Starfire Page 20

  Behind the door was a scared looking young girl. She had blonde hair and her small hands were wrapped up in her blouse.

  “Jenna!” Major Clark said, dropping to his knees. “Are you ready? Are you ready to see the inside of a giant rock?”

  Jenna eyed Clark and Sandeep. “Who’s that?” she asked, pointing at Sandeep.

  “He’s a friend,” Clark said. “Now, if you could—”

  “I want my daddy. Take me back to my daddy. I don’t want to go anywhere with you.”

  Clark’s face never faltered. He shook his head and sighed. “I’m sorry, my dear, but there’s only one way you can see your daddy again. You have to open a path for us. Come now, it will only take a minute. If you can do it, I’ll give you ice cream.”

  The girl licked her lips, and looked around uncertainly. “What flavor?”

  Major Clark’s smile widened. “Anything you want, my dear. We have them all.”

  “I want strawberry. With chocolate syrup.”

  Clark chuckled. “Then you shall have it! Come on now, help us out.”

  The girl walked hesitantly down the metal ramps. A dozen people in white lab coats watched her quietly.

  Throughout this display, Sandeep had remained quiet, but inwardly he’d been ashamed. He knew who this girl must be. Jenna Brandt.

  He touched Clark’s arm as he went by. Clark’s face darkened.

  “What is it?”

  “Clark…this is the first time she’s made an attempt, isn’t it?”

  Clark shrugged. He followed the girl down the ramp, and Sandeep followed him.

  “There’s no guarantee that she can do it,” Sandeep pressed. “What if the ship kills her?”

  “What can be done?”

  “We can wait until she’s an adult. We can test her as we tested her father.”

  “There’s no time for that. Your inspection proves this. The project is to be stepped up, isn’t it?”

  Clark looked into Sandeep's face, and Sandeep knew that he couldn’t hide the truth from this man.

  “Yes,” he admitted.

  “Then observe, inspector! We shall see if this project can be sped up, and then you can run back to Washington with your report written for you.”

  The girl reached the end of the ramp.

  “It’s big,” she said. “And very cold. Are you sure I can touch it?”

  “That’s right,” Major Clark said, “it is very, very cold. As cold as space itself. And do you know what we keep inside it?”

  The girl looked back at him with big blue eyes. She shook her head.

  “Ice cream, of course!”

  She smiled and even giggled briefly. Sandeep, watching the exchange, felt a little sick inside. Around him, the scientists looked troubled as well, but their eyes were hungry. They hadn’t been able to get access to the interior for months. Not since Captain Brandt had escaped.

  Finally, the girl reached out her hand and touched the crust of ice, dust and stone—only her hand touched nothing. The camouflaging material spread away from her, revealing a dull metal layer behind.

  The girl looked back toward Clark, confused. “Is that it?”

  “You can do it,” Clark said. “You’ve proven it now. Just a little more. Touch that metal wall. The hull will open for you as the rock did.”

  She reached out, and the metal dissolved. Sandeep, for all his doubts and worries, stood in awe. The metal was intelligent, of course. He knew that. The hull of the ship had been conditioned to open for the first person who touched it. That had been Lieutenant Colonel Harry Brandt, a man who had long since passed away. He was Brandt’s grandfather, and Jenna’s great-grandfather.

  As far as they knew, the Brandt family were the only people on Earth who could open this ship’s metal walls and reveal the cool interior.

  Everyone was smiling now, edging closer with excitement. Even Jenna squealed with delight as she watched the metal bubble melt away at her touch.

  What she didn’t know is how many had failed in the past. To touch the icy exterior of the ship meant frostbite and permanent nerve damage. One might as well dip an appendage into liquid nitrogen. Only the fact that the ice had melted away before she touched it had saved her.

  The interior metal surface, however—that was worse. While the exterior could freeze a man, he could survive that. But the metal hull was charged with electrical power. The resulting shock could instantly kill any living being that dared to make the attempt—and many had over the years.

  But Jenna Brandt had the magic touch. The metal melted away before her as it had for her father and grandfather. It read her DNA and identified her as a being it trusted.

  The hole in the hull widened into a crack, then spread open, transforming into a ragged doorway that resembled a shark’s mouth. The group crept forward. Major Clark didn’t go in, however, and neither did the girl. He took her hand and led her back up the ramp, against the press of excited scientists.

  “Where are we going?” Jenna asked.

  “I’ve just remembered, our ice cream is back in the commissary. I’m taking you to go get it.”

  “Silly man,” Jenna said.

  Clark smiled and patted her on the head.

  Sandeep followed the two, feeling disturbed. He felt he needed to make sure Jenna was going to be safe.

  Chapter 31

  Area 51, Gamma Level

  Underground

  Jackie Linscott was worn out. She’d spent the entire day and night investigating what apparently was a spaceship.

  That was shocking enough, but what had her mind reeling was the undeniable reality that the ship was not something that had been built by human hands. She’d spent much of her adult life studying terrestrial spacecraft, and she knew this was something different. The technology was too advanced—by an order of magnitude, if she had to quantify it. There were a dozen elements inside that ship she knew that no one on Earth could completely explain, much less duplicate.

  She hadn’t been allowed to watch the opening ceremony. That had been restricted to fully vetted scientists. Instead, she’d been brought in after the hull was yawning wide.

  She’d asked about how this had been accomplished, and the scene had been described to her. She didn’t like the sound of it. She’d seen the girl—a small, frightened little thing. Had Clark really brought the girl down the ramp to the icy wall? Was he insane? The briefest contact with something that cold—it could freeze-burn her flesh instantly, at the very least.

  Jackie was surprised that no one had tried to stop them. Perhaps it was conditioning, or distraction. A similar case might be the gassing of a patient. The body knows the gas is poison. It knows it’s being put to sleep—or perhaps to death. But if the doctor speaks calmly, and a nurse is there helping you count backwards, you let it happen.

  Why was that? Why had these people trusted major Clark, who she was now certain was an evil man? She herself had been manipulated into joining this project through his cunning mixture of calm reason, threat, and promised reward. It had worked on her, she realized now, the same way it had worked on little Jenna Brandt.

  She had to ask herself as she stumbled around inside the low-ceilinged chambers of the ship if the day would ever come when Major Clark would talk her into risking her life. Would she do it willingly? For something equally as trivial as a snack, perhaps?

  In time, the wonders within the ship helped dissolve the unease in her heart. She had to admit, it was a treasure trove. There had probably never been an Artifact more valuable, or more frightening.

  “What are we doing with this thing?” she asked Clark when she came out hours later. She’d been in the lower of the two decks, in what she discovered was the propulsion section. She’d been drawn there, naturally.

  “Did you enjoy your visit to wonderland?” he asked.

  “Yes, intensely. But I’m as upset by it as I am filled with joy. Who built it? Why?”

  “We don’t know. We have a team on that—but they’ve
learned little. I can’t tell you everything we do know. You’re too new a member of our club.”

  Jackie stared at him for a moment. “You’ve been leading this project for years, haven’t you?”

  “Yes,” Clark admitted.

  She nodded slowly. “How long has this gone on? How many years have we had this thing down here?”

  “I guess I can tell you that much. It was discovered after World War II. At first, no one knew what to make of it. The ship killed most of the initial investigators—except for one man. He was Jenna’s great-grandfather.”

  “And he—he opened the ship? The way the girl did today?”

  “Exactly. He touched it first, and we think it imprinted upon him. Everyone else who tries to touch it now is frostbitten or shocked to death. There have been horrible experiments with animals and corpses—nothing ever worked. We’re stuck with the family who found it first. Fortunately, the first two generations were willing accomplices. Unfortunately, our technology was so much less advanced then. We’ve been studying this thing for years, and we’ve learned so much—but there always seems to be more to discover.”

  “But, the girl—you said there are other generations. Why her?”

  Clark made a dismissive wave of his hand. “Old men die. Others decide they don’t want to spend their lives down here. Right now, we’re lucky to have her. Without her, we’d be shut out. Can you imagine such a tragedy? It would be like owning a lovely car, but having no keys to drive it.”

  Jackie looked at him suddenly. “Keys,” she said as if in a dream. “Can we fly it?”

  Clark’s smile grew. He leaned closer. “That’s up to you. That’s why you’re here. We think we can control the navigation systems. We think we can get the generators operating. But to make the drive work—we’ve only just realized how it operates.”

  “An EM-Drive,” Jackie said quietly. “An EM-Drive of the kind we might be able to build ourselves in a thousand years.”

  Clark shook his head. “No. Not a thousand. Less than a hundred—a decade, if we’re lucky. If you can figure it out for us.”

  Jackie sat back, overwhelmed. She stared at Clark, seeing him in a new light. He was a devil, that was certain. But he was a devil with a purpose. He wanted humanity to advance ahead of itself. To learn secrets now that should take thousands of years to figure out.

  “Who are they, Clark?” she asked again. “The aliens. Who are they, and where are they? Do you have them here somewhere, in a cage?”

  “I wish we did,” he said, shaking his head sadly. “They fell to Earth here over a century ago. We didn’t even locate the site until forty years later. There were no aliens to be found.”

  She almost believed him, but she wasn’t sure. She now knew he was the best liar she’d ever met in her life.

  “But really,” he said, gazing back at her, “it doesn’t matter who they are or what they look like. They have tech that makes us look primitive. Doesn’t that worry you?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Of course it does.”

  “It worries me as well. That’s why we must dissect this ship. Already, she’s given us a dozen hints that have turned into things the world would never have seen without it. You have a computer in your pocket called a smart phone. Much of the magic that makes that wonderful technology operate we owe to this ship.”

  Jackie nodded, thinking hard. She could see it—like a ribbon of history laid out before her. The find had accelerated the last century. After the Industrial Revolution, where technology had largely focused upon England and Europe, advancements had shifted to the United States.

  Why? Because we had the ship, of course.

  The revelation was staggering. Could it be true? Could America have been cheating on her homework all these long decades?

  More important was the question of the aliens themselves. They’d come here once, and that meant they could do it again. Any day, any hour. America had to be ready. We had to learn, and we had to learn fast.

  “We’re like some kind of aboriginal species,” she said. “A native form of primitive life. We’ll be at their mercy if they come in strength.”

  “That presupposes many unknowns,” Clark cautioned her. “They might not be warlike, after all. They might be peaceful. Or, with luck, they might have all died out on their own world. We simply don’t know.”

  “No,” she agreed. “But we can’t take chances with all of humanity.”

  He nodded his head slowly, gravely. “That’s right. Now, perhaps, you understand me as few do. You can see the big picture, can’t you? I’m impressed. The stakes are so high that we must do things we might find questionable in order to survive as a species.”

  Internally, Jackie was torn. She’d never believed in big government. She’d never liked government at all. But this was different. This was a real threat. Her natural philosophy was at war within her against the forces of pragmatism.

  She looked at Clark sharply. He was watching her, saying nothing. How many of her internal thoughts were known to this cagey man? Maybe everything. She couldn’t be the first one who’d been seeded with these thoughts, who’d been led down this path. It made her uncomfortable, but she couldn’t find a way to escape Clark’s logic.

  “Does might make right, Clark? In a case like this, I mean?”

  Clark leaned forward and cocked his head. “I have another, infinitely more valid question for you, Dr. Linscott. Do you want to be alive, or dead? Do you want to enjoy freedom? Or would you prefer the servile station of a creature on a factory farm?”

  Jackie leaned back and sighed. She couldn’t answer him.

  But the next day, she went back into the ship when the little girl opened it. While Jenna Brandt ate her ice cream—chocolate today, with sprinkles—Dr. Linscott labored all day long inside the alien ship, searching for a way to control the engine embedded in the belly of it.

  Chapter 32

  Nevada Desert

  Afternoon

  Brandt hadn’t had an easy time of it. Crossing the nation, avoiding capture and gathering the equipment he needed had taken over a week. But today, standing in the shade of a rocky cliff face in camo gear, he thought he was finally ready to make his play.

  He didn’t want to go in, and not only because it would be difficult and possibly deadly. He didn’t want to go in because there was a very definite chance he’d be captured.

  That’s what they wanted. He knew that. Why kidnap the daughter and not even bother to taunt him? Why not offer him a deal or present him with threats?

  Clark had seen fit to do neither. He’d ignored Brandt’s attempts to communicate through both the web and the agent cellphones that Brandt had obtained. There’d been no dialog, nothing. Just dead air.

  Clark held all the cards, and he knew it. He had Brandt’s kid. She wouldn’t be as good at opening up the ship’s guts to them, but she’d probably be able to at least get the main hatch to yawn and stretch. That would be good enough for now.

  If Brandt never came in—well, they’d just keep his daughter for good. Maybe that would be okay with Clark. After all, that’s what Brandt’s father had done long ago, buying his partial freedom at the cost of imprisoning his son.

  Brandt couldn’t do that to Jenna. He knew she’d have food and shelter, but no real freedom. And she probably wouldn’t rebel against the arrangement until she hit about sixteen. Ten years of velvet imprisonment. After that, they’d keep her in chains if they had to.

  Clark would have said it was for a good cause. That sometimes, bad things happened to good people. That the greater good was served by the sacrifices of the few.

  It was nice talk, but Brandt didn’t buy it. Jenna hadn’t signed any papers. Hell, his whole family hadn’t agreed to this when they’d first investigated the damned crash site.

  That left Brandt out in the desert, hiding from the drones, the infrared sensors and the scopes. He only investigated the site in the day so his heat signature wouldn’t stand out against the hot rocks.
At night, he’d be easier for the sentry machines to spot.

  He waited an hour, then another. During that time, he barely moved. He watched the comings and goings of rare ground traffic and the occasional aircraft. He was waiting for something he could use.

  At around six in the evening, about when he knew he had to quit and retreat, he finally saw what he was looking for: a familiar face.

  Compressing his scope and slipping backwards away from the cliff, he spider-climbed to an alcove among the cliffs. A stolen pickup waited there for him. It had no license plates and not much paint on it, either. But it had served him well.

  Slamming the driver’s door, he punched the big motor and made it roar. Bouncing on huge tires, the 4x4 picked up speed, following a dried-up streambed. He had to make good time. This was it—possibly his only chance for weeks.

  When he reached the highway, he left the truck and raced out onto the road. This was a tricky moment. If there had been a lot of other cars around, he’d be in trouble. Someone might have stopped to see what was happening, thereby blowing his plan.

  He checked the trap, seeing it was still ready. Retreating from the road, he waited.

  Six cars passed before his quarry showed up. He’d begun to despair by then. He’d wondered if he'd come too late.

  But no, there it was. A silver rental car, as inconspicuous as they came. Brandt popped the trap, and the target vehicle’s tires popped a moment later.

  The car swerved, screeching. It went off into the gravel, throwing up a whirling cloud of dust and rocks.

  “Don’t flip it,” Brandt said aloud, running after the car.

  The driver wasn’t a complete idiot. He managed to control the vehicle and bring it to a dusty stop. Brandt ran up to the window just as the driver was climbing out.

  The driver drew his gun, but he never got it in line with Brandt’s body. One kick sent it flying. Coughing, the driver threw a few game punches, but Brandt put him down pretty easily.

  “You’re slacking, Sandeep,” Brandt said, looming over the fallen man and pressing his pistol into his chest. “Are you hurt?”