Chapter 2: Revelations

Hill 1764 6:00am

In the distance I hear " Wake up."

My senses slowly revive. The first thing I notice is my parched mouth. So dry it feels like cemented spit, you know what it's like sleeping in a very dry room on your back with your mouth open. The taste of aniseed is evident.

"Wake Up!"

My eyes spring open. " Who are you, where am I?"

I try to move, I am unable to. I lift my head and look down at my arms and legs and see they are all bound to the cot that I am lying on.

"I am Guardian, and you are here."

"Why am I tied up and where is here? "

"I will untie you if you promise not to harm yourself or me."

"Yes I promise."

I feel the bindings loosen and pull both hands free. I sit up and free both legs. For the first time I look around. I am in a room, very plain, no colour except white, no furniture. Two doors, one exactly the same as the first door I had come across in the cave. There is also some sort of machine embedded into the wall.

"Why did you gas me?"

"I am sorry, I didn't want you to panic. I thought it best to immobilize you and bring you here. I need you to help me. What do I call you?"

"My name is Blair, Tony Blair."

"Hello Blair Tony Blair."

"No. My name is Tony Blair. But please just call me Tony. What do I call you?"

"I am Guardian, Tony."

"Guardian? Is that your name or what you are and why can't I see you?"

"I suppose Guardian fits both and you are looking at me.

"I only see the walls and doors."

"Yes that is me. Do you need food. Tony?"

"Yes I am hungry and would it be possible to get a glass of water?"

"Yes of course."

Tony spins around when he hears the machine making a noise. There sitting on a platform is a glass of water. Walking over to it he picks up the glass, He smells it.

"It is only water Tony."

I take a sip, it's chilled, I start drinking, it feels good. It quenches my parched mouth and throat. I hear that noise again and there appears as if by magic a bowl and a spoon. Inside the bowl is a grey porridge looking stuff. I pick up the bowl and smell the porridge, it smells as bad as it looks.

"It is all the basic food groups that I understand you humans eat, does it not appeal to you Tony."

"WOO! Are saying you are not Human and if you are not human then who are you."

"No, I am not human, I am Guardian."

"Would you please explain who Guardian is?"

"There is nothing to explain I am just Guardian."

"O.K. Lets try a different track. Where are you from?"

"I do not know where I am from. All I know is my creator made me and put me here."

"All right tell me who your creator is and where is he or she comes from?"

"My creators name is Odin and I do not know where he comes from. I am sorry but that information is not available to me."

"You say you where created, are you some sort of A.I... And if you are then what is your purpose?"

"I am sorry, by A.I do you mean Artificial Intelligence. I do not think I am artificial at all. As to my purpose, I was created to protect and to aid the humans until they reached for the stars. I have failed in protecting humans. That is why I have brought you here, to remove an insidious Alien race called the Taormin from your planet."

"Taormin how are they insidious, and how have you aided us?"

"The Taormin enslave other beings, if they cannot enslave them, they destroy them, either by individually killing that being if they want to use that planet or by destroying the atmosphere so that no being can use the planet. They have also been known to destroy stars to get rid of a star travelling race. As for aiding the humans I have done so since the dawn of man, our first attempt was with the people you call Cave Man it was a complete failure. Odin deemed them a lost cause and then created Man. It was hoped Man with a larger brain could grow into a star travelling race. The first years of Man showed great potential. But all projections showed you where developing to fast and it was feared that you would end up destroying yourselves, so it was decided to slow your progress by genetically placing a shunt to limit your brain by about 60 %. Even with this shunt your growth has been excellent in Arts and Science's, but poor in politics and religion. It seems you have an ability to be single minded until a task is completed. But you have your flaws, the worst of these is greed and that has to be curtailed, its is greed for power or objects that is the most baffling for me I do not know how to reduce or stop it. I have tried, I once talked to a young man by the name of Jeuses, I hoped that by giving certain abilities he would aid me in stopping greed but instead he used it for his own gain. It is the same with another young man called Mohamed. The only religion I had some success was with Budist but they went to far the other way and gave everything up. As for politics, it is incredible what people will do for political power is beyond me. I have almost given up trying to influence people in politics, I have tried so many times and failed at every try. AHH! Humans are so exasperating!"

"I do agree greed is one of two things that I find distasteful, the other being bigotry. Hasn't Odin been here to guide you." I take a spoon full of the porridge

"YUCK!"

"Sorry Tony, can I offer you something else."

"I don't suppose bacon and eggs are possible."

"I can but try, but please forgive me if they do not taste or smell like bacon and eggs."

With that the machine in the wall starts to make a strange noise, again as if by magic a bowl appears, I walk over to the machine and pick up the bowl, inside is a white/yellow porridge. It doesn't look very advertising. I walk back to the cot and sit down. Removing the spoon from the first bowl I try the bacon and eggs.

"Hmm not bad, but you need to improve your culinary expertise." I dip the spoon into the bowl again and take a mouth full. " You were saying about Odin."

"Ah-yes, Odin. I fear he is lost. I haven't heard from him for a thousand years, he maybe captured or dead."

"I'm sorry if he is dead, but if he is captured then there is always hope."

"Thank you."

Taking another spoon full of egg porridge." You said before that that you need my help. How can I help? I am not a Politician, Religious Leader or a Soldier."

"Another Religious Leader I do not need. What I need from you is three fold. First as a commander I need you to put together a force to remove the Taormin from this planet then set a defence for Earth, Lunar and the Sun, as well as the rest of this solar system. Secondly to set-up a single government that will benefit all humanity not the selected few. Thirdly to find Odin or his race and deliver me to them."

Whistling in disarray " I am not a leader. How can you expect me to lead people into battle and I detest politicians, how do you expect me to pull humanity together to allow one government to rule over the world. I-I just don't see that happening!"

"Tony, please, I will help where ever I can. I will remove the shunt from your brain, I will fill your brain with all the knowledge to achieve our goals. I will also genetically enhance your body, repair any illnesses you might have and I will implant three devices into your scull. The first device will be so you can talk to me, I will put it into your jaw bone. The second device will be implanted behind your ear so that you can hear me and that I can hear what you hear. The third device is a cortex interface this will allow me to interface with your brain to add and to subtract information, it is also a beacon so I can locate you within the solar system. These devices will be put into your body while you sleep, it will be painless. Know this Tony Blair if you use this knowledge for you own gain or if you misuse any of the items that I will be giving you I will hunt you down and destroy you. Be Warned!"

I ponder all of the information and decide to ask " Do I have a choice whether to accept this mission?'

"Tony there is very little choice, either accept or die, please let me explain, I can not allow humanity to know of me. They will hunt me down, they will extract information witch I hold and abuse that knowledge for there own gain, possibly to the detriment of humanity I just can't allow this to happen. So please understand I have no choice.

"O.K. I don't like it but I do understand. I do not want to die yet, so there is only one course I can travel. I accept this challenge, understand this I will probable fail."

"I hope for humanity's sake you do not fail. If you fail it will mean enslavement for humans."

"So want happens now." Tony said with a defeated sigh.

"Now, I put you to sleep again and do most of the things that I mentioned before, knowledge will not be inserted until after you have woken so that we can test the system. Is there any thing you require before we start?'

"I need a toilet break. Is there a toilet?"

"The door on the left. There is a shower if you would like."

"Yes I would like to take a shower, Thank you." With that I get up and head to the bathroom. Opening the door I say "Guardian where is my pack? I need my tooth brush and paste."

"Your pack is in a room on your right down the hall to your left and through the second door on your left."

I move to the room as directed and find the pack and remove the items required. I go back to the bathroom take a piss and jump into the shower. After drying off and tying a towel around my waist. I go back to the original room and ask. " I don't suppose you have got a change of cloths? All I have is thermal clothing."

With that the machine in wall starts again. Underwear, T-shirt, pullover and pants. The pullover and pants are made from a strange material, a cross between wool and a metal weave, it is both comfortable and warm.

"What now, Guardian?"

"Now I put you to sleep. Please lie on the cot."

I do as I am told, close my eye's. I hear "Shhh..." The air becomes thick and then...

McMurdo 10:50pm

"They found nothing."

"Sorry not a whisper. No Blair, No cave. The only sign is his hammer marks at the first way point."

"I've got some more bad news, Ted, There is another storm coming and it's a bad one. Pressure is already at 584 and is expected to drop lower."

"Shit! How long have we got."

"We estimate it will hit you at about 14:00 hours tomorrow. We have no choice but to pull everyone by 12:00 hours tomorrow, the Amundsen group by 8:00 hours tomorrow. I suggest that you pack a emergency case bury it and plant a snow flag if we don't find him tomorrow morning."

"What about precipitation."

"Between 6 and 10cm. It is slow moving bastard as well could last three day's."

"Blair's not going to survive that long." Ted said in anguish. " O.K. John I'll let the teams know and make arrangements to pack up. I will give you a call tomorrow mourning."

"Goodnight Ted., McMurdo out."

Hill 1764 11:30 am

"Tony, wake up"

My eye's shoot open. Again my mouth is very dry with the taste of aniseed.

"Water please"

"It is already on the tray"

"Thank you guardian." I walk over to the machine and take a drink. While I am tilting my head back I notice something in the back of my head. I move my hand around and fell a metal oval shaped disc. " What is this?"

"It is your neural interface. It allows me to add or subtract information."

"You mean I have to walk around with this stuck to the back of my head."

"You could wear a hat or one of those hoody things that the young seem to like."

"I suppose, it does feel weird."

"Yes it will until you get use to it. The telemetry from the other 2 augmentations are fine. When you where asleep I did a full medical scan you are a very fit young man, with the exception of a lot of solar damage to your face and hands, I have repaired the damage and also removed a mole from your throat that showed signs of degradation. I feared it may turn cancerous in a few years. I have also rejuvenated your organs, added more muscle and more receptor cones to your eyes. As for your genetic cell structure it was damaged and I was forced to recode and to modify parts to increase your healing, memory and muscle performance. These changes are not drastic so please do not worry about them."

"My body does feel good as if I was 18 again and my memories are a lot clearer, things that happened years ago seem as if they happened yesterday."

"Good, that is what I was expecting with your genetic modifications, Your brain will grow not in size but in mass with more neurons to and from memory cells. They will grow as you learn more."

"O.K. What know?"

"Know you need to eat."

With that a strange noise emanates from the machine in the wall. Ones again as if by magic a plate, Knife and fork. On the plate was a stew, potatoes, carrots and peas.

"This looks a lot better, have you been studying up on food."

"Yes I have. I need to ask what country are you from so I can better arrange foods that you might like to eat.

"I am from New Zealand." I start eating and soon all the food is gone. " That was great Guardian, thank you."

"My pleasure. Know we need to test the interface. Please go out to the hall turn to the right and go to the last door."

I do so. Opening the door I see what is best described as a control room. In the centre of the room is a large chair with a box at the base.

"Tony this was Odin's control room. Here he would interface with me and view what I have tried to do. He would consider and then give advice on what might be best to achieve my goals. It is here that I will interface with you so please sit in the chair and lean back."

I do as asked tentatively. Expecting some pain when the chair connects to the interface at the back of my head, when I only feel a soft docking and then a slight twisting I am sum-what relieved.

"OK Tony I am now going to input some data." I fell a soft tickling of the brain as if someone was brushing a feather around my cortex. " Tony can you recite what information that I have inserted into you.

"Let see. Earth. Mass 5.9742×10²⁴ kg. Volume 1.083 207 3×10¹² km³. Equatorial radius 6378.1km... Surface gravity 0.997 32 g. Escape velocity 11.186m/s. Tropical orbit velocity 365.242 days. Mean orbital velocity 29.78km/s. Obliquity to orbit 23.45 days. Semi major axis 1.00000011Au. Longitude of ascending 11.26064deg. Longitude of perihelion 102.94719deg. Mean longitude 100.46435deg. Terrestrial Magnetosphere dipole field strength 0.3076 gauss Re³. Terrestrial Atmosphere Surface pressure 1014mb. Surface density 1.217kg/m³. Total mass of atmosphere 5.1 x 10¹⁸ kg. Average temperature 288k. Wind speed 0 to 100m/s. Atmospheric Composition major components Nitrogen 78.084% Oxygen 20.946%. Minor components Argon 9340ppm. Carbon dioxide 350ppm. Neon 18.18ppm. Helium 5.24ppm. Krypton 1.14ppm. Hydrogen 0.55ppm. Water is variable typically 1%. How is that?"