The Scrolls of Velia

by John McWilliams

  “I don’t know.”

  “Look at that.” Mary’s eyes went wide.

  The sides of the block were now translucent, and inside it we could see a 3D image of us, here in the cave. Moving my finger shifted the camera view up or down, left or right.

  Everyone crowded around. Even Adella got off the floor to see what was happening.

  I lifted my finger, and suddenly our perspective shifted to a hundred feet above the Raven Entelechy building.

  “Look,” Mary said. “The Apollonians seem to have control of the site. That’s good.”

  I navigated over the ocean, then back over land. I zoomed in on a house along the coast.

  “See if you can go back to us in the cave,” Mary said.

  “I’m not sure I can.” I tried to find the Velia site and somehow ended up over Rome. A moment later, England. Zooming out, I ended up in outer space.

  “Oh my God, Henry,” Mary complained. “Where are you taking us?”

  “That thing’s like Google Earth,” Adella said, “only in real-time.”

  “More like Google Pluto. Go that way.” Mary pointed, squeezing in closer, obscuring my view with her hair. I nudged her aside and, after a minute, managed to return us to Earth.

  “Notice anything odd?” my father asked.

  We were now in Paris—but based on the horse-drawn carriages and the general attire, it must have been Paris sometime around the 1800s.

  “That looks like it’s actually happening, doesn’t it?” Adella asked.

  “Maybe it is,” Mary said. “That thing can see anywhere in space—why not anywhere in time?”

  “You’ll get no argument from me,” Adella replied.

  For the next twenty minutes everyone watched as I did my best to control the viewer. I could take us around the world, underground, or into space. I could take us back and forth in time. I could even get the audio to work intermittently. But in truth, I was really just going where this thing took me—aimlessly jumping hundreds of miles, and years, in space and time.

  “You know what would be cool,” Mary said. “If we could view this cave when Dr. Schmaltz and the Eureka Group brought this stuff down here.”

  “How about when Parmenides brought this stuff down originally?” Adella said.

  “Even cooler,” Mary agreed.

  “We could even listen in on Parmenides and Apollo’s conversations,” Isabella suggested. “Although I guess we’d have to learn ancient Greek.”

  “Okay, Henry,” Mary said. “Isn’t it about time you let someone else try that thing?”

  “I don’t think he can,” Pierre said. “Well, at least not just anyone. It didn’t do anything when I held it, or the senator. I believe that device has some kind of biometric security feature built into it. Anyone who could develop that kind of technology could certainly build in a biometric scanner.”

  “But how would it recognize Henry?” my father asked.

  “My guess is that it recognizes a pattern in his DNA. Somehow merely touching that thing allows it to scan on a cellular level. Watch. Henry, if you wouldn’t mind?”

  I handed him the viewer. It immediately returned to its former solid block state.

  “Now, if I’m right,” Pierre said, “the only other person who should be able to activate this device is Mary. When she held it originally, the blue cloth must have blocked its scanning ability. But just out of curiosity, let’s test it on everyone.” He handed the viewer to my father, who handed it to Isabella, who handed it to Adella. The entire time it remained a block.

  “Finally—my turn.” Mary scooped the viewer out of Adella’s hands and sank her finger into its surface. The viewer appeared.

  “You see, Henry?” Pierre said. “You two really are the Descendants.”

  Holy shit—it’s true. The world seemed to shift under my feet.

  “So, if Dr. Schmaltz was right,” Adella nodded at the documents on the altar, “and Apollo was an extraterrestrial, he and his crew did a little more than just violate the Prime Directive: they had sex with humans. Although, that would be consistent with Greek mythology.”

  “But then, technically,” I said, “Apollo wasn’t a god.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Adella said. “How do we identify a god? Omniscience? Omnipotence? Omnipresence? Look at that device. Apollo certainly had the all-knowing part down. Who knows what other powers he possessed?”

  “Okay,” I said, “but still, if Apollo was an extraterrestrial, what are the odds he would look human, let alone be able to mate with one?”

  “Actually, pretty good.” Adella gestured at the viewer. “Given that kind of technology and the trillions of worlds available to him, don’t you think a planet so closely resembling his own evolutionary path might be a destination of choice?”

  “But even if he traveled at the speed of light—”

  “Henry,” Adella said. “That device can view any place in the universe, at any time. I don’t think we need to bother debating whether Apollo and his fellow space travelers were limited by the speed of light.”

  “That’s true…”

  “Why do you suppose I can’t make the viewer work?” my father asked.

  “Just as Pierre said,” Adella explained. “It probably takes just the right DNA sequence. Maybe Henry’s mother had some of the genes and you had the others. I’m not a biologist. Although, it’d probably be interesting for the two of you—and Mary, for that matter—to get your DNA sequenced. And of course, if Henry and Mary were to have children… That’d be interesting, too.”

  “A little more than interesting, huh?” My father poked me in the ribs.

  Fortunately, Mary was too preoccupied with the viewer to acknowledge this little exchange.

  “You don’t think—” I leaned closer to Adella. “You don’t think Mary and I are too closely related, do you?”

  “It’s been centuries, Henry.” Adella chuckled. “I wouldn’t worry about it. You know how many genes we all share?”

  “So the bottom line is,” I said after a moment of consideration, “Mary and I are the descendants of some horny astronaut from—”

  “Henry!” Mary held up the viewer. “He’s probably watching.”

  Chapter 17

  Transporting the marble chest in the rowboat was nerve-wracking, and hauling it through the caves was no picnic, but we made it back to the surface and immediately transported it to Naples, where we boarded my father’s private jet. We took everything: the Eureka documents, the viewer, and even the scrolls. It was just me, my father, Mary, and Adella on the flight; Isabella and Pierre stayed behind with the Apollonians to gather evidence from around the Raven’s Nest, and my father asked Adam and Jason to stay as well, to help them with security.

  On our way back to the United States, we made full use of my father’s legal expertise to build our legal argument against Raven Entelechy. Our presentation was further informed by Isabella and Pierre, who checked in by satellite phone from time to time to update us on the evidence they were finding at the Velia site. Naturally, we left out any references to gods and extraterrestrials, and since the viewer—a real-time window onto any point in space and time—seemed to be, ironically, a true Pandora’s Box, we decided not only to leave that item out, but to lock it away in my father’s private vault at our earliest convenience.

  Immediately after we landed in Washington, DC, my father called the Director of the FBI, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, and the White House Chief of Staff. And a mere twenty-four hours after our emergence from the caves, my father, Adella, Mary, and I entered the Oval Office for our second meeting this morning with President William Grayson. The first meeting with the president had been preparation—mostly instructing us what we should and shouldn’t say during this meeting, a meeting which would include Italy’s ambassador to the US, Marco Cavallo.

  In addition to the president and the ambassador, also present were U.S. Attorney General, Richard Wilson; the Chief of Staff, Ba
rbara Owens; and the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy—the president’s scientific advisor—Dr. Samuel Mills.

  After the president introduced us to the ambassador, we took our seats. The ambassador, a short man with thick black hair, was seated on the couch across from us, and kept his eyes turned toward the president. During the introductions, he had barely even glanced at us.

  “Senator Warland, this is your show,” the president said to my father.

  My father spoke directly to the ambassador. “Let me begin by apologizing for the liberties we took within your country.” He shifted forward on the couch and waited for the ambassador to meet his eyes. “I can assure you, these were exigent circumstances, and once you hear the entire story, I’m confident you’ll agree we made the right choices.”

  Ambassador Cavallo looked past my father at a table containing the marble chest. I was sure it wasn’t the chest that had his attention, however. It was the seven skulls. Each had a green dot stuck to its forehead. He furrowed his brow.

  “Senator Warland,” he said, returning his attention to my father, “you must understand that Raven Entelechy is a highly respected part of the Italian business community, and your assault on their facilities and theft of national treasure”—he gestured at the chest—”are, dare I say, tantamount to an act of war.”

  “Whoa, whoa,” President Grayson said. “Marco, please. Hear him out. Do you think we’d be having this conversation if I hadn’t already heard their story—if they didn’t have substantive proof? And,” the president leaned closer to the ambassador, “there’s an opportunity here that you’re not going to want to miss. By the time we get done here, I guarantee you, you’ll be thanking the senator and these three courageous individuals.”

  The ambassador scanned the four of us, pausing when he got to Mary. As he stared at her, the tension seemed to drain from his face. For a moment, I thought he might even faint.

  “Ambassador?” the president said, clearing his throat. “Marco, are you all right?”

  “Yes, I, ah—” Ambassador Cavallo rubbed his eyes. “I’m fine.”

  “May we proceed?”

  “Yes, yes. Let’s hear this proof.”

  “Dr. Fortier.” My father turned to Adella. “If you wouldn’t mind?”

  “Ambassador Cavallo,” Adella said, “I’m going to need you to keep an open mind. The story I’m about to tell you involves a scientific discovery from World War Two that, in fact, dates all the way back to Parmenides. This story also involves Raven Entelechy, which is, as you mentioned, a well-respected business, but is also one responsible for many crimes, including murder, extortion, and even crimes against humanity when one considers their obstruction of human progress.”

  The ambassador looked again at Mary. Almost imperceptibly, she nodded. The ambassador returned his attention to Adella.

  Adella continued, leading the ambassador through the significant events, starting with her initial interactions with Dr. Edmund Eriksson and the New Eureka Group, and ending with her abduction in Paestum. From there, my father, Mary, and I detailed what happened next.

  Attorney General Richard Wilson followed up by enumerating Raven Entelechy’s crimes and then demonstrating our supporting evidence. This included a visual presentation involving the seven skulls, documents collected at Sito Archeologico di Velia by the Apollonians, and testimony webconferenced in by the former Director of International Security for Raven Entelechy, Pierre Durant.

  By the time the attorney general concluded, Ambassador Cavallo was staring at his shoes.

  “Care for a drink, Marco?” President Grayson asked.

  “I’m afraid I might drink the entire bottle.” Ambassador Cavallo sighed. “This is a mess.”

  “Well, it’s not all bad news,” the president said. “Dr. Fortier, if you wouldn’t mind explaining the significance of the Eureka Formula?”

  Adella gave the ambassador an introductory lesson on the geometry of energy and time, with an emphasis on real-world applications.

  “Matter-antimatter mass-to-energy conversion?” The ambassador looked at the president incredulously.

  “Virtually unlimited energy,” the president replied.

  My father added, “You could carry on your shoulder all the fuel you’d need to power the entire world for a day.”

  “Imagine that world,” President Grayson said.

  “And who owns this technology?” the ambassador asked.

  “Well, technically, the Third Reich,” the president said. “But fortunately, those guys aren’t around anymore.”

  “We believe this knowledge should belong to the world,” my father told the ambassador. “And at the suggestion of Dr. Fortier, we plan to create a global initiative: The Global Kinetic Mass-Energy Transformation Initiative—the newest Eureka Group. Italy, of course, is expected to play a leading role in this effort. And once this situation with Raven Entelechy is put to bed, the scrolls”—my father glanced over his shoulder—”will be immediately returned to Italy.”

  Ambassador Cavallo nodded thoughtfully. “May I?” He indicated the marble chest.

  “Of course.” The president accompanied him to the table.

  “And the scrolls are inside?” Ambassador Cavallo asked.

  “Yes.” The president lifted the lid and set it aside. “Our friends at the Smithsonian insisted on putting them in hermetically sealed packaging, but there they are.”

  “Just incredible…” Ambassador Cavallo reached into the chest.

  “Mister Ambassador.” Mary stood, motioning for me to stand as well. I did. “Once the situation with Raven Entelechy is cleared up, we’d really appreciate it if you would abide by the wishes of the Apollonians on how to publicly display the scrolls.”

  “I will do everything in my power to see that that happens.” Ambassador Cavallo, shoulders squared, lowered his eyes for a moment, then looked at Mary and me. “I, ah… I feel I owe you two—and, of course, the senator and Dr. Fortier—a great debt of gratitude. On behalf of the Italian government, thank you. All of you.”

  Moments later, the president brought my father and the ambassador over to the Rose Garden door for a private conversation. Mary and I joined Adella at the evidence table.

  “So, Eddie…” Adella picked up Dr. Edmund Eriksson’s skull. “What do you think of all this? I think we did all right.”

  I replaced the chest’s lid. “I wonder what Herman Schmaltz would have thought.”

  “Or Edgar Allen Poe—or Parmenides, for that matter,” Adella said.

  “Or Apollo.” Mary waved at the ceiling.

  “Well, instead of going back to the hospital,” Adella set Eddie’s skull down, “it looks like I’m the primary investigator on the feasibility study for the first matter-antimatter power plant. What are you two up to? I’m sure there are plenty of opportunities for you two to get involved.”

  I looked at Mary. Since the day we’d started, we’d had almost no time to ourselves. My goal, at least for the moment, was to remedy that situation.

  Adella leaned closer to Mary. “Oh, and we never found your astronaut. I still owe you that.”

  Mary brushed the notion aside. “No, you don’t. I’m over that now. Besides, we did kind of find an astronaut.”

  “That’s true.”

  My father called Adella over to the other side of the room.

  “Well, thanks for everything,” Adella said, as Mary wrapped her arms around her.

  This wasn’t exactly goodbye. For the next few weeks, all of us would be remaining here in DC—Adella with her new job, and Mary and I sticking close to the scrolls until they could be returned to Italy. But it felt like a chapter was ending.

  Mary and Adella separated and I gave the Skull Lady a hug. She wiped her eyes and walked off.

  “Anyway…” I said after a moment. “I think the scrolls should be reasonably safe here inside the White House. How about I take you out to dinner?”

  “You mean, on a date? With
one of my relatives?”

  “Will you stop that?”

  From across the room, my father signaled that it was time for us to leave.

  “All right.” Mary looked up at me with her bright, expressive eyes. “But you’d better not be one of those boring guys.”

  I took her by the shoulders and planted a kiss on her lips.

  “Henry, I don’t think we’re supposed to kiss in the Oval Office.”

  “Was it boring?”

  “No…”

  “Then let’s go do some more stuff we’re not supposed to do.”

  About the Author

  John McWilliams is an entrepreneur who has established business ventures working in the fields of microelectronics, software design, and high-energy physics. Mr. McWilliams lives in Orlando, Florida with his two sons. He can be contacted at jrmcw2525@gmail.com.