Artifact

Artifact Page 8

To Frik, the next hour seemed like a lifetime. Arthur had called on his way to the airport and issued instructions for what would be needed. Frik jotted them down and repeated each one, a slur creeping into his voice. When he put down the phone, he handed the list to Saaliim and told him to go out and collect everything Arthur wanted.

Saaliim was also given a second mission.

After showing Saaliim the piece of the artifact that he'd rescued from the fire, Frik ordered his assistant to search the remains of the lab and Trujold's house and car for the three missing components of the strange object.

Reluctant to leave Frik alone for long, Saaliim returned in less than an hour. He had gathered everything Arthur needed, but he'd found nothing that in any way resembled the pieces of the artifact. Maybe he'd made the wrong choice, not taking Paul directly to the hospital. Chances were, they would have ignored his babblings there, but they could have done something to keep him alive - at least long enough for Frik to extract from him the whereabouts of the missing pieces.

Then again, he'd learned to trust his first instinct, which in this case was to keep things under tight control.

Leaving the matter of the artifact to be dealt with later, Frik settled down to wait for Arthur. Every car he saw on the road had to be his...until it was swallowed by the balmy night. He cursed himself for not arranging to have a helicopter waiting for Arthur at Piarco. The airport was only forty or fifty kilometers from the house. Marryshow, an accomplished pilot, could have been here long ago. Christ, how he hated inefficiency, especially his own, he thought, as the pain came back and he gulped more scotch. He couldn't risk taking morphine and losing control of this situation. Have to make Arthur help me, he kept telling himself.

Car lights cut through the darkened room.

Paul, finally knocked out by the drugs, didn't stir. Frik turned on a light. Seconds later, Arthur came into the house.

"Frikkie, I've just sent Saaliim to get some more things. I need you to tell me exactly what happened. By the way, you look like hell."

Frik realized that he hadn't done anything to clean himself up. "Like I told you, there was a fire. I - "

Arthur was already standing beside Paul. He pulled back the sheet exposing the black splotches where fire had seared the skin. "My God. If you're up to it, hand me my bag."

Frik handed him a medical bag that looked more like an oversized attache. "We have to talk," he said.

"Let me check him first. I'll listen to what you have to say later."

Arthur checked Paul's vitals. "His pulse is thready. His breathing's ragged at best."

Frik ventured closer. To his astonishment, Trujold had opened his eyes. Clearly, he was struggling to say something, but what emerged from his scorched lips was little more than a series of croaks. He seemed to be saying "Anny."

"He's trying to say Manny," Frik said. "Manny carried him out of the flaming building."

"Easy, Paul," Arthur said. "Don't try to speak." He motioned Frik to follow him out of Paul's earshot. "He's a mess. Chances are he's not going to make it. His only hope is to be moved out now."

"No."

"Excuse me? Paul needs things I can't do for him here."

Frik glanced over at Paul. He had closed his eyes and seemed to have fallen unconscious again. "Listen to me, Arthur," he said. "We're talking about the man's life." Arthur's harsh whisper held both contempt and anger.

"You have to know there's a reason I didn't take him straight to Mount Hope," Frik said. "Not onlya reason, but one that's more important than Paul or you or me."

"I must move him to the hospital right away, Frik," Arthur said. "And I should take a look at you, too."

Frik shook his head. "We found something, Arthur. In the deep test drilling area. I wanted to hide it, but Paul had already - "

Arthur looked over at Paul."Found something?"

Frik nodded. He described - as best he could - the indescribable, and watched Arthur's eyes narrow. This had to be a strange night for him. Flying here, seeing both of them burned, now this. Frik anticipated a barrage of questions, but when he'd finished, Arthur only asked, "Where is it?"

Frik shook his head. "That's the point. I thought I had it. I thought I was bringing the device out of the lab. When it started melting in the heat, I knew most of it was only a goddamn replica Paul had made. Only one piece of the real thing was left. It's right over there." Frik nodded in the direction of a side table. On it, under a lamp, sat the one piece of the artifact Frik had. It reflected the artificial light with an unnatural eeriness. From the confused look on Arthur's face Frik concluded that he sensed it too.

Saaliim came into the room with some ice and glasses and a small pitcher of water. Arthur grabbed the bottle of Lagavulin and poured himself a few fingers' worth.

"Tell me...what did you plan on doing with the...whatever it was?"

Frik moistened his lips and looked over at Paul. Best-case scenario, the man regained consciousness long enough to disclose the whereabouts of the fragments to Frik - and then died. If he lived, the truth would come out. Or at least Paul's fantasies of the truth.

"What were you going to do with this incredible device?" Arthur asked again.

"If I couldn't figure out how to replicate it...control it? I was going to hide it. For as long as I could," Frik said.

As if he had heard Frik's words, Paul groaned slightly. An intake of air. Arthur walked over to him, looked at Paul, then at Frik. "I must move Paul now. There's nothing more I can do for him here. Have Saaliim call for an ambulance."

At that moment, Frik's assistant returned to the room. "I took the liberty, Dr. Marryshow, of ordering Oilstar's medevac chopper. It should be here shortly." His words were punctuated by thethump thump thump of the emergency helicopter approaching.

Frik said, "Most efficient of you. Thank you, Saaliim," but his words lacked true conviction, and the younger man averted his eyes.

Arthur turned back to Paul and rechecked the burned man's vitals. The thumping outside became a torrent against the side of the house, and then quieted.

Two EMS techs ran into the room pushing a gurney. Frik watched them gently shift Paul from the small daybed.

"Careful," Arthur said.

The techs looked from Arthur to Frik. One asked, in accented English, "You 'kay, Mr. Van Alman?"

Frik nodded.

"Get him on the chopper." Arthur indicated Paul. "I'll be right out." The tech nodded, and they wheeled Paul out.

"Frikkie, you need medical attention too. You need to come with us to the hospital."

Frik poured another scotch. "Arthur - I want our club to find those pieces. The Daredevils."

He turned toward his old friend. Arthur's face showed consternation, even anger. "I have a patient to deal with, Frik. We'll have to have this discussion another time."

"But - "

Arthur cut off Frik's response by turning on his heel and walking through the door. Over his shoulder he called out, "If Paul has any relatives, I suggest you contact them."

Frikkie downed the scotch and reached for the bottle. As he sank back into the cushions of his leather sofa, the torrent of noise outside returned. Small twigs and leaves battered the windows and walls of the house as the medevac chopper took off.

Frikkie snapped awake at the sound of the telephone. His first sensation was pain, searing, aching pain. He reached for the bottle of Lagavulin and knocked it over, but nothing poured out. Empty.

"Master Frik, you're awake." Saaliim's voice was soft and full of concern. "Dr. Marryshow is on the line."

"What time is it?"

"Half-four. Should I bring you the phone?"

Frik waggled his head to try to clear it. It took a few moments for all of the previous day's events to return to him. "Yes," he said at last. "Also some coffee and anything you can find for this pain, short of morphine."

As Saaliim left, Frik tried to stand. A wave of nausea passed over him and he dropped back onto the leather sofa he'd been sleeping on. His left hand was a mass of pain. His mouth tasted as if he'd washed down the embers of a campfire with a bottle of whiskey, which he supposed wasn't far from the truth.

Suddenly the receiver of a telephone appeared in front of him. He picked it up and croaked, "Hello, Arthur?"

"You don't sound good, Frik."

"I'm fine if you discount the pain, and the aftereffects of a bottle of scotch. The important question is, how's Paul?"

There was a pause on the line, and Frik knew the answer to his question.

"He died twenty minutes ago."

"Damn it. Wasn't there anything you could do?" As soon as he'd asked the question, Frikkie knew it was a mistake.

"Had he been brought straight to a hospital instead of your house, maybe. But - "

That line of discussion wouldn't get them anywhere, so Frik cut in, saying, "His wife died years ago, as did his parents. Saaliim is trying to locate Paul's daughter." The smell of fresh coffee wafted into the study.

"I think I've got that taken care of," Arthur said. "Manny stopped by to see how Paul was doing. He just left. He said he can get a message to...Selene, right?"

Frik inhaled deeply of the comforting coffee aroma. "Yes. Selene. She's not particularly fond of me. She's one of those environmentalists." Saaliim returned with a cup of coffee and a Vicodin. Frikkie washed down the pain pill with a swig of the liquid, which his assistant had cooled just enough with the addition of milk.

"I'm sorry to bring it up at a time like this, but..." Frik paused and took a deep breath. "The Daredevils Club meeting is less than two weeks away. Tell me that you'll support me in this, Arthur. We have to find that device."

"We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Frik took another swallow of coffee. He couldn't wait. The sense of dread that had seized him in the lab was eating at him, trying to get another grip. "Tell me you'll help, damn it. You're my friend."

Arthur would have to back him in this. You owe me, he thought again, but as they had done right after the accident, the words remained unspoken. There was silence on the line. Were it not for the background murmur of the nurses at the station from which Arthur was making the call, Frikkie would have thought that his friend had hung up.

"Your answer?"

"No, Frik. I don't think so. The club has never been for the aggrandizement of any individual member. Besides, there's something unsavory about all this - "

"You don't understand. You could be throwing away the key to the universe."

That made Arthur laugh. "Some lids are meant to remain locked, Frikkie. I'm not willing to be Pandora, here."

"Damn it, Arthur - "

"Over my dead body, Frik. The whole thing smells wrong to me. I suppose you can bring it up at the meeting New Year's Eve, but I'll fight you on it."

This time, the silence on the line was absolute.

Frikkie put the receiver in its cradle and lay back on the sofa. The alcohol he had consumed had not fully left his system and the narcotic was beginning to numb his extremities. He tried to focus on the events of the day, and on how to proceed, but things quickly got hazy. One diaphanous plan melted into another, until he passed out cold.

At around midmorning, Frik awoke again, stiff and groggy and in his own bed. He assumed he'd been carried there by Saaliim. Wouldn't be the first time, he thought. He didn't know which was worse, the pain in his hand, the tightness in his chest from the smoke-filled lab, or his pounding hangover headache.

"Saaliim!"

His call instantly brought his assistant into the room.

"Coffee, my man. And something for this pain."

"Dr. Marryshow, he sent you some medicinals," Saaliim said. "Right there on your nightstand."

The younger man left the room and Frik picked up the white paper bag with a note in Arthur's handwriting stapled to it. Inside the bag there was antibacterial ointment for the burns and a small bottle of painkillers. The note contained cursory instructions about how often to take them and a warning not to drink alcohol while he did so. At the end of the instructions, Arthur had added: I'm leaving the island. Take it slowly for a few days, Frikkie, and don't overdo the medication. By then you'll have come to your senses. Arthur Or maybe you'll have changed your mind, Frik thought, and promptly swallowed twice the recommended dose of pills. By the time Saaliim returned with coffee, he was falling back into blackness.

For three days, Frik remembered little except pills, coffee, pain, and Saaliim's quiet presence floating in and out of the room. By the fourth morning, he was up and trying to dress when Saaliim knocked on the door.

"Telephone, Master Frik."

"Who is it?"

Arthur, he told himself as the events of the past few days returned to him. He's changed his mind.

"Missy Selene. Yesterday I told her you can't talk. Today she don't sound too good."

"I'll talk to her." Frik sat down on the side of the bed. Saaliim plugged in the extension phone, which he'd apparently kept unplugged for the last few days.

"Hello? Selene?"

"Frik." Selene's voice was like an ice cube.

He shivered, despite the heat of the morning. "I'm sorry about your father, Selene. He was a good man."

"Sorry? I'll bet you are. You lost a major workhorse, not to mention his discovery. You've never given a damn for anyone's safety but your own, you bastard."

"Selene - "

"You and your fucking oil drilling," Selene yelled. "By the time we're finished with you, Oilstar will be nothing but a memory."

The phone went dead in Frik's hand.

He pieced together what he knew about Selene. It wasn't much. She was bright, attractive, and had a Ph.D. in physics for which he had paid.

The penny dropped.

Green Impacthad to be the "we" to which she had referred.

That was when the second penny dropped.

She knows, Frik thought. Her father must have sent her the pieces of the artifact. But how? There was no way she could have received them yet unless they'd been hand delivered. But by whom? Manny?

No. That was laughable. Manny was too smart to bite the hand that fed him.

How then? Maybe she hadn't received them yet. Maybe her father had told her he was sending them but -  It doesn't matter, Frik told himself. All that matters is that she knows. If Paul had told her about the artifact, then even if he hadn't sent them to her, he might have told her where he'd hidden the missing pieces. In order to find out, he'd have to capture Selene, and for that, he'd need some help.

The Daredevils Club remained his only choice. He'd have to convince them, whether Arthur objected or not. Whatever it took, Frik needed the club. He wasn't going to go into extinction quietly, damn it. He was no dumb tyrannosaur, he was Frikkie Van Alman, head of Oilstar, man of adventure. Nothing would stand in his way.

Nothing.