Moon Mask

by James Richardson

  King had hesitated for a second then, as though concerned about the reaction he was going to get from his audience. “This is where the penultimate piece of the Moon Mask is,” he had said. The debate about how he knew this, the merits of ESP and the possibility of remote viewing had raged between the academics throughout their journey but King had remained adamant that this was where the Moon Mask had shown him the missing piece was. He had described flashes of a ceremony deep within a hollow chamber, then a flash of the submerged ruins. When he awoke, he knew their next destination.

  Now, down on the deck, Lake watched as O’Rourke and Garcia dropped the boat’s anchor and she felt the boat pull too, steady in the strong current. She looked up at the towering cliffs of the south face of Yonaguni Island. The azure sky was startling in its intense blue and cast an equally sapphire glow upon the water below.

  But, if King was right she knew, those waters contained a secret they had kept hidden since the dawn of time. And they were about to loose it upon an unsuspecting world.

  “Ben, we need to talk.”

  Those ominous words had cut through King’s ‘daydreaming’, though whether it truly was a daydream, or in fact another echo of his experience with the Moon Mask, he wasn’t sure.

  The experience had been incredibly intense. It had been as though he was flying above the earth at astonishing speed, looking down at it all, seeing it all, yet still being unable to understand the enormity of it. He’d seen the city of the Bouda, just like he and his father had always imagined it. He’d been transported back to the heyday of Xibalba, watching the fantastic ceremonies of an ancient culture that had learned to live below ground. He had travelled through the wonders of Ancient Egypt in a time when they were still young, seen Djoser’s famous vizier, Imhotep, administer advanced surgery on dying patients with the knowledge that his piece of the Moon Mask had given him. He’d seen the primitive face of a nameless man on a Pacific island glance at the deformed piece of a vaguely face-shaped lump of metal and, from that, carve and erect the first of the island’s towering moa.

  And he’d seen a gleaming city, centred around a step-pyramid. Yet he was not in Egypt any longer, but in a far away land, looking on in horror as an enormous wave barrelled towards him.

  He had recognised the city from his father’s research and brought the team here, based on nothing more than a vivid dream that was, minute by minute, drifting back into the obscurity of his mind.

  “What’s the matter?” he asked Sid. In response, she took his hand and led him below deck and into one of the vacant cabins. He could feel the slight tremble in her grip, the sweatiness of her palms. She closed the door and looked at him, her beautiful features serious.

  “Sid-”

  “It’s over, Ben.”

  With those words, all the distant tendrils of his experience with the mask evaporated. Reality slapped him in the face.

  “What? What do you-?”

  “You know what I mean,” she cut him off. A flood of tears suddenly overwhelmed her. He stepped closer, reached out a hand but she pushed him away.

  “No,” she said with determination, forcing back self-control. “It’s over. I can’t do this anymore.”

  King felt the world swirling around him. Nausea pulled at his gut. “I-”

  “You lied to me, Ben!” she snapped out her reasoning. “And you nearly died because of it!”

  “It was the only way to find the mask-”

  “Fuck the mask!” she shouted. “I don’t give a damn about the goddamn mask. All I care about, all I’ve ever cared about, is you!”

  “And you’re all that I-”

  “No!” she snarled, her voice turning into an angry, hurt growl. “Don’t you lie to me again! Don’t you dare say that I’m all you care about! Because I’m not! All you care about is the mask, and the Bouda and the Progenitors! I’m just . . . what? What am I? An added accessory? A distraction for you to lie to me and tell me what I want to hear-”

  “No,” King cut her off, his own anger rising indignantly. “You’re going to be my wife! That’s who you are. The mask, the Bouda . . . everything. None of that matters. Only you matter!”

  Sid laughed bitterly. “How many times have you said that these last few days? Huh? How many times have you promised me that I am your whole world?” She shook her head, grimacing to hold back the flood of emotions. “You’ve seen your mother, your sister and your father all die because of this obsession of yours-”

  “I’d never let anything happen to you-”

  “It’s not about me! It’s about you! You, Ben, you!” She choked on her words. “This obsession is going to get you killed. And that’s the last thing I want in this entire world. And it almost happened. And it will happen again. But I can’t be around to watch it.”

  “We made a promise to the United Nations that we would find the mask. Once we do, I’ll wipe my hands of it.”

  “And then what? We live happily ever after . . . until your next great obsession comes along. What will it be next time? Atlantis? El Dorado? Whatever it is, it will consume you and, one day, you’re not going to come back from some expedition, just like your father; or you’re going to do something idiotic like place irradiated material against you thick skull, and I’m going to be a widow! People like you, you’re not supposed to be pinned down by marriage and children and responsibility-”

  “I can change,” he argued, his voice cracking and tears breaking their dams. Sid placed one hand gently against his chest then ran her other one over his now smooth scalp. A thin smile broke her lips. Her eyes were glassy with moisture. The heat of their body contact was electrifying to one another.

  “But I love you just the way you are,” she whispered. “I can’t change you. I don’t want to change you.” Her lips trembled, her voice became a sob. “But I can’t be with you, either.”

  Their lips found one another, hungry and desperate. Whatever world King had seen from high above the earth, through the eyes of the Moon Mask, had all shrunk down to this one cabin, this one moment in time.

  They needed each other. Their bodies, their minds, their hearts and their souls yearned to strip away their clothes, to strip away the obstacles of life. But, they both knew that once that moment was over, those self-same obstacles would be there still.

  Their lips still welded together, she ran her hand down his head, his neck, his arm, and took his hand. He gripped tightly but she wormed her way loose and, just like that, it was over.

  She stepped away from him. “We agreed to see this thing through to the end,” she said. “And that’s what I’ll do. But once we’ve found the mask . . .” she stumbled on her words. “You won’t see me again.”

  He opened his mouth to argue but words would not come out. He felt as though he had been paralysed and all he could do was watch as the woman he loved turned, opened the door, and walked away.

  His body shook as he looked down at what she had deposited in his hand, knowing already what he would find.

  The engagement ring. For so long it had been in his pocket, for so brief a time it had been on the hand of the woman he loved.

  He took several deep breaths, each one more difficult than the last, as though he had unbuckled himself from a life-support machine he didn’t know he needed.

  He felt the boat judder to a stop, heard the rattle of anchors being dropped. Somewhere in the inky waters below him lay the final piece of the Moon Mask.

  Forcing himself to control his shaking body and pounding heart, he returned the ring to his pocket and headed back up above deck.

  50:

  The Dive

  Off the Coast of Yonaguni Island,

  Japan

  A face in the gloom. A hand reaching out to him.

  Sunlight pierced the temple, blazing down through holes in the ceiling. The shafts of light grew narrower, refining to a single laser-like beam until that too was gone.

  Darkness.

&nb
sp; Such utter darkness.

  Then noise.

  The roaring of a beast that could never be stopped.

  It echoed all around, it pounded against the temple walls, it began to break through.

  Then he saw it.

  Such a hideous creature. Terrifying and all consuming.

  It charged at him-

  “Benny!”

  King spun around in surprise and looked at Raine, trying to hide his startled expression. Raine’s eyes narrowed in concern.

  “You sure you’re okay to do this?”

  King took a deep breath and forced a smile. “Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  He and Sid had decided to keep their break up concealed from the team for the time being. Now wasn’t the time to confuse matters. Nevertheless, Raine eyed him sceptically and King knew what he was thinking. It was what all of them were thinking. That he should still been in that hospital bed back in Germany being watched over by doctors, having his brain invaded by neurologists with nothing better to do. And, sure enough, there was a part of him that thought that too.

  “I was just thinking,” he lied and glanced back over the side of the fishing boat. Everything stank of rotten fish- the bulkheads, the handrails, the piles of discarded nets, and now even his own body. Nevertheless, he had relished the feel of the fresh sea air pounding against his face as the boat had made its long journey south from Okinawa to Yonaguni, until his encounter with Sid below deck. “Nine thousand years ago, this was all above water. The whole island chain was one long peninsula linked to mainland China.” He sighed. “Yet, nine thousand years ago, no civilisation was supposed to have existed with the technological sophistication to build what lies beneath us.”

  “So maybe your father was right,” Raine suggested. “Maybe history got it wrong.”

  “Maybe,” King sighed. The afternoon sun beat down on them both as they stood looking out at the gentle waves off the coast of the island. King wore a pirate bandana over his now hairless scalp. Where Raine had got it from on a military base was anyone’s guess, but he’d been touched by the gesture. It had been a bit of a shock waking up following his experience to find that a bunch of military doctors had shaved him smooth. The white skull-and-cross bone image against the black background, Raine had said, seemed apt given they had just followed a pirate’s treasure map half way around the world.

  “Okay, listen up,” Gibbs’ voice suddenly echoed over the deck. All eyes turned to him. He carried a whiteboard on a tripod and was trailed by one of the marines they had picked up in Okinawa. Lieutenant Eugene ‘Tank’ Tanaka was an easy-going man in his late twenties. Born to a US Marine stationed on Okinawa and a local woman, he had grown up among the island chain before joining the corps. His CO had told Gibbs that he couldn’t ask for a better guide to the islands. He was also an experienced diver, used to the powerful currents in the area. Before joining the corps, he had led tourists on dives to the Monument.

  With the entire team gathered around, Gibbs set up the white board. On it was a crude felt-tip drawing of the massive underwater structure, the surrounding area and the position of the boat.

  “We’ll be buddying up into five teams of two. I’ll go down with Tank; O’Rourke, you’ll be with Aiko.” Aiko was one of the other two marines, also a local to the area. “Lake, you’ll be with Siddiqa, Garcia with Yashina; Raine and King, you’ll obviously be a team so that you can extract the package once we have confirmation. Murray, you’ll stay on board and keep an eye out for any problems. Noriko,” the final marine, “you’ll stay on board to keep up the pretence of being a local fishing boat. Any questions?” Upon the team’s silence, he continued. “Tanaka will talk you through your designated search coordinates.”

  Tank stepped up and indicated the whiteboard. “I’ve dived this site dozens of times,” he began. His English was perfect but King could detect a hint of a local accent. “I’ve never seen any opening into the structure, but if Doctor King’s assumption is correct, then there must be a way in.” None of the marines had been apprised of the Moon Mask, nor the less than regulation-specific intelligence that had led them here. “So we split up. Each team has been designated with a specific area to search. I tried to base this on experience levels to make it as safe as possible, but remember the currents in this area are extremely strong. We’ve timed our arrival reasonably well and it is now low tide, when the current is at its weakest but you’ll still experience a strong pull. If you get into difficulties, surface, inflate your vest and wait for the boat to come pick you up.”

  “Remember, if you find an opening, you call it in and wait for Raine and King to arrive,” Gibbs added. “You’ll all have radiation detectors affixed to your gear, but diving gear isn’t a hazmat suit. It will not offer you any protection against the radiation. You wait at the entry zone so we don’t lose it again, then Raine and King will go in. Any questions?” Again, the response was negative.

  “And don’t forget,” Tank added. “This whole area is a feeding zone for hammer-heads. Generally, leave them alone and they’ll leave you alone, but remember they are attracted to blood. You so much as nick yourself on a piece of coral, you get the hell out of the water, got it?”

  “Don’t have to tell me twice,” Raine grumbled.

  “Right, let’s kit up.”

  The deck became a hive of activity then as the SOG team issued out the diving gear they had picked up in Okinawa. Even though the three civilians all had some experience with scuba diving, O’Rourke took it upon himself to assist them along with Raine.

  He held up a full-face mask, connected via a series of tubes which were fastened securely in-place to a black rubber vest, not dissimilar to the Buoyancy Control Device, or BCD, that King was used to using when diving. His father had insisted on him learning to dive at an early age, insisting that if they were going to find a lost race then most of that evidence would likely lie submerged underwater. He had dived numerous wrecks as well as underwater archaeological sites, mostly off the coast of Alexandria in Egypt, and considered himself fairly experienced. Sid and Nadia, on the other hand, he knew, had only limited experience diving which was why they had been assigned the shallower search areas.

  “This is a LAR V Draeger Closed-Circuit Rebreather,” the soldier explained in his usual, mild mannered voice. “It’s different to the standard Open-Circuit systems you would have used while scuba diving, in that it minimises noise and doesn’t emit any bubbles.”

  “Don’t want the bad guys to spot your bubbles when you’re sneaking up on them,” Raine explained light-heartedly as he peeled himself into a thick neoprene wetsuit. His movements were swift and easy, checking all of his gear in a matter of seconds. A professional diver. A professional soldier.

  “You know how you got creeped out on your first ever dive,” O’Rourke said, “thinking that Darth Vadar was coming to get you?”

  Raine made a deep breathing sound, imitating the sci-fi villain which every diver sounded like when breathing through the stages of a scuba regulator. The three civilians, even Nadia, laughed lightly.

  “Well, now you’re going to get creeped out because of the silence,” O’Rourke finished. “They’re full-face masks and are fitted with MSHR submersible radios. That means that we’ll all be able to talk to each other down there, so there’s nothing to worry about. The soldier in each pair – Doc, you’re stuck with Raine I’m afraid,” he added jokingly. Again they all laughed, thankful for the soldier’s good nature. Whatever dark history there was between him and Raine, King realised that O’Rourke was trying to put it in the past. Raine had proven himself again and again in the last few days.

  “Each soldier,” he said again, “will be issued with an APS underwater assault rifle and an SPP-1 underwater pistol. You don’t need to know the ins-and-outs of it, but basically they fire specially designed hydrodynamic bullets, so if the ‘bad-guys’ do show up and we get into a fire fight, we’re not going to be defenceless down there. Each of
you will have diving knives as well. Comprende?”

  “Comprende,” they all replied.

  Over the next few minutes they each wriggled and squeezed themselves into their tight, full body wetsuits. Even though the water in these areas was warm, they could be underwater for a while- luckily, breathing pure oxygen through the military rebreathers instead of the compressed nitrogen/oxygen mix used in commercial diving, would allow them to remain underwater for longer without suffering any ill effects. The full suits, including boots, gloves and hoods, would keep them warmer for longer too.

  “Kinda reminds you of that time in Sri Lanka, ay, Boss?” O’Rourke asked Raine, laughing as the civilians struggled with their gear. King felt a pang of annoyance flare through him. Presumably the soldier was referring to their lack of finesse in suiting up.

  Raine glanced at O’Rourke for a second, frowning until he grasped whatever memory it was and laughed at the private joke.

  Once suited, Raine and O’Rourke helped them all into their gear. Despite his experience, King allowed O’Rourke to assist with putting on equipment he had never seen before. This included a hard vest that felt like it was laced with metal and, until O’Rourke handed him a weight belt, he assumed that it was some military-style weight vest. After that he slipped a ‘bib’ made up of plastic pockets over his head. Each pocket sloshed with some sort of liquid which the soldier explained helped even out buoyancy with the rebreather. Next, he wrapped the rebreather and air vest around him, pointing out the various components, such as the scrubber which cleaned and recycled the air, and the compass board which included a dive computer, compass, depth gauge, watch, GPS unit and air-pressure. It was not dissimilar to what he had trained with but much more complex.

  “Is all this gear really necessary?” he asked, irritated and hot as he slowly roasted in the wetsuit beneath the sun. “I’ve dived with a lot less.”

  “This is Special Ops, Doc,” O’Rourke replied. “Not PADI.” With a final tug of a strap, the big soldier slapped him on the shoulder with a smile then moved on to help Sid.