Incarnate: Mars Origin I Series Book III

by Abby L. Vandiver

  “I am just telling you of the ways of my country. What have you found? Did you find what you were looking for?”

  Before he could answer his satellite phone rang.

  “Excuse me, Mr. Secretary. I have to take this.”

  “You don’t seem to understand, Dr. Coulter . . . Who is that? I won’t be ignored . . .”

  Aaron turned his back to the man.

  “Hello,” Aaron said, and walked around the side of the trailer to get away from prying ears.

  “Aaron Coulter.”

  “Yes.”

  “This is Simon Melas. It’s been a long time.”

  “Simon . . . Simon Melas. Yeah. Simon. How are you?”

  “I’m in a bit of a bind.”

  “Oh yeah, I think I heard a rumor about that. I thought you might be in jail.”

  “I’m in Central America. On a U.S. sanctioned dig. Big things are happening. Thought you’d like to be a part of it.”

  “Really? I’m all ears.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Caracol, Belize

  I was sitting on the ground in the Belize jungle next to a stone slab.

  Leaning back on my hands I stared up at the sky. It was blue and clear. The dense tangled thicket of shrubs and ferns thrived gracefully in the heat. I was sweating so much that I felt wilted. I knew I was getting dehydrated and the mosquitoes were feasting on the only other liquid I had left in my body. There were all kinds of noises around us making me jumpy. In fact almost every sound made me sit up and look over my shoulder. It seemed as if my ears picked up on every sound. There wasn’t any noises in the desert where I was used to digging. The jungle was beautiful, much nicer than what I was used to, but it was scary. I certainly didn’t want to be Logan and have to be out here every day.

  Logan was studying the part of the slab that had been cleared. Apparently taking in again the Mayan writing carved all over the face of it. I sat wondering how could we “follow the corn.”

  “What I’m thinking is that you should uncover the entire rock and read it.” I smacked my arm, and looked at my hand. Mosquito. Brushing my hands together, I said, “And, I think you should read it inside of a lab. An air conditioned lab.”

  “I read it already. I told you that.”

  “You couldn’t have read the entire slab, part of it is still covered.” I waved my hand out across it. “It could have that ‘clue’ you’re looking for.”

  “I can’t let anyone else see this. They’ll think I’m trying to pull a hoax. And with you as my mother . . .”

  “What is that supposed to mean? Are you ashamed of me?”

  “No. Not at all. I’m just saying that people will think I’m sucking on the same crazy juice that you’ve been drinking.”

  “Whew, what a way to talk to your mother.”

  I’d gone back and forth for so long on what to do with what I knew. At first I was too nervous to share the information. Fearing ridicule and being shunned. And not only for me, but for my family. My children. And now Logan needed my help but she was afraid of it because of what I knew.

  “No one knows what I know, Logan.”

  “Someone knows, Mommy. The people that hired me, they know. I’m sure of it. But I just thought I could make a name for myself with just everyday kind of science. Not with your pseudoscience theories.”

  “I am in the middle of nowhere with you, just this side of a heat stroke, trying to help you. You are the only one who has even brought up my ‘theory’ as you call it. I haven’t said anything about it. You just need to calm down. Slow your roll. I can’t figure out anything in one day.”

  “I’m not asking you to figure out anything in one day.”

  “If you want to be scientific about this, then you need to start thinking like a scientist.”

  “I am thinking like a scientist.”

  “Really? You don’t have enough facts to figure this out and the only evidence you have is partially obscured. The carving on the side of the slab may not be the important part of this.”

  “I read the part I uncovered. I told you it had nothing to do with corn. It just recites praises to the god Itzamna.”

  “Well how about we get a couple of brushes, clean this off and see what the rest of it says?”

  She didn’t respond for a long while. She dug her hands into her pocket and kicked her foot into the dirt. She gazed out for a while and then glanced at me, before she hung her head. “You’re right,” she said. “I know you’re right. I just got excited about it. And I do have it stuck in my head about your discovery. I just can’t seem to shake it.”

  “Yeah. I can tell.”

  “Mommy, don’t think I don’t believe you. Because I do. I believe you and I trust you. It’s just that I want to make my mark for myself on something real.”

  “As opposed to my unreal story about man coming from Mars?”

  “Yeah.” She laughed. “As opposed to that.” She let a small smile escape. “So, I’ve got a couple of brushes in my knapsack. You want to go for it?”

  “Oh my goodness, no.” I put my hand on my chest and let it slide down to my stomach. “If I spend any more time out here I think I’ll die.”

  “You won’t die. Here, take a brush.”

  After hours – okay again, Logan said it hadn’t been that long - the brushes had been thrown aside and our clammy, dirt covered fingers were digging down into the groves of the writing. The glyphs on the stone exposed.

  I sat on the ground and wiped my hands on my scarf. “So that’s pretty much it, Logan.” I ran my eyes up and down the stone. “What does it say?”

  “I can’t just read it.”

  “I thought you said you learned -”

  She didn’t let me finish my sentence. “I mean, I need help with it.” She swiped the back of her hand across her forehead. “I have my books back in the trailer.”

  “Oh.”

  “I mean I probably can make out some of the words.”

  “No. It’s okay. How about if we take pictures of it. Can you do that with that fancy satellite phone you have?”

  “This little baby can do anything.” Logan smiled and pulled her phone from her knapsack. “Great idea, Mom.”

  “Wait did you hear that?”

  “Hear what?” Logan started snapping pictures of the stone. “I think I can do like a panoramic shot . . .”

  “Shhh! Listen Logan. I hear something.”

  “Mom, there is always some kind of noise out here. The jungle is not a quiet place.”

  “No. I pretty much got those jungle noises figured out. This is something else. Something different”

  “Mmm hmmm.”

  She wasn’t paying any attention to me. I crawled down to the end of the slab and listened. Then I thought I wouldn’t want to be caught on the ground if it were some wild jungle men – if there were such a thing – coming to get me. My mind immediately went back to the Sentinelese people chasing me and my brother, Greg with spears.

  Oh shoot.

  I gotta get up off this ground. I figured that if someone jumped out from behind a bush ready to attack me, I wouldn’t be able to get up fast enough to run. Not that I thought I could outrun anyone. So I levied myself on a branch and pulled up off the ground. I cocked my head to one side and listened. Logan was clicking away.

  “You know for you not to want anyone to know I’m here, you sure are unconcerned.”

  “That’s because no one knows we’re here.” She glanced at me. “Just a couple more shots. Fix your shirt.”

  I looked down at my shirt and tugged it down. “Who cares about a shirt,” I mumbled. “Someone might be trying to kill us.”

  “Mommy,” she said. I looked at over at her. “Get a grip.”

  “You get a grip,” I muttered.

  I tried to stand perfectly still and listen in order to determine which direction the noise was coming. Then everything got quiet. I turned away from Logan and stared through the overgrowth. Concentrating. Holding
my breath.

  “Hello.” A voice came from behind me.

  “Oh!” I jumped and screamed. “Oh my God!”

  Chapter Thirty

  “You scared me.” I said in an agitated voice. I put my hand over my racing heart and tried to slow down my breathing.

  It was a man. Short, thin and smiling. Fully clothed – so definitely not a “jungle man.” He wore a short-sleeve blue shirt and a pair of blue jeans.

  “Mom,” Logan shouted. “Why were you screaming? You scared the life out of me.”

  “He scared the life out of me.” I pointed to the man. “Who are you?” I asked in an offensive tone.

  “Jairo.” He nodded toward Logan with his head. “She knows me.”

  I looked at Logan. “Do you? You know him? Because if you don’t, I’m ready to start running and screaming.”

  “I know him, Ma.” She didn’t seem too happy about it. “I work with him.”

  “Oh,” I said slowly. “So he probably shouldn’t’ve seen us here, huh?” I looked at him, and then at Logan who was staring at him. “He probably shouldn’t’ve seen me.”

  “It’s okay. I already knew about this place.” He smiled at Logan. “And I am so happy to meet you, Dr. Dickerson.”

  He stuck out his hand for me to shake, “I’m Jairo Zacapa.” I grasped his outstretched hand loosely and looked at Logan.

  Uh oh was the first thing that came to mind. Hope Logan doesn’t get into trouble.

  “How did you find me out here, Jairo?”

  “It’s my job to keep up with what you’re doing, Logan. Make sure you’re doing your job.”

  “You’ve been following me.” Logan spoke as if she was finally understanding something.

  “No. It wasn’t my habit. I did follow you once. That’s how I knew about this. I noticed you spending a lot of time in the observatory. Well, I thought you were in the observatory, but never any reports from there. So I followed you out here. After that I left you to your work.”

  “I’m not so sure this is part of my job,” Logan said. “Or, I guess, I wouldn’t have been keeping it secret.”

  “I know.”

  Logan looked at him thoughtfully. “What does my benefactor have to say about this? Am I being summoned or something?”

  “He doesn’t know.”

  “He? My benefactor is a ‘he.’ Good to know.” Logan pursed her lips and nodded her head. She glanced over at him and down to the ground. “So . . .”

  “So when I saw your mother here. I couldn’t resist. I had to come over and meet her.” He grinned at me.

  “How did you know she was my mother?”

  “There’s a resemblance.”

  He was staring at me the whole time he was having this conversation with my daughter. I didn’t think him creepy, I was leery of him because I wondered what was going to happen to Logan’s ability to work on her dig. She hadn’t done a good job of keeping her secret slab secret.

  Or me for that matter.

  “Are you going to tell him?” she asked.

  “No. I want to help.” He smiled at Logan. “If you’ll let me.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Cayo District, Belize

  Jairo lived in a one story house, the kind my mother used to call a “storybook” house because it was reminiscent of the pictures in books of fairytales. Only this house was hoisted up on stilts. It was painted a turquoise blue, with a red slate roof. We had gone there at his invitation, to print out the pictures.

  Once inside the rooms were larger than I would’ve imagined. Everything was neat and bright and had a freshly cleaned smell. He led us across the living room and through the dining room. That room had a table in it that took up almost the entire room. At the back wall he pulled back a curtain to an alcove. In stark contrast this room was a mess. It was filled with books, papers and pictures of pyramids and the like strewn across the floor and hanging on the walls. There was an overstuffed bookcase that was leaning to one side. And on a table amidst a mess of papers was a late model computer.

  “Work room?” I asked. He just smiled.

  He pinned the curtain back so it stayed open, and swept his hand in an arc, gesturing for Logan to enter.

  “You’ve got Internet here?” Logan stepped over the papers and books and headed toward the computer.

  “Satellite. Hot spot from the satellite phone. Courtesy of your benefactor. Just like you.” He pointed with his head to the phone Logan held in her hand. “But you don’t need it to print pictures. Go ahead sit down. I’ve got a USB cable to hook up to your phone.”

  “That’s okay. I emailed them to myself before we left the site. As long as I can get on the Internet.” She sat down and powered up the computer.

  “Yep, you can.” He put his hand in the small of my back and led me back around the table. “Come on, Dr. Dickerson. We can sit in here while she prints the pictures.” He pointed to the living room. I sat down on the sofa. He sat in a chair facing me.

  We spoke in general to break the ice. I found him likeable and funny. He was nice looking with an easy smile. He made me laugh and I found myself innocently flirting with him. I don’t think Logan liked our conversation. I noticed her more than a couple of times turn and look at us. After a few minutes, the conversation fell off and we sat quietly. But every time my eyes found Jairo Zacapa, his were staring at me. I’d try to hurriedly look away, but before I could I’d see him smiling at me. Finally, I just gave in.

  “Is there something you want to say to me?”

  “I’m very happy you’re here in Belize, Dr. Dickerson.” He had a silly grin on his face.

  “The pictures are good,” Logan yelled from the backroom. “Really clear.”

  He looked at me thoughtfully. “You know, there are many pictures in ancient Maya history that depict space travel,” Jairo said and gave me a sly grin.

  I almost choked. Where did that come from?

  Coughing, I said the only thing I could think of, “Really?”

  “Yes. Pictures that look like a man sitting in a spaceship. Stories about man coming down from space. And then there is knowledge that they possessed that was far beyond what they should have been capable of, like little golden trinkets of aerodynamically correct airplanes.”

  He had convinced Logan that her secret slab was safe with him. And he had convinced her to come back to his place to decipher the writings on the slabs from the pictures she’d taken. He’d help in whatever way he could and he wouldn’t tell a soul, he had promised.

  I’m guessing that included her benefactor.

  Right now the “whatever” she needed included using his computer and printer. But I knew for a fact what she didn’t need – or want – was me telling anyone that I thought the Maya bore some proof to the fact that man originally haled from Mars.

  “I read your book,” he leaned in and whispered. “I liked it very much.”

  “My book?” I tried to look clueless.

  “Don’t be modest.” He gave me a wink. “I think your theory is spot on.”

  I coughed again.

  “How about if I get you something to drink,” Jairo said to me. “I’m sure all that time in the jungle has made you parched.”

  “Thank you, but-”

  “Be right back.”

  “ . . . I don’t want anything to drink.” I mumbled the last part of my sentence. Undoubtedly he hadn’t heard me because he was already off to the kitchen to grab something for me.

  “Do you want something to drink, Logan? I can tell him to get you something.”

  She didn’t answer.

  “Logan. You want something to drink?” Still no answer.

  Maybe she couldn’t hear me.

  “So, Dr. Dickerson,” Jairo said returning with a large glass of ice filled with a yellowish liquid. “You’re here to help your daughter discover all of the Maya secrets?”

  “No.” Logan and I spoke in unison. She didn’t even turn around.

  I guess she cou
ld hear me.

  “No,” I repeated. “I’m just visiting.” I lied. “Are there Maya secrets?”

  “Oh, I don’t know.” He lifted an eyebrow. “I guess you would know better than me.”

  I wasn’t going to touch that comment with a ten foot pole. At least not when Logan was in striking distance. I took a sip out of my glass. “Mmmm.” I smacked my lips “This is good. What is it?”

  “Limonada con soda.”

  “Delicious.”

  “Mom,” Logan called over her shoulder. “Don’t eat the ice, my daddy would be very upset with me if I let you get sick while you were down here visiting.”

  We both looked toward the back room where she sat then at each other.

  Jairo leaned in and lowered his voice. “The ice is fine, Dr. Dickerson. It’s made with purified water.”

  “Call me, Justin.” I lowered my voice equal to his. He smiled.

  “What are you two whispering about?” Logan called over her shoulder.

  “No one is whispering,” I said.

  Jairo sat up straight.

  “We’ll have to call Daddy when we get back to the hotel and let him know you’re okay.”

  “Why would he think I wasn’t okay?”

  Jairo and my eyes met again and I started to giggle.

  “Mom, can you come here for a second.”

  “Sure, what’s up?” I went to the back, glass in hand. “Your pictures coming out okay?”

  “Yep. They are. Can you grab that one off the printer?”

  “The printer that’s right here next to you?” I took a sip of my drink.

  “Mom.”

  “No problem.” I picked up the picture and moved it the two inches from the printer to the stack she had already printed out. I started back to the living room.

  “Can you just wait here? I only have two more to print.”

  I stood there feeling foolish. Jairo had gone back to staring at me and grinning like a Cheshire cat.