The Quantum Prophecy - Ryan Matthew Harker (best management books of all time TXT) 📗

tomorrow will be spent in a last minute organization effort and by early tomorrow night things will be settled tremendously.”
“Good,” Max grumbled and took another swallow from his mug.
Jeshux sipped his own cup and then stated, “I won’t be here for all of that.” McAriicoys raised his eyebrows slightly and Jeshux continued. “I’ve just decided that all of these operations can be taken care of without me. Tomorrow I’m going to take a small team through the Harashna. Once back on AnEerth we’ll proceed directly to the palace in Dirsellia and make our report to King Zakeriah.”
McAriicoys began to stand. “I’ll begin preparations at once!”
“No, no. Sit down,” Jeshux waved the man back to his seat. “I require you to remain here, old friend. I need someone whom I can trust to oversee the remainder of our operations here.”
“Yes, very good because I am going to come with you,” Max interjected from left field.
“What!” Jeshux sputtered and choked on his coffee. “No way! Out of the question!”
“And why is that?” Max asked calmly.
“Because I need you to remain here to operate all of your equipment and monitor the Harashna.”
“Baugh, nonsense,” Max waved a hand dismissively. “The man you supplied me with was more than quick in picking up the basics and just as apt in learning what’s needed to maintain an acceptable watch over the wormhole. I hereby certify him in Quantum Technologies!” The old man waved his mug in salute, inscribing a cross in the air.
“In less than a week!” Jeshux was incredulous.
“It’s really not that difficult.” Max yawned.
“And what of your own state of quantum being?” McAriicoys asked. He referred to the scientist’s past sixty years of exposure to the stasis effect generated by the wormhole’s existence. “Are you not worried about shriveling up more than you have already?”
“Ha, ha,” Max laughed dryly. “No actually, I’m not.”
“Why is that?” Jeshux leaned forward, curious.
“Because I’m immortal,” the wizened old man replied casually.
“What!” This time it was McAriicoys turn to sputter in his coffee.
“And how, pray tell, did you manage that?” Jeshux asked, a faint smile forming on his lips.
“Quite simple really. All I did was ask your man, the one that I was training, for a sample of his blood, for analysis of course. I was curious, having never encountered an immortal before and he was more than happy to comply with such an innocent request.” Max took a sip and realized his coffee was almost gone. Picking up his bottle of whiskey for a refill he continued. “Why, he was even willing to give me a detailed history of immortality on your world. This included, of course, the several methods by which an individual may obtain immortality. But even more curious, once I got the blood sample back to the lab I found your man, coincidentally, to be of the same blood type as me. And, well,” he spread his hands in a ‘what can you do’ gesture. “After that it just seemed like the natural thing to do.” Max took a long gulp from his mug.
“So you injected yourself with the sample,” Jeshux grimaced.
McAriicoys was shaking his head in disbelief, “You scandalous old rascal.”
Max just grinned and took another drink. “I’m not getting younger,” he stated. “Not that I’m getting any older either but you can’t expect me to want to hang around here for the rest of eternity, or however long, I've already been sitting around cooped up for over sixty years. I figure with you guys here and that youngster capable of handling my part, maybe I can get out of here for a while.”
“That youngster,” Jeshux corrected as he stood up to retire. “Is quite a few centuries older than you, old man. I can appreciate your tenacity though. We’re leaving at first light. Be ready!”

The next day dawned bright and clear. Jeshux stood in front of the Technicolor swirl that was the wormhole. Beside him were Max and McAriicoys. A picked team of a dozen of Jeshux best men were busy making last minute checks of their gear.
“You know what to do,” Jeshux was saying to McAriicoys. “After last night I want no avenue of approach left unguarded.”
“Of course, you can count on me,” McAriicoys said and gravely shook Jeshux hand.
And Jeshux knew that he could. After what had happened the previous night McAriicoys would take the security of their new base camp as a matter of honor.
It had only been a short while, two or three hours after Jeshux had finally gotten to sleep that he had been suddenly woken by the cacophony of sirens and claxon bells that accompanied anything’s passage through the wormhole. Within a minute he was out of bed, dressed, and storming into the hallway. Immediately he stumbled into one of his men running from the opposite direction.
“Sir, I was just coming to get you,” the winded man wheezed.
“What’s going on here? Who’s gone through the Harashna?” Jeshux demanded.
“I don’t know, sir! It’s just happened. Mr. Kimbal is already at the monitoring station. He spotted me and told me to send for you at once.”
For Death’s sake! Jeshux thought. As if I could’ve slept through that awful noise or not known what it meant and not gone to the monitoring station.
“Very good,” he yelled over the din of the alarms. “Come with me!” And then he set off down the hall at a fast trot, not waiting to see if the soldier followed.
Just as Jeshux reached the door of the monitoring station the noise stopped as suddenly as it had started. He threw the door open and stepped inside to be met by a glance from McAriicoys before he turned his attention back to the video monitors.
“What happened?” Jeshux growled.
“We’re uncertain sir,” McAriicoys responded. “Max is accessing playback from the digital systems now. We think it may have been a pack of goblins though.”
Goblins! Jeshux felt a shiver run down his spine and he gritted his teeth. Disgusting vermin. “How is that possible?” he demanded.
“Hold your horses!” Max snapped. “It should be coming on screen in just a moment.”
Then, as the three men watched, the monitors suddenly came to life showing half a dozen different approaches to the wormhole. After a few seconds of nothing three of the monitors began to show an iridescent shimmer. Suddenly, with a quick wink of silver, a pack of twenty foul and twisted creatures appeared in front of the wonderland portal between worlds.
“Damn,” Jeshux breathed. “Can we get audio?”
Max twisted a few dials and clack-clacked on the keyboard in front of him.
“Nope,” he said. “Something’s blocking the signal.”
“They must have a jammer,” McAriicoys observed.
As the creatures drew closer to the wormhole the better lighting revealed that they were indeed goblins but not all of them, only thirteen of them. There were also five werewolves of the common variety and surprisingly there were also two men. The men seemed to be leading the pack as they signaled the goblins and werewolves through before going through themselves. The last man, just before stepping into the vortex, turned directly towards one of the cameras, made an obscene hand gesture at it and then took the plunge.
“Why that son of a… !” exclaimed an outraged Max.
“They had invisibility cloaks,” Jeshux groaned. “No wonder my men didn’t see them.”
“Don’t let it worry you,” McAriicoys put his hand on his friends shoulder. “There’s no way we could have anticipated this infiltration.”
“You’re right, of course,” Jeshux conceded. “Still, I want a full perimeter lockdown, infrared, ultraviolet, subsonic, the works- nothing in, nothing out. At least until I’m back or you hear otherwise! Any message I send you will be standard double encryption. Anything less or more and you stay put. You hear?”
McAriicoys shot to attention. “Yes sir!”
“Good. Now get to it!”
With a sharp salute McAriicoys turned and strode from the room. Max was replaying the short video again. Jeshux stood silently and watched it with him. “No more sleep tonight,” the little man sighed.
“Nope, you better get your stuff together scientist. The sooner we leave the better.” Jeshux turned to leave. “And don’t forget to put your replacement on watch!”
Jeshux let the door slam shut behind him. The soldier that had followed him was still in the hall. “Go and inform the crossover team to get ready, double time!” Jeshux ordered him.
As the other man ran off to fulfill his orders Jeshux stared after him. Damn! Not even settled into their new camp yet and the enemy had already managed to infiltrate. He must be getting sloppy in his old age. No, McAriicoys had been right, there was not any way they could have foreseen this turn of events. Still though, it rankled. What did this sudden penetration of the Harashna by Harmony’s forces mean? Was it coincidence or was it an indication that the other side had knowledge of Candlelite. There was just too much that he did not know to be making all this pointless conjecture. With a shake of his head he had turned towards his own accommodations to prepare for the journey home.
And now, barely four hours later, he was again speaking with McAriicoys. “One more thing old friend, I think it’s time to gain some intelligence on Harmony and his doings. I’ll leave all of the details to you but I want a team assembled and deployed by the end of the day. I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone but I hope to have a full report by the time I get back. Understood?”
“Again sir,” McAriicoys saluted his friend. “You can count on me.”
“I know I can.” Jeshux turned to his waiting men. “Alright men four rows of three, a row at a time. Let’s move out!” As the men formed rank and went through the wormhole Jeshux grabbed Max. “Okay scientist, if you’re ready we’ll go through together.”
Max seemed a bit uneasy but he smiled. “As ready as I’ll ever be. Let’s do it.”
Just behind the fourth string, Jeshux and the old man stepped through the vortex.

*****

The names of the men who approached the huge gates of Dirsellia were Dan and Dave. They had been normal boys, born during the time of ‘The Great Oppression’ as the commoners called the reign of Harmony. By the time they were sixteen and seventeen years old their poverty stricken parents sold them into bondage. They were purchased by one of the many goblin slave establishments that had been developed at the Lord Harmony’s request. Their parents had loved their children, of that there was little doubt but under the strain of such hard times they had had little choice but to sacrifice the ones they loved most. And both Dan and Dave harbored their parents no ill will. They were well aware of the conditions under which their society survived and although they were scared and not entirely willing, they had gone to their fate without much struggle.
Since that moment the years passed with the infinite slowness and putridity of a slug. The boys had turned to men and after toiling strenuously without rest they had both hardened and turned cold. This was an inevitable effect of closely living and dealing with goblins on a regular basis. It was also an effect Harmony wished to cultivate and exploit in his human minions. Dan and Dave were no exception. So, after a point, their fall from grace had reached a significant level where because of their ability to endure and stay together no matter what, no one could handle them. It was at this point they were sent to Harmony.
This was exactly what the mad warlock wanted and as soon