Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2000 17:22:36 BST From: Ad . Subject: The Project Chapter 6 - Boy Bands Section Chapter six: Well, we're getting into it now. I don't know how long this story will go on for, it's got a few more chapters left in it yet though! Again, thanks to everyone who has emailed me, it's always greatly appreciated, and thanks to those who have given this story a quick proof for me. I'll keep this intro short anyway and let you get on with the reading! Legal, don't read if it is illegal to do so in your country. This story is fictional and implies nothing about any of the characters involved, real of fictional. "Come on Justin, what you waiting for?" Chris shouted as they were standing in the lift to go to their floor, while Justin was just looking round the lobby. "Oh, sorry Chris. I was just out of it there for a second I suppose." Justin said as he walked into the lift, and they pressed the button for the 6th floor where they were staying. They'd go 3 large suite rooms booked for the guys, and two twin rooms for the entourage on the floor below. They'd drawn straws on who hared with who, and Justin ended up by himself, which he was satisfied with. He wasn't certain why, but he felt as if he really wanted to go and talk to Owen again, but felt it was unlikely. He hadn't seen a sign of him yet, he probably wasn't even here. Chris passed him the keycard to his room as they left the lift, and Justin entered the room, his travel bag already standing up just by the door. Justin picked it up and laid it on the bed, undoing the padlock with the key he had in his pocket, and quickly unpacking some stuff. He hung up a change of clothes for Sunday in the cupboard and took out some more for that night, before pulling out a white cotton tee-shirt and a pair of baby blue boxer shorts and leaving them on the bed. He sat down on the bed for a seconds for a quick rest, before heading into the bathroom to have a wash before going downstairs for dinner. The guys had jointly elected to go and hit some clubs for the evening, and have some dinner while they were at it. Half an hour later everyone was back in the lift heading down to the ground floor, along with one of their security guys. They'd booked a stretch limo for the night, and found it waiting outside the entrance to the hotel for them. Timewise, it was just after 9:15 now, giving them a few hours to have some fun. Owen had only just learnt that they were going clubbing. He'd been expecting them to go to bed early, but of course the 5 hour time difference from New York made certain they wouldn't be tired at 9 o'clock. He had quickly changed into a pair of jeans, removed the tie, and put on another dark blue shirt, and headed down to his car. The limo had no bugs on it, no one even knew about it, it was a last minute decision to book it. He had to make sure he followed the limo, since he would have no idea where they would be going. "Where to gentlemen?" The limo driver asked as they were getting into the car. "We don't know London very well, just a good night club." "Ok, let's see where we can find you." He said, pulling out from the Hotel's entrance. Owen pulled out a few seconds later from the carpark, and followed behind them. After about 20 minutes of manoeuvring through the still busy streets of central London, the limo pulled up in the front of a large night-club, a shortish queue formed at the door. The five guys inside the limo found the faces of those in the queue very amusing, as they were waiting to see who was getting out the limo. Owen glanced around, trying to find where to leave the car. He saw the carpark signs further down the street and pulled in the carpark, pulling into the first place he came across and joining the queue. He couldn't think of any way he could jump the queue really without causing an incident, so he just waited his turn, well, he'd try it at least for a few minutes anyway. Fortunately for him, they were quickly working through. He made it in the club only five minutes after the guys jumped queue and went in. Now he just had to make sure he wasn't going to be seen. He quickly looked around, but couldn't initially see them. After a few seconds, he noticed Chris and Joey at the bar ordering drinks, and followed them back to a table where they were sitting. He quickly made his way to the other side of the large club, not paying any attention to the music. "Hi cutie." Someone said, taking Owen's attention from what he was looking at on the display he was seeing on his glasses. "Hello ma'am." Owen said, giving a slight nod, this was all he needed, some woman trying to chat him up. "I'm afraid I'm a bit occupied right now though, I have some company." "I've not seen anyone at the table for the past half hour." She said, slipping down into the curved bench seat. "I'm sure you'd like some company." "I'm sure I'd rather not, no offense. I'm here on business. I work for a magazine, and we're currently doing a write up on London clubs." "A writer, now that sounds interesting." She said, edging closer still. "Yes, it is. Now, if you could excuse me, I have to head to the toilets." Owen said, quickly slipping out from the other side of the seats and walking over towards the toilets. In all honesty, he did actually have to go. He quickly walked over to where he saw the sign on the wall and slipped inside, heading into one of the cubicals. When he'd 'done the business', he walked out, over to the hand basins and turned to go. The door opened just as he walked to it though, and Justin walked in, his bodyguard behind him waiting outside the door. Justin quickly closed the door as he walked in "Hey, I didn't think you were here!" Justin said excitedly. "I'm really not very good at this not being seen thing. Oh well!" "Hey, I'm just good at finding you! By coincidence and luck anyway." "Well, you seem as if you wanted to see me?" "Yeah, I felt like talking to you, that's all." "Well, I suppose it won't be a problem, you can come up to my room at the hotel. 2nd floor, room 214. One thing, don't ask me about this or anything, but if I tell you to get out of here, get to my car or something, to all the guys this is, do it. Help the guys go along, but you must trust me. Ok?" "What are you going on about, what's going to happen?" "Nothing hopefully, but just trust me ok?" "Ok. If you want to talk, you can come up to my room I suppose, 214. This is most unorthodox though, if my commanding officer found out about this I'd be in deep deep trouble." "You could get in trouble for just talking to you?" "Yes, I could. My direct commander wouldn't bother, but a lot of people wouldn't like this. But hey, I like it, so who the hell cares. Now, I better go and you better get down to doing whatever you came in here to do." Owen said, walking out the bathroom and over to the bar. "Ginger ale please." "Ok sir, that'll be one twenty five." The barman replied, as Owen put a two pound coin down on the table. The barman poured the drink into a glass and returned with Owen's change before walking off. Owen glanced around, not seeing either the annoying woman from earlier, or the guys from NSync, so he stayed at the seat by the bar for a while. He noticed Chris approaching the bar, so Owen quickly and discreetly made an exit as he walked away in the opposite direction. 11:59pm: "Come on guys, we've been here for ages, it's time we got back to the hotel. The limo driver is only paid till 1am, so we better get going." Lance said, being the air of sensibility over the group. They all nodded in agreement, and made their way towards the exit of the club. Owen say them moving and quickly exited the club before they got to the exit, and walked over to his car. "Sir, quantum teleportation under effect, localising." "Put a tractor beam on the source, and track it's target destination." "Aye sir. We've got a lock. They're being held." The weapons officer paused for a few seconds. "The target was destroyed, the teleportation succeeded." "Where are they?" "We've got a general area. It is London, we're scanning the area now. 800 metres from the hotel sir, they must have located them." "Get me Coombs now! Send a boarding party to the ship. R&D will be happy at least." "They're down on the surface, near the hotel. Get them to a secure facility now!" "Yes sir." Owen replied. The car had already reached back to the hotel, and the limo had pulled into the underground parking lot. Owen quickly got out the car, leaving the engine running and lights on full, pulling right up next to the limo. Justin was just getting out the car. "Get in my car now, we're leaving!" Owen shouted authoritatively. "What the hell are you doing here!" JC shouted from in the car looking towards Owen. "Don't ask questions, there's no time. Get in my car now! I don't care how you fit, just do it!" Owen shouted, Justin ran towards my car and jumped into the passenger seat, but the others hesitated. "Just get in my car, trust me!" "Come on , just do it! Here's trying to help us, trust him!" Justin said trying to persuade the guys to get in the car. The bodyguard had been held back by Lance, who told him to stay where he was.. Owen's attention was diverted to two figures standing at the entrance to the garage though. Owen turned his head, and instantly realised who they were. "Too late." Owen whispered, but still everyone heard him in the complete silence. "Get in the car. Drive, go to MI5 headquarters. There's a voice activated GPS system, it'll direct you. Just drive." Owen said quietly to Justin, while all the guys ran over to the car. Owen pulled his gun, this time fully loaded this time. He aimed at the figure and went to fire, but suddenly found himself flying through the air. Justin watched as Owen took aim, but saw him flung across the garage like a rag doll, hitting the ground about 20 meters from where he was standing, but no one even touched him. All the guys had piled in the car, and Justin had edged over to the drivers seat. He shifted the car into drive and floored the accelerator, running into the two figures at the entrance. The car stopped on a hair's width just inches from the two figures, throwing all the guys out their seats. Justin and Lance sitting in the front were thrown into the windscreen, the airbag having little effect without any seatbelts. At least the car wasn't going to fast. Owen was trying to pull himself up, but couldn't feel his legs. The gun was still in his hand, so he pointed and fired several shots off from his gun, but instead of hitting them, they all seemed to divert on their course and fly straight by. The figures, unfazed and unhindered walked over to the car, looking through the window. Owen saw the guys bodyguard trying to sneak up behind them, but he suffered the same fate as Owen, being flung back, but apparently fatally, Owen hearing a loud crack as he hit the far wall, slipping down, his neck twisted at an unnatural angle. This wasn't turning out quite the way he had hoped. Owen pulled the other weapon out his pocket, and aimed at the figures, pressing a small button on the top. Nothing happened for a second, but suddenly he seemed to disappear in a small flash of light, with a lot of heat hitting the front of Owen's face. Before he had chance to aim at the other one, the weapon flew out his hand, smashing against the opposite wall of the parking lot. The remaining figure glared at him a second, before continuing on to his target. Now it was his turn, pulling out a small device, clipping it onto the car before walking off. A few seconds later, a bright flash of light came from the car, blinding him before he felt the massive explosion, and then everything stopped. Owen jumped up from his chair, breathing heavily, sweat streaming down his face. He was in his hotel room, he'd dreamt everything. He heard a knock on the door again, and walked over to it. Glancing through the spy hole he saw Justin on the other side, so opened the door. "God, what's happened to you, you're sweating like hell." "Just had a little bit of a bad dream I guess." "Your shirt is soaked. What was it about?" "Nothing, just a bad dream don't worry about it." Owen replied, wiping his brow again. Justin was right though, his shirt was soaking wet with sweat. "Will you excuse me while I just go have a quick wash?" "Sure, I'll just wait here." Justin said while Owen walked into the bathroom, half shutting the door behind him. "What did you mean earlier?" Justin said, standing the other side of the door. "It's just me being over cautious, don't worry about it." "You were serious earlier, what do you think is going to happen to us?" "Nothing, trust me." Owen replied, before the sound of the shower came on. Justin walked from the door and sat down on the bed, waiting for Owen to come back out. He suddenly realised Owen hadn't taken anything into the bathroom with him, then noticed the clothes on the bed, a slight smile crossing across his face for a second. Justin picked up a book lying on the bedside table, 'The Elegant Universe.', and quickly flicked through the pages. "Make any sense?" Owen said walking out the bathroom, a towel wrapped round his waste. "Not really, to you?" "Not last time I checked. It's an interesting theory though. Basically, neither relativity theory or quantum theory can both be correct, and in all likely hood, neither of them are completely. String theory is one of the possible forerunners for the all encompasing theory, but it's not all there yet. Stephen Hawking estimates it'll be at leas till 2010." "You know a bit about this sort of stuff then?" "A little. I find it interesting, and I've done a bit of research into quantum theory in my spare time. I've not really looked into string theory though, that's the first book I've picked up on the topic. An interesting theory though, makes for some light reading." "Light reading! That's what you call it." "Yes, the big book is the more interesting one, that isn't closed over quite as much with niceties, and more hard data." Owen said. "I've got one at home called the, 'String Theory: An introduction to the Bosonic String.' " "Hmmm... sounds interesting." "If you say so. It's been sitting on my bookcase for two months. I read this one on the plane flight over. Now, what did you want to see me for?" "I don't know, I guess I just wanted some company." "Ah, some company. You'll get some in a minute as soon as I get changed!" Owen said, picking up the tee shirt and boxers off the bed and walking back into the bathroom. He came out a few minutes later, and picked up a dressing gown off the rail and slipped it on. "Ok then, you've got some company, now what do you want to talk about?" "How did you know you were gay?" "Weird question. I don't know, it was just one of those feelings. I've realised for years, I must have been 11 or 12 when I first started considering other guys attractive, and I can never see anything in girls. I know when a woman is attractive, but I'm just not attracted to them. With guys however, I am. I used to go through internet pages, hell, I've looked at some about you before." "So you never really had much question?" "No, not really, I just knew." "Ok." "Why do you ask?" "I was just wondering, that's all." "Ok then. That's fine." "Have you ever, well, you know..." "No, I've never had sex." "You're a curious one aren't you. You can ask away if you want anyway." "I'm sorry anyway. Do you have anything to eat?" "Not in. There's a MacDonalds just down the road though, but I expect it'll be closed by now. Do they do 24 hour things yet? I can't really leave the others though. There's some liquor and beer in the minibar though, but they appeared to have missed the non-alcoholic drinks." "Ok, no problem. What's in there?" "Take a look and take what you want. I'm not paying the hotel bill." Owen said, while Justin walked over to the minibar and looked through, but closing the door. "I've already had a couple of beers out, I suppose I shouldn't have anymore." "I'm not a drinker myself, usually doesn't go with the job anyway." "I guess. Well, what do you mean about listen to you if you tell us to do something, and then saying how you can't leave us. What are you afraid is going to happen to us?" "I can't tell you, I wish I could. Just trust me though, don't question my decisions, don't hesitate. There are things happening here which in all honesty, with no offence, you can't even comprehend right now. This goes far beyond me, far beyond virtually everyone. Right now, you represent some of the most important people to the organisation I work for. Eventually, when the time is right, you'll be informed a little more about what is happening, but not yet. Just trust me." "I trust you. I don't like everything going on here, but I trust you." "Thank you. That helps me out." Owen said, but was interrupted by the ringing of the mobile phone. He picked it up and pressed the call button. "Mr Coombs, this is Mr. Paton. The director is on his way to talk to you. He says Justin can stay where he is, it doesn't matter. He's coming to brief you about the aliens in person, and to give you some special equipment." "In person? You know him better than I do, this is very unusual isn't it?" "I've never seen him do this before. Anyway, he left about five minutes ago, so he should be with you soon." "And how does he know about thingy?" "Don't ask, he's been keeping close tabs on you, but he's not worried at all." "Thanks Mr. Paton. Do you have a first name by the way?" "I can't seem to remember it, doesn't get used much." He said laughing. "Bye Mr. Coombs." "What was that about?" Justin asked curiously. "Remember that guy you met on the plane?" "What the old guy in a suit." "Yeah, that's the one. You're about to meet him again." "Who is he?" Justin asked. Owen leaned close to Justin's ear to whisper, so no one could hear them. "The most powerful man in the world probably, and my Dad, at least in genetics." "Why are you whispering?" "Because he has a weird habit of hearing things. I never told you that. That was his number two, just giving me a warning, and saying any company I have can stay." "Why's he coming?" "Good question. He wants to brief me on the situation I think, but it's most unusual." "Unusual, it's nice being unusual once in a while." The voice of the director came from the doorway. "Hello Sir." Owen said standing up, nodding at the man at the doorway. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend Mr. Coombs?" "Of course sir, this is Justin Timberlake, Justin this is er..." "Edwards, Adam Edwards. Pleasure to meet you Mr. Timberlake. Would you mind possibly leaving us for a second while I talk to Mr. Coombs?" "Sure. One thing though, aren't you the guy who took us from the plane?" "That would be me. If you could excuse us a second?" Adam replied, this time however with more authority in his voice. Justin walked out the room, pulling the door shut behind him. "Ok Owen, how about I tell you why I'm here?" "Yes, that would be a good idea." "I'm sure it would. I'm the only person to have seen one of these things face to face. We've developed technology to block energy weapons, I've got some stuff for you on that front, we've got some advanced energy weapons." "And?" "They're a telepathic species, not so much as mind control, to a degree thought reading of others, but mainly telekinesis." "Strong?" "As far as we're aware, they have differing abilities, some are extremely strong, others can just about move a chess piece. I learnt in my first encounter of them almost thirty years ago, that bullets do little against strong telepaths. I fired six shots straight at it, and all the bullets just stopped dead and fell to the ground. If you even have wind of their arrival, don't even wait, go straight for the headquarters and get them back to our facility. We can protect them there properly." "And what about telling them of our true aims?" "I've been thinking about that. The board would heavily disagree with my decision, but I'm in charge here, not them. If you consider it necessary, inform them, but only as much is necessary each time. It could be helpful for them to do as you say, if they're scared to death of what might happen they might be more likely to obey?" "I'm scared to death, so I dread to think what they'll think." "I can understand that, I used to be scared of half the stuff I knew." "But not anymore?" "No, I don't feel much at all anymore really." "Hmmm... why am I not surprised. Oh yes, those past 18 or so years where I barely ever saw you because you didn't care about me." "I cared, I still do." "You have a bloody weird way of showing it then." "We can talk about this at a later time Owen. Let's deal with the situation at hand." The director, now apparently known as Adam, put the briefcase he was caring down on the table and opened it. "Would you like Justin to get a bit more clued up on what's going on? You're in charge." "I don't think normally I have the authority to make such a decision. I personally think he can be trusted, but we don't reveal information to civilians in normal circumstances, but this is far from normal." "Invite him in. Let's show him exactly what kind of mess he's in." Owen walked out the room and saw Justin pacing up and down the corridor. "Hey. He told me to invite you back in. If you come in, you'll learn more than you ever thought possible, you will be informed about the whole situation you were involved in, and you will have to live with this information for the rest of your life. You can never tell another living soul, not even your band mates yet. If you think you can do this, walk in the room. If not, keep pacing." "Wow, that sounds serious. Should I go in?" "Can you keep probably the biggest secret in existance from your friends? It probably won't be for long, you'll all find out eventually, but for the time being." "Yeah, I've kept a pretty big thing..." Justin said trailing off, before following Owen back into the room. "Hello Mr. Timberlake. As I said, my name is Adam John Edwards, I'm the head of the International Security Council, the ISC. It was set up quite a while back to deal with the alien threat to Earth. We are at war with an alien species called the Kulmari, we have been for about ten years now. It's too long to explain how it started, but it did. Basically on your flight a few days ago from England to New York, you were abducted by aliens, and had computer data stored in your brains. You're very important to us, as this data might serve to sway the way this war is going in our favour for the first time. Right now, we are several years behind the Kulmari in our technology, they are more advanced than us in almost every field. We are almost equal on weapons technology now, but beyond that we're outmatched hands down. The Kulmari currently have a cloaked ship in the system as far as we are aware, and their mission will be to kill you most probably. Owen's job is to protect you to the best of his ability." Adam just waited, seeing the stunned look on Justin's face. "Now you know some of the stuff I do anyway. Anything to say?" Owen asked, a little bit hesitant. "Wow. I see what you mean about big secret. Wow. You're not just kidding me are you?" "No Mr.Timberlake, there are no jokes here. This is as serious as it gets, and right now you have been inadvertently dumped into the middle of it." "Why us?" "We're not completely certain yet, possibly because you were five guys who would be sticking together, making it easier for us to protect you. It seems unlikely that you all had some other trait that could make it possible for them to complete the data transfer." "What's going to happen to us?" "As we said, a ship is currently in orbit attempting to find you, and they will do eventually, it's just a matter of time. Could be minutes, could be days or weeks. It depends on how much information they already knew. We will keep you safe, be rest assured of that, you are the most important people in existence to our organisation right now. Our final aim is to figure out how to extract the information imbedded in your brains." "You don't know how to do that yet then?" "No we do not. As best as we can tell, the data is stored on a quantum basis on your memory engrams." "Er... ok." Justin said, taking a seat for a second. "What happens now?" "Well, I'm going to offer you the chance of letting Owen continue to do his best to protect you here, or to come back to the ISC command centre and be taken into protective custody for the next day or so. With you safe it might be possible to take more aggressive action than what we are currently doing. We won't force you though. Obviously this is something that will have to be discussed with the whole group." "Are we safe staying like we are now?" "We cannot 100% guarantee your safety if you stay here, it's not as easy to protect you like this in all honesty." "Can you tell this to the rest of the guys?" "Yes, we can. Revealing this kind of information is not standard procedure, as you realise it can't be discussed with anyone, and even if you did I doubt they would believe you." "Ok, let's talk this over with the guys." "It's not late, it's now only 1:10am. Justin, go wake them up, tell them it's urgent. We'll all meet in your room downstairs." Owen said, Justin sitting up and walking out the door to go and wake the guys up. "Couldn't you have told me what you planned?" "You never asked. You didn't think I was just going to tell him for his general information did you?" "No, I suppose I didn't. What's in the case?" "Some stuff to substantiate my claims if more impact was needed, but I think the general idea was conveyed. Come on, let's get up to his room. I think we'll have some guests at the ISC command." "That could be interesting, what are we going to do with them?" "You might as well give them a tour I suppose. We're going to inform them on whatever they like. They have been dumped into the thick of this, they have some right to know I suppose, and if they know the little they need to know, they might as well know whatever they want with reasonable grounds." "What brought on this change of heart?" "We had a meeting of the top brass this evening, just before I came to see you. We concluded this would be the best way to proceed, the final idea being to erase their memories again." "Again? What, of everything?" "Yes, including ever meeting you. They'll remember everything perfectly, except we won't be involved at all." "Oh. I suppose that's reasonable. Let's go anyway." Owen said, walking out the room and to the elevator. "What the hell have you got us up for Justin, what's so important we all needed to come here immediately." "That would be what I'm about to tell you gentlemen." Adam said as he entered the room, followed by Owen. "What the hell are you doing here!" JC said to Owen, before looking at Adam. "And aren't you the guy off the plane?" "Yes I am. We've just informed Justin of some information, and now it's time to inform you." ********************** End of chapter six Well, that's that one out the way, c7 should be out shortly. Tell me what you think as always, your opinions are greatly appreciated. Email trekster2@hotmail.com or trekkiead@yahoo.com as always. Ad.