I read file after file until my eyes burned and my head ached. I had stopped taking notes and even the ones I had taken were pointless since there was no way in God’s black universe I was going to be able to synthesize all of this information into any useable format that I could think of. The stuff just went on and on.
I turned to Jack pulling off my glasses. "Do you know about some project called GRUDGE? ”
"No. Project Blue Book had something, but I read about it, like... ” he looked at his watch, "four hours ago. ”
"A sixteen volume set documenting all the information, collected from the beginning of contact with the Visitors. All of our understanding about their science, technology, medical and intelligence information. ” I paused for a moment. "Who the hell collected this stuff? ”
"CIA, NSA, or someone else, I would presume. ” Jack looked at his pad where he’d been jotting down notes as well, flipped some pages and found his reference. "Turned them all over to the, ah, Jason Scholars for review and evaluation and then put everything under Project: Grudge, I would imagine. ”
"I thought the Jason Scholars were futurists trying to road map what we should do as a nation to get there. Hm. ” I looked at another file. " Here: 'The Majority Agency for Joint Intelligence’? ”
"MAJI. ” Jack nodded. " Yeah, they work for us. I know that one. ” Jack rubbed his face and got up to walk around the room. "We are never going to get through this stuff tonight. ”
"I know that, but hold on, I just found.... ” I trailed off and read down a report. "Read this Jack. ”
I handed it to him and without complaint he read the document, then closed it and read the file cover. Opening it back up, he sat and continued to read. I walked over to the intercom.
"Yes sir, what do you need? ” The voice was not Rafferty’s.
"How about some sandwiches and a six pack of beer. ” I waited for the normal gripe about security, blah, blah, blah.
"Anything else Dr. Humphrey? ” The voice sounded very young, eager to please and I couldn’t tell if it was male or female. I looked over at Jack and we made surprised faces at one another.
"That will do for now. Oh yeah, where is the head around here? ” I realized it had been a long time since I’d seen the inside of a men’s room.
"Out the glass door, turn right, then right again. Heavy wooden door, sir. ” The intercom went dead.
"Back in a flash. ” I walked out and found the restroom around the corner. As I washed my hands I splashed water on my tired unshaven face running my hands down the stubble on my chin. I looked up into the mirror to check my bloodshot eyes.
A woman was standing behind me.
I whirled around and she was gone! I turned back to the mirror... nothing... then, panicking, I kicked open all the stall doors, as if she could hide by moving that fast, and the absurd thought actually rushed across my fevered brain for a second that she had somehow jumped into a stall and made her escape by flusing herself down the toilet.
All Empty. I was alone in here. but I hadn’t been seconds before. She had dirty blonde hair and I’d seen her face somewhere before! I shook it off as a hallucination induced by stress, coffee, cigarettes, and having the little spiders of this much top-secret information crawling around in my head all at once. I soaked my entire head in cold water, dried off and headed back to the file room.
"You okay? ” Jack noticed my worried face was ashen white.
"I just saw a reflection in the mirror behind me. ” Jack tensed and reached for his pistol, long ago learning to take anything I had said or had seen as gospel truth.
"Don’t bother. There was no one there when I turned around. But I’ve seen her face before, I’m sure of it. I just can’t place it. ” I sat back down.
"You need to take a break and get out of here? ” Jack still held onto his pistol.
"No. And I don’t think I am cracking up, but one never knows. ” I sat down, closed my eyes and rubbed my face.
"How is it we know so much about them but don’t seem to know anything at all? It just doesn’t add up. These files represent tens of thousands of man hours but no one seems to know anything for certain. ” I noticed sandwiches and beer had arrived and I immediately popped one open and started to drink.
"This is a complete alien autopsy report. Everything right down to the composition of the stuff they use for blood. But. this can’t be right. ” he looked puzzled, "their brain vault capacity is less than a great ape. ” Jack closed the file and reached over taking a sandwich.
"Collective intellect. Hive mentality. That’s what Boss One told me, once. ”
I swigged at my beer still mulling over what I had seen. I was really tired of ghosts and magic janitors and mystery women appearing out of toilets in ultra-high security facilities. I swished the beer back and forth around in my mouth and an idea sprang into my head. "Does this place have any way of monitoring floor pressure? ”
"Yeah, why? ”
"Ask if there was a fluctuation in the floor density in the last ten minutes. ” I wondered if beings that were traveling through space/time, or ghosts, left evidence behind.
"The lady in the mirror? ” Jack was up and on the intercom. Two minutes passed and someone called back on the private line. Jack picked it up.
"Yes, I understand. Thank you. No. That won’t be necessary. ” Jack hung up and sat back down grinning.
"Well? ” I waited, hoping I was right.
"Six minutes ago there was a temporary fluctuation of six ounces in the approximate location of the stalls in the men’s room. ” Jack screwed his eyes up into a squint. "Six ounces of what? ”
"Sonofabitch, Jack! They leave a footprint! They have to assume a physical form and they leave a footprint. ” I got up and pulled on my jacket.
"What’s going on now, Ted? ” Jack followed me.
"They put this crap back, right? ” He nodded in the affirmative. "Good. I need to get back to the lab for a while. We might just know something that everyone else doesn’t. ” I dashed to the door and Jack grabbed another sandwich and hurried up to follow me.
"Are you going to tell me? ” He asked as we were checking out of the security facility.
"Sure I am. ” I walked ahead in silence toward the elevator. "But not here. ”
Once we’re on the surface level I turned back to Jack. "I want the records of everyone that has gone in there. ” I pointed down toward the room we had just come from. "Also, I want all the pressure readings from the same period of time. ” Jack thought for a moment and then nodded. He was processing the statement carefully and then the lights went on.
"Got it! ” We walked back to the entrance heading for our parked car.