The Wardenclyff Project
Chapter 1: Beginnings
March 10, 2013:
"It's ready."
The voice of General Ozama suddenly spoke from a
monitor to his left. "You're sure," he said quietly. It was a
statement, not a question. "Yes," the general wiped several beads
of sweat off his forehead. "We're sure." "Good." A woman in
her mid-thirties ran up to the wall of near-empty television screens.
The man sighed and stepped between the woman and the monitor. "Carol,
I specifically told you that I wasn't to be disturbed." "I'm
sorry, sir, but this couldn't wait." The man frowned. "Carol,
you will address me by my proper title in the company of others."
His secretary blushed nervously, noticing for the first time the
heavyset Japanese man in uniform on one of the screens. She blushed.
"I'm sorry, Mr. President." "That's better," the man
said. He sat down and folded his hands together. "You said that
something couldn't wait." Another statement. Carol looked a
little flustered. "Yes, it's the biologists," she nervously
spoke, stealing quick glances at the general. Did he know? "They're
ready for gene transmission." The general behind the President
spoke with an edge of anger and confusion. "Biologists? Gene
transmission? What is this?" "It's all right, nothing to worry
about," soothed the President. The general sat sullen, yet silent.
I'll need to get rid of him, and the girl
too. A shame, she made a good secretary.
"We're done here," he informed the pair. The general's screen
went dark, throwing the room into total shadow. Carol shivered. "Yes,
Mr. President." She practically ran from the room, fleeing from the
dark and cold that suddenly seemed to emanate from a man she had
known for the better part of seven years. The man sat silently in the
chair, collecting his thoughts. They had come so far! And in only a
short stretch of time. And on the 17th,
they would take another leap. The realization of 2 different dreams
that had stretched back centuries. Tesla and Darwin would be proud.
He almost smiled, or smirked, as he remembered how it began, on that
fateful day in the Hall of Records. The Mayans
got it wrong, he thought silently. 12/12/12
wasn't the end of the world, but rather, a new beginning...
Flash back a few months. The top-secret Hall of
records, a hidden repository below D.C. for keeping just that,
records. No order whatsoever, and only one man to sort through the
mess. Timothy Tronix. Known for wearing exceptionally large and
strange glasses, the man was jeeringly nicknamed "Optronix" by
his coworkers. For who knows what reason, they all found it funny. He
vaguely recalled seeing it in some sci-fi comic book, something with
lots of robots. The man's occupation was a simple one, yet
important. He was a Transcriber, taking important paper documents and
transcribing them into computer systems when they weren't smart
enough to do it themselves. Then he got pulled to the Hall of
Records. For 12 years, he had labored to get secret contracts,
indexes, and government project reports transcribed into the D.C.
Presidential Confidential Information Center, all marked top-secret.
Currently, the man in question was snoring loudly on top of concept
notes for the Constitution. The computer beeped - an hourly virus
scan. Timothy awoke with a snort. Pushing his spectacles back, he
examined the notes. "Aw, heck" was his only answer to a 3-inch
wide pile of drool that had leaked to page 7. He sighed and resumed
work. "Last one in this vault," he muttered to himself. "Then
on to 1910-1920. Whoopee." He limped off to the vault in question.
Several hours later, he checked time. It was 1200. "Stupid military
clocks," he murmured. "Still," he conceded, "it's
lunchtime. Maybe those government bozos will let me take a break for
once." The answer was no, of course. He was never allowed to take
breaks. "What's next?" He inquired of the vault, consigned to
his fate. 12121912, said the worn leather portfolio. He deftly untied
the string that held the folder together and flipped through the
slightly yellowed pages, perfectly preserved in the dark and humid
cold of Vault 10171984. His eyes widened in realization as he read
through various construction records and schematics. On the last page
was a single signature:
He gasped out loud with a sudden realization that
this was far bigger than he could have ever imagined, having already
skimmed through reports and messages between scientists and the
government on what the strange energies of the Tesla Tower were
capable of. He sprinted to the nearest computer terminal (up 5 aisles
and 7 staircases) and began frantically transcribing. When finished,
he put it all in a folder marked Wardenclyff/Tesla, and marked it
URGENT: FOR PRESIDENT'S EYES ONLY.
He sat back down in his chair with a sigh,
clearly relieved that it was over, and he would never have to face
the contents of that folder. But little did he know it was just the
beginning...
That very same day, another long project came to an
end, with surprising results. The World Genome Project began as a
successor to the similarly conducted Human Genome Project, designed
to map out the genes of the world and find, if possible, a common
gene among them all. Every molecular biologist on the project wanted
to be the one to find the Universal Gene, and 78-year old Professor
Ira Carmen was no stranger to that ambition. The first political
scientist to be elected to the Human Genome Project, he was a member
of two research teams at the University of Illinois, one exploring
sociogenomics and the other stem cell research. Right now, though, he
has little to do with either of those. At this moment - the same
moment, in fact, that strange Timothy Tronix was reading about
Tesla's marvelous living machinery - he was browsing through the
genes of several hundred species, or more specifically, a single
inert gene from hundreds of species. He could barely contain his joy.
"Won't they be jealous?" he giggled, practically dancing but
for his old age. "Best birthday gift ever! Even if it was a few
days late." It was December 12, 2012. The time was 12:12. Humanity
had survived the Mayan apocalypse, it seemed. Sparing a glance at the
clock, the aged professor sat down to eat his lunch and began to
write his report to the higher-ups. He clicked "send" with a
smile. Two days later, the report came in. The World Genome Project
was to develop technology to reactivate the inert gene worldwide.
Professor Carmen read the report first with a smile, then confusion,
then a look of awe and wonderment. If the gene did what they thought
it did, this would change everything. A new beginning for the whole
Earth...
March 11, 2013: the murder of personal presidential
secretary Carol Burnette greets early morning readers of the papers.
Found in the White House Garden with a bullet in her frontal lobe,
she was the immediate result of a nationwide search for what was
assumed to be an attack on the President. The killer was found that
very afternoon - a member of the secret service who had used a
false identity to get hired by the President. 28-year-old Secret
Serviceman John Cain was in reality 30-year-old Larry Desmond, a
criminal wanted by the FBI for possession, attempted murder, major
larceny, and now murder and attempted conspiracy against the
President of the United States of America. He confessed in court and
was sentenced to imprisonment for life. The public's original
excitement died down after a couple days. And the President sat in
his office and watched the unknowing citizens with a smile...
March 13, 2013: General Ozama, most valuable general
to President Barrack Obama and head of his research unit in Japan met
a terrible end. Everyone thought it was an accident - it had rained
a few days earlier, and the railing was loose. When he went for a
morning stroll on the roof of the recently built Wardenclyff radio
tower, he leaned up against the rail for a few seconds, then slipped
and fell 30 stories. Back in the U.S., the man in the chair in the
dark room full of screens sat and smiled. "No loose ends," he
whispered quietly. He then got up and walked out of his office. He
had a lot of work coming up in the next 4 days.
March 17, 2013: The Grand Unveiling. A week ago, the
President had told the world to be in two spots: the newly built
Wardenclyff tower in Tokyo, Japan and the World Genome Project's
Molecular Biogenetics Research Center in the Tri-cities.
Tokyo: Tension built in the crowd, mostly Japanese
citizens but also some curios tourists. A short man came up to the
stand to stutter through the announcements, his words translated into
Japanese. "Today is..."
Kennewick: "A historic day!" the crowd roared as
President Obama himself took the stand and began his speech. "A day
for new beginnings! A day for wonders! Today we rise above ourselves
and make our world a better one." "Get to the point!" a critic
yelled. "We will," the President smiled. "But first, some
people I'd like to thank. A list of people followed. Some walked up
to the stage. A short, balding man in ridiculous glasses elicited a
few snickers from the crowd. "Now, now, this man is not to be
laughed at," chided the President. "Without him, Wardenclyff
tower would have never been built..."
"Wardenclyff Tower was originally built in 1901,
in Shoreham, Long Island for the purpose of worldwide wireless
transmission. However, this was the least important of its uses..."
"Wardenclyff Tower was a government lie." The
crowd quickly fell silent in shock. The President continued speaking.
"Its true purpose was the recreation of any and all metallic matter
through the transmission of what Tesla coined "Reforge energy
waves". These energy waves had been previously determined to give
any large amount of metal, no matter the composition, a unique and
complex mechanical, self-evolving semi-intelligent structure. For
those of you who don't know what that means, he invented living
metal, able to change, adapt, or transform itself to the user's
needs in any way they could imagine..."
The short man paused a few seconds to take out a
handkerchief and wipe a few beads of sweat from his forehead. "The
World Genome Project, while not quite as old, was certainly inspired
by greats like Darwin and Mendel." Despite his appearance and
speech, the crowd listened with attentive ears, even as the first
drops of rain began to fall from the dark shadow overhead...
It was dark and stormy over the Columbia River as
the 44th President
of the United States continued his speech. A few drops of rain began
to fall. The Secret Service passed out umbrellas to the President and
a grateful crowd. "WGP started as a successor to the Human Genome
Project, but it became so much more...
"Designed to map out the genes of the world and
find a universal gene, they did just that. And more. They completely
revolutionized the way we view ourselves..."
"Prime I. The first in a new race of supergenes.
The Universal gene." The President held up a small vial full of
white, swirling strands. "Sadly, the gene is naturally inert. No
effect whatsoever." The President lowered his hand. "But when
activated, this gene will grant complete and total control over one's
biology, right down to the molecular level." He held up 6 more
vials, full of the same white, swirling strands in clear fluid.
"Prime II - VII gives similar levels of control over lesser
creatures, among other things. Don't believe me? Why don't you
see it to believe it?"
The crowd watched nervously as the short man took a
deep breath and got several matches out of his suit coat pocket. He
lit them and touched them to his hand. The crowd gasped as his hand
appeared not to burn...
"See? Completely invulnerable. And with enough
practice..." The President made a motion like he was going to shoot
a basketball over the river. The fireball in his hand leapt and
soared gracefully over the river before landing in the water with a
short burst of steam. He then snapped his fingers. Every plant in the
immediate area turned greener and flowered, even the grass. "With
power like this, we can make our world a better place. No more poor
or diseased. Homes for everyone. No shortage of food. The end of
global warming..."
"But most importantly, a new
beginning. A chance for humanity to start over, bigger and better
than ever before. With new technology and biology, our vision, our
dreams, can stretch from one end of the universe to the other..."
"And touch every star in the sky. So what do you
say? Are you with me? Will you join me in a new evolution, a new age
of technology?" The crowd roared. "YES!!!!" "Then let's
make tomorrow, today!" The President walked off his podium. An
agent handed him a black case. President Barack Obama opened it and
pressed the button that would change history forever...
The world watched in silence as two towers on
opposite sides ignited, with a fire that would burn the world for
centuries to come...
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