“If I contact the other two members of my team, we will have a better chance of finding it.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
“Why not?”
“Because, the Phoenix Resistance are after you. If they find you, and therefore beat us to Atlantis, all is lost.”
“Why? What is so important about Atlantis?”
“I think you know, as well as I do.”
Billie did know, but she certainly wasn’t going to let him hold all the cards. She nodded her head in acceptance.
Edward then said, “No, its best that you and I go searching for Atlantis, while Sam and Tom lead them away. If they think you’re dead, they will go after the next best lead they have, and that means Sam and Tom.”
A man approached. He had a solid build, pale skin, and brown hair cut in a short military style. “Dr. Swan, this is Mark.”
The man shook her hand. “Pleased to meet you again Dr. Swan. I’m afraid the last time we might have gotten off on the wrong foot, although it was in your best interests. May I please welcome you to this submarine and apologize for how you came to be aboard.”
She took his hand and replied, “Nice to meet you Mark. I don’t blame you for nearly getting me killed. For that, we have Edward.”
Billy looked at the man’s eyes. They were an intense blue, and a pleasant enough smile. But, although she didn’t say so, there was something about him that gave her the creeps.
Edward looked at her. As though he’d read her mind, Edward said, “Mark has worked for me for the past twenty years and is exceedingly loyal — to those who pay him well. He will be your bodyguard.”
Chapter Sixteen
Billie stood warming her hands by the fire. “All right. If your grandfather buried it, why don’t you know where it is?”
Edward ignored her question, as he had so many others. “Let me tell you what I know from my sources so that you can clear up any of my confusions — and I have so many these days.”
He didn’t wait for her to acknowledge her acquiescence, and instead continued. “You found a series of pictographs on a sarcophagus inside an ancient pyramid. All of which represented a known place of historical significance. The only one that had not been officially discovered, was Atlantis. Then you found a looking glass, which somehow allowed you to see the image of each of the archeological sites.”
She nodded her head, not wanting to give away more than she had to.
“I’ve read your notes, and see that you could calculate the exact distance between the location of the pyramid and each of the sites by measuring the distance between the center of the map and each of the pictographs. And you were able to work out that of the 13 sites displayed on the seeing tube, or looking glass as you called it, six were above the equator, while six were below it and the thirteenth, or looking-glass was directly along the equator.”
He paused long enough for her to add anything if she felt like, which she didn’t.
He then continued. “What I don’t understand is how you derived a need to visit Amsterdam?”
“We calculated three separate known cities which roughly matched the distance that we calculated from the main site. These were, Amsterdam, Nice and New York.”
“And you chose Amsterdam first, because…”
“The pictograph that represented what we believe to be Atlantis, depicted a circular city, with dozens of canals, protected via dikes. When I looked at the three cities, and the image of Atlantis, I thought, ‘Which one most closely resembles the original city?’ Thus, I came up with Amsterdam, which luckily happened to be the big break.”
“That’s very good, Dr. Swan. A fanciful story at best. I think if I were to sit down here with a map and calculate the exact distance from the Gulf of Mexico and those three cities, I would most likely find three very different answers.”
Billie felt a warm flush of blood flow to her cheeks. He’d caught her in a lie. Even if she had no reason to be honest with him, it made her feel guilty.
She didn’t even try to deny it, and Edward continued. “In Atlantis you realized that you needed a code — Let’s call it the code to Atlantis. Without it, you have no ability to access any further information from its inner sanctum, and nor do you have any control over the timer that you’ve begun.”
Billie kept her thoughts to herself on the matter, but inwardly, she was writhing with curiosity.
“It was here that you realized that the ancient Atlantean people had built a second temple — not too dissimilar to their original one. The purpose of which, was not to house the great wealth and even greater power that Atlantis was built on. Instead, it was a great vault. An ancient set of archives, which tells of the history of earth.”
“Yes. I went to Amsterdam in search of a key to the archives to Atlantis.”
“Did you find it?” He seemed only mildly interested.
“Yes. But it was my interest in it that seemed to bring me to the attention of yourself, and if I should believe you, the Phoenix Resistance.”
“My dear Dr. Swan. The simple matter of whether you believe me or not has no bearing on the fact that there is an ancient brotherhood who want that code to Atlantis as much as we do. And if they beat us to it, the result can only mean the ending of the world as we know it.”
She was a scientist. As such, Billie had spent her life assessing everything with circumspection and objectivity. But as she listened to this old stranger, she knew in her heart he was speaking the truth.
Seemingly confident he’d made his point, Edward said, “In Amsterdam you learned Felix Brandt was one of the last people to ever see Atlantis, and that, after returning to Amsterdam, he travelled to Tibet. There he lived out the remainder of his days, presumably documenting the history of the world high in the Atlantean archives.”
“That’s right. So, every archeologist and treasure hunter in the last two centuries have heard the rumor that an ancient Atlantean left a treasure trove of orichalcum somewhere in the mountains of Tibet, along with the key to the city’s central vault and a map that could outlast the ages of time.”
“Yes, something like. Of course no one’s ever been able to locate it have they? Yet, you located something in Amsterdam. What was it, a map?”
“Not quite a map. I discovered a key to an ancient map.”
Edward laughed, as though he’d had enough fun with her. “Dr. Swan. On that account we’re in luck. As it so happens, I once owned the Arcane Stone. It has since been stolen from me. But I have previously used it to mark the secret location of the Atlantean Archives.”
She grinned mischievously. What does this man actually need from me? “And what did you find there?”
“A whole lot of ancient texts. The same as those that riddle the walls of Atlantis. I’m not a linguist, Dr. Swan. I have studied far and wide, and in my short 80 years of life on this earth, I have learned to make sense out of some of the images. But for the most part, I need your help.”
“How do you know that I’ll have any more luck understanding it than you?”
“Because as you know, it’s the same language that you’ve studied for years. The one you believe came from the Master Builders, although I believe we’re both going to find that the simplest explanation for them was that they were simply Gods.”
Billie tried to hide her surprise. And then said, “Gods? The last time people truly believed that the Gods lived among us was in ancient Greece, and even then, no one really believed the stories.”
“Oh, are you sure?”
Billie was certain. She might overlook her scientific objectivity in place of a gut instinct about an old man, but resting the answers to some of the biggest questions to plague her life on ancient Gods, was one giant step too much for her to take.