Though the proof stood right in front of her, she doubted her own sanity. Were those visions in the cave just a bad dream? Or was I hallucinating? Still not feeling completely well, Christine remained silent and continued to listen.
Plus, can I even trust these people? Christine contemplated. Can I trust anyone ever again?
“Let the stone age begin,” Samantha chimed in. Always one with great insight, she anticipated the conclusion of the story.
“Exactly,” Terzin agreed. “Mankind had to start again. Stone tools replaced lost technology. Humanity had to relearn to farm, breed, and cultivate the new Earth like babies have to learn to crawl, walk, and then run after being born. The rest of mankind’s story you already learned in history class.”
“They should make a movie out of that,” William said with a mouth full of food. Wanting to act interested but not knowing what to say, the statement was all that he could think of at the moment.
“How about the shield?” Alex commented, attempting to keep his frustration at bay. “Was there anything mentioned about it or what caused this massive catastrophe?”
Terzin shook her head no. “Only bits and pieces. Over the millennium, major parts of the story were lost or forgotten. Legend has it that a shield—or rather key—which you apparently possess could have prevented it all from occurring. Other than that, Alex, I cannot help you.”
“I—,” Christine reached out her hand wanting to add something to the conversation but stopped as all eyes turned to her. “I, uh, feel better. Thank you, Marissa, for your hospitality.”
“Help yourself to some lunch,” Samantha chimed in, “before William over there eats us out of house and home.”
Christine sheepishly walked over to the table. Almost ashamed with her actions, she bent her head and poured herself a glass of milk.
Chapter 26
Chapter_26
Discouraged, Alex walked out of the room with the shield and into his lab at the end of the hallway. Not usually one to leave in silence, he felt the stress of the situation rising. If he could not figure out the mystery behind this ancient relic, another catastrophic event of biblical proportion would befall the entire planet. It was already occurring now, and he could do nothing to prevent it from continuing.
When he walked into the lab, the entire room acted as if it were alive. Every electronic device and invention stored in it was quantumly connected to a small subatomic analyzer chip Alex had implanted subcutaneously below his left ear. He could feel every piece of equipment in the room and knew simultaneously the status of each one of them. With almost a thousand different devices in the lab and electronic parts too numerous to count, the entire area vibrated with energy.
After placing the shield on a large circular metal plate levitating above a table, Alex analyzed all the digital readouts being transferred into his consciousness from the subtatomic analyzer in the plate. He went over the numbers and calculations, attempting to make sense of what they could possibly mean. However, nothing new could be ascertained. Reconsidering the situation, he began to ponder if he were looking at the problem the wrong way.
Maybe the answer isn’t from the inside out but from the outside in?
Alex stared at the constellations on the shield.
Do these constellations represent a clue? Why was the V-shaped Hyades star cluster of Taurus so prominent on the Mukulian Hall in Nan Madol? Do the esoteric scenes engraved on the shield represent something grander?
A kind hand touched his shoulder, breaking his concentration.
Alex turned. “Samantha.”
“I saw your frustration back in the room,” she responded like a concerned older sister. “While Marissa was caring for Christine, I thought it best to slip out. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Unless you can tell me something about this shield here, we are in a stalemate,” Alex said. He looked up at his oldest friend and let out a sigh. “Any update on the movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates? I know you’ve been closely monitoring them since we left.”
She placed her coffee mug down on a table. “Not good. It could be a matter of just a few days, hours, or even minutes before everything shifts again. The magma under the Earth’s crust is churning and flowing like I’ve never seen before. It’s like something’s stirring up the mix and causing it to act erratically.”
“Which is triggering the massive electromagnetic fluctuations across the globe,” Alex concluded.
“If we don’t do something soon,” Samantha admitted. “What we’ve seen so far will be just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.”
“Have you determined what’s causing the problem?” Alex asked.
“No,” she responded. “Not a clue.”
Alex pointed to the shield. “The answer’s here. It’s a mystery a few millennia old.”
Samantha smirked, subtly reminding Alex of his genetic heritage. “So are you.”
Finally, a smile, she thought, watching a small grin form on Alex’s face.
“Now, what can I do to help?” Samantha asked.
“Maybe it would help if I ran a few things by you.” Alex held up his right palm, and a cross sectional image of the shield appeared above it. “As you see, the shield is composed of five different layers of composite material that I have no means yet of fully analyzing. However, its centermost layer is entirely made of mercury. And when I subject the shield to a certain frequency of electromagnetic energy, it excites this mercury, causing it to levitate.”
“Sort of like the Roman god Mercury,” Samantha chimed in. “He was also called Hermes by the Greeks.”
“I never thought of that,” Alex said, impressed with Samantha’s analogy.
“Wasn’t he the winged god of flight?” she continued. “And didn’t he hold that thing-a- ma-jig in his hand? A winged pole with two serpents coiled around it.”
“You mean a caduceus?” Alex responded. “The symbol prominently posted around our entire Neurono-Tek research center and hospital? I believe one was even embroidered by your grandmother and is hanging in your former office.”
“That’s it.”
“Never heard of it,” Alex jested.
Samantha gave him a slight nudge on the arm. “I’m glad to see that your recent near-death experience hasn’t entirely ruined your sense of humor.”
“But seriously,” Alex commented, with a more austere look on his face, “could the caduceus represent the remnants of some lost knowledge from a pre-flood era? And maybe this lost scientific wisdom was passed on to the subsequent post-flood era through myth and legend.”
“Or maybe,” Samantha concluded, “both myth and legend were meant to hide this knowledge the entire time.”
“Good point,” Alex agreed. Looking at the caduceus now in hindsight, he said, “You can now understand where truth and myth merge.”
“The wings represented flight,” Samantha continued, “while the liquid metal mercury somehow made this flight possible.”
“Let me show you something interesting.” Alex held out his other hand and activated a holo-projector above them with his thoughts. Odd-looking vehicles in the shapes of a fish, submarines, beehives, and domes appeared in front of them. Some had propellers while others appeared to have fins.
“What are they supposed to represent?” Samantha asked
“The ancient Indian text known as the Samarangana Sutradhara sums it up best,” Alex said. “By means of the power latent in mercury which sets the driving whirlwind in motion, a man sitting inside may travel a great distance in the sky in the most marvelous manner.”
“Are you trying to say that these images represent ancient flying machines?” Samantha asked.
“They might,” Alex concluded. “These drawings were created from detailed descriptions found in Samarangana Sutradhara and other ancient Indian Sanskrit texts such as the Ramayana and Mababharata. Again, what was once considered myth may have, in fact been, the truth all along.”
“Just like the city of Ur or the
Hittite Empire in the Old Testament,” Marissa chimed in from the doorway. “Until archeologists dug up evidence of their existence, people used to think they were old, fabricated stories.”
Christine and Terzin stood next to Marissa. Both listened intently to the conversation.
Marissa’s voice warmed Alex’s heart. He could not help but go over and give her a squeeze around the waist. “Spoken from a true Sunday school teacher.”
“I see your patient is feeling better,” Samantha noted, gesturing towards Christine, who had wrapped herself in a blue blanket.
“She said there’s something that she needs to tell us,” Marissa commented.
Christine pointed to the shield. With a weak and cracking voice, she said, “I’ve seen that before.”
She paused a brief second before continuing, “In Philadelphia.”
Chapter 27
Chapter_27
Jules sat impatiently in the copilot’s chair, watching a holographic image of the world grid on the ship’s windshield. Rapidly changing numbers and symbols surrounded the representation.
“Let’s go,” Jules insisted.
Half asleep, the pilot could not keep his eyes open any longer. After such a stressful day and now cooped up in a dark cabin of a striker craft in geosynchronous orbit over Philadelphia for over an hour, he could no longer stay awake.
Jules, however, needed little sleep. His body seemed to thrive on excitement. Awake the entire time, he had been watching the fluctuations in the grid as ardently as one would their favorite sporting event.
“This is no time for sleep, my boy,” Jules chimed in, full of life. “We must seize this opportunity before it’s lost. The grid has remained stable over this point for God knows how long now. I think waiting any longer would be most counterproductive.”
“Yes, sir,” the pilot said. Wiping his eyes, he turned on the lights in the cabin and took control of the ship’s steering wheel. Its lights erupted upon his touch as he brought the striker craft out of orbit.
“What?” Drew asked. Awoken by the commotion, he looked out the dark windshield towards the Earth below them. What would have once been littered with millions of dots of light, now only boasted a mere pittance of its former luminosity. Much of the entire East Coast was dark, while the western portion of the country fared not much better.
Drew shook his head at the sight. He could only imagine what the people on the surface must have experienced between the seismic activity and the electromagnetic instability.
“You say this is where the subatomic fluctuations ended?” Jules asked.
“Yes, Mr. Windsor,” Drew answered. “The signal terminated precisely at the coordinates I provided.”
Jules surmised that Alex’s smaller aero-bike must have rendezvoused there with the larger and stealthier stratoskimmer, making any further quantum fluctuation undetectable.
But was there something significant about this place?
Luckily, as the striker craft descended into the innermost layers of the atmosphere, the ride went extremely smoothly. With no perturbations in the grid, at least for the moment, it felt as if they were gliding on ice.
Drew examined the holographic image above his wrist. “Set the ship down right on that mound,” he pointed. “That spot right there.”
After landing, Jules stood up and checked the pockets in his leather sports jacket. Fully equipped, he felt prepared for whatever awaited them outside the ship.
“What’s the recon say?” Jules asked the pilot.
“The entire area within a 500-yard perimeter is totally barren except for one human quantum signal about twenty yards directly ahead, sir.”
“Very good. Let’s shed some light on the situation,” Jules said.
“Yes, sir,” the pilot answered, pushing a button on the steering wheel.
Light began to emanate out from the striker craft in all directions, illuminating the area.
Jules walked back to the ship’s hull. The WOGs all sat at attention. The red light blinking in the ceiling indicated imminent deployment.
“Colonel,” Jules ordered. “Deploy and secure this mound.”
“Yes, sir!” he bellowed as his voice echoed through the hull. Pointing at the door, he barked, “Omega formation, go!”
As the door descended to the ground, the WOGs barreled out of the ship in silence. In a hunched position with their weapons drawn, their departure was quick and efficient. Within less than a minute the colonel reported back to Jules in his auricular chip, “Secure!”
Jules walked down the steps and onto a distorted layer of debris. The entire site was in ruins except for the remnants of a few pillars and the broken frames of a couple doorways. As he looked out into the city, it was almost completely dark. Only a few flashlights and the smoldering remains of earlier fires shed any light onto the area.
Despite, the poor visibility, Jules noted the broken skyline along the horizon and could only imagine the destruction that must have recently engulfed the city.
A man with his hands behind his head and two guns pointed to his back approached.
“We found him here,” one of the helmeted WOGs accompanying him blurted.
“Good man?” Jules asked the stranger as if speaking to a friend. “Please tell me who you are and what you are doing up here on this hilltop all alone.”
“My name is Murphy O’Neil,” he responded. Upon raising his head, he recognized Jules. “And you are Jules Windsor, the President of The New Reality.”
Murph was certainly excited at the site. His only thought now was that help had finally arrived. Despite the violence caused by Jules’ Open Society policies and the recent seismic turmoil, most citizens were misinformed by The New Reality’s controlled media about the true nature of the situation. Few blamed Jules for their current troubles and instead believed the narrative set forth by The New Reality: The problems now faced by mankind were a direct result of Jules’ predecessor and her previous disastrous policies.
An uninformed, ignorant populace was exactly what Jules and his Open Society needed for its existence. Just like one of the many tenants set forth by the Illuminati handbook, Jules knew that if he could control the information distributed to the populace, he could control their minds.
“Thank you, Mr. Windsor, for coming to help,” Murph went on to say. “My friends and I were trapped in the museum here, and then this enormous earthquake destroyed the city. I’m the only one still left up here on the hill.”
Such a simple mind, Jules thought. So easily manipulated.
“Please,” Jules kindly asked, “lower your weapons. Our friend Murphy here is in need of a helping hand—not a manhandling.”
The WOGs complied with the order. However, a message from the colonel echoed in Jules’ ear, “We have a lock on him just in case.”
“Very good,” Jules responded to the colonel as if thanking the WOGs. “Now, Murphy, what pray tell, happened here?”
“Thank you, Mr. Windsor,” Murphy said. “It was awful. A massive earthquake killed all my friends and destroyed the city.” He paused for a few seconds to compose himself. “However, I discovered something that you might find interesting. At least the other people who left here earlier today did.”
“Other people?” Jules asked nonchalantly.
“Yea,” he said rather gruffly. “These other people showed up out of nowhere just like you. Fortunately, one of them was a doctor or something and helped my friend Christine after she passed out.” He pointed to the edge of the rubble. “And they all seemed interested in the crystals I found in the cave over there, saying they would come back later to have a better look at them.”
“Alex Pella, sir?” Drew concluded.
Murph pointed his finger at Drew. “Yea. That was one of the guy’s names.”
“Was it just the two of them?” Jules asked.
“No. There was also this husky guy wearing a red hat along with some girl with long hair and a battered white dress. If you ask me, they al
l looked like they were in some sort of earthquake themselves.”
“Well then, Murphy.” Jules asked. “Do you happen to know where they all went? Because of the poor reception, I lost contact with mostly everyone here in this grand city.”
“No clue,” Murph responded. “I wish they would have waited a little longer before taking off in their stratoskimmer. If they thought the crystals were interesting, they would have been really impressed with what happened next in the cave.” He again pointed to the edge of the debris. “You gotta see it.”
“Please,” Jules kindly obliged, “lead the way Murphy. I must personally see what has gleaned your utmost attention.”
Murph scuttled through the debris to the edge where it fell sharply down an incline. A dim light emitted from the cave, helping Jules, Drew, Murph, and a few WOGs to negotiate their way into it and down the stairs.
“You ain’t seen nothing yet,” Murphy noted as Jules and Drew admired the maps along the walls. “He then turned to each of them. “And watch what you’re thinking down here. It’s like this cave is magical; we can read each other’s minds.” He then pointed at the blaring flashlights on the ends of the WOGs guns. “I’d put those down. Nothing electrical works in this cave.”
“You heard the man,” Jules ordered.
The WOGs complied as the group entered the ancient hall of records.
Reminds me of Pumapunku, Jules thought, admiring the area.
“Look at this,” Murphy eagerly gestured to the ceiling. “It didn’t appear until everyone left.”
“What is it?” Drew looked up and asked.
“It looks like some sort of ancient treasure map,” Murph concluded.
Chapter 28
Chapter_28
“Saw what?” Alex asked.
Still looking at the shield, Christine answered, “The key. That’s the key.” Scared and still shaken by the vision, she added, “It could have saved everyone.”
Alex was taken aback by the answer. Stunned that she recognized the shield’s identity, he asked, “How and when did you see this key?”
The Final Reality (Alex Pella, #3) Page 18
