Chapter 7
After their abridged honeymoon in the Southwest, Ben and Abigail decided to finish their honeymoon somewhere else. Abigail had suggested that they could go to the Caribbean, while Ben had suggested Florida. Ben somehow won.
Ben and Abigail boarded their airplane, at gate 7A of the Miami airport. They were talking about the incredible quiet they had experienced over the last seven days. They had made no calls, and their phones had not rung once.
Abigail tucked her arm under his once she had herself buckled in, she rested her sun tanned cheek on his shoulder, and said, "Why did you tell Sadusky we were going to South Dakota, again?"
"Just a little game I like to play with him. He always seems to know right where we are, even when I haven't told anyone." Ben smiled and gripped her hand lightly, raised it to his lips, and kissed it. He tried not to think about the most recent incredible find, but his brain kept slipping back to it. There was that little voice in the back of his head, that told him the wild ride was not over yet. He turned his phone off, and closed his eyes.
Both Ben and Abigail awoke as the plane landed outside of Washington D, C.
Within moments of entering the terminal, Abigail's phone rang. Sadusky's voice came through loudly enough for Ben to hear, "Tell Ben to turn his phone on, we need to talk." After a few seconds he added, "How were the Florida beaches?"
Ben just smiled. They found a quiet table in the corner of an empty restaurant, Abigail placed her phone on the table so they could both talk.
"Just to bring you up to date, we think we have recovered all but a few items from the find. We have yet to track down two of the group who were following you out west, but we have a couple leads there. The second SUV was found trashed, near where the vehicles were stolen, and we traced the spot where the one with the treasure was put in a boxcar. Riley even tapped into a satellite, and found two images of the truck being loaded. The town's people have been mostly returned, except those who were in on the heist. What we don't have is any idea of how to read these tablets. They were part of the base of the two largest statues, but our best people have no clue what they mean."
Abigail enlarges the pictures Sadusky had texted her, and the couple studied them for nearly ten minutes, before calling Sadusky back. "We recognize many of the symbols, but right now, we have no idea what this means. My mother would be a better source of information about this stuff," Ben said
"That is why you two can pick up your tickets at American, for South Dakota. I sent Riley there already, early this morning."
"But..."
"Thanks, Ben and Abigail." Sadusky hung up.
They looked at each other, giving half smiles. "At least it is good to feel needed. I have to call work." While Abigail made the call, Ben just looked at her. As he did, a smile grew slowly on his face, this was their life together, and it had been fantastic so far...
They landed in South Dakota, and found Riley waiting for them at the baggage area. He held up a key for the vehicle Sadusky had rented for them. While they waited for the bags to be spewed out, Ben asked "So, Riley, have you looked up that young lady you met, when we were here before?'
Riley got a funny look on his face, and shrugged his shoulders.
They loaded up, and Riley jumped into the driver's seat. Abigail followed Ben into the back seat. They looked back, and saw the rear of their car was packed with all kinds of electronic gear. Riley pulled up to the warehouse where all of the work was being done for Cibola, and parked right next to the vehicle Patrick had driven there from the Green River. As Riley got out he asked, "How was Florida?"
"How did you know?"
"Sadusky," said Riley.
Inside, after handshakes, and hugs, Emily said, "It is so nice to have you and Abigail with us again. Tell me all about it later. Riley brought these from the new treasure the three of you found, they were placed under the bases of two large statues, and literally fell off when they were unpacked."
The tablets looked to be made of pottery clay, having a reddish tinge, but they were uncoated. The surface, while hard, could be cut with a sharp knife.
Laying side by side, the tablets were on a high table, which was covered with a heavy plastic sheet. Bright lights were hung above the tablets, and there were stools to sit on. The tablets were about eighteen inches square, and about an inch thick.
"These characters are unlike anything I have ever seen before. They bear a slight resemblance to Sumerian, but when applied to these symbols, it comes out gibberish." Emily pointed to the characters on one tablet that appeared to be more a form of writing than on the other tablet, which was divided by a deeply etched straight, vertical line. Ben lifted one tablet, and found the edges and back to be smooth. The left third of the tablet had a long vertical arrow, ending in a many pointed star, near the top of the tablet. He made a mental note that the top could be the bottom, without any frame of reference. There was another shorter line, angling left from the origin, with an inverted "V" at it's tip. Along the edge of the shorter line, was a circle etched into the clay.
Ben's gaze moved to the larger portion of the tablet, where there were two columns, the first column appeared to be letters, in that they were like those on the other tablet, while the second column were symbolic pictures, and the first three had lines inscribed below them of increasing length. The figures were, listed from the top down, appeared to be a finger, then a hand, then two lines with a bump on the end. The next symbol looked like a standing bullet, with a line inscribed from the base to the center. Then came a stretched sideways "H", followed by what looked like a sun, a circle with lines coming out around it, and then a solid circle. The lines beneath the first three symbols intrigued Ben, and he grabbed for a ruler. He noticed everyone else peering over his shoulders. He smiled, then laid the ruler on each of the lines, then he measured his finger, hand to the wrist, and his arm. He turned with a big smile on his face, and said, "This is a distance coding table. The first symbol in a finger, and the line inscribed below it is about two and a quarter inches, the length of my finger. The next, a hand, is seven and a quarter inch, while the third is the length of my arm to the elbow."
Riley chimed in, "Just like the metric system, they measured the king to get the official length of the distances! Then they made metal bars that everyone used!"
Ben nodded and smiled, "The next one, the wide "H", could be the equivalent of our mile, whatever length that might be. Now let's consider the last two..."
Both Abigail and Patrick began to talk, at the same time. Abigail let Patrick speak first, "The sun is clear, the length of a day. So the distance is how far you can walk in a day."
Emily piped in, "A hard march would be about thirty miles, but a standard walk something less. Based on the length of the day, it would likely be the summer solstice, a day of great importance."
"Yes, the solstice was the most important day. This, and the appearance of the Dog Star on the horizon, told the ancient Egyptians that the Nile flood was about to begin. Now the last circle, maybe the moon?"
Riley rushed out of the room, and came back a few minutes later, lugging a bunch of his equipment. After several minutes, he booted up his computer, and began to type furiously. The others were tossing out ideas for the other diagram, while Emily went back to stare at the other tablet.
It was another few minutes until Riley called to them. They gathered around his computer screen, which showed the night sky. "I assumed that the only night sky feature, solstice or otherwise, was the North star, pictured on the tablet. The other line, when plotted on the day of it's rising, points directly to the spot in the sky where Sirius rises a few days after the solstice. The angles match perfectly. Now the moon, pictured by the line, is the distance to follow the line, and that would be the time a person could walk in one moon cycle, twenty seven and a half days! Now all we need is the stating point, to find out where we have to go!"
Emily said, as she looked up from the other tablet, "We have to look at the big map, the one Patrick brought."
Set up, about ten feet to the left, was a room made out of thick plastic walls, with an entry area; the inside was climate and humidity controlled, to simulate the area where it had been found. The lights were much lower intensity inside, to prevent damage to the map. "We discovered it is made from camel skin," Emily commented as they entered.
The beautiful representation of the ancient planet's surface at the end of the ice age, was hung vertically, and illuminated from all sides. Riley set a projector on a tall stool, connected by a cable to his computer, and the lines overlayed the map. When aligned with the celestial positions, with the bottom of the "V" set on the major northern city on the map, it pointed to a spot in the Appalachian mountains. "I estimated the time it would take to walk one moon cycle, as twenty seven and a half times Emily's thirty miles. The arrow stops at around eight hundred miles."
"What starting point did you use?" asked Patrick.
"Since Atlantis isn't there anymore, I chose the high points of Bimini and the Bahamas as the likeliest spot."
Ben jumped in and said, "The inverted "V" is a mountain!"
Riley brought up another map, showing the Appalachians, with the highest peaks marked. "There are several peaks of similar height in that area, Mt. Guyot, Clingman's Dome, and Mt. Craig, but the highest, at six thousand, six hundred, eighty-four feet, is Mt. Mitchell, in North Carolina."
"Good work, Mr. Poole, I think you've hit the nail on the head."
"Now all we have to do, is figure out why," said Emily.
Patrick was still looking at the measurement list. "I would bet this fourth symbol stands for a man's height, this symbol could be a symbolic man. It could mean a distance of five to six feet."
"I think you are right, dad."
Emily looked over, and added, "The list on the left are likely the phonetic names of each measurement, note how the first symbol is incorporated in each of the next three. Just to give us a name to use, 'Pe' could be the finger, 'Pez' would be the hand, 'Pezo' the arm, and 'Pezot' the height. The next two are also similar, they could be 'Arn', and 'Arno'. The moon has it's own symbol, just for fun we'll call it 'Moon'." There was an air of indifference in her words, perhaps a mild rebuke for Patrick, followed by a little huff.
Riley was staring at the other tablet, "I can't see anything on this tablet that even looks like writing, but down at the bottom are three symbols from the other tablet. There is one finger, two hands, and one arm."
Emily gently pushed him aside, and pointed to the first row of glyphs. "These are word pictures, and some are similar to Egyptian or Olmec symbols. I haven't had time to thoroughly look at them, but two of the symbols, here and here..." She pointed at them, "Are the symbols from the large map, standing for the countries of Atlantis and Lemuria. I will need time, perhaps a long time, to pull any meaning from the symbols, but my best guess is this refers to their war ending, and possibly why. A little further down, is the same symbol on the map for the cave you found." She pointed out the third symbol. "I would like to show you three what I..."
"We." Patrick interrupted.
With a crooked smile, Emily continued, "What 'we' found on the map."
They walked over and entered the second enclosure, wherein the map hung from the rafters, and was illuminated on both sides, and there were other light sources set up besides the white light. Infrared, ultraviolet, and the rest of the visible light spectrum colors could be the source of illumination. The map struck Ben with the same esoteric beauty he remembered from the cave, but here the colors stood out and intensified the sight.
Emily walked them around to the back, which appeared blank under white light, and flipped a switch. Suddenly there were a line of different sized orbs, with the largest by far on the left end. "This, of course, is the sun, and these are the planets in our solar system that are visible to the naked eye." The first five planets were small, compared to the last two, the last one had a straight line drawn through it. "These last represent Saturn and Jupiter, and the smaller ones are the inner planets."
"There is an extra one!" Riley chimed in.
Three started to answer, but Patrick said "It is where the asteroid belt is, where another planet used to be before it exploded, or was torn apart by Jupiter."
Riley stepped out and came back in with his computer. Emily flashed through the other colored lights until a final symbol flashed to brilliance above the line of planets, under the infrared light. It was a skull, a bright red skull.
"A symbol of death." Abigail whispered.
Each was lost in separate thoughts, as they walked around to the other side of the map. Then after a few minutes, Riley said, "I just looked some stuff up on my computer. Saturn is the farthest out of these planets, and goes around the sun about every thirty years, while Jupiter goes around in twelve. When the planets all line up like these are, it is called a conjunction. This occurs about every twenty years, the next will be in December, and the last was in May of 2000. But, due to precession, it will occur in different parts of the sky, so it would take about two thousand four hundred years to come back to the same spot in the sky. This is called a great conjunction."
Ben jumped in, "Then they believed they had about twenty four hundred years under they died, and that would coincide with the end of the ice age. Waters would rise, and their world would be gone..."
"But what was the planet that blew up called?"
"Riley!" Ben and Abigail said together. Riley found his computer screen of great interest again.
It had been a long day, especially for the travelers, so they headed back into town. It was fully dark before they reached the motel. Everyone but Emily needed sleep, she needed answers. Ben drove, with Abigail in the middle.
Abigail looked over at Riley, who was tapping away on his laptop. "So whatever came of all those images you took at Chaco Canyon?"
A huge smile came to Riley's face, then he said, "Ben doesn't often want to hear about my theories and ideas. As you know Chaco was a meeting place for many of the ancient tribes. I have read up on the oral traditions of the Zuni and the Pueblo Indians, who call themselves 'space men' or 'star people', they saw a sign near Chaco that threw them for a loop. There were three slabs of stone set on a mountainside, and the sun would make a dagger shape over a spiral. This indicated everything was okay in the world, when the dagger pointed to the right spot. Something happened, no one knows what, to cause the dagger to shift by about three inches, indicating major disruptions in the world. They think this is why Chaco was abandoned. Chaco canyon was the center of their world, Hopi ruins were cities built in the shape of Orion stars, and the belt of Orion pointed to Chaco, their most sacred place. These alignments are similar to those of the Giza plateau and street of the dead in Mexico City, where the belt of Orion points to special places of worship, like Heliopolis. With my measurements of the architectural precision on the main part of the city, I plotted the star patterns that could be observed from Chaco, out of that long curved row of small square windows in the central circle. They are now out of alignment with the major stars that could be seen on the solstice. Just another sign that the world as they knew it was coming to and end. With water levels rising, and the changes in the rainfall, as well as the course of rivers changing, they were right. Their world changed, and they left that area, just like the people of Atlantis lost their world. The Rocky mountains kept growing higher as the tectonic plates moved, and the entire ecosystem changed, got dryer."
He looked at Abigail, and saw her eyes had drifted shut at some point. Riley made a little noise, and went back to his computer. In a few moments, she awoke upon arriving at the motel. They separated until morning.
Riley walked into the metal building. His hair was askew, and he was drinking his second cup of coffee. Emily was grumpily talking to herself, while Patrick sat at the end of one long table, unwrapping some of the carefully wrapped bundles recovered from the cave. None of the urns or statuary had been transported there, but the bundles needed to be sorted and categorized. Patrick was looking at a pile of four inch square tiles. They appeared to be blank on both sides, but there were quite a number of them. Patrick had looked at the twenty or so spread out on the table, and was opening the last package of them.
"What are you..." Riley began, and then stubbed his toe against the table leg. His coffee cup hit the edge, and sloshed over a bunch of tiles. He made a little squeaking sound, then looked frantically for some paper towels, or something to wipe up the spilled coffee.
Looking at the tiles, Patrick called out, "Emily, look at what Riley found!"
Emily started to say something harsh, then saw the tiles. When the dark liquid had hit the tiles, hair thin lines appeared, where the dark liquid had landed. On half of the tile was a glyph, and on the other side was a fine drawing of what the symbol stood for. She looked at the closest, and saw the picture of what appeared to be several wheat stalks.
"These will open my eyes to their language!" Her voiced was high pitched to show her excitement. "I have worked most of the night to try and ferret out just a few symbols, and you have found the way to read the tablets!"
Patrick moved to help her, but sat back down after one sharp glance. "Riley, could you bring us a whole pot of coffee, and a box of swabs?"
Happy to escape from his faux-pas, he hurried away.
By the time Abigail walked in, followed by Ben, Emily had a good portion of the text laid out. The English equivalents were scattered about several large pieces of paper, and Emily would not let anyone near.
Less than an hour later, Emily called them over. "I think I can give you broad idea of what this says. Bear in mind, that I still have had to make a few guesses." The others stood beside and behind her, looking at the papers on the table. "The first line sets the tale. 'Atlantis will perish before the Grand Conjunction. We have, or will, make a safe place to store our, I think this is heritage, or something like it. Our grains, our fruits, our history (I think), will be stored there, so that all we have done and known will be known to you, our ancestors'. I have had to make quite a few guesses, but I think the intent is obvious here."
"Certainly, after their home is inundated, it would be too late to set up their own version of a time capsule," Abigail commented.
"Amazingly, they were right, Atlantis is nearly completely gone as shown on the map. Just a few islands, the highest points, like Bimini and the Bahamas, are all that is still above water. The northern end of Atlantis was probably the Sargasso sea area, it is still shallow water there." Ben rubbed his chin and looked away from the map. "I wonder if Antarctica sunk, or just floated south due to tectonic action."
All of them just stood or sat there, thinking about how so much had happened to change the world in this way, and where it would lead them. Abigail spoke to no one in particular, "The cave was to be a testament to the end of their conflict, then they set about to save their things of great import, religion, history, discoveries, technology, just in case some survived the cataclysm. It boggles the mind."
Chapter 8
The telephone brought them all out of their individual thoughts, it was Sadusky.
"Hello Ben,"
"Sadusky, how's it going on your end? We have some exciting news." Ben motioned the others to gather around. "I'm going to put you on speaker."
"The men we arrested for the theft of the vehicle, and all the items stored within the truck, all tell the same story. The guy in charge, one Samuel Smith, was not arrested. Everything they did was on his orders. Then they clammed up, wouldn't say anything else, they were 'just doing their job'. There was one man, Nathan Brown who I stuck in a room for a couple hours. I opened with a familiar line, 'Nathan, somebody's got to go to prison', and he cracked."
Smiling at the memory, Ben said "And..."
"He had your talent for bargaining, Ben. I just looked hard at him, and he spilled everything. It seems there was a lost partner for William Wright, named Joseph Statz, and he was the mastermind for everything that followed. Through his position as an employee of the Smithsonian, it was he who had the treasure confiscated after they had brought it back to civilization. Wright was left holding the bag, while Statz took the loot. According to Brown's story, he sold enough of the stuff to buy up the land where the bunker and Abidos are located for a very low cost, and never saw Wright again. Statz had his name legally changed to Lonnie Smith, and kept his position with the Smithsonian, while the rest of the men built up the town and businesses. Over the years, they always had one or two of their little group working at the museum, to maintain their cover. The crates were there, but expunged from the files. When word came through there was another expedition, the family took matters into their own hands."
"What about the ringleader?" Ben asked.
"He, and perhaps a few others, are still on the loose. Smith should be considered armed and dangerous, Brown was afraid to talk about him at all. There is a chance he might still be on your trail, and by inference, a little crazy."
Ben launched into a very lengthy story about everything they had discovered, until Sadusky interrupted him. "Ben, too much information. I have to process these people, and decide what to do with them."
"All right, but here's what we are going to have to do." Ben looked at the others, who all nodded. "We believe, that is Emily, that we have cracked the cipher. There is, we think, another cache hidden in the Appalachian mountains, possibly on mount Mitchell, and after all these items are cataloged, we will be going after it."
"Stay in touch, Ben."
"I will call in the cavalry, if we need it."
"My assistance is still available, if needed." He hung up without waiting for a reply.
They were all in the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, except Emily who had chosen to stay with the artifacts. Patrick had insisted on coming, perhaps to get away from the artifacts, or Emily, for a while. Abigail had arranged for transport with the rental agency, and they were looking up Burnsville on the local map. It was suppertime, by the time their flight had landed, so they decided to stay in Charlotte for the night. Ben had a special liking for the city's name, anyway. Everything in his life had changed when he discovered 'the secret that lies with Charlotte'.
Rising early, they grabbed donuts and coffee for the road, and headed for the mountains. The drive was easy and the road was free of traffic. They entered the park area, and drove to the large parking lot. Riley looked up at the peak, and commented, "The Green River bank was steeper than this, it's just a big green hill."
Abigail replied, "This is the highest peak east of the Mississippi, but compared to the Rockies, it is just a big, domed hill, covered with trees. Let's go."
Patrick had been a little apprehensive about climbing a mountain, but this one didn't seem so bad. The trails could be a little slippery on a wet day, but it had been dry for a week. The steepest climbs were scaled easily by wooden steps. Signs reminded climbers to bring water with them, and also said food could be purchased at the top. Other signs indicated camping sites were available up above for twenty six dollars a night.
They saw few other climbers, and there were only four cars in the lot. The trails were a bit narrow in places, but they managed them, going up single file. Patrick needed a few extra stops on the way up, but the incline was not terribly difficult. Ben noticed it was getting a little cooler as they climbed, but it was welcome with the exertion.
The summit was achieved in good time, and drinks and snacks were purchased at the top. There had been a single trail with no deviations on the way up, so Ben decided to scout around. He saw a little used trail that headed through the largest stand of trees on top of the mountains, and followed it a ways through the trees. It curved down a ways, and then he saw the warning signs, and a chained off area with a path curving out of sight beyond it. The sign proclaimed 'Danger, Falling rock', with the appropriate warnings and threats of prosecution. Ben saw only 'here's the way to the cache'.
Returning to the group, he saw a burly park ranger talking to the group, he was pointing out the places you could see from the peak, and how far distant you could see. The sight was grand, but Ben had only one thought in mind. After they had rested up, and used the facilities, Ben led the group, as if to return to the base, but once out of sight, he cut across country, using the trees above as a marker. The ground was slippery in places, and without a path footing was sketchy, but they eventually came to the spot with warning signs. Ben stepped around the chains, and led the group around the curve of the hill. About fifty feet further, there was a flattened area, that looked like the hillside had been cut away, leaving a vertical rock wall thirty or more feet high. Ben smiled, seeing no sign of fallen rock, and had a feeling they were in the right place.
Patrick commented, "It's funny, those warning signs looked brand new, and the chains were still shiny. I think someone just put them up."
Riley stumbled twice along the path, he was looking up for falling rocks, not down at his feet.
Abigail's eyes held an excited look.
Just before Ben reached the open rock face, a gunshot was heard just after a bullet cracked into the rock face about three feet in front of Ben. Instinctively, they all dropped to the ground, there was no real cover except for a few trees sticking up from below the rock ledge. Two more shots rang out, as the stone chips from the impact spattered over them.
"Those are real bullets, Riley, keep your head down!"
"Not like on the boat!" Abigail added, hugging the ground.
Patrick, after a minute or two, said, "If the shooter wanted to kill us, we would already be dead. We're totally exposed here."
Ben popped up and sprinted back the way they had come. After hearing no gun shots, Abigail and Patrick also rose, moving quickly to retreat. Lastly, Riley scuttled along the narrow path on all fours, returning to the fence. Seeing no one, they returned to the mountain top, through the trees, and headed down the main path several hundred yards. They stopped, and stood there, breathing hard, for several minutes. All were looking around for any sign of movement. No one was seen. After a few minutes, Ben pulled out his phone, and was pleasantly surprised to have two bars.
"Houston, we have a problem!"
"What can I do to help, Ben?"
After talking it over for a few minutes, they returned to their rented SUV, and drove back to the nearby town. After renting a couple rooms, they gathered to get a meal, and settled in until morning.
"Ben, what were you talking to the desk clerk about?"
"I asked him if he knew the park ranger. He said everyone in town knew Sam Smith, and everyone liked him. He was friendly, talkative, and always had stories and jokes to tell."
"That's the name Sadusky gave us..."
"I know. I texted the name to Sadusky, but I haven't gotten a response." He held her closely, and said, "We'll just have to listen for him in the morning."
The sound of helicopter blades, flying low over the city, roused him. It was after eight, but Ben did not feel rested, he had slept fitfully through the night. They rose, and dressed, then found Riley and Patrick having a light breakfast. Just after getting their food, Ben received a text from Sadusky, saying the mountain was again safe. Smith had been arrested in his home, and had his guns confiscated. He had surrendered without a fight when the four FBI men with Sadusky, had knocked on his door. The man had not spoken a word when arrested. The rifle had been recently fired, and Sadusky thought it likely it was the weapon that had scared them away.
In two trips the helicopter brought the agents and the others up to the summit, Patrick was especially appreciative that he did not have to do the climb again, he was still sore from the previous day. There was an empty picnic area on the top, where the chopper could land easily. Two agents had gone ahead to secure the area, and two stayed behind. Ben led Sadusky to the path, and the five went down toward the rock cut. Only Riley was furtive, on the way, but all arrived without incident.
They got their first look at the rock cut, and it was pretty clear that the wall had been cut away vertically, leaving a flat ledge about four feet wide, where they could stand. Ben was immediately drawn to an area on the left, where the rock had a polished look. As he stood in the artificially created corner, there was an inscribed square with three cross cuts that left buttons, about an inch square. As he touched one, it pushed in slightly, then fell back out after he released the pressure. Each small square had an etched figure or symbol on it. All of the symbols were familiar, but after pressing multiple buttons alone and in combination with others, nothing happened.
Patrick looked over his shoulder, observing, and said, "Remember, these people wanted this cache to be found, it was their legacy to our world. The code would be simple, but based in their language."
Abigail was standing next to him, and she said, "Ben, look down lower, there is another spot that looks carved out. It is partially hidden by the vines."
The spot had a tiny ridge below, and a dirt covered button just above it, when he brushed it clean with his hand, and removed the vines, a symbol appeared there too. "It is the symbol of the arm and hand, a measure of length."
"Lean down," Riley piped in, "they were shorter!"
Bending his knees, Ben placed his elbow just above the notch, and pressed in. It moved slightly. His hand was at the above square. He saw the bottom two center buttons had hand symbols, and pressed these in with the heel of his hand. The top left corner held a finger symbol, and he pressed it down while holding the others in. A loud crack made him jump back, but a doorway edge had been revealed, just to the right, five feet tall, and two and a half feet wide. Riley leaned in and helped him push the stone back. Flashlights were turned on, and they entered.
The inside of the enclosure was not large, the walls had been carved away, and the contents had been neatly stacked on the floor, Ben and Riley turned the door and pushed it out onto the rock ledge, while Patrick and Sadusky guided it to the outer lip of the ledge. There was barely room for all of them to enter together, but each managed to grab some items, and carry them out. The wooden boxes were still sturdy after all the years of storage, the cave had been sealed well enough to keep any water out. All helped carry the boxes back to the helicopter, and after a little over an hour, most were moved. While the FBI agents began to stack the boxes in the helicopter, Ben just had to open one. His pocket knife pried the corner open, and the contents were revealed. Inside was a block of wax, beeswax he thought, and sealed inside it were seeds, these looked very much like wheat. The seeds had likely been stirred into the soft wax, then poured into the box to harden. An ingenious storage method, he thought. Resealing the box, Ben loaded it in the chopper.
Sadusky was right behind Ben when he stood up. "Everything okay?"
Ben nodded, noticing the concern on Sadusky's face. The agent who had collared Smith came running up to both of them. After catching his breath, he blurted out, "The ranger is gone. I had attached his handcuffs to the security bar in the back of the van. I had to leave for a minute, to use the facilities, I was sure he was secured."
"How about now?"
"We will get him back, sir!" Just then, a distant sound of a trail bike came through the trees, then faded out.
When they had returned to the van, Sadusky noticed that one of the cache's crates was also missing from the rear of the van. "Seems like our secure prisoner also took a souvenir."
"There is only one place he would feel safe." Ben said in a low voice.
Sadusky nodded, "Abidos."
It was twenty four hours later, when everything had been tidied up. The stone door had been replaced until further inspection could clear the area. All of the contents were on route back to the Washington D. C. area. Ben, Abigail, Riley and Patrick decided to travel separately, Sadusky had offered them a ride in the cargo plane, but they opted for their own way back.
Heading northeast, Ben was driving, and shortly after leaving he said, "Sadusky told me that a woman named Eleanor Green had filed charges in court, stating that I had tampered or stolen Smithsonian artifacts. Recognize the name, Green? One of our local Abidos residents. She thought I was you, Riley. Anyway, Sadusky said it will never go to trial, based on his testimony." Ben paused to take the highway entry ramp, then continued, "What about that girl in South Dakota, Riley?"
In the midst of making an entry, Riley said, "Oh, I'm dating an FBI agent named..." His head came up, "Oops, never mind."
Patrick gently punched him on the shoulder and smiled. Abigail turned around and gave him the 'look', but he wouldn't look up. "Actually, Emily just sent me a long text; well, she sent it to you, too, but since you're driving. She has deciphered a lot more of the glyphs, and has a lot more to tell us. Many of the symbols on the language learning squares are religious in nature. Their religion was based on the appearance of their gods in flying ships, who taught them how to mine ore, and smelt metals. She also says that the paints have been tested, that were used on the map, and they come from all over. Two of the purple dyes were from vastly different areas. One of the dyes is call Phoenician purple, or Tyrian purple, and comes from seashells, she says it takes nine thousand mollusks to make a gram of the dye. The purple paint used on another area is from the Caribbean, made from Cochineal beetles. The gold on the map is from Spain based on impurities."
Abigail commented, "Did you know that Queen Elizabeth, the first, forbade anyone except royalty to wear purple clothing around sixteen hundred AD?"
Patrick said, "It was for trade reasons, but you could get thrown into prison."
"She talks about other stuff, too, Ben, like finding similarities of their written language to the Olmec, Mayan, Egyptian and Native American glyphs, but you can read it all later. There is one other thing I wanted to share. The grand conjunction of planets we were talking about, and the planets that were drawn on the map interested me. There will be a conjunction in December of this year, but how did those ancients figure out all this stuff, they must have had help. Another item of interest I found on the internet, was that a grand conjunction happened about the time of Christ's birth, the conjunction could have been the star of Bethlehem! Also the big map was very accurate in comparing the size of the planets to the sun, all except Pluto, which was drawn to be as big as Jupiter, and it's distance was way off, too. I did all the measurements from pictures I took."
Patrick responded, "There are people who talk about another planet, way out there, that causes perturbations in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune, but it hasn't actually been seen yet."
"Well, how could the Atlanteans have known about that?
"The same way they knew all about the other planets..."
They rode in silence for a while, but it was not too long before the traffic got heavy approaching the nation's capitol, then some other off color comments were made about the other terrible drivers. Ben did not like to drive in difficult traffic.
Sadusky contacted them, he was waiting near the bunker in Abidos, but Smith had not gotten there yet. Shortly after he broke contact, his phone buzzed in his hand. "There's a trail bike parked behind the museum, I thought you should know."
"Thanks, Jim."
Sadusky, followed by Mike and Michael, just to keep things straight, entered the small tunnel, and activated the door. It slid open quietly, and they entered without using any light. Lightly walking, they approached the main room. Peering around the corner, they could see the statuary, and other objects left from the first haul, still in place. There was one addition to the room, a man sat on the low edge of a display. He was holding a box on his lap, it was open and the lid and packing material lay at his feet. He could be heard to be weeping softly, and he wiped his nose on his left sleeve. When he crossed his arms, on top of the box, and put his head face down on them, Sadusky entered the room, holding his glock outstretched. Even when they stood over the man, he didn't look up.
"I came all this way, nearly died when I fell asleep, and ran off the road, and all I have to show for it is a damn hunk of wax, with seeds in it. When he set the box down, they could see the wax under the man's dirty fingernails.
There was no weapon on his person, his clothes were disgusting, and filthy. His forehead was clotted with blood, and one eye was swollen shut. Smith was handcuffed, and taken away, Mike carried the box back to the SUV.
Chapter 9
The treasure hunters had reconvened with Emily in South Dakota, where Emily was supervising the last of the packing crates being loaded. "Be very careful with the map, the large flat one, it is fragile!"
Patrick gave Abigail a fatherly hug, and said "Thanks for traveling back here to help, it will be nice to get back home." As he let go of her, he glanced down at her waist.
Abigail couldn't help but notice, and teased him with a line from the past, "Do I look pregnant?"
Blushing, Patrick turned away.
Riley just pointed at Ben and shook his head.
They had decided to have a large meal at the best local restaurant they could find, before traveling back to the east coast in the morning. The platter of appetizers was being removed, Riley quickly grabbed the remaining fried cheese curds, and they talked while waiting for their meals to arrive. Patrick and Ben tapped their glasses together before sipping the suggested local brew.
"I was just thinking, the Atlanteans must have discovered the rising water, and receding ice. They realized that a war with Lemuria gained them nothing, both were going to lose everything, so why fight over it. Perhaps the Lemurians did the same type of thing, they are excavating cities lost for many centuries, high in the Andes, in Peru. They are calling the place Caral, about seventy five miles south of Lima, and have found pyramids, and believe there are many cities buried in a once fertile area called the Supe Valley. It was first discovered in 1948, and is near Macchu Piccu, and El Mirador. I read that they have found cloth that dates to five thousand years ago." Riley popped the last cheese curd into his mouth as the dinners were served.
Emily finished her salad, then said, "I found a few more things of interest after you all left, the statues had braces inside them, formed from a crude steel. They must have discovered it near that time. Also, inside one of the urns, were small figurines of animals, some we have never seen before, as well as a few tiny models of the homes they built and lived in. Similar animal figures have been found on the pillars of Puma Punku. There were a number of symbols, which may have had a religious symbolism, but that study will have to be set aside. There are too many other things to look at. Did I tell you about the paint I had tested?"
"Yes, mother, very interesting!" Ben said as he put a large chunk of prime rib into his mouth.
Patrick took another drink of beer, the said, "I am still wondering how the folks from Abidos found out we were going to the cave. It's not like someone was sitting out there watching."
Ben responded, "I talked to Sadusky about that, briefly. He said the motel owner in Duchesne was a cousin of one of the folks from Abidos. He had been paid a small stipend, to keep his eyes and ears open. When he heard about us buying the boat, he called home."
"The bum probably got a bonus!" Patrick grumbled.
"Sadusky did tell me one other thing," Abigail said after wiping her mouth with a napkin, "There were copies of the tablets we had in Abidos, the people from Abidos must have found them under their statues, too. I don't know if they understood any of the writing, but they figured out the map, that's why Smith was there. He had been a ranger for more than two years, but obviously the entry code had eluded him. The park service knew nothing about the fenced off area, or the warning signs, Smith just put them up to keep tourists away."
"We'll have to check with the FBI when we get back, I don't want any more of those crazies sneaking up on us at night!" Riley chimed in with his mouth half full. Ben just smiled in response, he also wondered what all was going to happen.
No one had any room for dessert, so they retired to their rooms relatively early. Plans for travel were already set up. Emily delayed going to her room until she had checked on the treasure cache one more time.
The flights were on time, and amazingly, landed in Washington D. C. on time.
The room still had unopened boxes and crates. It was a secure facility on the outskirts of the city, and everyone needed a key card to enter. Emily had wanted to stay in South Dakota, but finally decided to return with them. The group of five entered the anteroom, where they were given pass cards, then they entered. It was a well lit room, overhead fluorescent fixtures, and no windows. The statues had been lined up on a low shelf, with the urns of various sizes next to them. The batch of boxes was laid out on two long tables, put end to end. The lids had been removed, and placed behind the boxes, as well as any wrapping materials. Eight of the boxes contained wax cubes, filled with various seeds, which Patrick headed for. He removed one seed from each wax cube, with a pocketknife, then took the seeds to the far side of the room. There were instruments of all kinds there, even small portable x-ray machines. He located a lighted, double ocular microscope, and he verified the seeds where he could. There were two seeds he could not identify, but the others were a variety of wheat, a type of corn he had seen in Mexico, and other grains.
Another box contained the seeds of many berries, probably raspberry and blackberry. These would have to be planted and grown, to verify the exact type, and their DNA compared to modern varieties. In another box were seeds of three varieties that he could find no current comparison, they looked a bit like strawberry seeds, but the common breeds had been so changed through desired mutation, they too would have to be grown for verification. Other boxes contained the seeds and nuts of a variety of trees; again, some seemed recognizable, other new to his eyes.
Emily was pouring over a hundred tablets or more, that were covered with their writings, a mixture of symbols and glyphs. She was in her own little heaven, taking photographs, and making notes in a half filled notebook she had brought along.
Riley had removed multiple figurines from another box, and he was lining them up, making little cannon sounds while he moved them about. Ben looked over his shoulder and said, "Maybe it's a chess set..."
"No, I think that they are the space aliens."
"Which planet did they come from Riley?"
"The one that blew up...you know the one with no name."
"Sure Riley...you believe what you want."
Abigail had found some ancient hand drawn maps, and was trying to figure out what they depicted, and wondered where in the ancient world they were taken from. Ben sat down next to her, and said, "I wouldn't spend too much time studying the coastlines. They are now called coral reefs, and shallow seas."
"I know that!" She playfully elbowed his ribs, and said, "I am comparing the position of the cities, and trying to find something inland that might still be above water. These are quite detailed, and show elevated areas in brown."
"I was just talking to Sadusky. He is completing his interview s today. Most of the townspeople, including all the younger ones, are to be returned to Abidos, and they will even be allowed to keep their secret museum, although now it may get opened to the public if they want to. It might become a real tourist attraction. Those who took part in chasing us will have to go on trial, since they stole government property, smashed a vehicle or two, and shot at us with dumdum bullets. Smith, the ranger, is another case, altogether."
Patrick's voice rang out, speaking to no one in particular, "These have to be flower seeds, probably dandelions!"
Ben turned back to Abigail, "I found something that I need to test, do you have a match?"
She looked at him oddly, then pointed at a small Bunsen burner, with a tank of gas attached. There was a flint apparatus next to it, used to ignite the methane. Ben lit the flame, setting it very low, then with a scrap of paper holding a heavy pinch of dark powder, ignited the paper. The powder ignited in a short burst of flame, and dark smoke. Ben smiled, and said "The Chinese did not invent gun powder, these guys did."
Many other items and drawings depicted the homes and cities, they lived in low huts, most had grass roofs. There were religious symbols, mathematical symbols, as well as amber jewelry, sea shells, and many pottery items. There were a few metal items, but it was not clear what their use might have been.
Riley brought over one tablet, saying "See this has got to be a spaceship!"
Patrick said, "Or maybe they invented the Frisbee."
They all agreed to stop around three in the afternoon, to get something to eat. By the time they finished, everyone was tired from all the travel, except Emily, and they decided to call it a day. Ben reminded them that Sadusky had invited them to a special get together that was arranged by the Smithsonian. They were due tomorrow at noon.
"Sadusky also told me that the members of the Abidos families, that worked at the museum, had been exonerated of all wrongdoing, and were going to be allowed to keep working there if they chose to. The crimes had been committed by those long dead, and there was no reason to confiscate the Abidos artifacts. All the new artifacts would be brought to the museum for future display and experimentation."
"Thanks, Ben, see you two in the morning."
They split up, and went their own ways.
The gathering was set up in the ballroom of a large hotel, even though the dress code was casual, and attending were Smithsonian dignitaries, a dozen or so FBI agents, including Sadusky and the men who were with them in Utah. Then a bunch of politicians and local officials, who never pass up a free lunch, were also in attendance.
The speeches were extended thanks, and were not especially memorable, but the applause was well received. The food was excellent, especially the appetizers, shrimp, artichoke dip, and water chestnuts, wrapped in bacon, and cooked in a sweet sauce.
A nicely laid out dinner had been put together for all who had helped out with the endeavor to bring these national treasures to all the people of the world.
Ben stood up, walked to the front of the room, and addressed the assembled group, the agents, the scientists, the workers, the historians, who had bonded together to accomplish a goal.
"Each of us here has done something to set a precedent for the future. These thing we have found, studied, and will continue to study, are the summation of a long dismissed, but not forgotten society, that lived, thrived and died on our good planet.
"There is but one lesson, one ideal, that I can gather from this experience. Tomorrow morning, when you get up, and go about your day, consider all the incredible advancements you see around you. The microwave and refrigerator, the car you drive in, the telephone in your hand. Could you build all of these on your own? Most of us couldn't build any of them. Yet, other people's work make your life simpler. This is the lesson we need to take from these artifacts, the things preserved here, were the legacy of this great society, and they realized what was important, and tried to preserve it.
"Do you remember the stories, tales if you will, given to you by your elders. This was your oral tradition. We in this country have an incredibly rich tradition in our founding fathers, who did what was believed to be impossible. Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin to name just a few, went beyond their parents, their grandparents, to help create this wonderful society we live in. Did they have faults and weaknesses? Of course they did, but whenever I read about those who disparage them, I realize
that those writers also have their own faults and weaknesses, and pointing fingers at these greater men, does nothing to make them better, or more important.
"We live in, and participate in, or hinder the society, to our own desires, but what makes the society great is the overall accomplishments, and how they are used to enhance people's lives. Our grandparents lived in a world where one person could take the life of another with a bullet, we live in a world where one person can destroy a city. Our grandparents lived in a world where one could create something wonderful and new with enough determination, the automobile, the airplane, the record
player. Look at the things being created today, who among us could create a computer, a telephone that is better at computing than a computer the size of a building, which was the best they had when I was a boy.
"When you return home tonight, talk to your children, and grandchildren, and tell them about things that are important."
Ben returned to his table and sat down.
Sadusky looked at Ben, and said, "People don't talk like that anymore."
Ben put his hand on his friend's shoulder, "Let's start changing that."
After the waiters cleaned up the room, and all had left, Sadusky approached the tables where the guests of honor were seated. Riley was loosening his belt a notch.
Sadusky stood just behind Ben, put his hand on his friend's shoulder, and said, "I just want you to know that the man who has harassed you, shot at you, and the fact that his warped reasoning was behind it, will not likely be going to prison. I suspect he will spend a good deal of time in a mental facility instead. In my line of work, I have to accept this, at least he didn't kill or hurt anyone. Now go home and give your wife an extra hug from me, I am glad you are all safe… at least for the next week or so." Sadusky turned to walk away, then turned back, "By the way, the Smithsonian is hosting an extra little shindig in your honor at the museum later this week, when the artifacts are taken there. Bring your parents too."
Ben raised his hand to say something, then realized he didn't even know Sadusky's first name, and just lowered his hand. Ben shakes his head and called out "Sadusky? What is your first name?"
Sadusky turns back "You'll just have to find out, won't you? Go enjoy your life with your wife. Settle down, have some kids, tell your own story to them, and then maybe I will tell you."