Marian Meneses walked in the hill of Palindrome Drive with a parasol on her hand. She wore a long white organza dress with multi-colored flowers embroidered on its layer, which her mother bought for her when they visited Paris almost a year ago. The day was hot, and the blue sky offered a perfect opportunity to pick seasonal flowers in the green expanse, which Marian put in a woven basket. Marian saw an incoming old beat up dodge truck that later parked near the entrance gate from atop the hill. An old couple came out to greet her and shouted at the top of their voice. "Marian! Hello! We brought you a significant guest! He's here with us, and I am sure you would be happy to see him." They were the owner of the tavern.
Marian waved back and shouted, "I don't want another suitor, Mr. and Mrs. Davila!?" then laughed.
A man dressed in a suit came out of the vehicle and walked his way up the hill towards her. Marian froze. She could not believe what she just saw and began to tear up.
"Oh my...Henry?"
She ran towards him and examined him closely. Henry De La Vega is alive!.
"I thought you were dead, Henry. Oh, you are back!"
Colonel Lancelot Riva was instantly mesmerized by the beauty of Marian Meneses. He was immediately drawn to her with the longing of a long lost lover. All he could do was to sweep her off her feet, hold her up high, and planted a kiss as she glided in his arms.
"Marian," the Colonel gushed.
"You are truly back, Henry….thank God!"
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Inside the precinct, Jorge Velez stayed up late to view the video diaries of Colonel Lance Riva. Miles left early to sort out his personal issues with his wife, and Lyca was getting ready to go home.
"It's 7 pm already. Aren't you going home?" Lyca asked Jorge.
Jorge wiped his tired eyes."I have to finish at least a quarter of this. I thought you would stay? I can order a take out for two."
Lyca took her car keys from the table. "No, Jorge. Too exhausted. Time to rest. This case can wait, but my body can't."
"OK. See you tomorrow."
"Bye Jorge." Lyca left.
Alone inside the precinct, Jorge played the earlier recording on his desktop. Fast-forwarding most of them.
"Day 5. Today I recorded my own session with Doctor Molina... I have to do it. Because he is not telling me anything, he gave me prescriptions for my so-called anxiety attack and delusion. It is quite suspicious. I called the lab, and they said it was a placebo, and my question remains. What is happening to me? Is he experimenting on me? I cannot question him on this as the headquarters wanted me to undergo this treatment. By the way, I secretly planted a bug under his desk, so I can check for myself when I am under his spell. "
Jorge played another video.
"Day 10. I took this fluid from Doctor Molina's office, and he does not know it. I think there is something here, and it is powerful. It tastes fruity and sweet, but it has a burning sensation. I will have to send this to the lab and have it analyze. I want to see for myself what this is made of."
"Day 12. This is Colonel Riva. I checked the result and someone inside the crime lab said this is top-secret. I have to go through a lot of trouble to ask what is happening. Suppose you are listening to this. The fluid is a purified ether. It is toxic in its pure concentration. The journal available concerning its purification and extraction is flagged and can no longer be accessed. There is something here that is missing. How did they discover this and what is its true effect is a big question mark. But I want to know."
" Day 15. There is an article that I bought from an underground forum. By the way, journals like these were not available for free. I have to purchase them in a marketplace inside the darknet using Tor. The journal was a research done by a Russian scientist in the 80s that studied the purified structure either extracted from a type of red soil in Siberia. By the way, they lost a lot of lives getting samples of this at the mouth of an underground cave in Siberia. The study results mention its unique subatomic properties. It says when bombarded with a new element, sorry it did not mention what it is, its atom flashes a blue light, and the entire ether structure disappears into thin air. The research was later abandoned due to its apparent dangerous consequences.
This is very interesting. If ever this is true.
Now the internet is buzzing about this. Some theorists believe that the experiment should not have been abandoned at all.
But what other naysayers are saying is that the experiment did not actually stop. The military took over, and they experimented on this for several years and found initial success.
The result of that experiment was recognized as groundbreaking, and the early published report created a lot of interest to duplicate them.
However, the final study result was not published, and all the ingredients in making them were confiscated by the government citing security reasons. This journal I have is an earlier published report.
The rumor circulating is that those particle jumps disappeared before our eyes... It did not disappear at all... but it is just there. And what happened is that…hear this...it was sent backward in time. The word is " teleport back." Strange? But this is the most plausible scientific rationale. Our past self can see it if they only knew how to look for it."
The video clip ended.
Jorge can't believe what he just heard. The scientific mambo jumbo made him dizzy. He went to the toilet to wash his face. And in front of the mirror, he could see the tiny tremor on his eyelid. He went back to his table and drank his medicine to control the toxicity raging in his thyroid gland. His phone rang. It was from Miles.
"How's the video going?"
Jorge is not even halfway viewing them, but the overload of information profoundly affects his alertness.
"Miles, I can't explain any of these scientific reports he is saying. I hope to find some sense in all of these after I reviewed all of them. "
"That's a lot of man-hours."
"Yeah, that's right."
"By the way, Jorge, do you remember the soil that was sampled at the crime scene?"
"Yes. I do remember that. It's reddish in color. Somewhat a shade darker than Terracotta."
"See, I was sorting through all the evidence earlier, and it's the only one that we have no report yet."
Jorge sighed. "Hmm...did you call the crime lab?"
"Not yet. But I will follow it up tomorrow."
"Speaking of soil, the colonel mentioned a red soil from Siberia used in making the purified ether by a Russian scientist. I was thinking, can this be of similar soil composition?"
"That sure is interesting, Jorge. But unless we got the result, it merely is a red soil sample in our file."
"You are right, Miles."
"Jorge, I will follow it up."