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  “It’s a pleasure to reunite you two,” Clark said. “Would you like to accompany us on our tour, Victor?”

  Perez shook his head. “I’ve seen it all. I’ll be in the commissary. It’s lunch time—at least, that’s what my gut is telling me.”

  He walked off, and Jackie stared after him for a moment. It did her a lot of good to see a friendly face in this strange environment. She made a mental note to compare observations with him later.

  Clark led her to the first of the six ramps. Walking along its length, Jackie felt an uncomfortable chill. The closer they came to the rocky hulk, the colder the room was. She shivered.

  “This thing is cold,” she said.

  “Yes. The surface is about a hundred degrees below zero.”

  She looked at him in shock. “That’s more than frozen. That's dangerous. Weren’t you going to warn me not to touch it?”

  Clark eyed the looming wall of rough mottled stone that rose before them. “No one touches it. I think it’s built right into our most primitive layers—the reptilian layer, under the mammalian and the cortex. We know not to touch things like this. Animals won’t even come into this room. They go berserk.”

  Jackie hoped he wasn't serious. “What is it? An asteroid? It looks like a giant hunk of icy metallic ore.”

  “Close enough. The surface is a rough mass of ice and a nickel-iron composite.”

  “The surface?” she asked looking at him. “Is there an interior?”

  “Yes. But you won’t be seeing that for quite some time.”

  Jackie felt a chill that wasn’t entirely due to the freezing mass of stone and ice that towered in front of her. Clark seemed to believe he was in complete control of her activities—and he was right.

  “You said something about meeting the rest of my colleagues,” she said. “Where are they?”

  “Most are in the training chambers now. But I’ll introduce you to whoever is in the cafeteria.”

  She followed him away from the rock, feeling warmth again. She now realized that the chamber was quite warm as long as you weren’t near the rock. Could they be keeping it frozen on purpose? If they were, they seemed to be blasting with heaters farther away. She could feel the forced air, hot in her face, as she retreated down the walkway.

  “Why freeze the thing?” she asked Clark.

  He looked amused. “We’re not sure. We have theories, of course.”

  She shook her head. “No, I mean why are we freezing it?”

  “We’re not. It does that by itself.”

  Jackie wasn’t sure what to think of that.

  They walked around the circular chamber to a side exit. Beyond airtight doors was a small cafeteria. There were several people in lab coats. Others wore uniforms such as Clark and Perez.

  Jackie was introduced to the group. A few stood and shook her hand. Most gave her a polite smile and a wave. She was grateful for the fact most wore nametags. She’d never been good at memorizing a dozen new names and faces at a party.

  When she sat down with a fresh tray of food, Major Clark quietly joined her. So did Perez.

  “Detective,” she began, then stopped herself. “I’m sorry. You have a new job now, don’t you? What’s your new title?”

  Perez smiled. “Security consultant.”

  She nodded. “Okay. Tell me everything.”

  Perez glanced at Clark. “Why not ask him?”

  “Because I know that you’ve figured out way more than you’re supposed to know about this place by now. Clark will give me the party line. I want the truth.”

  Clark heard all this, of course. She wanted him to. He was still smiling, but it was a strained smile now. She could tell.

  Clark didn’t say anything. He just looked at Perez expectantly.

  “I’m not authorized to brief you,” Perez said.

  “I’m changing that, effective immediately,” Major Clark said. “You brief her.”

  Clark stood up and left calmly. Jackie watched him until he joined another conversation at a different table. She leaned across her lunch tray toward Perez.

  “Well?” she demanded. “Are these people crazy or what? This rock is fantastic. It can’t be from Earth.”

  “It’s not a rock, not exactly,” Perez said. “It’s a ship.”

  She stared at him. “What kind of a ship is buried in a pile of icy stone?”

  “As far as they know, the ship coated itself in a composite mass of material about four feet thick. If you pick away part of the exterior, it draws more similar materials to itself and freezes them back into place.”

  “Why the hell would it do that?”

  “Think about it. I managed to reason this through before they told me.”

  She stared at him. She’d made a significant study of spacecraft—only terrestrial models, of course. She’d been an experimental engine designer until very recently. She knew all about the construction, launch and orbital placement of satellites.

  An alien ship. That’s what they were saying this was, and the evidence was very near at hand. It was so fantastic, she was overwhelmed. The evidence supported the theory as far as she could see, however, so she didn’t have any objections.

  “Why would these proposed aliens cover a ship with ice and rocks?” she asked after she’d gotten over her initial shock. “Could it be camouflaging itself as an asteroid or a comet?”

  He nodded slowly. “Yes.”

  “But why would it want to do that?”

  “In nature, predators often disguise themselves to avoid detection.”

  Jackie narrowed her eyes. “Are you saying whoever built this thing was probably a predator?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Are we sure it wasn’t just the Russians doing something weird?”

  “I don’t know who built it. That’s not my job. Maybe you can figure that out.”

  “If predators built it, it could be dangerous.”

  Perez nodded. “The people here seem to be oblivious to any danger. It’s been here so long, dormant, that I think they’re used to it. I brought up the subject, but they aren’t interested in the concerns of someone who isn’t a science guy.”

  Right then, Jackie wondered why they’d brought Perez in here at all. She liked the man, and she owed him. In fact, it gave her a great deal of satisfaction to be sitting here talking to him. If he hadn't been here, she’d have been nervous, but with Victor Perez across the table with his well-muscled arms and intelligent eyes…

  She reminded herself where she was and what a fantastic discovery she was now privy to. Whether or not the Artifact was truly some kind of alien craft—something she very much doubted—it should be surrounded by people with a scientific background. She could understand having a few security people in the mix, that was part of maintaining secrecy and safety.

  But why ex-Detective Perez? It didn’t really make sense to her. He had no serious credentials, other than…

  She quickly reached the most obvious conclusion. It was startling and irritating at the same time. She narrowed her eyes and stared at Victor for a moment.

  “You look as if you’ve had a disturbing thought,” Perez said.

  “Yeah. I have.”

  He looked down, then back up again. “It’s about me, isn’t it? The big question: Why the hell did they bring me here and make me a part of all this? I’m the proverbial turd in the punch bowl.”

  “Damn, you’re good. I was actually envisioning a punch bowl. Are you sure you don’t read minds?”

  He smiled. “That’s been my job for years now, in a way. Usually all I have to go on is a little physical evidence and a few conversations with nervous people. These science types—they think they’re different. In some ways, they are. They’re more preoccupied with abstractions. But they’re pretty weak when it comes to deception.”

  She nodded. He had figured it out. She felt embarrassed. She looked down at her hands, not wanting to say what they’d both figured out aloud.

  “Y
ou’re wondering if they brought me here just to make you happy. Just to get you to join up.”

  “Yes,” she admitted. “I’m thinking exactly that.”

  He nodded slowly and sat back in his chair. The plastic squeaked, and he crossed his legs. She admired how relaxed he always seemed to be. He was a man of action—killing that guy in the woods had proved that. But he was never tense. Intense yes, but not tense.

  “That thought occurred to me when we flew out of Livermore on a helicopter together. The reality is undeniable now that I’ve seen this place. I don’t belong in an underground bunker built around some kind of spaceship.”

  Jackie made an apologetic gesture with her hands. She couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t insult him.

  “What’s more interesting,” he continued, “is the next thought you’re about to have.”

  She stared at him. If such a statement had come from anyone else, she would have laughed, but when Victor Perez told her what her next thought was going to be, it wasn’t funny at all.

  “Tell me.”

  “The conclusion one must draw from this scenario is that you’re critical to this project’s success. They’ve gone to fantastic lengths to get you here, even to the point of hiring you a prospective boyfriend.”

  She licked her lips quickly, feeling a hot urge to deny what he was saying. But she didn’t. She wanted to know what was really going on here as much as he did.

  “You’re right,” she said. “I’ve been wondering about that all along.”

  “Let’s go over it, shall we?” he asked in his perpetually mild voice. “Someone tried to kill you back in Aptos. They bombed your neighbor by mistake.”

  Jackie winced at the memory but gestured for him to go on.

  “They might have been trying to wreck your house and destroy your data—that part is unclear right now. But I think we can conclude that you and your data were the targets, not Mackle’s place.”

  She nodded.

  “Next, we find out your place of work has been attacked. Some guy shows up supposedly from Homeland Security to ‘gather’ you and bring you here. At that point, we had two groups who were very interested in you. Next, the assassins try again in the woods, shooting your computer rather than you when they have the chance.”

  “Right,” she said. “That part wasn’t very flattering.”

  Perez chuckled.

  “That move still puzzles me,” he said. “No pro would have chosen that play. Even if he wanted to destroy your computer, he should have shot you first. That way, there would have been no way the data could escape him. He could have completed his mission at his leisure. Once you were out of the way, he could have verified your computer had the data, destroyed it—whatever he wanted.”

  “Maybe he wasn’t a pro. Or maybe he wasn’t really a killer.”

  Perez shrugged. “These people, whoever they are, haven’t been squeamish about killing so far.”

  She had to admit he was right about that.

  “Let’s continue our string of suppositions,” Perez continued. “They went to great lengths to recruit you to work here. They went as far as threats, expensive contract options—they even brought me here on the hunch that it would make you more likely to sign their contract.”

  Jackie squirmed but said nothing. She’d made these conclusions as well. As Perez laid them out, they seemed increasingly obvious.

  “That leaves us with two questions,” he said. “First, what makes you so damned important?”

  “It must have something to do with my work on propulsion. The EM-Drive is a big advance.”

  “Explain it to me.”

  “All right. It’s not classified or anything, and people have been working on it for years. The EM-Drive design was first proposed as a propulsion system by Shawyer and published in 2006. Essentially, the drive uses a magnetron to produce microwaves. This energy is directed into a metallic, enclosed cone with a tapered high-Q resonant cavity with a greater area at—”

  Perez’s hand went up and waved for mercy. “Perhaps I should make my requests more clear around physicists. What’s the significance of this discovery?”

  “Well,” she said, smiling, “it pushes spaceships without requiring much in the way of fuel. Most drive systems essentially work by throwing stuff overboard very quickly—like chemical rocketry—and the ship is thrust forward based upon how hard and fast you push stuff out the other end.”

  “The flaming tail of a rocket. Okay, go on.”

  “The EM-Drive is different. It generates thrust without having to carry fuel—not very much thrust, but it is continual. Most of a rocket’s weight is fuel, you see.”

  “What’s this mean in practical terms?”

  “It’s dramatic when you start crunching numbers. We could reach Mars in weeks, even days, rather than taking more than a year.”

  Perez nodded thoughtfully. “Is this technology proven?”

  “Barely. The Chinese claimed to have duplicated it, and NASA as well. But a few prototypes that prove a concept is a far cry from a large-scale working engine.”

  Perez turned his head slowly to look toward the mass of rocks and ice that sat in the middle of the chamber with them.

  “I’d be willing to bet that the EM-Drive is a significant component necessary to power this thing,” he said. “That would make some sense of all this.”

  Her eyes followed his. “Yes, I guess it would. The concept is simple enough. These people could figure out how to work an EM-Drive if the ship had one—if that thing is a ship.”

  “Jackie,” he said, sitting back and relaxing again. “I find that truths are usually plain to see if you just reason them through. Once you know the truth, proving it is only a matter of assembling the evidence that must be there. That’s why I’ve spent so much of my time figuring out what’s actually going on. Really, it’s a lazy man’s way of getting to the bottom of things.”

  “If you say so.”

  “I do. Now, let’s carry this forward. These government types have gone to great lengths to recruit you. We must assume, therefore, that you are crucial to their goals. Further, we must assume they’ll do just about anything to keep you here.”

  Her heart was thudding in her chest. This was exactly the kind of talk her father would have given her about the government. She felt a new weight pressing upon her, and she didn’t welcome it.

  “Like what?” she asked.

  “Lies. Murders. Anything. The ends justify the means if people are desperate enough.”

  She followed Perez’s eyes again. He was staring at Clark from a distance. The psychiatrist was tapping at a cellphone. Clark’s lunch was finished, and he sat back, seemingly engrossed.

  “Victor, why are you staring at Clark now?”

  “You see that phone? Phones don’t work down here.”

  She glanced at Clark again. “Maybe they do for staff.”

  He shook his head. “I stole one, tested it out, and slipped it back in the woman’s purse. Nothing. No bars. No wi-fi. Nothing at all.”

  “Maybe he’s playing Candy Crush,” she said, smiling.

  He smiled back but his eyes were serious. “I think he’s waiting for us to finish this little talk. Then he’ll begin dogging your steps again.”

  “All right,” she said, sighing. “I’m crucial to this project for some reason. I can believe that with all that’s been happening. What can we do about it?”

  “We can watch. We can wait,” he said. “Just the way Clark does.”

  After they finished their meals, Jackie had a sudden, very disturbing thought. She shot out her hand to grab Perez’s. She leaned close and whispered in his ear.

  “Victor? Are you saying all the scares we had that got us here might have been a sham? Do you think the people who blew up Mackle's house did it just to scare me? Could Sandeep possibly be involved?

  “Maybe.”

  “What about that guy in the woods? Did he skip shooting me because he was suppos
ed to be herding me into working here instead of killing me?”

  “Maybe.”

  She let go of him and tried to control her breathing. When she turned back around to study Clark, she noticed he was watching her. His eyes were focused on her hand, which was touching Perez’s.

  She almost snatched her hand away but controlled the impulse. Clark seemed to be happy about the way the two of them were interacting, and she didn’t want to make him think his plans had gone awry.

  On impulse, she turned back to Victor, gave him a smile and a peck on the cheek. Then she hurried away.

  Behind her, she was certain Major Clark must be watching. Perhaps still smiling. She was really beginning to hate the guy.

  Chapter 29

  Primorsky Scientific Center, Russia

  Night

  Lev Burkov and Director Norin were escorted into an underground facility. The elaborate structure above the facility was unfamiliar to Lev, but it was impressive. It seemed to be some kind of giant artificial habitat—like a terrarium of insane proportions.

  The men surrounding Lev and Kira were armed. He wasn’t overly worried, however. His role in this story should shortly come to a close. He wanted, in fact, nothing more than to be free of Kira and her treachery. Rather than taking her all the way to Moscow on a plane, the authorities were welcome to have her right here, right now.

  A man met them in an office surrounded by large aquariums. The aquariums were built into the walls, and they were cold. Lev could feel the cold sucking the heat from the room.

  “Hello,” said the man. “I’m Dr. Statnik. If you two would please be seated.”

  He indicated a pair of chairs in front of a large, stainless steel desk. Lev took a chair immediately. Kira did so more diffidently, as her hands were handcuffed behind her back.

  “Thank you,” Statnik said. He eyed them both. “I’m going to need statements from both of you, but before we start with that, I thought it might help if you knew a little more about this place.”

  Kira leaned forward insolently. “I know all about you and your spider’s nest, Statnik,” she said. “Let’s get on with it.”