Chapter Two
‘Down There’
The next day.
Another conundrum. Dress for warmth or cold?
Personally I tended to think towards the warmer side, but I backed my wardrobe up with a few thermal long-sleeved shirts that I could slip under my more tropical geared clothes if need be. It would definitely have helped if the government would have handed out some kind of list as to how to pack for the expedition at hand.
While clothes were important I didn’t want to go overboard on them and fill my pack up with them. It would be a good idea to lay down some survival gear too. I for one didn’t fancy the idea of casting myself into the beckoning mercies of the government’s long arms in expectation that they would have everything else besides clothes in readiness for me.
I went to the other side of the local Cabela’s and tossed items as they appeared in importance to me into the shopping cart. I found a great backpack, which the price normally would’ve caused me to see stars, but not today!
With empowerment I finished my shopping experience feeling very much pleased with all my selections. The backpack was going to weigh a ton, but I was strong.
Though slight of frame I worked out regularly with weights. Actually I preferred lifting weights to other exercises like running. Running could get old and there were far less muggers with knives lurking in the weight room then there were lurking about the shadows of town parks at 5 PM.
That’s not really why I didn’t prefer to run though. I just liked the challenge of weights more than the repetition of running.
****
Feeling a bit like on the verge of entering a new era of my life I waited patiently on the street outside my apartment. In the process of doing so I received a few curious looks, which I did my best to ignore.
Being a college town and me being a woman I decidedly stood apart from the rest of my sex right now. What girls were still in town, no doubt the ones who would soon be enrolling in summer classes, were wearing decidedly less than I was.
Only in the movies did you see the pretty lady archaeologist with shorts all the way up to mid thigh. I was pretty, but a lot more sensible than that or at least lately I was, experience had helped to make me so.
First off there were these things called bugs, not to mention poisonous plants, and thorns. The kicker of all though is having to kneel down on bare knees in the rock and dirt of a dig site. Never again!
As a sophomore in college I had been almost laughed off of a dig once because of showing up in the romanticized version of shorts with a white billowy shirt half unbuttoned to show a snug tank top below. I’d stayed the whole day at the dig site just because. The shirt had become permanently stained brown in places and my knees had bled.
I raised my arm up to peek at my watch. The government was five minutes late.
Normally I didn’t wear watches as I didn’t care for tracking the passage of time, but I thought it might be useful to have a watch this time as I could always pop the crystal shield cover off and use it to start a fire.
I’m not sure why even from the onset of this expedition that I expected things to go wrong, but I very much was. That said I still felt that I was supposed to go.
“C’mon!” I groused. It was getting a bit toasty in the Virginia sunlight with long sleeves and pants on.
Another five minutes went by and then with a roar of extra horses to spare a big black SUV peeled around a corner. But of course it was black, as all big hunking government vehicles seemed to be. That at least was true to the movies.
It came to a rolling stop alongside the curb and two men got out. One was the size of the Hulk and for the most part had only an expression of vague perceived consciousness about his face. It was creepy.
The other man was shorter, but well-built with the smile of a used car salesman. Of the two I considered him the most dangerous.
“Sorry we’re late. Have you been waiting long?” Smooth Dude asked affably, while Beef Man approach to lift my backpack up without any perceived effort.
However upon lifting the bag Beef Man glanced from it to me and his smallish close set eyes seemed to ask a question. As if telepathically the Smooth Dude asked the unsaid thought of the other, “You sure you’re going to be able to carry that bag honey?”
Defensively I squared my shoulders and said, “I’m strong for my size and I wouldn’t have packed it as I did if I wasn’t able to carry it.”
The man’s eyebrows arched some and he looked about to argue when the back window of the SUV rolled down partway and a voice said, “Stow the lady’s bag Harper. I have no doubt that she means what she says.”
The Smooth Dude shut up on the spot of whatever he’d been about to say and Beef Man hustled with my bag to the back hatch.
I stood staring into the cool gray eyes of a rather handsome looking man that had dangerous written all over him in a way that the other two men didn’t come close to matching. He smiled at me and gestured to the other side of the car, “Won’t you join me?”
Swallowing I made my way around the front of the car and opening the backseat door behind the driver I pulled myself up to sit on the leather upholstery of a seat that I wondered absentmindedly as to what it might have been silent witness to through the years.
My door was closed by Beef Man, who then slid into the driver’s seat, while Smooth Dude took his seat on the passenger side opposite. The walls of the spacious SUV seemed to close in on me almost instantaneously.
Finding it hard to maintain composure I glanced out my dark tinted window in need of distractions from the stifling environment within the SUV, which was created in part by my own fears of the unknown. I was really trying hard to not question God right now, but the niggling thought that He had made a mistake popped up again and again within my mind.
I commanded the errant thought into subjection and willed myself to continue to keep trusting in God’s mercies. I knew God was with me even now, but it was hard to reconcile how much like a trussed up lamb ready for the slaughter that I felt like right now in the presence of wolves.
The pack leader spoke, “You know I really can’t figure it. Just how can someone with a buffoon of a father like yours come to be so different from him?”
Startled I glanced at my co-occupant of the backseat and unsteadily I asked, “In what ways do you see us as different?”
The man snorted and with a sardonic smile he turned to gaze out his window before saying, “Pardon my choice of words, but in all essentiality your father is nothing more than a useful idiot. You on the other hand are one of those rare individuals that comes without a price tag. I respect that as there is so little these days that isn’t for sale.”
I didn’t know what to say to his unexpected complement of me so I said nothing.
“And oh by the way the 18,000 is paid weekly not monthly.”
Gasping I asked before I could think better of it, “Is there nothing you people don’t know? How do you know about my surprise at the money? Have you bugged my car already?”
“As a matter of fact we have, but I assure you of one thing. I’m glad to see you have the money that you now possess so you can hopefully go buy yourself something better to drive from now on. That car of yours is a death trap on three wheels and a half!”
“Leave my car out of this! I want to make it clear that I resent being spied upon!”
He nodded, “Dually noted, but I’m afraid with an exercise of such extreme importance as this all such liberties go out the window. Every facet of your life is ours to know and believe me we’ve already run them all. Besides the fact that you show a natural inclination to pick up a gun if provoked adequately and go to war with the government you see as overbearing you came out among the highest of security clearance checks. Congratulations by the way on that. The whole dinner sham with your father was really nothing, but the implementation of an intense study of ours over the past several weeks on a number of possible candidates for the job we have.”
Shaking my head I asked, “What can I possibly know or be so much of service to you to warrant so much attention and to be paid so much weekly?”
He smiled deprecatingly before his face turned pensive. Sighing he said, “It saddens me to say this, but people like you Samantha make up only a very minute category of people who have their eyes open enough to see the world for what it is without allowing the lure of entertainment, devices, money or religious affiliation to get in the way of your own observations and arrived at deductions as to how everything ticks. You are very rare indeed. You are a member of a select group I might add that the government as a whole seeks to marginalize and pass off as being a bunch of sticks in the mud scientifically speaking as it concentrates all its effort in keeping the masses unaware to the reality that we are all surrounded by. And oh, if the amount of your salary is bothering you, don’t let it. You’re the lowest paid member of the expedition and in my book that indeed is a crime.”
I looked at the government man, who for all intents and purposes was being entirely on the level with me. On the level about exactly what though?
Softly I said, “You’re being awfully candid with me. Pray tell why?”
“Why yes I will. Disclosure, full government disclosure is coming. The few members of your select group who exist in the broader avenues of the public will soon be exemplified for sticking to your outdated arguments and beliefs. Such disclosure is why I haven’t had to make you sign off on the whole list of penalties of perjury and treason should you tell anyone anything of what you see and hear. After this expedition the whole world will know what we do.”
“Which is exactly what? I’m still unclear why the amulet belonging to one of the lost wives of Solomon should be of such importance to the government.”
“Oh come come now. You know more than you’re letting onto. You and I both know the condition of this dimensional plain of Earth we live on and the inability to go up so what does that leave us with? Down. We are going down into the Earth and we aren’t the only ones. This whole venture is more and more taking on the aspects of an out-of-control game show. The Russians have put together a team. China has a team. Brazil and South Africa have a team. Chile has a team. The European Union has a team. It’s rumored that Saudi Arabia is even entertaining notions as to jumping into the fray and last, but not least in terms of significance Israel and India have combined to make a team. A team I might add that is viewed by most as having the best likelihood of success because of some long-held secrets that the Israelis aren’t telling anybody else about. This whole venture is becoming very much a race with the goal of technological domination over the rest of the world being the prize at the end of the tunnel.”
“Just what is it that you think, ‘down there’, as you put it has to offer our modern world in terms of technology?”
The man’s eyes turned to me and I saw an intentness that was dark to behold, because of its severity of purpose, “Unlimited power, which by the use of will hopefully finally provide us a way to get out of this time matrix box we’re locked up in. Not to mention all the other natural resources there are to be had and used for our country’s benefit.”
I shook my head in consternation at what I was hearing. Was it really all that important to be a god versus being the children of the one true God?
This man had already said so much to indicate his awareness of the shifting fabric of lies that humanity as a whole was being fed on a daily basis as to constitute the apparent need to take faith in a Divine Creator, but I saw none of that comprehension in this man’s intense gaze. I began to feel then that I must be very much within the presence of a devout satanist.
“You are.” Came the still small voice of God from within the corridors of my soul.
As an urgent plea I breathed out against the glass, “Help me Abba Father!”
Immediately a voice from within responded, “I know your weaknesses and your limitations. Behold I am your strength and I hold you firm within the protection of My hand.”
Feeling calmed down I regarded the smiling man across from me on the seat and asked, “Just what is my job on this expedition?”
“You’re multi-purposeful for one. You have good field experience that factors favorably and as I said you’re more aware to the harsher reality of Earth than most. Your first assignment is not far off. I have a whole underground bunker full of expedition members, who don’t have a clue to the fact that the world as we know it is a dimensional plain that does not move. You’re going to explain to these wizards of industry and science just how bizarre reality can be after being absent for 500 years from the mouths and knowledge banks of most men.”
I stared agape at the man. Not only was he admitting that all my suspicions were true, but he was sharing the other side’s game plays down to the last dime.
Smiling he said, “I told you it’s going to be full disclosure soon. There’s simply no way to go on keeping the lid on the can.”
I looked away from him and back out my window as I said, “So you’re saying I’ve been selected because the clues to descending below are biblically rooted, and because I know the truth about the world we live in?”
“That about sums it up.” He said.
Sarcastically I sniped, “Just what do you think is going to be the people’s reaction to things like NASA for example? They’re not going to believe me anymore than they would believe you as a representative for the government.”
“Admittedly I expect the criticism to be pretty harsh, but I think after the initial fallout things will cool down. Can’t be helped really. There’s just too many people opening their eyes these days to what the truth of reality is.”
“What a pity for you.” I said darkly.
He spoke, “You don’t much care for me do you.”
I didn’t say anything. In some ways it was good that the walls of lies were coming down finally, but what else was going up in place of them?
He was shrugging the fallout that would result from such disclosure off as something not to be overly concerned about, but he was wrong. People would be absolutely livid.
Every government in the world would be castigated and overrun by demonstrators. Martial law would no doubt be enacted worldwide as not one citizen of any developed nation would be left with anything remotely resembling loyalty to their elected officials who had left them so blindly unaware of the most base and Creator affirming fact that was ever to be exemplified within the light of day.
I was supposed to eat down the lie that the government was okay, if not seemingly eager sounding, to release such disclosure after striving so hard over the past 70 years or so to keep the secrets of Earth closed off from the minds of the populace? I don’t think so!
A thought of paradoxical import occurred to me then. The government was too keen to release a disclosure if the words off this lackey’s lips were to be taken at face value. They wanted tumult and mass panic to occur, but why?
Society as we knew it would crumble at the release of such disclosure. It……
My eyes widened as the full ramifications occurred to me of what such a disclosure would bring about the creation of. After disclosure no government in the world would be trusted and thus out of the ashes of the resulting protests and anarchy movements a New World Order would emerge.
One that would offer the people of Earth a change from the lies of their former governments, but in reality would be made up of the very elements that had controlled various world governments for a long time and had been the leaders in the falsification and obfuscation of the truth for the last 500 years.
Everyone would accept the need for order after the initial chaos in which the people of most developed nations would lose everything as their fake and artificially supported currencies failed overnight and they were left without even the most basic of necessities such as water, food, and medical supplies. I felt on the verge of throwing up as it occurred to me in full just how far along into the last days we were.
In a heartfelt plea to God I silently asked the fear of what I thought might be true, “Am I by my actions helping this government in turn usher in the one world government and the Antichrist’s reign?”
“Prophecy will be fulfilled. They know My words, but they do not see. They are blind and dumb and what they think will be there salvation will only lead to their utter ruin. I am not overcome and by no means will My words fail in all I have purposed for them to do. Go with them, but be separate from their sin of arrogance against the Most High in their final attempt to be Me rather than to be as a beloved and cared for child of My own such as you are. Take no part in their iniquity, but it is My will for the end to come so all things might be made new again. I know your heart. Lead them in truth, but shun the evil which they seek to gain power by in order to provoke Me even as the descendants of My servant Noah did at the Tower of Babel.”
Feeling shaken I stared out the window for a moment, until the peace and strength of the Holy Spirit came into me so much so that I boldly turned to the keeper of lies beside me and said, “In this upcoming disclosure to the other members of this expedition if you think I’m going to mince my words or only tell them half-truths you are sadly mistaken.”
“No be honest with them. That’s why we brought you. One of the reasons why anyway. It’s vital to the success of the mission that everyone be able to comprehend the situation at hand out of a clear and rational understanding of reality. Any clouded reasoning could spell doom to the mission and that we cannot have.”
I looked him over speculatively. Just what were they after?
What did they hope to steal from the dimensional plain below to further their New World Order plans for the surface above? Deciding on boldness I asked my thought, “What’s down there that you want so badly?”
“As I said, unlimited power. The power to alter or make our own gateways so that we might escape this prison called Earth and the imposed limitations of time and space we are all locked up in. It’s this we will sell to the masses. Freedom. True freedom.”
Shaking my head I asked, “And you think they’ll buy that?”
“They did once.”
“How very true. Look how that’s turning out for you though. Do you really wish to risk it happening again?”
“We have no choice, but I am convinced that we will be successful this time. People will have no choice, but to fall in line with the new order of things if they wish to survive.”
“And what of people like me? People who will never take an oath to any new endeavor of mankind that lies outside of what was ordained for us of God.”
He shrugged and said, “You would be fools not to go along with us. We are this close to unlocking the mysteries of everything and when we do there will be no more need for the God you serve. I ask you plainly why would you rather be a servant when you could be the master?”
“Why can you not be content with the blessed future of all that has been promised to those who believe in and serve God?” I countered with.
“Because I’d rather be in control and beyond the bounds of any law.” Was his clipped reply.
“Lawless you want to be, but you pass by the realization that all that is in existence only came about because of the law of God’s word. Those words will never pass away and who am I a created being to say to my Creator, ‘Why have You made me thus?’ You would put yourself as equal with your Maker but the truth is you did not create yourself and while you may possess the ability to clone the flesh, the spirit is of the breath of God. All man can do is create a habitation for something already in existence. Why do you delude yourself into thinking that you can make anything new?”
My co-occupant’s face had turned sour against me and I didn’t miss the nervous glances from Smooth Dude in the front seat, who kept looking back worriedly at us.
“Save your preaching for the choir! I base my beliefs in the surety that there is nothing that will be impossible for us that we purpose to do when humanity comes together as one.”
I shook my head and being at an end of words by which to witness to this man I turned my face away from him. The rest of the ride passed by with him drawn up in arrogance of the spirit of superiority, while humbly I mulled over inside all that I had learned and experienced today.
Truly the end was near and just as surely as God’s Word foretold, “The meek will inherit the Earth.”
*****
About a half hour later the SUV pulled down a series of streets leading to an old warehouse district. Idly I began to wonder if they thought they’d made a mistake with me and were even soon going to be leaving my bullet ridden corpse to rot in one of these old derelicts.
The SUV ventured ever deeper into the warehouse district until coming to the side wall of a rusty old looking deathtrap I watched with surprise as the ground just before the rusty banged up warehouse wall fell away into a smooth even decline until the mouth of a tunnel showed. The SUV dipped down underneath the warehouse wall to become unseen by the outside world.
Looking back I watched as daylight was shut off by the ascending ramp that had lowered to allow us access to this subterranean world no doubt in part funded by the several billion dollar budget allotted to NASA and other organizations like it each year.