Chapter Two
The Impossible Artifact
An argument was ensuing between Warlock Rollins the pilot, Donella Hawkins Owner of Hawkins Salvage and Recovery, and Nyquilio, the ship's navigator as Varissa made her way into the duel lab/med bay area. Donella Hawkins or Don as she preferred to be called by her crew (though sir was acceptable as well) was in her late forties and had a very dominating presence. She stood at 5'11, weighed 230lbs, had short dark hair, sported the black jumpsuit of management and was very bossy. Nobody messed with Don. Warlock was in his sixties, retired military, was bald, grisled, didn't talk much. He was intimidating with nasty scars adorning his face. At 6'3 and 250lbs of solid muscle he could be a bit scary but truth be told he had a heart of gold and had formed a paternal friendship with Varissa since she had joined the crew. Varissa was sworn to secrecy so others didn't know Warlock was capable of being a big teddy bear.
Nyqulio was the only non human employee Hawkins Salvage and Recovery had ever employed. He was around twenty seven Earth years old, stood 6'7 and was skinny. He appeared humanoid other than having blue ridged skin, an extra eye slightly above and in between his other two eyes which was where humans also had eyes and instead of a nose he had two nostril holes slightly below his eyes and above his mouth, about an inch higher than where human's nostrils would be. He had long silvery hair that sometimes covered his elven looking ears & had even chosen a blue jumpsuit that was nearly the same color as his skin..
Nyquilio came from the planet Somnium-5 in the Somnium galaxy. His race was the Noc'tralians. His planet only had one hour of daylight in every Somnium cycle (day). Since Somnium-5 had joined the Universal Coalition more and more Noc'tralians had been finding careers amongst the stars with humans and other alien races.
"You're just not doing it right! What do I pay you for anyways, ya blue bafoon!" Donella was yelling.
"First off sir, that's racist as hell and secondly I have configured everything correctly! It's got to be some sort of issue with the Beowulf's systems!" Nyquilio responded tersely.
"This ship is in tip top shape! It's been one of the best salvage and recovery vessels in service for the past 20 years!" Donella snapped back.
"Maybe it was twenty years ago, sir, but you know how much tech has evolved in the past two decades?" He took a breath through his nostrils and slowly exhaled out of his mouth to calm himself. "Look, I'm not saying the Beowulf is a bad or old ship. I am simply saying that the navigation systems are not setting up a scan for the coordinates I am putting in. They seem to scramble then reassemble as completely different coordinates no matter what I do."
"Look," Warlock said, jumping in. "I just need to know where I am flying the shuttle to and how big the artifacts we are bringing back are. So, will somebody just do the goddamn scan so we can see what we are looking at and get this over with."
"Don, sir what's going on?" Varissa asked as she pulled up a chair next to a nano bed control panel where Lubdan was hard at work on something with Talos-16 next to him ready to help at any moment.
"What's going on is that Blue over here is wasting what little time we have on our permit for recovering possible political and religious artifacts from what was once the capitol of a country called The United States of America! He sets the coordinates for Washington D.C. to do a scan and it changes the coordinates to another part of the country entirely!" Donella said frustrated.
"I've never seen anything like this before to be honest," Nyquilio said, turning to Varissa. "Are you ok? You look like shit."
"I'm fine, just had some bad dreams," Varissa replied.
"I could help ya sleep real good at night. Just let me know the time and place," said a voice behind her. Varissa turned to see Colin Stockard AKA Butch sitting on a nearby counter smiling and giving her a wink. Butch was as thick headed, one track minded, and as big a scumbag as they came, but he was also a very strong and experienced security officer that you could trust with your life when the shit hit the fan. Butch was a white, lean but sturdy 6'1 215lb muscular soldier of fortune with a buzz cut and a dark green jumpsuit that had been with Hawkins for five years.
"Oh, thank you Butch, but I don't want to add nausea and vomiting to my insomnia," Varissa said with a smile.
"You know, Butchy, I've had some problems sleeping myself lately," said a soft female voice from the doorway of the lab. Butch turned to see nineteen year old Candilynn Aguino, a petite 5'1 110lb Asian freshman student of Dr. Varissa Degenarro who had won a classroom contest by having the highest marks in Earth-1 history. The prize was getting to visit Earth-1 by joining Varissa on her summer job with Hawkins Salvage and Recovery as an intern. Candi was indeed very smart but also very promiscuous. She was sporting a red jumpsuit that seemed purposefully extra tight for her body.
Butch smiled big and was about to reply when Varissa jumped in, "You are here to see Earth-1 and be my intern for the summer. This isn't a coed summer camp, so you two keep your pants on. We have a job to do." Varissa finished chiding them and turned her attention back to Donella, Nyquilio and Warlock. Behind her Candi made her way over to Butch and climbed up on the counter next to him and the two began talking quietly.
"We need to figure this out," Donella barked. "We don't have a lot of time! Lubdan, you're a fucking genius, right? Can you fix this?"
Lubdan had been too focused on his own project to really follow the conversation. He snapped his head up to study Donella, a frown on his young face.
"Huh?...Oh...sorry not my field, wouldn't know where to begin," he said absently in a strong irish accent and then went back to working on the nano bed control panel with Talos by his side.
"Mom! you promised I'd get to retrieve some religious artifacts this summer for my church!" a young female voice spoke up from a chair on the far side of the lab. The voice belonged to Christina Hawkins, Donella,'s sixteen year old daughter who, much to Don's chagrin, had been 'saved' while staying with a friend over spring break and was now an extremely devout Christian. Since then, she had made every aspect of her life about serving her lord and savior. Christina was 5'3 130lbs pale skinned and had shoulder length black hair. She wore very conservative clothing in lieu of a jumpsuit.. "I told them I would bring something back in the fall!"
"Christina!" Donella said. "This isn't the time! The grownups are busy. You'll get your crosses or bunnies or whatever it is. Just be patient!"
"Look," Nyquilio said, looking defeated. "I am sorry sir. I can't fix this before our permitted time expires because I honestly have no idea what the hell is going on. It makes zero sense! I did a quick diagnostic analysis of the GPS systems and there is no issues whatsoever on our end. Perhaps the dust storms and the excessive lightning are causing some sort of deflection of our probing. I can't be sure. The only thing I know is I can't fix it if I don't know what's wrong. I know it's not what you want to hear but I will never BS you sir."
"Fine, Goddamnit!" Donella began to say then glanced at her daughter who was staring a hole through her mother in that moment. "I mean fine DAMNIT! What can you tell me about the coordinates that keep showing up?"
"Let's see," Nyquilio said "It appears the coordinates are for a small town in what was once Ohio of the United States of America. Nothing of supreme historical significance is coming up when I run Ohio through the historical databases."
"Great," Donella snorted. "So it's just another hole in the ground! Okay, initiate a scan for artifacts. Maybe we will get lucky and end up with some level two's or three's and at least make some profit from this waste of time. Talos! You're up!"
Talos-16 stood from his position leaning over the panel where Lubdan was hard at work on something and made his way to Donella, Warlock and Nyquilio. "Yes Ma'am, right away. What perimeters would you like me to set?"
"All levels," Donella replied. "This is a damn hail Mary. And there ain't no damn MAAM on this ship T!"
"Ah, yes, sir. My bad, sir. Excuse me, Mr. Rollins," Talos said as he stepped past Warlock and sat down at a screen next to Nyquilio. "Scanning coordinates Latitude: 41 15' 28.80" N Longitude: -81 33' 20.39" W, location Springwood, Ohio."
Donella held her breath as the scan began and the screen flashed rapidly as Talos watched and absorbed it all. Within ten seconds the scan was over. Donella realized she hadn't been breathing and took a large audible breath.
"I don't like suspense!" Donella snapped. "Is there anything?! And don't tell me about any damn Level ones! Especially home media items! Because as my brother always says!" Donella said and pulled out a small square device and hit a small button which played a recording from her brother on a past trip.
"STOP BRINGING ME DVDS, BLURAYS, DIGI-SLIDES OR TRANCE BOX DISCS! I CAN'TFUCKING MOVE 'EM!" his voice said.
"There are indeed many level one artifacts sir as well as many level two's and three's but my scan has picked up the impossible. I believe the system may very well be in peril" Talos said.
"WHAT!? WHAT IS IT!?" Donella demanded.
"Well sir, it appears that our scans have detected something we-" Talos began.
"OH MY GOD T! SPIT IT OUT!" Donella shouted.
Nyquilio leaned his head over and looked at the scan results, his eyes going wide, "Umm sir, it says there is a level five plus in the scanned area!"
Everyone in the room's attention was automatically drawn to the android, the boss and the Noc'Tralian. Even the quiet head of security, Nero Ramos, a muscular 6'2 230lb hispanic former soldier sporting a general camoflage jumpsuit, snapped his head in the direction of the conversation about a level five plus artifact.
Nero was twenty eight years old and had been a career soldier until he was honorably discharged from the military after some palms were greased by his politician father following an altercation where Nero had beaten a fellow soldier nearly to death because he had caught him sexually assaulting a female soldier in their barracks one night. The soldier he beat up was in such rough shape that not even nanotech was able to fully heal him and he would forever have neurological problems.
"Level five plus?! How is that possible?" Nero spoke up from a corner of the room. He had been quietly surveying the crew the entire time. He was always alert, always ready.
"It's not possible. It has to be an error. Come on people!" Lubdan interjected from his nanobed control panel.
"A level five artifact hasn't been recovered in forever!" Varissa chimed in. "Hell, level four's are just about obsolete. What kind of item could survive this long on that planet and be in level five plus condition?"
"A religious item that has been anointed by our heavenly father!" Christina said. Everyone glanced at her, rolled their eyes and turned back to Talos and Nyquilio.
"Could it be something that was left behind on another trip by another crew?" Butch asked.
"That would be highly unlikely," Talos answered. "This scan is very specific on it's parameters for age and origin."
"Look," Donella said. "Impossible or not it is showing up on a scan and and we are running out of time! if we can actually obtain a level five plus artifact not only would it be historical at this point but we would all be very rich! You all have percentage clauses in your contracts. This could put Hawkins Salvage and Recovery on the map! We would be the top company! Warlock, can you get us there?"
"What is the current condition of the storms in that area?" Warlock asked, a small tinge of worry in his voice.
"Ummm, it looks like..." Nyquilio began.
"No time! It's now or never," Donella said. "Warlock, can you do it? I hired you because you were the best Godda-(Donella glanced at her daughter again)...ahem...best damn pilot in the industry. Did I make a mistake? And Nero, can you handle going into an unknown area or did I make a mistake hiring you as head of security?"
"If Warlock can get us down there then Butch and I can keep the crew safe, right Butch?" Nero asked turning to his first security officer and smiling.
"Hooah!" Butch replied.
"I can do it. It may be spotty but I'll get us down there sir." Warlock finally answered as he left the room to prepare the shuttle for take off. Butch and Nero followed him.
"Great," Donella said. "Okay, artifact team prepare to board the shuttle. Lubdan, you and Talos keep an eye on all systems here."
"Aye sir," Lubdan replied.
"Affirmative sir," Talos-16 added.
"Nyquilio, you ready to navigate us?" Donella asked.
"Yes sir, connecting to Shuttle GPS systems now."
"Okay crew look alive. We depart in ten minutes, begin boarding the shuttle," Donella ordered. She turned to her daughter, "Come on, dear. Perhaps this artifact is indeed religious and you can earn some brownie points with god or whatever."
"That's blasphemous, mom!" Christina chirped as she joined her mother and left the lab.
"Well, this is it Candi. You get to visit Earth-1. Are you excited?" Varissa asked her student.
"Very much so! I feel really safe with Butch looking after us," Candi said with a slight blush.
"I bet you do, come on lets go load up," Varissa said, ushering Candi out the door in front of her but before Varissa could follow Lubdan spoke up behind her.
"Dr. Degenarro! One second if you please."
"Yes, Lubdan?" Varissa asked.
"I've been working on something really cool! Check it out!" Lubdan lifted something off the nano bed and turned to face Varissa. She glanced at his hands which were open in front of him. A silver ball about the size of a softball rested on his palm.
"What is it?" Varissa asked.
"Watch," Lubdan said as he let go of the ball. He seemed to be concentrating and the ball was responding. It rose up before him and then floated across the room in front of Varissa.
"Hold it," he added.
Varissa took the ball and held it in her hands.
"Okay, now what?"
"Concentrate on something," Lubdan said excitedly. "Pretty much anything that can be held, like if you were in a situation where you needed to defend yourself. Think of a melee weapon! Like a bat!"
Varissa concentrated and the ball began to morph. Within seconds the ball had turned into a silver metallic baseball bat.
"Try something with an edge! A sword!" Lubdan said. He looked as excited as a school child.
Varissa thought of an ancient double edged sword and felt the handle of the bat she held turn into the hilt of a sword and then the rest of the bat morphed into a sharp silver double edged blade.
"Wow, Lubdan! That is impressive!" Varissa said with genuine awe.
"He had some assistance Dr. Degenarro," Talos interjected.
"Of course, great work T! You two are a great team!" Varissa said walking towards the pair. She concentrated on the sword turning back into a ball and it morphed back into the original softball sized sphere and she began to hand it back to Lubdan.
"No, go ahead and take it with you!" Lubdan insisted. "We have no idea what the conditions are like down there. Besides, I'm already working on a modified version that may be able to produce projectiles by using a nano ant reproduction system!"
"Well, thank you Lubdan. Keep up the good work, this is impressive!" Varissa said as she smiled at Lubdan and Talos and turned to leave the room. Lubdan spun back around and went back to working on his new sphere. Before Varissa could leave the room, Talos turned back towards her and spoke up.
"Have you tried cuddling, Dr. Degenarro?" Talos asked out of the blue.
Varissa stopped in her tracks. "Excuse me, T?" she asked, a bit perturbed.
"To help you sleep better. I have witnessed a much healthier sleep pattern in Lubdan when I cradle him in my arms at night. And also-"
"Whoa! T that'll do, let's let Dr. Varissa get to the shuttle, we don't wanna upset Don," Lubdan said spinning back around facing Varissa with a bright red flush adorning his face. "Umm, have a safe Trip, doc!"
Varissa chuckled and held the ball up, "Will do, Lubdan, and thank you for this, really!"
Lubdan and Talos turned back around and got back to work as Varissa left the lab and made her way to the shuttle.
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