Maria corrected him.
“I’m guessing 10,000 years.”
Impatient and eager to get in there, Maria wondered why Pia was taking so long. It sounded more like a command,
“Pia, report your finding.”
After making sure that she had scanned everywhere, with confidence she finally reported,
“All is good. No bacteria could survive after thousands of years in a vacuum anyway. Breathable air quality is now also good. Plus when first entering it was freezing cold but now the temperature has somehow picked up. It’s safe to remove the hazmat suits and come in.”
Chapter 18
As they were removing their hazmat suits, it was morning in the Nazarene household. Belle had jumped out of bed and secretly packed two flashlights with extra batteries into her back pack. Although she was eager to get into the library and discover what was in the hole in the floor, she was doing a good job of suppressing it. Ivana, Belle’s old nanny was no longer needed as a babysitter but on occasion was called to be there when the parents were away on a mission. This was one of those times. In the kitchen, Ivana had already prepared breakfast for Belle.
Across the hall, over in Robert’s section of the Manor there was a rare family event happening. For the last few mornings Waldorf was home and Helga was pleased that all three could sit and have breakfast as a family. Yesterday morning, Robert’s first day going to the Royal Library, both watched a despondent boy saunter into the kitchen dragging his back pack behind and exhibiting the mood of a man led to the gallows. He would sit silently slouched over his breakfast. Clearly he was not happy having to spend his free days in a library gathering notes for a project and he made sure his mom and dad knew it.
However, this morning, Robert bounced into the kitchen and actually practically sang a good morning greeting. Stunned, both parents sat in silence and watched him gobble down his breakfast as if it were his first meal in days. Waldorf had to ask,
“You seem eager to get back to the library this morning. Have you finally discovered something important for your class project?”
Suddenly realizing that he was not obeying Belle’s order to act casual and not let on that they were going to explore the tunnel, he slouched over his breakfast and meekly said,
“No. We haven’t discovered anything.”
He then made the mistake of looking at both parents and with fake innocence ask,
“Why do you ask?”
Suddenly both parents knew that something was wrong.
As Waldorf and Helga stood at the edge of the grass and watched both climb into the helicopter for a short hop over to the castle, Helga said,
“They are up to something.”
Waldorf had to agree. He understood Belle’s passion for the project. After all she was on a spy mission for her dad. By Santo’s request, she was supposed to keep that secret from Robert. All Robert knew was that he was sentenced to a dreary homework assignment. What had caused this sudden enthusiasm?
As the chopper disappeared over the horizon, Helga said,
“Do you suppose they are really going to the castle library this morning?”
As they turned and entered the mansion, Waldorf said,
“They don’t know that they have a secret GPS chip in their shoes. We can check on them if you like.”
Because it was a short trip to King Rhymen’s castle, a few minutes later both parents were looking at a computerized schematic of the estate. It was clear by the blinking dots that both children had landed and were walking toward the castle. Feeling better, Helga said,
“I guess they are really there then.”
Ever suspicious, Waldorf added,
“Yes, they are there but we don’t know what they are really doing there. I’ll keep the transponder on them so we can check it now and then.”
Exiting the chopper, as usual they approached the security gate. As they placed their back packs on the scanning belt, each tried very hard to project a look of innocence. It was an easy task for Belle but Robert was having trouble maintaining such a foreign behaviour. Seeing what was in both bags, the security guard asked,
“Why do you have flashlights in there?”
Having a reason at hand, Belle was quick to respond.
“Our moms made us do it. It’s in case we come home late and it’s dark.”
All Robert could do was nod compliance. He was still excessively nodding when the guard suspiciously looked at him. However, despite the evidence, it was a reasonable explanation and seemed harmless enough. He pointed to the entrance and both set an innocent pace into the castle.
As usual the imposing Jordanka watched them approach her domain. By this time neither was intimidated by her scowl or piercing eyes. She too should have been suspicious of fake innocent smiles instead of apprehension. However, the matter of security to enter the library was in the hands of the guards at the front entrance. Her only job was to make sure books and unauthorized notes did not leave the library. She watched both disappear through the door and then continued with whatever she was doing.
Because they did not want to spring into action right away, both sat at the research table and pretended to be interested in whatever books were open in front of them. Because her wrist watch scrapped the table as she scanned the lines, she took it off and rested it beside the book. An hour later, Belle closed her book, looked to a clearly bored Robert and said,
“Do you suppose that’s long enough for them to have confirmed our GPS location here?”
Apparently they knew what was hidden in the heel of their shoes. He looked at his watch and said,
“Sure, it’s been an hour already, mom is not that distrusting.”
Belle closed her book and said,
“Let’s do it then.”
They grabbed their backpacks and walked over to the mysterious book on the bottom shelf and pulled out what was apparently a key card.
Walking over the floor tiles to the spot where the plastic page matched the design, Belle bent down and carefully matched the irregular shape and design on top of the corresponding prancing lion. Knowing what was going to happen next, both took a precautionary step back. Like yesterday, a large section of the floor silently sunk down and slid under the existing floor. Both stood agape looking at stone stairs leading down into darkness. With flashlight in hand, Belle bravely said,
“Let the adventure begin.”
It had never been a secret that Robert’s bravery was fortified by Belle’s courage to explore mysterious dark corners. In most cases he only faked courage because he didn’t want to be called a chicken again. And so, Robert with his flashlight scanning the depth of the stairs bravely followed her down into the unknown. After a few steps he looked up and was glad to see that the floor did not close above him.
Even for Belle, the stairs seemed to go down forever. The walls were narrow and on occasion roots and small branches reached out to stroke the shoulder of a startled Robert. They may have been innocent roots but after reading about witches living in the castle, startle and panic heightened. With his light shining bright on Belle’s back he followed as bravely as possible. Finally after what Belle assumed must be the bowels of the castle, they took their last step down and touched a level path paved with stone.
The narrow passage reeked of wet dirt and dead things. Belle hoped that it was only the stink of dead crawlies and bugs that occupy such dismal places. With a pivoting head in all possible directions, Robert was not as sure. A sweeping beam was constantly on the lookout for a skeleton bearing a sword and ready to jump out of the plentiful shadows to attack what he now understood were perfect places for such things to lurk and pounce. The plentiful spider webs barring the way were easily swiped aside as an annoyance to Belle but his imagination saw them as filled with massive spiders leering at him with eyes of evil intent. If spiders had tongues, he was sure they were licking their lips in anticipation of a juicy meal.
Although he thought that they had ventured deep en
ough under the castle and dearly wanted to go back, as long as she kept going ever deeper into the maze of darkness he swallowed his fear, at least as much as possible. As far as he was concerned, the feeble flashlight was by far not enough to push ominous shadows away. It didn’t help that she said,
“I bet that over the years, lots of people have died down here.”
He suddenly heard a creek in a dark crevice and snapped the light in that direction. Just because there was nothing there right now did not mean there was nothing there a second ago. She again said,
“Hey, keep the light to the front okay.”
At least for Belle, the exhilaration of the exploration had pushed aside time and distance. She had no idea for how long or how deep they had ventured. The loss of time was different for Robert. To him, each step seemed to take forever. He was very glad to hear,
“We have reached the end of the tunnel.”
They were facing a large and by appearance, a very strong wooden door held in place by massive iron hinges. It was held securely by a great wooden beam across the door secured in place by iron hooks.
She handed him her light and he watched as she tried to lift the beam out of the hooks. There was no way it would yield to her great effort. After recovering and catching her breath she said,
“Put the lights down and help me.”
Although he didn’t want to know what was behind a locked door, with double the effort they managed to crash the plank to the ground. The problem now was how to get the door open. Pushing accomplished nothing. It was Robert who discovered why their efforts were futile. He pointed and said,
“Look at the hinges, they are rusted shut.”
Noticing the small gap under the door, she knelt and felt a bit of a draft. She asked,
“Do you have a piece of paper or something in your backpack?”
He rummaged but the best he could come up with was a pencil. She took it, shoved it under the door and scrapped out dust. Curious, he asked,
“What are you doing?”
“I just wanted to know if there was anything under there, that’s all.”
She was about to give up scrapping out dust when something strange happened. As per her insatiable curiosity and ravenous craving for the unknown, she poked the pencil deeper just one more time. Unfortunately she was holding it at the very tip with pinching fingers and somehow it slipped away. To retrieve it, she dug under the door with probing fingers but was unable to recover it. Robert had a comment,
“Hey, that was my pencil.”
Days later, how the pencil was recovered solved a great mystery.
As she stood and prepared to apologize for losing the pencil, Robert said,
“Hey, there’s another door here.”
To the right, and just a little farther down the tunnel was another great wooden door. There was no beam across it and the hinges implied that it was to be pushed. However, age and rust prevented it from easily opening. Again, Belle commanded,
“Put your light down and help me.”
After a great team effort and determination, the rustic hinges reluctantly gave way. Creaks and scrapping noises filled the tunnel. With both standing in the open doorway, sweeping beams of light revealed a cavern the size of a large circular living room. In the middle was what Belle thought could be a stone altar about four feet high and maybe three feet across the top. With the exception of dust and spider webs there was nothing on top of it. Between them and the strange altar were twelve heavy and large wooden chairs facing it. Age had rotted and weakened the old wood. Aside from that, the room was empty. From the doorway, three stone steps led down into the chamber.
When Belle took her first step onto the stone stair, suddenly a light appeared as from nowhere and illuminated the whole room. After the shock had worn off, nothing more about the mysterious room was revealed. Undeterred by the unknown, Belle continued down onto the stone floor with Robert right behind her. By the power of old and unbalanced hinges the door slowly inched closed behind them. Because she knew it was not locked, she was not concerned. She should have been.
Unlike the tunnel, oddly the air in the sealed chamber was not dank and musty. Strangely it seemed cool and fresh. After Belle had circled the altar and scanned the room for anything that might reward their brave adventure, she found no treasure and commented,
“Well that led to a big nothing.”
Standing by the altar, Robert reached into his backpack and dug out a water container. After a deep gulp, ever the gentleman, he offered some to Belle who accepted the offering. After a sip or two she put the glass container down on top of the altar. That was when it happened.
From the solid stone wall across from the altar seeped out what appeared to be a grayish misty smoke. Robert was the first to see the strange happening, pointed and said,
“What’s that? What have you done?”
Belle turned to see the peculiar encroaching smoke. Curious, she put her hand in it and drew a conclusion,
“It’s wet and misty, like putting your hand through a cloud.”
The danger of the cloud had not come to either yet. As it continued to fill the chamber, Robert drew the first and correct conclusion.
“We are deep underground. A cloud or not, it shouldn’t be here. I don’t care what it is or might be, let’s get out of here.”
Belle nodded her agreement but it was too late. In a sudden burst, the cloud encased her and she was gone. Robert, in a panic yelled her name and lunged into the mist after her. In his haste, a swinging arm knocked over the glass water container she had placed on the altar. Before it could hit the floor and shatter, both had disappeared and the mist with both swallowed up seeped back into wherever it had come from.
Chapter 19
With a sterile satellite cleared by Pia and its environment matching that of the Anunnaki ship it was now safe for Santo and Maria to come over. As Maria struggled out of her hazmat suit she turned to Henrik and said,
“Leave the gravity turned off until we have floated through the umbilical tube. Pia said there was gravity in the satellite.”
She then pushed through the connector with Santo right behind.
As soon as she was clear of the umbilical connector and floated into the narrow access chamber, she swung her feet around and gently stood on the floor. When walking out of the access chamber and entering the main section, heat and humidity slammed into her like walking into a sauna. Pia was a few feet ahead of her, turned and said,
“Yeah, I guess whoever built this thing liked warmer temperatures.”
As Santo entered, he too commented,
“It’s hot in here.”
Maria grinned and added,
“Suck it up soldier.”
As Santo looked around, he noticed a discrepancy in the volume of the large room.
“This can’t be all. The craft is almost a hundred yards long and this room is well short of that. According to the schematics, we are in the middle of the satellite and yet the walls on both ends are solid, no access to the rest of it.”
Maria looked around and agreed. She said,
“I guess the rest could be the operational section or living quarters. We will bring a bigger crew up next time to figure it out. For now, let’s inspect what is available to us.”
Pia was looking at a flat control panel on a small raised platform looking more like a podium a speaker might stand at. What held her attention was the control panel. There were no levers or function keys on it, just twelve irregularly shaped shallow indentations about the size of silver dollars. Not thinking it important, she took pictures so an analyzing crew at the Nazarene control center could study and make sense of it.
Maria was looking at what she thought were endless rows of small slots. Each was labeled with a scribbling that she assumed were identification tags of an unknown language identifying what was in there. She asked Santo to come over and photograph the tags. However, upon inspection, the impossible task was quickly recognized.
There were millions of them in uncountable rows. Maria commented,
“Maybe we should do that later when we get a better idea of what all this is.”
He nodded and went away to inspect the far wall. He wanted to know what was behind the bulkheads.
Maria reached and lifted one of the millions of small chips out of its spot. Holding it up to the light, it was translucent like looking into a small piece of clear plastic or crystal. After recognizing the design embedded inside, it hit her like a hammer to the forehead. At first, not believing what she had discovered, she inspected other chips but could draw only one conclusion. Looking around and seeing the thousands of rows and millions of chips, she suddenly knew what this satellite really was.
After composing herself, she called Santo to her side and asked,
“Are you familiar with the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark?”
Surprised at the question but knowing the basics of the story, he replied,
“Yeah, sure. God was going to destroy what was created but wanted Noah to save all the animals. Something about two by two, male and female animals from all around the world were gathered up and marched onto the ark.”
Although pretty sure that he had gotten it right, he still wanted confirmation.
The Noah Satellite Page 8