FSE

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Chapter 15: Aquamarine

Sounds of bustling technicians echoed around the expansive space of a warehouse in the outskirts of Melbourne. Final preparations were being made for arranging and testing seven alien artefacts. Sound-proof panels had been built into a frame making a large enclosed space near the centre of the building. Red lines of tape defined a hexagonal shape inside the sound-proofed area and an ‘X’ marked the central point of the polygon. Truckloads of monitoring equipment from the military technical institute were arrayed both inside and outside the enclosure.

Doctor Ash clutched a large clipboard and checked off lists of tasks. He was feeling vindicated that his prediction of the colour of the seventh gem suit had proven accurate. Unless tertiary colours were involved it was likely they now had the full complement of crystals. Perhaps today something new about the nature of the alien artefacts would be revealed. He pondered. Doctor Ash noticed the Naval Group Captain looking surly.

“Officer Laidlaw!” the scientist hailed him enthusiastically, “I thought you’d have an entire navy unit standing by today.”

The officer scowled. “Believe me, I requested it,” he growled. “I think what you’re doing is dangerous and irresponsible. Unfortunately my opinion wasn’t shared by my commander. He said: ‘Loud music and disco lights is not justification for mobilizing the army.’”

“The suits have been benign - even beneficial to humanity,” countered the scientist. “We may be about to reveal some deeper information about the purpose or design of the artefacts.”

The officer folded his arms. “Nothing in the universe is free, Doctor Ash. As a physicist you know that. What you’re building today may very well be the price.”

“Pshaw!” the scientist scoffed. “If your little green men were hostile we’d have been dead long ago. They certainly possess technology far beyond ours. My guess is we’re building a communication device. Light and sound are the two media humans most use in communication. We are looking at proof the aliens know very much about humans where we know virtually nothing about them.”

“Couldn’t they just send a text message? If they can send us gems surely they could just pop a fax through,” said the officer.

“I’d hope for a message a little more interactive than a fax. Mind you,” pondered the scientist, “it’s possible the crystals are the aliens – nothing more than large bacteria. And the light and sound are merely stimulus response of having them in proximity. In any case hopefully today we’ll have more information one way or another.”

“Good luck, Doctor,” said the officer walking away. “If a xenomorph latches on to your face I’ll be over by the coffee machine if you need me.”

Doctor Karl and his younger offer boyfriend approached the enclosure. “What did you say to Officer Laidlaw?” asked Doctor Karl. “He was scowling even more than usual.”

“Oh, he’s worried we’re going to blow up the world or something,” said Doctor Ash dismissively. “Have you seen Janice?”

“Ah, yeah, she was supervising the unloading of the gems,” said Doctor Karl. “But don’t ask her why there was a delay or you’ll get a long lecture about the difficulty convincing a half dozen military and civilian organizations to part with their most valuable assets.”

“I guess we’ve been really lucky no idiot forced any of the suits into a four-hundred-day downtime,” said Officer Wright. “That would have scuppered your attempt to blow up the world.”

“If you two would like to be useful go find Doctor Chand and the gems,” said Doctor Ash dismissing the couple. “We’re almost ready to arrange the crystals.” He checked his clipboard. “I still have a few monitoring stations to commission.”

Near the entrance to the warehouse a flustered Doctor Chand stood by a stack of sealed wooden crates. “Ah! Just the people I need!” She motioned Doctor Karl and Officer Wright over. “Grab a crowbar and open these boxes. Some overly cautious shipping clerk decided the suits were ‘fragile’. Two of the gems are already by the south wall. Unpack two and take them to the north wall. If you find the Diamond Suit take it directly to Doctor Ash. He doesn’t want to risk accidentally prematurely aligning the gems near each other.”

“Makes sense,” said Doctor Karl wielding a crowbar against a nearby crate. He unpacked the red and the yellow crystals from dense foam and placed them on a trolley. A technician whisked the gems away to the north of the warehouse.

Doctor Chand unpacked the blue and purple crystals and Officer Wright located the clear gem.

“Great. Take that to Doctor Ash and we’re ready to go,” said Doctor Chand to the two men. She also directed a technician to take the other two crystals to the east wall opposite the warehouse entrance.

Carrying the Diamond Suit Doctor Karl and Officer Wright returned to the scientist with the clipboard. “Ah, excellent!” he exclaimed. “You can put that crystal in the enclosure. You’ll see a plastic cup at the centre of the hexagon,” he directed Doctor Karl to an opening in the sound panels. “We’ve got the monitoring stations online so smile… you’re on Candid Camera.”

The opening to the central enclosure formed part of a zig-zag path between the sound-absorbing panels that would prevent most of the audio from escaping. Doctor Karl carried his clear gem along the convoluted hallway into the enclosure. He almost tripped on a step up – the soundproofing panels lined the floor as well as ceiling. There were no echoes in the space and the bustle of the warehouse was inaudible. Monitoring equipment had been baffled with foam as much as possible. Cameras, microphones and other sensors were mounted on foam-covered tripods. Strips of white LEDs around the intersection of the ceiling and wall panels gave directionless illumination. Combined with the dead sound the room seemed more alien than the crystal Doctor Karl placed at hexagon’s centre. Experimentally he clicked his fingers but the sound was flat, dead, as though he was packed in cotton wool.

When he returned to Doctor Ash the scientist was speaking into a microphone, “Everyone non-essential please leave the warehouse. Assemble in the parking area and await the all-clear to return.” Junior technicians and contractors who had been assisting began to file through the exit. “We’ll be locking the doors in five minutes. If you haven’t been given a yellow pass you’re non-essential, so please exit immediately.”

“Uh, I don’t have a yellow pass,” said Officer Wright.

“Don’t worry about it, Rob,” said Doctor Chand. “You’re part of the core team. None of the senior scientists have passes either. The passes are just to let the junior staff be certain we don’t want them hanging around and getting in the way…”

“Endangering themselves, Doctor Chand,” growled Officer Laidlaw. “We’re limiting the exposure of personnel to the crystal array in case it’s not a telephone.”

“He’s been like this all morning,” said Doctor Ash to the other scientist. “But the fewer people in here the better in any case. Leon, I’ve volunteered you to place the crystals. The first few shouldn’t present any problems or dangers.”

“Sure!” said Doctor Karl. “I was hoping it would be me. Let me know which crystals and in what order you want to try.”

“Firstly, put these ear-buds in your ears and put this headset on.” Doctor Ash handed the other scientist a set of thick headphones with an attached microphone and some small ear-plugs. “The plugs and the ‘phones are active as well as passive noise cancelling. We can talk to you through the buds and you can talk back through the wand mike.”

“Got it,” Doctor Karl inserted the plugs deep into his ear canal, then donned the headphones. “Test… test… crikey! I can’t hear myself speak!”

“…old it. There. You don’t need to shout,” Doctor Ash’s voice sounded in Doctor Karl’s head.

“Ah… better. I can hear myself as well,” said Doctor Karl.

“Officer Wright, you’re the ‘fetch it’ man,” the older scientist instructed the officer. “Get the trolley with the sapphire and amethyst crystals.” He pointed to the east wall.

“Roger that.” The young officer briskly marched to the wall furthest from the closing exit doors. He returned pushing the trolley holding the blue and purple gems.

“Leon, take the sapphire and place it on the hexagon vertex labelled ‘1’ and place the amethyst on ‘2’. We’ll be monitoring from this station. Officer Laidlaw you stand there looking surly. There’s a crowbar by the door if you want to be armed against face-huggers.”

“Ha-bloody-ha.” But the senior officer retreated to nearer the exit. If something were to go wrong he felt he would be in a better position to react if he was slightly further from the epicentre.

Doctor Karl placed the first two crystals without incident and returned through the entrance maze.

“Very good,” said Doctor Ash looking at his monitor. “We’ve got middle C, E and G notes barely audible for normal hearing. And when we blank the LEDs there’s detectable light emitted from the three crystals. Rob, can you fetch the ruby and topaz crystals?”

Doctor Karl took the red and yellow orbs through to the hexagon. He placed the ruby on the next vertex around from the amethyst, and the topaz on vertex ‘4’. “I can see a faint glow, but I can’t hear anything,” said the scientist.

“Ah, the noise-cancelling is attuned to the specific frequencies of the two chords of C-major,” came the voice in his head. “Give me a moment… how’s that?”

“Oh, better. I can hear the chord now,” said Doctor Karl.

“I’ve altered the attenuation – it’ll clip the tones to a safe level,” the voice said. “But you may not need to worry about that.”

Outside the enclosure Doctor Chand was kneeling beside toy truck when Doctor Karl returned. No, not a truck - a small robotic vehicle! he realized. The other scientist finished mounting the emerald globe in a pair of calliper jaws at the front of the robot. Padded fingers on the callipers held the crystal steady.

“We’ll use the remote drone to place the last two crystals,” said Doctor Chand. “We can guide it from out here so no-one needs to be near in the enclosure if the crystal oscillations are too extreme.

“C above middle, and E, with easily visible lighting,” said Doctor Ash from his monitoring station. “So far exactly as expected. Doctor Chand, pilot your drone to deposit the emerald on vertex ‘5’”

With a lurch the small remote controlled vehicle stuttered forward. Doctor Chand fiddled with the joysticks on a hand-held unit. “Sorry – still getting used to the controls,” she muttered. Unsteadily the vehicle navigated toward the enclosure. A display on the control unit allowed the scientist to drive the small device through the twisting entryway. It bumped over the small rise of the floor panels. As the monitors around the warehouse showed the robot approaching its destination the musical chord and glow from the crystals faded away. With careful manoeuvring Doctor Chand aligned the emerald crystal with its destination at vertex ‘5’. She tapped a button on the control unit to release the calliper jaws. A quiet ‘clunk’ sounded from monitor speakers as the green crystal dropped into its supporting cup. There was no sound of a musical chord or bright lights from the arrayed crystals.

“Try reversing the robot away,” suggested Doctor Ash.

Monitors showed the robot retreating and executing a three-point-turn before driving toward the exit. No light or sound from the array was detected by the equipment.

“Well… that should have worked,” said a frustrated Doctor Ash. “It’s the correct crystal in the correct position – we had this configuration working last month.”

Doctor Karl spoke up. “I have a theory… What if it the crystal needs to be placed by human hands?”

“What? Why would that be different?” asked Doctor Ash.

“Ah… the affinity for people, thing,” said Doctor Chand. “The crystals react to humans. It may be a safety interlock to ensure the array isn’t accidentally activated.”

“Doctor Karl, take these googles.” Doctor Ash gave a pair of round tinted lenses to the other scientist. “They’re dual polarized in an adjustable layer. Twist the front pane to increase the filter effect. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to send you in there, but if the robot wasn’t precise enough or knocked something over you were going to be our standby. You should be well enough protected with your headphones and goggles.”

Doctor Karl removed his earmuffs so he could don the goggles. He adjusted the lenses so he could see clearly, then restored his hearing protection.

“Good luck.” Officer Wright leaned in to kiss his partner. “If it gets too much kick the crystals apart. Don’t get eaten by space monsters for the sake of science. Love you…”

The scientist returned the kiss and rubbed his lover’s shoulder. “Back in a tick. There’ll be lights, there’ll be sound, and then we’ll all stand around looking foolish when nothing else happens. But if I do get eaten by space monsters don’t forget to feed the dogs.” He turned away and walked toward the entry maze.

Despite his bravado with his partner Doctor Karl nervousness warred with his bravado as he walked the short maze into the central enclosure. Six crystals sat inert on their plastic cups – one of the vertices of the hexagon was currently empty. The scientist crouched next to the emerald stone and adjusted the light filters of his googles so he could barely see the orbs. He double-checked his hearing protection was seated properly. There was silence in the enclosure.

“When you’re ready, Leon,” came Doctor Ash’s voice in his head.

Reaching forward he used two hands to pick up the faceted emerald crystal. He held it aloft for a moment then deliberately placed it in the plastic support. When he withdrew his hands a musical chord swelled – relayed through the tiny speakers in his ears. Six glowing stars shone through the polarized light filters of his goggles. He stood and stepped back a pace from the mostly-completed hexagon.

The musical tones in his head quieted slightly and Doctor Ash’s voice overlaid the sound. “Very good, Leon. Seems you were right about needing a human touch. How’re you doing in there?”

“Oh, fine. The goggles and earmuffs are working perfectly. The lights are bright but I don’t feel any heat,” replied the scientist. “I’m coming out now to retrieve the last crystal.”

Walking back through the entry maze Doctor Karl realized he’d been feeling the sound through his skin while he’d been near the crystals. The sensation became apparent by its absence. It reminded him of the humming of diamond across his skin when he’d worn a gem suit. In the dim corridor he adjusted his goggles toward transparency.

“Everyone, double-check your monitors and equipment,” commanded Doctor Chand. “High-speed cameras? Spectroscopes, audio and visual?...” As she listed various devices technicians at monitoring stations replied with “Check!”

There was palpable excitement and anticipation from the assembled scientists and technicians as Doctor Karl lifted the new aquamarine crystal globe.

“Place the crystal then step back,” advised Doctor Chand. “Inverse square law says the further away you are your chances of surviving increase dramatically.”

“That’s hardly comforting, Janice!” chuckled Doctor Karl nervously.

Officer Wright looked to be hiding his concern and forced a smile and gave a thumbs-up to his partner. “If the aliens invite you in for dinner, politely decline. Then kick the shit outta the crystals!”

“No problems, pup. Back in five minutes,” the scientist tried to sound reassuring to his partner, but the warble of nervousness in his voice betrayed his anxiousness.

“My money’s on alien telephone,” said Doctor Ash. “Or possibly ‘80s disco revival and we’ve all been duped by a MusicTV marketing campaign.”

“Ha! I’ll keep that in mind when Max Headroom starts pushing the Coca Cola adverts,” chuckled Doctor Karl and felt some of his nervousness dissipate. He turned and carried the last gemstone through the dim maze of the enclosure’s entranceway.

As he advanced the scientist attenuated his light filtering goggles to account for the increasing bright crystal glow. But when he approached the hexagonal array the musical chord and intense light faded away. Awkwardly he adjusted the lenses of his goggles so he could see in the now comparatively dim enclosure. Every sound he made seemed loud but at the same time stifled in the silent room. As he crouched before a red plastic cup at vertex ‘6’ his knees popped, startling in the silence.

“I’m in position and about to place the final crystal,” he said to the empty room.

A confident voice of Doctor Ash in his head replied, “Very good, Leon. Everything is ready here.”

He held the large aquamarine gem in his bare hands for a moment, feeling warmth from the hard surface. Tiny sparks of gold and sapphire ignited inside the crystal. The scientist carefully place the orb onto its plastic receptacle. He withdrew one hand to attenuate his googles to opaque. Then he drew a deep breath and whispered “For science…” and withdrew his other hand from the crystal.

This story continues in the part 3: Fur Suit.