History
The Artifact was created in the universe preceding the Big Bang to serve as an antenna for the Akashic field, a theoretical zero-point subspace nexus for all the knowledge of the universe. This concept was introduced in the pilot episode, in which Susan Perkins is seen reading a book about the subject. After the crucible of the Big Bang, the Artifact's unique nature protected it. It somehow landed on Earth, and was buried for billions of years.
Global Dynamics, the leading technological development firm on the planet, eventually discovered and excavated the Artifact, somehow transported it to Eureka, and encased it in a shielded underground chamber in Section 5, the most highly-secured area of Global Dynamics headquarters.
Research into the Artifact began at the insistence of former Research Director Nathan Stark, who quickly became obsessed with trying to discover what it was. Stark was the individual in charge of allowing access to the top-secret Artifact, and on occasion has allowed people to view it, such as Congressman Arnold Faraday and other high-ranking members of the U.S. government and Eureka's scientific community. Some scientists theorized it to be a physical manifestation of or created by God.
The Artifact may have a mind of its own. It cast an energy surge into a laboratory above the chamber it was in, causing Doctor Carl Carlson to transform into a superhuman, and eventually drew him into itself (either killing him or absorbing him). Shortly before entering the chamber, The Artifact "spoke" to Carlson, who told Stark what the Artifact had revealed to him: that Stark would one day know what it was.
A group called "The Consortium" is dedicated (for unknown reasons) to keeping the Artifact's true nature a secret; their agent, Beverly Barlowe, sabotaged an experiment of Stark's involving taking a sample from the Artifact. This resulted in the death of Kim Anderson, Stark's dismissal, and the apparent death of the Artifact. However, the sample was retrieved and kept out of the Consortium's hands. The energy of the Artifact transported itself into Kevin Blake to survive, and Stark continued his research into it with his successor (and Kevin's mother) Allison Blake.
In the episode God Is In The Details, Kevin mysteriously heals his mother right before she is about to die. Later after a church service, Stark mentions to Allison Blake that Kevin now "controls the field." In the events of All That Glitters... and A Night At Global Dynamics, Henry Deacon aligns himself with Barlowe to separate Kevin from the Akashic field. They fake a flesh-eating virus crisis in order to trigger a lockdown that sends the director's office underground to a bunker containing a teleportation device. Since the teleportation device filters the atoms in the body being teleported, Deacon believes that if Kevin goes through it he will be separated from the field. This turns out to be true, and when Kevin reappears in another room in the bunker he is no longer connected to the Akashic field. Afterwards, Beverly Barlowe escapes using the teleporter.
Read more about this topic: The Artifact (Eureka)
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