2 Minutes to Midnight by Steve Lang Read Free Book Online Page B

center of long tables. She appeared to be waiting for
someone to speak to her.
    "The lady on the table is freaking me
out. You two see how her eyes follow us?" John said.
    "I feel like this entire place is
haunted by ghosts. You know, like zombies might pop out at any
minute and get us for trespassing on their grave." James
said.
    "Will you two stop,
please? You're freaking me out, and it's bad enough we're on a dead planet.
I don't need the two of you stirring up images of horror movies,
too."
    Kate found aisles of books, and began
looking through stacks of ancient, but well preserved tomes. John
discovered what appeared to be a computer but it had only a
keyboard attached to a small black cube with a crystal on top. He
hit a button on the keyboard and a holographic librarian appeared.
She began speaking, but he did not know what language it was, and
the characters on the keyboard were hieroglyphic.
    "Guys, I found some books that might
be interesting." Kate said.
    She walked over the table where John
was sitting.
    "I'm not sure what this lady is
saying. Can you help?" John pleaded.
    "Its voice guided. She's telling you
to say records for records. Say periodicals for periodicals, etc"
Kate said.
    "Final news reel." John
said.
    The tiny librarian displayed a
recorded news program. The anchor, aside from his white tunic and
Beetles-style bowl haircut looked like any reporter back on earth.
Behind him on the screen was an image of another planet much
smaller than Mars.
    "He's saying that the small planet
Trijon is on trajectory to collide with Mars in a matter of days.
Mars’ oceans will tsunami, and mass geologic movement will take
place. Martian citizens are urged to evacuate Mars, or go to the
city of Rasga where the doors will seal out any catastrophic
activity. The Martian planetary council will launch a series of
nuclear missiles at Trijon." Kate explained.
    Another news clip began to play, and
this time there was a camera panning the sky as fiery debris rained
down on Mars surface. Earthquakes rocked the ground as miles of red
dirt rose like a massive sand storm high into the sky, blotting out
the sun. The camera went black.
    "Did they blow themselves up, or did a
planet hit them? I'll bet there's a lot more footage where this
came from. But, first let's get back to the ship and tell Capcom
what we've found so far." James said.
    Unknown to the crew, Curiosity had
been following them through the city and as they exited the library
it fired a red beam at each of their eyes. The little rover
recorded their findings and was reporting them back to a small
office in New York City where seven wealthy, frowning business men
in Armani suits sat very quiet, viewing the incoming feed around a
large circular oak table. Each man had a distinctive reptilian
appearance.
    "They found the Martian libraries.
It's only a matter of time before we discover the blue prints for
interdimensional travel again." One man said.
    "Correct. We can get off this dying,
spinning ball of dirt and back to our own dimension. Now, let's
check on moon operations. The miners should now have enough Helium
three to cover fuel for a thousand trips back to Mars."
    "Are you sure the rover wiped their
memories?" One said.
    "The only way they'll remember any of
their trip is in muddled dreams."
    The secrets of what lay on Mars would
continue remain a mystery to all but seven reptilian overlords
masquerading as humans.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    the day satan quit
     
     
    When Hell is full, and
Satan becomes frustrated enough to walk off the job will he return
before the Angels realize and begin the final battle between good
and evil?
    Lucifer sat on his throne
of bones, and human skulls seething as he read through the latest
morning incoming souls report. His tail thwipped back and forth as he held
the report in his right hand. Tiny flames jumped and danced with
brilliant dark light from Lucifer's fingertips as he drummed
nervously on the marble desk. The office of