The Elicon

by Rob Roth

  “Thank you, Allison. I think it is time we brought Dr. Larkin into Project Stardust. We need his help to get the Schrödinger gateway operational. I’m relying on you to make it happen.”

  THURSDAY AFTERNOON - HOTEL

  Dooley was just parking the Jeep at the hotel when Jace came walking back from dropping off the rental car. Waving to each other, Dooley waited for Jace to catch up to him, and they went back up the elevator to their two-level suite. Dooley was quite hungry, having skipped breakfast while tailing Allison all day, and so he made his way to the kitchenette and started fixing himself a sandwich while Jace sat down in his usual chair, leaning back and considering what he had discovered examining the blue stone.

  Neither had spoken yet about what they had learned during their day, partly to maintain secrecy while walking through the hotel, but also because both were gathering their thoughts. Once Dooley had his sandwich on a plate and had sat down in his chair with food and drink, he was in a much better frame of mind to begin.

  “So, I followed Allison, and she drove right to the canyon where the meteorite landed. I mean, she knew exactly where to head. Someone had to have given her the coordinates because it was a beeline to the canyon. I stayed far back and out of sight, using your binoculars to keep tabs on her. About a mile from the canyon she had to stop, because the military apparently had thrown up a secure perimeter around the area.”

  “Really? Now why in the world would they secure a meteorite site?”

  "Jace, something else must have gone down after you left, because I saw wreckage from a crash near the canyon. I think there was a blade of a helicopter among the wreckage, but I’m not one hundred percent sure. But get this, Allison got right through the perimeter. They didn’t stop her. So, I figure she must be military, and with good connections. That makes sense since she carries a Glock with her.”

  “Something more is clearly going on,” replied Jace. “Something which Miss Trask is a part of, and which we know nothing about. It must somehow involve the impact site but until we know more we are just guessing.”

  "Wouldn't you just know! Right when I find a girl I like she turns out to be a spy… I should ‘a figured... Anyway, she went down the canyon wall, so I assume she examined the meteorite site. She was down there maybe twenty or thirty minutes. Well, that’s about it. She packed it in, came back through the perimeter, and that was that.”

  Jace paused for a minute to process this new information.

  “Dooley, I’m getting a bad feeling about this. I made no effort to hide my tire tracks, or that I scaled the canyon wall. The fact that so many people seem interested in that spot makes me nervous. It could be a simple accident and I’m just overly concerned, but if the military did want to figure out who was there, I’m sure they have the means to identify me. That meteorite is unique, and I imagine enormously valuable, which makes it quite a coincidence that a helicopter crashed in the same spot within a day or two.”

  “Yeah, the odds of that happening by chance are a little hard to swallow. It sounds to me like Allison is trying to track down that meteorite you have for some reason.”

  "Speaking of the meteorite, Dooley, I went back to NAU and analyzed the blue stone today. It is very similar to the outer shell I examined yesterday morning in that it is comprised of the same dodecahedrons… at least they looked the same under the microscope. But these were not aligned to one another. I mean, the surfaces were not flat against each other… more like dice all jumbled together in a bag. So, it’s likely not indestructible like the outer shell was.”

  “Jace, this whole situation is very strange. Are you sure you want to do the conference tomorrow? We could bug out today and lay low somewhere, if you think that’s the best call. We could bail on Allison, the military, and even the conference organizers... leave them a note or something with our regrets.”

  Jace thought about it, but he hadn’t done anything wrong, and it wasn’t like him to break a commitment like that.

  “No, I say we get through the conference. Then maybe we find some project far away from here and do as you say… keep a lower profile for a while. But my concern now is walking around carrying the blue stone. If Allison is looking for it, or the military decides to look for me, I don’t want to risk it falling into the wrong hands. As far as we know they are looking for a meteorite, not a blue marble, but if they found me carrying around this unusual stone in my pocket it might raise some suspicions.”

  Jace pulled it out of his pocket and held it out in his hand, looking at it for a few seconds and wondering what he should do with it. He closed his hand while holding it, as he thought of some way to keep both himself and it safe. After a few seconds, he felt the rock growing warmer.

  “That’s interesting. It feels like the stone is warming up. It’s not hot, but pleasantly warm.”

  Suddenly, a very faint oval about five feet high, two feet wide and a foot off the ground began to form a couple feet in front of Jace. It was just like the one he saw at the top of the canyon with the incredibly beautiful woman in it, but it was so dim he almost thought he was imagining it. Almost. Jace’s heart started to pound with excitement.

  “Dooley…” Jace said somewhat quietly, “look over here… do you happen to see anything?”

  “Son of a… How in the world are you doing that? It looks like the oval in the photo you took, only less bright. I can’t see a woman’s face in it, but then again it wasn’t all that obvious in the fiery mirror, either. What are you doing to make it appear?”

  “I don’t know. I’m just holding the blue stone in my hand…”

  Jace opened his hand again, and the image promptly disappeared. Then he tried holding it between his thumb and two fingers, but still no image appeared. However, when he closed his hand again, the dim image slowly formed. He also tried touching it while it was formed, but it just disappeared.

  “Jace, I definitely think you better protect that blue stone. We don’t know what it is or what it is doing, but that isn’t normal, that’s for darn sure!”

  “Somehow this stone is connected to the fiery mirror and that beau… the woman… we saw in it.”

  Jace’s hands were shaking. Logically none of this made any sense. There must be some scientific explanation for this. But at the moment he didn’t care. Somehow, the blue stone was the key to finding the woman in the mirror, he was sure, even if he couldn’t rationalize how or why. But he did know he had to protect the blue stone at all costs.

  Studying the blue stone once again resting in his open hand, he suddenly had an inspirational idea.

  “Finish your sandwich, Dooley. We still have a few minutes before the stores close. Come on. We’re going shopping. I need to pick something up for my presentation tomorrow morning.”

  THURSDAY EVENING - TUFO

  Sitting in his quarters, Captain Severs was totally distraught over Heissman’s plans, and he felt certain his crazy scheme would put Larkin’s life at risk. He couldn’t risk any more lives added to his account. He knew Heissman must be hiding something from him, because his plan seemed erratic, nonsensical. Heissman knew full well Larkin didn’t destroy the helicopter, so why go after Larkin as if he did?

  Suddenly, it came to Severs all at once in a blinding flash of insight, and he called Davis to his quarters.

  “Davis, I hate putting you in this position, but I don’t know that I have a better option. What I’m contemplating will possibly result in a court martial for me, or worse, and I’m about to pull you into it. If you want to leave now, I will understand, no questions asked. If you stay, I will only ask that you hear me out in order to make up your mind, and regardless of what you decide, you at least promise not to tell anyone. Can you promise me that?”

  Davis had always admired Captain Severs, and never seen him be anything but a man of integrity who loved his country and served with honor. Consequently, it didn’t take him long to respond with the degree to which he was willing to commit.

  “Captain, whate
ver you are planning, I know you and am confident it is something you truly believe must be done for an exceptionally good reason. So yes, I can promise you I will keep my mouth shut, provided what you are planning will not end up in the deaths of innocent people.”

  Severs smiled at that.

  “Thank you Davis. If all goes well it will be to protect many innocent lives, not take them. I’ve been very concerned about Heissman’s plan to go after Professor Larkin. It just didn’t make sense, until I realized why he was doing it. Somehow, Heissman knows about the egg and that Larkin is in possession of it. He intends to take it from him by force and use it as some crazy bargaining chip to force the visitors to give us advanced weapons technology. We can’t let that happen. I believe we would put all of humanity at risk if we did that. It is imperative we keep Heissman from capturing Larkin and get that egg back from the professor and into the hands of the visitors.”

  Davis looked at Severs with surprise and admiration.

  “That makes a lot of sense Captain. I should have realized why Heissman was so far in left field. And yes, I am with you in whatever you are planning. If I get court martialed or shot for treason because I tried saving all of mankind, I guess I’ll go to my grave a contented soldier.”

  “Good,” replied Severs. “Colonel Steinmacher is also sympathetic toward the goal of returning the egg to the visitors… well, at least I think he is... but I know him. He won’t defy Heissman directly, so I decided not to let him know what we are planning for the sake of his own career. But I sure hope if things go south he will provide some sort of coverage for us. Now, let’s lay out our plan of action.”

  THURSDAY NIGHT - TUFO

  Captain Severs sat at the conference table eying the team around him assembled for the mission to capture Dr. Larkin in the morning. Ironic, he thought. He had been in this very room just three days ago when he had revealed the visitors’ search pattern, triggering all the events that followed. So much had been learned since then, but also so many pieces still seem to be missing. Too many people appear to be involved in too many schemes which he couldn’t quite put together. Yet.

  Because of the senior role he had played, Heissman agreed to let Severs participate in the meeting at the request of Colonel Steinmacher. Severs in turn brought Davis along, which was reluctantly but eventually approved.

  “Master Chief, would you please brief those assembled with an overview of the mission you’ve planned for tomorrow morning, to capture Dr. Larkin?” Heissman began.

  “Certainly,” replied the Master Chief of the strike team. “In order to avoid tipping our hand, all team members will be dressed in civilian clothes. The plan is to be in place outside the building where Larkin will be speaking. The team will be strategically positioned, but the scene will be orchestrated as a casual setting one would typically see — a woman with a baby, a man reading a newspaper, someone eating a half-wrapped sandwich, that sort of thing.

  "Parked at the curb will be an ordinary looking service van with some local company name and logo written on it. We will do a snatch and grab, moving the target into the van and taking him to TUFO.

  "The back of the building has an emergency exit. We have no reason to believe Larkin would come out that way, but just in case we will chain it from the outside shortly before Larkin is done speaking, to ensure only one avenue for egress exists.

  "We don’t know who will be protecting Larkin, or how well-organized they are, but we anticipate they may be disguised as conference attendees, possibly coordinating their movements by radio. They may be hard to spot, and we don’t know what counter-measures they will be planning.”

  “Sir,” interrupted Captain Severs. “I have a suggestion that might help with this.”

  Severs was pleased that the direction the strike team was headed was similar to what he and Davis had anticipated last night but was worried the role he and Davis had devised wouldn’t be accepted.

  “Go ahead, Severs.”

  “We have a ground-based radio mobile vehicle called ‘Gromit’ that is disguised as a mobile learning system, and it is well-known in the area by everyone. If anyone sees it, it will raise no suspicions. Davis here is the main operator for Gromit. I propose we position Gromit at the back of the building. He and I will take responsibility for chaining the door thirty minutes before Larkin finishes.

  "Also, Gromit has high-tech equipment that can scan virtually all radio frequencies. Davis can try to isolate the channel Larkin’s men are using. That way we'll know exactly what they are planning. If you give us your frequency, we can even relay their channel to yours, so you hear real-time what they are planning.”

  Much to the relief of Severs, Heissman heartily approved.

  “Excellent suggestion, Severs. That could provide the intel we need to disrupt their coordinated countermeasures. Master Chief, what do you think?”

  “It fits right in with what we were already planning and supplements our defensive tactics. I think our men can work with that. We appreciate any support like that we can get.”

  FIVE

  FRIDAY MORNING - HOTEL

  “Is this little trick of yours even necessary, Jace?” Dooley asked as they were gathering their conference booklets, badges and presentation materials in order to head over to the conference. “It just seems to me like you are drawing attention, rather than deflecting attention.”

  “I honestly don't know what else I can do with that artifact, Dooley. You saw what it did when I held it in my hand. I suspect it isn’t of our world, and it certainly has unusual properties to say the least — probably much more than simply producing an interesting image when I hold it. The military was at the site for some reason, where there was a downed craft, our meteorite impact crater, and my tire tracks. Something is certainly going on.”

  “I know. But honestly, do you think they will all buy into your little gimmick?”

  "I certainly hope so. For now, I just can’t take the chance that anyone gets ahold of it. Even if they know about the meteorite I’m hoping they don’t know about the inner blue stone or what it looks like. If I were to get caught in the next few days, I don’t want anyone messing with it.

  "And I don’t feel safe leaving it locked in the room. That won’t secure it from someone who is even slightly determined. I suppose I could hide it somewhere away from me, but I really need it available for more experimentation. For now, I hope this little diversionary tactic will permit me to keep it safe and in my possession.”

  Once the purchase from the toy store was safe in Jace’s pocket, Dooley called Allison. They had arranged previously to call when they were coming down the elevator to pick her up, since they had planned to all walk to the conference together. After the call was made, they rode the elevator to her floor and knocked on her door.

  “Ah, my two bonny mates have arrived,” Allison said with a little smile in her eyes. “How can one girl be so lucky? Thanks for offering to walk with me. Jace, I am really looking forward to hearing your presentation this morning. I see you are on the agenda to speak from nine to eleven. That’s the prime spot. People will have had their coffee, so they will be wide awake, but you will be done before they get too hungry for lunch.”

  “Thanks, Allie. I’m sure you would eagerly sit there for two hours straight in rapt attention while I explain the mysteries of meteors, but apparently the organizers didn’t think others would. Consequently, I have been told we will have a twenty-minute break with cookies and drinks at ten of ten to accommodate my audience's fifty-minute attention span.”

  “I certainly wouldn’t mind that. Perhaps you and Dooley and I could get together during the break for a brief discussion on something I think you will be most interested in.”

  “Hey, I’m invited too? Goodie. I was beginning to think you both had forgotten I was standing here,” Dooley said slightly piqued.

  “Oh Dooley, I could never forget you,” Allison said with a mix of humor and sympathy in her voice, as she put her arm around hi
s and let him lead her to the conference. Dooley enjoyed her attention, but then reminded himself she was likely playing him, so he determined not let his guard down too much.

  FRIDAY MORNING - OUTSIDE CONFERENCE

  “Radio check, Walter. How are the feet on the street?” Master Chief Rankin queried.

  “Like a day in the park. Everyone is in position doing what normal folks do.”

  “Radio check, Hawkins. How’s my ride looking?”

  “The chariot awaits, Master Chief.”

  “Radio check, Gromit. “How’s the chatter?”

  “We are currently scanning the airwaves hoping to find some engaging discussions, Master Chief, but nothing yet so far.”

  “Ok team stay alert. Let’s hope all goes according to plan and we cage the bird without any incidents. But be ready for a fight if it comes to that.”

  FRIDAY MORNING - INSIDE CONFERENCE

  The first hour of the conference passed surprisingly quickly for the conference attendees, considering they were eager to hear the eminent keynote speaker, Dr. Larkin. Like most conferences, the organizers knew they would likely lose many of the attendees after their keynote speaker on the final day, so they covered the items they wished everyone to hear before departing.

  First they provided a summary recapping the highlights of the prior presentations to put Dr. Larkin’s in context, along with information on where to download the materials. Next followed the plans in place for next year’s conference, to be held near the Kaali Crater in Estonia. After that, they gave special recognition of appreciation to those who had made the conference so successful, handing out a few tokens of thanks. Finally, the announcer covered the agenda for the rest of the conference, scheduled to conclude at 2 pm that day.

  A short ten-minute break ensued, to ensure everyone’s attention would be fresh. Finally, with much fanfare, Dr. Larkin was introduced by a reading of his many achievements. Amid much applause, Jace took the stage.