The Dimensional Rift
Chapter 9 - Michael's Escape -

Michael and Ashley were driving along an old stretch of highway since last night and had only seen one car the whole time. Suddenly they saw a hotel on the left side of the road with a sign that said ’Eat Sleep ‘n Gas’.

Michael told Ashley to pull in and they would get a room. They went inside and ordered some food and bought a hotel room for the night. Since it was before 11 am, they would have to wait before they could go up to the room.

Michael and Ashley agreed and sat down to eat at one of the four small tables in the lounge. Michael wanted to call his Aunt but did not know the number. And if he tried to get online into his email they would know where they were.

“What about Victoria Secrets?” Ashley suggested. “You said they got orders from her all the time.”

“Your right,” Michael said stretching across the table to kiss her.

Once they were able to go to the room Michael called information and got the number to Victoria Secrets in Flagstaff, Arizona. Information offered to connect her with no extra charges so she took it.

“Victoria Secrets your one stop shop for custom fit lingerie.” The woman’s voice said.

“Hi, my name is Michael Wayne...” Michael said but was cut off right in the middle

“Michael, Rose’s niece.” The woman said.

“Yes. Hey, I need your help. I need to contact her as soon as possible.” Michael said noticing she sounded a little panicked.

“No problem. Do you want the number or do you want me to call her for you?” The woman asked Michael.

“I think I need to call her myself,” Michael said sounding much relieved.

After she had the number she laid down to get some sleep next to Ashley. An hour later when she awoke she could not understand why she was no longer tired. So she went for a walk to think about what she was going to say to her aunt Rose.

Michael walked for more than an hour before realizing she was not hot and sweaty. She looked around and saw the sun was just starting the downslope of its arc across the sky. Thinking to herself that this was the middle of July she knew the temperature in the middle of the dessert should be over 100 degrees.

Since this was not really a concern for her now, she pushed the thoughts from her head and returned to thinking about all the guy had told them. Soon she knew what she was going to tell Rose and started walking back to the hotel. Once back in the room she picked up the phone and dialed the number she got for Rose.

“Hello. This is Emma can I help you.” The woman’s voice said on the other end of the phone.

“Hi Emma, this is Michael Wayne. Rose’s... ah, nephew.” Michael told her.

“Michael and nephew both refer to a male person.” She said.

“I have been changed into a purple...” Michael started but was cut off.

“Don’t say it. Don’t.” The woman said sounding stern. “I will get Rose for you.”

Michael was on hold for nearly five minutes before Rose picked up the phone.

“Hello. Michael?” Rose said.

“Hey, Aunt Rose,” Michael said not really sure how to talk to her.

“You have morphed,” Rose said as a statement rather than a question.

“Yes I have and there is a lot more,” Michael said.

“Really? What more is there?” Rose asked sounding interested to know.

“Later. Please, right now I need someone to pick us up and take us to get Taylor from Ashley’s mom.” Michael said rather fast.

“Okay. Tell me where you are and someone will be right there.” Rose said.

Michael gave her the information from the little piece of paper taped to the top of the desk before telling her “thank you” and hanging up.

At about ten o’clock that night Ashley woke up. When she saw Michael sitting on the end of the bed she asked her why she was not sleeping.

“I can’t.” She said. “I have tried several times. I have gone for walks that took me out for hours at a time and I went swimming in the pool in the back of the hotel and even just laid there next to you and still I was not able to sleep.” She finished not even looking back at Ashley.

Ashley slipped forward on the bed and wrapped her arms around Michael. She held her for nearly an hour before both of them heard Ashley’s belly rumble.

“I think the baby is hungry,” Michael said and both of them giggled before going down to the tiny diner for some food.

When they had finished the woman that had served them told them they had a phone call at the desk. So Michael walked over to see who it was. She was told by the person on the phone that they needed to be outside in exactly 2 minutes before hanging up the phone.

Michael grabbed Ashley paid their bill and stepped outside just in time to watch a large semi-truck drop out of the sky and land right in front of their car. The woman that stepped out looked just like Michael but smaller. She could not be more than 4 foot 10 inches.

“You must be Michael and Ashley.” The woman said as both Michael and Ashley nodded. “I am David. I am here to get you two.” She told them looking around.

She walked to the back of the truck kicked open the doors and stepped inside. When she came out she had a J hook attached to a long cable. “We can’t leave this thing here for people to replace.” She told them as she bent down to place the hook.

Within ten minutes she had pulled the car into the truck and tied it down so it would not move before telling Michael and Ashley to get in the cab of the truck so they could leave.

When Michael and Ashley stepped up into the cab of the truck they were surprised to replace that the inside was nearly seventy feet across and thirty feet deep and there were enough seats to fit more than a dozen people. The carpeting was all tan and the walls had been painted white.

“How do you drive this thing?” Michael asked looking back at David.

“I am not a thing.” A woman’s voice came out of nowhere and everywhere at once. “I am Barbara and I drive myself thank you.” The voice said loudly.

“Oh, Barbara put a sock in it. The child was only asking.” David said as she closed the door behind her.

Soon they were off flying towards Flagstaff to get Taylor from Ashley’s parents’ house. It seemed to take just a few minutes before they arrived and were welcomed by Ashley’s mom.

“Come in. Come in all of you. Before someone sees you.” She said looking around to see who might be watching.

Once Ashley had Taylor dress and ready to go, they all filed out of the house and into the truck to head for Mars. Ashley’s mom and dad decided to go as well since the NSS had been to the house several times in the last week.

***

Mr. Right stood outside Mr. Brandon’s office wondering if he really needed to go in. After a few minutes and taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he knocked on the door.

“Enter.” The man inside called.

Mr. Right opened the door and entered the large office.

The office, as bright as it was, seemed dark. That was because nearly everything in the room was dark. The carpets were charcoal gray along with nearly every filing cabinet in the room. The wall behind Mr. Brandon was the only wall that did not have anything on it and it appeared to be painted gray. The wall had a large window which was the exact same size and shape as the desk directly in front of it.

The desk looked as though it was made of Cherry-Oak wood as was a large liquor cabinet on the wall to the right and the full wall book shelves to the left. On the floor in front of the desk was 2 large half back crimson red chairs with dime size brass studs all along the board of the arms. On the wall that had the door was a 56-inch TV that no one ever remembers seeing on except to be shown a video or image of their subject.

“Close the door Right.” Mr. Brandon said.

Mr. Right closed the door and turned back to look at Mr. Brandon which only made the room seem even darker.

“I was going over the report from the surveillance room. There seems to be a ten-minute gap in the sound recording from your stay at the store.” Mr. Brandon said.

“Ten minutes sir.” Mr. Right said trying to remember all the events of the day before.

“What can you tell me of what happened?” Mr. Brandon said as he crossed the room from the liquor cabinet with a glass of some amber liquid to sit at his desk and pulling out a pad of paper.

“Well, sir.” Mr. Right started. “I spotted the car leaving the apartment and followed them until they stopped at the fuel station. I saw the thing go inside so I followed it into the store. After it paid for some fuel I told it she was under arrest. That is when her eyes flashed a crimson red. She told me that she was not under arrest and that I needed to sit in the corner until she decided what to do with me.” He finished nodding his head.

“Anything else? Anything at all?” Mr. Brandon asked.

“I just remember sitting while the thing and the girl it was with and the cashier stood there talking for the longest time. They left and I was myself again.” Mr. Right said looking down at the floor.

“That fits with the recording we have but this ten-minute gap of nothing has me worried.” Mr. Brandon said reading his notes as well as those in the folder on his desk. “That will be all.”

Mr. Right left the office and went back to his desk, which was just one of at least thirty others in the large room on the third floor of the building they were in. When he got there he saw he had a package waiting for him from the surveillance room. He opened the package to replace the same file that Mr. Brandon had but instead of it saying there were ten minutes of nothing it said there were ten minutes of extremely muffled sounds like the mic was covered or moved away from the action.

Mr. Right sat there trying to recall everything he could from the night before only to keep coming up with the events exactly the same as he always had. He did not know what this meant so he decided to pay a visit to the surveillance room. Once downstairs he burst through the doors making at least half the people inside jump.

“Bobbie. Your note says that the mic did not cut off like Brandon indicated but was muffled in some way. Can you tell what the sounds are?” Mr. Right said as he burst through the door of the surveillance room.

“Rodger.” The woman replied with a sound of surprise and worry. “We are at work and need to be careful. But to answer your question I think the mic had been taken from you and moved to another part of the store. There are sounds of people talking but it is too distorted to know what they are saying.” She told him sitting back in her chair.

“Is there any way to clean it up so we can replace out what happened?” Rodger asked looking at the computer screen on the desk.

“I am already working on it. But it is going to take some time.” Bobbie told him pulling up the file and showing it was being run through some computer programs.

Rodger gave her a kiss on the cheek and told her “thank you” before walking out the door.

***

Mars was now coming into clear view and Michael was feeling nervous about seeing her aunt. This would be the first time in over five years she has seen her and the first time since her change. As Michael watched out the window at their progress to Mars she noticed that David was right next to her.

“I am sorry I did not see you there,” Michael said as she turned to walk over to where Ashley, Taylor and Ashley’s mom and dad were sleeping.

“It is okay, child. I was where you are now a few years ago.” David said walking over to sit next to Michael.

“Really? What happened?” Michael asked watching her family sleep.

“I would say nearly the same as you. But I do not remember being chased by no NSS.” She said looking at the back of the cabin. “I was a normal mall employee doing his job when I started getting these damn headaches that just would not stop. Then I got a terrible pain down low and bam I was this.” She told Michael who thought there would be much more to the story.

“So how did you end up with my aunt up here?” Michael asked looking her right in the eye.

“Well, there was about half a dozen or so of use to change all at once that day. One of them had been in constant contact with Rose since the beginning and told us we had a choice. Of course, I decided to come here, nearly all of us did.” David said as she now stood and walked back to the window.

Soon they were on the ground and safely in the biodome of the colony. When they all got situated in their new homes Michael asked to speak with Rose telling them that it was extremely important. But she was told it would have to wait. It was the next morning before Michael was taken to talk to Rose.

Rose’s office was a 15 by 15-foot room that had a white and silver desk in the middle of the floor near a large round window on the back wall. It had nice white-oak bookshelves on one wall and about half a dozen filing cabinets on the other.

Michael told Rose everything that the guy in the store had told them and about the four bases that he knew of. After she had finished telling Rose everything Rose stood from her seat and walked to the window.

“I feared this may happen. But I did not know people before my change would change as well.” Rose said still looking out the window.

Michael looked worried and started to say something when Rose turned and walked to the desk. “Emma, are you listening?” She called out as she bent over the desk setting both hands on it.

“Yes, Rose I am always listening.” Michael heard Emma reply.

“Let’s get the council together would you?” Rose said.

Emma responded in the affirmative and then Rose stepped around the desk and grabbed Michael around the shoulders. “Now let’s go tell them what you just told me shall we?” Rose said looking Michael in the eyes. Michael nodded as tears fell from her eyes and both Rose and Michael walked out together.

When they entered the council room Michael saw it was a semi-circle room that was all white with balcony on the upper floor. There was a semi-circle table placed at the back of the room with 5 chairs around it all facing the door they had just come through.

During the meeting, Michael recounted the encounter with the NSS person more than a dozen times before Rose finally spoke up.

“We are not here to debate if this happened the way she remembers it or not. We are here to take action to stop what is happening to those innocent people.” Rose said looking around the room at the other 4 members of the council.

“You’re right Rose. I am sorry.” One of them said.

“Emma and the other AI’s need to search the entire globe to try and replace as many of these prisons as possible, before we can do anything.” Another member said sounding like she really wanted no part of it.

“We have located an additional 14 facilities to Michael’s original 4.” Emma’s voice said.

“How many people Emma?” An old looking member asked.

“We are figuring 200 plus people. However, these are just the ones we can replace based on the information kept on computers. Some countries do not even use computers for anything more that political reasons if at all.” Emma stated to the room.

“We need to mount 18 groups to go in and rescue these people,” Rose said looking around the room.

“If we mount an attack on these places we are declaring war on the Earth.” The first member said.

“If we don’t... There is no telling what they will do to them.” The oldest member said.

“James we have not heard from you. What do you think about this?” Rose said looking to the only member in the room who had not yet said anything.

“The simple fact is...” She started her eyes closed as she leaned forward in her chair. “The people of Earth have already declared war on us. If we do not act, we are giving in to their hatred for something they do not understand.” When she finished her eyes opened and looked right at Michael standing in the middle of the room.

“Emma, tell the other AI’s what we are going to do and get a roster put together for others to help with this would you?” Rose said standing up. Emma agreed and the rest of the council stood as well.

“Rose you know you cannot go on this mission except to make more like us,” James said putting one hand on her shoulder.

“I know but we cannot let this go. We have to do something about it.” Rose said looking angry. Her eyes flashing a bright orange that Michael could see clearly.

“Why not go to the people of the world and tell them the issues? The governments would have to listen after that won’t they?” Michael said tears in her eyes.

Rose looked up and looked into those big golden eyes and she got a smile on her face. “That is a great idea, Michael.” She said as she ran over and gave her a hug. “Emma, there is a small change in plans,” Rose said looking at the ceiling.