The General sat in his fortified office; three-inch thick armoured glass ensured the view from it was not his last. The General’s ego, required more power, authority and control, and by chance he had discovered a potential path to it.
While with a client in Africa last year, he came across an ancient manuscript, it told a story of the Ten Suns, and that perhaps there was a basis in fact for it. He began to research this and discovered various legends around the world with similarities, and so his quest began to find this source of power, and the control of it. His various contacts around the world had begun to piece together the mystery. The Legend of the Ten Suns had a basis in fact, now to find the source.
He closed his oak door, the intercom buzzed and he was informed by his secretary of an anticipated call. The hide chair creaked as he sat and relaxed. His private line came on, a metallic voice greeted him.
‘Good Afternoon, do you have any results to report?’
There was no need for details or names, and even on his encrypted line his caller would not risk exposure. The American Echelon system intercepted most forms of communication, collected enough data in three minutes to fill the Library of Congress if it was all printed out. The General and his contact did not want their information added to it, and so their lack of specifics reduced being picked up by data mining of key words.
‘We have obtained one artefact, the second is in the North, the third so I have been informed is in the South, yet to be confirmed on site.’
‘Has their purpose been determined?’
‘As yet no, I am awaiting further information.’
‘That is not as I hoped, what about our friend in Africa, does he suspect?’
‘No he still believes his contact is attempting to acquire a solar power source, and funds cannot be affiliated to us.’
‘Excellent, so progressing as expected, I want that device, whatever it is, if your initial findings are correct, it would threaten our assets should it be available to others.’
‘Agreed it will be controlled by an ally.’
‘I will call you in twenty four hours for an update.’
The line went dead. The General was content that all his subterfuge was effective, even his metallic master had no inclination of his true intentions. The device would be controlled by him, which would elevate him from servant to master. He collected his sidearm, changed into the linen suit conveniently deposited in his office by his efficient secretary. Mastasson took his private elevator to the hanger below. His latest acquisition a MD520 helicopter was waiting. Its jet black and silver livery and the distinctive passenger compartment made it appear like a giant dragonfly. With no tail rotor due to the unique NOTAR system, the lightweight all-purpose helicopter was a dream to fly. His three-man personal protection team waited for him, entering the sleek craft on his approach. Within minutes he was hovering inside the hanger. He gently guided the helicopter out at just over two feet from the ground, showing off and climbing from the cloud of dust into the fresh Pacific sky. Heading northeast to Panama City, then after a short refuel at Rio Hato Airport he could go deep into the forest and Canopy Tower to meet his African contact.
TWELVE
The group decided to return to work immediately after the daybreak feast, concerned that they would all fall asleep. Jacob checked his email, and got all the crime scene photos sent by Paul, showing the remains of the thief and the sword embedded in the oak tree. He compared the shots with that of his artefact and there was no similarity except for the markings. The crystal he had was five sided. A deep blue crystal with metal shoulders protecting all the edges, it led to a collection of triangles at the point. Topping this pyramid of silver was a loop. It all appeared to be fashioned from one piece of solid metal, extremely strong, yet delicate in appearance.
The tests they had performed could not identify the metal, not silver, tin; nickel none of the metals you would expect to be fashioned during the fifteenth century. He left the metallurgist to ponder the mystery, and Lorraine to deal with the scriptures. Jacob was still waiting for the official translator to arrive from Washington, but he knew Lorraine would catalogue and prepare all the information ready for his imminent arrival.
The other artefact that was stolen from the museum was spinning on screen, a three dimensional representation to show all its features to the most beneficial effect. He likened it to a cylinder with a handle inside, a bar going across the middle; a lip around the edge concealed something else. It was jet black, with a matt finish, not shiny as you would expect from worked stone. The stone had flecks of blue within it that shone in direct sunlight. The rest of the surface appeared to absorb any light. At the front, or possibly the back, no one was sure, five crystals were embedded. Each five sided, like the artefact they had found in the junk, but only the centre one was blue. The four surrounding it at ninety degree angles to each other were jet black, the only colour was a blue dot in the centre of each tip.
Analysis presumed that the blue crystal ran inside the black outer shell and connected within. The cylinder itself encasing all was covered in inlays of blue crystal, some kind of glyph not seen before. It was based on circles, the inner circle containing different symbols to the outer one, and no pattern could be discerned. This larger artefact had no loop for a necklace and no silver metal except the handle on the inside. It had no scratches or damage, despite being found in a collapsed temple on the coast of Peru, a former Inca city. Laurent suspected, and for once Jacob agreed, that the artefact may have been removed from another culture during the wars that raged during the early part of the fifteenth century.
The two brothers that ruled the Inca Empire quarrelled, one remaining in Cuzco to the South and his brother in Quito to the north, now Modern Ecuador. Many items have been found out of context, having been taken by the warring factions, or the invading Spanish, who entered the area within years of the Inca civil war. The human interaction displaced many vital artefacts over the centuries.
Jacob suspected that the two artefacts may be unrelated, but his gut told him otherwise. He was mining through the numerous other emails, stacking up in his inbox due to three days of neglect. He applied filters, some to get rid of junk mail, others for people who just bothered him about trivial operational details they should have the brains to deal with themselves. Then one stood out, a name he recognised, and his heart swelled, Katherine Shotbolt.
Katherine was his adopted daughter, well not exactly that, but he gave her that title as it was the easiest explanation. The truth as with all children was more complex.
The children’s parents had died in a car accident in South America, the details were unknown. In their will they named Jacob and Anita as legal guardians, and they were honoured to help. Their son Archer was sixteen and off attempting to be cool and mature. Their other son had recently been killed in action, so young blood in the ranch house was most welcome. Over the following years, Jacob had learned to treat Katherine like the daughter he wanted, and her brother as the rascal he was.
Archer appeared to tolerate them, well Katherine was a good friend and influence, but then he joined the Army and saw her during leave, before she left for college.
Any message from Katherine was always welcome. He opened her mail and read about her recent discovery; that had been claimed by Laurent initially. His temper flared at this, then read on. He opened the attached pictures; and the images from MARVIN appeared on screen, accompanied by short burst of video, edited from his expedition. Jacob would have been stunned into silence, instead he stopped sipping his coffee and yelled for Lorraine, after a three second pause, she had not arrived. Jacob stood up, and bellowed for her again, and she ran in expecting him to be dying or something.