Chapter 8

Chapter 7  (13+) Jack and Sam are debriefed...the artifact begins to act up. #2036281 by Hyperiongate

 
Chapter Eight
 
Lise’s morning had been a whirlwind. After checking in on J.D. number 11, she and her team d spent several hours reviewing the mounds of data their system was constantly spitting out. From what they were able to gleam after a first pass, their patient seemed to spend most of his time at the chasm of death; ready to take the final leap into the unknown at any moment. Then around 4:00 am, he’d settled down significantly. At the same time, the nutrient feed registered an unexpectedly high jump in flow. It seemed that their patient was hungry.

Unfortunately, Lise had other duties besides John Doe 11. She planned on spending the next few hours behind her desk trying to catch up with paperwork. “Paperwork” the small print at the end of An Exciting Job in Medicine job description. This was especially true in the field of experimental medicine. Everything had to be documented, reviewed, stamped and filed away. The pretense was to document success. The truth was to have a trail to follow should someone need to be blamed for something going wrong.

Her phone rang. “Dr. Marshal, your 1:30 appointment is here to see you.”

Lise sat for a moment before replying, “What 1:30 appointment?” She didn’t need an interruption right now. Besides, no one was supposed 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. Lise 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 off guard yesterday morning. Next came the idea planted by Colonel Lanier that he was somehow supposed to protect the doctor from some unknown threat. Furthermore, he needed to tell her about this threat and then expect her to say something like “Jack, I’m so glad you are here to protect little old me from the bad guys.”

“Seems unlikely.” He thought as he waited to be invited in for their “scheduled” meeting.

As for the attraction, 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 find out that she was potentially in danger and that he was the one responsible for putting her there.

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 yet, 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. She watched as Jack shuffled a bit uncomfortably. No, he was here for more than a JD11 update.

“Then he’s here to see me!” she thought, hiding her angry at herself for the excitement she was suddenly trying to hide.

As Jack continued to squirm in his skin, she began to feel there was more to this visit that she suspected; much more. She didn’t know how she knew, but in her mind, he was clearly here with an agenda that made him uncomfortable beyond “boy meets girl.”

Lise returned to her chair behind the desk and continued, “JD11’s proven 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 with the definite impression that he was going to be kept at arms length. 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? What was a JD11?

“Glad to hear it,” he said, ignoring the issue about getting on her calendar. Then, “How is the man doing that I found in the desert?”

Lise was confused at first and the said, “I just said…wait, I see the problem. JD11 is John Doe number eleven; the man you found in the desert. We’ve started calling him JD11 for short. As I said, he’s an interesting subject. His chances of survival are still very small; but he seems to be hanging in there. So, about you getting on my schedule…”

Jack didn’t answer right away. He needed to regroup as he recognized he was not the least bit prepared for this. He had very few bullets in his holster when it came to telling women that he had place them in danger. 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’d hoped to stop by yesterday; you know…to check on your patient. However, the sheriff and I got sort of distracted. As a result, there are things going on that you need to know about. Things associated with your patient; with JD11.”

“Things that I am responsible for bringing to your door,” he thought.

Lise didn’t like the sound of that. She looked into Jack’s eyes; eyes she somehow knew, not from yesterday or from a year ago. The eyes stirred memories from long ago. It was as if she was remembering him from a previous life.

Lise tried unsuccessfully to shrug off such nonsense. Still, there he was and she knew…she knew him. His posture, his face and even the way he held his hands told her of his sincerity as well as the concern. He wasn’t like the others. He wasn’t squirming because of some good news he’d brought in his back pocket. The stranger that wasn’t a stranger, was about to drop a bomb. She could see that he was worried that she may not be up to it. It was sweet of him, yet she felt herself underestimated.

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. There was something about him that told her he was a good guy to have on her side.

“Alright Jack, let’s hear it?” Lise was ready to be surprised. Given the mystery around the discovery of her patient, she guessed that 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?” asked Jack.

She liked the sound of him saying her voice. Such a small thing…

“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 ‘stabilized” I mean that he is no closer to dying than he was when he was first brought in. I would put his chances of survival at less than 15%.”

“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 seemed as if you read about them in the news every day. Prior to Jack’s story, she’d only had vague second-hand information 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 that 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? Was that how Jack got onto her calendar? Was someone watching or listening right now?

She looked up at Jack. She knew he thought this was his fault just as she knew it wasn’t. Still, she had to fight the need to blame someone.

Lise took a deep calming breath and said, “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’ll 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. I suspect he wouldn’t actually do that. He’d just make them a little harder for you to notice. However, he will not allow any reduction in the protective coverage of your patient.”

“My personal coverage? 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. Apparently, there were three undercover positions filled in the hospital around the clock. There were two vehicles assigned to the hospital. One vehicle was assigned to her house.

So they are following me, she thought.


If there was a female Hercules, Lise was it. Nothing had ever been “too much” for her.

Until now.

Too much change too fast was causing her to feel the weight. This didn’t happen outside of the movies. In the real world, semi-dead men didn’t grow in the desert. 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. Maybe she was just “choosing” poorly yet again.

“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. The largest, most alert looking janitor either of them had ever seen 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.”

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 could call the police and tell them everything; bring an end to all of this nonsense right now.

She let that thought soak in for a few moments as they sat there quietly. Jack was clearing waiting for her to make the next move. Lise tried to look past his 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. That was good enough for her.

“Jack, would you like to take a look at our patient? Normally, you wouldn’t 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.”

*****

As Jack and Lise stepped out of her office, Colonel Lanier stepped over to the edge of the excavation, not quite sure what he was looking at. Outwardly, it was 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?”

“Great question! However, we don’t know the answer; at least not yet. We think that it must know where it is and it’s taking active steps to keep itself there; possibly with the use of directed gravitons. However, that’s only a guess.”

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 noticed Dr. Szokoly’s smile grow substantially and knew there was something more here.

“I am afraid that will not be possible, at least for the time being.” Szokoly paused waiting for the colonel 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 Lanier, 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-ton 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 a few yards away. 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.

Chapter 9  (13+) Annie begins to subtly...evolve... #2036823 by Hyperiongate