As Robert’s eyes mournfully dropped to the table, Waldorf continued,
“So I want you both to go see Cartwright, get all the necessary equipment and learn from him how to properly use ropes and rappelling techniques. There are proper and safe ways to enter a cave. Learn them first before even thinking about it okay.”
That was not the sound advice Helga had in mind. As her disappointed eyes lifted to the ceiling, Robert grinned from ear to ear.
Before Helga could intervene and cut short an approval of what she considered a dangerous venture, luckily for Waldorf the phone rang. It was Maria.
“Henrik reported that you were back. Have you finished supper yet?”
When looking across the table and seeing Helga’s piercing eyes boring into him, experience had taught him that a stern lecture was assembling for an attack. He wisely replied,
“Yes. I can come over right away.”
Confused, for she was not requesting his presence right away, she said,
“No, right away will not be necessary. I’ll be in my office for a while yet. Finish dinner first and then come down.”
“Yes, I’ll come down right away.”
It was not the first time there had been a confusing conversation between them. Right away seemed fine too and so she simply hung up.
As he approached her desk, she said,
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply right away. Did I tear you away from anything important?”
“No, as a matter of fact it was a very timely request. What can I do for you?”
Seemingly pleased that she was not responsible for disrupting valuable family time, she said,
“Good. I have a little job for you.”
As he sat across from her and dutifully perked alert, she continued,
“I want you to contact Professor Vlad Novokoff, the Russian you are training to run a laboratory there for us. I have concerns about the Siberian Triangle and why the Russian Federal Security Service is protecting the Atlantians. They obviously know that they are aliens. I want to know what is going on over there. Also, how was it possible for the Russian MiGs to spot our D-wing when it was in anti-radar and stealth mode?”
Waldorf agreed. Clearly the Russians are expending great resources to keep the Triangle a secret. She was not happy to see him slowly shake his head and say,
“Vlad is a cautious and nervous man. He is not used to, as he put it, spying on his government. He is an older man and remembers the terrible ways of the old KGB. Although willing to work with us for the betterment of his Country, he will only communicate with me face to face.”
Understanding, she nodded and said,
“Do you see that as a problem?”
Shaking his head, he replied,
“I’ll tell Henrik to get my D-wing ready.”
Then, proving her worth as a leader, she said.
“I already did. It’s waiting for you.”
Chapter 58
Back upstairs, Robert was doing a fine job of making ice-cream disappear from a bowl and Helga was clearing the table. Walking into the kitchen, Waldorf explained his important mission and that he would only be gone for a couple of hours. There would still be time for their ritual of an evening chess match. He wasn’t sure if it was going to work but decided it was worth a try anyway. He leaned into her and as hope, got a kiss goodbye, albeit more of a peck on the cheek. He patted Robert on the head but because he was doing a fine impersonation of a cat licking a bowl, he never noticed.
Sitting in his D-wing ready to leave the hangar, there was one important thing to do first. Knowing he was only thirty minutes away from Moscow, he coded his phone and sent a secure message to Professor Vlad Novokoff. It said, ‘It is a fine evening for a stroll in Gorky Park. Meet me on the bridge by the pond in thirty minutes’.
As it turned out, it was not a fine evening for a stroll in the park. The weather had turned cold and drops of rain were threatening a major downpour. Sitting on a bench in a small park near a school, an old man looked absently at the idol swings and slide. At least the children had enough sense to escape what was looming. He lit up his favorite pipe and through a puff of smoke saw a dark shadow of a man walking out of a small grove of trees across the field and coming toward him.
There was no nod of approval or attempt at a polite greeting. Waldorf simply sat beside Professor Vlad Novokoff and also stared straight ahead. Although Waldorf’s earlier conversation with the Professor was guaranteed secure, he still insisted on codes. So, as arranged last month in a face to face meeting the code for this park on the outskirts of Moscow was Gorky Park and a bridge by a pond, as there was in Gorky Park, implied this bench.
Never at any time did the two men look at each other, simply both staring out into the dark soccer field. Waldorf spoke first.
“Thank you for meeting me Vlad. I hope I didn’t tear you away from anything important.”
There was sadness in his reply.
“I am a lonely old man. What was there to tear me away from but an old TV and watching wrestling matches?”
Knowing that his wife had mysteriously disappeared years ago and there were no children in the marriage was one of the reasons Waldorf picked him to operate the new Nazarene laboratory soon to be set up in Moscow. The Professor was once a senior theoretical physicist at the prestigious Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, specialising in Super String Theory and alternate dimensions. Retired, or as he put it, cast into oblivion by the onslaught of youth, he was a perfect candidate for the laboratory.
Clad in a gray overcoat with the collar turned up, a puff of smoke from the pipe escaped into the cold breeze followed by,
“If you hurry it along, I might still be able to catch the final match between Slovinski the Terrible and Mean Man Morokoff.”
Waldorf smiled and said,
“Yes, of course. First, let me thank you for the information you gave us about the Siberian Triangle. It was very helpful.”
Although solemn, there was a sense of pride in his reply.
“I wish to be helpful to my country by becoming a member of the House of the Nazarene. To that purpose, I will do whatever I can to be accepted.”
“Then you can relax Professor, you have already been accepted as a member.”
Another puff of smoke was followed by a slight nod of approval and Waldorf continued,
“I have come to ask about the dome known to you as the Siberian Triangle. What is it and why is the Russian military spending resources to protect it. What can you tell me about it?”
Because it was going to be a long story, Vlad sucked in a deep breath and began.
“Where it came from and why has always been a great mystery to us. Historical records show that it has been a forbidden territory almost from the beginning of Russian history. In the early days when the Rus people came to this land from across the Baltic Sea, the Siberian land was isolated by cold and swamp, a great natural barrier. I suppose that in those days it was easy for a people desiring isolation to secretly live in such an inhospitable land. In those times, it was known to be a land of ghosts and monsters. Many fur trappers and various Mongrel invaders foolish enough to venture into the forbidden and cursed zone were never seen again.”
Waldorf looked beyond the play area and saw bland nondescript gray apartments across the street. In front of one building he watched as a black four door Lada struggled to back into a small parking spot. In defense of the cold wind, Waldorf also flipped up his collar. He had just learned that the Atlantians had been in the land for hundreds of years if not thousands. He knew the aliens were the Atlantians but did the Russians know that? He asked a probing question,
“What do you think is under that protective dome? Who are they and why are they protected by the Russian Air Force?”
“Obviously I don’t know who they are but I have suspicions. For years the Government has flown in various supplies in exchange for scientific and technical information. Some of the pilots have come ba
ck and reported seeing small farm communities and strange looking aliens walking among odd looking humans.”
Because of the stories of disappearing airplanes venturing into the forbidden zone and never seen again, Waldorf was surprised to hear that some planes could penetrate the dome not only unscathed but return as well. He asked a most natural question.
“How is that possible? From analyzes of the dome we have determined that it is an oscillating harmonic frequency with a rider program that can scramble all computer and electrical functions.”
“Well then you know more about it than we do. In the years before the airplane, a protective dome was not necessary to hide them. The harshness of the land was enough. Now, in the modern era of flights they did not want airplanes looking down into their secret land. It was at that time the dome was put up. Now, in order to get supplies through the dome they gave us a frequency that nullified the shielding and protected the entering supply planes.”
Suddenly excited, Waldorf quickly asked,
“Do you know what that frequency is?”
After another puff of smoke disappeared into the cold breeze, he slowly replied,
“Yes of course I do.”
“Do you suppose I might get it?”
A slow hand reached into his jacket pocket and brought out an old fashioned cell phone. Old fingers punched in numbers and when finished it was returned to his pocket. He said,
“It is now on your phone.”
Although Waldorf knew that Maria was determined to contact the Atlantians, she understood that flying under the dome and skimming just off the surface might be a way in, but not a way out. If there was a problem while under the dome, she understood that in order to keep them prisoner all the aliens had to do was lower the shield and there would be no escape. She will be pleased to hear that there is another way in and most importantly, another way out.
Looking out across the dark park, Waldorf started to feel the cold wind against his face and so pulled his collar up even higher. He understood that it would be raining soon and so best to get on with the interrogation. He asked,
“Professor, I understand that you believe there are aliens under the dome but to me the question might be why? Why do you think they are there?”
“Well, and it’s only a suspicion on my part you understand but I think somewhere under that thing there is an energy field of some sort. I think it is a worm hole, perhaps even a portal to another world giving them access to this one.”
After another puff of smoke quickly disappeared into the cold breeze, Waldorf heard the real reason Professor Vlad Novokoff wanted to join forces with the House of the Nazarene. There was sternness in the Professor’s tone.
“If that is the case, I don’t like them having access to this world very much and think they should be stopped. We have to slam that door shut. Earth is for Earthlings, not a playground or laboratory for aliens. I do not think they are benevolent aliens at all.”
Suddenly Waldorf’s warning sirens started wailing. Was the Professor right?
The Professor continued,
“I think it is wrong for my government to be helping them. Granted, they give us advanced knowledge in technology and that greatly put us well ahead of other countries but the reward for that knowledge must be seriously questioned.”
Waldorf asked,
“Advanced knowledge? If I may ask Professor, what are they helping you with?”
“They have in many ways helped our scientists with technology and information pertaining to advanced weaponry.”
Waldorf asked,
“Do you mean helping in develop weapons of war?”
“Yes, in a way. They have given the Russian Federal Space Agency information directing us to an ancient armory of bombs and flying saucers. Apparently there was once a great war between some aliens on this planet and weapons of mass destruction were unwisely and wilfully used. Naturally my military wants to get their hands on things like that making them the most powerful country on Earth.”
Waldorf perked alert. The powerful House of the Nazarene’s mandate is not to be a world power, in fact do not care who was the most powerful. The thought of any country having advanced weapons rang a great warning bell. He remembered how massive weapons of total destruction were used in the ancient Great Earth War that destroyed many alien tribes living here at the time. What the Professor said next strengthened Waldorf’s resolve to prevent them from getting such weapons, weapons that could also destroy the aggressor.
“We are currently developing a massive ship capable of retrieving those weapons.”
Waldorf was alerted to the strange reference to a ship. He asked,
“A ship? Are these weapons hidden underwater or on an island somewhere?”
Although Vlad said it very casually, as if it were nothing at all, it hit Waldorf like a bolt of lightning to the forehead. He said,
“They are stored someplace on the moon. They told us if we helped them survive under the dome that such an arsenal of weapons and flying saucers would make Russia powerful.
They talked for a few more minutes but the wind had picked up and the threat of rain was now evident. With the purpose of the meeting met, wanting to know why the Russians were helping and protecting the aliens answered, Waldorf was willing to call it a night. He was sure that Maria would want to know what he had learned right away and knowing that the Professor wanted to get back to his televised wrestling match, he was sure there would be an agreement to end the meeting. After a profound thank you for the information, Waldorf got up and made his way across the by now soggy field toward the trees and his concealed D-wing.
As he sloshed across the field, his attention was again drawn across the street to the Lada. As if it had given up trying to park, headlights came on and it pulled away. With a cold wind in his ears and getting wet, thinking nothing of it, he disappeared into the trees. Although he was soaking wet, he now sat in the comfort of his D-wing and set coordinates for home. With manual control he slowly lifted high above the trees.
With Stealth mode on, he stopped just above the trees and was surprised to see the Professor still sitting on the bench. It was now raining heavily and the wind had picked up. Knowing that he wanted to get back to the wrestling match and considering the cold and rain, he wondered what possessed him to stay there longer. Secure in his camouflage ability and helped by the pouring rain, Waldorf slowly maneuvered closer. With his head down and chin resting on his chest, at first it looked as if the Professor had fallen asleep. On closer inspection and to his great shock Waldorf saw a trickle of blood dripping from a small hole in his forehead.
Chapter 59
Back at the hangar, Waldorf jumped out of the D-wing and was not pleased to see Henrik coming at him carrying the post-trip clipboard. It was late and he was in a hurry to get out of soaking wet clothes. The last thing he needed was the delay of paperwork. Putting up a halting hand he said to Henrik,
“Important matters first young man. I have to report to Maria right away.”
Just before turning to leave, the disappointed Henrik pointed and asked,
“Why is there a hole in your collar Sir?”
Confused, he brought a slow hand up and felt it. It was about the size of a bullet hole and he immediately understood that one bullet was for the Professor and another was for him. Not wanting Maria to see that he was close to being killed and certainly not wanting Helga to see how close he came, he quickly took it off and handed it to Henrik. With a firm and commanding order he said,
“Don’t let anybody see you destroying it.”
Holding an incomplete post-trip report and a wet jacket with a hole in the collar, a confused Henrik watched Waldorf walk away. He shrugged the confusion aside and walked back to his quarters at the far side of the hanger. After tossing the jacket into a large garbage bag, he turned to his bed and took off his shirt. On the bed, tangled in dishevelled sheets, Pia asked,
“What was all that about?”
W
alking toward her, he said,
“I have learned a long time ago not to ask too many questions.”
And then he asked a question that made her smile.
“Now where were we?”
She giggled and replied,
“Now that’s a question there was no need to ask.”
Maria was still in her lab and exhausted by complex programs and frustration. There was no casting the exhaustion aside. It had frolicked through her body and bounced off every fatigued neuron in her by now sluggish brain. She knew it was enough, that she had to give into the inevitable. Everything was running together, everything looked the same and at times she wondered if she had already created that program. Productivity was quickly running backwards. Exhausted, everything was saved and she looked forward to going upstairs. Suddenly Waldorf knocked on her door.
Desperate to get madly dancing computer programs out of her head, she just wanted to get out of there. However, knowing that it was Waldorf, she was equally desperate to hear what he had learned about the Siberian Triangle. As he entered and approached the desk, he saw her drawn eyes and fatigued look. With great concern for his boss, he stopped short and said,
“It can wait till tomorrow.”
A stabbing finger and determined order sprang forth.
“No it can’t. Sit down and start talking buster.”
The Noah Satellite Page 28
