The Plan and other short stories

by Stephen Brandon

  Then the temple priest came to his small shop and demanded he make a lot of medallions for the temple. The temple wanted a particular design and several other artisans around the city were also pressed into service making other items for them.

  Soon the ships that the priest rode on made better time from port to port. Then they made flying machines that put many of the merchants out of business. These at first were simply ships with flat bottoms. Then they started enclosing them because they flew so high people had trouble breathing. The wooden ships were then built from metal and they flew higher and further.

  One year two ships disappeared. A month later another ship left and returned after a few days. They claimed they'd found one of the ships on the moon, but there was no air to breath. More artisans were pressed into service to make special suits that the priest could wear on the moon where there was no air.

  It was discovered that lining the metal ships with silver and then pounding a thin layer of gold over the silver prevented the air from leaking out. Special tanks were built to hold air, and plants were carried to keep it fresh. With the triple doors they could stay away from the earth for weeks on end and travel much further.

  The temple started giving captives and slaves freedom if they worked in their mines on mars and the moon. Two years service for their freedom didn't seem to bad an exchange. However thousands died for each one that gained their freedom.

  After a few centuries the only way to get ahead was to join the priesthood.

  The temple historians will list the problems with the climate as the fall of our civilization, because they are too close. They can't see what the temple is doing to our people. Other historians will record that the temple sucked the energy out of our civilization. As an archaeologist, I've seen it before!

  * * *

  Chapter 1

  Mr. John Heath

  London, England

  Sir,

  Over the period of several months since I was hired and assigned as third shift Chef at your Springfield Estate, I've notice problems with high frequency radio reception at irregular times. One of my hobbies is listening to shortwave and higher frequency radio broadcast.

  I noticed this interference mainly when listening to the broadcast from space. It only happened when the florescent lights were on.

  I was extremely careful once I tracked down the transmissions from the Harappan case. I covered all but one item at a time and the only item that transmitted was the intact ceramic seal.

  I think you might want to investigate this seal in your collection. It would be extremely interesting to see if any other collections of this type seal could verify this unique phenomenon.

  I've completed a little research on the origin of these ceramic seals and attached is a section of a report from the web (https://hemant-bhardwaj.blogspot.com/2008/08/harappan-civilization-coins.html):

  The majority of artifacts recovered at Harappa and Mohenjo Daro have been that of crafted objects. Jonathan Kenoyer has been working to recreate many of the craft technologies used by these people. He has successfully recreated the process by which the Harappan's created faience. The process of creating faience ceramics is very complex and technical. It requires such processes as the grinding and partial melting of quartz, fusion aids, and a consistent high temperature of 940 Celsius. A discovery in 2001 of a faience producing workshop revealed that the type of kiln used was very different from what they had thought. As no kiln was discovered in the workshop, Kenoyer suspected that the ancient crafts people had used a kiln assembled from two firing containers. This formed a smaller kiln that was unlike the usual large firing containers. Along with some of his students Kenoyer replicated the process of creating faience using similar tools that the Harappan's had. The result was similar to that of the Harappan's. This showed that the canister-kiln type was a very efficient way of producing faience. (13) Interestingly , Kenoyer has noticed that many of the same firing techniques and production procedures are used today in India and Pakistan as they were thousands of years ago. This is another point indicating that there was a continuity in culture that has been mostly unchanged for thousands of years.

  This civilization that created these seals lasted from about 3000BC to 1700 BC.

  In my personal opinion they were much more advanced in certain areas than the archaeologist claim. It is also my personal opinion that this may be a locator or signaling device.

  Your employee,

  James Crawford

  * * *

  Springfield Estate

  Food Service Division

  Attn: James

  I am authorizing you to allow the examination of my Harappan seal by the team of scientist from the British Museum on the 19th. They are scheduled to arrive on the 18th and may have one day to examine and record any transmissions. They are not authorized to remove the seal from the display room. I suggest you have the estate manager arrange for thick rubber mats to be placed in the display room prior to their arrival.

  I know of only one other private collector that has an intact ceramic seal. I've informed him of your findings.

  When I arrive on the evening of the 19th you will be ready to accompany me. The examiners will make a duplicate copy of their preliminary findings for us. You will also need to bring the detection equipment you used. We will depart on the morning of the 20th for the United States, so make sure your passport is updated.

  John Heath

  * * *

  "Welcome to my home Mr. Heath. Is this the employee that discovered the transmissions emanating from your medallion?"

  "Yes, this is my Chef, James Crawford. You know you cost me a pretty pence when you started your bidding war to get my medallion.

  "If you had won, Mr Brown, this discovery would never have been made."

  "If I may Mr. Heath, can we dispense with formality and go by first names."

  "Sure Steve, just call me John and my Chef James."

  "OK Steve, after my Chef prepares lunch we can set up in my trophy room. I have a few interested individuals arriving a 3PM, however if James could set up his equipment, I'd like a preview."

  "Lead the way, James do you have everything you need?"

  "Yes Sir."

  The tour through the trophy room, that occupied the whole second floor, took about thirty minutes. When they arrived at the section where the Harappan seal was in a glass case lit by gas lanterns. This center room had no windows, however as Steve explained his father had purchased the medallion in a bazaar in Thailand over 50 years before. It had cost his father $2 silver dollars. All this was neatly typed out on a card below the display stand. There were six other ceramic items on display plus a clay pot with two green lines down the opposite sides."

  James said, "If I may suggest, we isolate these other items and test them one at a time. Those other two appear to be undamaged. Have you ever had them classified by an expert?"

  Steve scratched his left ear, then said, "No the original classification was done by an archaeologist friend of my father." Steve then pulled a cell phone and started to press keys.

  As he hit the send key John noticed a glow out of the corner of his eye and exclaimed, "You might want to look at this case and cancel that call!"

  Everyone jerked their eyes to the small seal to the left of the medallion. It was glowing bright pink. After a minute the glow started to fade.

  "James, if John will permit, I want you to talk to some experts and arrange for some proper transportation cases to be constructed to isolate these items and any other I have in my collection. I'll have them moved to my estate in Kentucky. I now see that your little discovery may be the tip of the iceberg."

  John looked at James and then Steve. "I have some calls of my own to make, however the only caveat I want to make is that James gets the primary credit for the discovery and we all are listed on future discovery's resulting from this."

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p; Steve nodded and then said, "I think James should get full credit for the discovery about your medallion, partial credit with we three on the seal, and if you agree, John, he'll be the junior partner of a science corporation I'm going to set up as soon as we can get my lawyers over here. Is that satisfactory?

  Then turning to James he said, "James your hobby is about to change your life and turn it upside down. Do you have any objections?"

  James looked at them both and stammered, "Sir, I do not know what to say, I am only a Chef."

  "Your radio hobby and keen observations allowed this discovery. Many great discovery's were accidents that were followed through on. I'm not saying that this is one of them, but I learned from my father that you must grasp opportunity when it presents itself. To realize the potential a lot of hard work will be required. The only free lunch we get is the air we breath and the way things are progressing, it won't be free for much longer. Now I'm going to create a scientific exploration corporation that will find out what we have here. John and I will bear the cost, but you will head up the research portion. Right now you know more about the unusual properties of these artifacts than anyone else in the world."

  "Yes Sir. I do have one request."

  John said, "Well speak up man, you know you're dismissed as soon as Steve gets the corporation set up."

  "But Sir, I don't have any money to contribute or live on."

  With a chuckle Steve announced in his best British imitation, "My good man, your salary and living expenses will be paid by the corporation, until then you're my guest."

  With disgust John stated, "That's the worst accent I've ever heard. I can see that you need a good British education. Let us proceed."

  James looked from John to Steve and wondered if he was the only sane person in the room as they laughed and slapped each other on the back.

  By Monday morning the paperwork was completed and James was surprised to find out that the name of the corporation was James Crawford Inc. and he owned 20% of the stock. He also had a salary of $30,000 US dollars a year plus other benefits that made his mouth drop open. Shakily he sat down, realizing that the plans that he and Mary made could finally be consummated.

  That afternoon the first boxes arrived. They weren't cheap. A solid metal box with sufficient padding to immobilize the artifacts inside a padded wooden box. This was inside a lead box and a double Faraday cage, one for electric and the inner for radio frequencies. Each box was being shipped in a separate van.

  By the next Thursday all the boxes were at the estate in Kentucky mountains. He watched the construction crews building the research lab and a five room cottage for him. He looked at his watch and realized that he only had a half hour before his first meeting with the first of the scientist that were to start working. As he turned to go into his room he heard another tractor trailer truck straining up the hill. The beautiful white rock drive up the hill was now an ugly scar through the meadow.

  After two weeks of interviews he'd approved four men to head up his research team. A radio design engineer, a ceramics specialist, a circuit analyst, and a medical technician just out of school to run the CT scan, MRI, and ultrasound machine section. The oldest was thirty. He pointed out to them as they signed that one forth of their $20,000 salary would be in the form of one half a share in the company stock. Since the company was privately owned the stock could only be cashed in at it's value when they wanted to cash out. It would never be worth less than $10,000 a share.

  He knew he was overlooking something, it kept nagging at the corner of his mind as he packed for a quick trip to England.

  After a short stint with customs at Heathrow Airport he staggered as Mary launched herself into his arms. She looked ravishing in the dress John had bought for her. John simply stood back and watched.

  Then he announced that everything was set up and they had an appointment and then would proceed to his estate. After an hour ride they turned into a small abbey.

  As they entered the abbey John announced that he'd made arrangements for a quiet marriage ceremony for them. As they knelt at the alter, the whole estate staff filed out of one of the side chambers and took seats.

  As the priest started and he held Mary's hand he remembered what he'd forgotten. A ring! As the ring exchange portion of the ceremony arrived John handed him a solid gold band. It fit Mary's finger perfectly. Mary was so flustered when the priest asked if she had a wedding band to present and almost missed the matron of honor trying to stuff a ring into her hand. As the priest announced them he whispered, "Did she know it was today?"

  James whispered back, "No, I told her it was going to be tomorrow at the estate."

  The wedding procession then left for the estate where the party began.

  A week later James and his bride left for America to honeymoon at Niagara Falls. After three days they headed for Kentucky. One of the maids at the Kentucky estate took Mary under her wing as James dived into his experiments with the ancient ceramic artifacts.

  * * *

  Chapter 2

  The first series determined that none of the artifacts were activated in any way by incandescent light wavelengths. Hundreds of film pictures were taken of each artifact and then they were repacked and moved back to the cavern. The next series of test were in the frequencies that florescent lights put out and then frequency bands all the way up to upper shortwave bands. At Steve's insistence all data was transmitted live to his backup area deep in the cavern by the new fiber optic cables.

  He had a crew of three analysts going over everything happening in the research building. After one went home to see his sick brother and returned he commented that what we had were OOPArts (out of place artifacts).

  It was during the first winter that James found out about them and dropped in for a visit to discuss their report on one of the objects. The object of their interest was the pottery jar. The oldest analysis kept saying that he'd seen something in Germany decades ago that the pot reminded him of.

  In several ancient cultures the archaeologist had found OOPArts. Mainly primitive electrical generating batteries. Most of the time the devices were misidentified and mislabeled in the museums. Most were plain, but several he'd seen were very ornamental.

  Back at my office I drafted up a memo stating that the pottery jar should undergo exhaustive analysis to include residue that had migrated into the jar structure inside and out. Then reverse engineer at least three working replicas. The last line was that I wanted to know exactly what the jar was used for, how it worked, and what electrical output it would generate. I then duplicated the memo and referenced each item we had for examination. I also put out a letter to Steve and John to pass the word around that duplicates, no matter what shape they were in, should be acquired for destructive analysis.

  In less than three days both were calling for me to explain what the hell I was planning on doing. Using their contacts I arranged a meeting at the Smithsonian the next week. After walking them through the ancient pottery section I showed them examples of several pottery jars that could have been primitive batteries. Then we moved on to the section that held medallions and seals from those same civilizations. I then explained that OOPArts existed in many civilizations and most were dismissed or misidentified by the standard archaeologist. However I was going to limit my investigation to the Harappan civilization. If they wanted to they could start investigating other civilizations to see if there were any other examples. To my surprise they simply told me that they expected results within the year and told me to get anything I needed to expedite the research.

  * * *

  Three weeks later a cracked seal arrived. After my standard set of test was completed one of the scientist claimed that he could repair it. He estimated that the crack was caused by a drop and only surface deep.

  After his repair the seal generated a signal when exposed to UV1 light frequencies. How
ever when his crew applied .25 volts DC current, the seal rose into the air and shattered on the ceiling of the lab. He apologized for over an hour before winding down and then I told him that he had one problem that I could see.

  When he asked what that was, I replied, "I want that seal reverse engineered and a working copy within the month."

  When it dawned on him what I wanted, he stammered that he could do it.

  I sent the results and film of the experiment to John and Steve.

  All I got back was a letter with one word, WHEN, followed by a big question mark.

  My boy took three months and almost $139000 worth of equipment to duplicate his results. However this time the construct penetrated the two floors above his lab and its remains were discovered in the parking lot. Steve was in my office and we were watching on close-circuit TV. We sauntered over to the parking lot and Steve informed him that the damage to his car would come out of his salary. He then gave him a 50% raise on the spot. The expression on his face was one of those where you wished you had a camera.

  Back in my office Steve called John and as I listened he told him that we had a major problem. An offshoot of the research indicated that our lab was no longer sufficient. Also we needed the best research facility that they could get hold of with maximum security. John simply told him to put together another corporation and purchase the facilities. They decided that somewhere near Dallas Texas offered the best location.

  * * *

  Four months later we moved into our new facilities just east of Denton. Three hundred feet down a new paved road was the first guard house. The administration building was beautiful. The only problem was that behind that building was another guard shack that was automated. Access through it was on the need to know only. There was a road through the fence, but the fence was ten foot chain link without a gate. Every four feet around the whole perimeter were concrete reinforced poles. Three other buildings were outside the inner fence. There wasn't a bit of ground or section of the fence that wasn't under 24 hour observation. We had a slightly secure facility to do our experiments in.