Both literally and figuratively, as the dust settled, it was soon turned to a long trail of dust left behind by two government vans leaving. Gloria wiped her hands on her pant suit. Walking over to the camp where all were standing with anticipation of what happened, she said, "Well, I guess that takes care of that. It's true the cave is on government property, but the people are the government. Now that they are taken care of, let's talk about what were going to do when the press arrives."
Nancy and her club members had discussed the X issue and decided to confide in Gloria. Nancy bided her time until she was certain that she could talk freely to Gloria. Nancy asked her to talk a short walk with her to talk about something important. Gloria was eager to hear what Nancy had to say.
Nancy said, once they were out of ear shot, "My club and I have something we need to tell you about and to show you. At the time we thought it best to remove it and then show it to someone of higher power."
"Excuse me Nancy, but you're making me almost a God here. Go ahead and tell me what you have to say," said Gloria.
"I didn't mean it to sound like that Gloria," Nancy said laughing along with Gloria. "We found a robot just under the painting in the cave. It had been buried and was covered in some synthetic material. Apparently it had a problem as the torso was open to reveal a complex network of gadgets, like computer chips and stuff. We have the X entity in a barn safe and sound not far from here. At the time we thought it the best thing to do and we still think we did right."
"You have an alien robot in a barn that you found in the Flake Cave. It was buried and covered with a blanket of sorts. My lord what a shock this is to my old body. Not only do we have painting of an alien that dates back thousands of years, but a robot living with the primitive Clovis people who could barely speak or make fire. Do you or do I have any idea what this discovery means to the world; not to mention robotics."
"Yes, that about sums it up Gloria. Are you ready to take a ride?"
"Nancy, both Greg and Sandy felt you were withholding something back. It must have been very hard to keep that find a secret for so long. I'd like both of them to come with us if you don't mind."
"Now that I've told you, it's up to you who know and who don't know. I'm sure you'll want to transport it somewhere safe and secure. It's at Aaron's barn just outside of town."
The ride to town in Aaron's van was quiet. Behind were Greg and Sandy. . The whole club was in on this so they all wanted to be there when X was viewed by experts. Besides that, it was assumed Greg's van would take away X to places unknown.
The tension rose as they walked into the old barn. Aaron led the way and soon removed the hay surrounding X. They had carefully wrapped the robot up and now all eyes were on the silver blanket. Nancy held one light and Jack another. No one moved after Aaron had removed the cover. A dark or brown skin color made X look a little likes a person from the Philippines. Not black, but not white either. Greg and Sandy stood side by side intensely examining
the entity. Gloria was back just a little giving them room. Greg with a pencil lifted the flap on the torso and saw the technology of an alien race starring back at him. Gloria was fascinated looking at the face. The vertical eyes and a slit across the area where on a human a nose and mouth would be. No ears that she could see. Those two things, no nose or ears meant sound and smell were not necessary for this robot. The hands were not large, but smallish. Instead of a thumb and four fingers, a thumb of sorts and three fingers were seen. The legs were long like the arms. The feet had no toes only what looked like a hinged affair.
Meanwhile Greg took out his ruler and measured the height of X and it was just five feet five inches tall. Greg said, to break the silence. "Can you imagine what were standing in front of here? History in the making and what would our friends at Carnegie Mellon would give to examine this robot is beyond me. Sandy what are your comments?"
"I'm speechless. What lies before us is so unbelievable. Here is an alien robot left on earth, for what reason we don't know, to help us better understand our role in the grand order of things. It's only been within a few decades that we discovered computer chips. I'm looking at chips; I guess they are chips, thousands of years old. If you look at the rate of advancement in technology, can you imagine where these life forms are now?
Earthlings put a sputnik in space fifty years ago. 12,000 years ago a space ship left a robot behind and went home; I guess. It's really too much to absorb at one time. I see a scientist a hundred years ago with a puny microscope and today we have the scanning electron scope. Can you fathom what these folks have in the way of scientific equipment and knowledge?"
"Gloria, what are you going to do with X here," asked Greg.
"I like the idea of Carnegie Mellon acquiring it for at least the initial inspection. We'll fly X up to Pittsburgh tonight. The quicker we get this entity under lock and key the better."
++++++++
Dr. Chris Collingwood, Senior Systems Scientist was the man in robotics. He and his staff sat at the top of the world when it came to robots. When he received the call from Gloria Goldstein of National Geographic, his curiosity was piqued. She had told him that she had something for him to look at and this was no joke. He was to meet her in front of his lab with a gurney and two staff that were sworn to secrecy. He agreed.
An ambulance pulled into the front of the robotics building. Gloria stepped out and shook hands with Chris. His two Senior Fellows helped unload the small package onto the gurney.
Once into the lab, Gloria said to lock the door and let no one in or out. She had serious look on her face so Chris did as instructed. Stainless steel tables awaited X and when he was revealed, the comments came fast and furious. Ten minutes later Chris said, "Where did this X come from; if I might ask?"
"It came from a new archaeological site not far from Roswell in the mountains. It was found in a cave that was habited by Clovis people over ten thousand years ago. There's a painting that goes with it. The painting is of the same that lies before you. What you're looking at is an entity that is at least 12,000 years old."
The other two Fellows had their heads stuck in the torso looking at and trying to identify the technology. Dennis said, "None of this hardware is familiar to me. It will be a long time before we know or learn how this bot works.
"Your think Mrs. Goldstein the X robot here quit working it was buried and left behind?"
"Yes Chris I do. But, really who knows what happened back then. And please call me Gloria. In addition, Chris, the government knows nothing about this X entity. When they do find out, well, not sure what's going to happen. I think we are missing the big question. What if we tinker around and the X robot wakes up and when it does, sends a message home?"
End Part One..
Part Two: The plot thickens as the government tries to backdoor the Flake Cave dig to shut it down. The people the government hires don't play by the rules. Additionally, the Carnegie Mellon Robotics lab is burglarized. It's not difficult to figure out who wants the X Bot project shut down and swept under the carpet. Nancy and her club fight back against the shut down. National Geographic flexes some muscle to assist the right to know about extraterrestrial life.
Part three: A return visit.
SmS Page 7