The Alien Artifact 9 (Novelette) (6 page)

I decided to follow Oswald out the door to
them, as I had to know what was there, and if something was going
to happen.

When I rushed out the door I was surprised
to look up and see drifting currents of snowflakes blow about
outside, and it starting to deepen, with gusts blowing over me, and
I closed my jacket up and marched after Oswald going towards where
Higgins was, and we tried to see what was there but we saw little,
and only them bent over something on the ground, hidden away by
their figures.

It had been a very long day, and the next
day could very well be far longer, and I watched Higgins rush doing
something and I wondered what I was missing, and if we should slow
down and observe them at a distance first, as if they collapsed
like I had done on the last occasion after using the metal detector
there I wanted to observe what happened to them and finally know
what had happened to me.

The bright
snowing sky seemed to darken over the area above them, and I
pointed it out to Oswald, as heavy snow came floating down all
about the area and we were amazed that it never entered a circle
region about them, as though something was stopping it, which I
tried to explain as a small thin faint whirlwind forming.

Yet what was
it doing there? Was it caused by them causing some form of
disturbance there, and within the snowstorm?

Faint tread
marks of a car were below the snow on the road, under a layer of
snow, and I realized how late it was, and that there were no cars
or anything about and it was silent and lifeless.

“
What
are the thermometers for in the building?” I asked Oswald, after
recalling seeing them everywhere, and for something to say,
wondering what the scientists were doing with them in such
conditions, and to see if I could find out anything.

He swiftly
replied, as we moved closer to Higgins, “Where there have been
manifestations drops in temperature have been found, discovered
before and during the occurrences. Although I have never proven to
myself that it happens!”

I wondered if
it could actually do other things and had centered itself around
where Higgins was.

“
It’d be
a good way to detect something near you!” I replied. “So a room
should
theoretically
drop in temperature before and during it?”

He nodded
firmly, and we marched over to Higgins and the two scientists,
observing them not even noticing us and our approach, so absorbed
in what was there and what they were doing, and when we got just
behind them they suddenly looked up, in another direction, and they
started to react strangely, and I realized it was not to us but
something else there, and I waited for something to make an
appearance.

Chapter 13

The Paranormal

Everyone seemed
to grow in determination to find what was happening, and what was
there, and I was left staggered, as what was there vanished when we
arrived, and Higgins told us they had been monitoring the research
equipment one of the two scientists had, which had discovered large
power surges of some form of energy from the ground where they had
been.

They were left
confused without any answer to it, and I wondered what the hell had
been there, and if we would be left confused by the incident, and I
tried to answer it with everything.

Once back
indoors they returned to what they were doing before they left, and
I wondered how the two paranormal scientists would explain what had
happened! If nothing else happened!

I examined all
their equipment for clues, when I got near them, and wondered why
the disturbance in the hall had not occurred, as the woman had told
us it had continued to occur, and this startled me the most!

From some of
the other scientists I heard of the work that two paranormal
scientists had recently done, after they had released documents of
the investigations on the paranormal investigations.

Their stuff
could be surprising, and alarming in places, which drew my
attention, and I kept wondering if I had missed something! At times
I thought they were deliberately putting psychic research there to
cover their real work and discoveries! Though they never mentioned
anything of other stuff, which I found suggestions of on
occasions.

I could not
grasp if they were ignoring me and not giving proper answers to
only avoid becoming fake ghost hunters!

Also by the
way that they reacted I believed that they might not have anything
that could detect anything there, and I finally went to sleep in my
room and left them and their equipment to detect anything, and wake
me if it did occur.

Later I was
unsure and they became unsure if there was anything really there,
and I wondered if anything existed that could be used to properly
detect anything there, but why had we not seen the ghost formations
there, and what had Higgins had found outside?

Presumable if
it had emerged its presence would produce effects to indicate it
being there – such as altering air currents, gravity, magnetic
fields, radioactivity, scent, sound waves, static, and the light
spectrum ...

Their
equipment was there to check everything to a degree that had not
been done, and I realized that they could have chased it away, and
I realized that if it had that it would prove it had intelligence,
and a fear of something occurring!

Chapter 14

The Hospital

Marple rushed over and got a drink for me and
placed it in front of me and returned to the fireplace.

It was incredible! Marple looked more
baffled than I had seen him, and I knew we had problems! The serial
killer was still killing people and they still never had any clues
to who he was, or anything, and they wanted him to solve the case,
and not only was the sum of money for solving it now incredible he
would get the fame and prestige he wanted, and become a major and
historical investigator, if he solved the unsolvable case, and its
insolvability was a major factor that kept teasing him, and he
seemed obsessed with it, and all his investigators and connections
were virtually on the case, checking for anything, and any remote
clues.

Eventually Marple grew tired of the lack of
evidence, and thinking over it, and asked, “What happened at the
house at Craigmillar Road?”

“
Nothing!” I moaned.

“
Not even with all the scientists and
their most advanced equipment?”

“
But the paranormal scientists phoned
and told me of another major discovery at another nearby location.
While we had been investigating there it had been occurring at a
nearby hospital! There were reported encounters of something at the
Victoria Infirmary and in the middle of the night!”

The two paranormal scientists checked out
the hospital and its hidden history and found sightings had
actually occurred there before, and before it had been built, and
they had given me a folder full of all the information to prove it
to me, and what fascinated me about it all was that all the major
occurrences seemed to occur on the same dates, and there was hardly
anything marked in between, and after going over it I noticed that
there were specific reoccurrences and the same lengths of time
between the occurrences.

Yet, though I confirmed it, I could not
grasp what it meant! There was no sign proof of anything! Was it a
new form of haunting? And if so what the hell was happening?

Even though it was the site of a large
famous battle, and massacre that could have caused such an
occurrence, and bodies could well be below there, or nearby, I
could not grasp what was actually happening, and really wanted
to.

I investigated everything I could, and all
the information and history of the region, trying to grasp
something, and some clue, and found the main regions of the battle,
where I found the woman’s haunted flat and the hospital were
at.

I wondered if it was the large amounts of
deaths, and how it had been executed, or if Mary Queen of Scots had
actually died there!

What was incredible was I was starting to
realize and sense that what had occurred there could have been
another event, which occurred far further back in the past, before
what had happened there, centuries before, and it could have caused
the battle itself, and that something there had caused the battle
to take place.

I decided to investigate it further and find
what had happened!

I watched Marple playing with something
inside an envelope, and asked him, “What have you got?”

“
It’s the 1568 map Dr Barrymore gave
me.”

I curiously watched him play with it, and
realized he was happy about something, even though it was not the
discover of anything to do with the serial killer, and I sensed he
might tell me what it was, and I sat considering what it could
be.

“
I’ve been searching through maps and
I have found one source with similar maps, as Dr Barrymore’s map,
which have been proven to have been made around 1568 …”

I was surprised as I realized the date 1568
had been when Mary Queen of Scots had the battle at Langside, and
sat wondering why it was the exact date, and if the events were
linked or if it was just luck, and I recalled what happened and the
events.

“
According to the history books,” I
replied, “the battle at the site of the woman’s house and the
hospital occurred at the same time as it!”

“
Correct?” Marple instantly replied,
confused. “It was a clue!”

“
So have you found something?” I
replied eagerly, seeking answers, and why he was so
joyful.

“
Perhaps!
If there is lost treasure! The lost jewels could
easily have been found by someone! If it exists! There are only a
few accounts of it! It was thought to exist there by only a few
explorers, who have carried out searches for it.”

Marple handed
over an ancient map of Langside and I immediately scanned it and
searched where Queen’s Park was, and the rest of the hill and
wondered if someone could actually have hidden it away it the
park.

“
So you
have found out something?” I moaned, depressed at the lack of
finding anything on the map.

“
I’ve
recently located a form of map!” he gasped, trying to
rest.

“
What do you want me to do?” I asked,
curiously.

“
I discovered something of significant
importance that could be of great interest! I will need your
help!”

“
Alright!” I gasped, and sat back
examining him, and silently gulped, and watched him put his pipe in
his mouth.

“
According to Dr Barrymore and legends
there have been people that have been found dead after searching
for it
…
”
he announced, silently.

“
Legends?” I replied, and watched the
flames ignite as Marple rolled up an old newspaper and threw it
into the fire flames.

He nodded in agreement, and examined my face
a little more.

For a moment I considered there being a
danger in the treasure hunt, and why he wanted my assistance, and I
also wondered why it would still exist, and doubted the value of
the objects, and waited patiently.

What I knew was that I had been given a
major clue to its location and I wondered if he wanted me to
determine where it was, to see if we came to the same
conclusion.

I got out a recent map of the region and
studied it in detail, and he watched on with curiosity, and I
watched him open the document Dr Barrymore had when he had first
met us, and told us of the treasure.

He examined the ancient tattered piece of
parchment with a magnify glass, where there were lines and words
scribbled over it, as though the writer had been doing something
and was in a great rush to finish it!

“
So it’s a verified 1568 map?” I
asked, and he nodded, and continued to try to grasp what it
meant.

Marple finished examining it and placed it
on the table, and looked over and asked, “So you want to know
what’s on the map? I’ve had it rechecked and it is Langside, and
the area you’ve been working in …”

I realized it was there, but it never gave
the proper location, and there was only a mark of something on it,
which I was sure was something that was not part of the
landscape.

“
The paranormal investigators phoned
earlier and they asked you to join them in their investigation of
the hospital.”

“
You want me to join them working
there and to search for it?”

“
Yes! I’d like you to search for it,
when you do, and to phone me with anything of interest, or for
information!”

Chapter 15

The Shaft

I was staggered at the deadliness of it
altering in magnitude or something was playing tricks with me and
it was being magnified!

Sounds were unidentifiable and I realized
that I was observing another form of the encounter! This time it
was far different than the last. Even though I had collapsed and
went unconscious at the last occurrence, when I had activated the
metal detector.

What was going on! The world about me seemed
to be going crazy! The war was accelerating on and the Home Guard I
was in was being activated more for a potential attack. Marple was
going crazy trying to capture the killer, with his ultimate
challenge, and all the investigators were pursuing every lead.