‘There is something carved into the wood?’
‘Yep and I have no idea what it is, but I have checked the whole room, no other carvings, just this.’
Katherine turned her head, ‘That is Chinese calligraphy?’
‘Well I know that! But I called Evelyn to tell me what it means!’
‘I don’t know Michael, not my area love!’
The couple began a standard argument about who was an expert in what; Katherine just looked at the screen.
‘That’s the symbol for the five elements!’
Evelyn and Michael stopped their now high volume discussion and turned.
‘How do you know that?’
‘Because it’s on the wall in the Elements Institute in Washington!’
Evelyn and Michael turned and sure enough the Five Elements had been in front of them, the very basis for the Institute they worked for.
‘Katherine you are a genius!’
‘Not bad for just a pilot.’
Evelyn laughed; Christophe would go mad when he found out.
‘So do we call Christophe about this?’
‘Hell no Michael! You said he was not answering his radio, no this we call in to the boss, Katherine would you be good enough to call Jacob and give him the news of your third discovery?’
‘Yes of course, oh and where is my necklace?’
‘Sorry I think I left it on the desk in the lab.’
‘How long is it since we found the wreck?’
‘About six months ago, but least we know where to start digging now.’
‘Do you think that symbol is significant?’
‘It just intrigues me that the five elements symbol is on a ship; there might be significance in it?’
Katherine moved out of the viewing room, heading back to the lab to collect her precious necklace, the last remnant of her mother. She hit the button to open the door, and stopped, her necklace was there on the table, glowing blue. The crystal within illuminated, but there was no sun, intermittent clouds obscuring it. The damaged necklace next to it was glowing, but its case was shut, the light escaping from the crack around the edge. She grabbed her necklace as if it would burn or bite her should it remain there, it stopped glowing. She delicately moved it back, the case open swinging on the silver chain, and it began glowing once more. She backed out of the room, replacing the necklace in her pocket and heading for the communications room, she had to call Jacob inform him of their finds, not Christophe and ask about her necklace and her mother.
TEN
Paul Stone loved his job, his office, his life. It was an ungodly hour, and he had nothing to worry about, no wife, children not even a pet. Paul had girlfriends, mistresses but never wanted any long-term commitment, he just loved his work. He was not unattractive, far from it, gym four times a week, rowing on the Potomac every other day, he was quite a catch. The main reason was work, he loved it, lived it, that was his marriage, his true mistress.
It was 21:30 in Washington, and he was on a web cam link with Jacob in Newfoundland, recently landed at St Johns, using Jean’s hanger as a temporary lab.
‘Nice set up Paul, thanks.’
‘You are welcome Jacob, see while you were sightseeing; I was getting people into work at an antisocial time!’
‘Sightseeing indeed, nearly got me killed, again.’
‘Well what you do in the pursuit of knowledge.’
‘Yeah yeah Paul, point taken, look this was worth the effort.’
‘Jacob you don’t even know what ‘this’ is yet?’
‘And that is what these good people are here to do.’
‘Okay call me when you know more, I have got to talk to Ecuador only 20:30 there, get an update on my hard earned money, and what your friend Laurent is doing with it.’
With a parting smile, Jacob signed off, turning to address the assembled group in the hanger.
The group of six were a field team, hastily assembled from the Elements Institute office in Toronto. The information that Jacob had provided to Paul was relayed to them, and a group was rapidly called and flown out to St Johns direct.
Jacob had greeted them all when they arrived, ensuring they all knew where everything was, unlike Paul, people were his priority, look after the people, they look after you.
He gestured for the group to follow him into the porta-cabin, the heated shelter more welcoming than the cold draughty hanger. They crowded in, not venturing into the main area, all clustered around the door like hesitant schoolchildren.
‘Will you all come in, look at the main screen; this will give you some perspective.’
The group obliged, removed gloves and hats, and looked at the large flat screen at the far end.
Jacob flicked thru video and stills taken of the iceberg by Jean while Jacob was inside. Jacob got to see the moment when the iceberg shifted, and now understood why Jean was so keen to extricate him. The group gasped as the berg turned, with Jacob swinging overhead, the duffle next to him, the clips ended and the group turned to him.
‘As you can see, we cannot revisit the site, anything that was accessible is now underwater, in freezing water, what we have is a large object, sealed in wax, found behind a wall and this in front of it.’
Jacob held up the board he removed from the wall, the archer symbol still clearly on it.
Lorraine the linguist stepped forward, ‘Excuse me sir, and is that the Chinese symbol for archer?’
‘Yes Lorraine, I didn’t realise Chinese calligraphy was your area?’
‘More of a hobby sir, this is from the Chinese ship?’
‘Well nothing is proven yet, anyone else.’
‘Yes sir, the wood is teak; ships in China were built of teak in the 1400’s.’
‘You are talking about the Treasure Fleets?’
‘Yes sir, and if this is one of Zheng He’s ships, it is over five hundred years old.’
‘Well my young band of weary travellers, that is what we are here to find out.’
The workgroup split into pairs, each taking their specialist field, a fully functional lab awaited them.
Jacob made his way to the small office at the rear of the building, a large beaten up couch against the window, he sat back, having been awake for hours. Within minutes he was asleep the tired springs not affecting his exhausted body. Lorraine placed a pillow under his head, no need to wake him until they had results.
A gentle tap to the shoulder stirred Jacob from his unexpected snooze, his eyes blurry; he focussed on the person holding a large steaming cup of coffee, the pleasant odour now reaching his semiconscious nostrils.
He rubbed his eyes, removing the sandy sleep, recognising the face of Lorraine, a young smile beaming across a pale face.
‘Jacob, we have found something. Coffee? And before you ask it is six in the morning.’
‘How long have I been asleep?’
‘About six hours or so, you needed it, and we could get on with work, have some results you may like.’
Jacob raised himself upright, stretched and graciously accepted the steaming Arabica blend. He sipped some, stood up and followed Lorraine to the lab, a frenzy of youthful activity. The Elements Institute used young keen talent to ensure new ideas and attitudes prevailed, not scientists protecting reputations.
The lab had changed in the past few hours, images, scans and samples were laid out on a large table in the centre of the room. The Wax box had been given pride of place in a chamber normally reserved for toxic substances, a pair of thick rubber gloves lay limp through the glass securing it. Next to it were a collection of six wax spheres, the size of golf balls; and a badly crushed lump of metal with a blue crystal in the centre.
‘Jacob, here is what we found, while you were sleeping.’