Chapter 24

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

ID: 1787348   (Rated: E) Chapter 23  The Artifact acts up and Lanier orders it destroyed. by Hyperiongate

3:05 am, Friday, March 27th
Lise Marshall’s home

Jack sat up, instantly wide away. Something was wrong at the hospital. He didn’t know how he knew it, but he felt it with absolute certainty. He turned to wake Lise but she was gone. He unconsciously reached out and felt her presence nearby.

A moment later, she hurried out of the bathroom, already half dressed.

“Jack…” she started.

“I know; the hospital. I’ll drive.”

Neither thought to comment on how they seemed to be more and more in touch with each other later. There was plenty of anecdotal evidence about couples that seemed to anticipate each other’s actions and thoughts. Although this seemed much more than that, they still felt no need to overanalyze things. They understood that that was just the way things were.

Lise dialed the hospital switchboard from her cell phone as they screeched out of her driveway. At the same time, Jack gave Sheriff Tucker a call. No answer; strange considering the hour. Jack’s new sense of hyper-awareness gave him a kick. Something was wrong. He’d have to call Lanier as soon as they got to the hospital. Right now, he had to focus on his driving.

He felt the déjà vu of having been here before as he swerved in and out of the few cars on the road. He’d done this before. On the night he’d come across a burnt body in the desert. Odd that back then, he’d unknowingly been on his way to save the very man to whom they were rushing to at that moment.

“Hello, Renown Medical Center.”

“This is Dr. Marshall. I need a crash cart sent up to the TEG Room ASAP. Also, notify my team that JD11 is coming out right now, whether we like it or not.”

“Doctor, we just dispatched a crash cart up there not one minute ago. How did you know?”

“Never mind that. Just call my team in. I need them all there in fifteen minutes.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

Lise would not have been surprised if she’d known that, in fact, every member of her team was already rushing to the hospital; not one of whom received a call. They just knew.

3:10 am, Friday, March 27th
Renown Medical Center

Sergeant Jackson wasn’t prepared for what he saw when he burst into the TEG room. With his gun at the ready, he was prepared to fight and die in defense of his charge. Any threatening person would have immediately come under as much firepower as the marine could unleash; which was considerable.

He didn’t expect to see the person under his protection, apparently drowning inside the very tank that had helped to nurse him back to health over the last couple of weeks. But that was exactly what was happening.

JD11 was clearly awake and struggling to survive. His eyes were wide open and his arms were flaying wildly about. Wires and tubes were torn out and snaking about the man in a surrealistic, slow-motion dance.

Jackson hesitated for only a moment before jumping into action. He ran to the tank and immediately started looking for a way to remove the top or drain the tank. JD11 had torn most of his bio-sensors from his arms and chest and was now struggling to pull a tube that had been inserted down his throat. He couldn’t know that this tube’s only purpose was to ensure oxygenated fluid made it to his lungs. With it in place, he only “felt” like he was drowning. If he removed it, he would really be drowning.

Jackson didn’t know any of this. It wasn’t in his job description. He was basically a “See bad guy – shoot bad guy” kind of person. Now, out of his element, he looked for a tool that would suit his style when it came to problem solving. His eyes landed on a metal stool in the corner of the room.

A few mighty swings resulted in a bent stool and hardly scratched, thick plastic wall to the TEG tank. The butt of his gun fared no better. It was clear that the tank was not designed to be “bludgeoned” open. He needed to find a more refined method.

Remembering that Annie was right there, he turned to her and asked, “Any ideas?”

Annie stood calmly by the door as if this sort of thing happened all the time and was nothing to get excited about. She shrugged and then pointed to some controls over on the wall. Annie had been told what to expect. “Don’t worry, it will all end up alright,” had entered her mind as she was running back with the marine. She knew it had come from Him; and that was enough to make it fact.

Jackson studied the setup for a few moments. The controls seemed to be connected to an overhead contraption that could only be the system used for raising and lowering the TEG lid. He didn’t have time to try and figure it out so he went back to the “brute strength” option.

The lid didn’t seem to be bolted on so maybe there would be a way to slide it off. The problem was that it was hard to get the leverage he needed since the top of the tank was at about eye level. The top was about two inches thick but way heavier that it looked. After a few tries, Jackson could see it was going to be no use.

He’d been in the room less than a minute but already JD11’s struggles were becoming weaker.

Jackson stepped back to re-consider the situation. He knew there wasn’t much more time left, certainly not enough time to wait for the cavalry to arrive.

He could see that JD11 had managed to pull the tube from his throat. Jackson watched helplessly as JD11’s arms relaxed and began to float calmly in the liquid environment. His head rolled slowly to his side and his eyes fixed directly on Jackson’s as he clearly mouthed one last plea to the marine – Help Me.

Jackson was left with only one option. He picked up his rifle from the ground, and fired a quick burst in to the side of the tank; being careful to aim as far away from JD11 as possible.

That did the trick. The side of the tank shattered and JD11 washed out onto the floor.

Jackson quickly went to see what he could do. As he bent over, a hand pushed him aside.

Lise felt for a pulse; finding none, she turned to Annie and said, “Bring the crash cart over here STAT!”

Lise and Jack had just come running out of the elevator when they heard the shots. A few moments later, they’d burst into the TEG room to see one of Lanier’s “janitors” leaning over an immobile JD11.

“You,” she said to Jackson, “bring that gurney over here.” To Jack, “Help me get him up off the floor. I can’t use the paddles if we’re all standing in a pool of water.”

A moment later, JD11 was on the table and Annie was handing the paddles to Lise. Jack took a few steps back. This was out of his realm. He’d help if asked but otherwise, he figured he’d be most helpful if he just stayed out of the way. To him, JD11 looked dead. His eyes were open and stared blankly out of his head.

Just then he remembered that he needed to call Lanier. The Colonel needed to know what was going on at the hospital. But there was also the Sheriff. Jack had a bad feeling about Sam.

“Lanier here,” came the voice from the other end of the line.

The Colonel’s calm manner did nothing to make Jack aware that Lanier was at that moment, standing next to a pile of unexploded bombs, still warm from the air friction endured during their long fall to earth.

Jack told the colonel what he could but was not surprised to hear that the colonel already knew something was going on there. As Jack began to bring up his concerns about the Sheriff not answering his phone, five more marines burst into the room, guns at the ready.

“Listen, Jack. Take a couple of my guys over to the Sheriff’s place and check it out. Don’t worry too much. A sheriff’s job is 24/7. I’m sure he’s just out doing his job. The rest of my men will stay with Dr. Marshall. I’ve got to go, Jack. I have a bit of a situation here myself.”

Lanier looked out at the unexploded bunker-buster bombs laying about the vacated camp. The fact that they hadn’t exploded was the reason he was still alive. In his book, something had gone wrong that shouldn’t have. He was alive and because of that, someone had some explaining to do.

Jack turned back to Lise just in time to see her step back from the JD11’s body. She turned to Jack as she wiped some sweat from her brow.

“We have a pulse, Jack. I think he’s going to make it.”

ID: 1792377   (Rated: 18+) Chapter 25  Rudolf has a confrontation with Sheriff Tucker. by Hyperiongate