the human, the cat knew, as only cats do, three things. First that this human was going to teach her great things. Second that the cat was going to spend the rest of her life with this human and make it her pet, even though it was not the human pet she had owned yesterday. And third, that she was about to begin an amazing adventure with this human.

  And in response to her salutations the Jack Voight said, “Why, hello there, cat. What brings you here?” His tone that indicated he totally expected to see this new presence. “I heard you coming from around the block and recognized a timbre in your heartbeat that told me you were coming to see me.”

  The cats eyes widened as the human finished and she thought Wow!

  9

  KAREN AND BLAZE

  The day after her husband’s death, Karen Thomas stood alone in her kitchen gazing blankly out the window over the sink.

  She stood in the exact spot that she had stood in when she had had the brief and startling vision of her husband’s death just seconds before it occurred. Her eyes were puffy and red from a day’s worth of tears but now, even as she replayed the grisly event in her mind, she found herself with no more tears to shed.