DINCEI : IN WHOM THE CLUES LIE
A National Treasure Story
(NOTE: I do not own all of the characters in this story)
CHAPTER 1:
ABOUT MAPS & MARTIANS
It was just one of those dreary, rainy days. No sunlight could be seen, especially in the far corner of a library where no light could reach. No light except for the soft glow and hum of a fluorescent light. Pages turned and there was a deep sigh. A man stood up and leant over the annexed desk to retrieve another soft covered book and a folder.
He exchanged glances with another man who was sitting opposite to him in the additional annex. They both smiled and went back to what they were doing.
The younger of the two cleared his throat and chuckled, the sound of pages shuffling quickly.
"Well, well, well…" He said softly.
The rain was still pelting down hard outside and lightning flashed.
There was a few whispers and a book slammed. The man stood up again and leant over the annex once more, now staring at the other man. This other man was much older, taller and built, with short brown brushed back hair.
The younger man, who had short scruffy dark brown hair, barely visible facial hair and wearing reading glasses grunted at him and nodded.
"Ben, do you believe in… aliens??"
Ben looked up from his book blemished with brown marks and sighed. He stared at the man for a second or two.
"… No, Riley…I don't…"
Riley smiled curiously and disappeared behind the annex again. His head popped back up, startling Ben and he brandished the folder crammed with newspaper clippings.
He plucked out a few and threw them at Ben's book, directly in front of his face.
Ben massaged his head and looked at them. They were newspaper clippings, all tanned and tattered, dating back quite far. There were pictures of bizarre creatures on them, all drawn and portrayed differently. He scrutinized the papers and gazed back up at Riley.
"What about them?" He asked, handing them back.
"Didn't you read them?"
Ben glared at him, he was not very impressed.
Riley put the folder down and held out the papers.
"Remember all of that conspiracy about Area 51 and the aliens that they did autopsies on, and then the media came and told everyone that it was all fake so that they could cover it all up? Well this is proof that it was real."
Ben snatched back the clippings and read them quickly. He then glanced up at Riley and poked at the paper.
"No. This is proof that there are maniacs out there that like to make up hoo ha about things they MAY have seen. See, here, written by anonymous."
He motioned to the label at the bottom of the paper near the rip, and flung it back at Riley. Riley caught the paper and shook his head.
"Come on Ben. Don't you believe in anything that isn't logical?"
Ben sighed again, and stared up at him.
"Riley, no one believes in that crap anymore. There's no good explanation to why I should start now."
"But believing in something is what keeps people on their toes. It gives them a purpose." Riley replied, sounding quite serious.
"Good. They can have their make-believe purpose."
Riley put the folder back down onto his desk and leant completely over the barrier to slide the book that was in front of Ben toward himself.
"So what is your purpose," He began, flipping the corners of the pages and scanning the paper, "… Ahh, cartography… the deepest of deep."
Ben slid the book back and continued reading. There was a few seconds of silence as Riley sat back down into his own annex.
"So you're still hunting for treasure. You know anyone could classify you as a pirate by the sheer fascination you have with maps, treasure and all things valuable." He protested, his voice echoing, "I have the right mind to call the national guard on you."
Ben tried to ignore his remark and remained fixated to his own reading.
The rain cascaded down outside, and a few more crashes of thunder pursued. A few people strolled past, their noses deep in books and documents. Riley gazed around the room at them and then rest against his desk, his chin against his palms.
He took one hand and turned the pages of the book in front of him quite sluggishly, scanning the book as his eyes began to slowly shut. His head darted back up, he swept his hair back and fixed his glasses. He rubbed his eyes and yawned.
"Area 51… area 51… area… 55??... "
His eyes flicked open wide and he sized the book to pull it closer to himself.
He began reading faintly to himself and smiled.
"Area 55…. Antarctica…. 1955…. Tests on small rodent comparable animals…. Alien like rodents…. Found buildup of mercury beneath skin layers…."
He brushed out the paper, which looked fairly old and the writing was smudged and too chaotic to try and read the remaining words.
Riley turned the page slowly and on the next page was an aged and tattered piece of paper that had been stuck into the book. It was covered in contours, crossing over each other, and long squiggled lines. He leant in closer to the paper and traced some of the lines with his index finger.
"Terre Pass… Vergas Pass…. Mauvais Mountain! This, this is an actual map!"
He stood up frantically and leant over the annex again, literally slamming his book in front of Ben, cause him to leap back.
"Riley!"
Riley waved his hand and shook his head, turning back a page pointing at it.
"No! No! Read it! Well… try and read it, but all of the detectable writing on this page describes some sort of other alien conspiracy."
Ben rubbed his forehead irritably and leant back in his chair.
"Riley, I'm surprised that a person with your intellect can even think to stoop as low as believing in aliens." He said sarcastically.
"You've made your point…" Riley replied, nodding and grinning foolishly.
He tapped the book fiercely and then pointed at Ben.
"You want something unique Ben? You want to unearth something no one has ever unearthed before? Well here's your chance…"
Riley sat there and smirked at him. He leant back over and turned over to the next page.
Ben eyed him curiously and took a deep breath. He dragged his chair in and bent over the book. The angered and frustrated expression on his face weakened and it was replaced with a inquisitive flustered stare. He lifted the page to the light and held it out to read.
"Where… where is this?" He asked.
"Antarctica." Riley chirped.
Ben shook his head. He gestured to the paper as if to show him.
"No. It can't be. Rivers and mountains of this magnitude don't exist in these parts of Antarctica. Nor has anyone ever mentioned names such as this."
"But Ben, this was all written back in the year 1955. If there is a slight possibility that these landmarks were renamed in say…"
"…The early 1900s… " Ben cut in, nodding and reading at the same time, "Then they might still be there. But that still doesn't make up for the fact that rivers don't flow thorough ice and blizzards. Nor is there a mountain there at all. No books have ever recorded it. All that exist are icebergs, lots of icebergs."
Riley hopped down from his annex and took off someplace into the library. Ben glanced up from the book to see him leave. He tapped his chin and gazed around himself, lost in a deep thought.
The sound of shuffling cut his concentration and Riley had returned with three bulky books. He slammed them down and took the first one off the top. He opened to a page and immediately placed it in front of himself.
"Topographical maps of Antarctica."
Ben snatched the book away from Riley as he was trying to read it and Riley snuffed angrily.
"These were drawn up in 1982. There are no rivers, nor mountains at all here. Nothing that compares to this old one." Ben began.
Riley opened one of the other books and fell quiet. He began reading softly to himself again. Ben gazed at the two maps in front of him, madly switching his gaze between them.
There was something about them that he couldn't quite put his finger on but it was definitely different. He placed one index finger on the newer map and his other on the older map. He followed the latitude lines upwards until he found a site where they matched. He took his fingers away and scratched his head.
"Wait…"
"What? Was I right?" Riley inquired happily.
Ben lent the old book up onto its end followed by the new one to face Riley.
He leant around and pointed to the old map. Riley watched with total inquisitiveness
"These landmarks are clearly evident on this map. The co-ordinates are 75.5 south 30.9 east. Now look at these co-ordinates on the newer map. The entire area that was mapped off in the 1955 map has been cleared in the 1982 map. Even though the co-ordinates are the same, the landmarks and names have been erased."
"So I was right!?" Riley piped up again.
Ben shook his head and nodded shortly after.
"Someone is aiming to hide something."
Riley grinned with pride and shoved the books back onto the table. Ben stood up finally, still fixated to the two maps there in front of them.
"So this…" Riley read the new map, "… Queen Maud Land is a cover up for an alien conspiracy?"
Ben seized the hardback that Riley had and read that instead. He flipped to the very back page, the index, and ran his finger over the words. He then flipped back through the book and stopped on a page.
"One of the worlds Bermuda Triangles…" He said softly, and Riley looked up.
"What?"
"Queen Maud Land was classed in many manuscripts to be a lost mans land, or, " He paused for a second, "…a Bermuda Triangle."
"Oh! So people, ships, planes go in!..." Riley cried, gesturing with his hands.
"… They don't come out…" Ben retorted, slamming the book closed.
Ben grabbed the old book and looked around himself vigilantly, to see if other people where present. He took hold of the top of a few of the pages containing the map and ripped swiftly down the middle, pulling them out and shutting the book. The rip caused an echo, and Riley gazed around hoping to god that no one had heard. Ben stuffed the papers into his jacket pocket quickly and sat back down again.
Riley leant far over the annex, now face to face with him.
"So, what do we do?" He asked nervously.
Ben smiled at him and patted his jacket.
"We go in."
Riley laughed vaguely and stopped abruptly. He gazed at Ben and shook his head.
"You can't be serious?"
"Listen Riley. There's something in there that someone doesn't want us to find. The perfect incentive to find it."
"Even if it means never coming back out again?" Riley replied, his eyes trembling.
"If it's what a man has to do to get some answers, then yes. Even if it means we never come back. We're gonna find what they tried to suppress."
Riley rolled his eyes and slid back into his own annex.
"Yo ho, yo ho a pirates life for us!" He sang, sounding rather worried, trying to now focus his attention on the folder of documents he had gathered earlier, and not on Ben mumbling joyfully to himself in the opposite annex.
PLEASE COME BACK FOR MORE LATER!!