What Lies Beneath
by
~Miriah~of~the~Wind~
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Chapter 24: Cosovian Triskel
Mali, Tak, and Cam had slipped back into the hidden office of Mr. McFarley.
"The Tallest said that we were suppose to give the Scotland yard humans a code and retrieve the documents that the McFarley human had given them." Cam had an eerie feeling about the office, how the place creaked and the water angrily against castle walls. Angry at losing, angry at being defeated. Cam searched around the drawers and found a silver key and a Indian dagger. Cam took the silver key and went up stairs with the others. They passed the chair that the found the Crystal of Energy and shuddered, remembering Zim. Mali, Tak, Cam, and M.I.M.I. went up into the laboratory. Mali took the silver key and it opened into the observatory. It was filled with odd, human-like machinery. At one point there was a flip board with the all the human numbers on it. Cam took out her Memorandum and looked at it. She looked at the list of places with numbers for contact.
"Let's try this." she said and she flipped the numbers: 95612 but nothing happened.
"Hey? What is this?" Mali cried out, "Make it work Cam!"
"Wait a mili-sec, hold your damn squeedely-spooch !" Cam restarted the machine and looked down the list.
"Inspector Pukkabrain." she read. Cam flipped the numbers 75436. A bulb lighted then Cam flipped Loch Ness's ID number 65. Tak put a code marked 'Sirdach Chapel' on a small counter on the machine. Then the finger prints and then Nessie's photograph. They waited two minutes and then a ring went on. Tak put a piece of paper on the opposite counter. The paper was taken in by the machine and spat out again with writing.
"We have received your request, we are studying the information you have brought us, you may count upon receiving a reply sometime this afternoon.
P.S.: Your photograph of the Loch Ness Monster is captivating."
"Now what do we do?" Tak asked.
"What do you mean?" Cam asked, "Did you see all the experiments here? Let's play with stuff!"
"But isn't dangerous to mix chemicals and electrical machines?" Mali said
"So?" Cam asked.
"You can't beat that logic!" Tak said as she and Mali ran down stairs. Cam however noticed a cabinet. She pulled out a note book on the inside was some writing: "First tests of a generation of holograms made from special properties of the three newly discovered crystals. Works undertaken by Sir Allistar McFarley in collaboration with Bruce McGrab assisted by Avit Kumar Shastra." Cam couldn't read this of course but on the next page there were drawings on how to use a certain machine.
"Hey guys I think I found something. Tak what does this say?" Tak read and Mali worked the machine.
"Let's see....you put the silver disks on the thingamabobs, put the gold disk on the doohickeys, put the crystal in the middle, and....hey, what's this?"
"It's a Raven." Tak read.
"I think I saw on of those up stairs." Cam said. She went up and back to the cabinet and took out a Raven statuette. She placed it on top of the machine. Suddenly, energy flowed through the disks on concentrated on the Energy Crystal. The crystal's energy flew up into the Raven statuette and the Raven made another image that looked just like the statuette. The image however read, "If you seize the Cosovian Triskel only the raven will know how to open the path." There was a small ring which meant that the human communication machine have received something. Tak grabbed the Raven and the Energy Crystal and ran upstairs with the others. M.I.M.I. took the paper and read it:
"Scotland Yard December 19, 2002
Sir:
Here is the information we can provided with you at the time: The fingerprints you sent us are those of Bruce MacGrabb formerly a physical chemistry professor who has since become a negotiator in the whiskey trade, residing in London, proprietor of the Devil's Ridge Distillery. Two other documents will be sent to you; the message confided to us by Lord MacFarley and your photograph. PS: We would like to know a bit more concerning these "monsters" because the silhouette that we have highlighted on the photograph is very similar to that of the submarine HMS Grondo Conquero. A model on which Lord MacFarley has worked in collaboration with the Royal Navy's military.
Chief Inspector Pukkabrain."
M.I.M.I. took the paper of the HMS Grondo Conquero and showed it to her master. It looked like a toy submarine with a small quickly sketched picture of a floating sea serpent over it.
"Well that's helpful." Tak muttered.
M.I.M.I. read Mac Farley's message.
"The Crystals are meaningless without the Cosovian Triskel buried in the Chapel. The key is found behind the painting in my office."
"Now that better." Mali said. All four of them went down stairs and moved aside the painting. There was another niche in the wall but this niche had a small white box. Unfortunately the box was locked.
"Damn box!" Mali yelled as she continued to smash it against the wall. Cam however wrestled the box away from Mali, with much success, and began to pick the lock with an Indian Dagger she found on the desk. Inside was an old chapel key and a poem:
"I am the stones of power
But also the messenger of the gods.
I will half open the passage
To the one who in the proper order
Will know how to write my name"
"What does that mean?" Cam asked.
"Something about a chapel so lets go to the chapel." Mali said and soon Cam transported them to the chapel without their disguises.
"Guys, I'm almost out of power." Cam said. "It won't be long until I'm powerless."
"Which explains why you couldn't fly when we fell someone cut the rope we were going down."
"I can fly?" Cam asked in surprise.
"Of course you can! It's what you get when you have Extra Sensory Perception."
"I didn't know I could fly." Cam said and Mali gave out a little groan. "It doesn't matter now, what does matter is that we find the Triskel before someone else does." Mali tried to put the key in but it broke off as she was turning it.
"Well that sucks." Cam used just a tiny bit more of her sensory powers.
"There's another way to get inside." she remarked, "I'll be right back." Cam then ran back to the docks where they got the boat and used the pair of pliers that G.I.R. had found and opened the lock. Inside, just as she predicted, was a rope and a lard hook. She tied the rope to the hook to make a small grappling hook. She came back and gave it to Mali. Cam flew on the roof and signaled Mali to throw the grappling hook and come up with her.
"One, two, three" Mali said and through the hook up. It grabbed on to something and Cam yelled that it was sturdy. Cam, Tak, and M.I.M.I. and crawled up. There on one wall of the church was a large panel with lots of little symbols. Tak thought for a long time. What had the poem said? I will half open the passage to the one who in the proper order will know how to write my name. Sirdach! That was the name.
"Mali, do have the book of Kelia?" Tak asked. Mali grabbed the book and tossed it to Tak. She opened the book and then started looking at the English writing compared to the Druid writing. On the wall was a circle and on the inside of these circle was circular stone buttons. These were large buttons and on those buttons were a Druid symbol. Tak pushed them in an order to spell Sirdach the circle opened half way. Cam could float down but Tak and Mali used the grappling hook. The Chapel was very old and there were pieces of stone lying everywhere with small wooden pews that were torn up as though a tornado hit it. Around them were short pillars with crude figures that faced different parts of the wall. Yet there were cobwebs all around that showed that it had been this way for centuries. Tak went to one wall and brushed away some dust and found writing that said:
"Risen from ancient times,
King, Queen, and Knight will cross
glances and discover the path of
the inexpressible power"
Tak moved the stone statues so that they may all see each other and a trap door appeared. As they entered they saw the Cosovian Triskel the Inexpressible power.
"This is it?" Mali asked. "Just an old metal thing."
"It's only an old metal thing now." Cam said, "But when join with the crystals it is invincible. That's why we need it to get back to Irk and Cosovia." Cam picked up the Triskel from it's pillar but the pillar sank. The place was booby-trapped! Yet what had the raven said? "If you seize the Cosovian Triskel only the raven will know how to open the path."
"The raven! Tak put the raven on the pestle!" Tak did as she was told and the pillar lowered all the way on the ground and door opened for them to get out. They snucked back all the way to the manner. It was nightfall for them. They had every thing except for the Solar Crystal. They climbed up and onto the roof and looked at the stars, trying to find which direction is Irk.
"I can't wait to go home." Mali said, "How does Zim stand these meat-things?"
"I don't know." Cam said, "But I miss my old job with the Tallest."
"Me too. Making fun of galactic senators behind there backs, egging democrats when they come to our planet preaching democracy, betting on which of the short things might be wiped out first, yeah that was the life. These humans, how can they stand each other? How can they go on with out someone else from another planet visiting or even going somewhere? I'll never under stand these meat-people-things." Tak on the other had something else on her mind, like her test to proving to everyone that she could be a great Invader. She closed her eyes and imagined how everyone would be cheer for her at every victory and she would gather with her fellow Invaders and talk and boast and the species they conquered and the planets they've been to and how tall they grew at each one. Tak couldn't wait to go home too.
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