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  At that point, emphasis would shift to Derek Billings as the action arm of Lockout. His people, as yet unidentified, would have to have the requisite special warfare and combat skill necessary to accomplish this mission. He had assigned the task of putting this group together to Marine Chief Warrant Officer 2nd Class, Wesley Adam Sanderson. Sanderson, formerly an enlisted Marine, had fast-tracked through special operations and irregular special warfare training, quickly climbing the ranks. As a Staff Sergeant, he had applied for the Chief Warrant Officer program and shifted from ground operations to military intelligence.

  Sanderson’s warriors would, if necessary, be the ones who either interdicted operations or took down the specific targets identified by the efforts of the rest of Lockout. During a meeting, three days after the initiation of Lockout, Billings told Chief Sanderson, “You will have control of the hunter-killer teams, if we have to use them. At the present, there are no officers we have identified who will be assigned to you. Wes, you have to understand these teams, if they are deployed, it will have to be without the knowledge or agreement of the current heads of the five individual components of the Office of Naval Intelligence. That deployment can only be accomplished by the direct order of the Commander-in-Chief, Acting President Jason Darkwater.”

  What none of rest of the Lockout Team realized was that the order would only be coming by direct order of President Michael Rourke through Darkwater. Rourke was still “officially” rehabilitating from several “minor” injuries and exposure he had suffered during his attempted kidnap, or assassination, attempt. Unofficially, he was behind the scenes coordinating access of information linkages for the Lockout Team.

  Today, he was awaiting an informal, unofficial “state visit” from the President and First Lady of New Germany, his mother, and her husband, Wolfgang Mann. The entire Rourke clan, including Sarah’s grandchildren, was eagerly awaiting their arrival. The missing member was his father, John. John Rourke had declined the invitation saying, “This is your mother’s time, and I don’t want to interfere or take any time away from her visit.”

  Chapter Forty

  During the first meeting with the KI representatives, The Keeper had told John Rourke, “The society of the KI could best be understood, in human terms, as a constitutional monarchy.” Although that description is not completely accurate or complete, within that monarchy were four main categories of citizenship. The being known as The Keeper represented those focused on intellect, philosophy, and free will.

  The governing class, The Keeper explained to Rourke, was complicated. “The last living descendant of our original royal line is our leader, but some within my people are, at least passively, advocating for him to either step down or go away. Legitimately, he is what you would call the titular ruler or head of my people. At some time soon, that is going to have to happen. He is aged and not in the best of health; additionally, he has no offspring to continue his family line.”

  “Upon his death, resignation, or removal, our culture will be forced into a new political system for the first time in generations. Also, while he is in the official position of leadership, he possesses few, if any, actual powers. He does, however, have a following that is loyal to him and much of his exercised power comes as a result of his personality and experience.”

  The second group was more militaristic in their philosophy. The Keeper had told Rourke that “... many of my people consider that Earth was theirs, and they wish to reclaim it. They have no wish to destroy humanity, although some elements within the KI are far from benevolent. They consider the Earth to be their inheritance and view modern man as interlopers, little more than what you would call squatters. They remember your ancestors as primitive, and there exists certain... biases against all things that are not KI.”

  The KI that had introduced himself as “The Captain” was the leader of this faction, and his orientation could be described as a “nationalist.” According to The Keeper, The Captain’s focus is on the spirit or aspirations common to the whole of his people, his devotion and loyalty to his own people; in human terms, he could be described as having excessive patriotism. He is also rather “chauvinistic” in his attitudes because of his biases against all things not KI. His is almost a rabid desire for the advancement, independence, and autonomy of the KI to be in the position as rightful rulers of the Earth. He could be called primordial in his beliefs about the origin and that only one set of ethnic, cultural, and religious beliefs or identity should exist in a single state with other ethnic peoples, cultures, religions, or identities being subordinate to the KI.”

  In the months since John Thomas Rourke had last seen The Keeper, the sage had been traveling among the smaller European tribes; and from the feedback Rourke had been receiving, The Keeper had been busy sharing his view of Earthly reality with many different and varied cultures. The stories he had heard were that The Keeper’s perspective was being presented as a probable direction for the evolution of human civilization.

  The Keeper was due back from his trip this evening and had made an appointment to see John. He had asked for the meeting before he made a visit to the New Germany Capital the following month. When his escort vehicle pulled up in front of Rourke’s home, John walked over and opened the vehicle door, extending his hand. “Hello my friend,” The Keeper said. “I trust all is well with you?”

  “Yes,” John said. “As always, things are a little tense, but the family is well. Come on in; you said you had something to discuss.” As they walked up the drive, Rourke noticed The Keeper’s complexion was darker than he remembered; he seemed stronger and younger somehow, as he carried a large case by its handle.

  “So, how was your experience with the Tribes?” John asked. “Do you see why we sometimes call them the Wild Tribes?”

  The Keeper sat the case on the floor between them and replied, “I did see different cultural norms amongst the people I visited. Remember that in the years I have existed I have encountered not only many Earthly cultures but also many different cultures that you would call Alien. Although all expressed themselves in many different ways, remember that there is a commonality in that all are pieces of consciousness manifest in a physical dimension where they are creating and co-creating their personal realities.”

  Rourke was stunned. “Do you mean that there is commonness between all incarnated beings, even if they are on other worlds?”

  “There are more similarities than differences,” replied The Keeper. “It does not matter if they are on other worlds or in other dimensions. The principal difference is the perceived level of separation in physical reality.”

  The Keeper continued, “Now, remember that all statements about how reality is created have a certain truth to them. All are equally valid. In my experience in this life, I have tried to learn about as many different ways that consciousness perceives reality as possible. I have found certain ‘truths or beliefs’ to exist or overlap in many systems. I have studied all that I could and then constructed a perception of reality that includes as many as possible, without bringing in some of the more fringe or fragmented beliefs that, although fine for some, are not suitable for my purposes here and now. I will admit to having a certain scientific bent to my perceptions, but I attempt to incorporate all spiritual and scientific beliefs I can. I find that, unless conflicted by certain dogmas, most spiritual and scientific beliefs intertwine.”

  He continued, “I will share a basic outline of how I find reality to be constructed. First off, there is, and only can be, One… Source, Creator, God, Mind, Reality, or whatever you call the Creative Source/Force of All That Is. Any reality that has a fragmented Source that manifests itself in varying levels of ability or in opposite energies, such as negative and positive, are subsets of the One. This Source is made of Light and consists solely of Light.”

  The Keeper paused for a moment and then said, “Now, here is where describing Creation, which is actually beyond words, by using words becomes difficult. Words, by nature, have
limits, and their understanding is further compounded by each individual’s understanding or definition of each word. The meaning that each word has to each person varies; having said that, let me attempt this.”

  “Reality or life is actually a fragmenting of the Source, which is Light. This Light actually flickers on and off, in and out, out and back, or from nothing to something and back to nothing; all at the same time. There is always perfect balance in Creation. It can be seen when Creation is seen from a clear perspective. ‘All That Is’ is constructed from this balanced set of actions and is by its very nature digital, at its core always vacillating between the two states. This was first glimpsed by the physicists in the early 20th Century with the advent of Quantum Physics but was not properly understood until the advent of the digital computer age and further understandings in physics.”

  “Reality is a sort of hologram but is never seen as such due to the nature of the programming. This programming is necessary to maintain the illusion of separateness. It allows the Reality Construct to be useful as a learning tool for developing consciousness, which is another term for … us.” Once again, The Keeper paused for a moment and then added, “As your Albert Einstein said over 600 years ago, ‘Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.’”

  “Yes, I’ve heard that quote before. What does it really mean to you?” John Rourke asked.

  The Keeper replied, “It tells me that no matter how far or how much our science develops and what ‘truths’ we become aware of, especially at the subatomic scale, that our conscious perception of reality will continue to be guided by the senses and how their data is filtered by our brain. It appears there is a reason for these perceptions, and it also appears that they will continue in this vein for at least some time into the future, if not forever.”

  “At the basic level, there are two driving forces that manifest themselves in our consciousness construct, entropy, and evolution.” He continued, “The inherent drive towards evolution is what allows us to develop or raise our consciousness and, in doing so, makes it more efficient. The inherent drive towards entropy is what removes crystallized thought and creations and allows new creation to begin. To give you a mental picture, imagine there is a spot of ground that was just left uncovered by a retreating glacier. There are soil, rocks, water, and air. All left in that state will eventually break down even more. This is entropy. Put a plant seed into this equation, and suddenly, the items are being used and organized in a different manner; the growth of a plant is part of the equation. The soil, rocks, water, and air are being used in a manner that is a more developed, or evolved, goal. This is Evolution.”

  “When we, as entities, do not attempt to work with our state of consciousness and develop it to a higher or more evolved level, then we become part of the entropy. Entropy eventually manifests itself as complete decay. Evolution and entropy are just the two vacillations of the Light. They are occurring simultaneously and consistently, and they always have and always will. The only variances are from our slowed down perception of All That Is.” At this The Keeper stopped speaking for a moment and seemed to be searching for how—or perhaps—what words to use in continuing his current talk.

  “There are consistencies between all consciousness,” he said, “whether they be self-aware or not. In the interplay of physical reality, the vacillations of All That Is are passed along by each piece of consciousness. The speed at which this occurs in physical reality is consistent and is measured by the speed of light. To oversimplify, imagine a string of humans changing from facing right to facing left. As each person moves, it signals the next person to change. If you had about 186,000 miles of people lined up, all would complete one move every second. That is the speed of creation in the physically manifest world.”

  The Keeper went on, “Now, you may wonder why I speak about such things when they seem to be meaningless to the day-to-day reality of a normal human being. I speak of them because, to me, an understanding of life is truly incomplete if a person does not have some understanding, or inkling, of the interplay that occurs just beyond the perception of our five senses. The true wonder of Creation is much more easily brought to mind when you have this awareness underlying the inherent beauty and majesty that is recognized by your senses.”

  Rourke interrupted The Keeper, “Tell me more about this concept of life being a type of digital reality construct. All I can bring to mind is a bunch of youths playing some video games.”

  “Before, as you would say, we go down that path John, I have some things I need you to take a look at,” The Keeper said. “During my last visit with one of the European tribal councils, I was given these.” The Keeper reached down and sat the case on the coffee table. “John, I have concerns about what I’m about to share with you; I need your assurances of confidentiality.”

  Rourke frowned and stopped The Keeper as he began to open the case, “Depending on what you’re talking about, I would say certainly. However, you must understand my position. If what you are about to share has implications that could impact my people or this planet, I can make no such guarantee ahead of time.”

  The Keeper looked at Rourke for a long moment, slowly dropped his head, and gazed at the floor. “I understand John,” he finally said. “While I cannot be sure what these items mean, I fear they will fall into that category. I accept your conditions. Instead of confidentiality, may I count instead on your discretion and ask for your understanding and cooperation if what I suspect is borne out by your investigation?”

  “That I can agree to my friend,” Rourke said with a nod.

  “Here is the first,” The Keeper pulled what appeared to be the lower receiver from an energy rifle. It appeared to have exploded; it looked more like a melted glob of twisted metal and plastic than anything.

  “Where did you get this?” Rourke asked.

  “The leader of a small clan gave this to me,” The Keeper said. “This was found at the scene of a massacre of some of his people. As best as he could determine, an entire family had been murdered. His people live in small family units consisting of two or three families co-located in small, isolated settlements you would not even describe as villages.”

  Rourke was examining the melted blog, “It appears right here there is a primitive hand knapped arrowhead imbedded in the material.”

  “You are correct,” The Keeper said. “His people evidently fought back but were outnumbered, and their weapons no match for their attackers. Here is something else.” He placed an earthen jar on the table and pried off the lid; it had been sealed by what appeared to be beeswax. He upended the container and shook something out on the table.

  Rourke picked it up, “Crap, is this a human hand?”

  The Keeper nodded, “I believe so.”

  The hand was desiccated, hard and brittle. It appeared to be the right hand of a small human, possibly an adolescent severed at the wrist joint. The wound appeared to Rourke to have been caused by a blast of intense energy and heat. Frozen within the hand was what appeared to be all that was left of a small knife; the hand napped blade was broken off; what remained of the handle appeared to be bone.

  Slowly, The Keeper removed a small piece of cloth from his robe. “This also was found at the scene. John, this cloth I believe was made by my people.”

  Rourke studied the items closely, then he looked at the old sage; suddenly, he appeared even older to Rourke. “Alright my friend,” Rourke said, “I need you to tell me what you believe this means.”

  “John,” The Keeper finally sat down heavily on the sofa, “if I am correct, I fear that when that village was attacked it appears that one of my people was present, although I cannot imagine in what capacity. However, I fear my speculations on that subject give me no peace or solitude; however, there is no other explanation for how this piece of cloth could be present.”

  Pointing at the melted glob he continued, “I am not familiar with this type of weapon; I do know that this was not created by KI technology.
So, I have several disjointed pieces of evidence that when taken individually are open to all manners of interpretation; taken collectively however, they present a potential scenario that is completely unacceptable to me and, by virtue of that, my culture.”

  Rourke stood and began walking; he unconsciously pulled one of his thin black cigars from his pocket and lit it. After a couple of moments, he turned, “What do you want from me?”

  “John,” The Keeper said, “I am requesting two things. First, can you have these items analyzed and determine if our visual observations are in fact accurate? Second, if they are, I need to be made aware of those findings before any actions are taken by you or your people. This could potentially have devastating consequences for my people.”

  Rourke nodded, “Here is my suggestion; you need to be present when these items are examined. They need to stay in your possession; you must maintain a chain of custody. Secondly, you need to accompany me. We’ll take these items to a friend of mine at the Mid-Wake facility. He will be able to give us confirmation that either your fears are baseless or they are well-founded in scientific proof. Do your people know where you are?”

  “No John, I have not contacted them since I came into possession of these items. As far as they are concerned, I’m probably still on my ‘fool’s errand’ of contact with the primitives.”

  “Okay, let me make a phone call. We need to leave now; do you have any other clothing? You can’t travel in your robes and expect not to be noticed.”

  The Keeper smiled, “I have anticipated you, my friend. I requested a change of clothes recently from your people, and they obliged me; give me a moment to change.” Rourke showed him to the bedroom and closed the door. Rourke dialed a number, spoke urgently into the phone, and broke the connection a few moments later just as The Keeper came out of the bedroom. Where a robed sage had entered the room, a white-haired and bearded man wearing slacks, a sports shirt, and light jacket exited. “What do you think?” he asked.