Chapter 12

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

ID: 1764423   (Rated: E) Chapter 11  Jack and Lise hook up. by Hyperiongate

Thursday, March 18th
Artifact Camp


The morning had been filled with surprises; something Colonel Lanier had long ago come to understand was just part of the job. Doctor Szokoly had started things off with “You are not going to believe this.” The colonel hadn’t even had breakfast yet.

“What have you got for me this morning Doctor?”

“So far, we’ve determined that the object is non-metallic, at least in the sense of how we describe being metallic. Metal detectors respond to its presence although we are not sure why. All normal tests indicate that it is inert. As far at that goes, it doesn’t even look metallic. We think it may be a super-hardened ceramic. Anyway, that is not the big news.” The doctor paused in his predictable manner, drawing out the suspense.

The colonel stood his ground; not saying a thing.

“Colonel, how big would you say the Artifact is in terms of something you might see every day?”

Wes played along with, “I would guess about the size of a bus.”

“Actually, that’s a pretty good guess. So, you would think that something traveling at the speed of light, a neutron particle for example, would be able to cover the length of the bus in an almost imperceptible amount of time, would you not?”

Wes crossed his arms and waited for Big News he was certain to be coming.

“Anyway,” the doctor continued. “We fabricated a fairly crude neutron detector and then used the earth’s rotation to intermittently block the natural neutron flow from the sun. In this way, we could track the path of a single neutron as it passed through the Artifact. We’d hoped this would give us a clue as to what the thing is made of. Anyway, it took a single neutron particle nearly five minutes to pass through the Artifact!” It was all the doctor could do to keep from dancing around the colonel clapping his hands.

Wes knew there had to be more but it looked like the doctor was busy with his mini pep-rally, oblivious to the impatience of the colonel. Eventually the colonel had to bring the physicist back into the disclosure mode.

“Doctor, particles can be slowed down from the speed of light. That has been accomplished time and again in laboratories around the world. This doesn’t seem to be so remarkable.”

This statement alone sent the doctor into another gleeful prance. He was in his element now. He had information; surprising information, the disclosure of which, he could draw out for effect.

“Colonel, suppose I told you that the neutron particles were traveling at the speed of light as they exited the Artifact? In fact, they had not been slowed down in the slightest.”

Wes immediately understood what was being said. If the neutrons had not been slowed down, then they had traveled a distance of more than fifty million miles during the five minutes they had spent passing through the artifact. Clearly there was more to the Artifact than its lack of metallic characteristics.

“And what does you team think this implies?”

Szokoly stopped short. What did that mean? They’d only discovered this phenomena within the last hour or so. Even now, they were working to verify their results. Yes, what did that mean?

Szokoly needed to get back to work. There were answers to be had; and to Szokoly, questions and answers were the stuff made up his world. It was a world he loved.

“I’ll have to get back to you on that one, Colonel.” He turned and started scurrying back towards the Artifact building but was stopped with a gesture from his boss.

“Doctor, let me know if there are any resources that you may need which have not already been placed on order.”

Szokoly scampered back to his lab. They had made amazing progress on the structure over the last day or so. Still, the doctor was impatient. There was so much to learn, so much to do. It never once occurred to him that he might be tampering with something best left untouched.

Colonel Lanier had been at this game for years. He had learned to not be surprised by anything. Strange science was just part of the job. But this Artifact was something different. Usually, an unexplained object, and there had been several, would hold onto its secrets for years. This Artifact was different. Szokoly had only had access to it for less than two days and already it was putting on quite a performance. It started by defying gravity and now, it apparently had a galaxy sized space tucked into its relatively modest size. This coupled with the man in the hospital made this Event something out of the ordinary

Wes hadn’t even made it back to his tent before his cell rang. It was one of his inside people at the hospital. Of course, the briefing room was under surveillance. He filled the colonel in on the morning briefing. The colonel was starting to realize that this was going to be a hard thing to keep under wraps. There was the entire team at the hospital that was starting to see things that would almost certainly leak out into the public domain. He placed a quick call into Nellis. He was going to need more men.

The call from Jack had been expected. He’d listen as Jack confirmed what he already knew. As Lanier drove out to meet with Jack, he considered the comment that the girl had made. She said “I think he knew I was reading to him. I think he liked it.” How would she even suspect such a thing?

He made a quick call and then listened as her profile was read to him over this cell phone. She was just what she seemed; a young girl working at a hospital to put herself through nursing school. It seemed a little out of the ordinary that she was included in the morning briefing. Dr. Marshall must be more perceptive than he had given her credit for. She been the only one in the room open to possibility of the girl’s reading having an impact on the patient; or, perhaps the patient’s impact on the girl.

Wes could feel a pattern developing. Dr. Marshall and Annie seemed to be extraordinarily perceptive. Jack had experienced some inexplicable insights himself. Finding JD11 in the middle of nowhere seemed like more than just a chance of luck to the extreme.

There was an outside force at work here. Something the colonel couldn’t measure, see or feel; but it was there. He needed to find out what he was up against. Was this outside element a danger or an asset? Did it reside in the Artifact or in the patient? He’d taken steps to protect against the Artifact unleashing some unknown danger. Did he need to consider JD11 in the same light? Did the burned man have a surprise of his own that needed to be guarded against?

Lanier was five minutes outside of Jack’s place when his cell phone rang. The one-word message was a game-changer.

“Breach.”

The colonel shook his head. He knew it would happen; just not that fast.

Lanier pulled into Jack’s driveway to find him waiting on the front porch. He took his time getting out of the car, observing Jack as he did so. There were a lot of balls in the air and the colonel needed to make sure none of them came down in the wrong place. The “breach” meant that a suspected infiltration had occurred. He’d get more details as they were gathered. But regardless of what actually happened, everyone associated with the Artifact Event was both a suspect and in danger. He looked at Jack and wondered if anyone had gotten to him? Was he the breach?

The colonel waved from beside his car. He carried himself in his professionally inert manner as he approached the house, but behind his eyes, his mind was taking in data. He absorbed everything like a sponge. Once he had it, he would let his unconsciousness chew on it for a bit. The Colonel knew that was where the real answers were; deep in the mind, in corners most people left unexplored. The Colonel knew better. He knew people found his insights uncanny. The reality was, he just paid closer attention than most.

After a moment, he knew Jack was clean; of that there was no doubt. He went up to the man and shook his hand. “Tell me what’s up Jack. How are things going at the hospital?”

“Well Colonel, they are getting a little strange. JD11 seems to be healing in ways that the doctors are unable to understand. To me, he still looks pretty messed up, but they see things I don’t. Apparently, he is growing back parts of his body that shouldn’t grow back. For example, he is regrowing eyelids. He’s not supposed to be able to do that. There also seems to be some sort of mental link between him and a nurse’s assistant named Annie. I know that sounds hard to believe but some of the things taking place go beyond mere coincidences. She read to him last night. According to the data, he heals faster when she does that.”

The colonel already knew all of this but he thought it best not to let Jack know he knew. His life was all about secrets. The less people knew about things they didn’t need to know about, the better. “Need to know” was the key phrase. As Jack spoke, the colonel considered how much of a “need to know” applied to his Ace in the hole. That’s what he considered Jack. He was a highly capable man with the best military training there was anywhere. He could hide in plain sight and never even know himself that he was one of JD11’s bodyguards.

Lanier sat for a moment as he considered how much he could reveal.

As Jack watched Wes, he did his own mental assessment of the situation. The colonel knew more than he was letting on. The acceptance of what He’d had just told Lanier was a little too quick. Jack had expected at least a little bit of incredulity. Then again, maybe the colonel had been around so long that not much surprised him anymore. More likely was the fact that he already knew everything before Jack had said a word. Based on his limited experience with the man, it was probably the latter.

Finally, “Jack, there has been a security breach. I’m not exactly sure what or how, but we can now assume that those most interested in phenomena like our patient, now know that something is going on. They will be certain to act.”

Jack sat back and took in the blunt revelation. This was not something he wanted to hear but at least the colonel was being straight with him. “Who is “they” and what do you mean by ‘certain to act?’”

“If this is who I think it is, “they” refers to a European Group with religious affiliations. They have been around since before the Nights Templar. It is their sworn duty to protect us all against a prophesied invasion from hell. It is unlikely that they about JD11 but we have to assume they will soon enough. These people believe that someone like JD11 is a threat to mankind. They look for unexplained phenomena and if it turns out to not be a hoax, they assume it’s the work of the devil. To them, JD11 will represent the devil or evil incarnate. They see it as their divine mission to kill him as quickly as possible. Any delay would allow the evil’s message to grow, eventually affecting everyone. Simply put, they think that JD11, or anyone like him, is the Devil’s foot-in-the-door. They will not rest until the perceived threat is taken care of.”

“Of course you realize how insane that sounds. Why are these people even allowed to exist? Why don’t you use your unlimited resources to round them up and put them away?”

“They have resources as well, Jack. They are very organized and highly secretive. We know them as they know us, but neither has the ability to stop the other.”

“How can I help, Colonel?”

It was exactly what Wes expected to hear. “Jack, I need you to stay close to Lise and JD11. I am not asking you to spy on her but you must understand that we need to know how JD11 is doing. For now, the hospital is as safe a place as any. But once they find out about him, they will strike quickly. I need to know when jD11 is well enough to move..”

“I am going to have to let Lise in on this, Colonel. She’s not likely to be happy about it but I think she will understand. Right now, her biggest concern is the welfare of her patient. As far as moving him is concerned, I’m not a doctor but I’d say you better start preparing to defend that hospital. Lise says she expects him to be in that tank for several weeks. This is not a thing that can be moved.”

Wes stood up. “You may be right Jack. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Colonel, before you go, I have two things. First, what do you think about all of this? Is JD11 a threat? Could he really be dangerous?”

“I don’t know Jack. I will make my decision after all of the facts are in. In the meantime, I am taking precautions either way. What was the second thing you wanted to bring up?”

“I am going to need a gun.”