The Last Last Lecture 23
23 [Just Before]
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CLASSIFIED: ABOVE TOP SECRET
OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT
Closed Hearing: AD-HOC WORKING GROUP: Code-Name ‘Project Apple’
Chairman, National Security Administration (NSA) (Hearing Chair) Dr. Roberta Earn
Chairman, Senate Intelligence Committee Senator Randolf Bern
Chairman, House Intelligence Committee Congresswoman Wilma Beckett
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, United States Armed Forces Admiral William Teft
Secretary of Defense Dr. Gregory Barnes
Chief of Staff, White House Dr Scott McCaffert
WITTNESS (sworn in):
Director, Project SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) Dr. Robert Jannes
Chair Ms. Earn: “Meeting convened ten-twelve A.M. Eastern Standard, in sound-proof secure room, day two of closed-session testimony regarding Project SETI and Project Apple recent developments. Doctor Jannes, I remind you that you are still under oath for this Closed hearing, and… I am simply aghast and blown-away by what you are trying to report to this committee. Could you please give us the over-view of the artifact that Project Apple now has, and why it’s now sitting in a top-secret research bunker in Montana.”
Dr. Jannes: “Thank you, Madame Chairman. I’ll keep a long story short, to allow questions… The story starts with the military… Admiral?”
[Digital screen: Exhibit A: Map of Middle East/Turkey-Armenian region]
Admiral Teft: “Two months ago, our NSA satellites took a long look at a particular area of the Turkey-Iran-Syria-Armenia region for high-sensitivity detection of special nuclear materials… SNM… after strong human intelligence in Damascus told us that there was a stray fighter-deployed nuclear weapon from some unknown actor in the Middle East that had ditched, and was vulnerable to acquisition by undesirable rouge states. Unfortunately, we had to start with a broad SNM sweep… we found and secured the nuke pretty quickly, that’s a different classified hearing, but… this odd-sensor sweep picked up something else in the region, especially in the glacial region of Mt. Ararat’s northern ice cap.”
[Digital screen: Exhibit B: Radiologic Sensor Image, Mt Ararat/Turkey-Armenian region]
“There was a small source… pin-point on the sweep… emitting unusual high-energy gamma rays, fusion-reaction by-products, and plasma-energy signatures. I authorized a covert NEST – nuclear emergency support team – to recover and secure this anomaly. This was difficult, due to the Turkish military’s classified nuke project on the Anatolian Plateau, so high-stealth recovery was executed with major satellite tasking for NEST support. We also created a side-skirmish on the Turkish-Syrian border to divert attention, which resulted in three Syrian causalities.”
“The extraction took 19 hours, and required bringing in a laser-drill to core out the 3mm by 9 mm pear-shaped object from the north-west summit Parrot Glacier, at an altitude of 4200 meters. It was nearly 1200 meters under the surface. It required heavy radiation shielding during the drilling op, but once we made contact at depth, the object’s radiation dropped to background; our first clue to intelligent design. Our NEST physicist said it behaved like it was emitting a distress or locator beacon, and shut off when found.”
“I also had contacted Dr. Jannes once the op was in play, since all our satellite data indicated that this object was not modern human tekk, but was situated in glacial strata that would place it in the Pleistocene time-frame, somewhere between 12,000 and 2-point-5 million years ago. Dr Jannes had above-top-secret clearance, and had worked with us on the recovery-analysis of the extra-terrestrial vehicle crash-site in Alaska, north of the arctic circle, which is still in motion.”
“The NEST team evac’d out of Turkey with no injuries or casualties, with the object, Our operators inside the Turkish military allowed the un-detected recovery were appropriately paid through off-shore accounts.”
“Madame Chair, I’ll yield to Dr. Jannes, and answer questions at the end of his testimony.”
Chair Ms Earn: “Thank you, Admiral. Dr Jannes?”
Dr Jannes: “Thank you, Madame Chair. I was placed in a secure location of encrypted comm, and was able to direct the NEST team to obtain additional samples from the object perimeter to help determine origins. The artifact, which was named ‘the Apple’ by the on-site team… hence ‘Project Apple’… was recovered and placed in high-rad shielding for transport, just in case it decided to begin re-emitting. The NEST team stealth-accompanied the ‘Apple’ to the current location in the Lake Elwell, Montana silo labs, top-secret.”
Dr Barnes: “Sorry to interrupt, but why the choice of Lake Elwell, and on US soil? Wasn’t that a bit risky?”
Dr Jannes: “Consensus at that time was that there was no off-shore location that was safe, and better in our own defensible space than foreign concerns. The Alaskan site is still a full investigation op, and not an option. Lake Elwell is heavily shielded for rad, and is also a exo-biology lab for potential extra-terrestrial pathogens, and the ‘Apple’ was extracted in a chunk, just in case… Elwell has all the methods to properly study this object.”
Dr Barnes: “The Elwell site has a loaded nuke in the basement, right?”
Dr Jannes: “Correct, Mr. Secretary, that old ‘Andromeda Strain’ idea that a nuke would be employed if pathogen release to the outside was imminent. Elwell is isolated from population sources, also operates as a CDC-level 5, fully shielded, video and robotics.”
“Once in full containment at Elwell, all bio and spectral work showed it impenetrable to scan, and inert, except for a low-level resonant hum.”
“We peeled off the extricated encasing material, and exposed the 3mm by 9mm pear-shaped artifact…”
[Digital screen: Exhibit C: Image ‘the Apple’ in containment]
“Shiny silver-coloured, round, seamless and feature-less surface. Perfect 3mm by 9mm, would warm Arthur C Clarke’s heart…”
“Every spectrum and sensor showed nothing except the hum, which measures at 1.855 times 1043 Hertz. It matches the Schuman Rysmonic resonance, the universal quantum signature, says our physicist.”
“We were now dealing with some inert artifact, clearly not from our species or in our historic time-line, but knowing it was nuclear-hot on Ararat… once in Elwell, it was just sitting there… until three days ago.”
Chair Ms Earns: “Yes…”
Dr Jannes: “After seven days in Elwell, and absolutely no change in behaviour or emissions, no clue to origin, we began to consider any purpose the ‘Apple’ may have had. The glacial organic materials it came in carbon-dated at 110,000 years. Of course, our cultural anthropologists were all a spin about Ararat being a potential location of the mythical Eden, and the resting place of Noah’s ark, and the potential role this artifact played in the construction of that mythology. Everything we did to prod the ‘Apple’ resulted in nothing, and our bold attempt to robotically take a metallic scrape sample showed it impervious to anything we tried. We had no idea of internal structure; all scan and rad imaging couldn’t penetrate.”
“We decided to begin our biologic exposure experiments. That’s when it started becoming… concerting. Starting with microbes and helminths… worms… we directly exposed them to the ‘Apple’. Everything died. We watched that, within minutes of exposure, the microbes became aggressive with each other, until they were all dead. The worms, as well. Plants that were placed in the chamber, even for a short time, had their growth patterns altered, growing wildly, or quick-growth, then death.”
“Cell cultures sent into the room also exhibited cancerous mutations, easily within 24 hours of exposure. All while not emitting any detectable anything on all our sensors and scanners, except the hum.”
Dr Barnes: “What about the research team safety?”
Dr Jannes: “As said, Elwell allows for over 1000 metres distance from any acquired artifact or pathogen, with full containment. It’s complex series of robotic delivery systems, scanners, and diagnostics means nobody gets near the artifact. All our visual, particle, rad, bio and behavioural monitors registered safe background while this was happening. So, knowing we had woke something up, we kept working.”
“All the remote post-mortums were a mess, half traumatic injury, half altered genetics.”
“We started all the low-level bio exposures three days ago. Each round yielded disastrous results. Our experts recommended bumping up to rats. Same results. Singular rat would slam around it’s cage until it died of trauma. Two rats in the cage fought until they both died in combat. With the rats, we found significant and massive amounts of catecholamine and changes in their limbic brain chemistries. ‘The Apple is evil’, said our exo-biologists.”
“That’s when I called Admiral Teft, to suggest that the ‘Apple’ was hotter than we all thought, when exposed to anything earth-biologic. We suggested that Nuclear Eradication Protocol be considered. It was a better alternative to flying it out of the Elwell site, potentially exposing millions of Americans.”
Congresswoman Beckett: “Sir, isn’t that extreme? Didn’t you say it’s in acceptable containment?”
Dr Jannes: “Yes, Ma’am, but… we’re only 98% confidence-interval we can keep this in containment. But if containment fails…
Then the primate incidents occurred.”
Chair Ms. Earns: “Continue.”
Dr Jannes: “By this time, we connected with all the above-top-secret intel we could. Nobody had ever experienced or encountered anything like this. Meanwhile, there it sat, not a blip on any monitor, this 3-by-9 metallic artifact. Except, when living things became exposed, and nothing showed on any of our monitors, it was a lethal killer.”
“As we called for this hearing… and consultation… our biologists suggested we see what happens with a higher primate. Thirty-six hours ago, we introduced a singular male Rhesus into the containment room… and this happened… I have to warn you all, this is not pretty. Run video.”
[Digital Screen: Exhibit 4: running multi-cam… circular room 12 feet across, 4×4 metallic platform in middle of room, pear-shaped object in center. Side panel opens, conveyor moves caged rhesus into room, cage opens. Rhesus pre-fitted with wireless external monitoring devices. Rhesus leaves cage, immediately moves towards object.]
Dr Jannes: Once the rhesus was in proximity to the Apple, it began to emit a wide series of previously-un-demonstrated frequencies and radio waves, all non-radiologic, except a faint gamma-ray signal similar to a CAT scanner…. we hypothesised it somehow resonated with the primate’s brain patterns
[Digital Screen: Rhesus comes to object, reaches out and touches object. Object immediately folds open, in half. Small glowing-red ball, approximately 1 mm revealed from within. Rhesus pauses, picks up glowing ball, examines for 12 seconds, then places in mouth and appears to swallow.]
Dr Jannes: Where the seams were for the Apple opening were not detected in all our scanning and exam…
[Digital Screen: Rhesus appears stunned, motionless for 15 seconds. Severe full-body trembling begins, lasts 13 seconds. Tremors stop, rhesus stands upright, arms slowly reaching outward. Primary Object folds back together, no visible seams. Sensors drop to background.]
Dr Jannes: Prepare yourself…
[Digital Screen: Rhesus begins vocalizations with structure, words-phrases, cadence, intonations. Eyes fixed forward (camera 4 view: blank stare), eyes blackened. Volume of vocalizations increase. Total time speaking of 40 seconds. Pitch increases gradually, rhesus looks distressed in facial movements. Bleeding begins while speaking, from nasal passages, eye sockets, mouth, perineal region. Skin tone shifts, petechial hemmorhages, eventual coloration to red. Agitation begins. Eighty-eight seconds after swallowing object, emits screams, collapse to floor, bleeding from all orifices. End video.]
Dr Jannes: All monitors showed the rhesus dead. We crashed the lab, left the rhesus there, and…
Chair Ms Earns: What about the verbalizations?
Dr Jannes: Realize this was a laboratory-grade rhesus, no training in speech or language. It was speaking, according to our linguist, a very articulate form of what was probably an ancient proto-Babylonian. She could actually form a crude transcript…
[Digital Screen: Exhibit 5
Transcript Rhesus Incident Project Apple: Quote:
“We oc-c-upy. We take. We feed again. Want more. We… (Rhesus expires) ”]
Dr Jannes: We scrubbed all further study and testing, enacted a second and third containment field around the exam chamber, evac’d all but non-essential operational staff from Elwell and all the scientists are in highly-shielded quarantine off-site. Anyone on base, and the NEST team are now in full quarantine and hourly monitoring. We are here to decide our next steps.”
Dr Barnes: …we strongly recommend enacting the immediate Nuclear Eradication Protocol, drop the Apple’s containment room down to the bottom of that shaft above the weapon, detonate, and… nuke to hell whatever that evil object is…”
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‘The Last Last Lecture’ is copyright ©2018-2021 by crisbaj. All rights reserved. No reproductions, reprinting or reposting without express permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Contact: http://www.crisbaj.com
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