Still, what choice did they have? It wasn’t as if they could place an ad on one of the online sites devoted to the paranormal. Seeking high-level talent who can figure out how to operate vintage camera. Oh, and by the way, once the artifact has been unlocked we will have to kill you.

“I’m starting to wonder if the camera was tuned to the psychic signature of the original owner,” Eloisa said, her tone very grim.

“Don’t go there,” Gwendolyn said. “If that’s the case we’ve got an even bigger problem than we do now. It means the only person who can activate it is a direct descendant of the owner.”

“I know,” Eloisa said.

“Shit,” Gwendolyn said.

There was a short silence.

“Well, on the upside, at least we know the identity of the descendant,” Gwendolyn said.

“That’s not exactly an upside,” Eloisa said. “You’re talking about taking an enormous risk.”

“I agree. I’ll keep the camera on the sales floor a little while longer and hope that we get lucky.”

“One more thing before we hang up,” Eloisa said. “Are you finished decoding the diary?”

“Almost. Just a few more pages.”

“Anything new we can use?”

“I think so,” Gwendolyn said. “Aurora Winston notes that she was able to overcome the last technical hurdle in tuning the weapons. Evidently the initial experiments provided proof of concept but a new problem came to light. Of the three people who were able to activate and fire the devices, two of them suffered immediate and severe blowback issues.”

“What happened?”

“When you fire a conventional gun there’s always a recoil,” Gwendolyn said. “Apparently something similar happened when they fired the prototype Vortex weapons. But instead of a physical kickback the subjects got a shock wave of paranormal energy that disrupted their auras.”

“What were the effects?”

“Both subjects were initially rendered unconscious. When they woke up they were disoriented. Hallucinating. One went insane and became paranoid. He murdered two lab techs before he could be stopped. The second one suffered a complete loss of his paranormal senses. He took his own life.”

“What about the third subject?” Eloisa said. “The one who didn’t suffer complications.”

“Winston writes that she considered him a success for a while. She planned to conduct further research on him. But he deteriorated rapidly, slipped into a coma and died.”

“Damn, damn, damn,” Eloisa muttered. “Did Winston indicate that she considered further research useless?”

“No,” Gwendolyn said. “Just the opposite. Wait until you hear how she decided to move forward.”

“Talk to me, Gwen.” There was renewed excitement in Eloisa’s voice. The scientist in her was intrigued.

“Winston writes that the setbacks made her realize she needed an entirely different approach to the problem of weaponizing paranormal energy. She came up with a bold new theory and was starting to run some experiments when the orders came to shut down the Bluestone Project, including Vortex.”

“Fortunately for us it’s impossible to destroy all evidence of a government project the size and scope of Bluestone.”