by Terence West
"Now what?" Alex asked.
* * * *
Anne stood against one of the walls in the dimly lit hallway outside the main research facility. Her arms were crossed while she was biting her nails on her right hand. She stopped when she heard the door next to her begin to open. Brushing an errant lock of hair out of her face, she snapped to attention.
Perry quickly stepped out of the door. "At ease Colonel."
He held open the door and waived her inside. Anne stared around the room. It was a small white room with observation widows on the ceiling. The banks of computers on the walls were destroyed while the room had huge black char marks on the walls and floors. She stared at the large object in the middle of the room. The large orb in the center of the device was glowing a bright white light.
She stepped closer to it. "What is this?" She reached her hands toward the device.
"Don't touch it!" He grabbed her hands and ripped them away from the device. "We have no idea what would happen if it came into human contact."
She took a step back from the device. "What is it?"
"We have no idea. It was found buried under the Sphinx in Egypt. They estimated it to be thousands of years old." He stared at the glowing orb. "It's been continuously working for all that time."
"That's incredible. What kind of power source does it run on?"
"Again, we have no idea. That's what our men were trying to find out when they blew up this room. Our main researcher was killed in that explosion."
"Why are you showing this to me?"
"I think this is what they're after."
"What makes you think that?"
"This device was discovered by Dr. Alex Robinson."
Anne laughed to herself. "She's brought Silver and Griggs here to get her discovery back?"
"That's one possibility. The other is that she knows something about the device that we don't."
"What could she know?"
He quickly stepped up to her, "Never underestimate your enemies."
She snapped to attention. "Yes Sir. Sorry Sir."
He backed down. Walking around the object, he stood on the other side and continued to address her. "I'm altering my orders Colonel. I want the three of them alive."
"Sir?"
"I want to know what Dr. Robinson knows about the device."
"Yes Sir."
"Dismissed."
He watched as she snapped around and walked out the door, closing it behind her. He shifted his attention to the device. He stared at the control panel located at the base of the device. It had a line of several characters that reminded him of hieroglyphics along the bottom. A recessed handprint occupied the center of the control panel. He knew no human had designed this device. The handprint had four long fingers and a thumb on each side of it.
The glowing orb filled his eyes. He felt a wave of calm flow over him. Kneeling down next to the control panel he opened his hand and slowly moved it toward the panel. He heard its song in his head. It was calling to him. His hand moved closer to the panel. Sweat rolled down his forehead. He ran his fingers over the recessed handprint. Every line in the print was copied right down to the wrinkles in the joints of the fingers.
The song grew louder in his ears. Flattening his hand he moved it closer. He closed his eyes and tried to block out its voice. Pulling his hand away and covered both ears. Stumbling backwards he slammed into one of the banks of computers.
The voices suddenly stopped. His hands slipped off his ears and fell to loosely to his sides. Wiping the sweat off of his brow, he quickly moved past the device toward the door. Throwing it open, he stepped outside into the seemingly cooler air of the rest of the facility. A group of soldiers were walking down the hallway next to him. He stepped in front of the last three in line. Grabbing one by the arm, he pulled him aside.
"I need you to guard this door with your life soldier!"
The soldier nodded. "Yes Sir!"
"I don't want any one in this room without my expressed consent. Do you understand?"
"Yes Sir!"
"Very good." Perry grabbed the other two soldiers, turned around, and began to walk away.
* * * *
The ventilation shaft had come to a dead end. Turning around Jake crawled back toward a vent on the bottom of the shaft. He peered through the grate at the hallway below. He watched as General Perry and two soldiers strode briskly under the vent. Looking to the left he saw a large door. He waived behind him for Alex and Griggs to come look.
"I just saw General Perry walk by."
"Damn," Griggs muttered as he looked through the vent. "What's he doing here?"
"I wish I knew."
Alex cringed. "He has to be on to us. He knows we're here to destroy the artifact."
"How would he know that?" Jake asked.
"They do keep files you know. They are aware that I was the one that found the device in the first place."
Griggs smiled. "She's right Jake."
"Well, whatever the case, we need to get down there. Hand me your screwdriver Major."
Griggs reached into his pack and fished it out. "Here."
Grabbing the screwdriver, Jake immediately went to work removing the screws in the vent cover. Removing the final screw, he handed the screwdriver back to Griggs then slowly lifted the cover off the vent. Sliding it in front of the hole, he lowered his head down and took a look around. The hallway below was empty except for a single soldier standing guard next to the large door near the vent.
He pulled his head back up. "There's one guard standing next to the door. Otherwise the hall's empty."
"That shouldn't be much of a problem," Griggs concluded. Moving over to the vent he lowered his feet.
"No wait!"
Before the words had left Jake's mouth Griggs had pushed off the edge and was on the ground below. He lifted his arm to swing at the soldier but before he could, the soldier had raised his gun on him.
"Shit," Jake muttered to himself.
The soldier stepped closer to Griggs. "Turn around and put your hands up against the wall." With a sigh, Griggs complied.
Jake and Alex watched as the soldier pressed the barrel of the gun into Griggs' back as he moved him closer to the wall. Lowering his weapon, he began to pat Griggs down looking for weapons. Alex looked over to Jake and nodded. "It's now or never."
Positioning himself over the vent, Jake took a deep breath then pushed himself through the vent. It was less than a second later when Jake's boots slammed into the head of the soldier knocking him down. They lay in a heap on the floor. His spine was broken leaving his body twisted in an unnatural position.
"Jesus Jake, what took you so long?"
Jake pointed up to the vent. "That's not easy what I just did!"
"Hey!" Alex waived at the two. "How am I going to get down?"
Both men looked up at her. "Jump."
"All right." She lowered her body into the vent. "Here we go!" She swung down and let go falling to the ground. She landed with a thud next to Griggs.
Jake patted her on the back. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it?"
She quickly reached around and smacked Jake on the back of the head. "Do you think before you talk?"
Griggs laughed. "All right you two knock it off."
Jake turned around and walked toward the door. "Let's see what they were guarding behind this door." Griggs and Alex followed him to the door. He reached down and grabbed the handle. Turning around he looked at his companions. "Ready?"
They both nodded.
Twisting the knob, he slowly pulled open the door. "Jesus."
Alex moved past him into the room. "This is it!"
Griggs and Jake joined her in the scorched room. The device was standing in the center surrounded by banks of burnt out computers. "That's exactly how I saw it in my mind." Jake walked closer to it. "It's incredible."
"Don't touch it!" Alex jumped between Jake and the device. "We don't know what will happen."
Jake t
ook a step back and shook his head. "You're right. It just kind of drew me toward it."
Griggs took a step toward it. "Yeah, as soon as I saw it I wanted to touch it. I heard something too." He thought for a moment. "It sounded like ... singing."
"That's what I heard too."
Alex turned around and stared at the device. "I didn't feel or hear anything."
Griggs rubbed his chin. "That's damn strange."
"Maybe it has something to with the 'Y' chromosome," Alex theorized.
"I don't understand." Jake confessed.
"It's just a guess, but maybe the reason I didn't hear anything is because I don't have a 'Y' chromosome. Women are 'XX', while men are 'XY'. Maybe it can only communicate with a 'Y' chromosome."
Griggs rubbed his chin. "Sounds kind of far fetched to me Alex."
"It's just a theory. I'd need to have a lot of research time to prove that."
"How are we supposed to destroy this thing?" The three surrounded the object studying it. Jake holstered his weapon. "We can't just gun it down. We don't know what it would do. It could cause some kind of explosion. We've gotta do this in the right way." Alex suggested.
"What would be the right way Doctor?" Jake asked.
She thought about it for a moment. "I have no idea. First I need to know what it is. Look around for any kind of notes or data."
Jake spun around. "How are we supposed to find anything in this room? It's all burned to hell."
"Dig through the rubble."
"Shit." Griggs knelt down and started sifting through some of the debris.
Jake lifted up a small sheet of metal then stopped. "Come look at this."
Alex and Griggs made their way over to Jake. Alex gasped. "What is that?"
Jake flipped the sheet of metal out of the way revealing a white chalk outline of a body. "This is the last guy that tried messing with that thing."
Griggs assessed the outline. "Why isn't the inside charred?"
Jake stood up. "That indicates that the body was already lying there when the rest of the room was burning."
"How do you know that?" Alex wondered.
"FBI agent for twelve years." He continues to study the outline. "This could mean one of two things. Either he burned to death in the fire, or he was already dead and the fire consumed him."
"How could we tell?" Griggs asked.
"I would need to see the body to be positive, but I don't think that's important now. What we need to find out now is what they were trying to do with the device."
"I'll tell you." All three spun around to see General Perry and two other soldiers standing in the doorway with their weapons trained on them. "If you'll all be so kind as to drop your weapons on the floor." Jake slowly complied. Kneeling down he laid his pistol on the floor. Alex and Griggs followed suit.
Walking into the room Perry kicked their weapons away from them. His two men took up positions on wither side of the door. "It's so good to see you three again." He walked around behind Griggs. "You made a real mess of my base; killed my Colonel, and several of my best men. You were also instrumental in the loss of all the recovered saucers." He delivered a savage blow to Griggs' lower back. Griggs let out a moan and dropped to the floor.
Perry stepped around behind Jake. Adjusting the sling around his arm, he held up his pistol to the back of Jake's head. "Mr. Silver, it's so very nice to see you again." He cocked the hammer back on his gun. "I'm going to enjoy killing you." He slowly dropped his weapon down to his side, "But not yet. First I need to ask the good Doctor some questions."
"What do you want from me?" Alex asked in a hateful tone.
Perry lifted his pistol and held it up to her temple. "I want everything you know about the device."
"I don't know anything."
"That's very unfortunate for you. That means I don't need you anymore." He pressed the gun harder into her temple.
"You better get out of her face." Griggs had risen to his feet.
Griggs smiled. Lowering the gun he walked over to Griggs. "Or what Major?"
"I'll kill you where you stand," Griggs sneered.
Perry lifted his weapon and held it into Griggs' stomach. "Are you threatening me?"
"I am."
"Again, that is very unfortunate." Perry pulled the trigger sending Griggs back to the floor.
"You son-of-a-bitch!" Jake charged Perry. Leaping, he knocked Perry down. Once down Jake delivered several rapid jabs to his face. From behind him the two soldiers grabbed him and threw him off Perry. Using the butts of their rifles they started to beat Jake.
Perry jumped to his feet. "Stop! I want him alive for now. Take all of them to the brig."
The soldiers lifted Jake and Griggs off the floor. After rounding up Alex, they escorted all three of them out of the room. Perry stood alone in the room. The song slowly started in his head again. Holding his hands over his ears he charged out of the room.
Chapter 23
Jake came to lying flat on his back on the floor of the cell. Slowly sitting up he glanced around the cell. It was painted a flat gray with a red stripe running around the room about a foot below the ceiling. Black steel bars crossed the front of the cell. Rubbing his face he glanced over at the only cot in the room. Standing up he moved over to the cot and sat down on the edge.
"How is he?"
Alex was sitting with her back against the wall with Griggs' head resting on her lap. His arms were crossed over the bullet hole in his stomach. His clothes were soaked with blood. "He keeps drifting in and out of consciousness. I'm keeping pressure on the wound, but he's still bleeding very badly."
"We need to get him out of here to a hospital." He rubbed his face. "How long have I been out?"
"I'd say only about a half an hour."
Jake walked over and grabbed the cell bars shaking them vigorously. A huge black guard stepped around the corner. "Knock that shit off," he warned Jake in a deep booming tone. "General Perry had given me full authority to kill you."
Jake let go of the bars and stepped back. "Hey, take it easy."
The guard slammed his huge hand against the bars. "If I have to come back here again, I will kill you."
He watched as the guard slowly walked away from the cell. Turning around he walked over and leaned over Alex. "Do we have any weapons left?"
"No," she whispered. "They took everything when they put us in the cell."
"Damn." He rubbed his chin. "I'll just have to improvise." He walked back over to the cell and grabbed the bars. Shaking them wildly he yelled for the guard.
He watched as the guard slowly made his way back to the cell. "What the hell do you want now?"
Jake pointed at Griggs. "He's dying! He needs medical attention right now!"
"You're gonna need medical attention if you don't shut up."
"Please."
The guard waived a hand at Jake dismissing him. Turning around he started to walk away. Quickly stepping up to the bars, Jake shot a hand through them grabbing the guard around the neck. Pulling with all his strength, he slammed the huge man back against the bars. Wrapping his arm around the man's throat, Jake used his other hand to repeatedly whack his head against the bars.
The guard let out a yell as he tried to break free. Latching on to Jake's arm, the guard pulled with all his strength to try and break free as the blood flow to his brain slowed. Rearing back, Jake slammed his balled fist into the back of the guard's head. The guard started making a gurgling sound as his body became limp. Still holding him around the neck, Jake reached down to his belt and unhooked the keys on his belt. Letting go, the man slumped to the floor.
Sifting through the keys on the ring, he reached around and tried key after key until he heard the tumblers turn in the lock. "Got it." He turned around to Alex. "Stay here. I've got to take care of something." Alex nodded. "When I come back, I need him ready to move."
"Be careful." He nodded as he pushed open the door and stepped out.
* * * *
Gene
ral Perry paced uneasily back and forth outside of the main control room. The hall outside was a maze of pipes and steel girders. Perry knew that a good portion of the interiors of the base had never been completed due to budget cut backs in the early seventies. The government felt that as long as the outer shell was complete, the innards could wait until more revenue could be generated. Leaning up against one of the pipes, he watched as the door slowly opened.
A young female with short brown hair stepped out of the door. "General Perry?"
"Yes, Private?"
"I have the President on the phone as you requested. He wants to speak with you."
"Thank you private. That will be all."
The young girl turned and strode away. Reaching down, he grabbed the door handle and slowly opened the door. Stepping inside he saw a large round wooden conference table. The walls and floor were the standard gray cement. Pipes and tubes dominated the roof. A lone red phone sat in the middle of the table. A yellow button on the base of the phone flashed rapidly.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly picked up the receiver and pressed the button. "Yes Mr. President?"
"I'm holding a report in my hand that my advisors filed this morning. It paints a very unflattering picture of you and your actions recently at the base. I want an explanation and I want it now!" The President's voice roared over the telephone.
"I took the action that I deemed necessary. If I had to do it all over again, I am confident that I would make the same choices."
"That still doesn't explain why the hangar of the most top secret base in the world is blown to hell. That's a multi-billion dollar installation that you helped destroy. I need answers. Congress is breathing down my throat."
"We had two men infiltrate the base and—"
"Goddammit General. I don't want to hear about that. I sent you down there to evaluate and fix the problems the base had, not destroy the damned thing.
"Mr. President, I—" Perry was trying hard to defend to himself the best he could.
"General it pains me to do this," The president let out a long sigh, "I am relieving you of your command. I want you on the next transport back to Washington so you can explain your actions to congress."
