Heiser-The-Facade - Sparkling Eyes

insisted there were no external wounds on the body. "Maybe he knows something bynow," he grunted with disdain and abruptly got out of bed. He sat down at his computerand accessed his mail, recalling the Colonel's promise to email everyone with details afterhe'd inspected the scene.True to his word, amid the familiar congestion of his discussion-group exchanges,there was a brief message waiting from the Colonel detailing the cause of death and adescription of how the body was found, but revealed nothing about the location of theincident, `due to said location's restricted status.'"An aneurysm?" he said aloud in disbelief. He moved his mouse in disgust toclose the program, but stopped, his eye falling on a nonsensical subject line."Can't even avoid SPAM at AREA 51," he muttered, and opened thetransmission. There was no message. Confused, he looked back up at the subject line."What the ... ?"The line contained eleven characters:HarpsnowkevMark stared at the odd, cryptic notation. He knew instinctively that the last threeletters stood for Kevin, but could make no sense of `harpsnow. ' Taken together, the letterswere gibberish, but they could only be split into 'harps now' or `harp snow,' neither ofwhich was at all coherent. Mark closed the program and shut down his computer, figuringthat what Kevin had intended as a message had been interrupted by his fatal heart failure."Sorry it's so cold in here," Ian Marcus apologized to the group huddled togetherin front of him. "Here in the morgue every-thing needs to be properly stored andtemperature-controlled. There are extra lab coats in the locker if it will help." Several ofthe team members spied each other nervously in anticipation of seeing what layconcealed in the row of cadaver drawers that made up the wall behind the facility'sexobiologist. Emotions of excitement and anxiety fought for control of Brian's mind.Were there really the remains of alien life forms behind those stainless steel doors? I lowcould he know for sure? Despite his theoretical handle on the situation, he knew that thistruth, were it the truth, could potentially redefine every religious sentiment in the westernworld. He knew intellectually, of course, that such a thing could only happen were poortheology allowed to dictate the discussion. But, after all, that was why he was here—todefend his contention that serious, biblical theology could quite easily accommodate theexistence of other worlds, the reality of other sentient beings. His mind wanderedmomentarily to the paper he'd written about the subject, the one that had cost him histeaching position. I le knew he was right, that his exegesis was sound, that those who'dpassed judgment on him had never seriously thought about the subject. So why was he atall apprehensive? At least he was taking the prospect of the revelation better than FatherBenedict, who appeared absolutely stricken."We'll start with a brief overview of the bodies," Dr. Marcus informed them. "Ifyou want to see the actual forensic examinations, we have them on film. Two of thecorpses were filmed on 16mm, due to the late Forties date, so the quality isn't that great.The third is on standard VHS and is about a year old."157