The Ultimate Vengeance Part 3



	"Dr. Mitsuma, thank you for coming to the states on such short

notice." replied Julia.  "With the help of the Rachel program developed by

Dr. Quest, combined with this latest Japanese invention, we can bring

Jeremiah's mind back into reality, and make his body whole." 

	"What I do not understand, Julia, is why you don't go back before

his accident occurred." replied Dr. Mitsuma. 

	"History would be changed too much." answered Julia. "And we don't

want things changed too much, now do we? Especially with still do much

work to do..." 

	"I see your point." agreed Dr. Mitsuma. "When do you want to

start?" 

	"No time like the present.  We'll go into Questworld in stealth

mode through a backdoor, enter spy mode to see if anyone's logged on,

disable security, and go from there." 

	Julia then put on a console, and after Dr. Mitsuma got familiar

with the program, snuck her into Questworld.  After seeing that no one was

on, Julia disabled security and continued on with the program. 



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	"Your anger has made us evenly matched, Doctor," said Surd as he

grew larger and grew six arms simultaneously, pinning virtual Benton to

the ground in Jessie's subconscious, while Surd was getting ready to take

a circular blade to Benton's throat. 

	"Nooooooooooooooo!" shouted Benton, attempting to resist. 

	"Hahahahaha! As you said, this ends now, Quest!" 

	"I don't think so!" shouted Jessie as she grew large and picked

Surd up by one arm and ripped off the blade. 

	"Nooo! How did you--" 

	"This is my head, you sicko!  Figure it out!" 

	"Noooo!" 

	Jessie was getting ready to throw Surd into a vortex, when all of

a sudden, he disappeared. 

	Jessie shrunk and took Benton and Jonny back out. 

	"Hadji, bring us home." 

	"With pleasure." 

	"Jessie, please..." pleaded Race. 

	"Hey, Jess-- come on, wake up!" prompted Jonny as the console was

taken off Jessie's temple. 

	"Does anyone have an aspirin?" asked Jessie, opening one eye. 



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	From that point, Surd was pulled from Questworld in the nick of

time, and all made their escape before police could find them. 

	"And somehow, I was able to remember everything.  I thought that

once we brought you back, the time line would have been totally altered,

but instead I have two sets of memories-- what happened the first time,

and that which happened after Dr. Mitsuma and I retrieved you." explained

Julia. 

	"The nature of time travel and its effect on minds is not fully

known." replied Surd.  "However, it is good things did not change, or

else the good doctor most likely would not be here to restore me, and my

revenge would not have a chance to be completed." 



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	The events and minds of those on the Quest compound remained

unchanged, save the fact that following Jessie's ordeal, Jeremiah

disappeared and hadn't been heard from since. 

	Moniri and Miana still weren't up yet, and Hadji went to the

lighthouse with Benton to keep his troubled mind occupied. 

	"Dr. Quest--" 

	"Yes, Hadji?" 

	"There are signs of tampering in the system.  It looks as if there

was a transmission a few days ago, but whoever did it covered their tracks

well.  There is no way to tell exactly when, who did it, what was

transmitted, or to where the transmission went." 

	"Any other signs of illegal entry?" 

	"None, Dr. Quest." 

	"I'll have to look into this more closely-- meanwhile, tighten

security." 

	"Yes, Dr. Quest." 



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	"Jeremiah, I have been doing some research into other goings-on in

Questworld, and I think you may find this interesting." 

	"Yes, Julia?  What is it?" 

	"The first use if the Rachel program was used by the Quests to

stop one Ezekiel Rage from splitting the Earth apart using a nuclear bomb

he dropped two miles beneath the surface seven days prior.  He chased the

Quest kids back into the time corridor to retrieve the bomb before it

went off, only to go through the wrong corridor and end up 60 million

years in the past.  He was never seen again." 

	"Ezekiel Rage-- yes, I have heard of him.  His mind is as dark and

devious as mine!  And what an irony to save him, using the same technology

that doomed him to begin with... But all in good time, Julia.  The good

doctor here has some work to do first." 

 

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	Miana and Moniri came down late in the afternoon.  Hadji had left

Benton in the lighthouse, and Race took Benny out for the day.  Jessie was

at work.  The only other person in the house was Jonny, and he fell asleep

on the couch for lack of anything better to do. 

	Hadji sat down with a book when Miana and Moniri walked into the

room. 

	"Miana..." 

	"I have nothing to say to you, Hadji." 

	"Miana, I am so sorry-- I had no idea..." 

	"You were standing there in the dark, with my practically naked

sister..." 

	"Love, I had no idea what was going on all this time until this

last incident happened!  You have to believe me!" 

	"Hadji, she had you against the wall!  A second later, and your

loincloth would've hit the floor!" 

	"I would not have allowed that." 

	"You almost did." 

	Moniri saw the pleading look in Hadji's eyes. 

	"Miana, a moment please." 

	Moniri pulled Miana into the kitchen. 

	"Miana, he's sincere.  Can't you see it in his eyes?  He honestly

didn't know!  Also, how do we know Mica didn't plan this?" 

	"You're right, Min.  She could have, but Hadji never offered any

resistance, either.  I find it hard to believe, even with his chaste past,

that her advances totally escaped him all this time." 

	"Mi, cut him some slack!  I know you love him-- don't let your

pride destroy your marriage." 

	"I'll have to think it over." 

	Miana left the kitchen and went back up to her room. 



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	Dr. Mitsuma had finished adjusting the machinery he had brought

with him to restore Surd's body.  He opened Surd's chair, and layed him in

a compartment in the large box-shaped machine.  A lid closed over him,

much like a tanning bed, only this was open from the chin up. 

	"Dr. Surd, this machine uses electricity to stimulate the nerves

in your body to regenerate.  Your body will be surrounded by a magnetic

field, and when the two interact, it should accelerate the healing

process.  However, don't expect immediate results, as you will have to

retrain your muscles to do everything you used to do before.  In the

meantime, you will have to use electrobraces." 

	"Just get on with it, Mitsuma!" screamed Surd. 

	Dr. Mitsuma closed the lid, and turned on the machine.  The

apparatus glowed with an electric blue as they heard screams emanating

from the machine.  A few minutes later, they opened the lid to discover

the process had worked.  He was very weak from atrophied muscles, but he

could move.  Dr. Mitsuma helped him into a conventional wheelchair, and

fitted him with braces that delivered and electric charge to his muscles

that would aid in his physical therapy.  After they were on and

activated, with the help of Dr. Mitsuma and Lorenzo, he stood on his feet

for the first time in twenty years. 

	Surd shook them away, and even though he was unsteady, he insisted

on standing by himself.  He managed to get his balance, turned around, and

regarded them. 

	"I intend to be free of these braces inside of six months.  During

this time, we are going to go back in time and retrieve Ezekiel Rage, and

together, we will get the ultimate vengeance-- first on the Quests, and

then on the world!" proclaimed Surd, with clenched fist in the air. 



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	Hadji was in meditation in his attic studio.  He saw a vision of a

restored Jeremiah Surd around a table with Julia, Lorenzo, and a Japanese

doctor.  Then, a flash, and Ezekiel Rage was with them. 

	"Oh, this is not good!" exclaimed Hadji to himself.  "Jonny!" 

	Everyone in the house heard Hadji's screams, and they all ran into

the living room as Hadji came bounding down the steps. 

	Miana looked dead into Hadji's eyes as he passed by.  He motioned

them all to sit down, then told everyone what he saw. 

	"So, you say you saw Surd and Rage working together." confirmed

Jonny. 

	"Exactly." answered Hadji. 

	Miana and Moniri looked at each other. 

	"Ladies, all this happened years ago, when Hadji and I were

teenagers.  Life here now is pretty quiet, but it wasn't always that way--

especially back then.  Our lives are about to get more interesting, and

you ladies are about to get a taste of it." 

	"Good!  We could use some adventure!" exclaimed Moniri. 

	"Speak for yourself." muttered Miana, who was still upset, even

though many days had passed. 

	"Waaaait a minute-- in order for them to work together, and in

order for Surd to have his mind back... they had and will have to use..." 

	"Questworld." finished Hadji.  "A few days ago, our system

showed..." 

	"Mica!" exclaimed the girls in unison. 

	Benton, Jessie, and Race same into the room after after some time

out on the Questor, and noticed the grave looks on everyone's faces. 

	"By the looks on your faces, it looks as if something serious has

come up."  observed Benton. 

	"It has, dad.  Have a seat-- Hadji will tell you all about it." 

	Hadji then explained the situation.

	"A few days ago, Jessie handed me a report that she had come up

with on Mica, and apologized for the delay, as she hadn't had time to get

it to me when everything was going on." said Benton as he produced the

paper.  "Jessie first went into local records .  Somehow those records

were falsified, but when Jessie got the story from Commander Bennett,

Mica's story sang a whole different tune." 

	"What does the report say?" asked Jonny. 

	"Mica was educated in computers from Oxford, but she was not

married to English nobility.  She was involved with a man named Thurston,

but in criminal activities.  She has done everything from drug trafficking

to espionage." 

	Benton passed around the report for all to examine. 

	"I wonder who Mica was working for all that time..."asked Race. 

	"My guess would've been Julia." answered Jonny.  "I did some

research on her a while back, and she has quite a past-- and a lot of

connections." 

	"I wonder what she sees in that guy..." muttered Race. 

	"Well, it can be assumed that Surd has probably regained use of

his mind and body by now.  But how..." started Benton, then his eyes grew

wide.  "RACHEL!!!!" 

	"Oh, my God..." whispered Jessie, as mouths dropped around the

room. 

	"Rachel?" asked Moniri. 

	"A time travel program developed by Dr. Quest." answered Hadji. 

	"Regained the use of his mind?" asked Jessie. 

	"Wait a minute-- there are conflicting memories here." started

Race.  "Jessie, you banished Surd's mind into Questworld following that

incident in which he tried--" 

	"But he was pulled out of Questworld before I could finish it!"

explained Jessie. 

	"Interesting!" observed Benton.  "We are experiencing the

overlapping of two timelines-- what happened before, paired with what

happened following Mica's tampering-- which is theoretically impossible!" 

	"With all due respects, Benton-- we haven't time to analyze this.

We have to stop them before they use the program again to go after Rage!"

exclaimed Race.