Chapter 8

ID: 1762291   (Rated: 13+) Artifact Man  A thriller, new age, sci-fi novel about a strange man found in the desert. by Hyperiongate

ID: 1762502   (Rated: E) Chapter 7  Jack goes home. Lise goes to work and Lanier visits the Artifact. by Hyperiongate

Renown Medical Center
Reno, Nevada

Lise sat behind her desk trying to catch up with her paperwork. Her new patient had taken up most of her time over the last couple of days; not that she regretted a moment of it. JD11 seemed to be doing exceptionally well in that he hadn’t gotten any worse and somehow seemed to still be alive.

After spending most of the day with her team, it was time to play administrator. She’d closed her door in hopes of plowing through most of the mundane stuff so she could get back out to check on JD11.

Her phone rang. “Dr. Marshal, your 2:30 appointment is here to see you.”

Lise sat for a moment before replying, “What 2:30 appointment?” She didn’t need an interruption right now. Besides, no one was suppose to be able to make adjustments to her calendar except herself.

“He says his name is Jack Barton and that you are expecting him.”

Lise’s mind went in several directions at once. What’s he doing on my calendar? How dare he show up after not showing up! I don’t have time for this. I wonder if my hair looks alright. Emotional flip-flops were in high gear.

Finally, she took a deep breath and settled on this should be interesting. She willed herself to be calm as she spoke into the phone “Send him in.”

Jack wasn’t the nervous type but he had to admit that he was feeling a little uncertain about this meeting. First there was his attraction to Lise. It had caught him so off guard a yesterday morning – had it only been a day since they’d met? He thought. So much had happened that it seemed much longer. Who knows why one person is attracted to another? Jack was no authority on such matters. All he knew was that he spent way too much time thinking about a woman that he’d barely even met; a woman that in very short order, was going to recognize that he was the one responsible for putting her in danger.

This brought up his second reason from being nervous. Colonel Lanier made it quite clear that there was likely to be danger afoot; danger that Jack was at least partially responsible for bringing to the Hospital’s, and thus Dr. Marshall’s doorstep. Colonel Lanier seemed to think that Lise would be able to handle this. Jack had his doubts. He was bracing for the worst.


The receptionist at the front desk sent him down the hall and Jack found her office easy enough. He knocked on the open door and then let himself in. There she was. He had tried to be prepared and still, when he saw her, he could feel his heart leap. His rational mind told him to cool off. This was not normal. Normal or not, Jack found himself trying unsuccessfully to act as if this was just a normal meeting between two adults.

Lise stood up and walked around her desk, offering her hand to Jack; All very professional.

“Hello Doctor Marshall. How are you today?” Jack considered several different approaches but the handshake put off any chance of familiarity.

Lise noticed the “Dr. Marshall,” but could see it was just part of Jack’s attempt to not seem overly enthusiastic. Men could be so transparent sometimes.

“I’m fine; just trying to catch up on a little paperwork, Mr. Barton. The man you found in the desert seems to be hanging in there. I am assuming that is what you are here for.” She paused to gauge the effect of that last statement. No, he was here for more than a JD11 update. He was also not here on a purely social visit. She didn’t know how she knew, but in her mind, he was clearly here with an agenda that made him uncomfortable.
She continued, “He’s proved to be much more interesting that we expected. By the way, how did you happen to end up on my calendar? Until today, I thought I was the only one with the ability to make additions to my schedule.”

Lise fought off a desire to say “Where were you yesterday? I thought you said you would come by.” She couldn’t let him know that she even noticed his absence. Jack, being the typical male, might use such an acknowledgement to his advantage. No, it was best to keep him at a distance. She was busy now and didn’t have time for another flawed attempt at a relationship.

Keep telling yourself that, Lise. Maybe you’ll start to believe it, she thought.

Jack could feel trouble brewing. The Mr. Barton had left him feeling a shoulder much colder than one he’d imagined. She didn’t seem to be impressed with his ability to show up magically on her calendar; quite the opposite. She probably thought he was a stalker that hacked into her computer. And then there was the burn victim. JD11 was “more” interesting. What did that mean? Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

Jack didn’t answer right away. He knew he had some explaining to do and she was right to question how he happened to “infiltrate” her schedule. He’d expected the colonel to be a little more subtle. Still, there was something in her eyes. He could see that she was trying to put up a stand-offish front and yet…

Okay Jack, he told himself. It’s show time.

“Doctor Marshall, Lise, I need for you to sit down. I know I was supposed to be here yesterday but events dictated otherwise. There are things going on that you need to know about. Things associated with your patient.”

Things that I am responsible for brining to your door, He thought.

Lise didn’t like the sound of that. She looked into Jack’s eyes. She could see the sincerity as well as the concern. He wasn’t like the others. He had something to tell her that wasn’t going to fall under the category of “Good News.” He was worried that she may not be up to it. His concern caused concern in her. At the same time, he seemed to be okay with whatever was coming. He was confident in himself.

He’s worried about me, not about himself, she thought. It never occurred to her how she could know this with such certainty. But she had no doubt that she was right.

As she walked around to take her seat behind her desk, Lise became aware of two things. First, her life was about to change in some way that may or may not be good. Secondly, she was glad Jack Barton was going to be on her side.
How can I know that he’ll be on my side? Maybe he’s just going to drop a bomb on me and disappear, she thought.

“Alright Jack, let’s hear it?” Lise was ready to be surprised. JD11 was not your ordinary John Doe. Was he a government experiment or something? While appearing calm, she braced herself for the worse both with regards to her patient and the man across the table from her.

“First of all Lise, have you noticed anything strange about your patient?”

“The fact that he is still alive at all makes him unique. I’ve seen a lot of burn patients in my life. None that have been anywhere near his condition ever survived for more than a few hours. It’s been a day and a half and he seems to have stabilized.”

“So he’s going to make it?” Jack asked.

“Too early to tell by a long shot. By ‘stabilize” I mean that he is still on the verge of dying. He’s just no closer to the end than he was when they first brought him in. I would put his chances of survival at less than 25%.”

“I know this sounds like an awful thing to say, but it might be better if he didn’t survive,” Jack said. In his mind, if JD11 went away, so did the threat.

He saw the shock in Lise’s eyes and knew it was time to tell her what he knew. After a taking a deep breath, Jack started talking. Lise sat silently as he recounted the details from the last forty-eight hours; beginning with his discovery of the body.

When he got to the part about what might happen if the circumstances surrounding JD11’s condition got into the public domain, Lise started to feel a little nervous. The mention of surveillance pushed her a little too far.

“Wait!” Lise said, holding up her hand. “What do you mean by protective surveillance?”

“Colonel Lanier doesn’t want you to have to be concerned about your safety so he has assigned some people to be nearby should anything unforeseen happen.”

Lise sat back for a minute. She didn’t like what she was hearing. She understood that there were “crazies” out there. It seems as if you read about them in the news every day. Prior to Jack’s story, she’d no idea about how JD11 was found. The strangeness surrounding the location and other details made the whole thing seem a little unreal. Her patient was her number one priority. He might need protection but the hospital had its own security. It wasn’t like an unauthorized person would be able to walk in and harm JD11.

Lise found it offensive her hospital, her castle, was under “protective surveillance.” What did that mean? Was someone peeking in her office window right now? Was her phone bugged? This felt like an extreme invasion of privacy.

She looked up at Jack. She knew he thought this was his fault just as she knew it wasn’t.

“Jack, what do you think? I am not at all comfortable with having soldiers come into the hospital to stand guard over JD11.”

“Lise, my understanding is that it won’t happen like that. They will be undercover. As a matter of fact, they have been in the hospital since yesterday evening. Here is a complete list of where everyone is at. All of the personnel assigned to this project are listed by name and job assignment. If, at any time, you want to eliminate your personal coverage, Colonel Lanier said he would make it happen. However, he will not allow any reduction in the protective coverage of your patient.”

“My personal coverage? Are they watching me as well? I mean, when I’m not at the hospital, are there strangers stalking me?” She stood up and walked to her window. She could see the parking lot outside and wondered if there was anyone out there looking back at her right now.

“No, I mean, at least I don’t think so. All I know is that they are staying close enough to be able to protect you should anything…threatening occur.”

Lise took the paper from Jack’s hand and looked through the list of personnel and their assignments. There were two vehicles assigned to the hospital. One vehicle was assigned to her house. So they are following me. Apparently, there were three undercover positions filled in the hospital around the clock.

She felt as if everything was not quite real. This didn’t happen outside of the movies. In the real world there were no specialized government agencies and conspiracies and such. Guards in her hospital? A van the followed her wherever she went? It was too much.


And then there was Jack. He seemed to be on her side but then, how could she be certain. Maybe he was just another government stooge.

“Jack, I want to see one of the undercover guards. If I understand this list, there are at least three of them inside the hospital right this minute.”
Jack took out his cell phone and called Colonel Lanier. “Colonel, she wants to see one of the guards.” After a few moments, he hung up and said to Lise, “He said to give him a minute.”

Fifteen seconds later, there was a knock on the door. A large man in janitor outfit came in to empty her office trash can. Once he was near enough to the desk, he said, “Ma’am, my name is Sergeant Sanchez. Colonel Lanier said you wanted to talk with me.”

That didn’t take long, thought Lise. “Sergeant, why are you here?”

“I am here to protect you, your staff and your patient.”

“Are you armed?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

He finished emptying her trash. “Will there be anything else ma’am?”

Lise looked at Jack as she said, “No, thank you Sergeant Sanchez.”

He left leaving Jack and Lise alone. Jack wasn’t sure where to go next so he just sat there. Lise, feeling pretty much the same way, looked over at Jack. Her experience told her that every man she was interested in was the wrong one for her. That being the case, she might as well cut her losses and tell Jack to hit the road right now.

She looked at the man across her table. Lise tried to look past the alert eyes. She wanted to see inside. Who are you Jack Barton? She knew he was different. Somehow, it was right that she was here, with him, right at this very moment.

“Jack, would you like to take a look at our patient? Normally, you would not be allowed but I think you may be the closest thing to a family that he has at this moment.”

A broad smile spread across Jack’s face. “That would be great.”


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4:00 pm, Wednesday, March 17th
75 miles east of Reno, Artifact Base

Colonel Lanier stood at the edge of the excavation, not quite sure what he was looking at. It looked like a giant cylinder, about five yards across and fifteen deep. The color was best described as cream while the texture appeared to be ceramic. The top of the cylinder was level with the colonel’s feet as he stood at the edge of the newly dug pit.

“Doctor, are you telling me that if I were to climb down to the bottom of this hole, I would not find anything underneath the artifact?”

Dr. Szokoly took off his thick glasses to wipe them. Wes noticed long ago that the things tended to fog up on the doctor when he got excited, which was quite often.

“That’s right Colonel. It is floating. Right now there is about two feet of clearance under its base.”

“If it’s not subject to the laws of gravity, what keeps it from flying off into space?”

“We don’t know.”

The colonel walked around the edge of the hole. He’d seen a lot of inexplicable things during his time with DBO. This would have to rank right up there with the strangest of the strange.

“Well that should make it a lot easier to transport. We can just throw a tarp over it and ease it onto the back of a truck.” Colonel Lanier knew there was something more here. The only way to hurry the doctor’s revelations was to play along as if this were no big deal.

Szokoly lit up at the Colonel’s last remark affirming that Lanier was right. There was more to the story.

“I am afraid that will not be possible, at least for the time being.” Szokoly paused waiting for Wes to ask more questions, thereby slowing down the exchange of information to its slowest and most exquisite state.

The colonel said nothing.

Foiled in his attempt to bait the colonel, Szokoly continued, “It appears to have an infinite moment of inertia around all axes.”

“Meaning…” The colonel pressed for more information.

“We can’t move it. It appears to like where it is floating right now. So far, every attempt to push or pull it in any direction has had a negative result. It appears to be fixed in place. We even brought in a ten-thousand pound hydraulic jack. Nothing.”

Wes looked around at the hastily erected, prefabricated structure that housed the artifact and the hole in which it sat. It looked like something a little more permanent was going to be needed.

“Keep me informed,” he said to the doctor as he turned and to where his new “office” had been set up in a ten a few yards away. On the way, he pulled out his cell phone. He needed to step up construction quickly. Security was also going to need to be expanded. Right now there were ten temporary structures and thirty men on site. He would need to triple that in the next forty-eight hours.

ID: 1762796   (Rated: E) Chapter 8  Jack tells Dr. Marshall about the strange circumstances surrounding her patient. by Hyperiongate