Atlantis

Chapter 47

“I don’t understand.” Robinson nudged a silver box with his foot. “In most ways this place is primitive, but some of the things we’re finding seem advanced — alien, even.”

“Do not make assumptions. I am sure all will be made clear in time.” Hadel kept his voice calm, though his mind was in turmoil.

In searching for Atlantis, he’d expected to find the remains of an ancient, human civilization, one that had perhaps stumbled across a previously unknown, yet terrestrial, power, and the discovery of the crystal-powered weapon seemed to confirm that, but now, he was not so certain.

It was true that there was an ancient world feeling about this place — every passageway or chamber they passed through thus far had been a natural formation or a room carved from stone. No one else seemed to notice that those rooms were carved with more precision than even the most advanced of the ancient stone masons. And their shapes were… off — the angles not quite square, the ceilings undulating, rather than flat. The deeper they’d penetrated into Atlantis, the more uneasy he felt. This place felt… wrong.

They entered another of these disorientingly-skewed rooms and Hadel felt his insides twist into knots as his mind sought to resolve what he saw into a normal picture. Here, the walls were hive-like, with oval pockets carved everywhere. It appeared to be a storage room of some kind, with clay pots and jars in some, and more alien-looking objects of various size and shape in others.

“I don’t like this place,” Robinson muttered under his breath.

Hadel turned an angry glare on Robinson, who did not wither under the Bishop’s stare as so many of his underlings might have. It wasn’t that he disagreed with the statement. It was the way Robinson gave voice to Hadel’s own fears that annoyed him.

The artifacts, the crystals on the wall that absorb light and pass it along. What if they’re dangerous?” Robinson asked.

“Some of them are likely to be dangerous,” Hadel said. “That is why we are here, is it not? To find the Revelation Machine so that we may complete our work.”

“Yes, but with so many things down here we don’t understand, maybe we should take you somewhere safe, and then the men and I can come back here and complete the search.”

“Is this a coup? Do you want to control the Revelation Machine?” Hadel snapped. He’d never have believed Robinson capable of such machinations.

The blood drained from Robinson’s face. “Of course not. I only meant that we’re expendable. You’re essential.”

“Very well.” Hadel forced a smile and struggled to calm his nerves. Where had that flash of paranoia come from? Robinson had always been one of his most loyal lieutenants.

Somewhere in the distance, a shot rang out. Robinson froze, listening. After a few seconds, he turned to Hadel. “That must be Thomas. He wouldn’t fire unless he had reason.”

“Whatever is happening at the door, these men can see to it.” Hadel inclined his head toward the five operatives who trailed behind them. “You and I will find the Revelation Machine.”

It took one shot to eliminate the guard posted in front of the door to Atlantis. Dane kept his Walther at the ready as he crept forward, keeping his eyes peeled for more enemies.

“Nice shot,” Bones whispered. “Next one is mine.”

Dane relieved the guard of his AK-47 and paused to examine the remains of the door to Atlantis. The Dominion had blasted a hole in it large enough for a person to crawl through, but most of it still remained — a stone block half a meter thick, twice his height and nearly as wide. Like the door to the Hall of Records, someone had carved Orion into the stone.

“I could be wrong, but I’m beginning to think Orion is important,” Bones said.

Dane ignored him. He climbed through the hole, and waited for the others to join him. They were still in a lava tube, but here, the floor was perfectly level. Up ahead, the passageway shone with opalescent light.

“That looks familiar.” Dane shone his light on an opaque, diamond-shaped crystal. As soon as the beam struck the crystal, the surface swirled, and the light became brighter and more iridescent, gaining in strength until the passageway shone as bright as day. It set off a chain reaction as crystals further down the hall absorbed and amplified the light.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Sofia marveled.

“We have,” Dane and Bones said in unison.

Dane thought back on all places he and Bones had been and the things they had seen in the past few years: so many devices, and even weapons, powered by crystals, the powers of some of which were nothing short of miraculous. Was Atlantis the source of it all?

“Looks like there’s a room up ahead.” Bones raised the AK-47 to his shoulder and took the lead as they moved along the silent corridor.

A low wall barred entry to the first chamber, which was empty.

“Maybe it’s a guard room?” Jade offered.

“Makes sense. All I know is, it’s weird.” The room was almost square, the walls almost perpendicular, but off just enough to give Dane a feeling of discomfort. The arched, ribbed ceiling bulged in places, and the center line not quite straight.

“It’s like we were swallowed by a snake,” Bones said.

“All I know is, looking at it makes me dizzy.” Jade rubbed her eyes. “Let’s get out of here.”

Up ahead, the lava tube ended, with a passageway running off to either side. They chose the one on the right, and found it to be cut at the same, not quite square, angles.

“Don’t look at the walls,” Dane said. “Keep your focus straight ahead and you won’t feel so dizzy.” Taking his own advice, he locked his gaze on the way ahead, and they soon found themselves in a much larger, if no less disorienting, room than the previous one. What they found stopped them all in their tracks.

The walls were covered in maps and star charts, cut with such precision that they could not have been made with primitive tools. Running all around the base of the walls, like a giant honeycomb, a waist-high band of meter-wide, hexagonal cubes held stacks of stone tablets. Stone benches ringed a table in the center, where more tablets lay, as well as a few crystals and an object that looked like a titanium pencil.

“This is their archive!” Sofia picked up one of the stone tablets at random and examined it. “The writing is the same as in the codex I found in Spain. I’ll bet,” she looked around, eyes as big as saucers, “the whole story of Atlantis is here. What might we learn about human history once we translate them?”

“I think we’ll find that the Atlanteans, at least the original ones, came from somewhere out there.” Bones pointed to a star chart. “Probably from a planet orbiting one of the stars in Orion.”

“Five years ago, I would have laughed at you,” Dane said. “But it makes sense. Remember Goliath’s sword?”

“How could I forget?”

“If you guys are going to reminisce about things we weren’t there for, you really ought to give us a bit more information.” Sofia sounded affronted.

“It’s a long story. Actually, it’s several long stories.” Dane wondered how long it would take to recount their exploits of the past few years.

“I’ve heard bits and pieces of them from Avery. Just hit the highlights.”

Dane paused, considering how to sum it all up. “We’ve found things made of metal that didn’t come from earth. We’ve found things powered by crystals that could do things that were so advanced that they seemed like magic… or very advanced technology.”

“Like the tsunami machine and the gun,” Sofia said.

Bones nodded. “That and more. An almost perfect cloaking device, a blade that could cut through stone, spears that fired bolts of energy, and all of them were powered by ambient light. And that’s not even all of the things we’ve seen.”

“And we found them in different places: Jordan, Germany, England, Ireland, even America.” Dane looked around as he spoke. “Looking at these maps, and taking into account the book Tam and Avery found, I think it’s a reasonable assumption that this is where it all started.”

“They had knowledge of the entire world,” Jade said. “Every continent is mapped accurately.”

“Some people believe that the great accomplishments of the ancient world were made possible by contact with aliens,” Bones said. “But that’s definitely a story for another day.”

“I know you’d like to stay here and begin your studies,” Dane said, “but we should keep moving. I want to catch up with the Dominion before they get their hands on the Revelation Machine.”

They left the library and entered a crypt. Skeletal remains filled alcoves in the walls. They were tall and slim, their arms too long for their bodies and their fingers too long for their hands. Their heads were overlarge, the skulls elongated, and their eye sockets large and round.

“These look like… aliens,” Sofia breathed.

“Another thing we’ve seen before,” Dane said. “We…”

A thunder of gunfire cut him off in mid-sentence. Sofia’s body jerked as a torrent of bullets ripped through her. Dane knew in an instant there was no hope.

Jade dove behind one of the stone benches while Dane and Bones took shelter behind the table and returned fire. Dane saw a Dominion operative fall, clutching his throat, and felt a wave of satisfaction.

“You two duck out the back!” Bones shouted. “I’ll cover you.” Not waiting for a reply, he opened up with the AK-47.

Dane grabbed Jade by the back of her belt, hauled her to her feet, and shoved her toward the exit beneath the world map. Bullets spattered the ground at their feet as they fled.

“Keep going!” Dane shouted. “We’ll catch up.”

Jade looked up at him, tears streaming down her face and grabbed his collar. “You kill them, Maddock. Kill them all.”

“I’ll try.”

Jade yanked down on his collar and kissed him, hard and fast, and then turned and ran.

Dane heard Bones’ AK-47 fall silent and hurried back to the doorway.

“Your turn, Bones!” Dane emptied his Walther while Bones, ducked down as low as his frame would allow, ran for it.

More shots rang out and Bones dove for the tunnel, hit the ground and rolled, and came up in a kneeling position. He squeezed off two shots with his Glock.

“I’ve got one reload left. How about you?”

“Same here.” Dane ejected the magazine and reached into his pocket for a reload.”

“Don’t bother,” said a cold voice. “Now, turn around slowly or the girl dies.”