TRUTH AND DARE Part 42 Of GODZILLA AND QUEST NOTE: EICAS stands for Engine Indicating and Crew Alerting System. It is best identified by the middle multi' function display in a five accross glass cockpit configuration. Wildey Ranch San Luis Valley, New Mexico 20 April, 1998 1630 Local Time There was nothing quite like seeing, in deep and graphic detail, the very worst way in which one's mortal enemy most preferred to destroy you. in Benton's case, Zin seemed to prefer an ignominious mental defeat, followed by full spiritual collapse, followed by the most painful physical torment of all... fire. And of course the old man desired to use heat that was both low and slow. Dr. Quest saw himself so destroyed at least five times in the four hours or more that he and the others had been sharing Questworld with the dreaming Dr. Zin. Hadji was trying with every intensity to guide Zin's dreams, and he was to a large extent very successful using a technique of subliminal suggestion. But in the real world, the Evil One seemed to devote every other thought to the defeat of Benton, and that was to where his mind continually turned in Questworld. To the "suggestion" of theropods, Benton saw them created off of the coast of Vietnam, and then he saw them destroy Palm Key. To the "suggestion" of werewolves, Benton saw them tear their way from the wombs of young women in the caves beneath Kentucky, and then he got to witness them emerge in the same way from Jessie. To the "suggestion" of IRIS, Benton saw the system invaded and pillaged, and then he saw it mislead and distract him with a continuing stream of degraded data. To the "suggestion" of Rachel, Benton saw her hurt, captured and compromised, and then he saw her substituted, eulogized, buried and all but forgotten by both himself and Jonny. With the exception of an attack at Palm Key by the theropods— which could still happen given that the KENNEDY battle group was pressing what was left of the Eastern South American cell in the direction of Florida— and Jessie's dying while bearing werewolves, everything else had pretty much actually come to pass. It was as if Zin had batted almost one thousand, and with few exceptions all of his hits had made the fence. The truth then seemed to come to light: All of the lost lives and destruction were for nothing more than revenge on Dr. Quest for his decision not to intervene in the illness of Zin's real wife, who had died because of that refusal. Benton fought once more to justify what he had done, remembering the day that Dr. Zin had requested his assistance. The man had asked for the knowledge to cure his wife. Benton had responded that he could not divulge the information, and instead offered to work with Zin's wife in person. Zin had maintained that direct assistance was impossible, and Benton had maintained that it was all that was possible. Zin's wife then died, and the rest had been a war well documented, though one that was largely waged in secret. The cure in itself had been a sure thing, but the method by which it would have been effected could have been used to extort everything from the world from petty wealth to assassinations, and on up to domination. Benton was not one to use the knowledge for such ends. Zin, however, was. Kentucky, India, Sao Paulo, Irian jaya, Seattle, Chile... all showed the proof of Zin's evil in innumerable deaths and destroyed properties from farmers' crops to cities. Benton believed that he was the center around which it all revolved, but that he was not its cause. Zin would have done no less to much worse had he possessed Dr. Quest's revealing science, and that was a fact that was everything BUT given. Well, there was only one more thing that Benton needed to know, and that was if the navy's new weapons would stop Zin's theropods. The field validation was to take place in the morning in the Gulf of Panama, under the direction of Dr. Carpentier and Admiral Pelkoffer. Still, it would be nice to forwards them some insight into whether or not what they were doing would be worth the risk to the warriors involved, and so Benton quietly asked Dr. Demate to have Hadji try to turn Zin's dreams in the appropriate direction. Unfortunately, that was when the REAL fire occurred. Armando Rios was one of Doug's people. It was his task to monitor the two ground power generators which were currently driving the electrical systems of the Super Lightning. The generators were outside and behind the hanger, and they were beginning to run low on fuel. Armando was just attending to that when he spilled almost three gallons of the volatile liquid directly on one of the main power components. It flashed almost instantly, spreading flames all over everywhere, and covering both generator sets. Aboard the airplane, Robbie was sitting in the captain's seat when he heard the audible alarm. His eyes instantly went to the EICAS panel, where he saw that half of his power had just dropped off line. "Ground, Flight. What's happening to—?" "Flight, the generators are on fire! We've taken one of them off line, and the other one is burning!" "Roger, Ground!" Robbie instantly switched to the jet's internal flight intercom. "Dr. Thorburg, Flight!" "Yes, Robbie?" "Our outside generators are on fire! I need to bring up the APU!" "Very well," the Doctor replied in a calm voice. Robbie switched back to the service intercom. "Ground, Flight! Clear to start APU?" "You're clear!" Rob then reached up and flipped the APU start switch, and the APU start data automatically came up on the EICAS panel. "Light off! Stand by for push back!" "Standing by for push back!" In spite of their knowing that the APU noise was coming, Dr. Thorburg and Hadji could not keep it from disturbing Zin. The old man began to emerge from REM, and he seemed to realize for the first time that the five invaders in his dreams really were his enemies. He thus thought up all kinds of unpleasantness, all of which he unleashed at once, and only a few of which could be countered at once. Dr. Quest was thus forced to have Dr. Demate extract himself and the others from Questworld. They emerged from behind their closed eyes just as the tug began to push Watts outside into the clear air. "What happened?" Race demanded. "The ground generators caught on fire." Dr. Demate answered. "Robbie called up and said that he was bringing up the APU." Race bolted for the flight deck. "How is Zin?" Benton asked Dr. Thorburg. "He's falling back into deep sleep. I'm sorry, Benton." "Did the trip answer most of your questions?" Hadji asked. "Yes, though we were just getting to the part about stopping his theropods." "Do you want to try and go back in?" Benton thought about it. "I don't think so. We're exhausted, and he's alerted. And the new weapons have a high probability for success." "And so what is our next move?" "We need to obtain a current status on the world situation, and fly to where it's the most serious." "To India?" "I believe that they need our help." "What about Dr. Zin?" "There's the new supermax facility up in Colorado." "The one where they keep Timothy McVeigh?" "The very same. Melana is already there. ...Jonny, I— Oh." Jonny was a bit occupied. To be specific, his was crying and hugging Rachel, who in turn simply glowed behind her own damp eyes. "What about that?" Doug asked. "She's Rachel, all right." "You don't look like you're sure." "Physically she's Rachel. Whether or not she's your daughter and my wife remains to be seen. We are dealing with spiritual ties as much as anything, here." "You're kidding." "No, I'm serious. Spiritual ties are driven by one's past. Since she still can't recall her past, then there's no guarantee that her love for you and I isn't also gone." "She doesn't seem to have a problem with Jonny." "I'm a bit more worried about she and I than that," Benton ruefully smiled. "I was about to suggest something like that about yourself," Rachel also smiled, a tear finally escaping her eye. "I just spent eleven years in love with your worst enemy, after all." "I don't have a problem with that. I remember how much I love you." "I think the four of you need to speak privately," Dr. Thorburg smiled. "Truly," Dr. Demate replied. "Yes, it might be best." Race returned. "Doug, you're going to need to have your generators overhauled." "How bad was it?" "Not too bad from what I was told. No one got hurt at all, and one of the GPUs is still on line. Heck, we're even parked on the ramp. We can depart right now if we have to." "All right." "What's next?" Race asked Benton. "We need to secure Zin and stand by to deploy. If the new weapons work, I believe we'll be going to Calcutta." "So we take Zin up to Colorado?" "And then we go to Cincinnati and wait." "'We' as in who?" "You, me, Rob, Jonny and Hadji." "Doug hosts the girls?" "Absolutely," Doug replied. "We won't put any pressure on either one of 'em." "Yes," Benton replied. "And as soon as we finish off Zin's creatures, we'll see about restoring Rachel's memory. Christ Hospital Cincinnati, Ohio 20 April, 1998 1900 Local Time Cameron's face was a bit red when next he saw Dani. She wanted to grin and embarrass him even more, but she was taught not to do such things— in public, anyway. "Well, I guess my saying that I want to be a marine engineer sounded pretty suspicious to you." "Yes, Cam, it did. But we are both victims of a conspiracy, I think." "Really? How?" "Has Dr. Quest agreed to host you at Palm Key if you are selected by Miami?" "Sure he has." "And when did he agree?" "Just last January. Wait... Haven't you been on the island since December?" "Yes." "Ah, ha!" "Indeed. It would seem that your uncle and my guardian have certain hopes." "May I be so bold as to admit to my own?" "You may." "I hope to get to know you much better if I'm lucky enough to be selected by Miami." "I thought that you were fast." "Only to get your attention. I think I'd rather be slow now that I seem have it." "You need to be. I'm still rather young for serious attention." "Jessie said that you're fifteen?" "Yes." "When's your birthday?" "The Fifteenth of November." Cameron grinned. "Yes. I'm a Valentines Day baby." "Well, I love it." "You love what, Cameron Bayles?" Amy asked as she walked in. "Not what, who." "What's this?" Amy asked Dani. "He has applied at various colleges to become a marine engineer. I'm afraid that I have him hoping to be answered by Miami." "Oh, really? Have you introduced him to Gallagher?" "I did." "Good. Then I don't need to worry about you. I see that the room has begun to take on more color." "That's an understatement!" Cameron laughed. Jessie's room was now filled to overflowing with flowers. Amy sat down beside Jessie and took her hand. "So quiet, Little One? Well hear this: Old Joe has the Skyhawk down for an annual inspection, and it isn't due back a day before your birthday. In other words, the crew is preparing it with your flight test in mind. I'm sure it will be running right and shining bright just when you need it the most." "How many qualifications is she going for, Amy?" Dani asked. "Five: single engine land, single engine sea, multi' engine land, multi' engine sea, and instruments. The Skyhawk will be prepared for the first two tests, and the King Air for the next three. She has some time in Watts, as well." "Unbelievable!" Cameron laughed. "Does it intimidate her?" "I gave her her first launch when we flew to Seattle from Hawaii. She was a bit surprised because she didn't know it was coming until we put the plane on the EOR, but she got out of the way of the 747 right away." "What 747?" "The one one three mile final." "GEEZUS!" "Nope. Just a really good student pilot. Maybe even the best I've ever taught." Given that it included half the Strike Eagle pilots in the U.S. Air Force, Amy was saying a lot about Jessie. End Part 42 Jagle