“What type of equipment and technology?”
“Who knows? The best minds in the military couldn’t figure them out. But I’ll tell you this: the ship that crashed in Roswell was loaded with equipment. Several of the people on the project that I talked to said that it looked more like a supply ship than an exploratory craft. There were duplicates of almost everything on board. One device looked like it functioned as some sort of power cell, and there was a second one stored on the ship. Some of the analysts speculated that once they knew how to operate everything, the second set of equipment could be used to construct another ship. Of course, this was pure conjecture. As I said, the analysts never did figure anything out. Except, of course, the particle accelerator.”
“Hypothetically speaking, do you think, with today’s technology, scientists could create their own extraterrestrial craft?”
Malloy shrugged. “It’s possible. Of course, all the alien equipment is still stored at the Roswell research complex.”
“That could be a problem.”
Malloy smiled conspiratorially. “More like impossible… if the rumours are true.”
Ellis leaned into the picture and shook Malloy’s hand. “Thank you for your time.”
“My pleasure.”
Ellis ejected the disk and returned to the wooden cabinet. “See? There’s not much there.”
“What was Malloy referring to… the rumours about Roswell?”
Ellis seemed amused by my ignorance. “You haven’t heard? That story has been around for ages. You must know that the Roswell Complex was shut down just before the war ended. The rumour is that one of the final projects turned into a major disaster. Apparently, several mysterious containers were recovered from the alien crash site. Researchers spent decades trying to figure out how to open them. After they’d stumbled onto how the particle accelerator worked, someone hit upon the bright idea of using it on the sealed containers. Well, they got the containers open, and all hell broke loose. Whatever had been stored inside was living matter. No one knows whether it was toxic or viral, but it killed off most of the researchers before anyone knew what was happening. The complex was quarantined and hasn’t been opened since.”
My tax dollars at work. From everything I’d learned over the past week, it seemed like nothing was foolproof as long as the military was involved.
Ellis broke into my thoughts. “So, what are we going to do now?”
I didn’t like the “we” reference. Archie might have been reading too many Batman comics, but I wasn’t in the market for a sidekick, especially one who drank herbal tea and preferred incense to good, clean tobacco.
“I’ve got to find out more about this Pandora Device. I probably need to contact a Elijah Witt, as well.”
Ellis’ eager expression scrunched into a defensive frown. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why?”
“Well, Mr Witt’s a very important, very private person. And he doesn’t talk to outsiders.”
Archie sounded like he was talking about his pet hamster. I restrained myself from telling him that I really didn’t care what he or Mr Witt thought or did. “Oh, well. I guess that’s my hard luck.”
Ellis relaxed. “So… is there anything else I can tell you about?”
It was time to smoke. As I got up from my chair, one other question occurred to me. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the There are Messages from Outer Space paperback. “You ever read this?”
Ellis looked at the book closely. “Sure. Mr Witt wrote it. It’s really good. See? The author’s name is J.I Thelwait. As an anagram for Elijah Witt.”
I slipped the book back in my pocket. Ellis kept talking, his tone becoming more anxious. He was like a fisherman about to lose the big one. “You should read Foucault’s Pendulum, too. It explains everything. The Telluric Currents, the Templar plan. It’s all in there. Umberto Eco was a prophet.”
He got up quickly and hurried around the table, placing himself between me and the door. “You should also read The Fifth Column. It’s great. It proves that there’s a giant conspiracy in the government. Aliens have been living among us for generations. It even hints that one of our presidents was alien, or at least half alien. It’s all documented. The crop circles… the alien inductions… the government knows about all it. Heck, they’re in on most of it!”
I moved past Ellis into the main room of the shop. He didn’t even pause. “If you want my advice, trust nobody! I can tell that you’re on the level, but most of the time, you never know. The aliens are everywhere!”
I stopped at the door and turned back with an exaggerated look of suspicion. “How can I be sure that you’re not an alien, Archie?”
It was like I’d slapped him. He didn’t recover for a few seconds. “Everyone knows — aliens deny their own existence. I wouldn’t talk about them if I was one.”
I smiled indulgently. “Ah… of course. Well, now that I know you can be trusted, I’d better be moving along. I’ll be sure to keep your advice in mind.”
Ellis hurried to the door and unlocked it. “It was good to meet you, Murphy. It’s always nice to meet another believer. Keep in touch.”
Chapter Eighteen
I stepped out of the Cosmic Connection and lit up a much-needed smoke. Leaning against my speeder, I inhaled deeply. My mind reeled, trying to sort out all the information acquired over the past few days. It was like trying to stuff a marshmallow into a piggy bank.
I tried to arrange the details chronologically. OK, first an alien spacecraft crashed at Roswell. The military moves in, confiscates the wreckage, and convinces the media that it was all a misunderstanding. Everything is taken to a secret complex near Roswell, where it’s analysed unsuccessfully for years. Malloy joins Project Blueprint and works on deciphering the alien symbols. Eventually, technology catches up, making it possible for the military to figure out some of the alien equipment, in particular an advanced particle accelerator. Our boys in the Pentagon figure out how to use it to build a better bomb, only it turns out to be a very bad bomb. We win the war, but lose the ozone. Project Blueprint is shut down; Malloy is transferred to Peking, where he spends the remainder of his career translating manuals and continuing his research on the alien symbols in his spare time.
So far, so good. Now it gets a little murkier. Malloy eventually has a breakthrough. He is now, apparently, the first and only Earth creature to read an extraterrestrial communication. So what does he do? He retires, comes back to the States, goes to Berkeley, and starts building something called the Pandora Device. He then disappears, surfacing only to give an interview to a crackpot. A short time later, he sends out at least three, earth may be more boxes, which no one seems to know how to open. Then he’s gunned down, seemingly by the NSA.
This thread got me from point A to point B Unfortunately, it didn’t really account for much of the peripherals. What was Malloy’s association with Fitzpatrick? How did Elijah Witt fit into things? How was the murder of Sandra Collins linked to Malloy?
Then, of course, there were the highest priority questions. What was the message in the alien symbols? What was in the boxes? How many boxes were sent, and where were they?
My head felt like a vid-phone booth crammed full of fraternity pledges. I needed a stiff drink and a soft mattress. I got back to the Brew & Stew just as Louie was closing up shop. “Hi, honey. I’m home.”
“Hiya, Murph’. You got in just under the wire. Gonna have a nightcap. Want a brandy?”