The Beginning Of The End

Chapter 9

"Alright fire her up," I said. "Calibration fire 19, sequencing startup procedure, converging the lasers, and fire."

"Sequence failed, resetting for a new trial," Travis said. "I'm going to try something."

"Ten-four, we are on standby," I said.

A couple minutes later I got a notification on the cell phone. Operation protocol update from solar 1. I accepted the update and it changed the entire operation of the phone.

"Carson 2 you are clear for firing," Travis said.

"Test fire 20, sequencing startup procedure, converging lasers, and... Fire," I said.

The solar laser fired with efficiency and creating a pretty decent sized crater.

"Test complete, firing was successful," I said.

"Efficiency ninety-eight percent with minimal misalignment of the sights," Travis said. "Congratulations Allen you are now the new commander of Solar 1."

Later that night I couldn't sleep and so I went out and sat on the cliff overlooking the crater the solar laser made.

"You can't sleep either?" Katie asked.

"Yeah, I don't know I've not been myself since a couple days ago when I felt the resonating energy from a console that hadn't been used in god knows how long," I said.

"Hey, Allen can I speak to you?" Alex asked. "In private."

"Yeah, what's up?" I asked.

"I got this for you for your birthday," Alex said. "Between everything that has happened I forgot about it."

She pulled a box from her pocket and gave it to me.

"I hope you like it," Alex said.

I opened it and it was a set of heads-up display glasses.

"Thank you, I love them," I said.

The next day I started programming the HUD glasses to assist in my cause. I then asked Travis if there was a way to link the overlay from the solar laser to the lenses, and then have a tactical overlay to see the zone in which the laser is firing and he told me how to do both.

"Ok, Let's test these out," I said putting them on.

As soon as I put them on they started to give a lot of tactical data.

"Wow, this is amazing!" I said astonished.

I had so much data on the displays that I didn't even know what I was even looking at. There was a blip on the display that said caution and I looked in the direction it was pointing.

"W...what the...?! Who are you?!" I asked.

The mysterious person started to run and I pursued.

"Stop right there!" I Yelled.

I went for my Beretta 92 but found it was gone. The person ran around a corner and there was a yelp and a thud. The next thing I know I wake up in the bed I woke up in a couple days ago.

"What happened?" I asked genuinely confused.

"You had a flashback to what went down a few day ago," Frank said.

"I didn't hurt anyone, did I?" I asked.

"No," Frank said. "You just lost your composure, what caused it?"

"The sound of Alex's yelp and a thud, I think," I said. "Did you catch who I was chasing?"

"What do you mean?" Frank said.

"The HUD glasses were picking up someone and I chased them until they turned a corner then I blacked out," I said.

We went back to the radio tower and found footprints that didn't match anyone here that I know of.

"I saw some of these by the house earlier today," Frank said.

I went to Rudy to ask him about the footprints.

"Hey, Rudy do you know anything about these footprints by the radio tower?" I asked.

"N...no, I don't, sorry," Rudy said suspiciously.

I started to head back to where the person turned the corner and found Alex on the ground.

"Oh, God no," I said. "Someone help!"

Everyone came running. Rudy and I moved her to the room I was in not too long ago.

"She's fine, just unconscious," Rudy said. "She should wake up soon."

"Thank you, Rudy," I said.

The HUD glasses where giving the same indicator that they were before. I again looked in the direction it was pointing and saw a kid in the doorway.

"Who are you?" I asked.

The kid ran off without a word.