Once the timer on his scooter read 30 minutes, he dutifully brought it to a stop and examined his surroundings. The landscape of the tunnel had changed little throughout the time. It was a combination of more than a hundred limestone caves, joined together and eaten away from eons of erosion by the water through the soft rock.
This one was no different.
Around him, he noted that the tunnel, although reasonably wide, would never have permitted a ship as enormous as the Mahogany Ship to travel down its path. He thought about it for a minute or two, and then took a sample from the limestone silt, placing it in a tube marked ‘Tunnel Three.’ If a ship had ever passed through this place, he was going to find some evidence of it through a detailed analysis of the microscopic particles found inside that tube.
Finding a shipwreck is an art, but that’s no reason to ignore science…
Over the next few hours Sam proceeded to make the same investigations of each of the five tunnels. The water was cold, but it wasn’t freezing. His dry suit had a built in heating device, which had maintained his core body temperature at a comfortable 98 degrees Fahrenheit.
When he returned to the dive platform, Michael and Frank were already waiting for him.
“You all right Sam?” Frank asked, helping take some of the heavy weight of his dive equipment off him as he climbed the ladder.
“I’m fine. Why do you ask?”
“You were down there longer than I was expecting.”
“I was just getting a feel for these caverns. You’d be surprised by how much you can learn by watching the flow of water through tunnels such as these. The old gold miners who panned for gold used to understand the river systems better than we do today. A good gold prospector would watch the river for days and days before digging his spade into a single chip of soil. By doing so, he could ascertain where the heavier, gold filled, sumps might be.”
“And what did these rivers tell you?” Frank sounded interested.
“I don’t know yet. I’ve taken core samples where any man-made products might become lodged. Still, it’s been hundreds of years since the Mahogany Ship disappeared, so who knows what could possibly remain? As for the river system herself?” Sam’s intense, steel blue eyes, stared at the man, before he said, “Despite two of the five tunnels being large enough for her to come down, there’s only one in which she could actually have made it down without tearing herself apart on the rapids.”
“So then we only have to explore the largest of the tunnels?”
“No, the reality is, it could be somewhere upstream of all five of the tunnels. Just because the coin made it down doesn’t mean that the Mahogany Ship ever made it this far. Your boss isn’t going to be impressed, but there’s a very high probability that, if the ship ever entered this river system, she’s resting hundreds of miles further upstream.”
“Which means…”
“It might take months, if not years, to explore all of the tunnels.”
*
“Okay, let’s get the gear,” Billie said. A wry smile over her beautiful face told him that she wasn’t going to talk about them.
Tom decided that he’d had enough of the cloak and dagger story. He was running this show. Whatever involvement the Master Builders may have in this, he had a right to know. He said, gently touching her shoulder to stop her, “Who were they?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“No more lies, Billie. Sam brought you here for a very specific reason, didn’t he? And I have an idea it had something to do with the Master Builders.”
She shrugged her shoulders.
“Tell me. Or you can go back to whatever it was you were doing in Antarctica before Sam dragged you out here.”
Billie looked like she was seriously considering abandoning the site. Then she turned to face him. Her almond-shaped brown eyes stared at his and then conceded. “These markings here,” she whispered. “They were made by them. Only, there’s never been any evidence that they ever made it across the Atlantic, until now…”
“But who were they?”
“They were builders – engineers to be exact, and very good ones. Think of the ancient wonders of the world.”
“I’m not an archeologist, but I thought the Egyptians built the Pyramids?”
“That’s what we thought until recently, but since then new evidence has shown that a superior race, known as the Master Builders, built them all…”
“So why wasn’t the information published?”
“That, my friend, is an interesting question. I’m sure your friend Sam Reilly is probably one of the few people on this planet who know the real answer.”
“Afghanistan, 2003?” Tom knew exactly what she was referring to, but didn’t know why.
“Come on… you never believed for an instant that your friend was honorably discharged after three weeks in the Sandpit?”
“No, and he never told me what happened, so I didn’t ask.”
She sighed. “Yeah, well he broke a code, and opened the doors to an otherwise unreachable research path. And the existence of the Master Builders came to the attention of the National Security Agency.”
“The NSA?” Tom looked confused. “What would they care about some ancient civilization?”
“Okay Tom, have you been to Egypt and stood at the base of the Pyramid of Giza?”
“Yeah, many years ago. Sam and I went there on our summer break.”
“Do you honestly think a four-thousand-year old civilization could have built something like that using technologies that predated the invention of the wheel?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard all the stories before. It’s an amazing feat, but somehow they managed it. I read a theory once about using really big whips or something.”
“It doesn’t matter. Have you ever wondered if we could build the same structure using modern technologies?” Billie asked.
“The thought’s never entered my mind. Why?”
“The answer is, we’re still not capable of it. Each of those blocks weighs as much as 15 tons. To place one at the top of the 481-foot pyramid would be impossible. Each block is so perfectly positioned that not even a hair could be slid through it.”
“Okay, so how did they do it?”
“They didn’t.”
“Who did then?”
“The Master Builders.”
“What, like aliens?” Tom laughed, and then noticing she was serious, said, “Okay, so how did they do it?”
“No one knows, but if a civilization that lived more than 4000 years ago had technologies superior to ours today, we want to know about it. And if their knowledge is still out there, then the U.S. military perceives that as a threat.”
“And that’s what Sam got himself involved in?”
“Yes,” she whispered, as though someone could somehow be listening to them at this depth, inside a granite vault. “Only, they were watching him. He never told me what he was involved in, specifically. He brought me the information he needed analyzed and that was it. But I knew he was being watched. Eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore, and that was when he returned to the ocean, and to working for his dad.”
“Or did he get a lead he knew was going to get him killed?”
“Like what?” She asked.
“Maybe he discovered something and knew his only hope would be to find it when others weren’t looking?”
“Only Sam can answer that question.”
Tom focused and then said, “So, where did these Master Builders go? What killed them off?”
“We have no idea. In fact, there have been theories to suggest that they never died, but there has been no evidence.”
“An entire civilization more advanced than us lived 4000 years ago and there’s no proof they existed or died out? Seems pretty farfetched to me.”
“Not an entire civilization… only a handful of people.”
“What do you mean? I thought these people built the pyramids?”
“They were the engineers. They were hired by the kings and rulers of the day to build grand things and then instructed thousands of slaves to perform the tasks. Slaves who, without their guidance, could never have built anything so mighty.”
“So what was the most recent build of the Master Builders?”
“The Pyramid of Giza – nearly 4000 years ago. Until now. Sam tells me this pyramid appears to be less than 1000 years old. Now, unless there was some kind of cataclysmic oceanic event that no one has even heard of in the past 1000 years, which has submerged this pyramid, I would say the ability to build more than 200 feet underwater a perfectly-shaped pyramid, so exacting as to entrap air inside its three chambers so that 1000 years later we are able to breath unaided here, makes this place pretty much impossible.”
“If Sam knew they were here, why did he involve you, or anyone for that matter? Why not fill the entire place with concrete, cocooning it for another 1000 years?”
“Because, like me, he needs to find the answers.”
“But, if he’s so obsessed with secrecy, why not stay here himself?”
“I’ve no idea why he’s chasing the Mahogany Ship, but he brought me in on the secret, and knows that I won’t betray him.” Billie took a photo of the ancient text on the wall above her.
“What is it?”
“It’s an old text, written in a very old language.”
Tom looked around the room.
It appeared to be cram packed with pictographs and hieroglyphics. He hadn’t even considered whether it was a language. “Egyptian?”
“Sort of – to anyone other than an expert in the Egyptian language, it would appear to be just that.”
“But?”
“Most of this room is filled with Mayan texts, but not this one here. This one stands out as something entirely different. It’s much older than Egyptian, more difficult to understand, and only ever used by the Master Builders.”
“How many people know this language, if it even exists?”
“I’m not sure. There’s myself, Sam, and an unidentified man from the NSA. We think Russia and France may have their own team working on it. Even we don’t fully grasp the meaning of all of it. But, I’m pretty certain Sam and I are ahead in the race to crack it fully.”
“What does it say?”
“I don’t know precisely. It’s just words. Nothing that makes sense. I’ll have to put it into my laptop to get a better translation.”
“And it’s definitely created by the Master Builders?”
“Sam thinks so. We don’t even know for certain the Master Builders were real. In some Egyptian texts, they are referred to as the Ancient Ones.”
“All right. Why don’t you finish taking these pictures and I’ll go retrieve the laptops. Then, maybe we can get to the bottom of this damn thing.”
“Sounds good, thanks.”
Tom spent the next half an hour carrying her laptop and equipment up to the King’s Chamber. Walking into it, he noticed her tall, lithe figure standing on top of the sarcophagus. She was in her element. And she looked happy. He stood there quietly for a minute or so, and then realized he could have watched her all day.
She was beautiful, intelligent, and one of the most single-mindedly focused people he’d ever met. And she had by far the foulest language of any person holding a doctorate. The thought made him laugh.
“What the fuck are you laughing at?” she asked, leaning a little further outward.
“The fact that, for a leading expert in an ancient language, you have the worst use of explicit English words.”
Above, Tom could hear her chuckle at his comment without taking her attention off what she was doing. As she leaned further out, the back of her loose fitting shirt lifted up, revealing a slim back and a tattoo of a pyramid on top of a mountain.
He couldn’t help but feel that it made her look sexy, while at the same time intriguing his imagination. Where did that pyramid come from? He wanted to ask her, but there were too many other questions on his mind, and besides, he didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that he’d been staring.
She took another couple of pictures and then turned to climb down again.
Tom’s eyes, distracted by her tattoo and the top of her black sexy underwear, now noticed, tucked into the back of her pants, a Glock.
Why the hell would she be carrying that?
Billie then jumped down and switched on her laptop. Her camera was automatically synchronized with her computer.
She ran the data.
“What do you think?” Tom asked, careful not to mention that he’d just noticed she was carrying a weapon.
“I’m not sure yet. It’s currently running a decoding program,” she said. Tapping a number of keys in quick succession, Billie turned and said, “Okay – that proves it. They’re definitely a match. This chamber was built by the Master Builders.”
“That’s great. Do you have any idea what those words say?”
She pressed enter, and the screen started to flick through the images, comparing it to all previous known texts by the Master Builders, before stopping. “Got it.”
“What did it say?”
She turned the laptop so he could see it.
Ajtzak waits for his lost twin in the final revelation.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Ajtzak was the name of the king who’s buried here,” Billie mused, “By the sounds of things, he was a twin. But he lost his brother before he died? I don’t know how, where, or why.”
“That’s great, so he lost his twin brother, but that doesn’t bring us any closer to understanding who they were, where they achieved their knowledge and most importantly, why they disappeared.”
“No, but the fact it was written in the ancient language shows that this man was a Master Builder, and so was his twin brother. Wherever the hell he is.” She looked up at the walls, and then said, “I’m just hoping to find those answers somewhere within these walls before the NSA removes them.”
“What do you mean, removes them?”
“Every time we find a clue to the puzzle, they destroy it.”
“Then we’d better make sure we get the answer quick this time,” Tom said, still wondering how he was going to get her handgun.
Chapter Ten
Over the next two weeks Sam made extensive developments on his expedition, but little to suggest the Mahogany Ship ever entered the waterway. His silt samples now numbered more than a hundred, and with the exception of some signs of iron ore, nothing indicated the fabled ship had even passed through the water system. And that could have easily been explained by the natural formation of iron oxide within the natural rocks further upstream.
Sam and Frank split the tunnels into three separate sections, dividing them so that each person could cover more ground. Each of them would explore two small tunnels for a distance of two miles or until the tunnel became too difficult to dive. Afterwards, both of them would dive the fifth and largest of the five tunnels. Michael Rodriguez had left to attend to company business for a few days. He had made it clear that if any discoveries were made, they were to wait for him, because he wanted to be there when the Mahogany Ship finally revealed herself. Byron, the only one who appeared positively out of place below ground, remained at the Mahogany Cavern to maintain communications, and make projections based on the data being brought in.
None of the four smaller tunnels returned anything substantial. Not so much as a nail was found. It was time to search the final tunnel and live with the results, whatever they may be.
On the fifteenth day, Sam discovered something that sparkled.
Nearly a mile upstream in the largest of the five tunnels, he spotted it. His flashlight carefully filtering the area from right to left, it was so faint, for a moment he thought his mind was playing a trick on him.
The he saw it again.
Just the tip was sticking out of the sand. Sam swam towards it, his pulse quickening.
His
hand reached in and pulled it from the sand. When he turned it over in the water, the sand disappeared, revealing the head of the king of Spain, Charles V.
Behind his facemask, his grin returned. It was here. The Mahogany Ship must be somewhere nearby! Sam turned to the metal detector again. If the water flowed in such a way as to capture the heavy gold coin in its sediment at this exact location, there was a good chance there would be more.
Instantly, two more sources pinged.
Following the increasing pings, he found two more Spanish coins. He inspected each carefully. All three were identical to the one which Rodriguez had initially introduced him to. Sam was ecstatic with his find. He would finally prove the existence of the Mahogany Ship. At the back of his mind, he was surprised by the condition of the coins – the water made them look like they had just been minted.
He dismissed the thought and pocketed all three of the gold coins.
Securing one surreptitiously in a double zipped pocket, which would beat any scrutiny if required, Sam felt guilty at the thought of stealing from Rodriguez. But he needed to be certain, and this was the only way he could think of doing so.
Sam marked the spot on the sonar map, and then said, “Frank, we have a hit.”
He could hear the excitement in Frank’s voice. “That’s great! What have you got, Sam?”
“A gold coin! Two of them, actually.”
“That’s great news. Stay where you are, and I’ll return to your location. I’m a few hundred feet ahead of you.”
“Copy that.”
Sam and Frank used up the remainder of their air supplies searching the area, with no other discoveries that day. When Sam finally climbed out of the water and onto the work station in the Mahogany Cave, he was met by Byron, who’d already brought out three bottles of bubbly.
“Congratulations,” Byron said, handing him a full glass of champagne.
“Thank you. There’s our proof that the ship once entered this water system. Now it’s only a matter of time before we find the Mahogany Ship,” Sam said taking the glass. “Does Michael know yet?”
The Sam Reilly Collection Page 37
