--Sorry I took so long to update. I had it all ready and then realized that my dates were way off so I had to basically change the story line!
Disclaimer; I don't own any of these characters...no matter how much I wish I did!
--
Ben read the document thoroughly. Elliot had contacted him several months ago saying that he was on to something big. The last decade and a half he had been reluctant to get in to something like Cibola or the Knights Templar. Not with two kids in tow. But now they were definitely old enough and Tom, at least, was eager for an adventure. His wife however was very skeptical.
"Ben wasn't that just supposed to be an illustration that someone used…"
"Plato," both Ben and Tom interrupted.
"Yes, Plato. But that was all bogus. He made it up. It's a total myth."
"Did he?" Riley turned to Abigail eyebrows raised, "You know this is starting to sound familiar. Was it not you who said the same about the President's super secret…"
A sharp elbow jab from Ben silenced Riley. Thomas eyed both of them suspiciously, "The President's what?" he asked.
"Nothing…" Ben turned back to the computer screen and silently read a note Elliot had attached to the bottom, "He says one of the digs he was in charge of found the parchment at a site in Thebes. The site was under speculation having at one point been the home of Plato's great-great nephew the great grandson of Speusippus. It's a miracle the parchment even survived this long, someone must have known that it was valuable, Elliot thinks that it is from around 400 BC,"
"And Plato lived when?" Abigail asked.
"427-347 B.C….somewhere in there," Thomas replied. He didn't catch the proud look on his dad's face as he said it.
"Well I suppose it's definitely worth checking out then," Abigail went on, "What do we know about it? What does it say first of all?"
"The translation is a little sketchy since the ink is so faded. They are running some tests to try and read the rest. They know was written by Plato to Speusippus. They were also able to make out Atlantis, obviously, and of course the word clue. That has to be in there someplace doesn't it? Old Plato is not just going to give us the answer" Riley replied.
"Speusippus?" Abigail leaned closer.
"Yeah, no kidding," Riley said sarcastically, "Well at that point Plato had probably decided to leave the academe to his Nephew. So who else would he leave it with since he wasn't married or anything?"
A look of surprise crossed Ben's face as his friend explained, "You've been brushing up on your history, Riley," he said with a grin.
"Yeah well I figured I might as well. My wall of gold bricks is starting to slowly dwindle."
Ben laughed, then got up and began to pace. "Well that would work,"
"What?" they all asked at once.
"Let's say Atlantis is real, and that Plato was telling the truth and that he knows the location of the city or at least where it was? He could've told his Nephew of the place in more detail than he did in Critreas, which is the only historical document that mentions such a place,"
The whole room fell silent. Ben went on, "Could've left clues to where it was hoping his nephew would search for the city it. Speusippus could've not been interested, thinking that his uncle was just pulling his leg or he could've set it aside for another time. But eight years after becoming the head of the academe he had a stroke after which he was unable to travel so he simply gave it to his son, and it became another family heirloom"
Abigail, Riley, and Thomas exchanged glances.
"That would make sense," Riley said slowly, "But why didn't any of Speusippus' descendants search for it?"
"You would think one of them would be inspired to go look for it." Thomas finished for him.
"After Plato died, Speusippus strayed from many of his teachings. He could've easily made Plato out to be crazy to his family especially,"
"Well all of this speculation isn't going to prove anything," Abigail sighed, "How long until we get a definite translation?"
Ben plopped back in to his chair, "It shouldn't take longer than 24 hours."
"Good."
Ben, Abigail, and Riley then went on to discuss different theories and Tom would've eagerly joined in but Abigail turned to him, "It's time for you to get to bed, Tom."
"Come on, Dad might be on the verge of another great discovery and you are making me go to bed?!"
"Well, I think this one is going to move a bit slower than the last thre—two. You'll have plenty more of this later. Remember, you have work tomorrow."
"Mom…"
"Fine, I will check with Dr. Locke to see if you can at least get off early. The rest of the translation will probably not be here until the afternoon anyways. And absolutely no mentioning this to anyone else," she finished sternly.
"Duh. Call me if you hear anything. I don't care what Museum policies say about employees and their cell phones while working; I'm carrying it with me all day tomorrow," he said as he left. Thomas ran to the family room where credits of the movie were rolling and Charlotte lay half asleep.
"Charlotte! Dad is on the verge of finding Atlantis!" he screamed, knowing that the no telling policy obviously didn't include her.
"Wait. Slow down. What did you just say?" Charlotte asked, afraid that she had heard correctly.
"Dad thinks that one of his associates found evidence that Atlantis exists!"
Charlotte groaned, "Isn't finding two treasures that change history enough for one man?"
"Come on, I thought even you would be excited. This is going to be an adventure!"
"The adventure part will excite me if we get that far. It's being the one that's clueless when we are talking about history, and the publicity afterwards that is enough to snuff that out," she paused, then added, "Wait, will it involve scuba diving?"
He shrugged, "I assume so, unless Atlantis is the Bermuda Triangle."
"Then I'm in…do I want to know why Dad suspects that there is evidence of Atlantis?"
"Unless you don't want to know what the rest of the family is talking about for who knows how long, I suggest so."
"Ok, shoot, but please in a language I can understand."
So Tom enthusiastically told her about what their dad had found as they walked to their conjoined bedrooms. Twenty minutes later they bid each other goodnight, although neither of them fell asleep until long after that.