A SINGLE MOMENT

Major Richard Blaine has just escaped a deadly booby-trap, but now, he and two other Spartans are separated from the others.

How will he protect them ... any of them? Is he capable of doing so?

A SINGLE MOMENT

“The headwaters of Merde Creekare a cruel and treacherous expanse.”

– Major Richard Blaine

 

Theo called up to us. “Are youthree all right?”

Rachel, who wasn’t fooled at all,(nor were any of the other Spartans), laughed down. “Yes, Sergeant-Major, Iam perfectly fine.”

There was the beginning ofchuckling, but Theo’s glare evaporated it.

I fumed. One lone female amongsta group of men would sooner or later spark dissension. I would have to dosomething.

‘Of all the things about whichyou have to worry, my champion, that is not one of them. I will take care ofthat presently.’

Great. Now, I had another thingto worry about. Sentient had a unique way of “dealing” with things.

‘Why, thank you.’

“Any decade, old boy,”Cloverfield called over, still precariously clinging to the eggshell smoothwall.

“I have all the trip wires dealtwith, ” he said, “but I do not want to enter alone. Pick that door lock, andlet’s be about our business, shall we?”

Rachel, being of Pandora’s lineage,asked, “Where did that cable come from, and where did it go?”

I shook my head. “After I pickthis truly enormous lock, I will tell you.”

“Is picking that lock safe?”

I sighed, “Nurse Reynolds,nothing we will do from here on out will be safe.”

“Not what I wanted to hear.”

“Real truth seldom is.”

“Any decade!” remindedCloverfield. “I’m beginning to slip here.”

I set about following Sentient’sinstructions on how to manipulate the strange skeleton key which had sproutedfrom my right forefinger once again.

To vent my frustration at theflashes of things to come Sentient was showing me that in no way would calm theSpartans, I muttered,

‘This whole damn needless war islike watching two bald men fighting over a comb.”

Rachel studied me as I worked thelock open, “What is truly bothering you, Richard?”

I almost sobbed,

“This whole madness has beenforced on me. I am not up to the challenge … and those I care about will sufferfor it.”

She gripped my left arm hard.

“Oh, Richard! None of us chosethis damnable war or our place in it. It is your doubt that will kill us notyour lack. I have seen you at your worst … at death’s door literally.”

She sniffed back tears.

“I have seen you dig deep withinyourself when you thought others needed you, when they had no one else. I sawyou dig so deep that it was etched in lines of pain and determination on yourface.”

Rachel wiped away those tearswith an angry swipe of a hand.

“You found your anchor of greatstrength. It was not your Sentient … not your love for your Helen.”

She pounded a forefinger into mychest.

“It was there. There! Call itwhat you will … your heart … your soul … that which separates you from thebeasts who call themselves men.”

Rachel turned my chin to faceher.

“Well, you bloody well find thatanchor now. You find it. You hold fast to it, and you rise. Damn you, you rise!We need you. Your Helen needs you. Bullocks, your Sentient needs you.”

I smiled weakly. “Yes, ma’am.”

Sentient murmured in my mind:

‘All the energy in the universeis evenly present in all places at the same time. We don’t get energy, werelease energy.

The triggering mechanism torelease energy is desire.

When you have a strong enoughdesire to do something, you will always have the energy to do it.’

Cloverfield cried out, “I’mslipping!”

I smiled wearily to myself. 

Showtime.

 

“Any life is made up of a singlemoment, the moment in which a man finds out, once and for all, who he is.”

- Jorge Luis Borges