“Well,” said Shawn, “it was all a long time ago. Alex, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call? And I should tell you that I’m sorry I’m not there to see you in person. I don’t guess I could talk you into coming over here to Koratska?”
“We appreciate the invitation, Shawn. Might some artifacts be available?”
“We’d be happy to show you what we have. But everything we find is already designated. The university would run me out of town if I compromised any of the find.”
Alex smiled. No surprise. “Shawn, are you familiar with Garnett Baylee?”
“Of course,” she said. “He was a close friend.”
Alex explained about the transmitter while her eyes widened. “We’re trying to figure out where he found it.”
“You think he might have located the rest of the artifacts? The ones that were at Prairie House?”
“It’s a possibility.”
“Incredible.” She was silent for a few moments. “How can I help?”
“I was hoping you might have some idea where they were taken? Some hint?”
“I have no idea, Alex. I’m sorry. I wish I did.”
“You knew Marco Collins?”
“I did.”
“Did you ever discuss this with him?”
“Sure.”
“We read an account of the transfer from Huntsville to Grand Forks in an early draft of The Grand Collapse. And then that they were getting ready to move everything again away from Grand Forks. But it didn’t say where. And that whole section was cut out of the final version.”
“Did he do that? I wasn’t aware of it. Well, that might have been because there was no specific evidence. No indication where they might have taken all that stuff. Assuming they did. He probably didn’t have anything more than the tradition.”
“What do you know about Zorbas?”
“Enough that I can believe the story, that he’d do anything necessary to rescue the artifacts. When the thieves and vandals arrived in Grand Forks, he became one of the leaders of the defense. He was one of the heroes of that era. We do have documentary evidence of that. But I suspect during that period he had a lot more to worry about than some artifacts.”
“I was wondering,” said Alex, “if his heroic stature wasn’t the reason the tradition formed. That people thought sure, it was the sort of thing he would have done. Except, yes, maybe he was too busy saving lives.”
Somebody handed Shawn a cup. Probably coffee. She sipped it. “It’s possible.”
They both fell silent.
“Okay,” said Alex, “thanks, Shawn. We won’t take any more of your time.”
“Well, there is one thing that Marco mentioned.”
Alex’s jaw tightened. “What?”
“He told me he’d seen a comment attributed to Zorbas’s brother Jerome that he’d taken the artifacts to Greece.”
“To Greece?”
“To a place near where he was born. Larissa. But Marco didn’t buy it. Greece was even more disrupted then than North America was.”
“Larissa,” said Alex. “Did Marco have any direct contact with Baylee?”
“I have no idea, Alex. But it’s certainly possible. Marco would have been teaching at the university at about the same time Baylee was doing his research there.”
Twenty-one
Historians are not to be trusted. They believe what they wish, crushing facts underfoot and twisting outcomes to fit preconceptions. History, as it is presented to us, is no more than a point of view.
The final version of The Grand Collapse reported only that Dmitri Zorbas was “believed” to be at the Prairie House when the decision was taken to shut it down. Whether they were “shutting down” a trove of artifacts or simply a communal establishment is left unclear.
“Do we head for the Aegean now?” I asked. Larissa was located north of the Pagasetic Gulf.
“I don’t know,” said Alex. “What do you think?”
That kind of indecisiveness was unlike him. “I assumed that was automatic. Why do you ask?”
“It doesn’t feel right. I can’t believe he’d have taken the artifacts to Greece. They wouldn’t have been any safer. And he’d already given up twice on the area.” He took a deep breath. “Maybe it’s time to go home.”
I can’t explain what happened next. I wasn’t ready to give up, but I was also inclined to agree that charging off to Europe with several truckloads of artifacts during a time of worsening instability didn’t seem like a smart move. On the other hand, what other course did we have? “Your call, Alex.”
“Let’s talk about it in the morning.”
He retired to his room, where I knew he’d go back to plowing through the library books, while I turned on the HV. I needed a break. I probably sat for an hour or so watching Last Man Out and The Harvey Gant Show. They’re pretty weak comedies, but I wanted something light. When they were over, I put on a talk show just as Alex, wrapped in a robe, came out of his room carrying his notebook and wearing a broad smile. “Chase,” he said, “did you look at either of the poetry books they gave us?”
“No. I never got to them. Why?”
“They’re both Marcel Kalabrian collections. I’d never heard of him before, but he was alive during the thirty-third century.”
“Okay,” I said. “Does he have anything helpful to say?”
The smile widened. He opened the notebook. “It’s called ‘Coffee,’” he said.
In the cold gray morning light,
They loaded our history into their trucks
And cars, and turned into the rising sun.
They drank their coffee
And rode out of town while the rest of us slept.
“That’s a bit of a coincidence,” I said. “Was he there when they took the artifacts out of Huntsville?”
“I don’t think he’s referring to Huntsville.”
“Why not?”
“Wrong image. The Huntsville transfer was made by plane.”
“Then you’re thinking Prairie House?”
His eyes met mine. “Kalabrian lived in Grand Forks.”
Twenty-two
It’s Greek to me.
Like the other nations of the ancient world, Greece had long since ceased to exist. Nor was there any longer a place in that area known as Larissa. We knew, though, where it had been.
The plane came in over rolling green fields, patches of forest, and occasional towns. Off to the east, the countryside turned rugged. Beyond it, the Aegean sparkled in the morning sunlight. Alex had spent most of the flight reading whatever he could find about Dimitri Zorbas. “Most historians don’t think he actually existed,” he said. “But at a distance of eight thousand years, the evidence for anybody’s existence, except major kings and presidents and people like Einstein and Kalaska, is questionable.”
“Did you look up Larissa?”
“‘Ancient Greek city located near present-day Elpis. Destroyed by Moravian rebels during the Sixth Millennium.’ It was a famous cultural center for a long time. There’s a list of major artists, playwrights, poets, and composers associated with the city.”