Coalescence (Camden Investigations Book 1) (21 page)

Kassidy
shrugged her shoulders. “If you see anything resembling the markings of a
distillery, you be sure to let me know.” She patted Rusty on the arm.

“How could a
stone farm exist?” Iris asked rhetorically.

“The answer
lies with our dial. It transforms. You’ve seen it yourself,” Evan answered.

“I’ve seen
illusion.” Iris recalled the trickery in the hotel. The way the camcorder had
somehow etched her memory of it on film. “You mean to say, this could all have
substance? I just thought we were here to install a defense system.”

Mitchell
remarked. “What if it were a multi-capability system? Come on guys, if that
idea doesn’t spark motivation I don’t know what else will.”

Kassidy
pursed her lips at him.

Iris
dismissed her best friend’s flippant gesture. If Mitchell and Evan were
correct, the object and its linked power source might reform desolation to some
modicum of sustainability. The flashes of Galloway’s planet played in her head;
everything was so barren. But although ravaged, could it be restored? It was a
philanthropic consideration. If all of her people—and everyone on this
planet for that matter—survived, Iris hoped to return the favor to
Galloway’s race. She had no idea how to do this, however.

After they
had scanned a few more rooms of the pueblo, the magnificence of the event
beheld them.

It began
with the rimming of objects. Rocks became outlined with pastel colors of blue, pink
and yellow. Each outline contained a similar version of another. It was
geometric. If Iris knew more about science she would have labeled it: fractal.
The outline of the rocks shimmered with a luminescence no one—or at least
Mitch—had ever experienced before. Iris wondered how she could share
Mitchell’s thoughts. Somehow her mind had been linked to his just as when she
mind shared with Galloway. Only, Galloway wasn’t here right now. At least she
didn’t think so.

The
outlining continued, lines running up and down, perpendicular, horizontal,
vertical—as if they were witness to the universe’s hugest
Etch A
Sketch
.

The colors
shimmered. Everyone watched, transfixed.

Mitchell
eventually tried to speak, but his lips moved in slow motion. Kassidy raised
her hands to cover her ears. Iris wondered from what: some vibration? Everyone
else did their best to maintain their equilibrium. The ground under their feet
appeared to be slightly shaking, but nothing on the scale of an epic
earthquake. Yet they were struggling to stay upright in the time distortion,
but ever so slowly. Iris likened it to her father’s old electric football game
from the 70s. The players often shook as if being electrocuted and never moved
at any faster pace than a leisurely stroll. When Dan Camden left, Iris had
trashed it in rage.

Iris
listened intently. She grabbed a hold of a word from Mitchell’s mind. The first
word:
it
. The word rang as if a bell. The sound of the one syllable
stretched and floated for minutes. When he finished an intelligible sentence
had formed:
It is here. We have found the power source.

The feeling
of being enveloped in gum continued a while longer.

J
ACK
HAD
shouted a curse. It was nothing new from the good old
Organization
man, not even when his world had been turned upside down or at the very
least had been rocked.

He felt his
strides become single, torturous ones. It took minutes to complete two paces.
He struggled to glance at his watch. It had stopped working. How would he ever
reach the site at this pace? The annoying bird above him continued to circle
and soar. Somehow he was enveloped in an event affecting the ground only. It
was the best he could figure. It probably meant the power source was connected
with the ground. It also meant the investigators were progressing—without
him!

A
S
EVERYONE
dusted themselves off, Evan estimated the time loss to be
a little short of half an hour.

“Great,
we’ve lost valuable time,” DJ remarked.

“Don’t sweat
it,” Mitchell said to DJ. “If I’m right, that little disturbance has pointed us
in the right direction.” To Rusty he said, “I think we should try this room.”
Mitchell pointed at it. “Looks like some kind of kitchen.”

Rusty
remarked. “Yes,
sustantivo
:
a kitchen garden, perhaps.”

“What is
this thing?” Mitchell asked. It was hollow, and its stone shell casing matched
his height.

“It’s
something akin to a cauldron,” Evan answered. “I’ve seen this in Russia. It may
be one of other such power sources in the world.”

Iris bit her
lip. She recalled Galloway stating the previous defense system had failed in
Russia.

Gavin peered
at it. “It looks shell like. So, the question is: if this is the source, where
do we plug in?”

Evan glanced
at the wrapped object he held. “Gavin, I was hoping you could tell us.”

Gavin
scrubbed a hand across his face. “I guess we better find out quickly before
everything starts to shimmer in rainbow colors and shake.”

Kassidy
snorted. “I kind of liked that part.”

As Evan
unraveled the artifact from its blanket, Darian proceeded to grumble low
guttural sounds at first that rose in pitch and emotion to outright shrieks.

“No! We
can’t do this! I won’t allow it!”

With Evan caught like a doe in headlights, Darian whisked
the artifact into his arms. “You’ve got to let her go. You’ve got to let her
go.” His repeated words bounced throughout the canyon.

A
PERIMETER
formed around Darian. Rarely speaking the last few days, he had
become almost invisible. With the artifact in his possession, he had become the
team’s central focus.

Mitch waved
an open-palmed hand at him. Iris interpreted it to mean:
Just please don’t
do anything to the dial!
She could only guess from his gestures. She was no
longer mind sharing with her scientist boyfriend.

Mitchell’s
gaze shifted from Darian to DJ. Again, Iris interpreted the meaning:
He
trusts you. Do something!

DJ
responded. “Honey, please. Just slow down and breathe. Tell us about this
woman. We are confused and want to understand.”

“She’s my
aunt.” His exhalations were those of a runner. Iris surmised they had to calm
him down soon before a catastrophe occurred. Who knew what or who else the dial
might affect if possessed by a scared, angry person? Would it mirror his
emotions? Iris didn’t like where her mind was taking her. She grabbed DJ’s
outstretched hand.

“We’re here
for you, Darian,” Iris said. “We’re not just a team, we’re family. You can tell
us about anything. Please, set the dial down.”

“Damn it! Is
that
all
you care about? What kind of family is that?”

Iris held
her hands out like stop signs. “No, Darian. I didn’t mean that.”

She glanced
at DJ. Her ghost-channeling sister seemed to be saying to her:
Shut up!
You’re making this worse.

Only problem
was, Iris didn’t feel her usual telepathic link to her sister. She had to guess
interpret like she had done earlier with Mitchell. In any event, she had little
time to wonder why.

DJ
continued, “Tell me about your aunt. It’s me DJ. You can confide in me.”

Iris felt
some of the stress balling in her neck release.
Good. DJ is directing the
conversation between the two of them. Not the entire group. She’s personalizing
it. I guess she will make a great public speaker, or politician, someday.

Darian shook
his head. Spittle flew. “I don’t know if I can. You won’t understand the
significance. The one person I’m doing this for . . .” His lips
trembled. “It won’t make much scientific sense. And that’s pretty screwed up
because I think of myself as a rationalist.”

“It’s
normal, Darian,” DJ responded. “Look at me and my mom. You would think I would
want her around. But I’ve chased her spirit away.”

“But you’re
not doing that anymore. You said you’ve spoken to her.”

“That’s
right, Darian, I have. I am conflicted as well. It’s a human thing. It’s not
wrong. It’s not unscientific.”

When
Darian’s breathing settled, he recounted his story about his ill aunt. She had
been sick for the past few years, and all Darian could do for her was visit. He
said it made him feel powerless. His aunt had been in a precarious position.
She was too sick to leave bed, but not quite ill enough to pass. She was caught
in an impasse. Almost, Darian said, as if she were a spirit trapped between the
living and dead world. He said he wouldn’t have believed in such a thing
possible before meeting DJ and believing in her ghost mom. He could see why DJ
wanted her mom to move on. Despite missing a person he dearly loved, he felt it
best if his aunt was allowed to move on so as not to cause her any more misery.
It was why he empathized with DJ’s situation. He had never been able to
articulate it before. He kept his grief for his aunt contained. All words
amounted to were whining. He never wanted to complain about his aunt’s
condition and diminish her existence in such a negative fashion.

“Words won’t
help, doctors don’t help, worst of all, I can’t help. But things can be different,”
Darian explained. “If we allow the light to penetrate, it will exterminate the
weak, like my aunt. She will be allowed her passing. It’s the one thing I can
give her. So, you see, it would be very selfish of me to stand by and allow her
to live in such a degraded condition.”

Iris
squatted. She didn’t want to instill any more fear in Darian. She wanted to
appear small.

She held out
her hands. “Darian, I understand your reasoning. It’s emotional and it’s also
logical.” She smiled half-heartedly. “If there can be such an existence.
Anyway, you’ve got to hear me out on this. I am coming at this from a selfish
angle as well. I’ve mistakenly kept things from my own investigative team
believing it would shelter them. We do believe the weak will perish if the
light weapon discharges. Not only might sick people in hospitals perish, but
people who have weakened their ability to fight off disease because of
dependability on inoculations. Forgive me if I can’t explain this correctly,
but Evan told me people who have been inoculated have weakened their ability to
produce antibodies. They will absorb the light and experience it as a foreign
agent. And when they go to resist it, their bodies will enter a weakened state.
They likely won’t survive their own transformation. Now, to be selfish and
totally self absorbed by my own motivation, I’ve learned your friend, and
mentor, will likely die because of this.”

Darian’s
eyes scanned Mitchell’s face. His expression was quizzical, disbelieving.

“That’s
correct, Darian. Mitchell will likely die if we don’t act to stop the weapon. I
know this is selfish of me to confuse your decision. Your aunt certainly holds
just as much weight in any consideration. But I
do
love Mitchell. I love
him more than I have cared to admit, and I don’t want to lose him. I don’t
think you want to lose Mitchell either. You see then, it’s complicated, to coin
a phrase. Wouldn’t it be better to let us try and succeed or fail, then let
fate’s cards land where they may? Your aunt is already sick. Mitchell is young
and well. He has proven how much he can contribute to society. I’m not saying
he’s in any way, shape, or form better than your aunt, but I want you to
consider Mitchell.”

A long
moment passed. Iris listened to Darian wheeze and gasp. It was as if he was
living the longest, most torturous day of his existence. To Iris it proved, in
that moment, that we all had souls. Whether any scientist wanted to doubt that
or not, in that moment of Darian’s struggle, she was certain it was his soul,
and less his mind, that was burdened by this dilemma.

Darian began
to cry. He stepped forward and handed the dial to Evan. He tried to speak but
tears choked him. His voice warbled. But Iris was certain Mitchell knew what
the young man was saying.

A moment
passed and Darian regained his voice. He told Mitchell exactly what Iris had
thought she heard seconds earlier. “I didn’t know, Mitchell. I wouldn’t have
done this if I had considered someone else. I was not only selfish but wrong. I
shouldn’t have taken fate in my hands. Iris is wise. We should be accepting of
whatever transpires. But damn it, I don’t want to see you . . .
die.” His voice broke again. The two men embraced each other.

“I’m hoping
not to ‘see’ me die either, my friend,” Mitchell said. He clapped Darian on the
back. He mouthed to Iris. “I love you too.”

Iris waited
for Darian to slink into DJ’s embrace then she slid her arm around Mitchell’s
back. “Shit, I was so wrong to keep this a secret. Look at what almost
happened. I am so stupid.”

Mitchell
hugged her and kissed the top of her head. “No one on this team, and I do mean
team—
because
we are one now—is ever going to think less of themselves again. We are
all conscientious, well-trained investigators. That goes for any and all of us.
No matter the outcome we should not feel shame. We’re fighting for the truth
and we’re also fighting for humanity.” Kassidy and Rachel hugged Iris. Kassidy
murmured in Iris’s ear, “I understand why you did what you did. You’re the
ultimate mother hen.”

Silence rang
for a moment. Then Rusty began applauding. Soon, all joined in. The teams were
now one.

They fumbled
for a conduit, some kind of female or male joining mechanism that would merge
the object with rock.

Rusty,
appearing to enter a meditative state, ran his hands along symbols etched on
the rock.

Iris peered
hard at the artifact. Comparing it with modern day technology, she was damned
if she could see anything akin to prongs or plugs.

But maybe
they were going about it all wrong.

“Just set it
down, guys,” she suggested. When she was met with hard stares, she repeated,
“I’m serious, just set the thing down.”

Rusty
shrugged. “I don’t think it can hurt.”

Evan nodded.
“Thanks for the reassurance. But is that just your educated guess?”

Rusty
flashed a smile. “Sometimes our instinct guides us as much as reason or fact.
Men like Bill have taught me this.”

Iris
frowned. His situation with Bill sounded so similar to her and her Dad’s. They
said one thing but practiced another. Where was Bill now when Rusty needed him
the most?

“Okay,” Evan
said, “I’m just going to set our dial down right here in this sacred stone.”

Rachel
smirked. “Guess you guys won’t be dissing Ouija boards anytime soon.”

“No, we
won’t,” Evan responded. “Right now, I’m open to entertain any suggestion be it
from god, alien, or spirit.”

Everyone
watched; disappointment segued into panic because nothing was happening. Iris
pushed away the panic and reached deep into her mind, possibly her
subconscious, for an answer.

“Hot damn, I
have an idea. I just don’t know how to execute it.”

Mitchell
demanded, “Share.”

“Okay, DJ
and Mitchell join with me.” She held out her hands. “Come on, let’s join hands.
The mention of the Ouija board inspired me.” Mitchell rolled his eyes.

“What are we
praying for?” Mitchell asked.

“We’re not
praying, we’re summoning. If the OBOLs are even just a little sentient, I think
we can ask them to help us.” The investigation of what she first thought to be
some kind of poltergeist was in actuality caused by the artifact in tandem with
OBOLs. “The OBOLs must be in the vicinity. They seem to cause all the
interactions we’ve witnessed with the dial so far—at the Morses’ and at
the cornfield. And just moments earlier when the Earth shook. I feel they are
here. They just need some guidance.”

“But if we
could guide them, they could set up the defense system on their own.”

“Yes, they
might, Mitchell. But maybe that’s just too complex. What I’m suggesting is that
we simply ask them to allow the dial find its power source. It can’t be that
hard. It has been plugged into it before; maybe just not in this exact
location.”

Mitchell
nodded. “Sounds like a plan. Sounds like our
only
plan.”

Iris
resisted the urge to slap him. “Let’s get going.” She motioned for the
formation of a circle.

After a few
minutes, the dial began vibrating. The team, with the exception of the circled
three—Iris, DJ, and Mitchell—began to back away, afraid some
earthquake-like disturbance might be imminent. Kassidy shouted, “Hey guys,
maybe you should think about breaking this link . . .”

Iris threw
back her head. “It’s working. Don’t do
anything
!”

As if upon
command, tiny robotic tentacles began to emerge from the dial’s underbelly.
They clawed and ticked along its rocky resting place. Finally, the object
settled next to one of the etchings. One of its claws pawed the stone until the
symbol of the etching glowed. It began to turn into a 3D image. As it did, the
triangular, materialized image rotated and showed two forked holes. The object
stuck two of its tentacles into the sockets. Then, all hell broke loose on
Earth.

“I
T’S
GROWING
!” Iris shouted to Mitchell. Her hair was whipped back in
a breeze. The desert canyon was aglow. Colors blazed around and above them.
Unlike before, the hues were more rich and vibrant than their pastel predecessors.
It was as if the previous outlines were mere blueprints for what was to come.
And it appeared to Iris, what was to come, was an ancient, lost city.

Holographic
designs blipped on and off. In the blaze of intense light, the day sky actually
appeared dark. A strange yin and yang counterbalance. In the flashes, Iris was
sure she could make out docks, huge pylons reaching toward the sky, capable of
docking not one, but perhaps a fleet of aircraft.

Below her,
the rocky terrain transformed to moss. Lime-green color splashed at her from
below. But it wasn’t only imagery, it was concrete. The moss was real. It was
vegetation. It explained how ancient pueblo people subsisted here. “The kitchen
garden,” Iris murmured. “Rusty, you were right.”

Lightning
flashed. Ghost images flittered on and off. The dockings weren’t quite as
solidified as the moss beneath her feet. Perhaps the system was damaged or old,
or just not quite up to specifications to enable this perceived city to return
to life. But what Iris perceived left her with no doubt that ancients lived
here. She only had to ask herself how and the answer came. Of course, it was
ancient alien intervention all along. They traveled here, giving the humans
sustenance. Why hadn’t her father told her about this? How could he have worked
in such a field and never been exposed to what she was seeing now? At this
second, she hated him just as every bit as she loved him. Then, she heard his
voice in her head. With everything happening, she couldn’t be sure if it were
illusion. She listened carefully again but the voice did not return.