Guardians of the Galactic Sentinel 1: The Deimos Artifact (13 page)

Ariane had relied on the ship's automated systems to control the ship until they were on their final approach to their assigned docking berth. At that point, she took over. With an expert touch on the controls, she used the
Capri's
attitude thrusters to deftly guide the ship into the docking bay area, finally bringing the ship to rest with no more than a gentle nudge on the magnetically damped bumpers in their assigned slot. A docking tube began to swing towards the
Capri's
airlock.

"I called ahead," said Ariane, "My father should be arriving on the shuttle from the elevator terminus about two hours from now. We'll be joining him in a meeting room in the University section of the Planetary Government offices here on the orbital station. We might want to start heading that way right away. It'll take us an hour or more, at the very least, to get through the various layers of security."

Ariane subjected Zack to a cursory visual examination and then lifted up her cap and ran a hand through her hair. "Maybe we should take a few minutes to clean up a bit before we go. I think I'll take an ultrasonic shower and change into something that I haven't fought a battle in. You might as well do the same. You got any more civilian clothes along?"

"I do," replied Zack, "Should I be bringing anything? Maybe my uncle's memory chip?"

Her answer surprised him.

"If you have it safely stashed away onboard this ship somewhere, I'd just leave it here. I don't know who my father might have with him or how much they might know about the project. In fact, don't even discuss that memory chip with my father until we're absolutely sure about everyone present."

"What's to keep someone from coming on board the ship and taking it?"

"The government security forces for one. They really are quite good. That and we'll just have Cliff seal up the airlock and tell him not to open it unless one of us gives the okay."

"One of us?" said Zack. His look reminded her that he still wasn't fully sure he could trust her.

"Okay, just you, then."

"That should work."

Zack made the short trip down to his quarters. Taking Ariane's advice, he stripped his clothing off and stepped into the ultrasonic shower. Afterwards, he changed into his clean set of civilian clothes and ran a comb through his short, light-brown hair. He then went to his backpack and removed his uncle's memory chip. Realizing that stashing the valuable chip somewhere in his quarters was way too obvious, he tried to think of somewhere to hide it.

On his way to the airlock, he made a quick detour to the galley There, he opened the drawer that contained prepackaged condiments and spices. He shoved the packets to one side, put the chip on the very bottom of the drawer and heaped the packets back over the top of it. As the ship's informally designated cook, he figured he'd be the only one likely to go snooping in that particular drawer for anything. He then went to join Ariane at the airlock.

She had slipped into a fashionable civilian outfit and had done something nice with her hair. The combination worked; Zack was struck yet again at how attractive she was.

Too bad he couldn't trust her.

Chapter 15.
Academic Input.

Nova York Orbital Platform, Central Planets Star System, July 7, 2676.

Zack and Ariane made their way into the orbital station through the docking tube. He discovered within the first few minutes that the security and other bureaucratic mandates were quite dense, just as Ariane had warned him. It took them over an hour to get through security at the docking platform and board a magtram to the government offices. Once there, they had to go through several more layers of obligatory and seemingly meaningless bureaucratic nonsense. Their military ID's helped speed the process a little but not by much. At long last, they found themselves inside the government facility, heading for the designated meeting room.

Dr. Harold MacPherson was waiting out in the hall to greet them. He ushered the two of them into a small meeting room before following them in and closing the door behind them. The Professor was much as Zack expected him to be, a tall, distinguished-looking gentleman in his early fifties with patrician features and dark hair going slightly gray here and there. He could have easily done something to look more youthful, but Zack realized that, given his profession, a certain air of maturity was probably expected of him. The resemblance between father and daughter was obvious. MacPherson also had two other people with him.

"Welcome," said the Professor, "I trust you didn't have too many issues with all of the mandatory red tape?"

MacPherson spoke in a well-modulated voice that was honed by years of teaching and hundreds of professional presentations. A trained actor might have been envious. Because of this, he seemed almost too smooth and too polished. Zack's first impression of Professor MacPherson was that the man wasn't completely trustworthy. Ariane went to her father immediately after he had closed the door and embraced him before introducing Zack.

"Dad, this is Zachary Lynton, Marvin Pangbourne's nephew and the new owner of the
Capri
."

"Pleased to meet you Zack," said MacPherson, looking Zack earnestly in the eye and shaking his hand with a firm grip. The Professor then introduced his two companions.

"This is Dr. Arnold Mobutu, he's a post-doc working with me on the project and this is Dr. Kathryn Harbour, another member of our faculty." Mobutu, a short, slight, studious-looking man with skin the color of milk chocolate and kinky black hair done up in one of the latest fashionable asymmetric cuts, appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties. Dr. Harbour was probably ten years older than that. She was of medium height but almost skeletally thin and wore her sleek brown hair cut short. Her green eyes radiated intelligence.

"Arnie and Kate, this is my daughter Ariane.

Introductions completed, each of them took a seat alongside a rectangular table that could easily have seated five times their number. Without consciously thinking about it, the academics lined themselves up along one side of the table while the military types instinctively took the other. Zack felt an immediate and rather unexpected bond with Ariane, even though he still didn't quite trust her.

MacPherson opened the discussion.

"First off," said the Professor, "I want you to know that my two colleagues are completely trustworthy. Arnie has been in on this project with me from the beginning and I personally vetted Kate before having her come on board."

The military contingent nodded in understanding. Zack, never one to beat around the bush, cut straight to the chase.

"I have few questions, Dr. MacPherson."

"Please, Zack, call me Harold."

"Okay then, Harold, what exactly is going on here? I may find out that you're right and that your people are totally trustworthy but I...," he glanced over at Ariane and corrected himself, "...but
we
need to know exactly what's going on here. Out at Haven, Beth...I mean, Ariane, and I were almost bowled over by two men who had illegally boarded our ship. While they were on board, they assaulted our engineer and left him unconscious. What they would have done if we hadn't interrupted them remains unknown. When I went to give a statement about it, I found out that the authorities at the Haven Orbital Station had already let the intruders go. Not only that, they all but ignored me as I tried to tell them what happened during the incident."

"The Haven Orbital authorities are notoriously corrupt," said MacPherson.

"That's not all," said Zack, "Just after we left the Haven system, we were chased down and fired on by what we're pretty sure was a Soviet courier ship. They were demanding that we heave to and submit to an illegal boarding. We escaped but only just barely. Whatever it is we're dealing with here, it looks to me as though it's pretty damned important to some not very nice people. Is it this 'artifact' thing that my uncle had? If that's the case, what the hell is it?"

MacPherson politely listened and nodded his head as Zack made each of his points. He then took a few moments to collect his thoughts before responding, "I'm afraid I don't know a lot more about the artifact than you do, Zack. Your Uncle Marvin knew more than anyone and I expect -- I hope -- that he recorded what he'd found and left a copy of it somewhere. Did he leave anything to you in his personal effects?"

So Ariane hadn't told her father about Marv's chip? Her status went up another notch in Zack's estimation. He resisted an urge to glance at her before he replied, "I...I haven't really had a lot of time to go through all of his things. I'll keep what you just said in mind, though."

"That is unfortunate," continued MacPherson, "we do know one thing: The artifact is old."

"How old?" asked Ariane.

"Maybe older than the Egyptian civilization of Old Earth," said Arnold, "but we need to do more work on that."

"You've seen it?"

"Only some two dimensional photographs."

"What is it?"

MacPherson took a deep breath before replying, "We really don't know, Zack; however, it's obvious that the Soviets think it's worth enough to try and steal it from you."

"Cold comfort," replied Zack, "Where did it come from?"

MacPherson paused for a moment and glanced at his two companions before continuing, "It was found in the Sol System."

That admission was met with silence from the military types. Marv's notes had referred to a Sol System origin, but what Zack had looked at so far hadn't provided any proof of it.

The Professor, shifting smoothly and unconsciously into lecture mode, continued, "The Sol System, home to Planet Earth, is known to be the birthplace of Mankind. However, the system has fallen on some pretty hard times over the course of the last several centuries. As the planet deteriorated, Mankind was forced to intensify its quest outwards, discovering and colonizing other inhabitable planets." The Professor stopped and looked his audience over before continuing, "It's no exaggeration to say that things are tough back there. Pirate bands and other outlaws roam at will. In fact, many of the pirate bands that raid the human spaceways in other star systems reportedly use the Sol System as their base."

"Where in the Sol System was it found?" asked Zack.

"It may have been found on one of the moons orbiting the planet Mars. Deimos to be exact."

"What brave soul went there and got it?" asked Ariane.

"Unknown," said MacPherson.

"So how did Marv wind up with it?" Zack asked.

"He had managed to establish some contacts in the Sol System," said MacPherson, "He told me he bought it in a package deal from a...merchant who deals in such things. Apparently the package included several other items."

"That's not a lot to go on," said Zack.

"I know," replied the Professor, "I really wish that Marv had left us more information."

Zack gave the Professor an exasperated look as he summarized the discussion so far, "So, we think that this 'artifact' is thousands of years old and it might have come from one of the moons of Mars. We don't know what it is and therefore don't know what its purpose is, or was. We also know that the Soviets are interested in it, but we don't know why."

"There might be something more," said the Professor, glancing at Arnold, "Apparently there has been some kind of 'mass dream' or 'shared vision' that a great many people have reported experiencing. I am talking about unrelated people from all over human-occupied space."

"What kind of vision?" asked Zack.

"Something about a powerful object of some sort that is supposed to be of vital importance to the future of Mankind," replied the Professor, "I don't know that I buy it, but there is a slim possibility that the object of these 'visions' is none other than Marv's artifact."

"Really?" said Zack.

"I believe there might actually be something to it," said Arnold, "Apparently I am one of the 'sensitives;' who is susceptible to having these visons. What I've been seeing in my dreams looks an awful lot like the artifact in the photograph."

"You will admit that your subconscious could have been influenced by the photograph you'd looked at before you experienced your vision though, won't you?" asked the Professor.

"It would be irresponsible for me not to admit that
my
dreams could have been corrupted by exposure to the photograph," said Arnold. "But there are hundreds of others from all over Human space who claim to have had an eerily similar vision. I find it a bit of a stretch to chalk it all up to coincidence."

"So we need to add Arnold's mass dream to the mix as well," said Zack. He looked around at the others at the table, "This whole mess just seems to get more complicated by the minute."

"Unfortunately, that rather accurately sums it up," said MacPherson, "We also believe that your uncle had recently come across more information. He was...killed because of it; but, based upon the fact that you and Ariane were attacked twice, we're pretty sure the Soviets have not been able to get their hands on the artifact. By extension, that means they don't have Marv's information either."

"So what do you propose to do next?"

"Your uncle was the key, Zack," replied MacPherson, "I believe that he hid the artifact someplace. It might even be somewhere on the
Capri
. We need to find it."

"And then what?"

"The artifact might only be a fragment of something a lot bigger. We need to go back to the place where it was originally found. I truly believe that we'll find our answers there."

"Let me see if I have this straight," said Zack, "You want to go traipsing into the
Sol System
, one of the most lawless areas in known space, and seek out some obscure place where this artifact
might
have come from because we
might
find some answers there?"

"We have come to the conclusion that a visit to Sol should be our next course of action," replied MacPherson, "That's why we encouraged your uncle to get his ship outfitted with a weapons system."

The room was silent for a long moment. MacPherson looked at Zack and asked, "Would you be interested in coming with us? We could certainly use a man with your skills."

"It's a moot point," replied Zack, "I'm still on active duty."

"Assuming we could make some arrangements," said MacPherson, "Would you be interested?"

Zack gave him a doubtful look, "I would really have to think about it," he said.

"Fair enough," said MacPherson.

"What about you, Ariane?" Zack asked.

"I'll be going," she replied, "I have orders."

"So the government is in on this too?" asked Zack.

"They have voiced some interest in the project," replied MacPherson. He hesitated before continuing, "The mass visions are one of the reasons. They're also interested because there is some evidence that the Soviets have been getting information from another government agency, one that seems to know quite a lot about the artifact."

"Which government?" Zack asked.

"That too remains unknown," replied the Professor.

"On second thought," said Zack, "this whole convoluted mess sounds like a suicide mission to me. I have a few more days to clear up my uncle's affairs and get back to my unit. Ariane tells me that you've leased Marv's...my...ship for a year. I can't say I'm happy about that, but what's done is done. All I ask is that you be careful with her. I
would
like her back eventually."

MacPherson was a professional who was a master at hiding his true feelings. In spite of that, Zack couldn't help but notice a flicker of what might have been disappointment in the Professor's manner as Zack announced his reluctance to get involved.

"It's getting late," said MacPherson, "I think it's time we wrapped this up for the evening. Sleep on it Zack, we can talk more tomorrow."

"Fine," replied Zack, "though I doubt I'll change my mind."

The group broke up, with the Professor and his two charges heading to their hotel and Zack and Ariane heading back to the
Capri.

Ariane could sense that Zack was upset over the affair and the entire return trip to the
Capri
was made virtually in silence.