The group met up after classes let out and filled each other in on their day. Alexander filled them all in on his findings and asked Jenny if she'd had a chance to do a search.
"Yes and I found something. In eastern Europe, a very remote place that had a small village and a monastery. Every person in the village was found to be insane. The reports are blaming the villagers insanity, of which they can find no cause, on what happened to the monks."
"What happened to the monks?" Buffy asked.
"Slaughtered. That's the only word that fits. They were brutally killed, some tortured. Whether any of them were also insane isn't known because they're all dead. But one is missing. The order had twenty registered as lifelong residents, but only nineteen bodies were found. The officials aren't sure if the villagers also killed him or if he managed to escape. But I think it's safe to say, he's the guy Buffy found that alerted us to all this. Given the remoteness of the place, the only reason anyone knows, is that someone called and anonymously reported something was wrong and that it should be checked out. In those words. Beyond that, I found nothing. The Monks of Dagan dead and the villagers all insane."
"Did you say Monks of Dagan?" Corda asked, startled.
"Yes, why?"
"Because there was a planet named Dagan in the Pegasus Galaxy when our people were there." Came the surprising answer. "And they were known for some religious orders."
"Hmm. There were humans that visited Atlantis." Alexander said. "They didn't just sell their goods to each other, our people would often buy from human worlds too. It's possible some were on Atlantis when our people returned to Earth and those people came with."
"Interesting and they wanted to remember where they came from?" Giles suggested.
"Probably. Those monks and those villagers could be descended from Pegasus humans. Genetically, there would have been little difference between them, anymore then there is between us. We're all human. Dagan's, Alterans and the people of Earth. Just different races at different stages of evolution." Alexander said. "A geneticist may be able to find some difference, but not many."
"But why these monks? What would make them a target?" Corda asked.
"The Key. If it was in their keeping and something came looking for it, they probably didn't want to give it to whoever came looking for it. So they hid it." Alexander said.
"Apparently not as well as they thought if whatever killed them has managed to make it to within just a few hours of where Hope is. It's a good thing we got that energy out of her. If it managed to track it this far, how long would it have taken to actually find it?" Corda asked.
"If it has a way of tracking the energy, then we need to get it out of Sunnydale, maybe even off the planet." Alexander said. "I need to call Jack. We need that energy to close tears, but we can't risk people's lives having it around. But if we can hide it off world and just retrieve it whenever we find a tear, we may be able to keep whatever is looking for it, from ever finding it."
"I found something else of interest." Giles said. "A demon I'd never heard of before, that comes from a very unusual place. It apparently can be summoned from the moon and is called to quell large outbreaks of insanity. Ergot, which is a fungus found in grains, use to cause ergot poisoning, which could result in psychosis. People would summon this demon to kill the insane ones."
"What would the demon get out of that?" Buffy asked. "I mean, demons get something from what they do to people, something to eat or entertainment. What does a demon that just kills insane people get?"
"An interesting question, but one I don't think we're going to get an answer to." Giles answered.
"If it comes from the moon, there may be a tear there. I don't remember ever hearing about tears being found around or on the moon, but that may just be because no one thought to check." Alexander said. "I should take the Altimah up and run a scan."
"But how would you get to it?" Buffy asked. "Space has no air to breath."
"Alterans have their own version of spacesuits, the Altimah has some. If I find anything, Corda can go for a spacewalk."
"And that brings me to my news. Mayor Jacobson was willing to meet with me when I told his secretary of our recent status as defense contractors. The city owns the Calax plant, that place where you guys finished off Moloch the Corrupter. He's willing to sell it to the Altimah Project for the back taxes. Modernizing it and fixing it to suit our needs probably won't be that difficult given it was a tech plant before it went bust." Corda announced.
"That's great news, but a decision will have to wait until Jonno can weigh in. The four of us have to make a decision like that together. It's part of our partnership agreement. He should be about done with the systems check he was running at the outpost. Corda and I can go to Colorado tomorrow and fill Jack in on what we found and get him thinking of a good off world hiding place, then go scan the moon and then pick up Jonno. Sound like a plan?" Alexander asked.
"Sounds like a plan." Buffy said. "And with that I'm going on patrol. I need the exercise. Have a safe trip."