Title: Ad Infinitum – Chapter 6

Chapter Summary: The group begins to find some answers.

Chapter Rating: PG-13 – If you skipped the interludes, all you need to know is that Sam and Jack had sex and Daniel and Vala had sex. Now it's a new day and it's not even mentioned again.

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Chapter 6/10

Jacob's POV

A strong kick to my shin woke me up. Alex was a restless sleeper and I regretted once again volunteering to share the bed with her. Well, I wasn't about to subject the fidgety sleeper on Cam, so my options were between sharing a bed with a snoring Air Force Colonel who weighed about 195lbs or my best friend who weighed 115lbs soaking wet. I thought I'd made the right decision but the bruises on my legs told me otherwise.

It wasn't the first time we shared a room or a bed but it seemed like every time I ended up with marks to show for it. At least back home she would usually sleep on the futon in my room.

I sat up in bed as I realized that the sun was up already and to my surprise, Uncle Cam was already awake and dressed. I excused myself to pee and brush my teeth and when I returned, Alex was still asleep and Uncle Cam was watching the news on the muted TV.

"Hey, I wanted to talk to you about something..." I said nervously.

"Yeah? Whattup?" He said after he turned off the TV.

"Well, you're the one who knows about who we really are and all, so I wanted to let you know that if anything happens to Alex and I during this mission, you have to promise you won't tell our parents the truth... and also, that you will destroy all evidence that we were here..."

He stared at me for a minute then finally nodded. "No problem, kid. Consider it done."

"Thanks," I said just as the fitful one woke up. Her hair was all over the place and I reached over to make it even messier, which I know she hated. "Good morning."

"By Jupiter and Zeus, what time is it?" She asked as she rubbed her eyes.

Cam looked at his watch. "Just past 0600."

"And why the hell are you guys up already?" She complained as she got out of bed.

"Habit." The colonel said with a smile and I just shrugged.

"Go get ready and we'll go get breakfast downstairs." I urged her. "Plus the sooner we're ready, the sooner you get to do your digging."

The thought of food and digging finally did the trick as I heard the bathroom door slam shut.

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Alex's POV

The heat was scorching but I felt at home in the middle of the gigantic fort. We'd been doing recon for hours now, taking turns and trying to be inconspicuous. Jacob and Aunt Sam decide to break the group into three teams. Jacob and Cam took the right side of the building and my godparents took the left side, both groups searching for signature readings of anything alien. That left my parents and I to wander around the building trying to find clues as to the possible location of the Library.

It was my mother who first found a clue. "Daniel? Come look at this."

We both moved towards the drawing she was pointing at. There was a picture on the wall of a town map etched in stone that had been taken to Oxford to be studied. After a cursory glance at the tourists and archaeologists surrounding us, Dad pulled out a magnifying glass. As he studied the map, I glanced at the square legend sign next to it; it stated that the map was believed to have been drawn in 143B.C. and it had Greek symbols, hieroglyphs as well as another kind of writing that resembled cuneiform. I tugged at my father's shirt and showed him my finding. He nodded at me, "It's not cuneiform, it's Ancient." Then he handed me the magnifying glass and I bent down to look at the map.

On the northeast sector of the map, titled Brucchion, there was a representation of the Temple of Serapis and underneath it, the Ancient symbol for 'knowledge.'

"Do you think it's inside the Temple?" I asked him.

His eyebrows raised in doubt. "A couple of years ago, an excavation team found what could possibly be the ruins of the Library. But it's been dismissed as the site of the main library and was supposedly the site of a smaller library and an academy. Now look at this," he said pointing to the opposite corner of the map.

In the opposite direction the coastline curved around the peninsula and in the water was an Ancient symbol for truth. "Truth?" I asked him. "You think this is where the main library was? Under the sea?"

He nodded. "It makes sense. There are statues and tablets being found on the ocean bed; they always believed they were there because earthquakes knocked them into the sea, but what it they were there to begin with?"

"So we go looking for it under the water?" I asked, not excited at the prospect.

He shook his head. "No, I think that the Ancients left this map as some kind of clue. If they went through all the trouble of building this repository underwater, I don't think they just built a regular door we can use. Look, this is where we are, the old location of the lighthouse." He said pointing to the map again, this time to the exact midpoint between the two previous points we'd observed. In the center under the lighthouse, was the symbol for light.

"Knowledge? Truth? Light?" I asked him, trying to make sense of this enigma. "Isn't that all the same?"

He shrugged. "One could argue that all three words can have the same connotation."

"I got it!" My mother exclaimed loudly. After drawing people's attentions around us, she lowered her voice. "Knowledge and enlightenment lead to the truth. I think there's something here and something there," she said pointing to the Brucchion, "that leads us to the real library."

Dad looked at me with his 'it's worth a try' look. Mom looked at him proudly and he rewarded her with a quick smile.

Just then the two other groups found us. "We've got nothing," Jacob said with a sad tone.

"Same here," Uncle Jack said in the same tone. "I'd suggest following the yellow brick road, but--" he looked around us, "everything is made of yellow bricks."

Just then one of the equipments in my godmother's hand beeped. "Uh, sir?" Everyone turned to look at her. "I'm picking up on a faint signal." She walked a few more steps and the signal beeped louder. "I think there's something here, my EMF detector is going crazy. The source seems to be behind this wall, maybe upstairs or downstairs," she pointed to the wall where the map had once hung.

Dad quickly filled the rest of the group in on the three locations on the map and the ancient symbols.

"What do we do now?" Cam asked.

My godfather scratched his five o'clock shadow. "We break into groups again and we try to find some trapdoor or secret hallways, anything that will get us back there. If anyone finds anything, stop where you are and radio in and whatever you do, do NOT stick your head in any weird looking walls, trust me."

And with that the team separated again.

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