Location: Somewhere on the Trans-Siberian Railway
The old train rattled along the tracks with the three unlikely companions inside a cabin. They had bartered their way onto a very long truck ride to Lhasa, where they then boarded the train that would take them to Harbin and the trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostok.
Kelly was the only one awake. Freya was back in her combat gear and propped up by one elbow, wedged into the window frame, still recovering from her tangle with the sea snake. Alejandro sat opposite them, curled up in a ball, underneath Kelly’s jacket that the old man had refused for a full hour before finally accepting it when the frosty morning air had bitten just a little too hard. Looking about the rickety old car, Kelly spotted an old, beat-up guitar perched on one of the parcel shelves above Alejandro. Carefully, he rose from his seat and fetched it down. It had holes in it and was missing the first E string, but he turned the machine heads until he could get a decent set of chords to reverberate inside its hollow interior. It had been ages since he had played. In fact, the last time he could remember was floating down the Amazon with Chris. Kelly sniffed away the lump in his throat and strummed quietly, singing in the softest voice he could.
“I don’t believe,
The world would understand,
Or people would want to see,
The boy beneath the man,
So I hide the inner child,
Avoid another’s touch,
And play the endless fool,
So rejection won’t hurt too much.”
“I didn’t know you played,” Freya said. She was fixated on Kelly’s performance.
He snapped back to the reality of the cabin, embarrassed that she’d heard him. “I don’t really. I taught myself a long time ago, but I’m still crap. Anyway, didn’t your agency have records on me? I mean, you found me, right?”
“Actually, we did research, but there was surprisingly little on you. Your records only had any substance once you went to university, and that was also late if I remember correctly?”
Kelly eyed her. He didn’t like being questioned. And he was not used to telling anyone anything about his personal life. He’d been surprised Chris had talked about Izel in the Chinook while they traveled to Area 51. Perhaps he’d felt Victoria was a friend. He turned back to the expectant face of Freya and sighed. “My mom ran off with another man a year after I was born. For as long as I can remember, I had to help my dad through. He turned to drinking to cope, and that meant I pretty much had to fend for myself. He wasn’t abusive or anything, just useless. By the time I was fourteen, I’d grown tired of looking after him, so I left home. I traveled about, taking odd jobs and letting the breeze blow me where it wanted. My travels eventually took me through Mexico and into South America. I took pictures wherever I went. I was fascinated by photography. For a while, I settled in Rio and took up freediving and underwater photography. I sent a few pictures off to National Geographic, which were bought. After a while, they got interested in my work, and I started doing more things for them. They paid for me to go to college, where I met Chris.” He squirmed in his seat. “Anyway, what about you? You never told me what was up with you and the General.”
Freya sat motionless for a moment considering whether to answer. But she decided if he could open up, then so could she. “My parents died when I was thirteen. My father was in the military and was good friends with Benjamin and his wife—so much so that they were my godparents. By the time my parents passed away, Benjamin and his wife had already divorced. I don’t think he knew what he was doing, but he agreed to fulfill his duty and bring me up on his own. He did a pretty good job. He’s the reason I’m in the military.”
Kelly fidgeted in his seat, embarrassed for having previously suggested a sexual relationship. “Sorry.”
“It doesn’t matter. These things happen. I was really too young to know them well. And Benjamin has been a father to me. I think this is why all this has gotten to me so much. I never expected him to lie to me.” She turned away to hide any outward expression of vulnerability.
“You know, in his own twisted way, he was trying to protect you.” He hesitated before finishing his thought. “Like Izel for me. When Carmen died, Izel didn’t tell me. I don’t think she knew how to break it to me. Probably thought she was doing me a favor.”
Freya turned back to Kelly. His usual sarcastic expression had melted into one of understanding and empathy. He was starting to open up. Should she push it further? “Alejandro explained something to me. I know that Carmen wasn’t yours.”
Kelly froze. He focused his stare on Freya, searching her face and eyes for her intention. He’d already started to tell her things. There was no point in trying to avoid questions now. “No, Carmen wasn’t mine. In fact, when I met Izel, she didn’t tell me she had a daughter. I didn’t find out until I met her father for the first time. Chris, my friend from college, he was her brother. We crossed paths during my final year. He had no idea I was dating her. We had gone to his apartment to surprise him. Well, he was so surprised he punched me.” Kelly laughed and rubbed his jaw where it had been struck. “But for Chris, that was the end of it. Her father met me at the door and instantly disapproved. At first, I thought my college exploits had preceded me, and I just needed to do some damage control. So when he turned tail and stormed back into the apartment, I followed him, keen to set the record straight.”
Freya nodded. “Then?”
“Then, I almost tripped over a baby crawling across my path. I looked down, and the tiniest little brown eyes stared back at me. I hoisted the li’l one up. The kid beamed at me, bit of drool swinging from her gummy grin.” He smiled and swallowed away the stone in his throat. “I asked, ‘What’s your name, bright eyes?’ Chris replied on her behalf that it was Carmen. I opened my mouth to congratulate the old dog on his baby-making skills when Izel interrupted and said Carmen was hers. For a few seconds, I was silent, stunned. I looked into Carmen’s eyes and suddenly saw Izel staring back at me. I asked where the dad was. Alejandro shouted that he was dead.”
Freya nodded.
“At the time, I didn’t even hear how the guy died. I was too busy staring at Carmen. It was as if the little rug rat had stuffed a knife into my chest, opened it up, and crawled inside. She was a beautiful piece of the woman I loved so much. There was never any question. Izel and I agreed Carmen would never be without a father, and one day, we would tell her the truth.” Kelly sighed again, exhausted from opening his innards to another person.
“And that’s why Alejandro dislikes you? Because you took on the role of the father?”
“In part. He loved the real father. And I was apparently no match. Things got worse between us, and in the end, we just stopped talking. I did quite a bit of work in Egypt, and Izel would come with Carmen and see Alejandro, but I always steered clear. When my jobs there stopped, so did our visits. I think he resented that.”
Freya simply nodded again, unsure of how to respond. Kelly looked hurt and vulnerable, but she knew better than to try to comfort him, to get closer. She had pushed him far enough.
* * *
The landscape was bleak under the pale moonlight. Miniature shacks speckled the horizon, each shadowing its own little plot of farmland. An intensely pot-holed forest track whisked by the train window, only visible due to the moon’s reflection off the water-filled, mini craters. Whenever the train stopped at a station, a small gaggle of women appeared from nowhere. They shuffled up and down the train, touting a strange collection of gifts for sale. The items changed as the journey progressed, beginning with more traditional Asian items, such as paper lanterns and decorated bowls, and moving to more bizarre items, including fake Fabergé eggs and full crystal chandeliers. These latter items signified the transition into Siberia.
Alejandro stirred under the jacket, then sat up. The cold air made him shiver, so he grasped at the jacket and pulled it tighter around him. He should have accepted Kelly’s offer to buy warmer clothing while in Indi
a.
He blinked away the sleepiness from his eyes and looked across at his fellow travelers. Kelly was asleep, head tilted back, mouth open, and snoring. He twitched slightly and moaned, his brow wet and his skin pale. What else could he expect from the man? He was a useless brute with a wit as dull as the knuckles he dragged along the ground. Once again, Alejandro had been pulled into this slack-jawed idiot’s stupid world. He shook his head and turned his attention to Freya. She, on the other hand, was graceful and elegant. She was sitting upright with her hands in her lap and her eyes closed. Her mouth was definitely not open. Her long ebony hair and slender frame reminded Alejandro of Izel or perhaps who Carmen may have grown to be. The past was such a tragedy and all Kelly’s fault. And now he was about to do it again to another woman. The young lady had said it was her fault and Kelly was dragged into this, but it seemed trouble followed this man everywhere.
“You know, it’s rude to stare.” Freya spoke without opening her eyes.
“Oh, oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, young ... I was just thinking,” stuttered the old man.
Freya opened her eyes and let them adjust to the darkened cabin before she spoke. “You know, Kelly isn’t as bad as you may believe, Professor D’Souza.”
“Alejandro, please.”
“Okay, Alejandro.”
“You don’t know him like I do. He doesn’t care who he hurts as long as he is moving forward and pretending to be Indiana Jones.”
“I disagree, Alejandro. Over the past few weeks, I have spent a lot of time with him. He cares very much who he hurts.” She changed her position to be a more relaxed one and bent forward, elbows on her knees and hands clasped together. She was still weak but strong enough to support her weight. “Did you know when we first asked Kelly to dive for us and collect the original orb, he wouldn’t let Chris go with him?”
Alejandro grunted. “Probably wanted all the glory.”
“No, he said it was too dangerous and he was only willing to risk his own life.”
The old man didn’t respond.
“Also, did you know Kelly has very bad nightmares about Izel and Carmen? Their death haunts him. He’s been unable to let go.”
Alejandro still didn’t respond but cast a brief glance at Kelly.
“He does care. He just doesn’t know how to show it.”
“And that’s why he’s grunting and snorting now?”
“Possibly. It’s strange. K’in seemed to become very fond of Kelly. They bonded, I think. Kelly’s nightmares stopped for a few weeks, but since we’ve separated from K’in, they’ve returned. And he seems to be getting sicker.”
“He didn’t say anything.”
“He wouldn’t.”
Alejandro nodded thoughtfully and sat back in his seat, pondering this new information. “Perhaps.”
Freya mirrored the man’s posture, leaning back in her own seat. “So, tell me. This friend of yours, why is he up there, and what is he doing?”
“She’s searching for artifacts frozen in the ice. She’s part of a team chartered to excavate in the Altai Mountains. There have been a lot of mummies and corpses found in that region of Siberia.”
“Any idea what they’re looking for?”
“She never really said, but I do know she’s a bit eccentric and believes in some of the more unconventional theories. She still believes that Hapgood’s theory of earth crust displacement may have some credibility.”
“Earth crust displacement?”
“Charles Hapgood was a professor of the history of science at Keene College in New Hampshire. His research led him to study many early maps of the world. He found several of these maps appeared to show a southern landmass very similar in shape and size to Antarctica.”
“Okay.”
“Now, although various explorers visited the islands to the south of South America in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Antarctica was not officially discovered until 1820. Hapgood thought these maps, which were believed to be copies of much older ones, depicted Antarctica as it would have looked before it was covered in ice. For that to be true, the original maps would have to have been created by an advanced civilization many thousands of years ago. I have to say, his work is highly debated.”
“Well, what you suggest would fit with our thoughts on K’in and his advanced civilization.”
“Perhaps, although you told me K’in is aquatic. A need to draw paper maps of Antarctica may not have been strong. In any event, Hapgood argued Antarctica did not lie in its current position at the South Pole but about thirty degrees further north. In the 1950s, he developed a theory called Earth Crust Displacement. He suggested the tectonic plates shifted violently, relatively quickly, and as one over the liquid inner of the Earth. Hapgood claimed this resulted in Antarctica moving from a temperate climate to a polar one. Even Albert Einstein supported this theory. He wrote a foreword in one of Hapgood’s books. It has even been suggested this could account for the large number of animals found flash frozen in Siberia.”
“The original corpse from which we cloned K’in was found frozen in that part of the world. Could it be?” Freya’s eyes widened.
“I don’t know. Many people have refuted his theory. Our understanding of geology and how ice moves under pressure has advanced since then. Some scientists still maintain the continent has been under ice for millions of years. Others argue Hapgood may be correct and say they have evidence Antarctica had free-flowing rivers on it a mere six-thousand years ago. I’ve looked at the original maps myself, but it does not help me to draw any conclusions.”
Freya slumped back in her seat, disappointed.
“But I digress. The point is, young lady, if anyone can help us, it will be Minya Yermolova.”
Location: Vladivostok, Siberia
Kelly snorted awake and drove his head into the cabin wall. Freya laughed. Even Alejandro had to suppress a smile.
“We’ve been trapped in train cabins for days, and I’m so tired of getting harassed by annoying little shits trying to force their wares on me,” grumbled Kelly.
“Just be glad we’ve had our own car all the way. Everyone else has had large men who smell like pickles traipsing in and out.” Freya screwed up her nose at the thought of the vinegar-soaked stench that had become ever present as they penetrated further into Siberia.
“You’ve got issues with food. Anyone ever told you that?” Kelly shook his head.
Freya wrinkled her nose. “I just never got used to the cuisine out here.”
“I must say, I still think traveling all the way to Vladivostok is a little inefficient. Minya is based in the Altai mountains, more than twelve-hundred miles in the other direction.”
“I know, Professor D’Souza. But it’s the best place to rendezvous with the General and then travel together. Think of it this way. You’ll get to meet K’in.” Freya smiled at the thought of seeing the creature again.
Kelly huffed loudly. “Yeah, I wonder what Moby will make of the old goat.”
Freya shot him a scathing look. Alejandro didn’t take any notice.
* * *
The wheels of the train squealed as its brakes ground on them. The carriage lurched and swayed to a halt. A voice from overhead barked something that was garbled through static and crackling. It was almost impossible to discern between the different languages: Eskimo-Aleut, Mongolic, Paleosiberian, Siberian, Turkic, Russian, Tungusic, Uralic.
“This is it. Vladivostok.” Freya stretched out her slender arms and yawned. “Let’s go.”
“How the hell do you know that?” Kelly asked.
“You may be at home in the Middle East, Kelly Graham, but now you’re in my backyard.”
“You speak Russian? You never said.”
“We don’t all need to brag twenty-four-seven. Anyway, Sherlock, this is the last stop, and so it must be Vladivostok.” She winked, tightened her ponytail again, and stood.
The three travelers groaned, stretched, and collected their backpacks. Kelly
picked up the old guitar and slung it over one shoulder.
“You taking that, too?”
He shrugged. “We have another four-day drive from here to Altai. Gotta keep you entertained somehow, right?” With that, he waved her in front of him, a mock act of chivalry.
“Thank you.”
She stepped forward and out of the carriage, but her stride was cut short as she almost crashed into a large man dressed entirely in black. Freya’s gaze began at his boots and rose slowly upward until it met the unsmiling face of Tremaine. “How the hell did you get here so fast?”
“We’ve been moving toward the east coast of Siberia for quite a while. You forget, that sub is fast.”
“Well shit, JT!” Kelly stepped forward and weakly patted the Shadow Man on the back.
Tremaine ignored him.
“Where’s the General?” Freya asked, scanning the train platform.
“Not here. We have a secure building not far away. Old contacts from the Cold War, when Vladivostok was a military base, helped out the General. It seems Mr. Graham is not the only one with friends in low places.”
“Oh,” was all she said.
“So we meet the creature now?” Alejandro directed his question at the new man in front of him.
“You must be Professor D’Souza. Yes, we will make our way now.” Tremaine pointed beyond a handful of people shuffling around the platform to a battered old car in the distance.
“For once, can we take a car that doesn’t look like it belongs on a scrap heap?” Freya threw her arms in the air and stormed off in the direction of the vehicle.
Kelly scanned the faces of the other men and shrugged. “Hey, don’t look at me, it’s not my fault. I stole a private jet. You boys need to step up your game.” He started after her, the backpack bouncing on his shoulder.
Tremaine calmly followed and climbed into the driver’s side of the car. His bulk pressed against the roof, door, handbrake and steering wheel. He was not comfortable. Kelly sat up front in the passenger seat, while Freya and Alejandro sat in the back.
Children of the Fifth Sun Page 25
