“Bull!” Kevin grabbed the bag and pulled it to the front seat.
“Hey!” Norwood protested and leaned forward in pursuit of the bag. But before he could recover the pack, he was yanked back into his seat by Eve, who was glaring at him.
Kevin opened the pack, reached in and pulled the artifact out, holding it in his hands and staring at it like it was a venomous snake. “You…brought this?” Kevin asked, turning toward Norwood.
“Of course I recognized that this was a significant find. And since the rest of our expedition has turned out to be a dismal failure, I took this as compensation. For my losses.”
“For your losses?” Eve was irate. “You sanctimonious, egotistical, bastard!”
“Hey! I invested more than a million dollars in this little expedition! I lost more than anyone!”
The sound of flesh on flesh smacked through the cabin as Eve planted her open palm on Norwood’s cheek, burning a red handprint onto his flesh. “We lost friends and good people, and you’re worrying about money!”
Click!
The artifact popped open, revealing its red flashing light. Kevin shouted and dropped the object between his and Eddy’s seats. “Stop the Cat! Stop the Cat, right now!”
☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼
Steve saw the Sno-Cat come to a sudden stop as he zipped past with Nicole seated behind him, clinging to his waist. He turned his head and watched the treads on the Cat stop moving.
“Why’d they stop?” Nicole shouted through her thick wrap of scarf, which covered her face and protected her from the cold.
“I don’t know.” Steve eased up on the throttle and turned the snowmobile around. He noticed Paul turning around as well. They sped back to the Sno-Cat in time to see the doors on both sides swing open.
“What have you done, Brian?” Kevin shouted.
Steve stopped the snowmobile and hopped off with Nicole. They unwrapped their protective face masks and headed toward the commotion. Paul was right behind them.
Kevin snapped his head toward Eddy. “You told me it was gone. You said it was buried, that we left it in the ice.”
“I thought it was!” Eddy yelled.
“What’s going on?” Steve asked, as he approached.
Kevin spun around and held the silver, pill-shaped object in Steve’s face. “This is.”
Steve raised his hands in the air and stepped back. “Whoa. I don’t want anything to do with that.”
“You see?” Kevin said. “I’m not the only one who thinks it’s dangerous.”
“Classic closed-minded imbecile,” Norwood said. “You of all people, a scientist, should not be afraid of what you don’t understand. It’s common for people like him…” Norwood pointed at Steve.
“Hey,” Steve protested.
Norwood ignored him. “…but you’re supposed to be a man of science. The unknown is our business. You must see that this object is an amazing discovery. We should be studying it, protecting it, not trying to rebury it in the ice!”
“What about the rest of you?” Kevin asked. “Do you all want to risk your lives for this?”
Eddy stepped forward without a hint of hostility. “Kevin, listen. That artifact might be an incredible find. I wasn’t in support of taking it, but we’ve had it with us for the past six hours without a problem. I don’t think it caused the storm, and I don’t think it poses any danger.”
“What about the Inuit?”
“Non-Inuit,” Paul reminded them.
“What about them?” Kevin said. “I know they’re looking for it.”
Eddy rubbed his chin. “And they, unlike this object, pose a threat.”
“Right,” Kevin said, nodding. “And they’re after it. I know they are.”
“We don’t know that,” Norwood said. “And even if they were, they’re on foot. We’ve been traveling at twenty miles an hour for six hours. They’re over a hundred miles back by now.”
“You thought they had a camp,” Kevin said to Eve. “What if they’re only a few miles back, tracking us on snowmobiles? They could have guns, more men… I don’t want to die because of this thing.”
“No one’s going to die,” Eddy said, as he took another slow step forward.
Kevin took a step back. “Let’s put it to a vote. Who wants to leave this thing behind?”
Kevin looked at Eve. She stared at the snow.
“You know how I feel,” Norwood said.
“It’s safe,” Eddy added. “If it were dangerous, or emitting radiation, or something else harmful, we’d know by now.”
Kevin looked at Paul. “Hey, don’t look at me. Eddy tells me where to go and I go,” Paul said.
“Yeah, man,” Steve said. “Eddy wouldn’t put us in danger. He thinks it’s safe. Good enough for me.”
“And it will make a perfect ending to my documentary,” Nicole said. “We went to raise a mammoth, but got so much more. I say we keep it and find out what it is the first chance we get.”
“You heard them,” Eddy said as he reached out his hand, waiting for Kevin to hand him the artifact. “Give it to me and I’ll make sure it stays out of sight for the remainder of the trip. Kevin… You know you can trust me.” Eddy moved forward, his hand only inches from the device.
Kevin snapped back, reeling away from Eddy. He raised the artifact over his head. “Fine! If you don’t have the clarity of mind to see what’s necessary, I’ll destroy it myself!” Kevin threw the cylinder down on the ice and stomped on it with his thick boot. But the ice was solid and slippery. The device slid out from beneath his foot and sent him flying backwards. He landed hard on the ice, hitting his head.
Eve was by his side, checking his head for injuries, and Kevin began to sob. “Kevin,” she said, “You okay?”
“We’re all going to die out here! Can’t you see that? They’re coming for us. They’re coming for that thing and when they find it, they’re going to kill us all! I saw them! I saw them…”
All eyes were on Kevin. Eddy knelt by his side. “Try to calm down, Buck. You hit your head pretty hard.”
“I think we should ice it,” Eve said.
“Just lay him back down in the snow,” Steve said.
Kevin shoved Eve away and shouted, “Why aren’t you listening to me? I know—”
An unfamiliar voice interrupted. It spoke a language that reminded Steve of the subtitled Japanimation cartoons he watched in high school, but there were no subtitles to translate the sentence. Steve turned toward the voice and stepped back, as did everyone else. Standing before them was a tall figure, dressed in a cloak that looked like Obi Wan Kenobi’s. The man’s face was covered in darkness provided by the hood of the cloak. He stood still and silent until he spoke again, “Pode entender me?”
And again, “Können Sie mich verstehen?”
And again, “Lei me può capire?”
16
MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
“Kunn De forstår meg?” the cloaked man said again.
Eddy noticed that the man was standing behind the artifact. Other than the brown hooded cloak, he couldn’t see any of the man’s features. The only way he knew the cloaked figure was a man was by the deep gravelly voice. He couldn’t see the man’s hands, feet or his face, which was obscured by the hood of the cloak.
It was obvious to Eddy that this man was trying to communicate, asking a question in various languages, but what? He felt the cloaked figure posed little threat but Eddy took a defensive position between the man and the rest of his crew.
“Vous pouvez me comprendre?”
“That was French,” Eve said. “He said something about understanding…but I don’t know what.”
“Lei me può capire?”
“Holy mother of God. That was Italian,” Paul said, as he made the sign of the cross. “Sounded like my grandmother.”
“¿Me puede entender usted?”
“Spanish,” Eddy said. “Do you…do you understand…”
“Do you understand me?” the cloaked f
igure asked in perfect English.
“Yes,” Eddy said. “We understand you.”
“Forgive the confusion,” the cloaked figure said. “There are many unknown languages on this world now, and this device has limited capabilities. My name is Artuke.”
“Incredible,” Kevin said as he got to his feet, his panic completely subsided.
“Who are you?” Eddy asked.
“Can’t you see what he is?” Kevin said.
Eddy glanced at Kevin but kept his mouth shut. Kevin wasn’t himself and Eddy didn’t want to upset him again.
“I am a recorded messenger, able to adapt and learn. Please listen to me. You are much different than the last human this key came in contact with. I fear too much time has already passed. It won't be long before you, too, are found.”
“You… You’re a recording?” Eddy asked.
“Yes,” Artuke said. “I believe the best way to describe what I am in a way you could understand would be a hologram.”
“I knew it,” Kevin said.
“This is messed up,” Steve said.
“Who was the last human you came into contact with?” Norwood asked as he stepped forward, next to Eddy. He looked at Eddy with a smile. “Contact with a being from the past!”
“Her name was Haphnee of the Jetush. A skillful warrior, though judging from the numerous transmissions I am detecting in your atmosphere, I imagine she is long since dead. Perhaps you found her?”
Eddy nodded. “She was holding that device.” Eddy pointed to the artifact.
“Yes,” Artuke said. “The key. She would have guarded it with her life.”
Eddy was shaken by what they were witnessing. He had so many questions, but one kept resurfacing, again and again, refusing to be snuffed out. “You said it wouldn’t be long before we were found. Found by who?”
“The Ferox.”
The answer came so quickly and so bluntly that Eddy was sure the hologram wasn’t joking. “Who are they?”
“Ask the one called Kevin. I revealed the Ferox to him when we interfaced.”
All eyes turned to Kevin, who was stunned. “That was real?” Kevin said. “Those creatures are real?”
“Yes,” Artuke said. “And at present, I detect their numbers worldwide to be only four. This is not good.”
Eddy wanted to apologize to Kevin for doubting him, for not believing him, but it would have to wait. “Why?”
“The Ferox abandon a planet only when they are certain its destruction is assured. With their numbers so low and no fleet detected in orbit, your race must be nearing self-destruction.”
“They’re from space,” Kevin said. “Aliens. I was right.”
“Preposterous,” Norwood said. “The chances of life on other worlds are—”
“Better than you might think,” Artuke said. “We have found that undeveloped races such as yours surmise that all life in the universe evolves along similar lines. That oxygen and water are required elements for life. You assume that life can only have five senses and can detect only three dimensions. Such assumptions are wrong and misguided. They are evidence of the Ferox corruption.”
“If these Ferox guys came all the way to Earth from some other galaxy,” Steve said, “then why are they trying to destroy us, and how can four of them pull it off?”
“The Ferox are evil in ways you cannot begin to comprehend. They are the corruptors of worlds, whose motivations go beyond even my understanding.”
“This is nuts,” Steve said.
“I second that,” Paul added.
“You’re alien to this planet as well, aren’t you?” Kevin asked, as excitement filled his voice.
“Yes.”
“And the Ferox… They came to your planet and tried to corrupt you as well.” Kevin was smiling.
“Indeed. My race is called the Aeros. We first encountered the Ferox before your race had even appeared on this world. They thrive on chaos and create it by infiltrating a civilization and rotting it out from the inside, like a cancer. The Ferox brought our race to the edge of annihilation. But their plot was discovered and stopped. We now travel the cosmos cleansing worlds of the Ferox infection, rooting them out wherever they hide. We came to Earth ten thousand years ago and no Ferox presence was found. We left behind a beacon transmitter and a key to activate it. Haphnee must have been on her way to the transmitter when they found her.”
“You keep referring to this key.” Eve said. “Where is it?”
Artuke looked down at his feet. “The key is the object you raised from the ice. It is the object that is now transmitting my image.”
Kevin rubbed his chin and thought aloud. “If Haphnee died before making it to the transmitter, then no signal was ever sent and the Aeros don’t know the Ferox are here.” Kevin looked up at Artuke. “Is the transmitter still functional?”
“It should be, yes.”
“Then we will finish in her place,” Kevin said.
“Wait a minute,” Norwood said. “We’re going to take the word of a…a hologram? What if this is an elaborate hoax? There are some people who would like to see me lose my fortune over something like this. We’re just supposed to believe all this? That aliens are infecting our planet with no other goal than to see us kill each other? That—”
“Yes,” Artuke’s voice boomed. “You will believe me, or your race will be blotted out from beneath the stars.”
“Was that some kind of veiled threat?” Norwood asked Artuke, then said to Eddy, “Was that a threat?”
Eddy gripped Norwood’s shoulder and pulled him back. “Our planet seems fine to us. How do we know the Ferox are even here?”
“The Ferox have the ability to alter their visual appearance and are masters of cultural blending. Do not bother speculating about how these things are possible. The answers are beyond your minds. But evidence of their presence can be seen in every facet of your civilization. Evil organizations on Earth, past and present, are almost certainly led by Ferox. The Nazis, the Khmer Rouge, the slave trade, the Inquisition, the Taliban: all possess the calling card of the Ferox. Your crime, your weapons of mass destruction, your—”
“Okay, okay, we understand,” Eddy said. “But we have suffered tremendous losses. Our crew and supplies were destroyed.”
“By a storm?” Artuke asked.
“Yes,” Eddy said, squinting. “How did you know?”
“The Ferox, while savage in nature, are also technologically advanced.”
“As advanced as you?” Kevin asked.
“Yes. They have developed machines that can manipulate planetary weather. I imagine that several of your planet’s ‘natural disasters’ have, in fact, been Ferox attacks. I will give you the same advice I gave Haphnee. If you see a small black orb floating above or resting on the ground, hide or take cover. Your life will be surely lost if you do not.”
“Another threat,” Norwood said.
“A warning,” Artuke corrected.
Artuke raised his arms into the air and a three dimensional map of the Arctic rose out of the snow around them. “Time is short, humans; take the key to these coordinates and raise the citadel.” Numbers appeared in the snow: longitude and latitude. “Activate the beacon from inside and the Aeros will return to purge Earth of the Ferox and help guard it against future infection. We will bring you to an age of enlightenment and peace.”
Artuke’s body became fuzzy, translucent. “The key’s power cells are draining. Please hurry. You are being tracked. The Ferox weakness is their willingness to take risks. They will allow you to get close to the citadel before confronting you, but they will find you. Exploiting this weakness might be your only chance. I will not be able to contact you again. Good luck, my friends.”
Silence fell over the group, but Steve could only take it for a few seconds. “Shit, man. Intergalactic war. This blows.”
☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼
The team stood next to the Sno-Cat like Greek statues, frozen in time. Eddy spoke. “I need to brea
k this down. If I make a mistake along the way, correct me. Okay?”
Nods all around.
“We found this ‘key’ frozen in the ice, clutched in the hands of an ancient woman named Haphnee. Somehow, Kevin activated the device and a hologram of an alien, Artuke, who appeared to be human but whose true identity is still a mystery, tells us that the human race for thousands of years has been influenced by a second alien race, the Ferox, who are leading all of humanity down a path of self-destruction.”
“Maybe they’re like angels and demons,” Eve said. “The Ferox came down to Earth at a time when men, Homo sapiens, I mean, were still relatively new to the planet, like fallen angels. The Aeros have been fighting them the entire time—angels.”
“You don’t mean to suggest that these folks are in fact angels and demons?” Norwood huffed. “The idea is preposterous.”
“Everything is preposterous to you, man,” Steve said.
“Of course not,” Eve said. “But what if their presence gave rise to the idea, that something beyond our understanding was controlling us, leading us to evil, to sin.”
“The concept of sin is relative and outdated,” Norwood stated.
“Let the lady talk,” Paul said. “And one more crack about religion will earn you a crack to the skull.”
Norwood furrowed his brow and pursed his lips.
Eve continued. “If these Ferox brought corruption—sin—to our world, then by definition they are demons.”
“Alien, techo-demons,” Kevin said. “That can change form and influence nations… Has it occurred to anyone that Artuke talked about the Ferox like the ones who were present thousands of years ago, are the same bunch on Earth today? These things, they’re old…really old.”
“Great,” Nicole said. “Now we have geriatric techno-demons chasing us. Can we go now?”
“In a minute,” Eddy said. “First we need to figure out where we’re going.”
“What do you mean?” Steve asked, and the looks from the others said that they wanted to know, too.
“Well,” Eddy laughed, “if we agree that this is all…real, and not some elaborate hoax—”
Raising the Past Page 15