ASMSG Scifi Fantasy Paranormal Emagazine April 2015 | Page 34

Gabriel shrugged. “If you can’t have fun with words,
what’s the point in living?”

dozens of videos uploaded to the Internet before we
could rein them in.”

The meeting room door opened. Wisdom allowed the
Candleworks representatives to enter before him. The
seating was assigned. There was no reason to rush.

Mischa Fradkov, from Russia, cleared his throat. “As
you Americans say, the genie is out of the bottle. We
cannot put it back. We will go on TV in a few hours
to acknowledge the Lemurians are real.”

After several minutes of obligatory small talk,
everyone sat and the guards closed the doors again.
At the head of the table sat Penny Dulany, the
woman chosen as chair of the special committee.
Wisdom had known her since she was a child.
Though in her late fifties, Penny looked ten years
younger. Her amazing smile could fill up any room.
Today, her face was drawn and her eyes
uncharacteristically dull.
“We’ve had news from China.” Penny motioned to
one of the assistants at the back of the room. He
proceeded to distribute manila folders to everyone
around the table. “These are pictures from Beijing.
The Council of Peacocks attacked a safe house where
we’d found and harbored ten Anomalies. All were
taken. As you can see in the photos, we paid a high
cost.”
Wisdom opened his folder and flipped through
several black and white photos. Each showed a body.
“How many did we lose?” This came from one of
Gabriel’s counterparts at Candleworks. Her name was
Dr. Melinda Uyldert from the U.K. With her short
blond hair, she looked like a young Helen Mirren.
“Forty soldiers.” Penny took a deep breath. “Amazing
how calling them soldiers is supposed to make it
easier to lose them. Soldiers. Like they’re not people.”
She pushed her shoulders back and sat up a little
straighter. “Unfortunately, we have more bad news.
We don’t have all the details but it appears a band of
Edimmu attacked a Sasquatch settlement in Tibet.”
Wisdom groaned. “Don’t call them that. It’s a silly
name.”
Penny threw her hands in the air. “Fine. Lemurians.
Whatever you want to call them. Here’s the problem.
Several shell-shocked survivors wandered into a
tourist area. As you can imagine, their appearance
started a riot. Thanks to smart phones, that led to
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“You can’t do that.” Wisdom leaned forward. “They’ll
be hunted. Candleworks promised to ensure their
safety in exchange for the barrier technology that
blocks Orphean communications. You’re in debt to
them for half the projects at the Black Pyramid.”
“We know, Wisdom.” Shaun Brennan, head of the
CIA, hung his head. “The president is meeting with
advisors right now on how to handle this. It can’t be
stopped. Too much evidence to bury, even for us.”
Wisdom frowned. “Can’t we just kill all the
witnesses?”
Penny snorted and waved her hand dismissively.
“There are thousands of witnesses.”
“Since when has that stopped China?” Wisdom asked.
“I resent the accusation.” This came from the
Chinese representative, Geng Huichang. “My people
do not condone murder.”
Wisdom glanced around the room. “Who are you
trying to fool? There are no cameras here and
everyone in this room knows the Chinese are never
afraid to make the hard calls.”
Fradkov motioned for Huichang to remain calm, then
turned to Wisdom. “This time the hard call is
choosing truth. At least a version of it. We have too
many battles, Wisdom. We can’t fight another.”
“Besides,” Brennan said, “if the Council keeps on the
way it has been, Sasquatch will be the least of our
worries.”
Penny turned to Wisdom. “Has there been any sign of
the alien with the gold ring? Defta…what’s his
name?”
Wisdom smirked. “It’s Defksquar. Rhymes with
Deathstar.”