Tarizon: Desert Swarm Read online

  Chapter 3

  The Expert

  George Palmer, a tall blond who looked like a basketball player but actually had no talent for the game, was just finishing up his first year as a teaching assistant in the Geology Department at Deep Springs College in Lone Pine, California. He had taken this position because the deserts of the world fascinated him and Deep Springs was located in the Mojave Desert, near the infamous Death Valley, two of the most fascinating places on the planet in his mind. He didn’t particularly like teaching, but his job gave him lots of time to roam around and study the desert terrain and the wonders it contained. So he gladly put in his time lecturing, counseling and grading exams in order to be able to enjoy his passion.

  Another perk of the job were the women who attended his classes and hung on his every word. It seemed like there was always a couple of them hanging around asking questions or just wanting to talk. He was a decent looking guy but not a hunk by any stretch of the imagination, so he figured it was his intellect that attracted them rather than his looks or personality. On a few occasions a student ended up in his bed and he’d have to take it easy on them at exam time to avoid his indiscretion being reported to the dean.

  It was Sunday night, during one of his indiscretions with a student named Cindy Lee, that he received a phone call from Jack Carpenter. He’d met Jack when the school was having a new wing built for the science department. Jack had spent a good deal of time there supervising the pouring of the slab for the building. The two met in the cafeteria one afternoon and had an interesting discussion about the science of mixing concrete and ways to make it stronger.

  “Hey, Jack. How are you?”

  “Fine. Sorry to call you on a Sunday, but I figured it would be hard to get you during the week with your teaching schedule and everything.”

  “That’s true. No problem. It’s been awhile.”

  “Yeah. When are you guys going to start that new gymnasium project you were talking about the last time I was there?” Jack asked.

  “Oh, that’s on hold for a while. Contributions have been a little light these days, you know, with the economy the way it is.”

  “Tell me about it. I’ve got three trucks idle.”

  Cindy sighed deeply and gave George a look.

  George put two fingers to his lips and blew Cindy a kiss. “So, what can I do for you, Jack?”

  “I came across something a little weird north of Shoshone in the Funeral Mountain Range off of Highway 127. It’s in Death Valley and I remembered you mentioning that you were an expert on the geology out there.”

  “Yes. I am. What do you mean by weird?”

  “It appears to be an abandoned construction site which is weird enough for Death Valley, but what’s really interesting is the material they were using to build the hanger, missile silo or whatever it was they were building.”

  “There hasn’t been any construction in Death Valley to my knowledge in a long time,” George said. “It’s a protected area. You couldn’t build anything without the permission of the Park Service.”

  “If it was a missile silo maybe you could.”

  “I don’t know. I doubt it. The environmental lobby would go nuts if they found out about it.”

  “Right. Maybe that’s why they stopped building whatever it was supposed to be. Anyway, I’d like you to take a look at it. I’d like to find out more about the material they were using. It’s amazingly strong and durable. I couldn’t even scratch it with a hammer and a chisel.”

  “Is it a metal?”

  “No. It’s a rock or crystal of some sort.”

  “Huh. That does seem strange. When can you show it to me?”

  “How about on Saturday. I’m tied up with a couple of jobs right now.”

  “Fine, where should I meet you?”

  “Meet me at nine o’clock at Mona’s Café. You know where that is?”

  “Sure, I’ve eaten there before. I’ll see you then.”

  George hung up slowly. Jack’s telephone call had intrigued him. He wondered why someone would be building a hangar out in the middle of the desert.

  “Come back to bed,” Cindy moaned. “I’m not through with you yet.”

  “Sorry for the interruption, love. You want to go on a field trip next Saturday?”

  “Sure,” Cindy replied. “Do I get extra credit?”

  George laughed. “Right. Like you need it.”

  During the night George couldn’t stop thinking about Jack’s call. The next morning before class he put in a call to his contact at the National Park Service, Randy Perkins.

  “Morning, Randy. How’s it going?”

  “Not so great, actually. These budget cuts are a bitch. I don’t know how I’m supposed to cut back six percent when we don’t have enough money now to maintain all the services needed in the Park.”

  “Hmm. I’ve got the same problem here in the Geology Department. Contributions are down so we have to cut back too.”

  “I hope this economy turns around pretty soon. I’m tired of this crap.”

  “I know. Listen. You know Jack Carpenter. He’s a concrete contractor out of Shoshone.”

  “Right. I think I’ve met him. He’s been out here a few times on one project or another.”

  “Well, he says he’s stumbled on a construction site in your park—out near Bat Mountain.”

  “What? That’s impossible. There aren’t any construction projects going on out there that I know anything about.”

  “He says it appears to have been abandoned, but that it was a large project, an airplane hangar or maybe a missile silo, perhaps.”

  “What the hell? He must be mistaken. There hasn’t been anything like that in the Park in the ten years since I’ve been here---certainly not a missile silo.”

  “Yeah, he said it was pretty weird.”

  “No. It’s not just weird, it’s impossible. . . . The park boundaries aren’t marked very well, so the site may be on private property.”

  “Right. That’s probably it. . . . I’m going out there on Saturday to take a look at it. If it turns out to be on park property I’ll let you know.”

  “Please do. If I’ve got a missile silo at my back door I’d damn sure like to know about it.”

  “I’ll call you either way,” Randy said and hung up.

  George didn’t think much about Jack Carpenter and his mysterious discovery the rest of the week until Friday when Cindy stopped by his office.

  “So, when do we leave for our field trip?” she asked.

  “Field trip?”

  “Yes, Jack Carpenter, remember?”

  “Oh, right. Well, why don’t you come by my place tonight so we can get an early start in the morning?”

  “You dirty old man,” Cindy replied with a wink.

  “Well, we’ll save time that way.”

  “Right....Should I bring anything?”

  “Ah. Yeah. Lots of water, sun screen, and some snacks. I doubt we’ll be there too long, but you never know.”

  “Okay. I’ll drop by tonight and bring my nightie.”

  George laughed but his mind had already shifted gears to the field trip. Building a large structure like an airplane hangar out of rock was pure insanity, a missile silo, however, was a different story. Could the government have developed a new alloy or concrete mixture that could withstand a nuclear detonation? The prospect of that made him stop by the library on his way home. He had some research to do before the field trip.

  The next morning he and Cindy were at Mona’s café at eight-thirty. They ordered coffee and a light breakfast. At 8:45 Jack, Dolly and Jake walked in and joined them.

  “Hi, George. This is my son, Jake. It’s my visitation day so I had to bring him along. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “No, not at all,” George said. “This is your expedition. You make the rules.”

  “And this is my girlfriend, Dolly.”

  “Nice to meet both of you,” George said. “This is Cindy, one of
my geology students. She’s coming along to take notes and assist me.”

  “Hi, Cindy. It’s nice to meet you,” Jack said.

  They all talked while they ate breakfast and at 9:30 took off for the discovery site. Jack still had his friend’s Jeep and George brought a pickup with off road tires that he used for exploring in the desert. At 10:45 they reached the site and got out to look it over. Jack’s mouth dropped as he took in the structure.

  “What the hell!” he exclaimed.

  George looked over at him and frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  “The walls. Look at them, Dolly. They’ve grown!”

  “Yeah. They sure have,” Dolly agreed. “They’re taller than when we were here last week.”

  “That’s impossible,” George said dryly. “Rock doesn’t grow.”

  Jack laughed. “Well, I’ve got the proof right here in my back pack.”

  Jack rummaged around in his pack and pulled out an envelope of photos he’d had developed. “Take a look at these,” Jack said as he handed the pack to George.

  George looked through the photos and compared them to what was before him. He shook his head and handed them back to Jack.

  “It’s not possible. It must be the lighting. It almost looks like the walls are higher.”

  Jack took a deep breath. “The walls have grown, trust me. Take a look at this material and tell me what you make of it.”

  “Jack,” Dolly exclaimed. “Look at that.”

  Jack went over to where Dolly was standing. “What about it?” he asked.

  “That wall wasn’t there last week. Look at your pictures.”

  Jacked leafed back through the photos and smiled at Dolly. “Good catch. How do you explain this, George?”

  Jack showed him the photos which showed only flat ground where they were now looking. George looked at Cindy.

  “You better start taking pictures, honey. This is the most bizarre thing I have ever seen.”

  Cindy went back to the truck and got her camera. “What is being built here?” she asked.

  George shrugged. “I don’t know, honey. It’s gonna be big whatever it is.”

  “If the walls are taller now than they were last week, where is all the construction equipment?” Cindy asked. “Who’s in charge of this place?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know,” George said. “Randy over at the Park Service doesn’t know anything about it. I wonder if we’re inside the Death Valley boundary.”

  “I don’t think it is,” Jack said. “I checked the deed records at the courthouse yesterday and as best I can tell we are on private property owned by Bat Mountain Corporation.”

  “Never heard of it,” George said.

  “Neither have I, but it’s a Nevada corporation and it’s been buying up real estate around this area for several years. By my rough calculation it owns nearly three thousand acres.”

  “Were you able to get any information on its officers or stockholders?”

  “No. Just the name of the law firm that filed the papers.”

  “Why would anybody want land out here?” Dolly asked. “There’s no water and there isn’t enough vegetation to sustain any kind of livestock.

  “That’s a good question,” Jack said. “The only reason that I can think of is that they plan to bring in the utilities and build the roads after the building is constructed.”

  “Hey, dad,” Jake said. “Can I climb that boulder over there?”

  Jack looked over at the pile of gigantic red boulders 200 yards ahead. He remembered when he was young he liked to climb too. “Sure, just be careful and stay where I can see you.”

  “Alright,” Jake said and ran off.

  “That still doesn’t explain how this wall is growing,” George noted.

  “Could they be working at night when it’s cool,” Dolly suggested. “Maybe they fly in their equipment at night and take it away in the morning when they leave.”

  Jack laughed. “I doubt it, but the only way to find out is to camp here tonight and see what happens.”

  “They may not work on the weekends,” Cindy noted.

  George nodded. “True, but that doesn’t matter. I need to set up a camp here anyway to figure out what’s going on and I have a feeling it might take a while. If there’s anything happening at night, we’ll figure it out soon enough.”

  “Dad! Dad! Come look at this,” Jake screamed from the top of a boulder. “Look, Dad! Look.”

  They all began running toward the spot where Jake was pointing. When they got to it they just stared in amazement. Before them was a large circular area completely flat and totally devoid of vegetation.

  “What the hell?” George said.

  “They must have had a bulldozer out here for a week to level this area,” Jack observed. “How big do you think it is?”

  “It looks to be at least fifty yards across. I wonder what it’s for.” Dolly said..

  George bent down and pulled up a dark chunk of rock. “This rock looks like it was subjected to a lot of heat.” Then he noticed it. The ground was compressed. “You know, it almost looks like something landed here.”

  “What?” Jake said, having come down from the boulder. “You mean like a spaceship?”

  George laughed. “No, there aren’t any aliens running around. It was probably something that was built by the military. That’s what I bet this place is—some kind of experimental site used by the military.”

  “I doubt that,” Jack said. “The military would put up fences and keep people away.”

  “Not if they didn’t want to attract attention. It was just a freak accident that you ran into it.”

  “Well, anyway, it doesn’t explain why the structure is still growing?” Jack noted. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. In the meantime, I’ll do some more research on Bat Mountain Corporation. And you can get some samples and figure out what this substance is and how it can be growing.”

  George nodded. “We need to keep a lid on this. If the press gets a hold of it we’ll have every nut job in the state coming out to see where the aliens landed.”

  Dolly smiled. “Well, I’m afraid a lot of people already know about it. It’s been the talk of the café all week.”

  “Right. But nobody knows about the landing site. I need time to photograph it and take some samples before everybody and their mother comes out here.”

  As they were talking the sound of rotor blades could be heard in the distance. “Shit! There’s a helicopter coming,” George said.

  They all looked to the east and saw the green chopper approaching. “Oh, it looks like the National Park Service. It must be Randy.”

  The helicopter set down a hundred yards away and two men came rushing over to them.

  “Hey, George. Jack,” Randy said. “I got curious and decided to come out and see this for myself. What the hell is it?”

  “It looks like something landed here,” George said. “Whatever it was it burnt off the vegetation, compressed the soil, and melted the rock. Some kind of experimental aircraft I’d suspect.”

  “Huh,” George said looking around. “Ah. This is Greg Arnold from the Department of Defense. When you mentioned there might be a missile silo out here I put in a call to him to see if that was remotely possible.”

  “The structure is over there,” George said pointing in the direction they’d come. “We just discovered this landing site a few minutes ago.”

  “The military doesn’t have any record of a missile silo here,” Greg said.

  “Oh, by the way. This isn’t Park Service property. We’re a few miles outside of Death Valley.”

  “Right,” George said. “Jack figured out it’s owned by a company called Bat Mountain Corporation. They’ve been buying up a lot of property in this area for several years.”

  “Is that right?” Greg said. “I’ll have to check them out. I can’t imagine why someone would want to buy a bunch of desert property.”

  “Co
me over here and see the structure. You won’t believe it,” George said.

  They all walked back to the building site and Jack showed them the pictures and pointed out how the walls had grown several inches in the last week.

  “That’s hard to believe,” Randy said shaking his head.

  “It looks like its growing like a coral reef or a stalagmite in a cave,” George suggested. “But those processes take hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

  “I’m going to have to get some scientist out here to study what’s going on here,” Greg said. “The government’s going to want to know.”

  “I hope not,” George said. “I want to study it myself for a while. If your people come in they’ll kick everybody out and won’t share with the academics.”

  “Not necessarily. It doesn’t appear to be a threat to national security or a health hazard so it will probably take them a few weeks to get out here. In the meantime you can do your research and get a jump on everyone else.”

  “You won’t put a burr in anybody’s saddle?” George asked.

  Greg shook his head. “No, if you promise to keep me updated on any new developments.”

  “Thank you,” George said. “I will.”

  The group continued to discuss the situation until mid-afternoon when Randy and Greg flew off. Then everyone pitched in to set up camp so the site could be monitored 24/7. Jack had to get Jake back to his mother, so he and Dolly left to do that but promised to return with dinner and some supplies. He cautioned Jake not to discuss what they had found with anyone and he promised he wouldn’t. Jack and Dolly planned to stay overnight and spend Sunday at the site but they both were tied up the following week with work. George said not to worry as he would have at least two students at the site at all times the following week.

  Not much happened on Sunday with the exception of the continued growth of the walls. Jack calculated they had grown five inches in the 24 hour period from noon Saturday to noon Sunday. That translated to a growth rate of roughly fifteen feet per month. In addition several more interior walls began to materialize. George also determined that the crystal substance being used to build the walls were made of natural ingredients indigenous to the area with the exception of a chemical bonding agent that he could not identify. He also noted that under a powerful microscope there appeared to be molecular movement of some sort, but he couldn’t determine how or why it was happening.

  Back at the defense department Greg Arnold’s report of the strange discoveries in the Mojave Desert was getting scant attention. The military was focused on a deteriorating situation in Southeast Asia and threats from China and the Soviet Union. Although Greg knew the government needed to get out to Death Valley soon he kept his promise and didn’t put a burr under anyone’s saddle just yet.