The Alboran Codex

by J C Ryan

  “Do we ask her to take us to the place, even if we aren’t sure she understands the picture?”

  “Yes, I think so. I’ll discuss it a bit more with her.” He flipped the switch again. “Merrybeth, when you talk to Dolphins in pods far away, can you see what they see?” Dylan tilted his head, and Carter made a thumbs-up gesture to assure him the question was leading somewhere.

  “Yes, Carter. My friend, Joanna, showed me what you look like. I cannot explain to you if land-people don’t do this.”

  “Well, some may, but most of us don’t. Instead, we make images like this. Our brains supply the information that lets us see them as in and out. We call it three-dimensional.” He held his breath during the pause while the translation device did what it could with his awkward explanation.

  Merrybeth listened. Then Carter could have sworn she grinned. Her sharp little teeth were in full evidence before she spoke again. “I am sorry, my friend, that your vision is inferior to ours. But I will lead you to the old land caves, and you can go in and out. You understand, they are full of water now?”

  “Yes, Merrybeth, we understand. We will follow you.”

  “We will swim for three suns and rest in the dark.”

  “I understand.”

  As she swam off, Carter and Dylan hastily made their way back into the boat to find that Captain Randy had been listening to the exchange with Mackenzie, Liu, and the rest and was ready to follow the Dolphins as soon as the men were aboard.

  “That was quite a conversation,” Mackenzie said.

  “You know, they are so intelligent I forget while talking to them that there are so many things they can’t experience. It’s a struggle to think like an underwater creature with no houses, photos, and everything else we take for granted. And then, just when I’m thinking we’re superior, I get my ass handed to me with a remark like she made about our vision being inferior. From her perspective, it is. We can’t navigate by echolocation, and that freaky ansible thing is like science fiction come to life.”

  “I know, Carter,” Mackenzie said. “It boggles the mind, doesn’t it?”

  As the yacht started to move, the party went forward to watch the Dolphin pod leaping in front of them while they followed at a speed to match the Dolphins’, about eight knots.

  Later, when the Dolphins stopped and began to circle the boat in the late afternoon, they had another conversation with Merrybeth. Carter again had to improvise as he described the destructive power of a nuclear weapon and asked Merrybeth what she knew of such a thing.

  Somehow, her whistles and squeaks took on a haunting sound when she answered. “Yes, we know of these big noises. But it isn’t just noise. They send powerful blows through the water. My mother taught me of such things that happened within her mother’s lifetime. Many creatures besides us were killed or harmed. Some became unable to hear or see, and later many were sick and died even if they were far away from the blow. Some were thrown into the air and fell a long distance. Bad, bad, bad.” The device translated those words with, “It was terrible.”

  In a low voice the mic wouldn’t pick up, Carter said to the others, “I wonder if she’s talking about the tests near Bikini Island in the last century?”

  While the others talked softly among themselves about the remarkable “oral” history tradition among the Dolphins, Carter continued to question Merrybeth about even more ancient times. He asked if the “big land-people” had such weapons. Amazingly, a flood of whistles, clicks, and other vocalizations ensued. The translation device had trouble keeping up with it, but Carter signaled everyone to listen. What they heard astounded them.

  “Oh, yes! In the time of the big land-people, there were also small people like yourselves. The small people learned of the weapons and made many. They threw them at each other, pod against pod, and some threw them at the big people. Everyone, including water-people, became sick, and almost all the small land-people died. Very few were left when the big land-people took away their weapons and stored them in the caves where we are taking you. Is this what you seek?”

  Carter switched the mic off and hollered, “that’s exactly what we seek!” It took a minute for him to calm down, before he flipped the switch on again and said, “yes Merrybeth, that’s what we seek, but not to use them against our bad land-people. We want to be sure they don’t find them and use them again, and we want to keep everyone safe from them.”

  “We will show you. Now I must rest. I will see you at next sun, Carter. Good sleep, Mackenzie.”

  Mackenzie spoke up then. “Good sleep, Merrybeth. Thank you for helping us.”

  “We like you. You are our land pod.”

  As soon as the translation device was off, excited talk broke out among everyone present.

  They could hardly believe that conversation with another species would become so easy so quickly. Even more amazing, that the Dolphins would have knowledge of events happening millennia ago.

  Carter reminded them there were several cultures where oral history was passed down from generation to generation because written language hadn’t been developed among them. He cited several Native American tribes and some in other parts of the world that still didn’t have a written form for their language, who practiced the oral history tradition even in modern times. But he had to remind them that oral history was also the source of a lot of myth.

  After a while, Carter suggested they all turn in and rest while they could since everyone hadn’t slept much the night before. Even though they had two days’ more to follow the Dolphins, if he understood Merrybeth’s prediction correctly, they still had a lot of work to do.

  He’d prefer if everyone were alert since there were no guarantees the bad guys wouldn’t show up at any minute.

  Chapter 68 -

  Land-human caves

  In the early afternoon of the third day, the Dolphins started circling the yacht, and Carter understood it to mean they’d arrived.

  Merrybeth appeared off the port bow and danced for attention. Mackenzie got the speaker on in time for everyone to hear what she said. “Big land-human caves.”

  “Thank you, Merrybeth!”

  In short order, they sent the ROV down for a look. A cheer went up from everyone in the electronics room when they saw what was below them. A large complex of ruins surrounded them in all directions. The architecture looked very similar to the City of Lights, with gigantic proportions. Carter was sure they’d found what they were looking for.

  Despite quite a bit of damage, apparently from the frequent earthquakes in the area and tectonic plate shifting over the millennia, the city was magnificent. And vast.

  From their satellite maps, they estimated the site could have a diameter of roughly twelve miles. It was far too big to thoroughly explore in one trip, but they hoped Merrybeth and her pod would be instrumental in helping them locate what they were looking for.

  Carter asked Merrybeth if she and her pod would be willing to accompany him and Dylan when they made the first dive at the location where they were anchored. Merrybeth let out one of those giggling sounds and told him that she wouldn’t have it any other way. According to her, when Mackenzie’s pod members were in the water, they were her responsibility.

  Carter and Sean, with Merrybeth and her pod in tow, went for an exploratory dive after the ROV had been retrieved and before an afternoon thunderstorm called them back to the surface due to poor light conditions. Their initial survey convinced them that the yacht was anchored over the most promising section of the city. Here, the buildings were enormous, sprawling edifices surely meant for public purposes, the CBD of the city. Farther out, though the buildings were still enormous, they were more compact, suggesting dwellings.

  The two men measured the length and breadth of the municipal complex, as they decided to call it, and decided to make the most thorough search there, before exploring the rest of the city, if necessary. They hoped to find another library, with records of where the nukes might be stored, but they agreed
that their priority was to find and retrieve any ancient nukes they could identify, even if they didn’t find written records. If time permitted, the archaeologic value of the city merited a more thorough “dig”, though the term was an oxymoron. Carter pointed out that they might indeed have to dig into the silt at the bottom to discover everything.

  By the time, they returned to the yacht, the rain had started, and everyone scurried for cover and another gourmet dinner.

  Chapter 69 -

  Take over that dig

  The next morning, the skies having cleared, Carter and Dylan prepared for a series of dives. While the men got ready to disappear under the water, Mackenzie had an unshakeable eerie feeling something ominous was in the air, and she hailed Merrybeth.

  “Merrybeth, I am worried about my mate and his friend,” she said when the Dolphin raised her head above the water. “Will you and your pod please keep watch over them like you did yesterday? What they are doing can be dangerous for all land-people, and there are bad land-people who might want to harm them.”

  “Yes, of course, Mackenzie. We’ll watch for them, as I told you before.”

  Carter, Dylan, and the dolphins had been gone for about twenty minutes when Mackenzie’s ill-omened feeling appeared in the form of a boat, twice the size of La Solitude, about half a mile from their location. Her instinct was that the boat was there because of Carter’s expedition, but for now they weren’t making any hostile moves. They had lowered anchor and were just sitting there.

  What do those people want?

  She went to the small bridge to inform the captain and Sean about the company they had.

  Sean and Randy grabbed binoculars and studied the boat.

  “A Chinese flag,” Captain Randy muttered.

  “Why does that make me feel uneasy?” Sean asked. “I am going to put the men on standby and get some divers suited up and ready to go if required.”

  Captain Randy nodded.

  Underneath, Carter and Dylan swam toward the center of the city complex he and Sean dived the day before. He pointed to the cluster of buildings, explaining to Merrybeth again what he was looking for in the most general sense.

  The ruins stretched as far as they could see, and it appeared they were covered with lots of silt.

  “That’s strange,” Dylan remarked. “I keep thinking the middle will be deeper, but I’d say the bottom is less than fifteen meters here. In fact,” he said, checking his dive watch, “it’s only twelve.”

  “Remember, this was once a land bridge, like we talked about yesterday. Some parts sank more slowly or were higher to begin with. You can’t apply what you know about the oceans to this area.”

  “Gotcha. Let’s get busy.”

  After about an hour of exploration, Carter became aware of Merrybeth and her pod swimming around them in rapid circles. They were not as close as before. It was as if they were forming a wall of protection around the two of them. Carter tongued his mic. “Dylan, look at the Dolphins. Do they seem upset to you?”

  “Yeah, they do. Keep your eyes open for sharks.”

  “Sharks! In the Alboran?”

  “There are about forty-six types of shark in the Mediterranean, not counting the human kind. Fifteen are potentially dangerous. Shark attacks are rare, but these Dolphins are agitated about something. It could be sharks, both kinds.”

  As Dylan spoke, Carter picked up movement from the murky waters behind. Soon there was no doubt. “Speaking of the human kind! Right behind you!”

  Dylan turned quickly. Two strangers, close by, were hanging in the water, watching them.

  “Where’d they come from? They’re not ours,” Carter said.

  Dylan spoke through his teeth. “Don’t know, don’t care. I don’t like it when uninvited guests turn up at my parties.

  “Sean, did you copy that? We’ve got company down here — two of the human kind, but not from our pod. Could be of the land-shark kind. Any idea if they are friend or foe?”

  He was surprised to hear Captain Randy replying instead of Sean, “A boat flying a Chinese flag anchored half a mile from us about an hour ago. We’ve been watching them. They must have been dispatching divers from an onboard launch chamber. That’s why we didn’t see them going into the water.

  “Sean and six more are on their way down to you.”

  As soon as Sean heard Carter talking to Dylan about other divers, he had given the order to the divers, and they rolled out, fully geared up, in less than a minute.

  Carter and Dylan had retreated into a building from a window in the top floor of the three-story building. The Dolphins suddenly appeared outside. Carter stuck his head out the window and looked around. As he watched, men began dropping all around them. He was relieved to see the familiar equipment of Navy Seals.

  Before he could let Dylan know the cavalry was there, other men, with different equipment and insignia, appeared in the murk. A fast-moving projectile raced by him, close enough he could feel its wake. “What the hell? Dylan, we’re under attack!”

  Dylan spoke rapidly into the mic. As Carter began fighting off an attacker who’d found their location, he yelled, “Sean, bogeys. Get over here!” He was unaware Sean and his men were already engaged in battle outside the building.

  Carter felt a blow in his arms, where his attacker gripped him with iron fists. The attacker flew forward from the whack a Dolphin had given him, still locked to Carter. It drove him into Carter hard enough to knock his helmet against a wall and give it a blow that made a microscopic crack.

  Dylan had dived out the window as quickly as he could and engaged with the next attacker. Meanwhile, Carter’s Dolphin spun in place and delivered a blow with his flukes that spun the man helplessly. Since he still had an iron grip on Carter’s arms, the spin slammed Carter into the wall again, this time dislocating his shoulder. Carter knew he was in serious trouble with a right arm that suddenly quit working.

  The Dolphin continued to batter his prey until the man let go of Carter, who was in severe pain and unable to make much forward progress with only one arm. At last, the attacker went limp and sank. The Dolphin swam to Carter and nudged him. Carter put his good arm over the Dolphin’s back, and the Dolphin started for the window with him, but they wouldn’t both fit through the opening. Carter heard the whistles of the Dolphin and felt the electric tingle again before his Dolphin pushed him out the window and toward another one that waited outside. The second one allowed him to put his arm around it, and they headed toward the surface.

  In the dim underwater light, Carter could see SEALS and EA men engaged in an eerie, silent battle with more attackers, and everywhere he looked, a Dolphin was helping his team — ramming the intruders with their noses. As he was taken out of the fray, he worried about Dylan. Where was he?

  Minutes later, as he was hauled aboard, he got his answer. Dylan sat on the deck, leaning against the superstructure having his cuts dressed by the medic. “What took you so long?” he drawled. Carter looked at him closely. His pupils were dilated.

  “What did you give him?” Carter asked.

  “A butt-load of morphine,” the medic answered. “Had to. He was wild to get back down and help you, but the Dolphins kept nudging him up. He’s got a sprained wrist and knife wounds that need attention.”

  “I guess we owe our lives to those Dolphins,” Carter said, before emitting an oof! as Mackie tackled him. “Careful, Mackie. That shoulder’s dislocated.”

  “We’ll have that fixed in a jiffy,” the medic said.

  “What’s the status below?” Carter asked, the pain of the relocation procedure causing him to speak in a strained voice.

  “The Dolphins and our men have driven off the attackers. Two of them are dead, along with one of the SEALS and one of the EA men. We’re trying to recover the bodies now.”

  “Dylan’s going to be brutal when he wakes up,” Carter said, beginning to feel the effects of the morphine himself. The last he remembered before waking up hours later was his Mackie,
vowing terrible vengeance on the Chinese boat and its passengers.

  As Carter drifted off, Sean spoke to Mackenzie and James.

  “Those bastards killed Willy. He got engaged just before we deployed. What am I going to tell his girl? And the SEAL. That’s going to be hard to explain to his widow, how her husband was killed on an archaeological research expedition.

  “War is what those bastards want, war is what I’m going to give them.”

  Mackenzie felt the same; but somehow, she managed to say, “Look, James and I are going to report to Bill what happened. I’m as angry as you are, maybe even more so. But we answer to the President. It’s his call. Let’s get permission first.”

  “Better to ask forgiveness than permission. Oh, and one more thing. The men we fought down there were not Chinese. They were Caucasian. I’m willing to lay money they were sent by those fuckin’ Nabateans. Chinese flag my ass,” Sean hissed as he turned and walked away.

  If the captain of the Chinese ship knew Sean Walker the way James knew him, and he overheard what Sean just said, he would have been a very wise man to immediately lift anchors and make sure he got distance between him and La Solitude posthaste.

  But as it was, his orders were to stay put and wait for more boats and men to arrive to “take over” that dig.

  Chapter 70 -

  In Memoria

  Sean oversaw the recovery operation to bring their dead to the surface. For the rest of the day, after everyone else had been accounted for, the team was debriefed and their wounds treated. Carter grieved doubly — for the men who were killed and that he couldn’t be involved in the recovery effort. A couple of hours after the bodies were brought up, a helicopter arrived from Naval Station Rota in Spain to retrieve them. From the base, they’d be sent home to their families.