Santo’s solution was spoken in jest.
“I guess putting on gloves is out of the question huh?”
Hearing the two men jest, Jessika contributed,
“We only want three.”
Then with a look of scorn and only a hint of teasing, she looked straight at Kirk and added,
“If I’m really that fertile, I guess we should stop shaking hands huh?”
Understanding the threat, Kirk quickly changed the subject, looked to Santo and asked,
“How is the weather out there? Still raining?”
When Santo turned to see Maria standing by the bed looking down at Jessika holding the baby, he saw that look in her eye. It was the look of most women when seeing a baby, the look of pining for another. They had talked about this before, in fact, shortly after the birth of Belle, it was almost a constant topic of debate. Santo wanted another child but at that time both were field agents of the House of the Nazarene and as Marie had argued, at least right now there was no time for another child. As promised, perhaps someday, but sadly for Santo that day never came.
As it turned out, Maria’s second child became her work and both settled into being content with Belle. However, that did not stop Maria from stretching out her arms wanting to hold Jessika’s baby. When Jessika offered the kindness and Santo saw Maria’s yearning expression he wondered if that subject was not born again. If there was a mirror in the room, Santo would have seen a similar expression on himself. He dearly wanted to hold the baby too. Kirk saw his superior officer melt but was polite enough to understand and not mention the silly look on his face. After congratulations, idle chit-chat and a few hugs, it was time for Maria to begrudgingly return the baby to Jessika and leave the parents to rest.
After exiting the elevator and walking back to the helicopter pad, Santo signalled for the D-wing to drop back down to them. Because it was only a short hop from Switzerland to their Bulgarian headquarters there was no advantage in lifting high into the stratosphere taking advantage of the Earth’s rotation. Keeping the anti-detection and camouflage program running at top speed they would be home in twenty minutes.
As they sped south and high through Austrian air space undetected by radar, Maria turned to Santo and said,
“This has been a day of strange extremes and I’m emotionally exhausted.”
Confused, for he thought it was a relaxing day, he looked to her and asked,
“What do you mean?”
“Well, in just a matter of a few hours we went from attending a Viking funeral to attending a Nazarene birth. A death and birth in just one day was hard to take.”
Santo chuckled and said,
“Welcome to the strange and wonderful world of the House of the Nazarene.”
Maria, proud of her leadership in the House, fluffed up her feathers and said,
“I wonder what adventure is waiting for us next.”
Just then, a voice from Headquarters sounded through the computer.
“There is a message for you from a Presha Bhat.”
Confused, she looked to Santo. He had seen that lost look before and explained,
“She operates our classified satellite tracking headquarters in Desuya, India.
Maria directed her question to the computer and asked the command center,
“Is it important?”
“Apparently, yes. It has something to do with locating an ancient satellite still orbiting the Earth.”
Chapter 4
Once over the southern shore of Bulgaria and setting down in their estate, the computer took over landing procedures and gently put the ship down at the entrance to the hangar. Henrik Anderson, recently promoted to flight controller was standing there watching it automatically maneuver over to the other D-wings sitting on the floor. As Maria scrambled out of the cockpit, Henrik approached and asked her an embarrassing question.
“Did you remember to congratulate Jessika and Kirk for me?”
Not wanting to be seen lying, Maria waited to answer the question until turning her back and walking away.
“You bet and she appreciated your thoughtfulness.”
Over the last few years, Santo had managed to finagle his way out of having to stay and fill out performance reports and questionnaires regarding the function of the D-wing. He always thought that as Head of Security he was far too busy for trivial reports. Leaving that task to Henrik, he quickly caught up to Maria. Once outside and walking toward the main mansion, he produced a sly smirk and said,
“Your list of harmless white lies is getting kind of long isn’t it?”
Embarrassed at the avalanche of running the House of the Nazarene and how it had buried mundane matters, she was already painfully aware of that list. Her reply was quick and sharp.
“Shut up.”
At the front door of the ‘Lady of the Manor’ their massive residence, Maria stopped, looked at her watch, and made a snap decision.
“I was going to come up stairs with you and change but it’s almost time for Belle to get out of school.”
Already sensing the answer, she asked anyway,
“Wanna come pick her up with me?”
Suddenly Santo’s metaphoric avalanche roared down the mountain and buried him in a ton of duties and tasks to catch up on. There was a weak apology in his reply.
“You know I would but I have a security meeting in a few minutes and then there is your mission meeting in an hour.”
Then, hoping to alleviate the guilt, knowing that misery has always enjoyed company, he added,
“Don’t forget you have an important call waiting for you from Presha Bhat in India, something about a long lost ancient satellite.”
A frustrated stomp of her foot was her tempered reaction to the harsh reminder. Like Santo, constant duties of the House were drowning important family matters. Belle was now eleven years old and certainly did not need her parents picking her up after school. In fact, she hated it when they did. Not surprisingly, Maria loved that domestic chore.
When first moving their new Headquarters to the Bulgarian estate, thanks to the generosity of King Rhymen, the children who survived Duchess Josephine’s maniacal destruction of the original headquarters and whose parents stayed with the House now went to school on the estate. In the beginning, because Waldorf was busy setting up House of the Nazarene laboratories throughout the world, Helga was put in charge of the children’s schooling.
In the beginning, when the children were younger, Helga’s duty of taking them to school and picking them up was a welcome distraction to missing Waldorf when he was away. Although it was a somewhat fulfilling duty, that now changed. Robert, like Belle started to resent not having their independence recognized and hated being escorted to school like some helpless little child. Although a trusted member of the inner circle and having high level security clearances, she now more than ever felt left out and under used among a hive of brilliant scientists. When Waldorf comes back from setting up another laboratory, she made up her mind to ask him for a more meaningful duty.
Chapter 5
After changing, Maria walked through the kitchen and was not surprised to see the new cook leaning over the counter chopping vegetables. Albina was the prefect version of a jolly old cook. Her apron was tied high and tight around a bulging stomach that she defended as an occupational hazard of slurping and testing her recipes over the years. Maria hired her as the household cook for many reasons. Albina’s insistence that she be the one to go into town and purchase just the right and ripe ingredients was one of them. Her pleasant and forever jolly attitude was also a considering factor. There was also the fact that when she used her secret recipe on broccoli and Brussel Sprouts, surprisingly Belle and Santo, rather than shoving them aside, actually ate them.
Albina turned to see her new boss approaching the fridge and true to her grandmotherly nature sternly said,
“Supper will be ready soon. You don’t fill up too much now.”
Smiling, knowing she h
ad hired the right person for the job Maria opened the fridge door and said,
“I’m just after the orange juice. I have a short meeting and will be back in time for supper.”
Turning back to chop more vegetables, and to indicate who the boss of the kitchen was, Albina said to the omnipotent leader of the House of the Nazarene,
“You don’t be late for supper again.”
The House of the Nazarene meeting room was in the mansion just off the main downstairs family room. It was a large room done up in dark wood with a ceiling of arches and high rafters. If it was not for the massive chandeliers hanging high, it could easily be mistaken for a room filled with cavorting Knights and Kings. The large round oak table with twelve upholstered chairs matched the number of the Nazarene department heads.
This time, because she had only intended to hear the recording from Presha Bhat, all the chairs were empty. As she entered the room she placed a coaster on the table and put a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice in front of an empty chair to the right of where she was going to sit. Maria was fuelled by caffeine and hated orange juice.
She then walked to the refreshment table at the far wall. She was not after a snack or fruit but rather the coveted coffee urn. After filling her mug to the brim she walked back to the table and placed her coffee on another coaster next to the glass of orange juice. While waiting, she gulped down what to others seemed like boiling hot coffee. Of the many things Professor Maria Espinoza was known for, the most startling was her ability to guzzle hot coffee unscathed and lots of it. After another gulp, the door opened and in walked the love of her whole existence, Santo.
Because they were the only two in the conference room, decorum was set aside and he leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. Loving it, she coyly asked,
“Did you miss me already?”
As was his nature, a bit of a stoic military personality coupled with a love of teasing her, he replied in a cold manner,
“Nah. I just wanted my orange juice.”
Understanding his ways, she took what she could get. When he sat beside her, she said,
“The kitchen smells like Albina is preparing her famous goulash.”
He loved her goulash and almost with a drool added,
“I know, I smelled the paprika from the hall. I hope she throws in some Brussel Sprouts.”
The purpose of the meeting was to hear Presha Bhat’s communication from India. However, as was Maria’s custom, she wanted a reminder of Intel first. That was the job of her Head of Securities, Santo. He accessed his computer and read,
“Two years ago before his death, Zak Zander entered into his library data base an unknown alien species occupying Earth. Because the writing was unknown and not in his translation database there was only a partial understanding of it. However, from what he could glean, it was akin to other stories in other ancient legends.”
In a rare gesture, she put her coffee mug down and asked,
“Did he mean like the story of the great flood being told in other and earlier cultures or the prolific ancient stories of the creation of man through the efforts and attempts of other gods?”
“No. This ambiguous and unknown writing referred to something he translated to mean ‘black bird’ or ‘a bird of the night’. Apparently this mysterious and unknown alien culture had in their legend a black bird flying around the planet containing all living things in the world, animals as well as plants. It also reported back to them all the things happening in other alien tribes around the world at that time.”
After another sip of juice Santo was going to continue but Maria again cut in with her thoughts.
“Sounds like maybe a black spy satellite was in use. I guess such a thing was not uncommon or unexpected from various alien cultures who occupied this planet way back then.”
“Yes,” contributed Santo, “most notably legends of the aliens to the north, the Aesir tribe ruled by Odin. Legend says that he had two black ravens flying around the world spying on the nine other alien tribes located on this planet.”
Maria again cut in,
“Like I said, most likely spy satellites, except the humans at that time had no understanding or words to describe a black satellite accurately, instead just saying black raven.”
“Yes, but the reason Zak drew a connection to other cultures with a similar godlike black bird or raven was the parallel writings stating the raven’s ability to, and I quote, ‘to spread its wings and circle the Earth.”
As Maria nodded her agreement, Santo continued,
“The human tribes in North America have similar legends of crows and ravens as servants to the gods who helped develop their culture. In ancient Japan a crow served as a messenger and advisor to Japan’s first emperor. In ancient Russia, Greece and Australia there are legends of crows or ravens guiding humans to a specific task. It is not unusual to come across an ancient culture giving credit for their success to this so-called mysterious black bird flying around the Earth.”
Maria had the last word on it,
“I guess one has to wonder what the real purpose of the raven was.”
Getting back to the purpose of the meeting and the reason the House of the Nazarene had financed and set up a secret lab in the village of Desuya in Northern India, Santo got back on track.
“Well, you might be right when thinking a more pragmatic interpretation for a black bird circling the planet would be a satellite. Mostly because of a misinterpretation or proper understanding of the language, the names and legends of the black birds and their influence on human culture changed through history. According to Zak, the first and correct interpretation came from that mysterious alien culture who also interpreted them as black birds. Apparently other interpretations for the satellite eventually entered the legends as ‘black as night’ or more currently, a mysterious satellite orbiting the Earth as the Black Knight.”
Although it was two years ago and during a busy and hectic time in the House of the Nazarene, it slowly came to Maria why she had approved a project to search for an ancient and elusive black satellite orbiting the planet. A contemporary clue was discovered in the secret notes of the genius, Nikola Tesla. While experimenting with the Earth’s magnetic field he claimed to have made contact with an orbiting satellite. What made it a far-fetched observation was that in the 1930’s there was no such thing in orbit, at least by current science. Nevertheless, his observation and contact corresponded with the legend of Odin’s ravens as well as the ongoing myth of the Black Knight.
Maria remembered that it was by the urging of Zak Zander and others that she accept a possible validity to the legend of a black bird orbiting the planet. After all, the Great Grays had satellites orbiting the planet even 6,000 years ago. It was the technology of the Great Grays that gave the House of the Nazarene their remote controlled miniature satellites no bigger than a soccer ball. After the destruction of the House, they still managed to control of a handful of them. So, at least to Maria, it was not an unbelievable story from Nikola Tesla that in the 1930’s he had located a satellite orbiting the planet. She currently had five miniature satellites orbiting, spying and observing every country’s military communication and banking transactions. She had assigned one of those satellites to Presha Bhat and her team of technicians to search for that mysterious satellite.
After being reminded of Presha Bhat’s mission, she looked down at what only appeared as a piece of flat glass on the table. There were no visible keys or commands on this computer and none were needed. She calmly said aloud,
“Access and approve communication codes for Presha Bhat.”
Almost instantly a holographic light beamed upward from the glass. When the ionized pixilation had focused and the transmission codes approved, an image of a faraway dimly lit computer room in northern India formed. Answering the approved transmission, sticking her head into the beam appeared a perfect 3-D image of Presha floating above the glass.
Presha’s smile showed a great reverence to t
he Head of the House of the Nazarene.
“Professor Espinoza, it is a great honour to communicate with you. If I have interrupted your daily burden of leadership please forgive the intrusion.” nosing
Accustomed to such overzealous fawning and admiration, Maria simply accepted it in kind. She projected an accepting smile and nodded her approval of the intrusion. She then said,
“It is my understanding that you have managed some success in locating this elusive black satellite. What can you report?”
Maria expected to see a look of proud accomplishment but she was instead subjected to lowered eyes and a sullen reply.
“Well, in this case, success is subjective. Yes, we had managed to locate the satellite and even managed high definition pictures of it.”
Again Maria projected an approving smile and nod. As if looking for something to her side, Presha’s face turned away from the projection and then quickly returned to focus. She said,
“I have just streamed the images to you through this secure channel. As you will see it is indeed a black satellite. Although it was just over fifty miles away from your miniature satellite, a laser measurement showed it as 100 yards long and 50 yards across the beam. It is considerably larger than any conventional spy satellite used by Russia and the Americans.”
The Noah Satellite Page 2
