Chapter Eleven – The Island

“Request complete…” the door to the front cabin slides open, Gregory and Jasmine take a step into the rear cabin laughing in the midst of conversion.

“I see you are laughing now, but soon you will die for your crimes.”  Mr. Bill stands slowly while pointing his gun at them.

Gregory and Jasmine seize talking and look at Mr. Bill wide eyed.  Behind them black rain was falling.  Silence fills the vehicle as they stare each other down.  Jasmine was waiting for the shot to go out and kill both her and her husband, but no shot came, just mad red eyes of their enemy staring at them with teeth clenched.

“If you are going to kill us then do it.  We are not afraid of death now.  We will gain what matters in the afterlife.”  Gregory finally forces Mr. Bill to break his gaze from Jasmine.

“How nice for you, but we will have much more than just death for you when we get back.”  Mr. Bill looks at Gregory with a forced smile as he is still clenching his teeth.

“There is nothing left to go back to.  You know the disaster that has befallen this planet.”  Jasmine replies.

“You have no clearance for such information, you cannot know that.”  His anger was evident, and Mr. Bill was still holding the gun trying to hide his pain.

“After what you know about me the last month or so, you still think I don’t have that information.”  Jasmine notices his device on the seat next to him.  “You did notice that I have jumped the stream into your device and changed it.  I found out everything.”

“Not everything, we have been starting underground facilities to hide and protect first class citizens, and other citizens by lottery.  I should say that your invitation to join was cancelled by me after all I have been observing you for some time.”

Mr. Bill shifts his seating position to allow him to ease the pain from one side of his body and the pain was more than he expected.  The look on his face gave him away for Gregory and Jasmine noticed it and he hated them even more now for they have seen him in a weak state of life.  Silence lingers in the air around them as they stand staring at each other.  After a few moments Mr. Bill glances behind them and sees the black rain falling on the front of the glass of the front cabin, “What is that black rain and where are we?”  He points with the gun behind them.

Gregory looks behind him, but Jasmine replies, “we are far from where you want to be, and this is the result of the shift, the planet is expelling the molten core and with the melting of the ice it is causing the black rain that is outside.”

“That is not possible the shift was not supposed to happen for another year or so.”  Mr. Bill showed genuine surprise.  He looks down for a moment in thought, and then looks back at Jasmine.

“It was you and that virus, we found some of the files altered in the data stream, many of the scientists were debating on the date of the shift, but none of the simulations showed it happening this early.”

“Well it has and there is no going back.”  Jasmine replies.

“Give me access to the vehicle again and my device,” Mr. Bill demands her with the gun pointed at her.

“No.”

“NO!…. how dare you disobey a direct order from the ISDA commanding officer!”

“We only take directives from our Lord and God now, and if you want to kill us then I guess you will be stuck here for the rest of your life, which I think will be a long time since I am sure you have had all the Syntech treatments.”

Mr. Bill did not know what to say to that, he knew he could not do anything.  He was weak and helpless standing there before them.  He did not have resolve in the first time in his life.  He did not know what to do if he could do anything at all.  His body was starting to shake a little for the pain was rising again.  This long tiring conversation was not helping.  He resolves at that moment that he needs to show them strength and starts to try to stand up.

Jasmine notices his discomfort from pushing himself for longer than his body can take, and knew his injuries would take longer to heal, “Please stay sitting Mr. Bill, we did not kill you and leave you behind but helped heal you.  You need to sit down, and we will sit down in the front.  When you come to your senses you will realize that you will need to go with us or nowhere.”  Jasmine turns around and grabs Gregory’s arm, “let’s go sit.”  He does not protest and follows here.

“YOU..wait..”  Mr. Bill tries to yell at them. They just keep moving to the front cabin.  The pain was getting more intense, so slowly he stops trying to stand and stays sitting down, defeated.

“Philomena, close front cabin door.”

“Request complete…” the door closes shielding Gregory and Jasmine from Mr. Bill.

Gregory sits down, “that man seems very bitter and anger.  I am surprised he lived through those injuries.”

“I know, he is fighting all that pain to survive.  We will wait and then I will go back and get my backpack.”

“You think it will be safe to do so?”

“I think he is going to be asleep in a few minutes.  His body, while it’s healing, will require rest to be able to recover from exertion and pain.”

“Makes sense, I guess we are stuck with him and him with us.”

“Seems so at this point.  I hope we can save him, he needs much saving.”

“I don’t know about that one, his hate is evident for you and I, mostly you.  You have made him weak were before he had all the strength and power.”

“It might be difficult but I think it will be worth a try.  God is not beyond anyone’s reach.  Only if we can open his heart just a little.  Jasmine stands up, “Philomena, open front cabin door.”

“Request complete…”

The door slides open and Jasmine sees Mr. Bill with his eyes closed and the gun on his lap.  On the seat next to him was a bottle of Syntech food pellets.  She walks towards her backpack slowly, picks it up and walks back to the front cabin.

“Should I go and grab his gun?”  Gregory whispers to her as she enters.

“No, we will not need to bother with it.  Philomena, close front cabin door.”

“Request complete…”

“We will leave him alone for a few days, he has some food pellets, which should help him recover his strength, and we have our belongings.”

“At least he cannot come on us while we sleep.”  Gregory leans back on his seat and closes his eyes.

“That is a good idea.  We have not slept for almost thirty six hours.”

Jasmine sets the backpack down and leans back, closes her eyes and finally feels the peace that she now knows come over her.  Gregory and Jasmine fall asleep in the front cabin while in the rear Mr. Bill sleeps in this unknown part of the world.

Gregory starts to open his eyes slowly from a long needed sleep to be greeted by a bright light.  He closes his eyes and lifts his hand to shield the light from his eyes.  “That is bright,” He again, slowly, opens his eyes and allows them time to adjust to the change.  As his eyes begin to focus on the scene before him, he shakes his head and rubs his eyes to try to get himself to awake fully.  After a minute he allows himself to look upon the scene before him.  The black rain had stopped, and the smoke above the volcano was a greyish white now.  Only a few slow moving streams of lava were coming down the mountain.  Around the mountain all of the ice and snow had melted revealing an island under the mountain.  Rivers of lava at the bottom of that mountain where moving even slower, and further along as the lava hit the body of water it was causing steam to escape into the air.

The island seemed quite large from this vantage point, but he could not see how far it spread behind the mountain.  On the island itself he saw some green patches appear on the rocky soil.  Gregory turned to his side and sees Jasmine still curled up in the seat and asleep.  He looks at the instrument panel in front of him to find out what date the display shows.  “Wow I slept almost twelve hours.”  He said that a little louder than he wanted to, and as he said that Jasmine starts to stir in her sleep and slowly begin to wake.

Gregory sits looking at the scene before him as he waits for Jasmine to wake up.  After a few minutes of Jasmine tossing and turning, she finally begins to wake up.  She also had some adjusting to do from the light, but when she managed to see the site in front of her, her eyes grow wide with astonishment.

“Yeah I know it is amazing,” Gregory says with a smile after waiting for her to finish looking over the island.

“You can say that, how long…” she glances at the display panel, “about 12hrs, my goodness.”

“Yep I was surprised as well.  I guess we were very tired.”

“I would say,” Jasmine looks back at the island before them and she notices on the sides and behind the mountain there was a slight depression in the ground, but she could not be sure for the mountain obstructed most of the view.

“Look there,” she points out what she noticed to Gregory.

Gregory starts examining where she is pointing and notices the change in the terrain as well.  “We would have to go around the mountain to get a better look.”

“I agree.”  Jasmine does not hesitate, “Philomena, can you make geographic and spatial analysis of the land mass directly in front of us.”

“Request possible.”

“Philomena, process with request.”

“Processing… Time of Completion forty two minutes and thirteen seconds.”

“Philomena, report back when request is completed.”

“Affirmative…”

“Well we should wait until she is done and then we can get a more detailed analysis of the island.”

“Smart idea, you manage to amaze me every second we are together in this new life in God,” Gregory reaches over to her and kisses her.

Jasmine pulls closer to him as well and embraces him as they kiss.

“What is going on?”  Mr. Bill demands as he pounds his fist on the front cabin door, interrupting their moment.

“I keep forgetting about him,” Gregory says with a smile as he pulls away from Jasmine.

“I am sure you do.”  She smiles back at him, “I guess we should open the door.  He will not harm us now since we have control and I hope to keep it that way.”

“You are right so far so I am with you.”

“Philomena, open front cabin door.”

“Request Complete.”

The door opens and Mr. Bill stands there with a fist ready to pound the door again and the gun in his other hand.  He looks more like himself but still angry at them and the whole world.

“I demand…”  Mr. Bill stops as the light hits his eyes, and the scene before him registers in his brain.

“The sky is brighter then I know it, and this island looks to be in a primordial stage of development.  Mr. Bill speaks more to himself than anyone else.

“Yes it is, over twenty hours ago it was all ice and snow, and then the volcano erupted and I believe because of the shift it is the way it is now.”  Jasmine adds.

Mr. Bill looks down at her and squints his eyes, “I suppose you are correct in that assumption, and now what are your plans?”

“Well my husband and I are still deciding, so please lower your gun if you are not going to kill us.”

Mr. Bill, anger still on his face, lowers the weapon and puts it in his coat, “for now.”  He turns around and goes back to the rear cabin and sits down.  He grabs the Syntech food pellet bottle and takes one for his breakfast.

Jasmin and Gregory do the same and then Jasmine, with a nod to Gregory moves to the rear cabin and sits across from Mr. Bill.  After a few seconds Gregory follows here and sits next to her.

“I see you are looking better, how do you feel?”  Jasmine asks.

“I feel fine, my body is healing and the pain is almost gone.”  Mr. Bill looks at her surprised at her question but more surprise that he answered her so calmly.  In her voice something was different she was not the same woman he spied on.

Jasmine smiles at him, “Good, we are glad that you are doing better.”  Mr. Bill nods but does not say anything.

“Request to move position for analysis is requested…”  Philomena digitized voice asks.

“Request granted, proceed.”

The vehicle starts to slowly move from its current position and closer to the island.

“What are you doing?”  Mr. Bill asks

“We are running an analysis of the island to get as much information about it as we can before we land.”

“Land here, are you insane?” Mr. Bills voice rises in disbelief.

“I think we will be staying here if this island can provide us what we need.  We would not want to go back to the life we had before.”

“I will then have to fight you and kill you, I want to go back.”

“Mr. Bill we are not asking you to stay, once we are sure of our survival then you can leave and go back.”

“You mean to tell me you will give me control of the vehicle and let me go?”

“Yes, you are not our prisoner and we do not wish to be yours.  So we might be here for a few days and then you can be on your way if that is what you wish.”

“Fine, I will tolerate you for the few days so I can leave you and go to the ISDA underground main facility.”

Jasmine nods at him in acknowledgement. “Now if you will hand me your device and I will give you access to some of its functions, so you can use it.”

Mr. Bill looks at her suspiciously but still reaches for his device and hands it to her.

Jasmine takes it from him and starts to program it, after a minute, she hands it back to him, “here you go, and I added some reading material for you, I hope you will give it a chance, it might change your life.”

Mr. Bill takes it from her, “I do not need to read your propaganda.”

“It is only the Truth to set you free,” she does not wait for a response, but stands up and walks away to the front cabin, and Gregory follows her.

As they reach it, “I will inform ISDA of your criminal activities and you will be punished.”  Mr. Bill starts to look through his device, trying to gain access to someone at ISDA.

Gregory turns around, “We know, like my wife said before we are not afraid of you or your kind any longer.”

“Philomena, close front cabin door.”  Jasmine commands.

“Request complete.”

As Mr. Bill plots his revenge on the ones he hates, Gregory and Jasmine look on the changing landscape.  As the vehicle moves around the island running the analysis, they finally get to see what is behind the mountain.

There they see a valley full of green life.  As if it was hiding under the mountain waiting for the ice to melt.  There were many trees and smaller mountains.  They could see some flying things circling the top of the trees.  They could not make out what they are for it was far away, but it was a good sign that there is life there.

“Analysis complete…”

“Philomena, display all information on front cabin display.”

Jasmine and Gregory study the information for a few days and talk about their plans and at the end of those two days decide to go into the valley.  As they watch the scene before them, the valley gradually stops being a valley but keeps rising until it was mostly level with the rest of the terrain.  The island started to change before them and they see more movement around the island.  It looks like there were animals there, animals they only learned about in school or the one zoo that was left.

It had rained very hard and long for about fifteen hours one of those days, and again the landscape changed, more green and some of the animals started moving out of the valley and into the surrounding areas.  More birds were also seen coming from what seemed like nowhere to live on that island.

They decide to land on a shore that would allow them the closest access to that valley.  As they circled around the valley to land on the shore they decided on, they noticed a waterfall that plunged into a small lake.

The vehicle lands on the shore and they exit with Mr. Bill behind them.  Although he wanted to leave he was still curious about this place.  He avoided talking to them and was just waiting for the time he could leave them and go back.

The air smelled cleaner than they ever smelled it, the temperature was warm with a cool breeze blowing.

“This is where we will be together,” Gregory walks to the beach and touches the water with his hands.  It felt good on his skin.

Jasmine turns to Mr. Bill “I guess it is time for you to leave us then, if that is still your wish?”

Mr. Bill hesitates as he takes in the scene, “Aaahhh, yes… yes I guess it is time.”

“I will program the vehicle to return you to the place we left and then you can navigate to where you need to go from there.”

“Very well hurry up, this place makes me feel uneasy.”  Mr. Bill replies.

Jasmine goes back into the vehicle and pulls her device out and starts programing it, then reinserts it.

“Philomena, retrieve file 4ED90B from device.”

“Files retrieved…”

“Philomena, execute file phase one in five minutes then execute phase two in twelve hours.”

“Command accepted…”

Mr. Bill walks into the vehicle, “are you done?”

“Yes I am, you will be on your way in five minutes.”  She pulls her device back out and puts in her backpack.

“When will I get full control?”

“In twelve hours.”

“TWELEVE HOURS, HOW DARE YOU!” His hate rises again.

“YES Mr. Bill, we forgive you but we do not trust you.”

“I will be back for you and justice will be served, I promise you that.”

Gregory hears Mr. Bill’s loud voice and comes to the vehicles door, “are you okay?”

“Yes, Jasmine replies, “I am okay, Mr. Bill was just saying goodbye,” she cracks a tiny smile at Mr. Bill.

“I see,” Gregory smiles back.

“After the takeoff you can insert your device.” Jasmine starts to walk towards the door.

Mr. Bill stands there fuming in silence.

As Jasmine reaches the door she turns around, “Well this is goodbye then, and…” she taps on the inside hull of the vehicle..”good bye to you as well Philomena for getting us here.”

Mr. Bill’s eyes go wide in surprise at the name, for he knew it from before.  “That name, why did you say that name?”

“It is the name I gave the vehicle for voice commands, named her after a saint that helped us.”

“You mean another criminal like you.  Who infiltrated the stream with the goodnews virus, confusing people and causing them to flee the State.”  Although he had his voice under control, Mr. Bill’s hate grew even more if that was possible.

“Yes like us,” Jasmin turns away from his hateful gaze and walks out with Gregory behind her onto their new home.

Gregory notices Mr. Bill step to the edge of the vehicle doorway, as they were walking away, with the gun in his hand.