The Adam Code Back to Eden
Chapter 4: The Secret Journey

THE NEXT MORNING, JACK LAY in his cot trying to go over the events of the day in his head. He had believed the UCOA. They were an empire rather than citizenship. His life was all a lie. His past, his dreams, and maybe even his own thoughts. He thought of the time his father found a rare butterfly and put it on Jacks’ wrist. It would flex its wings for a moment then flew off. Siri was right, and Jack never had memories of a sister or being taken out of the Deadlands. That was a missing key that he now had. Siri was telling the truth, and he was now more determined to join forces with the Alliance to get to the truth of the matter and replace out who he really was.

Jack knew his Father and past was a complete program running in his mind. Now, was the time to set his life right. Jack finally saw the knowledge he was given by Siri as a gift of freedom and a chance to start over again.

Jack got dressed and wandered the hallways and just watch the people, observing men and women living life and communicating, bartering.

Children playing and people having philosophical debates. Jack walked further down through the maze of underground passages to a large opening revealing artificial sunlight. The room was bright, and Jack covered his eyes slightly. He was observing Sumar’s ecological farming centers. Jack noticed the rain water would drain off from the building being captured through slits grooved into the wall that irrigated the crops and he walked over to the plant and felt its green leafy texture. The Alliance was also using hydroponics and fiber scraps for small soil harvesting capabilities.

The Deadlands were not dead. They were vibrant and teeming with life. Jack Finally made his way and met Siri. She was dressed in an all gray outfit that looked much like what he saw in the video of the UCOA massacre. It was Jack’s guess that those were soldiers. A lot of the pieces of the puzzle were now, coming together. Siri stood next to a woman. They both were wearing the same outfits.

“Jack Marlow, meet Darbe Whinslet.” She paused, “your Sister. I’ll let you two get Acquainted.” She left the room.

Darbe smiled, “I’m glad you’re with us now Jack.”

Jack looked at his sister and held her shoulders.

“This is all too much for me! A sister!”

“Why? How the-“

“The Administrator’s daughter… My sister?”

She looked down and backed away from Jack.

“Yes, Jack I’m just as surprised as you brother.”

She turned back to Jack with a pleading look in her eye.

“Listen to me, Jack the UCOA sent you here to replace me and, bring, me back?”

“Jack, you haven’t got the right information. When I was taken from Megacity, I was a different person.” She turned to him. Tears were starting to build up in the corners of her eyes.

“I was so confused Jack about who I was, and I had just learned the hard truth about my Father.

She walked over to one of the stones in the foundations playing with it.

“I was blindfolded and taken Here of my own free will. I never want to go back there ever again Jack.”

She turned back to her brother.

“Siri told me that she told you everything?”

Jack half nodded and slightly made an obtuse facial expression.”

She ran her hands through her hair and continued.

“Unfortunately, you have everything wrong, Jack. Thomas Marlow was not your Father!”

She paused a second.

“He was your uncle.”

Jack walked towards her and lit a cigarette.

“I thought Thomas Marlow sent one of us to live with our father the A.M.?”

She looked at Jack, and he saw she was angry.

“Jack our identities had to be protected at any cost. You’re the genetic heir of William Whinslet.”

Jack responded, “I don’t know what to do, either hug you and welcome you, or despise you now I know that I’m a by-product of that beast.”

“It’s, funny how the smallest once of truth can destroy a lifetime of lies and deceit and transform everthing around you.”

Darbe touched his arm.

“Jack look at me.”

Jack looked into his sister’s blue eyes. She was staring intently at him.

“We both were tricked, and neither of us was to blame. My father must have hidden your identity away for security reasons. I swear he never told me about your existence.”

Jack walked over to her side and was playing with his tunic sleeves.

“He has fooled the UCOA and its people for too long. The delegates of the Senate need to learn the truth. We need to overthrow him and vote in a new Senate. The citizens are paid their stipends to conform to his will. We should have seen this coming 10 years ago.”

Darbe touched Jacks arm.

“It’s a bit more complicated than it seems. My father was voted CEO of Applon in 2130. Then he ran for the Senate via through the Delegate of Centorium. His hands have been in this whole thing since the conception of Megacity.”

She continued

“In 2150 he was voted in as the new AM of Megacity. Capt. Reynolds father was his friend and confidant. She has no idea the planning and restructuring of the UCOA were orchestrated by Delegate Reynolds.”

She turned away from Jack.

“It would break her heart.”

Jack walked turning away from Darbe. He nodded and brushing his uniform down with his hands.

“It would kill her, knowing that Sham Reynolds and our father were the best of friends.”

Jack thought deep and hard.

(Reynolds didn’t have a change of heart that bastard found a loop whole to destroy his only rival.) Jack realized he could never tell Siri the truth.

Jack walked towards the screen on the wall and sat in a chair in front of an old control panel.

“I’ll never tell her. It would break her spirit. Are you sure, Darbe, Sham Reynolds?”

Darbe nodded.

“There is so much manipulation going on in Megacity Jack.”

“It’s like the people in Megacity are all brainwashed. This life that the Alliance is living here in Sumar, to them, would seem to be the end of civilization.”

She looked around then back at Jack. She had a glimmer of hope in her eyes.

“To these people here in Sumar, it’s the beginning.”

She took Jack’s hand and led him to an area of the underground facility where the stone and mortar gave way to a vast library. There were men and women monitoring the shelves and recording the data.

“UCOA guarded this knowledge of Earth’s past and the men and women who helped shape history. It’s all here. Now, I replace that knowledge is open and free for all here at Sumar. The elite members of the UCOA hide the events of the past suppressing what should come freely to all mankind.” She grabbed a random book and opened the pages. Ever heard of these men, Jack? This one is Homer, and that one is Aristotle.” She gently put the books back.

“Jack looked in the air and shrugged.”

Darbe continued.

“well, I have, and we are sworn never to reveal such knowledge. Members are sworn in by ancient rite. Our father is a monster and a tyrant and has to be stopped!”

“I was told by some of the librarians working here.

They are transferring every book into digital data and when completed they will release everything on the Hub. Men and women of Megacity will know their past and therefore may come to decide their futures as well.”

Marlow thought over Darbe’s words.

“Why give the mega citizens this knowledge.”

Darbe leads Jack over to another section of the library.

“Knowledge Jack, is power, take away a man’s past and dictate his future and you have a slave. Look here.”

She led Jack to a section of books and pulled an old looking leather bound book from the shelf. She blew the dust off from the cover and presented it to Jack. The book dated back to the 1940’s. Jack turned the page in horror as men with cross Zs on their sleeves took men and woman into encampments. He saw images planes with the symbol of the sun, hurling themselves into large warcraft ships floating on massive bodies of water.

Jack had an epiphany. His whole life as a citizen on earth was being rolled out before him. Jack saw tragedy and triumph with each turning page.

“Please, Darbe I can’t look at anymore it’s all too much.”

Darbe gently closed the book.

“This is what our beloved UCOA has been doing for the past 30 years. They were killing innocent people who didn’t meet marker qualifications. That sick bastard is trying to finish off what this Hitler character did 200 years ago.”

She told Jack that after she had her cortical implant removed, she was a like new person. No longer blinded by the UCOA’s lies and treachery. Darbe turned to Jack, “Our Father has to be stopped. The Alliance decided to have me go back with you. The story goes that you fled our captures and found me. You will bring me back and become a spy for the Alliance. Then, my dear brother, you will kill our Father, William Whinslet!”

Darbe was holding Jack’s hand and then slowly backed away. She left Jack among thousands of books. Jack carefully opened several of the sacred books. He had never heard of Emerson or Yeats, Tolstoy, and Homer. Humanity had kept track of their accomplishments for millennia. Jack stayed and read for many hours. He put back one of the books. Jack felt like a piece of synth fruit being peeled away layer by layer revealing each layer with its own inner pain and joy coming to the surface. His life he once knew was all an illusion. For Jack’s whole life he had been a pawn, and now his life was a chessboard, and all the figures were playing their game upon him.

Chapter 5

Return to Megacity

SIRI STOOD IN THE DOORWAY OF JACK’S ROOM. There was a soft yellow glow from the magnetic power generators. Siri was staring at Jack and smoking her Cigarette. Jack sensing something and woke up replaceing her body now hovering over him.

“Jack get up and come with me.”

She took his hand, and she leads him down the hallways to the docking station. She took his SLV and explained that they were going to sneak out Sumar.

“I want to show you something.” They got into the vehicle, and she put in the coordinates. She looked at Jack, “what?”

“Oh, nothing. You’re just full of surprises.”

She angled a full turn. It was pitch black, and the pod’s lights were dimmed. The stars were breathtaking.

“Relax we have to keep the lights dimmed in case of any Runner ships are in the area scanning for the Alliance’s base.

“I know this area like the back of my hand.”

“You’re really going to enjoy this.”

They flew for about an hour. Capt. Reynolds turned the dimmers off and was landing the craft. She felt Jack staring at her in the pitch black.

“Relax, I do this all the time.”

The craft came to a stop. Siri got out, and Jack followed. The stars were like a blanket of lights thrown over the heavens. She took Jack’s hand and led him to a bluff. She then took a blanket, and she and Jack lay under the open sky.

“We’ll stay till morning. Then we’ll leave.”

Jack gazed at stars and saw a meteor race across the night sky. He was now privileged to come to know the real world he only glimpsed at as a child.

Siri was lying next to Jack.

“Ever wonder how vast and endless space is? Earth is just a speck of dust in a vast sandstorm of galaxies.”

She continued.

“The UCOA was planning for the first Galactic ship in earth’s history. I once overheard my father discuss the idea with several other Delegates.”

Jack thought for a moment looking at the vast sky around the two of them.

“I’m not thinking about stars right now. As wonderful as they may be.”

Jack looked at Siri’s lips and then her eyes. Siri turned towards Jack, then away.

“Goodnight Jack.”

He looked at the curvature of Siri’s body and couldn’t resist the urges anymore. He pulled her towards her, and she pushed him away at first then, she submitted. They kissed and embraced she stopped him. The arose and stood before him undressing and led him to a warm spring she dipped into the water and stretched her hand out to receive him. Jack pulled his clothes off and entered the water. Her body glistened in the moonlit water. Jack revealed his manhood and joined her in the water. The kissed and merged bodies becoming one. The reflection from the night sky on the water’s surface gave the impression of them floating in a galaxy of stars. They made love and were holding each other until morning. Siri’s breast was pressing against his own, and he picked up a small stone and gently rolled across her thigh. Siri’s eyes opened, and he smelled her gleaming dark red hair. She peered into Jack’s dark brown eyes. Marlow adjusted her blanket.

“When did you…” Jack said “I, mean...”

She put her finger to his lips and whispered.

“I didn’t, I brought you here to see them.”

She looked as the light came into view and morning gave way to color and green tops and the winds that lightly kissed the top branches of these ancient creatures. Jack left the warm waters and was standing over the bluff bare naked. Siri walked beside him.

whispered, “I brought you here to see them.”

Jack looked around, Jack yelled raising his hands in the air.

“The ancients are alive!”

They sat and looked at the vast field of trees with thick plumage. Jack felt like a child walking among the giants he knew as a child.”

“Implanted memories, but these trees are real!”

“There actually real, and living.”

Siri leaned over Jacks’ shoulder.

“Maybe Thomas Marlow …you might be carrying his memories of the trees as a child?”

Jack turned towards Siri.

“They feel like mine.”

Siri walked over to their clothes.

“I know Jack I felt the same way.”

Siri continued, throwing Jack his clothes and getting herself dressed on as she spoke.

“I had to replace my new memories and let go of the other. But-“

Jack stopped her.

“Yeah, I know mine are from birth until right before cadet school.”

Jack leaned over and knelt. Digging his hands into the earth.

“the soil is fresh and ready to plant and harvest like our ancestors before us.”

Jack questioned, “I don’t get it. If the soil has returned to a viable harvesting aid, why are the outlanders not using the Earth to plant and grow things?”

Siri responded, “we tried, but the UCOA monitors the air and would kill anyone attempting to do so. I brought you to see the real and honest truth. The planet isn’t dying, its been reborn the sixty years.”

She continued.

“Our own scientist have predicted the oxygen levels will continue rising.”

Jack let the soil fall from his hands.

Siri continued, “Your father is irrational. He was determined to get rid of 90% of the population and then rebuild his new world. Yet, he has failed in doing that.”

She reached down and pulled a flower from the ground.

“He’s building something.”

Jack turned to her, and his face changed.

“Look, Jack, the resistance needs you. There’s no other way to the AM except, through you and Darbe. We are so close to turning the tide of this war.”

Jack dropped the dirt from his hand and saluted her.

“Yes, Captain. Jack Marlow reporting for duty, sir.”

Siri revealed the plan. Jack sat on a rock and listened.

“Gain your father’s trust watch Darbe. The Resistance feels she hasn’t been 100% honest with them.”

He got up from the rock. “You stole Darbe from the UCOA and pointed a gun at her head.”

Siri turned and walked towards the vehicle. “ I told you before that was all a fake production. Your sister came to us.” She got into the SLV. “She contacted us we blindfolded her and took her to the Sumar. That’s when she told us about you, Jack. You know the rest of the story. I found you with Pasn`e after months of searching. A lot of people lost their lives trying to locate you, Jack. You owe this to them and yourself.”

Jack lit a cigarette and blew out a large plume of smoke.

“Well, What choice do I really have.”

“When do we leave?”