EHYEH-ASHER-EHYEH (I AM THAT I AM): An Elena Duran/Corazon Negro
Vi Moreau (vmoreau@directvinternet.com)
Sun, 22 Sep 2002 01:13:22 -0400
Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh (I am that I am) 16.1/34
Julio Cesar divad72@prodigy.net.mx
Vi Moreau vmoreau@directvinternet.com
The Conference Building, which connected the General Assembly and
Secretariat Buildings, extended along the waterfront for four hundred feet
and was cantilevered over the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive. Its narrow top
level on the fourth floor housed the dining rooms and an industrial size
kitchen. More than half a mile of teak railing from Burma ran along three
sides of an outside terrace on three levels of the Conference Building.
On the second and third floors were the three Council Chambers, each of
which was seventy-two feet wide, one hundred thirty-five feet long and
twenty-four feet high. The Security Council Chamber was furnished by Norway
and designed by the Norwegian Arnstein Arneberg. A large mural by Per Krohg
of Norway-symbolizing the promise of future peace and individual
freedom-covered most of the east wall. There were 164 seats for the public
and 118 for the press, all of them currently filled.
At least one member, and some of they represented each of the nations of the
world by the leaders of those nations.
The entire building crawled with security as the representatives of every
major nation gathered for the opening ceremonies of the emergency
international peace conference, to be held this very night. The nighttime
was lit with spotlights. Track sensors guarded the United Nations, and three
different security satellites provided constant surveillance of the entire
area. The U.S. Secret Service and the FBI, working with each government's
security agency, were responsible for the security of all the world's
leaders. As far as they did all concerned, not even a fly could get near
these leaders without them know about it.
United Nations ground security had been given over to almost 5000 of New
York's finest, patrolling on a constant basis. Both the FBI and the Secret
Service had a command post set up outside the Security Council Chamber,
where the opening ceremonies would take place.
The line of limos jammed the road like a traffic jam at rush hour. The
backup, of course, was exacerbated by the intense security check each car
had to go through just to get near.
Inside the building, the cold of the winter day was long forgotten in the
Security Council Chamber, as the packed bodies in the gallery and the heat
from the television lights forced the temperature in the room up far above
normal. Several of the attendants, despite the intense media scrutiny of
these hearings, had taken off their jackets. Many viewers were fanning
themselves with personal computers or papers. Their doubts about the recent
events around the world were clear with every action of the hearings'
chairman, the flamboyant General Perez.
Perez was a white-haired man who was clearly using the hearings on the
catastrophes around the world to propel his own career towards the White
House. In front of the hot room, at the witness table, was Dr. Ann Ford of
the Geology Department at UCLA. Sitting among an international group of
scientists at the long wooden table, she had a commanding presence. A
strong, good-looking woman in her late forties, she had been called upon to
explain to the Security Council the basic science behind the natural
catastrophes around the world. She had prepared herself extensively with the
drafting of her presentation. She needed to explain events-not only to the
Council, but also to the audience on the other side of the television
cameras-that she and her fellow scientists didn't understand quite well
themselves.
Considering the interest the public had taken in the destruction of major
cities under bizarre circumstances, there was no doubting her presentation
would make the news. Dr. Ford, an expert on plate tectonics, had decided
that too many religious ideas had resulted in persecution based on the
long-standing tradition of fearing the unknown. So the best thing to do, she
had determined, was to help the regular people understand the events for
what they really were. The bigots like General Perez would fold like wet
tissue if public opinion shifted against them.
But at the moment, the public was scared to death. The Vatican, a large
section of Jerusalem, a Buddhist Shrine in Nepal and an entire island in the
Okinawa chain of Japan were gone. General Perez was a master of playing that
to the hilt.
"Lights, please?" Dr. Ford said.
A few people murmured something about that helping the heat, at least.
As the lights dimmed around, Dr. Ford started. "As you all know," she said,
spacing each letter as she began her presentation, "strange events have
occurred all around the world. Those catastrophes, I must say, are beyond
our understanding for the moment." This statement was greeted by cries and
complaints. In the meantime, images on the screen showed various pictures
taken via satellite, along with a graph displaying a diagonal line that
indicated the day and hour of the devastations. One image took over the
screen, focusing attention on the volcano erupting in Nepal. Around Dr.
Ford, the crowd's interest increased. Some revulsion emerged as men and
women confronted the images of the destruction.
"This volcano had been dormant for nine centuries. According to the best
seismologists in the world, our colleagues from the University of Tokyo,"
she said, nodding at one of the men sitting by her, "it was lightly expected
to erupt again," The image on the screen changed, showing the vestiges of
the Vatican. "This is what was left of the Vatican after the earthquake."
The screen shifted once more. "Here we can see Jerusalem, covered by a
sandstorm. And here," she pointed to the new photograph of the ocean, "was
the place were Taketomi Island used to be." The room felt silent. "Our
satellites show no trace of any of these events before they happened, no
preparation, nothing!" Dr. Ford paused for breath, and then went on. "Ladies
and gentlemen, these tragedies occurred in the blink of an eye."
The lights slowly brightened.
General Perez turned from the man he'd been talking to and smiled at Dr.
Ford, like a father smiling at a small child who had just done something
cute. "Thank you for the lights, Dr. Ford," he said in a vaguely patronizing
tone. "It was quite-how should I say it?-educational."
Some of the crowd snickered.
"However," Perez went on, "it failed to address the larger issue which, I
might add, is the focus of this hearing. Four words: What is causing them?"
There was a low rumble among the crowd. "Well, General Perez," Dr. Ford
responded, "we in the scientific community are doing everything we can to-"
"Well," Perez interrupted, "in that case, as always, you scientists are
doing the best you can." The General made a pause as his aide moved behind
the panel and handed him a black folder filled with documents. "And right
now, the whole world is in danger."
"General, we are talking about global disasters, meteorological
catastrophes, and we don't know
if-"
"Meteorological catastrophes?" Perez asked, his voice calm and strong over
the silent crowd as he played to the television cameras. Perez smiled and
wiped a drop of sweat from the side of his head. He was going to attack Dr.
Ford, and attack her hard. "Are you blind? Let me remind you, 'doctor', that
these 'natural disasters' are happening in a pattern. Surely even you could
notice that the major religions on the world have been attacked."
"What I did say-"
"Let me tell you what you said," Perez said, talking over Dr. Ford's
objections without hesitation. He raised a blown-up photo of the Vatican.
"You came here, and frankly, I could say everyone of us expected some sort
of explanation about these attacks, excuse me, 'natural events' as you
called them. Instead, you entered this room just to tell us what we already
knew: that you have not a single clue."
"General, you must understand that-"
Perez ignored her words and spoke to the cameras and crowd. "These are not
isolated incidents, Dr. Ford. Somehow, they are connected." He picked up the
folder filled with documents and held it up for the crowd to see. "Right
here I have proof!"
"General, there is no enemy. This is not a war," Dr. Ford said, her voice
becoming more forceful.
But Perez ignored her. "Of course it's war. These attacks are not at random.
This whole thing started nine days ago in Australia. Remember the murders
there? Some radical group is plotting to put the world under siege," he
concluded, an intense look of concern on his face.
Dr. Ann Ford tried to shout over the noise, to engage the General. "Sir, you
are not being-"
"And there are even rumors, Dr. Ford," Perez said, turning to stare directly
at her, "of a single mind behind the events." A number of people actually
gasped at that statement. "Dr. Ford, we deserve the right to defend
ourselves against any threat. As we speak, numerous countries are mobilizing
their armies toward their frontiers. I would think that a menace as this one
should be of paramount importance to you scientists."
"They are," Dr. Ford said firmly. "But this is not the way to confront this.
I would like to see that folder."
"Why?" Perez asked, pounding the folder, and then waving it in front of the
crowd. "Someone is attacking us, and we must defend ourselves."
"But you don't know that for sure! You don't know anything for sure!" Dr.
Ford shouted, clearly angry now. "You are the one who wants to put the world
under siege."
"Ladies and gentlemen," General Perez said, now more than ever playing for
the cameras. "The truth is that the United Nations is ready to face any
danger. We must find who the enemy is and destroy them..."
At that moment, Dr. Ford felt the darkness enter the room, pressing hard
upon her. It was an almost palpable thing, and with a start, she realized
the probable source of the danger just as the deep and resonant voice of
Perez called out. The sound was distorted, but the scientist was thinking
the words too, so she understood it immediately.
"We are under attack!"
Dr. Ford felt the inky mass of darkness begin to press its way into her
body, and the mindless, horrific, plasmic mass did not discriminate. She
fell to the ground and rolled as if the pitch encasing and invading her were
fire that could be extinguished.
But it did not relent. However, it did slowly part. After it did, Dr. Ford
saw the horrors the light of the room revealed, the good doctor silently
prayed that the darkness might return and she be granted a quick and
painless death under cover of the senses-dulling cloud.
Even so, hers was not among the screams that sounded then, and the wails and
jeers were from offender and victim alike. She shivered and felt the blood
around her, smelled it, lots of blood everywhere.
The darkness rippled into pieces, and amid the patchwork maze those
fragments made, the geologist witnessed every nightmare she could ever
imagine. The reality of the victims before her made any other possibilities
unthinkable. Burned, twisted, torn apart bodies were everywhere.
"Run for cover!" General Perez shouted. Dr. Ford recognized his voice,
filled with fear, with desperation.
She knew they were doomed. The sounds of machine guns filled the air. The
grotesque attack could only be the result of a powerful organization. But
who? And how in the God's name had they entered here? How had they managed
to bypass all the security of the United Nations? And even more frightening:
Perez had been right, the assault was indeed a joint effort, undoubtedly by
the diabolical group responsible for much of the evil and brutality of the
past days around the world.
How and why the group had gathered for such an assault was beyond Dr. Ford's
reasoning. But then, much about what was happening was beyond her. The 'why'
wasn't so mysterious, she supposed, if this group had managed to organize
themselves beyond the 'how'. However, the 'why' still applied to many
questions, every one of them with the same answer. Why now? Why New York?
Simple: total extermination. World genocide, starting with the world's
leaders, so conveniently assembled like a group of sacrificial lambs.
The screams of pain and the sound of the machine guns increased their
resonance. "The exits are closed!" someone yelled. "There's no way out! This
way, Mr. President!"
Feeling hopeless, Dr. Ann Ford, professor of geology at the University of
California-Los Angeles, mother of ten-year-old Alex and eight-year-old
Tanja, wife of attorney Robert Ford, and a member in good standing of the
Lutheran Church of Santa Monica, closed her eyes, praying to God for either
a quick escape or a quick death.
At that moment, an unnatural silence felt over the chamber, inside and out.
Dr. Ford raised her eyes and met those of a man dressed in black under a
bulky Combat-Armor with a terrorist's mask on his face, night-vision
goggles, and a complicated-looking, obviously computerized pulse-rifle in
his hands. The Smart-Pulse-Rifle prototype was a very rare model M-52V 10mm
pulse-gun-machine, not yet in the market. Using a body brace and
gyro-stabilized support arm, the assault rifle was a computer-aimed, video
targeted automatic weapon-a very sophisticated light machine gun. The
attackers apparently combined the specialized techno-combat training of the
twenty first-century fighting-men with those qualities universal to 'grunts'
through the ages.
"They are here!" shouted the masked man in front of Dr. Ford. "They are
here! The Ancient Gathering!" He turned to retreat, weapon held tightly as a
nightmarish silhouette materialized out of the smoke behind him. It struck
like lightning. The man fired reflexively, wildly. The torrent of bullets
almost decapitated another terrorist nearby.
The chamber trembled under the geologist's feet, and for a moment, darkness
returned. At that instant, Dr. Ford was sure about one thing: new players
had come into the arena. Somehow, she could feel them.
Terrified and curious both, Dr. Ford shot a look at the huge man who had
killed the terrorist. She saw black Arab robes, a beard, and some kind of
tattoos on his face. The man looked powerful and dangerous, and above all,
unstoppable. Tendrils formed of darkness groped like living things seeped
across the floor, dancing and whirling at the periphery of the new arrival,
but not touching him.
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