Artifact

by Vaughn Heppner

  “Alien,” Selene said. “This place feels alien.”

  “What do you mean?” Forrest whispered.

  “Not like us, I guess.”

  He nodded as if trying to ingest the idea.

  “What’s that over there?” Selene whispered.

  He looked around.

  She dared to scurry ahead of him. A device sat on a stand. It had what looked like a tuning fork connected to a longish control panel. She picked it up, noting its lightness.

  “Is it metal?” Forrest asked.

  She clicked a fingernail against the “fork.” It felt metallic. The box didn’t seem to be, though.

  A louder sound came from across the room. Selene looked there. Out of the corner of her eye, she realized Forrest swung around to look as well.

  A man stepped through a hatch. He wore red coveralls and was abnormally thin and bald. From here, he looked Chinese.

  The man halted, staring at them in obvious surprise.

  “Don’t move,” Forrest said, training his trinket gun on the man.

  The man dug a hand into a pocket, coming up with a flat device. He aimed it at Forrest.

  The D17 agent grunted in pain as the skin on a pectoral darkened fast.

  “Stop it!” Selene shouted.

  Three sharp reports from Forrest’s gun put three slugs into Mr. Red Coveralls. The flat device dropped from his hands. Blood spurted from his chest and throat as he staggered backward. He crashed against a display of lights and pitched forward onto his face, twitching and bleeding onto the stainless steel floor.

  It was worse for Forrest. Trickles of smoke rose from a tiny charred hole over his heart. The D17 agent groaned, sinking to his knees. He looked up at Selene, his face drained of color.

  “Listen to me,” Forrest whispered hoarsely.

  Selene nodded dumbly as tears leaked from her eyes.

  “Take that thing…” Forrest began to pant. “Leave here… Don’t go back to the Calypso. Call—”

  Forrest Dean groaned, swaying, falling onto his back.

  Selene rushed to him, kneeling beside the man. “Yes, yes,” she said.

  He looked at her with glazed eyes, tried to breathe and made a horrible rattling sound in his throat.

  “What do I do?” she cried.

  He strained, the skin tightening on his face. “Listen,” he whispered.

  She’d put an ear by his mouth to hear the words.

  “You’re smart,” Forrest wheezed. “You’re tough. I’m…I’m counting on you… Stay alive. Fight…”

  After the last word, Forrest deflated, his chest never rising upward again.

  He’s dead.

  With the realization came a frightening need to scream. Selene was afraid that if she did scream, she wouldn’t be able to stop for quite some time. Instead, she stood and woodenly headed back the way she had come.

  She focused on Forrest’s words. She had to stay alive.

  Once she reached the changing room, she realized that she still held the tuning fork. Forrest had wanted her to take it as evidence. That’s how she’d fight back.

  Selene moaned in dread. She had to get out of here before it was too late.

  -19-

  ARDENNES FOREST

  FRANCE

  The beast wanted to crush the metal device in its jaws. It would go back and rend the human into itty-bitty pieces of flesh and bones.

  The human had cut it. The wound hurt, dripping blood. Instead of obeying its bloody instincts, the beast reached the outer perimeter fence. Slowly, it walked toward a post. The buzz in its collar increased. Jolts of pain began.

  The beast whined, backing up a bit. It would appear the metal thing itself didn’t have the power to cross the barrier. Dropping the device, the beast examined it, recognizing the controls. As a puppy, it had seen humans turn on TVs and other electrical devices.

  With its right front paw, the beast delicately pressed controls. Afterward, it approached the barrier. The same jolts caused it to retreat.

  For several minutes, the beast attempted to figure out the device’s functions. Nothing worked. Time after time, it tried to cross the barrier and failed.

  The sense of defeat loomed.

  The beast cocked its head. Security forces were in its territory. Was one of the masters coming? It seemed likely. They must be hunting the one who had cut its side.

  What if a master found it like this, trying to escape its prison? That would be bad.

  The beast lay down, ignoring the wound as best as it could. It needed a plan. If it couldn’t escape in time…then it must go for a secondary prize. That meant—

  The beast rose, whining at the pain of the nasty cut. The last human had been cunning. That one knew how to fight. It had lacked fear there at the end. Before that, the beast had smelled its fright. Something had given the human courage. The first one…it had died quickly with a bite to the back of its neck.

  Picking up the metal device, the beast turned away from the outer perimeter. It loped through the forest, heading toward the security group. It would show the masters that it had done its duty. The beast realized it needed to play for time. It must make the masters believe it was loyal.

  Next time—

  The beast’s eyes shined with murderous thoughts. It wanted to meet the knife-man again. It had a reason to hate that one. The beast would never forget the man’s scent. Someday, somewhere, it hoped for another opportunity to kill the annoying human and piss on its cooling flesh.

  -20-

  UNDERWATER

  100 MILES OFF THE COAST OF SUMATRA

  Selene swam out of the hole, propelling herself away from the dome. She held the tuning-fork device in one hand and a bang stick in another. Forrest had put the last stick under the lip of the dome before going in.

  I can’t believe Forrest is dead. What kind of weapon did the Chinese man use on him?

  Could it have been a laser? In science fiction movies, lasers were red lines or energy bolts. In reality, most lasers were invisible to the naked eye. Yet, how could the little flat thing the Chinese man had used have packed such a punch? No military she’d ever heard of had handheld lasers yet.

  Selene searched for the T-9, hoping the electric motor would be working again. Unfortunately, the DPV was nowhere in sight. Maybe once the motor had quit its neutral buoyancy had been disrupted. Neutral buoyancy meant the object wouldn’t float up or sink on its own, but remain where it was. Selene peered into the greater depths but didn’t see the machine. A long scan upward did not reveal it either. She was going to have to rely on her muscles.

  That meant it was time to begin a controlled ascent. Should she return to the Calypso? Forrest had warned her against it.

  She decided she had to return to the Calypso. She had to warn the others and then they had to leave the area. Besides, she was one hundred miles from Sumatra. Simeulue Island was a little closer. She could swim there maybe if she had to.

  Selene kicked her fins, leaving the mysterious dome behind. She checked her ascent monitor and began to make the timed rises to avoid decompression sickness, or the bends, as it was commonly known.

  ***

  She neared the surface what seemed like a lifetime later. She’d had too much time to think and felt strung out and limp. If she…

  Selene frowned, seeing something strange near the surface. It…it looked like an inky, octopus cloud, only much larger. It looked like—

  Selene’s stomach tightened sickly. The cloud was reddish colored. She spied long torpedo shapes darting through it. Worse, there were bodies, as in human bodies, some of them were half-eaten. She counted—

  Selene ground her molars together to keep from screaming. The conclusion was obvious. That was blood and those were feeding sharks. The bodies were in the spot where the Calypso had been. She recognized Lulu’s bikini colors. Her best friend was dead.

  Forrest had been right. Someone had boarded the research vessel and murdered her team.

  Selene moa
ned as her stomach heaved. Vomit threatened. Lulu, Junior—Selene veered away from the dead and from the sharks. She gripped her bang stick with manic strength.

  What am I going to do?

  Before Selene could decide, a terrible chill grew between her shoulder blades. She looked back.

  A tiger shark followed her at a lazy pace.

  Every instinct screamed at Selene to “Go, go. Get the hell out of here!” If she did that, though—

  I’m dead if I panic.

  Selene’s head pounded and her breaths became shorter. Feeling as if she was outside her body, watching this, Selene forced herself to turn and face the beast. The approaching predator felt like death incarnate. Yes, she was about to die, but she was going to make the killer pay with its own blood.

  Yet, the intense desire to live beat strongly in Selene. She had irrational hope causing her to make one of the most difficult decisions of her existence. Possibly, it would be her last choice in life. Should she let go of the tuning fork device she’d stolen inside the dome? She was going to need two hands to kill the tiger shark, right?

  Stubbornly, Selene shook her head. Forrest had told her to take it. The science fiction thing could be important. Bringing it to the world’s attention was worth risking her existence. Clutching the tuning fork device harder against her chest, she readied the bang stick, aiming it at the oncoming monster.

  The tiger was huge and oh so menacing. Instinctively, Selene began to sing an old song, trying to bolster her courage. The beast came straight for her, grinning in its monstrous desire to kill.

  Suddenly, the shark swerved hard and fast, going down into the depths.

  Selene laughed in a voice she didn’t recognize. She repositioned herself to watch the depths. The tiger was going to make its attack at high speed. Sharks liked to attack seals from the bottom. To it, she must be like a seal. Selene would have one moment to make the counterstrike—

  Selene almost missed it. The tiger zoomed upward. Its speed was fantastic like a missile. She readied the bang stick. It all happened with split second timing. She shoved the tube at its snout, hoping for a killing blow.

  Then something happened that Selene found hard to understand. The tiger dodged the tube with a slick and well executed move for such a big beast. Like a kung-fu expert, the tiger dodged the thrust that would have killed it.

  Selene tensed her body, wondering if she would go into shock or if the teeth puncturing her flesh would sear with agony.

  The tiger amazed her again. Instead of completing the kill and slashing into her body with those razor-sharp teeth, the shark closed its jaws on the middle of the bang stick. The beast snapped the stick in half while swimming past her at great speed.

  Then the shark was above Selene. She looked in shock at the broken bang stick in her hand. Was the tiger toying with her?

  With sudden understanding, Selene realized what she had to do. Releasing the worthless half of the stick, she bent at the waist, aiming down, kicking her fins to reach the other half with the tube and .44 Magnum shell. She had to get it. She could still do this.

  Something big and incredibly powerful bumped against her back. The blow sent her summersaulting in the water. It took several seconds for her to stop. Then, Selene found herself face-to-face with the tiger shark. Maybe seven feet separated them. It was uncanny.

  The beast watched her with its black eyes. It regarded her as if judging her quality.

  For a moment, it seemed to Selene that the tiger was quizzical of her. There seemed to be intelligence in those dead eyes. Yet that was preposterous. Sharks were creatures of habit millions of years in the making. They did not think and judge. They did not—

  The tiger moved toward her, closing the gap, opening those wicked jaws.

  Selene thrust the tuning fork device at it, pressing with manic strength. She must have pressed one of the controls. Selene heard the hum of the tuning fork.

  The tiger shark must have heard it too. It twisted as if shocked and fled from the device, jerking and twisting with incredible speed.

  Selene looked around. She didn’t see a shark anywhere now. She studied the tuning fork controls. There were several of them. She debated pressing others, yet she wondered. If this thing could make sharks vanish, could it also make them come?

  It was a heady thought. Carefully, hesitantly, she clicked the same button as before. The humming quit.

  What is this thing? What’s it supposed to do?

  Selene didn’t know. She found herself exhausted by the ordeal. Slowly, she began swimming, thinking of all that had happened. Soon, water dripped onto her lips. Full-face masks were harder to clear of water than an ordinary sport mask. What was she going to do about this?

  As Selene asked herself that, she tasted saltiness on her lips.

  My mask isn’t leaking. Those are tears.

  Lulu was dead, slain by sharks. Her friend wouldn’t ever laugh with her again, drink wine or go to the movies. Lulu was gone, just like that, snapped out of existence.

  Realizing the grim truth filled Selene’s chest with a terrible ache.

  “Don’t cry,” she whispered. “Avenge her, avenge all of them and find out what happened to the Calypso.”

  A new determination mingled with the pain of losing Lulu, Forrest and the others. Without the budding emotion, Selene might have succumbed to a terrible feeling of loneliness and futility. Instead, she focused on her new purpose, making vows to see this through to the finish.

  I have to survive this. I have to figure out the meaning of the dome and the tuning fork.

  Selene dwelled on this new idea rather than her grief. Yet, in the back of her mind, she wondered just how she was going to achieve the first and possibly the hardest of these things, surviving in the ocean one hundred miles from shore.

  -21-

  THE BARRIER

  ARDENNES FOREST

  Jack stood with indecision before a satellite-disk post. If he crossed the invisible barrier—

  Simon had never said exactly what would happen. There was an emitter of some kind. Would a sonic blast incapacitate him, kill him by turning his brain to mush? Did it have a directional finder, a locator to zero in on him?

  Jack bit his lower lip as he peered back in the direction of D’erlon Enterprises. He could hear motorcycles and see distant spears of headlights. The security forces were likely already scouring the woods for him.

  The dog-beast killed Simon.

  Elliot shook his head. He couldn’t worry about that now. He had to get out. He had to tell the others about the antimatter. Jack didn’t get Simon’s excitement, but he trusted the scientist’s understanding.

  Several times, Jack felt himself ready to lurch forward. He wanted to dash across the invisible barrier but didn’t quite have the nerve.

  Maybe I can climb over it somehow.

  He studied the trees, but none had overhanging branches at the right spot. Besides, he didn’t think that was going to work. What would get him across then? Was he just going to stand here waiting to be captured?

  “No,” he whispered.

  Jack backed up, beginning to breathe more heavily. Maybe if he just sprinted across—

  Squeezing his eyes shut, growling as he used to do in high school football, Jack charged toward the barrier. This might be the end, but he couldn’t think of anything else.

  His eyes flew open. He pumped his arms, and his heart rate accelerated into heavy thumps. Then, shivering with dread, Jack Elliot lowered his head and crossed the invisible barrier.

  His feet thudded across the leafy ground. He kept waiting for it to begin. His head was hunched as he continued running. He strained to hear the first sound of a sonic blast, or maybe it would start as an almost inaudible hum. None of those things happened. In fact, nothing did. Jack heard the sound of his own harsh breathing, the rustling of his stupid coveralls and the thud of his shoes on the ground.

  At that point, he halted, spinning around, with the knife clutched in his ri
ght hand. Slowly, he forced his fingers from their death-grip.

  Using starlight—a cloud had moved before the moon—he stared at the post with its satellite dish.

  Why am I alive? Why am I unhurt?

  If Simon’s device had made a mistake regarding the post’s emitter—

  Jack blinked in surprise as the answer slammed home. The posts with their emitters hadn’t been meant for them, had they? How many wild animals would the fence have fried by now if that were the case? No. The fence was meant for the beast-dog that had slain Simon.

  Simon’s device had correctly gauged the emitter.

  Jack shook his head. He was out. Now, he had to get the antimatter information to the others so they could relay it to headquarters.

  With a lurch, Jack briskly set out for the van.

  ***

  Jack panted as he ran upslope. He’d been running for a while, believing his time was limited. He still couldn’t believe it about the emitters.

  “That’s far enough,” a hidden woman said.

  “Phelps,” Jack said, halting. She might not have recognized him in the coveralls.

  “How do you know who I am—Jack, is that you?”

  He nodded in the darkness.

  “Speak up,” Phelps said.

  “Yeah, it’s me.”

  “Don’t move.”

  He didn’t plan to just yet as he breathed deeply, the sweat beginning to pour off him now that he’d stopped moving.

  “Oh,” she said, no doubt looking at him more closely with her night vision equipment. Before, she’d have just seen a D’erlon worker. “Where’s Simon?” she asked.

  “Dead,” Jack said in a monotone.

  A lean woman in dark garments and a hood appeared from behind a tree. She holstered a suppressed pistol, coming closer, saying, “You look bushed. Why don’t you lean on me? I’ll help you to the van.”