Robert was also not happy and in the same situation. Over in his apartment, Helga was at the sofa reading a book while keeping an eye on him. She was not distracted from the story because it was not interesting or because she had to constantly check on him. She knew that he had a sneaky and brilliant way of downloading a game instead of actually researching and writing the assignment without simply copying Belle’s notes. Helga was distracted from the book and Robert for another reason. Waldorf had left their bed in the middle of the night and gone to his office. He was prepping for a trip to Australia and a meeting with Reginald McCaw, the Chief Operating Manager of their Satellite and Imaging Laboratory. Helga was bored beyond words.
Maria was alone at the breakfast table absently turning her coffee cup around and around with an idle finger and slowly chewing on toast. Radka was at the sink doing the dishes and knew better than to disturb her. She understood that this was what the boss did when deep in thought and mulling over problems of the House. Santo had gotten up earlier and was away on the morning security checks.
With information recovered from Waldorf’s infiltration into the basement of the Russian Defense Ministry Headquarters, Maria wanted to know what the secret was all about. Why were they spending millions to protect something at those coordinates? There had to be a connection to the language in the Black Knight. It was on her mind to assign a D-wing and send a team there to find out. However, regardless of her curiosity and determination to discover the truth, there were procedures to follow.
Holding tight to the elixir, Maria brought the coffee cup with her into the downstairs office. Sitting at her desk she coded her computer for a connection to Desuya, the small isolated village in India. Although it was morning in Bulgaria it was noon in India and so Presha Bhat did not sound as tired as Maria.
“Yes Professor, how may I be of service to the House of the Nazarene today?”
Maria cringed. Although it was a secure connection, Presha had been told before not to brag about belonging to the House of the Nazarene while communicating through the matrix. She understood Presha’s pride but there were still security protocols to be obeyed. However, this was not the time for a reprimand and so she got right on to the purpose of the call.
“I need a mini-satellite for a small mission. Do we have one that can be pulled away for a few hours?”
She heard computer keys clicking and then,
“Yes Professor, I have two. One is on an archeology mission mapping the alien city in the Sahara desert that Mario Amato is working on. The other is tracking the orbit path of the Black Knight. All the others are on missions pertaining to international banking accounts and government spy missions. I would hate to risk compromising breaking those complicated streams.”
It was an easy choice. There was no way she wanted to pull away the one tracking the Black Knight. It took years and good luck to locate it. Losing it and what was in there would be a disaster. She said,
“Do you suppose Mister Amato would mind losing his mapping sequence for a few hours?”
“He wouldn’t mind losing it for a little while. It is currently asleep in a geo-synchronize orbit. If he tries to connect while it is away working for you, I’ll simply tell him there will be a slight delay in the connection.”
At that, Maria transmitted the GPS coordinates Waldorf managed to get from the basement of the Russian Defense Headquarters with the following instructions,
“Supposedly there is a large community there and I want hi-definition recognizance of them.”
Presha came back with,
“This one has stealth programs, I can arrange for a low level visual sweep, sending it right into the community if you like.”
Pleased to hear it, she said,
“Perfect. I want the visuals as soon as possible.”
Presha’s expertize then shone.
“Give me two hours.”
In her years with the House of the Nazarene and by her own experiences in that service, Maria understood ‘time dilation’. She and Santo had suffered it before. While on another world in another dimension, they thought they had only been there for a few hours when in fact by the time measurement of this world, two years had passed. Although she had never experienced that strange lapse of time in this world, she often had to wonder if such a thing was really possible. Many times she swore she was only busy with her computers for a few minutes when in fact a whole night had passed. This was one of those times. She wondered what was wrong. Why was Presha calling her back almost right away?
Accepting the secure transmission request code, Maria cautiously asked,
“What is it Presha? Has something gone wrong?”
Presha lived in Earth time and wondered why Maria sounded so concerned. She replied,
“What? No, I said that I needed a couple of hours and that’s what it took.”
Suddenly realizing that she had not been abducted by aliens and the only missing time was in her head, Maria recovered quickly and said,
“Of course, I’m sorry. I was busy with a project. Go ahead and send me the pictures you have of the village.”
The confusion of missing time and the shock of a returning reality timeframe may have brought her back to this world but now with Presha clearly stalling to answer, Maria again wondered what was wrong and had to prompt her for an immediate reply.
“What is it? Why have you not sent the pictures to me?”
Presha had difficulty reporting failure and on a normal scale, this was a massive one. She slowly reported,
“There was no image.”
Stunned, for the technology in the mini-satellites was infallible, after all it was alien, she said,
“Talk to me.”
“Yes Professor, of course. From a height of five kilometers, while in stealth mode and radar invisible, the cameras imaged the surrounding mountains with crystal celerity, amazingly so actually but when sweeping into the coordinates you gave me all it recorded was a pixilation black out.”
Confused, for she had never heard of a pixilation blackout or even knew what it was, she voiced a natural question.
“What the hell is that?”
“We don’t actually know. The best we could come up with is that there seems to be a transmitted blockage, a sort of electronic blanket preventing that sort of thing.”
Then, knowing that she was not fully aware of all the magic of the House of the Nazarene, Presha asked,
“Is that a technology you know something about maybe?”
It certainly was not but Presha was not at that security level and so Maria did not reply to the inappropriate question.
Understanding the silence, that she was expected to continue explaining the lack of surveillance over what was clearly a blacked out and highly secreted area, Presha did just that.
“Understanding that it was not a great black hole, we decided to lower the satellite into it. However, the closer it got to the restriction, the more control we lost of the satellite. Clearly something we do not understand is blocking our signal. It was decided to pull it back to the safety of distance.”
Maria interjected,
“Yes, that was a wise move. We can’t afford to lose any more satellites.”
Accepting defeat, Maria said,
“Thank you for your effort Presha. Return the satellite to Mister Amato and apologize if there was a delay in his survey work.”
However, because Presha did not disconnect from the communication linkup Maria understood that there was more to be said,
“Go ahead Presha, is there more?”
This time the tone of defeat was missing. Sounding more accomplished, she said,
“Yes Professor. From the clarity pictures of the surrounding mountains we calculated that the blackout encompassed a one thousand square mile area. I maneuvered the satellite to the edge of the blackout and safely lowered it into a tundra forest at the edge of the limitation. From those readings, I estimate that if you are interested in entering the restrict
ed area, you might be able to do so at ground level. There was no hint of electronic interference or danger of any kind to the satellite from the ground. Naturally for the safety of the satellite I did not pursue that possibility any further.”
With a ‘thank you’ for the Intel, Maria disconnected the stream and sat back in her chair. With the coveted coffee cup in hand, she went into deep thought. Clearly the Russians were privy to something important and had gone to extreme measures to protect whatever it was. It was clear that with the similar language found inside the Black Knight there was an alien connection under the dome. Like a mad carousel, secrets and aliens began to spin around in her head. Now more than ever, she was determined to see what was inside that forbidden area.
Chapter 43
As she sat at her desk making plans, more absent time flew by. Suddenly jerking alert, she knew what she was going to do. She coded for a communication with Santo and asked,
“Wanna go on a small intelligence gathering mission again?”
Yes, of course he did but because of a pressing meeting in an hour he was not sure if it could be today. That was not good enough. She wanted the information yesterday. She then called Waldorf. However, because his reply was a formal, “Yes Professor?” she understood that the channel was secure but he was not alone. She adopted the formality and said,
“Please state your availability for a mission leaving today.”
He returned the coded communication saying,
“Unable to comply. Give me a minute while I leave the room for a private conversation.”
True to his estimate, a minute later he came back saying,
“I am currently in Australia negotiating and drawing up contracts for Mister McCaw and his satellite and imaging people.”
She had forgotten about that commitment. When all was far too silent, he asked,
“What is it? How can I help?”
She told him about how Presha had moved an imaging satellite over the blanked out area and the problem it encountered. Because it was thought a D-wing might be able to penetrate the shield in the gap at ground level, she wanted to send one in there. She added,
“Not to worry. You give that laboratory whatever is needed and I’ll ask Kirk if he wants to get away from diapers for a while.”
Waldorf laughed and said,
“As long as it is just a simple recognizance mission may I nominate somebody else for it?”
“Of course you may. Who?”
He was not sure if he should even mention the name. However, it was important to him and so risked a chuckle from Maria. He finally said,
“Helga has been on my case lately about the tediousness of her position looking after the children’s education.”
It was as feared, Maria laughed and said,
“What’s the real reason you are asking? Is she bored and pestering you for more time together?”
“Yes, and she is constantly beating me at chess.”
“Did you ever consider improving your chess skills? I hear that even Robert beats you on occasion.”
It was a tort reply.
“Helga is lucky and Robert cheats, that’s all.”
After a pause in the communication link, a pause where he hoped she was considering his request, she came back on line. He was relieved to hear,
“Yes, I suppose that would be acceptable. She is well trained in the operation of the D-wings and it is after all just a simple recognizance mission. Very well, I’ll ask her if she is interested. However, because I will be sending her into an isolated area with a pristine environment vulnerable to our microbes I don’t want what happened to the North American cultures when the Europeans showed up happening here. I want to send a toxicologist expert with her to monitor and protect them from our viruses.”
Thinking that he had a great idea, Waldorf cut in saying,
“That young lady, Pia is still there. Will she do?”
“Yes, but what is she still doing here? I sent her back to Spain yesterday?”
Suddenly recognising that he had inadvertently countered one of her directives by contacting Spain and falsely requesting Pia to stay at Henrik’s side for a while longer, he knew he had some explaining to do. After hearing his apology and reason, Maria chuckled and said,
“I never took you for a romantic.”
If it was her intent to penalize him, she just did. He was a staunch soldier, not a weak romantic. A freighting thought suddenly invaded him. At this age, maybe he was a romantic. Maria saved him from added thoughts saying,
“Very well. I’ll send for both and prep them for the mission. However, from now on, please keep me informed when playing cupid with the crew.”
Before he could deny the teasing accusation she quickly ended the connection. Even with the connection terminated, he was sure he could hear her laughing all the way from Bulgaria.
Chapter 44
It was one of the most tranquil and scenic locations in the House of the Nazarene property. On a knoll covered with moss and surrounded by trees, one looked out over the Black Sea and saw the wind swirl the clouds to and fro as if dancing. On a blanket was a picnic basket and plates were filled with bread, cheese, figs and honey. Although a breezy location, the air was gentle and aromatic with wild flowers. In such a secret and secluded location, thoughts of pleasure often come to mind. Perhaps that was why Henrik was sitting there breathing in great gulps of nervousness.
The price for the pleasure of sitting here with Pia, Henrik had traded his shift in the hangar for a double shift starting in a few hours. The torture of a double duty was countered by the pleasure of having her in his arms. This ideal day at this romantic spot was just the way normal people thought it should be. However, Pia and Henrik worked for the House of the Nazarene and were not normal people. That was one of the reasons this was an exceptional day to be cherished.
As shy and awkward as he was, Pia was overcome by his romantic manners. The first item out of the basket was a red rose. So far, everything was lazily strolling down one road leading to one outcome and she couldn’t wait. Henrik must have known that too because he was getting nervous wondering how he was going to initiate the first move. When she snuggled into him that problem easily drifted away. Just as a pleasant thought came to him, her phone rang.
When seeing that it was Maria calling, although it was not a video call, she quickly did up a few buttons on her blouse and ran combing fingers through her hair. Two quick breathes calmed her down and then,
“Yes Professor.”
It may not have been a video call but still, because of the cell phone GPS chip, Maria knew where Pia was. Although Maria’s smile was not evident through the phone, it was in her voice when saying,
“I see you have found my favorite late evening spot for a romantic time with Santo.”
Flabbergasted to silence, Pia didn’t know what to say.
Because the call was on speaker phone, Henrik heard every word. He sat awkwardly trying to innocently look out into the water and pretend to put pictures and shapes to the gently changing cloud formations. Maria added to his embarrassment by asking,
“May I presume that Henrik is sitting next to you?”
Knowing that she was supposed to be in Spain, again an awkward silence ensued. Maria said,
“I am the leader of the House Pia, I know Waldorf gave you permission to stay a little while longer and I do not disapprove. You needn’t wonder what you are going to say next.”
It was a weak reply,
“Thank you.”
And then,
“I need you in my office for an assignment right away.”
Suddenly from a moment of hopefulness, the expectation of a blissful day changed to become a hectic pace. Apparently a command from the boss can erase romantic thoughts very quickly. The blanket was shoved into the picnic basket along with the food and plates. With two people running away, the scenic bluff was left to enjoy the view alone.
Chapter 45
With sc
hool starting soon, Helga was at her desk organizing classroom schedules through her bored mind. She was struggling with how to locate a private algebra tutor for the son of a scientist living on the estate. For somebody seeking adventure, the tedium was overpowering. That all changed when her phone rang.
Slow eyes looked to the caller ID but even a call from Maria was not enough to lift the shawl of weariness. Maria heard her mood in her voice,
“Hi, what’s up?”
“Are you still sitting there organizing the school schedule?”
When hearing a heavy sigh, Maria knew the answer. That all changed when she said,
“I have an important assignment for you.”
Eyes got bigger and she suddenly sat straight up.
“Come down to my office right away.”
Minutes later, Pia fired the mansion front door open and ran through the grand lobby toward Maria’s office. She only slowed down when seeing Helga charging down the stairs also making a bee-line to the office. Pia asked,
“Where are you going?”
Helga seemed proud to announce,
The Noah Satellite Page 21
