Chapter 17

Chapter 16  (13+) Annie and Lise meet to discuss...hearing voices. #2038211 by Hyperiongate

Chapter 17

Colonel Lanier and two physicists from the scientific team sat at the table in the briefing room while Dr. Szokoly facilitated the meeting. The scientists had been pushing for more access to the Artifact, something the Colonel was remiss to grant after his experience the morning before.


“As you can see, Colonel,” said Szokoly, “the vibrations appear to have a pattern as far as activation timing is concerned. From 2:00 am until 6:00 am yesterday and today, the Artifact vibrated. Outside of those times, it was for all intents and purposes, inert. I propose that we restore normal access to the Artifact for hours between 8:00 am and midnight. If the vibrations maintain their schedule, this should keep us out of “déjà vu” range while we continue to study remotely.”


Lanier knew of the vibration schedule and expected the scientists to ask for more access; still, he wasn’t certain that there was no danger here. The moment that he’d spend having his own déjà vu was still with him. Like a dream, he couldn’t quite make out what he’d seen or felt. However, there was the real sensation of danger; danger and something else. Something that felt like…hope. There was trouble coming and yet, at the end of the tunnel there was a bright light waiting. It wasn’t something waiting for him. No, it felt far more significant than that.


It had taken him considerable effort to come to grips with what he’d experienced. Now that he’d done so, he wasn’t even certain that any of it meant anything. Only one thing stood out as a certainty - he’d been through all of this before. The Colonel felt certain that if he could remember what had happened “before”, whatever that meant, he could prevent whatever danger awaited him from happening again.

As for trouble heading his way, the colonel wasn’t certain if the Artifact was the source of the bad event or not. This posed a particularly complex dilemma. Either the déjà vu event meant something or it meant nothing. If it meant something, then the Artifact was either warning or threatening him.

“Granted,” he said to the surprise of Szokoly and his team. Lanier knew, the quickest way to find answers was to go looking for them. “I want to know if there is any change at all to the vibration schedule. I also want you to work on a way to contain the vibrational effect should it begin to extend beyond the few feet that it currently can be felt.”

The colonel stood up to leave. As always, he had a lot of irons in the fire at any given time and the Artifact was just one of them. JD11 was another. His sources inside the hospital had been reporting in regularly and with great detail. It seemed that the artifact vibrations were not the only thing taking place between 2 and 6 am.

It looked like he was going to make it out the door when Szokoly regrouped after having been stunned by the rapid approval of his request for access.

“Colonel, there’s more. I think you’re going to want to see this.”

“What is it Doctor? I don’t have a lot of time right now,” said the colonel as he retook his seat at the table.

Szokoly nodded for the lights to be dimmed. He pressed a key on his computer and a picture of a star field appeared on the screen. There was nothing especially spectacular at first glance. Lanier was about to say as much when he noticed something peculiar. The Field was rectangular in shape like an ordinary picture might be. However, the frame of reference was odd. It took him a moment to realize what he was looking at. The star field was inside the containment dome.

“Doctor, is that what I think it is?”

Szokoly was surprised at how quickly the Colonel realized what he was looking at. “If you think that star field was photographed in the middle of the containment dome, you are right. It’s the Artifact. Right at the moment it began to vibrate, if flickered into this for a micro-second. No one looking right at it even noticed. However, we have been filming it with high speed cameras hoping to get some sort of lead on the vibrations. The computer kicked this single frame out as an outlier of interest.”

“What do you think it means,” asked the colonel.

“I’m not certain, sir, but I think this is our first peak at was the inside of the Artifact looks like.”

The colonel wanted to ask more questions but his cell phone rang. It was a number he never ignored.

“Yes?”

“Rudolfo is in country.”

*****

“I don’t know what to think, Jack. None of this feels real. It’s as if my life has been turned upside down over the last week. First there is JD11 and his beyond miraculous healing. Did I tell you he is growing fingers and it looks like some organ regeneration is on the menu as well? Next there is Annie and what is either a fantasy of an inexplicable phenomena. And finally there is you.”

She reached across the table to take his hand and they both felt the connection. They had only known each other for a short time and already, words were beginning to feel unnecessary. Lise felt as if she could feel what he was thinking. This brought a smile.

Jack smiled in return. She’d come to his house tonight and he’d done his best to cook something ...eatable. Thankfully, she was more interested in him than his cooking abilities. The spaghetti sat mostly untouched as they continued their discussion about how their lives had suddenly gotten off track; not that it was a bad thing. Jack had definitely been a directionless soul before any of this had taken place. His only goal was to disappear from the complexities of life. Now all of that had changed. The artifact and JD11 had brought intrigue. Lise brought purpose. Jack saw it as his job to protect her. It was a job he was loving more every day.


“I talk with the Colonel daily,” Jack said. “Lanier never says much beyond “Keep me informed.” He is a strange guy but I have no doubt he’s very good at what he does. That sounds strange to hear myself say that because I’m not actually sure what it is that the colonel does do.”

“What about that thing you and the Sheriff found out there by JD11? Has he opened up on that at all?” Lise asked.

“No. I think every conversation he has is based on a need-to-know concept. There is something going on out there or he wouldn’t be staying in the area. He’s basically told me to forget about the Artifact, that’s what they are calling it. If something comes up that concerns me, he’ll let me know.”

Jack decided to steer the conversation in another direction. Talk about the sheriff and Lanier would only lead to speculation about the need for protection. There was no need to get her thinking about such things. After all, the chance of something dangerous happening at the hospital seemed highly improbable.

As that thought crossed his mind, the improbable was taking place in a small hotel not more than five miles away.

*****
The room was like so many others he had been in over the course of his career. A television set was bolted to the stand across from the foot of the bed. A thin mattress covered with a faded greenish bedspread took up most of the space in the small room. Under the window, overly loud and under-performing air conditioning unit’s compressor clicked on and off every few minutes as if it couldn’t decide if the room temperature was just right or not.

The thin curtains did little to keep out the glow of the casino-rich night life only a block and a half away. One didn’t have to get too far off the main drag before prices dropped dramatically. Not that Rudolfo cared about prices. He cared only about anonymity. The bargain basement establishments offered just that. There was no one to park his car for him. No lobby attendants vying for his tips. There was only the late night manager who barely looked up from his magazine as he passed over the room key.

He knelt on a small open space on the floor between the bed and the front door. Rudolfo kept his eyes closed and his back straight as he let his mind drift to where it may. This semi-meditative state was one of the few pleasures he allowed himself. His life was filled with one assignment after another. These occasional breaks gave him the mental vacation he needed so that he could return to his job with a fresh, sharp mind.

Tonight, like many other nights, his meditation took him to his earliest memories. Strange shapes, presumably his parents, left him on the doorstep of the monastery when he was only three years old. Someday he intended to find them. He wanted to thank them for giving him away for it had brought him to the glory of his current life. He also intended to make them pay for his abandonment. He was sure that God would understand.

The monks had taken him in. Those first few years had been harsh. Life at the monastery was built around studies, hard labor with very little room for comfort. Rudolfo understood that he needed the beatings to help him see the error of his rebellious ways. He spent many a night on bare stone floors, shivering in the cold; punishment for a lesson not learned or a chore left undone.

They had come for him when he was twelve years old. The Brotherhood sought out boys like Rudolfo; boys that were clever and tough, boys that would grow to be men with a hardness of soul. The Brotherhood would make sure that their hardness had an outlet, one with a purpose.

His training began immediately. His classrooms altered between the church and the chamber. In the church, he learned to love. In the chamber, he learned to kill.

Rudolfo killed his first man in the name of God at the age of sixteen. He was still surprise by how easy the task had been. Sneaking into a small cottage and pulling a wire tight around the man’s throat had been child’s play. It was the lack of emotion afterwards that had taken him by surprise. There was no guilt, only a feeling of accomplishment. The Brotherhood told him that God was pleased with his work and rewards awaited him in heaven.

This was his ninth assignment to take out the Dark Angel. The Fallen one was persistent, sending one messenger after another. Rudolfo thanked God daily for the existence of the Brotherhood for without them, the world was doomed. It was them, not him that did the true work of God. He was but a sword.

Rising slowly, Rudolfo allowed himself to become aware of his surroundings. Gone were the memories of his past. On the bed in front of him was the reality of today. His contacts had made sure he had all of the firepower he could imagine needing. He’d been notified that some of the electronic devices were a little harder to come by and would not arrive until later today. Still, he was satisfied that he was ready to begin the hunt.

First on his agenda was to check out the site east of town where all of the military construction activity was taking place. After that, he’d pay a visit to a local law enforcement official – Sam Tucker. He’d been the one to phone in the protocol to Nellis over a week ago. Rudolfo intended to have a very personal talk with the man.

He loaded up a small pack with the tools he’d need for the afternoon and then waited patiently for the sun to go down. He’d begin his hunt for the Dark Lord in the dark of a moonless night.

Chapter 18  (13+) Annie gets her gun. Szokoly thinks...multiverse. Rudolfo moves into position. #2038420 by Hyperiongate