Bridge of Memory Book 2

By David Hovgaard

What do you do when you are the oldest human being that has ever lived. If you are Albert Sloan, you jump feet first into new adventures. Outsmart your enemies and discover new civilizations around distant stars all while trying to avoid being captured by old and new enemies. It is a rip-roaring adventure with love, danger and retribution. I hope you like it.

By the way if you participate in the presale and give me your email address you will be included in the next presale that I do. Forthcoming books Reality, Nazis on Mars and Bridge of Memory book three.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Hovgaard
• Release date: Feb 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215782743

David Hovgaard

I like to tell a good story and I hope you like to read them because there is more to come.

Book preview

Bridge of Memory

Book 2

David Hovgaard

Copyright © 2022 David Hovgaard

All rights reserved.

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Other Titles by this author:

Bridge of memory book One

Omni-one

Exodus

Onward to Mars

The Human Network

Available at smashwords.com

Cover Art by Henry Hovgaard

Table Of Contents

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Epilogue

Prologue

The site of Ancient New York 3518:

The old city was being excavated by a team of archaeologists both to record the lost era of the Cyber kings and recover anything that could be found from earlier epochs. Talbert Olin was digging in an area that was believed to be part of the foundation of the great tower that dominated the skyline of the Cyber King's city. He was working to unearth a small artifact when the ground underneath him gave way and he fell into the darkness below.

He landed on a pile of soft earth and after laying still for a bit to get the air back in his lungs and slowly moving his head and wriggling his spin to ensure that he was whole he rolled to his knees and pulled a light from his belt. He thought about help and got an immediate response from base camp. After relaying his status, he was shunted to the head of the excavation team. Liam Rogers.

Rogers told him to stay where he was so as not to disturb the site and he would have done just that had his light not caught a reflection.

Talbert walked slowly towards whatever bit of metal had bounced his light back to him careful not to disturb anything among the debris.

His heart raced, as he got closer to whatever had refracted his light. Like all animals that lack night vision he was skittish in the absolute darkness. His mind fell into half remembered childhood fears. Monsters lurking in the darkest part of a room, from the cold fear that comes with not knowing, he had never seen a Cyber King no one living had there weren't any pictures but that didn't stop the dread from rising up his spin as if he were back listening to stories by candlelight in the attic of his grandmother's house with his older sister warning him that the kings would get him. The sketchy descriptions he had read from those few people that had seen one at close hand became a three-dimensional menace as he foolishly made his way forward.

From what he knew their skin and other organs had been replaced by nanites self-replicating microscopic machines used today to heal by repairing damage but then they had been employed to artificially extended life and make slaves of millions.

As he walked through the wide darkness he wondered if he had found the body of one such or possibly, he thought shivering in the stale cold air a living remnant of that era. No one really knew if they were all dead. Like most wars there had been a lot of confuse when it ended. Many of the cities had fallen their masters captured tried for their crimes and in most cases put to death but not New York. The last city to collapse had done so in utter chaos. The body of its' master had never been found. Could this be him buried underneath the tower from which he had ruled?

Talbert was relieved when he found a cryogenic chamber containing a young woman. He contacted Gertrude telling her that they needed a midi-vac. She asked if he was hurt and he told her no but that she would not believe what he had just found, about that time the team leader Liam Rogers broke onto the net to reprimand him for not staying put.

He explained why he had disobeyed orders and repeated his request for medical evacuation. Liam immediately understood the meaning of what Talbert had found and ordered in the necessary equipment to bring the chamber and its occupant to the surface.

He would of course never mention that it was Talbert that found the sleeping woman and Talbert would never correct the official record because he had been well compensated with enough life credit that he let Liam's version of events stand.

Alexandra Knox waited at her bedside for the sleeper to awake. She had come back from the moon the minute she was identified as Carol Osborne lost for almost eleven hundred years. Alexandra was an Osborne even though she had taken her father's name upon reaching her majority and this young seeming woman was the most precious thing in the world to her and the thousands of Osbornes all over man's universe. She was a living link to their past and the only other such person would sleep for another hundred years under the watchful eye of three platoons of brigades. They would not lose him again.

There had been some debate after Carol was found as to whether or not she should be left in stasis until the other sleeper awoke but the condition of her chamber had made that a moot point.

The vessel itself was not in the best of shape. The ancient batteries could not be recharged. Trying to connect another power source could result in failure of the system and instant death. They had no choice but to wake her because in a couple months a year at the outside the cryogenic system would have failed its power source depleted and she would have expired.

Carol opened her eyes at first the room was blurry she called out for Albert but a woman answered. He is not here she told Carol. But you are safe and among your family. I am Alexandra Knox my mother was an Osborne. Knox Carol repeated the word sounding unfamiliar to her mind. Alexandra continued talking trying to calm Carol's fear and explain what had happened. A thousand years Carol sobbed more like eleven hundred or so but what's a century compared to it. Alexandra took her in her arms and whispered encouragements and hope.

It was very important at this stage to let her know she was not alone. People coming out of hibernation upon returning from long star journeys had at times elicited suicidal tendencies and as a psychiatrist she was trained to handle it. It was a wonder that Albert had managed on his own for so long. It spoke to the soundest of his mind.

Chapter One

We are not alone

He rose in the elevator riding in his air-car. After the disaster of his last waking, he wasn't sure what he would find.

So, it surprised him to come up in the middle of what looked like a carnival. Tents were setup in a sort of lazy half circle under the trees in the clearing opposite. It seemed that in the last two hundred years the original inhabitants of this part of the world had reclaimed what was theirs.

The mining facility had denuded the ancient stand that had once covered this part of the Canadian shield but all around him he could now see the giant trees that had made this land their home before Europeans came to disturb them.

It looked to be a fair sized and well-aged forest, which jogged a memory. Before he'd gone to sleep with Carol over twelve hundred years ago. There had been a good number of saplings about. If he had not been so wrapped up in his grief after he was rescued and returned to his Ark, he would have noted the young forest that had grown up while he had slept for almost a thousand years in the company of the Cyber King.

The mad creature had tried to use him to extend its life so it could avoid the judgment that was coming. But all he really wanted at that point was to put everything that happened behind him.

Before rising out of the ark he had called one of his guards. Even after fifteen hundred years they still looked the same although everything else had changed about them. They had the latest AI systems. They were much more capable against threats like the Cyber King. Earlier he had tasked one of them to dispose of their unwanted guests' remains.

He had returned to the garage level and fired up the waiting vehicle. He drove it up the ramp and onto the lift and now here he was staring at what he never thought to see a mass of people outside of his ark.

He was about to get out of there having already closed and secured the main door and alerted his sentries to hold against all comers when he noticed a figure in a long white dress sauntering in his direction. She beckoned with one raised hand.

Remembering lost Carol that time in the snow he stopped. He clicked on the PA and called out to the approaching figure.

What can I do for you he asked hoping that linguistic drift had not rendered his words unintelligible?

I am Mia Knox she called back. My great great grandfather was Hiram Knox who married Dana Osborne. I am your kindred; we all are she said, indicating the camp behind her, your blood. Please come among us for we have much to tell you."

Albert retrieved one of the automatic pistols that he always carried from its hidden resting place and slipped into his pocket. He tucked two extra clips into the retainers on the inside of his belt.

He brought the air car to rest not far from the haphazard circle of tents. Climbing from the seat he made his way to the rear exit. By the time the ramp was down there was a far size crowd gathered. Fingering the cold steal of his pistol he stepped from the craft. None of those assembled made a move until he was clear of the ship. Then slowly they came forward.

Grandfather one large fellow with stringy blond hair said, I am Ian Osborne.

Glad to meet you Albert told the man.

And I you he responded, I have waited my whole life for this day.

Albert really didn't know how to answer that, being revered was not something he had ever anticipated; luckily, he did not have to answer as just then the crowd parted and the young woman that had identified herself earlier walked up.

That will be all for now Ian you will get your chance to speak with the grandfather later. Right now, he needs to hear what I have to tell him.

Yes, Mia the big man agreed.

The rest of you be about your business. Now is not the time to lower our guard.

Lower their guard from what would be one of Albert's first questions.

Grandfather she said, indicating with her right hand the direction she wanted him to take. He went along with her not really certain if she was who she claimed to be. She led him to large tent near the center of the encampment. When they were close, she sprinted ahead of him with an easy grace, suggesting that she was in excellent physical shape. She pulled the flap aside for him as he approached.

He entered the tent with her in tow. She squeezed by him once again and offered him one the two chairs in the open space under the fabric.

Would you like a little something, some tea perhaps she asked as he took the offered seat?

Nothing for now except an explanation as to why you are all here? I had thought that my existence was to remain a secret. It mostly is grandfather it just that in over sixteen hundred years there have been a few leaks.

Excuse me he interrupted, leaks?"

You see about a hundred years after the last time you were awake, they found Carol Osbourne in cryo-stasis under what had been the central tower of the Cyber kings New York. Unfortunately for the family...

Carol alive he burst out.

Yes, she is very much alive grandfather.

Do you mean that I can see her again?

Yes, grandfather but at this point she is over a hundred and thirty years old. She is in fact my great grandmother. She married the son of Alexandra Knox and eventually that lead to me. I can assure you that great grandmother is as fiery as when you knew her.

I see Albert said, remembering a totally different person then was being described to him.

Now as I was saying it was unfortunate for the family that she was found by strangers. Once it was made known to the general populace that someone had slept for eleven hundred years it became sort an obsession for some people to try and find other sleepers, grandmother became kind of an unwilling celebrity.

The Cult of Methuselah searched the old cities and just about anywhere they could for the sleepers they assumed must be everywhere. We let them look and even secretly steered them in the wrong direction or how did they put it in your time down a no sight dead end.

Something like that he told her.

As to why we are here we come here all the time. It is a well-known family retreat where we have our reunions every four years, the Cult use to follow us but after over seventy years of finding nothing they pretty much leave us alone now. Although we still keep a close watch for them. There is a satellite hidden in orbit that keeps watch while we are not here and of course while we are. We can see anyone approaching for hundreds of miles.

What about Carol Albert asked?

She lives in an undisclosed location. Known only to a very few of us.

You being one he asked?

Of course, she is my Nana so I will never betray her.

When she finished talking Albert pondered all that she had related. The fact that Carol was alive was miraculous. He should have taken New York for a liar. The Kings had lied about so much why not about this one little thing. The fact that word had leaked was in some sense, inevitable. To the good was the fact that these Methuselists did not know that he existed specifically. They only had a hunch that there might be other sleepers.

After he finished analyzing everything that she had told him, he looked at this image of her forbearer and asked the next question foremost in his mind.

How fairs the world since last I sojourned?

The Cyber Kings were gone she told him "And so was most of the world's population. They had gone outward into man's ever-expanding dominion among the stars of the home galaxy. They had yet to encounter any other living sentient beings. Even though they had come across the signs that other species had existed. On the third planet of double star system of Alpha Centauri there were the remains of towers that archaeologists speculated once rose almost a mile into the dark blue Centurion sky. All around the fallen dolmens lay what was left of an immense city that stretched for fifty miles in all directions. Of the beings that had built the great metropolis there was no sign. In a hundred years of looking, they had not found any sign of who they were or what they looked like. No graveyards or even a garbage dump that might yield clues to their nature or that of their civilization.

The ruins on Rigel 3 were eventually dated at over a hundred thousand years. It was as if they decided one day to just leave and the city had decayed from the effects of time and atmospheric erosion.

Albert asked if he could see these ruins and Mia smiled and said yes.

We have made some advances while you slept, she informed him "the greatest of these is the ability to move great distance in a relatively short time. I can show you many of the new worlds we have visited or colonized. It is a vast universe and we hunger to know what spins around the next star she told him in a voice that made him surmise that she was quoting someone.

Val Astra, she told him surmising the next question a poet from a hundred years ago. I am a fan of her work.

I would like to read more he told her.

I will get you a copy of her collected works Mia told him.

Thank you he said.

Now would you like to see my Nana?

Yes he said.

Come with me she offered and together they left the tent and walked to another. Inside there was what appeared to be an ordinary door standing upright in a frame with conduits trailing to a console that except for the cabling could have been taken for just a minimalist desk. She walked over to it and tapping on the top of the table she typed something into the surface then taking his hand she led him to the apparatus.

This won't hurt she reassured him.

She opened the door and together they stepped through. There was a blinding white light and a feeling of numbing cold that was gone so fast that he wasn't sure it had really been there then they were in a darkened room. He was clearly no longer among the tents.

Nana the girl called and then again.

Coming, a faint voice could be heard as if at a distance and a few moments later she walked into the room. She had aged from the young woman that had jumped into the future with him those long years ago. Before him was a gray haired and world worn version of the person, he remembered but it was her nonetheless. She had the same look in her eyes and if anything, it burned brighter today than it had that snowy day in Yellow Knife.

There was a moment when she was trying to remember him and then recognition came.

Albert, she cried quickly closing the distance she grabbed him in a surprisingly strong hug.

I never thought to see you again grandfather.

Nor I you he finished. I was told that you were dead otherwise I would have searched until I found you. Forgive me he asked?

There is nothing to forgive. Because of you I found the life I had been missing in my own time. I met my soul mate and we lived in love until his death just two years ago. Oh, that my Nate could have seen you. He wanted to but fate had other plans.

As she usually does Albert finished.

Let me tell you what happened while you slept she offered.

Carol had cataloged everything that had occurred since she had awakened and as much as she could find of the time that she slept. She gave it all to him and then she told him of the life she lived. She explained how she had been found and of waking to find Alexandra Knox at her bedside and the media circus her existence created.

She married Gavin Knox and they had raised three children Tristan, Greta and Muriel. Tristan was Mia's grandfather. He was still alive as were the rest of her children and she had become an archaeologist.

I was just at the centurion ruins when you arrived. I set my house to inform me if anyone came. I never expected it to be you. I knew that the time of your ascension was close but I had been so absorbed in my work that I forgot the projected date. I am glad that you came to see me grandfather.

As am I that you have found peace and happiness he told her.

I can truly say that I have and I will always be grateful for your help in finding my place in the universe she told him.

They had lunch and then she invited him to see the ruins that he had been told about. He agreed and it was decided that he would spend the night here and they would make the transition early the next morning as that time would coincide with midday on the third planet of Alpha Centauri.

Among the towers

The sky ran from black to deep blue. Centauri A was a bright dot in the western horizon as it circled the gravitational well of its larger sister. It was near midday