Chapter 17: Chapter 16 – Investigating The Outer Burst Anomaly

Outside in the barn, Chad was operating a pitchfork to scrape up the scattered hay and bundled them in an orderly manner. While he was doing this, a cattle escape from the broken portion of the fence and was on its way outside.

“Hey, get back here.” Chad chased the cattle outside. He caught up with it close to where he had parked the tractor. “I got you, you sneaky cheese maker. Get back in there.”

Leading the escaped cattle back into the barn, Chad’s ear picked up on a series of engines rumbling and turned his head to identify its source. He noticed over 6 black vehicles driving up the hill along the road that led to the main entrance of the ranch.

“What the hell is all this? The plates on those vehicles are government-issued.” Chad was quick to notice this fine detail. However, he still wasn’t aware of what those people have come to his ranch for, so he decided to go to the front yard to meet them. Before heading there, he hurriedly tied the cattle to the tracker to prevent it from straying.

The operator of the lead vehicle pulled over on the gravel-filled driveway. Sherlock was in that vehicle with a team of CRC agents. The driver asked him, “Is this the right place?”

An agent who had a scanning device in his hands answered affirmatively. “It is. The QRT Scanners are picking up a strong signal over there by that barn.”

The driver looked through the window and saw Chad coming over. “A young man is coming towards us.”

Sherlock saw him and said, “He’s probably the Berkleys’ son. I’ll go talk to him first.” He stepped outside with a neat briefcase in his hand.

The agents waited until Sherlock came out of the lead vehicle before they all open their doors and exited their respective vehicles.

“So many…” At first glance, Chad counted over 30 people armed with weapons and carrying strange devices populating his driveway. A part of him was nervous but he decided to act bravely, so these strangers wouldn’t think of him as a pushover.

Chad stuck his pitchfork into the ground and said boldly, “Hey, what’s with all these people showing up here? I didn’t know I was throwing a party and if I did, I wouldn’t invite strangers.”

Sherlock heard what he said and approached him while signalling to the others to go to the barn. “You must be, Chad Berkley.”

“I am.” Chad became suspicious. “How do you know my name?”

“I am an old-time friend of your parents. Sherlock Urchard. Probably you’ve heard of me.”

Chad blatantly replied. “No, I haven’t.” He noticed the 30-something people rushing towards the barn and shouted, “Hey, where are they going? This is private property you can’t just barge in here and do whatever the hell you want!”

Chad was upset that his authority was being undermined. Although he called out to them, the CRC agents didn’t stop moving toward the barn.

Identifying Chad's miffed persona, Sherlock tried his best to clarify, “You don’t have to be concerned about those men. We’re not here to confiscate your farm or anything of the sort.”

You are reading story The Siblings Who Swallowed The Moon at novel35.com

“Then why the heck are you here?”

Sherlock didn’t want to divulge sensitive information to some youth so he avoided the question by asking, “Are your parents inside?”

“They aren’t here.” Chad picked back up his pitchfork and glared at Sherlock threateningly. “Now tell me why are you people ransacking my barn, otherwise, I will be forced to call the cops.”

Sherlock weight his option then spoke, “It seems I have no other choice but to tell you. You might also be able to help us out. Walk with me, young man.”

Chad walked with Sherlock towards the barn while listening to what he had to say. “We are researchers affiliated with the Cronus Research Centre. I’m sure you’ve heard about our recent project that has been leaked online.”

Chad remembered reading something about the CRC. “You are the guys who are wasting billions of dollars trying to build an impossible time machine when that money could be better spent to help the needy.”

Sherlock responded, “I don’t agree with the way you phrase your statement. Just think of the possibilities of what this would mean for our species. The essence of creation could be at our fingertips. Our research will be valuable to all of mankind. And we may have located the breakthrough we needed to make it all a reality.”

Chad inquired, “What breakthrough are you going on about?”

Sherlock explained, “Approximately an hour and 40 minutes ago our sophisticated quantum automated scanners detected an Outer Burst anomaly occurring right at this spot.” They were standing at the barn entrance where some CRC agents were searching with their laser scanners.

“You may not comprehend the technical jargon that I’m phrasing, so to put it simply, we strongly believe that a portal connected to an alternate timeline has briefly appeared here. We’ve recorded a bizarre seismic reading that lasted only a few seconds, perhaps you felt it?”

“Hm?” Processing all the information that was conveyed to him, Chad’s intuition began to operate in overdrive. ‘So that earthquake wasn’t normal? And the loud explosion I heard wasn’t my imagination. If what this man is saying is true, then Silvia and her brother might be from a separate dimension?’ He began doubting himself, ‘Is such a thing even possible? But that might explain their weird appearance and how they mysteriously appeared in my barn dressed in those unusual rags.’

Deep in thought, Chad directed his sight to his house where the Vaud siblings were currently enjoying their aromatic shower. He was vacillating between exposing Silvia and Amich and keeping their presence hidden from the CRC agents.

 

 

 

You can find story with these keywords: The Siblings Who Swallowed The Moon, Read The Siblings Who Swallowed The Moon, The Siblings Who Swallowed The Moon novel, The Siblings Who Swallowed The Moon book, The Siblings Who Swallowed The Moon story, The Siblings Who Swallowed The Moon full, The Siblings Who Swallowed The Moon Latest Chapter