Chapter 21

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

ID: 1774708   (Rated: E) Chapter 20  Rudolf the assassin closes in. by Hyperiongate

3:00 pm, Wednesday, March 25th.
Artifact Base

It was the most spectacular thing Colonel Lanier had ever seen. Galaxies spiraled across the field of view. There were billions upon billions of stars; all following their own paths. Sometimes there would be a collision with spectacular results. A black hole floated from left to right; its event horizon a circular blaze of orange surrounding…nothing.

“What are we looking at Doctor? I mean besides the obvious.”

They were standing just inside the Artifact observation booth. Not more than a few meters away, the universe floated as if it say, “Aren’t I grand?” The Artifact was only visible as an outline for the real show – a starfield so real it looked as if one could fall into it if they approached to closely.

“Doctor, are we safe here?” Lanier asked.

“I think so, Colonel. We’ve tried tossing things into it and they bounce off. It’s as if the Artifact is just showing us a projection. There is nothing detectable radiating from it. It’s size is constant and there seems to be no space-time impact that one might expect were these actual stars were are looking at.”

“Do we know what is actually taking place? Why is it doing this?”

Szokoly cleared his throat nervously. He had no idea what they were looking at. He was also very aware that the colonel didn’t like not knowing…ever.

“We aren’t quite sure at the moment, sir. It’s clearly a star field or at least a simulation of one. Right now, we are pursuing several theories. One being that what we are currently looking at is supposed to mean something to us. We have several computer models trying to find out what the perspective is.”

“What do you mean by perspective?” asked the colonel.

“We think it, the Artifact, might be trying to tell us where it’s from by showing us the night sky as seen from its surface.”

“How long will it take?” asked Lanier.

“Who knows? We’re starting nearby and moving away to outer star systems. It could take days, weeks or forever. There’s no way to tell. The universe is a big pla….”

“Excuse me Dr. Szokoly, I think you need to see this,” said a visibly excited physicist.

Szokoly didn’t like being interrupted while talking with the colonel and everyone knew it. Therefore, this must be very important.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Doctor, we know what planet the sky field is seen from?”

“And…?”

“We were running several simulations trying to come up with the best way to approach this problem. Given the distance between stars, it quickly became apparent that we would have to project forward and backward in time if we were to accurately see what another planet several light years away would see. So we decided to run a trial on Earth’s sky; you know, allowing the star to follow their normal paths projected forward and backwards in time.”

“Can we please get to the point? Lanier said. Why did all scientists feel compelled to draw things out.

“Uh, yes sir. The sky you are looking at is not the sky as seen from a distant planet or star. It’s our sky. We are looking at the night sky as it will be seen from Earth more than three billion years from now.”
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7:00 pm, Wednesday, March 25th.
Renown Medical Center, Reno, Nevada

Rudolf entered through the front door. There was nothing like hiding in plain sight. Besides, as a telephone repair man, he had nothing to hide.

It was a small thing to find someone willing to escort him to the switchboard room. Once there, he would have complete access to the hospital’s telephone system. The hospital staff had no reason to suspect that he was anything other than the repairman he claimed to be. After all, this was just a hospital.

He did notice himself being watched by an over-curious janitor as he was led across the lobby.

You and I shall meet soon enough my friend, Rudolf thought as he smiled good-naturedly at the man with the mop.

Left alone, he surveyed the complex system until he found what he was looking for; the feed from the internal video systems. Like most hospitals, there were cameras monitoring most of the hallways, elevators and stairs. With this information, he would be able to make a fairly good guess about the location of the Dark Angel. It only took a few minutes to jumper the cable and insert a relay that would send him the feed wirelessly. Anyone observing the feed, namely, those in the dark vans he’d observed outside, wouldn’t have noticed any more than a slight flicker in the picture.

Twenty minutes after he entered the hospital, Rudolf casually walked out the front door. Not long after that, he was in his hotel room watching the hospital’s inner workings. He needed to make a plan, but first, he needed to know where his target was and how many people the colonel had planted inside.

On a pad, he took notes about everything. People rarely noticed how predictable they were. Within 24 hours, he expected to know the routine of everyone that worked at the hospital. That routine would lead him to his target, if he was in fact there.

Rudolf was certain he’d put the pieces together correctly. Jack Barton had led him here, and the presence of Lanier’s men at the hospital were like a giant “x marks the spot.

This raised a particularly interesting question that Rudolf hadn’t actually considered. He’d been completely focused on tracing threads to his ultimate target. Nothing else mattered. Still…

If the Dark Angel was in the hospital, what was it that they had out there in the desert?

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11:30 pm, Wednesday, March 25th.
Renown Medical Center, Reno, Nevada

Annie took her seat next to the tank, opened a book and began to read. She didn’t notice that the book was the Bible. Half an hour earlier, in the hospital lending library, she’d just let her hand pick whatever book it wanted to from a shelf.

Now she say flipping through the pages just as quickly as she could. Two hours later, after having just finished the Old Testament, she felt JD11 give her a mental nudge.

“Yes, I understand,” she said out loud to the tank with the man floating in it.

She set down the book and walked out of the room. She didn’t know where she was going, not for certain. She felt confident that it would all become clear soon enough. The room they were in was on the second floor. She walked out into the hallway, and then continued past several rooms. At the fifth door to here right, she stopped and tilted her head as if trying to hear something whispered.

This was it. She opened the door and found one of the overly large janitors mopping the floor.

“Are you Sergeant Jackson?” she asked innocently.

The big man stood up, completely caught off guard. Of course he knew who she was. But how did she know who he was?

A voice in his ear said, “The nursing aide is no longer at her station.”

He keyed a hidden microphone and said, “I’ve got an eyeball on her.”

To Annie, he said, “Yes, I’m Sergeant Jackson. What can I do for you little lady?” There was no use pretending to be someone other than who she knew him to be. She knew and that was that.

“You need to wear a flak jacket on Saturday. Does that make sense to you?”

“Why do you think I need to wear a flak jacket?” he asked cautiously. At the same time, he keyed open his microphone so those in the vans outside could listen in. Glances were silently exchanged as those in the vans listened in.

“HE said that you are a good man and need to survive what is coming.”

“I see. And just who is HE,” the sergeant asked.

“You know, JD11. He said there is danger coming soon and he wants you to be ready. I have to get back to my station now,” she said and left the room.

“Did you guys get that?”

“Got it. Not sure what it means, but we got it.”

ID: 1778824   (Rated: E) Chapter 22  The prepare to extract JD11 as Rudolf closes in. by Hyperiongate