Reckoning /ˈrɛk(ə)nɪŋ/
"Reckoning" is a sci-fi series that can be read by the blind. It tells the story of overview of the story
Reckoning is a comic book series that is readable by the visually impaired and blind. It features detailed information about the story and characters>
Click here to see the storyboard for the comicbook conversion of chapter 4 on Patreon
And the tears of heaven shall rain death upon mankind. Christopher looked at the printing on the cover of the book he had been handed by one of the men in the back of the truck. It was a book about chemtrails.
Chemtrails, his whole life he had considered the people talking about this phenomena to be at the very least weird and at the worst nutters, but never again.
The military truck was driving up a dusty road towards an off the map compound known only as Facility 9, in his mind Christopher drifted back to where the briefing for this mission started.
There were seven of them sitting in the briefing room, elsewhere in other rooms similar briefings were going on.
Christopher was watching a military whistleblower on LeakTubes of all places, talking about how she discovered Chemtrail ingredients on shipping manifestos as a worker going through goods manifestos during her tenure at not just one, but multiple air logistical centers. She was explaining how metal oxides, aluminum, barium, strontium and how chemicals like sulphuric acid and other nasty substances were processed through the system and how her suspicions grew that something was afoot.
During several further videos they sat through, there was further talk of geo-engineering the climate and controlling the weather as a direct weapon against nation states.
Christopher had always been skeptical about any of this talk about what they were spraying and why they were spraying, why the hell would anyone be spraying anything at all.
He'd been a it's just contrails kind of guy most he could remember only occasionally wondering about how some trails tended to linger almost eerily long.
But after being presented with factual scientific evidence that these substances were showing up in higher and higher quantities all over the globe he was sold on the concept but the real shocker for him was yet to come.
“Weather modification is partly correct”, the presenter explained and hesitated “However the main goal is actually to with the help of HAARP to create EM disturbances in the upper athmosphere that is making transdimensional jumping very hard to do undetected ,if not making it altogether impossible within Earths athmosphere”
Transdimensional jumping?
Lights in the skies ain't all swamp gas,sprites and lightning discharges. How do you think we get our supplies, how do you think the enemy get things on and off world? Sure transporter beams would be nice but tech like that tends to be very detectable. So we have to rely on ships, and without our own yards it is a question of either hire or have a friend or ally do the heavy lifting so to speak. But we can't keep endangering others to the extreme, our allies already lost too many valuable pilots to the defense grid as they play the HAARP.
“The whole depopulation agenda is a natural attempt to understand the phenomena, the cancerous sideeffects of pollutants falling to the ground are simply an unfortunate coincidence, not that they are taking this side effects too seriously as population needs to be culled anyway in order to keep it manageable, plus it greases the wheels of the cancer machine.”
“Fact is that the EM disturbances from HAARP are making it impossible for TDF to bring in much needed supplies and technology in order to fight the battle against TMIC and TSC without risking our transports being shot down.”
“For all of the reasons mentioned and more we need to hit Facility 9 hard. We have finally fully ascertained it's location and we are going to wipe it off the face of the planet”.
“This will leave us with a limited time window in which we will be able to bring in Avarian supply ships without imposing further losses”.
Why not take out HAARP, Christopher muttered
The presenter looked directly at Christopher, “Mostly it's just antennae, radio frequency modulation equipment, easily rebuilt. But more importantly it is a last line of defense in case less friendly forces decide to drop in. As for the cancer factor we are doing all humanly possible to push technologies into the public to help humanity overcome the dangers. For now we simply do not dare completely take HAARP offline no matter how much we'd love to do that”, the presenter seemed a bit unhappy with Christophers interruptions, damn civilians, he though.
“Can we proceed ?”, he inquired still looking at Christopher.
“Sorry off course”, Christopher felt somewhat guilty, but hey what could a guy do, he was still in very unfamiliar waters.
“We will be collapsing the facility using matter destabilization charges that should bring the facility smouldering down, as we have seen it during certain government false flag attacks on civilian targets in the past”.
“Matter Destablilization Charges will be placed here, here and here,” the presenter was highlighting specific points on the facility blueprints and continued, ” at the same time non structurally damaging explosions have to be set of in these 5 locations making it appear as if collapse is imminent spurring an evacuation”.
“Why not blow it to hell with everyone working inside ?”, Christopher interrupted again.
While we do have a formidable enemy to tackle, everyone inside TMIC and TSC are not necessarily our enemy they just work for the wrong boss.
On the base for example you will have a lot of people thinking they are serving their country without being privy to the actual goings on at the facility or on the base, and we do not wish to hurt the lives of those people who for the most part are utterly clueless about the scope or the overall goals of TMIC and TSC to bring in total dominance, they are just trying to eek out an existence in a world mostly devoid of hope.
The briefing continued for about thirty minutes longer, mostly with assigning more specific tasks to each team member.
The truck was a top of the line freshly issued armored personnel carries, getting into the trucks had been a hustle and bustle, packing that many men and equipment into these types of vehicles had been no easy logistical task for the but the careful packing stood in stark contrast to the springlike unloading that the vehicle was capable off.
Christopher was sitting next to Suze, well Suzi was not her real name as Christopher had learned but one she had assumed as she could not bear hearing her name Xia Wen, mangled by foreign tongues. Coming from Sichuan Province in China and having been brought up abroad while she never forgot her homeland she adapted a western name, a very common trait to most asians trying to get by in the Western hemisphere.
Christopher was staring at the book, they had been driving for the most part of an hour since they had deembarked the transport plane.
“Hey don't worry I know you are a scientist and this is your first time in the field with us, but I also know that you are a brilliant strategist and quite resourceful in combat”.
Christopher was dumbfounded. “What the heck are you talking about”
“Come on, are you that blue eyed, no offense, you mean to tell me you have no clue?”
No Christopher did not get it, combat, resourceful ?
“I never participated in any conflict”, Christopher answered in a baffled and slight miffed tone of voice.
“So you did'nt get it at all? That means it works perfectly, smart guy like you should have smelled it. I have to relay that to CowTow” ,Suzi said with smugness.
“What are you on about?”, Christopher said.
“Heh for a scientist you really are thick”, Suzi said and gave Christopher a friendly pat on his forehead. “Matter Destabilzation Charges = Vibrational Detonators?, No ?”, Suzi said with a slight smile.
“I find it really funny that all the social media interaction solving puzzles to learn a secret language of lost civilizations was toatlly lost on you”, she chuckled.
“It's all real you know, well real, but not real, the language is all made up and the symbols as well, but the structure… it's beautiful really, all while playing you have subconsciously learned structures and grammar of languages that will put you on a fast track to understand and communicate in ways you have clearly not begun to understand.”
“The combat scenarios, the cloak and dagger stuff, all designed to identify individuals with potentials that might come in handy, CowTow was the one who figured out that you would be a good asset and your views on free energy made you very interesting. Too bad your social media roll was cut short, we thoroughly enjoyed you lambasting the ties between corporate interests in the energy sector and the political establishment working towards a so called greener environment all while pouring every nickle and cent they could get their hands on into the black hole of a petrochemical wallet”.
CowTow? the agent name of the colleague that had gotten him into “Code Blue” an immersive real life mobile combat strategy game where factions fought for world dominance, all while uncovering artifacts of technology of ancient earth civilizations, technologies that current earth governments were trying to hide from the general public, all while perverting and exploiting them for their own nefarious purposes, it was all real, but not real ? Holy Cow!
Christophers brain summersalted, millions of people being trained right under their noses, or did they know or see the potential and recruited from the pool as well.
Suzi continued “Too bad your employers were so fast to sell you out, amazing what a few hundred millions can do to people that would have been able to become billionaires I think overnight almost and luminaries of humanity had your technology been fully developed”.
“You were so close you know, we had hoped The United Energy Consortiums would have been the ones to to drop the proverbial bomb on the energy sector but with you dead and all the patents filed and hidden under the national securiy act the technology will never surface via commercial channels, yes we will find a way to popularize your concepts and hope for some other nation breaching the 'patents', but it is hard and mainstream media will never cover it and you know the forces that be will do whatever it takes to bury it, you have felt that on your own life already”.
“What”, Christopher said, he had been in a state of shock since Suzi mentioned him being sold out. Gene Simmonds the CEO of The United Energy Consortiums and him went way back, they had been friends since childhood. Gene was the one that had sold him out.
“Then you will just have to unkill me, I'll sue the bastard publicly”, Christopher suggested. Suzi realized she might have let something slip that had not yet filtered down during Christophers debriefing.
“Don't be daft, we need to set up your wife and kid in a safe place, but for now it is impossible without raising suspicion. Everyone is best off with you being dead and 'Shamus McFarlane' being well and alive”, she said and tapped the name badge on his uniform. This was a very low tech operation, no Sea Sapphire camouflage and fairly standard issue weaponary, say for a few minor details.
The truck came to a halt and everyone tensed up.
They were at the gates of Facility 9 a place renowned for the evil things that had passed on there and were going on to this day, things that would finally be put to a stop thanks to these people.
The forged transport documents were being beamed to the gates interrogating the driver, documents that had gracefully been developed by the Cyber Ops Dept of TDF headed by Kim Suk Ho, a North Korean whitehat super hacker.
Christopher watched the squad members, each was hovering their finger over the trigger on their ZM77's Electromagnetic Propulsion Assault Rifles, an ingenious design spurring cone shaped super magnets in between which you could drop metallic ammunition and fire using only a slight nudge as the bullets hovered in a magnetic pocket till electromagnetic forces propelled it forward at immense speed, the weapon was another amazing piece of technology from the lab of Arnold Tlatoani former member of the now defunct Freelancer Corps that had been all but eradicated say for a lone Mars holdout.
Freelancers… Christopher though to himself, amazing how almost every force of good was eventually fought down in this insane world, the political establishment and their masters most dissatisfied by Freelancers digging up dirt and corruption leaving both TMIC and TSC in a virtual stalemate, the Freelancers had been imposing a virtual world peace for years before the establishment had managed to infiltrate and bring down the movement within, only a few had managed to escape the wrath unleashed by TMIC and TSC once they had free reign again, one of those few had been Arnold Tlatoani.
Christopher gazed at the sleek weapons that gleamed in the red light illuminating the back of the truck, with thech like that no wonder the Freelancers had been able to hold out for so long.
No good things seem to last forever, except perhaps the human spirit and it's yearning for freedom and justice Christopher mused internally.
The truck started moving again, Kim had seemingly succeeded in hacking the logistics systems of the facility, the shipment was expected, the grunt at the gate had no suspicion and even if he had he knew asking too many questions around this place was likely to have you either transferred or to simply disappear.
A collective sigh of relief went through the air as the truck bustled down the road towards the goods elevator.
A large clank and a slight shudder told the squad that the truck was descending downward.
The whirring seemed to last forever until the platform came to a stop with a large clank.
Moments later the door opened and the squad filed out. The room was huge and dimly lit. The surface of the stone looked almost like glass and the walls were ruler straight. Christopher could not help wondering how these walls had been created.
Okay you two that way, you over there, you and you that way, Christopher you're with me, let's move.
The squad quickly dispersed moving into the adjacent tunnels carved with equal precision.
“Amazing to see your tax dollars at work huh? “Suzi said as they were sneaking down a corridor.
Christopher affirmed her notion, he could not help think about the wast sums used to build this facility.
The hallways had been oddly devoid of people as they snook about towards their destination.
Suzi was about to place another charge when their activities were discovered, Christopher was quickly knocked out cold and the guards turned on Suzi.
She fought like a ravenous tiger, sending first one, then another guard crashing onto the hallway floor. The third one was not that easy to handle though and got her gripped in a pinch.
She used all her power and managed wrench free. The fight waved back and forth leading them out on a walkway, the two tossed each other into the railing that suddenly gave in sending Suzi onto a lower ledge with a banging crash after which she rolled down another level.
The guard leaned over and got a look at her body laying lifeless a fair distance down.
“She's on level Z-23, unconscious I think, I have another one up here, should I take him to the pod?”
“Roger that, ground floor briefing room”, the guard turned about took the unarmed charge off the beam and threw Christopher over his shoulder, his two comrades were regaining their bearings, one had a broken arm, the other could barely limp along as he carried out the unconscious prisoner.
“You are a surprising fellow, dead but not dead, tough as nails, how might that be Mr. McFarlane or I should say Mr. Edge?”
“How did you leave that airport ? - It was a very clever infecting the surveillance systems of the airport and make them record the John Winnifrey show, that must have been a hoot”
“I told you I don't know…”, Christopher started, feeling a metallic taste incur itself on his senses.
Smack, the pain was almost unbearable and the taste of blood in his mouth was nauseating.
Clearly the guy did not believe him, Christopher was frantically thinking of something to concoct but what.
“Listen up Mr. Edge I am tired of holding back, who do you work for ?”
“Last I checked The United Energy Consortium”, Christopher answered and spat on the table into what started to look like a pool of blood forming on the table.
“Mr. Edge”, the interrogator sighed, “I really can't keep this up”
There was another smack after which the interrogator once again wiped his hand with a handkerchief.
Christophers vision blurred, but he did not pass out, the guy clearly had practice in his craft. “You need to come clean Mr. Edge”.
The interrogator suddenly straightened up as his earpiece buzzed.
“Sprect er nicht dann haben wir anderen metoden”, the voice in his ear said.
Von Hesse. The interrogator sighed and shook his head, he had never liked that kraut, but superiors were superiors, one had to follow orders.
The voice in his ear gave a few further instructions then leaving the interrogator to continue his "debriefing".
“Mr. Edge, this pains me, but you really need to seriously reconsider your unwillingness to cooperate”.
He pressed a button on a remote control and lifted Christopher's chin so he could see the image on the screen.
“You recognize it?”, he asked.
Christopher blinked and tried to focus. Their house ? Kimberly was in the kitchen making pancakes for Ross.
“I really hate to drag an innocent child into this but it is not my call”
“If you hurt them so help me God, I will rip out your throat with my bare hands”, Christopher struggled with the straps holding him in the chair.
“Mr. Edge I am an father myself, if anyone was to hurt my little Emily”, he nodded “I understand your feelings”
“Mr. Edge, as of now I am the only thing standing between your family and a trained killer ready to pull the trigger, if you don't tell me what they need to know there is nothing I can do!”
On the screen red squares wrapped themselves around the faces of Kimberly and Ross and a distance gauge appeared to be tracking their every movement.
Ross smiled as he ate the pancake, Kimberly gently stroked his hair.
Tears welled up in Christopher's eyes.
“Wait stop, I will tell you everything”, Christopher pleaded with a wimper, he was ready to give up everyone to stop this nightmare unfolding.
“Hold your fire”, the interrogator said calmly into his communicator and sighed with relief, sometimes his employers were a little to drastic.
There was a mild thud and the room did seemed to shake slightly, the interrogator looked up with a mystified expression on his face, then at that very moment the door to the soundproofed interrogation room came crashing in from it's frame in an explosion.
The door struck the interrogator and threw him to the ground where he remained motionless, the feed to the sniper view on the monitor was cut leaving the screen showing nothing but static.
Suzi appeared in the smoke flanked by two TDF troopers. Her uniform was pretty banged up and she had semi dried blood on her face.
“Glad to see you”, Christopher managed to mumble gratefully.
“Likewise” Suzi answered untying him from the straps pinning him to the interrogation chair.
“My boy, my wife, they have snipers on them”, he muttered.
“I heard, their security detatchmeny found it out, and don't worry the threat has been eliminated, they are being rushed to a safe house as of right now”
“Really sorry it took so long to get to you, but the resistance was stronger than expected”, Suzi said freeing his last leg from the straps.
“Let's go”, she said and signaled to the troopers.
They grabbed Christopher under his arms and helped him out through a gaping hole in the side of the building it seemed a rouge and mangled tank had plowed its way into the building.
The truck was waiting for them, the troopers helped Christopher into the back and Suzi gave him a helping hand in support.
“Thanks”, he managed to mutter.
“My pleasure”, Suzi said with a hint of a smile as she closed the door, the trooper banged on the side of the car on his way to the front. The truck rewed up and began moving. A clank told the silent passengers in the back the last man was on the truck that started speeding away from a smouldering base in complete disarray.
Dump explosions in the opposite direction flared as the truck passed past a couple of smouldering heaps that had once been a couple of guard towers at the front gate and they sped away from what had once been Facility 9 as a gaping hole in the ground seemed to open up pulling in cascades of earth advancing towards adjacent buildings before it stopped.
Lights flickered across the skies as craft took off in search of the attackers but the truck was long gone employing both stealth and adaptive camouflage.
For the next couple of weeks the Avarians should be able to come in with at least two or three supply ships and possibly a small troop contingent as things would very likely heat up as a result of this escapade.
To Be continued in Part Five - Operation Vermin!