3012: The Artifact

by John M Grier

Return to Harmony

  The next morning, they headed back out to sea and made the jump to the future. Jack set the date for the morning after Janet left Harmony with Jack and Paul, then got them as fast as he could to the Chesapeake Bay, leaving the boat in the same place as before.

  The four of them returned to Harmony so they could get properly outfitted for yet another arctic expedition. To get past the fact that Janet had already closed the original dig site, Paul suggested “Janet, I know the original site was closed. So, to avoid anyone poking their noses in on us, perhaps we should go for the lighthouse this time. It’s right where we want to be and will show up as a different site to the bean counters.”

  “Sure, I can do that” said Janet. “In fact, that might just be a great idea. Hopefully, no one will have an interest in such a building, or they may try to join us. I would rather avoid that, if possible.”

  Paul said “Jack, we probably have a few days before everything is ready to go. Do you want to head back to Freedom Base?”

  Suzie spoke up and said “Actually, I seem to remember Janet saying she could get me a new travel case with updates and such. Once we have it in hand, I will need to be transferred back to the mainframe I lived in for all those years and then we can move me into the new case. Hopefully, it will be my last move. I love the freedom I have been experiencing in this case, but it does limit my functions a bit.” She smiled before continuing “I imagine it’s somewhat like wearing clothes that don’t fit properly.”

  “Maybe we should go there first and then head back to my place and get Suzie settled in her new case" suggested Jack. "Then we could continue preparing for the next dig.” They walked the short distance to the government complex and Janet’s office. It was a beautiful sunny day for the walk and they arrived in no time at all.

  “It will only take me a minute or two to get the new dig started since we have the same coordinates to use as the other dig site. Once I get that process started, we can get the case and head back to your home, Jack. My computer will contact me when the final signatures are in place.” Janet typed as she spoke. After a few minutes, she said “Okay, all set.”

  Suzie said “Now that the new site’s paperwork has been started, I would love to see my new case. I am rather eager to try it out, if you can get it easily enough.”

  “Certainly, give me a moment to locate one not currently in use.” She inquired on her computer terminal and discovered that there was an empty case in that very building. “There’s one right here in this building. We can stop and get it on our way out.” She stood up and walked around her desk to the door. “Shall we go?”

  She led the way to the next floor up. Once past the last office, she found the correct storage room and located Suzie’s new travel case. Suzie smiled like a child getting a gift and clapped her hands “This is exciting! I can’t wait to see how it fits!”

  Everyone got a chuckle at Suzie’s enthusiasm as they left the storage area. They rode the elevator to the ground floor and with Janet in the lead, walked out the front door. Once outside, Jack said “Shall we all head back to my place? Janet, you are in for a big surprise.”

  “Again? I don’t know how many more surprises I can take from you, Jack.” She let out a little chuckle and said “We should get going before people start to ask too many questions and I get us in trouble. It isn’t normal for this many civilians to be just hanging around here.”

  As they walked back to the gate to retrieve Jack’s hovercraft, Janet and Paul stayed a few steps behind and walked hand in hand. They must have picked up that little gesture somewhere in the past, because in this strange world a thousand years in the future, it simply wasn’t done. People pretty much kept their distance from each other.

  Jack couldn’t help but notice how much Janet seemed to be changing since she and Paul discovered that they both had feelings for each other. Paul had changed as well, but the changes in Janet were a bit more obvious for some reason.

  He said nothing but was quietly amused at their actions. Especially the fact that they seemed oblivious to the open stares they were receiving from other people they passed. The two groups of people, government employees and civilians, were so radically different in this society that one glance was all it generally took to tell which group certain people belonged in. However, with Paul and Janet these days, you simply could no longer tell.

  They made it to Jack’s hovercraft with no encounters from curious people other than stares. Jack drove them slowly to his underground lair. He noticed that Janet was actually looking at the scenery as they drove. He kept his speed down more for her benefit than any desire to drive slowly.

  At one point she said “You know, I never really noticed the trees and wildlife and such when traveling outside the city. It always seemed so dirty and unkempt to me. Now that I have been on our little adventure through time and experienced what I have recently, it’s like I am seeing the world for the first time. And it is beautiful!”

  Paul said “I agree it is a beautiful world. And for some reason, it seems even more beautiful these days.”

  Jack said nothing but just kept driving. He had no problem playing the role of chauffeur to this young couple experiencing love for the first time. This world they lived in certainly could use some more love! Maybe these two will start a new trend. Their old way of doing things here was certainly unappealing.

  Jack thought about this for a while. He found it odd that he, of all people would be having these kinds of thoughts. After all, he was a lifelong, confirmed bachelor. And these thoughts were those of someone in love. But certainly, Jack thought, it was too late for him in that regard. He shook his head to clear it and announced “We are approaching my place.”

  Janet had a confused look on her face since she obviously recognized the area. It took her a minute to realize that Jack, being from the past, would not have a tracking chip implanted in his brain; so naturally, he would not have shown up when she was following Paul that day. She also realized that they had told her this, but with everything that had happened, she had simply forgotten. Finally, she said “Jack, where exactly is your place?”

  “Right under our feet, to be honest.” He parked the hovercraft in its usual place and set up the solar charger. He then led them down the stairs to his underground home.

  Right away he could tell something was wrong. The door leading into his home from the stairway was not broken down, but someone had certainly tried. It was also apparent that the electronic lock had been tampered with. It occurred to him that the underground city must have sent someone to his home looking for them. Hopefully, they had given up by now.

  He tried to remember how many days or weeks it had been since he was here last, but couldn’t. Then he had a thought. It actually might have been just a few days. Since he jumped back in time to just after the time they had left, it was possible only a few days had passed even though it had been much longer for Jack and his friends. He said “We’ll have to be careful. Those military people from the underground city must be looking for us, and in their eyes it’s only been a few days.”

  Suzie said “Jack, let me go first before you open the door so I can see if they are actually there waiting for us to arrive. They may have been watching us on a monitor and know we’re here.”

  “That sounds like a good idea.”

  Suzie smiled at them, raised her hands over her head and snapped her fingers. In an instant, she was wearing a black commando style uniform, complete with blackened face paint. She then crouched low and poked her head through the door. Seeing nothing, she entered and looked around. She decided to go further in just to be sure no one was there, so she stood up and walked down the long hallway toward the back of this level in the direction of Jack’s workshop.

  When she entered the workshop, she was shocked to discover two men, Shultz and his large companion from the underground city, waiting for them. The large man was ar
med with some advanced style of weapon she was unfamiliar with. He pulled the trigger and a beam of light passed right through her.

  Putting her hands on her hips and adopting a stern look on her face, she said “Now boys, that’s just rude! You really should learn to play nice.” The two men were so stunned that their weapon had no affect on her that they tried to run. When they saw the walls, they turned and ran right into each other, knocking each other out cold.

  Suzie returned to the door and poked her head through it, scaring Paul again. She laughed and said “Paul, it really never gets old, does it?”

  Paul laughed and said “No, I suppose it doesn’t.”

  They all laughed until Suzie said “Jack, we have two intruders in the workshop. They knocked themselves out when their gun was ineffective on me.” They all hurried back to the workshop where Shultz was just coming around. Suzie’s uniform looked much like his, but with the rank of Captain. She mimicked his weapon, pointing it at him. He saw her and almost fainted. She said “Shultz, may I ask you a question?”

  Nervously he said “Ummm, yes ma’am, I suppose you can.”

  She said “Why are the two of you here bothering us? And, how many more of you are there in our levels of the base?”

  Shultz began sweating profusely and said “There is no one else, just the two of us! Honest! We got into so much trouble after losing you that we decided to find you on our own or our lives would be miserable forever.”

  “Well, it would seem that you have found us. Now, why did you shoot me? I did not enjoy it one bit!” Jack watched this whole exchange trying not to laugh. He knew Suzie was thoroughly enjoying this little role she had adopted for herself.

  Shultz, nearly in tears said “He shot you, I didn’t. Shoot him, he doesn’t like me anyway!”

  His companion woke up in time to hear Shultz tell Suzie to shoot him. He said nothing, but simply waited for the right moment, glaring at his partner and thinking “Shultz would get his, that was for sure." He was right about one thing; he certainly did not like him, especially after hearing him tell someone to shoot him!

  Jack noticed that they were both awake now and said “Perhaps we should make these two people feel more at home. Paul, do you remember where the gas mask is laying on the stand in the hallway?”

  “Yes, why do you ask?”

  “In the drawer beneath it you will find two pairs of handcuffs. Please bring them here.” Paul retrieved the cuffs and Jack locked the two together, facing each other with their arms around a pole. There was no way they could get loose.

  Suzie smiled at them and said “Be nice, boys” and walked out of the room.

  They reconvened in the living room. Janet said “Jack, you certainly said a mouthful when you said I was in for a surprise!”

  “I didn’t exactly expect them to be here, if that’s what you mean.”

  “I should hope not!” Janet said. “However, this home of yours is incredible! Who would have thought it was under all those ruins up there?”

  Paul said “You haven’t seen anything, Janet. The rest is even more amazing!”

  Suzie spoke up and said “I hate to be the pest, but can we do my transfer now? I am itching to get into that new case of yours!”

  “Sure Suzie, no problem” said Jack. Turing to Janet, he said “This is your case. What do we need to know, if anything before we start?”

  Janet said “This case is designed to house a modern hologram as well as a complete back up copy of itself. There should be plenty of room for you Suzie. I mean no offense, but you are several hundred years old, correct?”

  “Yes. I would imagine my program is considerably smaller than those of today’s world.”

  Jack hooked up the connections so Suzie could move back into her original mainframe. Once there, she materialized as the default military man she always reverted to, before jumping over into Janet’s case.

  She materialized as herself this time, dressed in a frilly pink party dress. She said “Wow, I have never booted up in my own form before. I usually have to change from that boring g-man. This is really cool! And Janet, you were right. There is plenty of room for a back up as well as another complete program like mine and its back up as well! Thanks!”

  Jack said “What should I do with this old case?”

  Suzie said “Why not hang onto it, just in case this system fails or there are other issues we haven’t discovered yet. I would hate to find out we needed it and had no access to it.”

  Paul said “Jack, we should probably arm ourselves before we check out the rest of the complex just to be sure those two clowns really are alone.”

  “Good idea” said Jack. Paul picked up Jack’s hunting rifle, which was actually a military rifle, and began a room by room search.

  It took them hours to search the whole complex, including the warehouse, which Janet still could not believe. Satisfied that the two men were telling the truth, they still faced a problem. What should they do with them?

  Suzie said “Why not just take them back to the town and present them to the ladies in charge there? We can politely ask them to leave us alone and then leave ourselves. We are, after all, going back to the ice soon, right?”

  Jack said “Yes, but I didn’t want to abandon this place for good. Even though I plan to live in my own time, I would like this place to be an option. And besides, Paul and Janet may need it someday.”

  Paul said “Good point, Jack. But, Suzie may have something there. When those guys shot her, they were amazed that she was still alive. Much like I would have been a few weeks ago. They obviously have never seen a hologram before either.”

  Janet said “Yes but those ladies, as Suzie calls them, who are in charge may have. Remember, I have seen them before. Their society may be like ours in that the two sides are kept apart.”

  Suzie said “There is only one way to find out.”

  Jack said “Well, we have to do something with them, why not?”