Project WIM: Renaissance

By John Rojewski

What happens when the dead come back? No, not really dead, but merely presumed to be so. The inventor thought to be gone is discovered again.
After all that has happened, the world asks “Why?”
And fewer ask what will happen as a result of his return.
Can the results of one man's life be measured so closely that his presumed passing and reappearance might change the world yet a second time?

Project WIM: Renaissance is the fifth book in the continuing saga of Marcus Osman Jameson as he continues to challenge the world even as the world once again challenges and changes him. Hear the motivations of the man who generates actions that are again both visionary and core to human survival and achievement.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 18, 2024
• ISBN: 9798369418017

John Rojewski

John Rojewski was born in Nebraska and moved to Arizona after his graduation from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Following his occupational training, he pursued a career in Information Technology. Beyond his career aspirations, John has associations/certifications and experience as a private pilot, scuba diver, USA Swimming official, information security professional, an Eagle Scout, and is now a published author. John is married, with a daughter and grandchildren and enjoys science fiction, singing, playing bass guitar, and traveling regionally and abroad.

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Copyright © 2024 by JOHN ROJEWSKI.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 03/13/2024

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

855744

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

OVERVIEW

REDISCOVERY

The Beginning

Where Have I Been?

The Music

Regrets

Churchill was Right!

Into the Underworld

WHAT TOOK SO LONG?

Strange Thoughts

Catching Up

Experiencing the Desert

Digging for Happiness

The Protector

Thank You

What Have I Been Doing?

Why Was I Doing Those Things?

THE PRESENT

Resurrection or Renaissance?

Reconnections

Becoming a Public Figure

The Discussion

After Hours

Hello Mr. Destruction

Reflections

New Activities

New Ideas for Inventions

REVELATION

Invitation

The Adventure

Things Revealed

Discovery

Revealing Even More

Awaiting Plans and Decisions

Elevation

Progression

Pushback

THE DEMO

Aesop’s Contribution

Threat Modeling and Analysis

Falling Further

THE NEXT MISSION

Preparations

Deployment

Begin the Rescue

Rescue Continues

Carnage 101

Return

Greek Mythology

LIFE LESSONS

Dancing

On the Floor

A World of Words

More Ideas

Habitation 101

Bonding and Pairing

Habitation 102

EPILOGUE

APPENDIX

A. Character Review

B. Fundamental Principles

C. Scenes and Locations

D. Glossary

E. Statistics

F. Threat Modeling

ENDNOTES

PROLOGUE

Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

- Mark Twain

In actuality, it (my death) never really happened, and you will understand that soon enough. I have been absent from this part of the world for some time, but I am still looking at opportunities to improve the world as a whole.

My motivations for the actions I have taken may seem less than honorable to some, acceptable to others, and completely irrelevant to even more. To them I say – live by your principles and I will live (or die) by mine.

OVERVIEW

I was overwhelmed by the emotions which have plagued millions of humans everywhere since time was first recorded. Cain killed Abel, and so it began. When someone near and dear to us is savagely attacked, we react. When the attacker gloats and proceeds to murder our love, we are lost, lost in an emotional sea so deep that many drown and cease to mourn further.

But while I was the same as many, I was also different. While I mourned the loss of my Angie, I witnessed my sorrow converted into another form of emotion. A form ultimately less acceptable and less useful, but seductively fashioned to take us to new places that we had never intended to go. And I went.

And then I realized that I needed to go just a bit further. Thus began another phase of my life that I had not imagined would ever be available, much less desirable. And once I was there, I discovered that many of the things in life that I had once needed were no longer important. Likewise, many of the things once obscure and isolated were now essential and omnipresent.

Seeing anew, I became anew. And so, the story begins. (Again!)

REDISCOVERY

Many rumors indicated that I was gone, apparently eviscerated by the same forces that had destroyed the fortress of my nemesis, from whom I extracted his final essence. Since I made no effort to be discovered, those speculations became an accepted conclusion.

And I now believe that was my intent. To be gone. And while that lasted for so many months, I found that a desire for life did not forsake me but continued to nourish and strengthen me as I recovered from the long walk. While I may never be completely recovered from the ordeal, I have hope that I may still have a life that has purpose.

To those of you who are inquisitive about me and my life activities, I appreciate your support. I understand that many are simply curious and uncertain about what all this commotion is about. This guy, some scientist, gets angry and goes to destroy a village in Syria. Others may have a much deeper understanding, and even more are looking for this to be a story of great adventure and promise. I will let you decide if any of the following revelations are worthy of such accolades.

I am amazed at the following and the outreach of individuals as they sent me cards and letters offering kind words and thoughts for the perceived pain and suffering, they believe I have endured. I can say that at some time during this isolation away from my country and familiar settings, I would have deeply cherished this outpouring of enthusiastic support. Even today I continue to receive such gifts of positive reinforcement that help to shape my mood and mindset.

Some are very kind in expressing their condolences for the severe sorrow that I endured and have commended me in both the actions I took as well as the restraint I demonstrated in my final days before the disappearance.

Yet there are still many who are not happy to see me return, alive and in good health. I understand that those who are not friendly to me are not automatically my enemies. Making an enemy requires two parties to reject each other, and I have the choice to accept that in their opinion I am not acceptable. I can choose to accept that we disagree without rejection and negative action.

In a way, I learned this lesson from the tyrant, Kalpiz Bir, as his actions were completely independent of mine, and he did not treat me as an enemy in the acts perpetrated against Angie. He simply did not care what my response was.

Had I given him the information he sought from me, he would not have changed his actions. Angie would still have been killed, and I would have been a stupid American that was insignificant and worth nothing to him. Agreeing with him would not have made us friends, nor would a disagreement cause us to be enemies. I would simply be a tool for him to achieve his plans, whatever they might be. For that simple reason, because a tool cannot be a friend or an enemy, Kalpiz Bir did what he did. And I would not be able to make any difference in his actions as long as I was merely a tool.

I accepted a mindset of anger and disappointment, finding that while I had no chance to change his mindset regarding the ways he used and abused other people, I had a moment of deep consideration. The consideration was regarding how others, on seeing his actions, might come to believe that they could mistreat others in similar ways and receive similar responses.

That global response appeared to accept that nothing could be done to stop the inhumane actions of various tyrants, and so any efforts to do so were outside that of moral and ethical laws. I had a differing opinion.

My opinion was that failing to identify, explain, and correct an obvious fault was an acceptance and support of that behavior. I did not want anyone to believe that mistreatment of people was acceptable, and so this was essentially a lesson in proper etiquette.

Good manners need to be instilled in the young, and if not appropriately accepted, they may need to be introduced yet again during an occasion when the perpetrator is exhibiting those unacceptable characteristics. Failure to teach promotes continued bad choices and a continued risk that the student may never understand the principles and may continue to harm both themselves and others.

So, from my mindset of anger, I transitioned to a mindset of helping to educate like-minded tyrants that this type of behavior would no longer be tolerated. It was a simple gesture for which I found a new purpose. I would be able to help other like-minded leaders to know that someone was watching, and that someone would call them out when they attempted to perpetrate such heinous behaviors.

But enough detail of my motivations for now.

The feelings of Angie’s family members have somewhat changed from the situation before my disappearance. I recognize that many of them were not in agreement with my presence in her life, and as they were much closer than I to her for so many years I understand that discord. Once the wedding was announced and the plans came together, I recognized that while many came to accept me as a viable addition, others were still not accepting of my presence according to their perception of my isolation from her during the years when we first met and then continued to occasionally communicate from a distance.

At the point of the abduction just prior to the wedding, the whole family believed that the reason for her capture was due to my reluctance and ultimate refusal to release the secret knowledge of my MEC and MTM devices to the terrorist leader, Kalpiz Bir. Rather than accept that I had been completely unaware and was unable to provide any kind of response to this demand, they believed that Angie’s death was my responsibility and due to my negligence.

Now, as I understand from the Other Voices interviews, her sister Leslie has come to a different understanding of my love for Angie and the pain and anguish I felt at her abduction and death. This revelation and acceptance brought me great joy as I can now share that loss with her and others that have seen the beauty in her heart.

I can only say that I would have done anything possible and reasonable to save Angie from the wickedness that befell her from that abomination. I only wish I had been able to prevent the occurrence and have that life with her that we both wanted.

The Beginning

I suppose the beginning is a good place to start. I do not think that many are willing to just let me skip over the details of that day, since I understand that the video and audio was so well covered and reviewed by a huge following.

I do understand that my return may cause a few of those who made predictions to be concerned, but I am just intending to tell the information that I witnessed firsthand.

I have not reviewed many of these thoughts and feelings for quite some time, and in that process, I have felt that strange, isolated sentiment, as though I was simply an observer to all the drama and trauma surrounding me. I have heard that many watching the video felt that way as well. Yes, I was there, but in some particular way, I believe my mind provided shelter by imposing a curtain of belief around me.

That belief was supported by the testing of the suit, but more importantly, I recalled memory of a particular Bible verse that reenforced my will to continue.

Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. - Psalm 23:4

As I recall those moments, with all sorts of armaments being directed at me, I could sense that this walk was not without grave risk, but that singular verse allowed me to continue to walk and to submit my entire effort to that cause.

Certainly, I admit to being an active part of the chaos of that day. I will not claim that I had no choice in being there or not. I made a choice, and that choice set other events and responses on a collision course with me. My original choice was to become a husband and spend the rest of my life with my dearest Angie, but as I discovered, that choice was no longer available to me.

I made the choice to confront the evil which had canceled that original choice to attend dinner parties and special events with her. The choice to live day after day after day and grow old together. Yes, we would eventually part, but not by our choice, nor the choice of some other person. I chose to reject the evil that turned my future with her beside me into torture of living permanently without her. I made that choice in some sense because I knew that life without her was not as valuable as I had once believed it to be.

I went to state my objection, and my passionate rejection of Kalpiz Bir and wanted to make his heart ache as much as mine. Perhaps I was foolish to even believe he still had feelings considering his name and reputation.

I do remember walking, the constant need to move ahead. I needed to see him, to see his eyes, as I had in the video conference call I had received shortly after the abduction. His eyes would have some meaning I thought, as he would see that I was no longer merely a minion from whom he demanded obedience. He would see me, in the suit, in his fortress, in front of him, and preparing to take from him all that he had taken from me.

That sense of vengeance, or perhaps payment in full was something that gave me the strength to continue to plod ahead even as his army continued to assault me with every weapon at their disposal. Now that I was here, in his domain, I would not stop until he was made to suffer for the suffering he had caused, both to Angie and myself.

The walk was … well, you have seen it. You saw the attacks, the demolition and dissolution of anything or anyone that chose to move to a position near the edge of the energy containment. Once any matter passed into that microscopic transition area, it was immediately transformed into energy. The flashes of light all around me were almost constant at times and provided me with minimal opportunity to see much of what was happening. Likewise, the mixtures of noises: voices shouting, weapons fire, and explosions all around were also confusing and disorienting.

I remember that once I broke through the constant bombardment and was able to start upward on the road to the stronghold, I had a resurgence of hope and new energy. I did not know until recently that the video did show much of the destruction I caused as I entered the fortress and continued through doors and walls. I do know that there is no documentation that will confirm or verify the additional information I will now be sharing with you.

The end of the audio/video transmission was unfortunate, but painfully obvious to all that eventually viewed it. The shrill, high-pitched tone that was prevalent in the later parts of the journey into the fortress was a warning signal that I had intended to be a notice to me to dissipate some of the excess energy that the various MECs connected in the suit were carrying, and the risks involved.

What risks, you ask? The energy levels are constantly being increased as new matter is allowed to pass through the mesh components of the suit and that energy is either temporarily retained, released, or converted into something else. When the energy is released or converted, the levels can and will drop. But the levels must be managed to prevent an overflow that could result in a cascade release. This cascade is exactly what caused the implosion and ‘spherical effect’ back at the Liberty Power Facility (LPF).

Wearing the suit at the point where a cascade release occurred would be the point where the occupant of the suit and the suit itself would suddenly vanish, being consumed by the escaping gluon plasma field in a flash of thermal and assorted electromagnetic energy releases.

I had, during a previous period of time during the walk, released some of the excess energy up into the atmosphere and then again at a later time. According to the observers, they did not understand the reason for the shrill sound and thought it to be an aberration or some type of error in the transmission of the audio signal, but at that later usage, when the tone again vanished, there was a cause-and-effect clue that led them to the theory that proved to be correct.

Inside the crumbling fortress, the amount of matter that was falling on top of me caused the energy input to increase substantially. I could not move without bumping into more matter that literally surrounded me like a tomb. The release mechanisms I had used earlier were unable to dispose of the input fast enough, particularly because each time I triggered the DCC (Directional Containment Control) there was more of the fortress structure that would fall downward upon me.

Eventually I did get the cocoon of stone and wooden beams to stop feeding the suit, but in the process, I discovered that I had a malfunction in one of the converter integrator units for the mesh components. The explanation of the malfunction is not necessarily important, but the ramifications of that malfunction required that I remove the suit as soon as possible to avoid becoming a part of a possible containment breach.

Removing the suit was now essential, due to the malfunction, and it was at that time that I noticed that the transmission had also ended. The end of the transmission produced two new situations. Because there was no one to see my predicament, I realized that I did have a choice to make: to live, or to await a glorious and absolutely painless death.

Life without Angie? What was the purpose in that? And death without pain? Just wait for the suit to overload and flood the area with the plasma that dissolves all matter in a fraction of a second. There would be no time for any nerve impulses to travel to a brain stem that was already disintegrating into sub-atomic building blocks, and certainly no time for those signals to reach a neuron sensor that could translate those impulses into any signal that might pass on to be interpreted by the brain as pain.

An additional complication was that since the transmission had been consuming considerable power to emit the signal upward to any circling satellites, the shutdown merely reduced the rate of energy reduction, and conversely, increased the rate of energy gain. I was literally a time-bomb waiting to implode unless I chose life!

I had time to remove the suit and to carefully position the pieces such that they would most likely not implode until I had time to escape, but there was no guarantee, and no one that I could hold responsible for assuring my departure in one piece.

I started with the shutdown switch which is, as you can imagine, not easy to find or to engage. Because of some discussions I have recently undertaken with my government, I am choosing not to provide too much detail about that switch, except to say that I do know where it was located and that it worked sufficiently well to allow me to start to remove the various pieces without triggering the possible cascade release.

With the suit removed, I recognized that I had little time to find a departure route from the now partially collapsing ceilings above. That pathway was fortunately out a doorway that led to an outside patio that I had not realized existed. I was not emotionally attached to the structure in any way but realized that in a very short time this structure would end its purpose and vanish, existing only as a memory to those peoples that were living and had lived in this area.

Fortunately, I did not encounter any of Bir’s mercenaries as I exited the property and headed as quickly as possible into the deserted mountainous area away from the village. I looked continuously for signs of anyone moving about but saw none. By the time I had achieved a distance of several hundred yards from the fortress I believed I had escaped its inevitable collapse.

The implosion came soon after. I was aware that the time was approaching as I had kept the earpiece in my ear even as the signal continued to get stronger and higher in pitch. Because of the distraction and the numbing pain the earpiece was causing, I pulled it out and dropped it into a pocket of my vest.

I did not see the actual event. As I stated, I was attempting to move away from the fortress as fast as possible to avoid being obliterated when the suit containment failed and released the excessive collected binding energy. I knew that the implosion would occur because of the failure to release the energy in a controlled manner.

Moving away from the center of the fortress, I suddenly felt a strong cool breeze pushing against me and my sweaty face was comfortably dried by the lack of humidity in the midday air. Then I noticed the cool breeze had reduced slightly even as I felt a warmth overtake me like standing in front of a space heater or a campfire. It settled over me and heated the back of my neck such that I wanted to turn around and see what was causing the warmth. Suddenly everything was much brighter, and I could briefly see my shadow in front of me on the surface of the next incline. It was the middle of the day, but I involuntarily closed my eyes as the light became too intense. I waited ...

Then the breeze stopped, and all was silent. As I opened my eyes, I saw the colors returning to the ground and to the sky. At that point I felt safe in turning by body slowly to face the consequences of my actions that day. The wave of heat swept toward me as I smelled the evidence of a combination of molten rocks and charred vegetation.

Although I was looking upward to the embankment where the fortress had stood, I could no longer see anything constructed by the hands of men. Only the expanding and fragrant air gave any indication of change. What had been standing in the location of the citadel of Kalpiz Bir was no more. There were no flames, no plumes of smoke, and no great clouds of smoke or dust to be seen.

I had not noticed it at that time, but later I reflected on the lack of any sound of explosion or of the destruction of the huge amount of matter that was consumed, and energy released without some sort of audible warning like lightning or the explosions of chemical and nuclear blasts. But then I considered the truth of the situation.

As the containment field collapsed, all of the nearby matter was consumed almost instantly. This instantaneous destruction of solid, liquid, and gaseous matter left a huge hole in the immediate area. When an explosion occurs, matter is ejected at high speed and causes shock waves to spread outward, causing the noises of thunder, earthquakes, and other displacements.

In this case, however, there was no outward displacement, and I was speculating that the reason for the breeze in my face was that the outward air found a reduction in the pressure in the vicinity of the fortress because … because there was suddenly no air, literally nothing, in that 40-meter bubble.

Here was an intriguing scientific opportunity begging for questions and answers. There would be so much to learn from examining the resulting spherical region, as I believed it must be. I gazed up at the incline of the ridge and into the blue sky and wondered what might be learned that was not evident in the previous containment breach. I wondered …

Still, this was not the time. Certainly not the time for me to go walking back into the village with all of the anger and fear that had now been unleashed. I expected that I would have minimal opportunity to explain my motivations to a group that had just suffered such a traumatic morning as this.

So, I decided. Recognizing that there was essentially nothing more to be gained by remaining here, I again turned and continued my journey into the void of the mountains and beyond into the desert.

Decisions made in haste are sometimes revisited to determine if we feel we made the right choice in that situation. My thoughts could have been focused on survival and making certain that I could be found and saved. Those thoughts would probably be a high priority for someone who had been ejected from an airplane by parachute without notice into a risky and war-torn area, or perhaps being involved in some natural disaster without any acceptance of those risks and dangers.

But I was not here arbitrarily. I was not ignorant of the risks. I had just been dropped by an aircraft into a hostile environment, been attacked by a hoard of well-armed and battle-ready soldiers and mercenaries, marched into the enemy’s stronghold, and utterly and completely destroyed it. So utterly destroyed that the entire physical fortress was now a huge hole in the ground. If there were any future concerns about survival, they were completely overridden by my recent successes against such powerful destructive forces. At this point, walking across a desert would be … a welcome vacation from all the explosions, gunfire, machine guns, tanks, and other noise.

I did not know where I would fit in anymore. I did not believe I wanted to go back to an empty life, where there was nothing for me but mourning for her, even with family and friends. That appeared to be only a burden that would be laid upon those who cared the most. Would I want to be a burden on those that needed me to be a strong and sensible leader?

I did not know enough to change my plans, so I continued walking into the mountain pass and onward. When I finally decided to look back as I reached a crest in the pass, I was ready to say ‘Goodbye’ to this day. I was ready to continue to move on to a new adventure, whatever it might be. There was no joy here. Nothing that would give me peace, or so I thought. There would be additional things I could learn, and I had no other plans.

Where Have I Been?

One of the questions I continue to hear asked is a critical one to many. Where did you go after you finished your mission?

And I suppose I need to answer that with a certain amount of honesty. In all certainty, I can say that I was not myself after that incident. But in the same breath, I can declare that I have never been so resolute in any task undertaken after that time as I was that day, and in those few hours.

I was in a state of denial, both of being a walking ‘Revenger’ in a foreign land on the other side of the world, and of ultimately being assailed by weapons of all sizes and destructive capacity. Simply walking through the continued attempts to destroy me by men whom I had never seen, never met, and never shared a word of discourtesy or discouragement had left its mark upon me.

Yet falling from the sky, I was suddenly perceived as a danger. Such a danger that I was immediately declared by their leader to be a threat to be eliminated at any cost.

And for many, the cost was high.

The video transmission was clearly provided as documentation of the events that would occur on that day. I had no expectation of being able to comment on the outcome of that day, as I presumed that I would not survive to provide that commentary. Rather than have the details be suppressed and the results be hidden or worse, misrepresented, I chose a live transmission without edits.

The video that I transmitted was considered by many to be the final outcome of my experience on that day, now a considerable time in the past. I was there experiencing all of the same external inputs and in some sense experiencing much more than can be transmitted via digital audio and video feeds.

The anxiety in jumping from the plane into a strange land with no plans for a later pickup, no plans for how I could eat, or drink, or where I would stay overnight was … very unusual for me.

Actually, the anxiety would be usual, but I was not in the habit of taking trips with no plans for a return.

Return. That was a word that I had avoided. Even when asked, I was not very interested in attempting to formulate an answer. I can see why people would ask, but I can share why I had no desire to look beyond such a limited view of my future.

Frankly, I did not feel that I had a future. Certainly, nothing that would take me to a place where I had envisioned myself being mere weeks before.

I had plans to be with Angie. My heart still soars and then plummets into the dust when I think of her, or her name is spoken. And I suppose it will continue for some time to come. I did not have access to the music anymore, but there was a song that set my path going forward. I Know You’re Out There Somewhere¹ by the Moody Blues was a song that captured my imagination because, like so many of the other songs, this one was very applicable to my situation. I did not want to deny that my Angie was gone, but I could not verify that she was alive or dead. Instead, this song instructed me to continue to look for her, in every place I went, and in every location I could see. And I followed this path for some time.

But back to my plans for the future. No future I could imagine would be here on this Earth. Any future for me I believed would have been a toss-up between being a blessing or a curse.

In one sense, a blessing to survive, to complete that day in one piece, unscathed, alive, and able to say that I had defeated Kalpiz Bir, the Heartless One, the embodiment of evil. I would be able to say that the simple death of the one who deprived me of a future, also had no future in this realm.

In the reverse case, a curse that even though I had defeated this evil, the situation would not be reversed for me. I would have vengeance, but no peace. I would have justice, but no happiness. I would appear to have tranquility but feel an unquenchable emptiness within.

But when I actually stepped off the ramp of the plane there was no more time for doubting. I was in, committed, all of me. There was no more room for doubt. Despite the normal reaction which would be fear, I felt a certain amount of freedom. As Captain Chambers and Lieutenant Edwards had indicated, I was now receiving the support of hundreds or perhaps thousands of military members. And because I was recording the events, I would be obligated to act in a manner that would bring honor to those watching.

I remember briefly thinking that I should not wait to start the transmission, but then I noticed that I had been observed and that ended that line of thought. I was entering into battle before I had even reached the ground!

Recently, I have actually found myself reviewing the video to bring back some memories of that day that I had forgotten. It is amazing that with all that adrenaline and activity that I could possibly forget things, but perhaps it was not as much choice as an autonomic reaction to purge some of the unsavory events necessary to maintain a sense of sanity.

The Music

Some of the questions I have received since returning are not at all related to the reason I went into battle. The questions that are most surprising deal with the music that I chose and how real the music made the situation seem.

This was not the intent I had for the music. My intent was two-fold:

First, to keep me in the moment, and to keep me engaged with something familiar despite the very unfamiliar territory, people, and hostilities. I wanted to hear those sounds and not hear the impacts of bullets, rockets, and RPGs all around me. I wanted to remind myself constantly of why I was there. The titles, the lyrics, the power of the rhythms and the transitions of the chords. All were strong incentives and kept me from being afraid when I was the target of 20 or more rifles, or an RPG, or even a tank!

And secondly, I actually wanted to put the inhabitants off guard. I wanted the non-combatants to be interested and intrigued just as much as I wanted the combatants to be irritated, agitated, angry, fearful, and uncertain if I were a man … or something much different.

In my limited understanding of human nature, one needs a reason to attack, and if the target is constantly creating a question, an enigma to the attackers, then the reasons to attack are somewhat vague and produce their own mitigation.

The thought processes might sound like:

I need (or have been instructed) to destroy this attacker, but I am not certain what it is, so I don’t know if I can succeed in destroying it.

-or-

I need to protect my family from this attacker, but if it is so violent and dangerous, why is it playing music?

-or-

I will be punished if I fail to stop this creature, but if the creature is stronger and more benevolent then maybe ...

In some sense I wanted to avoid any injury to bystanders and those that were in the middle of the conflict. On the other I wanted and needed to dispense a lasting and permanent justice to this man named Kalpiz Bir. My plan was to arrive, find him, and let him know why he was being approached for corrective action.

That being stated, I did not anticipate the response from the people in the village nor that of those who I understand went into some painstaking analysis of the music selection, the rhythms, the lyrics, the progressions, etc. The people of the village appeared to find a combination of fear and celebration in the approach of this strange being in the silver metal clothing.

As I later learned, the fact that I just kept walking was so astounding to all that observed me in the suit. The combatants could not begin to understand why this Walker could not be stopped, despite their knowledge that those weapons were highly effective in assuring the death of other men they had killed. But slowly, as their repeated attempts failed, they became less belligerent and less demanding. I won’t say it was admiration, but certainly it was a higher level of respect than they had previously shown to those designated as enemies of Kalpiz Bir.

The non-combatants were also confused at this creature that walked the road toward the stronghold but was somehow impervious to the warriors’ weapons.

It was not even a noticeable event, until the number of combatants increased so dramatically. As I later understood the policies of this tyrant, his edicts were enforced without question and without hesitation. It was not uncommon for a life to be taken in the middle of the roadway on any particular day. A small child with a piece of bread was an opportunity for the child to be knocked to the ground and the bread to become the property of the soldier. Any resistance, even verbal, could initiate further escalation of violence and even the execution of a parent or guardian.

For that reason alone, the main road was generally infrequently used by the locals. But that did not appear to be the case when I visited. News of the skirmish was quickly relayed up the rutted and deeply worn road, such that when I arrived at the edge of the village, there were a large number of people already standing about. Men, women, and children were all looking at this seemingly impossible sight. Here was a silver creature walking the road that could not be stopped! He ignored the commands of the soldiers and moreover was completely impervious to their weapons fire.

It is conceivable that my presence there, on that morning, was the cause of some death and injury to some of those non-combatants. And for that outcome I am deeply sorry. It was never my purpose to cause grief to anyone except the tyrant himself.

And there was I, the outsider, coming into this area in a silver metal suit and producing some (somewhat) loud and unusual music. It was bound to cause various reactions from all parties.

An additional and perhaps side-effect of the music is that it was a significant portion of the audio feed that accompanied the video log transmission. The transmission was initially my way to document what I would see, hear, and feel during the mission. I chose the transmission because I could certainly provide enough raw power to project it to a satellite receiver. I knew that if I was engaged in battle, the amount of power that the suit would receive would be huge and having a method to utilize that power would be a justifiable choice.

Likewise, the volume of the music was dependent upon the amount of power I had available to initiate the sound waves around the suit. Essentially, I had a set of mesh transmitters that could not only absorb matter and convert it into energy, but those mesh components could also modulate the containment fields in such a way that they could transmit some of that energy into the surrounding area, according to the frequency and amplitude needed for the purpose.

As the transmission of high-frequency signals were sent out that contained the modulation of the audio/video from the cameras and explosions, they also transmitted much lower frequency audio like stadium speakers, sending the music flowing outward to alert and challenge the locals in the area. To some, the challenge brought mystery and excitement, for others, it initiated fear and destruction.

So just as those who saw and heard the music there in the village, and those who watched the audio/video transmissions hours, days, and months later; I too felt the impact of the music. It was a moment-by-moment reminder of who I was, of whom I had lost, and of what my purpose was for being there, walking up that road to the fortress on the rise ahead past the village.

Each song told a story and helped me to count the number of times that I was not killed, maimed, or disabled. The thunderously loud explosions, the astonishingly brilliant absorption of matter by the enhanced and modified ‘scrubber’ panel components that covered my body, and voices in the background all seemed to merge with the music as if it were tied together in some kind of orchestral score.

I did not think I was the conductor, but I did not feel fear. I was not certain of the outcome, but I did not hesitate to take the next step. I was clearly an actor but had not studied any script. I accepted what happened, and continued on my path, from the sky to the ground and up to the mountain fortress. I was concerned with the destruction of things and of the injury to the non-combatants around me, and occasionally took some action when I believed it could make a positive difference.

Love was the major theme. I have memories of times in my life when love seemed to be the only thing that was worth my time and energy. The times with Angie were times when I could feel completely immersed in the present moment. In having those memories touched by the music while I was simultaneously experiencing some of the most violent events I had ever faced, was a mental overload.

I discovered that keeping one set of strong and binding emotions active was about all my brain could process. And since I put those strong positive feelings in place and continued to support them with stimuli that kept them front and center of my conscious thoughts, the other sensations did not trigger any significant fear or desperation.

I knew that I had tested the suit well. I had actually signed a legal contract that essentially gave General Calhoun and his military special forces team unlimited permission to attack me with a variety of state-of-the-art weapons and weapons systems. And they were very thorough in their efforts. Since I had previously experienced those kinds of attacks, I now found the situation surrounding Kalpiz Bir’s stronghold not as frightening.

Another reason for the lack of that penetrating and debilitating fear was my acceptance of the possibility that my life was coming to an