“We were allowed to use the results of their findings, and, if we needed it their equipment, planes, technicians and pilots.
“This technology is a scientific breakthrough, and it would have been a real shame if it had not been used for science.
“They have already been using it to scan and map miles of rural Britain, the coast, and expertly examine beneath fields, forests, hills, lakes in distinct detail. Even though it has not so far given anything of what they were searching for. But, from examining their maps of a coastal region of Cornwall, which was in the central region of our co-ordinates, I caught sight of something, which seemed little to them. And when we had it checked again, we soon realized that we had to have found it.
“We have a great deal to do, to get our prize, and in good order – and photography and study this astonishing creature.
“We have arranged more expeditions for members of the Exploration Association to see it …
“Has anyone any queries?”
A man sitting alone, at the edge the audience, hastily stood, before anyone else.
He lifted his hand for him to acknowledge him.
“Have you a more elaborate description of it?”
“What precisely do you wish to know?”
“What species is it?”
“I can’t tell you that – at this moment!”
“Did it have two or four legs? And was it a carnivore or herbivore?”
“I couldn’t distinguish neither, from what we have found ...”
“What were the theories ...?”
“By all means,” he spoke with an optimistic glare, “I’ll tell you the last theory put forward, which I’ll not elaborate. They believe that it’s either an early form of prehistoric animal or one of the last dinosaurs to roam this planet.”
“Tell us of the strange magnetic phenomenon you found …!”
His brisk halt, defined composure, rapidly drew them to him.
“By some phenomenon, which has not been properly explained, an instrument – an accurate scientific compass – wildly oscillates and spins when turned in the direction of the site.
“Some form of powerful magnetic influence, or something of that nature, acts upon it.
“What could create such power? It has to be tremendous!”
“Someone may be playing around with something there!”
“Yet why would they be experimenting on something out there though?”
“Perhaps they were creating some sort of weather machine – to combat global warming – by influencing the world’s magnetic field. Perhaps it was one of many random locations using some form of manipulation on the Earth’s core.
Some aged and stately scientists watched on bemused, resembling apparitions with their bright gray features and slow movements.
Every shadow about Professor Farrell held a mystery now.
Existence was strange, but sane, and out of the reaches of chaos.
“What are your assumptions?” Dr Davidson – a tall silent man – uttered, breaking the deep silence.
“I’ve not drawn any proper conclusions,” Professor Farrell confessed, looking over at Professor Thomas for guidance. His knowledge in physics and of things of that nature was great.
“Whatever it is – it has incredible power!” Professor Farrell swiftly continued. “We need more reasonable clues.”
“Even in our little cluster of planets, unknown and unexplained phenomena still exist,” Davidson reassured them. “Who knows what exists out there in the depths of space – and even unseen about us – which could very well be beyond our comprehension.”
Some strange thought ran through the mind of Professor Farrell, and he figured through possibilities. He also occasionally had the look of a person who somehow sensed an oncoming consequence, and was checking ways to tackle it.
Had he found something? Or had he dreamed of scientific finds far too many times?
His adrenalin was visibly rushing through his veins, and it frequently exploded into his brain, almost overwhelming him.
“At any rate, there are other mentions of such occurrences from all over the globe. Even if most are antiquated and mythological! For instance – how about the Bermuda Triangle? That was reputed to cause such an effect – just before ships and planes vanished!”
“Though mystifying, there could be some sort of mineral around – perhaps a mass of magnetic iron – or the reactions created by ...!” Davidson assured.
“I’ve not heard of such a mass of minerals – iron, nickel ...” he argued. “Neither a magnetic mountain of iron ore nor a hill of iron in a purer state – even as a tremendous meteorite. And the magnetic field of the globe has been recorded at places, and though not altogether investigated, it is very unlikely to have such an intensity, nature, and be confined to such a zone, even in northern regions ...”
“Okay! It’s coming from where we are going ... And it will be beneficial to check this great disturbance – which cannot be explained by normal science.”
“And, of course, the preservation of our creature specimen could be connected with it!”
Many of the scientists showed mild curiosity, genuinely surprised. Now not knowing what to think! While silently observing him, and that he believed that he had passed the boundaries of what could be explained.
Surely this excited professor meant something else! But what he meant was not fully clear, and by his behavior there seemed to be far more to come.
“Say that again!” Davidson stated, not believing his luck.
“Let me explain ...! My lecture to the Exploration Association is not entirely complete.
“When I had questioned the crew, which had been on board the plane, they had told me their scanning equipment had begun to blank out, as though it had been running out of power, or fluctuations of energy had been overpowering it.
“We attempted to find out if someone had something around there, or was using something capable of affecting it. Yet there was nothing for at least thirty miles in every direction.
“When we flew over the site, the equipment barely functioned. Strange images flashed on its screen, at the precise spot. It was there that they spotted an unusual formation, in the blur of flickers!”
Chapter 11
The Transcendent
(From the novel The Alien Artifact 1)
A dull red radiance gleamed over the Superbeing’s devilish shape, lighting up a blood red shadow of its peculiar shape, across the surface below it.
Sandler felt excitement exploding across his mind, while a hole formed in the structure of a panel. The darkness about him grew apparent, as horror gripped him, and he recalled what his original beliefs of the Superbeing had been.
He was obviously still partially asleep – it was night – going by his watch. Something had awakened him, and he was now watching the creature through a small gap in his eyelids. He heard the others still asleep about the galactic transporter.
The creature viciously shuddered, arching its sharp claws. Its small glowing shape activated controls, and lifted into the air, then floated to the hole under the control panel. A glowing purple triangular object appeared in it. Its wildly rotating shape floated out of the hole towards it.
Once it had returned to its original position, the controls about its front began flashing shades of green over its dwarf-like figure. The screen flashed on a view of the galactic transporter’s propulsion blasting into the outer whiteness. Its furious energy exploded out. Remote globes of universes moved fast by its sides. Sparkling beams of clustered starlight shined out of their spheres. They went by its sides in lines.
The immensely powerful galactic transporter propulsion continued blasting out, and its hurtling shape continued on and on into the endless white.
The Superbeing crept around its control chair in the dark shadows. Its claw still gripped the purple triangular object.
Sandler had often watched it, fascinated at not being able to understand what it did or thoug
ht.
When it had finished activating controls, it moved back to its control seat. It then mentally positioned the triangular object at an area of its head.
When the device began to function, clear mental visions of the outer universes, about the galactic transporter, appeared about him. His mind picked up its powerful mental images!
The spheres zoomed by, with a magnified appearance, and it examined them in faraway places.
An extra large universe appeared, and it remained fixed in the center of the galactic transporter. Suddenly visions from in it appeared in his mind. There were no stars in it – just a dark crimson sky, and burning flames.
What was it? It resembled neither a world nor anything else that he had ever seen before. Sandler sensed that shocking sadism existed in the place. To his amazement, he saw demon beings with wings. The visions changed to swirling spectral lights, and vanished from his mind.
The Superbeing put the object back under the control panel, just before he went back to sleep.
The voyage had gone beyond his wildest dreams! He had visited many mysterious worlds, existing in alternative universes. Many with a likeness to Earth, but still they had been unsuitable, and the velocity had gradually increased to a point where they had been unable to teleport. Then he had known that it had not been possible for them to get out of it.
But one day, while he was visiting the back of the galactic transporter, watching the two men play a game of cards, he felt a strange sensation of something. Moreover, he knew that something was about to happen.
All of the instruments began functioning all about him. Then he saw that the screen at the front had symbols all over it, and he heard a specific machine make a sound, which indicated that the galactic transporter was about to make an announcement.
“We are leaving the outer limits of the universe!” it announced loudly, to his utter horror.
Logan and Clunes were just confused, and they continued to play their game. Sandler remained where he was, so that he could observe everything.
“Give us information!” Professor Farrell anxiously asked.
“I have not detected any more universes beyond this point.”
“So there actually is a real universe!” Sandler spoke.
The screen changed to let them see the bright whiteness dissolve into blackness. Sandler felt something leave him, and he felt all the cells in his body losing their essence of life.
When darkness surrounded the galactic transporter, the front view turned to the back view. And even the two men stopped drinking whisky and playing cards, to watch the bright whiteness of the real universe’s boundary against the void.
The velocity instantly increased beyond recognition. With an explosion of movement, the outer universe formed into a globe of light.
Sandler felt more alone than he had ever felt. His mind was not able to function in many different ways. He was unable to guess things that he had subconsciously known all his life. He felt an energy draining out of him. His life force was dwindling away from his body!
A light glowed from the Superbeing. Control panels, at the front, became visible through it. Everything about him turned transparent, and he saw the darkness outside. The galactic transporter about him was disappearing out of existence, and he watched his body fade into the blackness.
They had gone beyond reality. It was as though he were dreaming in an altered state of existence. They had finally entered the real black abyss.
There were small lights floating about his front.
At some point, he discovered that he also was a small light.
The reality of the real universe did not exist. Everything was on the point of non-existence. The lights about him turned dim as he felt his existence disappear into nothing.
At the brink of non-existence, he felt a force from somewhere pulling him. A dim light appeared, and it pulled them to it.
While they were moving to it, he realized that it was the force, which made everything exist.
Their points of light moved from the nothing towards reality.
The light glowed with beams of power. It gave him more power and happiness than he had ever felt from anything. Its light shone over them, and their entities formed into large bright globes.
At a close position, its sphere grew, and began to have small pieces of detail. Bright white shades mingled in a faint pattern.
A configuration of a spirit emerged in the white globe, with all the star universes fixed in their places in its surreal glow.
A head was visible within the white bubble, but as their entities neared the universe, it became harder to see.
The amount of knowledge Sandler knew increased immensely, and he knew of things that he had not known existed. He knew the function of the totality of all existing things. He had an awareness of all creation.
When they re-entered the universe, a bright light of another entity emerged, and then a large translucent alien with wings transformed from it, and their features changed until they had the appearances of ghosts.
They were elevated to another place, and the alien entity vanished, leaving them in front of a bright white universe, with a size thousands of times larger than the other universes.
It was at the location where he had seen the head of the spirit at, within the globes of stars. It was invisible, but he sensed its power, through the depths of all time and creation.
Then he materialized in the galactic transporter, and knew that the Superbeing was taking them to the location of their stars, where they would be teleported to the Earth.
Chapter 12
The Atomic Bomb
(From the novel The Deadliest Menace)
The silent rhythm of the Pacific, skimming up the golden beach, gently lured Melinda to sleep. The tropical island was surreal, and like part of a dream. The palm trees about her shimmered against a blue velvet sky, with colors of practically every variation radiating in the blazing sunshine, while the vivacious scents from exotic foliage and the ocean blended in the warm air currents.
Yet, as she fell asleep, a vicious roar of a powerful speedboat blasted out, bringing her out of her slumber – vibrating about her – stirring and enticing her from there, from the sun.
She desired the shade, and clambered to her feet.
The abominable sound grew so loud that it caused her to grit her jaws, and then to lay her startled glare anxiously at the end of the fantastic beach, to where a speedboat, packed with men, was racing ashore.
According to John, her husband, the small island was supposed to be a desert island – which they’d sailed to, in a hired luxury yacht.
Their hostile shrieks captivated her as she stood amid the shades of the palm trees. Even though their figures were distant, their antics gave away their decisiveness, to do something.
While the speedboat caught the rays of the descending sun, the vague crimson glow of the sky over the horizon brought back memories of their previous night, on the holiday boat, nestling at the other side of the island – where she’d walked, on the beach, from. Colors from the sun had been blazing below the skyline, and the bright celestial objects had radiated in the dark blue sky, turning it into a wonderland.
For a long time she smirked and vibrantly recollected her enjoyment. But, again, the sounds returned her to reality. Yet, this time, with shock, she focused her eyes on the end of the beach, at a perpendicular cliff, on a hill, curving into the ocean.
They were shifting about violently – obviously in great danger from something – from a hidden enemy, shooting at them.
A deep blast, from a gun, echoed around the shore, and across the reef, and great pain shot through her ankle – and she collapsed onto the sand. Then she saw blood pouring out, soaking her foot.
In one swift movement she moved in the undergrowth – even though she was not fully convinced that they had shot her. Their mission, whatever that was, had seemed to have seized all of their attention.
As she gripped her foot, in pai
n, she spotted one of them, in the distance, hidden away, aiming a gun at her. If he had not been as far off the wound might have been more deeper and accurate.
The scene that unfolded left her transfixed. The powerful explosions from army handguns, rifles, and machine-guns shattered the silence of her paradise. And she crouched beneath the palm trees, peering through the tropical plants, almost blind with fear. There were bodies already lying between the rocks, and they continued with no intention of stopping. And it looked little in comparison to the destruction caused by them against the mysterious enemy concealed beyond the hill.
Melinda shifted, ignoring the pain, preparing her mind and body for the great physical exertion that she needed to escape. But, while she jerked, to the gunfire, as it grew, and randomly fired in her direction, she spotted her clothes and handbag.
For a moment, she stayed motionless, stunned, knowing that she could not abandon them. In addition to them being able to learn of her identity, and track her, her handbag held her passport.
Some of the men endeavored to clamber aboard the speedboat to flee, except the gunfire hideously prevented them attaining it.
Melinda snatched her things with one swipe and scurried amongst the undergrowth.
An abominable thud made her jump, turn, and roll sideways – making sand and pebbles stick to her moist skin and long hair.
She then spotted the offending object – a chunk of vegetation strewn over the sand – fallen from an overhanging tree. She hardly thought of it as a problem, even though she knew that it could have inflicted a grave injury to her.
She shaded her eyes, and clambered upwards, distressed by their fascinating shouts. Their strange variations seemingly coming in many directions, while bordering on being audible and not clear. The odd climate and landscape played with her senses.
It had been a perfect dream holiday and now it was her worst.
The Deadliest Alien Artifacts (Story Collection) Page 12