by Cara Wylde
“We don’t normally do this,” Beatrice Sage explained as she invited them to follow her down a narrow corridor. “The manuscripts, books, and translations we have in our private collection are extremely valuable. Most of them are unique, too. You won’t find copies anywhere in the world. But, I think we can make an exception…” She turned to flash them her most charming smile. “Just this time. Because I truly believe that your art is going to change the world as we know it.”
When she said “we”, she was actually lying. Both Kryan and Aedar doubted the president had talked to any of the Valley’s members before making the decision to show them the library. After all, she was the head of the organization and had access to all the rooms in the building. The library was well protected, and Mrs. Sage had to get both her palm and her eye scanned to open the door.
“We are so grateful,” Aedar said. “Doing research is the part I love most about writing, and I know this time I can’t rely on what’s available on the Internet and at the public library. When I saw the Valley mentioned in an article about the gods of Ancient Sumer, I knew this was the place where I would find the answers to all my questions. My brother and I like to be very thorough when we create something based on real, historical facts.”
Beatrice Sage chuckled. She coughed lightly to hide it. She wasn’t going to tell the Walsh brothers that the Nibiru theory was pure fiction. She liked having them there, so she intended to feed their curiosity as it was. It wasn’t her place to point them in the correct direction. In fact, that was what the Valley was about: hiding the right direction under a bunch of colorful, fascinating hypotheses that had very little to do with the truth.
“We have quite a collection of books, articles, and studies of the Sumerian deities. While you’re not allowed to take them out of this room, you can stay here for as long as you need.”
When the massive door opened, she stepped aside and waited for them to go in first. Kryan went past her, but Aedar hesitated for a second. He smiled sheepishly at Beatrice Sage, as if to let her know just how overwhelmed he was at the honor of seeing the Valley’s library. In reality, the whole point was to give Avery, who was wearing the invisibility collar and had stayed close to them all along, enough time to enter before him. As soon as he felt her step over the threshold, he followed her. The president threw a glance down the corridor, then entered the library herself and let the door lock automatically.
“This is incredible,” Kryan said as he took in the shelves.
“Oh, you’re too kind.” Mrs. Sage laughed. “It’s not much. The space is a bit cramped for my taste, but the Valley is all about quality, not quantity. We’ve long decided to keep only those books and documents that are important and valuable. Otherwise, we’d get swamped, and we’d have to build another wing to expand the library.”
“I understand.”
“Here, let me show you where the section about Nibiru is.”
As she followed Beatrice Sage, Kryan, and Aedar, Avery tried to be as silent as possible. She couldn’t even afford to breathe too loudly. The library was rather small, the air was stale, and it was so peaceful that one could probably hear a needle drop. It was also kind of chilly, and she couldn’t help but shiver at how cold the wooden floor felt under her bare feet. For the invisibility collar to work, she had to be completely naked. Not even a ring on her finger, or it would have looked like a flying ring. Her hair was free on her shoulders and back and, as usual, the black leather collar bothered her to no end. Aside from having to suffer the chilly, stuffy room, she also had to remember not to wince when she turned her head too suddenly and one of the tiny needles inside the collar stabbed her the wrong way.
The plan the SPG had come up with was simple enough. Kryan and Aedar had used their influence and charm to get her inside the Valley. Now, all she had to do was walk between the shelves, read every book spine, and hope she found the right book before Beatrice Sage got bored with the two wealthy, handsome, and very much famous brothers who had unexpectedly walked into her life. Well, okay… Maybe there was no rush. Alex and Kit seemed very good at distracting her, so Avery could take her time and do this right. It was very likely this was their only shot to get their hands on the translation of the tablets found in the Danube Valley.
The president took Kryan and Aedar farther down the aisle, then right. Avery’s first impulse was to catch up with them, but she had to fight it. She felt safe in their presence. She shook her head to clear her mind, then counted the security cameras. She figured out each aisle must have had a blind spot, but that didn’t mean she could necessarily use it. The point was for her to find the book, see where it was, then inform the two Kralians. She went to work.
“This is amazing,” Avery heard Aedar say. “I saw these books mentioned in a few articles, I wanted to buy them, but I couldn’t find them anywhere.”
Mrs. Sage laughed coquettishly, and Avery couldn’t help rolling her eyes. Her Kralians were making good use of Lisa’s research. As they scanned the books the woman was showing them, they made clever comments, told her about their own theories, and Aedar even revealed some of the plot of the supposed book he was working on. Lucky for everyone, Beatrice Sage was completely enchanted and entranced by them. Avery tuned them out and focused on her task. With the little information Professor Tryniski had given her and her boss, she barely had an idea about what she was looking for. She hoped it would jump out at her… The old man hadn’t mentioned anything about the alien race that had supposedly landed somewhere in the Danube Valley, nor about what the Neolithic people they found there called themselves. He hadn’t even known whether their written language had a name… So, basically, Avery was looking for something that mentioned the Danube Valley. Oh, how she wished she could use the computer on the small table in the middle of the library! But the cameras would catch that, and then someone might either think that the computer was possessed, or that they were being hacked. Not an option. Patiently, she ran the tips of her fingers over every spine as she read them. Ten minutes later, she was done with the first aisle and the first two rows of bookshelves. On the second aisle, she did her best to move around Mrs. Sage and the two Kralians.
No luck with the shelves that held the books on Nibiru. She turned to check the shelves on her right, and there it was.
“Bingo!” she thought. “Almost too easy… Then again, this library really is small.”
The title read: The Danube Valley Tablets. It couldn’t have been more obvious than this. The only translation in the world, and she had found it! First, she did a quick happy dance. It was rather funny and exciting to dance naked when no one could see her. Three people were talking and laughing just a few steps away, and there she was, doing the robot dance and making silly faces at Kryan and Aedar. She had to stop when a chuckle almost escaped her. Time to set the second part of the plan in motion. She was making good progress, but this wasn’t over yet.
Slowly, minding her movements and the way she breathed, Avery stepped closer to Kryan. He was easily reachable, while Aedar was looking through a book Mrs. Sage was showing to him. She slipped her fingers in his hand and squeezed lightly to get his attention. He abstained from squeezing her back, just in case any of the cameras could pick up the small gesture. Now, she had to wait patiently for the brothers to find a way to follow her to where the book was without raising suspicion.
As if by accident, Kryan touched Aedar’s arm. Aedar looked up and immediately understood it was time to move. Little by little, they both stirred the conversation in a new direction. While taking the books Mrs. Sage had suggested, they said they couldn’t believe how incredible the Valley’s collection was. Unfortunately, the reading table was in the opposite direction, but they did their best to distract the woman’s attention as they slowly advanced toward the shelf Avery needed. The point was for them to cover her with their large frames from both Beatrice Sage and the cameras.
Once they were in position, Avery found herself rather squeez
ed between Kryan’s strong back and the bookshelf. She had very little space to work, but she managed to pull the book out. The last thing they needed was for the president to see a book floating in thin air, or for the cameras to catch that.
“All right, Avery… good memory. You have one hell of a good memory…”
There was no way she, or the brothers, could sneak the book out of there. The only solution was for her to read as much of the translation as she could. Professor Tryniski had said it couldn’t possibly be too long, as the tablets the archaeologists had dug up didn’t contain much text. He had been right. The translation itself was short and very much obscure. The rest of the book contained notes, theories, and various interpretations. There was even a chapter that compared the Vinča writing system with the Sumerian cuneiforms and the Egyptian hieroglyphs.
“Vinča. Vinča, Vinča, Vinča.” She repeated the name over and over to make sure she’d remember it later. In truth, it was the only relevant information she could find. The text was very fragmented and didn’t mention the name of the alien race that had taught the Vinča civilization their alphabet and how to build two story houses, how to spin, weave, and make clothes. It was clear, however, that these visitors had done much more than teach the Vinča people how to live a better life and how to record their stories for posterity. They had laid the foundation of their religion and culture way before Ancient Sumer could even dream of something so advanced.
Avery’s fingers trembled as she held the book and turned every page with utmost care. She would have loved to take photos, but Mrs. Sage had asked Kryan and Aedar to leave their phones in her office before she took them to the library. The initial plan had been for them to have their phones in their back pockets, from where Avery could easily have her pick. It hadn’t worked out, but it didn’t matter. Avery had been mentally prepared for this just in case. Of course, the rest of the book could have proved to be of great use, but the fact that she had discovered the name of the Neolithic civilization was a huge plus. She hoped it would be enough for Kryan and Aedar to search their database.
After she read the short, fragmented translation of the Vinča tablets over and over until she knew it by heart, Avery slipped the book back in its place and touched Kryan’s elbow. He stepped away, and she finally felt like she could breathe. She couldn’t wait to leave the chilly room, but the guys had to at least pretend they were interested in taking some notes, so she waited while they walked to the table, sat down, and thoroughly went through some of the books Beatrice Sage had generously stuffed their hands with.
CHAPTER SIX
It was late after lunch when they finally got to the SPG HQ. Avery had made Kryan stop on the way and got herself a big KFC meal. It had been a miracle that she’d been too stressed to feel the hunger while they’d all been locked up in that dreadful room with Beatrice Sage. She munched on her fries as they got out of the car and went into the apartment the SPG had turned into a huge office space.
Captain Shaw immediately attacked them with questions. Kryan and Aedar confirmed that everything had gone as planned, minus the photos Avery should have taken with one of their phones. Alas, it was good enough. They couldn’t complain. The president of the Valley had no idea what had happened there, right before her eyes.
Soon, Avery found herself speaking between ravenous bites. She couldn’t wait to tell them everything she’d learned, but she didn’t want to put her food aside either.
“Jacques Tryniski was right. The translation itself is very short and doesn’t say much. The book also contained many angles of interpretation, comparisons to other theories and writing systems, and opinions from many members of the Valley interested in the subject. You can imagine I didn’t have time to read all of it.”
“But did you memorize the text?”
“Yes.” She finished chewing, swallowed, then took another moment to gather her thoughts. “It said something like this: On the tenth day of Gustar, green lights were seen in the sky. On the thirteenth day of Gustar, they came in white objects shaped like the leaves of the old tree. We welcomed them to the land of Vinča, and we marveled at their skin, which was the color of the last arch after the rain. They stayed, and we lived in harmony for many moons.”
Ben Shaw blinked in confusion, then furrowed his brows. Avery had never seen him so frustrated.
“Well? What does it mean?”
She chuckled. Okay, she was acting silly, but she was pretty sure she would never get a chance like this to see her boss so overwhelmed by this odd mixture of curiosity and frustration.
“Naturally, I checked the footnotes. Gustar is what these people in the Danube Valley called the month of August. So, the visitors came on the thirteenth day of August, three days after green lights had been seen in the sky. The white objects shaped like leaves can only refer to their ships. Unfortunately, the historians couldn’t agree on what the ‘old tree’ was.”
“The Hordaa is shaped like a heart,” Aedar said. “I never thought it could look like a leaf from far below, but… it makes sense, sure.”
“Lime tree, then,” Zadie chimed in. “I bet it’s a lime tree.”
“Might be.” Avery shrugged. That was the least important detail of the whole riddle. “The color of their skin… purple. The last arch after the rain refers to the last color in the rainbow. The rainbow comes out after the rain, the last color is violet… close enough.”
“So, that’s how we know these ancient visitors were Kralians,” said Captain Shaw. “Agent, you said the other aliens in the Alliance have different skin colors.”
“Yes. The text says they lived in harmony for many moons, which can only mean many months. However, months could have turned into years. That’s another detail the historians couldn’t agree on. Vinča, though… Vinča is the keyword we needed. If these people called themselves the Vinča, then there’s a fair chance their alien friends respected their identity and used the same name.”
The Captain nodded and turned to Kryan and Aedar. “When can you let us know?”
“Before dinner, if we go now.”
“Go. And… thank you for your help today. We couldn’t have gotten this far without your assistance.”
The two ship captains shook Shaw’s hand and headed toward the door. Avery’s longing gaze followed them until they disappeared down the hall. Now that her hunger for a double cheeseburger and a large portion of fries had been sated, new, very different pangs were making their presence known.
* * *
Before going through the stargate, Kryan and Aedar removed their bracelets and changed into their warrior outfits. When they were on the Hordaa, they wanted their people to see them as the leaders that they were. Even though they spent most of their time wearing the pale skin and the expensive suits of the Terrans, they were first and foremost Kralians, and they had to act like it. In the ten years they’d been on Earth, the planet and its inhabitants had changed the two warriors a lot. And now, Avery Tonkin… Sometimes, they felt like they were about to lose their minds. For a woman. No. For an entire race. They had to find out what it was that made the Kralians empathize with the Terrans so much that they couldn’t touch them without forming a deep, undeniable connection. A gene sequence. Was this good news, or bad news?
Once on the ship, Kryan and Aedar took their time to talk to some of the members of their crew, hear the latest news, and get up to speed with how the small civilian community on board was doing. One hour later, they could finally lock themselves in the conference room and bring up what they had managed to save from Kralia up on the screens.
“We only have one shot,” Kryan said.
“Vinča. Let’s hope it’ll do the trick.”
It did the trick. Countless documents filled up the screen. Many of them were journal entries by various Kralian travelers and researchers who had lived thousands of years before, and there were also a good number of logs recorded by three different Kralian ship captains.
&n
bsp; “This is… unexpected,” murmured Aedar.
“We’ll need time to read and listen to everything that’s here. We can’t report back to the SPG tonight.”
“No. And we can’t simply hand it to them before knowing what all these files and logs contain.”
“Agreed.”
Kryan randomly opened one of them. It was the journal of a certain Kleon the Gentle. The last part of his name had been courtesy of the Vinča. He and Aedar read the first few entries quickly, then closed the document and simply stared at each other.
“I don’t know what to say,” Aedar whispered.
“This could change everything.”
“Or ruin everything.”
“Destruction is still a form of change…”
Aedar stood up and started pacing the conference room. He stopped to look out the window. The beautiful blue and green sphere of the Earth in the distance almost took his breath away. Just like always.
“Home.”
Kryan chuckled. “Who would’ve ever thought?”
END OF BOOK THREE
BOOK FOUR
CHAPTER ONE
As she sat in the makeup chair, Avery took a sip of her dark coffee and checked her phone. It was the first day of filming “Star-Crossed”, and she was anything but in the mood. Back in the day, when she’d been trying to make it as an actress, she would have been delighted to play the lead role in a Hollywood movie that was sure to be a blockbuster and bring her some sweet nominations. But that was years ago. Even though acting was still part of her life and career, it was very different now. As an undercover agent, she was acting every single day. When she wasn’t at her apartment or at the Special Provision for Gaia headquarters, Avery Tonkin put on the mask of Poppy Tonks, the young actress who wanted to make a name for herself, and fooled everyone into thinking she was just a sexy, harmless blondie who didn’t quite live in the real world.