Down To Business
The five treasure hunters, action-seekers and Indiana Jones types sat down and ate dinner together, Nate conveniently placing himself next to Chloe. At the head of the long dining table sat Dex. He was a tall man, who had long, slicked back black hair with shocks of silver-gray running through it. He was a highly respected man, and to the people sitting at the table, was a father figure. Dex stood up, cleared his throat, and struck his glass with his fork to get everybody's attention. The talk stopped, and everyone respectfully quieted down to listen.
"As you might have inferred already, I have gathered you here tonight for a reason," Dex's deep, smooth British voice filled the dining room.
"You select few are the brightest treasure hunters, historians, and archaeologists of your time. Naturally, I have a proposition for you. So, if you don't mind, I'll be calling each one of you to my office to talk to you brilliant individuals… individually," Dex's audience chuckled and Dex gestured to a door.
Nate made small talk with Chloe, Sully, Chase and Zeke. Nate got the idea that Zeke was sort of quiet, yet a gentleman. Smart, too. Chase was sort of immature, even moreso than himself, but had something intelligent and interesting to say every once in a while. He cracked one too many jokes, though. Chloe was the sarcastic type. He had a feeling that if any of these well-muscled men said the wrong thing at the wrong time, she'd punch 'em. Hard, too. She had a nice sense of humor though. A nice Australian accent too, one that he thought he could listen to for days. Nate liked her. One by one, each of them were called to speak with Dex. Soon, it was Nate's turn and he was called to the 'office'. He'd been watching the expressions of everyone who walked out of the door to get an idea of what was going on in there. He had seen a mixture of amazed, excited, and determined expressions. He tried to get them to tell him what went on in there, but they all just smiled and shook their heads. "You'll see," they said. When Nate's name was called, he wasn't sure what to expect. Nate walked in and sat down in a cushioned chair in front of a large mahogany desk. He felt like he was a kid being called to the principal's office all over again.
"Hello Nate. Glad you could make it to my little get-together," Dex said with a charming smile.
"Oh, of course – thank you for having me,"
"You Nate, have a gift. You have a cunning eye for detail, and an expansive knowledge of general history. I knew from the beginning that you'd be, well, a keeper,"
"Please! Don't stop now, you're on a roll," Nate smirked.
"And always one to be sarcastic, of course," Dex pushed a map towards Nate. "Let's get down to business, shall we? This is a map of the world, dating back to 1513. It's named after Piri Reis, a famous admiral and cartographer of the sixteenth century. Piri Reis compiled this map with input from Columbus and some of his own extensive archives, including charts that survived from the Great Library of Alexandria. Do you notice anything strange about this map, keeping in mind that it was put together in 1513?"
Nate looked carefully at the map, studying the coasts, continents, oceans and islands. After a few moments, an awed look spread across Nate's face.
"Wow. The coasts of South America are outlined relatively accurately," Nate noted. "…but Columbus only discovered the New World 21 years earlier,"
Then, Nate's eyes widened.
"Wait, this can't be possible. Are you sure you this map was created in 1513?" Nate inquired as Dex sat with arms crossed and a grin stretched across his face.
"Absolutely, one hundred percent positive. I've had extensive testing done. I wouldn't have held this party without being sure."
Nate pointed out a piece of land at the bottom of the map. "This is Antarctica! Antarctica wasn't discovered until the 1800s!"
"Very good! What's even stranger though, is Queen Maud Land," Dex pointed out an area by the coast. "Queen Maud Land is-"
"A coastal area of Antarctica covered in a thick layer of ice which was only known to modern mapmakers through seismographic technology," Nate finished Dex's sentence.
"Exactly!" Dex's grin spread wider as he appreciated Nate's initiative. "It gets weirder though, I assure you. Take a closer look at the Atlantic Ocean."
Nate did so, and after a few minutes of straining his eyes, Nate spotted something. On the map were three islands he didn't think were on the modern-day map.
"Can I see a modern map of the world, please?" Nate's eyes were lighting up and he was acting like a kid in a candy shop. Dex handed Nate another map and Nate compared the two. Yes! The three islands on the Piri Reis map weren't present on the modern map.
"Those three islands aren't on the modern one, but what does it mean?" Nate knew Dex was onto something huge.
"Well, Nate, have you ever heard the story of the Lost City of Atlantis?"
