The Unearthing (12 page)

“In fact, you have two options:” Hays said, “You may stand for a general courts-martial and answer for your actions aboard Concord 3--”

“Which nobody wants because the world still doesn’t know just how complicit the Defence Intelligence Agency was in trying to cover up the Ship’s existence,” Bloom interjected.

“
Or
,” Hays continued, “You may accept reassignment under General Harrod’s direct command with the Defence Intelligence Agency. It appears General Harrod is offering you a job.”

“I wasn’t aware the General needed another grave digger.”

“Lieutenant Colonel!” Hays shouted.

“At ease Colonel Hays,” Harrod said dismissively, as he turned to regard the base commander. Harrod’s gaze turned back to Bloom. “Lieutenant-Colonel, the fact of the matter is you know far too much to be cut loose and fortunately for you that little escapade of yours skyside aboard C-3 means you’re too high profile to make disappear. Our only option is to reassign you; keep you out of the way.”

“And under your thumb.”

“Precisely, Lieutenant-Colonel,” Harrod said, sounding genuinely pleased and even surprised that she understood, “And what’s more I intend on putting you to work for the DIA. The United States Government spent billions training you as a pilot and as an aerospace engineer. The DIA will now reap the benefits of your knowledge while we keep you out of the way.”

“And just how long will I be kept out of the way, General?”

“Until you’re of no further use to the DIA.”

“So my choices are prison…or indentured servitude.” Harrod rose from his seat and crossed to the door of Hays’ office.

“I’m glad you understand,” He said, “Don’t take too long in making up your mind, Bloom. I’m leaving in an hour.” Harrod paused in the doorway, turning around. Bloom remained standing at parade rest, facing the chair he had vacated. From the corner of her eye, she watched as Hays turned his attention to the doorway. She was aware of Harrod’s presence; she could sense his deliberate patience, waiting for her to turn around. Finally she did, turning slowly, until she faced the door. Harrod stood in the doorway, his arms folded across his chest.

“Lieutenant-Colonel, don’t be so arrogant as to believe that the truth is on your side, or that you’d survive another Court Martial,” He said, “Pack a bag and send for the rest of your gear. You can go with me, you can go to Leavenworth, or you can go to Hell. I don’t really give a good Goddamn which.”

♦♦♦

“My children, last night an Angel of the Lord came to Me in a dream,” Gabriel Ashe spoke with no emotion, His voice relaxed, flat and almost toneless, “I was taken up to a great mountain that had been split in half. Below Me, lay the Ship…” As He spoke, Ashe’s followers began to see what He had imagined. Their eyes were heavily lidded as they sat swaying slightly, silently, in the church around Him. Gabriel Ashe’s strange monotone held them entranced; their visions fuelled by the steady mix of hallucinogens Ashe fed His followers along with His hypnotic sermons. Ashe Himself consumed the same diet of drugs. And yet, His mind was more focused than theirs. He knew why, too. For He was the Son of God’s Son: the Advocate foretold by Christ. The drugs allowed Him to see divinity and learn from its wisdom. The drugs allowed His disciples to share in His divinity. And their worship would make Him become the last piece of the Mysterious Holy Trinity. That was why He had founded the United Trinity Observants: So that His Father could see how He was loved. And that was why He knew that the Ship was His enemy: For an Angel of the Lord had shown Him how people would worship it. From atop the shorn mountain, He was shown just what would befall the world if it came to pass that the Ship was worshipped in His stead:

“The Ship filled a great valley and shimmered with a strange inner light. The Pyramid that lay at the Ship’s center became a temple to their false God. All around the Ship night was made day and the false light drew them all, the siren song of the Ship making their ears deaf to the Word of the Lord.”

Ashe remembered what the Angel had shown him in the fever-dream of drugs he had consumed on learning of the Ship. He remembered watching clouds of inky blackness roiling with deadly, liquid grace across the horizon to the East, towards the Ship. He remembered the purple lightning that shot from the clouds, painting the world in blacklight colors.

“The Angel of the Lord showed me how the Prince of Darkness had come, riding on clouds as black as death,” Ashe said, “And where the clouds touched the Earth, everything was consumed and the clouds grew. The Angel of the Lord showed Me,” The Angel had shown Him much. How the pyroplastic cloud curled about the Ship, locking itself around it on all sides. He had been shown what fate the dark clouds had in store for their victims.

“The Angel bade Me watch as first all died, consumed by the cloud’s touch. The Angel showed Me how the dead would then rise from the grave, their flesh rot, their eyes burning embers of the devil’s fire. The Angel showed Me how these monstrosities would serve their evil master, until all of God’s creation was consumed.” The Angel also told him that He, Ashe, would be among the first claimed by the Devil, if the Ship was not stopped.

“The Ship is the agent of the Devil,” Ashe said, “For it will summon the black cloud of the Prince of Darkness. Even now the Ship calls to Him, to the Evil One.” Ashe remembered how the Angel told Him the clouds would come: a seductive evil released from the Ship; one which would be embraced by all. They would consume it and then from within, it would consume them. They would surrender themselves body and soul to the Ship and then to the clouds that would follow.

“The Ship is the agent of the Devil,” Ashe said again, “The Angel of the Lord has told Me this. The Ship will beget Armageddon, My Children. Unless we stop it, the Soldiers of the Lord will not number rightly the number needed to combat the Devil in the Last Days. We must seize the Ship and in so doing make it a vessel and a weapon unto My Father. So say I, so sayeth the Lord.”

With one voice His congregation responded: “So say You, so sayeth the Lord.”

“The Lord commands us to rise up as an army against the Ship’s covetous masters,” Ashe said, “The time of our Purpose is at hand. We must prepare to fight, to die for this holy cause. So say I, so sayeth the Lord.”

“So say You, so sayeth the Lord.” Ashe raised his hands upwards, looking unto the Heavens.

“Lord, let Me be an instrument of Your power,” Ashe said, “Let My flock be an army at Thy command. Let us destroy Your enemies, Lord, so that I may sanctify Your house with their blood. So I do, so doth the Lord.”

“So You do, so doth the Lord.”

“Let the torment of our enemies shine upon you, O Lord and grant us the favour of Your Grace, in this battle against Thine enemies. Let My hand wield the sword of Your might, let My head bear the helm of Your fury. Let My commands be issued in Your name. So say I, so sayeth the Lord.”

“So say you, so sayeth the Lord.” As Ashe stood silently behind the lectern, his congregation began singing
Onward, Christian Soldier
.

“Praise My Name,” Ashe uttered, as they sang.

♦♦♦

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sat down at his desk, the door to his office locked and the shades drawn. Using a small device he kept on his person at all times, the Chairman scanned the room for monitoring equipment. He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and removed a locked box. The box required him to place his eye over a lens on the locking mechanism before it would open. From within the Chairman took a small console with built in roll-up screen and folding keypad. He set this up on his desk, connecting it wirelessly to a handheld audio linx. The two devices coupled, he rolled out the screen and activated the console. Soon he was connected to a small network independent of the World Grid, known and accessible only by a handful of people on the planet. Eight other faces appeared on the screen before the Chairman, each face in its own separate window.

“Thank you for joining us mister Chairman,” The elderly image of the head of England’s MI-6 said, “Now that we are all present we can begin.” The British Minister of Defence cleared her throat and spoke from the upper left-hand corner of the Chairman’s screen, beginning the meeting with an old, now purely ceremonial statement:

“The doors of these chambers are now sealed and those who do not have business with this Committee have departed. The Committee is now in session. Let everything said within these walls remain within these walls.” The Chairman settled into his seat.

“We have several items on the agenda this evening, all of them dealing with the Ship,” The British Defence Minister said, “First and foremost, the Committee’s influence over the World Ship Summit and the Oversight Commission. It is my understanding that our colleague and my Canadian counterpart at the Ministry of Defence is stepping down, because she has been appointed to the World Ship Summit. Elizabeth, we will be sorry to see you go.” The Canadian Defence Minister nodded, the window occupied by her image on the lower right hand side of the Chairman’s screen.

“As disappointed as I am to be leaving the sitting council of the Committee,” the Canadian Minister said, “I know that I will be able to continue to serve its purpose from the World Ship Summit.”

“How much influence do you have with the Prime Minister regarding your replacement?” the White House Chief of Staff asked, from the middle right of the Chairman’s screen.

“Little, I’m afraid,” The Canadian Minister replied. “However, the front runner to replace me is someone who is up to the task at hand.”

“Farewell, Madam Minister,” The British Defence Minister said, “You will be missed.”

“Thank you, Madeline,” The Canadian Minister replied.

“Moving on,” The British Defence Minister said, “It is my understanding that the Ship Survey Expedition’s makeup has been finalized and will be announced on INN in the next twelve hours.”

“Correct,” MI-6 replied, “Professor Mark Echohawk is confirmed as the head of the expedition and I have acquired the list of divisions within the expedition, including archaeology, linguistics, mathematics, biology, engineering and abnormal psychology.”

“Abnormal psychology?” the Chairman asked, “I don’t follow.”

“May I?” the Curator of the Smithsonian Institute interjected from his place on mid-left of the Chairman’s screen, the British Defence Minister nodded.

“The function of an expert in abnormal psychology on this mission would be twofold,” The Curator replied, “First, an abnormal psychologist would, calling on his background, be of intuitive help in understanding the alien mind should the linguists, mathematicians and engineers fail. Second, the abnormal psychologist will be essential in monitoring the members of the expedition for signs of psychosis relating to their proximity of an alien artifact.”

“Is the Ship expected to drive them all mad?” the Canadian Minister asked.

“No,” the Curator continued, “However the reality for most people on the planet is that the Ship is little more than a consequential news event. Only the people directly exposed to the Ship can truly understand how
real
it is. Those who will be charged with the task of exploring the Ship run the risk of being confronted with this reality even far more directly. This Committee has studied the effects exposure to alien artifacts has on the human psyche. At best, the results are unpredictable. At worst, we’ve seen people go insane. And that from exposure to significantly less important extraterrestrial finds. We’re already seeing an increased hysteria among the general population. We can only imagine what the members of the Ship Survey Expedition will go through.”

♦♦♦

TRANSCRIPT

INTERACTIVE NEWS NETWORK NEWSCAST

PLAIN TEXT FORMAT

PATH:
INN <>BROADCAST >>THE SHIP >>HEADLINES >>WORLD SHIP SUMMIT ANNOUNCES SHIP SURVEY EXPEDITION MEMBERS ><

Good Afternoon and welcome to the Interactive News Network. Just a few minutes ago, the World Council’s Ship Summit announced the final makeup of the Ship Survey Expedition. Professor Mark Echohawk, the archaeologist who originally discovered the Ship, will lead the expedition as well as take charge of the Ship Survey Expedition’s archaeology department. He has personally chosen all the senior members of the Ship Survey Expedition and they are as follows:

♦♦♦

They met together for the first time just prior to the first official excursion of the SSE. One by one, they had arrived at the site over the course of the last two days and settled in. Echohawk was surprised by the level of development that had occurred since the Unearthing. A small village had blossomed along the southwest ridge of the crater, the Ramp just to the east of the village. It was a shantytown to be sure: lean-to structures of corrugated sheet metal, tents; in only a few cases were there actual prefab housing units. Tens of thousands of people had flocked to the site before the Army had managed to get the area under control. The Village was allowed to stay, but the Army Corps of Engineers had been brought in to provide sewage, water, and electricity and comm lines. Roads were still beaten dirt and the population had exploded to almost thirty thousand.

To the east of the Ramp, curving along the south-easterly hemisphere of the Ship’s Canyon was Fort Arapaho, the base of operations for the military forces that had taken over the area immediately surrounding the Ship and the base of operations for the Ship Survey Expedition.