Modern/Delta Green - The Beginning of the End (COMPLETED)

[talien]

Evil Stars: Part 8 – Between a Place and a Hard Rock

Jim-Bean grabbed one of the blue polo-shirted employees fleeing from the store as the THING that was Billy strode towards them, fanged maw chattering madly. The employee’s badge read: HI THERE, I’M BOBBY!

“You, Bobby!” shouted Jim-Bean. “You know how to work a computer?”

Bobby swallowed. “Uh…yes sir?”

Jim-Bean waved his badge at the teenager. “I’m a federal agent and I need your help, right now!”

The word “now” was drowned out by the smash of Billy striding right through the glass doors, its spiked fists easily shattering the glass.

“Go to the back office,” commanded Jim-Bean. He shoved Star after Bobby. “Both of you.”

Hammer and Archive engaged the thing as Bobby ran to the back office. Jim-Bean jogged over to the music aisle and flipped through the “G” section of the CDs.

After a few seconds and more screams from the fleeing patrons, Jim-Bean found the most recent God’s Lost Children album. He ran over to the back office.

Jim-Bean handed the CD to Bobby. “I need you to play this backwards over the audio system.”

“W-what?” stuttered Bobby, who was torn between staring at the faceless thing swinging clumsily at Hammer and the pistol dangling from Jim-Bean’s shoulder holster. “That’s not simple.”

Jim-Bean drew his pistol. “Then you’d better get working on it now, huh?”

There was a shout and Hammer was slammed backwards, hurtling through a pile of display boxes. He didn’t get back up.

“Archive!” shouted Jim-Bean. “Bring him over to the stereo systems!”

Archive nodded, firing his Glock from behind a huge television set. Billy sniffed the air, tracking him.

“And just so you two don’t move…” Jim-Bean drew a pair of handcuffs and snapped it around Star and Bobby’s arms.

“What the hell did you do that for?” shrieked Star, snapping out of her terror. Bobby typed ferociously, sweat beading his brow.

“Looks like I’m up." Ignoring her, Jim-Bean cleared the counter.

Archive went sailing in a bloody arc, his blood spattering as the Bobby-Thing ripped a strip of flesh from his arm. He skidded in a bloody smear on the floor near the entrance.

Jim-Bean fired several shots into it. The bullets penetrated and blood spurted from the wounds, but Billy didn’t seem to care.

One of God’s Lost Children’s songs wailed over the speakers.

“Reverse it!” shouted Jim-Bean.

There was a pause, and then the song switched to an unintelligible warped rendition that strangely sounded like chanting.

The effect was instantaneous. Billy’s skin and flesh bubbled and festered into pustulant blobs

The Billy-Thing barreled down on Jim-Bean like an enraged rhinoceros. Jim-Bean held his ground…

It ran right past him. Jim-Bean kept firing as it passed, plugging it full of bullets. His Glock clicked.

Jim-Bean swore and reloaded.

The Billy-Thing smashed right through the counter and stood, heaving with barely contained rage, over the paralyzed Star and Bobby. It lifted up one arm…

Jim-Bean emptied his Glock into its back. It didn’t even notice.

The spiked fist came down, bursting Bobby’s upper torso like a wet melon. Star screamed and scrambled away, Bobby’s arm still attached to her by the handcuff.

Jim-Bean reloaded. The thing ignored him. It was after Star.

Star ran past him, screaming. Billy was in fast pursuit behind her.

Jim-Bean leaped up and over Billy with ease, using his telekinesis in the same way Valiant had. He landed on a display case full of Playstation 3 games.

Still the music played. The Billy-Thing roared, even as its skin popped and bubbled like a poodle in a microwave. It picked up a television between its spiked fists and hurled it at Jim-Bean.

Jim-Bean hopped to a huge speaker a few feet away, just in time. The display he was standing on exploded in a shower of broken screen and exposed wires.

He reached into his satchel and fished out a block of C4. The quick-time detonators he had retrieved from the Green Box were about to prove their worth.

The Billy-Thing bellowed in frustration and pounded towards Jim-Bean. He threw one of the sticky blocks at it, telekinetically guiding it right into the thing's gnashing maw.

The explosion was spectacular, spewing what was left of Billy's head over electronics. Even then the body merely staggered, taking two more shuddering steps forward. Then, slowly, after one, two steps, it fell backward, collapsing first to its knees and then to the ground.

And still the weird, warping music of God's Lost Children played backwards, set in an endless loop by the late Bobby. Jim-Bean kicked off the speaker, causing it to topple onto Billy's slowly pooling mass of flesh. It further spattered what was left of the biker.

Star screamed.

Oh right. The girl. Jim-Bean sighed.

"That tattoo!" shouted Star, pointing at the yellow triskelion on Billy's naked thigh, just visible beyond the edge of the speaker. "I HAVE THAT TATTOO!"

It was clear that she was present when Billy made the Unspeakable Oath. It was also clear what would happen next.

"Come here, Star," said Jim-Bean, facing away from her as he loaded his Glock. "I need to show you something."

"I made the same oath!" wailed Star. "I made the same oath!"

"I know," said Jim-Bean. Star was hysterical. She wouldn't go down easily. Jim-Bean whirled with his pistol out--

A single shot rang out. Star’s dropped the small snub-nosed pistol in her hand, still smoking from the fatal gunshot she delivered to her forehead. She slumped over in a pool of blood and brains.

Jim-Bean lowered his pistol and shook his head.

By the time the ambulance and police arrived, there was nothing left of Billy but an odd stain on the floor of the Best Buy.

 

[talien]

Evil Stars: Part 9 – Hard Court Press

Five hours in the hospital and a bumpy SPIDER flight later, Archive and Hammer limped in behind Jim-Bean to the Hughes Auditorium in Jacksonville.

A security guard directed them to the administration office. Seated behind the desk was a burly, florid redhead. He wore neat and expensive slacks, shirt, and shoes, and an ultra-expensive Italian leather jacket, but somehow the clothes were wrong on him – jeans, t-shirt, and a can of beer seemed more appropriate. A title card on his desk labeled him as Barry Watson.

“Look,” Barry said without looking up from what he was doing, “I really don’t have time for—“

“We’re journalists,” said Jim-Bean.

“Yeah, sure.” Barry didn’t look up. “You don’t look like journalists. We don’t need more reporters from GNN…”

Jim-Bean slammed both palms down on Barry’s desk. “Yeah,” he said forcefully, “GNN.”

Barry finally looked up. When he met Jim-Bean’s gaze, his aggravated expression changed to complacence. He pressed a button on his phone.

“Pete?”

“Yes sir?”

“There are three reporters here. Give ‘em a press pack.”

“But sir, the band is playing right now.”

Barry looked uncertainly at Jim-Bean, as if for approval. Jim-Bean nodded encouragingly.

“Right now.”

“Right away sir.”

A moment later, Peter arrived with their press packs. The packs included three special backstage passes. Each pass was a printed, adhesive-backed, silk patch worn on one’s coat where security could see it. The press pack was a glossy, lithographed folder. It contained 8 x 10 photos of the band along with short, uninformative bios of each. Numerous quotes were sprinkled throughout the promotional material, especially from Billboard, Rolling Stone, and Guitar Player magazines.

They walked out of the office and past the security guard to the back stage of the auditorium.

“Look at the tour dates,” said Archive, pointing at the map of the tour in the press pack.

“What?” asked Hammer.

“They form an upside-down V,” said Archive. The list of dates for a tour plotted a “V” stretching from Samson up to Minneapolis and down to Miami in the south.

“That means something?” asked Jim-Bean.

“It must,” said Archive. “They must be using the concerts as a sort of ritual.”

The present meditation was the second to last scheduled, the eighth of the tour. A blurb gushed that “Brianne’s meditations are famous. With her cycle friends, she heads for the open road and the freedom from cares that intoxicating speed and danger provide. “It helps me get my head on straight,” commented Brianne.

Hammer stopped short. “Wait, I just thought of something.”

He looked up from the press pack. Jim-Bean was already gone.

“What?” asked Archive.

“What did Barry mean by MORE GNN reporters?”

 

[talien]

Evil Stars: Part 10 – Who You Are in the Dark

“I’d really love to see how this place works. It’d be great if I get beneath the stage…”

Jim-Bean stared intently at a roadie named Tom. Tom shook his head. “I dunno man, press isn’t supposed to be down there.”

“Oh come on,” said Jim-Bean, a little more forcefully. “It’d mean a lot to me. I’ll put you in my article.”

Tom shrugged. “Okay, but you can’t tell anyone, right? Just a quick look around and then you’re back in the green room.”

“Sure, sure,” said Jim-Bean.

They both put on noise-canceling microphones and headsets, the kind helicopter pilots used, that were linked by a comm. With the band playing above them it was nearly impossible to hear otherwise.

Tom opened up a trapdoor that led beneath the stage and climbed down a ladder. Jim-Bean followed behind him, duffle bag slung over his shoulder.

“What’s in the bag?” asked Tom, flicking on a flashlight. It revealed a wooden series of angled beams and scattered debris, including endless cables and discarded metal bars.

“Oh, you know, camera equipment,” said Jim-Bean. He looked around. “So this is beneath the stage?”

“Yeah, I don’t know why you wanted to come down here so badly, there’s really not that much to see—“

Tom spun, blood flying from his face as Jim-Bean smashed his head in with one of the bars. He struck him so hard that his headset went flying.

“Sorry, Tom,” said Jim-Bean, standing over the unconscious man. “But you’re going to have sacrifice yourself for the greater good.”

He set to work fastening explosives beneath the stage. The crowd roared above him in response to the band’s latest set.

Jim-Bean was just about finished when he caught sight of someone skulking in the shadows. He finished setting the last explosive and then moved towards the figure.

Jim-Bean let out an audible sigh. “Juarez, come out of there.”

The impeccably dressed and styled latina reporter slowly slipped out of her hiding place, wearing Tom’s headset. “How did you know it was me?”

Jim-Bean smirked. “Never mind that.” He was trying to remain calm. In the darkness, the spreading pool of Tom’s blood was slowly creeping its way along the dirt floor towards one of Nina’s heels. “You trying to get a scoop on the band?”

“Yes,” said Nina. “After the riots at the last concert, GNN is going to do an exclusive on the band to hear their side of the story.”

“Yeah, that’s great,” said Jim-Bean. “Why don’t we talk upstairs—“

“What are you doing down here?” she asked. "And where did you get that headset? I found a spare one down here…"

Nina shuffled her feet, and one high heel was dangerously close to Tom’s lifeless hand, invisible in the darkness of the eaves.

“Reconnaissance mission. I’ll give you a special scoop, but it’s not safe down here.”

Nina snorted. “Not so fast,” she said. “I know what you’re up to.”

Jim-Bean froze. “Up to?”

“That’s right. Last time you set me up for an exclusive and never showed up. I’m not letting you out of my sight this time.” The sparkling white grin Juarez flashed him indicated her interest was not entirely professional.

Jim-Bean laughed it off. “Right, right. Follow me.”

He clambered up the ladder and Nina followed a little too close behind, leaving the blinking explosives and Tom’s corpse.

 

[talien]

Evil Stars: Part 11 – The Interview

Jim-Bean escorted Nina to the Green Room.

“Agents Hammer and Archive!” she exclaimed with false enthusiasm. “What a pleasant surprise!”

Hammer hopped up from the couch. Archive stayed where he was. A bird's eye view of the God's Lost Children performance blared on the television.

“Agent Jim-Bean was just telling me…” Nina turned to look over her shoulder but Jim-Bean was gone. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re here. I wanted to ask you some questions.”

Hammer sat down again and Ninja joined him on the couch. “Yes, you’re all quite mysterious for government agents. The Freedom of Information Act doesn’t have much on you.”

“That’s on purpose,” said Hammer. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“I could ask you the same question,” said Nina. “Or other questions – like, did you ever catch that serial killer, Agent Archive?”

Archive blinked. “What?”

“You know, Elijah Jackson?” When Archive didn’t respond, she continued. “I spoke to Ms. Dawson and she mentioned that she shot him six times…”

“David Charles killed him,” said Archive.

“Really,” said Nina, flipping through a notebook. “According to my notes you told Detective Gallagher that it was, and I quote, ‘a demon hopping from body to body’.”

“Then you also know that Gallagher threw me out of the police station when I shared that theory,” said Archive.

Nina changed tactics. She turned to Hammer. “Your grandmother’s very nice.”

Hammer’s expression went from guarded amusement to icy rage. “You spoke with my grandmother?”

“I took her out to lunch. She’s really a classy lady. She speaks very highly of you.”

Hammer stood up. “Stay away from her.”

“Oh I will,” said Nina with a smirk. “We’ve already chatted quite a bit. GNN has a lot more resources than you might think, Mr. Grange.”

“This interview is over,” snarled Hammer. Archive got up and followed him out of the Green Room.

Nina made a circle with her thumb and forefinger. “Be seeing you.”

They stepped out into the hallway. Satan’s Sadist guards were everywhere, glowering at them or drinking in one of the dressing rooms.

“We’ve got to find Jim-Bean,” said Hammer. “I don’t know what he’s up to but—“

There was an odd sound from the crowd on the many monitors that dotted the hallway outside the Green Room. Smoke steamed out of the front of the stage.

“I think I know,” said Archive.

The strange sound was people in the crowd choking. Tear gas sent them scrambling away from the stage. People in the crowd further back didn’t seem to notice; it was hard to distinguish a biological attack from the frenzy of death metal fans. For all they knew, it was part of the act.

“He’s clearing the auditorium,” said Hammer. “That means…DOWN!”

Hammer and Archive hit the floor as an explosion rocked the stage. The television registered flashes of light, screams, and an impenetrable wall of dirt and debris kicked up by the explosion.

 

[talien]

Evil Stars: Part 12 – The Show Must Go On

“Okay, everybody out!” shouted a burly-looking biker.

Nina Juarez was strong-armed out by a weasely-looking thug, who shoved her roughly out of the Green Room. Then they came for Archive and Hammer.

Archive put up both hands and whispered something. Smoke billowed up around them, filling the hallway.

“Fire!” shouted one of the bikers.

The security detail, holding onto its morale by a thread, broke at the news of the fire spreading from the stage. Of course, there was no fire, only Archive’s invocations.

Hammer ducked out of sight and ran towards the Lighting & Sound room door. It was locked.

Hammer pounded on it. “Jimmy, open it!”

A second later Jim-Bean unlocked the door. “How did you know I was in here?”

“Because it’s where I would have gone. Did you just kill everyone in the theater?”

Jim-Bean frowned. “No, that’s why I released the tear gas first.” On the monitors, the stage was a burning conflagration. Some of the crowd in the far back was still cheering, unaware that the entire band had been massacred.

“You just murdered three people in cold blood.”

“Four. And they were about to finish the chant,” said Jim-Bean. “And consecrate the mounds…”

“We don’t even know what Lochnar's ritual does! You caused a panic—people are going to hurt, even die, as a result of your actions.”

Jim-Bean shushed him. “Hear that?”

The cameras were still rolling. The screen showed movement in the burning remains of the stage. Rising out of the wreckage, Brianne Lochnar stepped out of the debris, unharmed.

“Son of a bitch!” swore Hammer.

“I KNEW she was a sorcerer!” shouted Jim-Bean.

Brianne pulled forth from the wreckage a broken guitar. A severed wire trailed from it like a broken tail. She began to strum a chord…

“What’s she doing?” asked Hammer.

Brianne sang. Despite having a broken guitar, despite no working sound equipment, despite the death of her two band mates, the audio came through loud and clear, complete with guitar riff. The crowd stopped its panicked escape and turned as one to listen.

“Violet flows from the wound in your chest
Black is the hole in which you rest”

Hammer and Jim-Bean screamed, clutching their ears. The sound pierced their skulls.

“The song!” shouted Jim-Bean, trying to focus through the pain. “Play it…backwards!”

“Your heart of gold was ripped in two
Soaked in the sickness that is you.”

Hammer nodded and hooked up his cistron to the sound system, wincing as his headache pounded in time with the music.

“Grey is the box that holds my head
Yellow's the wind when everyone's dead”

The reverse song they had used against Billy in the Best Buy shrieked over what was left of the intercom and sound system. Brianne staggered from the audio counterassault. She strummed imaginary strings harder, and the guitar riff became a breathtaking wail.

“Red is the blood dried on the rope
While green is your last hope.”

Jim-Bean flipped the gains on all of the audio equipment to the maximum.

On the monitors, Brianne’s flesh began to sizzle and pop.

“Color me green!” she shouted, her head swelling, one eye larger than the other. Her warped lips blurted out “Green is the color of my god!” and then she burst like a popped balloon.

The crowd cheered, screaming into hysterics. What they took to be an assault had transformed into the best damn pyrotechnics rock show the world had ever seen.

 

[talien]

Evil Stars: Conclusion

Hammer, Archive, and Jim-Bean were already in their rental car, far away from the chaos that was Hughes Auditorium. For once, Archive was driving.

“This is Hammer, call in a STREETSWEEPER team at my coordinates…”

Jim-Bean tapped him on the shoulder. “Look.” He held up his cistron.

“This is Nina Juarez and I’m live at Hughes Auditorium in Jacksonville, Georgia. God’s Lost Children has played their last song. It appears that Brianne Lochnar, in an attempt to one-up herself from the previous violent concerts, rigged the stage with tear gas to incite the crowd to riot. As you can see behind me, the stage caught fire. There are unconfirmed reports of Brianne playing right up until the stage collapsed, but we’ll have to get a look at the tapes…”

Jim-Bean grinned and tapped a compact disc on the dash of the car.

Hammer turned back to his cistron. “Belay that order. STREETSWEEPER canceled. Repeat, STREETSWEEPER canceled.” He frowned over at Jim-Bean. “We got lucky.”

Jim-Bean shrugged. “I make my own luck. Where to next?”

“Star mentioned those mounds. I want to find out what really happened there.”

Archive threw the car in gear. “Creepy mounds it is!”

“And now,” mumbled the DJ on the radio, “in honor of the recent debacle at the Hughes Auditorium, we play a hidden track by God’s Lost Children. It’s on the end of Six Gun Gorgon Dynamo. And here it is:”

“Nor do I particularly care.
Nor do I particularly care.
I don't know a thing about it,
Nobody told me all about it
Nor do I particularly care.

Nor do I particularly care.
Nor do I particularly care.
Didn't read about it,
Didn't see it on the news.
Nor do I particularly care.”

“Turn that $#!+ off,” muttered Hammer.

 

[talien]

Chapter 42: Future/Perfect - Introduction

This story hour is a combination of “Future/Perfect” Part Two by Dennis Detwiller and “Where A God Shall Tread” from At Your Door. You can read more about Delta Green at Delta Green. Please note: This story hour contains spoilers!

Our cast of characters includes:

• Game Master: Michael Tresca
• Kurtis "Hammer" Grange (Fast Hero/Gunslinger) played by George Webster
• Joseph “Archive” Fontaine (Dedicated Hero/Acolyte) played by Joe Lalumia
• Jim “Jim-Bean” Baxter (Charismatic Hero) played by Jeremy Ortiz (Jeremy Robert Ortiz)
  

I enjoy the Future Perfect series by Dennis Detwiller, especially because he released them for free under the patronage project. I already had a mysterious mound leftover from The Evil Stars, so this gave me an opportunity to explore the Georgia Guidestones in Elberton further. These Guidestones are real and the circumstances surrounding their creation just as mysterious.

What Future Perfect lacks is a way to interact with the shapeshifting serial killer on the loose. Fortunately, Where a God Shall Tread has a similar villain committing murders (in the most idiotic fashion). The modus operandi of killing victims and gnawing their bones clean makes more sense here and provides a narrative to hang the plot off of; otherwise, the agents wander around town waiting for the serial killer they don’t know about to show up.

Of course, the scenario hints that, when push comes to shove, the bad guy decides to wake up his brethren and go on the offensive against the one place most fortified against them. This provided a suitably creepy and tragic finale.

Defining Moment: Hammer, on the phone with the sergeant, discovers an impostor standing in front of him.

Relevant Media

• Future Perfect: Source of the Part Two scenario.
• The Georgia Guidestones: Told you they were real!
• [ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0933635648?ie=UTF8&tag=michaeltresca&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0933635648]At Your Door[/ame]: Source of Where a God Shall Tread scenario.
• [ame=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001037WSE?ie=UTF8&tag=michaeltresca&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001037WSE]Let Sleeping Gods Lie[/ame]: By Darkest Hillside of the Thickets.

 

[talien]

Future/Perfect: Prologue

Like the girl that we met at the serpent mound
Like the thing that we saw in the ultrasound
Like the path through the woods that the natives shun
Like the hair on the mole of the chosen one​

--The Chosen One by Darkest of the Hillside Thickets​

Elberton was a sleepy little town in Elbert County, Georgia. It was home to Southeastern Power – the major employer in the town, and several smaller manufacturing plants. The economic dips that came and went since the Great Depression had somehow passed Elberton by, and people liked it that way.

The 5,000 people who called Elberton home loved it; its small town flavor had not been marred by the modern bustle of city life. Life went on there much in the same way as it had for the last seven decades. It was also home to the Georgia Guidestones.

The Georgia Guidestones were a huge granite monument in Elbert County, Georgia. The Guidestones draws tourists, and adds a lot of local flavor. The Georgia Guidestones were located on a hilltop in Elbert County, Georgia, approximately 9 miles north of the center of Elberton. Located at the highest point in Elbert County, the mound, as it was called, had its own history.

But that’s not all Elberton laid claim to. Over the decades it produced some exceptional people in the shadow of that mound. Over the decades it’s produced some exceptional people in the shadow of that mound. It’s most famous son, Arthur Hunt, the town drunk turned eccentric genius, who forged an empire on consumer electronics was born there, and a statue dedicated to him sat in the middle of town.

Jim-Bean looked up at the statue. “Doesn’t look like much.”

Hunt’s statue was a twelve-foot bronze edifice on top of a hollow cement pylon in the center of town. It sat at the heart of the Malcolm Elberton Park, and faced west.

“He’s smiling about something,” said Hammer.

The Hunt statue had its hand outstretched. With an uncharacteristic smile on its face, Hunt’s eyes pointed towards…

Archive spun about, took a few steps, looked at the sun, then down at his cistron. “Yep, he’s pointing towards the mound.”

“The one Star saw Lochnar and friends sacrifice kittens on,” said Hammer. "Let's go."

 

[talien]

Future/Perfect: Part 1 – Guide to the Guidestones

The route headed west, then turned north on Highway 77, towards Elbert County. Small signs beside the highway indicated the turnoff for the Guidestones, which was identified by a street sign as "Guidestones Rd."

The dirt road bounced through bend after bend of cool brush lands. A recent rainfall made the going slippery.

As the car rounded another thicket, a locked wooden gate blocked the road. A wooden house was nearby. No one was visible inside, though smoke rose from the chimney of the small wooden house. There was swamp about a hundred yards to the left and right of the house, flanked by palmetto and even prickly-pear cactus on sandy hummocks. The road continued beyond the gate, disappearing into trees several hundred yards beyond. A sign read “Double 7 Farms.”

A black man in overalls came out of the house and waved at the car. “Hello!” he called. “What you fellas want?”

"You the owner of this farm?" asked Hammer.

"I am," said the older man. "Name's Wayne. Wayne Mullenix. And you are?"

"Agent Hammer," he flashed his badge. "We're here to visit the Georgia Guidestones."

"'Course, 'course!" He wiped his forehead with his hat. "One day some lawyers appeared and offered me $1,500 for five acres of ground,” said Wayne. “They said that someone wanted to put up a marker commemorating his great-grandfather, who died hereabouts more than a hundred years ago. So I said: How big? And the answer: Pretty big, only you can plow around it. Well that sounded fine to me, so I worked ‘em up to $5,000. Yep, $5,000 dollars! Cash money!” Wayne nearly jumped for joy. “Only now that I see the bunch what came out to do the deed, I think there’s something funny about the deal.”

"How so?" asked Hammer.

"Oh, you know. Kids partying at the mounds. And then there's the crazies trying to dig up the mound…"

"Who?" asked Hammer.

"Well there's Arthur Hunt, but I reckon you know him well enough already. Then there's Doug Yale, the Georgia River Killer. Folk don't like to talk about him much around here. Back in '99 Yale was caught vandalizing the Guidestones. Still there, I think. Yale went from vandalizing to eatin' people, leavin' nuttin' but bones. Sheriff Falstaff finally caught him, then they both disappeared from custody back in 2000. Yale was part of that crazy cult…"

Jim-Bean rubbed his forehead. "A cult?"

"Yeah. Yale was part of them New Star Crusade folks. Tried to keep them off the property. Took it all the way to the state, but that Ignis fella spent nearly three million on legal fees. Went right up to the Georgia Court of Appeals. And wouldn't ya know it, the state sided with him on some hogwash about freedom of religion! They still worship here on the solstice, which is tonight. I reckon the fact that you boys are here changes things, eh?"

Hammer frowned. "About that. We'd like to keep our presence quiet for the moment, due to the…issues you mentioned."

Wayne's benevolent expression turned serious. "Oh, I gotcha. Sure, sure. Well, lookit me blabberin' on when you folks got important business. Let me open the gate for ya."

He unlatched the gate and swung it open.

 

[talien]

Future/Perfect: Part 2 – Set in Stone

Five massive slabs of polished granite rose out of the earth in a star pattern. The rocks were each sixteen feet tall, with four of them weighing more than twenty tons apiece. Together they supported a 25,000-pound capstone. Approaching the edifice, it was hard not to think immediately of England's Stonehenge or possibly the ominous monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The only clues to its origin were on a nearby plaque on the ground—which gave the dimensions and explained a series of intricate notches and holes that corresponded to the movements of the sun and stars—and the "guides" themselves, directives carved into the rocks. These instructions appeared in eight languages ranging from English to Swahili and reflected a peculiar New Age ideology. Two stood out in particular, "maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature" and "be not a cancer on the earth—leave room for nature."

The stones had been splattered with polyurethane and spray-painted with graffiti. Yale's handiwork included slogans like "Death to the new world order."

"So?" asked Hammer.

"So…what?" Jim-Bean asked back.

"The mound. Can you sense anything?"

"Oh, right." Jim-Bean concentrated. With a gasp, he fell to his knees.

Hammer ran over to him. "What happened?"

"There's…something inside them. Multiple things. Hungry things."

"Hungry how?"

"Hard to…explain." Jim-Bean shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs. "Hungry for energy."

Archive frowned. "That would explain the amount of activity around the Guidestones. This psychic vortex is drawing them to it."

Jim-Bean got to his feet. "Now what?"

Hammer pointed at the bottom center of one of the tablets. "This looks like a good place to start."

It read: "Additional information available at Elberton Granite Museum & Exhibit, College Avenue, Elberton, Georgia."