The Alien Artifact 9 (Novelette) (5 page)

He
listened and agreed with the caller and put the phone down and sat
back in his seat,
drinking his whisky, listening to
crackles from the fire, and I discussed our past adventures, and he
promised me more.

About an hour later I heard someone enter
the building below, and his secretary announced an arrival through
an intercom.

Marple put out his pipe and briskly
considered the case, from different perspectives, and I spotted he
was confused over what we were dealing with, and he eventually
laughed, confusedly, and eventually just relaxed into his seat.

Outside the traffic and voices seemed to
vanish, like into mist, and I sat in deep thought, and it became
more intriguing!

His secretary rushed up the stairs and
swiftly let the man in the room, without knocking, and I was
staggered when I looked around and saw Dr Barrymore, as he shifted
wearily forward, and I realized straightaway he was dreadfully ill
and he could now hardly even walk, and clearly had serious medical
conditions.

I examined him quickly wondering why he had
gone to such lengths to get there, and it made me gasp, and I
considered the war once again, and the dangers ahead, and wondered
if the current events and intense bombings had helped his
demise.

Dr Barrymore rushed into a seat, rested,
exhausted, trying to recover, but not properly, and I noticed he
had some documents he held firmly in his fist.

He observed us sitting around the table
drinking and removed chewing tobacco and chewed off a lump, placing
the remainder in his interior pocket.

Marple rushed over and got a drink for him,
and returned, and placed it in front of him.

“
What’s happened?” Marple asked. “What
have you?”

“
It’s that eighteenth century document
and treasure!” he announced, and we looked up, from staring in the
fire.

He
rested, and continued, “
The information on the
artifact I’ve been looking for comes from accumulated sources, only
known by me, and the individual sources, which have been proven to
have occurred in 1568 …”

I was still surprised in what he said, and
as I had forgotten of what he had told me at our last meeting, and
Marple seemed to come to and recall what transpired.

“
According what I’ve found,” Dr
Barrymore continued, “Valuable jewels were left near where it was
concealed!”

“
Near the artifact?” Marple instantly
asked, confused. “Was that some form of clue?”

“
Perhaps!
For centuries the lost jewels have been thought to
exist by a few explorers, who have carried out
searches.”

“
So you
still want us to help you find it?”

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

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

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

“
Mankind!” Marple gasped, and sat back
examining him, and silently gulped, and lit his pipe.

“
According to legends some people have
been found dead after searching for it
…
”

“
They’re just legends?” I joked,
smiling.

He nodded, and examined me a little more
closely.

For a moment I considered there being a
danger and wondered why it would still exist, and doubted the value
of the objects, as all the archaeology and museum discoveries were
currently usually worthless, except to historians like him.

I knew that he had been given a major clue
to its location, and I watched him open the document and remove
something from its interior, and hand it over to Marple, and I sat
next to Marple, examining the ancient tattered piece of parchment,
where there were lines and words scribbled over it, as though the
person had been doing something and was in a great rush to finish
it!

“
What date do you make it?” I asked,
amazed at its age.

Before Dr Barrymore replied Marple replied,
“Around 1568!”

“
So it’s a 1568 map?” I asked Dr
Barrymore, and he agreed.

I thought about it but still did not know
what it meant, and I wondered what he wanted us to do!

Marple finally finished examining it and
placed it on the table, and looked over and asked, “So you want us
to find the place on the map? With our experienced investigators
…”

“
Yes! Marple! I’d really like that! I
also want you to search for it when you do, and phone me for any
information, which I may be able to provide! I’m sure the treasure
is still there, and I’d really just like it to be
found!”

What I could not understand was why he
was so confident with so little clues, and I wondered if he had
been checking such things and proving their authentication, and it
occurred to me that if everything he said was true then
the
accounts of
its deadliness could also be true!

Chapter 11

The Haunting

What was incredible was I realized I had not
solved anything in my first case and what had happened to me at
Craigmillar Road, and I could not grasp what would happen, as every
puzzle and mystery seemed to be or was being solved everywhere
else, by some means, and Marple forced me into taking another visit
there, and ordered me to solve it as quickly as possible.

I realized he had read my report on what had
happened and had entirely missed what had occurred and what I
meant, and I could not explain any further anything of what had
happened and he never seemed to think anything had happened to me,
and I realized again that even though he had a great interest in
investigating the paranormal he never believed it, and consistently
explained it with logical solutions, and he believed that he could
explain virtually anything, and as I made my way back to the house
at Craigmillar Road I realized that I would really like to find
something of that nature, and which he could not answer!

The elderly woman was delighted to see me
and did everything to welcome me in and not put me off the case,
and at dinner we discussed the case and she told me what had been
happening since I left and she told me that the haunting had
continued occurring every night at the same time, and had increased
since my visit, and that neighbors in the surrounding buildings and
streets had witnessed strange occurrences like it, and she showed
me mentions of it in newspapers and other publications.

What could it be? I was left baffled, once
again! I had considered everything, and only had the metal detector
that had activated it, and it never added up to anything!

I realized that the two paranormal
investigators had not even known what it was, and I realized that
they should be the ones that should solve it, and they could at
least witness the occurrence, and information, and I realized from
the information they had given that they had not actually given me
any mention of such an occurrence, and I was sure that they had not
told me of anything authentic of a supernatural nature, and which
they had confronted, and I was sure that they had not properly
found anything as solid as it, and that their stuff was not really
authentic, and going by Marple’s view of them and their work he
never believed that they had discovered anything of that
nature.

I left the building and got to a phone and
called them up, and I explained the situation and the occurrences
and Higgins was astounded, and he sounded more astounded than I had
heard him, and he was deeply surprised, and was not able to explain
anything to me, and he put Oswald on the phone, and he was
confused, and they agreed to come and see the occurrence, and they
decided to bring their best equipment, and try and help the
woman.

It was amazing that I had not fully realized
the idea before!

I had been too busy not wanting to go back,
and had no interest in finding out what was there, and the damage I
had been bad!

It was incredible that all the time I had
been with them I never properly explained what had happened, and I
still believe they never picked up what I meant.

I recalled how powerful it was, and that
their other scientists could also help out, and I told her about
them, and their experience, and she was excited at the outcome and
glad to have me bring them.

So I phoned Marple and told him of what
occurred and he just ignored the occurrences and told me the two
paranormal scientists had become famous over the Loch Ness monster
story, and he agreed that their technology had vastly improved, and
that if anyone could find anything they would be the ones.

Chapter 12

The Paranormal
Scientists

Paranormal scientists and technicians rushed
back and forward setting up their new equipment all over the
woman’s corridor, while Oswald and Higgins checked everything.

I watched on, and the woman in her living
room relaxing, joyously listening to the scientists at work.

They gave me the impression that they might
be going to do something or come to a conclusion, and that they
might well have found the right location to do it.

I started to realize the implications, and
recalled what had happened to me the last time, and that it might
be deadly, and I realized that they might find something was there
of deadly origins and be of great danger to everyone there and even
in the region! Yet when I thought of it I could not realize
anything that could do such a thing!

Higgins
quickly told the scientists, “
Investigate all these
walls, the floor, and roof ...
”

I felt tiredness from the events of that day
and wished that I could have rested.

When I
examined the equipment they now had I was surprised at how advanced
it had become and at its capabilities and I wondered how they could
make a large enough profit to pay for it, but realized it surely
was funded somewhere.

Their visit
there was clearly giving them far more of an insight and knowledge
of things than I had realized, and they had gained a great deal of
information from their earlier questioning of the woman, who had
been desperate to get them to solve the problem.

I was becoming
positive that they had found far more than they had indicated, and
were keeping secrets from me.

I
wanted to grasp what they all knew that I should know, and
I regularly strolled about examining the equipment for clues, and
recalled something that I had forgotten and reading about some of
the work that the two paranormal scientists had done years ago,
after they had given documents on their paranormal
investigations.

I recalled
their stuff had been surprising, and even alarming, which had drawn
my attention at the time, but I recalled that I had just dismissed
it later as them using it to advertise their work!

At times I
thought they were deliberately putting the psychic research there
to cover their real work and discoveries! Whatever that was! They
never mentioned anything on other stuff that they did, which I had
found existed at occasions, and I had hardly even seen anyone even
check them.

They informed
me that they were checking for virtually all known forms of
disturbance, energy and matter disturbances, in and around the
haunted region and I was sure that they could, from what I had
heard earlier from some of the other scientists, which just
confused me even more later as I could not grasp what they were
actually talking about at times, and I realized that so far I just
never knew what was there!

Eventually I started to get sleepy and at
some point I fell asleep in a chair in my room, after a long day,
and I was suddenly awoken from one of the strangest dreams I have
had, and thought I sensed something strange, which I could not
grasp, and kept trying to awaken myself further and prove that it
was the dream and my sleepy state of mind. Yet there was something
strange and I felt as though there was something there, but I could
not grasp what, and I was sure I had not encountered it before, and
I listened to all the scientists at work and their low level
conversations, and I checked them outside my door, to discover if
anything had been detected.

Suddenly, in the darkness at the end
of the corridor, two figures came rushing out, resembling a sort of
dream view to me in my tired sleepy state, and the figures turned
out to be two of the scientists, who I had thought had left the
building, and I realized that they were working outside, checking
stuff on their equipment about the zone, and building, and one
whispered something in Higgins
’
s ear, making him look slightly
surprised.

Higgins
’s
face turned dramatic, making me
wonder what the hell was going to happen, and I stood staggered
waiting for something, anything, anywhere, and even regretting
bringing them there, and I saw he was desperate to do something,
and he rushed away with the two scientists to where they had been,
and outside.

“
What are they up
to?
”
Oswald
muttered, staring, bewildered.

“
This is a hell of a
place!
” I mumbled,
thinking of what had happened to me there before, considering if it
could kill this time, and I was glad I had hardly even mentioned
the metal detector.