It was when Santo got to the part of the story about dimensional aerials suspended between dimensions Maria was held spellbound. When he told them about the strange properties of a dimensional aerial being soft enough to sink a hand into, wine suddenly spewed from a shocked Maria. After a quick wipe of her mouth, she told them about finding a strange cigar shaped floating craft that Kirk had poked with a steel rod and it sunk deep into the soft shell.
To prove that she and Santo were indeed kindred souls, both saw in their head floating pieces of a puzzle slowly joining to complete the picture. It came to Santo first. In military bravado he pointed to Maria and snapped,
“Contact everybody in the cave and tell them to get away from that so-called strange space craft.”
To punctuate the urgency he told them what Edward had warned him about, that getting too close to the dimensional transmitter might result in being sucked in and transported to goodness knows where. As fast as she could, Maria ran upstairs to get her cell phone.
Chapter 42
While Maria ran upstairs to change, Belle and Robert had retreated to their treehouse to play with all their new toys. Robert was busy with his new 3-D picture puzzle wondering how to fit a hexagonal shape into a quadrilateral trapezoid to form the rest of the picture in that puzzle. While Belle was intently watching him, ignoring her own gifts, she wished she had one just like it. When shooed away and repeatedly told to,
“Stop interfering. Go play with your own stuff.”
Belle heard a noise outside and wandered over to the far window to investigate.
Looking down and in the distance she saw a man she knew as Han Lee and two others standing around the ancient spire where she saw that strange dark ghost appear. She watched as they attached something to the obelisk about every meter all the way to the top. Held spellbound, she called Robert over saying,
“Come and watch this, I think they are going to capture that ghost we saw.”
Giving up on the puzzle, at least for now, capturing a ghost was something he had never seen and so joined her at the window.
When Han Lee seemed satisfied that all was in order, he prepared to blow the obelisk. Strangely, he did not seem concerned that the playhouse was nearby or did he command the other two men to safety. Standing only a few yards away he pressed the firing mechanism. Both children watched in awe as the obelisk started to disintegrate from the top down. There was no explosion or scattering of debris, simply what Belle assumed was muted mini explosions.
As the dust and rubble settled at the base of what was once there, both children’s eyes bulged in wonderment. Not at the silent destruction of the obelisk but rather what was coming out of the cloud of dust gathered at the bottom. From the dust came the shape of a ghost walking out of the explosion. Right behind it came another one and both quickly floated into the forest and disappeared. Robert whispered,
“Maybe Mister Lee blew up where they lived.”
They continued watching as the three men shoveled what little remained of the stone structure into containers eventually to be carted away. Minutes later there was nothing left of an Anannaki transmission post.
Back in the mansion, Santo did not want to race to the cave dressed in what he considered finery, and so followed Maria upstirs to change. In the bedroom, the first thing she did was grab the phone and call in a warning to those in the cave. While Santo slipped into his military khaki, he heard part of her conversation.
“No, tell that stubborn cantankerous ass to obey orders for once. If he is in there when I arrive I swear I’ll kick his butt clear back to Switzerland.”
While she was yelling into the phone, her intent was to save time by undressing at the same time. It was not that easy of a task. With phone pressed to her ear, the plan was to use the other hand and step out of the dress at the same time. That was the plan but it was not what happened. After two awkward hops on one foot and a struggle to stay balanced, the dress was finally defeated and crumbled on the floor. With phone still to the ear and still barking orders, she saw Santo standing there looking strangely at her. Knowing he was not admiring the dress on the floor, that he was laughing at her attempt to hurry she snapped,
“What?”
Chapter 43
There were only two D-wings left in the Nazarene hangar and one belonged to Waldorf. As respect for his service to the House and the fact that he was constantly flying all over the world organizing labs for the House, Maria had decreed it was for his private use only. It was untouchable. Despite that privilege, Santo felt good knowing that Henrik also made Waldorf fill out all those annoying pre-trips and seemingly endless reams of paperwork before using it. The D-wing next to Waldorf’s was the one Santo had just returned in from the Snow Monk’s secret Monastery. Now with Henrik gone, it felt good to just jump in and leave. With Santo in the pilot seat, the canopy closed and he asked,
“Where is Henrik anyway?”
While lifting high into the stratosphere, Maria replied,
“I told him to act as a shuttle for the scientists. He is probably at the cave.”
One of the many things Santo admired about Maria was the way she kept them both grounded. Just in the last few days, he was subjected to impossible things that would drive a normal person crazy or at least to alcohol. Also, Maria was often buried in her laboratory trying to preserve mankind’s image in the intent of the creation. They have both been on other worlds. Despite it all, Maria calmly sat in a D-wing unknown to conventional science and skimming across the Black Sea at unheard of speeds telling Santo how excited she was about Belle’s birthday party.
He heard her complain about the hard work needed to get the birthday party organized. She laughed telling him about Belle’s eyes almost popping out of her head when seeing the present she always wanted. Santo too had to laugh. There was a parental glow about him. Where she thought he was also reacting to Belle’s expression, he was in fact appreciating Maria’s medicinal abilities keeping him grounded. The love he had for her rang as loud and crisp as a hundred church bells on Sunday morning. He felt compelled to turn to her and repeat what was only too often said in the bedroom,
“You know I love you right?”
There was no questioning that their souls were kindred. Neither ever questioned their commitment or devotion to each other. Even the intense arguments over the years never so much as dented that stainless steel. It was a bond joined by handcuffs. Although Maria did not verbally return the ‘I love you’, it was in her returning wink. Santo saw it and understood her appreciation of the confirmation. He laughed when she uttered,
“You better.”
***
While circling high over the lake, Santo double-checked the cloaking program, making sure it was on. As the D-wing splashed into the lake, up in the field above the lake, a pencil jotted the time of the strange incident down in a notebook. However, the Professor was not the only one jotting down the time of the disruption in the calm lake. Yesin pried binoculars from tired eyes and he too entered the time of what he thought was only a natural geyser. He still never understood why the Professor thought it was important and needed the event recorded. He was doubly confused and greatly annoyed that Inspector Buruk ordered him to watch for it.
***
After locating the underwater entry tunnel and following it in an upward direction, the D-wing eventually splashed into the cave. Santo gently put it down near the other two sitting nearby. Maria jumped out and did a quick appraisal of the crew. Two white frocked scientists stood talking beside the computer bank that Jessika had tried to figure out. Pia stood off to the side holding a clipboard and looked confused. Henrik was sound asleep on a cot over in the sleeping area. Otto was kept busy flying the recovered Great Gray D-wings over to Switzerland and currently now in route with the last of them. That only left the whereabouts of Dr. Marls. Knowing his obstinate propensity and tendency to disobey orders, she looked to both scientists by the computer control panel and snapped,
“Wh
ere the hell is Doctor Marls?”
Both meekly pointed to the forbidden cave.
As she stomped over to the cave entrance, she started to question her policy of ignoring personal traits, good or bad and hiring only their genius qualities. Dr. Marls and his insolence were now questioning that policy. Standing beside Maria at the entrance and looking in on the strange vehicles, this was the first time Santo saw the ships. It was clear that the front larger ones belonged to the tall Anannaki. Farther down the line were the three that Maria thought were simply strange metallic space ships but now knew differently. Not seeing Marls in the cave, Maria, feared that he might have tampered with one of them and been pulled in, never to be seen again. She loudly yelled into the cave,
“Marls, where the hell are you?”
Without a warning that she was going to yell, Santo felt the full blast of her screech right between the eyes and his head snapped back from the impact.
When there was no reply, Maria feared the worse. This time in a gentler decibel she turned to Santo and said,
“I’m afraid the old fool might have touched that dimensional aerial you were talking about.”
“Well, if he has, there will be no way of getting him back.”
Taking a few steps into the cave, Santo following, she again called out his name. This time they heard,
“I’m a busy man, what do you want?”
She snapped,
“I want you to obey orders. I told everybody to get out of this cavern. It’s dangerous. Why are you ignoring me?”
Appearing from between one of the dangerous aerials and unruffled by an irate woman, he calmly said,
“I’m busy. I don’t have time for petty orders.”
Santo, seeing Maria’s volcano about to erupt decided to save the stubborn man’s life, saying,
“Why don’t you just walk out of here while you still can?”
Perhaps it was because the order came from a man that he was more inclined to submit. Slouching, he obeyed and left the cavern.
Now, with only him and Maria in the cavern of the three Dimensional aerials, Santo reached into his pocket and brought out the vial of so-called Nano-pills that Edward had given him. Not knowing what it was, looking at it, Maria asked,
“What? Do you have a headache?”
He then said something strange.
“No, but if this really is a dimensional transfer point and these things are from another dimension, I’m wondering why you don’t have a headache.”
Suddenly Maria understood the importance of the question. Every time she got near a dimensional gate or portal to another universe, for a reason she never understood, she got vicious headaches. Her only possible reply was a shake of her head and shrugged shoulders.
Opening the vial and shaking out a capsule, he saw for the first time that it was metallic. It looked more like something a kid might load into a BB gun. He explained to Maria what Edward had told him to do with it. He then turned to her and said,
“Not knowing exactly what is going to happen, why don’t you wait outside?”
Her reply was not polite.
“Why don’t you just toss it?”
Stubbornness and insistence that they do things as a team was just one of the many things he had to put up with.
Conceding that he should not have gone off looking for Niko Waltz on his own was one thing but there was a more important reason both should not be putting themselves in danger. That reason was in a treehouse playing with her new toys. However, there was still the thought that if there were danger, certainly Edward would have mentioned it. Knowing that the only way for her to leave his side was by pushing and shoving, he conceded and tossed the magic pill at the metallic shell.
When Second Creation Nano-technology met the shell of the Anannaki craft, because both were metallic, she expected to hear a clang but that did not happen. The soft shell absorbed the metal projectile as if thrown into a gentle pond of water. It was practically the same sound. Like that gentle pond, ripples undulated through the casing. He expected to hear a contained explosion and she thought for sure there was going to be a shattering of whatever that shell was but nothing happened. It was as if a child had swallowed a nasty pill and only made a grotesque distasteful face.
After a few seconds and still nothing happened, Maria turned to Santo and asked,
“Did Edward say anything about how long it would take?”
Shaking his head, he replied,
“No, he just said toss it.”
Both continued looking at the dimensional aerial and wondered what had gone wrong. Perhaps thinking that there was a flaw in that aerial, hopefully not the Nano-virus, Santo tossed the hopeful bitter pill into the belly of the other two with the same result, nothing. Giving up, Maria sought to make the best of it, saying,
“Well, maybe it’s a time release thing. I’ll quarantine the cave for a few days just in case.”
As he shrugged off the failure, both turned to walk away. That was when it happened. The first one to receive the Nano-virus seemed to undulate as if struggling to breathe. Although there were no seams in the hull, just one solid piece of strange metal, suddenly little uniform cracks appeared all over looking almost like a tiled floor. Through the cracks came bright lights flashing on and off. Maria thought the hull was going to explode.
Santo took Maria by the hand and tried to pull her back. In amazement and feet frozen, she did not come along easily. However, stronger cautious strength won and she moved away from whatever was going to happen. They stood and witnessed the power of a billion viruses race through a computer program not understood in this world. They deleted and scrubbed whatever program the Dimensional aerial was programmed to do. With billions of minuscule lightning bolts, the hull either disappeared into nothingness or returned to wherever it came from. Seconds later the same amazing thing befell the other two. Then with a final convulsive death throe, came a sudden bright and blinding light.
Unprepared and caught looking right at it, it took both a moment to recover from what felt like a hundred flashbulbs attacking all at once. When the little floating specks finally subsided in their eyes, both shook it off and focused for what was in front of them. Nothing. No ashes, no fragments, and no evidence that once on that very spot stood alien technology. Still holding her hand, he gently led her out of the cave.
Although it appeared as if nothing had happened, Santo understood the massive consequence of destroying Anannaki Dimensional Aerials, at least on this planet. There might well be hundreds, if not thousands of obelisks, or as Edward had explained, ‘jumper post’ throughout the world, but now with no way for the Anannaki to get here from their dimension, they were now useless. He had forgotten what Edward had said might happen after destroying the Master Aerials.
Chapter 44
Santo thought that was the end of the Anannaki portal to Earth. With a degree of accomplishment, he walked back into the main cave with Maria at his side. Maria, thinking that the second cave was now safe, approached the best man for what she had in mind. Dr. Marls was not used to being yelled at and certainly did not like it. The up side was that he was now afraid of Professor Maria Espinoza. As she approached him, he took a hesitant if not fearful step backward. Recognizing his submission to authority, a lesson well learned, she used a pleasant enough tone.
“See if you can access the three remaining space ships and study the controls. Also, see if they are powered by anti-matter containment. If so, there is a good chance they are still functional.”
He bowed to a higher authority and scurried off to obey.
After seeing Dr. Marls’ crusty personality stripped down to his underwear, the two white smocked scientists nodded in agreement and returned their attention to the control panel. She asked them,
“Have you been able to figure anything out yet?”
Both shook their heads and one said,
“No. Without orientation and at least a slight understanding of the alien semantics, it
’s just going to be a guess.”
He pointed to a lever and continued,
“Jessika told us what happened the last time she took a chance and pulled that lever.”
The other scientist added,
“Apparently that is now a no-no.”
Discouraged that the computer board might not be solved, she asked,
“Have you contacted Zak Zander about the alien symbols? Perhaps he can help.”
“Yes,” said one of them, “he refused to come, but Jessika sent him pictures. He said he might have some reference material and will try his best to de-code them for us.”
The other one added,
“We could sure use Jessika’s help. Will she be returning soon?”
“Yes, she will be here shortly.”
Both scientists then turned their befuddled minds back to the strange cryptographs and started scratching their heads.
Turning around, she scanned the floor looking for Pia. She saw her standing on a stepladder in the far corner reaching high for what looked like goblets or perhaps cups. She took one and with a scanner ran a laser beam over the lip of the cup looking for DNA residual. As Maria approached, she asked a hopeful question.
Earth Before Man Page 25
