Guardians of the Galactic Sentinel 1: The Deimos Artifact (19 page)

"Calm down, Arnold," said MacPherson.

"Perhaps you triggered something when you handled it last night," said Arnold.

"I'm not sure I buy that," said MacPherson.

"That must be what the references to touching it means," said Arnold, ignoring his advisor, "Perhaps it's not a warning but is instead part of a set of instructions for using it?"

"I'm not sure I want to go down that road," said the Professor.

"I'm not sure I do either," said Arnold, "but in view of what has been going on, I think we must keep the possibility on the table."

"I can live with that, pending further information," said the Professor, grudgingly.

"You asked me what I think it is," said Zack, returning to the original thread of the discussion, "I believe this thing came from an alien civilization."

The Professor looked back and forth between Zack and Ariane before replying, "We have been investigating that particular line of reasoning, but I must reserve judgment until I can see it for myself."

"An alien artifact would be a really big discovery," said Ariane, "It could well be one of the most important in human history. I guess I can see why you'd need to be secretive about it."

Zack treated her to a mild glare. She shrugged in response.

MacPherson nodded his head in agreement, "Indeed, we have to be absolutely sure about an origin of that nature before we make any kind of announcement. Even then, we'd have to be very careful how we go about releasing the information."

"For all we know, it may also represent the greatest danger our species has ever faced," said Arnold.

"Surely things aren't as dramatic as that?" said Ariane.

Arnold's grave look told her he was dead serious, "Last night's vision was...disturbing."

"We still haven't validated any connection between the artifact and the visions," said the Professor.

"How is it that you know so much about it if you haven't actually seen it?" asked Zack.

The Professor looked over at his two academic companions as though seeking their approval for what he was going to say next. He took a deep breath and replied, "When Marv originally purchased the artifact, there was an old photograph that came with it. Marv gave us a copy of the photo."

"You're getting all this from a photo of the artifact?" asked Zack.

"Yes, because there was more in the photo than just the artifact. The photo was taken inside the place where the artifact was originally found."

"Supposedly found," added Kathryn.

The Professor acknowledged her point with a nod. Zack ignored the distraction, "So, what was in this picture?" he asked.

"The artifact but...there were markings on the wall behind it. From what you describe, it sounds as though the writings on that wall are very similar to the ones that appeared on the artifact."

"They bear some resemblance to symbols from several of the old Earth civilizations," said Kathryn, who hadn't said much up until now, "We didn't have to start totally from scratch."

"What do these symbols say?"

"We don't know for sure," said Kathryn.

"Why not?"

"Because we didn't have a complete record of them," she replied, "At least half of the writings are blocked from view in the photo by the artifact itself. Whoever took that picture was probably only concerned about capturing an image that contained a good view of the artifact. Apparently they didn't care about the inscriptions on the wall behind it."

"So what you think you know is based on a partial translation of those writings?" asked Zack.

"Unfortunately, yes," replied the Professor, "So, as you can see, much of what we are going on is conjecture. We have some theories, but we really need more information." He looked directly at Zack. "Your uncle Marv had been in touch with a number of pretty knowledgeable people before he came to us. Some of them undoubtedly were working for..." he paused to find the right word, "...the opposition."

"What do you know about this 'opposition,'" asked Zack.

"Not a lot," replied MacPherson, "We do know that some of them are from the Soviet Bloc and they're probably the people that Marv got...on the wrong side of. I think he was trying to find out what they knew when he...had his accident. We're also pretty sure that they have sources of information that we don't have."

"Why do you say that," asked Zack.

"Because they seem to be right on our heels most of the time," replied MacPherson, "If you have any of Marv's records, they could be very helpful."

Zack glanced over at Ariane and was surprised to discover that in spite of her earlier deception, he was coming to view her more and more as an ally than anything else. The fact that they were both military helped some, but her conduct towards him since she had revealed herself, including the time they had spent together investigating the artifact the night before they left Central, had helped to alter his perception of her considerably. She gave him an almost imperceptible nod as if to say "go ahead." He took a deep breath before venturing carefully, "My uncle left a memory chip."

There was a short silence as all of the academics absorbed this new information.

"Excellent," said the Professor, his face lighting up with sudden enthusiasm, "What's on this chip?"

"Quite a lot, we think," replied Zack, with another glance at Ariane, "Trouble is, Marv encoded all of the files and protected them with passwords that only I will be able to figure out. There hasn't been time for me to really sit down with the chip and find out what all he left for us."

"We'll have to make that a top priority," said MacPherson.

"I...I'm forced to agree with you," replied Zack.

"I should get back to the bridge," said Ariane, "How about we bring the artifact up here where you academics can have a look at it and the four of you sit down and see what else you can get off from Marv's chip? I'll drop back in when I can and Zack can update me on what you find."

"That sounds like a good plan," said the Professor.

"I'll have Cliff bring the artifact up here," said Ariane.

"I can give him a hand," added Arnold, getting up from the table.

"I'll go get the chip," said Zack.

Zack headed for his quarters while Arnold headed down to engineering and Ariane left for the bridge.

Professor MacPherson rubbed his hands together in eager anticipation.

Chapter 22
. Dawson's Pyramid.

Nova Philadelphia, July 9, 2676.

Miriam Love had a serious case of the butterflies. She found herself pacing back and forth backstage at the government studios, waiting for Senator Dawson's press secretary to come and get her. She was supposed to go onstage, make a short statement and then submit herself to a few questions from the battery of reporters who had received invitations to the press conference. The Senator had guaranteed her that she wouldn't be up on the stage for more than a few minutes. The butterflies were there because going in front of a very skeptical audience was daunting enough in its own right, but she still wasn't sure exactly what it was that she wanted to say.

What did it all mean?

Several hours earlier in the day spent scouring the newscasts hadn't particularly helped, mostly because there hadn't really been anything new in any of the reports. That this little pyramid -- this so-called "artifact" -- was somehow important to the future of Mankind was becoming clearer with each wave of visions. Why the visions occurred periodically and when or even if another wave of them might occur was not clear, not at all. She stopped and nodded her head as the solution occurred to her,
"Instincts, Miriam, follow your instincts."
She repeated these instructions to herself as she resumed pacing.

The Senator was following his own instincts and had latched onto Madam Love and the wave of public reaction connected to the artifact with a vengeance. There was much political hay to be made and phenomena such as the artifact and all the free publicity it was garnering were pure gold to a seasoned politician. That didn't mean he had any idea what any of it meant. To be sure, that didn't really matter yet. As far as he knew, his group was the only one actually doing something about the artifact even if there were only a few people actually working on the problem.

The moderator of the conference was just wrapping up his introductory remarks. He had described the mass visions and had even given a brief description of the artifact itself. A professional artist had created a fanciful painting of the artifact based on descriptions given by some of the sensitives, Madam Love included. Miriam concluded that the rendering didn’t look quite right. The symbols were too large, for one thing, and the colors were way off. She decided it really didn't matter.

The moderator concluded his opening statements, "Before we bring up Senator Dawson to report upon what is being done about this unprecedented phenomenon, we have a short report from Madam Miriam Love, personal medium to Senator Dawson's wife. She has also agreed to take a few questions afterwards. Madam Love would you please come out?"

Miriam's panic spiked. She straightened her skirt and briefly touched her hand to hair. One of the press secretary's assistants held the curtain open for her. She held her head up and her shoulders back and strode purposefully out onto the stage, all the while wondering if her shaking knees would hold her up as she walked the short few steps that carried her over behind the podium.

As she took her position behind a panoramic array of microphones, she was surprised to see that there were only about twenty-five people seated in the audience. There were banks of video cameras but she could effectively ignore them. The cameras wouldn't be asking any questions. She had addressed small groups, like this one, on many occasions. She had also handled a few skeptics in her time. She felt herself calming.
"You can do this, Miriam,"
she told herself.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she began, "My name is Miriam Love and I am a psychic. I am also one of the 'sensitives' who is subject to periodic visions related to the mysterious little pyramid. I had my first vision just a few weeks ago..."

She went on to describe several of the visions and the timings. The producers had told her to be brief so she was. Very quickly she was done with her presentation and it was time for questions. She concluded with: "...The visions seem to be getting more elaborate each time we sensitives are subjected to a new one."

The moderator picked a man in the back row who was from one of the big video news services.

"I'm sure that I speak for everyone here, Madam Love, when I ask: What does it all mean?"

Miriam repeated the question before launching confidently into her answer, "What does it all mean? Unfortunately, the spirits are seldom completely clear. This case is a perfect example. How else to explain the diversity of the visions? In my opinion, Mankind is on the precipice of some kind of momentous happening. The fact that there appear to be differing outcomes means that the results are still to be determined. It is up to us to come together and do our best to ensure that we influence one of the favorable outcomes."

And so it went. Miriam handled two more questions in a similar fashion. The moderator informed her that her time was up and thanked her. She left the stage, relieved and thankful that she hadn't made any serious mistakes. Perhaps the spirits
were
on her side?

Senator Dawson was next. The tall, silver-haired, silver-tongued, immaculately dressed dignitary gave his usual polished presentation, referring only occasionally to a few notes on the teleprompter in the podium.

"My fellow citizens, I thank you all for coming. I want you all to know that my staff and I are doing everything in our power to get to the bottom of this mystery. We have a battery of scientists including psychologists, theologians, historians and even exobiologists working to understand what it all means. Some progress has already been made..."

The Senator rambled on in that fashion for a good ten minutes, not saying very much but doing so very eloquently. Finally, it was time for him to handle a few questions.

A female reporter from the Nova York Times was the first to be granted the opportunity to pose a question.

"Senator Dawson? Many of us are wondering, is this little pyramid a real object? If so, where did it come from?"

"Is the pyramid a real object? We think that it is and I have created a joint military and civilian team to seek it out. This is a crack team and they will be reporting directly to me. As to where it came from, there are so many conflicting reports that it is impossible to say at this time."

Dawson handled a few more questions in his bombastic style before it was time to wrap things up. Much of what he had reported about his involvement with the investigations into the mystery was based on truth, although only one of the investigations had progressed beyond the very beginning stages and the "battery of scientists" he had referred to were going to be contacted over the course of the next few days. As far as the "crack team" he had put together reporting directly to him, that would have been news to the team. As far as they knew, they were completely on their own. The Truth has ever been just what it needs to be for politicians like Dawson.

Miriam was just glad that it was all over.