Revelations

by Robert Storey

  A single piece of folded parchment rested tantalisingly at the bottom.

  More than a little disappointed at the lack of other objects contained within, Sarah carefully removed the solitary item. Unlike the others, this had no map or text on it. It was blank apart from the usual indented disc at the top. As before, Sarah put her finger on the circle and Trish and Jason held her arm, boosting the bio electricity needed to power the digital paper display.

  This time an image materialised on the page. Sarah zoomed in on it after the appearance of the familiar control symbols down one side. It appeared to be some kind of super-detailed schematic or blueprint. She couldn’t easily make out what she was seeing as the sheer amount of data embedded in the graphic was immense.

  A mass of symbols flowed over the page as she rotated the view and moved in and out.

  ‘Go back a second,’ Jason said.

  She zoomed out a bit to the previous location.

  He motioned with a finger. ‘Rotate thirty degrees.’

  She moved the view to roughly thirty degrees from the previous location.

  ‘And now zoom in.’

  She did so.

  ‘More,’ he told her, ‘more. Keep going.’

  The ancient display flashed and the schematic melted away to be replaced with a vista that took their breath away. Golden trees surrounded a lush meadow as light shone down from the sky above. In the distance what looked like poles jutted up out of the ground. She zoomed in further and they skimmed across the surface of the grasses. The view shifted again and they were rising up higher and higher. The poles transformed before their eyes. They were not poles at all, but spires, hundreds of spires. The image rose higher still until they floated over a spectacle that was awe inspiring. A city; no, a super city! It was astounding, mesmerising.

  They soaked up what they saw, but as suddenly as it had appeared, the screen dimmed and faded. They cried out in protest but couldn’t retrieve the image. Again and again they tried, but only the original schematic presented itself, along with its streams of unintelligible data. Frustrating was not the word, it was perhaps comparable to glimpsing nirvana and then being sucked back out into drab mundania.

  ‘Did you see that place?’ Trish murmured, wiping a tear from her eye. ‘It was beautiful – so beautiful.’

  ‘I can’t believe how big it was,’ Jason said. ‘Those towers … do you think it existed?’

  Sarah glanced at him before returning her attention to the parchment. ‘I don’t know. It was magnificent. I haven’t seen anything like it – ever. It makes even our biggest cities look crude, small and dirty in comparison.’

  Jason sighed. ‘I don’t think I’ve wanted to see anything again so much in my whole life.’

  ‘Why can’t we get the image back?’ Trish said, sounding cross.

  ‘I’m not sure. Perhaps it needed an outside power source to run it,’ Sarah said. ‘It was such vibrant footage, compared to the graphical nature of all the other parchment images we’ve looked at so far. And I agree with you, Jas, I wanna see it again so badly it hurts.’

  ‘If that city did exist, then where did it go?’ Jason looked from Trish to Sarah. ‘Something that large would have been found by now.’

  ‘It might be under the Antarctic ice sheet,’ Sarah said. ‘Although with the new satellite system sent up specifically for archaeological surveys, it surely would have shown up on the scans, something that big?’

  ‘Unless it was destroyed somehow and only its remains are left,’ Trish said, ‘or it’s on a sea or lake bed somewhere.’

  Sarah thought for a moment. ‘Or it never existed at all and it was a simulation or just a plan that never reached fruition.’

  Trish frowned. ‘That’s a depressing thought.’

  ‘Or it’s on another planet,’ Jason said seriously.

  Sarah laughed. ‘Ha, and I’m the Queen of Sheba and my uncle’s E.T..’

  ‘E.T.?’ said Trish.

  ‘A little brown alien with big eyes and a glowing finger,’ Sarah told her.

  ‘Man, you really haven’t watched any films, have you?’ Jason said, laughing.

  ‘Not rubbish ones, I haven’t,’ Trish said, riled.

  Sarah smiled. ‘I kinda liked it, he was cute, too, in a wrinkly, brown, hairless way,’

  ‘It sounds delightful,’ Trish said. ‘Give me a romcom and I’m there, but smelly small aliens? Leave me out.’

  Sarah and Jason screwed up their faces in a sign of disgust and this time Trish laughed.

  Jason grunted and leaned over to Sarah, who pulled back as he reached his hand out to her neck. ‘What are you doing?’ she said, feeling uncomfortable and putting her hand to her neck protectively.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I just noticed your new pendant and I recognise a symbol on it. It was on the first map we looked at and now that I think about, it also cropped up on the new parchment from our red friend here.’ He patted the open metal casket next to him. ‘Can I have a closer look?’

  ‘Sure.’ Sarah unclipped the pentagonal pendant and passed it to him.

  He examined it carefully. ‘I think I’ve seen some of these other symbols on here, too.’

  ‘As soon as we get the chance we should copy out all the letters in the parchments,’ Sarah said, ‘assuming that’s what they are, and run them through a language deciphering and recognition programme to see what it spits out. You never know, we might get lucky.’

  ‘Can I look at the original map again?’ he asked Sarah.

  ‘Course you can.’ She withdrew it from her zipped pocket and passed it to him.

  He looked surprised.

  ‘It’s as much yours and Trish’s find as mine,’ she told him, ‘you drive and we’ll power it.’

  Jason, now looking like the cat that got the cream, brought up the map image, while Trish and Sarah held onto his arm.

  ‘There,’ – he pointed a finger at the parchment – ‘that’s the same symbol as on your pendant – and that one, too.’ He continued to analyse the map. ‘They seem to coincide with some kind of key down the side of the map.’

  ‘Like co-ordinates?’ Trish said.

  ‘No, more general, like longitudinal lines which portray time zones on a globe.’

  ‘So what are you saying?’

  ‘I’m not sure. Let’s have a look at the new parchment again.’

  Sarah handed him the now blank looking piece of light brown paper they’d found in the red canister. Powering it up, he manipulated the image with another symbol they hadn’t tried before. The image changed and a familiar small building appeared. It looked like it was made out of mud bricks and logs, almost exactly the same as the one they had seen on the other parchment they’d just been looking at. On closer inspection it wasn’t identical, it was more rectangular, but it did show up a new type of object: a large, flat square on the base of the building’s interior floor.

  Touching another symbol with a finger, in conjunction with one they had used previously, Jason brought up a new view altogether, a view they all instantly recognised.

  It was the Earth.

  Trish and Sarah gasped while Jason sat open-mouthed staring at the near perfect image of the planet floating on the page before them.

  A pulsating shape indicated where the small building was located: Central America.

  Sarah leaned in closer. ‘Where’s that? Panama?’

  ‘No, that’s further down,’ Jason said. ‘Costa Rica, maybe?’

  ‘No, that’s only just above Panama,’ Trish told them. ‘That symbol is where Honduras is today.’

  Jason gave a shake of his head in disbelief. ‘Bloody hell, how many more places are we going to find?’

  Sarah flashed him a broad grin. ‘We’ve opened Pandora’s Box, now there’s no going back.’

  ‘So it looks like we’re going to Honduras, then?’ Jason asked her.

  ‘Looks like that way.’

  ‘I suppose muggins here will have to arrange it all,’ Trish sai
d.

  ‘Thanks, hun,’ – Sarah stood before bending down to give her a hug – ‘you’re a star.’

  Leaving Trish and Jason talking excitedly about their new discoveries, Sarah moved along the narrow seating aisle to the front of the plane to see how Frank was doing.

  Entering the cockpit, she sat down in the co-pilot’s seat as the clouds below them glided by and the twin engines droned away outside.

  ‘How are you kids doing?’ Frank said, glancing in her direction.

  ‘We’re fine, thanks. How are you, though?’

  ‘So so, it’s been a while since I’ve flown this far. My back’s giving me a bit of gip,’

  ‘Is there anything I can do?’ she said, not thinking there would be.

  ‘You could take the wheel for a bit.’

  Sarah looked at him to see if he was jesting, but he didn’t appear to be. ‘What? I can’t fly the plane!’

  ‘Of course you can. It won’t be like you’re trying to take off or land it. Just point and shoot, sort of thing, easy.’

  Frank got up and Sarah reluctantly slid over to sit in his warmed chair.

  ‘Oh, that’s good,’ he said, as he stretched himself out and massaged his arms, ‘just keep the wheel steady and that’s pretty much it.’

  Sarah gripped the wheel tight, her knuckles going white.

  ‘Relax, now, there’s no need to hold it so hard. That’s it.’

  The plane nosed down slightly.

  ‘Not that relaxed, though,’ he said quickly, guiding the wheel back up with one hand as she held on firmly yet not too grimly, as per his instructions.

  ‘That’s it. Perfect. I’ll just go back to the others and you give me a shout when you want to swap.’

  ‘What!’ she said, her voice going up a couple of octaves.

  He laughed, his eyes alight with mirth. ‘Only joking, I’ll just sit here next to you and have a little doze. Just keep your eye on the horizon, and keep the wings straight and level on the white line of the artificial horizon dial.’ Frank tapped a gauge with a finger. ‘Shout if you need help,’ he said, and sat down and shut his eyes.

  Sarah didn’t think she could be that trusting if she was in his position. She grasped the wheel tighter, but caught herself and relaxed her grip again.

  After a while, with her initial anxiety calmed, she actually began to enjoy it. The view was great. The beautiful rolling landscape below crept along like a giant slow-moving travelator, while their plane soared high above it through clear skies.

  It was a dreamlike experience, flying, with the world laid out beneath you, and it was also one Sarah knew she could get used to if given the opportunity.

  The dream, however, wasn’t to last as what seemed like moments later, but in actuality was an hour, Frank woke up and took back control, thanking her for her help.

  In a buoyant mood, Sarah made her way back down the cabin to where the others rested.

  ‘If I’d known you were flying, I’d have jumped out, parachute or no,’ Jason said, after she’d told them what she’d been doing.

  ‘Ooh, I want a go,’ Trish said, and went forward to ask Frank if she could.

  A minute or two later the plane jerked upwards and then dived down sharply and a shriek echoed down to them.

  ‘I think I preferred your flying,’ Jason told Sarah, looking a little green as the plane levelled out.

  Sarah gave a nervous laugh. ‘Me too.’

  ♦

  The rest of the journey passed relatively uneventfully. Trish documented their latest discoveries by taking photos, plus some video footage where Sarah described the canister and parchment to camera. They then tried accessing new parts of the parchments, but it proved more complicated than they thought it was going to be. Also, three people could only stay in physical contact with each other for so long before someone got irritated or stiff and moved their hand away. Jason suggested putting his feet on their legs while they rested, but neither of them liked the idea of that, much to Jason’s consternation.

  ‘Why the hell not?’ he’d said.

  ‘There is absolutely no way I’m letting your grotty feet touch me anywhere,’ Trish had told him adamantly, crossing her arms to emphasise the point. ‘And that’s final.’

  With the remainder of the flight interspersed with quiet conversation and sleep, their plane approached the border zone just as the sun sank below the horizon. In the distance a deep rumbling alerted them to the presence of a patrolling fighter jet as they swung out over the sea, but thankfully it must have been much higher up and a few miles away as they flew on unimpeded.

  Soon after, they were touching down in Gabon and the plane’s landing lights could be seen illuminating a familiar looking taxi that waited for them in a nearby car park, as arranged.

  They thanked Frank profusely for his lifesaving intervention and Sarah insisted he take some money, which he accepted after some heated persuasion. Jason then asked him if he was going back to South Africa.

  ‘I might as well live out my days here as any other place,’ he said. ‘This little adventure has given me a new lease of life. I may even be able to get some work flying after the initial debris has settled down in the lower atmosphere.’

  Wishing one another luck, they parted ways. Trish and Sarah gave Frank a hug and a kiss goodbye, and Jason shook his hand, and then they were off in the cab heading back to Gabon’s capital city. Using Sarah’s computer, Trish had managed to arrange a flight while they travelled in the cab. She wasn’t able to get one to Honduras, but El Salvador was the next best thing.

  When the taxi driver deposited them at their destination Sarah reluctantly handed over another thick wadge of cash in payment for service rendered. They then loaded up a couple of airport trolleys and made their way to departures, which brimmed full to bursting as people made use of the last opportunity to get away before all civilian flights were grounded. Sarah wasn’t gone on the fact that their precious finds were going into the hold, most likely to be chucked about by underpaid and overworked baggage handlers. She had little choice, however, and they’d packed them well in heavy duty crates, which eased her mind somewhat.

  The taxi journey had taken a whole day and the wait for the flight a further ten hours. Sarah didn’t need to check her phone now for the time left until impact. It was displayed everywhere they went, especially in the airport, which also showed real-time footage as the meteor drew nearer and grew ever bigger in the sky above. Three days and eight hours. They couldn’t have timed it any closer, as this had been virtually the last flight to the Americas out of the airport. Sarah imagined the mass exodus from the continent as people fled the approaching asteroid in what some still saw as the end of days, regardless of what their governments and international bodies told them. Perhaps more than most, the African populace was a superstitious one and that tended to make people more unpredictable and volatile. Not the best personality traits when calm and patience were required. Although, Sarah thought, how would other peoples react if the impact was on their doorstep? Badly, she decided.

  With the waiting over and boarding complete, their plane took off in good time and they all grabbed the opportunity to get a good sleep, recouping spent energy and soothing frayed nerves after their whirlwind tour of the African continent. They also needed to preserve energy for the work to come. The impact might be on the horizon, but Sarah’s quest for the truth wouldn’t stop. She would accumulate what she could and present it to one of the leading institutes in China. Europe and the U.S. could prove to be too risky, considering their encounter in Turkey, and any country where Catholicism had a strong influence now made her very wary. No, China was the place to get her finds recognised, and hopefully that could be achieved without further incident.

  Sarah knew, however, that despite her optimism she still had to plan her moves very carefully, with contingencies in place to prevent any untoward intervention pushing her off course.

  After jotting down some of her ideas, she secured her pe
n back inside her wallet, but rather than returning the fabric case to her pocket she unfolded a compartment to reveal a photo of herself and her mother standing at the edge of a mountain plateau near Angel Falls in Venezuela. She remembered that day vividly; the view had been spectacular, the waterfall magnificent, but it was the precious moments she’d shared with her mother that she most cherished. ‘I won’t let them beat me, Mum,’ she whispered, with an ache in her heart. ‘I promise.’

  Chapter Thirteen

  The sun beat down on the state of New Mexico. In its centre the city of Albuquerque sprawled, straddling the Rio Grande River, which slunk its way south through the hot arid desert. The resident populace went about its business as usual, people and vehicles on the move in every quarter. Rebecca, the mental health worker, reclined on a couch in her apartment, watching the television. Outside a dustcart could be heard through an open window collecting the week’s trash. Joseph sat at the table, drawing contentedly.

  Picking up the remote Rebecca switched channels to the BBC. The show she had been waiting to watch from England was her favourite, as it gave a better world view than normal U.S. programmes. It had also become the most watched news stream in the world. She turned up the volume as the intro faded and the main studio came into focus.

  ‘Good evening, I’m Jessica Klein and this is the BBC’s Worldwide News Service transmitting to you live from our dedicated Impact Day studio in Broadcasting House, London, England.

  ‘It has been twenty-nine years since the asteroid 2011 AG5 was first discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey on the 8th January, 2011. And this formidable interstellar traveller is now due to arrive off the South African east coast in less than six hours’ time.

  ‘Joining me tonight for this historic moment are a special panel of experts from various fields, who will help guide us through these final hours and give us an idea of what we can expect in the days ahead.

  ‘We have Professor Guraj Singh from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, and to his right, Michael Bailey from the United States Department of Homeland Security. On my left, his grace Dr. Mowberry, the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury from the United Kingdom, and to his left Mariana Lima from the Global Meteor Response Council.