G.A.I.A: Adventure Stories from the Global Assistance & Investigations Agency

By Anthony North

First written in the early 1990s and set in the near future, G.A.I.A is man and machine in perfect harmony. From fighting terrorists to reacting to earthquakes, they prove super powers are all too human.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anthony North
• Release date: Nov 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005578992

Anthony North

Thinker & Storyteller****7,453 Words to Save the UK and I,Writer are now FREE. Scroll down to find them.*****1955 (Yorkshire, England) – I am born (Damn! Already been done). ‘Twas the best of times ... (Oh well).I was actually born in the year of Einstein's death, close to Scrooge's Counting House. It doesn't mean anything but it sounds good. As for my education, I left school at 15 and have had no formal education since. Hence, I'm self-taught.****From a family of newsagents, at 18 I did a Dick Whittington and went off to London, only to return to pretend to be Charlie and work in a chocolate factory.When I was ten I was asked what I wanted to be. I said soldier, writer and Dad. I never thought of it for years – having too much fun, such as a time as lead guitarist in a local rock band – but I served nine years in the RAF, got married and had seven kids. I realized my words had been precognitive when, at age 27, I came down with M.E. – a condition I’ve suffered ever since – and turned my attention to writing.Indeed, as I realized that no expert could tell me what was wrong with me, I began my quest to find out why. Little did I realize it would last decades and take me through the entire history of knowledge, leaving me with the certainty that our knowledge systems are inadequate.****My non-fiction is based on P-ology, a thought process I devised to work with patterns of knowledge, and designed to be a bedfellow to specialization. A form of Rational Holism, it seeks out areas the specialist may have missed. I work from encyclopaedias and introductory volumes in order to gain a grasp of many subjects and am not an expert in anything, but those patterns keep forming. Hence, I do not deal in truth, but ideas, and cover everything from politics to the paranormal.When reading my work I ask only: do I make sense? Of course, an expert would say: a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I agree. And an expert has so little knowledge of everything.I also write novels and Flash Fiction in all genres.

Book preview

G.A.I.A:

Adventure Stories from the Global Assistance & Investigations Agency

By Anthony North

Copyright: Anthony North 2020

Cover image copyright: Yvonne North, 2020

Smashwords Edition

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission

Other books by Anthony North

In 2019 I began a 3 year publishing program that will result in 14 volumes of my fiction, inc 7 novels in most genres, & 21 works of non-fiction covering cults, politics, conspiracies, religion, disasters, science, philosophy, warfare, crime, psychology, new age, green issues & all areas of the unexplained, inc ufology, lost worlds and the paranormal. Hopefully appearing at the rate of one a month, check out the latest launch at my bookstore at http://anthonynorth.com or buy direct from Smashwords for all devices at: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/anthonynorth

In addition to the above, you may like my ‘I’ Series – 8 volumes of flash fiction (horror, sci fi, romance, adventure, crime), 4 volumes of poetry & 5 volumes of short essays from politics to the unexplained. Available from same links as above. Also check out my bookstore for news of my books out in paperback.

CONTENTS

Foreword

The Armageddon Man

A Day in the Life

About the Author

Connect With Anthony

Foreword

First written in the early 1990s and set in the near future, G.A.I.A is man and machine in perfect harmony. From fighting terrorists to reacting to earthquakes, they prove super powers are all too human.

THE ARMAGEDDON MAN

As the console beeped an air of expectancy filled the control room. Sparky Doyle had been stood, alone, by the main viewport, looking down at the clouds as the Platform hovered 50,000 feet above the ground. Hearing the beep, he stroked his mass of thick brown hair and walked over to his position.

'GAIA,' he said, depressing the comms button. 'How can we help?'

At the other end of the channel one of the thousand or so officials around the world who knew how to contact GAIA said: 'It's the President. He's been kidnapped.'

Doyle and his associate, Whizz, ran the electronics side of the Global Assistance & Investigation Agency, which included comms, so he was always in the hot seat. Set up by multi-billionaire philanthropist Lord Bradley and Nobel Prize winning physicist, Professor Siggy Stromberg, GAIA had only been operating a few months. Although it had proved its worth, this would undoubtedly be its first real test. After all, what could be more important than the kidnap of the President of the United States?

Feeling the rush of adrenalin, Sparky paged Control before advising: 'Stand by.'

Moments later, Control entered the room. A small man with short black hair, a mania seemed to issue from his brown eyes. A naturally depressive sort of fellow, he wore a crumpled suit, refusing to wear the jumpsuit of the other GAIA personnel.

'What is it, Doyle?' he growled. 'I was taking a nap.'

Sparky smiled. 'Oh, nothing much, boss. President Sullivan; he's been kidnapped.'

Thor Berne entered the room then. Over six feet tall with a muscular frame which bulged out of his green jumpsuit, Thor carried a mane of long blonde hair, in keeping with his image of the stereotypical God of Thunder. As Chief Troubleshooter of GAIA he was never far from the centre of action.

'Sullivan, Eh,' he said. 'Kidnapped? Sloppy,' he said to himself, 'very sloppy.'

Control was now sat in the command seat. Looking at his monitor, he said: 'Tell me what happened.'

An urgent metallic voice filled the room. 'About half an hour ago,' it said. 'The President's motorcade was heading for the conference. They appeared from nowhere - about a dozen of them; armed to the teeth. There were explosions in front and behind the motorcade - we could go nowhere. Five Secret Service agents were shot dead and they used plastic to blow the limo door. It was terrible; all over in seconds.'

Control sneered at the panic in the man's voice. He hated unprofessionalism. The conference, he knew about. For years the major democratic powers had tried to birth a new ideal of a World Congress to replace the defunct United Nations. And the Peace Conference was to be the first stage of the process - a process that would no doubt take many more years of bluster to bring a compromise resolution into being. But without the US President, even this first stage would now go nowhere.

Noting these facts and then putting them to the back of his mind, Control then said, 'what happened next?'

‘Sullivan was bundled into a car. We managed to follow it for a while, but then lost it.'

Turning to Doyle, Control said: 'The conference is in London - get me a map.'

Almost immediately an electronic map of London filled the large screen that covered a whole wall of the control room. Then, to the voice, Control said: 'Tell me exactly where it happened and the route you know the car took.'

The voice told him, the map changing to produce minute detail of the route. Control studied it minutely, then to Doyle: 'Give me possibilities, Doyle. Where were they going?'

Doyle turned to his computer console. He and Whizz had worked hard on the computer, producing the most powerful machine yet devised. Padding the keys, logical possibilities appeared in seconds.

Control and Thor studied them one by one, discounting them as quickly. Except, that