GOD FORMULA

18 Flashback- III

Noah suspected he had finally started hallucinating because of the gas fumes from the antique car. The gasoline would have gotten to him, eventually.

He tried to make sense of his delirium under the chrome garage light.

The figure was a rugged-faced, attractive man. He wore rimless glasses and strangely had a lab coat on. Luxurious brown metrosexual hair was mopped back nonchalantly.

“Are you real, Mister? Or am I imagining you?” the boy asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Ahem. Doctor, not Mister. But to answer your question, it depends, boy,” Jack said. “What conclusions would you draw from the prospect of a stranger appearing inside a locked room without so much as making a sound?” 

“If you are indeed real, then perhaps you are a burglar? Please take anything you want. I will not resist or call for help.” Noah meant it. It would be a treat if the old car were stolen.

The man looked around with an upturned nose. “I’d rather not touch anything in this room.”

Noah grinned peevishly. “Well, if you are not a burglar, then how did you break-in? I saw and heard nothing. There’s only one way inside.”

“You’re taking this better than I expected,” Jack said with narrowed eyes. “Actually, there was a flash in that corner,” he added, pointing to a cupboard. You were too preoccupied with your games to notice.”

“Don’t tell me you are a mage? And you magically appeared here?”

“I sure did,” the man replied, waving his communicator at Noah. “But I am certainly not a mage. The entire race hates me, and the best of them can barely open a portal. Are you that unaware of the worlds, kid?”

“Umm.” Noah scratched his head and came out of his blanket fort.

“Then, are you a friend of Piper or something?”

“Eh. That pipsqueak is not my type.”

“I don’t mean to be rude. But, instead of being unnecessarily mysterious, why don’t you tell me why you are here?”

Noah could see a glint from Jack’s spectacles as he pushed them up the bridge of his nose.

“I would love to,” the attractive man said, cocking his head back and looking at the shoddy roof. “To be honest, this garage reeks and brings back unpleasant memories. Why don’t you come with me, and we’ll talk at a place which is, uh, AIRY?”

Noah was then thoroughly convinced that he was hallucinating. Even if he weren’t, it would be nice to get out of the garage for a moment. The boy was close to throwing up, even though he had had no dinner.

“Let’s go.”

“Well, that was easy,” Jack said, and pressed a button on his communicator.

Dot! Adot! Dot!

The edges of the garage cupboard glowed for a moment, and a signboard appeared above the door. 

Noah was too dizzy to read it.

Jack opened the door, and a gust of wind seemed to rush in.  

“Follow me!” he said above the draft. The boy strung along with him in a daze. 

They walked out of what seemed to be the mouth of a cave.

Whoosh!

A sudden blast of wind almost knocked Noah off his feet. 

“Come on,” Jack cried out, supporting him. “A few more steps.”

The night sky greeted them. Noah looked up in amazement.

The four moons- Galos, Tela, Plena, and Egel hung in the east, close to each other, like petals of a broken flower. 

Egel, the closest moon, was the brightest, while Galos, the largest and farthest, glowed dimly from behind the rest.

Noah looked all around him in wonder. 

They seemed to be perched on a hilltop. Down below, the plains, littered by a million lights, rolled down towards the horizon.

“Wait!” the boy exclaimed. “Is this Amity Hill?”

“Full marks!” Jack replied with a grin. “But don’t get too excited,” he added, pushing Noah back away from the edge. 

They stood on a ledge that was not larger than fifteen square feet.

The duo sat down on the rock, dangling their legs.

“I come here every time I need to clear my head,” Jack muttered, breathing deeply.

“Are you the Jack from Piper’s story?” Noah asked, his head now clearer and sharper.

The man nodded. “Aren’t you even a bit curious about how I portaled you over two miles away? Piper was beyond himself when he saw the technology in action.”

Noah shrugged. “I don’t know. With something like God Formula in the public domain, I guess anything is possible now.”

Jack looked ahead into the distance. “Hmm. Perhaps your imagination of what true power is, goes much farther than just portals,” he said, more to himself than to Noah.

“I take it we have met before?” Noah asked, staring at his dangling legs. “And you have tried to convince me to join the Fellowship team of Providence. I declined, and you wiped my memory. Is that right?”

Jack nodded. “Have you changed your mind, then?”

“I haven’t.”

The Assistant Director of Providence sighed. “I think I have been asking you the wrong questions, therefore not giving you much choice. Tell me, Noah, what do you want from your life?”

“I just want to play games!” the boy replied without thinking.

Jack nodded and opened up a large virtual screen to play a video.

“What is this?” Noah asked. “A video game?”

The view was of a first-person player in a game. The HUD was interesting, with weapon and defense systems, player stats, and communication mods. Experience and damage points appeared with enemy drops. 

The player selected buttons, drawing out swords, guns, and even magical attacks. He fought with mid-sized rat-like monsters and finally killed them all.

“This is a cool game!” Noah exclaimed with enthusiasm. “I mean, I can’t tell it from real life. The graphics are next-generation!”

“It isn’t a game, my dear boy,” muting the audio. “It is the recording of a real-life adventure by one of our Trinity warriors.”

“What? No way!” Noah went back to the video with widened eyes.

“Yes, way! Now I must ask you, do you want to play this game?”

“I-” Noah stared fixedly into the screen.

“Do you?”

“Yes. If this is how the world is going to be. I want to be part of it!”

“Perfect! That is all I wanted to know.”

Noah turned to look into Jack’s dark eyes. “But I don’t want to join your team.” 

The man shook his head. “Look, I am not asking you to jump into our organization headfirst. Right now, walk into the Trinity network. Level up in the Beta Phase. I mean- you are scrawny, and leveling up may strengthen your constitution. And when you are ready, it will be your choice to join us or not.”

Noah thought about it for a moment with his eyes darting across the video. “Sounds like a good plan to me. I’m in!” he finally replied with conviction.

“Perfect!” Jack said, helping him get up. “It would be better if you team up with your friend, Piper. You will need friends to have your back. It will be a war out there once the Worldwide Trinity Network is launched.”

“I was planning to.”

Jack retrieved an armlet from thin air.

“Here. This is ARMX-30. The latest Trinity device. We are also working on neural connectors, which will be ready in a couple of months.”

Noah waved it away.

“I think Piper has a simple device ready for me. Moreover, I want to figure out the specs of Trinity compatible devices and build one myself.”

Jack raised an eyebrow. “You are an interesting kid. Fair enough.”

“May I ask something, Jack?”

“Yes?” letting it slide again that he wasn’t addressed as Dr. Chrysalis.

“Will I ever be able to see Goulagslayer13? I mean Eve.”

“Eve is a lieutenant of Providence. On the Fellowship team, she is one of the three Trinity girls. You will certainly meet her at some point in time.”

Noah smiled at Jack, unable to mask the surprise that there were two more girls like Eve.

“Now, come on,” the Assistant Director added, nudging him towards the mouth of the cave. “I’ll portal you to Piper Lee’s home. He’s going to get the shock of his life. Especially because he thinks he has kept his memories on account of my negligence. I let him keep the backup because I knew it would pay off in the future. I’ll bully him a bit if you play along.”

Noah giggled and followed Jack into the portal.