The Elicon

by Rob Roth

  “Well, unfortunately we now know the meaning of the vision,” said Jace.

  ‘The link that binds the two together…

  The hand of man reaches out…

  To firmly grasp the one seeking...

  And to recover the lost.’

  “The link must be the hand of man, and it bound Daniel and Dooley together. The one seeking with me was Dooley, and the aliens used him to recover what was lost. Ok, maybe they have that cache, and we couldn't prevent the vision from happening,” Jace continued. “But I refuse to believe we are beaten. They haven't attacked yet for some reason, and their only entry is through the Barringer hole. We still have two very powerful particle beam weapons that could target that spot, and maybe they know that. It could be what's holding them back for now, because we could likely take them out one at a time as they came through.”

  “That's right!” agreed Severs enthusiastically. “Davis and I can reach back out to Steinmacher and see if we can convince him to help us prepare those weapons. Hopefully he still has some pull with White Sands or China Lake.”

  “Good idea. We need to convince them of the threat so they can be made aware and prepare defenses,” said Jace.

  “What about the Synchrotron?” asked Allison. “Does it even matter now? Looks like the aliens already had a gateway here, so Van Dyne is late to the game.”

  “We should either see if we can use it to our advantage somehow, or shut it down,” said Jace. “But I'm thinking the aliens now have all the remaining blue dust, so if the gateway isn't operational now, I don't see how Van Dyne could complete it. But Elysia and I should still check it out anyway, since we are here.”

  “Well, Dooley and I certainly don't want to bloody well sit around cooling our heels while you four save the world,” said Allison. “Captain, what about that artifact of yours? Where is it? Maybe the aliens still need it for some purpose, and we can disable or destroy it.”

  “That's a good idea. It should still be on the TUFO base, locked in the safe within Gromit — you know, that giant worm thingy,” Severs said teasing Allison. “Why don't you two join us in Flagstaff? We can use Steinmacher to help us get access to Gromit, and the LINAC weapons, but we can't reach him until he visits Kandy next Saturday. None of us can risk going on base yet.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” said Allison. “We'll see you in a couple days once I can arrange some transportation for us.”

  After the call was over, as they were sitting in the main room of the two-bedroom suite in downtown Melbourne, Jace noticed Elysia was somewhat quiet and pensive.

  “Is something bothering you Elysia? You haven’t spoken much since we arrived here.”

  “I’m feeling… disconnected here in your world, Jace. In many ways it still reflects the power and glory of Eld. The Royal Gardens you showed me were beautiful. And many people seem very nice. But this is a tainted world. It has a touch of corruption, and I can feel it all around — the air, the earth, the great sea we flew over. When I am in the Pristine Lands I can feel the unity and oneness… a love between all things. We are all connected. And when I stand by the barrier, I can sense the corruption and evil. Two different lands divided by a clear barrier.

  "But with your world it is different. It is mixed together, as if both sides are competing for dominance. Some are leaning one way, and some the other. And many are in some sort of balance between the two. I don’t know why Eld created the Dream Realm, but perhaps I am learning something from being here. I have a longing for your realm to see a turning toward Eld, because I know the wonder and joy of his presence and wish it for your people. Yet now I worry they may fall into the ways of Malic, and for that I greatly fear. When I feel that way, I hold onto the Elicon, and regain a sense of peace, but people here don’t have that, so I don’t know how they tolerate this indecision and imbalance.”

  “When it’s all you’ve known,” said Jace, “balancing between the two sides seems normal, I guess. But having been in the Pristine Lands, and now having an Elicon with me, I do understand what you are talking about. The peace and tranquility and the unity between all, is something I’ve never before experienced. That is why we must fight back against a Maliconi incursion into my world and stop them — to give this world a chance for that.”

  Elysia smiled back. “Thank you for understanding me, Jace. You and I are the only two who have seen both sides. That makes you a very special person to me.”

  “Elysia, you are… so very special to me in a way that I am finding hard to put into words. If anything were to happen to you… if I were to lose you… I guess what I’m saying is I don’t know Eld like you do, but if he's anything like you, I would surely serve him with all my heart.”

  Elysia, looked down shyly, an emotion Jace had not seen before in Elysia, and he wondered at that, but to avoid further embarrassing either one of them, he decided he better change the subject.

  “Now, I think we should talk about the Synchrotron, and how we might go about finding out what progress they have made. I would like to surprise Van Dyne tomorrow by showing up at Monash University, where the Synchrotron is located, so he doesn’t have time to stall us or come up with some edited version of how far along they really are.

  “Anyway, he should be interested in an update from me regarding the search for blue dust, and I will tell him about the lead I had received and our trip to Greenland. However, it will be a very shortened version that provides him with just the minimal information, and primarily the fact that we did not end up with any blue dust. I wish I knew what happened when Heissman brought the exotic material left over from the egg to Van Dyne. I guess we have to assume it was still not sufficient and hope he will be desperate for more blue dust. If that’s the case, I think I can then press him for a demonstration, as he will want to keep me engaged in the search.

  “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to have you with me, when I talk to Van Dyne. It is a top-secret project and you don’t have any clearance, so I will have to learn what I can and then tell you afterwards. If he already has enough blue dust, he will likely try stalling me, so either way we should know. What do you think?”

  “I don’t know much about your world, so I must rely on your judgement in these things,” said Elysia. “But I know Eld entrusted you with an Elicon, and I trust him fully, so I believe he will guide you properly in this matter.”

  Jace wasn’t convinced the Elicon was meant to be with him or that he would receive any special guidance, as Elysia believed. He just hoped he didn’t screw anything up.

  THIRTEEN

  Heissman left Melbourne and flew back to his office in Washington D.C. determined to discover the location of Captain Severs and force him to give up his sources and contacts. He was sure the Captain must have access to one additional cache of blue dust, and he aimed to locate it. However, Steinmacher was initially uncooperative and then very hard to reach by phone as his secretary claimed he was unavailable. It took several weeks of pressure to finally make him return his calls, and then force him to give up the location of Captain Severs.

  Once he realized Captain Severs was stationed in Greenland, he arranged several military flights that would eventually route him to Thule air base. Finally, Project Stardust was on the verge of opening a portal to another world, he thought to himself. And to think, people had actually been seen in another dimension, along with structures! It could mean a whole new world for us to occupy, if they were less civilized than us. Otherwise, we could maybe obtain some amazing technology we could leverage to our benefit. If Severs has information as to where I can get more blue dust, I'll get it from him!

  It took Heissman a couple days to make it to Thule. He knew better than to call ahead and alert Severs, as he thought there was a good chance he would vanish again. After the plane landed, he made the cold icy walk to the primary operational building and announced himself to the administrator at the desk.

  “I am here to see Captain Severs. I understand he is one of the operation
s officers stationed here.”

  The administrator acted somewhat nervous at that question and requested Heissman please wait while he called the senior base officer, Lt. Colonel Nagano.

  After a few minutes, Nagano arrived, saluted, and said, “Welcome to Thule, General. This is an unexpected pleasure. What brings you here?”

  “I am here to see Captain Severs. I have reason to believe he is withholding information of vital importance to our Nation. I wish to question him in a secure location, and request two armed officers please escort him here.”

  Lt. Colonel Nagano hesitated for a second or two before responding. “I'm afraid that won't be possible sir,” replied Nagano. “We are currently uncertain as to the whereabouts of both Captain Severs and Specialist Davis. It appears they may have, ah, left the base. Their last known whereabouts was Qaanaaq, but we are quite certain they are no longer there. We have warrants out for their apprehension, in the event they make their presence known somewhere.”

  Heissman was furious that Severs had escaped from his grasp, and suspected Steinmacher may have had a hand in this. If so he would be sure to make him pay. However, Heissman was not without a backup plan. He knew how he could get more blue dust — he just hated having to do so. Getting it from Severs would have been a much easier solution, but the situation was now critical and worth the sacrifice he would have to make.

  “Very well, Lt. Colonel. When is the next flight out from Thule to the U.S.? I need to catch the earliest flight to Washington D.C.”

  In about thirty-six hours, General Heissman stepped off the plane at Baltimore/Washington International Airport. He was tired, but the possibility of getting that portal open as soon as possible was all the motivation he needed. A driver and car met him at the gate — one of the many perks of being a general, he smiled to himself.

  “Driver, please take me to the Adelphi Laboratory Center in Adelphi, Maryland.”

  “Right away, sir”

  The drive from BWI airport to the Army’s Adelphi Laboratory Center was only about thirty minutes, travelling south via I-95. Before long, the driver was pulling up to the main gate. General Heissman pulled out his identification, and once he was authorized to enter, he instructed the driver to take him out to building 500.

  This building was a little farther away from the main cluster of buildings, down a small road leading into Paint Branch Park. The facility was surrounded by trees, which provided a beautiful setting for creative research and development. Entering the facility, Heissman walked down the familiar halls that led to the ‘Weapons and Materials’ research area. At the area’s reception desk, he asked to see Dr. Angela Moretti, and was soon escorted to her office.

  “General Heissman. What a surprise! I wasn’t expecting another visit from you until September. Had I known you were coming I would have prepared a progress briefing for you.”

  “That’s quite all right Dr. Moretti. I had not planned on coming back until then, but some recent developments precipitated the need for this visit. Tell me, what progress have you made since my last visit?”

  “Well, as you know, the first two years we were just trying to understand its basic properties. No one had any experience with exotic matter so there was quite a learning curve. Last year when you visited we had finally begun to realize the potential for weaponizing this quite amazing material, as the potential energy locked inside the dust was, well, astounding. Over this last year we have now discovered that adding just a few grains to a conventional explosive increases its yield five times! This gives us the ability to make smaller, more portable explosive devices with much greater destructive power. This is the first practical application of the dust we have uncovered, but we anticipate many more breakthroughs very soon!”

  “You knew, Doctor, when I brought you the substance four years ago, that this was an 'off-the-books' project. In essence, I had to ‘steal’ the material from another scientific branch of the government that had been given control over the substance, claiming it vanished. I did this for the good of our country, and I appreciate your dedication and silence over these last four years. However, I’m afraid we are going to have to shut down this project. Another more promising use for the exotic matter has now been uncovered, and it is imperative that I collect and transfer all the exotic material you have, to this other project.”

  Dr. Moretti was somewhat stunned when she heard the news, but then, she had experienced the cancellation of other projects several times. That was the nature of weapons research, so she recovered her composure.

  “May I ask what the nature of this other project is?” she asked out of curiosity.

  “I can’t give you specifics but let me just say it opens up a whole new door of opportunities,” he said with a smile.

  Having flown from Washington to Greenland, and now back to Washington. it seemed to General Heissman that he’d done nothing but fly the last three days. In spite of that, he was eager to get back to Melbourne with the exotic matter he now had in his possession. It would all be worth it, he thought to himself, once they could stabilize the portal and actually cross over. This would be the greatest scientific achievement of the century. One more twenty-four-hour flight wouldn’t kill him, he thought to himself as he was falling asleep on the jet.

  As he had done two months earlier, the driver met him at the Melbourne Airport’s military gate and drove him directly to Monash University. The General had called Van Dyne before he had departed Washington, informing him more blue dust was on its way. He also had the driver call Van Dyne as they were driving to the University. Consequently, when General Heissman stepped out of the car in front of the building where Van Dyne’s offices were located, Connor was already standing outside, eagerly waiting for him, next to his own car.

  “I don’t know how you did it, and I’m not sure I want to know. But thank goodness you were able to get your hands on more exotic matter! Dr. Williamson is waiting at the Synchrotron and has one more circle of glass prepared. All he needs is what you carry in your briefcase,” Van Dyne said, as he ushered General Heissman into the passenger seat of his vehicle. In three minutes, they were stepping out in front of the entrance to the Synchrotron.

  As they walked through the building toward the area where the beamline managed by Van Dyne was located, Connor said, “I think we need to proceed very cautiously, General. Dr. Williamson is almost certain this last ring will establish quantum equilibrium between the two Schrödinger spaces. But we aren’t exactly sure what will happen next. Of course, it would be extremely risky to try to traverse the space ourselves, so we brought a few objects to the lab to test the viability of passage.”

  “Oh? What are you wanting to try, Connor?”

  “Well, first we have a smoke test… literally. We want to blow some smoke through the portal. It is very lightweight, and we wish to see what resistance, if any, we encounter. If that is successful, we have a couple of objects of various masses to toss through. Then, we have a non-metallic pole we wish to extend into the hole. After that we will test if a metal object transfers without issue. Finally, we have some canaries in a cage, and we would use the pole to extend the cage into the portal, and then retrieve it back. That way we can test the impact on living animals to determine if there are any health risks. It may take days or weeks to assess the risk before we consider sending a human test subject through the portal.”

  General Heissman understood the need for caution, although the prospect of taking weeks before actually having someone transit the portal did not seem acceptable to him.

  “We need to accelerate your plans,” Heissman said. “I would like to take no more than a week before we send a test subject through. If our tests today are successful, I will contact my superiors in Washington and have a volunteer on the way here within a matter of days.”

  “Very well,” replied Van Dyne, resigned to the fact that he wouldn’t be able to put Heissman off longer than that. He would need to come up with some plan very quickly to make sure
the U.S. didn’t take over this project and turn it toward military purposes. He would start pressuring the Australian Government today to assert primary control over Project Stardust, given it was in their territory. Yes, they needed the blue dust from Heissman and the U.S. government, but the Synchrotron was in Australia and it was their technology driving this!

  As they turned into the little room containing the beamline, Dr. Williamson got up from his lab table and walked over to them.

  “Hello General Heissman, we have been waiting for you. I understand you were able to secure more exotic material.”

  “Yes, I have. Here is the sealed packet,” Heissman answered as he opened up his briefcase and took out a large plastic vacuum sealed bag. “I trust this will be enough to complete the additional containment ring?” he asked.

  “Oh yes indeed, said Dr. Williamson. “More than enough.” Taking the bag, he went over to the table and filled the ring with the exotic material. Once it was complete and he had examined it to ensure there were no flaws, he walked over to the beamline chamber and installed the fourth containment ring.

  “Ok, Mr. Van Dyne. Whenever you are ready, I can initiate the beamline and stream it through the containment fields.”

  “Are you ready to begin, General?” asked Van Dyne.

  General Heissman paused for a few seconds thinking about what this moment meant for his career, and his ongoing desire for pursuing powerful weapons. This could be the pinnacle of achievement for him, so he wanted to savor it for a few seconds. It was a historic moment and worth remembering.