Artifact

by Vaughn Heppner

  It would seem that Marcus had rigged the jet fuel to ignite.

  The blast reached them, lifting Selene and rolling her across the sand. Metal shards hissed past. Heat billowed across her. Then, Selene gasped as she landed on the sand again.

  She seemed to be in once piece. Groggily, she dared to peek up. There was no sign of the navigator. He must have been too close to the explosion to survive it. All three of the motorcyclists lay unmoving on the sand.

  Had Marcus timed that?

  Before Selene could decide, she noticed the soldier striding back toward the burning wreckage.

  A secondary explosion caused Marcus to hit the deck. Selene whimpered, trying to make herself a smaller object.

  After more blast and heat washed over them, Marcus shouted at her. Selene didn’t understand what he was saying.

  “Get up!” Marcus shouted. “We have to use this while we have a chance.”

  She stared at him, still stunned from the blast.

  “The cyclists don’t matter anymore,” Marcus shouted. “They’re dead. We have to get into the pyramid.”

  “It’s near?”

  The soldier laughed grimly as he ran toward her.

  -83-

  SAHARA DESERT

  The beast cowered as an explosion sent debris spinning through the air. Big sheets of metal tumbled through the heat. One sped this way, clanging against the metal hatch buried in the sand. A long shard like a javelin hissed into the dune the beast hid behind.

  The explosion was amazing and exciting. Could anything survive such a blast? The beast wasn’t sure. The drivers of the two-wheelers had been circling the grounded flying machine at the time of the blast. The beast doubted they had survived the explosion.

  The beast waited just to be sure. A good hunter knew when to attack and when to hide and watch. This was one of the watching times.

  Nothing changed except for a few more explosions. The beast wondered if it could—

  Ahhh… the beast saw an old enemy, the soldier. The man walked widely around the burning, grounded machine. A woman walked with the man and a lesser man brought up the rear. Two of them possessed weapons, the soldier with his monstrous gun.

  The beast whined in anticipation of ripping out the soldier’s throat. He would kill the other two as a matter of course. They walked with the tormenter. Thus, they would die with him. It was obvious the soldier belonged to the two-wheeler drivers. They must have gone out to greet the soldier.

  The huge hound raised its hindquarters the slightest bit. No doubt, the soldier planned to enter the hidden entrance. The beast would attack them once they began their descent with their backs to it. This would be good. This would—

  The metal clacked, sliding open again. Something popped out of the opening. A sizzling object flew into the air.

  Among the others, the soldier saw it first. He shouted, turning, beginning to run from the thing. Was he afraid of the sizzling ball? It would appear so. That made no sense to the beast.

  A blue electrical explosion sent sizzling lines in all directions. One of the lines struck the lesser man and the woman. The line hissed and knocked them onto the ground.

  It was different with the soldier. A blue nimbus shone around him preventing the sizzling line from reaching his skin. It didn’t seem to matter, though. The soldier stood frozen with his mouth agape. The line sizzled stronger. With a cry of despair, and his hair standing on end, the soldier staggered first one way and then another. Finally, he collapsed onto the sand, shivering and gasping before going limp. At that point, the nimbus quit and so did the sizzling line.

  The beast wagged its tail, having enjoyed the spectacle. Afterward, it waited again. This wait was shorter lived.

  Three individuals in bulky, crinkly suits with large helmets emerged from the hidden place. They tromped across the sand toward the stilled tormentor and his allies.

  The beast thought furiously. It would seem the tormentors had disagreements among themselves. Those underground did not seem to like the ones from the flying machine.

  That was interesting.

  In those moments, the beast reasoned out an ancient human thought: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

  As it watched the three suited people approach those lying on the sand, the beast decided to gamble. It would never re-cross the desert on its own. It had come to kill, was that not so? What else was left to it? This was the great opportunity.

  While keeping its shaggy body close to the ground, the beast began to slink toward the opening in the sand. As it did so, inspiration struck. As much as it could, the beast put its paws in its previous tracks. It was a difficult process, because it kept watch of the suited ones and the paw-prints back and forth.

  Finally, the beast reached the opening. Cool air blew up out of the ground. It saw a ramp leading down. The cool air decided it for the beast. The beast kept itself from racing there. Instead, it slunk to the entrance. Then, its claws rattled against a ramp as it descended into the desert underground.

  -84-

  GRAVITATIONAL TUBE

  Jack passed another set of flashing lights. He grunted as a force struck him. He no longer felt as if he was falling forward. His sense of direction had distorted. He was sure he fell straight down, maybe heading for Hell. It was hot enough, and getting even hotter.

  That would be a lousy trick, getting a fast ticket to the Lake of Fire. That wasn’t real, right? It was just a thing preachers told people back in the day to scare them straight. Maybe that’s why he discounted Samson’s fallen angel thesis. Wouldn’t their existence mean that Hell was real?

  Jack glanced around, deciding he wasn’t going to think about it. How everything had come about wasn’t as important as stopping Mother in the here and now.

  The blur around him didn’t seem as fast. Had the flashes of light back there and the bumps slowed him down? Did that mean he was nearing the end of his fantastic journey? He hoped so, and he hoped he was still on Earth. The bizarre tech and the weird things that had been happening to him…he just wanted to go back to being an ordinary D17 agent, stopping regular high-tech enemy advantages like superior anti-tank missiles or a new kind of IED no one could detect. Gravitational tubes, kilometer-deep stations built in ancient times…no thank you. He’d had enough of this to last the rest of his life.

  How long was it going to last, anyway? Elliot would just be happy to quit falling. He wondered if he set a world record for falling. Did it count if it was falling sideways instead of down?

  Whoa! He squinted as a light nearly blinded him. The light brightened and he expected the worst. It rushed closer, closer, and he burst through a shimmering field. Light poured at him now. It made his eyes water. He felt himself slowing, and then he slammed down onto a silver disc, the wind knocked out of him.

  Jack groaned, twisting on the disc. He still held the tube with the button, and he came very near to pressing the button. Would that have sent him zipping back to the station in Iran? Maybe magma had already flooded the place. Was Samson Mark Two still alive?

  Jack dropped the tube and crawled off the silver disc. His lungs unlocked as he began to suck air. Soon, he breathed normally.

  This place has light. I don’t see anyone, though. I don’t see any flashing warnings.

  Jack used a wall, leaning against it as he climbed to his feet. Gingerly, he removed the rebreather mask. The air was cool down here. Just as good, he couldn’t feel any vibrations on the wall or floor.

  Jack shed the rebreather tank and took off the heat jacket. He must stink like a basketball player. His clothes were soaked with sweat. There was no help for that now.

  Taking out a heater, Jack checked it. A tiny light shined green. The thing had a full charge. A tight smile played on Jack’s lips. He’d reached…

  What station is this anyway? Have I reached the underground pyramid? How can I tell?

  He realized Samson should have briefed him about the op for several days, at least. There was far too much too
know. He needed a partner. He needed a map.

  Jack nodded, determined. It was time to gather intelligence on the enemy. That meant he had to find someone to question.

  Jack took a deep breath before carefully scanning the chamber. A second later, he looked down at his feet. This place must have security cameras. He had to operate on that assumption, which meant he needed to look like one of the bad guys, not gawk like an intruder.

  There was no more time to think. He was going to have to act on his instincts. He must be deep underground and likely had to get a lot higher to reach Mother.

  Jack straightened his garments, kept the heater hidden in his hand and put his hand against his leg. In a regular but crisp gait, he headed for the hatch. Here was the first big test.

  Jack clutched the latch, hesitating for just a second. Would it open? Was he locked in here as a simple precaution?

  Trying to twist the handle, Jack found that it wouldn’t budge. He couldn’t believe it. He’d fallen here all the way from Iran in a gravitational tube, and now a locked door had stopped him.

  -85-

  CELL

  UNDERGROUND PYRAMID

  Selene groaned as she blinked groggily. Someone spoke to her but she couldn’t understand a thing. A sharp smell made her cry out. Selene raised her head, blinking, trying to bring things into focus. Her head hurt. She tried to touch it, and found that she couldn’t move her hands.

  Concentrating, Selene tried to understand. By slow degrees, she realized that she lay on an articulated frame. Her arms and legs were stretched out and all she wore were her panties. That wasn’t the worst. Buzzing, electrical lines circled her wrists and her ankles. They must have done something, because she couldn’t feel a thing.

  “Comfortable?” a woman asked.

  Selene realized that she could feel her head and itchy nose. She looked up, straining, and saw the arrogant woman in the white lab coat, the one from the Siwa Oasis and mind machine.

  “Are you Hela?” Selene asked, finding that her mouth was dry.

  “That answers many of my questions,” the woman said. She had severely pulled back blonde hair. “Marcus told you things he should have kept to himself.”

  “I know that’s what you think,” Selene said. Her thoughts were fuzzy and disordered. She wanted to time to think this through. Flashes appeared in her mind, making it difficult to see.

  Hela stepped closer, taking a penlight from one of her lab coat pockets. She clicked it on and shined a bright light into Selene’s left eye.

  “Hmmm,” Hela said. She examined the right eye, shaking her head afterward.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Marcus gave you the solution. I’m guessing he made it a double dose. He always was too anxious. He may have permanently damaged your mind. Mother is going to be angry. This time he has gone too far.”

  “For some reason you don’t realize it, do you?” Selene said. “We’re all in danger.”

  Hela smiled sternly. “Is that what Marcus told you? The man loves dramatics. His model is brutish, given to acts of strength and physical daring. I won’t say he doesn’t have his place in the Old Order of existence. In the New, though, we’re not going to need him anymore.”

  Suddenly, Selene didn’t care about any of that. She wanted to know one thing. “What do the stations do? Why can’t anyone tell me?”

  “It doesn’t matter to you what they do,” Hela said. “We have to stabilize your mind before you reach a critical impasse. Mother won’t be able to accelerate you if you’re impaired.”

  “Please, tell me what this is about. It’s driving me crazy not knowing.”

  Hela took a step back, slipping the penlight into a pocket. “I know. You think we’re monsters. The primitives never understand in time. You belong to the old way of pitchforks and fire. Burn and kill what you don’t understand. Does it matter that you’re throwing away paradise? No. You don’t realize the gift Mother yearns to give humanity. We’re about to bring universal peace and order to the Earth and you act as if that’s a terrible sin. Mother is trying to save the human race. We’ve worked so hard against so much ignorance for so long…”

  Hela sighed. “It’s almost laughable.”

  Selene shook her head. Maybe she should play along. She couldn’t do that, though, as her emotions burst forth.

  “I don’t know why you’re trying to trick me, but it’s not going to work. You planned to put me under the mind machine back in the Siwa Oasis, screw with my brain and turn me into a mental zombie.”

  Hela sneered. “I see Marcus has rubbed off on you.”

  “You screwed with Ney Blanc’s mind, didn’t you?”

  “Of course I reordered his thinking,” Hela said. “The French Intelligence services wanted to infiltrate our organization. We had to protect ourselves. Mother has been on the run her entire life. Only her incredible genius has kept the dream alive. Now, we’re approaching the moment of truth.”

  “And destroying the Earth at the same time,” Selene said passionately. “Haven’t you been outside? Don’t you realize the stations are driving the world’s temperatures up?”

  “Of course I know that,” Hela said. “The world has been heating up for some time. We’re one of the key reasons people haven’t taken global warming seriously. We doctored the data to make the so-called alarmists look foolish.”

  “What? Why?”

  “The stations needed running time as we ironed out the kinks. That created the various hums, which began to make people like you curious. It also meant warmer periods for the planet. If everyone believed in global warming and had acted accordingly, and quickly realized nothing they did affected the worldwide temperature, in time, they might have looked for us harder. This way, with the world embroiled in its usual quarrels, it gave us time to calibrate the stations. Now, everything is ready for the final push.”

  “No! You must help us stop the insanity.”

  Hela smiled, shaking her head.

  “You’re all so smug!” Selene shouted. “It’s maddening.”

  “Don’t work yourself into a frenzy. Mother wants to talk to you. After she’s broken through—”

  “You have to stop her,” Selene said. “You’re smart. Surely, you must realize that the last time Mother used the stations it brought about the Tunguska Event.”

  “I know that, of course. That’s why I exist, to help fix the problem.”

  Selene didn’t understand the last comment, so she ignored it, pressing on with her key argument. “Before the Tunguska Event, the ancients almost destroyed the world.”

  “No!”

  “Yes!” Selene cried. “It’s self-evident. Why did everything go wrong in the distant past?”

  “You know nothing,” Hela said. “It was blackest sabotage that ruined the original attempt. Mother has taken every precaution this time.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  Hela shrugged. “No matter, it’s still the truth.”

  “How do the stations raise the Earth’s temperature?”

  Hela stared at Selene, and it seemed as if pity stirred in the woman’s blue eyes. “Oh, this is ridiculous. If you want to know that badly I suppose I can tell you. The stations are giant repellers, magnetic repellers, as I’m sure you’ve already surmised.”

  “I knew they did something magnetic. What do they repel?”

  “Ah,” Hela said. “That is the interesting part. Did you know that the inner core of the Earth is made of iron?”

  “I’m a geologist,” Selene said. “Of course I know.”

  Hela spoke as if she hadn’t heard the answer. “The core of the Earth has the same temperature as the surface of the Sun. One would presume it would be a seething cauldron of liquid metal down there. But that is not the case. The intense gravity in the center of the Earth keeps the inner core as solid as a piece of iron.”

  “Are you saying the repellers do something to the Earth’s core?” Selene asked.

  Hela smiled in a super
ior way. “The inner core lies in a larger molten sea of nickel, iron and small quantities of other metals. The gravity isn’t as intense there so it can remain in its liquid state. The outer core is two thousand kilometers thick, as I’m sure you know.”

  Selene watched the woman.

  “Differences in temperature, pressure and composition within the outer core cause convection currents in the molten metal as cool, dense matter sinks while the warm, less dense matter rises. The flow of liquid iron generates electric currents, which in turn produce magnetic fields. The Van Allen Belt protecting the Earth is the result.”

  “The stations—”

  “The stations force the solid inner core to spin faster and faster, creating a greater electric current, which in turn produces a stronger magnetic field.”

  “But…” Selene said.

  “I understand. You are famous in your field. You must realize that the technology needed to do this is of an incredibly high order.”

  “It’s unbelievable, light years ahead of us. The energy needed to do this…I don’t understand. Does antimatter power the stations?”

  “Heavens no,” Hela said. “We needed the antimatter to clear several critical areas deep under the Earth. We tried nuclear bombs before, but the components melted before they could reach the impasse points. Mother finished the controlled, antimatter explosions several hours ago. Now, everything is ready.”

  Selene stared at the woman.

  “The stations are a marvel of technology,” Hela said, “built ages ago when humanity was young. Our benefactors wanted to—”

  “Wait a minute,” Selene said. “The repellers are driving the solid core faster. That’s what you said, right?”

  Hela nodded.

  “The Earth’s surface temperature is heating up,” Selene said, trying to piece this together. “That can’t be the only danger to a stronger magnetic field. If the gauss levels rise too high, it will have civilization wrecking effects. Distance power lines will fail because of increased impedance. In fact, most electronics will fail in time. The Earth’s magnetic field will swamp most generators and electrical motors.” Her eyes widened with understanding. “Of course,” she whispered. “Radio noise will jam most frequencies. It’s why we couldn’t call anyone on the Learjet.”