Chapter 18

Chapter 17  (13+) Lanier and the Artifact; Jack and Lise; Rudolfo arrives on the scene... #2038309 by Hyperiongate

Chapter 18

Part time janitor and full time member of Colonel Lanier’s team, Sergeant Jackson leaned in towards the screen, his hands holding the earphone to his head. He didn’t want to miss a thing as he observed the girl from what had to be the most technologically sophisticated janitor’s closet in the world. He watched as Annie walked around the TIG tank, dragging her fingers along its surface. Both audio and visual quality were excellent.

She liked the feel of the glass. It was warm, making her feel as if it were alive and not just part of the TIG tank. Touching it also made her feel closer to him. She looked at the pink-skin covered body floating only a foot or so away from her touch. It wouldn’t be long now; he’d told her as much.

“Will it hurt when they bring you out of the tank?”

Any discomfort will pass quickly.

“Is it going to be dangerous?”

It will be, but not in the way anyone suspects. Do not worry about me. So long as you are alert, the danger will pass.

She paused in their conversation for a moment. Staring up at a random corner of the room, she mentally reached out to check the TIG performance data. All conditions were normal. She used to have to go into the control room to find this out. At some point in the last few days, she found that to be unnecessary. She was not sure how she did it. It was like the information was “out there” waiting for her and all she needed to do was cause her small corner of the universe to pass through it.

Colonel Lanier watched the data as it was relayed to him at the Artifact base. Something was going on between the girl and JD11. He couldn’t tell what, since neither she nor the man in the tank was talking. Only the data revealed any kind of story at all. The impact of her proximity to the patient had been well documented by this time.

“Dr. Szokoly,” he said into his cell phone, “What is the Artifact’s status?”

“Vibrating,” came the expected response.

So there was a link between the nursing assistant, JD11 and the Artifact. Interesting.
Annie knew that when she was on shift, JD11 began to heal at an exponential rate. She loved being part of his healing process. In fact, Annie was in love with him. She looked into the tank and thought “Just six more days until we can be together.”

Lanier turned off the feed from the hospital and looked down at the update on his desk. Highlighted in yellow was the statement “She has purchased a large caliber handgun.” What could that mean? Nothing in her profile came close to suggesting that this was something she might do. Her surveillance team assured him that no outside influencer could have gotten to her. The only new thing in this girl’s life was JD11. While she certainly had an impact on JD11, Lanier felt that this was a two-way street. Somehow, the man floating in the tank had changed Annie. She was smart and alert. She slept only about twenty minutes a night. She seemed obsessed with the man in the tank.

And now she had a gun.

The colonel had considered blocking the final delivery of the weapon. It would have been a small thing to insert a “no gun” statement into the results of the mandatory background check all gun purchasers must go through. In the end, he decided to see where this little detour in routine would lead. The team inside the hospital would be well aware of her weapon and ready to take action quickly should she threaten the patient.

The colonel felt certain about two things. First was that the girl was no threat to the patient. Second, there was a link between the girl, the gun, JD11 and the danger that she claimed the comatose man had warned her about.

She’d bought the gun to protect JD11. Of that there could be no doubt.

*****

As Lanier was looking over Annie’s file, Rudolfo was preparing to take a peek into the colonel’s new playground east of Reno.


He’d taken a few minutes to review his route - just over ten miles, in the dark. Sunrise was just under four hours away. Not a problem. The detail of his maps was astonishing, thanks to the high standards of the United States military who was the unwitting supplier.

The senator had done an excellent job. A few phone calls and twisted arms was all it took. Now a foreign agent was in country using top secret government information to foil a project being conducted by that same government.

The maps showed the area of interest, about ten miles due south, as it had changed over the last several days.

Someone has been very busy, Rudolfo thought.

He set the maps aside and picked up a photograph. It had been taken two days ago. The detail was impressive taking into account the extreme range from which it had be taken. It showed a military vehicle as it entered highway 50 from the south. This was particularly interesting for two reasons. First was the fact that there was nothing to the south of highway 50 in that vicinity; not even a road. The second point was the identity of the man sitting behind the wheel of the vehicle.

Colonel Wesley Lanier.

Rudolfo knew this man well.

This was both good and bad news. The fact that the infamous Colonel Lanier was at the site spoke volumes about the importance of whatever was out there in the desert. At the same time, Colonel Lanier was not a man to trifle with. He didn’t make mistakes and had the uncanny ability to anticipate anything that could go wrong; including the presence of someone like Rudolfo.

In fact, Rudolfo had no choice but to assume the colonel knew he was in country. Not that it mattered much. The colonel might not make mistakes, but he couldn’t see into the future. This meant that so long as Rodolfo’s actions remained unpredictable, he would always have the element of surprise on his side.

He grabbed his small backpack and quietly climbed out the back of his rented camper. The non-descript vehicle fit right in with the rest of the campers at the site. While everyone else slept, waiting for the sun so they could attack the high desert with their off-road toys, Rudolfo went slinking off into the night.

He flipped the night goggles over his eyes and started off at a moderate pace; one he could keep up for hours. By dawn, he needed to be in place. The foothills just to the east of the encampment would allow him a perfect view of whatever was going on in newly constructed camp.

A few hours later, as Rudolfo settled into his “observation post”, Colonel Lanier looked around the table at his collection of experts and advisors. Dr. Szokoly was there with three other physicists. The group was rounded out by a few of the Colonel’s staff who were in charge of supplies, security and such.

“As most of you know by now,” Lanier said, “the Artifact seems to have become active; at least intermittently. A few nights ago, it began to vibrate. At the time this began, two of Dr. Szokoly’s people experienced strange sensations of déjà vu. I experienced something of the same sort a short time later when I put my hand on the Artifact. At first, I stopped all access to it. Later, I amended that to access limited only to those times when the vibrations were not present. Thus far, the vibrations only take place between midnight and around six in the morning. Dr. Szokoly, do you have any more to add?”

“Yes, sir. We have no idea what may have started this event. We were setting up for a series of experiments when this all began. We’ve been looking for a reason that the Artifact has chosen this time to act up but have not come up with anything yet.”

Lanier had not seen a reason to share any information with Szokoly concerning JD11 and the events at the hospital. He’d found the physicist was most productive when given a free reign to think for himself. There was still an outside chance that JD11 was not related to the Artifact; though that probability seemed more and more remote.

“As some of you may know,” Szokoly continued, “we first captured a single image of what looked to be a night sky emanating from the heart of the Artifact. Our high-speed camera was recording at 1,000 frames per second and only a single frame contained this image. Last night, and again this morning, we were able to capture two more images. It’s worth noting that the images appeared at the exact time the Artifact changed condition; from static to vibrating and back. All three of the images were similar in that they depict a night sky. However, the one from this morning is unique in that it is recognizable; at least to our computers. It is an exact image of what our night sky looked like … about five thousand years ago.”

Lanier spoke up. “How can you tell?”

“The stars are so far away, that there is very little change over the years. At first glance, this looked very familiar to anyone that spends time studying the stars. However, when we tried to match it digitally with our current sky, there were slight differences. The relationships between the stars will change slightly as closer stars move more than the farther stars. Our programs picked this out and searched forward and backwards until we had a positive match. It’s definitely our sky, just not the one we are seeing right now.”

“Were you able to narrow it down to a specific date?”

“Yes, sir. The photograph we took this morning is the sky from August of 3,031 BC.
Lanier exchanged looks with the man in fatigues. “Does that mean that someone was here on Earth at that time, taking that picture? And what about the other pictures? Have we been able to figure out when and where they came from?”

“Not yet, but we have a dedicated program projecting our sky forward and backward in time, looking for a match. As far as whether or not that picture was actually taken from Earth 3,000 years ago, we believe that is possible but not highly probable. We think we are seeing glimpses of a simulation that is the Artifact’s attempt to communicate with us.”

“Interesting,” said the colonel. “Let me know if you find a match on the other photographs. Do you have any new ideas on the effect of the vibration; the déjà vu events?”

“Colonel, could you first tell us what you experienced when you touched the Artifact while it was vibrating?” asked Szokoly.

“I did have a strong feeling that I had been there before,” answered Lanier. “As a matter of fact, I had a strong feeling of several reoccurring events in my life; events that never actually happened. It was as if I were having a déjà vu experience for an infinite number of versions of myself; all different people and yet all of them me.”

A smile spread across Dr. Szokoly’s face. He had just heard what he wanted to hear. He and the other white coats began to chatter amongst themselves. Lanier knew that once this group went into its brainstorming mode, they were oblivious to any outside considerations such as briefings with the colonel. He heard terms like “time travel”, “parallel universe” and “Multiverse”.

“Dr. Szokoly,” he said loudly trying to break the spell of pure science at work. “Do you have any ideas about what may be going on?”

Szokoly looked up from the scrum of scientists, apparently surprised to find himself still in the meeting of the morning’s briefing.

“Well there are several theories about what has taken place. The most likely, albeit least interesting, of them all is that the feelings of Déjà Vu were all just a coincidence. We have all been working long hours making us all mentally and physically fatigued. When that happens, our minds can wander off in search of relief. A fantasy Déjà Vu type experience could just be the equivalent of a mental vacation.”

“At the other end of the spectrum is the idea of a parallel universe. This is an extremely farfetched idea but it not new to scientific thought. We know there are several dimensions that we are unable to experience directly. A parallel universe is very much along the same lines. Think of it as something that is all around us and yet we do not knowingly experience it.”

“That seems like quite a leap from the coincidence theory. What makes you think the artifact is related to a parallel universe?” asked the colonel.

“Actually, we think this Artifact could be involved with several parallel universes; an infinite number of them in fact,” said Szokoly. “The multiple universe theory states that everything that can possibly happen is all happening at the same time. We are just passing through one of the infinite string of possibilities that exist. Feelings of Déjà vu result from those instances where your existence in this universe passes through another string of possibilities; one where you also exist but on a different plane or reality; a sort of experiential nexus.”

“Interesting idea Doctor, but how does the Artifact fit in with all of this?”

“Well, we think it may be a node, a place where several universes overlap at the same time. While there have only been three instances of Déjà vu, those instances represent 100% of those people that have come into close proximity with the Artifact while it was vibrating.”

Lanier looked at his watch and abruptly ended the meeting with Szokoly with his usual, “Keep me informed.”

He waited until the scientists had left the room before turning to one of his “fatigues” and saying, “I have something I need you to look into. Rudolfo is in country.”

The man nodded. “I’ll take care of him; but I’ll need some more men.”

Lanier shook his head. “I can handle Rudolfo. I need you to find out how he came to know about this situation so quick.”

“Washington?”

Lanier nodded and said, “Yes. I suspect that our local leak was the marine killed down by Las Vegas a few days ago. That apparently got back to the Brotherhood. However, they seem to be moving too fast on this issue to not be getting help from somewhere high up. I need you to find out who is helping them. Then I want you to “fix” it.”

“I understand,” said the man who then stood and left the room without another word.

Lanier had several men like this. “Expediters” was how he considered them. With very little information, they were able to understand and solve issues the colonel didn’t have time for. It wasn’t that the issues were trivial; in fact they never were. It was just that the colonel couldn’t be in all places at all times. His “expediters” were extensions of himself.

The man in the fatigues would get back to him as soon as he had something of value to report. Until that time, he was off of Lanier’s mental landscape.

Chapter 19  (13+) Rudolpho scopes out the Artifact Camp...and Sheriff Tucker...and Jack #2038534 by Hyperiongate